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[ "Ed McMahon", "Military service", "What branch of the military did he serve in?", "he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training.", "Did he serve in any wars?", "He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsairs for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945.", "Was he wounded in service?", "his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,", "What rank did he achieve by the end of his service?", "After the war, he stayed with the Marines as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a colonel.", "Was he married while in the military?", "I don't know." ]	C_956918195357440a93c2fc91e704503d_1	Did he win any special medals or awards?	6	Did Ed McMahon win any special medals or awards?	Ed McMahon	McMahon hoped to become a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. McMahon enrolled into classes at Boston College and studied there from 1940 to 1941. On The Howard Stern Show in 2001, McMahon stated that after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was not lifted and he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training. After completing the college requirement, McMahon was able to enlist as he previously wished. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsairs for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan's surrender unconditionally. As an officer in the reserves, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. This time, he flew the OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog), an unarmed single-engine spotter plane. He functioned as an artillery spotter for the Marine batteries on the ground and as a forward controller for the Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning six Air Medals. After the war, he stayed with the Marines as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a colonel. In 1982, McMahon received a state commission as a brigadier general in the California Air National Guard, an honorary award to recognize his support for the National Guard and Reserves. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game show Who Do You Trust?, running from 1957 to 1962. McMahon then made his famous thirty-year mark as Carson's sidekick, announcer and second banana on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1962 to 1992. McMahon also hosted the original Star Search from 1983 to 1995, co-hosted TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1998, presented sweepstakes for the direct marketing company American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House), annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon from 1973 to 2008 and anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade during the 1970s and 80s. McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of the TV sitcom Bewitched and has also performed in numerous television commercials. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest "sidekicks". Early years McMahon was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Edward Leo Peter McMahon Sr., a fund-raiser and entertainer, and Eleanor (Russell) McMahon. He was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, often visiting his paternal Aunt Mary Brennan at her home on Chelmsford Street. After three years as a carnival barker in Mexico, Maine, McMahon served as a fifteen-year-old bingo caller in Maine. He put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in Lowell, and his television career launched in Philadelphia at WCAU-TV. Military service McMahon hoped to become a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, both the Army and Navy required pilot candidates to attend at least two years of college. McMahon studied at Boston College from 1940 to 1941. On The Howard Stern Show in 2001, he stated that after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement remained in effect and he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training. After completing the college requirement, McMahon began his primary flight training in Dallas. This was followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications and was designated as a Naval Aviator. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsair fighters for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific Fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan's unconditional surrender. As an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He flew an OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the unarmed single-engine Cessna O-1 Bird Dog) spotter plane, serving as an artillery spotter for Marine artillery batteries and a forward air controller for Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning six Air Medals. After the war, he remained in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring in 1966 as a Colonel. In 1982, McMahon received a state commission as a brigadier general in the California Air National Guard, an honorary award to recognize his support for the National Guard and Reserves. The Catholic University of America After World War II, McMahon studied at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., under the GI Bill and graduated in 1949. He majored in speech and drama while studying under Rev. Fr. Gilbert Hartke and was a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. After graduation, McMahon led the effort to raise funds for a theater to be named for Hartke and attended its dedication in 1970 with Helen Hayes and Sidney Poitier. While working as Carson's sidekick during The Tonight Show, McMahon served as the president of the national alumni association from 1967 to 1971 and would often return to campus, especially for homecoming. During the university's centennial celebration in 1987, McMahon and Bob Newhart performed. He received an honorary Doctor of Communication Arts in 1988. "I owe so much to CU," McMahon once said. "That's where my career got its start." Today, the Ed McMahon Endowed Scholarship helps outstanding students and provides scholarship assistance to juniors and seniors who are pursuing a bachelor's degree in either the Department of Drama or the Department of Media Studies within the School of Arts and Sciences. Entertainment career Who Do You Trust? McMahon and Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the ABC daytime game show Who Do You Trust? running from 1957 to 1962. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson The pair joined The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on October 1, 1962, on NBC. He describes what happened when the pair first met, the whole meeting being "about as exciting as watching a traffic light change". For almost 30 years, McMahon introduced the show with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter alongside the "King of Late Night" earned McMahon the nickname the "Human Laugh Track" and "Toymaker to the King". As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as , but neither long-time cohort Carson nor anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually pronouncing his name . Aside from his co-hosting duties, it also fell upon McMahon during the early years of Carson's tenure (when the show ran 105 minutes) to host the first fifteen minutes of Tonight, which did not air nationally. McMahon also served as guest host on at least one occasion, substituting for Carson during a week of programs that aired between July 29 and August 2, 1963, and again for two nights in October 1963. McMahon served as a counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in his stomach every time he would walk onto a stage and would use that nervousness as a source of energy. His famous opening line "Heeere's Johnny!" was used in the 1980 horror film The Shining by the character Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) as he goes after his wife and child with an axe. He did in-program commercials for many sponsors of The Tonight Show, most notably Budweiser beer and Alpo dog food, and also did commercials for them that ran on other programs. Star Search McMahon was also host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and helped launch the careers of numerous actors, singers, choreographers and comedians. He stayed with the show until it ended in 1995 and in 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the CBS revival of the series, hosted by his successor Arsenio Hall. Other roles His long association with brewer Anheuser-Busch earned him the nickname "Mr. Budweiser" and he used that relationship to bring them aboard as one of the largest corporate donors to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Since 1973, McMahon served as co-host of the long-running live annual Labor Day weekend event of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. His 41st and final appearance on that show was in 2008, making him second only to Jerry Lewis himself in number. McMahon and Dick Clark hosted the television series (and later special broadcasts of) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982 to 1993. In 1967, McMahon had a role in the film The Incident and appeared as Santa Claus on The Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show. From 1965 to 1969, McMahon served as "communicator" (host) of the Saturday afternoon segment of Monitor, the weekend news, features and entertainment magazine on the NBC Radio Network. The 1955 movie Dementia, which has music without dialogue, was released as Daughter of Horror in 1970. The newer version, which had a voice over by McMahon, still has music without dialogue, but with an added narration read by him. McMahon had a supporting role in the original Fun with Dick and Jane in 1977. He then played himself in "Remote Control Man", a season one episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. In 2004, McMahon became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land. He has authored two memoirs, Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship as well as For Laughing Out Loud. Over the years, he emceed the game shows Missing Links, Snap Judgment, Concentration, and Whodunnit!. McMahon also hosted Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. Additionally, he also appeared in the feature documentary film, Pitch People, the first motion picture to take an in-depth look at the history and evolution of pitching products to the public. In the early 2000s, McMahon made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements parodying the surprise appearances to contest winners that he was supposedly known for. (In fact, it is not clear whether the company McMahon fronted, American Family Publishers, regularly performed such unannounced visits, as opposed to Publishers Clearing House and its oft-promoted "prize patrol".) Towards the end of the decade, McMahon took on other endorsement roles, playing a rapper for a FreeCreditReport.com commercial and in a Cash4Gold commercial alongside MC Hammer. McMahon was also the spokesman for Pride Mobility, a leading power wheelchair and scooter manufacturer. His final film appearance was in the independent John Hughes themed rom-com Jelly as Mr. Closure alongside actress Natasha Lyonne. Mostly in the 1980s through the 1990s, McMahon was the spokesperson for Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. Personal life Marriage and children McMahon married Alyce Ferrell on July 5, 1945, while he was serving as a flight instructor in the Marines. The couple had four children: Claudia (b. 1946), Michael Edward (1951–1995), Linda and Jeffrey. They separated in 1972 and divorced in 1974. McMahon married Victoria Valentine on March 6, 1976. They adopted a daughter in 1985, Katherine Mary. The couple divorced in 1989. McMahon paid $50,000 per month in spousal and child support. On February 22, 1992, three months before his Tonight Show run came to a close, in a ceremony held near Las Vegas, McMahon married 37-year-old Pamela "Pam" Hurn, who had a son named Alex. McMahon's daughter Katherine served as best person at the wedding. McMahon was a longtime summer resident of Avalon, New Jersey. Financial problems In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and was fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home. McMahon was also sued by Citibank for $180,000. McMahon appeared on Larry King Live on June 5, 2008, with his wife to talk about this situation. In the interview, McMahon's wife Pam said that people assumed that the McMahons had a lot of money because of his celebrity status. Pamela McMahon also commented that they do not have "millions" of dollars. On July 30, 2008, McMahon's financial status suffered another blow. McMahon failed to pay divorce attorney Norman Solovay $275,168, according to a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, had hired Solovay to represent Linda Schmerge, his daughter from another relationship, in a "matrimonial matter", said Solovay's lawyer, Michael Shanker. On August 14, 2008, real estate mogul Donald Trump announced that he would purchase McMahon's home from Countrywide Financial and lease it to McMahon, so the home would not be foreclosed. McMahon agreed instead to a deal with a private buyer for his hilltop home, said Howard Bragman, McMahon's former spokesman. Bragman declined to name the buyer or the selling price, but he said it was not Trump. In early September, after the second buyer's offer fell through, Trump renewed his offer to purchase the home. Health problems On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors failed to properly clean up water damage from a broken pipe. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons blamed the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, one of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters, and several environmental cleanup contractors. It sought monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On March 21, 2003, the long legal battle ended with McMahon being awarded $7.2 million from several companies who were negligent for allowing toxic mold into his home, sickening him and his wife and killing their dog. McMahon was injured in 2007 in a fall and, in March 2008, it was announced he was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, and accused them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall and botching two later neck surgeries. On February 27, 2009, it was reported that McMahon had been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital (later confirmed as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month. He was listed in serious condition and was in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia at the time, but could not confirm nor deny reports that McMahon had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Death McMahon died on June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old. His nurse, Julie Koehne, RN, stated he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. McMahon had said that he still suffered from the injury to his neck in March 2007. Tributes and legacy The night of McMahon's death, Conan O'Brien paid him tribute on The Tonight Show: He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television on March 20, 1986. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted McMahon into their Hall of Fame in 2010. Books Slimming Down (Grosset & Dunlap, 1972) ISBN 0448015501 Here's Ed: The Autobiography of Ed McMahon With Carroll Carroll (Putnam, 1976) Ed McMahon's Superselling by Ed McMahon with Warren Jamison (Prentice Hall Press, 1989), For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times (Warner Books, 1998), co-written with David Fisher Here's Johnny! My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Berkley Publishing Group – Penguin Group, 2005) Backstage at the Tonight Show by Don Sweeney, Ed McMahon (Foreword) (Taylor Trade Publishing), 2006 When Television Was Young: The Inside Story with Memories by Legends of the Small Screen With David Fisher (Thomas Nelson 2007) References External links 1923 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors Actors from Lowell, Massachusetts American Korean War pilots American game show hosts American male comedians American male television actors Boston College alumni Catholic University of America alumni Game show announcers Male actors from Boston Male actors from Detroit Male actors from New Jersey Male actors from Philadelphia Military personnel from Detroit Military personnel from Massachusetts Military personnel from New Jersey Military personnel from Philadelphia People from Avalon, New Jersey People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Quinnipiac University people Radio and television announcers Recipients of the Air Medal United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps reservists United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Naval Aviators	false	[ "Australia was represented in table tennis at the 1960 Summer Paralympics.In the early Games, many Australian table tennis players represented Australia in several sports. It was won 8 medals - 2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. \nGold medallists are:\n Daphne Ceeney and Marion O'Brien in 1964\nTerry Biggs in 1984\n\nMedal tally\n\nSummer Paralympic Games\n\n1960\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen - Bruno Moretti, Bill Mather-Brown \nAustralia won a silver medal in Men's Doubles B - Bruno Moretti, Bill Mather-Brown\n\n1964\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen - Allan McLucas \nWomen - Daphne Ceeney, Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber \nAustralia won 1 gold and 3 bronze medals.\n\n1968\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen - Kevin Bawden, Alan Conn, Kevin Coombs, John Martin, Bill Mather-Brown, Allan McLucas, Bruno Moretti, Jimmy Newton, Tony South, Don Watts \nWomen - Lorraine Dodd, Daphne Hilton, Cherrie Loydstrom, Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber, Pam Smith \nAustralia won 1 silver medal in Women's Doubles C - Marion O'Brien, Elaine Schreiber.\n\n1972\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen – Bob Millan, Cliff Rickard \nWomen - ? \nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n1976\n\nAustralia represented by:\nMen – Kevin Bawden, Wayne Flood, Ray Letheby, Peter Marsh, John Martin, Ross Soutar \nWomen – Elaine Schreiber \nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n1980\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen – Donald Dann, Peter Marsh, John Martin, John Sheil, Charlie Tapscott \nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n1984\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen – Terry Biggs, Paul Croft, Joe Marlow, Errol Smith \nAustralian won a gold medal through Terry Biggs performance.\n\n1988\n\nAustralia represented by: \nMen – Geoffrey Barden, Marcel Bucello, Paul Croft, Gary Croker, Jeremy Halloran, Craig Parson, John Sheil, Ian Simpson \nWomen – Carmel Williams \nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n1992\n\n \nAustralia represented by: \nMen – Csaba Bobory \nAustralia won no medals.\n\n1996\nNo athletes\n\n2000\n\nAustralia represented by:\n\nMen - Bill Medley, Ross Schurgott \nOfficials - Head Coach - Joe Hoad (Head) ; Officials - Carmel Medley \nAustralia was given two wild card entries due to it being the host nation. It did not win any medals as no athlete progressed past the first round.\n\n2004\nNo athletes\n\n2008\n\nAustralia represented by: Women - Rebecca Julian, Sarah Lazzaro \nOfficials - Head Coach - Brian Berry, Section Manager - Barbara Talbot Catherine Morrow was selected but withdrew from the team.\n\nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n2012\n\nAustralia represented by: Women- Melissa Tapper, Rebecca McDonnell \nOfficials - Head Coach - Alois Rosario ; Team Leader - Roger Massie \nAustralia did not win any medals.\n\n2016 \n\nAustralia represented by: \nWomen- Daniela Di Toro, Melissa Tapper, Andrea McDonnell (d) \nMen- Barak Mizrachi (d), Samuel Von Einem (d) \nOfficials - Head Coach - Alois Rosario ; Team Leader - Roger Massie \n\nSam Von Einem in winning the silver medal won Australia's first medal since Terry Biggs won gold in 1984.\n\n(d)= Paralympic Games debut\n\nSee also\nTable tennis at the Summer Paralympics\nAustralia at the Paralympics\n\nReferences\n\nAustralian Paralympic teams\nTable tennis at the Summer Paralympics\nTable tennis in Australia", "Alex Hadley (born 14 September 1973) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer from the United Kingdom. He was born in Staines, England. He competed but did not win any medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the 2004 Athens Games, he won a gold medal in the Men's 4 × 100 m Medley 34 pts event and a silver medal in the Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle 34 pts event. He also competed but did not win any medals at the 2008 Beijing Games.\n\nReferences\n\nMale Paralympic swimmers of Australia\nSwimmers at the 1996 Summer Paralympics\nSwimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics\nSwimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics\nMedalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics\nParalympic gold medalists for Australia\nParalympic silver medalists for Australia\nEnglish emigrants to Australia\nPeople from Staines-upon-Thames\n1973 births\nLiving people\nParalympic medalists in swimming" ]
[ "Ed McMahon", "Military service", "What branch of the military did he serve in?", "he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training.", "Did he serve in any wars?", "He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsairs for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945.", "Was he wounded in service?", "his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,", "What rank did he achieve by the end of his service?", "After the war, he stayed with the Marines as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a colonel.", "Was he married while in the military?", "I don't know.", "Did he win any special medals or awards?", "I don't know." ]	C_956918195357440a93c2fc91e704503d_1	Did he do anything for the military after retirement?	7	Did Ed McMahon do anything for the Marine Corps after retirement?	Ed McMahon	McMahon hoped to become a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. McMahon enrolled into classes at Boston College and studied there from 1940 to 1941. On The Howard Stern Show in 2001, McMahon stated that after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was not lifted and he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training. After completing the college requirement, McMahon was able to enlist as he previously wished. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsairs for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan's surrender unconditionally. As an officer in the reserves, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. This time, he flew the OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog), an unarmed single-engine spotter plane. He functioned as an artillery spotter for the Marine batteries on the ground and as a forward controller for the Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning six Air Medals. After the war, he stayed with the Marines as a reserve officer, retiring in 1966 as a colonel. In 1982, McMahon received a state commission as a brigadier general in the California Air National Guard, an honorary award to recognize his support for the National Guard and Reserves. CANNOTANSWER	In 1982, McMahon received a state commission as a brigadier general in the California Air National Guard,	Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game show Who Do You Trust?, running from 1957 to 1962. McMahon then made his famous thirty-year mark as Carson's sidekick, announcer and second banana on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1962 to 1992. McMahon also hosted the original Star Search from 1983 to 1995, co-hosted TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1998, presented sweepstakes for the direct marketing company American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House), annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon from 1973 to 2008 and anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade during the 1970s and 80s. McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of the TV sitcom Bewitched and has also performed in numerous television commercials. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest "sidekicks". Early years McMahon was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Edward Leo Peter McMahon Sr., a fund-raiser and entertainer, and Eleanor (Russell) McMahon. He was raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, often visiting his paternal Aunt Mary Brennan at her home on Chelmsford Street. After three years as a carnival barker in Mexico, Maine, McMahon served as a fifteen-year-old bingo caller in Maine. He put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk. His first broadcasting job was at WLLH-AM in Lowell, and his television career launched in Philadelphia at WCAU-TV. Military service McMahon hoped to become a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, both the Army and Navy required pilot candidates to attend at least two years of college. McMahon studied at Boston College from 1940 to 1941. On The Howard Stern Show in 2001, he stated that after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement remained in effect and he still had to finish his two years of college before applying for Marine Corps flight training. After completing the college requirement, McMahon began his primary flight training in Dallas. This was followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications and was designated as a Naval Aviator. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor in F4U Corsair fighters for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific Fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan's unconditional surrender. As an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve, McMahon was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He flew an OE-1 (the original Marine designation for the unarmed single-engine Cessna O-1 Bird Dog) spotter plane, serving as an artillery spotter for Marine artillery batteries and a forward air controller for Navy and Marine fighter bombers. He flew a total of 85 combat missions, earning six Air Medals. After the war, he remained in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring in 1966 as a Colonel. In 1982, McMahon received a state commission as a brigadier general in the California Air National Guard, an honorary award to recognize his support for the National Guard and Reserves. The Catholic University of America After World War II, McMahon studied at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., under the GI Bill and graduated in 1949. He majored in speech and drama while studying under Rev. Fr. Gilbert Hartke and was a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. After graduation, McMahon led the effort to raise funds for a theater to be named for Hartke and attended its dedication in 1970 with Helen Hayes and Sidney Poitier. While working as Carson's sidekick during The Tonight Show, McMahon served as the president of the national alumni association from 1967 to 1971 and would often return to campus, especially for homecoming. During the university's centennial celebration in 1987, McMahon and Bob Newhart performed. He received an honorary Doctor of Communication Arts in 1988. "I owe so much to CU," McMahon once said. "That's where my career got its start." Today, the Ed McMahon Endowed Scholarship helps outstanding students and provides scholarship assistance to juniors and seniors who are pursuing a bachelor's degree in either the Department of Drama or the Department of Media Studies within the School of Arts and Sciences. Entertainment career Who Do You Trust? McMahon and Carson first worked together as announcer and host on the ABC daytime game show Who Do You Trust? running from 1957 to 1962. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson The pair joined The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on October 1, 1962, on NBC. He describes what happened when the pair first met, the whole meeting being "about as exciting as watching a traffic light change". For almost 30 years, McMahon introduced the show with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!" His booming voice and constant laughter alongside the "King of Late Night" earned McMahon the nickname the "Human Laugh Track" and "Toymaker to the King". As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as , but neither long-time cohort Carson nor anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually pronouncing his name . Aside from his co-hosting duties, it also fell upon McMahon during the early years of Carson's tenure (when the show ran 105 minutes) to host the first fifteen minutes of Tonight, which did not air nationally. McMahon also served as guest host on at least one occasion, substituting for Carson during a week of programs that aired between July 29 and August 2, 1963, and again for two nights in October 1963. McMahon served as a counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in his stomach every time he would walk onto a stage and would use that nervousness as a source of energy. His famous opening line "Heeere's Johnny!" was used in the 1980 horror film The Shining by the character Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) as he goes after his wife and child with an axe. He did in-program commercials for many sponsors of The Tonight Show, most notably Budweiser beer and Alpo dog food, and also did commercials for them that ran on other programs. Star Search McMahon was also host of the successful weekly syndicated series Star Search, which began in 1983 and helped launch the careers of numerous actors, singers, choreographers and comedians. He stayed with the show until it ended in 1995 and in 2003, he made a cameo appearance on the CBS revival of the series, hosted by his successor Arsenio Hall. Other roles His long association with brewer Anheuser-Busch earned him the nickname "Mr. Budweiser" and he used that relationship to bring them aboard as one of the largest corporate donors to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Since 1973, McMahon served as co-host of the long-running live annual Labor Day weekend event of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. His 41st and final appearance on that show was in 2008, making him second only to Jerry Lewis himself in number. McMahon and Dick Clark hosted the television series (and later special broadcasts of) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes on NBC from 1982 to 1993. In 1967, McMahon had a role in the film The Incident and appeared as Santa Claus on The Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show. From 1965 to 1969, McMahon served as "communicator" (host) of the Saturday afternoon segment of Monitor, the weekend news, features and entertainment magazine on the NBC Radio Network. The 1955 movie Dementia, which has music without dialogue, was released as Daughter of Horror in 1970. The newer version, which had a voice over by McMahon, still has music without dialogue, but with an added narration read by him. McMahon had a supporting role in the original Fun with Dick and Jane in 1977. He then played himself in "Remote Control Man", a season one episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. In 2004, McMahon became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land. He has authored two memoirs, Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship as well as For Laughing Out Loud. Over the years, he emceed the game shows Missing Links, Snap Judgment, Concentration, and Whodunnit!. McMahon also hosted Lifestyles Live, a weekend talk program aired on the USA Radio Network. Additionally, he also appeared in the feature documentary film, Pitch People, the first motion picture to take an in-depth look at the history and evolution of pitching products to the public. In the early 2000s, McMahon made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements parodying the surprise appearances to contest winners that he was supposedly known for. (In fact, it is not clear whether the company McMahon fronted, American Family Publishers, regularly performed such unannounced visits, as opposed to Publishers Clearing House and its oft-promoted "prize patrol".) Towards the end of the decade, McMahon took on other endorsement roles, playing a rapper for a FreeCreditReport.com commercial and in a Cash4Gold commercial alongside MC Hammer. McMahon was also the spokesman for Pride Mobility, a leading power wheelchair and scooter manufacturer. His final film appearance was in the independent John Hughes themed rom-com Jelly as Mr. Closure alongside actress Natasha Lyonne. Mostly in the 1980s through the 1990s, McMahon was the spokesperson for Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. Personal life Marriage and children McMahon married Alyce Ferrell on July 5, 1945, while he was serving as a flight instructor in the Marines. The couple had four children: Claudia (b. 1946), Michael Edward (1951–1995), Linda and Jeffrey. They separated in 1972 and divorced in 1974. McMahon married Victoria Valentine on March 6, 1976. They adopted a daughter in 1985, Katherine Mary. The couple divorced in 1989. McMahon paid $50,000 per month in spousal and child support. On February 22, 1992, three months before his Tonight Show run came to a close, in a ceremony held near Las Vegas, McMahon married 37-year-old Pamela "Pam" Hurn, who had a son named Alex. McMahon's daughter Katherine served as best person at the wedding. McMahon was a longtime summer resident of Avalon, New Jersey. Financial problems In June 2008, it was announced that McMahon was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans and was fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home. McMahon was also sued by Citibank for $180,000. McMahon appeared on Larry King Live on June 5, 2008, with his wife to talk about this situation. In the interview, McMahon's wife Pam said that people assumed that the McMahons had a lot of money because of his celebrity status. Pamela McMahon also commented that they do not have "millions" of dollars. On July 30, 2008, McMahon's financial status suffered another blow. McMahon failed to pay divorce attorney Norman Solovay $275,168, according to a lawsuit filed in the Manhattan federal court. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, had hired Solovay to represent Linda Schmerge, his daughter from another relationship, in a "matrimonial matter", said Solovay's lawyer, Michael Shanker. On August 14, 2008, real estate mogul Donald Trump announced that he would purchase McMahon's home from Countrywide Financial and lease it to McMahon, so the home would not be foreclosed. McMahon agreed instead to a deal with a private buyer for his hilltop home, said Howard Bragman, McMahon's former spokesman. Bragman declined to name the buyer or the selling price, but he said it was not Trump. In early September, after the second buyer's offer fell through, Trump renewed his offer to purchase the home. Health problems On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors failed to properly clean up water damage from a broken pipe. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons blamed the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, one of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters, and several environmental cleanup contractors. It sought monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On March 21, 2003, the long legal battle ended with McMahon being awarded $7.2 million from several companies who were negligent for allowing toxic mold into his home, sickening him and his wife and killing their dog. McMahon was injured in 2007 in a fall and, in March 2008, it was announced he was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, and accused them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall and botching two later neck surgeries. On February 27, 2009, it was reported that McMahon had been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital (later confirmed as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month. He was listed in serious condition and was in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia at the time, but could not confirm nor deny reports that McMahon had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Death McMahon died on June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old. His nurse, Julie Koehne, RN, stated he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. McMahon had said that he still suffered from the injury to his neck in March 2007. Tributes and legacy The night of McMahon's death, Conan O'Brien paid him tribute on The Tonight Show: He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television on March 20, 1986. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted McMahon into their Hall of Fame in 2010. Books Slimming Down (Grosset & Dunlap, 1972) ISBN 0448015501 Here's Ed: The Autobiography of Ed McMahon With Carroll Carroll (Putnam, 1976) Ed McMahon's Superselling by Ed McMahon with Warren Jamison (Prentice Hall Press, 1989), For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times (Warner Books, 1998), co-written with David Fisher Here's Johnny! My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship (Berkley Publishing Group – Penguin Group, 2005) Backstage at the Tonight Show by Don Sweeney, Ed McMahon (Foreword) (Taylor Trade Publishing), 2006 When Television Was Young: The Inside Story with Memories by Legends of the Small Screen With David Fisher (Thomas Nelson 2007) References External links 1923 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors Actors from Lowell, Massachusetts American Korean War pilots American game show hosts American male comedians American male television actors Boston College alumni Catholic University of America alumni Game show announcers Male actors from Boston Male actors from Detroit Male actors from New Jersey Male actors from Philadelphia Military personnel from Detroit Military personnel from Massachusetts Military personnel from New Jersey Military personnel from Philadelphia People from Avalon, New Jersey People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Quinnipiac University people Radio and television announcers Recipients of the Air Medal United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps reservists United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Naval Aviators	true	[ "Military retirement in the United States is a system of benefits designed to improve the quality and retention of personnel recruited to and retained within the United States military. These benefits are technically not a veterans pension, but a retainer payment, as retired service members are eligible to be reactivated. The United States has maintained a military retirement program in one form or another since the mid-1800s. The Blended Retirement System (BRS) is the current iteration of military retirement for the United States Armed Forces. The Blended Retirement System combines the defined-benefit retirement system known as \"High-3\" with an employer matching supplement. Service members on active duty prior to January 1, 2018 are eligible to continue service under the previous system or may elect to join the BRS. All new recruits to the United States military joining on or after January 1, 2018 will automatically be enrolled in the BRS.\n\nMilitary retirement prior to World War II \nIn the years before the Second World War, the retirement systems of the United States military were highly varied between the different branches of service. In 1916, the military instituted new \"up or out\" policies, forcing the retirement of members who were not selected for promotion in a prescribed amount of time. In conjunction with these reforms, the military began using what has become the \"standard\" calculation for retirement compensation of 2.5% of base pay, multiplied by years of service, with a maximum payout of 75% of base pay in retirement. For example, a soldier retiring after 25 years of service would be eligible for a payment equal to 62.5% of his base pay at the time of his retirement. This method of calculation has remained ingrained in the military retirement system to present day.\n\nPost-World War II retirement \nSince the Second World War, the baseline of military retirement has been the 20-year retirement. Under such a program, service members have been eligible for retirement payments after 20 years of active duty. Service members received a defined benefit payment upon retirement, payable until the death of the beneficiary. The benefit received was calculated using 2.5% of a member's base pay at the time of retirement, multiplied by years of service. This basic calculation would remain in place until after the Vietnam War.\n\nRetirement reforms \nMounting costs led Congress to pursue reforms to the military retirement system during the 1980s. Under the National Defense Authorization Act of 1981, the military moved from calculating retirement benefits based on the \"final pay,\" or base pay on the final day of active service, to the \"High-3\" system. Under \"High-3,\" the retirement payment of a service member would be based upon the average of the highest 36 months of base pay earned within a career. This allowed the government to reduce payments and realize some savings, without major structural changes to the \"twenty year retirement\". \n\nUnder the Military Retirement Reform Act of 1986, efforts were made to further reduce the burden of military retirement payments by introducing the \"REDUX\" system. The legislation reduced the multiplier for years of service up to 20 years from 2.5% to 2.0%. As such, a member retiring with 20 years of service would rate a monthly payment equal to 40% of the highest-paid 36 months of service. This represented a 20% drop in compensation from the preceding system. Years of service beyond 20 years applied a multiple of 3.5%, which allowed long-serving members who achieved 30 years of service to continue to receive the maximum 75% of their pay in retirement. This system remained in place until 1999, when President Clinton repealed the \"REDUX\" system as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2000. This legislation gave service members the option to retain the REDUX system or fall under the old \"High-3\" model.\n\nBlended Retirement System \nAfter years of fighting the Global War on Terror, the cost of military health care and retirement benefits were growing at a rate defense officials found concerning. In an era in which employers offered fewer traditional pensions, the military provided defined benefit retirement to service members who retired at an average age of 47 and younger, which was viewed by fiscal hawks as overly generous. Additionally, service members who failed to reach the 20-year vesting mark left the service with no accrued benefits, unlike the typical civilian. As a result, Congress instituted the most comprehensive reforms to military retirement in since World War I.\n\nWith the backing of influential Senators such as John McCain, civilian and military leaders created a hybrid retirement system designed to leverage civilian investment vehicles to reduce costs. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 created the \"Blended Retirement System\" (BRS), which combines a reduced defined benefit with an employer-matched contribution. Under the BRS, service members will still receive a defined benefit retirement payment after 20 years of service, at a reduced multiplier of 2.0% per year of service. The Defense Department contributes 1% of a member's base pay automatically, and will match service member contributions up to 5% of the base salary. These funds are managed within the pre-existing Thrift Savings Plan, and vest after two years of service, allowing separating service members who do not serve a full career to 'roll-over' earned benefits to their next civilian retirement plan. The Department of Defense estimates saving $2 billion per year from these reforms on the $150 billion currently spent on military retirement and healthcare.\n\nIn August 2019, it was reported that about $224 million of the system's funding would be repurposed for President Donald Trump's proposed barrier between Mexico and the United States.\n\nReferences\n\nRetirement in the United States\nMilitary pay and benefits\nMilitary of the United States", "The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (or USFSPA) is a U.S. federal law enacted on September 8, 1982 to address issues that arise when a member of the military divorces, and primarily concerns jointly-earned marital property consisting of benefits earned during marriage and while one of the spouses (or both) is a military service member. The divisibility of U.S. military retirement payments in divorce proceedings has had a turbulent legislative and legal history, and the USFSPA has not closely tracked its civilian cousin enacted in 1975, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), although they are similar in some respects with regard to public policy aims.\n\nTypes of post-service pay at issue\nMilitary retirees fall into two general categories: those retired for disabilities and those retired for length of service. Members of the U.S. military who serve honorably for a specified period, generally at least 20 years, are entitled to retire and to receive retirement pay. Military veterans are entitled to compensation for service-connected disabilities, a benefit generally called VA disability, with some exceptions. Some service members may be entitled to a different benefit called combat-related special compensation (CRSC) because of disability caused either by direct engagement in an armed conflict or through an instrumentality of war, such as exposure to Agent Orange. In general, eligible service members must elect either retirement pay, or any disability benefit awarded for a service-connected disability, or choose a CRSC benefit alone, but they may not receive all three, however, some veterans may qualify to receive both retirement pay and a disability benefit.\n\nDisposable retired pay is a measure of post-service pay defined as the gross retired pay less (A) any prior military retirement overpayments and recoupments required by law, (B) any court-martial forfeitures, (C) retirement pay waived in order to receive disability payments from the VA, and (D) the premium costs paid for a spouse, or former spouse pursuant to court order, as a designated survivor under the Survivor Benefit Plan.\n\nFormer spouses can receive their marital share of the retirement benefit directly from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) rather than from the ex-spouse, but to do so must have at least 10 years of marriage to the service member which overlaps the military service. The Department of Defense Financial Management (DoDFM) Regulation section 7000.14-R entitled Former Spouse Payments from Retired Pay sets forth all of the requirements for former spouses to receive direct payment from DFAS.\n\nPrior history\n\nMilitary retirement pay has been characterized as both property and as reduced pay for reduced services, and therefore has been a relevant issue in divorce actions for military retirees. Before the enactment of the USFSPA, former spouses had no statutory right to receive a portion of a member's military retired pay such as they would under later revisions of ERISA; for example, in the 1981 McCarty case, the U.S. Supreme Court determined there was total preemption of any such right concerning federal military retirement benefits. The interval between the McCarty decision and the enactment of the USFSPA is known by some courts as the \"McCarty period\" or the \"McCarty interval.\"\n\nEnactment effect\n\nThe USFSPA was enacted in response to the McCarty decision, overturning it, and in the USFSPA the Congress authorized State courts to distribute, with certain limitations, disposable retired pay in a divorce proceeding. The USFSPA specifically allows State courts to treat military retired pay either as the marital property of both the member and spouse (the marital community in community property States) and to allocate it accordingly, or as the property solely of the member, depending upon all the facts and circumstances.\n\nPost-enactment application\n\nSubsequent to the enactment of the USFSPA, State courts grappled with issues raised by its application in marital dissolution proceedings, such as whether the USFSPA may be applied retroactively to divorce decrees that were final and were not appealed after the Supreme Court decision in McCarty and before enactment of the USFSPA, i.e., during the McCarty interval.\n\nThe DoDFM regulations implement the USFSPA, and the purpose of the 2009 DoDFM Regulation 7000.14-R is to explain to former spouses how to apply for payments from military retired pay.\n\nRetirement pay waiver for disability benefits\n\nThe statute 38 U.S.C. § 3101(a) protects recipients of disability benefits from the claims of creditors and is designed to provide security to the recipient's family and dependents, while 38 U.S.C. § 1310 provides for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (\"DIC\") benefits to a surviving spouse. The definition of a former spouse under 10 U.S.C. § 1447(10) is different from the definition of a surviving spouse under 38 U.S.C. § 101(3), notwithstanding any abused spouse issues related to a divorce.\n\nIn 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed rights under the USFSPA in the Mansell case and further limited the authority of State courts to assign spousal rights to military retirement pay. In Mansell, the court ruled that the USFSPA does not grant State courts the power to treat, as property divisible upon divorce, military retirement pay which has been waived in order to receive VA disability benefits. In other words, a State court is prohibited from distributing in a divorce action disposable retired pay which constitutes that portion of retired pay that has been waived by the retiree under 38 USC § 5305 in favor of receiving VA disability benefits.\n\nThe statute 38 USC § 5305 provides specific rules to follow in order to establish that the military retiree's receipt of VA disability payments resulted from a valid waiver of retirement pay contemplated by the statute. State courts have held, since the Mansell decision, that a military retiree may not agree to pay a portion of their retirement pay as spousal support (alimony) or as a division of marital interests, but then elect, post-judgment, to receive disability pay in an attempt to avoid the obligation to the former spouse, and a State court may order indemnity payments from a retiree who waives retired pay to receive VA disability benefits after a decree of divorce has issued.\n\nTax treatment\n\nThe federal Tax Court has noted that there is no law which excludes military retired pay from income, and ruled in 2012 that the purpose of the USFSPA is not to address the tax treatment of military benefits, but rather to permit Federal, State, and certain other courts to consider military retired pay when fixing property rights between parties to a divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation. Retirees whose former spouses receive a shared portion of the retirement pay do not pay income tax on that portion of retirement pay that is transferred to the former spouse, but the share transferred to the former spouse is taxable to the former spouse. In general, States may not tax retirement pay of military retirees if they do not tax the benefits received by retired State and local government employees.\n\nSee also\n Military divorce\n Qualified domestic relations order\n United States Code sections: \nTitle 10, Armed Forces,\nTitle 29, Labor,\nTitle 37, Pay and Allowances of the Uniformed Services, and\nTitle 38, Veterans' Benefits\n\nReferences\n\nDivorce law in the United States\nUnited States federal defense and national security legislation\nVeterans' affairs in the United States\n97th United States Congress\nRetirement in the United States" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution" ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?	1	Why was Ken Saro-Wiwa arrested?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	he was arrested and accused of incitement	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	false	[ "Noo Saro-Wiwa is a British-Nigerian author, noted for her travel writing. She is the daughter of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.\n\nEducation\nNoo Saro-Wiwa was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and grew up in Ewell, Surrey in England. She attended Roedean School, King's College London and Columbia University, New York, and currently lives in London.\n\nWriting\nSaro-Wiwa's first book was Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Granta Books, 2012). It was nominated for the Dolman Best Travel Book Award, and was named the Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year in 2012. It was selected as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in 2012, and was nominated by the Financial Times as one of the best travel books of 2012. The Guardian newspaper also included it among its 10 Best Contemporary Books on Africa in 2012. It has been translated into French and Italian. In 2016 it won the Albatros Travel Literature Prize in Italy.\n\nSaro-Wiwa was awarded the Miles Morland Scholarship for non-fiction writing in 2015.\n\nIn 2016, she contributed to the anthology An Unreliable Guide to London (Influx Press), as well as A Country of Refuge (Unbound), an anthology of writing on asylum seekers. Another of her stories also featured in La Felicità Degli Uomini Semplici (66th and 2nd), an Italian-language anthology based around football.\n\nShe has contributed book reviews, travel, analysis and opinion articles for The Guardian, The Independent, The Financial Times, The Times Literary Supplement, City AM, La Repubblica, Prospect and The New York Times.\n\nShe was a judge for the 2018 Jhalak Prize for Book of, the Year by a Writer of Colour.\n\nCondé Nast Traveller magazine named Saro-Wiwa as one of the \"30 Most Influential Female Travellers\" in 2018.\n\nIn 2019 she was a Rockefeller Foundation Arts & Literary Arts Fellow at the Bellagio Center, Italy.\n\nShe is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.\n\nShe narrated the BBC documentary Silence Would Be Treason, broadcast 15 January 2022. The documentary includes letters sent by Ken Saro-Wiwa to the Irish nun, Sister Majella McCarron.\n\nPersonal life\nNoo Saro-Wiwa is the daughter of the Nigerian poet and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, and her twin sister is video artist and filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa.\n\nBibliography\n Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Granta Books, 2012).\n\nSelected articles\n \"The unexpected consequence of gorilla conservation in Uganda\", City A.M., 11 December 2019.\n \"Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the creation of Fleabag\" \n \"Swimming With Sharks: Hillary and Chelsea Clinton discuss their new book, Gutsy Women\"\n \"Working-class heroine: Noo Saro-Wiwa shares insights and advice from Michelle Obama\", TLS, 6 December 2018.\n \"A land of conquest, casinos and copious wine, Georgia\", City A.M., 5 July 2018.\n \"What's in a name? Well, the right letters would help\", The Guardian, 12 February 2015.\n \"Boko Haram: Why selfies won't 'bring back our girls'\", Prospect, 20 May 2014.\n \"Bombastic, monochrome and simplistic – and yet still I love Top Gun\", The Guardian, 16 May 2016.\n\nSee Also \n\n Ken Saro-Wiwa\nKen Wiwa\nZina Saro-Wiwa\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nNoo Saro-Wiwa at The Guardian\n\n1976 births\nJournalists from Rivers State\n21st-century British writers\n21st-century Nigerian writers\n21st-century Nigerian women writers\nLiving people\nBritish travel writers\nNigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom\nOgoni people\nWriters from Port Harcourt\nTwin people from Nigeria\nWiwa family\nBritish women travel writers\n21st-century British women writers", "Kenule Beeson \"Ken\" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping.\n\nInitially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.\n\nAt the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly life\nKen Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. \nHe was married to Maria Saro Wiwa.\nHis father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a \"sorry sight to see\". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny.\n\nHe was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million.\n\nIn the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani.\n\nHis intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year.\n\nWorks\nSaro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire.\n\nTransistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission.\n\nIn 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called \"Rotten English\", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English.\n\nActivism\nIn 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell.\n\nIn 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government.\n\nSaro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.\n\nIn January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily.\n\nArrest and execution\nSaro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month.\nOn the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine.\n\nSome of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer.\n\nThe trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize.\n\nOn 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt.\n\nOn 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: \"Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues.\" After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks.\n\nThe executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a \"cruel and callous act\", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions \"judicial murder.\" South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria.\n\nIn his 1989 short story \"Africa Kills Her Sun\", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution.\n\nKen Saro-Wiwa Foundation \nThe Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt.\n\nFamily lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell\n\nBeginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation.\n\nThe cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place.\n\nThe United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York.\n\nLegacy\nSaro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include:\n\nArtwork and memorials\nA memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year.\n\nAwards\nThe Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose.\n He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project.\n\nLiterature\nSaro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000).\nRichard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa.\n\nKenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic \nThe Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa.\n\nMaynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa \nA collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI).\n\nThe Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University.\n\nMusic\n The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song \"A sangue freddo\" (\"In cold blood\" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa.\n The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song \"Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut\" (\"Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead\") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa.\n Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song \"Rational\" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie.\n Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist.\n The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song.\n The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video \"Soul is Heavy\".\n\nFilms\nAki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news.\n\nKen Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet.\n\nStreets\nAmsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat.\n\nDocumentary\nBBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets.\n\nPersonal life\nSaro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed.\n\nAccording to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa:\n\n\"He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years.\"\n\nBiographies\nCanadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave.\nOgoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people\nOnookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa\nIn the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa.\nSaro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution.\n In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder.\n\nBibliography\n\nSee also\n History of Nigeria\n Isaac Adaka Boro\n List of people from Rivers State\n Petroleum industry in Nigeria\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nExternal links\n\n \"Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa\" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009.\n \"The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa\" by Anthony Daniels\n Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution.\n Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – \"America in Africa: plunderer or part\"\n The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation\n Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign\n PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX\n The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report\n Right Livelihood Award recipient\n The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt\n Wiwa v. Shell trial information\n Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University\n Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland\n\n \n1941 births\n1995 deaths\n20th-century executions by Nigeria\n20th-century male writers\n20th-century Nigerian writers\nActivists from Rivers State\nBurials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery\nEnvironmental killings\nExecuted Nigerian people\nGoldman Environmental Prize awardees\nGovernment College Umuahia alumni\nMedia people from Rivers State\nNigerian activists\nNigerian democracy activists\nNigerian environmentalists\nNigerian pacifists\nNigerian writers\nNonviolence advocates\nOgoni people\nPeople associated with Maynooth University\nPeople executed by Nigeria by hanging\nPeople from Bori\nPeople of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War\nPetroleum politics\nPrisoners and detainees of Nigeria\nRivers State Commissioners of Education\nShell plc\nUniversity of Ibadan alumni\nUniversity of Lagos faculty\nVictims of human rights abuses\nWiwa family\nWriters from Rivers State" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement" ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	Was he placed in jail?	2	Was Ken Saro-Wiwa placed in jail?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	false	[ "Tezpur Central Jail is a prison located at the center of Guwahati city in Assam, India. It is one of 31 prisons located in the state of Assam.\n\nHistory \nThe Tejpur Jail was set up in 1846. It has been declared a Central Jail now. The total area of the jail premises is a little over 30 acres. The jail enclosure itself is situated on about 9 acres of land. All the buildings do not really date back to 1846 but they are all very old.\n\nMajor Cases \nAt least 28 inmates of the Tezpur Central Jail in Assam have tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19 virus on Wednesday, 29 July 2021. According to reports, as many as 40 prison inmates were tested using the rapid antigen method, out of which 28 inmates tested positive for the dreaded contagion. With this, the number of Tezpur Jail inmates. With this, the number of Tezpur Jail inmates who have tested positive for the dreaded contagion has risen to 56 inmates.\n\nA prisoner of Tezpur Central Jail Lalit Nayak, serving life term since 2005 has allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a well in the jail premises.\n\nNotable prisoners \n\nMrinmoy Dawka, the superintendent of Tezpur Central jail in Sonitpur district, was arrested on Thursday following complaints of sexual assault by two women. There were two complaints against the accused. He had allegedly sexually assaulted the wife of an inmate on the promise of releasing her husband. The second case is of him outraging the modesty of the wife of a jail warden,” said Mugdhajyoti Dev Mahanta, superintendent of police (SP), Sonitpur.\n\nDhabua Rajowar was arrested in March 1997 for the murder of his own mother. Apparently, he was suffering from mental illness at the time of the murder. He was placed in judicial custody on 24/03/97 and never secured bail. On 4/03/2002 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Altogether he has been in jail for 11 years and 8 months.\n\nReferences \n\nPrisons in India\n1881 establishments in India\nBuildings and structures in Guwahati", "Ivan Pravilov (; January 22, 1963 – February 10, 2012) was a Ukrainian ice hockey coach. He coached a Ukrainian hockey school, Druzhba-78, before he moved to the United States in 2007. Pravilov trained a number of young players and National Hockey League players in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, including Dainius Zubrus and Andrei Zyuzin. Pravilov was accused of fondling a 14-year-old whom he coached in January 2012, was arrested for having sexual contact with a teenager, indicted on child-molestation charges, and placed in a Philadelphia jail. He committed suicide by hanging at 49 years of age in his jail cell, on February 10, 2012.\n\nCoaching career\nPravilov was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He ran and coached a Ukrainian hockey school, from the 1980s, and a youth hockey team named Druzhba-78, until he came to the United States in 2007 to coach ice hockey players in the US. He was a mentor of a number of NHL and U.S. college players. He trained teenagers and professionals, including Dainius Zubrus and Andrei Zyuzin, in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area.\n\nA former student of Druzhba-78 claimed in January 2012 that Pravilov had physically abused members of Druzhba-78.\n\nCriminal sexual abuse allegations \n\nPravilov was accused of fondling a 14-year-old Ukrainian boy, whom he coached in hockey, on January 3, 2012, after he had invited the teenager to his apartment in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, from the child's host home in Wilmington, Delaware. He was arrested for having sexual contact with a teenage boy, indicted on child-molestation charges, and on January 19, 2012, placed in a Philadelphia jail, the Federal Detention Center. A week later, it was announced that he was wanted on an Interpol warrant and charged with traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and transporting a person to engage in criminal sexual activity.\n\nSuicide \nPravilov was found to be unresponsive in his jail cell on February 10, 2012, at 3:00 am. By 3:45, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A preliminary FBI investigation suggested that he had committed suicide.\n\nThe cause of the 49-year-old's death being suicide by hanging was confirmed by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office on 22 February 2012.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Info about Ivan Pravilov\n\"The Perfect Predator\", Documented history of Pravilov's child abuse\n\n1963 births\n2012 suicides\nSportspeople from Kharkiv\nUkrainian ice hockey coaches\nChild sexual abuse in the United States\nPeople who committed suicide in prison custody\nUkrainian people who died in prison custody\nPrisoners who died in United States federal government detention\nSuicides by hanging in Pennsylvania" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death" ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	How was he executed?	3	How was Ken Saro-Wiwa executed?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	hanging by military personnel.	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	false	[ "Alexey Alexandrovich Kuznetsov (, in Borovichi – 1 October 1950, in Moscow) was a Soviet statesman, CPSU (since 1925) functionary, Lieutenant General, member of CPSU Central Committee (1939-1949).\n\nHe was Second Secretary (deputy leader) to Leningrad CPSU gorkom (city committee) and obkom (oblast committee), and, during the Siege of Leningrad, helped organize the city's defense. For his work during the siege, he was promoted to First Secretary in 1945.\n\nZhdanov was thought to want Kuznetsov to replace him as CC Party Chairman. Kuznetsov was also believed to be a possible replacement for Stalin on the latter's death. He was a strong supporter of Stalin, who appointed him to head the security functions of the party, showing how much the Soviet leader trusted him.\n\nThe beginning of Kuznetsov’s fall came when Stalin demoted him and returned him to a minor post in Leningrad (a frequent sign that the subject was destined for a final fall). This may have been because Kuznetsov had been digging into Kirov's death - suspicion of Stalin’s involvement in this murder has never been put to rest. Eventually Kuznetsov was arrested, tried and sentenced to death in a secret trial during the Leningrad Affair. He was executed in 1950.\n\nHis death consolidated the power of Malenkov, Beria and Bulganin, with the inference that they may have been involved in the charges, fabricated or not.\n\nHe was rehabilitated posthumously.\n\nHonours and awards\n Two Orders of Lenin\n Medal \"For the Defence of Leningrad\"\n\nReferences\n\nSoviet politicians\nRussian people executed by the Soviet Union\nMembers of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union\nSoviet rehabilitations\n1905 births\n1950 deaths\nExecuted people from Novgorod Oblast\nRecipients of the Order of Lenin\nExecuted Soviet people from Russia\nPeople executed for corruption", "Evagoras Pallikarides (; died 14 March 1957) was a Greek Cypriot revolutionary and poet, and member of EOKA during the 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus.\n\nEOKA\nPallikarides was arrested on 18 December 1956 because he was caught with his guns loaded on a donkey. The police had privately reported that he had murdered a man, considered to be a British collaborator by EOKA, although there was no evidence for this claim of murder.\n\nTrial and hanging\nAt his trial Pallikarides did not deny possession of the weapon. He said he did what he had to do as a Greek Cypriot seeking his freedom. He was sentenced to death by hanging for firearms possession on 27 February 1957. Pallikarides was hanged on 14 March 1957, at the age of 19. A propaganda leaflet was published after the hanging with a fabricated description of how he had murdered a traitor. The lawfulness of his execution has been subsequently questioned in light of the fact that the weapon held by Pallikarides at the time was not functional. A. W. B. Simpson in his book Human Rights and the End of Empire, claims that the real reason for his execution was that the authorities believed, but were unable to prove, that he had earlier murdered an elderly individual who was a suspected collaborator with the British authorities.\n\nReferences\n\n1957 deaths\nCypriot people of the EOKA\nexecuted Cypriot people\nexecuted revolutionaries\nGreek revolutionaries\npeople executed by British Cyprus by hanging\npeople executed by the British military by hanging\npeople from Paphos District\npeople killed in the Cyprus Emergency" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death", "How was he executed?", "hanging by military personnel." ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	What year was he executed?	4	What year was Ken Saro-Wiwa executed?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	1995,	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	true	[ "Þórir jökull Steinfinnsson was an Icelandic 13th century warrior and possibly a skald.\n\nOverview\n\nLife\nÞórir was captured following the Battle of Örlygsstaðir, fought on August 21, 1238. He was executed along with five others, whose names are recorded in the Íslendinga saga, included in the Sturlunga saga. Also given are the names of the about fifty combatants who were killed on that day. Þórir’s executioner was a man allowed to perform the execution to avenge Þórir’s killing of his brother at the Battle of Bær, which occurred on April 28, 1237.\n\nPoem\n\nÞórir is known for a poem he recited before his execution.\n\nReferences\n\n Faulkes, Anthony (1993). What Was Viking Poetry For?. University of Birmingham. \n Jón Jóhannesson, Magnus Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, editors, Sturlunga Saga, Vol 1 & 2, Sturlunguútgáfan, Reykjavík, 1946\n\nIcelandic poets\nSkalds\n13th-century Icelandic people\nPeople executed by Iceland by decapitation\nExecuted Icelandic people\n13th-century executions\nExecuted military personnel\nYear of birth unknown\n13th-century Icelandic poets", "Lazar Naumovich Aronshtam (June 8, 1896 – March 25, 1938) was a Soviet political officer. \n\nHe was born in what is now Ukraine. He was the brother of Grigory Aronshtam. He fought in the Russian Civil War on the side of the Bolsheviks. He was a member of the 17th Central Auditing Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) which was established in 1934. During the Great Purge, he was arrested on May 31, 1937 and executed the following year. \n\nHe was rehabilitated on June 2, 1956.\n\nExternal links\n\n1896 births\n1938 deaths\nPeople from Borzna\nPeople from Borznyansky Uyezd\nUkrainian Jews\nJews of the Russian Empire\nSoviet Jews\nSoviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War\nRecipients of the Order of the Red Banner\nGreat Purge victims from Ukraine\nJews executed by the Soviet Union\nJewish socialists\nSoviet rehabilitations\nFrunze Military Academy alumni" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death", "How was he executed?", "hanging by military personnel.", "What year was he executed?", "1995," ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	Was there anything significant about the execution?	5	Was there anything significant about Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel.	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	false	[ "Turki bin Saud Al Kabeer () was a Saudi prince. He was a great-grandson of Prince Saud Al Kabeer, who was a cousin and brother-in-law of King Abdulaziz (r. 1932–1953). Prince Saud was a prominent figure in the majlis of internal advisers to King Abdulaziz.\n\nAl Kabeer's execution for murder was announced by Saudi state media on 18 October 2016. He was the first member of the Saudi royal family to be executed since the execution of 19 year old Mishaal bint Fahd bin Mohammed Al Saud in 1977.\n\nCrime and punishment\nAl Kabeer pleaded guilty to the murder of Adel bin Suleiman bin Abdulkareem Al Muhaimeed, whom he shot to death in 2012. The victim was \"a friend\" of the shooter who also injured other people in a brawl in the desert outside Riyadh. After the victim's family refused offers of diya (blood money), he was executed by beheading. It was the 134th execution of 2016 in Saudi Arabia.\n\nExecution\nA few hours before the execution, Al Kabeer was met by his friends and family within four hours. Waiting for the execution, Al Kabeer spent his time praying and reading the Quran until the Fajr prayer. At about 7:00 am, the prison warden took him to the place where the prince was to write his last will. After he performed ablution, at 11:00 am, he was taken to the mosque. During the final hour before execution, Al Kabeer’s father tried to convince the victim’s father to forgive the him and to accept . However, the victim's father did not accept this offer nor did he forgive his son's killer. Thus, the execution proceeded immediately after at 4:13 pm.\n\nAl Kabeer's execution started significant discussion on Saudi social media, with commentators from around the country commending the Saudi authorities' decision to treat him like any other Saudi citizen.\n\nSee also\n\n Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia\n\nReferences\n\n21st-century executions by Saudi Arabia\n2016 deaths\nExecuted royalty\nExecuted Saudi Arabian people\nFilmed executions\nPeople convicted of murder by Saudi Arabia\nPeople executed by Saudi Arabia by decapitation\nPeople executed for murder\nTurki", "Galgbackn, Vårgårda is a small town in Sweden that was the site of two execution facilities.\n\nOne was approximately at the location where the current water tower is today. The place has been called Kåkakullen. The word is an old expression for a place where they hang people. The second was Northwest of the current Orregatan on the top of Kåkakullen. It is the better-preserved site.\n\nHistory \n\nSome bodies were left for public viewing after the execution. Complaints from residents and from the priest led to the end of executions there. The last execution took place on May 12, 1859, when Karlsson-Pelur was executed. Karlsson was convicted of carrying out three robberies and one murder. Executions attracted many spectators, especially given that the railway was completed two years earlier.\n\nAn essay about the execution states \"Han gick lägga tjoka på ett bräe\". This meant that a prisoner had put his chin on a board so his blood could be collected in a bowl. The blood would then be used to cure diseases, it was said that the blood could cure most diseases.\n\nThe Göteborgs-Posten wrote a notice of execution, where it said \"He walked calmly towards his destiny\". A ring of trusted men was formed around the place of execution to prevent escapes.\n\nKåkakullen held several burial mounds dating to between 1 100-0 B.C.\n\nPopulated places in Västra Götaland County\nPopulated places in Vårgårda Municipality" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death", "How was he executed?", "hanging by military personnel.", "What year was he executed?", "1995,", "Was there anything significant about the execution?", "the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel." ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?	6	Besides Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime.	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	true	[ "Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region", "Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death", "How was he executed?", "hanging by military personnel.", "What year was he executed?", "1995,", "Was there anything significant about the execution?", "the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime." ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	What is the Abacha regime?	7	What is the Abacha regime?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	false	[ "Boluwaduro is a Local Government Area in Osun State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Otan Aiyegbaju (or Otan for short) at. It was created in October 1996 under late Gen. Abacha's regime.\n\nIt has an area of 144 km and a population of 70,775 at the 2006 census.\n\nThe postal code of the area is 231.\n\nReferences\n\nLocal Government Areas in Osun State", "Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) was a campaign formed in 1997 to urge General Sani Abacha to self succeed and run for Nigeria's presidency.(Youth Activism: An International Encyclopedia, Volume 2 PAGE 447) The YEAA campaign, led by Daniel Kanu, placed billboards around the country, publicized advertisements in the media and sponsored editorials to encourage support for Abacha. They were also in support of Vision 2010, a projected economic plan for Nigeria to improve economically and socially. (Regime Change and Succession Politics in Africa: Five Decades of Misrule)\n\nTwo Million Man March \nThe support of the former military leader culminated in 1998 with what is now famously remembered as 2 Million Man March, the largest gathering in history of Nigeria, coordinated by YEAA and NACYAN. Africa Research Bulletin reported that YEAA had distributed free exercise books to schools, that it had plans to distribute subsidized imported \"Abacha Rice\" and that it had bought two new buses, equipped with speakers and modern communications equipment (20 Mar. 1998 13002). According to Daniel Kanu, everything was done for the Nigerian youths who had been neglected for decades. He also claimed that if the youths continue to be neglected, the crime and terrorism in Nigeria will escalate. According to an interview with Daniel Kanu the costs of the rally, estimated at 400-500 million Naira, were paid for by \"patriotic individuals\" (NTA TV 5 Mar. 1998; Voice of Nigeria 3 Mar. 1998) As alleged in the book Regime Change and Succession Politics in Africa: Five Decades of Misrule, the march was likely government-backed and nearly 2.5 billion Naira was spent on the march. \n(PG 115 Repressive State and Resurgent Media Under Nigeria’s Military Dictatorship) After the death of General Sani Abacha, the following governments abandoned implementation of Vision 2010\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n www.example.com\n\nPolitics of Nigeria\n1997 in Nigeria\n1997 in politics" ]
[ "Ken Saro-Wiwa", "Arrest and execution", "Why was Saro-Wiwa arrested?", "he was arrested and accused of incitement", "Was he placed in jail?", "was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death", "How was he executed?", "hanging by military personnel.", "What year was he executed?", "1995,", "Was there anything significant about the execution?", "the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime.", "What is the Abacha regime?", "I don't know." ]	C_e845f6fb9d1747d892f759663a85dc03_1	Did anything notable happen after his execution?	8	Besides the alleged rigging by the Abacha regime, did anything notable happen after Ken Saro-Wiwa execution?	Ken Saro-Wiwa	Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On 21 May 1994 four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of incitement to them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were killed by hanging by military personnel. They were buried in Port Harcourt Cemetery. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. CANNOTANSWER	In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution.	Kenule Beeson "Ken" Saro-Wiwa (born in Bori, on the 10th October 1941 and died on 10 November 1995 ) was a Nigerian writer, television producer, and environmental activist.Ken Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland, Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta. Which has been targeted for crude oil extraction since the 1950s and which has suffered extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping. Initially as a spokesperson, and then as the president, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company. He is also known as a critic of the Nigerian government, for its allegedly reluctant behavior to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area. At the peak of his non-violent campaign, he was tried by a special military tribunal for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting, and hanged in 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over three years. Biography Early life Ken Saro-Wiwa was born in Bori, near Port-Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria on the 10th of October, 1941. Kenule Tsaro-Wiwa (full name), was the son of Chief Jim Wiwa, a forest ranger that held a title in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, and his third wife Widu. He officially changed his name to Saro-Wiwa after the Nigerian Civil war. He was married to Maria Saro Wiwa. His father's hometown was the village of Bane, Ogoniland, whose residents speak the Khana dialect of the Ogoni language. Saro-Wiwa spent his childhood in an Anglican home and eventually proved himself to be an excellent student. He received primary education at a Native Authority school in Bori, then attended secondary school at Government College Umuahia. A distinguished student, Saro-Wiwa was captain of the table tennis team and amassed school prizes in History and English. On the completion of his secondary education, he obtained a scholarship to study English at the University of Ibadan. At Ibadan, he plunged into academic and cultural interests, he won departmental prizes in 1963 and 1965 and worked for a drama troupe. The travelling drama troupe performed in Kano, Benin, Ilorin and Lagos and collaborated with the Nottingham Playhouse theatre group that included a young Judi Dench. He briefly became a teaching assistant at the University of Lagos and later at University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Saro-Wiwa was an African literature lecturer in Nsukka when the Civil war broke out, he supported the Federal Government and had to leave the region for his hometown at Bori. On his journey to Port-Harcourt, he witnessed the multitudes of refugees returning to the East, a scene he described as a "sorry sight to see". Three days after his arrival to Bonny, It fell to federal troops. He and his family then stayed in Bonny, he travelled back to Lagos and took a position at the University of Lagos which did not last long as he was called back to Bonny. He was called back to become the Civilian Administrator for the port city of Bonny in the Niger Delta. During the Nigerian Civil War he positioned himself as an Ogoni leader dedicated to the Federal cause. He followed his job as an administrator with an appointment as a commissioner in the old Rivers State. His best known novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1985), tells the story of a naive village boy recruited to the army during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, and intimates the political corruption and patronage in Nigeria's military regime of the time. Saro-Wiwa's war diaries, On a Darkling Plain (1989), document his experience during the war. He was also a successful businessman and television producer. His satirical television series, Basi & Company, was wildly popular, with an estimated audience of 30 million. In the early 1970s, he served as the Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State Cabinet. But was dismissed in 1973 because of his support for Ogoni autonomy. In the late 1970s, he established a number of successful business ventures in retail and real estate, and during the 1980s concentrated primarily on his writing, journalism and television production. In 1977, he became involved in the political arena running as the candidate to represent Ogoni in the Constituent Assembly. Saro-Wiwa lost the election in a narrow margin. It was during this time he had a fall out with his friend Edwards Kobani. His intellectual work was interrupted in 1987 when he re-entered the political scene, having been appointed by the newly installed dictator Ibrahim Babangida to aid the country's transition to democracy. But Saro-Wiwa soon resigned because he felt Babangida's supposed plans for a return to democracy were disingenuous. Saro-Wiwa's sentiments were proven correct in the coming years, as Babangida failed to relinquish power. In 1993, Babangida annulled Nigeria's general elections that would have transferred power to a civilian government, sparking mass civil unrest and eventually forcing him to step down, at least officially, that same year. Works Saro-Wiwa's works include TV, drama and prose writing. His earlier works from 1970s to 1980s were mostly satirical displays that portray a counter-image of Nigerian society. But his later writings were more inspired by political dimensions such as environmental and social justice than satire. Transistor Radio, one of his best known plays was written for a revue during his university days at Ibadan but still resonated well with Nigerian society and was adapted into a television series. Some of his works drew inspiration from the play. In 1972, a radio version of the play was produced and in 1985, he produced Basi and Company, a successful screen adaption of the play. Saro-Wiwa included the play in Four Farcical Plays and Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. Basi and Company, an adaptation of Transistor Radio, ran on television from 1985 to 1990. A farcical comedy, the show chronicles city life and is anchored by the protagonist, Basi, a resourceful and street-wise character looking for ways to achieve his goal of obtaining millions which always ends to become an illusive mission. In 1985, the Biafran Civil War novel Sozaboy was published. The protagonist's language was written in nonstandard English or what Saro-Wiwa called "Rotten English", a hybrid language of pidgin English, standard English and broken English. Activism In 1990, he began devoting most of his time to human rights and environmental causes, particularly in Ogoniland. He was one of the earliest members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which advocated for the rights of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Bill of Rights, written by MOSOP, set out the movement's demands, including increased autonomy for the Ogoni people, a fair share of the proceeds of oil extraction, and remediation of environmental damage to Ogoni lands. In particular, MOSOP struggled against the degradation of Ogoni lands by Royal Dutch Shell. In 1992, Saro-Wiwa was imprisoned for several months, without trial, by the Nigerian military government. Saro-Wiwa was Vice Chair of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) General Assembly from 1993 to 1995. UNPO is an international, nonviolent, and democratic organisation (of which MOSOP is a member). Its members are indigenous peoples, minorities, and under-recognised or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them. In January 1993, MOSOP organised peaceful marches of around 300,000 Ogoni people – more than half of the Ogoni population – through four Ogoni urban centres, drawing international attention to their people's plight. The same year the Nigerian government occupied the region militarily. Arrest and execution Saro-Wiwa was arrested again and detained by Nigerian authorities in June 1993 but was released after a month. On the 21st of May 1994, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. Saro-Wiwa had been denied entry to Ogoniland on the day of the murders, but he was arrested and accused of inciting them. He denied the charges but was imprisoned for more than a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal. The same happened to eight other MOSOP leaders who, along with Saro-Wiwa, became known as the Ogoni Nine. Some of the defendants' lawyers resigned in protest against the alleged rigging of the trial by the Abacha regime. The resignations left the defendants to their own means against the tribunal, which continued to bring witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa and his peers. Many of these supposed witnesses later admitted that they had been bribed by the Nigerian government to support the criminal allegations. At least two witnesses who testified that Saro-Wiwa was involved in the murders of the Ogoni elders later recanted, stating that they had been bribed with money and offers of jobs with Shell to give false testimony, in the presence of Shell's lawyer. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and, half a year later, Ken Saro-Wiwa received the Right Livelihood Award for his courage, as well as the Goldman Environmental Prize. On 8 November 1995, a military ruling council upheld the death sentences. The military government then immediately moved to carry them out. The prison in Port Harcourt was selected as the place of execution. Although the government wanted to carry out the sentences immediately, it had to wait two days for a makeshift gallows to be built. Within hours of the sentences being upheld, nine coffins were taken to the prison, and the following day a team of executioners was flown in from Sokoto to Port Harcourt. On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine were taken from the army base where they were being held to Port Harcourt prison. They were told that they were being moved to Port Harcourt because it was feared that the army base they were being held in might be attacked by Ogoni youths. The prison was heavily guarded by riot police and tanks, and hundreds of people lined the streets in anticipation of the executions. After arriving at Port Harcourt prison, Saro-Wiwa and the others were herded into a single room and their wrists and ankles were shackled. They were then led one by one to the gallows and executed by hanging, with Saro-Wiwa being the first. It took five tries to execute him due to faulty equipment. His last words were: "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues." After the executions, the bodies were taken to the Port Harcourt Cemetery under armed guard and buried. Anticipating disturbances as a result of the executions, the Nigerian government deployed tens of thousands of troops and riot police to two southern provinces and major oil refineries around the country. The Port Harcourt Cemetery was surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The executions provoked a storm of international outrage. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the executions in a resolution which passed by a vote of 101 in favor to 14 against and 47 abstentions. The European Union condemned the executions, which it called a "cruel and callous act", and imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Nigeria, imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria, and slapped travel restrictions on members of the Nigerian military regime and their families. The United Kingdom recalled its high commissioner in Nigeria, and British Prime Minister John Major called the executions "judicial murder." South Africa took a primary role in leading international criticism, with President Nelson Mandela urging Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Zimbabwe and Kenya also backed Mandela, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe backing Mandela's demand to suspend Nigeria's Commonwealth membership, but a number of other African leaders criticized the suggestion. Nigeria's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations was ultimately suspended, and Nigeria was threatened with expulsion if it did not transition to democracy in two years. The US and British governments also discussed the possibility of an oil embargo backed by a naval blockade of Nigeria. In his 1989 short story "Africa Kills Her Sun", Saro-Wiwa in a resigned, melancholic mood, foreshadowed his own execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation The Ken Saro-Wiwa foundation was established in 2017 to work towards improved access to basic resources such as electricity and Internet for entrepreneurs in Port Harcourt. The association founded the Ken Junior Award, named for Saro-Wiwa's son Ken Wiwa, who died in October 2016. The award is presented to innovative start-up technology companies in Port Harcourt. Family lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman and other human rights attorneys have brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhumane treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The lawsuits are brought against Royal Dutch Shell and Brian Anderson, the head of its Nigerian operation. The cases were brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 statute giving non-US citizens the right to file suits in US courts for international human rights violations, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows individuals to seek damages in the US for torture or extrajudicial killing, regardless of where the violations take place. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of June 2009. On 9 June 2009 Shell agreed to an out-of-court settlement of US$15.5 million to victims' families. However, the company denied any liability for the deaths, stating that the payment was part of a reconciliation process. In a statement given after the settlement, Shell suggested that the money was being provided to the relatives of Saro-Wiwa and the eight other victims, to cover the legal costs of the case and also in recognition of the events that took place in the region. Some of the funding is also expected to be used to set up a development trust for the Ogoni people, who inhabit the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The settlement was made just days before the trial, which had been brought by Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, was due to begin in New York. Legacy Saro-Wiwa's death provoked international outrage and the immediate suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the calling back of many foreign diplomats for consultation. The United States and other countries considered imposing economic sanctions. Other tributes to him include: Artwork and memorials A memorial to Saro-Wiwa was unveiled in London on 10 November 2006 by London organisation Platform. It consists of a sculpture in the form of a bus and was created by Nigerian-born artist Sokari Douglas Camp. It toured the UK the following year. Awards The Association of Nigerian Authors is a sponsor of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose. He is named a Writer hero by The My Hero Project. Literature Saro-Wiwa's execution is quoted and used as an inspiration for Beverley Naidoo's novel The Other Side of Truth (2000). Richard North Patterson published a novel, Eclipse (2009), based upon the life and death of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic The Governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has renamed the Rivers State Polytechnic after Ken Saro-Wiwa. Maynooth University and Ken Saro-Wiwa A collection of handwritten letters by Ken Saro-Wiwa was donated to Maynooth University by Sister Majella McCarron. Also in the collection are 27 poems, recordings of visits and meetings with family and friends after Saro-Wiwa's death, a collection of photographs and other documents. The letters are now in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). The Ken Saro-Wiwa Archive is housed in Special Collections at Maynooth University. Music The Italian band Il Teatro degli Orrori dedicated their song "A sangue freddo" ("In cold blood" – also the title track of their second album) to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Finnish band Ultra Bra dedicated their song "Ken Saro-Wiwa on kuollut" ("Ken Saro-Wiwa is dead") to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's execution inspired the song "Rational" by Canadian band King Cobb Steelie. Rapper Milo shouts Ken Saro-Wiwa out on the song Zen Scientist. The punk rock band Anti-Flag talk about him in their song Mumia's Song. The Nigerian singer Nneka makes reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa in her song and music video "Soul is Heavy". Films Aki Kaurismäki's 1996 film Drifting Clouds includes a scene where the main character hears of Saro-Wiwa's death from the television news. Ken Saro-Wiwa lives on! - directed by Elisa Dassoler (BRAZIL). 2017, color. 82 min. The film is available on the internet. Streets Amsterdam has named a street after Saro-Wiwa, the Ken Saro-Wiwastraat. Documentary BBC World Service Radio Documentary, produced by Bairbre Flood and broadcast in January 2022. 'Silence Would Be Treason' is presented by his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa and voiced by Ben Arogundade. It brings to life the last letters and poems of Ken Saro-Wiwa to an Irish nun which were smuggled out of the military detention centre in bread baskets. Personal life Saro-Wiwa and his wife Maria had five children, who grew up with their mother in the United Kingdom while their father remained in Nigeria. They include Ken Wiwa and Noo Saro-Wiwa, both journalists and writers, and Noo's twin Zina Saro-Wiwa, a journalist and filmmaker. In addition, Saro-Wiwa had two daughters (Singto and Adele) with another woman. He also had another son, Kwame Saro-Wiwa, who was only one year old when his father was executed. According to Guardian, here are some facts about Saro-Wiwa: "He was an exceptionally intelligent student, and won prizes at the University of Ibadan, he was a member of a drama troupe, he was an author, he produced two of Nigeria’s best television series, after his death, the Commonwealth of Nations suspended Nigeria for three years." Biographies Canadian author J. Timothy Hunt's The Politics of Bones (September 2005), published shortly before the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution, documented the flight of Saro-Wiwa's brother Owens Wiwa, after his brother's execution and his own imminent arrest, to London and then on to Canada, where he is now a citizen and continues his brother's fight on behalf of the Ogoni people. Moreover, it is also the story of Owens' personal battle against the Nigerian government to locate his brother's remains after they were buried in an unmarked mass-grave. Ogoni's Agonies: Ken Saro Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria (1998), edited by Abdul Rasheed Naʾallah, provides more information on the struggles of the Ogoni people Onookome Okome's book, Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa—Literature, Politics, and Dissent (1999) is a collection of essays about Wiwa In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son's Journey to Understanding His Father's Legacy (2000), was written by his son Ken Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's own diary, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, was published in January 1995, two months after his execution. In Looking for Transwonderland - Travels in Nigeria, his daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa tells the story of her return to Nigeria years after her father's murder. Bibliography See also History of Nigeria Isaac Adaka Boro List of people from Rivers State Petroleum industry in Nigeria References Sources External links "Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa" at PEN World Voices, sponsored by Guernica Magazine in New York City on 2 May 2009. "The perils of activism: Ken Saro-Wiwa" by Anthony Daniels Letter of protest published in the New York Review of Books shortly before Saro-Wiwa's execution. Ken Saro-Wiwa's son, Ken Wiwa, writes a letter on openDemocracy.net about the campaign to seek justice for his father in a lawsuit against Shell – "America in Africa: plunderer or part" The Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation Remember Saro-Wiwa campaign PEN Centres honour Saro-Wiwa's memory – IFEX The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 1995 Ogoni report Right Livelihood Award recipient The Politics of Bones, by J. Timothy Hunt Wiwa v. Shell trial information Ken Saro-Wiwa at Maynooth University Ken Saro-Wiwa at the Digital Repository of Ireland 1941 births 1995 deaths 20th-century executions by Nigeria 20th-century male writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Activists from Rivers State Burials at the Port Harcourt Cemetery Environmental killings Executed Nigerian people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Government College Umuahia alumni Media people from Rivers State Nigerian activists Nigerian democracy activists Nigerian environmentalists Nigerian pacifists Nigerian writers Nonviolence advocates Ogoni people People associated with Maynooth University People executed by Nigeria by hanging People from Bori People of Rivers State in the Nigerian Civil War Petroleum politics Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria Rivers State Commissioners of Education Shell plc University of Ibadan alumni University of Lagos faculty Victims of human rights abuses Wiwa family Writers from Rivers State	true	[ "Anything Can Happen is a 1952 comedy-drama film.\n\nAnything Can Happen may also refer to:\n\n Anything Can Happen (album), by Leon Russell, 1994\n \"Anything Can Happen\", a 2019 song by Saint Jhn \n Edhuvum Nadakkum ('Anything Can Happen'), a season of the Tamil TV series Marmadesam\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour\", or \"Anything Can Happen\", a 2007 song by Enter Shikari\n Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour (EP), 2004\n\nSee also\n \"Anything Could Happen\", a 2012 song by Ellie Goulding \n Anything Might Happen, 1934 British crime film\n Special Effects: Anything Can Happen, a 1996 American documentary film\n \"Anything Can Happen on Halloween\", a song from the 1986 film The Worst Witch \n Anything Can Happen in the Theatre, a musical revue of works by Maury Yeston\n \"The Anything Can Happen Recurrence\", an episode of The Big Bang Theory (season 7)\n The Anupam Kher Show - Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai ('The Anupam Kher Show — Anything Can Happen') an Indian TV show", "\"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (often shortened to \"Anything Can Happen\") is the second physical single, and third overall, by Enter Shikari and the second single to be released from their debut album Take to the Skies. It was released on 18 February 2007 for digital download and on 5 March 2007 on both CD and 7\" vinyl. It is the band's highest charting single, charting at #27 in the UK single chart, and number 1 on the UK indie chart. There are two remixes of the song, Colon Open Bracket Remix and Grayedout Mix. Both are up for download on their official download store.\n\nTrack listing\n\n CD\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 4:40\n \"Kickin' Back on the Surface of Your Cheek\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 3:50\n \"Keep It on Ice\" (Rou) - 2:51\n\n 7\"\n\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 4:40\n \"Kickin' Back on the Surface of Your Cheek\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 3:50\n\nOriginal version\nIn the original version of the song, a sample is heard from the introduction of the popular 1960s TV series Stingray in which the character says \"Anything can happen in the next half hour\". This is, however, not heard in the re-recorded version.\n\nChart performance\n\nPersonnel\n\nEnter Shikari\nRoughton \"Rou\" Reynolds - vocals, electronics\nLiam \"Rory\" Clewlow - guitar\nChris Batten - bass, vocals\nRob Rolfe - drums\nProduction\nEnter Shikari - production\nJohn Mitchell - recording\nBen Humphreys - recording\nMartin Giles - mastering\nKeaton Henson - illustration, design\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Video - \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" video.\n Original Video - Original video using the 2004 EP version of the song.\n Stingray Introduction - The phrase can be heard at 0:44\n\n2007 singles\nEnter Shikari songs\nSong articles missing an audio sample\n2007 songs" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live" ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	What is Morrison hotel?	1	What is Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	their fifth album.	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	true	[ "\"Enlightenment\" is a single written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1990 album Enlightenment. The song was also included on the 1993 compilation album The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two.\n\nBiographer Brian Hinton comments \"'Enlightenment' is actually the opposite of what it sounds: it is full of doubt, not affirmation. 'I'm meditating and still I'm suffering.' He seems to be saying everything is a state of mind, you can choose to live in heaven or hell.\"\n\nIn a Rolling Stone review, John Swenson writes that the album Enlightenment is a sequel to Avalon Sunset and enables Morrison to have a new start (musically and spiritually). \"Morrison is so pleased with his new start that he can even poke fun at his quest on the title track. 'I'm in the here and now and I'm meditating/And still I'm suffering but that's my problem,' he sings. 'Enlightenment, don't know what it is' – and he doesn't sound disturbed at all.\"\n\nPersonnel on original release\nVan Morrison – vocals, harmonica\nBernie Holland – guitar\nGeorgie Fame — electric piano\nAlex Gifford – synthesizers\nBrian Odgers — bass guitar\nDave Early — drums\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\nHinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, \n\n1991 singles\n1989 songs\nVan Morrison songs\nSongs written by Van Morrison\nPolydor Records singles\nSong recordings produced by Van Morrison", "The following is a list of organizations with Morrison in their name.\n\nCompanies\n Morrison & Foerster, American law firm\n Morrison & Sinclair, Sydney, Australia, ship builder\n Morrison Construction, Scottish construction company (acquired by Galliford Try in 2006)\n Morrison Facilities Services, United Kingdom housing company (acquired by Mears Group in 2012)\n Morrison Hershfield, North American engineering and management firm\n\nRecord labels\n Morrison Records (Australia), an independent Australian jazz label\n Morrison Records (Seattle), an independent 20th century Seattle, USA label\n\nSchools\n Morrison's Academy, Crieff, Scotland\n Morrison Academy, Taichung, Taiwan\n Morrison Glace Bay High School, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia\n\nOther\n Morrison Arboretum, Morrison, Oklahoma, USA\n Morrison Hotel (Chicago), USA\n Morrison Institute of Public Policy, Arizona State University, USA" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album." ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	what is a song from this album?	2	What is a song from Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	"Roadhouse Blues".	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	true	[ "What It Is may refer to:\n\nMusic\n\nAlbum\n What It Is (Boogaloo Joe Jones album), 1971\n What It Is, a Cordelia's Dad album\n What It Is (Mal Waldron album), 1981\n What It Is (PSD album), 1999\n What It Is (Jacky Terrasson album), 1999\n What It Is!, a 2013 album by Kahil El'Zabar\n What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves, a box set by various artists that won a Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package\n\nSong\n \"What It Is\" (Busta Rhymes song), from the 2001 album Genesis\n \"What It Is\" (Gorilla Zoe song), 2009\n \"What It Is\" (Jonathan Davis song), a song by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, 2018\n \"What It Is\" (Mark Knopfler song), a 2000 song by Mark Knopfler from Sailing to Philadelphia\n \"What It Is (Strike a Pose)\", a 2008 song by Lil Mama from VYP (Voice of the Young People)\n \"What It Is\", a Black Eyed Peas song from the album Behind the Front, 1998\n \"What It Is\", a Paul McCartney song from the album Run Devil Run, 1999\n\nOther\n What It Is, a comedy stand-up DVD by Dylan Moran\n What It Is, a graphic novel by Lynda Barry", "\"It Is What It Is\" is an idiomatic phrase, indicating the immutable nature of an object or circumstance and may refer to:\n It Is What It Is, a 2001 film by Billy Frolick\n It Is What It Is, a 2007 autobiography by David Coulthard\n It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, a project by Jeremy Deller\n It Is What It Is, a radio show hosted by Sean Baligian\n\nMusic\n B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story or It Is What It Is, a 2007 album by Cassidy\n It Is What It Is (ABN album) (2008)\n It Is What It Is (Johnny Logan album) (2017)\n It Is What It Is (Thundercat album) (2020)\n It Is What It Is, a 1982 album by The Hitmen\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 1988 song by Derrick May from the compilation album Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit\n \"It Is What It Is (What It Is)\", a 1992 song by Adam Again from Dig\n\"It Is What It Is\", a 1995 song by The Highwaymen from the album The Road Goes On Forever\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2010 song by Lifehouse from Smoke & Mirrors\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Blood Orange from Cupid Deluxe\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Kacey Musgraves from Same Trailer Different Park\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2016 song by Lecrae from Church Clothes 3\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2009 song by Vic Chesnutt from At the Cut\n\nSee also \n Fihi Ma Fihi, a Persian prose work by Rumi\n Tautophrase\n What It Is (disambiguation)" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album.", "what is a song from this album?", "\"Roadhouse Blues\"." ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	Did the song perform well?	3	Did the song Roadhouse Blues from Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live perform well?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	The record reached No. 4 in the United States	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	true	[ "\"Look Away\" is a song by Darude and Sebastian Rejman. The song represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The song did not progress to the final.\n\nEurovision Song Contest\n\nThe song was selected to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 after Darude and Sebastian Rejman were selected through Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019, the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Finland was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the show's producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Finland performed in position 3. It did not qualify for the final.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2019 songs\nEurovision songs of 2019\nEurovision songs of Finland\nDarude songs", "\"That Night\" is a song performed by Latvian band Carousel. It represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 on 16 February 2019. It was performed at the second semi-final, but did not quality for the final.\n\nEurovision Song Contest\n\nThe song represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, after Carousel were selected through Supernova 2019, the music competition that selects Latvia's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Latvia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the show's producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Latvia performed in position 5. The entry did not qualify for the final.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2019 songs\nEurovision songs of 2019\nEurovision songs of Latvia\n2019 singles" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album.", "what is a song from this album?", "\"Roadhouse Blues\".", "Did the song perform well?", "The record reached No. 4 in the United States" ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	Did the Doors write any songs?	4	Did The Doors write any songs?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks.	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	false	[ "\"Celebration of the Lizard\" is a performance piece by American rock band the Doors, featuring lyrics written by lead singer Jim Morrison and music by the Doors. Composed as a series of poems, the piece includes both spoken verse and sung lyrics, musical sections and passages of allegorical storytelling.\n\n\"Celebration of the Lizard\" was performed in its entirety at several Doors concerts, with a complete live performance of the piece appearing on the band's 1970 live album Absolutely Live (and, subsequently, on the 1991 live compilation album In Concert). A complete studio-recorded version later appeared on the compilation album Legacy: The Absolute Best in 2003, and as a bonus track on Rhino's 40th Anniversary edition of Waiting for the Sun (2007).\n\nBackground\n\nThe entire piece was originally intended to be recorded and released as one full side of the band's third studio album, Waiting for the Sun, in 1968. However, record producer Paul A. Rothchild and the members of the band thought that the extended poetic sections and overall length of the piece made a complete recording impossible. While the other reason was its absence of commercial form. The band did attempt to record the full piece but abandoned the idea, as they were dissatisfied with the results.\n\nThe musical passage, \"Not to Touch the Earth\", was recorded separately and released on the Waiting for the Sun album, while the lyrics for the rest of the piece were published inside the gatefold jacket of the original vinyl LP, with the footnote, \"Lyrics to a theatre composition by The Doors.\" Morrison quoted in a Rolling Stone magazine interview upon the song's failure to include on the album: \"It was pieced together on different occasions out of already existing elements rather than having any generative core from which it grew. I still think there's hope for it.\"\n\nSections\nAccording to author Richie Weidman, \"Celebration of the Lizard\" is divided into seven sections:\n \"Lions in the Street\"\n \"Wake Up!\"\n \"A Little Game”\n \"The Hill Dwellers\"\n \"Not to Touch the Earth\"\n \"Names of the Kingdom\"\n \"The Palace of Exile\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nThe Doors songs\nSong recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild\n1970 songs\nSongs written by Jim Morrison\nSongs written by Robby Krieger\nSongs written by Ray Manzarek\nSongs written by John Densmore", "\"Soul Kitchen\" is a song by the Doors from their self-titled debut album The Doors. Singer Jim Morrison wrote the lyrics as a tribute to the soul food restaurant Olivia's in Venice Beach, California. Because he often stayed too late, the staff had to kick him out, thus the lines \"let me sleep all night, in your soul kitchen\".\n\nComposition\nThe song is notated in the key of A Major with Jim Morrison's vocal range spanning from E4 to A5. Like the other songs from their debut album, the songwriting credit was given to each members of the Doors; the performance rights organization ASCAP list the song as a group composition.\n\nDespite the songwriting credit, its lyrics were written by Morrison during the summer of 1965. Guitarist Robby Krieger acknowledged soul-singer James Brown's influence on the song, stating that he wanted to simulate a horn section by Brown, with the riff heard throughout. Journalist Stephen Davis characterized it as a hard rock track, while author Gillian G. Gaar called it \"funky blues-rock\".\n\nCritical reception\nSal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine declared \"Soul Kitchen\" as a \"classic Doors song\".\nAccording to rock critic Greil Marcus, \"Soul Kitchen\" is the Doors' version of \"Gloria\" by Van Morrison, a song the Doors often covered in their early days. Marcus writes, \"It was a staircase—not, as with 'Gloria' in imagery, but in the cadence the two songs shared, slowed down so strongly in 'Soul Kitchen' that a sense of deliberation, so physical that it was more body than thought, became the guiding spirit of the song.\"\n\nIn a 1967 article in Crawdaddy! magazine, Paul Williams compared it to \"Blowin' in the Wind\" since both songs had a message, with the message of \"Soul Kitchen\" being \"Learn to forget.\" He praised the song: \"The End\" is \"great to listen to when you're high (or any other time)\", but \"Soul Kitchen\" \"will get you high, which is obviously much cruder and more important.\"\n\nAllMusic critic, Richie Unterberger praised the song's \"stomping rock\". On June 24, 2021, The Guardian published a list with \"The Doors greatest songs\", in which \"Soul Kitchen\" is placed as the sixth.\n\nPersonnel\nThere has been some discrepancy at who contributed the bass: Doors' engineer Bruce Botnick recalled that after the song's recording, session musician Larry Knechtel was brought in to overdub bass; but in an interview with guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, Krieger stated that he played the bass guitar.\n\nThe Doors\n Jim Morrison – vocals\n Ray Manzarek – organ, keyboard bass\n Robby Krieger – guitar\n John Densmore – drums\n\nAdditional musicians\n Larry Knechtel – bass guitar\n\nReferences\n\n1967 songs\nThe Doors songs\nAmerican psychedelic rock songs\nSongs written by John Densmore\nSongs written by Robby Krieger\nSongs written by Ray Manzarek\nSongs written by Jim Morrison\nSong recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album.", "what is a song from this album?", "\"Roadhouse Blues\".", "Did the song perform well?", "The record reached No. 4 in the United States", "Did the Doors write any songs?", "The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks." ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	What song did he write?	5	What song did The Doors write?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	true	[ "\"All Night\" is a song recorded by American country music duo Brothers Osborne. It is the lead single to their third studio album Skeletons. The duo's members, T.J. Osborne and John Osborne, wrote the song with Andrew DeRoberts.\n\nContent\nThe duo's two members, T.J. Osborne and John Osborne, wrote the song with Andrew DeRoberts, and Jay Joyce produced the track. Describing the song to The Country Daily, John said, \"We wanted to write a song that just felt good. We didn’t want to think too hard about it. We wanted to write a song that no matter what happened we knew that our fans at our shows were gonna love to sing along to, and that’s what we did”. The duo also performed the song at the 2020 Country Music Association telecast.\n\nMusic video\nThe song's music video, released on September 30, 2020, was directed by Wes Edwards and Ryan Silver, both of whom have directed most of the brothers' other music videos. In it, a man is depicted sitting at home when he receives a package that features life-sized dancing puppets. This is alternated with scenes of the duo performing the song while under a blacklight, as the puppets appear around them with neon skeletons painted on.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n2020 singles\n2020 songs\nBrothers Osborne songs\nSong recordings produced by Jay Joyce\nMusic videos directed by Wes Edwards\nEMI Records singles", "What I Did for Love may refer to:\n\n \"What I Did for Love\" (A Chorus Line), a song from the musical A Chorus Line\n \"What I Did for Love\" (David Guetta song), 2015\n \"What I Did for Love\", a song and single by Kenny Rogers from Love Is Strange 1990" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album.", "what is a song from this album?", "\"Roadhouse Blues\".", "Did the song perform well?", "The record reached No. 4 in the United States", "Did the Doors write any songs?", "The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks.", "What song did he write?", "The Spy\" and \"Roadhouse Blues\" (" ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	What other single did they release?	6	Besides The Spy, what other single did The Doors release?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	true	[ "\"What Would Steve Do?\" is the second single released by Mumm-Ra on Columbia Records, which was released on February 19, 2007. It is a re-recorded version of the self-release they did in April 2006. It reached #40 in the UK Singles Chart, making it their highest charting single.\n\nTrack listings\nAll songs written by Mumm-Ra.\n\nCD\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\"Without You\"\n\n7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"What Would Steve Do? (Floorboard Mix)\"\n\nGatefold 7\"\n\"What Would Steve Do?\"\n\"Cute As\"\n\nReferences\n\n2007 singles\nMumm-Ra (band) songs\n2006 songs\nColumbia Records singles", "\"What I Did for Love\" is a song from the musical A Chorus Line (music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban). It was quickly recognized for its show-business potential outside Broadway and was picked up by popular singers to include in their performances in their club and television appearances. Both female and male singers have made it an inclusion in their recorded albums to great effect. The Daily Telegraph described it as a \"big anthem\".\n\nSynopsis within A Chorus Line\nIn the penultimate scene of the production, one of the dancers, Paul San Marco, has suffered a career-ending injury. The remaining dancers, gathered together onstage, are asked what they would do if they were told they could no longer dance. Diana Morales, in reply, sings this anthem, which considers loss philosophically, with an undefeated optimism; all the other dancers concur. Whatever happens, they will be free of regret. What they did in their careers, they did for love, and their talent, no matter how great, was only theirs \"to borrow,\" was to be only temporary and would someday be gone. However, the love of performing is never gone, and they are all pointed toward tomorrow.\n\nNotable versions\nBeverly Bremers' version, was released as a single in 1975.\nEydie Gormé - a single release in 1976 (US AC #23).\nBing Crosby - for his album Beautiful Memories (1977)\nEngelbert Humperdinck - for his album Miracles (1977).\nGrace Jones - for her debut album Portfolio (1977)\nJack Jones - in his 1975 album What I Did for Love (US AC #25, Canada AC #23).\nJohnny Mathis - Feelings (1975)\nBill Hayes - for his album From Me To You With Love (1976)\nMarcia Hines - see below\nPeggy Lee - for her album Peggy (1977)\nPetula Clark - a single release in 1975.\nShirley Bassey - Love, Life and Feelings (1976)\nRobert Goulet - in his album You're Something Special (1978).\nElaine Paige - included in her album Stages (1983)\nHoward Keel - for his album Just for You (1988).\nJosh Groban - for his album Stages (2015)\nMe First and the Gimme Gimmes - from their album Are A Drag (1999)\n\nMarcia Hines' version\n\nMarcia Hines recorded and released a version as the lead single from her third studio album, Ladies and Gentlemen (1977). The song peaked at number 6 on the Kent Music Report, becoming Hines' third top 10 single in Australia.\n\nAt the 1978 Australian Record Awards, the song won Hines Female Vocalist of the Year.\n\nTrack listing\n 7\" Single (MS-507)\nSide A \"What I Did for Love\" - 3:15\nSide B \"A Love Story\" (Robie Porter) - 3:31\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nSongs from A Chorus Line\n1975 songs\n1975 singles\n1977 singles\nMarcia Hines songs\nBeverly Bremers songs\nColumbia Records singles\nGrace Jones songs\nSongs written by Marvin Hamlisch" ]
[ "The Doors", "Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live", "What is Morrison hotel?", "their fifth album.", "what is a song from this album?", "\"Roadhouse Blues\".", "Did the song perform well?", "The record reached No. 4 in the United States", "Did the Doors write any songs?", "The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks.", "What song did he write?", "The Spy\" and \"Roadhouse Blues\" (", "What other single did they release?", "Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian" ]	C_4f629e20ef864be0bd2f0d9e56f1ff3e_1	Was that song a success?	7	Was the song Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian a success?	The Doors	The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Taste, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Sly and the Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message to Love. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s, partly due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona, and the group is also widely regarded as an important part of the era's counterculture. The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself a reference to a quote by William Blake. After signing with Elektra Records in 1966, the Doors with Morrison released six albums in five years, some of which are considered among the greatest of all time, including their self-titled debut (1967), Strange Days (1967), and L.A. Woman (1971). They were one of the most successful bands during that time and by 1972 the Doors had sold over 4 million albums domestically and nearly 8 million singles. Morrison died in uncertain circumstances in 1971. The band continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. They released three more albums in the 1970s, two of which featured earlier recordings by Morrison, and over the decades reunited on stage in various configurations. In 2002, Manzarek, Krieger and Ian Astbury of the Cult on vocals started performing as "The Doors of the 21st Century". Densmore and the Morrison estate successfully sued them over the use of the band's name. After a short time as Riders on the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek–Krieger and toured until Manzarek's death in 2013. The Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold LPs. According to the RIAA, they have sold 34 million albums in the United States and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines including Rolling Stone, which ranked them 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1993, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. History Origins (July 1965 – August 1966) The Doors began with a chance meeting between acquaintances Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach in July 1965. They recognized one another from when they had both attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs. As Morrison would later relate to Jerry Hopkins in Rolling Stone, "Those first five or six songs I wrote, I was just taking notes at a fantastic rock concert that was going on inside my head. And once I'd written the songs, I had to sing them." With Manzarek's encouragement, Morrison sang the opening words of "Moonlight Drive": "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Manzarek was inspired, thinking of all the music he could play to accompany these "cool and spooky" lyrics. Manzarek was currently in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim, while drummer John Densmore was playing with the Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. Densmore joined the group later in August, 1965. Together, they combined varied musical backgrounds, from jazz, rock, blues, and folk music idioms. The five, along with bass player Patty Sullivan, and now christened the Doors, recorded a six-song demo on September 2, 1965, at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. The band took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite". In late 1965, after Manzarek's two brothers left, guitarist Robby Krieger joined. From February to May 1966, the group had a residency at the "rundown" and "sleazy" Los Angeles club London Fog, appearing on the bill with "Rhonda Lane Exotic Dancer". The experience gave Morrison confidence to perform in front of a live audience, and the band as a whole to develop and, in some cases, lengthen their songs and work "The End" and "Light My Fire" into the pieces that would appear on their debut album. Manzarek later said that at the London Fog the band "became this collective entity, this unit of oneness ... that is where the magic began to happen." The group soon graduated to the more esteemed Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band (starting from May 1966), supporting acts, including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of "Gloria". On August 10, 1966, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman, who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was with Elektra Records. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18 — the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and sound engineer Bruce Botnick. The Doors were fired from the Whisky on August 21, 1966, when Morrison added an explicit retelling and profanity-laden version of the Greek myth of Oedipus during "The End". The Doors and Strange Days (August 1966 – December 1967) The Doors recorded their self-titled debut album between August and September 1966, at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. The record was officially released in the first week of January 1967. It included many popular songs from their repertory, among those, the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End". In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". The group also made several television appearances, such as on Shebang, a Los Angeles television show, miming to a playback of "Break On Through". In early 1967, the group appeared on The Clay Cole Show (which aired on Saturday evenings at 6 pm on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York City) where they performed their single "Break On Through". Since the single acquired only minor success, the band turned to "Light My Fire"; it became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, selling over one million copies. From March 7 to 11, 1967, the Doors performed at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, California. The March 7 and 10 shows were recorded by a co-owner of the Matrix, Peter Abram. These recordings are notable as they are among the earliest live recordings of the band to circulate. On November 18, 2008, the Doors published a compilation of these recordings, Live at the Matrix 1967, on the band's boutique Bright Midnight Archives label. The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, performing a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. But after its initial broadcasts, the performance remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002. On August 25, 1967, they appeared on American television, guest-starring on the variety TV series Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire", though they did not appear live. The band is seen on a beach and is lipsynching the song in playback. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance fell into relative obscurity. It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television. On September 17, 1967, the Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed, due to a possible reference to drug use. The group appeared to acquiesce, but performed the song in its original form, because either they had never intended to comply with the request or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (the group has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national television, and the show's host, Ed Sullivan, canceled another six shows that had been planned. After the program's producer told the band they will never perform on the show again, Morrison reportedly replied: "Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show." On December 24, the Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. Their performance was taped for later broadcast. From December 26 to 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; during one set the band stopped performing to watch themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show on a television set wheeled onto the stage. The Doors spent several weeks in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology, notably the Moog synthesizer they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles. The chorus from the album's single "People Are Strange" inspired the name of the 2009 documentary of the Doors, When You're Strange. Although session musician Larry Knechtel had occasionally contributed bass on the band's debut album, Strange Days was the first Doors album recorded with a studio musician, playing bass on the majority of the record, and this continued on all subsequent studio albums. Manzarek explained that his keyboard bass was well-suited for live situations but that it lacked the "articulation" needed for studio recording. Douglass Lubahn played on Strange Days and the next two albums; but the band used several other musicians for this role, often using more than one bassist on the same album. Kerry Magness, Leroy Vinnegar, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff, Jack Conrad (who played a major role in the post Morrison years touring with the group in 1971 and 1972), Chris Ethridge, Charles Larkey and Leland Sklar are credited as bassists who worked with the band. New Haven incident (December 1967) On December 9, 1967, the Doors performed a now-infamous concert at New Haven Arena in New Haven, Connecticut, which ended abruptly when Morrison was arrested by local police. Morrison became the first rock artist to be arrested onstage during a concert performance. Morrison had been kissing a female fan backstage in a bathroom shower stall prior to the start of the concert when a police officer happened upon them. Unaware that he was the lead singer of the band about to perform, the officer told Morrison and the fan to leave, to which Morrison said, "Eat it." The policeman took out a can of mace and warned Morrison, "Last chance", to which Morrison replied, "Last chance to eat it." There is some discrepancy as to what happened next: according to No One Here Gets Out Alive, the fan ran away and Morrison was maced; but Manzarek recounts in his book that both Morrison and the fan were sprayed. The Doors' main act was delayed for an hour while Morrison recovered, after which the band took the stage very late. According to an authenticated fan account that Krieger posted to his Facebook page, the police still did not consider the issue resolved, and wanted to charge him. Halfway through the first set, Morrison proceeded to create an improvised song (as depicted in the Oliver Stone movie) about his experience with the "little men in blue". It was an obscenity-laced account to the audience, describing what had happened backstage and taunting the police, who were surrounding the stage. The concert was surlily ended when Morrison was dragged offstage by the police. The audience, which was already restless from waiting so long for the band to perform, became unruly. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Charges against Morrison, as well as those against three journalists also arrested in the incident (Mike Zwerin, Yvonne Chabrier and Tim Page), were dropped several weeks later for lack of evidence. Waiting for the Sun (April–December 1968) Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and the rejection of the 17-minute "Celebration of the Lizard" by band producer Paul Rothchild, who considered the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, the Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10. The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP, and began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first and only album to reach Number 1 on the US charts, and the single "Hello, I Love You" (one of the six songs performed by the band on their 1965 Aura Records demo) was their second US No. 1 single. Following the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You", the publisher of the Kinks' 1964 hit "All Day and All of the Night" announced they were planning legal action against the Doors for copyright infringement; however, songwriter Ray Davies ultimately chose not to sue. Kinks guitarist Dave Davies was particularly irritated by the similarity. In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocals to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors Are Open. A month after a riotous concert at the Singer Bowl in New York City, the group flew to Great Britain for their first performance outside North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at the Roundhouse. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge (including marijuana, hashish and unspecified pills). The group flew back to the United States and played nine more dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me" (released in December 1968), which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 in the Cashbox Top 100 in early 1969; this was the group's third and last American number-one single. Miami incident (March 1969) On March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, the Doors gave the most controversial performance of their career, one that nearly "derailed the band". The auditorium was a converted seaplane hangar that had no air conditioning on that hot night, and the seats had been removed by the promoter to boost ticket sales. Morrison had been drinking all day and had missed connecting flights to Miami. By the time he arrived, drunk, the concert was over an hour late. The restless crowd of 12,000, packed into a facility designed to hold 7,000, was subjected to undue silences in Morrison's singing, which strained the music from the beginning of the performance. Morrison had recently attended a play by an experimental theater group the Living Theatre and was inspired by their "antagonistic" style of performance art. Morrison taunted the crowd with messages of both love and hate, saying, "Love me. I can't take it no more without no good love. I want some lovin'. Ain't nobody gonna love my ass?" and alternately, "You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots!" and screaming "What are you gonna do about it?" over and over again. As the band began their second song, "Touch Me", Morrison started shouting in protest, forcing the band to a halt. At one point, Morrison removed the hat of an onstage police officer and threw it into the crowd; the officer removed Morrison's hat and threw it. Manager Bill Siddons recalled, "The gig was a bizarre, circus-like thing, there was this guy carrying a sheep and the wildest people that I'd ever seen." Equipment chief Vince Treanor said, "Somebody jumped up and poured champagne on Jim so he took his shirt off, he was soaking wet. 'Let's see a little skin, let's get naked,' he said, and the audience started taking their clothes off." Having removed his shirt, Morrison held it in front of his groin area and started to make hand movements behind it. Manzarek described the incident as a mass "religious hallucination". On March 5, the Dade County Sheriff's office issued a warrant for Morrison's arrest, claiming Morrison had exposed his penis while on stage, shouted obscenities to the crowd, simulated oral sex on Krieger, and was drunk at the time of his performance. Morrison turned down a plea bargain that required the Doors to perform a free Miami concert. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor, and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free, pending an appeal of his conviction, and died before the matter was legally resolved. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was announced as successful on December 9, 2010. Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek have denied the allegation that Morrison exposed himself on stage that night. The Soft Parade (May–July 1969) The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, was their first-and-only to feature brass and string arrangements. The concept was suggested by Rothchild to the band, after listening many examples by various groups who also explored the same radical departure. Densmore and Manzarek (who both were influenced by jazz music) agreed with the recommendation, but Morrison declined to incorporate orchestral accompaniment on his compositions. The lead single, "Touch Me", featured saxophonist Curtis Amy. While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to Densmore in his biography Riders on the Storm, individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Krieger's song "Tell All the People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and the Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album. Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live (November 1969 – December 1970) During the recording of their next album, Morrison Hotel, in November 1969, Morrison again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones in concert. Both Morrison and his friend and traveling companion Tom Baker were charged with "interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness". If convicted of the most serious charge, Morrison could have faced a ten-year federal prison sentence for the incident. The charges were dropped in April 1970 after an airline stewardess reversed her testimony to say she mistakenly identified Morrison as Baker. The Doors staged a return to a more conventional direction after the experimental The Soft Parade, with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent blues rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached No. 4 in the United States and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far". Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date". Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade". The album also saw Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks. The 40th anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternative takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on harmonica). July 1970 saw the release of the group's first live album, Absolutely Live, which peaked at No. 8 position. The record was completed by producer Rothchild, who confirmed that the album's final mixing consisted of many bits and pieces from various and different band concerts. "There must be 2000 edits on that album," he told an interviewer years later. Absolutely Live also includes the first release of the lengthy piece "Celebration of the Lizard". Although the Doors continued to face de facto bans in more conservative American markets and earned new bans at Salt Lake City's Salt Palace and Detroit's Cobo Hall following tumultuous concerts, the band managed to play 18 concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada following the Miami incident in 1969, and 23 dates in the United States and Canada throughout the first half of 1970. The group later made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29; performing on the same day as John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Lighthouse, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone and Melanie; the performance was the last captured in the band's Roadhouse Blues Tour. On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer in 1978 with music, and is currently in the possession of the Courson family. Shortly thereafter, a new tour to promote their upcoming album would comprise only three dates. Two concerts were held in Dallas on December 11. During the Doors' last public performance with Morrison, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. After the show, Densmore met with Manzarek and Krieger; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing. L.A. Woman and Morrison's death (December 1970 – July 1971) Despite Morrison's conviction and the fallout from their appearance in New Orleans, the Doors set out to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The album included rhythm guitarist Marc Benno on several tracks and prominently featured bassist Jerry Scheff, best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB Band. Despite a comparatively low Billboard chart peak at No. 9, L.A. Woman contained two Top 20 hits and went on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Paul Rothchild, who was dissatisfied with the band's effort. Denouncing "Love Her Madly" as "cocktail lounge music", he quit and handed the production to Bruce Botnick and the Doors. The title track and two singles ("Love Her Madly" and "Riders on the Storm") remain mainstays of rock radio programming, with the latter being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. In the song "L.A. Woman", Morrison makes an anagram of his name to chant "Mr. Mojo Risin". During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. As far as is known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison. On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison took a leave of absence from the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson; he had reportedly visited the city the previous summer. On July 3, 1971, following months of settling, Morrison was found dead in the bath by Courson. Despite the absence of an official autopsy, the reason of death was listed as heart failure. Morrison was buried in the "Poets' Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson also died at the age of 27. After Morrison Other Voices and Full Circle (July 1971 – January 1973) L.A. Womans follow up album, Other Voices, was being planned while Morrison was in Paris. The band assumed he would return to help them complete the album. After Morrison died, the surviving members considered replacing him with several new people, such as Paul McCartney on bass, and Iggy Pop on vocals. But after neither of these worked out, Krieger and Manzarek took over lead vocal duties themselves. Other Voices was finally completed in August 1971, and released in October 1971. The record featured the single "Tightrope Ride", which received some radio airplay. The trio began performing again with additional supporting members on November 12, 1971, at Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska, followed by shows at Carnegie Hall in November 23, and the Hollywood Palladium in November 26. The recordings for Full Circle took place a year after Other Voices during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August 1972. For the tours during this period, the Doors enlisted Jack Conrad on bass (who had played on several tracks on both Other Voices and Full Circle) as well as Bobby Ray Henson on rhythm guitar. They began a European tour covering France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including an appearance on the German show Beat-Club. Like Other Voices, Full Circle did not perform as well commercially as their previous albums. While Full Circle was notable for adding elements of funk and jazz to the classic Doors sound, the band struggled with Manzarek and Krieger leading (neither of the post-Morrison albums had reached the Top 10 while all six of their albums with Morrison had). Once their contract with Elektra had elapsed the Doors disbanded in 1973. Reunions The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical backing tracks to previously recorded spoken word performances of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate. Two years later, it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word Album" category, but it had ultimately lost to John Gielgud's The Ages of Man. An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995. In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the ceremony Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited once again to perform "Roadhouse Blues", "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire". Eddie Vedder filled in on lead vocals, while Don Was played bass. For the 1997 boxed set, the surviving members of the Doors once again reunited to complete "Orange County Suite". The track was one that Morrison had written and recorded, providing vocals and piano. The Doors reunited in 2000 to perform on VH1's Storytellers. For the live performance, the band was joined by Angelo Barbera and numerous guest vocalists, including Ian Astbury (of the Cult), Scott Weiland, Scott Stapp, Perry Farrell, Pat Monahan and Travis Meeks. Following the recording the Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined to record music for the Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors tribute album. On May 29, 2007, Perry Farrell's group the Satellite Party released its first album Ultra Payloaded on Columbia Records. The album features "Woman in the Window", a new song with music and a pre-recorded vocal performance provided by Morrison. "I like to say this is the first new Doors track of the 21st century", Manzarek said of a new song he recorded with Krieger, Densmore and DJ/producer Skrillex (Sonny Moore). The recording session and song are part of a documentary film, Re:GENERATION, that recruited five popular DJs/producers to work with artists from five separate genres and had them record new music. Manzarek and Skrillex had an immediate musical connection. "Sonny plays his beat, all he had to do was play the one thing. I listened to it and I said, ‘Holy shit, that's strong,’" Manzarek says. "Basically, it's a variation on ‘Milestones’, by Miles Davis, and if I do say so myself, sounds fucking great, hot as hell." The track, called "Breakn' a Sweat", was included on Skrillex's EP Bangarang. In 2013, the remaining members of the Doors recorded with rapper Tech N9ne for the song "Strange 2013", appearing on his album Something Else, which features new instrumentation by the band and samples of Morrison's vocals from the song "Strange Days". In their final collaboration before Manzarek's death, the three surviving Doors provided backing for poet Michael C. Ford's album Look Each Other in The Ears. On February 12, 2016, at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, Densmore and Krieger reunited for the first time in 15 years to perform in tribute to Manzarek and benefit Stand Up to Cancer. That day would have been Manzarek's 77th birthday. The night featured Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X, Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots’ Robert Deleo, Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins, Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara, Andrew Watt, among others. After the Doors After Morrison died in 1971, Krieger and Densmore formed the Butts Band as a consequence of trying to find a new lead singer to replace Morrison. The surviving Doors members went to London looking for a new lead singer. They formed the Butts Band in 1973 there, signing with Blue Thumb records. They released an album titled Butts Band the same year, then disbanded in 1975 after a second album with Phil Chen on bass. Manzarek made three solo albums from 1974 to 1983 and formed a band called Nite City in 1975, which released two albums in 1977–1978, while Krieger released six solo albums from 1977 to 2010. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger formed together a new version of the Doors which they called the Doors of the 21st Century. After legal battles with Densmore over use of the Doors name, they changed their name several times and ultimately toured under the name "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors". The group toured extensively throughout their career. In July 2007, Densmore said he would not reunite with the Doors unless Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam was the lead singer. On May 20, 2013, Manzarek died at a hospital in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 74 due to complications related to bile duct cancer. Krieger and Densmore came together on February 12, 2016, at a benefit concert memorial for Manzarek. All proceeds went to "Stand Up to Cancer". Legacy Beginning in the late 1970s, there was a sustained revival of interest in the Doors which created a new generation of fans. The origin of the revival is traced to the release of the album An American Prayer in late 1978 which contained a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" that received considerable airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations. In 1979 the song "The End" was featured in dramatic fashion in the film Apocalypse Now, and the next year the best-selling biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was published. The Doors' first album, The Doors, re-entered the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1980 and Elektra Records reported the Doors' albums were selling better than in any year since their original release. In September 1981, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Morrison and the band, with the title "Jim Morrison: He's Hot, He's Sexy and He's Dead." In response a new compilation album, Greatest Hits, was released in October 1980. The album peaked at No. 17 in Billboard and remained on the chart for nearly two years. The revival continued in 1983 with the release of Alive, She Cried, an album of previously unreleased live recordings. The track "Gloria" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Another compilation album, The Best of the Doors was released in 1987 and went on to be certified Diamond in 2007 by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 10 million certified units. A second revival, attracting another generation of fans, occurred in 1991 following the release of the film The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Stone created the script from over a hundred interviews of people who were in Morrison's life. He designed the movie by picking the songs and then adding the appropriate scripts to them. The original band members did not like the film's portrayal of the events. In the book The Doors, Manzarek states, "That Oliver Stone thing did real damage to the guy I knew: Jim Morrison, the poet." In addition, Manzarek claims that he wanted the movie to be about all four members of the band, not only Morrison. Densmore said, "A third of it's fiction." In the same volume, Krieger agrees with the other two, but also says, "It could have been a lot worse." The film's soundtrack album reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart and Greatest Hits and The Best of the Doors re-entered the chart, with the latter reaching a new peak position of No. 32. Awards and critical accolades: In 1993, the Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, "Light My Fire" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 1998, VH-1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll. The Doors were ranked number 20 by top music artists while Rock on the Net readers ranked them number 15. In 2000, the Doors were ranked number 32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists, and "Light My Fire" was ranked number seven on VH1's Greatest Rock Songs. In 2002, their self-titled album' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (Album). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Doors 41st on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time included two of their songs: "Light My Fire" at number 35 and "The End" at number 328. In 2007, the Doors received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Doors received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, "Riders on the Storm" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track). In 2011, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Best Long Form Music Video for the film When You're Strange, directed by Tom DiCillo. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included three of their studio albums; the self-titled album at number 42, L.A. Woman at number 362, and Strange Days at number 407. In 2014, the Doors were voted by British Classic Rock magazine's readers to receive that year's Roll of Honour Tommy Vance "Inspiration" Award. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected The Doors for inclusion in the National Recording Registry based on its cultural, artistic or historical significance. In 2016, the Doors received a Grammy Award in Favorite Reissues and Compilation for the live album London Fog 1966. The Doors were honored for the 50th anniversary of their self-titled album release, January 4, 2017, with the city of Los Angeles proclaiming that date "The Day of the Doors". At a ceremony in Venice, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced surviving members Densmore and Krieger, presenting them with a framed proclamation and lighting a Doors sign beneath the famed 'Venice' letters. The 2018 Asbury Park Music & Film Festival has announced the film submission award winners. The ceremony was held on Sunday, April 29 at the Asbury Hotel hosted by Shelli Sonstein, two-time Gracie Award winner, co-host of the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show on Q104.3 and APMFF Board member. The film Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors, won the best length feature at the festival. In 2020, Rolling Stone listed the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Morrison Hotel among "The Best Box Sets of the Year". Band members Jim Morrison – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965–1971; died 1971) Ray Manzarek – keyboards, keyboard bass, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978; 2012; died 2013) Robby Krieger – electric guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) John Densmore – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1965–1973, 1978, 2012) Discography The Doors (1967) Strange Days (1967) Waiting for the Sun (1968) The Soft Parade (1969) Morrison Hotel (1970) L.A. Woman (1971) Other Voices (1971) Full Circle (1972) An American Prayer (1978) Videography The Doors Are Open (1968) A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981) Dance on Fire (1985) Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) Live in Europe 1968 (1989) The Doors (1991) The Soft Parade a Retrospective (1991) The Best of the Doors (1997) The Doors Collection – Collector's Edition (1999) VH1 Storytellers – The Doors: A Celebration (2001) The Doors – 30 Years Commemorative Edition (2001) No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001) Soundstage Performances (2002) The Doors of the 21st Century: L.A. Woman Live (2003) The Doors Collector's Edition – (3 DVD) (2005) Classic Albums: The Doors (2008) When You're Strange (2009) Mr. Mojo Risin' : The Story of L.A. Woman (2011) Live at the Bowl '68 (2012) R-Evolution (2013) The Doors Special Edition – (3 DVD) (2013) Feast of Friends (2014) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (2018) Break on Thru: Celebration of Ray Manzarek and The Doors (2018) Notes References Sources Further reading Ashcroft, Linda. Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1997-8-21. Jakob, Dennis C. Summer With Morrison. Ion Drive Publishing, 2011. Marcus, Greil. The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. PublicAffairs, 2011. Shaw, Greg. The Doors on the Road. Omnibus Press, 1997. Sugerman, Danny. The Doors: The Complete Lyrics. Delta, October 10, 1992. External links Time Magazine's Life With the Lizard King: Photos of Jim and The Doors, 1968 Ray Manzarek shares moments of his life story and career NAMM Oral History Interview December 8, 2008 Federal Bureau of Investigation Record: The Vault – "The Doors" at fbi.gov Acid rock music groups 1965 establishments in California 1973 disestablishments in California American blues rock musical groups Elektra Records artists Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical quartets American musical trios Obscenity controversies in music Psychedelic rock music groups from California	false	[ "\"José Cuervo\" is a song written and originally recorded by Cindy Jordan in 1982. It was released as a single by American country music artist Shelly West in February 1983 to commercial success.\n\nAfter a successful duet pairing with David Frizzell for three years, Shelly West went on her own to establish herself as a solo artist. Since her mother was country music singer, Dottie West, success came easily with the release of this song in 1983. The song hit No. 1 on the Country charts and was West's second (and last) No. 1 since 1981's duet with David Frizzell, \"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma\". The song provided a sales boost for the Jose Cuervo tequila company and brought even more success to West. The song was released on her first solo album, West by West.\n\nContent\nThe song is about a woman who drank too much Jose Cuervo tequila the night before.\n\nThe follow-up to her No. 1 hit was a Top 5 hit that same year titled, \"Flight 309 to Tennessee\".\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1983 singles\n1982 songs\nShelly West songs\nSongs about alcohol\nBillboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year\nSong recordings produced by Snuff Garrett", "\"My Brother Jake\" is a song and single by English band, Free. Written by lead singer Paul Rodgers and bass guitarist Andy Fraser, it was first released in the UK in 1971.\n\nBackground and chart success\nThe song was the second chart success for Free, reaching number four in the UK Singles Chart in 1971 and remaining in the chart for 11 weeks. It was described by Dave Thompson of AllMusic as a \"gorgeous knockabout\" of a song.\n\nThe band performed the song on BBC's Top of the Pops on 13 May 1971.\n\nIn 1991 Andy Fraser revealed that he had originally written the song about Horace Faith, saying: \"It was written about a friend, a guy called Horace Faith. He was a great singer and around that time we were great friends. It was basically a sentiment to him, but I thought 'My Brother Jake' sounded better than 'My Brother Horace'.\"\n\nThe song appears on the band's 1973 compilation album The Free Story.\n\nReferences \n\n1971 songs\n1971 singles\nFree (band) songs\nIsland Records singles\nSongs written by Paul Rodgers\nSongs written by Andy Fraser" ]
[ "Emiliano Zapata", "Death" ]	C_bfcbfcd63551472ca1d6916d588bf9d2_0	When did Zapata die?	1	When did Emiliano Zapata die?	Emiliano Zapata	In mid-March 1919, Gen. Pablo Gonzalez ordered his subordinate Col. Jesus Guajardo to commence operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when Gonzalez later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21st, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on Gonzalez's desk. Gonzalez devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, Gonzalez explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo Gonzalez and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. After he was gunned down, they then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty, where they are reputed to have been given only half of what was promised. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo Gonzalez wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. CANNOTANSWER	April 10, 1919,	Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. Zapata was born in the rural village of Anenecuilco in Morelos State, in an era when peasant communities came under increasing pressure from the small-landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for sugar-cane production with the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz (President 1877-1880 and 1884–1911). Zapata early on participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados, and when the Revolution broke out in 1910 he was thus positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. Cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders, he formed the Liberation Army of the South, of which he soon became the undisputed leader. Zapata's forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla (May 1911), but when the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits. In November 1911 Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala, which called for substantial land reforms, redistributing lands to the peasants. Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos. Madero's generals employed a scorched-earth policy, burning villages and forcibly removing their inhabitants, and drafting many men into the Army or sending them to forced-labor camps in southern Mexico. Such actions strengthened Zapata's standing among the peasants, and Zapata succeeded in driving the forces of Madero (led by Victoriano Huerta) out of Morelos. In a coup against Madero in February 1913, Huerta took power in Mexico, but a coalition of Constitutionalist forces in northern Mexico led by Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón and Francisco "Pancho" Villa ousted him in July 1914 with the support of Zapata's troops. Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, continuing his adherence to the Plan de Ayala. In the aftermath of the revolutionaries' victory over Huerta, they attempted to sort out power relations in the Convention of Aguascalientes (October to November 1914). Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into a civil war among the winners. Dismayed with the alliance with Villa, Zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos (which he now controlled), instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. As Carranza consolidated his power and defeated Villa in 1915, Zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the Carrancistas, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing once again scorched-earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919. Article 27 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution was drafted in response to Zapata's agrarian demands. After his death, Zapatista generals aligned with Obregón against Carranza and helped drive Carranza from power (1920). In 1920 Zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the government of Morelos after Carranza's fall. They instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by Zapata in Morelos. Zapata remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement. Early years before the Revolution Emiliano Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Jertrudiz Salazar of Anenecuilco, Morelos, a well-known local family; Emiliano's godfather was the manager of a large local hacienda, and his godmother was the manager's wife. Zapata's family were likely mestizos, Mexicans of both Spanish and Nahua heritage. Emiliano was the ninth of ten children; he had six sisters: Celsa, Ramona, María de Jesús, María de la Luz, Jovita and Matilde. And three brothers: Pedro, Eufemio Zapata and Loreto. The Zapata family were descended from the Zapata of Mapaztlán. His maternal grandfather, José Salazar, served in the army of José María Morelos y Pavón during the siege of Cuautla; his paternal uncles Cristino and José Zapata fought in the Reform War and the French Intervention. From a family of farmers, Emiliano Zapata had insight into the severe difficulties of the countryside and his village's long struggle to regain land taken by expanding haciendas. Although he is commonly portrayed as "indigenous" or a member of the landless peasantry in Mexican iconography, Zapata's was racially indigenous but neither landless nor is known to have spoken the Nahuatl language. They were reasonably well-off and never suffered poverty, enjoying such activities as bullfights, cock-fighting and jaripeos. He received a limited education from his teacher, Emilio Vara, but it included "the rudiments of bookkeeping". At the age of 16 or 17, Zapata had to care for his family following his father's death. Emiliano was entrepreneurial, buying a team of mules to haul maize from farms to town, as well as bricks to the Hacienda of Chinameca; he was also a successful farmer, growing watermelons as a cash crop. He was a skilled horseman and competed in rodeos and races, as well as bullfighting from horseback. These skills as a horseman brought him work as a horse trainer for Porfirio Díaz's son-in-law, Ignacio de la Torre y Mier who had a large sugar hacienda nearby, and served Zapata well as a revolutionary leader. He had a striking appearance, with a large mustache in which he took pride, and good quality clothing described by his loyal secretary: "General Zapata's dress until his death was a charro outfit: tight-fitting black cashmere pants with silver buttons, a broad charro hat, a fine linen shirt or jacket, a scarf around his neck, boots of a single piece, Amozoqueña-style spurs, and a pistol at his belt." In an undated studio photo, Zapata is dressed in a standard business suit and tie, projecting an image of a man of means. Around the turn of the 20th century, Anenecuilco was a mixed Spanish-speaking mestizo and indigenous Nahuatl-speaking pueblo. It had a long history of protesting the local haciendas taking community members' land, and its leaders gathered colonial-era documentation of their land titles to prove their claims. Some of the colonial documentation was in Nahuatl, with contemporary translations to Spanish for use in legal cases in the Spanish courts. One eyewitness account by Luz Jiménez of Milpa Alta states that Emiliano Zapata spoke Nahuatl fluently when his forces arrived in her community. Community members in Anenecuilco, including Zapata, sought redress against land seizures. In 1892, a delegation had an audience with Díaz, who with the intervention of a lawyer, agreed to hear them. Although promising them to deal favorably with their petition, Díaz had them arrested and Zapata was conscripted into the Federal Army. Under Díaz, conscription into the Federal Army was much feared by ordinary Mexican men and their families. Zapata was one of many rebel leaders who were conscripted at some point. In 1909, an important meeting was called by the elders of Anenecuilco, whose chief elder was José Merino. He announced "my intention to resign from my position due to my old age and limited abilities to continue the fight for the land rights of the village." The meeting was used as a time for discussion and nomination of individuals as a replacement for Merino as the president of the village council. The elders on the council were so well respected by the village men that no one would dare to override their nominations or vote for an individual against the advice of the current council at that time. The nominations made were Modesto González, Bartolo Parral, and Emiliano Zapata. After the nominations were closed, a vote was taken and Zapata became the new council president without contest. Although Zapata had turned 30 only a month before, voters knew that it was necessary to elect someone respected by the community who would be responsible for the village. Even though he was relatively young, Anenecuilco was ready to hand over the leadership to him without any worry of failure. Before he was elected he had shown the village his nature by helping to head up a campaign in opposition to the candidate Díaz had chosen governor. Even though Zapata's efforts failed, he was able to create and cultivate relationships with political authority figures that would prove useful for him. Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, though he did not take the title of Don, as was custom for someone of his status. Instead, the Anenecuilcans referred to Zapata affectionately as "Miliano" and later as pobrecito (poor little thing) after his death. The 1910 Revolution The flawed 1910 elections were a major reason for the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco I. Madero. Zapata, seeing an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, joined with Madero and his Constitutionalists, who included Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa, whom he perceived to be the best chance for genuine change in the country. Although he was wary about Madero, Zapata cooperated with him when Madero made vague promises about land reform in his Plan of San Luis Potosí. Land reform was the central feature of Zapata's political vision. Zapata joined Madero's campaign against President Díaz. The first military campaign of Zapata was the capture of the Hacienda of Chinameca. When Zapata's army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle on May 19, 1911, it became clear that Díaz would not hold on to power for long. During his interim presidency, Francisco León de la Barra tasked General Victoriano Huerta to suppress revolutionaries in Morelos. Huerta was to disarm revolutionaries peacefully if possible, but could use force. In August 1911, Huerta led 1,000 Federal troops to Cuernavaca, which Madero saw as provocative. Writing the Minister of the Interior, Zapata demanded the Federal troops withdraw from Morelos, saying "I won't be responsible for the blood that is going to flow if the Federal forces remain." Although Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosí specified the return of village land and won the support of peasants seeking land reform, he was not ready to implement radical change. Madero simply demanded that "Public servants act 'morally' in enforcing the law ...". Upon seeing the response by villagers, Madero offered formal justice in courts to individuals who had been wronged by others with regard to agrarian politics. Zapata decided that on the surface it seemed as though Madero was doing good things for the people of Mexico, but Zapata did not know the level of sincerity in Madero's actions and thus did not know if he should support him completely. Plan of Ayala and rebellion against Madero Compromises between the Madero and Zapata failed in November 1911, days after Madero was elected president. Zapata and Otilio Montaño Sánchez, a former school teacher, fled to the mountains of southwest Puebla. There they promulgated the most radical reform plan in Mexico, the Plan de Ayala (Plan of Ayala). The plan declared Madero a traitor, named as head of the revolution Pascual Orozco, the victorious general who captured Ciudad Juárez in 1911 forcing the resignation of Díaz. He outlined a plan for true land reform. Zapata had supported the ouster of Díaz and had the expectation that Madero would fulfill the promises made in the Plan of San Luis Potosí to return village lands. He did not share Madero's vision of democracy built on particular freedoms and guarantees that were meaningless to peasants: Freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal for those who have anything to do with an attorney. All those democratic principles, all those great words that gave such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic for the people... With or without elections, with or without an effective law, with the Porfirian dictatorship or with Madero's democracy with a controlled or free press, its fate remains the same. The 1911 Plan of Ayala called for all lands stolen under Díaz to be immediately returned; there had been considerable land fraud under the old dictator, so a great deal of territory was involved. It also stated that large plantations owned by a single person or family should have one-third of their land nationalized, which would then be required to be given to poor farmers. It also argued that if any large plantation owner resisted this action, they should have the other two-thirds confiscated as well. The Plan of Ayala also invoked the name of President Benito Juárez, one of Mexico's great liberal leaders, and compared the taking of land from the wealthy to Juarez's actions when land was expropriated from the Catholic church during the Liberal Reform. Another part of the plan stated that rural cooperatives and other measurements should be put in place to prevent the land from being seized or stolen in the future. In the following weeks, the development of military operations "betray(ed) good evidence of clear and intelligent planning." During Orozco's rebellion, Zapata fought Mexican troops in the south near Mexico City. In the original design of the armed force, Zapata was a mere colonel among several others; however, the true plan that came about through this organization lent itself to Zapata. Zapata believed that the best route of attack would be to center the fighting and action in Cuautla. If this political location could be overthrown, the army would have enough power to "veto anyone else's control of the state, negotiate for Cuernavaca or attack it directly, and maintain independent access to Mexico City as well as escape routes to the southern hills." However, in order to gain this great success, Zapata realized that his men needed to be better armed and trained. The first line of action demanded that Zapata and his men "control the area behind and below a line from Jojutla to Yecapixtla." When this was accomplished it gave the army the ability to complete raids as well as wait. As the opposition of the Federal Army and police detachments slowly dissipated, the army would be able to eventually gain powerful control over key locations on the Interoceanic Railway from Puebla City to Cuautla. If these feats could be completed, it would gain access to Cuautla directly and the city would fall. The plan of action was carried out successfully in Jojutla. However, Pablo Torres Burgos, the commander of the operation, was disappointed that the army disobeyed his orders against looting and ransacking. The army took complete control of the area, and it seemed as though Torres Burgos had lost control over his forces prior to this event. Shortly after, Torres Burgos called a meeting and resigned from his position. Upon leaving Jojutla with his two sons, he was surprised by a federal police patrol who subsequently shot all three of the men on the spot. This seemed to some to be an ending blow to the movement, because Torres Burgos had not selected a successor for his position; however, Zapata was ready to take up where Torres Burgos had left off. Shortly after Torres Burgos's death, a party of rebels elected Zapata as "Supreme Chief of the Revolutionary Movement of the South". This seemed to be the fix to all of the problems that had just arisen, but other individuals wanted to replace Zapata as well. Due to this new conflict, the individual who would come out on top would have to do so by "convincing his peers he deserved their backing." Zapata finally gained the support necessary by his peers and was considered a "singularly qualified candidate". This decision to make Zapata the leader of the revolution in Morelos did not occur all at once, nor did it ever reach a true definitive level of recognition. In order to succeed, Zapata needed a strong financial backing for the battles to come. This came in the form of 10,000 pesos delivered by Rodolfo from the Tacubayans. Due to this amount of money Zapata's group of rebels became one of the strongest in the state financially. After a period Zapata became the leader of his "strategic zone", which gave him power and control over the actions of many more individual rebel groups and thus greatly increased his margin of success. "Among revolutionaries in other districts of the state, however, Zapata's authority was more tenuous." After a meeting between Zapata and Ambrosio Figueroa in Jolalpan, it was decided that Zapata would have joint power with Figueroa with regard to operations in Morelos. This was a turning point in the level of authority and influence that Zapata had gained and proved useful in the direct overthrow of Morelos. Rebellion against Huerta, the Zapata-Villa alliance If there was anyone that Zapata hated more than Díaz and Madero, it was Victoriano Huerta, the bitter, violent alcoholic who had been responsible for many atrocities in southern Mexico while trying to end the rebellion. Zapata was not alone: in the north, Pancho Villa, who had supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Huerta. Zapata revised the Plan of Ayala and named himself the leader of his revolution. He was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón, who raised large armies in Coahuila and Sonora respectively. Together they made short work of Huerta, who resigned and fled in June 1914 after repeated military losses. On April 21, 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a contingent of troops to occupy the port city of Veracruz. This sudden threat caused Huerta to withdraw his troops from Morelos and Puebla, leaving only Jojutla and Cuernavaca under federal control. Zapatistas quickly assumed control of eastern Morelos, taking Cuautla and Jonacatepec with no resistance. In spite of being faced with a possible foreign invasion, Zapata refused to unite with Huerta in defense of the nation. He stated that if need be he would defend Mexico alone as chief of the Ayalan forces. In May the Zapatistas took Jojutla from the Federal Army, many of whom joined the rebels, and captured guns and ammunition. They also laid siege to Cuernavaca where a small contingent of federal troops were holed up. By the summer of 1915 Zapata's forces had taken the southern edge of the Federal District, occupying Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, and was poised to move into the capital. In mid July, Huerta was forced to flee as a Constitutionalist force under Carranza, Obregón and Villa took the Federal District. The Constitutionalists established a peace treaty inserting Carranza as First Authority of the nation. Carranza, an aristocrat with politically relevant connections, then gained the backing of the U.S., who passed over Villa and Zapata due to their lower status backgrounds and more progressive ideologies. In spite of having contributed decisively to the fall of Huerta, the Zapatistas were left out of the peace treaties, probably because of Carranza's intense dislike for the Zapatistas whom he saw as uncultured savages. Through 1915 there was a tentative peace in Morelos and the rest of the country. As the Constitutionalist forces began to split, with Francisco "Pancho" Villa creating a popular front against Carranza's Constitutionalists, Carranza worked diplomatically to get the Zapatistas to recognize his rule, sending Dr. Atl as an envoy to propose a compromise with Zapata. For Carranza, an agreement with Zapata would mean that he did not need to worry about his force's southern flank and could concentrate on defeating Villa. Zapata demanded veto power over Carranza's decisions, which Carranza rejected and negotiations broke off. Zapata issued a statement, perhaps drafted by his advisor, Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. "The country wishes to destroy feudalism once and for all [while Carranza offers] administrative reform...complete honesty in the handling of public monies...freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal proceedings for those who have never had anything to do with an attorney. All those beautiful democratic principles, all those great words that give such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic...The people continue to suffer from poverty and endless disappointments." Unable to reach an agreement, the Constitutionalists divided along ideological lines, with Zapata and Villa leading a progressive rebellion and the conservative faction of the remaining Constituitionalists being headed Carranza and Obregón. Villa and the other anti-Carrancista leaders of the North established the Convention of Aguascalientes against Carranza. Zapata and his envoys got the convention to adopt some of the agrarian principles of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata and Villa met in Xochimilco to negotiate an alliance and divide the responsibility for ridding Mexico of the remaining Carrancistas. The meeting was awkward but amiable, and was widely publicized. It was decided that Zapata should work on securing the area east of Morelos from Puebla towards Veracruz. Nonetheless, during the ensuing campaign in Puebla, Zapata was disappointed by Villa's lack of support. Villa did not initially provide the Zapatistas with the weaponry they had agreed on and, when he did, he did not provide adequate transportation. There were also a series of abuses by Villistas against Zapatista soldiers and chiefs. These experiences led Zapata to grow unsatisfied with the alliance, turning instead his efforts to reorganizing the state of Morelos that had been left in shambles by the onslaught of Huerta and Robles. Having taken Puebla, Zapata left a couple of garrisons there but did not support Villa further against Obregón and Carranza. The Carrancistas saw that the convention was divided and decided to concentrate on beating Villa, which left the Zapatistas to their own devices for a while. Zapata rebuilds Morelos Through 1915, Zapata began reshaping Morelos after the Plan de Ayala, redistributing hacienda lands to the peasants, and largely letting village councils run their own local affairs. Most peasants did not turn to cash crops, instead growing subsistence crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables. The result was that as the capital was starving, Morelos peasants had more to eat than they had had in 1910 and at lower prices. The only official event in Morelos during this entire year was a bullfight in which Zapata himself and his nephew Amador Salazar participated. 1915 was a short period of peace and prosperity for the farmers of Morelos, in between the massacres of the Huerta era and the civil war of the winners to come. Guerrilla warfare against Carranza Even when Villa was retreating, having lost the Battle of Celaya in 1915, and when Obregón took the capital from the Conventionists who retreated to Toluca, Zapata did not open a second front. When Carranza's forces were poised to move into Morelos, Zapata took action. He attacked Carrancista positions with large forces trying to harry the Carrancistas in the rear as they were occupied with routing Villa throughout the Northwest. Though Zapata managed to take many important sites such as the Necaxa power plant that supplied Mexico City, he was unable to hold them. The convention was finally routed from Toluca, and Carranza was recognized by US President Woodrow Wilson as the head of state of Mexico in October. Through 1916 Zapata raided federal forces from Hidalgo to Oaxaca, and Genovevo de la O fought the Carrancistas in Guerrero. The Zapatistas attempted to amass support for their cause by promulgating new manifestos against the hacendados, but this had little effect since the hacendados had already lost power throughout the country. Carranza consolidates power Having been put in charge of the efforts to root out Zapatismo in Morelos, Pablo González Garza was humiliated by Zapata's counterattacks and enforced increasingly draconian measures against the locals. He received no reinforcements, as Obregón, the Minister of War, needed all his forces against Villa in the north and against Felix Díaz in Oaxaca. Through low-scale attacks on Gonzalez's positions, Zapata had driven Gonzalez out of Morelos by the end of 1916. Nonetheless, outside of Morelos the revolutionary forces started disbanding. Some joined the constitutionalists such as Domingo Arena, or lapsed into banditry. In Morelos, Zapata once more reorganized the Zapatista state, continuing with democratic reforms and legislation meant to keep the civil population safe from abuses by soldiers. Though his advisers urged him to mount a concerted campaign against the Carrancistas across southern Mexico, again he concentrated entirely on stabilizing Morelos and making life tolerable for the peasants. Meanwhile, Carranza mounted national elections in all state capitals except Cuernavaca, and promulgated the 1917 Constitution which incorporated elements of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata under pressure Meanwhile, the disintegration of the revolution outside of Morelos put pressure on the Zapatistas. As General Arenas turned over to the constitutionalists, he secured peace for his region and remained in control there. This suggested to many revolutionaries that perhaps the time had come to seek a peaceful conclusion to the struggle. A movement within the Zapatista ranks led by former General Vazquez and Zapata's erstwhile adviser and inspiration Otilio Montaño moved against the Tlaltizapan headquarters demanding surrender to the Carrancistas. Reluctantly, Zapata had Montaño tried for treason and executed. Zapata began looking for allies among the northern revolutionaries and the southern Felicistas, followers of the Liberalist Felix Díaz. He sent Gildardo Magaña as an envoy to communicate with the Americans and other possible sources of support. In the fall of 1917 a force led by Gonzalez and the ex-Zapatista Sidronio Camacho, who had killed Zapata's brother Eufemio, moved into the eastern part of Morelos taking Cuautla, Zacualpan and Jonacatepec. Zapata continued his work to try to unite with the national anti-Carrancista movement through the next year, and the constitutionalists did not make further advances. In the winter of 1918 a harsh cold and the onset of the Spanish flu decimated the population of Morelos, causing the loss of a quarter of the total population of the state, almost as many as had been lost to Huerta in 1914. Furthermore, Zapata began to worry that by the end of the World War, the United States would turn its attention to Mexico, forcing the Zapatistas to either join the Carrancistas in a national defense or to acquiesce to foreign domination of Mexico. In December 1918 Carrancistas under Gonzalez undertook an offensive campaign taking most of the state of Morelos, and pushing Zapata to retreat. The main Zapatista headquarters were moved to Tochimilco, Puebla, although Tlaltizapan also continued to be under Zapatista control. Through Castro, Carranza issued offers to the main Zapatista generals to join the nationalist cause, with pardon. But apart from Manuel Palafox, who having fallen in disgrace among the Zapatistas had joined the Arenistas, none of the major generals did. Zapata released statements accusing Carranza of being secretly sympathetic to the Germans. In March Zapata finally sent an open letter to Carranza urging him for the good of the fatherland to resign his leadership to Vazquez Gómez, by now the rallying point of the anti-constitutionalist movement. Having posed this formidable moral challenge to Carranza prior to the upcoming 1920 presidential elections, the Zapatista generals at Tochimilco, Magaña and Ayaquica, urged Zapata not to take any risks and to lie low. But Zapata declined, considering that the respect of his troops depended on his active presence at the front. Assassination Eliminating Zapata was a top priority for President Carranza. Carranza was unwilling to compromise with domestic foes and wanted to demonstrate to Mexican elites and to American interests that Carranza was the "only viable alternative to both anarchy and radicalism." In mid-March 1919, General Pablo González ordered his subordinate Jesús Guajardo to begin operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when González later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on González's desk. González devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, González explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo González and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo González wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. Immediate aftermath Although Zapata's assassination weakened his forces in Morelos, the Zapatistas continued the fight against Carranza. For Carranza the death of Zapata was the removal of an ongoing threat, for many Zapata's assassination undermined "worker and peasant support for Carranza and [Pablo] González." Obregón seized on the opportunity to attack Carranza and González, Obregón's rival candidate for the presidency, by saying "this crime reveals a lack of ethics in some members of the government and also of political sense, since peasant votes in the upcoming election will now go to whoever runs against Pablo González." In spite of González's attempts to sully the name of Zapata and the Plan de Ayala during his 1920 campaign for the presidency, the people of Morelos continued to support Zapatista generals, providing them with weapons, supplies and protection. Carranza was wary of the threat of a U.S. intervention, and Zapatista generals decided to take a conciliatory approach. Bands of Zapatistas started surrendering in exchange for amnesties, and many Zapatista generals went on to become local authorities, such as Fortino Ayaquica who became municipal president of Tochimilco. Other generals such as Genovevo de la O remained active in small-scale guerrilla warfare. As Venustiano Carranza moved to curb his former allies and now rivals in 1920 to impose a civilian, Ignacio Bonillas, as his successor in the presidency, Obregón sought to align himself with the Zapatista movement against that of Carranza. Genovevo de la O and Magaña supported him in the coup by former Constitutionalists, fighting in Morelos against Carranza and helping prompt Carranza to flee Mexico City toward Veracruz in May 1920. "Obregón and Genovevo de la O entered Mexico City in triumph." Zapatistas were given important posts in the interim government of Adolfo de la Huerta and the administration of Álvaro Obregón, following his election to the presidency after the coup. Zapatistas had almost total control of the state of Morelos, where they carried out a program of agrarian reform and land redistribution based on the provisions of the Plan de Ayala and with the support of the government. According to "La Demócrata", after Zapata's assassination, "in the consciousness of the natives", Zapata "had taken on the proportions of a myth" because he had "given them a formula of vindication against old offenses." Mythmaking would continue for decades after Zapata was gunned down. Legacy Zapata's influence continues to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in southern Mexico. In the long run, he has done more for his ideals in death than he did in life. Like many charismatic idealists, Zapata became a martyr after his murder. Even though Mexico still has not implemented the sort of land reform he wanted, he is remembered as a visionary who fought for his countrymen. Zapata's Plan of Ayala influenced Article 27 of the progressive 1917 Constitution of Mexico that codified an agrarian reform program. Even though the Mexican Revolution did restore some land that had been taken under Díaz, the land reform on the scale imagined by Zapata was never enacted. However, a great deal of the significant land distribution which Zapata sought would later be enacted after Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934. Cárdenas would fulfill not only the land distribution policies written in Article 27, but other reforms written in the Mexican Constitution as well. There are controversies about the portrayal of Emiliano Zapata and his followers, whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. At the outbreak of the Revolution, "Zapata's agrarian revolt was soon construed as a 'caste war' [race war], in which members of an 'inferior race' were captained by a 'modern Attila'". Zapata is now one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico. To many Mexicans, especially the peasant and indigenous citizens, Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights outlined in the Plan of Ayala. He was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico and leading them out of severe poverty. Many popular organizations take their name from Zapata, most notably the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN in Spanish), the Neozapatismo group that emerged in the state of Chiapas in 1983 and precipitated the 1994 indigenous Zapatista uprising which still continues in Chiapas. Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes. Modern activists in Mexico frequently make reference to Zapata in their campaigns; his image is commonly seen on banners, and many chants invoke his name: Si Zapata viviera con nosotros anduviera ("If Zapata lived, he would walk with us"), and Zapata vive, la lucha sigue ("Zapata lives; the struggle continues"). His daughter by Petra Portillo Torres, Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo, was aware of her father's legacy from a very early age. She continued his work of dedication to agrarian rights, serving as treasurer of the ejido of Cuautla, as ejidataria of Cuautla, as municipal councilor and municipal trustee. In popular culture Zapata has been depicted in movies, comics, books, music, and clothing. For example, there is a Zapata (1980), stage musical written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. A movie called Zapata: El sueño de un héroe (Zapata: A Hero's Dream) was produced in 2004, starring Mexican actors Alejandro Fernandez, Jaime Camil, and Lucero. There is also a sub-genre of the Spaghetti Western called the Zapata Western, which features stories set during the Mexican Revolution. Marlon Brando played Emiliano Zapata in the award-winning movie based on his life, Viva Zapata! in 1952. The film co-starred Anthony Quinn, who won best supporting actor. The director was Elia Kazan and the writer was John Steinbeck. Emiliano Zapata is a major character in The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), by James Carlos Blake Emiliano Zapata is referenced in the song "Calm Like a Bomb" by American rock band Rage Against the Machine from their album "The Battle of Los Angeles." In the 2011 Mexican TV series "El Encanto del Aguila" Zapata is played by the Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. In December 2019, an arts show commemorating the 100 year anniversary of his death was held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The show featured 141 works. A painting called La Revolución depicted Zapata as intentionally effeminate, riding an erect horse, nude except for high heels and a pink hat. According to the artist, he created the painting to combat machismo. The painting caused protests from the farmer's union and admirers of Zapata. His grandson Jorge Zapata González threatened to sue if the painting was not removed. There was a clash between supporters of the painting and detractors at the museum. A compromised was reached with some of Zapata's family, a label was placed next to the painting outlining their disagreement with the painting. Sobriquets "Calpuleque (náhuatl)" – leader, chief "El Tigre del Sur" – Tiger of the South "El Tigre" – The Tiger "El Tigrillo" – Little Tiger "El Caudillo del Sur" – Caudillo of the South "El Atila del Sur" – The Attila of the South (pejorative) Gallery References Cited sources Further reading Brunk, Samuel, ¡Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. Caballero, Raymond. Lynching Pascual Orozco, Mexican Revolutionary Hero and Paradox. Create Space 2015. Lucas, Jeffrey Kent. The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. Mclynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A history of the Mexican Revolution. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2001. McNeely, John H. "Origins of the Zapata revolt in Morelos." Hispanic American Historical Review (1966): 153–169. Historiography Golland, David Hamilton. "Recent Works on the Mexican Revolution." Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe 16.1 (2014). online McNamara, Patrick J. "Rewriting Zapata: Generational Conflict on the Eve of the Mexican Revolution." Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos 30.1 (2014): 122–149. In Spanish Horcasitas, Fernando. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata, memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta, UNAM, México DF.,1968 (eye and ear-witness account of Zapata speaking Nahuatl) Krauze, Enrique. Zapata: El amor a la tierra, in the Biographies of Power'' series. Media "Emiliano Zapata", BBC Mundo.com External links Emiliano Zapata Quotes, Facts, Books and Movies Full text html version of Zapata's "Plan de Ayala" in Spanish Emiliano Zapata videos Bicentenario del inicio del movimiento de Independencia Nacional y del Centenario del inicio de la Revolución Mexicana Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa 1879 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Mexican people 20th-century Mexican people Assassinated Mexican people Deaths by firearm in Mexico Mexican agrarianists Mexican generals Mexican guerrillas Mexican rebels Mexican revolutionaries Mexican Roman Catholics Military assassinations Military history of Mexico Nahua people People from Ciudad Ayala, Morelos People murdered in Mexico People of the Mexican Revolution	true	[ "Eufemio Zapata Salazar (1873, Ciudad Ayala - June 18, 1917, Cuautla, Morelos) was a participant in the Mexican Revolution and the brother of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. He was known as a womanizer, a macho man, and a very heavy drinker.\n\nHe was killed by Sidronio \"el Loco\" Camacho, one of Zapata's commanders, because Eufemio had become drunk and in this state, for no particular reason, proceeded to beat and insult Camacho's father. Camacho tracked Eufemio down in Cuautla and shot Eufemio in the abdomen.\n\nRealizing he was about to die, it is said that Eufemio asked the man to end his suffering and give him a quick death. To this Camacho replied:\n\n\"You have made many people suffer a great deal. Live a little longer, so that you also will learn what it is to suffer.\"\n\nHe then took Eufemio upon his horse, and threw him face-first on an anthill. Camacho, knowing Emiliano would want revenge, joined Zapata's enemies for safety.\n\nIn popular culture\nEufemio Zapata was portrayed by actor Anthony Quinn in the 1952 film Viva Zapata!, a role which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.\n\nReferences\n\nSources\nVilla and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution by Frank Mclynn\nViva Zapata! (novel), John Steinbeck\nMexican Revolution of 1910 at www.latinoartcommunity.org\nBiography in Spanish\n\nZapatistas\n1873 births\n1917 deaths\nPeople murdered in Mexico\nDeaths by firearm in Mexico", "Angie Zapata (August 5, 1989 July 17, 2008) was an American trans woman beaten to death in Greeley, Colorado. Her killer, Allen Andrade, was convicted of first-degree murder and committing a hate crime, because he murdered her after learning she was transgender. The case was the first in the nation to get a conviction for a hate crime involving a transgender victim, which occurred in 2009. Angie Zapata's story and murder were featured on Univision's November 1, 2009 Aquí y Ahora television show.\n\nEarly life\n\nZapata was born on August 5, 1989, in Brighton, Colorado. From an early age, Zapata was feminine and expressed an attraction to boys. In middle school, Zapata disclosed her female gender identity to family and close friends. She adopted the name \"Angie\" when amongst family, while presenting as male in public. At the age of 16, Zapata began living full-time as a woman.\n\nAngie had three sisters and an older brother, Gonzalo. Zapata's family was supportive, although her mother worried for her safety.\n\nMurder and trial\n\nZapata was 18 when she met Allen Andrade (age 31 at the time) through the mobile phone social network MocoSpace. According to Andrade, the two met on July 15, 2008, and spent nearly three days together, during which they had a sexual encounter. Prosecutors state that Andrade later discovered that Zapata was transgender and subsequently began beating her—first with his fists and then with a fire extinguisher—until she was dead. In the arrest affidavit, Andrade said he thought he had \"killed it\" before leaving in Zapata's car with the murder weapon and other incriminating evidence. Andrade was arrested near his residence driving Zapata's car.\n\nThe possibility of prosecuting the case as a hate crime was pressed by Zapata's family. The actual trial began on April 16, 2009. During the trial, the jury heard jailhouse conversations in which Andrade told a girlfriend that \"gay things must die.\"\n\nOn April 22, 2009, Andrade was found guilty of first degree murder, hate crimes, aggravated motor vehicle theft, and identity theft. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Because Andrade had six prior felony convictions, the judge dubbed him a \"habitual criminal\" at his May 8, 2009 sentencing trial for the hate crime and theft convictions. This added additional 60 years to his sentence. As of October 2015, Andrade is serving his time at Limon Correctional Facility.\n\nDedication \n\nThe 2011 novel The Butterfly and the Flame by Dana De Young was dedicated in part to Zapata's memory.\n\nOzomatli references Zapata in their song \"Gay Vatos in Love\", on their 2010 album Fire Away.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAngie Zapata via Respectance.com\n\n1989 births\n2008 deaths\nAmerican murder victims\nDeaths by beating in the United States\nLGBT people from Colorado\nTransgender and transsexual women\nViolence against trans women\nPeople murdered in Colorado\nAmerican victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes\nPeople from Brighton, Colorado\n20th-century LGBT people\nHistory of women in Colorado" ]
[ "Emiliano Zapata", "Death", "When did Zapata die?", "April 10, 1919," ]	C_bfcbfcd63551472ca1d6916d588bf9d2_0	How did he die?	2	How did Emiliano Zapata die?	Emiliano Zapata	In mid-March 1919, Gen. Pablo Gonzalez ordered his subordinate Col. Jesus Guajardo to commence operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when Gonzalez later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21st, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on Gonzalez's desk. Gonzalez devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, Gonzalez explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo Gonzalez and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. After he was gunned down, they then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty, where they are reputed to have been given only half of what was promised. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo Gonzalez wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. CANNOTANSWER	Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets.	Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. Zapata was born in the rural village of Anenecuilco in Morelos State, in an era when peasant communities came under increasing pressure from the small-landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for sugar-cane production with the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz (President 1877-1880 and 1884–1911). Zapata early on participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados, and when the Revolution broke out in 1910 he was thus positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. Cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders, he formed the Liberation Army of the South, of which he soon became the undisputed leader. Zapata's forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla (May 1911), but when the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits. In November 1911 Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala, which called for substantial land reforms, redistributing lands to the peasants. Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos. Madero's generals employed a scorched-earth policy, burning villages and forcibly removing their inhabitants, and drafting many men into the Army or sending them to forced-labor camps in southern Mexico. Such actions strengthened Zapata's standing among the peasants, and Zapata succeeded in driving the forces of Madero (led by Victoriano Huerta) out of Morelos. In a coup against Madero in February 1913, Huerta took power in Mexico, but a coalition of Constitutionalist forces in northern Mexico led by Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón and Francisco "Pancho" Villa ousted him in July 1914 with the support of Zapata's troops. Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, continuing his adherence to the Plan de Ayala. In the aftermath of the revolutionaries' victory over Huerta, they attempted to sort out power relations in the Convention of Aguascalientes (October to November 1914). Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into a civil war among the winners. Dismayed with the alliance with Villa, Zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos (which he now controlled), instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. As Carranza consolidated his power and defeated Villa in 1915, Zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the Carrancistas, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing once again scorched-earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919. Article 27 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution was drafted in response to Zapata's agrarian demands. After his death, Zapatista generals aligned with Obregón against Carranza and helped drive Carranza from power (1920). In 1920 Zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the government of Morelos after Carranza's fall. They instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by Zapata in Morelos. Zapata remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement. Early years before the Revolution Emiliano Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Jertrudiz Salazar of Anenecuilco, Morelos, a well-known local family; Emiliano's godfather was the manager of a large local hacienda, and his godmother was the manager's wife. Zapata's family were likely mestizos, Mexicans of both Spanish and Nahua heritage. Emiliano was the ninth of ten children; he had six sisters: Celsa, Ramona, María de Jesús, María de la Luz, Jovita and Matilde. And three brothers: Pedro, Eufemio Zapata and Loreto. The Zapata family were descended from the Zapata of Mapaztlán. His maternal grandfather, José Salazar, served in the army of José María Morelos y Pavón during the siege of Cuautla; his paternal uncles Cristino and José Zapata fought in the Reform War and the French Intervention. From a family of farmers, Emiliano Zapata had insight into the severe difficulties of the countryside and his village's long struggle to regain land taken by expanding haciendas. Although he is commonly portrayed as "indigenous" or a member of the landless peasantry in Mexican iconography, Zapata's was racially indigenous but neither landless nor is known to have spoken the Nahuatl language. They were reasonably well-off and never suffered poverty, enjoying such activities as bullfights, cock-fighting and jaripeos. He received a limited education from his teacher, Emilio Vara, but it included "the rudiments of bookkeeping". At the age of 16 or 17, Zapata had to care for his family following his father's death. Emiliano was entrepreneurial, buying a team of mules to haul maize from farms to town, as well as bricks to the Hacienda of Chinameca; he was also a successful farmer, growing watermelons as a cash crop. He was a skilled horseman and competed in rodeos and races, as well as bullfighting from horseback. These skills as a horseman brought him work as a horse trainer for Porfirio Díaz's son-in-law, Ignacio de la Torre y Mier who had a large sugar hacienda nearby, and served Zapata well as a revolutionary leader. He had a striking appearance, with a large mustache in which he took pride, and good quality clothing described by his loyal secretary: "General Zapata's dress until his death was a charro outfit: tight-fitting black cashmere pants with silver buttons, a broad charro hat, a fine linen shirt or jacket, a scarf around his neck, boots of a single piece, Amozoqueña-style spurs, and a pistol at his belt." In an undated studio photo, Zapata is dressed in a standard business suit and tie, projecting an image of a man of means. Around the turn of the 20th century, Anenecuilco was a mixed Spanish-speaking mestizo and indigenous Nahuatl-speaking pueblo. It had a long history of protesting the local haciendas taking community members' land, and its leaders gathered colonial-era documentation of their land titles to prove their claims. Some of the colonial documentation was in Nahuatl, with contemporary translations to Spanish for use in legal cases in the Spanish courts. One eyewitness account by Luz Jiménez of Milpa Alta states that Emiliano Zapata spoke Nahuatl fluently when his forces arrived in her community. Community members in Anenecuilco, including Zapata, sought redress against land seizures. In 1892, a delegation had an audience with Díaz, who with the intervention of a lawyer, agreed to hear them. Although promising them to deal favorably with their petition, Díaz had them arrested and Zapata was conscripted into the Federal Army. Under Díaz, conscription into the Federal Army was much feared by ordinary Mexican men and their families. Zapata was one of many rebel leaders who were conscripted at some point. In 1909, an important meeting was called by the elders of Anenecuilco, whose chief elder was José Merino. He announced "my intention to resign from my position due to my old age and limited abilities to continue the fight for the land rights of the village." The meeting was used as a time for discussion and nomination of individuals as a replacement for Merino as the president of the village council. The elders on the council were so well respected by the village men that no one would dare to override their nominations or vote for an individual against the advice of the current council at that time. The nominations made were Modesto González, Bartolo Parral, and Emiliano Zapata. After the nominations were closed, a vote was taken and Zapata became the new council president without contest. Although Zapata had turned 30 only a month before, voters knew that it was necessary to elect someone respected by the community who would be responsible for the village. Even though he was relatively young, Anenecuilco was ready to hand over the leadership to him without any worry of failure. Before he was elected he had shown the village his nature by helping to head up a campaign in opposition to the candidate Díaz had chosen governor. Even though Zapata's efforts failed, he was able to create and cultivate relationships with political authority figures that would prove useful for him. Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, though he did not take the title of Don, as was custom for someone of his status. Instead, the Anenecuilcans referred to Zapata affectionately as "Miliano" and later as pobrecito (poor little thing) after his death. The 1910 Revolution The flawed 1910 elections were a major reason for the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco I. Madero. Zapata, seeing an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, joined with Madero and his Constitutionalists, who included Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa, whom he perceived to be the best chance for genuine change in the country. Although he was wary about Madero, Zapata cooperated with him when Madero made vague promises about land reform in his Plan of San Luis Potosí. Land reform was the central feature of Zapata's political vision. Zapata joined Madero's campaign against President Díaz. The first military campaign of Zapata was the capture of the Hacienda of Chinameca. When Zapata's army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle on May 19, 1911, it became clear that Díaz would not hold on to power for long. During his interim presidency, Francisco León de la Barra tasked General Victoriano Huerta to suppress revolutionaries in Morelos. Huerta was to disarm revolutionaries peacefully if possible, but could use force. In August 1911, Huerta led 1,000 Federal troops to Cuernavaca, which Madero saw as provocative. Writing the Minister of the Interior, Zapata demanded the Federal troops withdraw from Morelos, saying "I won't be responsible for the blood that is going to flow if the Federal forces remain." Although Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosí specified the return of village land and won the support of peasants seeking land reform, he was not ready to implement radical change. Madero simply demanded that "Public servants act 'morally' in enforcing the law ...". Upon seeing the response by villagers, Madero offered formal justice in courts to individuals who had been wronged by others with regard to agrarian politics. Zapata decided that on the surface it seemed as though Madero was doing good things for the people of Mexico, but Zapata did not know the level of sincerity in Madero's actions and thus did not know if he should support him completely. Plan of Ayala and rebellion against Madero Compromises between the Madero and Zapata failed in November 1911, days after Madero was elected president. Zapata and Otilio Montaño Sánchez, a former school teacher, fled to the mountains of southwest Puebla. There they promulgated the most radical reform plan in Mexico, the Plan de Ayala (Plan of Ayala). The plan declared Madero a traitor, named as head of the revolution Pascual Orozco, the victorious general who captured Ciudad Juárez in 1911 forcing the resignation of Díaz. He outlined a plan for true land reform. Zapata had supported the ouster of Díaz and had the expectation that Madero would fulfill the promises made in the Plan of San Luis Potosí to return village lands. He did not share Madero's vision of democracy built on particular freedoms and guarantees that were meaningless to peasants: Freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal for those who have anything to do with an attorney. All those democratic principles, all those great words that gave such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic for the people... With or without elections, with or without an effective law, with the Porfirian dictatorship or with Madero's democracy with a controlled or free press, its fate remains the same. The 1911 Plan of Ayala called for all lands stolen under Díaz to be immediately returned; there had been considerable land fraud under the old dictator, so a great deal of territory was involved. It also stated that large plantations owned by a single person or family should have one-third of their land nationalized, which would then be required to be given to poor farmers. It also argued that if any large plantation owner resisted this action, they should have the other two-thirds confiscated as well. The Plan of Ayala also invoked the name of President Benito Juárez, one of Mexico's great liberal leaders, and compared the taking of land from the wealthy to Juarez's actions when land was expropriated from the Catholic church during the Liberal Reform. Another part of the plan stated that rural cooperatives and other measurements should be put in place to prevent the land from being seized or stolen in the future. In the following weeks, the development of military operations "betray(ed) good evidence of clear and intelligent planning." During Orozco's rebellion, Zapata fought Mexican troops in the south near Mexico City. In the original design of the armed force, Zapata was a mere colonel among several others; however, the true plan that came about through this organization lent itself to Zapata. Zapata believed that the best route of attack would be to center the fighting and action in Cuautla. If this political location could be overthrown, the army would have enough power to "veto anyone else's control of the state, negotiate for Cuernavaca or attack it directly, and maintain independent access to Mexico City as well as escape routes to the southern hills." However, in order to gain this great success, Zapata realized that his men needed to be better armed and trained. The first line of action demanded that Zapata and his men "control the area behind and below a line from Jojutla to Yecapixtla." When this was accomplished it gave the army the ability to complete raids as well as wait. As the opposition of the Federal Army and police detachments slowly dissipated, the army would be able to eventually gain powerful control over key locations on the Interoceanic Railway from Puebla City to Cuautla. If these feats could be completed, it would gain access to Cuautla directly and the city would fall. The plan of action was carried out successfully in Jojutla. However, Pablo Torres Burgos, the commander of the operation, was disappointed that the army disobeyed his orders against looting and ransacking. The army took complete control of the area, and it seemed as though Torres Burgos had lost control over his forces prior to this event. Shortly after, Torres Burgos called a meeting and resigned from his position. Upon leaving Jojutla with his two sons, he was surprised by a federal police patrol who subsequently shot all three of the men on the spot. This seemed to some to be an ending blow to the movement, because Torres Burgos had not selected a successor for his position; however, Zapata was ready to take up where Torres Burgos had left off. Shortly after Torres Burgos's death, a party of rebels elected Zapata as "Supreme Chief of the Revolutionary Movement of the South". This seemed to be the fix to all of the problems that had just arisen, but other individuals wanted to replace Zapata as well. Due to this new conflict, the individual who would come out on top would have to do so by "convincing his peers he deserved their backing." Zapata finally gained the support necessary by his peers and was considered a "singularly qualified candidate". This decision to make Zapata the leader of the revolution in Morelos did not occur all at once, nor did it ever reach a true definitive level of recognition. In order to succeed, Zapata needed a strong financial backing for the battles to come. This came in the form of 10,000 pesos delivered by Rodolfo from the Tacubayans. Due to this amount of money Zapata's group of rebels became one of the strongest in the state financially. After a period Zapata became the leader of his "strategic zone", which gave him power and control over the actions of many more individual rebel groups and thus greatly increased his margin of success. "Among revolutionaries in other districts of the state, however, Zapata's authority was more tenuous." After a meeting between Zapata and Ambrosio Figueroa in Jolalpan, it was decided that Zapata would have joint power with Figueroa with regard to operations in Morelos. This was a turning point in the level of authority and influence that Zapata had gained and proved useful in the direct overthrow of Morelos. Rebellion against Huerta, the Zapata-Villa alliance If there was anyone that Zapata hated more than Díaz and Madero, it was Victoriano Huerta, the bitter, violent alcoholic who had been responsible for many atrocities in southern Mexico while trying to end the rebellion. Zapata was not alone: in the north, Pancho Villa, who had supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Huerta. Zapata revised the Plan of Ayala and named himself the leader of his revolution. He was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón, who raised large armies in Coahuila and Sonora respectively. Together they made short work of Huerta, who resigned and fled in June 1914 after repeated military losses. On April 21, 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a contingent of troops to occupy the port city of Veracruz. This sudden threat caused Huerta to withdraw his troops from Morelos and Puebla, leaving only Jojutla and Cuernavaca under federal control. Zapatistas quickly assumed control of eastern Morelos, taking Cuautla and Jonacatepec with no resistance. In spite of being faced with a possible foreign invasion, Zapata refused to unite with Huerta in defense of the nation. He stated that if need be he would defend Mexico alone as chief of the Ayalan forces. In May the Zapatistas took Jojutla from the Federal Army, many of whom joined the rebels, and captured guns and ammunition. They also laid siege to Cuernavaca where a small contingent of federal troops were holed up. By the summer of 1915 Zapata's forces had taken the southern edge of the Federal District, occupying Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, and was poised to move into the capital. In mid July, Huerta was forced to flee as a Constitutionalist force under Carranza, Obregón and Villa took the Federal District. The Constitutionalists established a peace treaty inserting Carranza as First Authority of the nation. Carranza, an aristocrat with politically relevant connections, then gained the backing of the U.S., who passed over Villa and Zapata due to their lower status backgrounds and more progressive ideologies. In spite of having contributed decisively to the fall of Huerta, the Zapatistas were left out of the peace treaties, probably because of Carranza's intense dislike for the Zapatistas whom he saw as uncultured savages. Through 1915 there was a tentative peace in Morelos and the rest of the country. As the Constitutionalist forces began to split, with Francisco "Pancho" Villa creating a popular front against Carranza's Constitutionalists, Carranza worked diplomatically to get the Zapatistas to recognize his rule, sending Dr. Atl as an envoy to propose a compromise with Zapata. For Carranza, an agreement with Zapata would mean that he did not need to worry about his force's southern flank and could concentrate on defeating Villa. Zapata demanded veto power over Carranza's decisions, which Carranza rejected and negotiations broke off. Zapata issued a statement, perhaps drafted by his advisor, Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. "The country wishes to destroy feudalism once and for all [while Carranza offers] administrative reform...complete honesty in the handling of public monies...freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal proceedings for those who have never had anything to do with an attorney. All those beautiful democratic principles, all those great words that give such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic...The people continue to suffer from poverty and endless disappointments." Unable to reach an agreement, the Constitutionalists divided along ideological lines, with Zapata and Villa leading a progressive rebellion and the conservative faction of the remaining Constituitionalists being headed Carranza and Obregón. Villa and the other anti-Carrancista leaders of the North established the Convention of Aguascalientes against Carranza. Zapata and his envoys got the convention to adopt some of the agrarian principles of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata and Villa met in Xochimilco to negotiate an alliance and divide the responsibility for ridding Mexico of the remaining Carrancistas. The meeting was awkward but amiable, and was widely publicized. It was decided that Zapata should work on securing the area east of Morelos from Puebla towards Veracruz. Nonetheless, during the ensuing campaign in Puebla, Zapata was disappointed by Villa's lack of support. Villa did not initially provide the Zapatistas with the weaponry they had agreed on and, when he did, he did not provide adequate transportation. There were also a series of abuses by Villistas against Zapatista soldiers and chiefs. These experiences led Zapata to grow unsatisfied with the alliance, turning instead his efforts to reorganizing the state of Morelos that had been left in shambles by the onslaught of Huerta and Robles. Having taken Puebla, Zapata left a couple of garrisons there but did not support Villa further against Obregón and Carranza. The Carrancistas saw that the convention was divided and decided to concentrate on beating Villa, which left the Zapatistas to their own devices for a while. Zapata rebuilds Morelos Through 1915, Zapata began reshaping Morelos after the Plan de Ayala, redistributing hacienda lands to the peasants, and largely letting village councils run their own local affairs. Most peasants did not turn to cash crops, instead growing subsistence crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables. The result was that as the capital was starving, Morelos peasants had more to eat than they had had in 1910 and at lower prices. The only official event in Morelos during this entire year was a bullfight in which Zapata himself and his nephew Amador Salazar participated. 1915 was a short period of peace and prosperity for the farmers of Morelos, in between the massacres of the Huerta era and the civil war of the winners to come. Guerrilla warfare against Carranza Even when Villa was retreating, having lost the Battle of Celaya in 1915, and when Obregón took the capital from the Conventionists who retreated to Toluca, Zapata did not open a second front. When Carranza's forces were poised to move into Morelos, Zapata took action. He attacked Carrancista positions with large forces trying to harry the Carrancistas in the rear as they were occupied with routing Villa throughout the Northwest. Though Zapata managed to take many important sites such as the Necaxa power plant that supplied Mexico City, he was unable to hold them. The convention was finally routed from Toluca, and Carranza was recognized by US President Woodrow Wilson as the head of state of Mexico in October. Through 1916 Zapata raided federal forces from Hidalgo to Oaxaca, and Genovevo de la O fought the Carrancistas in Guerrero. The Zapatistas attempted to amass support for their cause by promulgating new manifestos against the hacendados, but this had little effect since the hacendados had already lost power throughout the country. Carranza consolidates power Having been put in charge of the efforts to root out Zapatismo in Morelos, Pablo González Garza was humiliated by Zapata's counterattacks and enforced increasingly draconian measures against the locals. He received no reinforcements, as Obregón, the Minister of War, needed all his forces against Villa in the north and against Felix Díaz in Oaxaca. Through low-scale attacks on Gonzalez's positions, Zapata had driven Gonzalez out of Morelos by the end of 1916. Nonetheless, outside of Morelos the revolutionary forces started disbanding. Some joined the constitutionalists such as Domingo Arena, or lapsed into banditry. In Morelos, Zapata once more reorganized the Zapatista state, continuing with democratic reforms and legislation meant to keep the civil population safe from abuses by soldiers. Though his advisers urged him to mount a concerted campaign against the Carrancistas across southern Mexico, again he concentrated entirely on stabilizing Morelos and making life tolerable for the peasants. Meanwhile, Carranza mounted national elections in all state capitals except Cuernavaca, and promulgated the 1917 Constitution which incorporated elements of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata under pressure Meanwhile, the disintegration of the revolution outside of Morelos put pressure on the Zapatistas. As General Arenas turned over to the constitutionalists, he secured peace for his region and remained in control there. This suggested to many revolutionaries that perhaps the time had come to seek a peaceful conclusion to the struggle. A movement within the Zapatista ranks led by former General Vazquez and Zapata's erstwhile adviser and inspiration Otilio Montaño moved against the Tlaltizapan headquarters demanding surrender to the Carrancistas. Reluctantly, Zapata had Montaño tried for treason and executed. Zapata began looking for allies among the northern revolutionaries and the southern Felicistas, followers of the Liberalist Felix Díaz. He sent Gildardo Magaña as an envoy to communicate with the Americans and other possible sources of support. In the fall of 1917 a force led by Gonzalez and the ex-Zapatista Sidronio Camacho, who had killed Zapata's brother Eufemio, moved into the eastern part of Morelos taking Cuautla, Zacualpan and Jonacatepec. Zapata continued his work to try to unite with the national anti-Carrancista movement through the next year, and the constitutionalists did not make further advances. In the winter of 1918 a harsh cold and the onset of the Spanish flu decimated the population of Morelos, causing the loss of a quarter of the total population of the state, almost as many as had been lost to Huerta in 1914. Furthermore, Zapata began to worry that by the end of the World War, the United States would turn its attention to Mexico, forcing the Zapatistas to either join the Carrancistas in a national defense or to acquiesce to foreign domination of Mexico. In December 1918 Carrancistas under Gonzalez undertook an offensive campaign taking most of the state of Morelos, and pushing Zapata to retreat. The main Zapatista headquarters were moved to Tochimilco, Puebla, although Tlaltizapan also continued to be under Zapatista control. Through Castro, Carranza issued offers to the main Zapatista generals to join the nationalist cause, with pardon. But apart from Manuel Palafox, who having fallen in disgrace among the Zapatistas had joined the Arenistas, none of the major generals did. Zapata released statements accusing Carranza of being secretly sympathetic to the Germans. In March Zapata finally sent an open letter to Carranza urging him for the good of the fatherland to resign his leadership to Vazquez Gómez, by now the rallying point of the anti-constitutionalist movement. Having posed this formidable moral challenge to Carranza prior to the upcoming 1920 presidential elections, the Zapatista generals at Tochimilco, Magaña and Ayaquica, urged Zapata not to take any risks and to lie low. But Zapata declined, considering that the respect of his troops depended on his active presence at the front. Assassination Eliminating Zapata was a top priority for President Carranza. Carranza was unwilling to compromise with domestic foes and wanted to demonstrate to Mexican elites and to American interests that Carranza was the "only viable alternative to both anarchy and radicalism." In mid-March 1919, General Pablo González ordered his subordinate Jesús Guajardo to begin operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when González later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on González's desk. González devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, González explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo González and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo González wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. Immediate aftermath Although Zapata's assassination weakened his forces in Morelos, the Zapatistas continued the fight against Carranza. For Carranza the death of Zapata was the removal of an ongoing threat, for many Zapata's assassination undermined "worker and peasant support for Carranza and [Pablo] González." Obregón seized on the opportunity to attack Carranza and González, Obregón's rival candidate for the presidency, by saying "this crime reveals a lack of ethics in some members of the government and also of political sense, since peasant votes in the upcoming election will now go to whoever runs against Pablo González." In spite of González's attempts to sully the name of Zapata and the Plan de Ayala during his 1920 campaign for the presidency, the people of Morelos continued to support Zapatista generals, providing them with weapons, supplies and protection. Carranza was wary of the threat of a U.S. intervention, and Zapatista generals decided to take a conciliatory approach. Bands of Zapatistas started surrendering in exchange for amnesties, and many Zapatista generals went on to become local authorities, such as Fortino Ayaquica who became municipal president of Tochimilco. Other generals such as Genovevo de la O remained active in small-scale guerrilla warfare. As Venustiano Carranza moved to curb his former allies and now rivals in 1920 to impose a civilian, Ignacio Bonillas, as his successor in the presidency, Obregón sought to align himself with the Zapatista movement against that of Carranza. Genovevo de la O and Magaña supported him in the coup by former Constitutionalists, fighting in Morelos against Carranza and helping prompt Carranza to flee Mexico City toward Veracruz in May 1920. "Obregón and Genovevo de la O entered Mexico City in triumph." Zapatistas were given important posts in the interim government of Adolfo de la Huerta and the administration of Álvaro Obregón, following his election to the presidency after the coup. Zapatistas had almost total control of the state of Morelos, where they carried out a program of agrarian reform and land redistribution based on the provisions of the Plan de Ayala and with the support of the government. According to "La Demócrata", after Zapata's assassination, "in the consciousness of the natives", Zapata "had taken on the proportions of a myth" because he had "given them a formula of vindication against old offenses." Mythmaking would continue for decades after Zapata was gunned down. Legacy Zapata's influence continues to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in southern Mexico. In the long run, he has done more for his ideals in death than he did in life. Like many charismatic idealists, Zapata became a martyr after his murder. Even though Mexico still has not implemented the sort of land reform he wanted, he is remembered as a visionary who fought for his countrymen. Zapata's Plan of Ayala influenced Article 27 of the progressive 1917 Constitution of Mexico that codified an agrarian reform program. Even though the Mexican Revolution did restore some land that had been taken under Díaz, the land reform on the scale imagined by Zapata was never enacted. However, a great deal of the significant land distribution which Zapata sought would later be enacted after Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934. Cárdenas would fulfill not only the land distribution policies written in Article 27, but other reforms written in the Mexican Constitution as well. There are controversies about the portrayal of Emiliano Zapata and his followers, whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. At the outbreak of the Revolution, "Zapata's agrarian revolt was soon construed as a 'caste war' [race war], in which members of an 'inferior race' were captained by a 'modern Attila'". Zapata is now one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico. To many Mexicans, especially the peasant and indigenous citizens, Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights outlined in the Plan of Ayala. He was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico and leading them out of severe poverty. Many popular organizations take their name from Zapata, most notably the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN in Spanish), the Neozapatismo group that emerged in the state of Chiapas in 1983 and precipitated the 1994 indigenous Zapatista uprising which still continues in Chiapas. Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes. Modern activists in Mexico frequently make reference to Zapata in their campaigns; his image is commonly seen on banners, and many chants invoke his name: Si Zapata viviera con nosotros anduviera ("If Zapata lived, he would walk with us"), and Zapata vive, la lucha sigue ("Zapata lives; the struggle continues"). His daughter by Petra Portillo Torres, Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo, was aware of her father's legacy from a very early age. She continued his work of dedication to agrarian rights, serving as treasurer of the ejido of Cuautla, as ejidataria of Cuautla, as municipal councilor and municipal trustee. In popular culture Zapata has been depicted in movies, comics, books, music, and clothing. For example, there is a Zapata (1980), stage musical written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. A movie called Zapata: El sueño de un héroe (Zapata: A Hero's Dream) was produced in 2004, starring Mexican actors Alejandro Fernandez, Jaime Camil, and Lucero. There is also a sub-genre of the Spaghetti Western called the Zapata Western, which features stories set during the Mexican Revolution. Marlon Brando played Emiliano Zapata in the award-winning movie based on his life, Viva Zapata! in 1952. The film co-starred Anthony Quinn, who won best supporting actor. The director was Elia Kazan and the writer was John Steinbeck. Emiliano Zapata is a major character in The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), by James Carlos Blake Emiliano Zapata is referenced in the song "Calm Like a Bomb" by American rock band Rage Against the Machine from their album "The Battle of Los Angeles." In the 2011 Mexican TV series "El Encanto del Aguila" Zapata is played by the Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. In December 2019, an arts show commemorating the 100 year anniversary of his death was held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The show featured 141 works. A painting called La Revolución depicted Zapata as intentionally effeminate, riding an erect horse, nude except for high heels and a pink hat. According to the artist, he created the painting to combat machismo. The painting caused protests from the farmer's union and admirers of Zapata. His grandson Jorge Zapata González threatened to sue if the painting was not removed. There was a clash between supporters of the painting and detractors at the museum. A compromised was reached with some of Zapata's family, a label was placed next to the painting outlining their disagreement with the painting. Sobriquets "Calpuleque (náhuatl)" – leader, chief "El Tigre del Sur" – Tiger of the South "El Tigre" – The Tiger "El Tigrillo" – Little Tiger "El Caudillo del Sur" – Caudillo of the South "El Atila del Sur" – The Attila of the South (pejorative) Gallery References Cited sources Further reading Brunk, Samuel, ¡Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. Caballero, Raymond. Lynching Pascual Orozco, Mexican Revolutionary Hero and Paradox. Create Space 2015. Lucas, Jeffrey Kent. The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. Mclynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A history of the Mexican Revolution. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2001. McNeely, John H. "Origins of the Zapata revolt in Morelos." Hispanic American Historical Review (1966): 153–169. Historiography Golland, David Hamilton. "Recent Works on the Mexican Revolution." Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe 16.1 (2014). online McNamara, Patrick J. "Rewriting Zapata: Generational Conflict on the Eve of the Mexican Revolution." Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos 30.1 (2014): 122–149. In Spanish Horcasitas, Fernando. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata, memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta, UNAM, México DF.,1968 (eye and ear-witness account of Zapata speaking Nahuatl) Krauze, Enrique. Zapata: El amor a la tierra, in the Biographies of Power'' series. Media "Emiliano Zapata", BBC Mundo.com External links Emiliano Zapata Quotes, Facts, Books and Movies Full text html version of Zapata's "Plan de Ayala" in Spanish Emiliano Zapata videos Bicentenario del inicio del movimiento de Independencia Nacional y del Centenario del inicio de la Revolución Mexicana Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa 1879 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Mexican people 20th-century Mexican people Assassinated Mexican people Deaths by firearm in Mexico Mexican agrarianists Mexican generals Mexican guerrillas Mexican rebels Mexican revolutionaries Mexican Roman Catholics Military assassinations Military history of Mexico Nahua people People from Ciudad Ayala, Morelos People murdered in Mexico People of the Mexican Revolution	true	[ "How Not to Die may refer to:\n How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America’s Favorite Medical Examiner, a 2008 book by Jan Garavaglia\n How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, a 2015 book by Michael Greger", "Die Mannequin is a Canadian alternative rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded by guitar player and singer Care Failure (born Caroline Kawa) in 2005. The band has toured across Canada several times, opening for Buckcherry, Guns N' Roses, Marilyn Manson and Sum 41. They have also toured Europe on several occasions, alone and as an opening act for Danko Jones in 2008.\n\nHistory\nRising from the ashes of Care Failure's first four-piece band \"The Bloody Mannequins\", Die Mannequin started in the spring of 2006 when Failure recorded her first EP, How to Kill, on How To Kill Records/Cordless Recordings. She sang, played guitar and bass on this EP because she did not have a permanent backing band at that time. Death from Above 1979's Jesse F. Keeler took care of the drum duties as well as production. The E.P. featured four songs and was produced by Keeler and partner Al-P from MSTRKRFT and was mastered by Ryan Mills at Joao Carvalho Mastering. Care Failure was also a member of the supergroup The Big Dirty Band, which included members from the Canadian hardrock band Rush, amongst others. They have recorded a cover version and video of The Bobby Fuller Four song I Fought The Law. This video also featured Anthony Useless, even though he did not play on any of the recordings. It was featured as a soundtrack to the 2006 movie Trailer Park Boys: The Movie.\n\nFailure later hired two of her longtime friends, Ethan Deth (of Toronto band Kïll Cheerleadër) and Pat M. (a.k.a. Ghostwolf), to play bass and drums. Deth was quickly replaced by Anthony \"Useless\" Bleed, also from Kïll Cheerleadër. He played bass guitar and provided backing vocals. Managed by Shull Management, Die Mannequin signed with EMI Publishing in the summer of 2006, and began their own record label, How To Kill Records which is distributed by Warner Music Canada. They were booked as one of the opening bands for Guns N' Roses' eastern leg of their 2006 North-American tour.\n\nDie Mannequin released a new EP in the fall of 2007 entitled Slaughter Daughter. Two tracks, \"Do It Or Die\" and \"Saved By Strangers\", were produced by Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent. The other two tracks, \"Upside Down Cross\" and \"Lonely Of A Woman\", were produced by Junior Sanchez. There was also a live recording of \"Open Season\" included on this EP. The band released a video for the first single, \"Do it or Die\", which entered rotation on Much Music and Much Loud.\n\nBoth EPs have been collected on a single disc entitled Unicorn Steak which features two unreleased songs: an early demo of \"Empty's Promise\" and the cover of the Beatsteaks song Hand in Hand. A video was also recorded after the release of Unicorn Steak, for the song \"Saved By Strangers\", directed by Canadian director Bruce McDonald. He has also directed a documentary about Die Mannequin, entitled The Rawside of Die Mannequin, which premiered at Toronto's North By North East festival on June 15, 2008.\n\nIn 2009 Die Mannequin took part in a documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had Care Failure reflecting on her memories of CFNY, 102.1 the Edge.\n\nOn September 8, 2009, Die Mannequin released FINO + BLEED, mixed by Mike Fraser.\n\nIn 2009, they opened for the Canadians dates of the Marilyn Manson's The High End of Low Tour.\n\nOn March 21, 2012, Die Mannequin announced on their website that they would be releasing new music mid April, along with a new single and music video. This coincided with the release of Hard Core Logo 2.\n\nOn August 20, 2014, the band released a single for their upcoming album, titled \"Sucker Punch\". Their second full-length album, Neon Zero was released on October 28, 2014. Exclaim! Magazine called it 'evil dance metal'.\n\nMembers\nCurrent members\nCaroline \"Care Failure\" Kawa - vocals, guitar, bass (2005–present)\nKevvy Mental - bass, backing vocals (2015–present)\nKeith Heppler - drums, percussion (2015–present)\nJ.C. Sandoval - guitar, backing vocals (2015–present)\nFormer members\nAnthony \"Useless\" Bleed - bass, backing vocals (2006–2014)\nDazzer Scott - drums, percussion (2009–2014)\nStacy Stray - guitar, backing vocals (2009–2014)\nEthan Kath - bass (2006)\nGhostwolf - drums, percussion (2006–2009)\n\nSession members\nJesse F. Keeler - drums, percussion (on How To Kill EP)\nJack Irons - drums, percussion (on Fino + Bleed)\n\nDiscography\nDie Mannequin has released two recognized albums to date and two EPs.\n\nSingles\n\nStudio albums\nFino + Bleed (2009)\nNeon Zero (2014)\n\nCompilations\nUnicorn Steak (2008)\n\nEPs\nHow To Kill (2006)\nSlaughter Daughter (2007)\nDanceland (2012) No. 76 CAN\n\nSoundtracks\n\nInterviews\nDie Mannequin gets darker and warns of Toronto rapist - From Torontomusicscene.ca\n\nSee also\n\nMusic of Canada\nCanadian rock\nList of Canadian musicians\nList of bands from Canada\n:Category:Canadian musical groups\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCare Failure Interview – Truth Mag\nDie Mannequin Neon Zero\n\nMusical groups established in 2005\nMusical groups from Toronto\nCanadian punk rock groups\nCanadian alternative rock groups\nCordless Recordings artists\n2005 establishments in Ontario" ]
[ "Emiliano Zapata", "Death", "When did Zapata die?", "April 10, 1919,", "How did he die?", "Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets." ]	C_bfcbfcd63551472ca1d6916d588bf9d2_0	What was the response to his death?	3	What was the response to Emiliano Zapata death?	Emiliano Zapata	In mid-March 1919, Gen. Pablo Gonzalez ordered his subordinate Col. Jesus Guajardo to commence operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when Gonzalez later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21st, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on Gonzalez's desk. Gonzalez devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, Gonzalez explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo Gonzalez and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. After he was gunned down, they then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty, where they are reputed to have been given only half of what was promised. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo Gonzalez wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. CANNOTANSWER	Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital.	Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. Zapata was born in the rural village of Anenecuilco in Morelos State, in an era when peasant communities came under increasing pressure from the small-landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for sugar-cane production with the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz (President 1877-1880 and 1884–1911). Zapata early on participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados, and when the Revolution broke out in 1910 he was thus positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. Cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders, he formed the Liberation Army of the South, of which he soon became the undisputed leader. Zapata's forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla (May 1911), but when the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits. In November 1911 Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala, which called for substantial land reforms, redistributing lands to the peasants. Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos. Madero's generals employed a scorched-earth policy, burning villages and forcibly removing their inhabitants, and drafting many men into the Army or sending them to forced-labor camps in southern Mexico. Such actions strengthened Zapata's standing among the peasants, and Zapata succeeded in driving the forces of Madero (led by Victoriano Huerta) out of Morelos. In a coup against Madero in February 1913, Huerta took power in Mexico, but a coalition of Constitutionalist forces in northern Mexico led by Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón and Francisco "Pancho" Villa ousted him in July 1914 with the support of Zapata's troops. Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, continuing his adherence to the Plan de Ayala. In the aftermath of the revolutionaries' victory over Huerta, they attempted to sort out power relations in the Convention of Aguascalientes (October to November 1914). Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into a civil war among the winners. Dismayed with the alliance with Villa, Zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos (which he now controlled), instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. As Carranza consolidated his power and defeated Villa in 1915, Zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the Carrancistas, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing once again scorched-earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919. Article 27 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution was drafted in response to Zapata's agrarian demands. After his death, Zapatista generals aligned with Obregón against Carranza and helped drive Carranza from power (1920). In 1920 Zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the government of Morelos after Carranza's fall. They instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by Zapata in Morelos. Zapata remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement. Early years before the Revolution Emiliano Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Jertrudiz Salazar of Anenecuilco, Morelos, a well-known local family; Emiliano's godfather was the manager of a large local hacienda, and his godmother was the manager's wife. Zapata's family were likely mestizos, Mexicans of both Spanish and Nahua heritage. Emiliano was the ninth of ten children; he had six sisters: Celsa, Ramona, María de Jesús, María de la Luz, Jovita and Matilde. And three brothers: Pedro, Eufemio Zapata and Loreto. The Zapata family were descended from the Zapata of Mapaztlán. His maternal grandfather, José Salazar, served in the army of José María Morelos y Pavón during the siege of Cuautla; his paternal uncles Cristino and José Zapata fought in the Reform War and the French Intervention. From a family of farmers, Emiliano Zapata had insight into the severe difficulties of the countryside and his village's long struggle to regain land taken by expanding haciendas. Although he is commonly portrayed as "indigenous" or a member of the landless peasantry in Mexican iconography, Zapata's was racially indigenous but neither landless nor is known to have spoken the Nahuatl language. They were reasonably well-off and never suffered poverty, enjoying such activities as bullfights, cock-fighting and jaripeos. He received a limited education from his teacher, Emilio Vara, but it included "the rudiments of bookkeeping". At the age of 16 or 17, Zapata had to care for his family following his father's death. Emiliano was entrepreneurial, buying a team of mules to haul maize from farms to town, as well as bricks to the Hacienda of Chinameca; he was also a successful farmer, growing watermelons as a cash crop. He was a skilled horseman and competed in rodeos and races, as well as bullfighting from horseback. These skills as a horseman brought him work as a horse trainer for Porfirio Díaz's son-in-law, Ignacio de la Torre y Mier who had a large sugar hacienda nearby, and served Zapata well as a revolutionary leader. He had a striking appearance, with a large mustache in which he took pride, and good quality clothing described by his loyal secretary: "General Zapata's dress until his death was a charro outfit: tight-fitting black cashmere pants with silver buttons, a broad charro hat, a fine linen shirt or jacket, a scarf around his neck, boots of a single piece, Amozoqueña-style spurs, and a pistol at his belt." In an undated studio photo, Zapata is dressed in a standard business suit and tie, projecting an image of a man of means. Around the turn of the 20th century, Anenecuilco was a mixed Spanish-speaking mestizo and indigenous Nahuatl-speaking pueblo. It had a long history of protesting the local haciendas taking community members' land, and its leaders gathered colonial-era documentation of their land titles to prove their claims. Some of the colonial documentation was in Nahuatl, with contemporary translations to Spanish for use in legal cases in the Spanish courts. One eyewitness account by Luz Jiménez of Milpa Alta states that Emiliano Zapata spoke Nahuatl fluently when his forces arrived in her community. Community members in Anenecuilco, including Zapata, sought redress against land seizures. In 1892, a delegation had an audience with Díaz, who with the intervention of a lawyer, agreed to hear them. Although promising them to deal favorably with their petition, Díaz had them arrested and Zapata was conscripted into the Federal Army. Under Díaz, conscription into the Federal Army was much feared by ordinary Mexican men and their families. Zapata was one of many rebel leaders who were conscripted at some point. In 1909, an important meeting was called by the elders of Anenecuilco, whose chief elder was José Merino. He announced "my intention to resign from my position due to my old age and limited abilities to continue the fight for the land rights of the village." The meeting was used as a time for discussion and nomination of individuals as a replacement for Merino as the president of the village council. The elders on the council were so well respected by the village men that no one would dare to override their nominations or vote for an individual against the advice of the current council at that time. The nominations made were Modesto González, Bartolo Parral, and Emiliano Zapata. After the nominations were closed, a vote was taken and Zapata became the new council president without contest. Although Zapata had turned 30 only a month before, voters knew that it was necessary to elect someone respected by the community who would be responsible for the village. Even though he was relatively young, Anenecuilco was ready to hand over the leadership to him without any worry of failure. Before he was elected he had shown the village his nature by helping to head up a campaign in opposition to the candidate Díaz had chosen governor. Even though Zapata's efforts failed, he was able to create and cultivate relationships with political authority figures that would prove useful for him. Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, though he did not take the title of Don, as was custom for someone of his status. Instead, the Anenecuilcans referred to Zapata affectionately as "Miliano" and later as pobrecito (poor little thing) after his death. The 1910 Revolution The flawed 1910 elections were a major reason for the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco I. Madero. Zapata, seeing an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, joined with Madero and his Constitutionalists, who included Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa, whom he perceived to be the best chance for genuine change in the country. Although he was wary about Madero, Zapata cooperated with him when Madero made vague promises about land reform in his Plan of San Luis Potosí. Land reform was the central feature of Zapata's political vision. Zapata joined Madero's campaign against President Díaz. The first military campaign of Zapata was the capture of the Hacienda of Chinameca. When Zapata's army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle on May 19, 1911, it became clear that Díaz would not hold on to power for long. During his interim presidency, Francisco León de la Barra tasked General Victoriano Huerta to suppress revolutionaries in Morelos. Huerta was to disarm revolutionaries peacefully if possible, but could use force. In August 1911, Huerta led 1,000 Federal troops to Cuernavaca, which Madero saw as provocative. Writing the Minister of the Interior, Zapata demanded the Federal troops withdraw from Morelos, saying "I won't be responsible for the blood that is going to flow if the Federal forces remain." Although Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosí specified the return of village land and won the support of peasants seeking land reform, he was not ready to implement radical change. Madero simply demanded that "Public servants act 'morally' in enforcing the law ...". Upon seeing the response by villagers, Madero offered formal justice in courts to individuals who had been wronged by others with regard to agrarian politics. Zapata decided that on the surface it seemed as though Madero was doing good things for the people of Mexico, but Zapata did not know the level of sincerity in Madero's actions and thus did not know if he should support him completely. Plan of Ayala and rebellion against Madero Compromises between the Madero and Zapata failed in November 1911, days after Madero was elected president. Zapata and Otilio Montaño Sánchez, a former school teacher, fled to the mountains of southwest Puebla. There they promulgated the most radical reform plan in Mexico, the Plan de Ayala (Plan of Ayala). The plan declared Madero a traitor, named as head of the revolution Pascual Orozco, the victorious general who captured Ciudad Juárez in 1911 forcing the resignation of Díaz. He outlined a plan for true land reform. Zapata had supported the ouster of Díaz and had the expectation that Madero would fulfill the promises made in the Plan of San Luis Potosí to return village lands. He did not share Madero's vision of democracy built on particular freedoms and guarantees that were meaningless to peasants: Freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal for those who have anything to do with an attorney. All those democratic principles, all those great words that gave such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic for the people... With or without elections, with or without an effective law, with the Porfirian dictatorship or with Madero's democracy with a controlled or free press, its fate remains the same. The 1911 Plan of Ayala called for all lands stolen under Díaz to be immediately returned; there had been considerable land fraud under the old dictator, so a great deal of territory was involved. It also stated that large plantations owned by a single person or family should have one-third of their land nationalized, which would then be required to be given to poor farmers. It also argued that if any large plantation owner resisted this action, they should have the other two-thirds confiscated as well. The Plan of Ayala also invoked the name of President Benito Juárez, one of Mexico's great liberal leaders, and compared the taking of land from the wealthy to Juarez's actions when land was expropriated from the Catholic church during the Liberal Reform. Another part of the plan stated that rural cooperatives and other measurements should be put in place to prevent the land from being seized or stolen in the future. In the following weeks, the development of military operations "betray(ed) good evidence of clear and intelligent planning." During Orozco's rebellion, Zapata fought Mexican troops in the south near Mexico City. In the original design of the armed force, Zapata was a mere colonel among several others; however, the true plan that came about through this organization lent itself to Zapata. Zapata believed that the best route of attack would be to center the fighting and action in Cuautla. If this political location could be overthrown, the army would have enough power to "veto anyone else's control of the state, negotiate for Cuernavaca or attack it directly, and maintain independent access to Mexico City as well as escape routes to the southern hills." However, in order to gain this great success, Zapata realized that his men needed to be better armed and trained. The first line of action demanded that Zapata and his men "control the area behind and below a line from Jojutla to Yecapixtla." When this was accomplished it gave the army the ability to complete raids as well as wait. As the opposition of the Federal Army and police detachments slowly dissipated, the army would be able to eventually gain powerful control over key locations on the Interoceanic Railway from Puebla City to Cuautla. If these feats could be completed, it would gain access to Cuautla directly and the city would fall. The plan of action was carried out successfully in Jojutla. However, Pablo Torres Burgos, the commander of the operation, was disappointed that the army disobeyed his orders against looting and ransacking. The army took complete control of the area, and it seemed as though Torres Burgos had lost control over his forces prior to this event. Shortly after, Torres Burgos called a meeting and resigned from his position. Upon leaving Jojutla with his two sons, he was surprised by a federal police patrol who subsequently shot all three of the men on the spot. This seemed to some to be an ending blow to the movement, because Torres Burgos had not selected a successor for his position; however, Zapata was ready to take up where Torres Burgos had left off. Shortly after Torres Burgos's death, a party of rebels elected Zapata as "Supreme Chief of the Revolutionary Movement of the South". This seemed to be the fix to all of the problems that had just arisen, but other individuals wanted to replace Zapata as well. Due to this new conflict, the individual who would come out on top would have to do so by "convincing his peers he deserved their backing." Zapata finally gained the support necessary by his peers and was considered a "singularly qualified candidate". This decision to make Zapata the leader of the revolution in Morelos did not occur all at once, nor did it ever reach a true definitive level of recognition. In order to succeed, Zapata needed a strong financial backing for the battles to come. This came in the form of 10,000 pesos delivered by Rodolfo from the Tacubayans. Due to this amount of money Zapata's group of rebels became one of the strongest in the state financially. After a period Zapata became the leader of his "strategic zone", which gave him power and control over the actions of many more individual rebel groups and thus greatly increased his margin of success. "Among revolutionaries in other districts of the state, however, Zapata's authority was more tenuous." After a meeting between Zapata and Ambrosio Figueroa in Jolalpan, it was decided that Zapata would have joint power with Figueroa with regard to operations in Morelos. This was a turning point in the level of authority and influence that Zapata had gained and proved useful in the direct overthrow of Morelos. Rebellion against Huerta, the Zapata-Villa alliance If there was anyone that Zapata hated more than Díaz and Madero, it was Victoriano Huerta, the bitter, violent alcoholic who had been responsible for many atrocities in southern Mexico while trying to end the rebellion. Zapata was not alone: in the north, Pancho Villa, who had supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Huerta. Zapata revised the Plan of Ayala and named himself the leader of his revolution. He was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón, who raised large armies in Coahuila and Sonora respectively. Together they made short work of Huerta, who resigned and fled in June 1914 after repeated military losses. On April 21, 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a contingent of troops to occupy the port city of Veracruz. This sudden threat caused Huerta to withdraw his troops from Morelos and Puebla, leaving only Jojutla and Cuernavaca under federal control. Zapatistas quickly assumed control of eastern Morelos, taking Cuautla and Jonacatepec with no resistance. In spite of being faced with a possible foreign invasion, Zapata refused to unite with Huerta in defense of the nation. He stated that if need be he would defend Mexico alone as chief of the Ayalan forces. In May the Zapatistas took Jojutla from the Federal Army, many of whom joined the rebels, and captured guns and ammunition. They also laid siege to Cuernavaca where a small contingent of federal troops were holed up. By the summer of 1915 Zapata's forces had taken the southern edge of the Federal District, occupying Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, and was poised to move into the capital. In mid July, Huerta was forced to flee as a Constitutionalist force under Carranza, Obregón and Villa took the Federal District. The Constitutionalists established a peace treaty inserting Carranza as First Authority of the nation. Carranza, an aristocrat with politically relevant connections, then gained the backing of the U.S., who passed over Villa and Zapata due to their lower status backgrounds and more progressive ideologies. In spite of having contributed decisively to the fall of Huerta, the Zapatistas were left out of the peace treaties, probably because of Carranza's intense dislike for the Zapatistas whom he saw as uncultured savages. Through 1915 there was a tentative peace in Morelos and the rest of the country. As the Constitutionalist forces began to split, with Francisco "Pancho" Villa creating a popular front against Carranza's Constitutionalists, Carranza worked diplomatically to get the Zapatistas to recognize his rule, sending Dr. Atl as an envoy to propose a compromise with Zapata. For Carranza, an agreement with Zapata would mean that he did not need to worry about his force's southern flank and could concentrate on defeating Villa. Zapata demanded veto power over Carranza's decisions, which Carranza rejected and negotiations broke off. Zapata issued a statement, perhaps drafted by his advisor, Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. "The country wishes to destroy feudalism once and for all [while Carranza offers] administrative reform...complete honesty in the handling of public monies...freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal proceedings for those who have never had anything to do with an attorney. All those beautiful democratic principles, all those great words that give such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic...The people continue to suffer from poverty and endless disappointments." Unable to reach an agreement, the Constitutionalists divided along ideological lines, with Zapata and Villa leading a progressive rebellion and the conservative faction of the remaining Constituitionalists being headed Carranza and Obregón. Villa and the other anti-Carrancista leaders of the North established the Convention of Aguascalientes against Carranza. Zapata and his envoys got the convention to adopt some of the agrarian principles of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata and Villa met in Xochimilco to negotiate an alliance and divide the responsibility for ridding Mexico of the remaining Carrancistas. The meeting was awkward but amiable, and was widely publicized. It was decided that Zapata should work on securing the area east of Morelos from Puebla towards Veracruz. Nonetheless, during the ensuing campaign in Puebla, Zapata was disappointed by Villa's lack of support. Villa did not initially provide the Zapatistas with the weaponry they had agreed on and, when he did, he did not provide adequate transportation. There were also a series of abuses by Villistas against Zapatista soldiers and chiefs. These experiences led Zapata to grow unsatisfied with the alliance, turning instead his efforts to reorganizing the state of Morelos that had been left in shambles by the onslaught of Huerta and Robles. Having taken Puebla, Zapata left a couple of garrisons there but did not support Villa further against Obregón and Carranza. The Carrancistas saw that the convention was divided and decided to concentrate on beating Villa, which left the Zapatistas to their own devices for a while. Zapata rebuilds Morelos Through 1915, Zapata began reshaping Morelos after the Plan de Ayala, redistributing hacienda lands to the peasants, and largely letting village councils run their own local affairs. Most peasants did not turn to cash crops, instead growing subsistence crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables. The result was that as the capital was starving, Morelos peasants had more to eat than they had had in 1910 and at lower prices. The only official event in Morelos during this entire year was a bullfight in which Zapata himself and his nephew Amador Salazar participated. 1915 was a short period of peace and prosperity for the farmers of Morelos, in between the massacres of the Huerta era and the civil war of the winners to come. Guerrilla warfare against Carranza Even when Villa was retreating, having lost the Battle of Celaya in 1915, and when Obregón took the capital from the Conventionists who retreated to Toluca, Zapata did not open a second front. When Carranza's forces were poised to move into Morelos, Zapata took action. He attacked Carrancista positions with large forces trying to harry the Carrancistas in the rear as they were occupied with routing Villa throughout the Northwest. Though Zapata managed to take many important sites such as the Necaxa power plant that supplied Mexico City, he was unable to hold them. The convention was finally routed from Toluca, and Carranza was recognized by US President Woodrow Wilson as the head of state of Mexico in October. Through 1916 Zapata raided federal forces from Hidalgo to Oaxaca, and Genovevo de la O fought the Carrancistas in Guerrero. The Zapatistas attempted to amass support for their cause by promulgating new manifestos against the hacendados, but this had little effect since the hacendados had already lost power throughout the country. Carranza consolidates power Having been put in charge of the efforts to root out Zapatismo in Morelos, Pablo González Garza was humiliated by Zapata's counterattacks and enforced increasingly draconian measures against the locals. He received no reinforcements, as Obregón, the Minister of War, needed all his forces against Villa in the north and against Felix Díaz in Oaxaca. Through low-scale attacks on Gonzalez's positions, Zapata had driven Gonzalez out of Morelos by the end of 1916. Nonetheless, outside of Morelos the revolutionary forces started disbanding. Some joined the constitutionalists such as Domingo Arena, or lapsed into banditry. In Morelos, Zapata once more reorganized the Zapatista state, continuing with democratic reforms and legislation meant to keep the civil population safe from abuses by soldiers. Though his advisers urged him to mount a concerted campaign against the Carrancistas across southern Mexico, again he concentrated entirely on stabilizing Morelos and making life tolerable for the peasants. Meanwhile, Carranza mounted national elections in all state capitals except Cuernavaca, and promulgated the 1917 Constitution which incorporated elements of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata under pressure Meanwhile, the disintegration of the revolution outside of Morelos put pressure on the Zapatistas. As General Arenas turned over to the constitutionalists, he secured peace for his region and remained in control there. This suggested to many revolutionaries that perhaps the time had come to seek a peaceful conclusion to the struggle. A movement within the Zapatista ranks led by former General Vazquez and Zapata's erstwhile adviser and inspiration Otilio Montaño moved against the Tlaltizapan headquarters demanding surrender to the Carrancistas. Reluctantly, Zapata had Montaño tried for treason and executed. Zapata began looking for allies among the northern revolutionaries and the southern Felicistas, followers of the Liberalist Felix Díaz. He sent Gildardo Magaña as an envoy to communicate with the Americans and other possible sources of support. In the fall of 1917 a force led by Gonzalez and the ex-Zapatista Sidronio Camacho, who had killed Zapata's brother Eufemio, moved into the eastern part of Morelos taking Cuautla, Zacualpan and Jonacatepec. Zapata continued his work to try to unite with the national anti-Carrancista movement through the next year, and the constitutionalists did not make further advances. In the winter of 1918 a harsh cold and the onset of the Spanish flu decimated the population of Morelos, causing the loss of a quarter of the total population of the state, almost as many as had been lost to Huerta in 1914. Furthermore, Zapata began to worry that by the end of the World War, the United States would turn its attention to Mexico, forcing the Zapatistas to either join the Carrancistas in a national defense or to acquiesce to foreign domination of Mexico. In December 1918 Carrancistas under Gonzalez undertook an offensive campaign taking most of the state of Morelos, and pushing Zapata to retreat. The main Zapatista headquarters were moved to Tochimilco, Puebla, although Tlaltizapan also continued to be under Zapatista control. Through Castro, Carranza issued offers to the main Zapatista generals to join the nationalist cause, with pardon. But apart from Manuel Palafox, who having fallen in disgrace among the Zapatistas had joined the Arenistas, none of the major generals did. Zapata released statements accusing Carranza of being secretly sympathetic to the Germans. In March Zapata finally sent an open letter to Carranza urging him for the good of the fatherland to resign his leadership to Vazquez Gómez, by now the rallying point of the anti-constitutionalist movement. Having posed this formidable moral challenge to Carranza prior to the upcoming 1920 presidential elections, the Zapatista generals at Tochimilco, Magaña and Ayaquica, urged Zapata not to take any risks and to lie low. But Zapata declined, considering that the respect of his troops depended on his active presence at the front. Assassination Eliminating Zapata was a top priority for President Carranza. Carranza was unwilling to compromise with domestic foes and wanted to demonstrate to Mexican elites and to American interests that Carranza was the "only viable alternative to both anarchy and radicalism." In mid-March 1919, General Pablo González ordered his subordinate Jesús Guajardo to begin operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when González later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on González's desk. González devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, González explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo González and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo González wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. Immediate aftermath Although Zapata's assassination weakened his forces in Morelos, the Zapatistas continued the fight against Carranza. For Carranza the death of Zapata was the removal of an ongoing threat, for many Zapata's assassination undermined "worker and peasant support for Carranza and [Pablo] González." Obregón seized on the opportunity to attack Carranza and González, Obregón's rival candidate for the presidency, by saying "this crime reveals a lack of ethics in some members of the government and also of political sense, since peasant votes in the upcoming election will now go to whoever runs against Pablo González." In spite of González's attempts to sully the name of Zapata and the Plan de Ayala during his 1920 campaign for the presidency, the people of Morelos continued to support Zapatista generals, providing them with weapons, supplies and protection. Carranza was wary of the threat of a U.S. intervention, and Zapatista generals decided to take a conciliatory approach. Bands of Zapatistas started surrendering in exchange for amnesties, and many Zapatista generals went on to become local authorities, such as Fortino Ayaquica who became municipal president of Tochimilco. Other generals such as Genovevo de la O remained active in small-scale guerrilla warfare. As Venustiano Carranza moved to curb his former allies and now rivals in 1920 to impose a civilian, Ignacio Bonillas, as his successor in the presidency, Obregón sought to align himself with the Zapatista movement against that of Carranza. Genovevo de la O and Magaña supported him in the coup by former Constitutionalists, fighting in Morelos against Carranza and helping prompt Carranza to flee Mexico City toward Veracruz in May 1920. "Obregón and Genovevo de la O entered Mexico City in triumph." Zapatistas were given important posts in the interim government of Adolfo de la Huerta and the administration of Álvaro Obregón, following his election to the presidency after the coup. Zapatistas had almost total control of the state of Morelos, where they carried out a program of agrarian reform and land redistribution based on the provisions of the Plan de Ayala and with the support of the government. According to "La Demócrata", after Zapata's assassination, "in the consciousness of the natives", Zapata "had taken on the proportions of a myth" because he had "given them a formula of vindication against old offenses." Mythmaking would continue for decades after Zapata was gunned down. Legacy Zapata's influence continues to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in southern Mexico. In the long run, he has done more for his ideals in death than he did in life. Like many charismatic idealists, Zapata became a martyr after his murder. Even though Mexico still has not implemented the sort of land reform he wanted, he is remembered as a visionary who fought for his countrymen. Zapata's Plan of Ayala influenced Article 27 of the progressive 1917 Constitution of Mexico that codified an agrarian reform program. Even though the Mexican Revolution did restore some land that had been taken under Díaz, the land reform on the scale imagined by Zapata was never enacted. However, a great deal of the significant land distribution which Zapata sought would later be enacted after Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934. Cárdenas would fulfill not only the land distribution policies written in Article 27, but other reforms written in the Mexican Constitution as well. There are controversies about the portrayal of Emiliano Zapata and his followers, whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. At the outbreak of the Revolution, "Zapata's agrarian revolt was soon construed as a 'caste war' [race war], in which members of an 'inferior race' were captained by a 'modern Attila'". Zapata is now one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico. To many Mexicans, especially the peasant and indigenous citizens, Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights outlined in the Plan of Ayala. He was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico and leading them out of severe poverty. Many popular organizations take their name from Zapata, most notably the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN in Spanish), the Neozapatismo group that emerged in the state of Chiapas in 1983 and precipitated the 1994 indigenous Zapatista uprising which still continues in Chiapas. Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes. Modern activists in Mexico frequently make reference to Zapata in their campaigns; his image is commonly seen on banners, and many chants invoke his name: Si Zapata viviera con nosotros anduviera ("If Zapata lived, he would walk with us"), and Zapata vive, la lucha sigue ("Zapata lives; the struggle continues"). His daughter by Petra Portillo Torres, Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo, was aware of her father's legacy from a very early age. She continued his work of dedication to agrarian rights, serving as treasurer of the ejido of Cuautla, as ejidataria of Cuautla, as municipal councilor and municipal trustee. In popular culture Zapata has been depicted in movies, comics, books, music, and clothing. For example, there is a Zapata (1980), stage musical written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. A movie called Zapata: El sueño de un héroe (Zapata: A Hero's Dream) was produced in 2004, starring Mexican actors Alejandro Fernandez, Jaime Camil, and Lucero. There is also a sub-genre of the Spaghetti Western called the Zapata Western, which features stories set during the Mexican Revolution. Marlon Brando played Emiliano Zapata in the award-winning movie based on his life, Viva Zapata! in 1952. The film co-starred Anthony Quinn, who won best supporting actor. The director was Elia Kazan and the writer was John Steinbeck. Emiliano Zapata is a major character in The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), by James Carlos Blake Emiliano Zapata is referenced in the song "Calm Like a Bomb" by American rock band Rage Against the Machine from their album "The Battle of Los Angeles." In the 2011 Mexican TV series "El Encanto del Aguila" Zapata is played by the Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. In December 2019, an arts show commemorating the 100 year anniversary of his death was held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The show featured 141 works. A painting called La Revolución depicted Zapata as intentionally effeminate, riding an erect horse, nude except for high heels and a pink hat. According to the artist, he created the painting to combat machismo. The painting caused protests from the farmer's union and admirers of Zapata. His grandson Jorge Zapata González threatened to sue if the painting was not removed. There was a clash between supporters of the painting and detractors at the museum. A compromised was reached with some of Zapata's family, a label was placed next to the painting outlining their disagreement with the painting. Sobriquets "Calpuleque (náhuatl)" – leader, chief "El Tigre del Sur" – Tiger of the South "El Tigre" – The Tiger "El Tigrillo" – Little Tiger "El Caudillo del Sur" – Caudillo of the South "El Atila del Sur" – The Attila of the South (pejorative) Gallery References Cited sources Further reading Brunk, Samuel, ¡Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. Caballero, Raymond. Lynching Pascual Orozco, Mexican Revolutionary Hero and Paradox. Create Space 2015. Lucas, Jeffrey Kent. The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. Mclynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A history of the Mexican Revolution. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2001. McNeely, John H. "Origins of the Zapata revolt in Morelos." Hispanic American Historical Review (1966): 153–169. Historiography Golland, David Hamilton. "Recent Works on the Mexican Revolution." Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe 16.1 (2014). online McNamara, Patrick J. "Rewriting Zapata: Generational Conflict on the Eve of the Mexican Revolution." Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos 30.1 (2014): 122–149. In Spanish Horcasitas, Fernando. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata, memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta, UNAM, México DF.,1968 (eye and ear-witness account of Zapata speaking Nahuatl) Krauze, Enrique. Zapata: El amor a la tierra, in the Biographies of Power'' series. Media "Emiliano Zapata", BBC Mundo.com External links Emiliano Zapata Quotes, Facts, Books and Movies Full text html version of Zapata's "Plan de Ayala" in Spanish Emiliano Zapata videos Bicentenario del inicio del movimiento de Independencia Nacional y del Centenario del inicio de la Revolución Mexicana Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa 1879 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Mexican people 20th-century Mexican people Assassinated Mexican people Deaths by firearm in Mexico Mexican agrarianists Mexican generals Mexican guerrillas Mexican rebels Mexican revolutionaries Mexican Roman Catholics Military assassinations Military history of Mexico Nahua people People from Ciudad Ayala, Morelos People murdered in Mexico People of the Mexican Revolution	true	[ "...For the Whole World to See is a studio album by the American band Death, released in 2009 and consisting of various demos originally recorded in the mid 1970s.\n\nHistory\nIn 1975 the band entered a studio to record a 12-song album. After refusing to change their group's name, Death was turned away by Clive Davis of Columbia Records. Only seven songs were completed and the album was never released. The surviving songs were released as ...For the Whole World to See in 2009 by Drag City.\n\nJust prior to and right after the record's release, the songs on ...For the Whole World to See were performed live by Rough Francis, a band formed by the three sons of Death's original bassist. With the record's critical acclaim and praise from many other musicians, the two surviving members of Death reformed the band with a new guitarist to promote the record themselves.\n\nReception\n\nInitial critical response to ...For the Whole World to See was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 76, based on 8 reviews.\n\nJack White of The White Stripes related his first reaction to the album in a The New York Times article: \"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn't make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time.\"\n\nThe song \"You're a Prisoner\" was featured in the 2011 film Kill the Irishman.\n\nThe song \"Freakin Out\" is played in the main action sequence on the sixth episode of the Starz show \"Ash vs. Evil Dead\".\n\nThe song \"Keep on Knocking\" was used for the soundtrack for the video game \"Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5\".\n\nThe song \"Politicians in My Eyes\" was covered by the band Black Pumas in the deluxe release of their debut album (2020)\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\n David Hackney – guitar\n Bobby Hackney – bass, lead vocals\n Dannis Hackney – drums\n Death – producer\n Tammy Hackney – photography\n Jim Vitti – engineer\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2009 debut albums\nDeath (proto-punk band) albums\nDrag City (record label) albums", "Gilla na Naemh Mac Aodhagáin (died 1399) was Professor of Judiciary.\n\nGilla na Naemh was a member of a family - Mac Aodhagáin - originally from what is now County Galway but who had spread to many parts of Ireland by the end of the 14th century in response to the demand for their services as Brehons.\n\nUnder the year 1399, the Annals of Lough Ce notes his death, describing him as the ollamh of the East of Mumha (Ormond) in judicature. It was probably within his lifetime that the family first established itself in Ormond, Redwood Castle in what is now County Tipperary being given to the family in the late 14th century.\n\nExternal links\n http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100010B/index.html\n\nMedieval Gaels from Ireland\nIrish lawyers\n14th-century Irish writers\nPeople from County Tipperary\nPeople from County Galway" ]
[ "Emiliano Zapata", "Death", "When did Zapata die?", "April 10, 1919,", "How did he die?", "Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets.", "What was the response to his death?", "Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital." ]	C_bfcbfcd63551472ca1d6916d588bf9d2_0	What else is significant?	4	What else is signifcant along with Emiliano Zapata's death?	Emiliano Zapata	In mid-March 1919, Gen. Pablo Gonzalez ordered his subordinate Col. Jesus Guajardo to commence operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when Gonzalez later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21st, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on Gonzalez's desk. Gonzalez devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, Gonzalez explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo Gonzalez and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. After he was gunned down, they then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty, where they are reputed to have been given only half of what was promised. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo Gonzalez wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. CANNOTANSWER	After he was gunned down, they then took his body to Cuautla to claim the bounty,	Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. Zapata was born in the rural village of Anenecuilco in Morelos State, in an era when peasant communities came under increasing pressure from the small-landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for sugar-cane production with the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz (President 1877-1880 and 1884–1911). Zapata early on participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados, and when the Revolution broke out in 1910 he was thus positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. Cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders, he formed the Liberation Army of the South, of which he soon became the undisputed leader. Zapata's forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla (May 1911), but when the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits. In November 1911 Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala, which called for substantial land reforms, redistributing lands to the peasants. Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos. Madero's generals employed a scorched-earth policy, burning villages and forcibly removing their inhabitants, and drafting many men into the Army or sending them to forced-labor camps in southern Mexico. Such actions strengthened Zapata's standing among the peasants, and Zapata succeeded in driving the forces of Madero (led by Victoriano Huerta) out of Morelos. In a coup against Madero in February 1913, Huerta took power in Mexico, but a coalition of Constitutionalist forces in northern Mexico led by Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón and Francisco "Pancho" Villa ousted him in July 1914 with the support of Zapata's troops. Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, continuing his adherence to the Plan de Ayala. In the aftermath of the revolutionaries' victory over Huerta, they attempted to sort out power relations in the Convention of Aguascalientes (October to November 1914). Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into a civil war among the winners. Dismayed with the alliance with Villa, Zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos (which he now controlled), instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. As Carranza consolidated his power and defeated Villa in 1915, Zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the Carrancistas, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing once again scorched-earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919. Article 27 of the 1917 Mexican Constitution was drafted in response to Zapata's agrarian demands. After his death, Zapatista generals aligned with Obregón against Carranza and helped drive Carranza from power (1920). In 1920 Zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the government of Morelos after Carranza's fall. They instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by Zapata in Morelos. Zapata remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement. Early years before the Revolution Emiliano Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Jertrudiz Salazar of Anenecuilco, Morelos, a well-known local family; Emiliano's godfather was the manager of a large local hacienda, and his godmother was the manager's wife. Zapata's family were likely mestizos, Mexicans of both Spanish and Nahua heritage. Emiliano was the ninth of ten children; he had six sisters: Celsa, Ramona, María de Jesús, María de la Luz, Jovita and Matilde. And three brothers: Pedro, Eufemio Zapata and Loreto. The Zapata family were descended from the Zapata of Mapaztlán. His maternal grandfather, José Salazar, served in the army of José María Morelos y Pavón during the siege of Cuautla; his paternal uncles Cristino and José Zapata fought in the Reform War and the French Intervention. From a family of farmers, Emiliano Zapata had insight into the severe difficulties of the countryside and his village's long struggle to regain land taken by expanding haciendas. Although he is commonly portrayed as "indigenous" or a member of the landless peasantry in Mexican iconography, Zapata's was racially indigenous but neither landless nor is known to have spoken the Nahuatl language. They were reasonably well-off and never suffered poverty, enjoying such activities as bullfights, cock-fighting and jaripeos. He received a limited education from his teacher, Emilio Vara, but it included "the rudiments of bookkeeping". At the age of 16 or 17, Zapata had to care for his family following his father's death. Emiliano was entrepreneurial, buying a team of mules to haul maize from farms to town, as well as bricks to the Hacienda of Chinameca; he was also a successful farmer, growing watermelons as a cash crop. He was a skilled horseman and competed in rodeos and races, as well as bullfighting from horseback. These skills as a horseman brought him work as a horse trainer for Porfirio Díaz's son-in-law, Ignacio de la Torre y Mier who had a large sugar hacienda nearby, and served Zapata well as a revolutionary leader. He had a striking appearance, with a large mustache in which he took pride, and good quality clothing described by his loyal secretary: "General Zapata's dress until his death was a charro outfit: tight-fitting black cashmere pants with silver buttons, a broad charro hat, a fine linen shirt or jacket, a scarf around his neck, boots of a single piece, Amozoqueña-style spurs, and a pistol at his belt." In an undated studio photo, Zapata is dressed in a standard business suit and tie, projecting an image of a man of means. Around the turn of the 20th century, Anenecuilco was a mixed Spanish-speaking mestizo and indigenous Nahuatl-speaking pueblo. It had a long history of protesting the local haciendas taking community members' land, and its leaders gathered colonial-era documentation of their land titles to prove their claims. Some of the colonial documentation was in Nahuatl, with contemporary translations to Spanish for use in legal cases in the Spanish courts. One eyewitness account by Luz Jiménez of Milpa Alta states that Emiliano Zapata spoke Nahuatl fluently when his forces arrived in her community. Community members in Anenecuilco, including Zapata, sought redress against land seizures. In 1892, a delegation had an audience with Díaz, who with the intervention of a lawyer, agreed to hear them. Although promising them to deal favorably with their petition, Díaz had them arrested and Zapata was conscripted into the Federal Army. Under Díaz, conscription into the Federal Army was much feared by ordinary Mexican men and their families. Zapata was one of many rebel leaders who were conscripted at some point. In 1909, an important meeting was called by the elders of Anenecuilco, whose chief elder was José Merino. He announced "my intention to resign from my position due to my old age and limited abilities to continue the fight for the land rights of the village." The meeting was used as a time for discussion and nomination of individuals as a replacement for Merino as the president of the village council. The elders on the council were so well respected by the village men that no one would dare to override their nominations or vote for an individual against the advice of the current council at that time. The nominations made were Modesto González, Bartolo Parral, and Emiliano Zapata. After the nominations were closed, a vote was taken and Zapata became the new council president without contest. Although Zapata had turned 30 only a month before, voters knew that it was necessary to elect someone respected by the community who would be responsible for the village. Even though he was relatively young, Anenecuilco was ready to hand over the leadership to him without any worry of failure. Before he was elected he had shown the village his nature by helping to head up a campaign in opposition to the candidate Díaz had chosen governor. Even though Zapata's efforts failed, he was able to create and cultivate relationships with political authority figures that would prove useful for him. Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, though he did not take the title of Don, as was custom for someone of his status. Instead, the Anenecuilcans referred to Zapata affectionately as "Miliano" and later as pobrecito (poor little thing) after his death. The 1910 Revolution The flawed 1910 elections were a major reason for the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco I. Madero. Zapata, seeing an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, joined with Madero and his Constitutionalists, who included Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa, whom he perceived to be the best chance for genuine change in the country. Although he was wary about Madero, Zapata cooperated with him when Madero made vague promises about land reform in his Plan of San Luis Potosí. Land reform was the central feature of Zapata's political vision. Zapata joined Madero's campaign against President Díaz. The first military campaign of Zapata was the capture of the Hacienda of Chinameca. When Zapata's army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle on May 19, 1911, it became clear that Díaz would not hold on to power for long. During his interim presidency, Francisco León de la Barra tasked General Victoriano Huerta to suppress revolutionaries in Morelos. Huerta was to disarm revolutionaries peacefully if possible, but could use force. In August 1911, Huerta led 1,000 Federal troops to Cuernavaca, which Madero saw as provocative. Writing the Minister of the Interior, Zapata demanded the Federal troops withdraw from Morelos, saying "I won't be responsible for the blood that is going to flow if the Federal forces remain." Although Madero's Plan of San Luis Potosí specified the return of village land and won the support of peasants seeking land reform, he was not ready to implement radical change. Madero simply demanded that "Public servants act 'morally' in enforcing the law ...". Upon seeing the response by villagers, Madero offered formal justice in courts to individuals who had been wronged by others with regard to agrarian politics. Zapata decided that on the surface it seemed as though Madero was doing good things for the people of Mexico, but Zapata did not know the level of sincerity in Madero's actions and thus did not know if he should support him completely. Plan of Ayala and rebellion against Madero Compromises between the Madero and Zapata failed in November 1911, days after Madero was elected president. Zapata and Otilio Montaño Sánchez, a former school teacher, fled to the mountains of southwest Puebla. There they promulgated the most radical reform plan in Mexico, the Plan de Ayala (Plan of Ayala). The plan declared Madero a traitor, named as head of the revolution Pascual Orozco, the victorious general who captured Ciudad Juárez in 1911 forcing the resignation of Díaz. He outlined a plan for true land reform. Zapata had supported the ouster of Díaz and had the expectation that Madero would fulfill the promises made in the Plan of San Luis Potosí to return village lands. He did not share Madero's vision of democracy built on particular freedoms and guarantees that were meaningless to peasants: Freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal for those who have anything to do with an attorney. All those democratic principles, all those great words that gave such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic for the people... With or without elections, with or without an effective law, with the Porfirian dictatorship or with Madero's democracy with a controlled or free press, its fate remains the same. The 1911 Plan of Ayala called for all lands stolen under Díaz to be immediately returned; there had been considerable land fraud under the old dictator, so a great deal of territory was involved. It also stated that large plantations owned by a single person or family should have one-third of their land nationalized, which would then be required to be given to poor farmers. It also argued that if any large plantation owner resisted this action, they should have the other two-thirds confiscated as well. The Plan of Ayala also invoked the name of President Benito Juárez, one of Mexico's great liberal leaders, and compared the taking of land from the wealthy to Juarez's actions when land was expropriated from the Catholic church during the Liberal Reform. Another part of the plan stated that rural cooperatives and other measurements should be put in place to prevent the land from being seized or stolen in the future. In the following weeks, the development of military operations "betray(ed) good evidence of clear and intelligent planning." During Orozco's rebellion, Zapata fought Mexican troops in the south near Mexico City. In the original design of the armed force, Zapata was a mere colonel among several others; however, the true plan that came about through this organization lent itself to Zapata. Zapata believed that the best route of attack would be to center the fighting and action in Cuautla. If this political location could be overthrown, the army would have enough power to "veto anyone else's control of the state, negotiate for Cuernavaca or attack it directly, and maintain independent access to Mexico City as well as escape routes to the southern hills." However, in order to gain this great success, Zapata realized that his men needed to be better armed and trained. The first line of action demanded that Zapata and his men "control the area behind and below a line from Jojutla to Yecapixtla." When this was accomplished it gave the army the ability to complete raids as well as wait. As the opposition of the Federal Army and police detachments slowly dissipated, the army would be able to eventually gain powerful control over key locations on the Interoceanic Railway from Puebla City to Cuautla. If these feats could be completed, it would gain access to Cuautla directly and the city would fall. The plan of action was carried out successfully in Jojutla. However, Pablo Torres Burgos, the commander of the operation, was disappointed that the army disobeyed his orders against looting and ransacking. The army took complete control of the area, and it seemed as though Torres Burgos had lost control over his forces prior to this event. Shortly after, Torres Burgos called a meeting and resigned from his position. Upon leaving Jojutla with his two sons, he was surprised by a federal police patrol who subsequently shot all three of the men on the spot. This seemed to some to be an ending blow to the movement, because Torres Burgos had not selected a successor for his position; however, Zapata was ready to take up where Torres Burgos had left off. Shortly after Torres Burgos's death, a party of rebels elected Zapata as "Supreme Chief of the Revolutionary Movement of the South". This seemed to be the fix to all of the problems that had just arisen, but other individuals wanted to replace Zapata as well. Due to this new conflict, the individual who would come out on top would have to do so by "convincing his peers he deserved their backing." Zapata finally gained the support necessary by his peers and was considered a "singularly qualified candidate". This decision to make Zapata the leader of the revolution in Morelos did not occur all at once, nor did it ever reach a true definitive level of recognition. In order to succeed, Zapata needed a strong financial backing for the battles to come. This came in the form of 10,000 pesos delivered by Rodolfo from the Tacubayans. Due to this amount of money Zapata's group of rebels became one of the strongest in the state financially. After a period Zapata became the leader of his "strategic zone", which gave him power and control over the actions of many more individual rebel groups and thus greatly increased his margin of success. "Among revolutionaries in other districts of the state, however, Zapata's authority was more tenuous." After a meeting between Zapata and Ambrosio Figueroa in Jolalpan, it was decided that Zapata would have joint power with Figueroa with regard to operations in Morelos. This was a turning point in the level of authority and influence that Zapata had gained and proved useful in the direct overthrow of Morelos. Rebellion against Huerta, the Zapata-Villa alliance If there was anyone that Zapata hated more than Díaz and Madero, it was Victoriano Huerta, the bitter, violent alcoholic who had been responsible for many atrocities in southern Mexico while trying to end the rebellion. Zapata was not alone: in the north, Pancho Villa, who had supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Huerta. Zapata revised the Plan of Ayala and named himself the leader of his revolution. He was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregón, who raised large armies in Coahuila and Sonora respectively. Together they made short work of Huerta, who resigned and fled in June 1914 after repeated military losses. On April 21, 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a contingent of troops to occupy the port city of Veracruz. This sudden threat caused Huerta to withdraw his troops from Morelos and Puebla, leaving only Jojutla and Cuernavaca under federal control. Zapatistas quickly assumed control of eastern Morelos, taking Cuautla and Jonacatepec with no resistance. In spite of being faced with a possible foreign invasion, Zapata refused to unite with Huerta in defense of the nation. He stated that if need be he would defend Mexico alone as chief of the Ayalan forces. In May the Zapatistas took Jojutla from the Federal Army, many of whom joined the rebels, and captured guns and ammunition. They also laid siege to Cuernavaca where a small contingent of federal troops were holed up. By the summer of 1915 Zapata's forces had taken the southern edge of the Federal District, occupying Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, and was poised to move into the capital. In mid July, Huerta was forced to flee as a Constitutionalist force under Carranza, Obregón and Villa took the Federal District. The Constitutionalists established a peace treaty inserting Carranza as First Authority of the nation. Carranza, an aristocrat with politically relevant connections, then gained the backing of the U.S., who passed over Villa and Zapata due to their lower status backgrounds and more progressive ideologies. In spite of having contributed decisively to the fall of Huerta, the Zapatistas were left out of the peace treaties, probably because of Carranza's intense dislike for the Zapatistas whom he saw as uncultured savages. Through 1915 there was a tentative peace in Morelos and the rest of the country. As the Constitutionalist forces began to split, with Francisco "Pancho" Villa creating a popular front against Carranza's Constitutionalists, Carranza worked diplomatically to get the Zapatistas to recognize his rule, sending Dr. Atl as an envoy to propose a compromise with Zapata. For Carranza, an agreement with Zapata would mean that he did not need to worry about his force's southern flank and could concentrate on defeating Villa. Zapata demanded veto power over Carranza's decisions, which Carranza rejected and negotiations broke off. Zapata issued a statement, perhaps drafted by his advisor, Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. "The country wishes to destroy feudalism once and for all [while Carranza offers] administrative reform...complete honesty in the handling of public monies...freedom of the press for those who cannot read; free elections for those who do not know the candidates; proper legal proceedings for those who have never had anything to do with an attorney. All those beautiful democratic principles, all those great words that give such joy to our fathers and grandfathers have lost their magic...The people continue to suffer from poverty and endless disappointments." Unable to reach an agreement, the Constitutionalists divided along ideological lines, with Zapata and Villa leading a progressive rebellion and the conservative faction of the remaining Constituitionalists being headed Carranza and Obregón. Villa and the other anti-Carrancista leaders of the North established the Convention of Aguascalientes against Carranza. Zapata and his envoys got the convention to adopt some of the agrarian principles of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata and Villa met in Xochimilco to negotiate an alliance and divide the responsibility for ridding Mexico of the remaining Carrancistas. The meeting was awkward but amiable, and was widely publicized. It was decided that Zapata should work on securing the area east of Morelos from Puebla towards Veracruz. Nonetheless, during the ensuing campaign in Puebla, Zapata was disappointed by Villa's lack of support. Villa did not initially provide the Zapatistas with the weaponry they had agreed on and, when he did, he did not provide adequate transportation. There were also a series of abuses by Villistas against Zapatista soldiers and chiefs. These experiences led Zapata to grow unsatisfied with the alliance, turning instead his efforts to reorganizing the state of Morelos that had been left in shambles by the onslaught of Huerta and Robles. Having taken Puebla, Zapata left a couple of garrisons there but did not support Villa further against Obregón and Carranza. The Carrancistas saw that the convention was divided and decided to concentrate on beating Villa, which left the Zapatistas to their own devices for a while. Zapata rebuilds Morelos Through 1915, Zapata began reshaping Morelos after the Plan de Ayala, redistributing hacienda lands to the peasants, and largely letting village councils run their own local affairs. Most peasants did not turn to cash crops, instead growing subsistence crops such as corn, beans, and vegetables. The result was that as the capital was starving, Morelos peasants had more to eat than they had had in 1910 and at lower prices. The only official event in Morelos during this entire year was a bullfight in which Zapata himself and his nephew Amador Salazar participated. 1915 was a short period of peace and prosperity for the farmers of Morelos, in between the massacres of the Huerta era and the civil war of the winners to come. Guerrilla warfare against Carranza Even when Villa was retreating, having lost the Battle of Celaya in 1915, and when Obregón took the capital from the Conventionists who retreated to Toluca, Zapata did not open a second front. When Carranza's forces were poised to move into Morelos, Zapata took action. He attacked Carrancista positions with large forces trying to harry the Carrancistas in the rear as they were occupied with routing Villa throughout the Northwest. Though Zapata managed to take many important sites such as the Necaxa power plant that supplied Mexico City, he was unable to hold them. The convention was finally routed from Toluca, and Carranza was recognized by US President Woodrow Wilson as the head of state of Mexico in October. Through 1916 Zapata raided federal forces from Hidalgo to Oaxaca, and Genovevo de la O fought the Carrancistas in Guerrero. The Zapatistas attempted to amass support for their cause by promulgating new manifestos against the hacendados, but this had little effect since the hacendados had already lost power throughout the country. Carranza consolidates power Having been put in charge of the efforts to root out Zapatismo in Morelos, Pablo González Garza was humiliated by Zapata's counterattacks and enforced increasingly draconian measures against the locals. He received no reinforcements, as Obregón, the Minister of War, needed all his forces against Villa in the north and against Felix Díaz in Oaxaca. Through low-scale attacks on Gonzalez's positions, Zapata had driven Gonzalez out of Morelos by the end of 1916. Nonetheless, outside of Morelos the revolutionary forces started disbanding. Some joined the constitutionalists such as Domingo Arena, or lapsed into banditry. In Morelos, Zapata once more reorganized the Zapatista state, continuing with democratic reforms and legislation meant to keep the civil population safe from abuses by soldiers. Though his advisers urged him to mount a concerted campaign against the Carrancistas across southern Mexico, again he concentrated entirely on stabilizing Morelos and making life tolerable for the peasants. Meanwhile, Carranza mounted national elections in all state capitals except Cuernavaca, and promulgated the 1917 Constitution which incorporated elements of the Plan de Ayala. Zapata under pressure Meanwhile, the disintegration of the revolution outside of Morelos put pressure on the Zapatistas. As General Arenas turned over to the constitutionalists, he secured peace for his region and remained in control there. This suggested to many revolutionaries that perhaps the time had come to seek a peaceful conclusion to the struggle. A movement within the Zapatista ranks led by former General Vazquez and Zapata's erstwhile adviser and inspiration Otilio Montaño moved against the Tlaltizapan headquarters demanding surrender to the Carrancistas. Reluctantly, Zapata had Montaño tried for treason and executed. Zapata began looking for allies among the northern revolutionaries and the southern Felicistas, followers of the Liberalist Felix Díaz. He sent Gildardo Magaña as an envoy to communicate with the Americans and other possible sources of support. In the fall of 1917 a force led by Gonzalez and the ex-Zapatista Sidronio Camacho, who had killed Zapata's brother Eufemio, moved into the eastern part of Morelos taking Cuautla, Zacualpan and Jonacatepec. Zapata continued his work to try to unite with the national anti-Carrancista movement through the next year, and the constitutionalists did not make further advances. In the winter of 1918 a harsh cold and the onset of the Spanish flu decimated the population of Morelos, causing the loss of a quarter of the total population of the state, almost as many as had been lost to Huerta in 1914. Furthermore, Zapata began to worry that by the end of the World War, the United States would turn its attention to Mexico, forcing the Zapatistas to either join the Carrancistas in a national defense or to acquiesce to foreign domination of Mexico. In December 1918 Carrancistas under Gonzalez undertook an offensive campaign taking most of the state of Morelos, and pushing Zapata to retreat. The main Zapatista headquarters were moved to Tochimilco, Puebla, although Tlaltizapan also continued to be under Zapatista control. Through Castro, Carranza issued offers to the main Zapatista generals to join the nationalist cause, with pardon. But apart from Manuel Palafox, who having fallen in disgrace among the Zapatistas had joined the Arenistas, none of the major generals did. Zapata released statements accusing Carranza of being secretly sympathetic to the Germans. In March Zapata finally sent an open letter to Carranza urging him for the good of the fatherland to resign his leadership to Vazquez Gómez, by now the rallying point of the anti-constitutionalist movement. Having posed this formidable moral challenge to Carranza prior to the upcoming 1920 presidential elections, the Zapatista generals at Tochimilco, Magaña and Ayaquica, urged Zapata not to take any risks and to lie low. But Zapata declined, considering that the respect of his troops depended on his active presence at the front. Assassination Eliminating Zapata was a top priority for President Carranza. Carranza was unwilling to compromise with domestic foes and wanted to demonstrate to Mexican elites and to American interests that Carranza was the "only viable alternative to both anarchy and radicalism." In mid-March 1919, General Pablo González ordered his subordinate Jesús Guajardo to begin operations against the Zapatistas in the mountains around Huautla. But when González later discovered Guajardo carousing in a cantina, he had him arrested, and a public scandal ensued. On March 21, Zapata attempted to smuggle in a note to Guajardo, inviting him to switch sides. The note, however, never reached Guajardo but instead wound up on González's desk. González devised a plan to use this note to his advantage. He accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor. After reducing Guajardo to tears, González explained to him that he could recover from this disgrace if he feigned a defection to Zapata. So Guajardo wrote to Zapata telling him that he would bring over his men and supplies if certain guarantees were promised. Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1, 1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms. Zapata suggested a mutiny on April 4. Guajardo replied that his defection should wait until a new shipment of arms and ammunition arrived sometime between the 6th and the 10th. By the 7th, the plans were set: Zapata ordered Guajardo to attack the Federal garrison at Jonacatepec because the garrison included troops who had defected from Zapata. Pablo González and Guajardo notified the Jonacatepec garrison ahead of time, and a mock battle was staged on April 9. At the conclusion of the mock battle, the former Zapatistas were arrested and shot. Convinced that Guajardo was sincere, Zapata agreed to a final meeting where Guajardo would defect. On April 10, 1919, Guajardo invited Zapata to a meeting, intimating that he intended to defect to the revolutionaries. However, when Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets. Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla. Pablo González wanted the body photographed, so that there would be no doubt that Zapata was dead: "it was an actual fact that the famous jefe of the southern region had died." Although Mexico City newspapers had called for Zapata's body to be brought to the capital, Carranza did not do so. However, Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital. Immediate aftermath Although Zapata's assassination weakened his forces in Morelos, the Zapatistas continued the fight against Carranza. For Carranza the death of Zapata was the removal of an ongoing threat, for many Zapata's assassination undermined "worker and peasant support for Carranza and [Pablo] González." Obregón seized on the opportunity to attack Carranza and González, Obregón's rival candidate for the presidency, by saying "this crime reveals a lack of ethics in some members of the government and also of political sense, since peasant votes in the upcoming election will now go to whoever runs against Pablo González." In spite of González's attempts to sully the name of Zapata and the Plan de Ayala during his 1920 campaign for the presidency, the people of Morelos continued to support Zapatista generals, providing them with weapons, supplies and protection. Carranza was wary of the threat of a U.S. intervention, and Zapatista generals decided to take a conciliatory approach. Bands of Zapatistas started surrendering in exchange for amnesties, and many Zapatista generals went on to become local authorities, such as Fortino Ayaquica who became municipal president of Tochimilco. Other generals such as Genovevo de la O remained active in small-scale guerrilla warfare. As Venustiano Carranza moved to curb his former allies and now rivals in 1920 to impose a civilian, Ignacio Bonillas, as his successor in the presidency, Obregón sought to align himself with the Zapatista movement against that of Carranza. Genovevo de la O and Magaña supported him in the coup by former Constitutionalists, fighting in Morelos against Carranza and helping prompt Carranza to flee Mexico City toward Veracruz in May 1920. "Obregón and Genovevo de la O entered Mexico City in triumph." Zapatistas were given important posts in the interim government of Adolfo de la Huerta and the administration of Álvaro Obregón, following his election to the presidency after the coup. Zapatistas had almost total control of the state of Morelos, where they carried out a program of agrarian reform and land redistribution based on the provisions of the Plan de Ayala and with the support of the government. According to "La Demócrata", after Zapata's assassination, "in the consciousness of the natives", Zapata "had taken on the proportions of a myth" because he had "given them a formula of vindication against old offenses." Mythmaking would continue for decades after Zapata was gunned down. Legacy Zapata's influence continues to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in southern Mexico. In the long run, he has done more for his ideals in death than he did in life. Like many charismatic idealists, Zapata became a martyr after his murder. Even though Mexico still has not implemented the sort of land reform he wanted, he is remembered as a visionary who fought for his countrymen. Zapata's Plan of Ayala influenced Article 27 of the progressive 1917 Constitution of Mexico that codified an agrarian reform program. Even though the Mexican Revolution did restore some land that had been taken under Díaz, the land reform on the scale imagined by Zapata was never enacted. However, a great deal of the significant land distribution which Zapata sought would later be enacted after Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934. Cárdenas would fulfill not only the land distribution policies written in Article 27, but other reforms written in the Mexican Constitution as well. There are controversies about the portrayal of Emiliano Zapata and his followers, whether they were bandits or revolutionaries. At the outbreak of the Revolution, "Zapata's agrarian revolt was soon construed as a 'caste war' [race war], in which members of an 'inferior race' were captained by a 'modern Attila'". Zapata is now one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico. To many Mexicans, especially the peasant and indigenous citizens, Zapata was a practical revolutionary who sought the implementation of liberties and agrarian rights outlined in the Plan of Ayala. He was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico and leading them out of severe poverty. Many popular organizations take their name from Zapata, most notably the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN in Spanish), the Neozapatismo group that emerged in the state of Chiapas in 1983 and precipitated the 1994 indigenous Zapatista uprising which still continues in Chiapas. Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes. Modern activists in Mexico frequently make reference to Zapata in their campaigns; his image is commonly seen on banners, and many chants invoke his name: Si Zapata viviera con nosotros anduviera ("If Zapata lived, he would walk with us"), and Zapata vive, la lucha sigue ("Zapata lives; the struggle continues"). His daughter by Petra Portillo Torres, Paulina Ana María Zapata Portillo, was aware of her father's legacy from a very early age. She continued his work of dedication to agrarian rights, serving as treasurer of the ejido of Cuautla, as ejidataria of Cuautla, as municipal councilor and municipal trustee. In popular culture Zapata has been depicted in movies, comics, books, music, and clothing. For example, there is a Zapata (1980), stage musical written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. A movie called Zapata: El sueño de un héroe (Zapata: A Hero's Dream) was produced in 2004, starring Mexican actors Alejandro Fernandez, Jaime Camil, and Lucero. There is also a sub-genre of the Spaghetti Western called the Zapata Western, which features stories set during the Mexican Revolution. Marlon Brando played Emiliano Zapata in the award-winning movie based on his life, Viva Zapata! in 1952. The film co-starred Anthony Quinn, who won best supporting actor. The director was Elia Kazan and the writer was John Steinbeck. Emiliano Zapata is a major character in The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), by James Carlos Blake Emiliano Zapata is referenced in the song "Calm Like a Bomb" by American rock band Rage Against the Machine from their album "The Battle of Los Angeles." In the 2011 Mexican TV series "El Encanto del Aguila" Zapata is played by the Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta. In December 2019, an arts show commemorating the 100 year anniversary of his death was held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The show featured 141 works. A painting called La Revolución depicted Zapata as intentionally effeminate, riding an erect horse, nude except for high heels and a pink hat. According to the artist, he created the painting to combat machismo. The painting caused protests from the farmer's union and admirers of Zapata. His grandson Jorge Zapata González threatened to sue if the painting was not removed. There was a clash between supporters of the painting and detractors at the museum. A compromised was reached with some of Zapata's family, a label was placed next to the painting outlining their disagreement with the painting. Sobriquets "Calpuleque (náhuatl)" – leader, chief "El Tigre del Sur" – Tiger of the South "El Tigre" – The Tiger "El Tigrillo" – Little Tiger "El Caudillo del Sur" – Caudillo of the South "El Atila del Sur" – The Attila of the South (pejorative) Gallery References Cited sources Further reading Brunk, Samuel, ¡Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. Caballero, Raymond. Lynching Pascual Orozco, Mexican Revolutionary Hero and Paradox. Create Space 2015. Lucas, Jeffrey Kent. The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. Mclynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A history of the Mexican Revolution. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2001. McNeely, John H. "Origins of the Zapata revolt in Morelos." Hispanic American Historical Review (1966): 153–169. Historiography Golland, David Hamilton. "Recent Works on the Mexican Revolution." Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe 16.1 (2014). online McNamara, Patrick J. "Rewriting Zapata: Generational Conflict on the Eve of the Mexican Revolution." Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos 30.1 (2014): 122–149. In Spanish Horcasitas, Fernando. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata, memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta, UNAM, México DF.,1968 (eye and ear-witness account of Zapata speaking Nahuatl) Krauze, Enrique. Zapata: El amor a la tierra, in the Biographies of Power'' series. Media "Emiliano Zapata", BBC Mundo.com External links Emiliano Zapata Quotes, Facts, Books and Movies Full text html version of Zapata's "Plan de Ayala" in Spanish Emiliano Zapata videos Bicentenario del inicio del movimiento de Independencia Nacional y del Centenario del inicio de la Revolución Mexicana Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa 1879 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Mexican people 20th-century Mexican people Assassinated Mexican people Deaths by firearm in Mexico Mexican agrarianists Mexican generals Mexican guerrillas Mexican rebels Mexican revolutionaries Mexican Roman Catholics Military assassinations Military history of Mexico Nahua people People from Ciudad Ayala, Morelos People murdered in Mexico People of the Mexican Revolution	false	[ "\"What Else Is There?\" is the third single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's second album The Understanding. It features the vocals of Karin Dreijer from the Swedish electronica duo The Knife. The album was released in the UK with the help of Astralwerks.\n\nThe single was used in an O2 television advertisement in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia during 2008. It was also used in the 2006 film Cashback and the 2007 film, Meet Bill. Trentemøller's remix of \"What Else is There?\" was featured in an episode of the HBO show Entourage.\n\nThe song was covered by extreme metal band Enslaved as a bonus track for their album E.\n\nThe song was listed as the 375th best song of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.\n\nOfficial versions\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Album Version) – 5:17\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Radio Edit) – 3:38\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Jacques Lu Cont Radio Mix) – 3:46\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Vocal Version) – 8:03\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Dub Version) – 7:51\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Mix) – 8:25\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Edit) – 4:50\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Remix) (Radio Edit) – 3:06\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Trentemøller Remix) – 7:42\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Vitalic Remix) – 5:14\n\nResponse\nThe single was officially released on 5 December 2005 in the UK. The single had a limited release on 21 November 2005 to promote the upcoming album. On the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 32, while on the UK Dance Chart, it reached number one.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Martin de Thurah. It features Norwegian model Marianne Schröder who is shown lip-syncing Dreijer's voice. Schröder is depicted as a floating woman traveling across stormy landscapes and within empty houses. Dreijer makes a cameo appearance as a woman wearing an Elizabethan ruff while dining alone at a festive table.\n\nMovie spots\n\nThe song is also featured in the movie Meet Bill as characters played by Jessica Alba and Aaron Eckhart smoke marijuana while listening to it. It is also part of the end credits music of the film Cashback.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2005 singles\nRöyksopp songs\nAstralwerks singles\nSongs written by Svein Berge\nSongs written by Torbjørn Brundtland\n2004 songs\nSongs written by Roger Greenaway\nSongs written by Olof Dreijer\nSongs written by Karin Dreijer", "What Else Do You Do? (A Compilation of Quiet Music) is a various artists compilation album, released in 1990 by Shimmy Disc.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel \nAdapted from the What Else Do You Do? (A Compilation of Quiet Music) liner notes.\n Kramer – production, engineering\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1990 compilation albums\nAlbums produced by Kramer (musician)\nShimmy Disc compilation albums" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy" ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	What happened in 2008?	1	What happened to The-Dream in 2008?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	false	[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards." ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	What is The Love Trilogy?	2	What is The-Dream's The Love Trilogy?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	false	[ "Marcia: Greatest Hits 1975–1983 is a compilation album released on 22 November 2004. \nIt was released just two months after the release of Hinesight.\n\nThe album contains tracks taken from the albums, Marcia Shines, Shining, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ooh Child, Take it From the Boys and Love Sides.\n\nIn 2020, the album was released digitally with a slightly altered track listing. The first 17 songs are the same, but tracks 18-27 were not on the original release.\n\nTrack listing\n Standard edition\n \"Fire and Rain\" (4:44)\n \"From the Inside\" (3:28)\n \"Trilogy\" (4:20)\n \"Don't Let the Grass Grow\" (2:59)\n \"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself\" (3:08)\n \"Shining\" (3:41)\n \"(Until) Your Love Broke Through\" (3:17)\n \"Empty\" (2:35)\n \"A Love Story\" (3:33)\n \"I've Got the Music in Me\" (4:12)\n \"What I Did for Love\" (3:17)\n \"You\" (3:12)\n \"I Don't Know How to Love Him\" (3:48)\n \"Music Is My Life\" (2:08)\n \"Let the Music Play\" (4:29)\n \"Something's Missing (In My Life)\" (4:38)\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\" (4:04)\n \"Your Love Still Brings Me to My Knees\" (3:33)\n \"What a Bitch Is Love\" (3:50)\n \"Heart Like a Radio\" (3:51)\n\n 2020 Digital Edition\n \"Fire and Rain\" (4:44)\n \"From the Inside\" (3:28)\n \"Trilogy\" (4:20)\n \"Don’t Let the Grass Grow\" (2:59)\n \"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself\" (3:08)\n \"Shining\" (3:41)\n \"(Until) Your Love Broke Through\" (3:17)\n \"Empty\" (2:35)\n \"A Love Story\" (3:33)\n \"I've Got the Music In Me\" (4:12)\n \"What I Did for Love\" (3:17)\n \"You\" (3:12)\n \"I Don't Know How to Love Him\" (3:48)\n \"Music Is My Life\" (2:08)\n \"Let the Music Play\" (4:29)\n \"Something's Missing (In My Life)\" (4:38)\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\" (4:04)\n \"You Gotta Go\" (3:30)\n \"Jumpin' Jack Flash\" (3:18)\n \"Dance You Fool Dance\" (5:19)\n \"Whatever Goes Around\" (2:58)\n \"Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours\" (3:30)\n \"In a Mellow Mood\" (2:38)\n \"Believe in Me\" (1:41)\n \"Moments\" (3:27)\n \"You\" (2005 remix) (3:24)\n \"April Sun in Cuba\" (3\"34\n\nWeekly charts\nMarcia: Greatest Hits 1975-1983 debuted at 92 and peaked at 67 on 13 December 2004.\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nMarcia Hines compilation albums\n2004 greatest hits albums\nAlbums produced by David Mackay (producer)\nSony Music Australia compilation albums", "The Maztica Trilogy is a set of 3 fantasy novels set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.\n\nThe series were written by Douglas Niles, and the books are:\n Ironhelm (1990)\n Viperhand (1990)\n Feathered Dragon (1991)\n\nThe books are essentially a translation of the Spanish conquest of what is now Mexico in the 16th Century to the Forgotten Realms world. \n\nThe name 'Maztica' is itself a portmanteau of \"Maya\" and \"Aztec\", two major civilizations in Central America.\n\nThe plot of the trilogy closely follows real-life events. The main character, Cordell, is similar in name to real-life conquistador Hernán Cortés. The conquistador analogs in this case worship the deity Helm and originate from the empire of Amn in the Forgotten Realms. The states of Maztica resemble the Aztecs and other mesoamericans in that:\n they have Stone Age technology\n they worship many gods and offer human sacrifices\n they build large stone pyramids\n there is a warrior class with particular uniforms\n there is one powerful civilization dominating the continent, from which some tribes are independent and others subjugated\n\nThe principal difference is the existence of magic in the D&D fantasy world.\n\nExternal links\n http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org&q=Maztica+Trilogy&submit=Search\n http://www.o-love.net/realms/head_maz.html\n\nFantasy novel trilogies\nForgotten Realms novel series\nNovels by Douglas Niles" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What is The Love Trilogy?", "In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate." ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	When was it released?	3	When was The-Dream's album Love Hate released?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	Released December 11, 2007,	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	true	[ "When the Bough Breaks is the second solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. It was originally released on April 27, 1997, on Cleopatra Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Hate\" – 5:00\n\"Children Killing Children\" – 3:51\n\"Growth\" – 5:45\n\"When I was a Child\" – 4:54\n\"Please Help Mommy (She's a Junkie)\" – 6:40\n\"Shine\" – 5:06\n\"Step Lightly (On the Grass)\" – 5:59\n\"Love & Innocence\" – 1:00\n\"Animals\" – 6:32\n\"Nighthawks Stars & Pines\" – 6:45\n\"Try Life\" – 5:35\n\"When the Bough Breaks\" – 9:45\n\nCD Cleopatra CL9981 (US 1997)\n\nMusicians\n\nBill Ward - vocals, lyrics, musical arrangements\nKeith Lynch - guitars\nPaul Ill - bass, double bass, synthesizer, tape loops\nRonnie Ciago - drums\n\nCover art and reprint issues\n\nAs originally released, this album featured cover art that had two roses on it. After it was released, Bill Ward (as with Ward One, his first solo album) stated on his website that the released cover art was not the correct one that was intended to be released. Additionally, the liner notes for the original printing had lyrics that were so small, most people needed a magnifying glass to read them. This was eventually corrected in 2000 when the version of the album with Bill on the cover from the 70's was released. The album was later on released in a special digipak style of case, but this was later said to be released prematurely, and was withdrawn.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Bill Ward's site\nWhen the Bough Breaks at Black Sabbath Online\n\nBill Ward (musician) albums\nBlack Sabbath\n1997 albums\nCleopatra Records albums", "Joseph Jin Dechen (; June 19, 1919 – November 21, 2002) was a Chinese Catholic priest and Bishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nanyang.\n\nBiography\nHe was ordained a priest in 1944. In 1958, he was arrested for the first time and sentenced to life in prison. This sentence was settled and he was released in 1973. In December 1981, when he was Bishop Emeritus in Roman Catholic Diocese of Nanyang, he was again arrested, charged with resistance to abortion and birth control, and was sentenced to 15 years of prison and five years of subsequent loss of political rights on July 27, 1982. He was detained in the Third Province Prison in Yu County (now Yuzhou), near Zhengzhou in Henan, and was pardoned and released in May 1992 and ordered to stay in his village Jinjiajiang, near Nanyang. He was out of weakness when he was released from prison.\n\nReferences\n\n1919 births\n2002 deaths\n20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What is The Love Trilogy?", "In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.", "When was it released?", "Released December 11, 2007," ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	Did it win any awards?	4	Did The-Dream's album Love Hate win any awards?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	false	[ "Le Cousin is a 1997 French film directed by Alain Corneau.\n\nPlot \nThe film deals with the relationship of the police and an informant in the drug scene.\n\nAwards and nominations\nLe Cousin was nominated for 5 César Awards but did not win in any category.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1997 films\n1997 crime films\nFilms about drugs\nFilms directed by Alain Corneau\nFrench crime films\nFrench films\nFrench-language films", "The 23rd Fangoria Chainsaw Awards is an award ceremony presented for horror films that were released in 2020. The nominees were announced on January 20, 2021. The film The Invisible Man won five of its five nominations, including Best Wide Release, as well as the write-in poll of Best Kill. Color Out Of Space and Possessor each took two awards. His House did not win any of its seven nominations. The ceremony was exclusively livestreamed for the first time on the SHUDDER horror streaming service.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\nReferences\n\nFangoria Chainsaw Awards" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What is The Love Trilogy?", "In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.", "When was it released?", "Released December 11, 2007,", "Did it win any awards?", "The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards." ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	What were some songs off of the album?	5	What were some songs off of The-Dream's album Love Hate?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl"	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	true	[ "The World Repeats Itself Somehow (subtitled The Best of Eskimo Joe) is the first greatest hits album by Australian alternative rock band Eskimo Joe. The album was released on 10 December 2021. \n\nUpon its announcement on 27 September 2021, frontman Kavyen Temperley said: \"It's surreal listening back to what is now a twenty plus year career. From writing songs like 'Sweater' in a smelly old jam room, to songs like 'Say Something' which was written more recently after some time off, I'm incredibly proud of what we've created together musically, as well as the friendship we've managed to maintain with each other after so many years.\" The album features songs from five of the band's six albums.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2021 greatest hits albums\nEskimo Joe albums\nCompilation albums by Australian artists\nWarner Records compilation albums", "Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons is the 1999 soundtrack album from The Simpsons. It takes many of the musical numbers from the series which were either not included in the previous album, Songs in the Key of Springfield, or were created since the previous album's release. The album has 53 tracks, most of which were written by Alf Clausen. It was well received by critics, being named the Best Compilation Album of 1999 by Soundtrack.net, and charted at number 197 on the Billboard 200. Hollywood Records released the album on digital and streaming platforms on December 9, 2021.\n\nBackground and release\nGo Simpsonic with The Simpsons is a soundtrack album that features songs that have appeared on the American animated television series The Simpsons, as well as some songs that never made the final cut. It is a sequel to the album Songs in the Key of Springfield, and the second album to feature songs from the show. The third and latest soundtrack album, The Simpsons: Testify, was released eight years after Go Simpsonic in 2007.\n\nMost songs on the album were written by Alf Clausen, who is the composer on The Simpsons and co-writes, arranges, produces, and conducts almost all music that is featured in the show. Although the album also features covers of songs written by others. For example, a cover of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" sung by the character Bleeding Gums Murphy, and a cover of Terry Cashman's \"Talkin' Baseball\" called \"Talkin' Softball\", that Cashman himself sung on the show, are included. The main theme song of The Simpsons, written by Danny Elfman, is also featured.\n\nThe album was released on the Rhino Records label on November 2, 1999, during the eleventh season of the show. It peaked at number 197 on the Billboard 200, number two on Top Kid Audio and number 14 on Top Internet Albums. The album remained on the Top Kid Audio chart for 17 weeks.\n\nCritical reception\nGo Simpsonic with The Simpsons received positive reviews from most music critics upon its release. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album a five out of five rating, writing that \"it serves as a reminder of the sheer brilliance of the music within this peerless show. Much of that musical brilliance is due to Alf Clausen [...] Hearing all of this music, ranging from the first to the ninth season, in one place confirms how Clausen and his collaborators can master everything from show tunes to commercial jingles. What's really impressive is that the music is every bit as funny, sometimes more so, than the lyrics — and that's no easy trick to pull off.\"\n\nSoundtrack.net named Go Simpsonic the Best Compilation Album of 1999. The creator of that website, David A. Koran, said the album features some of his all-time favorites from the show, including the song \"Canyonero\". He also wrote that \"one of Alf Clausen's other great talents besides working well along great lyricists is his ability to parody without sounding like an exact knock-off. In 'The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase' medley, the 'Chief Wiggum, P.I' cue was great invention in the style of Jan Hammer's original orchestrations for Miami Vice.\" Koran also praised the \"Scorpio\" and \"McBain\" songs for their similarities with John Barry's James Bond tunes. Similarly, Elysa Gardner of Los Angeles Times commended the parodic nature of many songs on the album. She wrote that \"this showcases the brilliant work of series composer Alf Clausen and his delightful knack of spoofing various musical forms. Included are sendups of musicals, movies (Mary Poppins and Bond themes) and commercials, each lovingly and lethally delivered. There are 53 cuts in all, and most of them, like the show itself, stand up to repeated listenings. A treasure.\"\n\nAlan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger was more critical, writing that \"Unfortunately, Songs in the Key [...] used up most of the show's best musical inventory, leaving only assorted scraps for Go Simpsonic. There are some wonderful tunes, including the 'Mary Poppins'-ish 'Cut Every Corner,' Bart and Sideshow Bob performing the score to 'HMS Pinafore,' the SUV parody commercial 'Canyonero,' and Homer and Marge's take on the All in the Family theme [...], but too much of it is filler.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n1999 soundtrack albums\nThe Simpsons soundtrack albums\nRhino Records soundtracks\nRhino Records compilation albums\nAlbums with cover art by Matt Groening\nHollywood Records soundtracks\nHollywood Records compilation albums" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What is The Love Trilogy?", "In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.", "When was it released?", "Released December 11, 2007,", "Did it win any awards?", "The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What were some songs off of the album?", "Shawty Is a 10\", \"Falsetto\" and \"I Luv Your Girl\"" ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	Did he write any other songs?	6	Did The-Dream write any other songs besides Shawty is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl"?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)",	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	true	[ "Eddie Ray Fisher (born December 17, 1973) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the drummer for American pop rock band OneRepublic. Eddie grew up in Mission Viejo, California and currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where OneRepublic is based. Fisher joined OneRepublic in 2005 and is the band's drummer ever since.\n\nPersonal life\nFisher became interested in drumming when he was in seventh grade after he saw a U2 concert in the Tempe Stadium, Arizona.\nEddie has been married to Rhiannon Adler since 2017.\n\nOneRepublic\nHe joined the band in 2006 after playing with the band's former bassist. Fisher has also been credited for writing songs such as: Say (All I Need), Stop & Stare, \"Someone to Save You\", \"Won't Stop\" and \"All Fall Down\" off OneRepublic's debut album Dreaming Out Loud. He also contributed to writing the song \"Good Life\" from the band's second album, Waking Up. He did not write any songs on their third album, Native. He also helped co-write the song “Colors” on the international deluxe edition of their 2016 album, Oh My My (album).\n\nOutside of OneRepublic\nFisher is known to have drummed on numerous tracks for the band The Violet Burning. He is credited for drumming on tracks such as \"Save You\" and \"If I Can't Have You\" (Kelly Clarkson). He also drummed on the track \"Please Don't Stop The Rain\" (James Morrison). He also writes songs for other artists.\n\nReferences\n\n1973 births\nLiving people\nMusicians from Hillsboro, Oregon\nPeople from Mission Viejo, California\nMusicians from California\nOneRepublic members\n20th-century American drummers\nAmerican male drummers\n21st-century American drummers\nOneRepublic", "\"Two Teardrops\" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Steve Wariner. It was released in February 1999 as the first single and title track from the album Two Teardrops. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, as well as hitting #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Wariner's only pop top-40 hit.\n\nBackground\nWariner told Billboard in 1999 that he did not write the song until the album was near completion. He said that co-writer Bill Anderson suggested the opening line of \"two teardrops floating down the river.\"\n\nChart performance\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n1999 singles\n1999 songs\nSteve Wariner songs\nSongs written by Steve Wariner\nSongs written by Bill Anderson (singer)\nCapitol Records Nashville singles" ]
[ "The-Dream", "2008-10: The Love trilogy", "What happened in 2008?", "In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What is The Love Trilogy?", "In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.", "When was it released?", "Released December 11, 2007,", "Did it win any awards?", "The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards.", "What were some songs off of the album?", "Shawty Is a 10\", \"Falsetto\" and \"I Luv Your Girl\"", "Did he write any other songs?", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)\"," ]	C_805f601ff70f4b32a45ed188dab42996_1	Did he have any other albums?	7	Besides Love Hate, did The-Dream have any other albums?	The-Dream	In 2007 Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money. He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singled "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. CANNOTANSWER	his second album Love vs. Money.	Terius Youngdell Nash (born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) for Mariah Carey, "16 @ War" for Karina Pasian (2008), "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber "All of the Lights"(2010) for Kanye West and "No Church in the Wild" (2013) for Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love/Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), 1977 (2011) and IV Play (2013). His most recent album releases were the 2018 triple album Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 and the 2020 album Sextape 4. Early life Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina. He moved with his mother to Atlanta, Georgia when he was two years old. After first learning to play trumpet in elementary school, Nash learned how to play the drums and guitar. His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs. He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, to which he credits his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella". He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I've always had a different outlook on life. There's nothing I can't do." Music career 2001–2007: Beginnings Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001 and Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after Nash wrote "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!. Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for popular artists. He co-wrote Britney Spears' hit "Me Against the Music" from her album In the Zone. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 hit "Umbrella". "Umbrella" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards. 2008–2010: The Love trilogy In 2007, Nash signed a record contract with Def Jam Recordings and began working on his debut studio album Love/Hate. The album was produced by The-Dream, his production partner Tricky Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna. The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Released December 11, 2007, on The-Dream's Def Jam imprint Radio Killa Records, the album featured the singles "Shawty Is a 10", "Falsetto" and "I Luv Your Girl" and received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer had "hit a home run". In June 2008, The-Dream was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Nash wrote and produced Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which was included on her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce and released in 2008. The song went on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Best R&B Song, becoming the first career wins at the Grammys for The Dream. On March 10, 2009, The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.<ref name=tracklisting>The-Dream 'Love vs. Money' Album Listening. Rap-Up.'.' Retrieved January 30, 2009.</ref> He re-teamed with Tricky Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Mystro. The album featured Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and Lil Jon and featured the singles "Rockin' That Shit", "Walkin' on the Moon" and "Sweat It Out". Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic and it was more commercially successful than its predecessor, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future. In January 2010, The-Dream stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums. The album was released on June 29, 2010. Before the album's release, The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album. Once again produced by The-Dream, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and Los Da Mystro, the album spawned the singles "Love King" and "Make Up Bag". Despite positive reviews from critics, the album was less commercially successful than Love vs. Money, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. 2011–2014: 1977 and IV Play On the Love King track "Sex Intelligent (Remix)", The-Dream sang that he would release a follow-up album titled Love Affair on June 7, 2011. On that intended release date, The-Dream released a medley of two new songs titled "Body Work / Fuck My Brains Out" as a free download followed by an album titled 1977 on August 31, 2011, also as a free download. Def Jam Recordings released 1977 commercially on December 18, 2012, with a modified track list. Love Affair was delayed repeatedly and the name was changed to The Love, IV, Love IV: Diary of a Madman, Love IV MMXII, and finally IV Play. In the nearly three years between Love King and IV Play, The-Dream released the singles "Roc" and "Dope Bitch", which were not included on the final track list for IV Play.IV Play was released on May 28, 2013. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Pusha T, Beyoncé, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous and the singles "Slow It Down" and "IV Play". On January 8, 2014, he revealed that he had left Def Jam Recordings and was independent. However, as of 2014, he was listed as being on the artist roster of major label Capitol Records. 2015–17: Royalty: The Prequel (EP), Love You to Death EP and Love Affair In the summer of 2014, The-Dream released his first free mixtape called Royalty: The Prequel (EP) to launch to the public his new work. The mixtape consisted of seven songs total, with hit songs "Pimp C Lives" and "Outkast". He followed with "Fruition" and "That's My Shit" to further introduce his new style of music and his upcoming album, Crown Jewel. Because of complications the album was split into two EP's. Crown was released May 3, 2015. Jewel will be released in the future after the transition to new management. In May 2016, The-Dream uploaded a video to Instagram, and in the description of the video he told he will continue "The Love" series, and his next project will be called "Love Affair" as he said at 2010 in the lyrics of the song "Sex Intelligent (Remix)". On December 9, he released "Love You to Death EP". On Instagram, The-Dream commented to fans that "Love Affair" will be released in March 2017. On February 28, The-Dream featured on a track released by Kanye West on his SoundCloud, entitled "Bed Yeezy Season 5 (ft. The-Dream)". 2018-present: Sextape series The-Dream released an album titled Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 in December 2018, and another album titled Sextape 4 in April 2020. Production and songwriting In addition to his work with Nivea and Rihanna, Nash has written and produced songs for many other notable R&B, hip hop, and pop artists, including J. Holiday, Usher, Yung Joc, Jesse McCartney, Mariah Carey, Karina Pasian, Ciara, Brandy, Diddy, Mary J. Blige, B2K, Beyoncé and Tulisa Contostavlos. In 2009, The-Dream and Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced the album How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 by the R&B girl group Electrik Red. The-Dream has also been a featured artist on singles by artists such as Plies, LL Cool J, Dear Jayne, Gym Class Heroes, Sterling Simms, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, and Snoop Dogg. In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope, which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records. The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer. The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic". Elope was never released and the material she recorded with The-Dream was scrapped after her marriage to Nash ended. In 2010, The-Dream was criticized for his cover of Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah voiced distaste for The-Dream's rendition on radio shows and blog sites. Influence John Calvert of The Quietus writes that The-Dream's "stadium-R&B reinvented the genre as a mythological epic", citing it as an influence on Frank Ocean's 2012 song "Pyramids". Allmusic editor Andy Kellman writes that, with Carlos McKinney and Tricky Stewart, The-Dream "seized possession of [...] the belt for the electronic pop-R&B division, once held by innovators Leon Sylvers III, Kashif and Morrie Brown, Prince, Jam & Lewis, Teddy Riley, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and the Neptunes". Personal life The-Dream has nine children. After dating for six months, Nash married his girlfriend, Nivea in 2004. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia Nash (on May 10, 2005) and twin sons London and Christian Nash (April 19, 2006). Nivea filed for legal separation on December 10, 2007. Nash said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love [it takes] to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way." Their divorce was finalized on June 15, 2008. Nash began dating Christina Milian in early 2009 and she became pregnant. They were engaged in June 2009 and married on September 4, 2009, at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. Nash said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian. Five months after their wedding, Nash filed divorce papers in Georgia on February 17, 2010, just nine days before Christina gave birth to their daughter, Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010. The couple announced their separation on July 12, 2010, after photos surfaced of Nash being intimate with his assistant. Their divorce was finalized on October 23, 2011. In 2012, Nash briefly dated Lydia Nam, who gave birth to their son in 2013. Nash began dating LaLonne Martinez in early 2014, they became engaged in May 2014 and quietly married on July 3, 2014, at San Francisco City Hall. They have four children, two sons, Heir (born 2015) and Lord (born 2016), and two daughters, Maverick (born 2017) and Élysées (born 2019). Legal issues Nash was arrested in June 2013 in Newport Beach, California for an alleged domestic violence incident, but his girlfriend Lydia Nam declined to press charges. Nash was arrested on May 7, 2014, on charges of felony assault and strangulation, reckless endangerment and child endangerment against his then-pregnant girlfriend Lydia Nam for his alleged actions on April 4, 2013, while they were staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Nash was cleared of charges, including felony assault and strangulation, at a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Discography Studio albums Love/Hate (2007) Love vs. Money (2009) Love King (2010) 1977 (2011) IV Play (2013) Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2018) Sextape 4 (2020) Filmography Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The-Dream has been nominated fifteen times for the Grammy Awards, winning five of these nominations. \|- \| 2008 \| "Umbrella" (as songwriter) \| rowspan="2"\|Song of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="3"\| 2010 \|rowspan="2"\| "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (as songwriter) \| \|- \| Best R&B Song \| \|- \| I Am... Sasha Fierce (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2012 \|rowspan="2" \| "All of the Lights" (as songwriter) \| Song of the Year \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \| rowspan="1"\|2013 \| "No Church in the Wild" (with Jay-Z and Kanye West & Frank Ocean) \| Best Rap/Sung Collaboration \| \|- \| 2014 \| "Holy Grail" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2015 \| Beyoncé (as producer) \| Album of the Year \| \|- \|rowspan="2" \| 2017 \|rowspan="2" \| "Ultralight Beam" (with Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price & Kirk Franklin) \| Best Rap/Sung Performance \| \|- \| Best Rap Song \| \|- \|rowspan="1"\|2021 \| "Savage" (as songwriter) \| Best Rap Song \| \|- References External links Official website "Living in the Radio" – Sasha Frere-Jones "Not Content Just to Write the Hits" – The New York Times "The-Dream's Logic" – The Village Voice'' 1977 births Living people African-American record producers Record producers from North Carolina African-American male singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American male pop singers American soul singers American tenors Grammy Award winners Grammy Award winners for rap music American hip hop singers Rappers from Atlanta Musicians from Atlanta People from Rockingham, North Carolina Rappers from Georgia (U.S. state) Singer-songwriters from North Carolina 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)	true	[ "The discography of Mallu Magalhães, a Brazilian Folk singer, consists of two studio albums, one live albums, five singles as a lead artist, one collaborations with Marcelo Camelo and one video albums.\n\nIn 2008 she released her first eponymous album and in 2009 she released her second album, also self-titled.\n\nShe already has five singles released, and the most famous is Tchubaruba.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilations\n\nVideo albums\n\nNotes\n These albums did not reach any of the charts in Brazil.\n\nSingles\n\nAs lead artist\n\nOther appearances\n\nNotes\n These albums did not reach any of the charts in Brazil.\n\nMusic videos \n J1 (2008)\n Tchubaruba (2008)\n O Preço da Flor (2009)\n Vanguart (2009)\n Shine Yellow (2009)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMallu Magalhães's official website\nMallu Magalhães's official MySpace\n\nFolk music discographies\nDiscography\nDiscographies of Brazilian artists\nLatin music discographies", "Saudades do Samba () is the debut album by Brazilian singer Aline Wirley, released in 2009. The work, inspired by Elis Regina and Chico Buarque and released by independent record label, focused on the roots of samba and MPB, leaving aside the old pop music that he performed. The album did not even have any song released for the radio, although \"Sufoco\" was featured on the soundtrack of the novel Mutantes: Promesas de Amor.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2009 debut albums\nAline Wirley albums\nPortuguese-language albums" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52" ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	What is the New 52?	1	What is the New 52?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity.	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	false	[ "Etan Boritzer (born 1950) is an American writer of children’s literature who is best known for his book What is God? first published in 1989. His best selling What is? illustrated children's book series on character education and difficult subjects for children is a popular teaching guide for parents, teachers and child-life professionals.\n\nBoritzer gained national critical acclaim after What is God? was published in 1989 although the book has caused controversy from religious fundamentalists for its universalist views. The other current books in the What is? series include ''What is Love?, What is Death?, What is Beautiful?, What is Funny?, What is Right?, What is Peace?, What is Money?, What is Dreaming?, What is a Friend?, What is True?, What is a Family?, What is a Feeling? The series is now also translated into 15 languages.\n \nBoritzer was first published in 1963 at the age of 13 when he wrote an essay in his English class at Wade Junior High School in the Bronx, New York on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. His essay was included in a special anthology by New York City public school children compiled and published by the New York City Department of Education.\n\nBoritzer now lives in Venice, California and maintains his publishing office there also. He has helped numerous other authors to get published through How to Get Your Book Published! programs. Boritzer is also a yoga teacher who teaches regular classes locally and guest-teaches nationally. He is also recognized nationally as an erudite speaker on The Teachings of the Buddha.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nChildren's Literature – What is? illustrated children’s book series on character education and difficult subjects\n\nLiving people\nAmerican children's writers\n1950 births", "\"It Is What It Is\" is an idiomatic phrase, indicating the immutable nature of an object or circumstance and may refer to:\n It Is What It Is, a 2001 film by Billy Frolick\n It Is What It Is, a 2007 autobiography by David Coulthard\n It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, a project by Jeremy Deller\n It Is What It Is, a radio show hosted by Sean Baligian\n\nMusic\n B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story or It Is What It Is, a 2007 album by Cassidy\n It Is What It Is (ABN album) (2008)\n It Is What It Is (Johnny Logan album) (2017)\n It Is What It Is (Thundercat album) (2020)\n It Is What It Is, a 1982 album by The Hitmen\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 1988 song by Derrick May from the compilation album Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit\n \"It Is What It Is (What It Is)\", a 1992 song by Adam Again from Dig\n\"It Is What It Is\", a 1995 song by The Highwaymen from the album The Road Goes On Forever\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2010 song by Lifehouse from Smoke & Mirrors\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Blood Orange from Cupid Deluxe\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Kacey Musgraves from Same Trailer Different Park\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2016 song by Lecrae from Church Clothes 3\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2009 song by Vic Chesnutt from At the Cut\n\nSee also \n Fihi Ma Fihi, a Persian prose work by Rumi\n Tautophrase\n What It Is (disambiguation)" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52", "What is the New 52?", "In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity." ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	Is this the only thing affected by the relaunching?	2	Is the New 52 the only thing affected by the relaunching?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins.	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	false	[ "In Latin grammar, a double dative is the combination of a dative of reference with a dative of purpose. A common translation is \"As a (dative of purpose) with reference to (dative of reference).\" This was formerly known as \"predicate dative\" or \"dative of service\", with usually the following characteristics of the noun in the dative of purpose:\n the noun is abstract or semi-abstract;\n this noun is only in the singular;\n this noun is used predicatively;\n there is usually no verb but a form of esse is often understood;\n this noun is rarely qualified by an adjective unless one like magnus;\n the noun is rarely qualified by a genitive.\nAccording to a standard 1893 grammar, only a few nouns are used in this construction which appears to be \"governed by custom, not by any principle\".\n\nIn an example from Caesar (Gallic War 7.50): suis saluti fuit, \"he was the salvation of his men\", the dative of an abstract noun (salus \"salvation\") expresses purpose while the dative of reference expresses the person or thing affected (suus, pl. sui \"his [men]\").\n\nThe best known example is \"Cui bono?\" This phrase, taken from Cicero, is usually rendered in English as something like, \"Who benefits?\", or more literally \"To whose advantage?\" The double dative construction sounds unnatural if translated literally, \"to whom for an advantage\", and is better rendered as \"to whom as an advantage\".\n\nSee also\n Dative case\n\nReferences\n\nGrammar\nLatin grammar", "Leocereus bahiensis is a species of cactus and the only species of the genus Leocereus.\n\nDistribution\nThe cactus is endemic to Brazil, within Bahia state. It is found growing in the campos rupestres (rocky fields) montane savanna ecoregion of the Atlantic Forest biome.\n\nIt grows in rocky shady places such as amongst shrubs, or near cliffs and rocks.\n\nDescription\nLeocereus bahiensis has stems that are long, thing and almost terete. A full adult plant can grow up to 2 meters in length and about 1.5 cm in diameter.\n\nThey tend to grow like vines, they do not have wool or hairs but the do have needle like spines (about 4 cm long, yellowish brown in color) and felt. In Bahia it is called the \"tail of the fox\" due to its long thing bristle like composition.\n\nThe flower is white and narrow and within it are hair bristle spines.\n\nThe areoles are close together and circular. The Leocereus bahiensis has fruit 10 to 12 mm with seeds about 1.5 mm long.\n\nConservation\nLeocereus bahiensis are being affected by habitat loss, though it has a wide range. The eastern range of the plant is generally regarded as ending up in an area that is not ideal for agricultural growth. The major threat to habitat loss that happens within numerous national parks (Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina, Parque Estadual de Morro Chapeu, Parque Nacional Boqueirão da Onça and Parque Nacional do Rio Parnaiba) is due to industrialization. The western area of its range is most affected by industrial-scale agriculture of soy, Eucalyptus and cotton.\n\nUses\nThis plant is one of the few cacti that contain caffeine and mescaline. Mescaline is a psychedelic drug that is produced by some cacti and also called peyote. Leocereus bahiensis was not confirmed part of the genus Leocereus until 2012\n\nReferences\n\nTrichocereeae\nCacti of South America\nEndemic flora of Brazil\nFlora of Bahia\nFlora of Atlantic Forest (biome)\nCactoideae genera\nMonotypic Cactaceae genera" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52", "What is the New 52?", "In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity.", "Is this the only thing affected by the relaunching?", "Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins." ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	How did this go over with fans?	3	How did the New 52 go over with fans?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	false	[ "Go Fly a Kite is the fifth studio album by Ben Kweller, which was released on February 7, 2012. This is his first album since splitting with former label ATO Records.\n\nReception \nIn a review for VZ Magazine, Nicholas Moffitt said, \"Fans of Kweller and Power Pop will like Go Fly A Kite\" but later added, \"I just wish Kweller were more daring.\" The AllMusic review called it \"a refreshing album on a number of levels\" because of Kweller's inclusion of \"the detailed notes on how to play each song along with the lyrics...keeping nothing, not even the chord progressions, secret.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nBen Kweller albums\n2012 albums", "30 Days of Flavia is a book with a series of thirty stories from the life and career of the protagonist and author, Flavia Tumusiime. The stories were published on Flavia's Facebook page and later on her main website with the #30daysofflavia.\n\nPlot\n30 Days of Flavia started in August 2015. It started with how Flavia Tumusiime got a job at 91.3 Capital FM. The stories profile Flavia's private and career life in a random order. She tells of how she got different media jobs what has kept her at most of her jobs. She advises her fans on how to deal with social, private and career problems. The stories were published daily on her Facebook page for 30 days. Every episode or chapter started with a title and would end with a piece of advice for the readers. Her last chapter titled \"The Journey\" was published just moments before appearing on NTV Uganda in an interview to officially close the stories of her life.\n\nPurpose\nThe purpose of the stories according to Flavia was to help the young people that were going through tough times and thought they were alone. 30 Days of Flavia tells of Flavia's personal life which has mistakes, burdens and hard times, a life most of her fans never knew about. She goes on to advise her readers every after each chapter,\nWord of advice, even if you are at your last grain of strength, never show desperation. Be confident that the best asset is you and with that, you can acquire anything else..\nHer last piece of advice was, \nMy last word of advice is..the bigger the burden/challenge, the bigger the blessing so hold on. #30daysofflavia\"\n\nReception\nThe stories garnered mostly positive reviews. \nIn chapter (Day) 27 which was titled \"Actions\", Flavia wrote about how one's actions could send out wrong signals people. She described how she had sent wrong signals to US rapper J. Cole after an interview at Big Brother Africa in 2012 and how she turned him down. This chapter of her life was trending on social media platforms, radio and television. J. Cole's fans all over the world attacked Flavia with criticism as her fans commended her for sharing the story which had been loosely published in print media.\n\nReferences\n\nBiographies about actors" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52", "What is the New 52?", "In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity.", "Is this the only thing affected by the relaunching?", "Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins.", "How did this go over with fans?", "I don't know." ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	Did they eventually focus on her time as Catwoman?	4	Did the New 52 eventually focus on Selina's time as Catwoman?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	false	[ "Catwoman is a fictional character appearing in Batman #1. After her debut she would appear in many forms of media appearing in the Batman TV series and its film adaption, Batman Returns, the critically acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, the critically panned film Catwoman, the critical and financial hit film The Dark Knight Rises, the upcoming 2022 film The Batman, and the popular Batman: Arkham series, among others.\n\nShe has been portrayed by Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway, Camren Bicondova, Lili Simmons and Zoë Kravitz, and has been voiced by Adrienne Barbeau, Grey DeLisle, Elizabeth Gillies, and numerous others.\n\nTelevision\n\nLive-action\n\nBatman (1966–1968)\n\nCatwoman in the 1966 live-action television series Batman is portrayed by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt. Newmar portrayed Catwoman in the first and second season, and Kitt portrayed her in the third season. The feature film credits Lee Meriwether as both Catwoman and Miss Kitka. All three Catwoman incarnations are described by comic writer, Marc Andreyko, in an afterword to a Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77 omnibus, as being akin to a \"Darrin-in-Bewitched bit of silent recasting\" and his colleague, co-writer Jeff Parker, liked how their story \"leaves no one out and the readers got it immediately\", thus reflecting how the change of actress was never specifically addressed. In the TV series, Catwoman was given neither a background nor an alter ego, but focused instead on her costumed aspects. The costume created for the series was similar to the green catsuit appearing in the comics at the time, though it was constructed by Newmar from black Lurex fabric. One of these costumes tailored for Newmar is part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.\n\nDue to other commitments, Newmar was unavailable for the tie-in film produced after the first season, and for the series' third season. An uncredited Caucasian body double played the role in a cameo in \"The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra\", the series' penultimate episode.\n\nBirds of Prey\nThe 2002 television series Birds of Prey included an adaptation of the Silver Age Huntress as one of its main characters. Catwoman was also adapted for the series as she is an integral component of the back story for Huntress. That adaptation was limited to the alter ego, a costume design similar to the one used in the 1992 film Batman Returns, and adding the aspect of the character being a \"metahuman\". Catwoman was portrayed by Casey Elizabeth Easlick. She was uncredited and her appearances were limited to a flashback of her death which was edited into the series title sequence and the rare in-episode flashback.\n\nGotham\n\nSelina Kyle is featured in the TV series Gotham, with her younger version portrayed by Camren Bicondova, while the adult version of the character is portrayed by Lili Simmons. Selina Kyle is initially depicted as a 13-year-old thief and orphan who lives on the streets of Gotham City. In the series' pilot episode, she witnesses the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. She forms a tenuous alliance with GCPD Detective Jim Gordon after he saves her from kidnappers working for the Dollmaker. She promises to help him solve the Wayne murders if he helps her get out of trouble with the law. Gordon arranges for her to stay at Wayne Manor, where she befriends the young Bruce Wayne. She saves him from a gang of hired killers and gives him his first kiss. Throughout the rest of the series, Selina overcomes her insecurities and develops a love-hate relationship with Bruce while helping him keep order in Gotham City, despite often butting heads with him due to her moral ambiguity.\n\nBicondova was cast to portray the teenaged Selina, assuming she was auditioning for a random role named \"Lucy\" and not finding out what the real role was until after she was selected. While she takes inspiration from previous Catwoman actresses Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway and others, Bicondova wanted to portray a side of Selina Kyle not seen before, focusing on her past. As the series finale jumps ten years into the future from the rest of the series, Bicondova did not feel comfortable portraying her character as an adult, and at her request, an older actress was chosen to portray the adult Selina Kyle. Warner Bros. Television cast Lili Simmons in the role, with Simmons and Bicondova collaborating closely on the adult Selina's characterization.\n\nTitans\nIn the Titans episode \"Lazarus\", both her goggles and whip are shown in Batman's trophy room in the Batcave. In the season 3 finale episode \"Purple Rain\", Tim Drake tells Beast Boy put in the name (Selina Kyle) in the security question at Wayne Manor that asks \"What's the name of one who got away?\" following which Beast Boy/ Gar asks Tim \"Who's Selina Kyle?\".\n\nBatwoman\nIn the Batwoman episode \"A Lesson from Professor Pyg\", Ryan and Alice were tracking someone who's using Catwoman's bullwhip and mentioned that both Batman and Catwoman have a thing. It was later revealed that it's Flamingo who's doing all of the victims.\n\nAnimated\n\nSuper Friends\nCatwoman was originally supposed to be featured in the Challenge of the Super Friends season of Super Friends as a member of the Legion of Doom. However, due Filmation's The New Adventures of Batman development at that time, Catwoman was restricted to appear in the show. She was eventually replaced with Cheetah.\n\nFilmation Batman series\nCatwoman was first adapted to television animation by Filmation, for the 1968 series The Batman/Superman Hour. The character design and aspects adapted were similar to those used in the previous live-action television series: a focus on the character in costume, lack of a backstory, and use of the then-current green catsuit. Like the live action TV series, Catwoman behaved like many of her villainous counterparts (Joker, Riddler), by speaking in puns and hiring henchmen who wore outfits similar to hers. Jane Webb was cast to provide the voice for the character.\n\nFilmation returned to the character in 1977 for the animated series The New Adventures of Batman, where Melendy Britt was cast to voice the character in four episodes. Again, no backstory or alter ego were presented within the episodes. The yellow and orange costume design used was unique to the series.\n\nDC animated universe\n\nCatwoman was adapted for Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, set in the same continuity from the DC Animated Universe, voiced by Adrienne Barbeau. A spin-off focused on the character was in production before being cancelled; it was reconsidered years later as a dual spin-off also focused on Nightwing.\n\nThe character design for Batman: The Animated Series is a long-haired blonde look (based on Michelle Pfeiffer's appearance) when Selina is not wearing her costume, and the costume itself is a predominately gray catsuit based on the costume used in Batman Returns as well, with long black gloves and high-heeled boots. Along with a black portion of the mask, this gives the appearance of a seal-point Siamese cat.\n\nWhen The New Batman Adventures went into development, Catwoman's redesign resulted in an all-black catsuit, blue-white face make-up and short black hair. The first series establishes Catwoman as a socialite and animal rights activist in addition to a costumed thief in the early appearances. Beyond this, no backstory or actual origin is provided within the series. The series does play somewhat on the relation between Batman and Catwoman. She had a crush on Batman, but tried to keep her distance between her and Bruce Wayne, even though they dated.\n\nCatwoman also appears in the short featurette \"Chase Me\".\n\nIn Batman Beyond, Catwoman does not appear as her ultimate fate after her last appearance in \"Chase Me\" remains completely unknown. However, she was mentioned by Bruce at the end of the episode \"Dead Man's Hand\". After the release of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a second movie with an elderly Catwoman as a main character was planned by Bruce Timm, but was finally scrapped. However, in Justice League Unlimiteds episode \"Epilogue\", it was revealed that Selina eventually reformed and became an ally of Batman, though she eventually left him prior to his retirement from crime-fighting much like his other partners.\n\nThe Batman\n\nCatwoman was adapted along with a number of other Batman related characters for the 2004 animated series The Batman, voiced by Gina Gershon. The character design used was based loosely on the then-current costume used in the comic books. This resulted in a black/dark grey catsuit with a pull-up collar mask, dark red, claw-tipped gloves, a black cowl with exaggerated cat ears, and large amber goggles. She also has blue eyes instead of Green. The initial episode featuring Catwoman establishes her as working as a charity fund raiser in her identity of Selina Kyle. With the majority of her remaining appearances focusing on her activities only as Catwoman, an origin for the character is never provided.\n\nBatman Black and White\nCatwoman appears in the Batman Black and White motion comics, voiced by Janyse Jaud.\n\nBatman: The Brave and the Bold\nCatwoman was among the many DC Comics characters adapted for the 2008 animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Nika Futterman. Keeping with the tone of the show, the character design used for most of her appearances was drawn from the 1950s through mid-1960s and again from the late 1970 to the mid-1980s. This outfit is the purple long sleeved dress with green cloak and purple headdress/mask with cat-ears.\n\nDC Nation\nCatwoman appeared in the Batman of Shanghai shorts on the DC Nation block, voiced by Stephanie Sheh. In a departure from the comics, she was portrayed as a Chinese thief active in Shanghai during the 1930s.\n\nDC Super Hero Girls\nCatwoman appears in the web series DC Super Hero Girls as a student at Super Hero High, voiced by Cristina Pucelli.\n\nDC Super Hero Girls\nCatwoman appears in the 2019 animated series DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Cree Summer impersonating the late Eartha Kitt.\n\nHarley Quinn\n\nCatwoman appears in the DC Universe animated series Harley Quinn, voiced by Sanaa Lathan. This incarnation of Catwoman is of African American descent and is said to be the \"best burglar in all of Gotham.\" Introduced in the season two episode, \"Trapped\", she is recruited by the titular character and Poison Ivy to help them steal Firefly's flamethrower from Doctor Trap's booby-trapped museum. Though she effortlessly makes it through said museum and robs several treasures, Catwoman betrays them and leaves them to die. Despite this, she and Ivy appear to remain on good terms, as Catwoman later attended her bachelorette party in the episode \"Bachelorette\". In the season two finale, \"The Runaway Bridesmaid\", Catwoman attends Ivy's wedding as a bridesmaid and with Tim Burton as her date.\n\nFilm\n\nLive action\n\nBatman (1966)\n\nThe first feature film to include an adaptation of Catwoman was Batman, produced immediately after production of the first season of the 1966 television series of the same name. When the producers realized that Julie Newmar would be unavailable due to prior commitments, they cast Lee Meriwether to portray the character.\n\nReturn to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, a television film which aired in 2003, was a semi-documentary of the production of the 1966 television series and film. It featured dramatizations one of which included Julia Rose portraying a young Julie Newmar on set in character as Catwoman. Newmar and Meriwether also appeared in the film.\n\nBatman Returns (1992)\n\nCatwoman is portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1992 feature film Batman Returns. Re-created by Daniel Waters, the character is based on the Selina Kyle from \"Catwoman: Her Sister's Keeper\". Annette Bening was originally cast in the role but dropped out due to pregnancy. Other actresses including Nicole Kidman, Madonna, Jennifer Beals, Lorraine Bracco and Demi Moore were all linked to the role, and actress Sean Young campaigned heavily to get it (even turning up to Warner Bros. Studios in a homemade Catwoman suit). When it was suggested to Tim Burton that Michelle Pfeiffer was interested, something clicked to the producers thinking \"She's perfect. She also could be both Selina Kyle and Catwoman.\"\n\nThis version of Selina Kyle is depicted as a mousy, lonely and frustrated secretary of corrupt tycoon Max Shreck. After Selina accidentally discovers Shreck's plot to build a power plant that would steal Gotham's electricity, Shreck attempts to murder her by pushing her out the window of his top-story office. She survives the fall and is mysteriously revived by a group of alley cats that flock around her and begin gnawing at her fingers. When she returns home, she suffers a psychotic breakdown and becomes the more seductive and deadly Catwoman. As part of her larger plan to destroy Shreck, she allies herself with the Penguin, which attracts Batman's attention. Meanwhile, she begins a relationship with Bruce Wayne, at first not knowing that he is Batman. It's when she unknowingly helps Penguin frame Batman for a murder that her conscience resurfaces, with her quest for revenge gradually destroying her. At the climax of the film, Catwoman tries to kill Shreck. Although Shreck shoots her several times, he fails to kill her. She then kills Shreck by kissing him with a taser in her mouth while holding onto an exposed power cable. An explosion ensues, but afterwards, Batman finds only Shreck's charred corpse; Catwoman is not present. As the Bat-signal later shines in the night sky, a figure wearing Catwoman's outfit watches it from afar, suggesting that she has survived.\n\nThe film's interpretation of Catwoman derives heavily from the Pre-Crisis version of the character.\n\nPrior to the announcement Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as Batman in the upcoming The Flash set in the DC Extended Universe, Pfeiffer previously stated a willingness and enthusiasm to reprise her own role as Catwoman. Pfeiffer returns as Catwoman in the DC Comics comic book series, Batman '89.\n\nBatman Forever (1995)\nWhile Catwoman did not return in Batman Forever, she was referenced by Dr. Chase Meridian when she tells Batman: \"You like strong women. I've done my homework. Or do I need skin-tight vinyl and a whip?\".\n\nAborted spin-off\nBurton had no interest in returning to direct a sequel of Batman Returns, but was credited as producer. With Warner Bros. moving on development for Batman Forever in June 1993, a Catwoman spin-off was announced. Michelle Pfeiffer was to reprise her role, with the character not to appear in Forever because of her own spin-off.\n\nBurton became attached as director, while producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters also returned. In January 1994, Burton was unsure of his plans to direct Catwoman or an adaptation of \"The Fall of the House of Usher\". On June 16, 1995, Waters turned in his Catwoman script to Warner Bros., the same day that Batman Forever was released. Burton was still being courted to direct. Waters joked, \"Turning it in the day Batman Forever opened may not have been my best logistical move, in that it's the celebration of the fun-for-the-whole-family Batman. Catwoman is definitely not a fun-for-the-whole-family script.\" In an August 1995 interview, Pfeiffer re-iterated her interest in the spin-off, but explained her priorities would be challenged as a mother and commitments to other projects. The film labored in development hell for years, with Pfeiffer replaced by Ashley Judd. The film ended up becoming the critically panned Catwoman (2004), starring Halle Berry.\n\nAborted Batman reboot\nIn 2000, Warner Bros. commissioned Darren Aronofsky for an adaptation of Batman: Year One to reboot the Batman franchise. The script featured an African-American Selina Kyle/Catwoman in a prominent role.\n\nCatwoman (2004)\n\nIn 2004, the feature film Catwoman was released. Starring Halle Berry, this film's Catwoman bears little resemblance to the comic book version. Berry portrays Patience Phillips, an artist and graphics designer who works for a cosmetics company called Hedare Beauty, which is ready to ship a new skin cream called Beau-Line that is able to reverse the effects of aging. However, as Patience visits the factory where it is being manufactured, she learns that the product has deadly side-effects. Laurel Hedare (Sharon Stone), the wife of the company's CEO, orders her killed. Hedare's minions drown her, but she is mysteriously brought back to life by Midnight, an Egyptian Mau cat, and from that point on develops cat-like abilities. A researcher named Ophelia Powers (Frances Conroy) tells Patience that Egyptian Mau cats serve as messengers of the goddess Bast, suggesting that Patience has been granted supernatural powers. Wearing a mask to disguise her identity, Patience stalks the night as Catwoman seeking revenge against her murderers. Eventually, her search leads her to Hedare, who murders her husband and frames her for it. In the film's climactic fight scene between Hedare and Catwoman, Hedare falls to her death. Patience is cleared of murder charges, and decides to become Catwoman permanently.\n\nThe movie alludes to other women who have been granted such cat-like abilities, particularly in a scene in which Patience is introduced to a series of photos of prior Catwomen, including Pfeiffer's Batman Returns version of Selina Kyle.\n\nThe film's story has nothing to do with the Batman universe, and is considered \"Catwoman in name only\". It was poorly received by critics and audiences, and is commonly listed as one of the worst films ever made.\n\nThe Dark Knight Rises (2012)\n\nSelina Kyle is portrayed by Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises. Entertainment Weekly describes this version as an enigma, a wily and witty con artist, as well as a high society grifter. She is depicted as a femme fatale antiheroine whose actions often blur ethical lines, similar to her portrayal in the comics. Certain actresses considered for the role of Selina Kyle included Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Kate Mara, Gemma Arterton, Blake Lively and music superstar Lady Gaga.\n\nIn the film, Selina Kyle is hired by corrupt businessman John Daggett to steal Bruce Wayne's fingerprints; Daggett in exchange promises to expunge her criminal record with a \"Clean Slate\" computer program. Bane subsequently uses Bruce's prints to attack Gotham City's stock exchange and bankrupt Bruce with bogus stock trades. She also steals the pearl necklace belonging to Bruce's deceased mother and takes a congressman hostage. After Daggett betrays her, Selina leads Batman to Bane's trap without realizing that Batman and Bruce are the same person. She attempts to flee Gotham, fearing that Bane's terrorist group will eventually kill her. John Blake arrests her for kidnapping and takes her to Blackgate Prison to await trial. She is subsequently \"released\" when Bane takes control of Gotham. When Batman returns to Gotham and offers her the \"Clean Slate\", she aids the Dark Knight in liberating Gotham City from Bane's chaos. With Selina's help, Batman rescues Lucius Fox. Using the Batpod, Selina destroys the blockade at the tunnel leading out of Gotham. During the battle, Selina kills Bane with the Batpod's grenade launcher and helps Batman destroy Talia al Ghul's convoy. At the end of the movie, Bruce leaves the Batman mantle behind and enters a relationship with Selina. She is never referred to as \"Catwoman\" in the film, although she does receive the moniker in related The Dark Knight Rises collectibles and books. Instead, emphasis is made upon her profession as a \"cat\" burglar in headlines shown in the film; also, her safecracking goggles resemble cat ears when not in use.\n\nThe Batman (2022)\nIn October 2019, Zoë Kravitz was cast to reprise her role as Catwoman in the 2022 film The Batman. Zazie Beetz, Alicia Vikander, Ana de Armas, Ella Balinska and Eiza González also auditioned for the role.\n\nGotham City Sirens (TBA)\nCatwoman is set to appear in Gotham City Sirens with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, but the film's production has stopped for the moment.\n\nAnimated\n In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, a amalgation of Man-Bat and Catwoman named She-Bat appeared on a computer page of the lesser members of the Crime Syndicate.\n Eliza Dushku voices Catwoman in Batman: Year One. The DVD and Blu-ray release also features the short film DC Showcase: Catwoman, again with Eliza Dushku providing the voice.\n Catwoman appears in Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite, adapted from Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes video game, voiced by Katherine Von Till.\n Selina Kyle appears in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, voiced by Tress MacNeille.\n Julie Newmar reprised her role as Catwoman in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, which is a continuation of the 1960s television series. The movie includes a brief reference to the Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt versions of the character when a hit on the head causes Batman to see a triple image of Catwoman. Newmar reprises the role in Batman vs. Two-Face. Meriwether also makes an appearance as Lucille Diamond, King Tut's lawyer. Catwoman escapes prison by switching outfits with Lucille and trapping the lawyer in her cell. Diamond, upon awakening, finds she enjoys the costume and even begins purring, implying the Meriwether incarnation was a different individual.\n Catwoman appears in The Lego Batman Movie, voiced by Zoë Kravitz. She is a member of The Rogues, the team of supervillains in league with the Joker.\n The Brave and the Bold version of Catwoman appears in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, with Nika Futterman reprising her role.\n Selina Kyle appears in the animated Gotham by Gaslight adaptation, voiced by Jennifer Carpenter, with Grey Griffin as her singing voice.\n Catwoman appears in the anime film Batman Ninja, voiced by Ai Kakuma and Grey Griffin in Japanese and English respectively.\n Catwoman appears in the animated film Batman: Hush, voiced by Jennifer Morrison.\n Catwoman appears in the two-part animated film Batman: The Long Halloween voiced posthumously by Naya Rivera.\n Catwoman appears in the animated film Injustice voice by Anika Noni Rose.\n An anime Catwoman film titled Catwoman: Hunted with Elizabeth Gillies voicing the character was released on February 8, 2022.\n\nVideo games\n\nLego\n Catwoman appears in Lego Batman: The Video Game, voiced by Vanessa Marshall. She appears as an enemy of Batman, a 1st deputy of the Penguin, and the first boss of Chapter 2 \"Power-Crazed Penguin.\" Her abilities are double-jump, whip attacks, and making guards open love gates (not a mind-control ability). She is the only one of the Penguin's followers (excluding the Penguin himself) that does not have superhuman strength. The Penguin assigns her to steal the Gotham Diamond from the museum in order to power up his machine that controls his penguin bombs. She awes the police by leaping back and forth and she manages to slip away with it. Batman and Robin see her, chase her, and catch up to her, and they can inflict damage on her simply by attacking her, but if there are some of the Penguin's henchmen around, she will leap away. After she is defeated, She and Batman kiss much to Robin's disgust, but she tosses the Gotham Diamond off the building and a cat (possibly hers) takes it. She then struggles against some policemen and hides from them, but Batman lays a bowl of milk to get her attention and throws her in the police van while she is drinking and it drives off. In a prison cell, the same cat brings her the Gotham Diamond. The Penguin saw her get captured and he teams up with Killer Croc to rescue her when he hears she has the diamond. After she is rescued, she gives the diamond to the Penguin, and they go to Gotham Zoo to set up the machine. They power it up and activate the penguins, but Batman and Robin arrive to stop it. She fights alongside the Penguin as a miniboss; although she cannot be damaged, she can still attack the player. When the Penguin is defeated, she tries to sneak away, but Batman just throws a batarang at her. In the ending, she is seen in Arkham Asylum grooming herself. She is one of three bosses that later appears as a miniboss, the other two being Two-Face & Harley Quinn.\n Catwoman appears in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, voiced by Katherine Von Till. She is among the inmates freed when Lex Luthor frees Joker from Arkham Asylum. In the level \"Arkham Asylum Antics\", she rides her motorcycle around the maze. Outside of the main story, she appears as an optional boss at the police station. She has no dialogue other than laughter.\n Catwoman appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Laura Bailey. In the game, the primary version's default design is her New 52 costume with the 1966 and Pre-New 52 designs as alternates. She appears in a side quest in the Watchtower where the player has to help her find a cat statue and she later appears on Ysmault where the player has to help Dex-Starr find a new hangout spot. In one of Kevin Smith's side-quests, she steals the film that Smith made and the player has to find where it is; on the middle of the quest, she comes across the player and reveals she hid the film because it was bad and states she \"knows a thing or two about really bad movies\", a possible reference to the poorly reviewed Catwoman movie. The 1966 version appears as a miniboss in the bonus level \"Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel\" based on the 1960s TV show. Also, The Dark Knight Rises version of Selina Kyle is a separate playable character via DLC.\n The Lego Batman Movie version of Catwoman makes a cameo in Lego Dimensions, voiced again by Grey Griffin. The player has to rescue her in a sidequest.\n Catwoman appears as one of the main characters in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by Grey Griffin. She plays a role in the story as one of the main characters. She and other villains go on their normal criminal activities during the Justice League's absence until they get to deal with the presence of the \"Justice Syndicate\". She is one of the first to notice that the Syndicate members are not what they claim to be when she sees how different Owlman is compared to Batman.\n\nBatman: Arkham\n\nThe character is voiced by Grey DeLisle, where this version has a range of different animations and abilities.\n\n Chronologically, she first appears in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate.\n While Catwoman does not appear in Batman: Arkham Asylum, parts of her costume are found on display inside Arkham Asylum's old mansion and scanning them to solve one of the Riddler's riddles will unlock her bio. She is also referenced by the Joker addressing a crate of Venom to the character as a gift, and appears on a list of Arkham inmates liberated by Harley Quinn. \n She physically appears as a playable character in Batman: Arkham City. She first appears in the prologue of the game, breaking into a safe belonging to Two-Face, in order to retrieve the blueprints of Hugo Strange's confiscated goods vault, where the prison warden is holding loot of Selina's. However, she is captured by Two-Face in the act, is held hostage in his courthouse. Dangling above a vat of acid, Catwoman is given a mock-trial by Two-Face, before being rescued by Batman. She retrieves the blueprints, and seeks out Poison Ivy's help. After some convincing, Ivy agrees to help her break into the vault. Once Catwoman is in, however, Hugo Strange's genocidal Protocol 10 is enacted, and she reluctantly leaves her loot to rescue Batman, who is pinned under fallen rubble and left for dead. After saving his life, she attempts to retrieve her belongings from her apartment and flee the prison-city, only to find a bomb planted by Two-Face. Surviving the explosion, she seeks out Two-Face once again, slashing him across the face and leaving to collect her belongings. However, after successfully retrieving her belongings, she still chooses to stay in Arkham City, deciding she enjoys it too much to leave.\n She later returns as a playable character in Batman: Arkham Knight. Riddler contacts Batman, and informs him that he has Catwoman hostage, and that in order to free her, Batman must complete a series of trials. With each trial he completes, Catwoman is rewarded with a key that will defuse one of the bombs strapped around her neck. Batman and Catwoman eventually find all nine keys, and Catwoman is free to leave the orphanage where she was hostage. However, she returns when Batman comes back to confront the Riddler, and the two defeat him. After the fight, Catwoman and Batman finally kiss, before Batman pushes her away, telling her this is the last time they will see each other. Later that night, he is unmasked and seemingly kills himself to protect his loved ones.\n Catwoman returns as a playable character in the DLC expansion mission Catwoman's Revenge. Taking place the night after the events of Arkham Knight, Catwoman infiltrates one of the Riddler's hideouts while he is in prison to exact revenge on him. She finds his robot factory underground, and steals all of his money before destroying the facility.\n In Batman: Arkham VR, postcards from Selina Kyle which correspond with newspaper clippings of various jewelry heists can be found at the beginning of the game.\n Catwoman appears in the mobile game Batman: Arkham Underworld, acting as an information officer who keeps the player updated on the activities of Gotham City, as well as teaching new mechanics to the player and occasionally giving them missions in the form of favors for her services.\n\nInjustice\n Catwoman appears as a playable fighter in Injustice: Gods Among Us, with Grey DeLisle reprising her role from Batman: Arkham City. This version was formerly a part of Batman's Insurgency, but switched over to Superman's Regime prior to the game's story in order to protect Batman. In Catwoman's ending, Catwoman resolves to fight crime in the newly-rebuilt Gotham City until she can reconcile with Batman. In the game, Catwoman has various alternate outfits such as mainstream and alternate as well as the design from Batman: Arkham City.\n Catwoman returns as a playable character in Injustice 2, voiced again by Grey DeLisle. In the story she appears as a member of Grodd's Society, but is revealed to be a double agent working for Batman. She teams up with Cyborg and Harley Quinn to bring Brother Eye out of Brainiac's control. In her single player ending, she gets together with Bruce after defeating Brainiac, but leaves him after quickly getting bored of the lifestyle. She steals a Mother Box to travel the galaxy stealing as much as her heart desires. This is the first media outside of the comics to reference Selina's sister, Maggie, as Atrocitus is interested in how she affects Selina's rage.\n\nBatman: The Telltale Series\nCatwoman appears in Telltale Games' Batman series, voiced by Laura Bailey. Like the modern interpretations of the character, she serves as an anti-hero and occasional ally of Batman.\n Catwoman makes her debut in the first season. She first confronts Batman as she tries to steal a data drive from Mayor Hamilton Hill's office, which she loses during the scuffle. As Selina Kyle, she is introduced to Bruce Wayne by Harvey Dent (whom she is dating) and deduces that he is the vigilante upon noticing an injury she gave him. After being unsuccessful to convince him to give her back the drive, she reluctantly gives him the address where she was to meet her employer. Catwoman also helps Batman stop a Children of Arkham attack on the Mayoral Debate, after he helps defeat an attempt on her life. Though Selina works the group in the hopes of clearing her debt, she later leaves them after being used as a hostage to lure Batman out. After he is critically wounded in a fight with Lady Arkham, she takes him to her apartment to recover and, if the player chooses to, sleeps with him. After Harvey destroys her apartment after finding Bruce there, she either leaves Gotham or stays briefly at Wayne Manor, though leaves after Bruce's incarceration in Arkham Asylum. After both Penguin and Harvey are defeated by Batman, Selina steals a prototype from Wayne Enterprises' R&D department. When caught trying to escape by Bruce, she admits to have only gotten close to him for another job. After returning the device, Selina leaves Gotham to distance herself from the conflict. Depending the player's actions, she will either stay in contact with Bruce, sending a cat themed postcard to him during the epilogue, or cut him off completely. \n Catwoman returns in the second season, titled Batman: The Enemy Within. Prior to her return, Selina's postcard and broken goggles appear in the Batcave as part of her display. After the Pact retrieves Riddler's body from the Agency, it is revealed that she had been hired by them to assist in their heists. Catwoman is also mentioned to have been an associate of the Riddler, having been convinced to join them by the criminal. Though she works with the Pact to help uncover the location of an Agency black-site, she secretly tries to sabotage their plans in retribution for their supposed involvement in Riddler's death. Eventually, Selina decides to work with Bruce to stop them, during which she can be invited into the Batcave and enter a relationship with him. During the climax of the third episode, Bruce is forced to give either himself or her up as a traitor. If the former is chosen, she can help Batman defeat the Pact and flees the scene as the Agency arrives. However, regardless of what is chosen, she is captured by the Agency and made part of their supervillain program. Depending on whether the Joker becomes a vigilante or criminal, she either takes part in the fight between Batman, Joker and the Agency, or is used within Joker's attempts to get revenge on Batman. Depending on the choices made, Catwoman can either be released by the Agency, put under surveillance or keep working for the organization.\n\nOther games\n Catwoman appears as a boss in the 1993 Batman Returns game based on Tim Burton's 1992 film.\n Catwoman appears as a boss in the 1993 Game Boy video game Batman: The Animated Series, where she teams up with Poison Ivy to kidnap Harvey Dent.\n Released on several platforms with very different gameplays, Catwoman only appears on the Super NES version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin video game, where she is chased around the rooftops of Gotham City by Batman. \n In the 1999 side-scroller Catwoman video game by Kemco for Game Boy Color, Catwoman is hired by Talia al Ghul to steal an ancient crystal skull from the Gotham City Museum. Ra's al Ghul wants to use the skull to create a powerful weapon that will be capable of destroying an entire city.\n The Patience Phillips version of Catwoman appears in the Catwoman video game (a tie-in to 2004's Catwoman feature film), voiced by Jennifer Hale.\n Catwoman appears as a fighter in the crossover fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, played by Brenda Barrie and voiced by P. J. Mattson. This version is classified as a villain in the game. Her role in the game is small. Her game ending features her returning to Gotham City and discovering that due to the magical essence of the worlds merging, she now has the ability to transform into a black panther at will, enhancing her speed and strength. This incarnation is also referenced in pre-battle dialogue between Sub-Zero and Catwoman in Injustice 2 in which the two recognize one another from their previous encounter. \nIn Mortal Kombat 11 she was used as a DLC skin for Kitana in the DC Elseworld Pack. \n Catwoman appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame, voiced again by Nika Futterman. In the game, she teams up with Catman to steal an ancient artifact and turn all of the police into cats, in order to terrorize the city easier. \n Catwoman appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Kelley Huston. She is classified as a villain and is seen as a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains, although her main plot is considered heroic.\n Catwoman appears as a playable character in Infinite Crisis, voiced again by Grey DeLisle.\n Catwoman appears in the mobile game DC Legends.\n Catwoman appears as a playable character in SINoALICE, voiced again by Ai Kakuma.\n\nRadio\n Catwoman, voiced by Lorelei King, appeared in the Batman radio drama The Lazarus Syndrome (1989).\n Catwoman, voiced by Rosario Dawson, appears in the Batman radio drama podcast, Batman: The Audio Adventures .\n\nFine Arts \nStarting with the Pop Art period and on a continuing basis, since the 1960s the character of Catwoman has been \"appropriated\" by multiple visual artists and incorporated into contemporary artwork, most notably by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, Dulce Pinzon, F. Lennox Campello, and others.\n\nReferences", "Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film loosely based on the DC Comics character Catwoman. It was directed by Pitof and written by John Rogers, John Brancato and Michael Ferris from a story by Theresa Rebeck, Brancato and Ferris, with music by Klaus Badelt. The film stars Halle Berry as Catwoman, plus Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, Alex Borstein, and Sharon Stone in supporting roles. The film centers on Patience Phillips, a meek designer who discovers a conspiracy within the cosmetics company she works for that involves a dangerous product that could cause widespread health problems. After being discovered and murdered by the conspirators, she is revived by Egyptian cats that grant her superhuman cat-like abilities, allowing her to become the crime-fighting superheroine Catwoman, while also romancing a detective who pursues her.\n\nProduced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Denise Di Novi's Di Novi Pictures, Catwoman was released theatrically on July 23, 2004 by Warner Bros. Pictures and was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $82 million against a budget of $100 million. The film received seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations and won in the categories of Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay; many critics consider it to be one of the worst films of all time, with criticism directed at the performances, direction, writing and lack of connection to the source material. Despite the reviews and ratings, Catwoman was the highest grossing female-led superhero film until the release of Wonder Woman in 2017. However, several critics have reevaluated the film more positively in the years after its initial release. Halle Berry celebrated the cult followers in 2021.\n\nPlot\nArtist Patience Phillips is a meek people-pleaser whose main support is her best friend Sally. She works for a cosmetics company called Hedare Beauty which is ready to ship a new skin cream called Beau-line that is able to reverse the effects of aging. However, when Patience visits the R&D laboratory facility to deliver a redone ad design, she overhears a discussion between scientist Dr. Ivan Slavicky and Laurel Hedare, the wife of company-owner George Hedare, about the dangerous side effects from continually using the product. Laurel's guards discover Patience and are ordered to dispose of her. Patience tries to escape using a conduit pipe, but the minions have it sealed and flush her out of it, drowning her. Washed up on shore, Patience is mysteriously revived by an Egyptian Mau cat named Midnight which had appeared at her apartment earlier; from that moment on, she develops cat-like abilities.\n\nFrom Midnight's owner eccentric researcher Ophelia Powers, Patience learns that Egyptian Mau cats serve as messengers of the goddess Bast. Patience realizes that she is now a \"catwoman,\" reborn with abilities that are both a blessing and a curse. Disguised as a mysterious vigilante named Catwoman to hide her identity, Patience, under cover of darkness, searches for answers as to who killed her and why. Eventually, her search (which includes finding Slavicky's body, and later being accused of his murder) leads her to Laurel. She asks Laurel to keep an eye on George, to which Laurel agrees. However, when Patience confronts George (who is attending an opera with another woman) as Catwoman, he reveals he knows nothing about the side effects. The police, led by Patience's love interest Detective Tom Lone, arrive and Catwoman escapes. Later on, Laurel murders George for his infidelity and admits to having Dr. Slavicky killed because he wanted to cancel the product's release. She contacts Catwoman and frames her for the murder. Tom then takes Catwoman into custody. Laurel plans to release Beau-line to the public the following day.\n\nPatience slips out of her cell and confronts Laurel in her office, rescuing Tom, who came to question Laurel after second thoughts about Patience's guilt in the process, and revealing that Laurel is the one responsible for her death. Laurel reveals the product's side-effects: discontinuing its use makes the skin disintegrate, while continuing its use makes the skin as hard as marble. During the fight, she scratches Laurel's face multiple times, causing Laurel to fall out of a window and grab onto a pipe. Laurel sees her face in a window's reflection and horrified by her skin's rapid disintegration (as a result of the scratches and her own use of Beau-line for years), she fails to grab hold of Patience's outstretched arm and falls to her death. Though Patience is cleared of any charges made against her regarding the deaths of Dr. Slavicky and the Hedares, she decides to end things with Tom by choosing to continue living outside the law and enjoying her newfound freedom as the mysterious Catwoman.\n\nCast\n\n Halle Berry as Patience Phillips / Catwoman\n Benjamin Bratt as Detective Tom Lone\n Sharon Stone as Laurel Hedare\n Lambert Wilson as George Hedare\n Frances Conroy as Ophelia Powers\n Alex Borstein as Sally\n Michael Massee as Armando\n Byron Mann as Wesley\n Alex Cooper as Gloria Ojeda\n Kim Smith as Drina\n Peter Wingfield as Dr. Ivan Slavicky\n Berend McKenzie as Lance\n\nMissy Peregrym appears uncredited as the Hedare factory computer monitor image (Beau-line graphics model), depicting the bad effects of the beauty product. A photograph of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns are among the pictures that Ophelia shows to Patience.\n\nProduction\n\nDevelopment\nWith Warner Bros. developing Batman Forever in June 1993, a Catwoman spin-off film was announced. Michelle Pfeiffer was cast to reprise her role from Batman Returns, Tim Burton became attached as director, and producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters also returned. In January 1994, Burton was unsure of his plans to direct Catwoman or an adaptation of \"The Fall of the House of Usher\". On June 16, 1995, Waters turned in his Catwoman script to Warner Bros., the same day Batman Forever was released. Burton was still being courted to direct. Waters joked, \"turning it in the day Batman Forever opened may not have been my best logistical move, in that it's the celebration of the fun-for-the-whole-family Batman. Catwoman is definitely not a fun-for-the-whole-family script.\" In an August 1995 interview, Pfeiffer reiterated her interest in the spin-off but explained her priorities would be challenged as a mother and commitments to other projects.\n\nThe film labored in development hell for years with Ashley Judd as the lead in 2001, but she eventually dropped out so Nicole Kidman was considered. When Warner Bros. canceled a Batman vs. Superman film scheduled for 2004, the studio decided to quickly produce Catwoman as replacement, starring Halle Berry. Berry chose to be involved with the film after the cancellation of Jinx, a James Bond spin-off featuring her character Giacinta \"Jinx\" Johnson from Die Another Day (2002). Josh Lucas was considered for the role of Tom Lone.\n\nCostume\nThe catsuit was designed by Academy Award-winning costume designer Angus Strathie together with Berry, director Pitof and producers Di Novi and McDonnell. Strathie explained, \"We wanted a very reality-based wardrobe to show the progression from demure, repressed Patience to the sensual awakening of a sexy warrior goddess.\"\n\nChoreography and training\nBerry started intensive fitness training with Harley Pasternak in June 2003. Choreographer Anne Fletcher instructed Berry in cat-like movement, and in the Brazilian martial art style Capoeira. Berry was trained to crack a whip by coach Alex Green.\n\nFilming\nPrincipal photography began late September 2003. Shooting took place on 4th Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at Lionsgate Film Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, and at Warner Bros. Burbank Studios, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California. Most of the cats cast in the film came from animal shelters throughout California. Filming finished on February 20, 2004.\n\nRelease\n\nTheatrical\nThe film was originally given an IMAX release coinciding with the general release as evidenced by a poster with the tagline \"CATch Her in IMAX\", but Warner Bros. announced its cancellation on June 30, 2004 because the delays on the visual effects did not give IMAX enough time to remaster the film in time for its release.\n\nHome media\nCatwoman was released on VHS and DVD on January 18, 2005, and on Blu-ray on September 8, 2009.\n\nReception\n\nBox office\nCatwoman earned a gross of $40,202,379 in North America and $41,900,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $82,102,379 against a production budget of $100 million.\n\nThe film grossed $16,728,411 in its opening weekend playing in 3,117 theaters, with a $5,366 per-theatre average and ranking #3 alongside The Bourne Supremacy and I, Robot. The biggest market in other territories being France, Spain, Japan and Mexico where the film grossed $5.2 million, $4.05 million, $3.05 million and $2.9 million, while topping the Bulgarian weekend listing.\n\nCritical response\n\nCatwoman was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 9% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 3.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, \"Halle Berry is the lone bright spot, but even she can't save this laughable action thriller.\" On Metacritic the film has a score of 27 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating \"generally unfavorable reviews\". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of \"B\" on an A+ to F scale.\n\nThe film appeared on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films. He criticized the filmmakers for giving little thought to providing Berry \"with a strong character, story, supporting characters or action sequences\", but he primarily criticized the film for failing to give the audience a sense of what her character experienced as she was transformed into Catwoman. He rather referred to it as being a movie \"about Halle Berry's beauty, sex appeal, figure, eyes, lips, and costume design. It gets those right\". On their At the Movies show, Ebert and his former co-host Richard Roeper both gave the film a \"thumbs down\". In a scholarly analysis of female protagonists in action cinema, Heldman et al said that the film ends with Catwoman choosing \"a solo existence as her sexualized body slinks into the full moon; even this otherwise agentic act is constructed for the consumption of the male gaze that follows her. The film presents her agency, power, and freedom as derivative of her hypersexualization.\" Bill Muller of The Arizona Republic stated that Berry should possibly give back her 2001 Academy Award as a penalty for the film.\n\nAccolades\n\nBerry arrived at the ceremony to accept her Razzie in person with her Best Actress Oscar, quipping, \"It was just what my career needed,\" and semi-sarcastically describing the finished film as a \"piece of shit, fucking godawful movie.\"\n\nОther media\n\nA video game based on the film was published by Electronic Arts UK and Argonaut Games. Featuring voice actor Jennifer Hale, the game varies from the film's plot and received negative reviews on Metacritic.\n\nIn 2003, Warner Bros. approached Boyd Kirkland to write a script for a Catwoman direct-to-video animated feature film to tie-in with the film's release. Although the script was written, the project was discarded due to the film's critical and box office failure.\n\nSee also\n List of films based on DC Comics publications\n List of films considered the worst\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n2004 films\n2000s English-language films\n2004 action films\n2000s superhero films\nAfrican-American superhero films\nAmerican action films\nAmerican superhero films\nCatwoman in other media\nFilms based on works by Bob Kane\nFilms based on works by Bill Finger\nSuperheroine films\nFilms scored by Klaus Badelt\nFilms produced by Denise Di Novi\nFilms shot in Los Angeles\nFilms shot in Vancouver\nFilms about cats\nFilms with screenplays by John Rogers\nMariticide in fiction\nResurrection in film\nAmerican vigilante films\nVillage Roadshow Pictures films\nWarner Bros. films\nFilms based on Egyptian mythology\nAmerican films\nFilms directed by Pitof\nGolden Raspberry Award winning films" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52", "What is the New 52?", "In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity.", "Is this the only thing affected by the relaunching?", "Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins.", "How did this go over with fans?", "I don't know.", "Did they eventually focus on her time as Catwoman?", "I don't know." ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?	5	Besides the New 52, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment.	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	true	[ "Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region", "Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts" ]
[ "Catwoman", "The New 52", "What is the New 52?", "In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity.", "Is this the only thing affected by the relaunching?", "Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins.", "How did this go over with fans?", "I don't know.", "Did they eventually focus on her time as Catwoman?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment." ]	C_a27e1ae9ad324858ae89aaa0eed7bd2c_1	Who were the masked men?	6	Who were the masked men invading Selina's apartment?	Catwoman	In 2011, DC Comics relaunched all titles, deemed the New 52, which rebooted the DC Universe continuity. Catwoman's monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, but not her origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trafficking ring. CANNOTANSWER	There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge.	Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in Batman #1 (spring 1940), she is one of the Dark Knight's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues' gallery. However, the character has also been depicted as an anti-heroine and became Batman's best known love interest, with many stories depicting their complex love–hate relationship. Catwoman is a Gotham City burglar who typically wears a tight, one-piece outfit and uses a bullwhip for a weapon. She was originally characterized as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but she has been featured in a series since the 1990s which portrays her as an antiheroine, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The character thrived since her earliest appearances, but she took an extended hiatus from September 1954 to November 1966 due to the developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa have both adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina Kyle. Catwoman has been featured in many media adaptations related to Batman. Actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt introduced her to a large audience in the 1960s Batman television series and the 1966 Batman film. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992's Batman Returns. Halle Berry starred in 2004's Catwoman; this, however, was a critical and commercial flop and bears little similarity to the Batman character. Anne Hathaway portrayed Selina Kyle in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. A young version of Kyle was played by Camren Bicondova on the 2014 television series Gotham although Lili Simmons portrayed an older Kyle in the series finale. Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the 2022 film The Batman after previously voicing her in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie. Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's list of the "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time", and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list. Character and publication history Creation Batman co-creator Bob Kane was a great movie fan and his love for film provided the impetus for several Batman characters, among them, Catwoman. Kane's inspiration for Catwoman was drawn from multiple sources to include actresses Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, and his cousin, Ruth Steele. Kane and Finger wanted to give their comic book sex appeal, as well as a character who could appeal to female readers; they thus created a "friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romantic interest in Batman's rather sterile life." Catwoman was meant to be a love interest and to engage Batman in a chess game, with him trying to reform her. At the same time, this character was meant to be different from other Batman villains like the Joker in that she was never a killer or evil. As for using cat imagery with the character, Kane stated that he and Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats". Golden Age Catwoman, then called "the Cat", first appeared in Batman #1 (spring 1940) as a mysterious burglar and jewel thief, revealed at the end of the story to be a young, attractive (unnamed) woman, having disguised herself as an old woman during the story and been hired to commit a burglary. Although she does not wear her iconic cat-suit, the story establishes her core personality as a femme fatale who both antagonizes and attracts Batman. It is implied Batman may have deliberately let her get away by blocking Robin as he tried to leap after her. She next appears in Batman #2 in a story also involving the Joker but escapes Batman in the end. In Batman #3 she wears a fur mask and again succeeds in escaping Batman. Batman #62 (December 1950) reveals that Catwoman was an amnesiac flight attendant who turned to crime after suffering a prior blow to the head during a plane crash she survived. She reveals this in the Batcave after being hit on the head by a piece of rubble while saving Batman while he was chasing her. However, in The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983), she later admits that she made up the amnesia story because she wanted a way out of her past life of crime. She reforms for several years, helping out Batman in Batman #65 (June 1951) and 69 (February 1952), until she decides to return to a life of crime in Detective Comics #203 (January 1954), after a newspaper publishes stories of Batman's past adventures and some crooks mock her about it. However, Catwoman prevents her thugs from murdering Batman once he is later found knocked out, but quickly claims she wants him as a hostage. Catwoman appears again as a criminal in Batman #84 (June 1954) and Detective Comics #211 (September 1954), which were her two final appearances until 1966. This was mostly due to her possible violation of the developing Comics Code Authority's rules for portrayal of female characters that started in 1954. In the 1970s comics, a series of stories taking place on Earth-Two (the parallel Earth that was retroactively declared as the home of DC's Golden Age characters) reveal that on that world, Selina reformed in the 1950s (after the events of Batman #69) and had married Bruce Wayne; soon afterward, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Helena Wayne (the Huntress). The Brave and the Bold #197 (April 1983) elaborates upon the Golden Age origin of Catwoman given in Batman #62, after Selina reveals that she never suffered from amnesia. It is revealed that Selina Kyle had been in a bad marriage, and eventually decided to leave her husband. However, her husband kept her jewelry in his private vault, and she had to break into it to retrieve it. Selina enjoyed this experience so much she decided to become a professional costumed cat burglar, and thus began a career that repeatedly led to her encountering Batman. The Earth-Two/Golden Age Selina Kyle eventually dies in the late 1970s after being blackmailed by her former underling "Silky" Cernak into going into action again as Catwoman, as shown in DC Super-Stars #17 (December 1977). She was killed when Cernak henchman's gun went off and hit her on the chest enough for her to fall from the fourth floor mezzanine. She died in Bruce's arms claiming "I did it all for you". This incident led to Helena Wayne becoming Huntress and bringing Cernak to justice. Silver Age Catwoman made her first Silver Age appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #70-71 (November–December 1966); afterward, she continued to make appearances across the various Batman comics. Several stories in the 1970s featured Catwoman committing murder, something that neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions of her would ever do. This version of Catwoman was later assigned to the alternate world of Earth-B, an alternate Earth that included stories that could not be considered canonical on Earth-One or Earth-Two. Modern Age Tangled origins Catwoman's origin—and, to an extent, her character—was revised in 1987 when writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli published Batman: Year One, a revision of Batman's origin. She worked as a dominatrix for the pimp Stan to survive and also sheltered a child prostitute named Holly Robinson working for him. Selina got into a fight with a disguised Bruce after he grabbed Holly, who had stabbed him during a fight with Stan, but was knocked out. As the story progresses, Selina decides to leave prostitution and takes Holly with her. She gets into burglary to make money and starts robbing the rich and powerful men of Gotham, donning a catsuit costume while committing her heists. While trying to rob Carmine Falcone, she gets rescued by Batman but is irked of being thought of as his sidekick by the media. The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller's Year One origin. This storyline, known as "Her Sister's Keeper", explores Selina's early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina's former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in "Her Sister's Keeper". Catwoman (vol. 2) #69 provides details about Selina's childhood and neglects Maggie's existence. Maria Kyle is a distant parent who preferred to spend her time with cats, and commits suicide when Selina is very young. Her alcoholic father, Brian, is cold to Selina for resembling her mother, whom he resents for dying, and eventually drinks himself to death. To survive, Selina takes to the streets for a time before getting caught and sent first to an orphanage, then juvenile detention center, "where Selina began to see how hard the world could really be". Maggie's fate at this point in the timeline is not alluded to. However, when Ed Brubaker reintroduces her into the comic, he implies that Maggie may have directly entered an orphanage and promptly been adopted. When she is 13 years old, Selina discovers that the detention center's administrator has been embezzling funds, and she confronts her. In an attempt to cover up her crime, the administrator puts Selina in a bag and drops her in a river to drown (like a cat). She escapes and returns to the orphanage, where she steals documents exposing the administrator's corruption. She uses these to blackmail the administrator into erasing "Selina Kyle" from the city's records, then steals the administrator's diamond necklace and escapes from the orphanage. Selina eventually finds herself in "Alleytown – a network of cobblestone streets that form a small borough between the East End and Old Gotham." Selina is taken in by Mama Fortuna, the elderly leader of a gang of young thieves, and is taught how to steal. Fortuna treats her students like slaves, keeping their earnings for herself. Selina eventually runs away, accompanied by her friend Sylvia. However, the two have difficulty surviving on their own, and in desperation try to support themselves by working as prostitutes. The two drift apart afterward, with Sylvia coming to resent Selina for not inquiring about what had happened to her at the hands of her abusive first client. In the Catwoman: Year One story, Selina, who is now an adult, achieves some success as a thief. Following a disastrous burglary, however, she accepts an offer to "lie low" as a dominatrix employed by a pimp named Stan. They plan to trick men into divulging information that might be used in future crimes. According to this storyline, Selina trains under the Armless Master of Gotham City, receiving education in martial arts and culture. During this time, a client gives her a cat o' nine tails, which Selina keeps as a trophy. Batman: Dark Victory, the sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween, implies that Catwoman suspects she is the illegitimate daughter of Mafia boss Carmine Falcone, although she finds no definitive proof. Selina's connection to the Falcone crime family is further explored in the miniseries Catwoman: When in Rome. Though the story adds more circumstantial evidence to the theory of Selina's Falcone heritage, establishing that the Falcones' second-born daughter was put up for adoption in America, it also supplies no definitive proof. During Batman: The Long Halloween, Selina (out of costume) develops a relationship with Bruce Wayne, even leading her to save Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, this relationship appears to end on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. She leaves him for good and also leaves Gotham for a while in Batman: Dark Victory, after he stands her up on two holidays. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. Catwoman also appears in the Batman: Knightfall saga, where she is approached by Bane's henchmen while robbing a house. Bane asks her to work for him, but she refuses, as she is repulsed by the criminal who "broke" Batman. Later in the story, she boards a plane with Bruce Wayne to fly to Santa Prisca. She next appears in the Batman: Knightquest saga, where Azrael is masquerading as Batman. She is one of the few to recognize that this Batman is an impostor, later being present when the true Batman returns to the fold as he struggles against his successor, his willingness to save even criminals confirming his true identity for Selina. Catwoman solo series In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code. Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway and former sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also delves into her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant. Moving to New York City, Selina becomes corporate vice president of Randolf Industries, a Mafia-influenced company and then becomes its CEO through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego. After her time in New York City, Selina returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the "No Man's Land" storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story, with her series later revealing that she has developed a form of personality disorder after exposure to the Scarecrow's fear gas, causing her to act as herself and an identity that appears to be her sister Maggie pretending to be her. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94. Catwoman then appears in a series of back-up stories in Detective Comics #759–762 (August–November 2001). In the back-up storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads into the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar. During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc. In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society of Super Villains, of which she had once briefly been a member. Mindwiping revelations Catwoman appears to be completely reformed, and her love for Batman is true (although brash and unpredictable). However, she has learned her reformation was the result of a mindwipe by Zatanna, a procedure known to deeply affect and, in at least one case, physically incapacitate its victims. Zatanna gives no reason for her actions, but in a flashback, it is shown that she had acted with the consent and aid of five of the seven JLA members who had helped her mindwipe Dr. Light and Batman. Catwoman's response to this revelation is unequivocal: she gags Zatanna with duct tape, rendering her powerless, and pushes her out a window. Afterward, she is seen covering her bed with past versions of her Catwoman costume. Still unbalanced and uncertain of herself in issue #52, Selina is forced to decide whether to kill a supervillain. Black Mask, in an attempt to "improve himself", threatens the most important people in Selina's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. The villain had also previously tortured Selina's sister Maggie by drilling out her husband's eyeballs and feeding them to Maggie, which drove her insane. Black Mask learns Selina's identity through his earlier alliance with Selina's childhood friend Sylvia, who still harbors a grudge against Selina. Still thinking that Selina adheres to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask is caught by surprise when Selina shoots him in the head. This action continues to haunt her throughout the "One Year Later" storyline, and it is suggested that this might have been the first time she had ever directly taken a life. As a mother Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe jumps forward in time. After "One Year later", Selina Kyle is no longer Catwoman, she has left the East End, and has given birth to a daughter named Helena. The father of her new daughter is initially unrevealed; however, Batman demonstrates great concern for the child and at one point asks to have Helena stay at his mansion. Selina attempts to live a safe and somewhat normal life, and gives up her more dangerous ways of living as Catwoman. Holly Robinson takes over as the new Catwoman while Selina, living under the alias Irena Dubrovna, turns her attention to caring for her daughter (Selina's alias was inspired by the name of the main character in the 1942 film Cat People). Though she takes her role as a new mother quite seriously, Selina dons the costume for a run through the East End some days after Helena's birth. Having gained a few pounds, Selina finds that her costume is now tighter. In addition, she is easily distracted by a common criminal. Although the situation is defused through Holly's opportune arrival, the sight of two Catwomen active simultaneously in the city is caught on video. Selina returns home from her adventure to find that the mysterious movie aficionado the Film Freak has deduced her alias, teamed up with the Angle Man, and grabbed Helena. After rescuing her daughter, Selina convinces Zatanna to mindwipe the Film Freak and the Angle Man in order to preserve her secret identity. Following the procedure, the Angle Man turns himself in to the authorities; the Film Freak, however, embarks upon a murderous rampage. A twist occurs when Wildcat informs Selina that Holly has been arrested for the murder of Black Mask. Selina infiltrates the police station and frees Holly. Finally defeating the Film Freak, Selina returns home to find that Bradley has deduced that Helena is the daughter of his son Sam Bradley, Jr., and therefore his granddaughter (although it is still strongly hinted that Bruce Wayne may be the father). Batman asks Catwoman to infiltrate the violent tribe of the Bana Amazons during the Amazons Attack! crossover. Posing as a criminal, Selina gains the Bana's trust and thwarts a terror attack aimed at causing mass casualties in Gotham City. Selina questions whether she should be raising a daughter when her life as Catwoman has already proven to be such a danger to the child. After enlisting Batman's help in faking the death of both herself and her daughter, Selina puts Helena up for adoption. A month after Helena is placed with a new family, Catwoman asks Zatanna to erase her memories of Helena and change her mind back to a criminal mentality. Zatanna refuses, judging that such an act would be cruel to both mother and daughter. She tells Selina that she could never reverse Selina's mindset, since she was on the path to becoming a hero on her own. Believing she can no longer function as a criminal, Selina decided to become one of Batman's Outsiders. She quickly quits, however, and is replaced by Batgirl. Salvation Run In Salvation Run #2, Catwoman is sent to the Prison Planet. She allies herself with Lex Luthor in an attempt to return to Earth, and mistakenly ends up on an alternate universe-Earth where Catwoman is a notorious villain. It is later revealed that this Earth is a creation of her own mind, and she has not left the Prison Planet. When accused of being a traitor by Luthor, she reveals the Martian Manhunter is posing as the Blockbuster, which would soon lead to the hero's death. Using the trust she regained in Luthor's eyes, she earns a passage to the 'real' Earth, in a jerry-rigged teleport machine built by Luthor for letting the villains escape. On Earth, she resumes being a hero, with occasional lapses into thievery by commission, simply for the thrill of it. Heart of Hush Later, in Detective Comics, Selina is quite uncertain about pursuing a romantic relationship with Batman. She talks with Bruce about Jezebel Jet, his current girlfriend, and then has a quick pep talk with Zatanna, whom she believes is also courting Bruce. Zatanna confirms and admits her feelings, adding that she has since chosen to forget them, but extremely encourages Selina to open her heart to Bruce Wayne before Jet is able to "seal the deal". Hush eavesdrops on the conversation, targeting both women as a way to hurt his enemy, Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics #848 (November 2008), Hush attacks Selina as she is in her apartment, kidnapping her and surgically removing her heart. She is delivered anonymously to a Gotham hospital. Batman receives word of her situation, and while he goes in search of Hush, he leaves Selina in the care of Doctor Mid-Nite, who is considered the superhero community's chief doctor. Batman recovers her heart, and Dr. Mid-Nite restores it to her body; however, the doctor also makes a prognosis on whether she can still return to her former life swinging through rooftops. While Selina is still in a coma, she encounters Zatanna, who apologizes for not warning her about Hush. She tells Selina that she was so happy about her relationship with Bruce that she ignored the other warnings in the cards. Zatanna gives her a little bottle supposedly containing aloe vera for her post-op scars. It is hinted that there is a little magic in there to help Selina with her recovery. Selina is sad that she might end up alone again. In the meantime, Bruce enters the recovery room and, believing her unconscious, launches into a soliloquy. He ends by telling Selina that he will always love her, when she opens her eyes and reveals to him that she was awake all the time and heard his confession. Batman R.I.P. During the events of Batman R.I.P., Selina and Bruce's romance lasts only for a night because Bruce must continue to pose as Jezebel's lover to bring down the Black Glove. While still recuperating, she pulls off one more heist and exacts her revenge on Hush. With the help of a few allies on both sides; the Oracle, Holly Robinson, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Slam Bradley, Selina taps into Hush's assets, leaving him penniless and suffering from wounds inflicted by Batman. Battle for the Cowl In Batman: Battle for the Cowl, Selina is seen as one of the members of Nightwing and Robin's contingency team known as "the Network", where she is seen taking down a gang of thugs before seeing Tim Drake dressed in a Batman uniform and is initially taken by surprise. Batman: Reborn and Gotham City Sirens In the first issue of Gotham City Sirens, Selina runs into the Bonebuster, a new villain trying to make a name for himself, and is saved by Poison Ivy. Selina, fearing the many dangers of a post-Batman Gotham, proposes that she, Ivy, and Harley Quinn team up, living together at a single base in an abandoned animal shelter. Ivy agrees under one condition: using home-grown drugs to weaken Selina's resistance, Ivy demands the identity of the true Batman. Selina flashes back three years to when Talia al Ghul requested her presence in Tibet. There, Talia made it so that Selina would not relinquish the true identity of Batman under any circumstances. After the interrogation is over, Selina sees Harley with Bruce Wayne on TV. Selina tells Ivy that she knows it is Hush in disguise. Blackest Night During the events of Blackest Night, Selina is attacked by Black Mask after he has been reborn as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. After he tells her that he plans on getting an emotional response before killing her, Selina steals a car and heads to the mental institution where Maggie is held, believing Black Mask is coming for her. Black Mask attacks the institution, and somehow awakens Maggie from her coma. Selina arrives in time to help her sister flee into the sewers. While on the run, Maggie angrily tells Selina that she ruined both of their lives the day she decided to become Catwoman. Devastated by her sister's statement, Selina fails to realize they have both been heading into a trap. Just as Black Mask is about to gouge Maggie's eyes out and shove them down Selina's throat, Harley and Ivy arrive and defeat the Black Lantern by trapping him in the stomach of a man-eating plant. Selina is helped to her feet by her friends, who tell her that Maggie has fled the scene. The next day, the staff members of the mental institution are shown discussing Maggie's escape, also mentioning that a nun that works at the hospital had been found beaten and stripped of her uniform. Maggie is then shown in the depths of the Gotham City sewers clad in the bloodied nun robes, muttering about her plan to kill Catwoman in order to free Selina's soul. Now calling herself Sister Zero, Maggie attempts to kill Selina, but ultimately flees after being defeated by the Sirens. She is last seen going over her options, now realizing that she cannot murder her own sister, and therefore must personally exorcise the "cat demon" from within Selina's body. The Return of Bruce Wayne In the build-up to The Return of Bruce Wayne, the Sirens help Zatanna put out a massive fire at a local park near their home, only for them to be ambushed by a creature made of mud. After being dragged underneath the soil by the creature, Catwoman awakens bound and gagged on the floor of a dark room, and is quickly forced into an illusion by her unseen captors. Back in reality, Talia reveals to the Sirens that just a few hours prior, an unknown benefactor had offered up a massive reward to whoever could kidnap and deliver Catwoman to him, with the hopes that he could penetrate her mind and learn Batman's secret identity. Before the knowledge can be ripped from her mind, Selina's captors (revealed to be the Shrike and a new villain named the Sempai), are eventually defeated by the other Sirens. Once Selina is freed, Talia orders Zatanna to wipe Bruce's identity from her memory, reasoning that her kidnapping has proved that the knowledge is too dangerous for her to handle. The two women initially restrain Selina and attempt to remove the knowledge from her, but Zatanna refuses at the last moment and ends up fighting Talia in order to protect Selina. Talia tries to kill Selina before vanishing, but she survives and ultimately reunites with Bruce, who had recently returned to the present. After stealing the contents of a safe belonging to the Falcone crime family, Selina returns home to find Kitrina, a teenaged escape artist and Carmine Falcone's long-lost daughter, breaking into her room. She attacks and subdues Kitrina, who tells Selina that she had unknowingly stolen a map that details the location of the new Black Mask's underground bunker. Realizing that she could use the map to capture Black Mask and claim the 50 million dollar bounty on his head, Selina leaves Kitrina bound in a locked room so that she can keep the map for herself. She later calls Batman to her house in order to turn the would-be thief over to the police, but discovers that Kitrina had managed to free herself and steal back the map. This impresses Selina, who mentions that she had tied up the child using an "inescapable" knot that Bruce had shown her years earlier. Following a battle with Black Mask and his henchmen, which ends with neither woman being able to claim the bounty, Selina agrees to take on Kitrina as her new sidekick, Catgirl. Once Bruce Wayne returns from his time in the past, he establishes Batman Incorporated, a global team of Batmen. Selina accompanies Batman on a mission to break into Doctor Sivana's armory, and later travels with him to Tokyo in order to recruit a Japanese representative for Batman Inc. Catwoman teams up with Batman to stop Harley Quinn from breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum. After defeating Harley and the Joker, Catwoman tells Poison Ivy that they are no longer friends, this after Ivy drugged her in an attempt to uncover Batman's secret identity. Shortly afterwards, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have escaped and set off to pursue revenge on Catwoman for leaving them behind. The two of them found Catwoman and fought her. While they were fighting, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help them. Batman was about to arrest them, but Catwoman helped the two of them escape. The New 52 / Catwoman (vol. 4) In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its main line of superhero titles under the umbrella The New 52, which revised and updated the fictional history of its superhero characters. Catwoman's new monthly title now focused on Selina's earlier days as Catwoman, though not the identity's origins. The series begins with Selina frantically escaping from unknown masked men who are invading her apartment. After flitting from rooftop to rooftop, Selina looks back just in time to see her apartment blown apart by explosives. She turns to her informant, Lola, who often supplies Catwoman with information and various jobs. In this instance, Lola tips Selina off to an unoccupied penthouse where Selina can lay low for a few weeks, as well as a job stealing a painting from Russian mobsters. For this job, Selina infiltrates a Russian club by posing as the bartender. There, she recognizes a man who murdered a friend of hers, and she takes her revenge. Once her cover is blown, Selina dons her Catwoman outfit and fights her way out of the club. It is revealed through Selina's inner monologue that she and Batman are lovers, and the premiere issue ends with the first sex scene between the two. Her revised origin in Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 draws from Batman Returns. Catwoman is later confronted by Steve Trevor, who offers her a spot on Amanda Waller's new Justice League of America. Selina initially refuses, but accepts the offer after Trevor promises to help her track down a woman who has apparently been posing as Selina. It is later revealed that Catwoman was chosen specifically to take down Batman should the JLA ever need to defeat the original Justice League. The teams eventually come into conflict in the publisher's "Trinity War" crossover. In the Earth-Two continuity, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are married, and their daughter, Helena Wayne, is that universe's Robin. In this universe, either Selina has reformed or was never a supervillain in the first place. It is revealed in issue #0 of Worlds' Finest that this Selina was killed while trying to stop what she believed was a human trade ring. Keeper of the Castle and Inheritance From 2014 to 2015, science fiction writer Genevieve Valentine took over the series and penned a 10-issue story arc focused on Selina Kyle's reign as a Gotham City crime boss. Following events from Batman Eternal and preceding those in Batman #28, Selina takes over control of the Calabrese crime family, after being revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese. During this time she stops wearing the Catwoman costume, prompting Eiko Hasigawa, heir to the rival Hasigawa family, to replace her in the role. The women confront each other several times, discussing Eiko's motivations to dress as Catwoman and whether Selina's plans for Gotham and the families are worth the sacrifices required. During one of their encounters, Selina and Eiko kiss, establishing their relationship as a romantic one. DC Universe In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event again relaunched DC Comics' entire line of superhero comic book titles with partial revisions of their characters' fictional histories. Catwoman assumes a prominent role in the third volume of Batman. In December 2017, DC Comics ended the DC Rebirth branding, opting to include everything under a larger DC Universe banner and naming, and Catwoman continues to be featured in the third volume of Batman. The series reveals Selina Kyle's origin through a series of flashbacks and letters exchanged between her and Bruce. Selina's parents died when she was young, and she hardly remembers them. She is sent to the Thomas and Martha Wayne Home For the Boys and Girls of Gotham, and even after being placed in various foster homes, Selina would escape to return to the orphanage. Eventually, Selina takes on the Catwoman persona. During one of her heists, she is approached by the Kite Man to aide the Joker in a gang war against the Riddler, which she refuses. She later aides Batman, with whom she already has a romantic relationship, to spy on the Joker. She is shot from a window, but is unharmed. At some point in the future, her childhood orphanage is bombed by a terrorist group called the Dogs of War. Batman reluctantly arrests Catwoman after all 237 of them are killed, despite Catwoman's insistence on her guilt. Catwoman's first appearance following the start of DC Rebirth is in Batman (vol. 3) #9, where she is revealed to be imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for the alleged murders of the Dogs of War. Batman is determined to prove her innocence, and makes a deal with Amanda Waller to get her off death row in exchange for her help on a mission to Santa Prisca. The mission to find the Psycho-Pirate is a success, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham City. Before Batman can return her to custody, she escapes. Batman investigates the murders of the terrorists that she has been charged with, and deduces that it was in fact Holly Robinson who committed the murders after the terrorists burned down the orphanage she and Selina were raised in. After being attacked by Holly Robinson, Batman is rescued by Catwoman. Bruce proposes to Selina at the end of Batman (vol. 3) #24. In issue #32, Selina asks Bruce to propose to her again, to which she says, "Yes". The two leave Gotham for Khadym to where Holly Robinson has fled to in order to clear Selina's name, ultimately facing Talia al Ghul. Batman Annual (vol. 3) #2 (January 2018) centers on a romantic storyline between Batman and Catwoman, beginning with their initial meetings and acceptance of their shared mutual attraction towards one and another. Towards the end, the story is flash-forwarded to the future, in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are a married couple in their golden years. Bruce receives a terminal medical diagnosis, and Selina cares for him until his death. On the day of their wedding, Selina decides to call off the wedding as she realises that marrying Bruce would ultimately take away what makes him Batman. This is later revealed to be due to the manipulations of Holly under the instructions of Bane as to finally break Batman of both spirit and will. Subsequently, Selina leaves Gotham and starts a new life in the city of Villa Hermosa, California (Catwoman (vol. 5) #1). She faces opposition from the power-hungry Creel family who run Villa Hermosa, specifically First Lady Raina Creel. She reappears in the "City of Bane" storyline, reuniting with Bruce following his defeat against both Bane and his father Thomas Wayne from the Flashpoint reality. They proceed to go to Paris for Bruce to recover, before going to disrupt a shipment of Venom under the jurisdiction of Bane's lieutenant, the Magpie. During this, they reconcile and finally determine when they actually first met (Batman believed it to be on a boat when they first met under their alter-egos; whilst Catwoman believed it to be in the streets as their true identities, reminiscent of their meeting in Batman: Year One). They subsequently go back to Gotham and defeat all of Batman's enemies who had sided with Bane before taking on and defeating Bane himself, at which point the two are taken by Thomas who, in an attempt to finally break Bruce's spirit, shows him the corpse of the recently murdered Alfred. However, both Bruce and Selina then defeat Thomas utilizing both Scarface and the Psycho-Pirate. Romantic relationships Batman Although Catwoman has been historically portrayed as a supervillain, Batman and Catwoman have worked together in achieving common goals and are frequently depicted as having a romantic relationship. Batman has had many romantic relationships with female characters throughout the years, but while these relationships tend to be short in duration, Batman's attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and medium in which the characters appear. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship, in which the closing panel of the final story shows her referring to Batman as "Bruce". However, a change in the editorial team brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during that story arc. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (out of costume) develop a relationship during Batman: The Long Halloween. The story sees Selina saving Bruce from Poison Ivy. However, the relationship ends on the Fourth of July when Bruce rejects her advances twice; once as Bruce and once as Batman. In Batman: Dark Victory, he stands her up on two holidays, causing her to leave him for good and to leave Gotham City for a while. When the two meet at an opera many years later, during the events of the 12-issue story arc called Batman: Hush, Bruce comments that the two no longer have a relationship as Bruce and Selina. However, Hush sees Batman and Catwoman teaming up as allies against the entire rogues gallery and rekindling their romantic relationship. In Hush, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman. After the introduction of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, DC established that stories from the Golden Age star the Earth-Two Batman, a character from a parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in Superman Family #211). They have a daughter named Helena Wayne, who, as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman and Catwoman are shown having a sexual encounter on top of a building in Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 (Nov. 2011), and the same issue implies that the two have an ongoing sexual relationship. Following the DC Rebirth continuity reboot, the two once again have a sexual encounter on a rooftop in Batman (vol. 3) #14 (2017). In the third volume of Batman, Selina and Bruce are in a romantic relationship, and flashbacks to the past reveal their history together. Bruce proposes to Selina in Batman (vol. 3) #32 (December 2017), to which she says, "Yes". Others Prior to the New 52 line-wide revision and relaunch of DC Comics superhero titles and characters, Selina had a relationship with Slam Bradley Jr., and she named him as the father of her daughter Helena. However, the father may still have been Bruce Wayne. In February 2015, a storyline by writer Genevieve Valentine shows Selina kissing fellow Catwoman Eiko Hasigawa. Equipment Weapons During the Silver Age, Catwoman, like most Batman villains, used a variety of themed weapons, vehicles, and equipment, such as a custom cat-themed car called the "Cat-illac". This usage also appeared in the 1960s Batman television series. In her Post-Crisis appearances, Catwoman's favored weapon is a whip. She wields both a standard bullwhip and a cat o' nine tails with expert proficiency. She uses the whip because it is a weapon that the user must be trained to use, and therefore it can not be taken from her and used against her in a confrontation. She can also be seen using a pistol against people if her whip is taken from her. Catwoman uses caltrops as an anti-personnel weapon and bolas to entangle opponents at a distance. Catwoman has also been shown to have various items to restrain her victims, such as rope for binding hands and feet, and a roll of duct tape used to gag her targets, as she has done with various victims during her robberies over the years. Often, especially in the TV series, she uses sleeping gas or knockout darts to subdue victims. Catwoman's attractiveness and feminine wiles have also allowed her to take advantage of male opponents. Costume Catwoman, in her first appearance, wore no costume or disguise at all. It was not until her next appearance that she donned a mask, which was a theatrically face-covering cat-mask that had the appearance of a real cat, rather than a more stylized face mask seen in her later incarnations. Later, she wore a dress with a hood that came with ears, and still later, a catsuit with attached boots and either a domino or glasses-mask. In the 1960s, Catwoman's catsuit was green, which was typical of villains of that era. In the 1990s, she usually wore a mostly purple, skintight catsuit before switching to a black catsuit similar to Michelle Pfeiffer's costume in Batman Returns, except not haphazardly stitched together. In recent years, artists have typically depicted Catwoman in some variation of a tight, black bodysuit. Ed Brubaker, the writer behind the 2001 revamp of the character, has stated that Selina's current costume was inspired by Emma Peel's iconic leather catsuit in The Avengers television series. It has a more high tech look, with domino-shaped infrared goggles on her cowl. Many of her costumes have incorporated retractable metal claws on the fingertips of her gloves and sometimes on the toes of her boots. On rare occasions, she has also sported a cat's tail. On May 21, 2018, DC Comics unveiled Selina's revamped Catwoman costume designed by comic book writer and artist Joëlle Jones. The new costume is black with openings under her arms and shoulders for mobility along with reinforcement in the middle. Gone are the goggles in favor of a cowl and sleeker, more stylish gloves and boots. Jones, who had been drawing the covers and interior art for DC Rebirth 's Batman was announced as the writer and artist of a brand new solo Catwoman series (volume 5). Holly Robinson uses the same costume Selina used prior to Infinite Crisis. Bibliography List of Catwoman titles Catwoman (miniseries) #1–4 (1989) Catwoman: Defiant (1992) Catwoman (vol. 2) #1–94 (1993–2001) Catwoman (vol. 2) #0 (1994) Catwoman #1,000,000 (1998) Catwoman Annual #1–4 (1994–1997) Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997) Catwoman Plus/Scream Queen #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen) Catwoman/Wildcat #1–4 (1998) Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1–2 (1999) Catwoman (vol. 3) #1–83 (2002–2008, 2010) Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) Catwoman: When in Rome #1–6 (2004) Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1–2 (2004) Gotham City Sirens #1–26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) Catwoman (vol. 4) #1–52 (2011–2016) Catwoman (vol. 4) #0 Catwoman: Futures End #1 Catwoman Annual (vol. 2) #1–2 (2013 and 2014) Catwoman (vol. 5) #1–ongoing (2018–present) Catwoman Annual (vol. 3) #1 (2019) Novels Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, Warner Books, September 1992, Graphic novels Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, DC Comics, (SC, August 2003), (HC, July 2002) Collected editions Other collected editions Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2: Knightquest (Catwoman (vol. 2) #6–7) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3: KnightsEnd (Catwoman (vol. 2) #12–13) Batman: Contagion (Catwoman (vol. 2) #31–35) Batman: Legacy (Catwoman (vol. 2) #35–36) Batman: Cataclysm (Catwoman (vol. 2) #56) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 2 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #72–74) Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4 (Catwoman (vol. 2) #75–77) Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2 – Officer Down (Catwoman (vol. 2) #90) Batman: War Games Act 1 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #34) Batman: War Games Act 2 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #35) Batman: War Games Act 3 (Catwoman (vol. 3) #36) Batman: Night of the Owls (Catwoman (vol. 4) #9) The Joker: Death of the Family (Catwoman (vol. 4) #13–14) DC Comics: Zero Year (Catwoman (vol. 4) #25) Other versions The Dark Knight Returns Selina Kyle appears as an aging and somewhat overweight madam in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns four times; all are brief. The first time is in a phone message to Bruce ("Selina. Bruce, I'm lonely."). Next, she is attacked by the Joker, who uses a mind control drug to convince her to send one of her prostitutes to use the same substance on a governor. The Joker then beats her, dresses her in a Wonder Woman outfit, ties her up and gags her, leaving her for Batman to find. Selina's final appearance in the book is at Bruce Wayne's funeral, where she yells at Superman, telling him that she knows who killed Bruce. She does not appear in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's follow-up story, although she is referred to in the prologue written for the trade paperback version, but in the book, Carrie Kelley's moniker of "Catgirl" is an homage to Catwoman. Prose books Two 1990s prose books feature Catwoman: The Further Adventures of Batman: Volume 3 featuring Catwoman, a short story anthology with stories written by various authors, and Catwoman: Tiger Hunt, a novel. Both books feature a Batman: Year One-influenced Catwoman who wears a gray cat costume and was once a prostitute. Kingdom Come Catwoman also made a small cameo in Kingdom Come, mostly accompanying the Riddler; she is predominantly seen, but not much heard in the series. She is not dressed in costume, but appears in the very dress she first wore in Batman #1 as the Cat. According to the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin, she runs a multibillion-dollar cosmetics company. An armored, metahuman successor called "Catwoman II" is also featured in the story as one of the "new heroes" who follow the new "man of tomorrow" Magog's anti-heroic, violent example. Batman: Digital Justice In the all-digital graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice, which is set some time in the future long after the original Batman has died, Sheila Romero, also known as the hit pop music star Gata (the Spanish female noun for "cat") and daughter of the Mayor of Gotham City, is jealous of the new Batman, James Gordon, because media coverage of his activities have been cutting into her airtime. Setting out to learn as much about Batman and his enemies as she can, Gata becomes the new Catwoman. Near the end of the story, Gata and her followers face off against Batman, but the two later fall in love, and Maria Romero, also known as Madame X, tells Sheila that she is really a clone of Maria. Maria confesses that she had planned to transplant her brain into Gata's body, but she could not bring herself to do it because she loved her "daughter" too much. Maria then dies in Sheila's arms. Elseworlds In the Elseworlds tale Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham, Selina Kyle is the daughter of millionaires Thomas and Martha Kyle. Walking home after seeing the film Cat People, the young Selina chases after an alley cat and watches in horror as her parents are gunned down by a robber. Selina learns that the crook has stolen a ring she found in a Cracker Jack box and had given to her mother. Years later she becomes Catwoman, the defender of Gotham City, operating out of a Catcave beneath Kyle Manor, aided by a young maid named Brooks (this universe's version of Alfred Pennyworth). Her major enemy is a psychopathic criminal named Batman, who beats her entire rogues gallery half-to-death just to get rid of the competition. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: Nine Lives, where Batman and his supporting characters are re-invented as a pulp noir detective story, an African-American Selina Kyle is a murdered owner of the bankrupt Kit Kat Club who was blackmailing many of the city's most powerful figures. She is nicknamed "the Catwoman". In the Elseworlds tale Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman, set in the 1930s, explorer and adventurer Finnegan Dent is revealed to be stealing the sacred artifacts of an African tribe. During an encounter with Batman and Tarzan, a female thief, dressed as a cat, is revealed to be the princess of the tribe, as well as the priestess of its cat-cult, trying to reclaim the artifacts. In the Elseworlds tale JLA: The Nail, featuring a world where costumed heroes have no symbol of inspiration as Superman was never recovered by the Kents, Catwoman is diagnosed by the head warden of Arkham Asylum as not being a true "criminal", but simply enjoying playing a "cat-and-mouse" game with Batman, donning her costume simply to attract his attention. During her time in Arkham, the Joker attacks the asylum armed with Kryptonian gauntlets provided by the story's secret villain, forcing the inmates to fight each other—Catwoman being the last one standing—before Batman arrives. Although the Joker uses his gauntlets to brutally murder Robin and Batgirl while forcing Batman to watch, Catwoman distracts him long enough for Batman to escape the Joker's hold and destroy the gauntlets. He then proceeds to kill the Joker in a trauma-induced rage, taking the gauntlets and Catwoman back to the Batcave. With Selina and Alfred having broken through Batman's grief, Selina becomes Batwoman and joins Batman in rescuing the JLA from captivity. Although Batman resigns from the League after he is cleared of the Joker's murder, even Catwoman's support cannot help him past his grief until the events of JLA: Another Nail, where the two briefly travel into the afterlife to investigate recent supernatural disturbances with the aid of Deadman, with Batgirl and Robin's spirits appearing to forgive their mentor for his failure to save them before he returns to life. In the Elseworlds tale Batman: In Darkest Knight, featuring a world if Bruce Wayne discovered the body of dying alien Abin Sur, instead of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, also features familiar Batman characters mixed with some of Green Lantern's enemies. Selina Kyle (recognized by Bruce as "that night in the East End", a reference to Batman: Year One"), along with Harvey Dent are corrupted by Sinestro, who absorbs the mind of the Waynes' killer Joe Chill and became crazed. The two known as Star Sapphire (Selina) and Binary Star (Harvey) team with Sinestro to take out Green Lantern, but are stopped. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm, the first of two sequels to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, where Batman was forced to become a vampire to save Gotham from an attack by Dracula, Selina is turned into a werecat after being bitten by one of the remaining vampires. Hunting for the monster that transformed her, Selina encounters Batman as he hunts for the remaining vampires, the two subsequently joining forces to eliminate the vampire horde. As they fight together, Batman finds that Selina's selfless love for him allows him to control his thirst for blood that had begun to consume him. She sacrifices herself to save him from the Joker, who had become the leader of the remaining vampires after Dracula's death, taking a crossbow bolt to the heart that the Joker had fired at Batman. Batman's grief and rage over her death causes him to finally lose control of his bloodlust as he drinks the Joker's blood. In the second and final sequel, Batman: Crimson Mist, the corrupted Batman reflects grimly that he can no longer understand Selina's noble sacrifice after his psyche has become increasingly corrupted by his surrender to his vampire side. Thrillkiller In Howard Chaykin's Thrillkiller, Selina Kyle is a stripper in a cat-themed strip club. She acts as an informant for GCPD detective Bruce Wayne. Dark Allegiances In Howard Chaykin's Dark Allegiances, Selina Kyle becomes a film star under the stage name of Kitty Grimalkin. Prior to becoming a star, she was an alcoholic whose actions during one of her "blackouts" were recorded into an underground porn film. The stills from the film are used to blackmail her into stealing information from Wayne Enterprises. Batman: Shadow of the Bat In Alan Grant's Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2, Vikki Vale, a reporter for Wayne Media, is Catwoman. She is hired by Anarky to steal information, but she gets caught and is tortured by Jonathan Crane, whom she calls a "demented scarecrow". All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Catwoman expresses interest when the Joker's invites her to join him in "some mischief". She may be involved in sadomasochism, as she first advises the Joker — who has just murdered his latest lover—that "I've heard rumors on how you handle women — and even I don't play it that rough". Two issues later, however, Catwoman is found brutally beaten and cut, bleeding badly. She struggles to tell Batman, "Juh... Juh... It was Juh..." Batman: Two Faces In Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Batman: Two Faces, Selina Kyle is a madame in 19th century Gotham, who defends streetwalkers in a mask, bustier, and fishnets and occasionally works with amateur detective Bruce Wayne. The Joker attacks and paralyzes her, much like he does to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman: Leatherwing In Detective Comics Annual #7 ("Batman: Leatherwing") by Chuck Dixon, set in the 18th century Caribbean, Capitana Felina is a Spanish Contessa turned pirate, who rails against the chauvinism of her own crew. She initially teams up with the Laughing Man (the Joker) against the English freebooter Captain Leatherwing (Batman), before turning to Leatherwing's side, and eventually marrying him. Batman Beyond A futuristic Catwoman appears in the Batman Beyond comic series. Like the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, the new Catwoman sports a high-tech costume complete with advanced gadgetry. The new Hush hires her to plant a tracking device on Batman, only for Hush to begin strangling her after "paying" her with a box full of playing cards, regarding her death as a continuation of his efforts to destroy Batman's "family" by killing his rogues gallery. Bruce Wayne saves her with 'Bat-Wraith' robots. She is revealed to be the daughter of the villain Multiplex; she inherits her father's ability to self-duplicate, but can only create nine copies of herself, explaining her adoption of the Catwoman moniker. She is later revealed to be intimately involved with Dick Grayson. Selina Kyle is also briefly mentioned in the TV show that inspired the comic series, when Bruce Wayne begins to tell Terry about her after Terry has a short-lived relationship with a member of the Royal Flush Gang. Flashpoint In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Selina Kyle becomes the Oracle, having been apparently paralyzed under unspecified circumstances. Batman: Earth One In the second volume of the Batman: Earth One graphic novel series, Selena Kyle appears and helps Batman tending his wounds after chasing the Riddler, pretending to be a single mother who lives in the apartment building where he was injured. Batman later discovers that she is neither the apartment's tenant or a mother, but a burglar who was robbing the building at the time. Scooby-Doo Team-Up During a crossover with the cast of Scooby-Doo, Catwoman poses as a ghost in order to con Harley and Ivy out of the Opal of Isis, a rare artifact. After the members of Mystery, Inc. unravel her scam, Catwoman tries to flee with the opal. She is soon found bound and gagged, with Batgirl having managed to defeat her and reclaim the opal off-screen. Injustice: Gods Among Us In the Injustice universe (based on the video game of the same name), Catwoman is a co-founder of the Insurgency resistance with Batman, which was formed after the death of Dick Grayson. Though Selina supports Batman for five years, she eventually joins the Regime after losing hope that the Regime could truly be stopped. After Superman's defeat, she rejoins Batman's side and acts as his mole for Gorilla Grodd's new supervillain team, the Society. Earth 2 In 2011, The New 52 revised and relaunched DC Comics superhero titles, including revisions to the alternate-universe stories and characters of "Earth-Two"—renamed "Earth-2". The Earth 2 version of Catwoman is married to Batman and is the mother of Helena Wayne. Catwoman trained her daughter in crimefighting so that she can one day aid her father, who is busy protecting the world from bigger threats. Batman found out about the outing and got angry, only for Catwoman to calm him down and kiss him. Helena later came to her father's aid and found that soldiers from another world killed Catwoman as Batman mourns her death. Batman '89 In 2021, DC announced that it would be releasing a comic book continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman '89, written by Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The book picks following the events of Batman Returns (1992) and includes the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle / Catwoman. In other media Catwoman made her live-action debut in the 1966 Batman television series, portrayed by Julie Newmar; she was also portrayed by Lee Meriweather in the film adaptation and Eartha Kitt in the third season. The character later appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. A solo Catwoman was released in 2004 in which she was portrayed by Halle Berry. Anne Hathaway portrayed the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz was recently cast in the upcoming The Batman. Catwoman has also appeared in the television series Gotham (2014–2019), in which she was portrayed by Cameron Bicondova and Lili Simmons (adult). Reception Catwoman was ranked 11th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time" list, and 51st on Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" list. Conversely, she was ranked 20th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" list, as well as 23rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. See also List of Batman supporting characters List of Batman family enemies References External links Catwoman at DC Comics' official website Catwoman Through the Years – slideshow by Life magazine – the influence of Catwoman upon female action heroes of the 1990s Animated series villains Batman characters Black characters in films Catgirls Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Bob Kane Comics about women Comics characters introduced in 1940 DC Comics LGBT superheroes DC Comics LGBT supervillains DC Comics adapted into films DC Comics adapted into video games DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics film characters DC Comics martial artists DC Comics orphans DC Comics television characters DC Comics titles Female characters in film Female characters in television Female characters in animation Female film villains Fictional bisexual females Fictional soubenjutsuka Fictional kidnappers Fictional professional thieves Fictional socialites Golden Age supervillains Superheroes with alter egos Supervillains with their own comic book titles Vigilante characters in comics	true	[ "Masked Avengers is a Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh and produced by Mona Fong. It is one of the later Venom Mob films which no longer starred Sun Chien or Lo Mang, who were replaced by new Venom members Wang Li and Chu Ko. It also gave a starring role to younger member Chin Siu-Ho. This, along with House Of Traps and Five Element Ninjas is one of the more violent and darker martial arts films.\n\nPlot\n\nThe insidious Masked Gang of hired killers have been terrorizing the countryside, with their mastery of the trident and an inherent brutality, raping and pillaging. But who are the men behind the mask, and what are the identities of the three chiefs in the gold masks? \n\nChiang Sheng stars as Chi San Yuen, a martial arts expert and leader of a protective escort service of other expert fighters. Chi and his team are hired to find the Masked Gang and end their reign of terror. \n\nAlong the way Chi's team encounter Kao Yao (Philip Kwok) who was a former chief of the Masked Gang until he left the gang. He assists Chi's team in their struggle against the Masked Gang and helps to reveal that his replacement in the gang has already infiltrated Chi's group. The final confrontation between the Masked Gang and Chi's team of fighters lead to an all out battle at the Masked Gang's secret lair.\n\nCast\nPhilip Kwok aka Kuo Chui – Kao Yao\nLu Feng – Lin Yung Chi\nChiang Sheng – Chi San Yuen\nChu Ko – Liang Yung\nChin Siu-Ho – Chang Chung (as Hsiao Hau Chien)\nWang Li – Fong Su Kwong\n\nExternal links\n\nIMDb entry\nHK Cinemagic entry\n\nFilms directed by Chang Cheh\nHong Kong films\nKung fu films\n1981 martial arts films\nShaw Brothers Studio films\n1981 action films\nHong Kong martial arts films\nHong Kong action films\n1981 films\n1980s exploitation films", "Michael Green was an African American man who was lynched by a band of masked men near Upper Marlboro, Maryland on September 1, 1878.\n\nGreen was arrested for assaulting Miss Alice Sweeny on August 26, 1878, and held at the jail in Upper Marlboro. Threats of lynching were openly made and were held off by the vigilance of vigilance of Sheriff James N.W. Wilson. After several days, a band of masked men removed Green from the jail, placed a noose around his neck and hung him 15 feet in the air from a tree outside of town. His body remained dangling from the tree and was observed the next morning.\n\nExternal links\nResources relating to Michael Green at the Maryland State Archives\n\nReferences\n\n1878 deaths\n1878 in Maryland\nAfrican-American history of Prince George's County, Maryland\nLynching deaths in Maryland\nRacially motivated violence against African Americans\nPrince George's County, Maryland\nSeptember 1878 events\n1878 murders in the United States" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform" ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?	1	What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxation of all people by the government, making the tax system more progressive or less progressive, or simplifying the tax system and making the system more understandable or more accountable.\n\nNumerous organizations have been set up to reform tax systems worldwide, often with the intent to reform income taxes or value added taxes into something considered more economically liberal. Other reforms propose tax systems that attempt to deal with externalities. Such reforms are sometimes proposed to be revenue-neutral, for example in revenue neutrality of the FairTax, meaning they ought not result in more tax or less being collected. Georgism claims that various forms of land tax can both deal with externalities and improve productivity.\n\nAustralia\nTax reform is an increasingly significant issue on the Australian political agenda. Combined annual deficits of the Commonwealth and State and territory governments will rise from 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2011–12 to 5.9% of GDP by 2049–50. Widespread, wholesale tax reform in Australia has not occurred since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2000. The Henry Tax Review identified 138 areas for significant reform to Australia's tax system over the next 10 to 20 years.\n\nIn July 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed significant tax reform in the context of an ageing population and slowing of the Australian mining boom. PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed improving the efficiency of the Australian tax system through analysing the competitiveness of the levels of taxation, its effect on production and the importance of broad-based taxes to reduce economic distortion. For example, over 115 other taxes raise less revenue than one tax: the Goods and Services Tax. This report received widespread coverage in the Australian press.\n\nUnited States \n\nThere have been many movements in the United States to reform the collection and management of taxes.\n\nDuring the late 19th century, American economist Henry George started a global movement for tax reform. The aim of the movement was the abolition of all forms of taxation other than the Single Tax on land value. The effects of the movement on taxation policy, although diminished, can be seen in many parts of the world including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Efforts to promote this form of tax reform in the United States continue under the aegis of organizations such as The Henry George Foundation of America.\n\nIn 1986, landmark tax reform was passed in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In the 1990s, reform proposals arose over the double-taxation of corporate income, with a large report in 1992 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).\n\nDuring the Bush administration, the President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform recommended the removal of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Several organizations are working for tax reform in the United States including Americans for Tax Reform, Americans For Fair Taxation and Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax (ASSET). Various proposals have been put forth for tax simplification in the United States, including the FairTax and various flat tax plans and bipartisan tax reform proposals.\n\nIn 2010, Fareed Zakaria proposed what he described as a \"grand bargain\" with tax reform for economic adversaries Paul Krugman and Niall Ferguson; an attempt to bridge their political divide with the creation of a simple and indirect Federal Sales Tax. Representative Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania introduced a bill, H.R. 4646, called the Debt Free America Act that would introduce a 1% financial transaction tax and eliminate federal income tax. He has introduced bills calling for similar tax reform since 2004, but the bills have never made it out of committee.\n\nPresident Obama's tax reform proposals are highlighted in his administration's 2013 United States federal budget proposal and in a framework for corporate and international tax reform presented by the administration. While some of these proposals have become irrelevant due to the “United States fiscal cliff” agreement at the end of calendar year 2012, these policies present a center-left approach to tax reform. In general, the proposals involve some marginal tax rate increases, some marginal tax rate decreases, and base broadening by closing, canceling, or limiting tax loopholes, deductions, credits, or other tax expenditures for top income earners and corporations.\n\nIn December 2017, the Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. On December 22, 2017 President Trump signed into law the tax reform bill passed by the House and Senate.\n\nThe business community avidly lobbied in support of the bill, which included corporate tax cuts among more comprehensive reform. The National Retail Federation was a leading voice in this effort, since previously, retailers paid one of the highest corporate tax rates.\n\nTax choice \n\nTax choice is the theory that taxpayers should have more control with how their individual taxes are allocated. If taxpayers could choose which government organizations received their taxes, opportunity cost decisions would integrate their partial knowledge. For example, a taxpayer who allocated more of his taxes on public education would have less to allocate on public healthcare. Supporters argue that allowing taxpayers to demonstrate their preferences would help ensure that the government succeeds at efficiently producing the public goods that taxpayers truly value.\n\nSee also\nOrganizations\nAmericans For Fair Taxation\nAmericans for Tax Reform\nAmericans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax\nFreedomWorks\nPeterson Institute for International Economics, Tax Reforms in Advanced Economies.\nProposals\nFairTax\nFlat tax\nHall-Rabushka flat tax\nLand value tax\nOneTax\n9–9–9 Plan\nAutomated Payment Transaction tax\nKepner Income Tax\nRelated concepts\nExcess burden of taxation (see deadweight loss)\nOptimal tax\nSingle tax\nTax cut\nTax shift\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n\n Rao, S. (2014). Tax reform: Topic guide. Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham.\n Anderson, J. E. (2005). Fiscal Reform and its Firm-Level Effects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp800, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.\n\nExternal links \n\nThe Tax Gap collected news and commentary at The Guardian\nTax Evasion (international) at The New York Times", "Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is \"a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today.\" According to ATR, \"The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized.\" The organization is known for its \"Taxpayer Protection Pledge\", which asks candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. The founder and president of ATR is Grover Norquist, a conservative tax activist.\n\nStructure\nAmericans for Tax Reform is a 501(c)(4) organization with 14 employees, finances of $3,912,958, and a membership of 60,000 (as of 2004). It was founded by Grover Norquist in 1985.\n\nThe associated educational wing is the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, which is classified as a 501(c)(3) research and educational organization. The purpose of both entities is to educate and/or lobby against all tax increases.\n\nAffiliated organizations\nAmericans for Tax Reform is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a U.S. national network of free-market oriented think tanks. Americans for Tax Reform is a grantee of the Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund.\n\nProjects\n\nTaxpayer Protection Pledge\nSince 1986, ATR has sponsored the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written promise by legislators and candidates for office that commits them to oppose tax increases. All candidates for state and federal office, and all incumbents are offered the Pledge. Nearly 1,400 elected officials, from state representatives, to governors, to US Senators, have signed the Pledge. There are separate versions at the national and state level.\n\nIn the version for the U.S. House of Representatives, the signer pledges to:\n\nIn the version for state legislators, the signer pledges that:\n\nIn the 112th Congress serving in years 2011 and 2012, all but six of the 242 Republican members plus two Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, for a total of 238 – a majority of that body – as well as all but seven of the 47 Republican members plus one Democratic member of the U.S. Senate, for a total of 41, have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. All except 13 sitting Republicans have signed the pledge, while three Democrats have signed it (outgoing-Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) and House members Robert Andrews (NJ) and Ben Chandler (KY)).\n\nATR's president Grover Norquist has written about the importance of the \"Taxpayer Protection Pledge\" for many publications including Human Events in June 2010. In this article, Norquist writes,\n\nRaising taxes is what politicians do when they don't have the strength to actually govern. The taxpayer protection pledge was created in 1986 by Americans for Tax Reform as part of the effort to protect the lower marginal tax rates of Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986. It has grown in importance as one of the few black-and-white, yes or no, answers that politicians are forced to give to voters before they ask for their vote.\n\nThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and individual Democratic candidates began attacking \"The Taxpayer Protection Pledge\" and its signers during the 2010 cycle with charges that the pledge protected tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas. The first appearance of the argument arose in the HI-01 special election. Americans for Tax Reform responded by calling the attack ad \"blatantly false.\" They pointed out that the Pledge does not prohibit any deduction or credit from being eliminated. It only prevents individuals and/or businesses from experiencing an overall increase in income taxes and allows for revenue-neutral tax reform.\n\nThe non-partisan, nonprofit Factcheck.org reviewed the DCCC's ad and agreed with ATR that the ad was \"blatantly false.\" The director of Factcheck.org, Brooks Jackson, wrote\n\nIt was called \"blatantly false\" by Americans for Tax Reform, the Republican-leaning group that got Djou's signature on its anti-tax pledge. We agree. ATR's tax pledge does protect corporations in general – but only from an overall increase in taxes. It says nothing about jobs at all. More important, it does not rule out an overhaul of the tax code. Signers agree to oppose any \"net\" reduction of deductions or credits \"unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.\"\n\nAccording to The Hill, the Democrats' net pickup of eight seats in the House of Representatives in the November 2012 election, combined with several Republicans' disavowal of the pledge, means that the pledge will no longer have the support of a majority of that chamber when the new Congress convenes in January 2013. Norquist claims that 219 Republicans support the pledge; this figure, however, includes several Republicans who have signed the pledge only to disavow it later.\n\nRonald Reagan Legacy Project\nCreated in 1997, ATR's Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, has worked toward seeing each county in the United States commemorate the former president in a \"significant\" and \"public\" way, such as the naming of a public building. The project has also supported efforts to place Reagan on the ten-dollar bill. The project has also encouraged state governors declare February 6 to be \"Ronald Reagan Day\"; as of 2006, 40 governors have done so.\n\nCenter for Fiscal Accountability\nSince 2008, ATR has sought to encourage transparency and accountability in government through the Center for Fiscal Accountability. The organization's mission includes supporting the creation of searchable online databases of government spending, among other initiatives.\n\nCost of Government Day\nATR sponsors the calculation of \"Cost of Government Day\", the day on which, by its calculations, \"Americans stop working to pay the costs of taxation, deficit spending, and regulations by federal and state governments.\" Since 2008 the event has been sponsored by the Center for Fiscal Accountability.\n\nProperty Rights Alliance \nThe Property Rights Alliance is a project of Americans for Tax Reform. It produces the International Property Rights Index annually, ranking individual rights to own private property in countries worldwide. The index focuses on three main factors. These include: Legal and Political environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR), and Intellectual Property rights (IPR). In 2021 it published a Trade Barrier Index.\n\nFailure of IRS to protect confidential tax information\n\nIn October 2014 the ATR said that a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that the IRS has not been safeguarding federal tax information properly. The tax information is gathered by the IRS from the tax returns filed in the United States.\n\nThe IRS provides confidential information to over 280 federal, state and local agencies. According to this TIGTA report the IRS's Internal Revenue Manual does not require on-site validation of an agency's ability to protect federal tax information and does not set any guidelines for an agency's background investigation for accessing this information.\n\nThe TIGTA report surveyed 15 agencies that receive federal tax information and found that none of them conducted sufficient background checks on employees handling the data: one agency conducted national background investigations, four agencies fingerprint employees and only one checks the sex offender registry. Almost half of the agencies hire convicted criminals.\n\nFederal tax information provided to other agencies must remain confidential by federal law.\n\nOther projects\nATR has several special project lines dedicated to specific issues including The American Shareholders Association (ASA), Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and The Media Freedom Project (MFP).\n\nIn October 2010 ATR began mailing fliers to voters in Florida directing them to call Florida governor and Independent candidate for Senate, Charlie Crist. ATR's mailers included pictures of Crist with Obama and quotes from right wing authors.\n\nWednesday meetings\n\nShortly after Bill Clinton's 1992 election, ATR headquarters became the site of a weekly, off-the-record get-together of conservatives to coordinate activities and strategy. The \"Wednesday Meeting\" of the Leave Us Alone Coalition soon became an important hub of conservative political organizing. Participants each week include Republican congressional leaders, right-leaning think tanks, conservative advocacy groups and K Street lobbyists. George W. Bush began sending a representative to the Wednesday Meeting even before he formally announced his candidacy for president in 1999, and continued to send representatives after his election in 2000.\n\nATR has helped to establish regular meetings for conservatives nationwide, modeled after the Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists to help support initiatives such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states and more internationally, with meetings in Canada, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.\n\nThe significance of the Wednesday meeting has influenced liberals and Democrats to organize similar meetings to coordinate activities about their shared agenda. In 2001, USA Today reported that Rep. Rosa DeLauro initiated such a meeting at the urging of then-House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, even holding it on a Wednesday.\n\nPolitical positions\n\nThe primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce the percentage of the GDP consumed by the government. ATR states that it \"opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.\" Americans for Tax Reform seeks to curtail government spending by supporting Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, and opposing cap-and-trade legislation and Democratic efforts to overhaul health care.\n\nATR is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which takes the position in the global warming controversy that \"the science of global warming is uncertain, but the negative impacts of global warming policies on consumers are all too real.\" ATR supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and continues to favor a comprehensive immigration reform bill.\n\nATR has called for cuts in the defense budget in order to reduce deficit spending.\n\nLegislation\nATR supported the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2014 (H.R. 4438; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to modify the calculation method and the rate for the tax credit for qualified research expenses that expired at the end of 2013 and would make that modified credit permanent. ATR argued that the bill would be \"permanent tax relief for American employers\" and pointed to the fact that the credit has been in existence since 1981, but businesses had always faced uncertainty about it due to Congress being forced to renew it 14 times. ATR also argued that businesses already face high corporate income tax rates and that \"investment in new technologies and sources of capital is under pressure from other areas of the tax code.\"\n\nATR supports H.R. 6246, the Retirement Inflation Protection Act of 2016. This act is designed to reduce the capital gains tax by reducing the tax on capital gains by the standardized inflation rate over the time period in which the capital was invested. ATR argues that by taxing the capital gains without taking into account the gains that occurred simply due to inflation, that investors are being punished for investing over a long period of time. The organization published an open letter to congressman urging them to vote in favor of the bill, which focuses on the harm that occurs to seniors due to the lack of protections that this bill would provide. This bill was introduced on September 28, 2016 into the U.S. Congress and as of November 2, 2016 has not been voted upon.\n\nOpposition to free automatic tax return filing and other efforts to make tax filing easier\nTax preparation in the United States is different from that of many other countries in the world, in that the United States does not provide for taxes to be automatically filed by the tax authority. When it comes time to file taxes, the taxpayer must do it themselves personally, or pay to engage the services of a third-party tax preparer such as Intuit, even though in most cases the IRS already possesses all the information necessary to correctly file taxes for the taxpayer.\n\nFor decades, for-profit tax-preparation companies have lobbied Congress to oppose any efforts that make taxes and tax filing simpler or easier for the tax payer. ATR typically joins these efforts to oppose making taxes easier for Americans.\n\nThe average taxpayer of Europe spends 15 minutes and no money to file their annual personal taxes, whereas the average American taxpayer spends 8 hours per year and $115 USD. Tax prepares have a vested financial interest in taxes being difficult, with Intuit even going so far as to say in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that federal and local governments making taxes easier to file was a \"a continued competitive threat to our business.\" ATR's interests align with this in that they desire to keep taxes difficult to stoke anti-tax sentiment. That is to say, if paying taxes is \"too easy\", then people will be less likely to fight taxes in the way ATR wants. \n\nNorquist and the ATR have publicly argued that things that make tax filing easier on taxpayers constitute an automatic income tax audit on every taxpayer, and serves to keep people uninformed about how taxes work, and was an attempt by the IRS to \"socialize all tax preparation in America.\" In a 2005 presentation to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Norquist representing the ATR argued that if taxpayers did not have to prepare their own taxes, it \"would allow the government to raise revenues invisibly.\" While the ATR has argued against efforts that would eliminate reliance on third-party preparers, they have also argued that most Americans should not be required to pay for these third-party services.\n\nCARES Act\nDuring the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the group received assistance between $150,000 and $350,000 in federally backed small business loans from PNC Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The group stated it would allow them to retain 33 jobs. Their loan was seen as notable, since they (and especially Norquist) campaign against excess government spending and are small-government advocates.\n\nHighlighting the loan amount, Roll Call noted that ATR and ATR Foundation pay Norquist a combined $250,000 annual salary. Norquist also previously criticized the unemployment protection of the CARES Act as \"delaying recovery\".\n\nInvolvement with Jack Abramoff\n\nAccording to an investigative report from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on the Jack Abramoff scandal, released in June 2006, ATR served as a \"conduit\" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to finance surreptitiously grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Records show that donations from the Choctaw and Kickapoo tribes to ATR were coordinated in part by Abramoff, and in some cases preceded meetings between the tribes and the White House.\n\nSee also\n Americans for Fair Taxation\n Citizens for Tax Justice\n National Taxpayers Union\n Tax Foundation\n Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Americans for Tax Reform\n Americans for Tax Reform: Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)\n \n \n\n501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations\nPolitical advocacy groups in the United States\nTax reform in the United States\nNew Right organizations (United States)\nTaxpayer groups\nConservative organizations in the United States\n1985 establishments in Washington, D.C." ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?	2	Who came up with the idea for Americans for Tax Reform?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "The dual income tax system levies a proportional tax rate on all net income (capital, wage and pension income minus deductions) combined with progressive tax rates on gross labour and pension income. This implies that labour income is taxed at higher rates than capital income, and that the value of the tax allowances is independent of the income level. The dual income tax system deliberately moves away from the comprehensive income tax (global income tax) system which taxes all or most (cash) income minus deductions (net income) according to the same rate schedule. The dual income tax was first implemented in the four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) through a number of tax reforms from 1987 to 1993. The dual income tax is therefore also known as the Nordic tax system or the Nordic Dual Income Tax.\n\nHistory\nThe dual income tax was first proposed by the Danish economist Niels Christian Nielsen in 1980. He suggested that the comprehensive income tax should be replaced by a system involving a flat rate of tax on capital income - at the level of the corporate income tax rate - combined with progressive taxation of the taxpayer's total income from other sources.\n\nThe proposal was taken up by a committee appointed by the Savings Bank Association (Sparekasseforeningen) that in the early 1980s prepared a discussion paper for a tax reform. Niels Christian Knudsen, now the president of the Savings Banks Association, contacted in June 1984 the Minister of Finance Isi Foighel and made him aware of the committee's proposal. The discussion paper was subsequently to serve as the basis for the tax ministers negotiations with the opposition on a tax reform.\n\nThe Danish minority government did propose a dual income tax in the spring of 1985, but the opposition was reluctant to give up the idea of progressive taxation of capital income. The final tax reform of 1987 included some amount of progressive taxation of capital income, but the top marginal tax rate on capital income (56 percent) was less than the top marginal tax rate of labour income (68 percent). It was thus not a pure dual income tax that was introduced in Denmark in 1987, but the Danish tax system moved considerably away from the comprehensive income tax.\n\nSee also\nTaxation in Denmark\nTaxation in Finland\nTaxation in Norway\nTaxation in Sweden\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nIncome taxes", "Paul J. Weinstein Jr. founded and directs the Graduate Program in Public Management at Johns Hopkins University and has also taught at Columbia University and Georgetown University. From 2001 to 2009 he was Chief Operating Officer and currently serves as a Senior Fellow and Board Member at the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist think tank based in Washington, D.C. that was affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council. Weinstein, who worked for eight years in the Clinton White House, first as Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the Domestic Policy Council, and later as Senior Adviser for Policy Planning to Vice President Al Gore, is the author of the textbook The Art of Policymaking which is in its second publication. He has written extensively on issues such as economic policy, government spending, Social Security and taxes.\n\nIn April 2005, PPI published his proposed policy blueprint Family-Friendly Tax Reform, in which he proposed replacing 68 tax credits and loopholes in the U.S. tax code with the following four tax breaks aimed at low- and middle-income families:\nA $3,000 per year College Tax Credit (CTC), available to any student in college or the first two years of graduate school;\nAn \"above-the-line\" Home Mortgage Deduction (HMD), available to all taxpayers (the current tax deduction for mortgage interest is only available to those who itemize their deductions);\nA Family Tax Credit (FTC), worth $1 for every two $2 earned, up to a predetermined limit, available to all households or individual taxpayers earning less than $120,000 per year\nA Universal Pension (UP), into which a worker can \"roll over\" his or her 401(k) accounts when he or she changes jobs\n\nWeinstein testified on tax reform before President Bush's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform later that year.\nIn May 2010, Weinstein joined President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles) as Senior Advisor.\n\nWeinstein is a proponent of moving to 3 year bachelor's degrees to save students and their families money. The idea has received support from those who want to reduce the cost of college but opposed by those who believe a 3-year degree would diminish the college experience.\n\nWeinstein writes on higher education policy for Forbes.\n\nA number of Weinstein's emails as Special Assistant to the President were released during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.\n\nHe earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University and his Master's from Columbia University. He is the brother-in-law of musician Billy Straus and the cousin of artist Mary Frank.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nCSPAN appearances\n\"Family Friendly Tax Reform\"\nJohns Hopkins University Website\nTestimony before Tax Reform Panel\nFiscal Commission Website\nPPI Website\nHistory of Fiscal Commission at Social Security Administration Website\nCommittee for a Responsible Federal Budget Website\nDaily Beast High Speed Rail Oped\nPolitico Oped with Thurgood Marshall Jr.\nPolitico Oped with James Carter\nNY Daily News Oped on New Yankee Stadium\nCNN Oped with Will Marshall\nUSA Today Oped with Will Marshall\nNY Daily News Oped with Arielle Kane\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nEconomists from New York (state)\nColumbia University alumni\nJohns Hopkins University faculty\nColumbia University faculty\nGeorgetown University faculty\nGeorgetown University alumni\nScientists from New York City\nExecutive Office of the President of the United States" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform" ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	What was it that he did for the tax reform?	3	What did Grover Norquist for for the tax reform?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "The Valabh Committee, named after its Chair Arthur Valabh, was a New Zealand government appointed committee tasked with reviewing various aspects of the income tax system in the late 1980s and early 1990s.\n\nAlthough originally convened to review proposals for a capital gains tax, the Committee ended up making a number of recommendations for fundamental reform of the scheme and structure of the New Zealand tax legislation, most of which were implemented.\n\nThe Committee had a lasting impact on the direction of tax reform, including the style and drafting of the income tax legislation, as well as numerous specific recommendations for the tax treatment of, for example, depreciation and partnerships.\n\nCommittee members\nThe formal name of the Valabh Committee was the “Consultative Committee on the Taxation of Income from Capital”. The Committee comprised:\n\n Arthur Valabh, OBE (Chair)\n Dr Robin Congreve\n Lindsay McKay\n Rob McLeod\n Tim Robinson\n\nIt was supported by a secretary (Greg Cole) as well as by officials from both the Inland Revenue Department and the Treasury.\n\nBackground\nThe 1980s were a period of considerable economic and tax reform in New Zealand. New Zealand had never had a formal capital gains tax system (unlike virtually every other OECD nation. The government was considering implementing a capital gains tax and issued a consultative document as part of the (then) process of tax reform.\n\nThe Committee appointed to review submissions, in response to the Consultative Document, instead reported to government that it did not consider the state of the tax system at that time sufficiently robust enough to support additional reform of this nature. The government accepted this recommendation and re-tasked the Committee to advise it on the structural reforms required.\n\nKey proposals\nThe Committee subsequently published 5 discussion papers:\n\n The Core Provisions of the Income Tax Act 1976 (Core Provisions Paper) \n The Taxation of Distributions from Companies (Company Distribution Paper)\n Tax Accounting Issues\n Key Reforms to the Scheme of Tax Legislation (Key Reforms Paper) \n Operational Aspects of the Accrual Rules\n\nIn addition the Committee separately reported to government on the reform of the tax depreciation rules.\n\nCore provisions and scheme\nThe thrust of the Core Provisions and Key Reforms Papers was to ensure that the income tax legislation was appropriately structured and ordered to facilitate the understanding of the rules as well as to allow for further reform to be implemented effectively.\n\nThis work lead directly to the Working Party on the Reorganisation of the Income Tax Act 1976 and the complete rewrite of the legislation.\n\nCompany taxation and dividends\nThe proposals made in the Company Distribution Paper led to a revised definition of what constituted a dividend under New Zealand tax law as well as the introduction of a small company taxation regime (“qualifying company” regime).\n\nDepreciation\nThe Committee’s recommendations resulted in a new tax depreciation regime introduced in 1993.\n\nInterest deductibility\nThe government accepted the Committee’s recommendation for a significantly more liberal regime for the deduction of interest for tax purposes.\n\nPartnerships\nRecommendations for the reform of the tax treatment of partnerships was finally implemented by government in 2007\n\nReferences\n\nTaxation in New Zealand", "Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxation of all people by the government, making the tax system more progressive or less progressive, or simplifying the tax system and making the system more understandable or more accountable.\n\nNumerous organizations have been set up to reform tax systems worldwide, often with the intent to reform income taxes or value added taxes into something considered more economically liberal. Other reforms propose tax systems that attempt to deal with externalities. Such reforms are sometimes proposed to be revenue-neutral, for example in revenue neutrality of the FairTax, meaning they ought not result in more tax or less being collected. Georgism claims that various forms of land tax can both deal with externalities and improve productivity.\n\nAustralia\nTax reform is an increasingly significant issue on the Australian political agenda. Combined annual deficits of the Commonwealth and State and territory governments will rise from 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2011–12 to 5.9% of GDP by 2049–50. Widespread, wholesale tax reform in Australia has not occurred since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2000. The Henry Tax Review identified 138 areas for significant reform to Australia's tax system over the next 10 to 20 years.\n\nIn July 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed significant tax reform in the context of an ageing population and slowing of the Australian mining boom. PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed improving the efficiency of the Australian tax system through analysing the competitiveness of the levels of taxation, its effect on production and the importance of broad-based taxes to reduce economic distortion. For example, over 115 other taxes raise less revenue than one tax: the Goods and Services Tax. This report received widespread coverage in the Australian press.\n\nUnited States \n\nThere have been many movements in the United States to reform the collection and management of taxes.\n\nDuring the late 19th century, American economist Henry George started a global movement for tax reform. The aim of the movement was the abolition of all forms of taxation other than the Single Tax on land value. The effects of the movement on taxation policy, although diminished, can be seen in many parts of the world including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Efforts to promote this form of tax reform in the United States continue under the aegis of organizations such as The Henry George Foundation of America.\n\nIn 1986, landmark tax reform was passed in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In the 1990s, reform proposals arose over the double-taxation of corporate income, with a large report in 1992 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).\n\nDuring the Bush administration, the President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform recommended the removal of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Several organizations are working for tax reform in the United States including Americans for Tax Reform, Americans For Fair Taxation and Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax (ASSET). Various proposals have been put forth for tax simplification in the United States, including the FairTax and various flat tax plans and bipartisan tax reform proposals.\n\nIn 2010, Fareed Zakaria proposed what he described as a \"grand bargain\" with tax reform for economic adversaries Paul Krugman and Niall Ferguson; an attempt to bridge their political divide with the creation of a simple and indirect Federal Sales Tax. Representative Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania introduced a bill, H.R. 4646, called the Debt Free America Act that would introduce a 1% financial transaction tax and eliminate federal income tax. He has introduced bills calling for similar tax reform since 2004, but the bills have never made it out of committee.\n\nPresident Obama's tax reform proposals are highlighted in his administration's 2013 United States federal budget proposal and in a framework for corporate and international tax reform presented by the administration. While some of these proposals have become irrelevant due to the “United States fiscal cliff” agreement at the end of calendar year 2012, these policies present a center-left approach to tax reform. In general, the proposals involve some marginal tax rate increases, some marginal tax rate decreases, and base broadening by closing, canceling, or limiting tax loopholes, deductions, credits, or other tax expenditures for top income earners and corporations.\n\nIn December 2017, the Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. On December 22, 2017 President Trump signed into law the tax reform bill passed by the House and Senate.\n\nThe business community avidly lobbied in support of the bill, which included corporate tax cuts among more comprehensive reform. The National Retail Federation was a leading voice in this effort, since previously, retailers paid one of the highest corporate tax rates.\n\nTax choice \n\nTax choice is the theory that taxpayers should have more control with how their individual taxes are allocated. If taxpayers could choose which government organizations received their taxes, opportunity cost decisions would integrate their partial knowledge. For example, a taxpayer who allocated more of his taxes on public education would have less to allocate on public healthcare. Supporters argue that allowing taxpayers to demonstrate their preferences would help ensure that the government succeeds at efficiently producing the public goods that taxpayers truly value.\n\nSee also\nOrganizations\nAmericans For Fair Taxation\nAmericans for Tax Reform\nAmericans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax\nFreedomWorks\nPeterson Institute for International Economics, Tax Reforms in Advanced Economies.\nProposals\nFairTax\nFlat tax\nHall-Rabushka flat tax\nLand value tax\nOneTax\n9–9–9 Plan\nAutomated Payment Transaction tax\nKepner Income Tax\nRelated concepts\nExcess burden of taxation (see deadweight loss)\nOptimal tax\nSingle tax\nTax cut\nTax shift\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n\n Rao, S. (2014). Tax reform: Topic guide. Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham.\n Anderson, J. E. (2005). Fiscal Reform and its Firm-Level Effects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp800, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.\n\nExternal links \n\nThe Tax Gap collected news and commentary at The Guardian\nTax Evasion (international) at The New York Times" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?	4	Why was Grover Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	false	[ "Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.\n\nEarly life and education\nNorquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A.\n\nAt college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: \"When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21.\" He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership.\n\nCareer\n\nEarly career\n\nEarly in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984.\n\nNorquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the \"Youth for Freedom Conference\", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, \"What I sold at the revolution.\"\n\nAmericans for Tax Reform\nNorquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that \"Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.\"\n\nThe primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it \"opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.\" Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care.\n\nIn 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called \"a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation\", and \"the Grand Central station of the conservative movement.\" Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in \"establishing relations of ... exchange\" among conservative subgroups and \"sustaining a moral community of conservative activists.\"\n\nAs a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, \"a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests.\"\n\nTaxpayer Protection Pledge\nPrior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's \"Taxpayer Protection Pledge\", in which the pledger promises to \"oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.\"\n\nThe November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to \"fewer than ... 218\" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the \"fiscal cliff\" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist.\n\nIn November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans \"are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader.\" Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as \"[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell.\"\n\nOther political activities\n\nNational politics\n\nNorquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees.\n\nNorquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist \"the Grand Central Station\" of conservatism and told The Nation: \"It's not disputable\" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000.\n\nHe has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition.\n\nHe has also \"announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars.\"\n\nNorquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said \"tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans\" from pressures to increase government spending.\n\nComprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have \"dramatically higher levels of immigration\" than it currently does.\n\nInvolvement with Jack Abramoff\nAccording to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a \"conduit\" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime.\n\nState and local politics\n\nNorquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states.\n\nIn 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes.\n\nBoards and other activities\nNorquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a \"criminal project\" that are \"under the umbrella of the Cuban regime\".\n\nViews on government\nNorquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition:\n\nJournalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was \"up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that.\" When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government \"in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century\" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, \"We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well.\"\n\nSome smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's \"obsession with tax revenue\" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is \"The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized\", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that \"holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes.\"\n\nNorquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly \"Politics\" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator.\n\nNorquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government.\n\nNorquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget.\n\nPersonal life\nNorquist has described himself as a \"boring white bread Methodist.\" In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem.\n\nAccording to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is \"monk-like\" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader.\n\nNorquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser \"Washington's Funniest Celebrity\" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as \"Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge\".\n\nNorquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, \"There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature.\"\n\nWritings\n Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. \n Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. \n \"America is freedom\" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. \n Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. \n Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. \n\nSee also\n Democratic International\n K Street Project\n Starve the beast\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform\n Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian \n \n \n \n \n Transcript: \"Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist\", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003\n Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?)\n \"The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP\", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports\n A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012\n\n1956 births\n20th-century American male writers\n20th-century American non-fiction writers\n20th-century Methodists\n21st-century American male writers\n21st-century American non-fiction writers\n21st-century Methodists\nActivists from Massachusetts\nAmerican columnists\nAmerican libertarians\nAmerican lobbyists\nAmerican male non-fiction writers\nAmerican Methodists\nAmerican people of Swedish descent\nAmerican political writers\nThe American Spectator people\nChristian libertarians\nCollege Republicans\nHarvard Business School alumni\nHarvard Advocate alumni\nHarvard College alumni\nThe Harvard Crimson people\nHasty Pudding alumni\nLiving people\nMassachusetts Republicans\nMembers of the Council on Foreign Relations \nNon-interventionism\nPennsylvania Republicans\nPeople from Washington, D.C.\nPeople from Weston, Massachusetts\nSigners of the Madrid Charter\nTea Party movement activists\nWashington, D.C. Republicans\nWriters from Massachusetts\nWriters from Washington, D.C.\nWeston High School (Massachusetts) alumni", "William McInturff is a Republican pollster, the co-founder (and partner) of Public Opinion Strategies, and, along with Peter D. Hart, the lead pollster for the NBC News/Wall Street Journal polling series for the past decade. He was the lead pollster for John McCain in his 2008 bid for the office of United States President. He has built Public Opinion Strategies into the largest Republican polling operation, representing 19 American Senators and over 50 Congressmen. His work includes testing the Harry and Louise commercials that were run against the Clinton health care plan of 1993.\n\nDuring a Q&A session on 18 October 2013 on CSPAN Mr. McInturff explained why negative campaigning works against the healthcare law:\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nPollsters\nWashington, D.C. Republicans" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.", "Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?", "I don't know." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?	5	Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	false	[ "The Buffett indicator (or the Buffett metric, or the Market capitalization-to-GDP ratio) is a valuation multiple used to assess how expensive or cheap the aggregate stock market is at a given point in time. It was proposed as a metric by investor Warren Buffett in 2001, who called it \"probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment\", and its modern form compares the capitalization of the US Wilshire 5000 index to US GDP. It is widely followed by the financial media as a valuation measure for the US market in both its absolute, and de-trended forms.\n\nThe indicator set an all-time high during the everything bubble, crossing the 200% level in February 2021; a level that Buffett warned if crossed, was \"playing with fire\".\n\nHistory\n\nOn 10 December 2001, Buffett proposed the metric in a co-authored essay in Fortune with journalist Carol Loomis. In the essay, Buffett presented a chart going back 80 years that showed the value of all \"publicly traded securities\" in the US as a percentage of \"US GNP\". Buffett said of the metric: \"Still, it is probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment. And as you can see, nearly two years ago the ratio rose to an unprecedented level. That should have been a very strong warning signal\".\n\nBuffett explained that for the annual return of US securities to materially exceed the annual growth of US GNP for a protracted period of time: \"you need to have the line go straight off the top of the chart. That won't happen\". Buffett finished the essay by outlining the levels he believed the metric showed favorable or poor times to invest: \"For me, the message of that chart is this: If the percentage relationship falls to the 70% or 80% area, buying stocks is likely to work very well for you. If the ratio approaches 200%–as it did in 1999 and a part of 2000–you are playing with fire\".\n\nBuffett's metric became known as the \"Buffett Indicator\", and has continued to receive widespread attention in the financial media, and in modern finance textbooks.\n\nIn 2018, finance author Mark Hulbert writing in the Wall Street Journal, listed the Buffett indicator as one of his \"Eight Best Predictors of the Long-Term Market\".\n\nTheory\nBuffett acknowledged that his metric was a simple one and thus had \"limitations\", however the underlying theoretical basis for the indicator, particularly in the US, is considered reasonable.\n\nFor example, studies have shown a consistent and strong annual correlation between US GDP growth, and US corporate profit growth, and which has increased materially post the Great Recession of 2007–2009. GDP captures effects where a given industry's margins increase materially for a period, but the effect of reduced wages and costs, dampening margins in other industries.\n\nThe same studies show a poor annual correlation between US GDP growth and US equity returns, underlining Buffett's belief that when equity prices get ahead of corporate profits (via the GNP/GDP proxy), poor returns will follow. The indicator has also been advocated for its ability to reduce the effects of \"aggressive accounting\" or \"adjusted profits\", that distort the value of corporate profits in the price-earnings ratio or EV/EBITDA ratio metrics; and that it is not affected by share buybacks (which don't affect aggregate corporate profits).\n\nThe Buffett indicator has been calculated for most international stock markets, however, caveats apply as other markets can have less stable compositions of listed corporations (e.g. the Saudi Arabia metric was materially impacted by the 2018 listing of Aramco), or a significantly higher/lower composition of private vs public firms (e.g. Germany vs. Switzerland), and therefore comparisons across international markets using the indicator as a comparative measure of valuation are not appropriate.\n\nThe Buffett indicator has also been calculated for industries (but also noting that it is not relevant for cross industry valuation comparison).\n\nTrending\n\nThere is evidence that the Buffett indicator has trended upwards over time, particularly post 1995, and the lows registered in 2009 would have registered as average readings from the 1950–1995 era. Reasons proposed include that GDP might not capture all the overseas profits of US multinationals (e.g. use of tax havens or tax structures by large US technology and life sciences multinationals), or that the profitability of US companies has structurally increased (e.g. due to increased concentration of technology companies), thus justifying a higher ratio; although that may also revert over time. Other commentators have highlighted that the omission by metric of corporate debt, could also be having an effect.\n\nFormula\n\nBuffett's original chart used US GNP as the divisor, which captures the domestic and international activity of all US resident entities even if based abroad, however, many modern Buffett metrics use US GDP as the metric. US GDP has historically been within 1 percent of US GNP, and is more readily available (other international markets have greater variation between GNP and GDP).\n\nBuffett's original chart used the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for \"corporate equities\", as it went back for over 80 years; however, many modern Buffett metrics simply use the main S&P 500 index, or the broader Wilshire 5000 index instead.\n\nA common modern formula for the US market, which is expressed as a percentage, is:\n\n \n\n(E.g. if US GDP is USD 20 trillion and the market capitalization of the Wilshire 5000 is USD 40 trillion, then the Buffett indicator for the US is 200%; i.e. the US stock market is twice as big as the US economy)\n\nThe choice of how GDP is calculated (e.g. deflator), can materially affect the absolute value of the ratio; for example, the Buffett indicator calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis peaks at 118% in Q1 2000, while the version calculated by Wilshire Associates peaks at 137% in Q1 2000, while the versions following Buffett's original technique, peak at very close to 160% in Q1 2000.\n\nRecords\n\nUsing Buffett's original calculation basis in his 2001 article, but with GDP, the metric has had the following lows and highs from 1950 to February 2021:\n A low of 33.0% in 1953, a low of 32.2% in 1982, and a low of c. 79% in 2002, and a low of 66.7% in 2009\n A high of 87.1% in 1968, a high of 159.2% in 2000, a high of c. 118% in 2007, and a high of 189.6% in (Feb) 2021.\n\nUsing the more common modern Buffett indicator with the Wilshire 5000 and US GDP, the metric has had the following lows and highs from 1970 to February 2021:\n A low of 34.6% in 1982, a low of 72.9% in 2002, and a low of 56.8% in 2009\n A high of 81.1% in 1972, a high of 136.9% in 2000, a high of 105.2% in 2007, and a high of 172.1% in (Feb) 2021.\n\nDe-trended data of Buffett's original calculation basis (see above) has had the following lows and highs from 1950 to February 2021 (expressed a % deviation from mean):\n A low of -28% in 1953, a low of -51% in 1982, and a low of -5% in 2002, and a low of -27% in 2009\n A high of +58% in 1968, a high of +96% in 2000, a high of c. +30% in 2007, and a high of +80% in (Feb) 2021.\n\nSee also\n Economy monetization\n EV/EBITDA\n Everything bubble\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \nMarket Cap to GDP: An Updated Look at the Buffett Valuation Indicator (AdvisorPerspectives, February 2021)\nThe Buffett Indicator (CurrentMarketValuation, February 2021)\n\nExternal links\nStock Market Capitalization-to-GDP Ratio (Investopedia, January 2021)\nMarket Cap to GDP Ratio (the Buffett Indicator) (Corporate Finance Institute, 2021)\nBuffett Indicator: Where Are We with Market Valuations? (GuruFocus, 2021)\nMarket Cap to GDP: The Buffett Indicator (LongTermTrends, 2021)\n\nFinancial ratios\nValuation (finance)\n2000 neologisms\n2000s economic history\nEconomic indicators", "Beijing's economy ranks among the most developed and prosperous cities in China. In 2013, the municipality's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) was CN￥1.95 trillion (US$314 billion). It was about 3.43% of the country's total output, and ranked 13th among province-level administrative units. Per capita GDP, at CN￥93,213 (US$15,051) in nominal terms and Int $21,948 at purchasing power parity, was 2.2 times the national average and ranked second among province-level administrative units. \n\nAs of 2021, Beijing's gross regional products was CN￥4 trillion ($ 965 billions in GDP PPP), ranking among the 10th largest metropolitan economies in the world. Beijing's nominal GDP is projected to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2035, ranking among the top 10 largest cities in the world (together with Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in China) according to a study by Oxford Economics, and its nominal GDP per capita is estimated to reach US$ 45,000 in 2030.\n\nNature of Economy in Beijing \nThe city has a post-industrial economy that is dominated by the tertiary sector (services), which generated 76.9% of output, followed by the secondary sector (manufacturing, construction) at 22.2% and the primary sector (agriculture, mining) at 0.8%. The economy, which tripled in size from 2004 to 2012, grew at an annual rate of 7.7% in 2013. Owing to the concentration of state owned enterprises in the national capital, Beijing in 2013 had more Fortune Global 500 Company headquarters than any other city in the world. Beijing has been described as the \"billionaire capital of the world\" since overtaking New York in 2016. In 2012, PricewaterhouseCoopers rated Beijing's overall economic influence as No. 1 in China.\n\nBeijing is home to 54 Fortune Global 500 companies, the most in the world, and over 100 of the largest companies in China.\n\nFinance is one of the most important industries. By the end of 2007, there were 751 financial organizations in Beijing generating revenue of 128.6 billion RMB, 11.6% of the total financial industry revenue of the entire country. That also accounts for 13.8% of Beijing's GDP, the highest percentage of any Chinese city. In the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index, Beijing was ranked as having the 7th most competitive financial center in the world and fifth most competitive in Asia (after Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore).\n\nGDP of Beijing \nIn 2010, Beijing's nominal GDP reached 1.37 trillion RMB. Its per capita GDP was 78,194 RMB. In 2009, Beijing's nominal GDP was 1.19 trillion RMB (US$174 billion), a growth of 10.1% over the previous year. Its GDP per capita was 68,788 RMB (US$10,070), an increase of 6.2% over 2008. In 2009, Beijing's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 11.83 billion RMB, 274.31 billion RMB, and 900.45 billion RMB respectively. Urban disposable income per capita was 26,738 yuan, a real increase of 8.1% from the previous year. Per capita pure income of rural residents was 11,986 RMB, a real increase of 11.5%. The Engel's coefficient of Beijing's urban residents reached 31.8% in 2005, while that of the rural residents was 32.8%, declining 4.5 and 3.9 percentage points respectively compared to 2000. , Beijing' Nominal GDP was US$458 billion (CN￥3.0 trillion), about 3.45% of the country's GDP and ranked 12th among province-level administrative units; its Nominal GDP per capita was US$21,261 (CN￥140,748) and ranked the 1st in the country.\n\nBeijing's real estate and automobile sectors have continued to boom in recent years. In 2005, a total of of housing real estate was sold, for a total of 175.88 billion RMB. The total number of cars registered in Beijing in 2004 was 2,146,000, of which 1,540,000 were privately owned (a yearly increase of 18.7%).\n\nThe Beijing central business district (CBD), centered on the Guomao area, has been identified as the city's new central business district, and is home to a variety of corporate regional headquarters, shopping precincts, and high-end housing. Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial center. The Wangfujing and Xidan areas are major shopping districts. Zhongguancun, dubbed \"China's Silicon Valley\", continues to be a major center in electronics and computer-related industries, as well as pharmaceuticals-related research. Meanwhile, Yizhuang, located to the southeast of the urban area, is becoming a new center in pharmaceuticals, information technology, and materials engineering. Shijingshan, on the western outskirts of the city, is among the major industrial areas. Specially designated industrial parks include Zhongguancun Science Park, Yongle Economic Development Zone, Beijing Economic-technological Development Area, and Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone.\n\nAgriculture is carried on outside the urban area, with wheat and maize (corn) being the main crops. Vegetables are also grown closer to the urban area in order to supply the city.\n\nWage and Labor in Beijing \nLike the country as a whole, Beijing also falls under the jurisdiction of minimum wage which stands at RMB 2,200. Due to the Covid Pandemic Situation the minimum wage was not adjusted in the year 2020.\n\nCounterfeit Markets \nLess legitimate enterprises also exist. Urban Beijing is known for being a center of infringed goods; anything from the latest designer clothing to DVDs can be found in markets all over the city, often marketed to expatriates and international visitors.\n\nEnvironmental Aspect \nThe development of Beijing continues at a rapid pace, and the vast expansion has created a multitude of problems for the city. Beijing is known for its smog as well as the frequent \"power-saving\" programmes instituted by the government. To reduce air pollution, a number of major industries have been ordered to reduce emissions or leave the city. Beijing Capital Steel, once one of the city's largest employers and its single biggest polluter, has been relocating most of its operations to Tangshan, in nearby Hebei Province.\n\nBeijing is increasingly becoming known for its innovative entrepreneurs and high-growth startup companies. This culture is backed by a large community of both Chinese and foreign venture capital firms, such as Sequoia Capital, whose head office in China is in Chaoyang, Beijing. Though Shanghai is seen as the economic center of China, this is typically based on the numerous large corporations based there, rather than for being a center for entrepreneurship.\n\nSee also\n List of economic and technological development zones in Beijing\n\nReferences" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.", "Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?", "I don't know.", "Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?", "I don't know." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	Were the americans successful in requesting their tax reform?	6	Were Americans successful in tax reform?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party."	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxation of all people by the government, making the tax system more progressive or less progressive, or simplifying the tax system and making the system more understandable or more accountable.\n\nNumerous organizations have been set up to reform tax systems worldwide, often with the intent to reform income taxes or value added taxes into something considered more economically liberal. Other reforms propose tax systems that attempt to deal with externalities. Such reforms are sometimes proposed to be revenue-neutral, for example in revenue neutrality of the FairTax, meaning they ought not result in more tax or less being collected. Georgism claims that various forms of land tax can both deal with externalities and improve productivity.\n\nAustralia\nTax reform is an increasingly significant issue on the Australian political agenda. Combined annual deficits of the Commonwealth and State and territory governments will rise from 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2011–12 to 5.9% of GDP by 2049–50. Widespread, wholesale tax reform in Australia has not occurred since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 2000. The Henry Tax Review identified 138 areas for significant reform to Australia's tax system over the next 10 to 20 years.\n\nIn July 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed significant tax reform in the context of an ageing population and slowing of the Australian mining boom. PricewaterhouseCoopers proposed improving the efficiency of the Australian tax system through analysing the competitiveness of the levels of taxation, its effect on production and the importance of broad-based taxes to reduce economic distortion. For example, over 115 other taxes raise less revenue than one tax: the Goods and Services Tax. This report received widespread coverage in the Australian press.\n\nUnited States \n\nThere have been many movements in the United States to reform the collection and management of taxes.\n\nDuring the late 19th century, American economist Henry George started a global movement for tax reform. The aim of the movement was the abolition of all forms of taxation other than the Single Tax on land value. The effects of the movement on taxation policy, although diminished, can be seen in many parts of the world including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Efforts to promote this form of tax reform in the United States continue under the aegis of organizations such as The Henry George Foundation of America.\n\nIn 1986, landmark tax reform was passed in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In the 1990s, reform proposals arose over the double-taxation of corporate income, with a large report in 1992 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).\n\nDuring the Bush administration, the President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform recommended the removal of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Several organizations are working for tax reform in the United States including Americans for Tax Reform, Americans For Fair Taxation and Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax (ASSET). Various proposals have been put forth for tax simplification in the United States, including the FairTax and various flat tax plans and bipartisan tax reform proposals.\n\nIn 2010, Fareed Zakaria proposed what he described as a \"grand bargain\" with tax reform for economic adversaries Paul Krugman and Niall Ferguson; an attempt to bridge their political divide with the creation of a simple and indirect Federal Sales Tax. Representative Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania introduced a bill, H.R. 4646, called the Debt Free America Act that would introduce a 1% financial transaction tax and eliminate federal income tax. He has introduced bills calling for similar tax reform since 2004, but the bills have never made it out of committee.\n\nPresident Obama's tax reform proposals are highlighted in his administration's 2013 United States federal budget proposal and in a framework for corporate and international tax reform presented by the administration. While some of these proposals have become irrelevant due to the “United States fiscal cliff” agreement at the end of calendar year 2012, these policies present a center-left approach to tax reform. In general, the proposals involve some marginal tax rate increases, some marginal tax rate decreases, and base broadening by closing, canceling, or limiting tax loopholes, deductions, credits, or other tax expenditures for top income earners and corporations.\n\nIn December 2017, the Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. On December 22, 2017 President Trump signed into law the tax reform bill passed by the House and Senate.\n\nThe business community avidly lobbied in support of the bill, which included corporate tax cuts among more comprehensive reform. The National Retail Federation was a leading voice in this effort, since previously, retailers paid one of the highest corporate tax rates.\n\nTax choice \n\nTax choice is the theory that taxpayers should have more control with how their individual taxes are allocated. If taxpayers could choose which government organizations received their taxes, opportunity cost decisions would integrate their partial knowledge. For example, a taxpayer who allocated more of his taxes on public education would have less to allocate on public healthcare. Supporters argue that allowing taxpayers to demonstrate their preferences would help ensure that the government succeeds at efficiently producing the public goods that taxpayers truly value.\n\nSee also\nOrganizations\nAmericans For Fair Taxation\nAmericans for Tax Reform\nAmericans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax\nFreedomWorks\nPeterson Institute for International Economics, Tax Reforms in Advanced Economies.\nProposals\nFairTax\nFlat tax\nHall-Rabushka flat tax\nLand value tax\nOneTax\n9–9–9 Plan\nAutomated Payment Transaction tax\nKepner Income Tax\nRelated concepts\nExcess burden of taxation (see deadweight loss)\nOptimal tax\nSingle tax\nTax cut\nTax shift\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n\n Rao, S. (2014). Tax reform: Topic guide. Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham.\n Anderson, J. E. (2005). Fiscal Reform and its Firm-Level Effects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp800, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.\n\nExternal links \n\nThe Tax Gap collected news and commentary at The Guardian\nTax Evasion (international) at The New York Times", "Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is \"a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today.\" According to ATR, \"The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized.\" The organization is known for its \"Taxpayer Protection Pledge\", which asks candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. The founder and president of ATR is Grover Norquist, a conservative tax activist.\n\nStructure\nAmericans for Tax Reform is a 501(c)(4) organization with 14 employees, finances of $3,912,958, and a membership of 60,000 (as of 2004). It was founded by Grover Norquist in 1985.\n\nThe associated educational wing is the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, which is classified as a 501(c)(3) research and educational organization. The purpose of both entities is to educate and/or lobby against all tax increases.\n\nAffiliated organizations\nAmericans for Tax Reform is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a U.S. national network of free-market oriented think tanks. Americans for Tax Reform is a grantee of the Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund.\n\nProjects\n\nTaxpayer Protection Pledge\nSince 1986, ATR has sponsored the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written promise by legislators and candidates for office that commits them to oppose tax increases. All candidates for state and federal office, and all incumbents are offered the Pledge. Nearly 1,400 elected officials, from state representatives, to governors, to US Senators, have signed the Pledge. There are separate versions at the national and state level.\n\nIn the version for the U.S. House of Representatives, the signer pledges to:\n\nIn the version for state legislators, the signer pledges that:\n\nIn the 112th Congress serving in years 2011 and 2012, all but six of the 242 Republican members plus two Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, for a total of 238 – a majority of that body – as well as all but seven of the 47 Republican members plus one Democratic member of the U.S. Senate, for a total of 41, have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. All except 13 sitting Republicans have signed the pledge, while three Democrats have signed it (outgoing-Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) and House members Robert Andrews (NJ) and Ben Chandler (KY)).\n\nATR's president Grover Norquist has written about the importance of the \"Taxpayer Protection Pledge\" for many publications including Human Events in June 2010. In this article, Norquist writes,\n\nRaising taxes is what politicians do when they don't have the strength to actually govern. The taxpayer protection pledge was created in 1986 by Americans for Tax Reform as part of the effort to protect the lower marginal tax rates of Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986. It has grown in importance as one of the few black-and-white, yes or no, answers that politicians are forced to give to voters before they ask for their vote.\n\nThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and individual Democratic candidates began attacking \"The Taxpayer Protection Pledge\" and its signers during the 2010 cycle with charges that the pledge protected tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas. The first appearance of the argument arose in the HI-01 special election. Americans for Tax Reform responded by calling the attack ad \"blatantly false.\" They pointed out that the Pledge does not prohibit any deduction or credit from being eliminated. It only prevents individuals and/or businesses from experiencing an overall increase in income taxes and allows for revenue-neutral tax reform.\n\nThe non-partisan, nonprofit Factcheck.org reviewed the DCCC's ad and agreed with ATR that the ad was \"blatantly false.\" The director of Factcheck.org, Brooks Jackson, wrote\n\nIt was called \"blatantly false\" by Americans for Tax Reform, the Republican-leaning group that got Djou's signature on its anti-tax pledge. We agree. ATR's tax pledge does protect corporations in general – but only from an overall increase in taxes. It says nothing about jobs at all. More important, it does not rule out an overhaul of the tax code. Signers agree to oppose any \"net\" reduction of deductions or credits \"unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.\"\n\nAccording to The Hill, the Democrats' net pickup of eight seats in the House of Representatives in the November 2012 election, combined with several Republicans' disavowal of the pledge, means that the pledge will no longer have the support of a majority of that chamber when the new Congress convenes in January 2013. Norquist claims that 219 Republicans support the pledge; this figure, however, includes several Republicans who have signed the pledge only to disavow it later.\n\nRonald Reagan Legacy Project\nCreated in 1997, ATR's Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, has worked toward seeing each county in the United States commemorate the former president in a \"significant\" and \"public\" way, such as the naming of a public building. The project has also supported efforts to place Reagan on the ten-dollar bill. The project has also encouraged state governors declare February 6 to be \"Ronald Reagan Day\"; as of 2006, 40 governors have done so.\n\nCenter for Fiscal Accountability\nSince 2008, ATR has sought to encourage transparency and accountability in government through the Center for Fiscal Accountability. The organization's mission includes supporting the creation of searchable online databases of government spending, among other initiatives.\n\nCost of Government Day\nATR sponsors the calculation of \"Cost of Government Day\", the day on which, by its calculations, \"Americans stop working to pay the costs of taxation, deficit spending, and regulations by federal and state governments.\" Since 2008 the event has been sponsored by the Center for Fiscal Accountability.\n\nProperty Rights Alliance \nThe Property Rights Alliance is a project of Americans for Tax Reform. It produces the International Property Rights Index annually, ranking individual rights to own private property in countries worldwide. The index focuses on three main factors. These include: Legal and Political environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR), and Intellectual Property rights (IPR). In 2021 it published a Trade Barrier Index.\n\nFailure of IRS to protect confidential tax information\n\nIn October 2014 the ATR said that a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that the IRS has not been safeguarding federal tax information properly. The tax information is gathered by the IRS from the tax returns filed in the United States.\n\nThe IRS provides confidential information to over 280 federal, state and local agencies. According to this TIGTA report the IRS's Internal Revenue Manual does not require on-site validation of an agency's ability to protect federal tax information and does not set any guidelines for an agency's background investigation for accessing this information.\n\nThe TIGTA report surveyed 15 agencies that receive federal tax information and found that none of them conducted sufficient background checks on employees handling the data: one agency conducted national background investigations, four agencies fingerprint employees and only one checks the sex offender registry. Almost half of the agencies hire convicted criminals.\n\nFederal tax information provided to other agencies must remain confidential by federal law.\n\nOther projects\nATR has several special project lines dedicated to specific issues including The American Shareholders Association (ASA), Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and The Media Freedom Project (MFP).\n\nIn October 2010 ATR began mailing fliers to voters in Florida directing them to call Florida governor and Independent candidate for Senate, Charlie Crist. ATR's mailers included pictures of Crist with Obama and quotes from right wing authors.\n\nWednesday meetings\n\nShortly after Bill Clinton's 1992 election, ATR headquarters became the site of a weekly, off-the-record get-together of conservatives to coordinate activities and strategy. The \"Wednesday Meeting\" of the Leave Us Alone Coalition soon became an important hub of conservative political organizing. Participants each week include Republican congressional leaders, right-leaning think tanks, conservative advocacy groups and K Street lobbyists. George W. Bush began sending a representative to the Wednesday Meeting even before he formally announced his candidacy for president in 1999, and continued to send representatives after his election in 2000.\n\nATR has helped to establish regular meetings for conservatives nationwide, modeled after the Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists to help support initiatives such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states and more internationally, with meetings in Canada, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.\n\nThe significance of the Wednesday meeting has influenced liberals and Democrats to organize similar meetings to coordinate activities about their shared agenda. In 2001, USA Today reported that Rep. Rosa DeLauro initiated such a meeting at the urging of then-House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, even holding it on a Wednesday.\n\nPolitical positions\n\nThe primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce the percentage of the GDP consumed by the government. ATR states that it \"opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.\" Americans for Tax Reform seeks to curtail government spending by supporting Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, and opposing cap-and-trade legislation and Democratic efforts to overhaul health care.\n\nATR is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which takes the position in the global warming controversy that \"the science of global warming is uncertain, but the negative impacts of global warming policies on consumers are all too real.\" ATR supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and continues to favor a comprehensive immigration reform bill.\n\nATR has called for cuts in the defense budget in order to reduce deficit spending.\n\nLegislation\nATR supported the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2014 (H.R. 4438; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to modify the calculation method and the rate for the tax credit for qualified research expenses that expired at the end of 2013 and would make that modified credit permanent. ATR argued that the bill would be \"permanent tax relief for American employers\" and pointed to the fact that the credit has been in existence since 1981, but businesses had always faced uncertainty about it due to Congress being forced to renew it 14 times. ATR also argued that businesses already face high corporate income tax rates and that \"investment in new technologies and sources of capital is under pressure from other areas of the tax code.\"\n\nATR supports H.R. 6246, the Retirement Inflation Protection Act of 2016. This act is designed to reduce the capital gains tax by reducing the tax on capital gains by the standardized inflation rate over the time period in which the capital was invested. ATR argues that by taxing the capital gains without taking into account the gains that occurred simply due to inflation, that investors are being punished for investing over a long period of time. The organization published an open letter to congressman urging them to vote in favor of the bill, which focuses on the harm that occurs to seniors due to the lack of protections that this bill would provide. This bill was introduced on September 28, 2016 into the U.S. Congress and as of November 2, 2016 has not been voted upon.\n\nOpposition to free automatic tax return filing and other efforts to make tax filing easier\nTax preparation in the United States is different from that of many other countries in the world, in that the United States does not provide for taxes to be automatically filed by the tax authority. When it comes time to file taxes, the taxpayer must do it themselves personally, or pay to engage the services of a third-party tax preparer such as Intuit, even though in most cases the IRS already possesses all the information necessary to correctly file taxes for the taxpayer.\n\nFor decades, for-profit tax-preparation companies have lobbied Congress to oppose any efforts that make taxes and tax filing simpler or easier for the tax payer. ATR typically joins these efforts to oppose making taxes easier for Americans.\n\nThe average taxpayer of Europe spends 15 minutes and no money to file their annual personal taxes, whereas the average American taxpayer spends 8 hours per year and $115 USD. Tax prepares have a vested financial interest in taxes being difficult, with Intuit even going so far as to say in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that federal and local governments making taxes easier to file was a \"a continued competitive threat to our business.\" ATR's interests align with this in that they desire to keep taxes difficult to stoke anti-tax sentiment. That is to say, if paying taxes is \"too easy\", then people will be less likely to fight taxes in the way ATR wants. \n\nNorquist and the ATR have publicly argued that things that make tax filing easier on taxpayers constitute an automatic income tax audit on every taxpayer, and serves to keep people uninformed about how taxes work, and was an attempt by the IRS to \"socialize all tax preparation in America.\" In a 2005 presentation to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Norquist representing the ATR argued that if taxpayers did not have to prepare their own taxes, it \"would allow the government to raise revenues invisibly.\" While the ATR has argued against efforts that would eliminate reliance on third-party preparers, they have also argued that most Americans should not be required to pay for these third-party services.\n\nCARES Act\nDuring the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the group received assistance between $150,000 and $350,000 in federally backed small business loans from PNC Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The group stated it would allow them to retain 33 jobs. Their loan was seen as notable, since they (and especially Norquist) campaign against excess government spending and are small-government advocates.\n\nHighlighting the loan amount, Roll Call noted that ATR and ATR Foundation pay Norquist a combined $250,000 annual salary. Norquist also previously criticized the unemployment protection of the CARES Act as \"delaying recovery\".\n\nInvolvement with Jack Abramoff\n\nAccording to an investigative report from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on the Jack Abramoff scandal, released in June 2006, ATR served as a \"conduit\" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to finance surreptitiously grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Records show that donations from the Choctaw and Kickapoo tribes to ATR were coordinated in part by Abramoff, and in some cases preceded meetings between the tribes and the White House.\n\nSee also\n Americans for Fair Taxation\n Citizens for Tax Justice\n National Taxpayers Union\n Tax Foundation\n Americans Standing for the Simplification of the Estate Tax\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Americans for Tax Reform\n Americans for Tax Reform: Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)\n \n \n\n501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations\nPolitical advocacy groups in the United States\nTax reform in the United States\nNew Right organizations (United States)\nTaxpayer groups\nConservative organizations in the United States\n1985 establishments in Washington, D.C." ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.", "Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?", "I don't know.", "Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?", "I don't know.", "Were the americans successful in requesting their tax reform?", "in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that \"Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.\"" ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	Why was the tax reform started?	7	Why was the tax reform started?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan.	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "The Single Tax Party started as the Land Value Tax Party in 1910 and was renamed the Commonwealth Land Party for the presidential campaign of 1924. Its single-issue platform was based on the free-market tax reform principles defined and popularized by American political economist and public intellectual Henry George, the ideology now called Georgism, which proposed a single tax based on the value of land.\n\nPresidential tickets\n 1920\nPresident - Robert C. MacCauley\nVice-president - Carrie Chapman Catt\n 1924\nPresident - William J. Wallace\nVice-president - John C. Lincoln\n\nSee also\n Geolibertarianism\n Georgism\n Land value tax (in the 1920s better known as the \"single tax\")\n Tax reform\n Tax shift\n Third party (United States)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n1924 Commonwealth Land Party platform\n\n1924 establishments in the United States\nGeorgist parties\nPolitical parties established in 1924\nPolitical parties in the United States\nProgressive Era in the United States\nTax reform in the United States", "China's Tax-Sharing Reform in 1994 was a fiscal and taxation system reform initiated by the Chinese government in 1992, prepared and promulgated in 1993, and finally implemented in 1994. The reform was a large-scale adjustment of the tax distribution system and tax structure between the central and local governments, which was regarded as a milestone in the transition of China's fiscal system from planned economy to market economy. The main purpose of the tax-sharing reform is to alleviate the budget deficit since the end of the 1980s. As the reform achieved indeed remarkable results, it yet evoked problems like heavier financial burden of local governments. In order to make ends meet, governments started to let lands (also known as land finance) which eventually pushed up the land and housing price. Therefore, the tax-sharing reform is considered to be the reason of China's severe land finance.\n\nHistory \nIn 1978, since China implemented the reform and opening up policy, China gradually got rid of the planned economic system and experienced a clear process of decentralization in the social and economic fields, including the decentralization of powers over financial administration. Compared with the fiscal system that was previously unified, the local government acquired independent budgeting rights and certain financial autonomy. For instance, local governments could determine their budget expenditures without interference from the central government. Prior to the fiscal reform in 1994, everything was pre-determined and the government revenues was divided into three categories: central income, local income, and shared income, and every year local governments only paid a fixed amount of fiscal tax to the central government. In some places, local governments reduced or exempted corporate taxation in order to keep the money to their own. Some economists believed that this was the cause of inflation in China in the late 1980s. During this period, the central government was found in serious crisis and even borrowed money from local governments. The proportion of fiscal revenue to the gross national product, and that of the central government's fiscal revenue to the overall fiscal revenue both declined rapidly, leading to a lack of funds for the construction of national defence and infrastructure investment. Before the tax-sharing reform in 1993, the central government obtained only 22% of the fiscal revenues while the local governments kept the rest, which made the former unable to make ends meet.\n\nIn 1994, the tax-sharing reform was officially implemented, when the central government's fiscal revenue reached an unprecedented growth of 203.5%. However, in 2000, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation disagreed on whether they should keep raising the percentage of government revenue to GDP. While the Minister of Finance Xiang Huaicheng still advocated doing so, Jin Renqing, the director of the State Administration of Taxation, advocated flexible adjustment to the tax system. In 2010, with the steady growth of the central government's fiscal revenue, local governments started to manifest disagreements. By 2015, when the central government's fiscal revenue reached 50% of the total amount, the central government's fiscal expenditure accounted for only 15%, which aggravated the disequilibrium between the central and local governments' financial powers, making it hard for local governments to go through budgeting and implementation process.\n\nMeasures \nOn 25 December 1993, the State Council issued the \"Decision on Implementing the Tax-Sharing Financial Management System\". The article stipulated the implementation of the tax-sharing reform, started from 1 January 1994, in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government.\n\nDecentralization of Authority \nThe \"Decision on Implementing the Tax-Sharing Financial Management System\" clarified the decentralization of authority. From then on, the central government was mainly responsible for the funds required by national security, diplomacy, operation of the central state organs, adjustment of the national economic structure, coordination with regional developments, implementation of macroeconomic regulations and enterprises directly managed by the central government, when local governments mainly bore the expenditures for the operation of their own political organs and their economic and career developments.\n\nAccording to the reform, the central government expenditures were listed hereinafter: defence expenditures, armed police funds, expenditures for foreign affairs, central administrative fees, central capital investment for infrastructures, funds for technical transformation and new product trial launched by state-owned enterprises, geological exploration fees, agricultural expenditures arranged by the central government, debt service expenses of domestic and foreign debts borne by the central government, and public expenses including culture, education, health, science, etc.\n\nOn the other hand, local governments should cover local administrative management fees, public security expenditures, part of the armed police funds, expenses for militia development, local infrastructure investment, funds for technological transformation and new product trial launched by local enterprises, agricultural expenditures, urban maintenance and construction funds, and other expenses for local culture, education and health, etc.\n\nReform of Tax Policy \nThe tax-sharing reform in 1994 reclassified the central tax, the local tax, and the shared tax, which enabled more tax sources for central government. According to the \"Decision on Implementing the Tax-Sharing Financial Management System\", firstly, central tax included taxations that were essential to safeguard national interests and implement macroeconomic regulations. Secondly, taxations directly related to economic development are classified as shared taxes. Thirdly, taxations suitable for local collection and management are classified as local tax, and categories of which were enriched in order to increase local tax revenues. The legislative authority of central tax, shared tax and local tax were still centralized by the central government to ensure the unification of national orders and to maintain a unified national market and a fair competition environment for enterprises.\n\nAs clarified in the tax-sharing reform in 1994, the central fixed income consisted of customs duties, authorized collection of consumption tax and value-added tax by customs, consumption tax, central corporate income tax, local bank, foreign-funded bank and non-bank financial enterprise income tax, the central enterprise pays off profits, as well as taxes (including business tax, income tax, profit and urban maintenance and construction tax) turned over by railway department, head office of bank, and insurance company. The export tax rebate for foreign trade enterprises was borne by the central government.\n\nLocal fixed income are listed hereinafter: business tax (excluding taxes from railway departments, head offices of banks and insurance companies), local enterprise income tax (excluding taxes from local banks, foreign banks and non-bank financial enterprises), personal income tax, urban and township land use tax, fixed asset investment direction adjustment tax, urban maintenance and construction tax (excluding taxes from railway departments, head offices of banks and insurance companies), property tax, vehicle and vessel usage tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, agriculture and animal husbandry tax, tax on special agricultural products, farm land occupation tax, tax deed, inheritance and gift tax, land value increment tax, and payment for usage of state-owned lands.\n\nAs for shared tax, 75% of VAT goes into the central government while the remaining belongs to local governments; Resource tax (except the offshore petroleum resource tax) is shared equally; Local governments used to process 50% of securities exchange tax, but stamp tax on securities trading goes fully into the central government since 1 January 2016.\n\nSupporting Reform Measures \nSupporting measures proposed by the government included reorganizing the tax structure, cancelling some unreasonable taxes and introducing taxes that are more in line with market-oriented reform. For example, the government established a commodity-turnover-tax system with VAT as the main body, in which product tax, consumption tax, and construction fund for projects of energy and transportation turned in by state-owned enterprises no longer existed. The reform required rational adjustment of the distribution of financial resources between regions. In order to protect the interests of each province and city, especially to take into account the vested interests of developed regions and the development of poverty-stricken areas and the transformation of old industrial bases, a set of regimes pertaining to tax returns and transfer payment was designed, which related highly to the level of economic development has.\n\nAt the same time, the reform measures also proposed that financial expenditures of local governments would be restricted. In order to cope with the reform of the tax-sharing system, the People's Bank of China initiated the market of national debt, allowing state-owned commercial banks to enter the national debt market and banks, non-bank financial institutions as well, to use the national debt as discount credit. The secondary market of treasury bonds was coordinated and managed by relevant departments in order to regularize the issuance of treasury bonds and marketize the interest rate of treasury bonds\n\nResults \nChina's 1994 tax reform marked a substantial step in China's fiscal system marching from the planned economy to the market economy. This tax reform reduced the problems caused by the local government's original fiscal and taxation system and increased rapidly the national fiscal revenue. In 1994, when the reform measures were officially implemented for the first time, the central government revenue achieved an unprecedented growth of 203.5%. From 1993 to 2012, the national public finance income increased from 434.90 billion yuan to 561.723 billion yuan, which was an increase of 26.96 times in total and an increase of 19.02% on the annual basis. China's fiscal revenue occupied a bigger percentage in the proportion of gross national product, and the percentage of national public finance revenue out of GDP increased from 12.30% in 1993 to 22.58% in 2012.\n\nBased on the rapid growth of national fiscal revenue, the central government's share of total fiscal revenue achieved also a sharp growth, which ameliorated the financial situation of the central government. The reform guaranteed a steady growth of the central government's fiscal revenue and control capacity of its macroeconomic regulation from the institutional level. The rapid growth of fiscal revenues guaranteed also the funds for infrastructure construction, which in turn enabled the military, armed police, political and legal institutions and party and government organs to do business in 1998.\n\nThe tax-sharing reform in 1994 mobilized the enthusiasm of local governments to participate in fiscal and tax reforms, and led to economic competition between local governments for fiscal revenue. At the same time, the tax-sharing reform weakened the expansion effect of the political cycle on local fiscal expenditures. With the implementation of the tax-sharing reform, a transfer payment system was established in order to alleviate the disparity in financial resources between regions. This reform unified the tax system for domestic-funded enterprises, which build a relatively fair market competition environment for domestic enterprises.\n\nNew Problems \nThis tax reform increased significantly the amount of central government revenue, but the problem of fiscal deficits still existed, which led to an imbalance between central and local fiscal expenditures and a distortion of the relationship between China's central government and local governments. Through the implementation of the tax-sharing system and the direct control from the national taxation department, the central government mastered nearly 60% of the financial power, while a large number of devolutions was delegated to the local government, which increased their burdens and affected their effective operations, especially for basic-level governments.\n\nThe academic circles discovered ever since the housing market reform in 1998, China's urban housing prices continued to rise due to the land finance and the tax-sharing reform. They also found out that China's government fiscal revenues were transferred to higher-level government while social security responsibilities were transferred to lower-level governments. As a result, the financial institutions at basic levels that were responsible for social security functions encountered the problem of financial strain, resulting in the weakness of social security functions. Besides, the existing transfer payment system was highly correlated with the level of economic development, yet local government expenditures in backward and rural areas showed an unreasonable structure, which intensified the lack of social security supply.\n\nPolicy Adjustment \nAfter 22 years of the implementation of the tax-sharing reform in 1994, the central government began to adjust and amend the policy. During the 2016 National Conference, the State Council issued \"the Guideline on Promoting the Reform of the Division of Financial Powers between the Central and Local Governments\", and decided to strengthen moderately the financial governance of the central government. At the same time, the guideline clarified that the Ministry of Finance, the Central Organization and other relevant departments were mainly responsible for organizing, coordinating, guiding, supervising and promoting this adjustment.\n\nIn addition, the Guideline provided a timetable for the reform. In 2016, it took the lead in launching the reform in fiscal affairs and expenditure responsibility in the field of national defence and foreign affairs. From 2017 to 2018, the government strived to make progress in basic public services such as education, health care, environmental protection, and transportation. From 2019 to 2020, the focus of the reform was achieved, and the contents that need to be brought into laws will be clarified, after which the State Council will promulgate administrative regulations and submits relevant laws to the National People's Congress. In addition, the State Council will also draft the Intergovernmental Financial Relations Law and promote the formation of a scientific and rational legal system that guarantees the division of financial affairs and expenditures.\n\nReferences \n\n1994 in China\nFinance in China\nTax reform" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.", "Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?", "I don't know.", "Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?", "I don't know.", "Were the americans successful in requesting their tax reform?", "in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that \"Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.\"", "Why was the tax reform started?", "was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	How did this effect the economy?	8	How did Tax Reform effect the US economy?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care.	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "Industrial information economy is a term coined by Harvard University Professor Yochai Benkler. Benkler discusses this term in-depth in his 2006 book The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom.\n\nIndustrial information economy is the first form of information economy and has existed since the late-nineteenth century and into the twentieth-century . Recently, industrial information economy evolved into a new form known as networked information economy with the advent of the Internet .\n\nIt represents one in which consumers are passive, as opposed to the networked information economy in which consumers are active often to the point of equally being producers (either in terms of creativity or by allowing usage of their idle processing, storage or bandwidth). In addition, industrial information economy promoted the dominance of the mega-corporation, and created passive workers who had no control over what they produced or consumed.\n\nBenkler contends that within the industrial information economy \"most opportunities to make things that were valuable and important to many people were constrained by the physical capital requirements of making them\" and thus in comparison to the networked information economy undemocratic. Based on information technology, according to Paliwala, the industrial information economy was centred on information and cultural production, and the manipulation of symbols whereas the networked information economy is based on communications.\n\nBenkler points out that the incumbents of the industrial information economy are threatened by the networked information economy. In response to this threat he references examples of the incumbents fighting back; including the broadcast flag and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Other well known examples could have equally have been added such as telephone operator blocking of Skype , the HDCP standard as well as other forms of digital rights management such as those found in Microsoft Vista .\n\nBenkler warns that how the battle between the incumbents of the industrial information economy against the emerging networked information economy plays out, the life of individuals in the world's most advanced economies will be deeply affected. He states :\n\nHow these battles turn out over the next decade or so will likely have a significant effect on how we come to know what is going on in the world we occupy, and to what extent and in what forms we will be able—as autonomous individuals, as\ncitizens, and as participants in cultures and communities—to affect how we and others see the world as it is and as it might be.\n\nIn his introduction to Wealth of Networks, Benkler suggests that the industrial information economy will make our culture more transparent and malleable. This will happen because easy and quick access to information will let us learn in real time about our present culture. His ideas are drawn from and supported by legal scholars Niva Elkin Koren, Terry Fisher, Larry Lessig, and Jack Balkin who have talked about how the Internet democratizes culture. (Benkler, 2006 p. 15)\n\nI suggest that the networked information environment offers us a more attractive\ncultural production system in two distinct ways: (1) it makes culture more\ntransparent, and (2) it makes culture more malleable. Together, these mean\nthat we are seeing the emergence of a new folk culture—a practice that has\nbeen largely suppressed in the industrial era of cultural production—where\nmany more of us participate actively in making cultural moves and finding\nmeaning in the world around us. These practices make their practitioners\nbetter \"readers\" of their own culture and more self-reflective and critical of\nthe culture they occupy, thereby enabling them to become more self-reflective\nparticipants in conversations within that culture. (Benkler, 2006 p. 15)\n\nHistorical Origins of Industrial Information Economy\n\nThe industrial information economy (aka information economy) traces back to the Industrial Revolution and to the resulting crisis of control. Advanced industrial nations began to recognize how usable information could be a means of controlling their respective economies. During the 1880s and 1890s, the notion of efficiently producing and using information was key to controlling physical processes and human behaviour (Benkler 2003, p. 1251). mario was created by the industreal economy\n\nSee also\nNetworked information economy\nCommons-based peer production\nNetwork neutrality\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nBenkler, Y (2003). Freedom in the Commons : Towards a Political Economy of Information, Duke Law Journal,52(6):1245-1276\n\nExternal links\n\nYochai Benker's Home Page\nYochai Benker's Profile at Yale Law School\nYochai Benker's Talk at Pop!Tech 2005\n\nInformation economy", "Linda M. Weiss is an Australian professor of political science at the University of Sydney (USYD), specialising in the international and comparative politics of economic development.\n\nWeiss is best known for questioning the converging effect associated with globalisation by pointing to the mediating role played by domestic nation-state institutions and capabilities and arguing that the effect non-state powers have upon a government can be enabling as well as constraining. Furthermore, within this argument, rather than a movement towards a neoliberal model, Weiss sees the emergence of what she calls \"governed interdependence\". This theory is forwarded in The Myth of the Powerless State (1998) and submitted to empirical testing in States in the Global Economy (2003).\n\nWeiss' work is directly influenced by Michael Mann whom she worked under during her formative years.\n\nOf additional note, How to Kill a Country (2004), authored with Thurbon and Mathews, was the first sustained critical analysis of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement signed and ratified by both countries' governments in 2004. The authors regard the Agreement as a sub-optimal deal for Australia and in later work put forward the argument that the Australian government misread their special relationship with the US and proceeded with the Agreement for public relations reasons, particularly with regard to the issue of Australia-US relations during the 2004 Australian federal election.\n\nWeiss was elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2004.\n\nSelected publications\nGlobal governance, national strategies: how industrialized states make room to move under the WTO 2005\nHow to Kill a Country – Australia's devastating trade deal with the United States 2004 \nStates in the Global Economy: Bringing Domestic Institutions Back In 2003 \nThe Myth of the Powerless State 1998 \nStates and Economic Development: A Comparative Historical Analysis 1995 \nCreating Capitalism 1988\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nProfessor Linda Weiss - USYD School of Government and International Relations webpage\nReview of 'States in the Global Economy: Bringing Domestic Institutions Back In' - from International Studies Review (2004)\nThe Australian Interest - The Australian Interest webpage\n\n1952 births\nLiving people\nAustralian political scientists\nWomen political scientists\nFellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia" ]
[ "Grover Norquist", "Americans for Tax Reform", "What was the Americans for Tax Reform about?", "The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.", "Who came up with the idea of the Tax Reform?", "Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform", "What was it that he did for the tax reform?", "Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan.", "Why was Norquist against Clinton's healthcare plan?", "I don't know.", "Did reducing the percentage of the GDP cause financial problems for the US?", "I don't know.", "Were the americans successful in requesting their tax reform?", "in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that \"Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party.\"", "Why was the tax reform started?", "was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan.", "How did this effect the economy?", "Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care." ]	C_e73343cac59445ae9e2fca5419d487da_1	What else can you tell me about the Tax Reform?	9	Besides supporting TABOR, what else can you tell me about the Grover Norquist's Tax Reform?	Grover Norquist	Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." CANNOTANSWER	Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors.	Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Early life and education Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he earned his A.B. and M.B.A. At college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. He was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership. Career Early career Early in his career, Norquist was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans, holding both positions until 1983. He served as Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984. Norquist traveled to several war zones to help support anti-Soviet guerrilla armies in the second half of the 1980s. He worked with a support network for Oliver North's efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, in addition to promoting U.S. support for groups including Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and helping to organize anti-Soviet forces in Laos. In 1985, he went to a conference in South Africa sponsored by South African businesses called the "Youth for Freedom Conference", which sought to bring American and South African conservatives together to end the anti-apartheid movement. Norquist represented the France-Albert Rene government of Seychelles as a lobbyist from 1995 until 1999. Norquist's efforts were the subject of Tucker Carlson's 1997 article in The New Republic, "What I sold at the revolution." Americans for Tax Reform Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of ... exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests." Taxpayer Protection Pledge Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell." Other political activities National politics Norquist was listed as one of the five primary leaders of the post-Goldwater conservative movement by Nina Easton in her 2000 book, Gang of Five. Working with eventual Speaker Newt Gingrich, Norquist was one of the co-authors of the 1994 Contract with America, and helped to rally grassroots efforts, which Norquist later chronicled in his book Rock the House. Norquist also served as a campaign staff member on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican Platform Committees. Norquist was instrumental in securing early support for the presidential campaign of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting as his unofficial liaison to the conservative movement. He campaigned for Bush in both 2000 and 2004. After Bush's first election, Norquist was a key figure involved in crafting Bush's tax cuts. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal dubbed Norquist "the Grand Central Station" of conservatism and told The Nation: "It's not disputable" that Norquist was the key to the Bush campaign's surprising level of support from movement conservatives in 2000. He has long been active in building bridges between various ethnic and religious minorities and the free-market community through his involvement with Acton Institute, Christian Coalition and Toward Tradition. He has also "announced his plan to assemble a center-right coalition to discuss pulling out of Afghanistan to save hundreds of billions of dollars." Norquist is active in Tea Party politics. Talking at a Florida rally he said "tea party groups should serve as the 'exoskeleton' that protects newly elected Republicans" from pressures to increase government spending. Comprehensive immigration reform is an interest of Norquist's, who believes that the United States should have "dramatically higher levels of immigration" than it currently does. Involvement with Jack Abramoff According to a 2011 memoir by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist was one of Abramoff's first major Republican party contacts. Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform were also mentioned in Senate testimony relating to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal which resulted in a 2006 guilty plea by Abramoff to three criminal felony counts of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corrupting public officials. Records released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee allege that ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Norquist has denied that he did anything wrong, and has not been charged with any crime. State and local politics Norquist's national strategy has included recruiting state and local politicians to support ATR's stance on taxes. Norquist has helped to set up regular meetings for conservatives in many states. These meetings are modeled after his Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists that he can call upon to support conservative causes, such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states. In 2004, Norquist helped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his plan to privatize the CalPERS system. In Virginia's 2005 Republican primaries, Norquist encouraged the defeat of a number of legislators who voted for higher taxes. Boards and other activities Norquist serves on the boards of directors of numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, the Indian-American Republican Caucus, and ParentalRights.org, an organization that wishes to add a Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 2010, Norquist joined the advisory board of GOProud, a political organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and their allies, for which he was criticized by the Family Research Council. Norquist also sits on a six-person advisory panel that nominates [[Time Person of the Year\|Time'''s Person of the Year]]. In business, Norquist was a co-founder of the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Norquist signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the conservative Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". Views on government Norquist favors dramatically reducing the size of government. He has been noted for his widely quoted quip from a 2001 interview with NPR's Morning Edition: Journalist William Greider quotes him saying his goal is to bring America back to what it was "up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over. The income tax, the death tax, regulation, all that." When asked by journalist Steven Kroft about the goal of chopping government "in half and then shrink it again to where we were at the turn of the [20th] century" before Social Security and Medicare, Norquist replied, "We functioned in this country with government at eight percent of GDP for a long time and quite well." Some smaller government advocates argue that Norquist's "obsession with tax revenue" is actually counterproductive with respect to minimizing the size of government. Although the Americans for Tax Reform mission statement is "The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized", critics at the Cato Institute have argued that "holding the line on taxes constrains only one of the four tools (taxes, tax deductions, spending without taxation, and regulation) used by government to alter economic outcomes." Norquist published Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, in 2008. In 2012, he published Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, with John R. Lott, Jr. He has served as a monthly "Politics" columnist and contributing editor to The American Spectator. Norquist has also called for reductions in defense spending as one way to reduce the size of government. Norquist has endorsed a non-interventionist foreign policy and cuts to the US military budget. Personal life Norquist has described himself as a "boring white bread Methodist." In 2004, at age 48, he married a Palestinian Muslim named Samah Alrayyes, a Kuwaiti PR specialist who was formerly a director of the Islamic Free Market Institute and specialist at the Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs at United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The couple has adopted two children, both girls, one of whom is from the city of Bethlehem. According to friend and former roommate John Fund, Norquist's devotion to his political causes is "monk-like" and comparable to that of Ralph Nader. Norquist has competed three times in the comedy fundraiser "Washington's Funniest Celebrity" and placed second in 2009. Humorist P. J. O'Rourke has described Norquist as "Tom Paine crossed with Lee Atwater plus just a soupçon of Madame Defarge". Norquist and his wife attended the annual Burning Man festival in August 2014 in Black Rock, Nevada. Norquist explained that he wished to attend because, "There's no government that organizes this. That's what happens when nobody tells you what to do. You just figure it out. So Burning Man is a refutation of the argument that the state has a place in nature." Writings Rock the House. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: VYTIS Press, 1995. Taxes: The Economic & Philosophical Necessity of Real Reform. Minneapolis, MN: Center of the American Experiment, 1996. "America is freedom" chapter from Deaver, Michael K. Why I Am a Reagan Conservative, Chapter New York: W. Morrow, 2005. Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. New York, NY: W. Morrow, 2008. Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. See also Democratic International K Street Project Starve the beast References External links Official biography from Americans for Tax Reform Column archive at National Review Online Column archive at The Guardian Transcript: "Bill Moyers Interviews Grover Norquist", NOW with Bill Moyers, January 10, 2003 Grover Norquist on Leave Us Alone, National Review Online, 2008(?) "The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP", 60 Minutes'', November 20, 2011, video interview and related reports A Lesson in Conservative Optimism, The Weekend Interview by Stephen Moore, The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2012 1956 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Methodists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Methodists Activists from Massachusetts American columnists American libertarians American lobbyists American male non-fiction writers American Methodists American people of Swedish descent American political writers The American Spectator people Christian libertarians College Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Harvard College alumni The Harvard Crimson people Hasty Pudding alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Members of the Council on Foreign Relations Non-interventionism Pennsylvania Republicans People from Washington, D.C. People from Weston, Massachusetts Signers of the Madrid Charter Tea Party movement activists Washington, D.C. Republicans Writers from Massachusetts Writers from Washington, D.C. Weston High School (Massachusetts) alumni	true	[ "\"Tell Me What You Want\" is the fourth single by English R&B band Loose Ends from their first studio album, A Little Spice, and was released in February 1984 by Virgin Records. The single reached number 74 in the UK Singles Chart.\n\nTrack listing\n7” Single: VS658\n \"Tell Me What You Want) 3.35\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Dub Mix)\" 3.34\n\n12” Single: VS658-12\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Extended Version)\" 6.11\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Extended Dub Mix)\" 5.41\n\nU.S. only release - 12” Single: MCA23596 (released 1985)\n \"Tell Me What You Want (U.S. Extended Remix)\" 6.08 \n \"Tell Me What You Want (U.S. Dub Version)\" 5.18\n\n The U.S. Extended Remix version was released on CD on the U.S. Version of the 'A Little Spice' album (MCAD27141).\n\nThe Extended Version also featured on Side D of the limited gatefold sleeve version of 'Magic Touch'\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Tell Me What You Want at Discogs.\n\n1984 singles\nLoose Ends (band) songs\nSong recordings produced by Nick Martinelli\nSongs written by Carl McIntosh (musician)\nSongs written by Steve Nichol\n1984 songs\nVirgin Records singles", "Forever Young is Kaysha's album released 2009.\n\nTrack list\n\n Anti Bad Music Police\n Be With You\n Digital Sexyness\n Duro\n Fanta & Avocado\n Forever Young Intro\n Funky Makaku\n Glorious Beautiful\n Heaven\n Hey Girl\n I Give You the Music\n I Still Love You\n Joachim\n Kota Na Piste\n Les Belles Histoires D'amour\n Love You Need You\n Loving and Kissing\n Make More Dollars\n Nobody Else\n On Veut Juste Danser\n Once Again\n Outro\n Paradisio / Inferno\n Pour Toujours\n Pure\n Si Tu T'en Vas\n Simple Pleasures\n Tell Me What We Waiting For\n That African Shit\n The Sweetest Thing\n The Way You Move\n Toi Et Moi\n U My Bb\n Yes You Can\n You + Me\n You're My Baby Girl\n\n2009 albums" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career" ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	Where did Edi grow up?	1	Where did Edi Rama grow up?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	false	[ "Edi Stecher is a Viennese Righteous among the Nations. He received this honorary title in 1984 for harbouring the Jewish woman Melvine Deutsch.\n\nDeutsch was in a camp of forced labors of the Siemens company in Vienna. When she was deported to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, she fled from the train and came to Vienna, where she received help from Anna Manzer.\n\nThe Gestapo did not give up finding Melvine Deutsch. When she was in danger at Manzer's place, she went to her brother Edi Stecher, where she stayed several months hidden from the Gestapo.\n\nStecher and Manzer did not have enough allotted food, after they harboured Deutsch, and received help from their parents, in whose apartment she was also brought from times to times, when the Gestapo searched the district. Deutsch safely left the apartment after the liberation.\n\nThe parents Ludwig and Anna Friessnegg and the sister Anna Manzer are Austrian Righteous among the Nations as well.\n\nExternal links \n The Austrian Righteous among the Nations, in German\n Information by the DÖW\n Edi Stecher – his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website\n\nAustrian Righteous Among the Nations\nPeople from Vienna\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)", "Edi is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:\n\n Edi Angelillo (born 1961), Italian actress\n Edi Buro (born 1987), Bosnian-American soccer player\n Edi Çajku (born 1982), Albanian footballer\n Edi Dadić (born 1993), Croatian cross country skier\n Edi Danilo Guerra (born 1987), Guatemalan footballer\n Edi Gathegi (born 1979), American actor\n Edi Federer (1955–2012), Austrian ski jumper\n Edi Fitzroy (1955–2017), Jamaican reggae singer\n Edi Hafid (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Heiz (born 1947), Swiss canoeist\n Edi Kurnia (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Kurniawan (born 1988), Indonesian weightlifter\n Edi Maia (born 1987), Portuguese pole vaulter\n Edi Mall (1924–2014), Austrian alpine skier\n Edi Martini (born 1975), Albanian football manager and player\n Edi Orioli (born 1962), Italian motorcycle racer\n Edi Paloka (born 1965), Albanian politician\n Edi Patterson, American actress\n Edi Ponoš (born 1976), Croatian javelin thrower\n Edi Rama (born 1964), Albanian politician\n Edi Schild (born 1919), Swiss cross-country skier\n Edi Scholdan (–1961), Austrian figure skater\n Edi Sinadinović (born 1988), Serbian basketball player\n Edi Stecher, Austrian Righteous Among the Nations\n Edi Stöhr (born 1956), German football manager and player\n Edi Subaktiar (born 1994), Indonesian badminton player\n Edi Ziegler (born 1930), German road racing cyclist" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania" ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	Who were Edi's parents??	2	Who were Edi Rama's parents?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	false	[ "This is a list of official trips made by Edi Rama as the 33rd Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania.\n\n2013 \n\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2013:\n\n2014 \n\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2014:\n\n2015 \n\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2015:\n\n2016 \n\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2016:\n\n2017 \n\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2017:\n\n2018\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2018:\n\n2019\nThe following international trips were made by Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2019:\n\nFuture trips \n\nThe following international trips are scheduled to be made by Edi Rama during 2019:\n\nSee also \n Edi Rama\n Prime Minister of Albania\n Politics of Albania\n\nReferences \n\n21st century-related lists\n2013 in international relations\n2014 in international relations\n2015 in international relations\n2016 in international relations\n2017 in international relations\nRama, Edi\nState visits by Albanian leaders\nForeign relations of Albania\nGeography-related lists", "Edi is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:\n\n Edi Angelillo (born 1961), Italian actress\n Edi Buro (born 1987), Bosnian-American soccer player\n Edi Çajku (born 1982), Albanian footballer\n Edi Dadić (born 1993), Croatian cross country skier\n Edi Danilo Guerra (born 1987), Guatemalan footballer\n Edi Gathegi (born 1979), American actor\n Edi Federer (1955–2012), Austrian ski jumper\n Edi Fitzroy (1955–2017), Jamaican reggae singer\n Edi Hafid (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Heiz (born 1947), Swiss canoeist\n Edi Kurnia (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Kurniawan (born 1988), Indonesian weightlifter\n Edi Maia (born 1987), Portuguese pole vaulter\n Edi Mall (1924–2014), Austrian alpine skier\n Edi Martini (born 1975), Albanian football manager and player\n Edi Orioli (born 1962), Italian motorcycle racer\n Edi Paloka (born 1965), Albanian politician\n Edi Patterson, American actress\n Edi Ponoš (born 1976), Croatian javelin thrower\n Edi Rama (born 1964), Albanian politician\n Edi Schild (born 1919), Swiss cross-country skier\n Edi Scholdan (–1961), Austrian figure skater\n Edi Sinadinović (born 1988), Serbian basketball player\n Edi Stecher, Austrian Righteous Among the Nations\n Edi Stöhr (born 1956), German football manager and player\n Edi Subaktiar (born 1994), Indonesian badminton player\n Edi Ziegler (born 1930), German road racing cyclist" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka" ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	What did Aneta do?	3	What did Aneta Rama do?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	false	[ "Aneta is a feminine given name, a Slavic variant of Annette. Notable people with the name include:\n\nAneta Corsaut (1933–1995), American actress\nAneta Kowalska (born 1982), Polish pair skater\nAneta Kręglicka (born 1965), Polish dancer, Miss World 1989\nAneta Langerová (born 1986), Czech singer\nAneta Lemiesz (born 1981), Polish runner\nAneta Michałek (born 1991), Polish pair skater\nAneta Pastuszka (born 1978), Polish canoer\nAneta Soukup (born 1978), Canadian tennis player\n\nFeminine given names", "Aneta may refer to:\n\nAneta (given name)\nAneta, North Dakota, United States\nAneta (album), an album by Irini Merkouri\nAneta (news agency), the first news agency operating in the Dutch East Indies\nPersbiro Indonesia Aneta, successor to the Aneta news agency" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore," ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	Did Edi have any siblings?	4	Did Edi Rama have any siblings?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	false	[ "Edi is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:\n\n Edi Angelillo (born 1961), Italian actress\n Edi Buro (born 1987), Bosnian-American soccer player\n Edi Çajku (born 1982), Albanian footballer\n Edi Dadić (born 1993), Croatian cross country skier\n Edi Danilo Guerra (born 1987), Guatemalan footballer\n Edi Gathegi (born 1979), American actor\n Edi Federer (1955–2012), Austrian ski jumper\n Edi Fitzroy (1955–2017), Jamaican reggae singer\n Edi Hafid (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Heiz (born 1947), Swiss canoeist\n Edi Kurnia (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Kurniawan (born 1988), Indonesian weightlifter\n Edi Maia (born 1987), Portuguese pole vaulter\n Edi Mall (1924–2014), Austrian alpine skier\n Edi Martini (born 1975), Albanian football manager and player\n Edi Orioli (born 1962), Italian motorcycle racer\n Edi Paloka (born 1965), Albanian politician\n Edi Patterson, American actress\n Edi Ponoš (born 1976), Croatian javelin thrower\n Edi Rama (born 1964), Albanian politician\n Edi Schild (born 1919), Swiss cross-country skier\n Edi Scholdan (–1961), Austrian figure skater\n Edi Sinadinović (born 1988), Serbian basketball player\n Edi Stecher, Austrian Righteous Among the Nations\n Edi Stöhr (born 1956), German football manager and player\n Edi Subaktiar (born 1994), Indonesian badminton player\n Edi Ziegler (born 1930), German road racing cyclist", "Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the concept of businesses electronically communicating information that was traditionally communicated on paper, such as purchase orders and invoices. Technical standards for EDI exist to facilitate parties transacting such instruments without having to make special arrangements.\n\nEDI has existed at least since the early 70s, and there are many EDI standards (including X12, EDIFACT, ODETTE, etc.), some of which address the needs of specific industries or regions. It also refers specifically to a family of standards. In 1996, the National Institute of Standards and Technology defined electronic data interchange as \"the computer-to-computer interchange of a standardised format for data exchange. EDI implies a sequence of messages between two parties, either of whom may serve as originator or recipient. The formatted data representing the documents may be transmitted from originator to recipient via telecommunications or physically transported on electronic storage media.\" It distinguished mere electronic communication or data exchange, specifying that \"in EDI, the usual processing of received messages is by computer only. Human intervention in the processing of a received message is typically intended only for error conditions, for quality review, and for special situations. For example, the transmission of binary or textual data is not EDI as defined here unless the data are treated as one or more data elements of an EDI message and are not normally intended for human interpretation as part of online data processing.\" In short, EDI can be defined as the transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention.\n\nHistory\nLike many other early information technologies, EDI was inspired by developments in military logistics. The complexity of the 1948 Berlin airlift required the development of concepts and methods to exchange, sometimes over a 300 baud teletype modem, vast quantities of data and information about transported goods. These initial concepts later shaped the first TDCC (Transportation Data Coordinating Committee) standards in the US. Among the first integrated systems using EDI were Freight Control Systems. One such real-time system was the London Airport Cargo EDP Scheme (LACES) at Heathrow Airport, London, UK, in 1971. Implementing the direct trader input (DTI) method, it allowed forwarding agents to enter information directly into the customs processing system, reducing the time for clearance. The increase of maritime traffic and problems at customs similar to those experienced at Heathrow Airport led to the implementation of DTI systems in individual ports or groups of ports in the 1980s.\n\nStandards\n\nEDI provides a technical basis for automated commercial \"conversations\" between two entities, either internal or external. The term EDI encompasses the entire electronic data interchange process, including the transmission, message flow, document format, and software used to interpret the documents. However, EDI standards describe the rigorous format of electronic documents, and the EDI standards were designed, initially in the automotive industry, to be independent of communication and software technologies.\n\nEDI documents generally contain the same information that would normally be found in a paper document used for the same organizational function. For example, an EDI 940 ship-from-warehouse order is used by a manufacturer to tell a warehouse to ship a product to a retailer. It typically has a 'ship-to' address, a 'bill-to' address, and a list of product numbers (usually a UPC) and quantities. Another example is the set of messages between sellers and buyers, such as request for quotation (RFQ), bid in response to RFQ, purchase order, purchase order acknowledgement, shipping notice, receiving advice, invoice, and payment advice. However, EDI is not confined to just business data related to trade but encompasses all fields such as medicine (e.g., patient records and laboratory results), transport (e.g., container and modal information), engineering and construction, etc. In some cases, EDI will be used to create a new business information flow (that was not a paper flow before). This is the case in the Advanced Shipment Notification (ASN) which was designed to inform the receiver of a shipment, the goods to be received and how the goods are packaged. This is further complemented with the shipment's use of the shipping labels containing a GS1-128 barcode referencing the shipment's tracking number.\n\nSome major sets of EDI standards:\n The UN-recommended UN/EDIFACT is the only international standard and is predominant outside of North America.\n The US standard ANSI ASC X12 (X12) is predominant in North America.\n GS1 EDI set of standards developed the GS1 predominant in global supply chain\n The TRADACOMS standard developed by the ANA (Article Number Association now known as GS1 UK) is predominant in the UK retail industry.\n The ODETTE standard used within the European automotive industry\n The VDA standard used within the European automotive industry mainly in Germany\n HL7, a semantic interoperability standard used for healthcare data.\nHIPAA, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability ACT (HIPAA), requires millions of healthcare entities who electronically transmit data to use EDI in a standard HIPAA format.\nIATA Cargo-IMP, IATA Cargo-IMP stands for International Air Transport Association Cargo Interchange Message Procedures. It's an EDI standard based on EDIFACT created to automate and standardize data exchange between airlines and other parties.\nNCPDP Script, SCRIPT is a standard developed and maintained by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP). The standard defines documents for electronic transmission of medical prescriptions in the United States.\n The NCPDP Telecommunications standard includes transactions for eligibility verification, claim and service billing, predetermination of benefits, prior authorization, and information reporting, and is used primarily in the United States.\n Edig@s (EDIGAS) is a standard dealing with commerce, transport (via pipeline or container) and storage of gas.\nMany of these standards first appeared in the early to mid-1980s. The standards prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements used in the exchange of business documents and forms. The complete X12 Document List includes all major business documents, including purchase orders and invoices.\n\nThe EDI standard prescribes mandatory and optional information for a particular document and gives the rules for the structure of the document. The standards are like building codes. Just as two kitchens can be built \"to code\" but look completely different, two EDI documents can follow the same standard and contain different sets of information. For example, a food company may indicate a product's expiration date while a clothing manufacturer would choose to send colour and size information.\n\nTransmission protocols \nEDI can be transmitted using any methodology agreed to by the sender and recipient, but as more trading partners began using the Internet for transmission, standardized protocols have emerged.\n\nThis includes a variety of technologies, including:\n\n mModem (asynchronous and synchronous)\n FTP, SFTP and FTPS\n Email\n HTTP/HTTPS\n AS1\n AS2\n AS4\n OFTP (and OFTP2)\n Mobile EDI\n And more technologies\n\nWhen some people compared the synchronous protocol 2400 bit/s modems, CLEO devices, and value-added networks used to transmit EDI documents to transmitting via the Internet, they equated the non-Internet technologies with EDI and predicted erroneously that EDI itself would be replaced along with the non-Internet technologies. In most cases, these non-internet transmission methods are simply being replaced by Internet protocols, such as FTP, HTTP, telnet, and e-mail, but the EDI documents themselves still remain.\n\nIn 2002, the IETF published RFC 3335, offering a standardized, secure method of transferring EDI data via e-mail. On July 12, 2005, an IETF working group ratified RFC4130 for MIME-based HTTP EDIINT (a.k.a. AS2) transfers, and the IETF has prepared a similar RFC for FTP transfers (a.k.a. AS3). EDI via web services (a.k.a. AS4) has also been standardised by the OASIS standards body. While some EDI transmission has moved to these newer protocols, the providers of value-added networks remain active.\n\nInternet \nAs more organizations connected to the Internet, eventually most or all EDI was pushed onto it. Initially, this was through ad hoc conventions, such as unencrypted FTP of ASCII text files to a certain folder on a certain host, permitted only from certain IP addresses. However, the IETF has published several informational documents (the \"Applicability Statements\"; see below under Protocols) describing ways to use standard Internet protocols for EDI.\n\nAs of 2002, Walmart has pushed AS2 for EDI. Because of its significant presence in the global supply chain, AS2 has become a commonly adopted approach for EDI.\n\nSpecifications\nOrganizations that send or receive documents from each other are referred to as \"trading partners\" in EDI terminology. The trading partners agree on the specific information to be transmitted and how it should be used. This is done in human-readable specifications (also called Message Implementation Guidelines). While the standards are analogous to building codes, the specifications are analogous to blueprints. (The specification may also be called a \"mapping,\" but the term mapping is typically reserved for specific machine-readable instructions given to the translation software .) Larger trading \"hubs\" have existing Message Implementation Guidelines which mirror their business processes for processing EDI and they are usually unwilling to modify their EDI business practices to meet the needs of their trading partners. Often in a large company, these EDI guidelines will be written to be generic enough to be used by different branches or divisions and therefore will contain information not needed for a particular business document exchange. For other large companies, they may create separate EDI guidelines for each branch/division.\n\nTransmission: Direct EDI and VANs\n\nTrading partners are free to use any method for the transmission of documents (as described above in the Transmission protocols section). Further, they can either interact directly or through an intermediary.\n\nDirect EDI: peer-to-peer\n\nTrading partners can connect directly to each other. For example, an automotive manufacturer might maintain a modem-pool that all of its hundreds of suppliers are required to dial into to perform EDI. However, if a supplier does business with several manufacturers, it may need to acquire a different modem (or VPN device, etc.) and different software for each one.\n\nAs EDI and web technology have evolved, new EDI software technologies have emerged to facilitate direct (also known as point-to-point) EDI between trading partners. Modern EDI software can facilitate exchanges using any number of different file transmission protocols and EDI document standards, reducing costs and barriers to entry.\n\nValue-added networks\n\nTo address the limitations in peer-to-peer adoption of EDI, VANs (value-added networks) were established decades ago. A VAN acts as a regional post office. It receives transactions, examines the 'from' and the 'to' information, and routes the transaction to the final recipient. VANs may provide a number of additional services, e.g. retransmitting documents, providing third party audit information, acting as a gateway for different transmission methods, and handling telecommunications support. Because of these and other services VANs provide, businesses frequently use a VAN even when both trading partners are using Internet-based protocols. Healthcare clearinghouses perform many of the same functions as a VAN, but have additional legal restrictions.\n\nVANs may be operated by various entities:\n telecommunication companies;\n industry group consortia;\n a large company interacting with its suppliers/vendors;\nmanaged services providers.\n\nCosts, trade-offs and implementation \nIt is important to note that there are key trade-offs between VANs and Direct EDI, and in many instances, organizations exchanging EDI documents can in fact use both in concert, for different aspects of their EDI implementations. For example, in the U.S., the majority of EDI document exchanges use AS2, so a direct EDI setup for AS2 may make sense for a U.S.-based organization. But adding OFTP2 capabilities to communicate with a European partner may be difficult, so a VAN might make sense to handle those specific transactions, while direct EDI is used for the AS2 transactions. \n\nIn many ways, a VAN acts as a service provider, simplifying much of the setup for organizations looking to initiate EDI. Due to the fact that many organizations first starting out with EDI often do so to meet a customer or partner requirement and therefore lack in-house EDI expertise, a VAN can be a valuable asset.\n\nHowever, VANs may come with high costs. VANs typically charge a per-document or even per-line-item transaction fee to process EDI transactions as a service on behalf of their customers. This is the predominant reason why many organizations also implement an EDI software solution or eventually migrate to one for some or all of their EDI.\n\nOn the other hand, implementing EDI software can be a challenging process, depending on the complexity of the use case, technologies involved and availability of EDI expertise. In addition, there are ongoing maintenance requirements and updates to consider. For example, EDI mapping is one of the most challenging EDI management tasks. Companies must develop and maintain EDI maps for each of their trading partners (and sometimes multiple EDI maps for each trading partner based on their order fulfilment requirements).\n\nInterpreting data\nEDI translation software provides the interface between internal systems and the EDI format sent/received. For an \"inbound\" document, the EDI solution will receive the file (either via a value-added network or directly using protocols such as FTP or AS2), take the received EDI file (commonly referred to as an \"envelope\"), and validate that the trading partner who is sending the file is a valid trading partner, that the structure of the file meets the EDI standards, and that the individual fields of information conform to the agreed-upon standards. Typically, the translator will either create a file of either fixed length, variable length or XML tagged format or \"print\" the received EDI document (for non-integrated EDI environments). The next step is to convert/transform the file that the translator creates into a format that can be imported into a company's back-end business systems, applications or ERP. This can be accomplished by using a custom program, an integrated proprietary \"mapper\" or an integrated standards-based graphical \"mapper,\" using a standard data transformation language such as XSLT. The final step is to import the transformed file (or database) into the company's back-end system.\n\nFor an \"outbound\" document, the process for integrated EDI is to export a file (or read a database) from a company's information systems and transform the file to the appropriate format for the translator. The translation software will then \"validate\" the EDI file sent to ensure that it meets the standard agreed upon by the trading partners, convert the file into \"EDI\" format (adding the appropriate identifiers and control structures) and send the file to the trading partner (using the appropriate communications protocol).\n\nAnother critical component of any EDI translation software is a complete \"audit\" of all the steps to move business documents between trading partners. The audit ensures that any transaction (which in reality is a business document) can be tracked to ensure that they are not lost. In the case of a retailer sending a Purchase Order to a supplier, if the Purchase Order is \"lost\" anywhere in the business process, the effect is devastating to both businesses. To the supplier, they do not fulfil the order as they have not received it thereby losing business and damaging the business relationship with their retail client. For the retailer, they have a stock outage and the effect is lost sales, reduced customer service and ultimately lower profits.\n\nIn EDI terminology, \"inbound\" and \"outbound\" refer to the direction of transmission of an EDI document in relation to a particular system, not the direction of merchandise, money or other things represented by the document. For example, an EDI document that tells a warehouse to perform an outbound shipment is an inbound document in relation to the warehouse computer system. It is an outbound document in relation to the manufacturer or dealer that transmitted the document.\n\nAdvantages over paper systems\nEDI and other similar technologies save the company money by providing an alternative to or replacing, information flows that require a great deal of human interaction and paper documents. Even when paper documents are maintained in parallel with EDI exchange, e.g. printed shipping manifests, electronic exchange and the use of data from that exchange reduces the handling costs of sorting, distributing, organizing, and searching paper documents. EDI and similar technologies allow a company to take advantage of the benefits of storing and manipulating data electronically without the cost of manual entry. Another advantage of EDI is the opportunity to reduce or eliminate manual data entry errors, such as shipping and billing errors, because EDI eliminates the need to re-key documents on the destination side. One very important advantage of EDI over paper documents is the speed at which the trading partner receives and incorporates the information into their system greatly reducing cycle times. For this reason, EDI can be an important component of just-in-time production systems.\n\nAccording to the 2008 Aberdeen report \"A Comparison of Supplier Enablement around the World\", only 34% of purchase orders are transmitted electronically in North America. In EMEA, 36% of orders are transmitted electronically and in APAC, 41% of orders are transmitted electronically. They also report that the average paper requisition to order costs a company $37.45 in North America, $42.90 in EMEA and $23.90 in APAC. With an EDI requisition to order, costs are reduced to $23.83 in North America, $34.05 in EMEA and $14.78 in APAC.\n\nBarriers to implementation\nThere are a few barriers to adopting electronic data interchange. One of the most significant barriers is the accompanying business process change. Existing business processes built around paper handling may not be suited for EDI and would require changes to accommodate automated processing of business documents. For example, a business may receive the bulk of their goods by 1 or 2-day shipping and all of their invoices by mail. The existing process may, therefore, assume that goods are typically received before the invoice. With EDI, the invoice will typically be sent when the goods ship and will, therefore, require a process that handles large numbers of invoices whose corresponding goods have not yet been received.\n\nAnother significant barrier is the cost in time and money in the initial setup. The preliminary expenses and time that arise from the implementation, customization and training can be costly. It is important to select the correct level of integration to match the business requirement. For a business with relatively few transactions with EDI-based partners, it may make sense for businesses to implement inexpensive \"rip and read\" solutions, where the EDI format is printed out in human-readable form, and people — rather than computers — respond to the transaction. Another alternative is outsourced EDI solutions provided by EDI \"Service Bureaus\". For other businesses, the implementation of an integrated EDI solution may be necessary as increases in trading volumes brought on by EDI force them to re-implement their order processing business processes.\n\nThe key hindrance to a successful implementation of EDI is the perception many businesses have of the nature of EDI. Many view EDI from the technical perspective that EDI is a data format; it would be more accurate to take the business view that EDI is a system for exchanging business documents with external entities, and integrating the data from those documents into the company's internal systems. Successful implementations of EDI take into account the effect externally generated information will have on their internal systems and validate the business information received. For example, allowing a supplier to update a retailer's accounts payable system without appropriate checks and balances would put the company at significant risk. Businesses new to the implementation of EDI must understand the underlying business process and apply proper judgment.\n\nAcknowledgement\nBelow are common EDI acknowledgement\n Communication Status – Indicate the transmission completed\n MDN (Message Disposition Notification) – In AS2 only, indicate the message is readable \n Functional Acknowledgement – typically \"997\" in ANSI, or \"CONTRL\" in EDIFACT, which indicate the message content is verified against its template, and tell if the transaction is posted to the receiver's electronic system.\n Business Level Acknowledgement – the final indicator shows if the transaction is accepted by the receiver or not.\n\nSee also\n Expense and Cost Recovery System (ECRS)\n Extract, transform, load (ETL)\n Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES)\n\nProtocols\n HTTP/HTTPS\n POP3/SMTP\n OFTP/OFTP2\n SOAP\n WebDAV\n X.400\n EDIINT working group:\n EDIINT AS1 (extension to mail transport)\n EDIINT AS2 (based on HTTP transport)\n EDIINT AS3 (based on FTP transport)\n EDIINT AS4 (based on WebServices)\n\nFormats\n ANSI X.12\n X12\n X12 Document List\n X12 EDIFACT Mapping\n XML\n cXML\n xCBL\n ebXML\n railML\n RosettaNet\n UBL\n UNIDOC\n Tradacoms\n EDIFACT\n Cefic – Chemical\n GS1 EANCOM – Retail\n EDIBDB – Construction\n EDIFICE – High Tech Industry\n EDIFURN – Furniture\n EDILEKTRO – Electro\n EDILIBE – Books\n EDITEC – Sanitary\n EDITEX – Fashion\n EDIFOR/EDITRANS – Transports & Logistics\n EDIWHEEL – Wheels & Tires\n ETIS – Telecommunication\n STAR – Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail\n SPEC2000 (Airline Industry) (external link)\n\nFixed-length formats\n EURITMO\n\nSeparator formats\n CSV/TSV/DSV\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n Gengeswari, K. and Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid (2010). \"Integration of electronic data interchange: a review\", Jurnal Kemanusiaan,\n\nExternal links\n \"E-Procurement — Electronic Data Integration Comes of Age\" – Article from Finance Director Europe Journal\n EDI Protocols – An overview of the various protocols and formats used in EDI networks\n EDI Standards – An overview of the various EDI file format standards available.\n\nElectronic data interchange\nBusiness terms" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,", "Did Edi have any siblings?", "I don't know." ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	What hobbies did Edi have growing up?	5	What hobbies did Edi Rama have growing up?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	Rama started painting early in his childhood.	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	true	[ "Edi is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:\n\n Edi Angelillo (born 1961), Italian actress\n Edi Buro (born 1987), Bosnian-American soccer player\n Edi Çajku (born 1982), Albanian footballer\n Edi Dadić (born 1993), Croatian cross country skier\n Edi Danilo Guerra (born 1987), Guatemalan footballer\n Edi Gathegi (born 1979), American actor\n Edi Federer (1955–2012), Austrian ski jumper\n Edi Fitzroy (1955–2017), Jamaican reggae singer\n Edi Hafid (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Heiz (born 1947), Swiss canoeist\n Edi Kurnia (born 1983), Indonesian footballer\n Edi Kurniawan (born 1988), Indonesian weightlifter\n Edi Maia (born 1987), Portuguese pole vaulter\n Edi Mall (1924–2014), Austrian alpine skier\n Edi Martini (born 1975), Albanian football manager and player\n Edi Orioli (born 1962), Italian motorcycle racer\n Edi Paloka (born 1965), Albanian politician\n Edi Patterson, American actress\n Edi Ponoš (born 1976), Croatian javelin thrower\n Edi Rama (born 1964), Albanian politician\n Edi Schild (born 1919), Swiss cross-country skier\n Edi Scholdan (–1961), Austrian figure skater\n Edi Sinadinović (born 1988), Serbian basketball player\n Edi Stecher, Austrian Righteous Among the Nations\n Edi Stöhr (born 1956), German football manager and player\n Edi Subaktiar (born 1994), Indonesian badminton player\n Edi Ziegler (born 1930), German road racing cyclist", "Edi Stecher is a Viennese Righteous among the Nations. He received this honorary title in 1984 for harbouring the Jewish woman Melvine Deutsch.\n\nDeutsch was in a camp of forced labors of the Siemens company in Vienna. When she was deported to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, she fled from the train and came to Vienna, where she received help from Anna Manzer.\n\nThe Gestapo did not give up finding Melvine Deutsch. When she was in danger at Manzer's place, she went to her brother Edi Stecher, where she stayed several months hidden from the Gestapo.\n\nStecher and Manzer did not have enough allotted food, after they harboured Deutsch, and received help from their parents, in whose apartment she was also brought from times to times, when the Gestapo searched the district. Deutsch safely left the apartment after the liberation.\n\nThe parents Ludwig and Anna Friessnegg and the sister Anna Manzer are Austrian Righteous among the Nations as well.\n\nExternal links \n The Austrian Righteous among the Nations, in German\n Information by the DÖW\n Edi Stecher – his activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website\n\nAustrian Righteous Among the Nations\nPeople from Vienna\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,", "Did Edi have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "What hobbies did Edi have growing up?", "Rama started painting early in his childhood." ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	Was he good at it?	6	Was Edi Rama good at painting?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context.	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	true	[ "Ronald D'Oyley Good (1896–1992) was a British botanist notable for his floristic regionalization.\n\nGood was born in Dorchester. He studied botany at Downing College, Cambridge where he obtained an MA and Sc.D. He worked at the Botany Department of the Natural history museum (1922-1928). He worked at the Botany Department at the University of Hull from 1928 until his retirement in 1959. He was the author of The Geography of the Flowering Plants (1947) a popular work in botany.\n\nPublications\n\nPlants and Human Economics (1933)\nThe Old Roads of Dorset (1940)\nA Geographical Handbook of the Dorset Flora (1948)\nThe Geography of the Flowering Plants (1947; 2nd ed. 1953, 3rd ed. 1964, 4th ed. 1974)\nFeatures of Evolution in Flowering Plants (1956)\nThe Last Villages of Dorset (1979)\nThe Philosophy of Evolution (1981)\nConcise Flora of Dorset (1984)\n\nReferences\n\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron\nGood, Ron", "Joseph Henry Good (1775-1857) was an English architect who was clerk of works at the Tower of London, Royal Mint, Kensington Palace and the Royal Pavilion Brighton.\n\nEarly life\nGood was born in 1775, the son of the Reverend Joseph Good, a Somerset clergyman.\n\nCareer\nGood was a pupil of Sir John Soane from 1795 to 1799. He became clerk of works at the Tower of London, Royal Mint, Kensington Palace and the Royal Pavilion Brighton, and designed Armourers' Hall in Coleman Street, London (1839–41).\n\nDeath \nGood died on 20 November 1857. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\nColvin, Howard, (1995) A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840. 3rd edition. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 414–415.\n\nArchitects from London\n1775 births\n1857 deaths\nBurials at Kensal Green Cemetery" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,", "Did Edi have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "What hobbies did Edi have growing up?", "Rama started painting early in his childhood.", "Was he good at it?", "Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context." ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	Where did he go to school?	7	Where did Edi Rama go to school?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana.	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	false	[ "Where Did We Go Wrong may refer to:\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\" (Dondria song), 2010\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\" (Toni Braxton and Babyface song), 2013\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\", a song by Petula Clark from the album My Love\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\", a song by Diana Ross from the album Ross\n \"Where Did We Go Wrong\", a 1980 song by Frankie Valli", "California Concordia College existed in Oakland, California, United States from 1906 until 1973.\n\nAmong the presidents of California Concordia College was Johann Theodore Gotthold Brohm Jr.\n\nCalifornia Concordia College and the Academy of California College were located at 2365 Camden Street, Oakland, California. Some of the school buildings still exist at this location, but older buildings that housed the earlier classrooms and later the dormitories are gone. The site is now the location of the Spectrum Center Camden Campus, a provider of special education services.\n\nThe \"Academy\" was the official name for the high school. California Concordia was a six-year institution patterned after the German gymnasium. This provided four years of high school, plus two years of junior college. Years in the school took their names from Latin numbers and referred to the years to go before graduation. The classes were named:\n\n Sexta - 6 years to go; high school freshman\n Qunita - 5 years to go; high school sophomore\n Quarta - 4 years to go; high school junior\n Tertia - 3 years to go; high school senior\n Secunda - 2 years to go; college freshman\n Prima - 1 year to go; college sophomore\n\nThose in Sexta were usually hazed in a mild way by upperclassmen. In addition, those in Sexta were required to do a certain amount of clean-up work around the school, such as picking up trash.\n\nMost students, even high school freshmen, lived in dormitories. High school students were supervised by \"proctors\" (selected high school seniors in Tertia). High school students were required to study for two hours each night in their study rooms from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Students could not leave their rooms for any reason without permission. This requirement came as quite a shock to those in Sexta (freshmen) on their first night, when they were caught and scolded by a proctor when they left their study room to go to the bathroom without permission. Seniors (those in Tertia) were allowed one night off where they did not need to be in their study hall.\n\nFrom 9:00 to 9:30 pm all students gathered for a chapel service. From 9:30 to 10 pm, high school students were free to roam, and sometimes went to the local Lucky Supermarket to purchase snacks. All high school students were required to be in bed with lights out by 10:00 pm. There were generally five students in each dormitory room. The room had two sections: a bedroom area and (across the hallway) another room for studying. Four beds, including at least one bunk bed, were in the bedroom, and four or five desks were in the study room\n\nA few interesting words used by Concordia students were \"fink\" and \"rack.\" To \"fink\" meant to \"sing like a canary\" or \"squeal.\" A student who finked told everything he knew about a misbehavior committed by another student. \"Rack\" was actually an official term used by proctors and administrators who lived on campus in the dormitories with students. When students misbehaved they were racked (punished). Proctors held a meeting once a week and decided which students, if any, deserved to be racked. If a student were racked, he might be forbidden from leaving the campus grounds, even during normal free time School hours were from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm. After 3:30 pm and until 7:00 pm, students could normally explore the local area surrounding the school, for example, to go to a local store to buy a snack. However, if a student were racked for the week, he could not do so.\n\nProctors made their rounds in the morning to make sure beds were made and inspected rooms in the evening to ensure that students were in bed by 10:00 pm. Often after the proctors left a room at night, the room lights would go back on and students enjoyed studying their National Geographic magazines. Student might be racked if they failed to make their beds or did not make them neatly enough.\n\nAlthough California Concordia College no longer exists, it does receive some recognition by Concordia University Irvine. This is also the location of its old academic records.\n\nSources\n\nExternal links \n Photos of old campus\n\nEducational institutions disestablished in 1973\nDefunct private universities and colleges in California\nEducational institutions established in 1906\n1906 establishments in California\n1973 disestablishments in California\nUniversities and colleges affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,", "Did Edi have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "What hobbies did Edi have growing up?", "Rama started painting early in his childhood.", "Was he good at it?", "Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context.", "Where did he go to school?", "1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana." ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	How did his career begin?	8	How did Edi Rama career begin?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	true	[ "The Big Question is a five-part science documentary television series broadcast in the United Kingdom on the Five channel, beginning January 2004 and continuing into 2005. In the North American market, it has been re-released on the Discovery Science network. Each half-hour episode is hosted by a renowned authority, and examines the following provocative questions:\n\n Part 1 – \"How Did the Universe Begin?\" presented by Stephen Hawking\n Part 2 – \"How Did Life Begin?\" presented by Harry Kroto\n Part 3 – \"Why Are We Here?\" presented by Richard Dawkins\n Part 4 – \"Why Am I Me?\" presented by Susan Greenfield\n Part 5 – \"How Will It All End?\" presented by Ian Stewart\n\nThe series attracted controversy and criticism from creationists, as well as praise from other reviewers.\n\nReferences\n\nChannel 5 (British TV channel) original programming\n2000s British documentary television series\n2004 British television series debuts\n2005 British television series endings\nDocumentary television series about science", "The are Japanese mystery novels by Kouhei Kadono. Kadono began his career writing light novels, but this series came from a mainstream publishing label, Kodansha Novels. In 2008 Del Rey Manga announced that they would be publishing the first novel in the series in English, but did not release any.\n\nNovels \n , June 2000, \n When a dragon is murdered, the main characters must travel the globe, trying to discover how such a thing was even possible.\n , June 2001, \n During a sorcery tournament, sorcerers begin dying in unusual ways.\n , December 2002, \n A princess is found encased in crystal, and the main suspect flees to an island ruled by pirates\n , January 2005, \n In the aftermath of destruction, investigators ponder links between unsolved mysteries from a town's past.\n , March 2009, \n , January 2016, \n Beyond The Dragon's Skies\n\nReferences \n\nJapanese serial novels\nMystery novels by series\nNovels by Kouhei Kadono\n2000 Japanese novels\nJapanese mystery novels" ]
[ "Edi Rama", "Early life and Career", "Where did Edi grow up?", "Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania", "Who were Edi's parents??", "Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka", "What did Aneta do?", "a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore,", "Did Edi have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "What hobbies did Edi have growing up?", "Rama started painting early in his childhood.", "Was he good at it?", "Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context.", "Where did he go to school?", "1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana.", "How did his career begin?", "Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He" ]	C_f12ca9406b2f4ecf89a5f15bb3286d14_1	How did he go about doing that?	9	How did Edi Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy?	Edi Rama	Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. CANNOTANSWER	He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha.	Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama, 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, painter, writer, former pedagogue, publicist and former basketball player, who has served as the 33rd and current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Prior to his tenure as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, an office he held until 2000. First elected Mayor of Tirana in 2000, he was reelected in 2003 and 2007. The coalition of centre-left parties led by Rama in the 2013 parliamentary election defeated the centre-right coalition around the Democratic Party of Albania of incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Rama was appointed Prime Minister for a second term following the 2017 election. Rama won a third mandate following the 2021 parliamentary election in which he defeated the Democratic Party of Albania candidate, Lulzim Basha, for the second time in a row. He is the only Albanian Prime Minister in history to have won three parliamentary elections in a row. His party has won all five Albanian elections since 2013 (including two local elections). He was one of the initiators of Open Balkan, an economic zone of the Western Balkans countries intended to guarantee "four freedoms". Early life and career Born as Edvin Rama on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania, he is the first of two children of Kristaq and Aneta Rama. His father was Kristaq Rama (1932-1998), a well-known sculptor born in Durrës who was the creator of numerous statues during Communism in Albania. His great-grandfather, also named Kristaq Rama, was an intellectual who advocated for Albanian independence and schools, and he originated from Berat before later relocating to Durrës. Other ancestors from his paternal side come from the southeastern village of Dardhë, near Korçë. His mother, Aneta Rama (née Koleka) (1938-2020), was a graduate of medicine from the southwestern village of Vuno, Vlorë, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania. Rama states that the Koleka family, going back some centuries, is of northern Mirditor origin, and that the surname was derived from Kol Leka. Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenage years, his talent was noticed by two influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. He attended and graduated from the Jordan Misja Artistic Lyceum, an art school in Tirana. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. In 1982, he enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the Albanian communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992. Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha. In 1994, Rama moved to France, and tried to begin a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries. On 27 November 2002, he changed his first name by shortening it to Edi Rama. Political career During one of his trips back to Albania in January 1997, Rama suffered a physical assault. While perpetrators were never found, there were concerns over the involvement of the State Secret Service given Rama's outspoken criticism towards the Albanian government. In 1998, while in Albania for the funeral of his father, Rama was offered a cabinet position by the then-Prime Minister of Albania Fatos Nano. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. As a Minister, Rama immediately became known for his extravagance in a variety of ways, including his unique colorful dressing style. His innovative cultural projects, coupled with his unusual clothing and rebellious political style, helped him attract a great level of support. Mayor of Tirana (2000–11) In October 2000, the Socialist Party of Albania endorsed Rama in the election for Mayor of Tirana. The Democratic Party nominee was Besnik Mustafaj, an Albanian writer and diplomat. Rama won 57% of the vote, and was sworn in as mayor. After taking office, he undertook a radical campaign of bulldozing hundreds of illegal constructions and restoring many areas near Tirana's center and Lana River into their initial form. Rama earned international recognition by repainting the facades of many soviet-style, demolishing buildings in the city. The repainting gave the city a unique style, turning it into a tourist attraction. Rama was awarded the inaugural World Mayor Prize in 2004. The award committee, explained their decision stating that "Edi Rama is the man who changed a whole city. Now there is a new Tirana, colored, happy, with a new and improved infrastructure and cultural life". As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project. He planted thousands of new trees, making Tirana a much more environment-friendly city. Rama also expanded the existing roads and paved new ones, improving mobility. According to a UNDP report Rama played a critical role in the modernization of the local government, empowering municipalities and giving them, for the first time real power to impact the life of their communities. Rama was reelected Mayor of Tirana by defeating Democratic Party of Albania candidates Spartak Ngjela, a former attorney, in 2003, and Sokol Olldashi in 2007. In 2011, Rama decided to run for a fourth term in office. His opponent, Lulzim Basha was a member of Prime Minister Berisha's cabinet. Rama's reelection bid failed in a hotly contested election, after a court ruling decided hundreds of ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong ballot boxes were valid. The initial count saw Rama ahead by 10 votes. With all ballots counted Lulzim Basha won the race by 81 votes. Rama appealed the court's decision at the Electoral College and demanded the reinstatement of the initial tally. Rama's appeals were rejected, and Basha was sworn in as the new Mayor of Tirana. Rama and the Socialist Party criticized the judges involved in the court ruling. Leader of the opposition (2005–13) Having previously run as an independent in 2000, Rama registered as a Socialist in 2003. Later that year he announced a bid for the chairmanship of the Party. He and Rexhep Meidani, former President, ran against the incumbent, Fatos Nano. Rama's bid failed to gain sufficient support from the Assembly delegates. He received 41 votes, Rexhep Meidani received 61, while Fatos Nano was reelected with 456 votes. After the center-left coalition lost in the 2005 parliamentary election, Fatos Nano resigned as Chairman of the Socialist Party. In the subsequent election for the chairmanship of the Party, Rama defeated Rexhep Meidani 297 to 151 and became the Chairman of the Socialist Party. Capitalising on Rama's popularity as a mayor, the Socialist Party of Albania regained some of its appeal. Rama replaced many of the Party's influential leaders with younger loyalists. In his earlier attempts to regain control in the Parliament, he tried to frame himself as a political outsider. Inspired by the progressive policies of Tony Blair's "New Labour" and Anthony Giddens "Third Way", his political platform called for a "third direction beyond the traditional right and left". As the minority leader, Rama threw his support behind a set of constitutional amendments introduced in the Parliament during the summer of 2008. These amendments changed Albania's election law from a majoritarian representation with a proportional adjustment into a party-list proportional representation as well as curtailed Presidential powers. Despite criticism and protests from President Bamir Topi and MPs from the Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller political parties, the amendments were passed in the Parliament with a super-majority. Rama's reelection as Mayor in 2007 was greatly helped by the Socialist Movement for Integration's endorsement of his candidacy. Seeing the 2008 constitutional amendments voted by Rama's SPA as a serious threat to their existence in Albanian politics, Ilir Meta and the SMI did not join Rama in a pre-electoral coalition for the 2009 parliamentary election. The Socialist Party led by Rama were only able to win 66 seats in the Parliament. Incumbent Prime Minister Berisha's Democratic Party won 70 seats, while the remaining 4 seats went to Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration. Demands by Rama and the Socialists for a recount in the district of Fier were rejected by courts amidst criticism about the judges impartiality. Eventually, all four newly elected SMI members of the parliament voted support for Prime Minister Berisha's Democrats. The 2009 elections narrow defeat prompted Rama to continue his mandate as Chairman of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party opted for a hardcore dispute of the newly elected government by boycotting parliamentary debates for months and staging a hunger strike to prompt for domestic and foreign attention to the situation. The heated political debate surrounding the 2009 election has been pointed out as one reason for Albania's failed bid at gaining official candidate status in accession talks with the EU. In January 2011, a recorded videotape showed Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta negotiating informal pay-to-play fees with Dritan Prifti, Minister for the Economy, Commerce and Energy. On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead from government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. Prime Minister of Albania (2013–present) In 2013, the Socialist Party of Rama led the coalition of center-left parties (that included his former opponents, the SMI) into a landslide victory in the parliamentary election defeating the center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha. His platform, nicknamed "Renaissance" was based on four pillars: European integration, economic revitalisation, restoration of the public order and democratisation of the state institutions. Since September 2013, Rama has been serving as the Prime Minister of Albania. Policies as Prime Minister Since 15 September 2013, Rama is serving as the 33rd Prime Minister of Albania. During the electoral campaign, Rama stated that the return of public order was his number one priority. In 2013, the Albanian Police was able to cover actively only 55% of the territory. The Government invested heavily in modernizing, training, and improving financial benefits of the police force. The police earned international acclaim when in 2014 undertook a highly successful operation on Lazarat, a remote village in the south of the country, known for the production of narcotics. Rama has been committed to restructure the judicial system in Albania, which was one of the most corrupted and ineffective judicial systems in Europe at that time. In 2016, the Parliament approved the "vetting law". Based on this law, any judge or prosecutor which cannot explain his source of wealth or former dubious verdicts will be disqualified for life. In November 2016, the European Union stated that a successful implementation of vetting law remains the sole criterion to fulfill before opening accession talks. Other key reform was in the energy sector, left on the brink of bankruptcy from a previous failed privatisation effort. His government successfully enforced the payment of billions of unpaid bills and heavily invested in the modernization of the obsolete power distribution network. Economic policies have also been successful. The economic growth, from 0.5% in 2013, accelerated to 3.5% in 2016 and is expected to exceed 4% during 2017. Unemployment has been reduced steadily, thanks to 183.000 new jobs created in his first mandate. Furthermore, with 11.5% (2019) Albania has the 5th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. Other important reforms include the administrative reform, the social welfare and pension system reform, and the reform in higher education. Internationally, Rama is pursuing a historical reconciliation policy between Albanians and Serbs and his visit in Belgrade, in 2014 was the first visit of an Albanian Prime Minister in Serbia in over 70 years. In a second visit, during the Economic Forum of Nis, Rama compared the Albanian and Serbian reconciliation process with the historical reconciliation between the French and Germans after the Second World War. Rama is also a key supporter of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental platform of cooperation between the European Union and Western Balkans countries. The Socialist Party led by Rama participated at the 2017 parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. One day after, partial results suggested that the Socialist Party had won a majority. Which so happened. Rama and Ramush Haradinaj had a clash in late 2019 due to different views on the Mini-Schengen initiative. Rama stated that Haradinaj "lies due to ignorance or on purpose". In 2020 Rama filed a lawsuit for defamation against Haradinaj. Domestic policy Edi Rama adopts a neo-liberal economic policy, considered more right-wing than that of the governments of the Democratic Party of Albania. It reduces public spending and promotes public-private partnerships, a source of rapid enrichment for a circle of entrepreneurs close to power, in most sectors (tourism, higher education, health, public works, culture...). The International Monetary Fund (IMF), traditionally favorable to these policies, however, considered that the Albanian government was proceeding too quickly with privatisations and exposed the country to "significant fiscal risks". Economic growth rates approached 4 percent in 2017 and 2018, the unemployment rate fell from 17.5 percent in 2014 to 11.5 percent in 2020. According to him, the improvement in the economic situation can be explained by the political stability of the country: "We are a country without a Senate, without unions, without a radical left and without comedians who play politics." Nevertheless, salaries remain low and emigration has accelerated since 2014. Drug trafficking has grown considerably, accounting for nearly a third of GDP in 2017. According to estimates by Italian customs, 753,000 cannabis plants were destroyed in 2016, compared to 46,000 in 2014. Such destruction would have affected only 10 percent of the cultivated area. The Minister of the Interior, Saimir Tahiri (in office from 2013 to 2017), has himself been blamed for his involvement in this traffic. In 2018, he adopted a law, welcomed by the European Union, providing for competition between universities and their openness to the market. Increases in tuition fees have caused discontent among students. Albanian earthquake On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania and parliament granted Rama state of emergency powers to deal with the aftermath. Rama visited the earthquake epicentre to see the situation and damage, whereas political rivalries between him, Meta, and Basha were sidelined as they became involved in relief efforts. On 30 November Rama ended the search and rescue operation and the next day he attended the first funeral for the deceased. Rama reconfigured the state budget for 2020 to manage the post-earthquake situation to provide funds for the construction of homes. Rama called for additional expert assistance and monetary aid geared toward recovery from the international community stating that Albania lacks the capacity "to do this (reconstruction) alone." In mid December, Prime Minister Rama was criticised by NGOs, human rights organisations and parts of the media of misusing the situation to pass controversial legislation after he sought a three-month extension for his state of emergency powers from parliament. Rama tasked a group of fundraisers to manage the donations from the Albanian diaspora and to provide oversight for their usage. Rama contacted and held discussions with some influential world leaders and countries asking for assistance and the creation of an international donors conference. On 8 December, Rama was present at a Turkish donors conference for Albania that was organised and attended by President Erdogan. In January 2020, Rama publicised preliminary figures on damage caused by the earthquake that totaled more than €1 billion. Cabinet 1st Cabinet The 1st Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Bujar Nishani on 15 September 2013, becoming the 8th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 21 members, with fifteen coming from the Socialist Party, four from the Socialist Movement for Integration. The Cabinet is also the first in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. 2nd Cabinet The 2nd Cabinet of Rama was sworn in by President Ilir Meta in September 2017, becoming the 9th Cabinet of the Albanian Republic, since the collapse of communism in Albania. The Cabinet is composed of 15 members, coming all from the Socialist Party. The Cabinet is also the second in which the number of female ministers is equal to the number of male ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Foreign policy On several occasions, Rama has stated that the European Union needs to accelerate the integration process of the Western Balkans, considering it the only way to subdue the dangerous fractions in the region, preventing a possible eruption of violence, like the one that hammered the region in the 1990s. Rama has also denounced as destabilising the rising Russian influence in the region. Rama views Turkey as an important strategic partner and since 2013, he has developed a good personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In May 2016, Rama attended the wedding of Erdogan's daughter and Erdogan's presidential inauguration in 2018, whereas Erdogan endorsed him in mid-2017 for Albania's parliamentary elections. Rama has strengthened ties with Turkey, namely with the Erdogan government despite possible and growing contradictions with his pro-European enlargement stance. Rama has had a diverse agenda of high-level meetings. Since 2013, he has frequently met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, American President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Pope Francis, and other high-ranking diplomats. Rama, speaking in Israel in 2015, said that Albania was "proud to have been a country where no Jew was released to the Nazis, and where there are incredible stories of Muslim families who protected Jewish families," and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a joint declaration of friendship and a medical research cooperation agreement. On 10 October 2019, together with Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Rama signed the so-called Mini Schengen deal on regional economic cooperation, including on the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour between their three countries, while they await progress on EU enlargement. A month later, the leaders presented a set of proposals to achieve the "four freedoms" and the first steps towards them, including the possibility to the open border area. In December, the three leaders also met with Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro, opening the possibility for the country to join the zone. He describes Turkish leader Erdoğan as a "friend of Albania and strategic ally". At his request, he had schools linked to the Gülen movement closed, which he went so far as to describe as a 'terrorist organization'. Artist and writer Rama is an active painter and has had several personal painting exhibitions. Personal exhibitions include such as Janos Gallery in New York City (1993); Place de Médiathèque in France (1995); Acud in Berlin (1993); São Paulo in Brazil (1994); Israel (1995); National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania (1992); and Gallery XXI in Albania (1999). In 2014 and 2017 Rama held an exhibit in the Venice Biennial. In 2016, a collection of his works were exposed in the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. Rama is also an active writer. In 1992, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione(Reflections). In 2009, Rama published a collection of personal notes and paintings in a book entitled Edi Rama. In November 2011, Rama published a reflection book on his years as mayor of Tirana entitled Kurban. Personal life Edi Rama was baptized as Catholic and identifies as Catholic. Regarding his religious beliefs at present, Rama has declared himself an agnostic stating that "I do not practice any faith other than to the self and other people, but I don't believe that the existence or non-existence of God is a matter that can ever be resolved by mortals." Rama married actress Matilda Makoçi. The couple divorced in 1991. Rama has a son, Gregor, from his first marriage. Gregor is a testicular cancer survivor. Rama's daughter-in-law was one of the 51 victims of the 2019 Albanian earthquake. Since 2010, Rama has been married to Linda Rama (née Basha), an economist and civil society activist. Mrs. Rama is a graduate of the University of Tirana and holds a Master of Arts in Economy and is a Doctor of Sciences in Economy. Until 1998 she has worked in high levels of public administration including the Head of the National Privatization Agency. She has a long academic experience as a lecturer in International Finance at the University of Tirana and a lecturer of Public Policies in the European University of Tirana. She is the author of several scientific researches and publications in her field. Together they have a son, Zaho, born in 2014. Rama is a supporter of FK Partizani and Juventus. His younger brother, Olsi Rama, is the sporting director of Partizani Tirana. Criticism Violation of U.S. federal law – Contributions and donations by foreign nationals Rama and Bilal Shehu, a New Jersey limousine driver, attended one of U.S. President Barack Obama's fundraising events in October 2012, weeks before Obama's reelection. A photograph of Rama and Barack Obama from this event was shared by Rama on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Albania's 2013 Parliamentary Election, to imply a relationship with Obama. Rama's ticket to the event was in the name of Bilal Shehu's wife. In a plea deal with U.S. federal prosecutors, William Argeros, a U.S. citizen admitted to teaming up with Bilal Shehu to receive $80,000 "from a foreign source" and route it to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Obama's reelection bid and other Democratic candidates. Shehu pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to charges of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations in connection with the 2012 U.S. Presidential election and to a fundraising and political campaign committee of the President. Shehu admitted that he received the $80,000 wire transfer into his New Jersey-based bank account from a foreign bank account in late September 2012, knowing that he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee. On 2 February 2017 he was sentenced to one year probation. Makoçi's testimony in divorce hearings In October 2003 Gazeta Tema published a court document from Rama's divorce from actress Matilda Makoçi in 1991. According to the document, the breakdown in the marriage relationship started when Rama learned Makoçi was pregnant with their son Gregor. According to the document Rama told Makoçi he couldn't father the child due to a medical condition. The document states that Rama was not willing to submit to a DNA parentage testing and as such, Grigor's paternity remained undisputed. According to the document, Makoçi testified in the final divorce hearings that Rama claimed she got pregnant during a period when she was on vacation in Vlora, together with his father Kristaq and his mother Aneta. Rama has repeatedly disputed the veracity of this story, Gazeta Tema and Mero Baze (Gazeta Tema'''s chief editor since 1999) a former reporter for VoA and Radio Free Europe has retracted the story as fake. Involvement in electoral fraud In a series of 16 audio tapes published online by the German tabloid Bild, Rama and his cabinet members were recorded in conversations with police and members of organized crime ahead of the 2017 Parliamentary elections. In one of the tapes Rama is recorded in a conversation with Arben Keshi, a local police official, asking if "the objective had been met". In another recording, cabinet member Damian Gjiknuri was heard offering Keshi to send "a van of problematic guys" who "should not be too exposed" but may be needed "just in case" for the election. In other tapes, former Socialist MPs were recorded giving instructions to Keshi and other local officials on bribing constituents with cash and intimidating them with threats. In other tapes published by Bild, former Mayor of Durrës Vangjush Dako, appointed by SP was heard in conversations with members of drug trafficking and organized crime in connection to the 2017 elections. Attacks on the media Rama has been trying to intimidate the journalists and political commentators critical of him. Since rising to power in 2013, Rama has launched a series of nicknames towards them. Among other names, he uses a loanword "kazani" (a cauldron) to describe journalists, television hosts, political commentators. During his appearance in "Të Paekspozuarit", a weekly political show by Ylli Rakipi and his regular guests. Rama had an argument with Rakipi, Rama got angry and told Rakipi "You tell them, that you slaughter chickens, roast chickens and run away. You lied, sir, he did not say 300 thousand jobs. You eat chickens here with Lubonja and Bushati and give dog food to Albanians (viewers)" and Rakipi got angry too and said "Why am I something, prime minister? Controversial media law In December 2019, the government led by Rama, proposed changes in two laws regarding communications and information services in Albania, with focus on regulating the online media market, forcing them to register and giving authority to institutions controlled by the Parliament to fine online medias and journalists and block their contents. Called by him as the 'anti-defamation' law, it gives to the Authority of Audiovisual Media in Albania the competences of fining journalists and they can have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. Critics say this clause aims to decimate the finances of independent news outlets, whose limited funding would be likely to expire long before a court even hears the case. Civic society and media organizations in Albania protested the changes in the law, considering them as censoring free-speech and expressing their concerns, because the drafted law didn't take in consideration several recommendations made by international actors like the EU Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE. The draft received criticism from conservative politicians outside Albania. The Albanian Ombudsman also called the government on not approving the two anti-defamation draft laws, as they do not meet international standards. Other controversies In 2003, Rama appeared before the Albanian Parliament in an inquiry commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker. The commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. He has been accused of corruption and mismanagement of funds by the opposition, including corruption in the granting of building permits. In a 2002 town-hall meeting with actors from the National Theater, discussing whether the existing building needed to be demolished or not, the Mayor who was Rama at the time responded to the actors' requests to keep the existing building intact using sarcasm and suggesting that the actors might as well designate Violeta Manushi's underwear as a "cultural monument". Violeta Manushi, one of the icons of Albanian cinema, was 76 at the time. On 23 April 2013, after a guest speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Rama was involved in a physical altercation with Egin Ceka, a junior Albanian diplomat working for the Permanent Mission of Albania to OSCE. Ceka claimed Edi Rama physically assaulted him. The incident was later confirmed by the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Publications Rama, Edi; Klosi, Ardian (1991). Refleksione. Rama, Edi (2009). Edi Rama. Paintings Rama, Edi (2011). Kurban. Tirana: Dudaj. See also List of prime ministers of Albania List of Albanian painters References Further reading Presentation (on TED site) "Take back your city with paint" of Edi Rama Budini, Belina (2009). Edi Rama, Politikani Pop(ulist)-Star'', Tirana: UET Press. . External links Official website of the Albanian Council of Ministers Archived webpage of the Municipality of Tirana The Albanian Renaissance Documentary \|- \|- \|- 1964 births Living people 20th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian writers 20th-century Albanian painters 21st-century Albanian politicians 21st-century Albanian writers 21st-century Albanian painters Albanian artists Albanian expatriates in France Albanian former Christians Albanian male writers Albanian memoirists Albanian men's basketball players Albanian agnostics Basketball players from Tirana Government ministers of Albania Culture ministers of Albania Foreign ministers of Albania Sports ministers of Albania Members of the Parliament of Albania Harvard University staff Leaders of political parties Mayors of Tirana People from Tirana Politicians from Tirana Political party leaders of Albania Prime Ministers of Albania Socialist Party of Albania politicians University of Arts (Albania) alumni	true	[ "Follow Me! is a series of television programmes produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk and the BBC in the late 1970s to provide a crash course in the English language. It became popular in many overseas countries as a first introduction to English; in 1983, one hundred million people watched the show in China alone, featuring Kathy Flower.\n\nThe British actor Francis Matthews hosted and narrated the series.\n\nThe course consists of sixty lessons. Each lesson lasts from 12 to 15 minutes and covers a specific lexis. The lessons follow a consistent group of actors, with the relationships between their characters developing during the course.\n\nFollow Me! actors\n Francis Matthews\n Raymond Mason\n David Savile\n Ian Bamforth\n Keith Alexander\n Diane Mercer\n Jane Argyle\n Diana King\n Veronica Leigh\n Elaine Wells\n Danielle Cohn\n Lashawnda Bell\n\nEpisodes \n \"What's your name\"\n \"How are you\"\n \"Can you help me\"\n \"Left, right, straight ahead\"\n \"Where are they\"\n \"What's the time\"\n \"What's this What's that\"\n \"I like it very much\"\n \"Have you got any wine\"\n \"What are they doing\"\n \"Can I have your name, please\"\n \"What does she look like\"\n \"No smoking\"\n \"It's on the first floor\"\n \"Where's he gone\"\n \"Going away\"\n \"Buying things\"\n \"Why do you like it\"\n \"What do you need\"\n \"I sometimes work late\"\n \"Welcome to Britain\"\n \"Who's that\"\n \"What would you like to do\"\n \"How can I get there?\"\n \"Where is it\"\n \"What's the date\"\n \"Whose is it\"\n \"I enjoy it\"\n \"How many and how much\"\n \"What have you done\"\n \"Haven't we met before\"\n \"What did you say\"\n \"Please stop\"\n \"How can I get to Brightly\"\n \"Where can I get it\"\n \"There's a concert on Wednesday\"\n \"What's it like\"\n \"What do you think of him\"\n \"I need someone\"\n \"What were you doing\"\n \"What do you do\"\n \"What do you know about him\"\n \"You shouldn't do that\"\n \"I hope you enjoy your holiday\"\n \"Where can I see a football match\"\n \"When will it be ready\"\n \"Where did you go\"\n \"I think it's awful\"\n \"A room with a view\"\n \"You'll be ill\"\n \"I don't believe in strikes\"\n \"They look tired\"\n \"Would you like to\"\n \"Holiday plans\"\n \"The second shelf on the left\"\n \"When you are ready\"\n \"Tell them about Britain\"\n \"I liked everything\"\n \"Classical or modern\"\n \"Finale\"\n\nReferences \n\n BBC article about the series in China\n\nExternal links \n Follow Me – Beginner level \n Follow Me – Elementary level\n Follow Me – Intermediate level\n Follow Me – Advanced level\n\nAdult education television series\nEnglish-language education television programming", "Once There Was a War, published in 1958, is a collection of articles written by John Steinbeck while he was a special war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune from June to December 1943.\n\nSteinbeck's articles include descriptions of life on a troop transporter, an account of the liberation of a small Sicilian town, a description of how homesick US soldiers tried to grow their native vegetables in the English gardens where they billeted, and an account of how a detachment of US paratroopers tricked the German garrison at Ventotene into surrendering.\n\nSteinbeck did not report 'straight news', as he put it: he did not cover battles, or interview national or military leaders. As befitted the author of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck wrote about the experiences of the ordinary people, those who were doing the actual fighting, and those who did the vast number of unglamorous but vital support jobs which kept the armed forces operating.\n\nIn his Introduction, Steinbeck confesses that he felt 'a visitor' to the war, and was uncomfortable knowing that he could go home at any time, while the serving personnel could not. For this reason, he said, 'I never admitted to seeing anything myself, but always put my story in the mouth of another.' How much of his reporting is therefore of the 'eyewitness' class cannot be determined. For example, his descriptions of American and British torpedo boats in action against German forces seem like first-hand accounts, yet he nowhere refers to himself as present, despite his inclusion of convincing dialogue and detail. However, in his Travels with Charley, Steinbeck mentions wearing a naval officer's cap, 'Given me by a British torpedo boat captain, a very gentle gentleman and a murderer,' which phrase suggests that Steinbeck may well have observed action at first hand.\n\nFurther reading\n Owens, Louis D. \"The Threshold of War: Steinbeck's Quest in Once There Was a War.\" Steinbeck Quarterly 13.03-04 (Summer/Fall 1980): 80-86\n\n1958 books\nBooks by John Steinbeck\nAllied invasion of Sicily\nWorld War II memoirs\nViking Press books" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert" ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	Where is the Rodeo located?	1	Where is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo located?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	held in NRG Stadium.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "Abasolo is a small town that is part of the municipality of Rodeo in the Mexican state of Durango. Its correct name would be Abasolo, Rodeo, Dgo. for it is not independent.\n\nGeography\nIt is located next to the Nazas River which originates at the Sierra Madre Occidental.\nThe nearest city is Rodeo, which is the head of the municipality.\nThis particular town has no more room to grow due to its location in between the river and a mountain, therefore many of its population has fled to the nearby towns or cities.\n\nEconomy\nThe only shopping avenues are in the form of tienditas, which are house front stores. \nMost of the people live from farms where they grow chili, corn, tomatoes, watermelon, sweet potato, and fish from the Nazas River.\n \n\nPopulated places in Durango", "The Mesquite Championship Rodeo is a rodeo located in Mesquite, Texas, United States, that operates during rodeo season (June through August). Named the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, it is also called the Mesquite ProRodeo, or simply the Mesquite Rodeo. The rodeo is only a 15 minute drive from Dallas, Texas. The rodeo is a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo. In 2020, the rodeo was awarded the PRCA Small Rodeo of the Year award. It was also awarded the Texas Small Rodeo of the Year Award.\n\nHistory\nCharlie Columbus McNally founded The original Mesquite Rodeo, which was a permanent location and did not move town to town. It was held at the Charlie McNally's Arena which was located on Hickory Tree Road, a little to the north of present Rodeo Drive. The original Mesquite Rodeo dates from about 1946 but was preceded by the Pleasant Mound Rodeo which began in 1941, also started by Charlie McNally and is where Neal Gay got his start in 1945.\n\nIt was located on the northeast corner of Buckner Blvd and Scyene Road. Ironically it was closed when the City of Dallas annexed Pleasant Mound in 1950 and refused to issue a special zoning permit to the rodeo. Shortly after Neal Gay, Jim Shoulders and their associates purchased C.C. McNally's property in 1957. They built a new arena on the south side of the property on the north side of present Rodeo Drive for the 1958 opening of the professional, soon to be renamed, Mesquite Championship Rodeo. The entrance was still on Hickory Tree Road and passed north of the open arena (the roof was added in 1964) to a parking area on the west side. The brick kilns were just a few hundred feet southeast of the arena. The present arena was built in 1986 further south of the 1958 arena on the site of one of the clay pits. Rodeo Drive and Neal Gay Drive were constructed about the same time. The 1958 arena was torn down and the site remains undeveloped.\n\nAll that area had been in the Mesquite City limits since the mid 1950s expansion during the post war housing boom. The 1970 opening of 635 did not have any physical effect on the Mesquite Rodeo property but it did provide the visibility that led to increased attendance.\n\nThe Mesquite Championship Rodeo was televised on ESPN from 1981 to 1986, and from 1986 to 1999 on TNN. Finally, in the 2000s, it was televised on Fox Sports Networks. It reached over 8.3 million households, to date, the most televised rodeo in the world next to the NHSRA 20X Rodeo High telecast on RFD-TV. The Fox Sports Networks era would be the last in which the Mesquite Championship Rodeo was televised.\n\nIn 1985, ground was broken for the Mesquite Arena, a new facility for the Mesquite Rodeo, located near Interstate 635 and Scyene Road. By 1998, the facility was expanded to include a Convention Center, Exhibition Hall and a Hampton Inn & Suites. In 1999, Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, purchased Mesquite Championship Rodeo.\n\nBy 2001, attendance had grown to 200,000 during the season. In 2009, a group of investors formed a company called Camelot Sports & Entertainment and purchased the Mesquite Championship Rodeo from Hicks for an undisclosed sum. Camelot has reportedly invested nearly $1.5 million by adding high definition video boards over the bucking chutes, remodeling and refurbishing many of the suites in Mesquite Arena and adding a private restaurant called the 8 Second Club, which its members can use throughout the year. It was shortly renamed Resistol Arena after the Resistol hat company purchased the naming rights.\n\nIn 2015, Mesquite Championship Rodeo was sold to Stace Smith Pro Rodeo.\n\nThe facility has hosted Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, as well as Prince Rainier III of Monaco.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Website\n\nRodeos\nMesquite, Texas" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	How long does the rodeo last?	2	How long does the rodeo last at the Houston Livestock Show?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "Diamond Mine is the second album by Blue Rodeo, released in 1989. It was recorded in 1989 at Kingsway Studio in New Orleans. It is the last Blue Rodeo album to feature original drummer Cleave Anderson and includes several instrumental interludes by Bob Wiseman on the majority of versions. Diamond Mine was the second best-selling Cancon album in Canada in 1989.\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs by Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy except as noted.\n\n\"Swells\" (Bob Wiseman) - 0:49\n\"God and Country\" – 3:32\n\"How Long\" – 3:59\n\"Blues Piano\" (Bob Wiseman) - 0:43\n\"Love and Understanding\" – 4:46\n\"Girl of Mine\" – 4:34\n\"Diamond Mine\" – 8:18\n\"Now and Forever – 3:04\n\"Percussive Piano\" (Bob Wiseman) - 1:07\n\"House of Dreams\" – 4:39\n\"Nice Try\" – 6:51\n\"Fall in Line\" – 3:21\n\"One Day\" – 3:17\n\"Florida\" – 3:40\n\"Fuse\" – 3:40\n\"The Ballad of the Dime Store Greaser and the Blonde Mona Lisa\" – 3:24\n\nSome versions of this CD have just 13 tracks, excluding the three Bob Wiseman instrumental interludes.\n\n\"God and Country\" – 3:32\n\"How Long\" – 3:59\n\"Love and Understanding\" – 4:46\n\"Girl of Mine\" – 4:34\n\"Diamond Mine\" – 8:18\n\"Now and Forever – 3:04\n\"House of Dreams\" – 4:39\n\"Nice Try\" – 6:51\n\"Fall in Line\" – 3:21\n\"One Day\" – 3:17\n\"Florida\" – 3:40\n\"Fuse\" – 3:40\n\"The Ballad of the Dime Store Greaser and the Blonde Mona Lisa\" – 3:24\n\nThere are also many CDs that have the 13 track listing on the back, but 16 tracks on the actual CD.\n\nChart performance\n\nAwards \nBlue Rodeo won the Juno Award for Group of the Year in 1990 despite neither the album or any song from it being nominated for an award.\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n1989 albums\nBlue Rodeo albums\nAlbums produced by Malcolm Burn", "The Road & the Rodeo is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Aaron Watson, released in 2010 via Big Label. The album includes two non-charting singles, three cover songs, and original songs written by both Watson and other artists.\n\nContent\nThe album includes covers of Tom Petty's \"Walls\", Bruce Robison's \"Drivin' All Night Long\", and Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers' \"Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You)\". \"The Road\" and \"Walls\" were both issued as singles.\n\nReception\nThom Jurek of Allmusic rated it 3 out of 5 stars, saying that \"On one hand, Aaron Watson's The Road & the Rodeo stays close to his Texas country music, singer/songwriter roots; on the other, this is easily his slickest record to date and swinging for the fences in Nashville.\" Roughstock writer Matt Bjorke was more positive, stating that it \"continues his expansion into the ‘mainstream’ but instead of being slick and glossy or ‘pop’ or faux rock like some of his contemporaries, Watson’s music still features as much steel guitar and fiddle as it does telecasters.\"\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs written by Aaron Watson except as noted.\n\"Road & the Rodeo\" (Watson, Mark Sissel) - 1:09\n\"The Road\" (Elliot Park) - 3:21\n\"Walls\" (Tom Petty) - 3:10\n\"Best for Last\" - 3:44\n\"Fast Cars Slow Kisses\" - 3:10\n\"Bless Her Crazy Heart\" - 4:08\n\"Zero to Sixty\" (Watson, Drew Womack) - 3:54\n\"Sweetheart of the Rodeo\" - 2:29\n\"Conflict\" (David Dunn) - 3:26\n\"Houston\" (Larry Gatlin) - 2:57\n\"Hollywood\" - 3:09\n\"High Price of Fame\" - 3:30\n\"The Things You'll Do\" - 3:16\n\"Drivin' All Night Long\" (Bruce Robison) - 4:11\n\"After the Rodeo\" (Troy Olsen, Don Rollins) - 4:15\n\nChart positions\n\nReferences\n\nAaron Watson albums\n2010 albums" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert," ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	How many people participate in the rodeo?	3	How many people participate in the rodeo at the Houston Livestock Show?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	false	[ "Kiddie Kapers Parade is a Salinas, California based evening parade held annually since 1930. It is notable as the participants are limited to children. It is held in conjunction with “Big Week” which includes the California Rodeo Salinas, and it usually precedes the Colmo Del Rodeo night parade, as well as daily horse parades down Main Street. Children don costumes, ride decorated bicycles, appear as the Jolly Green Giant, or otherwise explore their creativity, with a theme for each year, and various divisions. As many as four generations of family have participated in the parade. The parade is referenced in numerous books.\n\nHistory \n\nIn 1911, the Salinas Rodeo, then known as the Wild West Show, was held at the Sherwood Park at the race track. It lasted a week, thus the name, \"Big Week\". During this era, the Colmo del Rodeo night parade began.\n\nIn 1930, the Salinas Exchange Club promoted the first Kiddie Kapers Parade as part of the Colmo del Rodeo on Saturday night. In 1931, the Kiddie Kapers Parade was changed to the night before the opening of the Salinas Rodeo, which is its current configuration.\n\nThere was no parade from 1942 to 1945 nor 2020.\n\nThe parade is unique in that only children are allowed to participate, and every child wins a prize, including at least a $1 bill. Approximately 1200 children participate annually. Each year has a theme for the children. In 2017, the theme was Kids Just Wanna Have Fun. Approximately 30,000 people view the parade.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Kiddie Kapers Parade\n\nSalinas, California\nEvents in California\nAnnual events in California\nParades in the United States\nRecurring events established in 1930", "Clay Carr (April 17, 1909 – April 1957) was an American rodeo cowboy who competed in the 1930s and 1940s. He was a two-time All-Around Cowboy champion in the Rodeo Association of America (RAA), and won three season discipline titles: two in steer roping and one in saddle bronc riding. In 1930, he won the All-Around Cowboy title and two season discipline championships to become the first Triple Crown winner in rodeo history. Carr's championships are recognized by the modern Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).\n\nBiography\nCarr was born in Farmersville, California. Having been raised on a cattle ranch, at the age of four he learned how to ride horses, and he gained further rodeo-related skills in his youth. Once, he was bitten on the leg by a rattlesnake while riding a horse, and required a week of medical treatment to recover.\n\nDuring his career, he lived in Visalia. In 1930, Carr claimed the RAA All-Around Cowboy championship, and was the winner of two season discipline championships, in the saddle bronc and steer roping categories. The three championships in one season gave Carr a Triple Crown, the first ever achieved in rodeo. As of 2015, he is one of 10 cowboys to accomplish the feat. Carr's second All-Around Cowboy title came in 1933; two years later, he was gored by a bull at a rodeo in Visalia, suffering a perforation of his abdomen. Carr finished second in the 1936 Chicago rodeo's combined bronc riding and calf roping standings, behind Lonnie Rooney. In 1940, he added a second steer roping championship. Carr was also a three-time champion of the California Rodeo, and appeared as a film actor in Westerns.\n\nAfter various mergers, the RAA was absorbed into the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA), which later became known as the modern PRCA. That association uses RAA standings from the pre-RCA era in its yearly rankings. Therefore, Carr is recognized by the PRCA as a world champion for the five season titles he won from 1930 to 1940.\n\nSports Illustrated's Susan Davis called Carr \"the Babe Ruth of rodeo riders\". Author Clifford P. Westermeier described him as \"one of the great cowboys of the age\", and said of his personality that he was \"a strange man, difficult to meet and extremely hard to get acquainted with.\" Regardless, Carr was a respected figure in the rodeo world; Westermeier wrote that he was \"regarded as a very tough customer in a business deal, fight, or a poker game.\" Carr was considered strongest in rodeos held in the western U.S., and rarely competed on the East Coast, although he did participate in some rodeos overseas. The Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum inducted Carr in 1955. He was also inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979, and the California Rodeo Salinas Hall of Fame in 2016.\n\nReferences\n\n1909 births\n1957 deaths\nPeople from Farmersville, California\nPeople from Visalia, California\nProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees\nAll-Around\nRoping (rodeo)\nSaddle bronc riders" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	What kind of events happen?	4	What kind of events happen at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	rodeo and concert,	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "A grey swan is an event which is known and possible to happen, but assumed not very likely to happen. In electrical engineering, gray swan refers to the kind of events that rarely happens but have great impact on power system.\n\nSee also\n Resilience (engineering and construction)\n Resilient control systems\n Black swan theory\n\nReferences\n\nMetaphors referring to birds", "\"What Kind of Fool\" is a 1981 vocal duet between Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb.\n\nWhat Kind of Fool may also refer to:\n\n \"What Kind of Fool\" (Lionel Cartwright song), a 1991 song by Lionel Cartwright\n \"What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before)\", a 1992 song performed by Kylie Minogue\n \"What Kind of Fool Am I?\", a 1962 song recorded by several artists\n \"What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)\", a 1964 song by The Tamms\n \"What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am\", a 1992 song by Lee Roy Parnell\n \"What Kind of Fool\", a 1988 single by All About Eve" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert," ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	What kind of concerts perform?	5	What kind of concerts perform at the Houston Livestock Show?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "The \"Professional Concerts\" were subscription concerts established in 1783 and given at the Hanover Square Rooms in London. Leading musicians of the day performed at the concerts.\n\nHistory\n\nBackground\nOther regular concerts began in London around this time: the subscription concerts established by Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel, which ran from 1764 to 1782, and the Concerts of Antient Music, which began in 1776. The prestigious Hanover Square Rooms, accommodating about 900 people, opened in 1775 with a concert given by Bach and Abel.\n\nEstablishment\n\nThe committee directing the Professional Concerts included Wilhelm Cramer, leader of the orchestra; William Dance, principal second violin; the cellist James Cervetto; and the composer and violinist William Shield. The subscription was five guineas for twelve weekly concerts.\n\nPerformers at the Professional Concerts included the tenor Samuel Harrison from about 1783, the oboist Friedrich Ramm in 1784, the pianist and singer Maria Theresia von Paradis in 1785, and the violinist George Bridgetower in 1790. William Thomas Parke wrote that in 1788 the Professional Concerts \"were allowed to be of the most perfect and gratifying kind, the band being composed of performers of the first talent in the kingdom, and the company of the most elegant description.\"\n\nRivalry with Salomon's concerts\nJohann Peter Salomon had been excluded from the Professional Concerts, and set up his own concerts in 1791, continuing until 1795. He brought Joseph Haydn to London to appear there.\n\nThe directors of the Professional Concerts, unable to make Haydn break his engagements with Salomon, invited his pupil Ignaz Pleyel to conduct concerts, hoping that rivalry between them would induce Haydn to perform at the concerts. This did not succeed, Haydn and Pleyel remaining on friendly terms. At Pleyel's first appearance in February 1792, which included a symphony he had written for the occasion, Haydn was in the audience.\n\nThe Professional Concerts, suffering from the popularity of Salomon's concerts, ended in 1793.\n\nSee also\n Vocal Concerts\n\nReferences\n\nBritish music history\nConcerts\nClassical music in London", "The Renaissance Street Singers is a New York City-based amateur choir that performs polyphonic sacred music a cappella in free concerts in public spaces of the city. It was founded in 1973 by John Hetland, who remains the conductor and also prepares the music.\n\nHistory \nJohn Hetland, a resident of Manhattan, founded the Renaissance Street Singers in 1973 as a group of amateur singers willing to perform music of the Renaissance in free concerts on open places of New York City on a regular basis. They focus on unaccompanied polyphonic sacred music. The group consists of about 25 people who love this kind of music and who wish to share it by singing for passers-by. They perform in public spaces and street corners around the city. In cold weather, they often perform in Grand Central Station. Despite the religious origin of the music, the performances are given without religious message. Concerts are normally on Sunday afternoons, two or sometimes three times a month, always free. Donations offered by listeners are politely refused.\n\nThe music performed, primarily from the 15th and 16th centuries, is a slowly changing list of motets, mass sections, and other sacred compositions, by composers such as Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, William Byrd, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Nicolas Gombert, and Manuel Cardoso. The music is mostly taken from Complete Works of ... volumes in the Performing Arts Research Library of the New York Public Library. Hetland transfers a photocopy of a chosen piece to a computer, translating the usually Latin text and fitting the words to the music. Sometimes this involves transposing the music to a suitable key.\n\nIn 2013, the choir was featured on National Public Radio's program \"All Things Considered\".\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Hillaby, Sue, \"A Sidewalk Renaissance,\" The Village Voice, September 8, 1975, p. 87.\n \n Yap, Diana Michèle, \"OK Chorales: Renaissance fare,\" Time Out New York, August 10–17, 2000, p. 51\n\nExternal links \n \n Renaissance Street Singers Early Music America\n \n Renaissance Street Singers onnow.tv\n\nA cappella musical groups\nChoirs in New York City\nEarly music choirs\nMusical groups established in 1973" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert,", "What kind of concerts perform?", "The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	Do they have food or drinks available for purchase?	6	Does NRG stadium have food or drinks available for purchase during the Houston Livestock Show?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	false	[ "Grape drinks (also known as grape soda, grape pop, or purple drink in certain regions of the U.S.) are sweetened drinks with a grape flavor and a deep purple color. They may be carbonated (for example, Fanta) or not (Kool-Aid).\n\nGrapeade first appeared as a variety of carbonated drink provided in soda fountains in American drugstores in the late nineteenth century, brands including Miner's and Lash's. A recipe for homemade grapeade appears in editions of Fannie Farmer's cookbook.\n\nToday, most commercially available grape sodas are based on artificial flavorings such as methyl anthranilate designed to simulate Concord grapes, and are colored deep purple with food coloring.\n\nHard grape sodas have been marketed by, e.g., Henry's Hard Soda. It is also possible to use non-alcoholic grape sodas in alcoholic cocktails, such as a grape soda whiskey cocktail, or frozen grape daiquiri.\n\nSee also\n\n List of brand name soft drinks products\n List of soft drink flavors\n List of soft drink producers\n List of soft drinks by country\n\nReferences \n\nSoft drink flavors\n \nDrink", "In catering, beverage functions are functions where beverages are served.\n\nWho pays \nOne important issue of beverage functions is who pays for the drinks. There are three main scenarios:\na cash bar (a.k.a. a no-host bar): Attendees pay for their own drinks.\na cash bar with tickets: The host issues vouchers to attendees for a limited number of free drinks, and attendees pay for any further drinks themselves.\na host bar (a.k.a. an open bar): The host pays for all drinks, either by the hour, by the bottle, by the drink, or per person.\n\nChoosing among the several options is influenced by several factors. One such factor is etiquette. Providing a cash bar at a function such as a wedding reception is generally considered poor etiquette in the United States.\n\nAnother such factor is cost. A cash bar is the least expensive option for a host. However, there are alternatives between a cash bar and a fully open bar that can limit costs. The host can set a hard limit on cost, beyond which all beverages have to be paid for by attendees. The host can specify that specific beverages, such as a few selected types of wines and beers, are paid for by the host, and that attendees pay for all other types of drinks. The host can set a time limit for an open bar, beyond which it reverts to being a cash bar. Or more complex combinations of these can be employed.\n\nSome venues, such as hotels, subject to the terms of their liquor licenses, may allow attendees to bring their own alcoholic drinks to beverage functions. However, they may also charge attendees a fee, usually charged per bottle (either at a flat rate or as a percentage of the bottle's price), for doing so, known as corkage.\n\nCash bars have their problems for caterers and venue managers. One major problem is the possibility of theft. To prevent this, managers can set up cashiers, who take money and issue drinks tickets, separate from the serving staff who actually serve drinks. Brown and Godsmark recommend to managers that they place only their most trustworthy staff in charge of the cash bars at banquets.\n\nConversely, open bars have problems for hosts, in that they can result in an increased number of intoxicated, and potentially obnoxious and aggressive, attendees, as compared to other options. With open bars, the level of waste also increases (which is reflected in increased costs to the host). Since attendees do not pay for their drinks, they often do not consider them to be as valuable as they would if they had paid for them themselves. This results in drinks being abandoned or forgotten, or simply discarded by guests who leave their drinks (as they go and do something else) after only partly consuming them and then replace them with fresh ones rather than finishing the drinks that they already had.\n\nTypes of drinks served \nThe types of drinks served at functions can vary, according to the type of the event, and the types and ages of the attendees. In particular, at wedding receptions whether the bride and groom are themselves alcohol drinkers can affect whether attendees pay for their own alcoholic drinks, or indeed whether alcohol is offered at all. Similarly, alcohol is not served at beverage events for children.\n\nAnother factor that affects whether alcohol is served is liability, for subsequent intoxication and anything that results from it. Many U.S. jurisdictions allow the victims of accidents to sue not only the person who was intoxicated, but also the person who served the alcohol, the person or company employing the bartender, and the board of directors of the company.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n \n \n\nDrinking culture\nSocial events" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert,", "What kind of concerts perform?", "The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music.", "Do they have food or drinks available for purchase?", "I don't know." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	Who attend the rodeo and concerts?	7	Who attends the rodeo and concerts at the Houston Livestock Show?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "The Livermore Rodeo is a rodeo held annually in Livermore, California on the second full weekend of June at the rodeo grounds at Robertson Park. It is the oldest event in Livermore and part of the famous California 6-Pack Rodeo Circuit. Famous rodeo participants frequent the event and it is often used as a backdrop or exteriors site in films. It is always preceded by the Rodeo parade through the Livermore Downtown area on Saturday morning of the rodeo weekend, and has had concerts by Country and Western musicians, including Mark Chesnutt in 2005. The Rodeo Association also hosts a Family Night during Rodeo week and a Volunteer Appreciation party after the rodeo is over. It is advertised as the \"world's fastest rodeo\".\n\nHistory\n\nDuring World War I, in 1918, the Red Cross was in dire needs of funds, so California cities and towns were assessed $1,200 each as a way of generating the needed money. John McGlinchey, who was president of the Livermore Stockman's Protective Association at the time, conceived the idea of holding a fund-raiser in the form of a rodeo to raise the money. A committee was appointed by McGlinchey to organise the rodeo, which was held the first time on a portion of a local ranch near the intersection of what is now Interstate 580 and Portola Avenue. The opening event was filmed by Universal Studios for a newsreel.\n\nThere was no rodeo in 1942–45 nor since 2020.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Livermore Rodeo Website\n\nLivermore, California\nRodeos", "Mesquite Arena is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Mesquite, Texas. It is home to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo and the Mesquite Outlaws indoor soccer team in the Major Arena Soccer League.\n\nThe arena has been holding events since 1985. The types of events in the modern age currently include rodeo, monster truck wars, boxing, and concerts. However, the arena is also available for other major events and can host groups of people up to 7,000. From early June to the end of August, however, the arena is occupied by the Mesquite ProRodeo and is not available then. Otherwise, though, the arena can be reserved for such events as business meetings, family reunions, trade shows, holiday parties, weddings and receptions, birthday parties, and company training.\n\nRodeo and other events \nThe rodeo features bull riding with many amenities and top riders. Recent country music concerts have featured Travis Tritt, The Charlie Daniels Band, Diamond Rio, Clay Walker, and Mark Chesnutt.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official Website\n\nMesquite, Texas\nIndoor arenas in Texas\nSports venues in Texas\nRodeo venues in the United States\nArena football venues\nIndoor soccer venues in the United States\n1985 establishments in Texas\nSports venues completed in 1985" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert,", "What kind of concerts perform?", "The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music.", "Do they have food or drinks available for purchase?", "I don't know.", "Who attend the rodeo and concerts?", "More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	Is it open to the public?	8	Is The Houston Livestock Show Rodeo and Concert at NRG Stadium open to the public?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "Chudleigh Cavern is a limestone cave outside the town of Chudleigh in Devon, England. The cave is deep and contains stalactites. A small part is open to the public as a show cave. The rest is open only to experienced cavers.\n\nDescription\nThe entrance to the cave is found in a public garden, the Rock House Garden, a protected \"triple Site of Scientific Interest,\" so designated by English Nature. The first part is open to the public, and contains several plants or lichens. The public section ends in a barrier, beyond which is a shaft. After the shaft a tight passage leads to some cave formations and a dead end.\n\nFlora and fauna\nThe cave is home to Belba pulveruleuta, a mite.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nShowcaves of Great Britain: The Rock Gardens\n\nCaves of Devon\nChudleigh", "The Open Museum is a community museum in Glasgow, Scotland. The Open Museum is run out of the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. It brings museum collections beyond the limits of the museum walls and out into the Glasgow community. The Open Museum is one of ten museums under the broader title the Glasgow Museums and many consider the Open Museum to be the “outreach arm.” Founded in 1989, the Glasgow Open Museum's goal is to let the public explore their archive without necessarily having to come to the museum. The people of Glasgow are allowed to use the objects for their own research and exhibitions.\n\nHistory\nSince 1989, the museum has worked with schools, senior centres, businesses, and prisons in addition to encouraging the public to engage with staff on community projects that explore contemporary issues that impact Glasgow. The Glasgow Open Museum's goal is to create a more fluid relationship with the public and to bring the Museum to those that cannot make their way inside the museum. In America a trend of artist inspired exhibits helped museums bring their pieces from the archives onto display, but never have American museums let the local public interact with the objects in the archives the way the Open Museum does.\n\nReferences\n\n1989 establishments in Scotland\nMuseums established in 1989\nMuseums in Glasgow\nCommunity museums" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert,", "What kind of concerts perform?", "The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music.", "Do they have food or drinks available for purchase?", "I don't know.", "Who attend the rodeo and concerts?", "More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale.", "Is it open to the public?", "Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	What day does the rodeo start on?	9	What day does the Houston rodeo start on?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	false	[ "The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits is the title of country singer Collin Raye's first greatest hits album. Released by Epic Records, the album contains the greatest hits from his first studio albums plus several new tracks.\n\nAmong the new recordings were three singles. \"What the Heart Wants\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\" were both Top 5 hits on the country charts. \"The Gift\", a collaboration with Jim Brickman and Susan Ashton, was released only to the adult contemporary format. Also included on the album is a cover of Journey's \"Open Arms\".\n\nIn October 1998 the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Little Rock\" (Tom Douglas) – 3:58\n \"I Think About You\" (Don Schlitz, Steve Seskin) – 3:27\n \"Not That Different\" (Karen Taylor-Good, Joie Scott) – 3:56\n \"That's My Story\" (Lee Roy Parnell, Tony Haselden) – 3:03\n \"If I Were You\" (John Hobbs, Chris Farren) – 4:06\n \"One Boy, One Girl\" (Mark Alan Springer, Shaye Smith) – 4:05\n \"In This Life\" (Mike Reid, Allen Shamblin) – 3:12\n \"My Kind of Girl\" (Debi Cochran, John Jarrard, Monty Powell) – 2:55\n \"That Was a River\" (Susan Longacre, Rick Giles) – 3:12\n \"What the Heart Wants\" (Michael Dulaney) – 3:461\n \"The Gift\" (Douglas, Jim Brickman) – 3:441\n feat. Jim Brickman and Susan Ashton\n \"Open Arms\" (Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry) – 3:221\n \"Little Red Rodeo\" (Charlie Black, Phil Vassar, Rory Michael Bourke) – 3:231\n \"Love, Me\" (Skip Ewing, Max T. Barnes) – 3:54\n\n 1Previously unreleased track.\n\nProduction \n \"Love, Me\" produced by Jerry Fuller and John Hobbs\n \"In This Life\" and \"That Was a River\" produced by Garth Fundis and John Hobbs\n \"The Gift,\" \"Open Arms,\" \"Little Red Rodeo\" produced by Billy Joe Walker Jr., Paul Worley and Collin Raye\n All other tracks produced by Paul Worley, John Hobbs and Ed Seay\n\nPersonnel \nThe following musicians perform on tracks 10 through 13:\n Susan Ashton – background vocals on \"The Gift\"\n Jim Brickman – piano on \"The Gift\"\n Larry Byrom – electric guitar on \"The Gift,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Joe Chemay – bass guitar on all tracks, background vocals on \"What the Heart Wants,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Larry Franklin – fiddle on \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Paul Franklin – steel guitar and Dobro on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n Sonny Garrish – steel guitar on \"The Gift,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Steve Gibson – mandolin on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n John Hobbs – keyboards on \"What the Heart Wants\" and \"The Gift\"\n Dann Huff – electric guitar on \"What the Heart Wants\" and \"The Gift\"\n Paul Leim – drums on all tracks\n Anthony Martin – background vocals on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n Gene Miller – background vocals on \"What the Heart Wants,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Steve Nathan – piano on \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Collin Raye – lead vocals on all tracks\n John Wesley Ryles – background vocals on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n Will Smith – autoharp on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n Billy Joe Walker Jr. – acoustic guitar on all tracks, electric guitar on \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Biff Watson – acoustic guitar on \"What the Heart Wants,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Dennis Wilson – background vocals on \"What the Heart Wants,\" \"Open Arms\" and \"Little Red Rodeo\"\n Paul Worley – acoustic guitar on \"What the Heart Wants\"\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences \n\n1997 greatest hits albums\nCollin Raye albums\nEpic Records compilation albums", "Livin Right is the debut album from Steve Forde & The Flange, and was first released in 2002 and then re-released in 2008.\n\nTrack listing\n\"Roughstock Riders\"\n\"Chasin' The Sun\"\n\"Give It All\"\n\"Livin' Right\"\n\"First Thing On My Mind\"\n\"In The Stars\"\n\"What I'm Talkin' About\"\n\"Rodeo Freak\"\n\"One Day At A Time\"\n\"Modern Day Outlaw\"\n\"Something I'm In Love With\"\n\"She Shines\"\n\nSingles\n\"What I'm Talking About\" was the first single from the album, whilst \"Rodeo Freak\" was the second single release and reached number 1 on the CMC chart.\n\nReferences\n\nSteve Forde albums" ]
[ "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo", "Rodeo and concert", "Where is the Rodeo located?", "held in NRG Stadium.", "How long does the rodeo last?", "20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert,", "How many people participate in the rodeo?", "featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys.", "What kind of events happen?", "rodeo and concert,", "What kind of concerts perform?", "The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music.", "Do they have food or drinks available for purchase?", "I don't know.", "Who attend the rodeo and concerts?", "More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale.", "Is it open to the public?", "Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public.", "What day does the rodeo start on?", "I don't know." ]	C_16fbf9263e84407f8ebdf2aac5a8dd35_0	Are the concerts outside?	10	Are the Houston Livestock Show concerts outside?	Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo	One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is run independently of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, but the winnings do not count towards the competitors' qualification for the PRCA National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston is an invitational, featuring 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. On the final evening, the rodeo hosts the Cinch SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. The finals and the SuperShoot are televised on Fox Sports. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Tejano music night generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. CANNOTANSWER	A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert.	The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square. In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins. The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others. History Early years In the early part of the 20th century, Houston-area ranchers developed a new breed of cattle, the American Brahman, which was a blend of four breeds of cattle from India. The cattle were well-adapted to the hot, swampy conditions of the Texas Gulf Coast. In the early 1920s, James W. Sartwelle, a stockyard manager from Sealy, Texas, founded the American Brahman Breeders Association. Ranchers had no opportunities to show their cattle and raise awareness of the breed. Some attempted to show at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas, but they weren't allowed into the main arena. In January 1932, Sartwelle invited six other businessmen to a lunch at the Texas State Hotel. They decided to host a livestock exposition in Houston. Sartwelle was named the first president of the new Houston Fat Stock Show. Their inaugural event was held in late April 1932 at Sam Houston Hall in downtown Houston. It was primarily a regional event, designed to showcase the agriculture and livestock, including Brahmans, in the area around Houston. The show lasted one week and ran a deficit of $2,800. Approximately 2,000 people attended the exposition, where they were also entertained by the Future Farmers Band, comprising 68 high school students from around the state. The Grand Champion Steer was purchased by a local restaurant owner for $504. The Fat Stock Show was held annually for the next four years. Realizing they had outgrown the space, organizers began looking for a larger venue. Shortly after the 1936 show ended, Sam Houston Hall was torn down. Sam Houston Coliseum, a 10,000-seat arena, would take its place. To allow for construction time, the 1937 exposition was cancelled. The year off allowed Fat Stock show organizers to solidify plans for a larger event. When the show resumed in 1938, it included a parade through downtown Houston, a carnival and midway, and a rodeo with a total purse of $640.50. In the 1940s, despite World War II, organizers added musical entertainment. Local talent was invited to perform after the rodeo on some evenings. In 1942, singing cowboy Gene Autry became the first nationally recognized entertainer to perform at the show. Attendance flagged in the early 1950s. To attract more attention to the event, organizers decided to hold a cattle drive. In 1952, the media were invited to join cowboys on a trek from Brenham, Texas to the Fat Stock Show. The publicity stunt was well received. The following year, the Salt Grass Trail Association again held the cattle drive. Other areas of the state organized their own trail rides to the show. This began the transition from a smaller regional event to larger, statewide notice. Archer Romero, one of the key proponents of the trail ride, took over as president of the Fat Stock Show in 1954. That year, he founded the Go Texan Committee to further publicize the show. The committee would designate a day shortly before the show commenced as Go Texan Day. They encouraged Houston residents to dress in Western wear. The day had the dual purpose of celebrating Texas culture and advertising the show. In 1957, Myrtis Dightman organized the first trail ride for African-Americans. He led 10 other cowboys in a ride from Prairie View, Texas to Houston. Because of their color, they were not welcomed in Memorial Park, where trail riders typically spent the night. Armed guards were there to ensure that the men could enter safely. That same year, the show granted its first major scholarship. Ben Dickerson was given $2,000 ($16,000 in 2016) towards his education. This was the first step a major shift in the show's purpose. Over the next few decades, the show placed an increasing emphasis on education and scholarships. Astrodome era Throughout the 1950s, influential local leaders had been advocating that the city acquire a professional sports team. In 1957, the Texas State Legislature granted Harris County the ability to issue bonds to finance a new stadium, so that the city could attract a team. The county put together a commission to formulate a plan. Romero stepped down as Fat Stock Show president to join the commission. They visited stadiums in several large cities, as well as a fairgrounds in Oklahoma. After several years of research, the commission recommended that the county build both a stadium and a connected, air-conditioned coliseum. The presentation to the county commissioners listed four main uses for the new facility: 1) Major league baseball, 2) football, 3) the Fat Stock Show, and 4) various other activities. County commissioners approved the project, sending it to a vote of Harris County residents. Just before the election, Fat Stock Show organizers announced that the show would donate near South Main for the project, provided the show have input into the design. Voters approved the new stadium, and the Fat Stock Show became one of the focal residents of the new Astrodome. The show was renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1961. The show had continued to grow, and organizers realized that Sam Houston Coliseum would not be a viable alternative for much longer. The number of exhibitors had declined because many activities were held outside in tents. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled because organizers could not find space for them. Construction began on the Astrohall, next to the Astrodome, in 1965. The following year, the Livestock Show and Rodeo officially moved to the Astrodome. To mark their new location, the organizing committee introduced a new logo, the Bowlegged H. The first night of the rodeo featured entertainment by the stars of the television series Gunsmoke. Some locals scoffed at the idea that the rodeo and concert could fill a 45,000-seat stadium, but more than 40,000 fans attended the rodeo the night Jimmy Dean performed that year. Louis Pearce Jr served sixty years as a board member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He served on the executive committee as president and CEO, and remained an active executive committee member until his death in 2012. As a result of his dedication and significant contributions to the event, Pearce became known as "Mr. Houston Livestock Show". The first Hispanic trail ride commenced in 1973. Calling themselves Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride, the group journeyed from the border crossing at Reynosa, Mexico to Houston. The Go Texan committee launched the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest in 1974. Seventeen teams entered the competition, which was held in the Astrodome parking lot. Teams were asked to barbecue a minimum of on a wood fire. The inaugural judges included actor Ben Johnson. The competition grew in popularity; by 1981 it had grown to over 200 teams, with 45,000 people visiting. In 1988, the show added a 5k run and 10k fun run through downtown Houston. Participants would pay an entry fee, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund. 1990s By the 1990s, the show had been expanded to 20 days. Each evening featured a rodeo, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). The rodeo offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, second only to the National Finals Rodeo. After the rodeo, attendees would see a concert, usually by a famous entertainer. Tickets were relatively inexpensive. For $10 or a little more, a person could buy a ticket to see the livestock shows, wild west shows, the rodeo and concert, and enjoy the carnival. The livestock show was billed as the largest of its kind, with more animals shown by adolescents than anywhere else in the country. Winning livestock were auctioned at the end of the judging, and, in the 1990s, the combined auction take was usually over $7 million. This was far beyond market value. The rodeo was generally limited to the top PRCA contestants, based on prize money earned throughout the year. It was popular with cowboys; Houston won the inaugural Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year award from the PRCA in 1992, and then won each of the next four years as well. The facility had huge screens hanging from the ceiling. Attendees could watch the competition live, then see an instant replay on the screens. In 1996, the rodeo was halted one evening. The crew on the space shuttle Columbia appeared live on the big screens to address the crowd. Later that year, country singer George Strait set a record, having played to more than 1 million Houston rodeo attendees. The 1996 rodeo earned a net profit of $16.8 million and gave more than $7.9 million away in scholarships, assistantships, and research grants. The Hideout was created in 1997 to give attendees more entertainment options after the rodeo and concert had ended. It is a nightclub for adults over 21 to dance and drink. 21st century A new venue, Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium), was built on the Astrodome grounds in 2002. The rodeo marked its last night in the Astrodome on March 3, 2002, with a performance by country legend George Strait. The show was recorded and became Strait's first official live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome. Following the show, the Astrohall was torn down. A new exhibition space, Reliant Center, was constructed on the grounds, expanding exhibition capacity to 1.4 million square feet. Rodeo executives moved their offices into the second floor of the center. When the rodeo opened in 2003 in its new homes, Strait performed on opening night. In the first two seasons at Reliant, the Hideout was cancelled, but it resumed in 2005, now located within the Astrodome. In 2004, show organizers added a new event, Rodeo Uncorked! International. Vintners from around the world entered their wines into a competition. These were then auctioned, raising $313,700. The following year, the wine auction raised more than $500,000. To give livestock show attendees the opportunity to taste the wines, the show launched the Wine Garden in 2008. Attendance at the rodeo began falling. Attendees would purchase a ticket and arrive just before the concert, leaving a largely empty stadium for the rodeo itself. Joe Bruce Hancock, then the general manager of the rodeo, theorized that the audience was more urban and less familiar with rodeo events. The current show structure moved slowly and made it difficult for this type of audience to follow what was happening. As one of the PRCA-sanctioned rodeos, show organizers had little ability to make changes. The PRCA required that certain events be held, dictated the general structure of the rodeo, and insisted that each organizing committee use the PRCA national registration system. This meant that rodeos did not know which contestants were going to be appearing, or on which days. The Houston rodeo committee requested a waiver from the PRCA in 2008. Houston would still remit 6% of the rodeo purse to the PRCA, but they would change the format and the registration system. Now, the rodeo knew who would be competing on which days and could market those individual appearances. The rodeo was restructured into a playoff format. Attendance at the rodeo skyrocketed. Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote said competitors appreciated the changes: "It was exciting to be a part of because people were really getting into it. Finally we were performing for a real crowd in Houston." The finale of the 2008 rodeo was the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour. The same year, HLSR was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame along with 15 other PRCA rodeos that had previously been granted special recognition. During the 2009 state legislative session, local state senator Mario Gallegos filed a bill that would require the livestock show organizing committee to comply with the state open records rules. The bill would also encourage the rodeo to contract with more minority-owned business and to add minorities to the livestock show's executive committee. At the time, the 19-member executive committee composed entirely of men, without a single Hispanic or African-American representative. Livestock show president Leroy Shafer insisted that the legislation was unprecedented, and that non-profits should not be held to the same standards as public entities. Shafer maintained that the executive committee membership was determined in large part by length of volunteer service, with the members having served, on average, for 37.5 years. According to Shafer, in time minorities and women would accumulate the years of service required to be on the committee. Minority leaders in Houston advocated a boycott. The controversy caused new Harris County sheriff Adrian Garcia to decline an invitation to be co-grand marshal of the rodeo parade, although Garcia still marched in the parade as part of the sheriff's office mounted patrol. When the Astrodome was permanently closed in 2009, the Hideout moved to a giant tent on the grounds of the facility. The rodeo's waiver from the PRCA expired in 2011. Houston applied for a renewal but were denied. The PRCA was under new management, who insisted that all of their rodeos should abide by the same rules. The show ended its contract with the organization, making the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo an independent rodeo. As an unsanctioned rodeo, none of the prize money would count towards competitors' world standings, and thus qualification for the National Finals Rodeo. Some competitors were upset with the change, as winning the RodeoHouston $50,000 prize had generally been enough to qualify a cowboy for the National Finals Rodeo. However, because the $1.75 million purse was the largest one in rodeo at that time, there was little difficulty in attracting cowboys. Because they were now independent, the show could now invite specific competitors who might not otherwise have qualified to appear, such as local cowboy, 8-time world champion calf roper Fred Whitfield. Of the 280 competitors invited to attend in 2012, all but one accepted. In an additional change, the rodeo dropped the PRCA's Xtreme Bulls tour from its last evening. As a replacement, they offered the Cinch RodeoHouston Super Shootout, inviting the champions from the top 10 rodeos in North America to compete in bull riding, saddle-bronc and bareback riding, and barrel racing. Two of the rodeos represented, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede, were also non-PRCA sanctioned invitiational rodeos. Total attendance in 2011 topped 2.26 million, an increase of almost 119,000 people over 2010. In 2019 & 2020 and resuming in 2022, RodeoHouston has been sanctioned by the PRCA again. The Super Series is PRCA-sanctioned and money won here by contestants counts toward the world standings for the National Finals Rodeo. However, the Super Shootout is unsanctioned and money won here does not count toward the PRCA world standings. Also in 2019, RodeoHouston won the PRCA Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year Award. On March 11, 2020 after running for 8 of 20 planned days, the rodeo was shut down by the city of Houston after evidence emerged of community spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Montgomery County constable deputy in his 40s who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended a barbeque cookoff at the rodeo. The man was hospitalized and at least 18 rodeo attendees tested positive for coronavirus, though it is unclear whether they all contracted it at the event. It was the only time in the event's history the Rodeo got shut down. The 2021 edition of the rodeo was originally rescheduled to May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after several weeks, it was cancelled altogether, making it the event's first cancellation in 84 years, with the 89th edition instead being deferred to 2022. Events Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition Almost 3,000 bottles of wine are submitted each year for judging in the Rodeo International Wine Competition. High scoring wines are served to the public at the Rodeo Uncorked! RoundUp and Best Bites Competition before the HLSR begins. More than 5,000 people purchase tickets to attend the event. There, they can sample food from more than 100 local restaurants and vote on their pick for tastiest food. During the livestock show, attendees can purchase glasses of these wine entries at the Wine Garden, an outdoor area comprising six tents that shelter 30,000 square feet of space. Live music is offered in the Wine Garden area each evening. Go Texan Day The unofficial kickoff of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is Go Texan Day. Traditionally held the Friday before the rodeo begins, the day is meant to encourage the Houston community to celebrate Western culture. Houston-area residents are encouraged to wear Western attire, such as jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The day is an unofficial holiday, and local school districts and many businesses encourage their students and employees to participate. Writing in The New York Times, journalist Manny Fernandez described Go Texan Day as ""the one day of the year on which people in Houston dress the way people outside Houston think people in Houston dress". Trail rides From 1952 to 2020 & resuming in 2022, traditional trail rides have been a part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As of 2017, there were 13 official trail rides, totaling over 3,000 riders. The trail rides range in size from a dozen to over one thousand people who ride on horseback or in horse-drawn wagons from various areas of the state to Houston. They make their way at about per hour, covering up to each day. Many of the routes take place in part along major highways and busy city streets, making safety a major concern. The trail rides last from a few days to three weeks, depending on the distance they cover. Some of the participants are able to join only on weekends or at the end of the trip. The days start very early, and often end with live music or a small celebration. Many riders choose to camp in recreational vehicles rather than in the open. Each morning, they drive their vehicles and horse trailers to the next camping spot, then have a bus or convoy take them back so they can retrace their path on horseback. Participants can bring their own provisions, or, in some cases, purchase meals at a chuck wagon that is also following the trail. The rides converge at Memorial Park in Houston on Go Texan Day, the Friday before the livestock show and rodeo begins. The city closes some roads downtown to allow the riders to reach their destination safely. The resulting traffic interruption cause annual complaints from those who work downtown. The following day, all of the trail riders participate in the parade. Rodeo parade and Rodeo Run The official kickoff of the show is the annual Rodeo Parade. It is held the Saturday before the show begins and runs through downtown Houston. The parade features members of the 13 trail rides, influential Houstonians, bands, and floats. Preceding the parade is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Run. More than 10,000 people compete annually in 5k and 10k fun runs. All proceeds go to the show's scholarship fund. The run generally begins near Bagby Street and ends at Eleanor Tinsley Park. World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the livestock show begins, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, established in 1974, is held on the grounds of NRG Park. It is one of the largest barbecue cookoffs in the United States, but it is not sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. More than 250 teams, including a handful from outside of the United States, compete to be named best entry in several categories, including brisket, chicken, and ribs. The barbecue must be cooked on a wood fire; electric or gas fires are prohibited. Entries are judged on a 50-point scale, with the most points gained for taste and tenderness, and lesser amounts available for smell and the look and feel of the entry. Winners are named in each category, and then an overall Grand Champion is named. Teams can also compete for non-food-related awards, such as cleanest area, most unique pit, and most colorful team. Each barbecue team has their own tent on the grounds. Many offer their own entertainment, generally cover bands or djs. Entrance into each tents is by invitation only. Many teams sell sponsorships that provide access to their tent, with the money often going to charity. Attendees without an invitation to a specific tent can congregate in one of the three general admission areas, each with its own live entertainment. A record 264,132 people attended the World's Championship Barbecue Contest in 2013. The 49th is scheduled for 23–25 February 2023. Rodeo and concert One of the largest draws for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the 20 consecutive evenings of rodeo and concert, held in NRG Stadium. Tickets are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $29 in 2016, and also grant admission to the livestock show and fairgrounds. More than 43,000 season tickets are sold every year, with the remaining seats 30,000 seats available for individual-show sale. Members of the HLSR are given an opportunity to buy individual tickets before the general public. RodeoHouston is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It offers one of the largest prize purses in North America, over $2 million, which count for the PRCA's National Finals Rodeo. RodeoHouston features 280 of the top professional cowboys. They compete in a playoff format, with the ultimate champion in each event earning $50,000. For one day, contestants compete in the RodeoHouston SuperShootout. Champions from each of the top 10 rodeos in North America are invited to compete as teams in a subset of rodeo events. In 2020 & resuming in 2022, the entire rodeo has been televised live on The Cowboy Channel. After the professional rodeo concludes, children are given an opportunity to compete. Each evening, 30 high school students from across the state compete in the calf scramble. They are given the opportunity to chase down (on foot) and catch one of 15 calves, put a halter on them, and drag them back to the center of the stadium. Winners are given money to purchase their own heifer or steer to show the following year. Immediately following the calf scramble is mutton busting. Five- and six-year-olds wearing protective gear try to ride a sheep across a portion of the arena. On the last night of the rodeo, the winners from each of the previous evenings compete again to see who will become grand champion. A rotating stage is then brought into the arena for the nightly concert. The majority of evenings are performances by country music singers, although several nights are dedicated to pop or rock music. The annual Go Tejano Day generally draws the largest crowds. The winner of the annual Mariachi Invitational competition is invited to perform onstage with the Tejano acts. Grounds Visitors who are not attending the rodeo and concert can purchase a lower-cost general admission ticket to gain access to all of NRG Park except the stadium. According to livestock show CEO Joel Cowley, "if we can draw people here for a concert or a carnival or a rodeo and teach them something about agriculture, it’s a win in regard to our mission." NRG Center contains AgVenture, which provides educational displays about agriculture and the origins of the food for sale at grocery stores. More than 61,000 schoolchildren visited AgVenture in 2015 on official tours. Displays include an area where attendees can see cows, pigs, and sheep give birth or see chickens hatch. There are also displays with live rabbits and honeybees. NRG Center also hosts a large vendor area. The grounds feature an area where children can do pretend farm chores and compete in races using pedal-driven tractors. There is also a petting zoo, pony and camel rides, and a full carnival and midway. Over the course of the 20-day event in 2015, visitors purchased over $23 million of food outside of the stadium. Other competitions are held throughout the three weeks at NRG Center and NRG Arena. These include open cattle shows and a paint horse competition. Children with mental and physical disabilities are invited to compete in the Lil' Rustlers Rodeo, which offers imitation rodeo events, such as riding a stick horse. Free educational seminars are available throughout the three weeks of the livestock show. They are open to the public and cover topic related to wildlife, agricultural in general, and farming and hunting. Adults can visit The Hideout, a temporary dance hall located in a large tent near NRG Arena. After the show in NRG Stadium concludes, The Hideout features live music from new artists. Several past performers at The Hideout, including the Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, and the Eli Young Band, later became headliners at the main rodeo show. Approximately 2,000-3,000 people visit The Hideout each evening. Livestock show HLSR is the largest indoor livestock show in the world. For a full week, cattle auctions are held in NRG Arena for professional breeders to sell their stock. The livestock show has a larger international presence than any other. In 2017, the Ministers of Agriculture from Russia and Colombia made official visits to HLSR, joining more than 2,600 other international businessmen representing 88 countries. The HLSR International Committee estimated that they facilitated more than $2.6 million in agriculture sales between livestock show participants and international visitors in 2016. Junior market auctions are also held. Children from around the state show the livestock that they have raised, including cows, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and chicken. The livestock are judged, with the winners auctioned off. It is the largest set of animals to be shown and judged of any livestock show. Most champion animals sell for well over market value. Winning children are guaranteed a certain amount of scholarship money; if the bid is larger than that amount, the excess funds are directed to the general scholarship fund. More than 4,368 cattle were shown in 2017, with Brahmans the largest category. Impact HLSR is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and ranks as the 7th-largest Better Business Bureau accredited charity in Houston. Its primary source of revenue is an annual livestock show and rodeo and the events leading up to it. HLSR has 85 full-time employees and over 31,000 volunteers, divided into 108 committees. The volunteers contribute an estimated 2.1 million hours of work per year, averaging almost 68 hours per person. All of them are required to pay a minimum fee of $50, and some committees require a larger donation. The most popular committees have a wait list. More than 2.5 million people, including visitors from around the world, attended in 2016. It is the largest cultural event in Houston, and its attendance numbers dwarf those of annual attendance for most professional sports teams and most major cultural events in other cities. In comparison, New Orleans' Mardi Gras generally draws about 1.4 million visitors. In 2015, the organization reported operating revenue of $133.35 million. The Corral Club, which covers the sale of much of the alcohol on the grounds, but not that within the stadium, sold more alcohol in the three weeks of the HLSR than any other mixed-beverage permit holder in the state for the month of March 2016, and in the year prior was only outsold by the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. A 2010 economic impact analysis estimate that the HLSR funneled $220 million into the Houston economy, with almost half of that coming from visitors outside of the Houston metro region. HLSR and its suppliers and vendors paid over $27 million in taxes to local entities. The study's author estimates that by 2017, the HLSR would be contributing almost $500 million to the local economy each year, the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every year. HLSR awarded $26.07 million in scholarships, grants, and graduate assistantships in 2017. More than 750 students received scholarships, many of them worth $20,000 over four years. Recipients can pursue any field of study but are required to attend a university or college in Texas. Eleven different colleges were awarded funds to pay for graduate assistants. The remainder of the money was allocated for grants to other nonprofits or educational facilities to provide programs to help educate youth about agriculture or pioneer heritage. Since 1932, HLSR boasts that it has given away over $430 million. Milestones 1931 : First established as The Houston Fat Stock Show. 1932 : First Show is held at the Sam Houston Hall. 1937 : No rodeo due to cancellation. 1938 : Moved to new location: Sam Houston Coliseum. 1942 : First star entertainer: Gene Autry, "the Singing Cowboy"; calf scramble event added to the Show's rodeo. 1943–45 : No rodeo due to World War II. 1946 : Rodeo resumes. 1952 : First trail ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) commences from Brenham, Texas. 1957 : First major educational scholarship ($2,000) awarded to Ben Dickerson. 1961 : Name changes to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 1963 : The School Art Program begins 1966 : New location: Astrodome complex; Astrohall built for Livestock Exposition. 1970 : Research program launched committing $100,000 annually in support of research studies at various universities and colleges in Texas 1974 : The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. Elvis Presley sets attendance record of 43,944. On his second show, on the same day, he breaks his own record drawing 44,175, for a one-day record 88,119 1975 : The Astroarena is completed. 1977 : Four-year scholarships increased from $4,000 to $6,000. 1983 : Four-year scholarships increased from $6,000 to $8,000. 1989 : Scholarship program expands to Houston metropolitan area. 1992 : Four-year scholarships upgraded from $8,000 to $10,000 retroactive to all students currently on scholarship. 1993 : Tejano superstar Selena breaks attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing a crowd of exactly 57,894 fans. 1994 : Tejano superstar Selena sets another attendance record at the Astrodome by drawing another crowd of 60,081 fans, breaking her previous record. 1995 : Tejano superstar Selena holds famed Astrodome concert with over 67,000 fans, again, breaking her previous records 1997 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence is created as a 3-year pilot program with $4.6 million in funding; websites www.hlsr.com and www.rodeohouston.com introduced. 1998 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 60 per program, totaling 120 four-year $10,000 awards. 1999 : Number of 4-H and FFA scholarships increased to 70 per program, totaling 140 four-year $10,000 awards; Opportunity Scholarships awarded based on financial need and academic excellence. 2000 : Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence extended another 3 years with another $4.6 million; Reliant Energy acquires naming rights for the Astrodomain; renamed Reliant Park includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena, Reliant Hall, Reliant Center and Reliant Stadium. 2001 : Largest presentation of scholarships to date, with 300 four-year $10,000 awards through the Metropolitan, Opportunity and School Art scholarship programs, totaling $3 million. 2002 : George Strait sets paid attendance record for any Rodeo event in the Reliant Astrodome with 68,266; Reliant Hall is demolished. 2003 : New location: Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center; Carruth Plaza, a Western sculpture garden named in honor of past president and chairman, Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, completed at Reliant Park. 2006 : Brooks & Dunn break rodeo attendance record set by Hilary Duff in 2005 with 72,867 in attendance. 2007 : The Cheetah Girls and supporting act Hannah Montana sell out in just three minutes and set a new rodeo attendance record of 73,291. 2008 : Hannah Montana sets an attendance record of 73,459. 2008: Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. 2009 : Ramón Ayala and Alacranes Musical set the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day, with 74,147 in attendance for championship Rodeo action, concert entertainment and the Mariachi finals. 2012 : The Professional Bull Riders held their first event at Reliant Stadium, and it was their first to be a part of RodeoHouston. 2013 : George Strait, Martina McBride, and the Randy Rogers Band set a new all-time attendance record with 80,020. 2015 : La Arrolladora Banda El Limón/La Maquinaria Norteña set a new all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,357. 2016 : Banda Los Recoditos/Los Huracanes Del Norte broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,508. 2017 : Banda El Recodo/Banda Siggno broke the all-time paid Rodeo attendance record on Go Tejano Day with 75,557. 2017 : Rodeo officials announced plans to replace the stage used in NRG Stadium for concerts with a new stage resembling that of a five point star. It can fold and it can be elevated or lowered so the performer can have a higher up stage or walk on the ground level. Garth Brooks is scheduled to be the first performer on the new stage. 2018 : Garth Brooks kicked off and ended Livestock Show & Rodeo. 2018 : Calibre 50 beat last year's all-time attendance record, as 75,565 fans showed up on Go Tejano Day. It was later broken by Garth Brooks, attended by 75,577. 2018 : Cody Johnson becomes the first unsigned artist to play to a sold out crowd. 2019 : Cardi B sets record, with 75,580 fans in the audience 2019 : Los Tigres del Norte sets a new all-time attendance record a week later, with 75,586 fans in the audience, beating the previous artist record holder. 2019 : George Strait breaks his own 2013 attendance record with 80,108 fans to close the 2019 show with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen opening. (two sets of attendance records are kept: one for shows with an accompanying rodeo competition, one for concert-only performances, in which seats are available on the floor of NRG stadium as well. Strait's record is the concert only, Los Tigres Del Norte holds the record for the rodeo/concert performances) 2020 : RodeoHouston cancelled after 9 days when local spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused cases of COVID-19. 2022 : Rodeo will return after a pandemic-based one-year hiatus. Notes External links Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Homepage Houston Livestock Show - Pro Rodeo Online Rodeos Culture of Houston Concerts in the United States Agricultural shows in the United States Tourist attractions in Houston ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees Rodeo venues in the United States Animal shows	true	[ "Japan has the second-biggest music industry in the world, although 80 percent of sales are attributed to physical formats. Due to the numerous record companies present in Japan, launching music streaming services has grown difficult, with YouTube being one of the only prominent streaming services for Japanese music, within and outside the country. Most of the appeal of \"homegrown pop idols\" restricts access to most Japanese music to the domestic market.\n\nThis is a list of J-pop (Japanese pop, rock, etc.) concerts and live appearances held outside of Asia.\n\n1979–1980\n\n1998–2004\n\n2005–2009\n\n2010\n\n2011\n\n2012\n\n2013\n\n2014\n\n2015\n\n2016\n\n2017\n\n2018\n\n2019\n\n2020\n\n2021\n\n2022\n\nRecurring\n\nSee also \n\n J-pop\n Japanese rock\n List of musical artists from Japan\n Vocaloid concerts: Miku Expo\n List of K-pop concerts held outside Asia\n\nReferences\n\nlist\nLists of concerts and performances by location", "During the Korean Wave (Hallyu), K-pop artists took their concerts outside of South Korea, and with increased exposure, becoming a huge success in other Asian countries. Soon after, record label companies started experimenting expanding into the western music markets outside Asia. The word \"Hallyu\" (韓流; 한류) first originated in China during the 1990s by journalists that were surprised with how rapid Korean music had spread throughout China.\n\nOne study that examined the number of concerts held during the 2010s indicated that East and Southeast Asia had the most concerts, with North America and to a lesser extent Europe showing some consistent growth. Nevertheless, Asia remains a priority for K-pop artists when hosting concerts due to cultural similarities, lesser expenditures, distance and its established and strong patronage. The top three Asian countries with the most concerts were China, Japan, and Singapore. Korean artistes would also often release music in Chinese or Japanese which they would subsequently perform in other Asian countries.\n\nThe study also found that most tours were those of male groups, with solo acts and female groups coming in second. The top touring acts were BTS, Big Bang, Super Junior, 2PM, TVXQ, SHINee, EXO, Girls' Generation, F.T. Island, CNBLUE, XIA, Infinite and B1A4; with XIA the top solo act and IU the top female solo act.\n\nThis is a list of all notable K-pop concerts held outside the Asian continent.\n\n2003–2009\n\n2010\n\n2011\n\n2012\n\n2013\n\n2014\n\n2015\n\n2016\n\n2017\n\n2018\n\n2019\n\n2020\n\n2021\n\n2022\n\nSee also \n\n Billboard K-Town\n List of K-pop artists\n List of K-pop on the Billboard charts\n List of South Korean idol groups\n List of J-pop concerts held outside Asia\n\nReferences\n\nlist\nLists of concerts and performances by location\nSouth Korean music-related lists" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death" ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What was Bloom's first notable role?	1	What was Allan Bloom's first notable role?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	false	[ "Harold Jack Bloom (April 26, 1924 – August 27, 1999) was an American television producer and screenwriter who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic Anthony Mann Western The Naked Spur in 1953, earning an Oscar nomination in the process.\n\nApart from the odd film script, most of Bloom's career was spent writing for television. He worked on such series as Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, in particular, the TV series version of Twelve O'Clock High. He was also co-creator, along with Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb, of the medical/paramedic drama, Emergency! Its pilot installment, \"The Wedsworth-Townsend Act,\" was the only installment to which he made any major contributions.\n\nWhen Richard Maibaum was unavailable, the producers of the James Bond film You Only Live Twice hired Bloom to write the screenplay of the film. The producers did not use Bloom's script, but since several of his ideas were eventually written into Roald Dahl's screenplay of the film, Bloom was credited with \"additional story material.\"\n\nBloom co-produced A Gunfight with Kirk Douglas through his own film production company, Thoroughbred Productions.\n\nOne of his last assignments was the well-regarded TV movie Remembrance of Love in 1982, a showcase role for Kirk Douglas as a Holocaust survivor.\n\nHe was married to actress Carolyn Kearney, with whom he had one child, Charles. Harold Jack Bloom's second marriage, in 1987, was to interior designer Norene Fremont.\n\nBloom was living out his last years in Los Angeles, California when he died of cancer on August 27, 1999, at the age of seventy-five.\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1924 births\n1999 deaths\nDeaths from cancer in California\nAmerican male screenwriters\nAmerican television producers\nPlace of birth unknown\n20th-century American businesspeople\n20th-century American male writers\n20th-century American screenwriters", "Vail Bloom is an American actress and producer. She portrayed the character Heather Stevens on The Young and the Restless, for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination. Bloom has also appeared in television guest roles, independent films, and reality television series Vanderpump Rules. Bloom graduated Princeton University with a Bachelor's Degree in architecture.\n\nEarly life and education\nBloom was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Connecticut and Florida. The daughter of a high school counselor and businessman/college professor, Bloom graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor's Degree in architecture.\n\nIn 2003, Bloom placed third in Maxim list of \"Hometown Hotties\", though she has declined offers for similar shots with other magazines. She became interested in acting when a fellow student at Princeton asked her to star in a short film.\n\nCareer\nBloom played the role of assistant district attorney Heather Stevens on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2007 to 2010, a role for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2008. In March 2009, she appeared on the web series Angel of Death.\n\nBloom appeared in the 2015 film Too Late.\n\nPersonal life \nIn 2014, Bloom admitted that she had a drug problem during her years on The Young and the Restless. “I was on The Young and the Restless for just under three years and I was starting to get into this whole like… what seemed like the Hollywood lifestyle, and I was starting to get into a little bit of trouble with drugs,” Bloom said in an episode of Vanderpump Rules.\n\nIn February 2018, Bloom filed for a restraining order against ex-boyfriend Hayes Stuppy after he allegedly stole items from her and destroyed them, showed up uninvited to her house on multiple occasions, and sent her over 183 emails. Bloom claimed that she dated Hayes Stuppy in 2017 for three weeks.\n\nBloom has a daughter named Charlie Olivia Grace (b. 2018).\n\nBloom has a son named Jack Rene Rose born January 25, 2020. She announced his arrival via Instagram.\n\nFilmography\n\nAccolades\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nVail Bloom on FameGame.com\n\nAmerican television actresses\nAmerican soap opera actresses\nPrinceton University School of Architecture alumni\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\n21st-century American women" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957)." ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	Did he enjoy his time in Europe?	2	Did Allan Bloom enjoy his time in Europe?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	false	[ "Peter (or Petrus) was an early medieval Italian ruler, who was originally the tutor and guardian of the young prince of Salerno, Sico II. He held that post for two years from 851 to 853.\n\nIn that year, he usurped the throne and removed Sico, who fled north. He was confirmed as prince by the Emperor Louis II in December. Peter did not long enjoy his rule. He died later that year, but bequeathed his principality to his son Adhemar.\n\nSources\n\n853 deaths\nPrinces of Salerno\n9th-century rulers in Europe\n9th-century Lombard people\nYear of birth unknown", "Neezam Abdul Aziz (born 25 April 1991) is a Singaporean professional footballer who currently plays for Warriors in the S.League. He plays as a goalkeeper.\n\nCareer \nNeezam Aziz has been involved in professional football since the age of 20. He started his S.League career with Home United but a constant name on the bench.\n\nHe moved on to Courts Young Lions in 2012, whereby he got his playing time as a first-team keeper. In 2013, he played for LionsXII and won the 2013 Malaysia Super League title. As he did not enjoy much playing time as he did in the Young Lions, he joined the Warriors in 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nN. Aziz at int.soccerway.com\n\n1991 births\nLiving people\nSingaporean footballers\nAssociation football goalkeepers\nHome United FC players\nYoung Lions FC players\nLionsXII players\nWarriors FC players\nSingapore Premier League players" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know." ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What was his first position in the US?	3	What was Allan Bloom's first position in the US?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "Fraser Wilkins (August 30, 1908 – January 21, 1989) was appointed the first United States ambassador to Cyprus after the country gained independence from the UK.\n\nPersonal life\nFraser Wilkins was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Harry F. Wilkins and his wife. He graduated from Yale University. He married Anne Bryan, and they had one son, Fraser Bryan Wilkins.\n\nCareer\nWilkins served in various positions as a US Foreign Service Officer. He was director of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State from 1955–1957, and during these years, he was stationed in Iraq, Morocco, India, and Iran. He then served as a minister-counselor in the US embassy in Tehran, Iran, from 1957–1960.\n\nWilkins was appointed the first ambassador to Cyprus in 1960. He served in this position until 1964. During his time as the US ambassador to Cyprus, there were tensions in the country between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The US embassy in Nicosia was bombed in February 1964. Following the two-bomb explosions, Wilkins went to the Presidential Palace to protest what happened, and he also oversaw the evacuation of American civilians from the country. He told the President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, that he was not confident Cypriot police could adequately protect the American civilians.\n\nAfter he resigned as the US ambassador to Cyprus in 1964, the White House announced that Wilkins would be returning to Washington, D.C., to await appointment to another position. That same year, Wilkins was named inspector-general of the United States Foreign Service, and he served in this position until 1971.\n\nDeath\nWilkins died of a stroke in Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 1989, at the age of 80.\n\nReferences\n\n1908 births\n1989 deaths\nAmbassadors of the United States to Cyprus\nPeople from Omaha, Nebraska\nUnited States Foreign Service personnel\nYale University alumni", "Arthur Lloyd Thomas (August 22, 1851 – September 15, 1924) was Governor of Utah Territory from 1889 to 1893.\n\nBiography \nBorn in Chicago, Illinois, Thomas grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.\n\nThomas was a staffer for US Representative James S. Negley of Pennsylvania; he came to Utah in 1879, upon his appointment as secretary of Utah Territory by US President Hayes. His nomination for that position was confirmed by the US Senate in April of that year.\n\nThomas ran unsuccessfully in the 1895 election of Utah's first governor, held immediately ahead of the territory achieving statehood in 1896. He was appointed postmaster of Salt Lake City by US President McKinley in 1898, a position he held until 1914.\n\nReferences\n\nGovernors of Utah Territory\nPoliticians from Chicago\nPoliticians from Pittsburgh\n1851 births\n1924 deaths" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser," ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What year did he teach at U of C	4	What year did Allan Bloom teach at U of C?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	1955,	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "Andrea Pasinetti is a co-founder and former co-CEO of Teach For China, a nonprofit organization that recruits university graduates from China and the United States and trains them to serve as full-time teachers for two years in under-resourced Chinese schools.\n\nBackground \n\nPasinetti studied at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and directed Princeton’s Interact Program, bringing civic education to poor high school students in the Trenton City area. He co-founded Teach For China in 2008 during a year of study at Tsinghua University's Inter-University Program. That year, while conducting research for his senior thesis, Pasinetti traveled to seven provinces in China and visited more than 300 schools. He cites his experiences visiting low-income Chinese schools and observing the challenges faced by rural students as the source of his inspiration to leave Princeton and found China Education Initiative, which has since been renamed Teach For China.\n\nTeach For China \nTeach For China recruits recent college graduates from China and the U.S. and trains them to serve as full-time teachers for two years in under-resourced Chinese schools. In 2011, Teach For China became a partner in the Teach For All network, a “global network of independent social enterprises working to expand educational opportunity in their countries by enlisting talented future leaders to the effort.”\n\nIn the 2012-2013 school year, more than 200 Teach For China Fellows served in 55 schools in China's Yunnan and Guangdong provinces, reaching more than 30,000 students. Since then the number of Teach For China Fellows has risen to over 450, reaching more than 70,000 students in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces. Teach for China is now an educational non-profit program under the Lead Foundation.\n\nAwards \nPasinetti was recognized in 2011 by ChinaNewsweek magazine as the most influential foreigner working in China.\n\nPersonal\nHe is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and frequently gives interviews on Chinese television. From 2018 thru 2020, he will be studying at the MBA program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nEducation Initiative, PhoenixTelevision June 23, 2012.\n\nArticles\n\nInterviews\n最美丽的未来, YixiTalk October 18, 2012.\n志愿者支教系列：缩小城乡教育差距付诸行动, PhoenixTV March 28, 2012.\nUpClose 04/06/2013 Andrea Pasinetti, Founder and CEO of Teach For China, CCTV English April 8, 2013.\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nPrinceton School of Public and International Affairs alumni\nAmerican nonprofit chief executives", "Gerald Graff (born 1937) is a professor of English and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Chicago in 1959 and his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Stanford University in 1963. He has taught at the University of New Mexico, Northwestern University, the University of California at Irvine and at Berkeley, as well as Ohio State University, Washington University, and the University of Chicago. He has been teaching at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 2000.\n\nWork\nGraff's earlier works emphasized literature's rational, discursive qualities, and in Literature Against Itself (1979) he took aim at what he saw as the anti-mimetic, irrationalist assumptions underlying both avant-garde writing and structuralist/poststructuralist critical theory. Graff's emphasis on literature as rational statement bears comparison with the theories of Yvor Winters, his professor at Stanford in the 1960s.\n\nGraff's later research has a heavy focus on pedagogy. He has discussed things like his own dislike of books at an early age and the way in which academic discourse is needlessly obscure. Graff is also the founder of Teachers for a Democratic Culture, an organization dedicated, in their words, to \"combating conservative misrepresentations\" of college pedagogy.\n\nGraff coined the term \"teach the controversy\" in his college courses in the 1980s and later set the idea in print in his 1993 book Beyond The Culture Wars. Graff's thesis was that college instructors should teach the conflicts around academic issues so that students may understand how knowledge becomes established and eventually accepted. The term \"teach the controversy\" has since become better known after having been appropriated in a different form as the \"teach the controversy\" movement by individuals seeking to legitimize the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in classrooms. A self-described liberal secularist, Graff has publicly lamented what he considers the misappropriation of his idea for unscholarly purposes.\n\nGraff teaches both graduate courses on teaching undergraduate writing and undergraduate writing courses. He teaches writing courses with his wife, Cathy Birkenstein, who is a lecturer in English and received her Ph.D. in American literature and is currently working on a biography of Booker T. Washington. She created the templates that make up They Say/I Say, a composition textbook that gives students templates to use in their academic writing.\n\nAlso, while at the University of Chicago, Graff co-founded the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH), a one-year interdisciplinary program, allowing students to take courses in philosophy, English, art history, and other fields. He was president of the Modern Language Association in 2008.\n\nBibliography \n\n \n Literature Against Itself: Literary Ideas in Modern Society (1979)\n Criticism in the University (1980)\n Professing Literature: An Institutional History (1987)\n Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education (1993)\n Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind (2004)\n They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing (with Cathy Birkenstein) (2005)\n\nCritical studies and reviews of Graff's work\nBeyond the culture wars\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nGerald Graff, Ph.D., official website\n\nUniversity of Chicago faculty\nUniversity of Illinois at Chicago faculty\nAmerican academics of English literature\nUniversity of Chicago alumni\nStanford University alumni\nWashington University in St. Louis faculty\nLiving people\n1937 births\nAmerican Book Award winners" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955," ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	How long was his tenure?	5	How long was Allan Bloom tenure at U of C?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "Albinus (floruit 440–448) was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire; he was made consul for 444 as the junior partner of Emperor Theodosius II. He may be a nephew of, or identical with, Caecina Decius Acinatius Albinus, praefectus urbi in 414.\n\nLife \nSamuel Dill observed that \"the Novellae seem to show him the great statesman of the time.\" He was Praetorian prefect of Gaul in 440, when Pope Leo I was called on to mediate a quarrel between him and the magister militum Aetius. (B.L. Twyman notes that Prosper's language \"is conventional, and that the notice reveals only the fact of the resolution of a quarrel, not any actual friendship between Aetius and Albinus.\") The cause of their quarrel is not known.\n\nAfter Petronius Maximus ended his tenure as Praetorian prefect of Italy sometime in 441, a rapid succession of successors to the post followed until Albinus was appointed, prior to 17 August 443, for the second time we are told. He held this position until sometime between 3 June 448 and 17 June 449. Twyman finds the length of Albinus' prefecture \"most striking\"; Albinus was able to exert the authority of his office, bringing stability to the government. Ronald J. Weber suggests that the reason for Albinus' long tenure was not in response to the growing hegemony of Aetius, but \"that he gained office in response to a perceived need and that the length of the crises facilitated his long tenure.\" Specifically, his lengthy term was a response to the loss of Africa to the Vandals, which was solemnized with an agreement to divide North Africa between Gaiseric and the Roman Empire (442). His family enjoyed extensive influence in the North African provinces, so he was best positioned to exert authority on behalf of the increasingly impoverished empire. As Weber concludes, \"Caecina Decius Acinatius Albinus could have exercised his patronage in Africa. He may have been among the last to do it.\"\n\nIn 446, Albinus received the title of patricius. How long he lived after his tenure as Praetorian prefect of Italy is unknown.\n\nNotes \n\n5th-century Romans\nCaecinae\nDecii\nImperial Roman consuls\nPatricii\nPraetorian prefects of Gaul\nPraetorian prefects of Italy", "Felicia Atkins (born 5 April 1937) is an Australian model. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the April 1958 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Bruno Bernard and Bill Bridges.\n\nAtkins was a showgirl at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, in their Las Vegas rendition of the \"Folies Bergère\", which is how she was discovered by Playboy. (The issue she was featured in had a Vegas theme.) She holds the record for the longest tenure in the Tropicana's long-running Folies-Bergère revue (19 years). She was the maid of honor at the marriage of Phillip Crosby, son of Bing Crosby, to fellow Tropicana showgirl Sandra Drummond, whilst she was dating Phillip's brother Gary Crosby.\n\nSee also\n List of people in Playboy 1953–1959\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1950s Playboy Playmates\n1930s births\nLiving people" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955,", "How long was his tenure?", "Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to" ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What year did he leave Yale?	6	What year did Allan Bloom leave Yale?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970,	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "John B. Hart was an American football player and coach. The Yale University graduate served as head coach of the University of Texas at Austin in 1902. He holds a 6–3–1 record at Texas.\n\nAt and weighing Hart was one of the smallest backs Yale ever had. Hart had to leave Texas after a 12–0 loss to Texas A&M.\n\nHead coaching record\n\nReferences\n\nYear of birth missing\nYear of death missing\nTexas Longhorns football coaches\nYale Bulldogs football players", "William Weldon Watson IV (14 September 1899 in Eveleth, Minnesota – 3 August 1992 in Hamden, Connecticut) was a physicist specializing in isotope separation and a contributor to the development of the atomic bomb.\n\nBiography\nWatson grew up in La Grange, Illinois. He received his B.S. in 1920, his M.S. in 1922, and his Ph.D. in 1924 from the University of Chicago, where he became a member of the faculty in 1924. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1928–1929. In 1929 he became an assistant professor at Yale University. Prior to 1940 Watson did research on molecular structures and spectra. Beginning in 1940 and for the remainder of his career, he studied isotope separation. By 1943 his research at Yale was part of the Manhattan Project. In 1943 Watson took a leave of absence from Yale to become one of the division directors under Arthur Compton at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago. In September 1945 Watson returned to Yale. In 1946 he became one of the five trustees of the U.S. Federal Government's laboratory that became Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1947. He was the chair of Yale's physics department from 1940 to 1961, when he resigned as chair but continued to be a professor. He retired as professor emeritus in 1968.\n\nHe died in 1992. He was one of the paternal uncles of the famous molecular biologist James Dewey Watson, whose paternal great-grandfather was William Weldon Watson III.\n\nReferences\n\n1899 births\n1992 deaths\nAmerican nuclear physicists\nManhattan Project people\nUniversity of Chicago alumni\nUniversity of Chicago faculty\nYale University faculty\nFellows of the American Physical Society" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955,", "How long was his tenure?", "Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to", "What year did he leave Yale?", "teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970," ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What did he teach?	7	What did Allan Bloom teach?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance.	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn't in Providing an Excellent Education for All () is a book by Wendy Kopp, CEO and Founder of Teach For America, that was published by PublicAffairs in January 2011.\n\nIn A Chance to Make History, Kopp draws on examples of effective teachers, schools, and districts to demonstrate what she believes is needed to provide all children with a \"transformational\" education.\n\nA Chance to Make History is the second book by Wendy Kopp. Her first book, titled One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach for America and What I Learned Along the Way, was published in 2003 by PublicAffairs.\n\nWendy Kopp\n\nWendy Kopp is the chair of the board and Founder of Teach For America, the national teaching corps. Kopp came up with the idea for the organization in her 1989 undergraduate research thesis at Princeton University. She is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent nonprofit organizations that apply the same model as Teach For America in other countries.\n\nRecognition\n\nA Chance to Make History was named a Washington Post bestselling book in April 2011.\n\nFootnotes\n\nBooks about education\n2011 non-fiction books\nEnglish-language books\nPublicAffairs books", "The teach-back method, also called the \"show-me\" method, is a communication confirmation method used by healthcare providers to confirm whether a patient (or care takers) understands what is being explained to them. If a patient understands, they are able to \"teach-back\" the information accurately. This is a communication method intended to improve health literacy.\n\nThere can be a significant gap in the perception of how much a patient needs information, or how effective a provider's communication is. This can be due to various reasons such as a patient not understanding medical terminology, not feeling comfortable asking questions or even cognitive impairment. Not only does the teach-back method help providers understand the patient's needs in understanding their care, it also allows providers to evaluate their communication skills. Case studies led by the National Quality Forum on the informed consent processes of various hospitals found that those that effectively used the teach-back method benefited in areas of quality, patient safety, risk management and cost/efficiency.\n\nThe method \nThe National Quality Forum describes the practice as follows:\nWho should use the method→ Any healthcare providers. E.g. physicians, nurses, healthcare professionals\nWhat should patients teach-back→Information about their diagnosis, treatment plan, medications, risks and benefit of treatment, etc.\nWhen to ask for teach-back→ Early in the care process\nWhy is it important→Many patients have difficulty understanding medical information.\nHow→When asked to teach-back, patients should be able to clearly describe or explain the information provided to them.\n\nDepending on the patient's successful or unsuccessful teach-back, the provider will clarify or modify the information and reassess the teach-back to confirm the patient's comprehension and understanding.\n\nKnowledge retention \nThe cycle of reassessing and teaching back to confirm comprehension has been found to improve knowledge retention and lower readmission rates in heart failure patients.\n\nBeyond healthcare literacy, the teach-back method can be utilized in academic and professional settings as well. Teachers often create feedback loops in which the instructor asks the student to share what they heard, and promote peer to peer coaching where students explain what they just learned to other students. Retention is also most positively impacted in participatory learning environments, when students participate in group discussions, practice by doing, and teaching others.\n\nReferences\n\nHealth education\nPractice of medicine" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955,", "How long was his tenure?", "Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to", "What year did he leave Yale?", "teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970,", "What did he teach?", "Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance." ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What did he do after Cornell?	8	What did Allan Bloom do after Cornell?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979,	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "Ralph Palmer Agnew (December 29, 1900 — October 16, 1986) was an American mathematician.\n\nAgnew was born in Poland, Ohio, and did his undergraduate studies at Allegheny College. After completing a master's degree at Iowa State College he moved to Cornell University, where he received a Ph.D. in 1930. He was appointed to the Cornell faculty in 1931. He chaired the mathematics department at Cornell from 1940 to 1950, and was responsible for bringing William Feller and Mark Kac to Cornell.\n\nHis research concerned summability of series; he also wrote textbooks on calculus and differential equations. One well-known example for dealing with a system of elementary differential equations attributed to Agnew is the \"snow plow problem\", which is stated as:\nIt starts snowing in the morning and continues heavily and steadily throughout the day. A snow-plow starts plowing at noon and plows 2 miles in the first hour, and 1 mile in the second. What time did it start snowing?\nThe problem is deceptive for its paucity of information, and requires several common sense assumptions such as fix snow removal and snow fall rate. These are arbitrary, but bear a particular relationship to each other. In the end, they cancel out of the equation and do not appear in the solution, which is a fixed time of day.\n\nReferences\n\n20th-century American mathematicians\nAllegheny College alumni\nIowa State University alumni\nCornell University alumni\nCornell University faculty\n1900 births\n1986 deaths\nPeople from Poland, Ohio", "\"Slaves & Bulldozers\" is a song by the American rock band Soundgarden. It is the third track on the band's 1991 album Badmotorfinger.\n\nOrigin and recording\nThe song features lyrics written by Chris Cornell and music co-written by Cornell and bassist Ben Shepherd. According to guitarist Kim Thayil, \"Slaves & Bulldozers\" was the second song (after \"Flower\") in which he blew across his guitar strings:\nThat's the second song we did where I blow on the guitar. I'd do it live and people would think I was playing with my tongue or my teeth or my beard. 'Hey look, he's playing guitar with his beard!' No, I was blowing on it - making a wish!\n\nKim Thayil said that the song's guitar solo is one of his favorites. Kim Thayil on the guitar solo:\nOne of my favourite solos with the band is on \"Slaves & Bulldozers\". When our A&R guy came in we played it to him, and he was like, 'This is finished? Huh? C'mon guys.' I just said, 'You don't get it, do you? That's it, finished!' To me it's great - it seems free, it's real kinetic, it gives the song this great jarring feel...\"Slaves & Bulldozers\" live is when I'm real free. I just approach the fretboard with a 'what do I do now?' attitude. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it doesn't work. That's what music is like.\n\nComposition\nLike most of its parent album, \"Slaves and Bulldozers\" contains drop-tuned guitars. The song is described as a doom metal, grunge, and heavy metal track, that builds up over time with Cornell's voice getting louder with each verse. Pitchfork describes Thayil's guitar playing as him \"strangulating his guitar strings for spasms of noise that almost seem to emanate from an inhuman source\". The song displays Cornell's vocals switching from a blues rock style to a heavy metal style. Ben Shepherd's contributions, one of which included this song, helped make (according to Thayil) Badmotorfinger faster and weirder.\n\nReception\nThough never released as a single, the song has been applauded for Chris Cornell's outstanding vocals on it. Producer Rick Rubin played the song for the former instrumentalist members of Rage Against the Machine, to showcase Cornell's strong vocal ability before he joined them to form Audioslave. In a fan poll conducted by Revolver, \"Slaves & Bulldozers\" was voted the second best of Chris Cornell's vocal performances. Ultimate Guitar named the song as one of Cornell's most unforgettable vocal performances comparing the build-up technique in the second verse to that of Prince with his song Purple Rain. Billboard ranked \"Slaves & Bulldozers\" at #5 on their Top 15 Greatest Soundgarden songs, noting the song's strong metal influence. Loudwire named Cornell's final song of his final performance, \"Slaves & Bulldozers\" as their most unforgettable Chris Cornell moment.\n\nLive performances\n\"Slaves & Bulldozers\" is notable for being the encore song Soundgarden played live prior to Cornell's death, which was followed by a cover of the Led Zeppelin song In My Time of Dying.\n\nA performance of the song is included on the Motorvision home video release. This was included in the 2016 Reissue of Badmotorfinger. The reissue also includes live versions of the song from the Paramount Theatre, the 1992 edition of Pinkpop Festival, and their Seattle performance on July 12, 1992.\n\nReferences\n\n1991 songs\nDoom metal songs\nSoundgarden songs" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955,", "How long was his tenure?", "Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to", "What year did he leave Yale?", "teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970,", "What did he teach?", "Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance.", "What did he do after Cornell?", "at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979," ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What did he teach in Toronto?	9	What did Allan Bloom teach in Toronto?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	false	[ "Jack Newman (born 1946) is a Canadian pediatrician, author, speaker, and video producer specializing in breastfeeding medicine.\n\nEarly life and education\nNewman was born in Tel Aviv, moving to Canada when he was fifteen months old. He graduated from the University of Toronto medical school in 1970 and interned at the Vancouver General Hospital before working as senior house surgeon at the Hutt Hospital in New Zealand.\n\nCareer\nBetween 1977 and 1981 he did his pediatric training in Quebec City and Toronto, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in 1980 and board certified by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1981. For the next 1½ years he worked as a pediatrician at the Umtata Hospital in South Africa. From 1983 to 1992 Newman worked as a staff pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.\n\nIn 1984 he opened the first hospital-based breastfeeding clinic in Canada, at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Several more clinics were opened under his guidance. All these clinics subsequently closed, the last clinic in 2005 at North York General Hospital.\n\nNewman works at the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & International Breastfeeding Centre in Toronto, situated in the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.\n\nWorks\n The Latch: and other keys to breastfeeding success (2006), Amarillo, Tex: Hale Pub. \n Dr. Jack Newman's guide to breastfeeding (2000), with Teresa Pitman, HarperCollins Publishers. \n The ultimate breastfeeding book of answers: the most comprehensive problem-solution guide to breastfeeding from the foremost expert in North America (2003), Pearson Education. )\n What they didn't teach you about breastfeeding in medical school (2001), Richmond, Va: VCU Health System, MCV Hospitals and Physicians, Dept. of Continuing Medical Education. Videorecording.\n Breastfeeding: empowering parents. Published as both eBook and a paperback on Amazon.\n\nExternal links\n Bio at breastfeedingonline.com\n \n\nBreastfeeding activists\nLiving people\n1946 births\nCanadian pediatricians\nUniversity of Toronto alumni\nCanadian health activists\nFellows of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada", "Matthew S. Remski (born 1971) is a yoga practitioner and author who has written on the connection between yoga and conspiracy theories. His work has been informed by his past experience as a cult member. Remski was instrumental in exposing inappropriate physical contact in Yoga classes through an article that he wrote for The Walrus in 2018.\n\nEarly life\nMatthew Remski was born in Michigan in 1971 and schooled as a Roman Catholic at Michael's Choir School, Toronto. From 1990 he worked as a church organist and choir conductor. From 1991 to 1994 he studied English literature at the University of Toronto, but did not graduate.\n\nBuddhism and yoga \n\nIn 1996 Remski began \"an extensive study\" of Michael Roach's approach to Gelukpa Tibetan Buddhism. He received a Tantric initiation from Roach's lama, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, in 1998, visited India and Sera Mey monastery in Tibet, and studied Tibetan. From 2000, he lived in Endeavour Academy, Wisconsin Dells, in the kundalini-style cult of Charles Anderson. In 2003 he trained in Kripalu-style yoga with Darren John Main in Costa Rica, and in 2004 began to teach yoga, in his view prematurely, in Wisconsin. In 2005 he obtained a 250-hour certificate in yoga therapy at the Rocky Mountain Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda. In 2007 he began to teach yoga and ayurveda in Toronto. In 2008 Remski studied Jyotish Shastra, an East Indian form of astrology, at the Vidya Institute. He began to blog on issues to do with yoga, especially sexual abuse by yoga gurus and his \"What are We Actually Doing in Asana\" project, and is viewed as a leading thinker on these topics by other yoga practitioners. In 2014 he obtained a 500-hour yoga educator certificate from the Nosara Yoga Institute.\n\nReception \n\nThe chair of the British Wheel of Yoga, Gillian Osborne, writes of Remski's 2019 book about sexual abuse by yoga gurus, Practice and All is Coming, that \"the stories are shocking but entirely believable\". In her view, the book embodies \"considered, informed opinion and original thought\". \n\nTara Henley, reviewing Practice and All is Coming for The Globe and Mail, writes that Remski's \"riveting\" book \"takes a deep dive into the 'toxic group dynamics' at play, mainly in the context of Ashtanga yoga, referencing numerous interviews Remski conducted with women who allege its late founder Pattabhi Jois sexually assaulted them\". Remski examines the \"'classic cultic triad' of deception, dependence and dread of leaving\", isolating the follower and preventing them from thinking clearly about what is happening.\n\nWorks\n\nPoetry \n\n 1990 Et cum lazaro (Toronto: Poetency Press)\n 2010 Syrinx and Systole (Toronto: Quattro Books)\n 2014 Rosary (or, les fleurs du mala) (Matthew Remski)\n\nNovels \n\n 1997 Dying for Veronica : a sub-catholic dream with mind-music : a novel (Toronto: Insomniac Press)\n 1998 Silver: a novel (Toronto: Insomniac Press)\n\nNon-fiction \n\n 1993 Fool for Divinity (Montréal: Guernica)\n 1997 Organon vocis organalis : book II of aerial sonography (Toronto: Coach House Books)\n 2010 Yoga 2.0 : mala 1 : shamanic echoes (Toronto: Graha Yuddha Press)\n 2012 Threads of Yoga (BookBaby)\n 2014 (with Michael Stone) Family Wakes Us Up: Letters Between Expectant Fathers (pub. by the authors)\n 2019 Practice and All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond (Embodied Wisdom Publishing)\n\nSelected articles \n\nRemski has written many articles on yoga and related topics, including:\n\n \"10 Things We Didn't Know About Yoga Until This New Must-Read Dropped\" on Roots of Yoga by James Mallinson and Mark Singleton (Yoga Journal, 12 April 2017)\n\nAwards and distinctions \n\n 2008 co-founded Yoga Festival Toronto\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n Matthew Remski talking about Cults, Prophecies, and Deprogramming Your Friends on YouTube\n\nLiving people\n1971 births\nYoga scholars\nPeople from Michigan\nAmerican emigrants to Canada\nAmerican non-fiction writers\nYoga teachers" ]
[ "Allan Bloom", "Career and death", "What was Bloom's first notable role?", "Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957).", "Did he enjoy his time in Europe?", "I don't know.", "What was his first position in the US?", "taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser,", "What year did he teach at U of C", "1955,", "How long was his tenure?", "Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to", "What year did he leave Yale?", "teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970,", "What did he teach?", "Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance.", "What did he do after Cornell?", "at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979,", "What did he teach in Toronto?", "I don't know." ]	C_2b41685ce3fe4548802c3af2908e8bfa_0	What was Bloom's last job before death?	10	What was Allan Bloom's last job before death?	Allan Bloom	Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953-55) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and John Milligan-Whyte. In 1963, as a Professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation". Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojeve, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the Preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating--as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein--in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. CANNOTANSWER	After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow.	Allan David Bloom (September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992) was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Yale University, École normale supérieure of Paris, and the University of Chicago. Bloom championed the idea of Great Books education and became famous for his criticism of contemporary American higher education, with his views being expressed in his bestselling 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. Characterized as a conservative in the popular media, Bloom denied that he was a conservative, and asserted that what he sought to defend was the "theoretical life". Saul Bellow wrote Ravelstein, a roman à clef based on Bloom, his friend and colleague at the University of Chicago. Early life and education Allan Bloom was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1930 to second-generation Jewish parents who were both social workers. The couple had a daughter, Lucille, two years earlier. As a thirteen-year-old, Bloom read a Readers Digest article about the University of Chicago and told his parents he wanted to attend; his parents thought it was unreasonable and did not encourage his hopes. Yet, when his family moved to Chicago in 1944, his parents met a psychiatrist and family friend whose son was enrolled in the University of Chicago's humanities program for gifted students. In 1946, Bloom was accepted to the same program, starting his degree at the age of fifteen, and spending the next decade of his life enrolled at the University in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. This began his lifelong passion for the 'idea' of the university. In the preface to Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990, he stated that his education "began with Freud and ended with Plato". The theme of this education was self-knowledge, or self-discovery—an idea that Bloom would later write, seemed impossible to conceive of for a Midwestern American boy. He credits Leo Strauss as the teacher who made this endeavor possible for him. Bloom graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree at the age of 18. One of his college classmates was the classicist Seth Benardete. For post-graduate studies, he enrolled in the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, where he was assigned classicist David Grene as tutor. Bloom went on to write his thesis on Isocrates. Grene recalled Bloom as an energetic and humorous student completely dedicated to studying classics, but with no definite career ambitions. The committee was a unique interdisciplinary program that attracted a small number of students due to its rigorous academic requirements and lack of clear employment opportunities after graduation. Bloom earned his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought in 1955. He subsequently studied under the influential Hegelian philosopher Alexandre Kojève in Paris, whose lectures Bloom would later introduce to the English-speaking world. While teaching philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he befriended Raymond Aron, amongst many other philosophers. Among the American expatriate community in Paris, his friends included writer Susan Sontag. Career and death Bloom studied and taught in Paris (1953–55) at the École Normale Supérieure, and Germany (1957). Upon returning to the United States in 1955, he taught adult education students at the University of Chicago with his friend Werner J. Dannhauser, author of Nietzsche's View of Socrates. Bloom went on to teach at Yale from 1960 to 1963, at Cornell until 1970, and at the University of Toronto until 1979, when he returned to the University of Chicago. Among Bloom's former students are prominent journalists, government officials and political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kraynak, Pierre Hassner, Clifford Orwin, Janet Ajzenstat, John Ibbitson, and Thomas Pangle. In 1963, as a professor at Cornell, Allan Bloom served as a faculty member of the Cornell Branch of the Telluride Association, an organization focused on intellectual development and self-governance. The students received free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell University campus and assumed the management of the house themselves. While living at the house, Bloom befriended former U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Bloom's first book was a collection of three essays on Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Politics; it included an essay from Harry V. Jaffa. He translated and commented upon Rousseau's "Letter to M. d'Alembert on the Theater", bringing it into dialogue with Plato's Republic. In 1968, he published his most significant work of philosophical translation and interpretation, a translation of Plato's Republic. Bloom strove to achieve "translation ... for the serious student". The preface opens on page xi with the statement, "this is intended to be a literal translation." Although the translation is not universally accepted, Bloom said he always conceptualized the translator's role as a matchmaker between readers and the texts he translated. He repeated this effort as a professor of political science at the University of Toronto in 1978, translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. Among other publications during his years of teaching was a reading of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, titled "Giants and Dwarfs"; it became the title for a collection of essays on, among others, Raymond Aron, Alexandre Kojève, Leo Strauss, and liberal philosopher John Rawls. Bloom was an editor for the scholarly journal Political Theory as well as a contributor to History of Political Philosophy (edited by Joseph Cropsey and Leo Strauss). After returning to Chicago, he befriended and taught courses with Saul Bellow. In 1987 Bellow wrote the preface to The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom's last book, which he dictated while in the hospital dying, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship, an offering of interpretations on the meaning of love. There is an ongoing controversy over Bloom's semi-closeted homosexuality, possibly culminating, as in Saul Bellow's thinly fictionalized account in Ravelstein, in his death in 1992 from AIDS. Bloom's friends do not deny his homosexuality, but whether he actually died of AIDS remains disputed. Philosophy Bloom's work is not easily categorized, yet there is a thread that links all of his published material. He was concerned with preserving a philosophical way of life for future generations. He strove to do this through both scholarly and popular writing. His writings may be placed into two categories: scholarly (e.g., Plato's Republic) and popular political commentary (e.g., The Closing of the American Mind). On the surface, this is a valid distinction, yet closer examinations of Bloom's works reveal a direct connection between the two types of expression, which reflect his view of philosophy and the role of the philosopher in political life. The Republic of Plato Bloom's translation and essay on the Republic is radically different in many important aspects from the previous translations and interpretations of the Republic. Most notable is Bloom's discussion of Socratic irony. In fact, irony is the key to Bloom's take on the Republic (see his discussion of Books II–VI of the Republic.) Allan Bloom says a philosopher is immune to irony because he can see the tragic as comic and comic as tragic. Bloom refers to Socrates, the philosopher par excellence, in his Interpretative Essay stating, "Socrates can go naked where others go clothed; he is not afraid of ridicule. He can also contemplate sexual intercourse where others are stricken with terror; he is not afraid of moral indignation. In other words he treats the comic seriously and the tragic lightly". Thus irony in the Republic refers to the "Just City in Speech", which Bloom looks at not as a model for future society, nor as a template for the human soul; rather, it is a city presented ironically, an example of the distance between philosophy and every potential philosopher. Bloom follows Strauss in suggesting that the "Just City in Speech" is not natural; it is man-made. Critical reception Some reviewers, such as Norman Gulley, criticized the quality of both the translation and the essay itself. The Closing of the American Mind The Closing of the American Mind was published in 1987, five years after Bloom published an essay in National Review about the failure of universities to serve the needs of students. With the encouragement of Saul Bellow, his colleague at the University of Chicago, he expanded his thoughts into a book "about a life I've led", that critically reflected on the current state of higher education in American universities. His friends and admirers imagined the work would be a modest success, as did Bloom, who recognized his publisher's modest advance to complete the project as a lack of sales confidence. Yet on the momentum of strong initial reviews, including one by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times and an op-ed piece by syndicated conservative commentator George Will titled, "A How-To Book for the Independent", it became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback and remaining at number one on The New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction for four months. Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with them. To a great extent, Bloom's criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom's critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. The Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by 1960s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom's critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato's Republic to Nietzsche's Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in the late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom's view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of 'traditional' white American society". Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, explores music's power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic sterility of pop-rock music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of The Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture's leading umpires. Critical reception The book met with early critical acclaim including positive reviews in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. A second round of reviews was generally more critical. Martha Nussbaum, a political philosopher and classicist, and Harry V. Jaffa, a conservative, both argued that Bloom was deeply influenced by 19th-century European philosophers, especially Friedrich Nietzsche. Nussbaum wrote that, for Bloom, Nietzsche had been disastrously influential in modern American thought. In a passage of her review, Nussbaum wrote: "How good a philosopher, then, is Allan Bloom? The answer is, we cannot say, and we are given no reason to think him one at all." The criticism of the book was continued by impassioned reviews of political theorist Benjamin Barber in Harper's; Alexander Nehamas, a scholar of ancient philosophy and Nietzsche, in the London Review of Books; and David Rieff in The Times Literary Supplement. David Rieff called Bloom "an academic version of Oliver North: vengeful, reactionary, antidemocratic". The book, he said, was one that "decent people would be ashamed of having written." The tone of these reviews led James Atlas in the New York Times Magazine to conclude "the responses to Bloom's book have been charged with a hostility that transcends the usual mean-spiritedness of reviewers." One reviewer, the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff writing in the scholarly journal Academe, satirically reviewed the book as a work of fiction: he claimed that Bloom's friend Saul Bellow, who had written the introduction, had written a "coruscatingly funny novel in the form of a pettish, bookish, grumpy, reactionary complaint against the last two decades", with the "author" a "mid-fiftyish professor at the University of Chicago, to whom Bellow gives the evocative name 'Bloom.'" Yet some reviewers tempered that criticism with an admission of the merits of Bloom's writing: for example, Fred Matthews, an historian from York University, began an otherwise relatively critical review in the American Historical Review with the statement that Bloom's "probes into popular culture" were "both amusing and perceptive" and that the work was "a rich, often brilliant, and disturbing book". Some critics embraced Bloom's argument. Norman Podhoretz noted that the closed-mindedness in the title refers to the paradoxical consequence of the academic "open mind" found in liberal political thought—namely "the narrow and intolerant dogmatism" that dismisses any attempt, by Plato or the Hebrew Bible for example, to provide a rational basis for moral judgments. Podhoretz continued, "Bloom goes on to charge liberalism with vulgarizing the noble ideals of freedom and equality, and he offers brilliantly acerbic descriptions of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which he sees as products of this process of vulgarization." In a 1989 article, Ann Clark Fehn discusses the critical reception of the book, noting that it had eclipsed other titles that year dealing with higher education—Ernest Boyer's College and E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy—and quoting Publishers Weekly which had described Bloom's book as a "best-seller made by reviews." Camille Paglia, a decade after the book's release, called it "the first shot in the culture wars". Noam Chomsky dismissed the book as "mind-bogglingly stupid" for its canonistic approach to education. On the other hand, an early New York Times review by Roger Kimball called the book "an unparalleled reflection on the whole question of what it means to be a student in today's intellectual and moral climate." In an article on Bloom for The New Republic in 2000, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote that "reading [Bloom] ... one feels he has not merely understood Nietzsche; he has imbibed him. But this awareness of the abyss moved Bloom, unlike Nietzsche, toward love and political conservatism. Love, whether for the truth or for another, because it can raise us out of the abyss. Political conservatism because it best restrains the chaos that modernity threatens". More recently, Bloom's book also received a more positive re-assessment from Jim Sleeper in the New York Times. Keith Botsford would later argue: Love and Friendship Bloom's last book, which he dictated while partially paralyzed and in the hospital, and which was published posthumously, was Love and Friendship. The book offered interpretations on the meaning of love, through a reading of novels by Stendhal, Jane Austen, Flaubert; Tolstoy in light of Rousseau's influence on the Romantic movement; plays by William Shakespeare; Montaigne's Essays; and Plato's Symposium. Describing its creation, Bellow wrote: Of the work, Andrew Sullivan wrote "you cannot read [Bloom] on Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra without seeing those works in a new light. You cannot read his account of Rousseau's La nouvelle Heloise without wanting to go back and read it—more closely—again ... Bloom had a gift for reading reality—the impulse to put your loving face to it and press your hands against it". Recollecting his friend in an interview, Bellow said "Allan inhaled books and ideas the way the rest of us breathe air ... People only want the factual truth. Well, the truth is that Allan was a very superior person, great-souled. When critics proclaim the death of the novel, I sometimes think they are really saying that there are no significant people to write about. [But] Allan was certainly one." Personal life Bloom was gay. His public anti-gay stance led to posthumous accusations of hypocrisy. Whether or not he died of AIDS is a subject of controversy. Selected works Bloom, Allan, and Harry V. Jaffa. 1964. Shakespeare's Politics. New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). The Republic of Plato. (translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. Bloom, Allan, Charles Butterworth, Christopher Kelly (Edited and translated), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1968. Letter to d'Alembert on the theater in politics and the arts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press; Agora ed. Bloom, Allan, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1979. Emile (translator) with introduction. New York: Basic Books. Alexandre Kojève (Raymond Queneau, Allan Bloom, James H. Nichols). Introduction to the reading of Hegel. Cornell, 1980. Bloom, Allan. 1987. The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster. . Bloom, Allan, and Steven J. Kautz ed. 1991. Confronting the Constitution: The challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Bloom, Allan. 1991. Giants and Dwarfs: Essays, 1960–1990. New York: Touchstone Books. Bloom, Allan. 1993. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bloom, Allan. 2000. Shakespeare on Love & Friendship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Plato, Seth Benardete, and Allan Bloom. 2001. Plato's Symposium: A translation by Seth Benardete with commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also American philosophy List of American philosophers Notes Further reading Atlas, James. "Chicago's Grumpy Guru: Best-Selling Professor Allan Bloom and the Chicago Intellectuals." New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1988. "The Constitution in Full Bloom". 1990. Harvard Law Review 104, no. 2 (Dec 90): 645. Bayles, Martha. 1998. "Body and soul: the musical miseducation of youth." Public Interest, no. 131, Spring 98: 36. Beckerman, Michael. 2000. "Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost". The New York Times (May 28, 2000). Bellow, Adam. 2005. "Opening the American Mind". National Review 57, no. 23 (12/19/2005): 102. Bellow, Saul. 2000. Ravelstein. New York, New York: Penguin. Butterworth, Charles E., "On Misunderstanding Allan Bloom: The Response to The Closing of the American Mind." Academic Questions 2, no. 4: 56. Edington, Robert V. 1990. "Allan Bloom's message to the state universities". Perspectives on Political Science; 19, no. 3 Fulford, Robert. "Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, and Abe Ravelstein." Globe and Mail, November 2, 1999. Goldstein, William. "The Story behind the Best Seller: Allan Bloom's Closing of the American Mind." Publishers Weekly. July 3, 1987. Hook, Sidney. 1989. "Closing of the American Mind: An Intellectual Best Seller Revisited". American Scholar 58, no. Winter: 123. Iannone, Carol. 2003. "What's Happened to Liberal Education?". Academic Questions 17, no. 1, 54. Jaffa, Harry V. "Humanizing Certitudes and Impoverishing Doubts: A Critique of Closing of the American Mind." Interpretation. 16 Fall 1988. Kahan, Jeffrey. 2002. "Shakespeare on Love and Friendship." Women's Studies 31, no. 4, 529. Kinzel, Till. 2002. Platonische Kulturkritik in Amerika. Studien zu Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Matthews, Fred. "The Attack on 'Historicism': Allan Bloom's Indictment of Contemporary American Historical Scholarship." American Historical Review 95, no. 2, 429. Mulcahy, Kevin V. 1989. "Civic Illiteracy and the American Cultural Heritage." Journal of Politics 51, no. 1, 177. Nussbaum, Martha. "Undemocratic Vistas," New York Review of Books 34, no.17 (November 5, 1987) Orwin, Clifford. "Remembering Allan Bloom." American Scholar 62, no. 3, 423. Palmer, Michael, and Thomas Pangle ed. 1995. Political Philosophy and the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Rosenberg, Aubrey. 1981. "Translating Rousseau." University of Toronto Quarterly 50, no. 3, 339. Schaub, Diana. 1994. "Erotic adventures of the mind." Public Interest, no. 114, 104. . Sleeper, Jim. 2005. "Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind". New York Times Book Review (September 4, 2005): 27. Wrightson, Katherine M. 1998. "The Professor as Teacher: Allan Bloom, Wayne Booth, and the Tradition of Teaching at the University of Chicago." Innovative Higher Education 23, no. 2, 103. External links Keith Botsford, Obituary: Professor Allan Bloom, The Independent, October 12, 1992 DePauw University News "Closing of the American Mind Author Allan Bloom Calls on DePauw Students to Seize "Charmed Years". Ubben Lecture Series: September 11, 1987, Greencastle, Indiana. (Accessed May 16, 2007). Patner, Andrew. Chicago Sun-Times, "Allan Bloom, warts and all" April 16, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). West, Thomas G. The Claremont Institute, The Claremont Institute Blog Writings. "Allan Bloom and America" June 1, 2000. (Accessed May 16, 2007). A review of Political Philosophy & the Human Soul: Essays in Memory of Allan Bloom by Michael Palmer and Thomas L. Pangle, in Conference Journal. Bloom's Lectures on Socrates, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche at Boston University (1983) Allan Bloom in philosophical discussion American cultural critics American people of German-Jewish descent Philosophers from Indiana Philosophers from Illinois Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Toronto faculty University of Chicago alumni Writers from Indianapolis Writers from Chicago Critics of postmodernism Jewish American writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from Indiana Jewish philosophers American scholars of ancient Greek philosophy 1930 births 1992 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Illinois National Humanities Medal recipients American gay writers Gay academics Jewish American academics Political scientists who studied under Leo Strauss 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Illinois John M. Olin Foundation	true	[ "Isaac Bloom (1748 – April 26, 1803) was an American politician and a United States Representative from New York.\n\nBiography\nBloom was born in Jamaica in the Province of New York.\n\nCareer\nBloom later moved to Clinton, Dutchess County, New York, and was a captain of minutemen of the Charlotte precinct in Dutchess County in 1775. He was a merchant in 1784, and from 1788 to 1792 was a member of the New York State Assembly.\n\nA delegate to the New York state convention in 1801, Bloom was also a member of the New York State Senate from 1800 to 1802. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican as a U. S. Representative for the sixth district of New York to the 8th United States Congress, but died before Congress met. The office was his from March 4, 1803, until his death on April 26, 1803.\n\nDeath\nBloom died in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dutchess County, New York, on April 26, 1803 (age about 56 years). He is interred at Pittsbury Presbyterian Churchyard, Washington Hollow, New York.\n\nSee also\n List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Political Graveyard\nFind A Grave\n\n1747 births\n1803 deaths\nPeople from Jamaica, Queens\nMembers of the New York State Assembly\nNew York (state) state senators\nMembers of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)\nNew York (state) Democratic-Republicans\nDemocratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives", "The Anti-Job are an American indie-avant-garde-psychedelic rock band originally from New York City. The group formed in 2009 at Vassar College. Their music offers a mixture of floral psychedelic surf rock, lyrical surrealism, electronic and folk music accented with poly-rhythms. Current members consist of Amanda Jones, Martin Lopez-Iu and Lee Harcourt. They are currently based in Los Angeles, California, signed to BLOOM records.\n\nHistory \nThe Anti-Job began as an acoustic duo at Vassar College with founding members Amanda Jones and Martin Lopez-Iu. At the time the duo was called, \"Amanda and Martin Incidence.\" In 2009 they decided to rename their project The Anti-Job and develop a more \"plugged\" sound. They acquired drummer/percussionist Katie Troy, another Vassar colleague and began to tour extensively all over the Hudson Valley and New York City. In 2009, The Anti-Job released their debut, EP \"We Are The Anti-Job\" featuring 5 tracks all self-produced and recorded after hours at the Vassar College music department, Skinner Hall.\n\nSummer of 2010, The Anti-Job toured the East Coast and Mid-West. They traveled to 14 different cities beginning and ending in New York City. It was a successful tour but personal differences and dispute arose among the members ultimately causing drummer, Katie Troy to part ways with the band. After graduating and touring in 2010, Amanda moved to Los Angeles, California to continue writing music with Martin. From Winter of 2010 to Fall of 2011, Amanda and Martin wrote and recorded, \"BLOOM.\" \"BLOOM\" was recorded at Martin's DIY home studio and mastered at Rye Bread Mastering Studios in Montreal, Quebec with engineer Ryan Morey (Arcade Fire, Beck, The Weakerthans, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs). BLOOM was a collaboration of a variety of musicians and concept album that paralleled the lives of the members. The content narrated a personal quest toward happiness and understanding. \"BLOOM\" was released in March 2012 to positive reviews and acclaim.\n\nIn March 2012, The Anti-Job released their debut full-length album, \"BLOOM.\" That same month, Amanda happened to meet Henry Rollins at the LA Zine Fest and shared her music with him. Shortly thereafter Rollins began playing they're songs on his radio show via KCRW 89.9FM. Their songs remain in steady rotation. In April 2012, Martin and Amanda acquired a new drummer, Lee Harcourt. The trio make the current line-up as The Anti-Job. From April through the end of the year, The Anti-Job toured Los Angeles and the surrounding regions extensively, opening for bands like garage rockers, FIDLAR and metal experimentalists, KAYO DOT.\n\nIn July 2013, The Anti-Job recorded a 5 track EP \"You're Not Real.\" The EP was recorded at Cloud City Sound Studios with producer / engineer Brandon Eggleston (Modest Mouse, The Mountain Goats, Tune-Yards, SonyBMG, 4AD) The EP was mastered at Golden Mastering by John Golden (Sonic Youth, Superchunk, Sub Pop, Kill Rock Stars). Anticipated release date is October 11, 2013.\n\nIn other media \nIn 2010, after the release of their debut EP, \"We Are The Anti-Job, The Anti-Job were featured on Art Rocker Magazine TV. The Anti-Job spent over a year touring and recording their next album, BLOOM -– upon its release in 2012, garnered the attention of Henry Rollins, LA Record, Buzz Bands LA, the Deli Magazine Los Angeles and a variety of radio stations including, BBC radio 6, and Los Angeles stations KCRW 89.9FM, KXLU 88.9FM, KPFK 90.7FM.\n\nIn 2011, \"Love Strange\" from their EP \"We Are The Anti-Job\" was featured in the online web series, \"Brooklyn Is In Love.\" In 2012,\"Rain Dance (Part 1)\" from their album, \"BLOOM\" was featured in the trailer and pilot of the scripted drama, \"DTLA\" featuring actress Melanie Griffith and made by the producers of the Showtime Network series, \"L Word\". This song was also featured in the documentary \"Anger the Intention.\"\n\nMembers \nAmanda Jones (guitar, vocals, bass, keyboard), besides being the founder and frontrunner of the band, is also a composer. In 2020 she was nominated for an Emmy for \"Outstanding Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score)\" for her work on the Apple TV+ documentary Home. She also composed the Adventure Time: Distant Lands \"Obsidian\" soundtrack, and has been involved with How to Train Your Dragon 2, Trolls World Tour, and A Black Lady Sketch Show.\n\nThe other bandmembers are Martin Lopez-Iu (lead guitar, keyboard, bass) and Lee Harcourt (drums, percussion).\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums \nBLOOM (2012)\n\nEPs \n You're Not Real (2013)\n We Are The Anti-Job (2009)\n\nSingles \n \"Miss You\" (2013)\n \"Joni Mitchell in Love\" (2013)\n \"Rain Dance (Part 1)\" (2012)\n \"The Robbery\" (2009)\n\nReferences \n\nMusical groups from New York City\nPsychedelic rock music groups from New York (state)" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death" ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	When did Grigory die?	1	When did Grigory die?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	false	[ "Grigory, Grigori and Grigoriy are Russian masculine given names.\n\nIt may refer to watcher angels or more specifically to the egrḗgoroi or Watcher angels.\n\nGrigory\n\n Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian novelist\n Grigory Barenblatt (19272018), Russian mathematician\n Grigory Bey-Bienko (1903–1971), Russian entomologist\n Grigory Danilevsky (1829–1890), Russian novelist\n Grigory Falko (born 1987), Russian swimmer\n Grigory Fedotov (1916–1957), Soviet football player and manager\n Grigory Frid (1915–2012), Russian composer\n Grigory Gagarin (1810–1893), Russian painter and military commander\n Grigory Gamarnik (born 1929), Soviet wrestler\n Grigory Gamburtsev (1903–1955), Soviet seismologist\n Grigory Ginzburg (1904–1961), Russian pianist\n Grigory Grum-Grshimailo (1860–1936), Russian entomologist\n Grigory Gurkin (1870–1937), Altay landscape painter\n Grigory Helbach (1863–1930), Russian chess master\n Grigory Kiriyenko (born 1965), Russian fencer\n Grigory Kriss (born 1940), Soviet épée fencer\n Grigory Laguta (born 1984), Russian-born Latvian motorcycle speedway rider\n Grigory Landsberg (1890–1957), Soviet physicist\n Grigory Langsdorff (1774–1852), German-Russian naturalist and explorer\n Grigory Leps (born 1962), Russian singer and songwriter of Georgian origin\n Grigory Levenfish (1889–1961), Soviet chess Grandmaster\n Grigory Kaminsky (1894–1938), Soviet politician\n Grigory Kotoshikhin (c. 1630–1667), Russian diplomat and writer\n Grigory Kotovsky (1881–1925), Soviet military commander\n Grigory Kulik (1890–1950), Soviet military commander\n Grigory Mairanovsky (1899–1964), Soviet biochemist and poison developer\n Grigory Margulis (born 1946), Russian mathematician\n Grigory Misutin (born 1970), Ukrainian artistic gymnast\n Grigory Nelyubov (1934–1966), Russian cosmonaut\n Grigory Neujmin (1886–1946), Russian astronomer\n Grigory Novak (1919–1980), Soviet Ukrainian weightlifter\n Grigory Ordzhonikidze (1886–1937), Georgian communist\n Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov (1734–1783), Russian military commander and diplomat, lover of Catherine the Great\n Grigory Ostrovsky (1756–1814), Russian painter\n Grigory Petrovsky (1878–1958), Soviet Ukraininan communist and revolutionary\n Grigory Petrovich Nikulin (1895-1965), Soviet revolutionary\n Grigory Pirogov (1885–1931), Russian bass opera singer\n Grigory Pomerants (1918–2013), Russian philosopher and cultural theorist\n Grigory Potanin (1835–1920), Russian orientalist and explorer\n Grigory Potemkin (1739–1791), Russian military leader, statesman, favorite of Catherine the Great\n Grigory Razumovsky (1759–1837), Ukrainian biologist, geologist and philosopher\n Grigory Romodanovsky (died 1682), Russian military commander and diplomat\n Grigory Romanov (1923–2008), Soviet politician\n Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov (1890–1946), Russian military commander\n Grigory Abramovich Shajn (1892–1956), Soviet Russian astronomer\n Grigory Shelikhov (1747–1795), Russian seafarer and merchant\n Grigory or Gregory Skovoroda (1722–1794), Ukrainian philosopher, poet, teacher and composer\n Grigory Sokolov (born 1950), Russian pianist\n Grigory Soroka (1823–1864), Russian painter\n Grigory Sukochev (born 1988), Australian volleyball player\n Grigory Spiridov (1713–1790), Russian admiral\n Grigory Ugryumov (1764–1823), Russian painter\n Grigory Yavlinsky (born 1952), Russian economist and politician\n Grigory Zinoviev (1883–1936), Soviet politician\n\nGrigori\n Grigori Chukhrai (1921-2001), Russian screenwriter and director\n Grigori Galitsin (born 1957), Russian erotic photographer and porn director\n Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973), Soviet Russian film director\n Grigori Kromanov (1926–1984), Estonian theatre and film director\n Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff or Georg von Langsdorff (1774-1852), Prussian aristocrat, politician and naturalist\n Grigori Marchenko (born 1946), Honorary Consul of the Singaporean government to the Kazakh government\n Grigori Panteleimonov (1885-1934), Russian sports shooter\n Grigori Perelman (born 1966), Russian mathematician\n Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916), a Russian mystic\n Grigori Voitinsky (1893-1956), Comintern official\n Grigori Zozulya (1893-1973), Russian artist\n\nGrigoriy \n Grigoriy Andreyev (born 1976), Russian marathon runner\n Grigoriy Dobrygin (born 1986), Russian actor\n Grigoriy Gruzinsky (1833–1899), Georgian prince\n Grigoriy Myasoyedov (1834–1911), Russian painter\n Grigoriy Mihaylovich Naginskiy (born 1958), Russian politician\n Grigoriy Oparin (born 1997), Russian chess Grandmaster\n Grigoriy Oster (born 1947), Russian author and screenwriter\n Grigoriy Tarasevich (born 1995), Russian swimmer\n Grigoriy Yablonsky (born 1940), Soviet-born American chemical engineer and professor\n Grigoriy Yegorov (born 1967), Kazakhstani former pole vaulter\n\nFictional characters \n Father Grigori, in the computer game Half-Life 2\n Grigori Rasputin (Hellboy), a comic book character\n Grigori Daratrazanoff, a main Carpathian character in Christine Feehan's Dark series\n Grigori, the name of the titular dragon in the computer game Dragon's Dogma\n Grigori Panteleevich Melekhov, in And Quiet Flows the Don\n\nSee also \n Daniel Grigori, an angel in Lauren Kate's Fallen novel series\n Gregory (given name)\n Krikor, Western Armenian variant\n\nRussian masculine given names", "Grigory Dmitriyevich Stroganov () (25 January 1656 – 21 November 1715) was a Russian landowner and statesman, the most notable member of the prominent Stroganov family in the late 17th century-early 18th century, a strong supporter of the reforms and initiatives of Peter the Great. The surname is also transcribed as Stroganoff. Beef Stroganoff is named after this family.\n\nGrigory Stroganov was the only son of Dmitri Andreyevich Stroganov. His name first appears in the public record in 1672, when he visited Moscow with gifts for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich on the occasion of the birth of Tsarevich Peter. Dmitiri Stroganoff died the next year and the tsar issued a gramota confirming Grigory's inheritance of one third of the Stroganov family fortune. When the heirs of Yakov Stroganov, the senior branch of the family, died off in 1681, Grigory inherited another one third of the Stroganov lands. The last third, owned by the wife of Fyodor Petrovich Stroganov, passed to him on 18 January 1686.\n\nAccording to the accounting of Fyodor Volegov (d. 1856), this consolidation increased Grigory Stroganov's personal holdings dramatically, to more than ten million desiatinas of land (103,000 square kilometers) with more than 200 villages and 15,000 adult male serfs. This figure does not include his estates in Moscow (e.g. Vlakhernskoye-Kuzminki), Nizhny Novgorod and Solvychegodsk. Grigory Stroganov was the largest Russian landowner after the tsar.\n\nBeginning in 1682 he regularly assisted the government in its financial difficulties. In 1700 Stroganov funded the construction of several military ships for the nascent Imperial Russian Navy. For his services Grigory Stroganov received numerous awards, honorary distinctions and additional lands.\n\nA major factor in Stroganov's power was his saltern enterprise, whose efficiency greatly improved under his management. However, he lost this advantage in 1705, when the state established a salt monopoly.\n\nGrigory Stroganov married twice, first to Princess Vassa Meshcherskaya, and then to Princess Maria Novosiltseva. Three children from the second marriage survived children: Alexander (b. 1699), Nikolay (b. 1700) and Sergey (b. 1700).\n\nReferences\n\n \n\nGrigory Dmitriyevich\n1656 births\n1715 deaths\nRussian landowners" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791" ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Why did he die?	2	Why did Grigory Potemkin die?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Potemkin fell ill	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "\"Born To Live, Born To Die\" was the last charting single for The Foundations. It made it to number 46 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1969. It was written by Foundations trombone player Eric Allandale and The Foundations. The B-side was composed by the group's organist Tony Gomez.\n\nIn the Netherlands it went to number 28 for one week.\n\nEditions\n The Foundations - \"Born to Live, Born to Die\" / \"Why Did You Cry\" - PYE 7N 17809 1969 - (UK)\n The Foundations - \"Born to Live, Born to Die\" / \"Why Did You Cry\" - UNI 55162 1969 - (US)\n\nReferences\n\n1969 singles\nPye Records singles\nThe Foundations songs\nSongs written by Eric Allandale\n1969 songs", "The End Of A Beautiful Career is the first mini-album from the band Angelica, released on Fantastic Plastic Records. It includes the singles \"Bring Back Her Head\" and \"Why Did You Let My Kitten Die?\" and reached #4 in the Indie Charts. It was released on CD and limited edition 10\" lollipop orange coloured vinyl with an extra track.\n\nTrack listing\n \"All I Can See\" – 3:47 (Colton)\n \"Bring Back Her Head\" – 4:08 (Ross)\n \"Concubine Blues\" – 3:35 (Colton)\n \"Sea Shanty\" – 3:38 (Ross)\n \"You Fake It/You Make It\" – 3:03 (Ross)\n \"Why Did You Let My Kitten Die?\" – 2:35 (Ross)\n \"Fireflies\" – 4:26 (Colton)\n \"A.N.G.E.L.I.C.A.\" - 2:00 (Angelica) (Only available on Vinyl version)\n\nReferences\n\n2000 albums\nAngelica (band) albums" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill" ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Did he have any specific medical conditions?	3	Did Grigory Potemkin have any specific medical conditions?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "Medical massage is outcome-based massage, primarily the application of a specific treatment targeted to the specific problem the patient presents with a diagnosis and are administered after a thorough assessment/evaluation by the medical massage therapist with specific outcomes being the basis for treatment. It is also known as clinical massage or treatment massage.\n\nThere are many massage schools and programs that teach medical massage as a technique. Though medical massage is any massage treatment used to treat specific medical conditions, there is no one technique that is medical massage (literary review). Medical massage is taking whatever style of massage the practitioner knows and applying that technique to specific conditions to bring about specific outcomes.\n\nHistory\nMassage has been used as a medical treatment dating back to the Chinese over 5000 years ago. More recently Professor Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914), a neurologist in Philadelphia is thought to be the first to bring massage to the attention of the US medical community. In 1884, Douglas Graham, MD of Boston Massachusetts wrote A Practical Treatise on Massage which focuses on the treatment of specific diseases and disorders by using massage as a treatment. In 1885, Dr Harvey Kellogg published the classic textbook The Art of Massage, Its Physiological Effects and Therapeutic Actions. During the nineteenth century, massage in Europe was described in the medical literature and was taught at institutions and also offered by lay practitioners. In 1886, William Murrell, an English Physician wrote a book Massage as a Mode of Treatment. In Russia, M.Y. Mudrov, MD used massage and movement exercises in his medical practice with adults and later applied it to the development of children.\n\nMassage has been popular as a form of medical treatment in Russia since the late 1700s.\n\nThe American Medical Massage Association (1998) and The United States Medical Massage Association (1999) followed with similar goals of lifting the profession to higher standards and, in turn, giving patients a better outcome. The AMMA has worked with the standard medical community to bring massage therapy into the mainstream; they have done this through a board of advisers that includes massage therapists, physicians, chiropractors etc.\n\nMuch of the present explosion of information in the injury-rehabilitation field can be credited to the work of Dr. Janet G Travell (1901–1997).\n\nQualifications\n\nUnited States\n\nAny Licensed Massaged Therapist is qualified to do medical massage if they have training on how to treat specific problems. State Licensure is the only qualification needed to bill for massage therapy. In Washington State and many other states part of the state licensure includes some treatment massage training but the amount of training varies greatly. Massage customers should ask, Therapist about their training and experience in treating the specific conditions that they have. Washington State and Florida are currently the only states that mandates that Massage Therapists be allowed to be contracted providers with health insurance companies. Currently, the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 does make provisions for every type of provider to be covered in insurance plans. It is possible that massage will be covered by insurance under this new Act.\n\nReferences\n\nMassage therapy", "A heterogeneous medical condition or heterogeneous disease is a medical term referring to a medical condition with several etiologies (root causes), such as hepatitis or diabetes. Medical conditions are normally defined pathologically (i.e. based on the state of the patient), as in \"liver inflammation,\" or clinically (i.e based on the apparent symptoms of the patient), as in \"excessive urination,\" and not etiologically (i.e. based on the underlying causes of the symptoms), and so it is not unusual for conditions to have multiple etiologies. Heterogenous conditions are sometimes contrasted with homogeneous conditions, which have the same root cause for all patients in a given group. Heterogeneous conditions are often divided into endotypes based on etiology.\n\nEndotype\n\nAn endotype is a subtype of a condition, which is defined by a distinct functional or pathobiological mechanism. This is distinct from a phenotype, which is any observable characteristic or trait of a disease, such as morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior, without any implication of a mechanism. It is envisaged that patients with a specific endotype present themselves within phenotypic clusters of diseases.\n\nOne example is asthma, which is considered to be a syndrome, consisting of a series of endotypes. This is related to the concept of disease entity\n\nHeterogeneity in medical conditions\n\nThe term medical condition is a nosological broad term that includes all diseases, disorders, injuries and syndromes, and it is specially suitable in the last case, in which it is not possible to speak about a single disease associated to the clinical course of the patient.\n\nWhile the term medical condition generally includes mental illnesses, in some contexts the term is used specifically to denote any illness, injury, or disease except for mental illnesses. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the widely used psychiatric manual that defines all mental disorders, uses the term general medical condition to refer to all diseases, illnesses, and injuries except for mental disorders. This usage is also commonly seen in the psychiatric literature. Some health insurance policies also define a medical condition as any illness, injury, or disease except for psychiatric illnesses.\n\nAs it is more value-neutral than terms like disease, the term medical condition is sometimes preferred by people with health issues that they do not consider deleterious. It is also preferred when etiology is not unique, because the word disease is normally associated to the cause of the clinical problems. On the other hand, by emphasizing the medical nature of the condition, this term is sometimes rejected, such as by proponents of the autism rights movement.\n\nThe term is also used in specialized areas of the medicine. A genetic or allelic heterogeneous condition is one where the same disease or condition can be caused, or contributed to, by varying different genes or alleles. In clinical trials and statistics the concepts of homogeneous and heterogeneous populations is important. The same applies for epidemiology\n\nSee also\n\n Endotype, each one of the etiological subclasses of a given heterogeneous condition.\n\nReferences\n\nDiseases and disorders" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again," ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Where did he die?	4	Where did Grigory Potemkin die?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	false	[ "Hagen Friedrich Liebing (18 February 1961 – 25 September 2016), nicknamed \"The Incredible Hagen\", was a German musician and journalist, best known as the bassist for the influential punk band Die Ärzte. \n\nIn 1986, drummer Bela B invited him to join Die Ärzte. The two knew each other from early Berlin punk days. The band disbanded in 1988. Liebing tried his hand at journalism shortly thereafter. He wrote several articles for Der Tagesspiegel, and was the senior music editor of Tip Berlin since the mid-1990s. \n\nWhen Die Ärzte reunited in 1993, Liebing did not join them. However, he did join them on stage as a special guest in 2002. In 2003, he published his memoirs The Incredible Hagen – My Years with Die Ärzte. From 2003 to 2010, he headed the Press and Public Relations at the football club Tennis Borussia Berlin. \n\nLiebing died in Berlin on 25 September 2016, after a battle with a brain tumor.\n\nReferences\n\n1961 births\n2016 deaths\nMusicians from Berlin\nGerman male musicians\nGerman journalists\nDeaths from cancer in Germany\nDeaths from brain tumor", "Hermann Wilbrand (22 May 1851 – 17 September 1935) was a German ophthalmologist born in Giessen. Wilbrand's father and grandfather were also physicians. \n\nIn 1875, he earned his doctorate at the University of Strassburg, and afterwards was an assistant to Ludwig Laqueur (1839-1909) at Strassburg and to Carl Friedrich Richard Förster (1825-1902) at Breslau. Later he moved to Hamburg, where he became head of the department of ophthalmology at Allgemeines Hospital in 1905.\n\nWilbrand specialized in the field of neuro-ophthalmology and did extensive research involving the pathology and physiology of the eye. He demonstrated that homonymous hemianopsia was caused by lesions in the occipital lobe and optic radiation as well as the optic tract.\n\nAssociated eponyms \n Wilbrand's knee: A group of extramacular ganglion cell axons that extend forward into the posterior optic nerve.\n Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome: Syndrome involving visual agnosia and the inability to re-visualize images. Condition due to occlusion of the posterior cerebral artery of the dominant hemisphere. Named with French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893).\n\nWritten works \n Die hemianopischen Gesichtsfeldformen und das optische Wahrnehmungscentrum. Wiesbaden, 1890. \n Über Sehstörungen bei funktionellen Nervenleiden. with Alfred Saenger (1860-1921) Leipzig, 1892. \n Die Erhohlungsausdehnung des Gesichtsfeldes. Wiesbaden, (1896). \n Über die Augenerkrankungen in der Frühperiode der Syphilis. with Staelin. Hamburg and Leipzig, 1897. \n Die Neurologie des Auges: ein Handbuch für Nerven- und Augenärtze. (with Alfred Saenger; 9 volumes). Wiesbaden, 1900-1922. \n Die Theorie des Sehens. with Carl Behr (1876-1943) (supplementary volume, 1927), Wiesbaden, 1913. \n Der Faservelauf durch das Chiasma und die intrakraniellen Sehnerven. Berlin, 1929.\n\nReferences\n\n Ophthalmology Hall of Fame (biography of Hermann Wilbrand)\n\n1851 births\n1935 deaths\nGerman ophthalmologists\nPeople from Giessen" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy." ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Did he die at home or in a hospital?	5	Did Grigory Potemkin die at home or in a hospital?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	false	[ "Home and hospital education (HHE) is the education of children with medical needs, whether in hospital (with hospital sections or hospital schools) or at home.\n\nThe term HHE was first introduced in a proposal for the EU-funded project LeHo (Learning at Home and in the Hospital), an international three-year project funded by the European Union and managed by the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. LeHo aims to research, develop and disseminate effective pedagogical practices and appropriate use of ICT within the hospital school sector.\n\nSee also\nHospital school\n\nReferences\n\nThe LeHo Project (Learning at Home and in the Hospital)\n\nICT for Home and Hospital Education – based on best practices of the LeHo (Learning at Home and in the Hospital) project \n\nSpecial education", "Christian Gottfried Heinrich Bäumler (13 May 1836 in Buchau, Upper Franconia - 1933) was a German physician known for work involving infectious diseases.\n\nBackground\nBäumler studied medicine at several universities, earning his doctorate at the University of Erlangen in 1860. From 1863 to 1866 he was resident medical officer at the \"German Hospital\" in London, and from 1866 to 1872 was an assistant physician at the German Hospital and at the Victoria Park Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. In 1866 he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, London. After his return to Germany, he served as a professor at Erlangen and later at the University of Freiburg.\n\nPublications\nIn 1870 Bäumler published an English translation of Felix von Niemeyer's Klinische Vorträge über die Lungenschwindsucht as \"Clinical lectures on pulmonary consumption\". Other noted works by Bäumler include:\n Handbuch der chronischen Infectionskrankheiten, 1874 - Handbook on chronic infectious diseases.\n Syphilis, 1886\n Ueber die Influenza von 1889 und 1890, 1890 - On the influenza of 1889 and 1890.\n Die Entwickelung der Medizin, einst und jetzt, 1902 - The development of medicine, then and now.\n\nReferences \n\n1836 births\n1933 deaths\nUniversity of Erlangen-Nuremberg faculty\nUniversity of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni\nUniversity of Freiburg faculty\nGerman infectious disease physicians" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned" ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Do many believe foul play?	6	Do many believe foul play was involved in Grigory Potemkin's death?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	but this is rejected by Montefiore,	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "Foul play may refer to:\nFoul Play (novel), 1869, by Charles Reade\nFoul Play (1920 film), British\nFoul Play (1977 film), Spanish\nFoul Play (1978 film), American\nFoul Play (album), by Dennis Brown\nFoul Play (TV series), 1981\nFoul Play (video game), 2013\nFoul (sports), act of a player violating the rules of a sport or game\nCrime, an unlawful act punishable by some authority\n\nSee also\n Foul (disambiguation)\n Fowl Play (disambiguation)", "Foul may refer to:\n\n\nIn sports\n Foul (sports), an unfair or illegal act during a sports competition, including:\n Foul (association football), in football (soccer)\n Professional foul, in football (soccer) or rugby\n Foul (basketball)\n Foul ball, in baseball, a batted ball that lands in foul territory\n Foul (fanzine), a 1970s British football fanzine\n\nOther uses\n Foul (nautical), to entangle or entwine\n Lord Foul, the villain of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a fantasy novel series by Stephen R. Donaldson\n Ful medames, a fava bean stew\n\nSee also\n Foul Bay (disambiguation)\n Foul Point, Coronation Island, South Orkney Islands\n Foul play (disambiguation)\n Fouling, in engineering, accumulation of unwanted deposits on solid surfaces\n Fowl (disambiguation)" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned", "Do many believe foul play?", "but this is rejected by Montefiore," ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	any other interesting facts about his death?	7	Besides the possibility of foul play, any other interesting facts about Grigory Potemkin's death?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding.	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "Jeremy Poolman is a British novelist, biographer and artist. His first novel, Interesting Facts about the State of Arizona, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, UK.\n\nHe studied at University College School, and Oxford Brookes University.\nHis work has appeared in The Guardian.\nHe lives in Cornwall.\n\nWorks\nInteresting Facts about the State of Arizona, Faber and Faber, 1996, \nAudacity's Song, Faber and Faber, 1998, \nMy Kind of America, Bloomsbury, 2000, \nSkin, Bloomsbury, 2001, \n\nNon-Fiction\nA Wounded Thing Must Hide: In Search of Libbie Custer, Bloomsbury, 2002, \nGypsy Jem Mace: Being One Man's Search for His Forgotten Famous Ancestor Andre Deutsch, 2008, \nThe Road of Bones: A Journey to the Dark Heart of Russia, Simon & Schuster, Limited, 2011,\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAuthor's website\n2011 Surrey Heath Literary Festival\n\n20th-century British novelists\n21st-century British novelists\nLiving people\nAlumni of Oxford Brookes University\nPeople educated at University College School\nBritish male novelists\n20th-century British male writers\n21st-century British male writers\nYear of birth missing (living people)", "The Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, written by Matthew Bunson in 1994 and published by Facts on File, is a detailed depiction of the history of the Roman Empire. This work, of roughly 494 pages (a 2002 revised version contains 636 pages) stores more than 2,000 entries.\n\nVersions\n US Hardcover revised edition (July 2002), published by Facts on File: \n\nThe book gives the reader much information about the life and decay of Rome, bringing the reader through an interesting voyage in time.\n\nReferences\n\n \n\n1994 non-fiction books\nRoman Empire\nHistory books about ancient Rome" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned", "Do many believe foul play?", "but this is rejected by Montefiore,", "any other interesting facts about his death?", "Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding." ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	What happened during that period?	8	What happened during Grigory Potemkin's period of city-founding?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Construction started at his first effort, Kherson,	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "What Happened to Jones may refer to:\n What Happened to Jones (1897 play), a play by George Broadhurst\n What Happened to Jones (1915 film), a lost silent film\n What Happened to Jones (1920 film), a lost silent film\n What Happened to Jones (1926 film), a silent film comedy", "What Happened may refer to:\n\n What Happened (Clinton book), 2017 book by Hillary Clinton\n What Happened (McClellan book), 2008 autobiography by Scott McClellan\n \"What Happened\", a song by Sublime from the album 40oz. to Freedom\n \"What Happened\", an episode of One Day at a Time (2017 TV series)\n\nSee also\nWhat's Happening (disambiguation)" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned", "Do many believe foul play?", "but this is rejected by Montefiore,", "any other interesting facts about his death?", "Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding.", "What happened during that period?", "Construction started at his first effort, Kherson," ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Where is it located?	9	Where is Kherson located?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Black Sea	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "In law, the situs (pronounced ) (Latin for position or site) of property is where the property is treated as being located for legal purposes. This may be important when determining which laws apply to the property, since the situs of an object determines the lex situs, that is, the law applicable in the jurisdiction where the object is located, which may differ from the lex fori, the law applicable in the jurisdiction where a legal action is brought. For example, real estate in England is subject to English law, real estate in Scotland is subject to Scottish law, and real estate in France is subject to French law. \n\nIt can be essential to determine the situs of an object, and the lex situs, because there are substantial differences between the laws in different jurisdictions governing, for example: whether property has been transferred effectively; what taxes apply (such as inheritance tax, estate tax, wealth tax, income tax and capital gains tax); and whether rules of intestacy or forced heirship apply.\n\nThe rules for determining situs vary between jurisdictions and can depend on the context. The English common law rules, which apply in most common law jurisdictions, are in outline as follows:\nthe situs of real estate (land) is where it is located.\nthe situs of a chattel (tangible moveable item) is the state where the chattel is [or was located] at the time of conveyance. \nthe situs of a bearer instrument is where the document is located, but the situs of a registered instrument is where the register is held.\nthe situs of debts is where the debtor resides, since that is generally where legal action can be taken to enforce the debt.\nthe situs of intangible property, including intellectual property and goodwill, is where the property is registered, or, if not registered, where the rights to the property can be enforced.\nthe situs of a ship within territorial waters is where it is located, but the situs of a ship in international waters is its port of registry.\n\nReferences\nHalsbury's Laws, Conflict of Laws, para. pp. 385–391\n\n§258. Nature of Interest Created by Conveyance of Chattel\n\nSee also\nLex situs\n\nLatin legal terminology", "Cape Tobin (, \"that which one burns oneself on\") is a cape located in the northeast of Sermersooq, Greenland. It is located near the settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit, where short trips and long hauls provide access to the cape. Cape Tobin is located opposite Cape Brewster (Kangikajik). It is called Uunartoq because it is home to the hottest hot spring in Greenland, where the water temperature is .\n\nReferences\n\nTobin" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned", "Do many believe foul play?", "but this is rejected by Montefiore,", "any other interesting facts about his death?", "Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding.", "What happened during that period?", "Construction started at his first effort, Kherson,", "Where is it located?", "Black Sea" ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Where else did he construct?	10	Where else did Grigory Potemkin construct besides Kherson?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	Next was the port of Akhtiar,	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "If then may refer to:\n\n if-then, a construct in computer programming\n If/Then, a 2014 musical\n \"If/Then\", an episode in season 8 of Grey's Anatomy\n\nSee also\n \"If-Then-Else\", an episode of Person of Interest\n If Then Else, a 2000 album by The Gathering\n Conditional (disambiguation)", "A binary decision is a choice between two alternatives, for instance between taking some specific action or not taking it.\n\nBinary decisions are basic to many fields. Examples include:\nTruth values in mathematical logic, and the corresponding Boolean data type in computer science, representing a value which may be chosen to be either true or false.\nConditional statements (if-then or if-then-else) in computer science, binary decisions about which piece of code to execute next.\nDecision trees and binary decision diagrams, representations for sequences of binary decisions.\nBinary choice, a statistical model for the outcome of a binary decision.\n\nBinary decision diagrams\n\nA binary decision diagram (BDD) is a way to visually represent a boolean function. One application of BDDs is in CAD software and digital circuit analysis where they are an efficient way to represent and manipulate boolean functions.\n\nThe value of a boolean function can be determined by following a path in its BDD down to a terminal, making a binary decision at each node where a solid line is followed if the value of the variable at the node is true and a dotted line if it is false. A BDD is said to be 'ordered' if the order of the variables tested is fixed. A BDD is said to be 'reduced' if the two following conditions are true:\n Each successor of each node is distinct.\n There are no two distinct nodes of the same variable with the same successors.\nBDDs that are ordered and reduced can be called Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (ROBDD). An example of a ROBDD is the figure to the right, which represents the function . The order of the variables along any path is always , , then , all nodes have distinct successors, and there are no two nodes of the same variable and the same successors.\n\nConditional statements \nIn computer science, conditional statements are used to make binary decisions. A program can perform different computations or actions depending on whether a certain boolean value evaluates to true or false.\n\nThe if-then-else construct is a control flow statement which runs one of two code blocks depending on the value of a boolean expression, and its structure looks like this:if condition then\n code block 1\nelse\n code block 2\nendThe conditional expression is condition, and if it is true, then code block 1 is executed, otherwise code block 2 is executed. It is also possible to combine multiple conditions with the else-if construct:\nif condition 1 then\n code block 1\nelse if condition 2 then\n code block 2\nelse\n code block 3\nend\nThis can be represented by the flow diagram on the right. If one condition is found to be true, then the rest are skipped, so only one of the three code blocks above can be executed.\n\nA while loop is a control flow statement which executes a code block repeatedly until its boolean expression becomes false, making a decision on whether to continue repeating before each loop. This is similar to the if-then construct, but it can executing a code block multiple times.\n\nSee also \n\n Knight's tour\n\nReferences\n\nDecision-making" ]
[ "Grigory Potemkin", "Death", "When did Grigory die?", "On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791", "Why did he die?", "Potemkin fell ill", "Did he have any specific medical conditions?", "He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again,", "Where did he die?", "open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy.", "Did he die at home or in a hospital?", "Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned", "Do many believe foul play?", "but this is rejected by Montefiore,", "any other interesting facts about his death?", "Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding.", "What happened during that period?", "Construction started at his first effort, Kherson,", "Where is it located?", "Black Sea", "Where else did he construct?", "Next was the port of Akhtiar," ]	C_e4d9fa72e6104a5da6b02e036ecebd90_1	Did he have any others?	11	Did Grigory Potemkin have any other constructions besides Kherson and the port of Akhtiar?	Grigory Potemkin	A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617-1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. The family claimed Polish ancestry. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. It has been suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the elite Horse Guards regiment . Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's Gold Medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refuse to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipropetrovsk. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be the greatest. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven battleships. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the British Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the defensive Azov-Mozdok line, constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' Sevres and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, though he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On October 13 [O.S. October 2], he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On October 16 [O.S. October 5] 1791 Potemkin died in the open steppe, 40 miles from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Lojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented his death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his death. Polish contemporary Stanislaw Malachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin and wife to Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. CANNOTANSWER	His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav	Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ; ; ) was a Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman, and favourite of Catherine the Great. He died during negotiations over the Treaty of Jassy, which ended a war with the Ottoman Empire that he had overseen. Potemkin was born into a family of middle-income noble landowners. He first attracted Catherine's favor for helping in her 1762 coup, then distinguished himself as a military commander in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). He became Catherine's lover, favorite and possibly her consort. After their passion cooled, he remained her lifelong friend and favored statesman. Catherine obtained for him the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and gave him the title of Prince of the Russian Empire among many others: he was both a Grand Admiral and the head of all of Russia's land and irregular forces. Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet. His rule in the south is associated with the "Potemkin village", a ruse involving the construction of painted façades to mimic real villages, full of happy, well-fed people, for visiting officials to see. Potemkin was known for his love of women, gambling and material wealth. He oversaw the construction of many historically significant buildings, including the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Biography Early life A distant relative of the Moscovite diplomat Pyotr Potemkin (1617–1700), Grigory was born in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk into a family of middle-income noble landowners. His father, Alexander Potemkin, was a decorated war veteran; his mother Daria Vasilievna Kondyreva (1704-1780) was "good-looking, capable and intelligent", though their marriage proved ultimately unhappy. Potemkin received his first name in honour of his father's cousin Grigory Matveevich Kizlovsky, a civil servant who became his godfather. Historian Simon Montefiore has suggested that Kizlovsky fathered Potemkin, who became the centre of attention, heir to the village and the only son among six children. As the son of an (albeit petty) noble family, he grew up with the expectation that he would serve the Russian Empire. After Alexander died in 1746, Daria took charge of the family. In order to achieve a career for her son, and aided by Kizlovsky, the family moved to Moscow, where Potemkin enrolled at a gymnasium school attached to the University of Moscow. The young Potemkin became adept at languages and interested in the Russian Orthodox Church. He enlisted in the army in 1750 at age eleven, in accordance with the custom of noble children. In 1755 a second inspection placed him in the élite Horse Guards regiment. Having graduated from the University school, Potemkin became one of the first students to enroll at the University itself. Talented in both Greek and theology, he won the University's gold medal in 1757 and became part of a twelve-student delegation sent to Saint Petersburg later that year. The trip seems to have affected Potemkin: afterwards he studied little and was soon expelled. Faced with isolation from his family, he rejoined the Guards, where he excelled. At this time his net worth amounted to 430 souls (serfs), equivalent to that of the poorer gentry. His time was taken up with "drinking, gambling, and promiscuous lovemaking", and he fell deep in debt. Grigory Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers, led a palace coup in June 1762 that ousted the Emperor Peter III and enthroned Catherine II. Sergeant Potemkin represented his regiment in the revolt. Allegedly, as Catherine reviewed her troops in front of the Winter Palace before their march to the Peterhof, she lacked a sword-knot (or possibly hat plumage), which Potemkin quickly supplied. Potemkin's horse then (appeared to) refused to leave her side for several minutes before Potemkin and the horse returned to the ranks. After the coup Catherine singled out Potemkin for reward and ensured his promotion to second lieutenant. Though Potemkin was among those guarding the ex-Tsar, it appears that he had no direct involvement in Peter's murder in July. Catherine promoted him again to Kammerjunker (gentleman of the bedchamber), though he retained his post in the Guards. Potemkin was soon formally presented to the Empress as a talented mimic; his imitation of her was well received. Courtier and general Although Catherine had not yet taken Potemkin as a lover, it seems likely that she passively—if not actively—encouraged his flirtatious behaviour, including his regular practice of kissing her hand and declaring his love for her: without encouragement, Potemkin could have expected trouble from the Orlovs (Catherine's lover Grigory and his four brothers) who dominated court. Potemkin entered Catherine's circle of advisers, and in 1762 took his only foreign assignment, to Sweden, bearing news of the coup. On his return, he was appointed Procurator, and won a reputation as a lover. Under unclear circumstances, Potemkin then lost his left eye and fell into a depression. His confidence shattered, he withdrew from court, becoming something of a religious hermit. Eighteen months later, Potemkin reappeared, probably summoned by Catherine. He became an army paymaster and oversaw uniform production. Shortly thereafter, he became a Guardian of Exotic Peoples at the new All-Russian Legislative Commission, a significant political post. In September 1768, Potemkin became Kammerherr (chamberlain); two months later Catherine had his military commission revoked, fully attaching him to court. In the interval, the Ottoman Empire had started the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774 and Potemkin was eager to prove himself, writing to Catherine: Potemkin served as Major-General of the cavalry. He distinguished himself in his first engagement, helping to repulse a band of unruly Tatar and Turkish horsemen. It was during this battle that Potemkin first employed a maneuver of his own design known as the "Megufistu Flank," drawing the Tatars out of position and breaking their lines with a well timed cavalry charge. He also fought in Russia's victory at the Battle of Kamenets and the taking of the town. Potemkin saw action virtually every day, particularly excelling at the Battle of Prashkovsky, after which his commander Aleksandr Mikhailovich Golitsyn recommended him to Catherine. Potemkin's army, under Pyotr Rumyantsev, continued its advance. Potemkin fought at the capture of Jurja, a display of courage and skill for which he received the Order of St. Anna. At the Battle of Larga, he won the Order of St. George, third class, and fought well during the rout of the main Turkish force that followed. On leave to St. Petersburg, the Empress invited him to dine with her more than ten times. Back at the front, Potemkin won more military acclaim, but then fell ill; rejecting medicine, he recovered only slowly. After a lull in hostilities in 1772 his movements are unclear, but it seems that he returned to St. Petersburg where he is recorded, perhaps apocryphally, to have been one of Catherine's closest advisers. Though Orlov was replaced as her favourite, it was not Potemkin who benefited. Alexander Vasilchikov, another Horse-Guardsman, replaced Orlov as the queen's lover. Potemkin returned to war in 1773 as Lieutenant-General to fight in Silistria. It appears that Catherine missed him, and that Potemkin took a December letter from her as a summons. In any case Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg as a war hero. Favorite of Catherine II Potemkin returned to court in January 1774 expecting to walk into Catherine's arms. The political situation, however, had become complex. Yemelyan Pugachev had just arisen as a pretender to the throne, and commanded a rebel army thirty thousand strong. In addition, Catherine's son Paul turned eighteen and began to gain his own support. By late January Potemkin had tired of the impasse and effected (perhaps with encouragement from Catherine) a "melodramatic retreat" into the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Catherine relented and had Potemkin brought back in early February 1774, when their relationship became intimate. Several weeks later he had usurped Vasilchikov as Catherine's favorite, and was given the title of Adjutant General. When Catherine's friend Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm objected to Vasilchikov's dismissal, she wrote back to him, "Why do you reproach me because I dismiss a well-meaning but extremely boring bourgeois in favour of one of the greatest, the most comical and amusing, characters of this iron century?" His uncouth behavior shocked the court, but Potemkin showed himself capable of suitable formality when necessary. The frequent letters the pair sent to each other survive, revealing their affair to be one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power". Many of their trysts seem to have centered around the banya sauna in the basement of the Winter Palace; Potemkin soon grew so jealous that Catherine had to detail her prior love-life for him. Potemkin also rose in political stature, particularly on the strength of his military advice. In March 1774 he became Lieutenant-Colonel in the Preobrazhensky Guards, a post previously held by Alexei Orlov. He also became captain of the Chevaliers-Gardes from 1784. In quick succession he won appointment as Governor-General of Novorossiya, as a member of the State Council, as General-in-Chief, as Vice-President of the College of War and as Commander-in-Chief of the Cossacks. These posts made him rich, and he lived lavishly. To improve his social standing he was awarded the prestigious Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and Order of St. Andrew, along with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. That Catherine and Potemkin married is "almost certain", according to Simon Sebag Montefiore; though biographer Virginia Rounding expresses some doubt. In December 1784 Catherine first explicitly referred to Potemkin as her husband in correspondence, though 1775, 1784 and 1791 have all been suggested as possible nuptial dates. In all, Catherine's phrasing in 22 letters suggested he had become her consort, at least secretly. Potemkin's actions and her treatment of him later in life fit with this: the two at least acted as husband and wife. By late 1775, however, their relationship was changing, though it is uncertain exactly when Catherine took a secretary, Pyotr Zavadovsky, as a lover. On 2 January 1776, Zavadovsky became Adjutant-General to the Empress (he became her official favorite in May) and Potemkin moved to command the St. Petersburg troop division. Signs of a potential "golden adieu" for Potemkin include his 1776 appointment, at Catherine's request, to the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he was "bored" with Catherine, the separation was relatively peaceful. The Prince was sent on a tour to Novgorod, but, contrary to the expectations of some onlookers (though not Catherine's), he returned a few weeks later. He then snubbed her gift of the Anichkov Palace, and took new apartments in the Winter Palace, retaining his posts. Though no longer Catherine's favorite, he remained her favored minister. Though the love affair appeared to end, Catherine and Potemkin maintained a particularly close friendship, which continued to dominate their lives. Most of the time this meant a love triangle in the court between the pair and Catherine's latest swain. The favorite had a high-pressure position: after Zavadovsky came Semyon Zorich (May 1777 to May 1778), Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (May 1778 to late 1778), Alexander Lanskoy (1780 to 1784), Alexander Yermolov (1785-1786), Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1786-1789) and Platon Zubov (1789-1796). Potemkin checked candidates for their suitability; it also appears that he tended to the relationships and "filled in" between favorites. Potemkin also arranged for Catherine to walk in on Rimsky-Korsakov in a compromising position with another woman. During Catherine's (comparatively) long relationship with Lanskoy, Potemkin was particularly able to turn his attentions to other matters. He embarked upon a long series of other romances, including with his own nieces, one of whom may have borne him a child. Diplomat Potemkin's first task during this period was foreign policy. An anglophile, he helped negotiate with the English ambassador, Sir James Harris, during Catherine's initiative of Armed Neutrality, though the south remained his passion. His plan, known as the Greek Project, aspired to build a new Byzantine Empire around the Turkish capital in Constantinople. Dismembering the Ottoman Empire would require détente with Austria (technically still the Habsburg Monarchy), and its ruler Joseph II. They met in May 1780 in the Russian town of Mogilev. The ensuing alliance represented the triumph of Potemkin's approach over courtiers such as Catherine's son Paul, who favored alliance with Prussia. The May 1781 defensive treaty remained secret for almost two years; the Ottomans were said to still have been unaware of it even when they declared war on Russia in 1787. Elsewhere, Potemkin's scheme to develop a Russian presence in the rapidly disintegrating state of Persia failed. Plans for a full-scale invasion had previously been cut back and a small unit sent to establish a trading post there was quickly turned away. Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia; the Karabakh Khanate of Persia initially looked as though it might also, but eventually declined Russian help. Exhausted, Potemkin collapsed into a fever he barely survived. Catherine rewarded him with one hundred thousand roubles, which he used to construct the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Governor-General and city builder Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1783 and was promoted to Field Marshal when the Crimea was formally annexed the following February. He also became President of the College of War. The province of Taurida (the Crimea) was added to the state of Novorossiya (lit. New Russia). Potemkin moved south in mid-March, as the "Prince of Taurida". He had been the namestnik of Russia's southern provinces (including Novorossiya, Azov, Saratov, Astrakhan and the Caucasus) since 1774, repeatedly expanding the domain via military action. He kept his own court, which rivalled Catherine's: by the 1780s he operated a chancellery with fifty or more clerks and had his own minister, Vasili Popov, to oversee day-to-day affairs. Another favored associate was Mikhail Faleev. The "criminal" breaking of the Cossack hosts, particularly the Zaporozhian Cossacks in 1775, helped define his rule. However, Montefiore argues that given their location, and in the wake of the Pugachev rebellion, the Cossacks were likely doomed in any case. By the time of Potemkin's death, the Cossacks and their threat of anarchic revolt were well controlled. Among the Zaporizhian Cossacks he was known as Hrytsko Nechesa. Builder Potemkin then embarked on a period of city-founding. Construction started at his first effort, Kherson, in 1778, as a base for a new Black Sea Fleet he intended to build. Potemkin approved every plan himself, but construction was slow, and the city proved costly and vulnerable to plague. Next was the port of Akhtiar, annexed with the Crimea, which became Sevastopol. Then he built Simferopol as the Crimean capital. His biggest failure, however, was his effort to build the city of Ekaterinoslav (lit. The glory of Catherine), now Dnipro. The second most successful city of Potemkin's rule was Nikolayev (now better known as Mykolaiv), which he founded in 1789. Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph. Potemkin's Black Sea Fleet was a massive undertaking for its time. By 1787, the British ambassador reported twenty-seven ships of the line. It put Russia on a naval footing with Spain, though far behind the Royal Navy. The period represented the peak of Russia's naval power relative to other European states. Potemkin also rewarded hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved into his territories. It is estimated that by 1782 the populations of Novorossiya and Azov had doubled during a period of "exceptionally rapid" development. Immigrants included Russians, foreigners, British convicts diverted from Australia, Cossacks and controversially Jews. Though the immigrants were not always happy in their new surroundings, on at least one occasion Potemkin intervened directly to ensure families received the cattle to which they were entitled. Outside of Novorossiya he drew up the , constructing forts at Georgievsk, Stavropol and elsewhere and ensured that the whole of the line was settled. In 1784 Alexander Lanskoy died and Potemkin was needed at court to console the grieving Catherine. After Alexander Yermolov was installed as the new favorite in 1785, Catherine, Yermolov and Potemkin cruised the upper Volga. When Yermolov attempted to unseat Potemkin (and attracted support from Potemkin's critics), he found himself replaced by Count Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov in the summer of 1786. Potemkin returned to the south, having arranged that Catherine would visit in the summer of 1787. She reached Kiev in late January, to travel down the Dnieper after the ice had melted (see Crimean journey of Catherine the Great). Potemkin had other lovers at this time, including a 'Countess' and a Naryshkina. Leaving in April, the royal party arrived in Kherson a month later. On visiting Sevastopol, Austria's Joseph II, who was traveling with them, was moved to note that "The Empress is totally ecstatic... Prince Potemkin is at the moment all-powerful". "Potemkin Village" The notion of the Potemkin village (coined in German by critical biographer Georg von Helbig as ) arose from Catherine's visit to the south. Critics accused Potemkin of using painted façades to fool Catherine into thinking that the area was far richer than it was. Thousands of peasants were alleged to have been stage-managed for this purpose. Certainly, Potemkin had arranged for Catherine to see the best he had to offer (organising numerous exotic excursions) and at least two cities' officials did conceal poverty by building false houses. It seems unlikely that the fraud approached the scale alleged. The Prince of Ligne, a member of the Austrian delegation, who had explored on his own during the trip, later proclaimed the allegations to be false. Commander-in-Chief Potemkin remained in the south, gradually sinking into depression. His inactivity was problematic, given that he was now Russia's commander-in-chief and, in August 1787, another Russo-Turkish war broke out (the second of Potemkin's lifetime). His opponents were anxious to reclaim the lands they had lost in the last war, and they were under pressure from Prussia, Britain and Sweden to take a hostile attitude towards Russia. Potemkin's bluster had probably contributed to the hostility, either deliberately or accidentally; either way, his creation of the new fleet and Catherine's trip to the south had certainly not helped matters. In the center, Potemkin had his own Yekaterinoslav Army, while to the west lay the smaller Ukraine Army under the command of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. On water he had the Black Sea Fleet, and Potemkin was also responsible for coordinating military actions with Russia's Austrian allies. Potemkin and Catherine agreed on a primarily defensive strategy until the spring. Though the Turks were repelled in early skirmishes (against the Russian fortress at Kinburn), news of the loss of Potemkin's beloved fleet during a storm sent him into a deep depression. A week later, and after kind words from Catherine, he was rallied by the news that the fleet was not in fact destroyed, but only damaged. General Alexander Suvorov won an important victory at Kinburn in early October; with winter now approaching, Potemkin was confident the port would be safe until the spring. Turning his attention elsewhere, Potemkin established his headquarters in Elisabethgrad and planned future operations. He assembled an army of forty or fifty thousand, including the newly formed Kuban Cossacks. He divided his time between military preparation (creating a fleet of a hundred gunboats to fight within the shallow liman) and chasing the wives of soldiers under his command. Meanwhile, the Austrians remained on the defensive across central Europe, though they did manage to hold their lines. Despite advice to the contrary, Potemkin pursued an equally defensive strategy, though in the Caucasus Generals Tekeeli and Pavel Potemkin were making some inroads. In early summer 1788, fighting intensified as Potemkin's forces won their naval confrontation with the Turks with few losses, and began the siege of Ochakov, a Turkish stronghold and the main Russian war aim. Less promising was that St. Petersburg, exposed after Russia's best forces departed for the Crimea, was now under threat from Sweden in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. Potemkin refused to write regularly with news of the war in the south, compounding Catherine's anxiety. Potemkin argued with Suvorov and Catherine herself, who were both anxious to assault Ochakov, which the Turks twice managed to supply by sea. Finally, on 6 December, the assault began and four hours later the city was taken, a coup for Potemkin. Nearly ten thousand Turks had been killed at a cost of (only) two-and-a-half thousand Russians. Catherine wrote that "you [Potemkin] have shut the mouths of everyone... [and can now] show magnanimity to your blind and empty-headed critics". Potemkin then visited the naval yard at Vitovka, founded Nikolayev, and traveled on to St. Petersburg, arriving in February 1789. In May he left once more for the front, having agreed on contingency plans with Catherine should Russia be forced into war with either Prussia or the upstart Poland, which had recently successfully demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory. (Catherine herself was just about to change favorites for the final time, replacing Dmitriev-Mamonov with Platon Zubov.) Back on the Turkish front, Potemkin advanced towards the fortress of Bender on the Dniester river. The summer and autumn of 1789 saw numerous victories against the Turks, including the Battle of Focşani in July; in early September, the Battle of Rymnik and the capture of both Kaushany and Hadjibey (modern day Odessa); and finally the surrender of the Turkish fortress at Akkerman in late September. The massive fortress at Bender surrendered in November without a fight. Potemkin opened up a lavish court at Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, to "winter like a sultan, revel in his mistresses, build his towns, create his regiments—and negotiate peace with [the Turks]... he was emperor of all he surveyed". Potemkin even established a newspaper, Le Courrier de Moldavie. His preferred lover at the time—though he had others—was Praskovia Potemkina, an affair which continued into 1790. Potemkin renamed two ships in her honor. As part of the diplomatic machinations, Potemkin was given the new title of "Grand Hetman of the Black Sea and Yekaterinoslav Cossack Hosts" and in March he assumed personal control of the Black Sea fleet as Grand Admiral. In July 1790 the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated by the Swedish at the Battle of Svensksund. Despite the damage, the silver lining for the Russians was that the Swedes now felt able to negotiate on an even footing and a peace was soon signed (Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790) based on the status quo ante bellum, thus ending the threat of invasion. The peace also freed up military resources for the war against the Turks. Potemkin had moved his ever more lavish court to Bender and there were soon more successes against Turkey, including the capture of Batal-Pasha and, on the second attempt, of Kilia on the Danube. By the end of November, only one major target remained: the Turkish fortress of Izmail. At Potemkin's request, General Suvorov commanded the assault, which proved to be costly but effective. The victory was commemorated by Russia's first, albeit unofficial, national anthem, "Let the thunder of victory sound!", written by Gavrila Derzhavin and Osip Kozlovsky. After two years he returned to St. Petersburg to face the threat of war against an Anglo-Prussian coalition in addition to the war with Turkey. His return was widely celebrated with the "Carnival of Prince Potemkin". The Prince came across as polite and charming though his latest mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, appeared sidelined and Potemkin found himself embroiled in court intrigue whilst trying to force Zubov out. Catherine and Potemkin fought over military strategy; the Empress wanted no compromise, while Potemkin wanted to buy time by appeasing the Prussians. Fortunately for the Russians, the Anglo-Prussian alliance collapsed and a British ultimatum that Russia should accept the status quo ante bellum was withdrawn. In this way, the threat of a wider war receded. Though Russia was still at war with the Ottomans, Potemkin's focus was now Poland. Potemkin had conservative allies including Felix Potocki, whose schemes were so diverse that they have yet to be fully untangled. For example, one idea was for Potemkin to declare himself king. Success on the Turkish front continued, mostly attributable to Potemkin. He now had the opportunity to confront the Turks and dictate a peace, but that would mean leaving Catherine. His procrastination soured Catherine's attitude towards him, a situation compounded by Potemkin's choice of the married Princess Paskovia Adreevna Golitsyna (née Shuvalova) as his latest mistress. In the end, Potemkin was given the requisite authority to negotiate with the Turks (and, afterwards, to pursue his Polish ambitions), and dispatched by Catherine back to the south. She sent a note after him, reading "Goodbye my friend, I kiss you". Death Potemkin fell ill in the fever-ridden city of Jassy, although he kept busy, overseeing peace talks, planning his assault on Poland, and preparing the army for renewed war in the south. He fasted briefly and recovered some strength, but refused medicine and began to feast once again, consuming a "ham, a slated goose and three or four chickens". On , he felt better and dictated a letter to Catherine before collapsing once more. Later, he awoke and dispatched his entourage to Nikolayev. On Potemkin died in the open steppe, 60 km from Jassy. Picking up on contemporary rumor, historians such as the Polish Jerzy Łojek have suggested that he was poisoned because his madness made him a liability, but this is rejected by Montefiore, who suggests he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia instead. Potemkin was embalmed, and a funeral was held for him in Jassy. Eight days after his death, he was buried. Catherine was distraught and ordered social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold. Derzhavin's ode Waterfall lamented Potemkin's death; likewise many in the military establishment had looked upon Potemkin as a father figure and were especially saddened by his demise. Polish contemporary Stanisław Małachowski claimed that Aleksandra von Engelhardt, a niece of Potemkin's and the wife of Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, a magnate and prominent leader of the Targowica Confederation, also worried for the fate of Poland after the death of the man who had planned to revitalise the Polish state with him as its new head. Potemkin had used the state treasury as a personal bank, preventing the resolution of his financial affairs to this day. Catherine purchased the Tauride Palace and his art collection from his estate, and paid off his debts. Consequently, he left a relative fortune. Catherine's son Paul, who succeeded to the throne in 1796, attempted to undo as many of Potemkin's reforms as possible. The Tauride Palace was turned into a barracks, and the city of Gregoripol, which had been named in Potemkin's honor, was renamed. Potemkin's grave survived a destruction order issued by Paul and was eventually displayed by the Bolsheviks. His remains now appear to lie in his tomb at St. Catherine's Cathedral in Kherson. The exact whereabouts of some of his internal organs, including his heart and brain first kept at Golia Monastery in Jassy, remain unknown. Personality and reputation Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers, and very changeable in his moods, but also fascinating, warm, and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to have portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury. Potemkin was often noted for his uncouth behavior, most notably his unscrupulous sexual liaisons and biting his nails. Potemkin's nail-biting was so persistent that it was frequently noticed by courtiers and guests, and resulted in hangnail. Potemkin most likely was affected by bipolar disorder. His highs and lows, his material and sexual excesses, his impulsive whims, his energy and lethargy, and his depressive spells speak to some kind of bipolar disorder. In a time that was not aware of mental illness, Potemkin (and, it must be said, the people in his life such as Catherine) suffered from this lack of understanding. Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities [and] an excellent memory". He was interested in history, generally knowledgeable, and loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine (particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes), and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests: Ultimately, Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence, and disinformation on a vast scale", but supporters hold that "the sybaritism [devotion to luxury] and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Although not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly [than Potemkin], carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit", but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue". Family Potemkin had no legitimate descendants, though it is probable he had illegitimate issue. Four of his five sisters lived long enough to bear children, but only the daughters of his sister Marfa Elena (sometimes rendered as 'Helen') received Potemkin's special attention. The five unmarried Engelhardt sisters arrived in court in 1775 on the direction of their recently widowed father Vassily. Legend suggests Potemkin soon seduced many of the girls, one of whom was twelve or thirteen at the time. An affair with the third eldest, Varvara, can be verified; after that had subsided, Potemkin formed close—and probably amorous—relationships successively with Alexandra, the second eldest, and Ekaterina, the fifth. Potemkin also had influential relatives. Potemkin's sister Maria, for example, married Russian senator Nikolay Samoylov: their son Alexander was decorated for his service under Potemkin in the army; their daughter Ekaterina married first into the Raevsky family, and then the wealthy landowner Lev Davydov. She had children with both husbands, including highly decorated General Nikolay Raevsky, Potemkin's great-nephew. His wider family included several distant cousins, among them Count Pavel Potemkin, another decorated military figure, whose brother Mikhail married Potemkin's niece Tatiana Engelhardt. A distant nephew, Felix Yusupov, helped murder Rasputin in 1916. Legacy Despite attempts by Paul I to play down Potemkin's role in Russian history, his name found its way into numerous items of common parlance: A century after Potemkin's death, the Battleship Potemkin was named in his honour. The ship became famous for its involvement in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and subsequent dramatization in Battleship Potemkin, a Soviet movie by Sergey Eisenstein, which at one point was named the greatest film of all time. The name of the giant seaside staircase in Odessa, featured in The Battleship Potemkin, eventually became known as the Potemkin Stairs. The phrase Potemkin village entered common usage in Russia and globally, despite its fictional origin. The Grigory Potemkin Republican Cadet Corps is a specialized institution in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Transnistria that is named after the Russian prince. Footnotes Notes References Smith, Douglas (ed. and tr.), Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (DeKalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2004). External links Douglas Smith, Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739 births 1791 deaths People from Dukhovshchinsky District People from Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd Grigory Politicians of the Russian Empire Governors-General of Novorossiya Field marshals of Russia Members of the Russian Academy History of Crimea 18th century in Ukraine Royalty and nobility with disabilities Russian nobility Polish indigenes 18th-century Russian people Russian city founders Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Catherine the Great Morganatic spouses of Russian royalty People of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)	true	[ "This page lists all association football national teams which managed to remain undefeated in either a FIFA World Cup main tournament, the qualifying process for that tournament, or both.\n\nFixtures decided by a penalty shoot-out are counted as draws and not as defeats. The tables only include teams which played at least one match in the particular final or qualifying tournament. They do not include teams which qualified automatically or by walkover, or teams which withdrew or were disqualified without playing any matches.\n\nAll but four World Cup winning teams were unbeaten in the finals. The four teams that won the World Cup despite losing a game in the finals were: West Germany in 1954 and again in 1974; Argentina in 1978; and Spain in 2010.\n\nAnother part of the teams listed below were eliminated despite not losing any games in the finals, or failed to qualify despite not losing any qualifying games. They exited the competition by various means: withdrawal; inferior points total or goal difference within a group; drawing of lots, away goals, or penalty shoot-out.\n\nGeneral statistics \n\nBrazil have remained unbeaten in a total of seven World Cup final tournaments, more than any other team, including all five tournaments where they triumphed as world champions. Italy are a close second with six, and England and France are third with three each. No other nation has achieved this more than twice.\n\nGermany (including West Germany) have had a record twelve unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaigns. In fact the German national team has lost only three World Cup qualifying games in its history: against Portugal in 1985, against England in 2001 and against North Macedonia in 2021.\n\nA number of teams have managed not to record any losses during an entire FIFA World Cup cycle (qualifying and final tournaments):\n Italy (1934 and 1998), Brazil (1958, 1970, 1978 and 1986), West Germany/Germany (1990 and 2014), Spain (2002 and 2018), France (2006) and Netherlands (2014) all remained unbeaten during both the qualification and the finals (in 1970 Brazil actually did not record any draws either, managing to win every single match en route to the title).\n Uruguay (1930), Italy (1938 and 1990), Brazil (1962), England (1966), Mexico (1986) and France (1998) all did not have to go through qualifying tournaments, and did not lose any games in the finals (Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1938 did not draw any games either).\n Uruguay in 1950 qualified without playing any matches due to the withdrawal of their opponents, and did not lose any games in the finals.\n Several teams remained undefeated during a qualifying campaign but nevertheless did not appear in the subsequent final tournament. Each of Cuba, Lesotho, Morocco and Tunisia have had this fate twice. For others, see the tables below.\n\nLegend to the tables \n\n The Result column indicates what stage the team reached in the particular final tournament: , , , , , , , , .\nOther columns: , , , , , .\n The Lost to column indicates what opponent progressed at the expense of the team in question.\n\nBy tournament\n\n1930\n\n1934\n\n1938\n\n1950\n\n1954\n\n1958\n\n1962\n\n1966\n\n1970\n\n1974\n\n1978\n\n1982\n\n1986\n\n1990\n\n1994\n\n1998\n\n2002\n\n2006\n\n2010\n\n2014\n\n2018\n\n2022\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Previous FIFA World Cups, FIFA\n World Cup 1930-2006, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation\n\nFIFA World Cup records and statistics", "Lloque Yupanqui (born c. January 1, 1260 – died c. January 1, 1290, aged approximately circa 30) (Quechua Lluq'i Yupanki \"the glorified lefthander\") was the third Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cuzco (beginning around CE 1260) and a member of the Hurin dynasty.\n\nFamily and personality\nHe was the son and successor of Sinchi Roca, though he had an elder brother Manco Sapaca. He was the father of Mayta Cápac. His wife's name is variously given as Mama Cava, also known as Mama Cahua (Quechua Mama Qawa) or Mama Cora Ocllo.\n\nThe mother of this king was queen Mama Cura.\n\nReign\nAlthough some chronicles attributed minor conquests to him, others say that he did not wage any wars, or that he was even occupied with rebellions.\n\nMarket\nHe is said to have established the public market in Cuzco and built the Acllahuasi. In the days of the Inca Empire, this institution gathered young women from across the empire; some were given by the Inca as concubines to nobles and warriors and others were dedicated to the cult of the Sun god. Sometimes they were simply servants.\n\nReferences \n\nInca emperors\n13th-century monarchs in South America" ]
[ "Sam Harris", "Early life and education" ]	C_6f7725bc6a24498880e4d27d640db77d_1	When was Sam born?	1	When was Sam Harris born?	Sam Harris	Harris was born on April 9, 1967 in Los Angeles, the son of actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak), who created The Golden Girls. His father came from a Quaker background and his mother is a secular Jew. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular, and his parents rarely discussed religion, though it was always a subject that interested him. Fellow critic of religion Christopher Hitchens once referred to Harris as a "Jewish warrior against theocracy and bigotry of all stripes". While a student at Stanford University, Harris experimented with MDMA, and has written and spoken about the insights he experienced under its influence. Though his original major was in English, he became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the psychedelic drug MDMA. The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he went to India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with Buddhist and Hindu religious teachers, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. degree in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values", and his advisor was Mark S. Cohen. CANNOTANSWER	on April 9, 1967	Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation in 2006, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in 2010, the long-form essay Lying in 2011, the short book Free Will in 2012, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion in 2014, and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue in 2015. Harris's work has been translated into over 20 languages. Harris has debated with many prominent figures on the topics of God or religion, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Rick Warren, Andrew Sullivan, Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Deepak Chopra, Ben Shapiro and Jean Houston. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up), which has a large listenership. In September 2018, Harris released a meditation app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. Harris's views on free will, race, and Islam have attracted controversy. Early life and education Samuel Benjamin Harris was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 9, 1967. He is the son of actor Berkeley Harris, who appeared mainly in Western films, and TV writer and producer Susan Harris (née Spivak), who created Soap (TV series) and The Golden Girls among other series. His father, born in North Carolina, came from a Quaker background, and his mother is Jewish but not religious. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular and that his parents rarely discussed religion, though he also stated that he was not raised as an atheist. While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the empathogen–entactogen MDMA (colloquially known as ecstasy or XTC). The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he visited India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with teachers of Buddhist and Hindu religions, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled The Moral Landscape: How Science Could Determine Human Values. His advisor was Mark S. Cohen. Career Writing Harris's writing focuses on philosophy, neuroscience, and criticism of religion. He came to prominence for his criticism of religion (Islam in particular) and he is described as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. He has written for publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Economist, London Times, Boston Globe, and The Atlantic. Five of Harris's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and his writing has been translated into over 20 languages. The End of Faith (2004) remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. Debates on religion In 2007, Harris engaged in a lengthy debate with conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan on the Internet forum Beliefnet. In April 2007, Harris debated with evangelical pastor Rick Warren for Newsweek magazine. Harris also debated with Rabbi David Wolpe in 2007. In 2010, Harris joined Michael Shermer to debate with Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the future of God in a debate hosted by ABC News Nightline. Harris debated with Christian philosopher William Lane Craig in April 2011 on whether there can be an objective morality without God. In June and July 2018, he met with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson for a series of debates on religion, particularly the relationship between religious values and scientific fact in defining truth. Harris has also debated with the scholar Reza Aslan. Podcast In September 2013, Harris began releasing the Waking Up podcast (since re-titled Making Sense). Episodes vary in length but often last over two hours. Releases do not follow a regular schedule. The podcast has a large listenership. Meditation app In September 2018, Harris released a meditation course app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. The app provides daily meditations; long guided meditations; daily "Moments" (brief meditations and reminders); conversations with thought leaders in psychology, meditation, philosophy, psychedelics, and other disciplines; a selection of lessons on various topics, such as Mind & Emotion, Free Will, and Doing Good; and more. Users of the app are introduced to a number of types of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation, vipassanā-style meditation, loving-kindness meditation, and Dzogchen. In September 2020, Harris announced his commitment to donate a least 10% of Waking Up's profits to highly effective charities, thus becoming the first company to sign the Giving What We Can pledge for companies. The pledge was done retroactively, taking into account the profits since the day the app launched 2 years previously. Views Religion Harris is known as one of the most prominent critics of religion, and is a leading figure in the New Atheist movement. Harris is particularly opposed to what he refers to as dogmatic belief, and says that "Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a betrayal of science – and yet it is the lifeblood of religion." While purportedly opposed to religion in general and the belief systems of them, Harris believes that all religions are not created equal. Often invoking Jainism to contrast Islam as a whole, Harris highlights the difference in the specific doctrine and scripture as the main indicator of a religion's value, or lack thereof. In 2006, Harris described Islam as "all fringe and no center," and wrote in The End of Faith that "the doctrine of Islam [...] represents a unique danger to all of us", arguing that the War on terror is really a war against Islam. In 2014, Harris said he considers Islam to be "especially belligerent and inimical to the norms of civil discourse", as it involves what Harris considers to be "bad ideas, held for bad reasons, leading to bad behavior." In 2015 Harris and secular Islamic activist Maajid Nawaz cowrote Islam and the Future of Tolerance. In this book, Harris argues that the word Islamophobia is a "pernicious meme", a label which prevents discussion about the threat of Islam. Harris has been described in 2020 by Jonathan Matusitz, Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, as "a champion of the counter-jihad left". Harris is critical of the Christian right in politics in the United States, blaming them for the political focus on "pseudo-problems like gay marriage." He is also critical of liberal Christianityas represented, for instance, by the theology of Paul Tillichwhich he argues claims to base its beliefs on the Bible despite actually being influenced by secular modernity. He further states that in so doing liberal Christianity provides rhetorical cover to fundamentalists. Spirituality Harris holds that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have." Harris rejects the dichotomy between spirituality and rationality, favoring a middle path that preserves spirituality and science but does not involve religion. He writes that spirituality should be understood in light of scientific disciplines like neuroscience and psychology. Science, he contends, can show how to maximize human well-being, but may fail to answer certain questions about the nature of being, answers to some of which he says are discoverable directly through our experience. His conception of spirituality does not involve a belief in any god. In Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014), Harris describes his experience with Dzogchen, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and recommends it to his readers. He writes that the purpose of spirituality (as he defines it – he concedes that the term's uses are diverse and sometimes indefensible) is to become aware that our sense of self is illusory, and says this realization brings both happiness and insight into the nature of consciousness. This process of realization, he argues, is based on experience and is not contingent on faith. Harris especially recommends the “headless” meditation technique as written about by Douglas Harding. Science and morality In The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that science answers moral problems and can aid human well-being. Free will Harris says that the idea of free will "cannot be mapped on to any conceivable reality" and is incoherent. Harris writes in Free Will that neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet." Social and political views Harris describes himself as a liberal, and states that he supports raising taxes on the wealthy, decriminalizing drugs and legalizing same-sex marriage. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Harris said that he supported most of the criticism against Bush administration's war in Iraq, and all criticism of fiscal policy and the administration's treatment of science. Harris also said that liberalism has grown "dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" when it comes to threats allegedly posed by Islamic fundamentalism. Harris is a registered Democrat. During the 2016 United States presidential election, Harris supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential primaries against Bernie Sanders, and despite calling her "a terribly flawed candidate for the presidency," he favored her in the general election and came out strongly in opposition to Donald Trump's candidacy. Harris has criticized Trump for lying, stating in 2018 that Trump "has assaulted truth more than anyone in human history." During the 2020 United States presidential election, Harris supported Andrew Yang in the Democratic primaries. Harris also introduced Yang to podcaster Joe Rogan. Artificial intelligence Harris has discussed existential risk from artificial general intelligence in depth. He has given a TED talk on the topic, arguing it will be a major threat in the future and criticizing the paucity of human interest on the subject. He argues the dangers from artificial intelligence (AI) follow from three premises: that intelligence is the result of physical information processing, that humans will continue innovation in AI, and that humans are nowhere near the maximum possible extent of intelligence. Harris states that even if superintelligent AI is five to ten decades away, the scale of its implications for human civilization warrant discussion of the issue in the present. Reception and controversies Academic and journalistic reception to Harris's works and ideas has been varied. Harris's first two books, in which he lays out his criticisms of religion, received negative reviews from Christian scholars. From secular sources, the books received a mixture of negative reviews and positive reviews. In his review of The End of Faith, American historian Alexander Saxton criticized what he called Harris's "vitriolic and selective polemic against Islam," (emphasis in original) which he said "obscure[s] the obvious reality that the invasion of Iraq and the War against Terror are driven by religious irrationalities, cultivated and conceded to, at high policy levels in the U.S., and which are at least comparable to the irrationality of Islamic crusaders and Jihadists." By contrast, Stephanie Merritt wrote of the same book that Harris's "central argument in The End of Faith is sound: religion is the only area of human knowledge in which it is still acceptable to hold beliefs dating from antiquity and a modern society should subject those beliefs to the same principles that govern scientific, medical or geographical inquiry – particularly if they are inherently hostile to those with different ideas." Harris's next two books, which discuss philosophical issues relating to ethics and free will, received several negative academic reviews. In his review of The Moral Landscape, neuroscientist Kenan Malik criticized Harris for not engaging adequately with philosophical literature: "Imagine a sociologist who wrote about evolutionary theory without discussing the work of Darwin, Fisher, Mayr, Hamilton, Trivers or Dawkins on the grounds that he did not come to his conclusions by reading about biology and because discussing concepts such as 'adaptation', 'speciation', 'homology', 'phylogenetics' or 'kin selection' would 'increase the amount of boredom in the universe'. How seriously would we, and should we, take his argument?" Philosopher Daniel Dennett argued that Harris's book Free Will successfully refuted the common understanding of free will, but that he failed to respond adequately to the compatibilist understanding of free will. Dennett said the book was valuable because it expressed the views of many eminent scientists, but that it nonetheless contained a "veritable museum of mistakes" and that "Harris and others need to do their homework if they want to engage with the best thought on the topic." On the other hand, The Moral Landscape received a largely positive review from psychologists James Diller and Andrew Nuzzolilli. Additionally, Free Will received a mixed academic review from philosopher Paul Pardi, who acknowledged that while it suffers from some conceptual confusions and that the core argument is a bit too 'breezy', it serves as a "good primer on key ideas in physicalist theories of freedom and the will". Harris's book on spirituality and meditation received mainly positive reviews as well as some mixed reviews. It was praised by Frank Bruni, for example, who described it as "so entirely of this moment, so keenly in touch with the growing number of Americans who are willing to say that they do not find the succor they crave, or a truth that makes sense to them, in organized religion." In April 2017, Harris stirred controversy by hosting the social scientist Charles Murray on his podcast, discussing topics including the heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. Harris stated the invitation was out of indignation at a violent protest against Murray at Middlebury College the month before and not out of particular interest in the material at hand. The podcast episode garnered significant criticism, most notably from Vox and Slate. Harris and Murray were defended by conservative commentators Andrew Sullivan and Kyle Smith, as well as by neuroscientist Richard Haier, who stated that the points Murray claimed were mainstream actually do receive broad scientific support. Harris and Vox editor-at-large Ezra Klein later discussed the affair in a podcast interview, where Klein criticized Harris for rebuking tribalism in the form of identity politics while failing to recognize his own version of tribalism. Hatewatch staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that members of the "skeptics" movement, of which Harris is "one of the most public faces," help to "channel people into the alt-right." Bari Weiss wrote in her opinion column that the SPLC had misrepresented Harris's views. Harris was profiled by Weiss in The New York Times as part of the "Intellectual Dark Web" (a term coined semi-ironically by Eric Weinstein). She described the group as "a collection of iconoclastic thinkers, academic renegades and media personalities who are having a rolling conversation – on podcasts, YouTube and Twitter, and in sold-out auditoriums – that sound unlike anything else happening, at least publicly, in the culture right now." In November 2020, Harris stated that he does not identify as a part of that group. In 2018, Robert Wright, a visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary, published an article in Wired criticizing Harris, whom he described as "annoying" and "deluded". Wright wrote that Harris, despite claiming to be a champion of rationality, ignored his own cognitive biases and engaged in faulty and inconsistent arguments in his book The End of Faith. He wrote that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it." Wright wrote that these biases are rooted in natural selection and impact everyone, but that they can be mitigated when acknowledged, whereas Harris offered no such acknowledgement. The UK Business Insider included Harris's podcast in their list of "8 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior" in 2017, and PC Magazine included it in their list of "The Best Podcasts of 2018." In January 2020, Max Sanderson included Harris's podcast as a "Producer pick" in a "podcasts of the week" section for The Guardian. Accusations of Anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia Harris has been accused of Islamophobia by journalist Glenn Greenwald and linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky. Greenwald characterized some of Harris's statements as Islamophobic, such as: "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists," and "[t]he only future devout Muslims can envisage – as Muslims – is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed." After Harris and Chomsky exchanged a series of emails on terrorism and U.S. foreign policy in 2015, Chomsky said Harris had not prepared adequately for the exchange and that this revealed his work as unserious. Kyle Schmidlin also wrote in Salon that he considered Chomsky the winner of the exchange because Harris's arguments relied excessively on thought experiments with little application to the real world. In a 2016 interview with Al Jazeera English's UpFront, Chomsky further criticized Harris, saying he "specializes in hysterical, slanderous charges against people he doesn't like." Harris has countered that his views on this and other topics are frequently misrepresented by "unethical critics" who "deliberately" regard his words out of context. He has also criticized the validity of the term Islamophobia. "My criticism of Islam is a criticism of beliefs and their consequences, but my fellow liberals reflexively view it as an expression of intolerance toward people," he wrote following a disagreement with actor Ben Affleck in October 2014 on the show Real Time with Bill Maher. Affleck had described Harris's and host Bill Maher's views on Muslims as "gross" and "racist," and Harris's statement that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas" as an "ugly thing to say." Affleck also compared Harris's and Maher's rhetoric to that of people who use antisemitic canards or define African-Americans in terms of intraracial crime. Several conservative American media pundits in turn criticized Affleck and praised Harris and Maher for broaching the topic, saying that discussing it had become a "taboo." Harris's dialogue on Islam with Maajid Nawaz received a combination of positive reviews and mixed reviews. Irshad Manji wrote: "Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam." Of Harris specifically, she said "[he] is right that liberals must end their silence about the religious motives behind much Islamist terror. At the same time, he ought to call out another double standard that feeds the liberal reflex to excuse Islamists: Atheists do not make nearly enough noise about hatred toward Muslims." Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia University accused Sam Harris of being a "new atheist crusader" having never studied Islam thoroughly and having no special insight into any Muslim community on earth. He further accused Harris of engaging in such language to justify Western imperialism in the Muslim world. An article published in The Guardian accused Harris, along with Milo Yiannopoulos of influencing young white men into becoming racists and Anti-Muslim bigots. Harris has also been accused of merging his thoughts with far right ideologies, stating that he advocates the profiling of Muslims, "or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," at airports. Harris was also accused of "advancing Neoconservative agendas" by Chris Hedges and for advocating a nuclear first strike policy on Muslims if an Islamist regime ever obtained nuclear weapons, stating in The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason that "in such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own." Recognition Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. The Waking Up podcast won the 2017 Webby Award for "People's Voice" in the category "Science & Education" under "Podcasts & Digital Audio". Harris was included on a list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People 2019" in the Watkins Review, a publication of Watkins Books, a London esoterica bookshop. Personal life Harris is a martial arts student and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2004, he married Annaka Gorton, an author and editor of nonfiction and scientific books after engaging in a common interest about the nature of consciousness. They have two daughters, and live in Los Angeles. In September 2020, Harris became a member of Giving What We Can, an effective altruism organization whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities, both as an individual and as a company with Waking Up. Works Books Documentary Amila, D. & Shapiro, J. (2018). Islam and the Future of Tolerance. United States: The Orchard. Peer-reviewed articles Notes References External links 1967 births 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century atheists Action theorists Activists from California American atheism activists American atheist writers American critics of Islam American ethicists American logicians American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American men podcasters American neuroscientists American people of Jewish descent American podcasters American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American science writers American secularists American skeptics American social commentators American social sciences writers American spiritual writers Analytic philosophers Atheism activists Atheism in the United States Atheist philosophers California Democrats Cognitive neuroscientists Consciousness researchers and theorists Conversationalists Criticism of religion Critics of conspiracy theories Critics of creationism Critics of multiculturalism Critics of neoconservatism Critics of postmodernism Critics of religions Cultural critics Epistemologists Freethought writers Hyperreality theorists Living people Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Moral realists Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of logic Philosophers of love Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of sexuality Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophers of war Philosophy writers Political philosophers Psychedelic drug advocates Race and intelligence controversy Rationalists Rationality theorists Science activists Social critics Social philosophers Stanford University alumni Students of U Pandita Theorists on Western civilization University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers about activism and social change Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science Writers from Los Angeles	true	[ "All about Sam (1988) is a children's novel by Lois Lowry. It is part of a series of books that Lowry wrote about Anastasia Krupnik and her younger brother Sam.\n\nPlot summary\nSam Krupnik is a mischievous little boy, but mostly curious. He is very smart, and from the day he was born, Anastasia was jealous.\n\nThe story is told from Baby Sam's viewpoint and consists of his observations, feelings and thoughts, in the manner of the 1989 film Look Who's Talking.\n\nReason for writing the novel\nOn her website Lowry states the reason for writing the novel as:\n\n\"Sam was born when Anastasia was ten, and for a long time he existed only in the books about her. But kids liked him. Maybe he reminded them of their own little brothers. So at the request of young readers, I gave Sam his own series.\"\n\nExternal links\nDescription of the book on Lowry's website\n\n1988 American novels\nAmerican children's novels\nNovels by Lois Lowry\n1988 children's books", "Crow Village Sam (Phillips; 1893 – 1974) was a Yup'ik Alaskan Native who lived in the mid Kuskokwim River valley in Alaska.\n\nCrow Village Sam was born around 1893 in Crow Village, Alaska. Birth records in the area were not maintained until 1914, so that date is based on Crow Village Sam's recollection as told to archeologist Wendell H. Oswalt in 1963. It has been reported by some of his descendants that Sam was half Russian. When he was approximately 10 years old, he was part of the evacuation of Crow Village to a settlement downriver that was referred to as New Crow Village although today it is called Crow Village and the original settlement is referred to as Old Crow Village. He had survived the kanukpuk or \"big sickness\" - a Kuskokwim influenza epidemic of the early 20th century that wiped out about 50% of the population. He also lived in Akiak, and Chuathbaluk.\n\nBy the 1940s, Crow Village Sam was recognized as the leader of the native people living in the mid Kuskokwim valley. He was an accomplished boat builder, wood worker, and snowshoe maker among other things. He was fluent in the English language, which is probably the biggest asset in his role as leader. In 1954, Crow Village Sam orchestrated the abandonment of Crow Village when he moved the inhabitants upstream to Chuathbaluk. Chuathbaluk was a village located 18 miles upstream from Crow Village that had been abandoned since 1929. Crow Village Sam still maintained a fish camp at the abandoned Crow Village with a large fish smoke house and would later install a wind powered generator at Crow Village to supply his radio with electricity. Crow Village Sam was an avid subsistence fisher and had the largest fish smoke house in Chuathbaluk as well.\n\nCrow Village Sam married 3 times. Each wife would die, and he would marry again. Amazingly, each one of his wives was named Lucy. He had at least 7 offspring from his first wife. Given his fluency in English, he was able to officially obtain ownership of the land surrounding Crow Village after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. Crow Village Sam died in 1974 at the age of 81. That was remarkable longevity for a person living in that culture during that time frame. The Chuathbaluk grade school built in 1969 was renamed Crow Village Sam School in 1991 in his honor.\n\nReferences\n\n1893 births\n1974 deaths\nNative American history of Alaska\nNative American leaders\nPeople from Bethel Census Area, Alaska\nPeople of pre-statehood Alaska\nYupik people\n20th-century Native Americans" ]
[ "Sam Harris", "Early life and education", "When was Sam born?", "on April 9, 1967" ]	C_6f7725bc6a24498880e4d27d640db77d_1	Where was he born?	2	Where was Sam Harris born?	Sam Harris	Harris was born on April 9, 1967 in Los Angeles, the son of actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak), who created The Golden Girls. His father came from a Quaker background and his mother is a secular Jew. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular, and his parents rarely discussed religion, though it was always a subject that interested him. Fellow critic of religion Christopher Hitchens once referred to Harris as a "Jewish warrior against theocracy and bigotry of all stripes". While a student at Stanford University, Harris experimented with MDMA, and has written and spoken about the insights he experienced under its influence. Though his original major was in English, he became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the psychedelic drug MDMA. The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he went to India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with Buddhist and Hindu religious teachers, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. degree in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values", and his advisor was Mark S. Cohen. CANNOTANSWER	in Los Angeles,	Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation in 2006, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in 2010, the long-form essay Lying in 2011, the short book Free Will in 2012, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion in 2014, and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue in 2015. Harris's work has been translated into over 20 languages. Harris has debated with many prominent figures on the topics of God or religion, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Rick Warren, Andrew Sullivan, Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Deepak Chopra, Ben Shapiro and Jean Houston. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up), which has a large listenership. In September 2018, Harris released a meditation app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. Harris's views on free will, race, and Islam have attracted controversy. Early life and education Samuel Benjamin Harris was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 9, 1967. He is the son of actor Berkeley Harris, who appeared mainly in Western films, and TV writer and producer Susan Harris (née Spivak), who created Soap (TV series) and The Golden Girls among other series. His father, born in North Carolina, came from a Quaker background, and his mother is Jewish but not religious. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular and that his parents rarely discussed religion, though he also stated that he was not raised as an atheist. While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the empathogen–entactogen MDMA (colloquially known as ecstasy or XTC). The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he visited India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with teachers of Buddhist and Hindu religions, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled The Moral Landscape: How Science Could Determine Human Values. His advisor was Mark S. Cohen. Career Writing Harris's writing focuses on philosophy, neuroscience, and criticism of religion. He came to prominence for his criticism of religion (Islam in particular) and he is described as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. He has written for publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Economist, London Times, Boston Globe, and The Atlantic. Five of Harris's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and his writing has been translated into over 20 languages. The End of Faith (2004) remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. Debates on religion In 2007, Harris engaged in a lengthy debate with conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan on the Internet forum Beliefnet. In April 2007, Harris debated with evangelical pastor Rick Warren for Newsweek magazine. Harris also debated with Rabbi David Wolpe in 2007. In 2010, Harris joined Michael Shermer to debate with Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the future of God in a debate hosted by ABC News Nightline. Harris debated with Christian philosopher William Lane Craig in April 2011 on whether there can be an objective morality without God. In June and July 2018, he met with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson for a series of debates on religion, particularly the relationship between religious values and scientific fact in defining truth. Harris has also debated with the scholar Reza Aslan. Podcast In September 2013, Harris began releasing the Waking Up podcast (since re-titled Making Sense). Episodes vary in length but often last over two hours. Releases do not follow a regular schedule. The podcast has a large listenership. Meditation app In September 2018, Harris released a meditation course app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. The app provides daily meditations; long guided meditations; daily "Moments" (brief meditations and reminders); conversations with thought leaders in psychology, meditation, philosophy, psychedelics, and other disciplines; a selection of lessons on various topics, such as Mind & Emotion, Free Will, and Doing Good; and more. Users of the app are introduced to a number of types of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation, vipassanā-style meditation, loving-kindness meditation, and Dzogchen. In September 2020, Harris announced his commitment to donate a least 10% of Waking Up's profits to highly effective charities, thus becoming the first company to sign the Giving What We Can pledge for companies. The pledge was done retroactively, taking into account the profits since the day the app launched 2 years previously. Views Religion Harris is known as one of the most prominent critics of religion, and is a leading figure in the New Atheist movement. Harris is particularly opposed to what he refers to as dogmatic belief, and says that "Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a betrayal of science – and yet it is the lifeblood of religion." While purportedly opposed to religion in general and the belief systems of them, Harris believes that all religions are not created equal. Often invoking Jainism to contrast Islam as a whole, Harris highlights the difference in the specific doctrine and scripture as the main indicator of a religion's value, or lack thereof. In 2006, Harris described Islam as "all fringe and no center," and wrote in The End of Faith that "the doctrine of Islam [...] represents a unique danger to all of us", arguing that the War on terror is really a war against Islam. In 2014, Harris said he considers Islam to be "especially belligerent and inimical to the norms of civil discourse", as it involves what Harris considers to be "bad ideas, held for bad reasons, leading to bad behavior." In 2015 Harris and secular Islamic activist Maajid Nawaz cowrote Islam and the Future of Tolerance. In this book, Harris argues that the word Islamophobia is a "pernicious meme", a label which prevents discussion about the threat of Islam. Harris has been described in 2020 by Jonathan Matusitz, Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, as "a champion of the counter-jihad left". Harris is critical of the Christian right in politics in the United States, blaming them for the political focus on "pseudo-problems like gay marriage." He is also critical of liberal Christianityas represented, for instance, by the theology of Paul Tillichwhich he argues claims to base its beliefs on the Bible despite actually being influenced by secular modernity. He further states that in so doing liberal Christianity provides rhetorical cover to fundamentalists. Spirituality Harris holds that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have." Harris rejects the dichotomy between spirituality and rationality, favoring a middle path that preserves spirituality and science but does not involve religion. He writes that spirituality should be understood in light of scientific disciplines like neuroscience and psychology. Science, he contends, can show how to maximize human well-being, but may fail to answer certain questions about the nature of being, answers to some of which he says are discoverable directly through our experience. His conception of spirituality does not involve a belief in any god. In Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014), Harris describes his experience with Dzogchen, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and recommends it to his readers. He writes that the purpose of spirituality (as he defines it – he concedes that the term's uses are diverse and sometimes indefensible) is to become aware that our sense of self is illusory, and says this realization brings both happiness and insight into the nature of consciousness. This process of realization, he argues, is based on experience and is not contingent on faith. Harris especially recommends the “headless” meditation technique as written about by Douglas Harding. Science and morality In The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that science answers moral problems and can aid human well-being. Free will Harris says that the idea of free will "cannot be mapped on to any conceivable reality" and is incoherent. Harris writes in Free Will that neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet." Social and political views Harris describes himself as a liberal, and states that he supports raising taxes on the wealthy, decriminalizing drugs and legalizing same-sex marriage. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Harris said that he supported most of the criticism against Bush administration's war in Iraq, and all criticism of fiscal policy and the administration's treatment of science. Harris also said that liberalism has grown "dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" when it comes to threats allegedly posed by Islamic fundamentalism. Harris is a registered Democrat. During the 2016 United States presidential election, Harris supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential primaries against Bernie Sanders, and despite calling her "a terribly flawed candidate for the presidency," he favored her in the general election and came out strongly in opposition to Donald Trump's candidacy. Harris has criticized Trump for lying, stating in 2018 that Trump "has assaulted truth more than anyone in human history." During the 2020 United States presidential election, Harris supported Andrew Yang in the Democratic primaries. Harris also introduced Yang to podcaster Joe Rogan. Artificial intelligence Harris has discussed existential risk from artificial general intelligence in depth. He has given a TED talk on the topic, arguing it will be a major threat in the future and criticizing the paucity of human interest on the subject. He argues the dangers from artificial intelligence (AI) follow from three premises: that intelligence is the result of physical information processing, that humans will continue innovation in AI, and that humans are nowhere near the maximum possible extent of intelligence. Harris states that even if superintelligent AI is five to ten decades away, the scale of its implications for human civilization warrant discussion of the issue in the present. Reception and controversies Academic and journalistic reception to Harris's works and ideas has been varied. Harris's first two books, in which he lays out his criticisms of religion, received negative reviews from Christian scholars. From secular sources, the books received a mixture of negative reviews and positive reviews. In his review of The End of Faith, American historian Alexander Saxton criticized what he called Harris's "vitriolic and selective polemic against Islam," (emphasis in original) which he said "obscure[s] the obvious reality that the invasion of Iraq and the War against Terror are driven by religious irrationalities, cultivated and conceded to, at high policy levels in the U.S., and which are at least comparable to the irrationality of Islamic crusaders and Jihadists." By contrast, Stephanie Merritt wrote of the same book that Harris's "central argument in The End of Faith is sound: religion is the only area of human knowledge in which it is still acceptable to hold beliefs dating from antiquity and a modern society should subject those beliefs to the same principles that govern scientific, medical or geographical inquiry – particularly if they are inherently hostile to those with different ideas." Harris's next two books, which discuss philosophical issues relating to ethics and free will, received several negative academic reviews. In his review of The Moral Landscape, neuroscientist Kenan Malik criticized Harris for not engaging adequately with philosophical literature: "Imagine a sociologist who wrote about evolutionary theory without discussing the work of Darwin, Fisher, Mayr, Hamilton, Trivers or Dawkins on the grounds that he did not come to his conclusions by reading about biology and because discussing concepts such as 'adaptation', 'speciation', 'homology', 'phylogenetics' or 'kin selection' would 'increase the amount of boredom in the universe'. How seriously would we, and should we, take his argument?" Philosopher Daniel Dennett argued that Harris's book Free Will successfully refuted the common understanding of free will, but that he failed to respond adequately to the compatibilist understanding of free will. Dennett said the book was valuable because it expressed the views of many eminent scientists, but that it nonetheless contained a "veritable museum of mistakes" and that "Harris and others need to do their homework if they want to engage with the best thought on the topic." On the other hand, The Moral Landscape received a largely positive review from psychologists James Diller and Andrew Nuzzolilli. Additionally, Free Will received a mixed academic review from philosopher Paul Pardi, who acknowledged that while it suffers from some conceptual confusions and that the core argument is a bit too 'breezy', it serves as a "good primer on key ideas in physicalist theories of freedom and the will". Harris's book on spirituality and meditation received mainly positive reviews as well as some mixed reviews. It was praised by Frank Bruni, for example, who described it as "so entirely of this moment, so keenly in touch with the growing number of Americans who are willing to say that they do not find the succor they crave, or a truth that makes sense to them, in organized religion." In April 2017, Harris stirred controversy by hosting the social scientist Charles Murray on his podcast, discussing topics including the heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. Harris stated the invitation was out of indignation at a violent protest against Murray at Middlebury College the month before and not out of particular interest in the material at hand. The podcast episode garnered significant criticism, most notably from Vox and Slate. Harris and Murray were defended by conservative commentators Andrew Sullivan and Kyle Smith, as well as by neuroscientist Richard Haier, who stated that the points Murray claimed were mainstream actually do receive broad scientific support. Harris and Vox editor-at-large Ezra Klein later discussed the affair in a podcast interview, where Klein criticized Harris for rebuking tribalism in the form of identity politics while failing to recognize his own version of tribalism. Hatewatch staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that members of the "skeptics" movement, of which Harris is "one of the most public faces," help to "channel people into the alt-right." Bari Weiss wrote in her opinion column that the SPLC had misrepresented Harris's views. Harris was profiled by Weiss in The New York Times as part of the "Intellectual Dark Web" (a term coined semi-ironically by Eric Weinstein). She described the group as "a collection of iconoclastic thinkers, academic renegades and media personalities who are having a rolling conversation – on podcasts, YouTube and Twitter, and in sold-out auditoriums – that sound unlike anything else happening, at least publicly, in the culture right now." In November 2020, Harris stated that he does not identify as a part of that group. In 2018, Robert Wright, a visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary, published an article in Wired criticizing Harris, whom he described as "annoying" and "deluded". Wright wrote that Harris, despite claiming to be a champion of rationality, ignored his own cognitive biases and engaged in faulty and inconsistent arguments in his book The End of Faith. He wrote that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it." Wright wrote that these biases are rooted in natural selection and impact everyone, but that they can be mitigated when acknowledged, whereas Harris offered no such acknowledgement. The UK Business Insider included Harris's podcast in their list of "8 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior" in 2017, and PC Magazine included it in their list of "The Best Podcasts of 2018." In January 2020, Max Sanderson included Harris's podcast as a "Producer pick" in a "podcasts of the week" section for The Guardian. Accusations of Anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia Harris has been accused of Islamophobia by journalist Glenn Greenwald and linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky. Greenwald characterized some of Harris's statements as Islamophobic, such as: "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists," and "[t]he only future devout Muslims can envisage – as Muslims – is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed." After Harris and Chomsky exchanged a series of emails on terrorism and U.S. foreign policy in 2015, Chomsky said Harris had not prepared adequately for the exchange and that this revealed his work as unserious. Kyle Schmidlin also wrote in Salon that he considered Chomsky the winner of the exchange because Harris's arguments relied excessively on thought experiments with little application to the real world. In a 2016 interview with Al Jazeera English's UpFront, Chomsky further criticized Harris, saying he "specializes in hysterical, slanderous charges against people he doesn't like." Harris has countered that his views on this and other topics are frequently misrepresented by "unethical critics" who "deliberately" regard his words out of context. He has also criticized the validity of the term Islamophobia. "My criticism of Islam is a criticism of beliefs and their consequences, but my fellow liberals reflexively view it as an expression of intolerance toward people," he wrote following a disagreement with actor Ben Affleck in October 2014 on the show Real Time with Bill Maher. Affleck had described Harris's and host Bill Maher's views on Muslims as "gross" and "racist," and Harris's statement that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas" as an "ugly thing to say." Affleck also compared Harris's and Maher's rhetoric to that of people who use antisemitic canards or define African-Americans in terms of intraracial crime. Several conservative American media pundits in turn criticized Affleck and praised Harris and Maher for broaching the topic, saying that discussing it had become a "taboo." Harris's dialogue on Islam with Maajid Nawaz received a combination of positive reviews and mixed reviews. Irshad Manji wrote: "Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam." Of Harris specifically, she said "[he] is right that liberals must end their silence about the religious motives behind much Islamist terror. At the same time, he ought to call out another double standard that feeds the liberal reflex to excuse Islamists: Atheists do not make nearly enough noise about hatred toward Muslims." Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia University accused Sam Harris of being a "new atheist crusader" having never studied Islam thoroughly and having no special insight into any Muslim community on earth. He further accused Harris of engaging in such language to justify Western imperialism in the Muslim world. An article published in The Guardian accused Harris, along with Milo Yiannopoulos of influencing young white men into becoming racists and Anti-Muslim bigots. Harris has also been accused of merging his thoughts with far right ideologies, stating that he advocates the profiling of Muslims, "or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," at airports. Harris was also accused of "advancing Neoconservative agendas" by Chris Hedges and for advocating a nuclear first strike policy on Muslims if an Islamist regime ever obtained nuclear weapons, stating in The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason that "in such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own." Recognition Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. The Waking Up podcast won the 2017 Webby Award for "People's Voice" in the category "Science & Education" under "Podcasts & Digital Audio". Harris was included on a list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People 2019" in the Watkins Review, a publication of Watkins Books, a London esoterica bookshop. Personal life Harris is a martial arts student and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2004, he married Annaka Gorton, an author and editor of nonfiction and scientific books after engaging in a common interest about the nature of consciousness. They have two daughters, and live in Los Angeles. In September 2020, Harris became a member of Giving What We Can, an effective altruism organization whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities, both as an individual and as a company with Waking Up. Works Books Documentary Amila, D. & Shapiro, J. (2018). Islam and the Future of Tolerance. United States: The Orchard. Peer-reviewed articles Notes References External links 1967 births 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century atheists Action theorists Activists from California American atheism activists American atheist writers American critics of Islam American ethicists American logicians American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American men podcasters American neuroscientists American people of Jewish descent American podcasters American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American science writers American secularists American skeptics American social commentators American social sciences writers American spiritual writers Analytic philosophers Atheism activists Atheism in the United States Atheist philosophers California Democrats Cognitive neuroscientists Consciousness researchers and theorists Conversationalists Criticism of religion Critics of conspiracy theories Critics of creationism Critics of multiculturalism Critics of neoconservatism Critics of postmodernism Critics of religions Cultural critics Epistemologists Freethought writers Hyperreality theorists Living people Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Moral realists Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of logic Philosophers of love Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of sexuality Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophers of war Philosophy writers Political philosophers Psychedelic drug advocates Race and intelligence controversy Rationalists Rationality theorists Science activists Social critics Social philosophers Stanford University alumni Students of U Pandita Theorists on Western civilization University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers about activism and social change Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science Writers from Los Angeles	true	[ "Miguel Skrobot (Warsaw, 1873 – Curitiba, February 20, 1912) was a businessman Brazilian of Polish origin.\n\nMiguel Skrobot was born in 1873, in Warsaw, Poland, to José Skrobot and Rosa Skrobot. When he was 18 he migrated to Brazil and settled in Curitiba as a merchant.\n\nHe married Maria Pansardi, who was born in Tibagi, Paraná, to Italian immigrants, and she bore him three children. He kept a steam-powered factory where he worked on grinding and toasting coffee beans under the \"Rio Branco\" brand, located on the spot where today stands the square called Praça Zacarias (square located in the center of Curitiba). He also owned a grocery store near Praça Tiradentes (also a square in the center of Curitiba, where the city was born). He died an early death, when he was 39, on February 20, 1912.\n\nReferences\n\n1873 births\n1912 deaths\nBrazilian businesspeople\nPeople from Curitiba\nPolish emigrants to Brazil", "Adolf von Rauch (22 April 1798 - 12 December 1882) was a German paper manufacturer in Heilbronn, where he was born and died and where he was a major builder of social housing.\n\nPapermakers\n1798 births\n1882 deaths\nPeople from Heilbronn" ]
[ "Sam Harris", "Early life and education", "When was Sam born?", "on April 9, 1967", "Where was he born?", "in Los Angeles," ]	C_6f7725bc6a24498880e4d27d640db77d_1	What did his parents do?	3	What did parents of Sam Harris do?	Sam Harris	Harris was born on April 9, 1967 in Los Angeles, the son of actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak), who created The Golden Girls. His father came from a Quaker background and his mother is a secular Jew. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular, and his parents rarely discussed religion, though it was always a subject that interested him. Fellow critic of religion Christopher Hitchens once referred to Harris as a "Jewish warrior against theocracy and bigotry of all stripes". While a student at Stanford University, Harris experimented with MDMA, and has written and spoken about the insights he experienced under its influence. Though his original major was in English, he became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the psychedelic drug MDMA. The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he went to India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with Buddhist and Hindu religious teachers, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. degree in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values", and his advisor was Mark S. Cohen. CANNOTANSWER	actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak),	Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation in 2006, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in 2010, the long-form essay Lying in 2011, the short book Free Will in 2012, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion in 2014, and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue in 2015. Harris's work has been translated into over 20 languages. Harris has debated with many prominent figures on the topics of God or religion, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Rick Warren, Andrew Sullivan, Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Deepak Chopra, Ben Shapiro and Jean Houston. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up), which has a large listenership. In September 2018, Harris released a meditation app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. Harris's views on free will, race, and Islam have attracted controversy. Early life and education Samuel Benjamin Harris was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 9, 1967. He is the son of actor Berkeley Harris, who appeared mainly in Western films, and TV writer and producer Susan Harris (née Spivak), who created Soap (TV series) and The Golden Girls among other series. His father, born in North Carolina, came from a Quaker background, and his mother is Jewish but not religious. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular and that his parents rarely discussed religion, though he also stated that he was not raised as an atheist. While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the empathogen–entactogen MDMA (colloquially known as ecstasy or XTC). The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he visited India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with teachers of Buddhist and Hindu religions, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled The Moral Landscape: How Science Could Determine Human Values. His advisor was Mark S. Cohen. Career Writing Harris's writing focuses on philosophy, neuroscience, and criticism of religion. He came to prominence for his criticism of religion (Islam in particular) and he is described as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. He has written for publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Economist, London Times, Boston Globe, and The Atlantic. Five of Harris's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and his writing has been translated into over 20 languages. The End of Faith (2004) remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. Debates on religion In 2007, Harris engaged in a lengthy debate with conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan on the Internet forum Beliefnet. In April 2007, Harris debated with evangelical pastor Rick Warren for Newsweek magazine. Harris also debated with Rabbi David Wolpe in 2007. In 2010, Harris joined Michael Shermer to debate with Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the future of God in a debate hosted by ABC News Nightline. Harris debated with Christian philosopher William Lane Craig in April 2011 on whether there can be an objective morality without God. In June and July 2018, he met with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson for a series of debates on religion, particularly the relationship between religious values and scientific fact in defining truth. Harris has also debated with the scholar Reza Aslan. Podcast In September 2013, Harris began releasing the Waking Up podcast (since re-titled Making Sense). Episodes vary in length but often last over two hours. Releases do not follow a regular schedule. The podcast has a large listenership. Meditation app In September 2018, Harris released a meditation course app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. The app provides daily meditations; long guided meditations; daily "Moments" (brief meditations and reminders); conversations with thought leaders in psychology, meditation, philosophy, psychedelics, and other disciplines; a selection of lessons on various topics, such as Mind & Emotion, Free Will, and Doing Good; and more. Users of the app are introduced to a number of types of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation, vipassanā-style meditation, loving-kindness meditation, and Dzogchen. In September 2020, Harris announced his commitment to donate a least 10% of Waking Up's profits to highly effective charities, thus becoming the first company to sign the Giving What We Can pledge for companies. The pledge was done retroactively, taking into account the profits since the day the app launched 2 years previously. Views Religion Harris is known as one of the most prominent critics of religion, and is a leading figure in the New Atheist movement. Harris is particularly opposed to what he refers to as dogmatic belief, and says that "Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a betrayal of science – and yet it is the lifeblood of religion." While purportedly opposed to religion in general and the belief systems of them, Harris believes that all religions are not created equal. Often invoking Jainism to contrast Islam as a whole, Harris highlights the difference in the specific doctrine and scripture as the main indicator of a religion's value, or lack thereof. In 2006, Harris described Islam as "all fringe and no center," and wrote in The End of Faith that "the doctrine of Islam [...] represents a unique danger to all of us", arguing that the War on terror is really a war against Islam. In 2014, Harris said he considers Islam to be "especially belligerent and inimical to the norms of civil discourse", as it involves what Harris considers to be "bad ideas, held for bad reasons, leading to bad behavior." In 2015 Harris and secular Islamic activist Maajid Nawaz cowrote Islam and the Future of Tolerance. In this book, Harris argues that the word Islamophobia is a "pernicious meme", a label which prevents discussion about the threat of Islam. Harris has been described in 2020 by Jonathan Matusitz, Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, as "a champion of the counter-jihad left". Harris is critical of the Christian right in politics in the United States, blaming them for the political focus on "pseudo-problems like gay marriage." He is also critical of liberal Christianityas represented, for instance, by the theology of Paul Tillichwhich he argues claims to base its beliefs on the Bible despite actually being influenced by secular modernity. He further states that in so doing liberal Christianity provides rhetorical cover to fundamentalists. Spirituality Harris holds that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have." Harris rejects the dichotomy between spirituality and rationality, favoring a middle path that preserves spirituality and science but does not involve religion. He writes that spirituality should be understood in light of scientific disciplines like neuroscience and psychology. Science, he contends, can show how to maximize human well-being, but may fail to answer certain questions about the nature of being, answers to some of which he says are discoverable directly through our experience. His conception of spirituality does not involve a belief in any god. In Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014), Harris describes his experience with Dzogchen, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and recommends it to his readers. He writes that the purpose of spirituality (as he defines it – he concedes that the term's uses are diverse and sometimes indefensible) is to become aware that our sense of self is illusory, and says this realization brings both happiness and insight into the nature of consciousness. This process of realization, he argues, is based on experience and is not contingent on faith. Harris especially recommends the “headless” meditation technique as written about by Douglas Harding. Science and morality In The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that science answers moral problems and can aid human well-being. Free will Harris says that the idea of free will "cannot be mapped on to any conceivable reality" and is incoherent. Harris writes in Free Will that neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet." Social and political views Harris describes himself as a liberal, and states that he supports raising taxes on the wealthy, decriminalizing drugs and legalizing same-sex marriage. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Harris said that he supported most of the criticism against Bush administration's war in Iraq, and all criticism of fiscal policy and the administration's treatment of science. Harris also said that liberalism has grown "dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" when it comes to threats allegedly posed by Islamic fundamentalism. Harris is a registered Democrat. During the 2016 United States presidential election, Harris supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential primaries against Bernie Sanders, and despite calling her "a terribly flawed candidate for the presidency," he favored her in the general election and came out strongly in opposition to Donald Trump's candidacy. Harris has criticized Trump for lying, stating in 2018 that Trump "has assaulted truth more than anyone in human history." During the 2020 United States presidential election, Harris supported Andrew Yang in the Democratic primaries. Harris also introduced Yang to podcaster Joe Rogan. Artificial intelligence Harris has discussed existential risk from artificial general intelligence in depth. He has given a TED talk on the topic, arguing it will be a major threat in the future and criticizing the paucity of human interest on the subject. He argues the dangers from artificial intelligence (AI) follow from three premises: that intelligence is the result of physical information processing, that humans will continue innovation in AI, and that humans are nowhere near the maximum possible extent of intelligence. Harris states that even if superintelligent AI is five to ten decades away, the scale of its implications for human civilization warrant discussion of the issue in the present. Reception and controversies Academic and journalistic reception to Harris's works and ideas has been varied. Harris's first two books, in which he lays out his criticisms of religion, received negative reviews from Christian scholars. From secular sources, the books received a mixture of negative reviews and positive reviews. In his review of The End of Faith, American historian Alexander Saxton criticized what he called Harris's "vitriolic and selective polemic against Islam," (emphasis in original) which he said "obscure[s] the obvious reality that the invasion of Iraq and the War against Terror are driven by religious irrationalities, cultivated and conceded to, at high policy levels in the U.S., and which are at least comparable to the irrationality of Islamic crusaders and Jihadists." By contrast, Stephanie Merritt wrote of the same book that Harris's "central argument in The End of Faith is sound: religion is the only area of human knowledge in which it is still acceptable to hold beliefs dating from antiquity and a modern society should subject those beliefs to the same principles that govern scientific, medical or geographical inquiry – particularly if they are inherently hostile to those with different ideas." Harris's next two books, which discuss philosophical issues relating to ethics and free will, received several negative academic reviews. In his review of The Moral Landscape, neuroscientist Kenan Malik criticized Harris for not engaging adequately with philosophical literature: "Imagine a sociologist who wrote about evolutionary theory without discussing the work of Darwin, Fisher, Mayr, Hamilton, Trivers or Dawkins on the grounds that he did not come to his conclusions by reading about biology and because discussing concepts such as 'adaptation', 'speciation', 'homology', 'phylogenetics' or 'kin selection' would 'increase the amount of boredom in the universe'. How seriously would we, and should we, take his argument?" Philosopher Daniel Dennett argued that Harris's book Free Will successfully refuted the common understanding of free will, but that he failed to respond adequately to the compatibilist understanding of free will. Dennett said the book was valuable because it expressed the views of many eminent scientists, but that it nonetheless contained a "veritable museum of mistakes" and that "Harris and others need to do their homework if they want to engage with the best thought on the topic." On the other hand, The Moral Landscape received a largely positive review from psychologists James Diller and Andrew Nuzzolilli. Additionally, Free Will received a mixed academic review from philosopher Paul Pardi, who acknowledged that while it suffers from some conceptual confusions and that the core argument is a bit too 'breezy', it serves as a "good primer on key ideas in physicalist theories of freedom and the will". Harris's book on spirituality and meditation received mainly positive reviews as well as some mixed reviews. It was praised by Frank Bruni, for example, who described it as "so entirely of this moment, so keenly in touch with the growing number of Americans who are willing to say that they do not find the succor they crave, or a truth that makes sense to them, in organized religion." In April 2017, Harris stirred controversy by hosting the social scientist Charles Murray on his podcast, discussing topics including the heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. Harris stated the invitation was out of indignation at a violent protest against Murray at Middlebury College the month before and not out of particular interest in the material at hand. The podcast episode garnered significant criticism, most notably from Vox and Slate. Harris and Murray were defended by conservative commentators Andrew Sullivan and Kyle Smith, as well as by neuroscientist Richard Haier, who stated that the points Murray claimed were mainstream actually do receive broad scientific support. Harris and Vox editor-at-large Ezra Klein later discussed the affair in a podcast interview, where Klein criticized Harris for rebuking tribalism in the form of identity politics while failing to recognize his own version of tribalism. Hatewatch staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that members of the "skeptics" movement, of which Harris is "one of the most public faces," help to "channel people into the alt-right." Bari Weiss wrote in her opinion column that the SPLC had misrepresented Harris's views. Harris was profiled by Weiss in The New York Times as part of the "Intellectual Dark Web" (a term coined semi-ironically by Eric Weinstein). She described the group as "a collection of iconoclastic thinkers, academic renegades and media personalities who are having a rolling conversation – on podcasts, YouTube and Twitter, and in sold-out auditoriums – that sound unlike anything else happening, at least publicly, in the culture right now." In November 2020, Harris stated that he does not identify as a part of that group. In 2018, Robert Wright, a visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary, published an article in Wired criticizing Harris, whom he described as "annoying" and "deluded". Wright wrote that Harris, despite claiming to be a champion of rationality, ignored his own cognitive biases and engaged in faulty and inconsistent arguments in his book The End of Faith. He wrote that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it." Wright wrote that these biases are rooted in natural selection and impact everyone, but that they can be mitigated when acknowledged, whereas Harris offered no such acknowledgement. The UK Business Insider included Harris's podcast in their list of "8 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior" in 2017, and PC Magazine included it in their list of "The Best Podcasts of 2018." In January 2020, Max Sanderson included Harris's podcast as a "Producer pick" in a "podcasts of the week" section for The Guardian. Accusations of Anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia Harris has been accused of Islamophobia by journalist Glenn Greenwald and linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky. Greenwald characterized some of Harris's statements as Islamophobic, such as: "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists," and "[t]he only future devout Muslims can envisage – as Muslims – is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed." After Harris and Chomsky exchanged a series of emails on terrorism and U.S. foreign policy in 2015, Chomsky said Harris had not prepared adequately for the exchange and that this revealed his work as unserious. Kyle Schmidlin also wrote in Salon that he considered Chomsky the winner of the exchange because Harris's arguments relied excessively on thought experiments with little application to the real world. In a 2016 interview with Al Jazeera English's UpFront, Chomsky further criticized Harris, saying he "specializes in hysterical, slanderous charges against people he doesn't like." Harris has countered that his views on this and other topics are frequently misrepresented by "unethical critics" who "deliberately" regard his words out of context. He has also criticized the validity of the term Islamophobia. "My criticism of Islam is a criticism of beliefs and their consequences, but my fellow liberals reflexively view it as an expression of intolerance toward people," he wrote following a disagreement with actor Ben Affleck in October 2014 on the show Real Time with Bill Maher. Affleck had described Harris's and host Bill Maher's views on Muslims as "gross" and "racist," and Harris's statement that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas" as an "ugly thing to say." Affleck also compared Harris's and Maher's rhetoric to that of people who use antisemitic canards or define African-Americans in terms of intraracial crime. Several conservative American media pundits in turn criticized Affleck and praised Harris and Maher for broaching the topic, saying that discussing it had become a "taboo." Harris's dialogue on Islam with Maajid Nawaz received a combination of positive reviews and mixed reviews. Irshad Manji wrote: "Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam." Of Harris specifically, she said "[he] is right that liberals must end their silence about the religious motives behind much Islamist terror. At the same time, he ought to call out another double standard that feeds the liberal reflex to excuse Islamists: Atheists do not make nearly enough noise about hatred toward Muslims." Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia University accused Sam Harris of being a "new atheist crusader" having never studied Islam thoroughly and having no special insight into any Muslim community on earth. He further accused Harris of engaging in such language to justify Western imperialism in the Muslim world. An article published in The Guardian accused Harris, along with Milo Yiannopoulos of influencing young white men into becoming racists and Anti-Muslim bigots. Harris has also been accused of merging his thoughts with far right ideologies, stating that he advocates the profiling of Muslims, "or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," at airports. Harris was also accused of "advancing Neoconservative agendas" by Chris Hedges and for advocating a nuclear first strike policy on Muslims if an Islamist regime ever obtained nuclear weapons, stating in The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason that "in such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own." Recognition Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. The Waking Up podcast won the 2017 Webby Award for "People's Voice" in the category "Science & Education" under "Podcasts & Digital Audio". Harris was included on a list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People 2019" in the Watkins Review, a publication of Watkins Books, a London esoterica bookshop. Personal life Harris is a martial arts student and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2004, he married Annaka Gorton, an author and editor of nonfiction and scientific books after engaging in a common interest about the nature of consciousness. They have two daughters, and live in Los Angeles. In September 2020, Harris became a member of Giving What We Can, an effective altruism organization whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities, both as an individual and as a company with Waking Up. Works Books Documentary Amila, D. & Shapiro, J. (2018). Islam and the Future of Tolerance. United States: The Orchard. Peer-reviewed articles Notes References External links 1967 births 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century atheists Action theorists Activists from California American atheism activists American atheist writers American critics of Islam American ethicists American logicians American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American men podcasters American neuroscientists American people of Jewish descent American podcasters American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American science writers American secularists American skeptics American social commentators American social sciences writers American spiritual writers Analytic philosophers Atheism activists Atheism in the United States Atheist philosophers California Democrats Cognitive neuroscientists Consciousness researchers and theorists Conversationalists Criticism of religion Critics of conspiracy theories Critics of creationism Critics of multiculturalism Critics of neoconservatism Critics of postmodernism Critics of religions Cultural critics Epistemologists Freethought writers Hyperreality theorists Living people Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Moral realists Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of logic Philosophers of love Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of sexuality Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophers of war Philosophy writers Political philosophers Psychedelic drug advocates Race and intelligence controversy Rationalists Rationality theorists Science activists Social critics Social philosophers Stanford University alumni Students of U Pandita Theorists on Western civilization University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers about activism and social change Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science Writers from Los Angeles	false	[ "Phil Waldrep is Southern Baptist preacher, evangelist, and author based in Decatur, Alabama. He is the Founder and President of Phil Waldrep Ministries, an evangelical nonprofit that organizes Christian conferences.\n\nWaldrep was born in Morgan County, Alabama, near Decatur, Alabama. His father, Linnes Waldrep, was a factory worker, but he is the grandson and great-grandson of Baptist preachers. He began preaching at the age of 14. Waldrep is a graduate of Calhoun Community College, of the University of Alabama, and of Luther Rice College and Seminary. He and his wife, Debbie, have two children.\n\nWaldrep founded Phil Waldrep Ministries, which organizes Christian conferences. On October 5, 2009, Waldrep launched a 25-minute radio program, Living with Joy! Radio, broadcast on 500 stations of CSN International in heard in 46 states.\n\nWaldrep's 2002 book, Parenting Prodigals, offers guidance to parents whose children have rejected faith, with special attention to Christian parents whose children have not only left the faith, but who have also fallen prey to alcohol abuse, drug abuse and criminal activities. His advice to parents includes encouragement to \"pray specifically,\" \"love your child unconditionally,\" and \"allow sin to run its course.\"\n\nBooks\n Reaching Your Prodigal: What Did I Do Wrong? What Do I Do Now? Worthy Publishing, 2016. \n The Grandparent Factor: Five Ways to make a Difference in the Life of Your Grandchild, Baxter Press, 2003. \n Parenting Prodigals: Six Principles to Get Your Son or Daughter Back to God, Baxter Press, 2001.\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\nAmerican clergy\nSouthern Baptists\nChristian writers\nAmerican evangelists\nYear of birth missing (living people)", "\"What Did I Do to You?\" is a song recorded by British singer Lisa Stansfield for her 1989 album, Affection. It was written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, and produced by Devaney and Morris. The song was released as the fourth European single on 30 April 1990. It included three previously unreleased songs written by Stansfield, Devaney and Morris: \"My Apple Heart,\" \"Lay Me Down\" and \"Something's Happenin'.\" \"What Did I Do to You?\" was remixed by Mark Saunders and by the Grammy Award-winning American house music DJ and producer, David Morales. The single became a top forty hit in the European countries reaching number eighteen in Finland, number twenty in Ireland and number twenty-five in the United Kingdom. \"What Did I Do to You?\" was also released in Japan.\n\nIn 2014, the remixes of \"What Did I Do to You?\" were included on the deluxe 2CD + DVD re-release of Affection and on People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology. They were also featured on The Collection 1989–2003 box set (2014), including previously unreleased Red Zone Mix by David Morales.\n\nCritical reception\nThe song received positive reviews from music critics. Matthew Hocter from Albumism viewed it as a \"upbeat offering\". David Giles from Music Week said it is \"beautifully performed\" by Stansfield. A reviewer from Reading Eagle wrote that \"What Did I Do to You?\" \"would be right at home on the \"Saturday Night Fever\" soundtrack.\"\n\nMusic video\nA music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Philip Richardson, who had previously directed the videos for \"All Around the World\" and \"Live Together\". It features Stansfield with her kiss curls, dressed in a white outfit and performing with her band on a stage in front of a jumping audience. The video was later published on Stansfield's official YouTube channel in November 2009. It has amassed more than 1,6 million views as of October 2021.\n\nTrack listings\n\n European/UK 7\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK/Japanese CD single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n UK 10\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix) – 5:52\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK 12\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 4:22\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 3:19\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:15\n\n UK 12\" promotional single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Anti Poll Tax Dub) – 6:31\n\n Other remixes\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Red Zone Mix) – 7:45\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nLisa Stansfield songs\n1990 singles\nSongs written by Lisa Stansfield\n1989 songs\nArista Records singles\nSongs written by Ian Devaney\nSongs written by Andy Morris (musician)" ]
[ "Sam Harris", "Early life and education", "When was Sam born?", "on April 9, 1967", "Where was he born?", "in Los Angeles,", "What did his parents do?", "actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak)," ]	C_6f7725bc6a24498880e4d27d640db77d_1	What about his mother?	4	What about the mother of Sam Harris?	Sam Harris	Harris was born on April 9, 1967 in Los Angeles, the son of actor Berkeley Harris and TV producer Susan Harris (nee Spivak), who created The Golden Girls. His father came from a Quaker background and his mother is a secular Jew. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular, and his parents rarely discussed religion, though it was always a subject that interested him. Fellow critic of religion Christopher Hitchens once referred to Harris as a "Jewish warrior against theocracy and bigotry of all stripes". While a student at Stanford University, Harris experimented with MDMA, and has written and spoken about the insights he experienced under its influence. Though his original major was in English, he became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the psychedelic drug MDMA. The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he went to India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with Buddhist and Hindu religious teachers, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. degree in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values", and his advisor was Mark S. Cohen. CANNOTANSWER	created The Golden Girls.	Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has since written six additional books: Letter to a Christian Nation in 2006, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values in 2010, the long-form essay Lying in 2011, the short book Free Will in 2012, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion in 2014, and (with British writer Maajid Nawaz) Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue in 2015. Harris's work has been translated into over 20 languages. Harris has debated with many prominent figures on the topics of God or religion, including William Lane Craig, Jordan Peterson, Rick Warren, Andrew Sullivan, Reza Aslan, David Wolpe, Deepak Chopra, Ben Shapiro and Jean Houston. Since September 2013, Harris has hosted the Making Sense podcast (originally titled Waking Up), which has a large listenership. In September 2018, Harris released a meditation app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. Harris's views on free will, race, and Islam have attracted controversy. Early life and education Samuel Benjamin Harris was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 9, 1967. He is the son of actor Berkeley Harris, who appeared mainly in Western films, and TV writer and producer Susan Harris (née Spivak), who created Soap (TV series) and The Golden Girls among other series. His father, born in North Carolina, came from a Quaker background, and his mother is Jewish but not religious. He was raised by his mother following his parents' divorce when he was aged two. Harris has stated that his upbringing was entirely secular and that his parents rarely discussed religion, though he also stated that he was not raised as an atheist. While his original major was in English, Harris became interested in philosophical questions while at Stanford University after an experience with the empathogen–entactogen MDMA (colloquially known as ecstasy or XTC). The experience led him to be interested in the idea that he might be able to achieve spiritual insights without the use of drugs. Leaving Stanford in his second year, a quarter after his psychedelic experience, he visited India and Nepal, where he studied meditation with teachers of Buddhist and Hindu religions, including Dilgo Khyentse. Eleven years later, in 1997, he returned to Stanford, completing a B.A. degree in philosophy in 2000. Harris began writing his first book, The End of Faith, immediately after the September 11 attacks. He received a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience in 2009 from the University of California, Los Angeles, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to conduct research into the neural basis of belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. His thesis was titled The Moral Landscape: How Science Could Determine Human Values. His advisor was Mark S. Cohen. Career Writing Harris's writing focuses on philosophy, neuroscience, and criticism of religion. He came to prominence for his criticism of religion (Islam in particular) and he is described as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. He has written for publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Economist, London Times, Boston Globe, and The Atlantic. Five of Harris's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and his writing has been translated into over 20 languages. The End of Faith (2004) remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Harris has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. Debates on religion In 2007, Harris engaged in a lengthy debate with conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan on the Internet forum Beliefnet. In April 2007, Harris debated with evangelical pastor Rick Warren for Newsweek magazine. Harris also debated with Rabbi David Wolpe in 2007. In 2010, Harris joined Michael Shermer to debate with Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the future of God in a debate hosted by ABC News Nightline. Harris debated with Christian philosopher William Lane Craig in April 2011 on whether there can be an objective morality without God. In June and July 2018, he met with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson for a series of debates on religion, particularly the relationship between religious values and scientific fact in defining truth. Harris has also debated with the scholar Reza Aslan. Podcast In September 2013, Harris began releasing the Waking Up podcast (since re-titled Making Sense). Episodes vary in length but often last over two hours. Releases do not follow a regular schedule. The podcast has a large listenership. Meditation app In September 2018, Harris released a meditation course app, Waking Up with Sam Harris. The app provides daily meditations; long guided meditations; daily "Moments" (brief meditations and reminders); conversations with thought leaders in psychology, meditation, philosophy, psychedelics, and other disciplines; a selection of lessons on various topics, such as Mind & Emotion, Free Will, and Doing Good; and more. Users of the app are introduced to a number of types of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation, vipassanā-style meditation, loving-kindness meditation, and Dzogchen. In September 2020, Harris announced his commitment to donate a least 10% of Waking Up's profits to highly effective charities, thus becoming the first company to sign the Giving What We Can pledge for companies. The pledge was done retroactively, taking into account the profits since the day the app launched 2 years previously. Views Religion Harris is known as one of the most prominent critics of religion, and is a leading figure in the New Atheist movement. Harris is particularly opposed to what he refers to as dogmatic belief, and says that "Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a betrayal of science – and yet it is the lifeblood of religion." While purportedly opposed to religion in general and the belief systems of them, Harris believes that all religions are not created equal. Often invoking Jainism to contrast Islam as a whole, Harris highlights the difference in the specific doctrine and scripture as the main indicator of a religion's value, or lack thereof. In 2006, Harris described Islam as "all fringe and no center," and wrote in The End of Faith that "the doctrine of Islam [...] represents a unique danger to all of us", arguing that the War on terror is really a war against Islam. In 2014, Harris said he considers Islam to be "especially belligerent and inimical to the norms of civil discourse", as it involves what Harris considers to be "bad ideas, held for bad reasons, leading to bad behavior." In 2015 Harris and secular Islamic activist Maajid Nawaz cowrote Islam and the Future of Tolerance. In this book, Harris argues that the word Islamophobia is a "pernicious meme", a label which prevents discussion about the threat of Islam. Harris has been described in 2020 by Jonathan Matusitz, Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida, as "a champion of the counter-jihad left". Harris is critical of the Christian right in politics in the United States, blaming them for the political focus on "pseudo-problems like gay marriage." He is also critical of liberal Christianityas represented, for instance, by the theology of Paul Tillichwhich he argues claims to base its beliefs on the Bible despite actually being influenced by secular modernity. He further states that in so doing liberal Christianity provides rhetorical cover to fundamentalists. Spirituality Harris holds that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have." Harris rejects the dichotomy between spirituality and rationality, favoring a middle path that preserves spirituality and science but does not involve religion. He writes that spirituality should be understood in light of scientific disciplines like neuroscience and psychology. Science, he contends, can show how to maximize human well-being, but may fail to answer certain questions about the nature of being, answers to some of which he says are discoverable directly through our experience. His conception of spirituality does not involve a belief in any god. In Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (2014), Harris describes his experience with Dzogchen, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and recommends it to his readers. He writes that the purpose of spirituality (as he defines it – he concedes that the term's uses are diverse and sometimes indefensible) is to become aware that our sense of self is illusory, and says this realization brings both happiness and insight into the nature of consciousness. This process of realization, he argues, is based on experience and is not contingent on faith. Harris especially recommends the “headless” meditation technique as written about by Douglas Harding. Science and morality In The Moral Landscape, Harris argues that science answers moral problems and can aid human well-being. Free will Harris says that the idea of free will "cannot be mapped on to any conceivable reality" and is incoherent. Harris writes in Free Will that neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet." Social and political views Harris describes himself as a liberal, and states that he supports raising taxes on the wealthy, decriminalizing drugs and legalizing same-sex marriage. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Harris said that he supported most of the criticism against Bush administration's war in Iraq, and all criticism of fiscal policy and the administration's treatment of science. Harris also said that liberalism has grown "dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" when it comes to threats allegedly posed by Islamic fundamentalism. Harris is a registered Democrat. During the 2016 United States presidential election, Harris supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential primaries against Bernie Sanders, and despite calling her "a terribly flawed candidate for the presidency," he favored her in the general election and came out strongly in opposition to Donald Trump's candidacy. Harris has criticized Trump for lying, stating in 2018 that Trump "has assaulted truth more than anyone in human history." During the 2020 United States presidential election, Harris supported Andrew Yang in the Democratic primaries. Harris also introduced Yang to podcaster Joe Rogan. Artificial intelligence Harris has discussed existential risk from artificial general intelligence in depth. He has given a TED talk on the topic, arguing it will be a major threat in the future and criticizing the paucity of human interest on the subject. He argues the dangers from artificial intelligence (AI) follow from three premises: that intelligence is the result of physical information processing, that humans will continue innovation in AI, and that humans are nowhere near the maximum possible extent of intelligence. Harris states that even if superintelligent AI is five to ten decades away, the scale of its implications for human civilization warrant discussion of the issue in the present. Reception and controversies Academic and journalistic reception to Harris's works and ideas has been varied. Harris's first two books, in which he lays out his criticisms of religion, received negative reviews from Christian scholars. From secular sources, the books received a mixture of negative reviews and positive reviews. In his review of The End of Faith, American historian Alexander Saxton criticized what he called Harris's "vitriolic and selective polemic against Islam," (emphasis in original) which he said "obscure[s] the obvious reality that the invasion of Iraq and the War against Terror are driven by religious irrationalities, cultivated and conceded to, at high policy levels in the U.S., and which are at least comparable to the irrationality of Islamic crusaders and Jihadists." By contrast, Stephanie Merritt wrote of the same book that Harris's "central argument in The End of Faith is sound: religion is the only area of human knowledge in which it is still acceptable to hold beliefs dating from antiquity and a modern society should subject those beliefs to the same principles that govern scientific, medical or geographical inquiry – particularly if they are inherently hostile to those with different ideas." Harris's next two books, which discuss philosophical issues relating to ethics and free will, received several negative academic reviews. In his review of The Moral Landscape, neuroscientist Kenan Malik criticized Harris for not engaging adequately with philosophical literature: "Imagine a sociologist who wrote about evolutionary theory without discussing the work of Darwin, Fisher, Mayr, Hamilton, Trivers or Dawkins on the grounds that he did not come to his conclusions by reading about biology and because discussing concepts such as 'adaptation', 'speciation', 'homology', 'phylogenetics' or 'kin selection' would 'increase the amount of boredom in the universe'. How seriously would we, and should we, take his argument?" Philosopher Daniel Dennett argued that Harris's book Free Will successfully refuted the common understanding of free will, but that he failed to respond adequately to the compatibilist understanding of free will. Dennett said the book was valuable because it expressed the views of many eminent scientists, but that it nonetheless contained a "veritable museum of mistakes" and that "Harris and others need to do their homework if they want to engage with the best thought on the topic." On the other hand, The Moral Landscape received a largely positive review from psychologists James Diller and Andrew Nuzzolilli. Additionally, Free Will received a mixed academic review from philosopher Paul Pardi, who acknowledged that while it suffers from some conceptual confusions and that the core argument is a bit too 'breezy', it serves as a "good primer on key ideas in physicalist theories of freedom and the will". Harris's book on spirituality and meditation received mainly positive reviews as well as some mixed reviews. It was praised by Frank Bruni, for example, who described it as "so entirely of this moment, so keenly in touch with the growing number of Americans who are willing to say that they do not find the succor they crave, or a truth that makes sense to them, in organized religion." In April 2017, Harris stirred controversy by hosting the social scientist Charles Murray on his podcast, discussing topics including the heritability of IQ and race and intelligence. Harris stated the invitation was out of indignation at a violent protest against Murray at Middlebury College the month before and not out of particular interest in the material at hand. The podcast episode garnered significant criticism, most notably from Vox and Slate. Harris and Murray were defended by conservative commentators Andrew Sullivan and Kyle Smith, as well as by neuroscientist Richard Haier, who stated that the points Murray claimed were mainstream actually do receive broad scientific support. Harris and Vox editor-at-large Ezra Klein later discussed the affair in a podcast interview, where Klein criticized Harris for rebuking tribalism in the form of identity politics while failing to recognize his own version of tribalism. Hatewatch staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that members of the "skeptics" movement, of which Harris is "one of the most public faces," help to "channel people into the alt-right." Bari Weiss wrote in her opinion column that the SPLC had misrepresented Harris's views. Harris was profiled by Weiss in The New York Times as part of the "Intellectual Dark Web" (a term coined semi-ironically by Eric Weinstein). She described the group as "a collection of iconoclastic thinkers, academic renegades and media personalities who are having a rolling conversation – on podcasts, YouTube and Twitter, and in sold-out auditoriums – that sound unlike anything else happening, at least publicly, in the culture right now." In November 2020, Harris stated that he does not identify as a part of that group. In 2018, Robert Wright, a visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary, published an article in Wired criticizing Harris, whom he described as "annoying" and "deluded". Wright wrote that Harris, despite claiming to be a champion of rationality, ignored his own cognitive biases and engaged in faulty and inconsistent arguments in his book The End of Faith. He wrote that "the famous proponent of New Atheism is on a crusade against tribalism but seems oblivious to his own version of it." Wright wrote that these biases are rooted in natural selection and impact everyone, but that they can be mitigated when acknowledged, whereas Harris offered no such acknowledgement. The UK Business Insider included Harris's podcast in their list of "8 podcasts that will change how you think about human behavior" in 2017, and PC Magazine included it in their list of "The Best Podcasts of 2018." In January 2020, Max Sanderson included Harris's podcast as a "Producer pick" in a "podcasts of the week" section for The Guardian. Accusations of Anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia Harris has been accused of Islamophobia by journalist Glenn Greenwald and linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky. Greenwald characterized some of Harris's statements as Islamophobic, such as: "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists," and "[t]he only future devout Muslims can envisage – as Muslims – is one in which all infidels have been converted to Islam, politically subjugated, or killed." After Harris and Chomsky exchanged a series of emails on terrorism and U.S. foreign policy in 2015, Chomsky said Harris had not prepared adequately for the exchange and that this revealed his work as unserious. Kyle Schmidlin also wrote in Salon that he considered Chomsky the winner of the exchange because Harris's arguments relied excessively on thought experiments with little application to the real world. In a 2016 interview with Al Jazeera English's UpFront, Chomsky further criticized Harris, saying he "specializes in hysterical, slanderous charges against people he doesn't like." Harris has countered that his views on this and other topics are frequently misrepresented by "unethical critics" who "deliberately" regard his words out of context. He has also criticized the validity of the term Islamophobia. "My criticism of Islam is a criticism of beliefs and their consequences, but my fellow liberals reflexively view it as an expression of intolerance toward people," he wrote following a disagreement with actor Ben Affleck in October 2014 on the show Real Time with Bill Maher. Affleck had described Harris's and host Bill Maher's views on Muslims as "gross" and "racist," and Harris's statement that "Islam is the mother lode of bad ideas" as an "ugly thing to say." Affleck also compared Harris's and Maher's rhetoric to that of people who use antisemitic canards or define African-Americans in terms of intraracial crime. Several conservative American media pundits in turn criticized Affleck and praised Harris and Maher for broaching the topic, saying that discussing it had become a "taboo." Harris's dialogue on Islam with Maajid Nawaz received a combination of positive reviews and mixed reviews. Irshad Manji wrote: "Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam." Of Harris specifically, she said "[he] is right that liberals must end their silence about the religious motives behind much Islamist terror. At the same time, he ought to call out another double standard that feeds the liberal reflex to excuse Islamists: Atheists do not make nearly enough noise about hatred toward Muslims." Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia University accused Sam Harris of being a "new atheist crusader" having never studied Islam thoroughly and having no special insight into any Muslim community on earth. He further accused Harris of engaging in such language to justify Western imperialism in the Muslim world. An article published in The Guardian accused Harris, along with Milo Yiannopoulos of influencing young white men into becoming racists and Anti-Muslim bigots. Harris has also been accused of merging his thoughts with far right ideologies, stating that he advocates the profiling of Muslims, "or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," at airports. Harris was also accused of "advancing Neoconservative agendas" by Chris Hedges and for advocating a nuclear first strike policy on Muslims if an Islamist regime ever obtained nuclear weapons, stating in The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason that "in such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own." Recognition Harris's first book, The End of Faith (2004), won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. The Waking Up podcast won the 2017 Webby Award for "People's Voice" in the category "Science & Education" under "Podcasts & Digital Audio". Harris was included on a list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People 2019" in the Watkins Review, a publication of Watkins Books, a London esoterica bookshop. Personal life Harris is a martial arts student and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2004, he married Annaka Gorton, an author and editor of nonfiction and scientific books after engaging in a common interest about the nature of consciousness. They have two daughters, and live in Los Angeles. In September 2020, Harris became a member of Giving What We Can, an effective altruism organization whose members pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities, both as an individual and as a company with Waking Up. Works Books Documentary Amila, D. & Shapiro, J. (2018). Islam and the Future of Tolerance. United States: The Orchard. Peer-reviewed articles Notes References External links 1967 births 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American philosophers 21st-century atheists Action theorists Activists from California American atheism activists American atheist writers American critics of Islam American ethicists American logicians American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American men podcasters American neuroscientists American people of Jewish descent American podcasters American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu American science writers American secularists American skeptics American social commentators American social sciences writers American spiritual writers Analytic philosophers Atheism activists Atheism in the United States Atheist philosophers California Democrats Cognitive neuroscientists Consciousness researchers and theorists Conversationalists Criticism of religion Critics of conspiracy theories Critics of creationism Critics of multiculturalism Critics of neoconservatism Critics of postmodernism Critics of religions Cultural critics Epistemologists Freethought writers Hyperreality theorists Living people Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Moral realists Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of logic Philosophers of love Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of sexuality Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophers of war Philosophy writers Political philosophers Psychedelic drug advocates Race and intelligence controversy Rationalists Rationality theorists Science activists Social critics Social philosophers Stanford University alumni Students of U Pandita Theorists on Western civilization University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers about activism and social change Writers about globalization Writers about religion and science Writers from Los Angeles	false	[ "The saying of Jesus concerning his true relatives is found in the Canonical gospels of Mark and Matthew.\n\nIn the Bible\nFrom :\n There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing\n without, sent unto him, calling him. \nAnd the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him,\n Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. \nAnd he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my\n brethren? \nAnd he looked round about on them which sat about him, and\n said, Behold my mother and my brethren! \nFor whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my\n brother, and my sister, and mother. \n\nFrom :\n While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and\n his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. \nThen one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren\n stand without, desiring to speak with thee. \nBut he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my\n mother? and who are my brethren? \nAnd he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and\n said, Behold my mother and my brethren! \nFor whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in\n heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.\n\nApocryphal version\nA re-organized version also appears in the Gospel of Thomas (Patterson-Meyer Translation):\n 99 The disciples said to him, \"Your brothers and your mother are\n standing outside.\" He said to them, \"Those here who do what my\n Father wants are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who\n will enter my Father's kingdom.\" \n 100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, \"The Roman\n emperor's people demand taxes from us.\" He said to them, \"Give the\n emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what belongs to God,\n and give me what is mine.\" \n 101 \"Whoever does not hate [father] and mother as I do cannot be\n my [disciple], and whoever does [not] love [father and] mother as\n I do cannot be my [disciple]. For my mother [...], but my true\n [mother] gave me life.\" \n\nVerse 100 (Caesar's Coin) is similar to Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20.22-26. Verse 101 (Love Jesus/God more than your family) is similar to and .\n\nSayings of Jesus\nGospel episodes", "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? is a children's picture book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. First published by Henry Holt and Co. in 2007, it is the fourth and final companion title to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. The book is about the special bond between mother and child, where a Baby Bear meets all sorts of different animals until he finally finds what he is looking for – his mother. The order of animals in the book is a baby bear, red fox, flying squirrel, mountain goat, blue heron, prairie dog, striped skunk, mule deer, rattlesnake and a screech owl.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nLibrary holdings of Baby Bear\n\n2007 children's books\nAmerican picture books\nBooks about bears\nPicture books by Eric Carle" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education" ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	When was Ranveer Singh born?	1	When was Ranveer Singh born?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	false	[ "Ranveer Ching Returns is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language short action comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty. The film stars Ranveer Singh and Tamannaah.\n\nPlot \n\nA man lands in a place where people are suffering from food shortage and helps them to fight hunger with Ching's Chinese products.\n\nCast \n Ranveer Singh as Ranveer Ching and Ranveer Ching's mother\n Tamannaah as Ranveer Ching's love interest\n Rajesh Anandan\n Naushad Abbas\n Pradeep\n\nProduction \n\nIn May 2016, Rohit Shetty revealed that he was going to direct a new film with Ranveer Singh and Tamannaah. But later he revealed that it was not a full-length film and officially announced that it was a short film for about 6 minutes (Approximately). In July 2016, The leading actors confirmed that the shooting was completed and titled as Ranveer Ching Returns.\n\nMarketing \nThe film's advertising and promotion budget was , equivalent to that of a mid-size Hindi film.\n\nRelease \nRanveer Ching Returns was officially released on 19 August 2016 in most cinemas and YouTube.\n\nSee also\n Ching's Secret\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n2010s Hindi-language films\nIndian films\nIndian short films\nFilms directed by Rohit Shetty", "Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani () is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Karan Johar and produced by Dharma Productions and Viacom18 Studios. The film stars Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. It is scheduled to be theatrically released worldwide on 10 February 2023.\n\nCast \n\n Dharmendra\n Jaya Bachchan\n Shabana Azmi\n Ranveer Singh as Rocky\n Alia Bhatt as Rani\n Preity Zinta\n\nProduction\n\nDevelopment\nRocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani was officially announced on 6 July 2021 on lead actor Ranveer Singh's birthday, and marks the return of producer Karan Johar to direction after 5 years; his last directorial was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016).\n\nCasting\nRanveer Singh and Alia Bhatt were selected to star as the titular protagonists Rocky and Rani, working together for the second time post Gully Boy (2019). Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi joined the cast in July 2021.\n\nFilming\nPrincipal photography commenced on 20 August 2021 in Mumbai, after which a song featuring Singh and Bhatt was filmed in Moscow, Russia in September 2021. In October 2021, the second schedule of the film began in Delhi.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nUpcoming Indian films\nUpcoming films\nIndian films\nUpcoming Hindi-language films\nHindi-language films" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani." ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Where did he go to school at?	2	Where did Ranveer Singh go to school at?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	true	[ "Oliver Montagu (1655 – 25 December 1689) was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament.\n\nOliver Montagu was born around 1655, the third son of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich and Jemima Crew. Together with his twin brother, John, he was initially educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, from where they were summoned to meet Samuel Pepys (a family friend):\n\nThe two twins were sent for from schoole, at Mr. Taylor's, to come to see me, and I took them into the garden, and there, in one of the summer-houses, did examine them, and do find them so well advanced in their learning, that I was amazed at it: they repeating a whole ode without book out of Horace, and did give me a very good account of any thing almost, and did make me very readily very good Latin, and did give me good account of their Greek grammar, beyond all possible expectation; and so grave and manly as I never saw, I confess, nor could have believed; so that they will be fit to go to Cambridge in two years at most. They are both little, but very like one another, and well-looked children.\n\nThe boys transferred to Westminster School and thence to Trinity College, Cambridge, where Montagu was admitted as a Fellow commoner on 12 April 1672, and awarded an MA in 1673. \n\nMontagu was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1674, called to the bar in 1681, became a bencher in 1684 and a King's Counsel the following year. In 1685, he was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon. He was also appointed solicitor general to Queen Mary of Modena later that year. Following the Glorious Revolution, he accepted the new regime and was reappointed as a KC, but died on 25 December 1689.\n\nReferences\n\n1655 births\n1689 deaths\nOliver Montagu\nPeople educated at Westminster School, London\nAlumni of Trinity College, Cambridge\nMembers of Lincoln's Inn\nMembers of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Huntingdonshire\nEnglish MPs 1685–1687\nTwin people from England", "Konstantinos Asopios () was a Greek scholar and academic teacher of the 19th century from Epirus.\n\nBiography\n\nKonstantinos Asopios was born in Grammeno near Ioannina around 1790. He was a child of a poor family and initially had the surname Dsolbas. After the death of his father, he followed his mother in Ioannina, where she had found work in the Melas family house. Thanks to his good performance at school he received a scholarship by the benefactor Zois Kaplanis. Later, he was given the surname “Asopios” by the school principal, Athanasios Psalidas, which he adopted.\n\nAlongside his studies, he worked as a private teacher and he use the amount of money he collected to go, along with Christoforos Filitas, in Italy (Naples) to study medicine, but a health problem forced him to go to Corfu in 1813 in order to regain health. After his recovery, he returned to Italy and specifically in Venice, where he worked as a translator. Later, he moved to Trieste where he worked for five years as a teacher in the Greek school of the city. After that, he studied at the universities of Göttingen, Berlin and Paris at Lord Guilford’s expenses, who knew him from Ioannina, in order to become a professor of the Ionian Academy that the English nobleman intended to found, which he did in 1824.\n\nAfter the death of Lord Guilford and the decline of the Ionian Academy that followed, Asopios accepted the proposal of the Greek state and he got a job at the University of Athens, where he served as a dean three times. He retired in 1866 due to a serious health problem and died a few years later, on 19 November 1872. A big crowd attended his funeral.\n\nHe was married to Eleni Asimakopoulou, whom he met during his stay in Trieste. They had two children, Irinaios and Evridiki.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\nAnastasios N. Goudas (1874). Βίοι Παράλληλοι των επί της Αναγεννήσεως της Ελλάδος Διαπρεψάντων Ανδρών, τ. Β'. Αθήνησι: Τύποις Χ. Ν. Φιλαδελφέως.\n\n1790 births\n1872 deaths\nPeople from Ioannina (regional unit)\nGreeks of the Ottoman Empire\nGreek scholars\nNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens faculty" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai," ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Was there another school he went to?	3	Was there another school Ranveer Singh went to, besides H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	true	[ "Edward Jones Stephen (also Stephens; December 1822 – 10 May 1885), often known by his bardic name of Tanymarian, was a Welsh musician, singer and composer, mainly of hymns and songs.\n\nHe was born in Maentwrog, Merionethshire, into a musical family. He went to school at Penralltgoch and was then apprenticed to his brother, William. He began preaching and in 1843 he went to the Congregational college at Bala to train as a minister. While there he changed his name to Edward Stephen to avoid confusion with another Edward Jones. In 1847 he became a minister at Dwygyfylchi in Caernarfonshire and in 1852 he composed an oratorio entitled Ystorm Tiberias. In 1856 he moved to another chapel at Llanllechid, and two years later he composed a requiem in memory of John Jones, Talysarn. He composed many hymns and also wrote books and articles about music, in the Welsh language.\n\nMusical works\n\nAnthems\nLlawen floeddiwch i Dduw\nWrth afonydd Babilon\nDisgwyliad Israel\n\nHymn-tunes\nTanymarian\n\nSongs\nHen Gadair Freichiau\nCaingc y delyn\nCarlo\n\nReferences\n\n1822 births\n1885 deaths\nWelsh composers\nWelsh male composers\n19th-century British composers\n19th-century British male musicians", "Raden Gondulphus Doeriat (15 March 1913 – 18 July 1998) was an Indonesian politician from the Catholic Party. He was a member of the People's Representative Council from 1956 until 1960, and later from 1968 until 1971. After the fusion of the party into the Indonesian Democratic Party, he held office as the head of the party from 1976 until 1981, and represented the party in the Supreme Advisory Council from 1978 until 1983.\n\nEarly life \nDoeriat was born on 15 March 1913 at Yogyakarta, as the son of Gunowijoyo, a village head in Cepet, located at the slope of Mount Merapi. He was originally named Rabekan. Following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness. He went to the Ongko Loro school, the branch of the Taman Siswa in the Tanjung Region. After completing the first grade in the school, in his request, he moved to the Normalschool in Muntilan.\n\nDuring his time in Muntilan, a plague occurred. Doeriat went back to his house, and his father moved him to another school. He then went to the Hollandsche Indische Kweekschool and graduated in 1934.\n\nCareer \nAfter he graduated from HIK, he was accepted as a teacher in the Katholieke Kweekschool at Muntilan. He was transferred from the school to become the principal of the Schakelschool in Sleman. During his time in Sleman, he rented a boarding house in Yogyakarta. After his marriage with Siti Rabini, Doeriat's parents bought him a home in the Jetis Pakuningratan village, located close to the Tugu Yogyakarta. \n\nIn 1939, after being offered a job by his friend in Batavia, Doeriat moved to the city. There, he joined the Javan Catholic Political Union, and became the secretary of the union. He also taught at the Van Lith Hollandsch-Inlandsche School (Dutch school for indigenous people) in Batavia, and joined the Catholic Scouting.\n\nAfter the Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies, Doeriat's wife was ordered by her father to evacuate to her father's house in Boyolali, leaving behind Doeriat in Batavia. On 8 March 1942, the Van Lith school was forcefully closed by the Japanese forces, and Doeriat followed his wife to Boyolali. \n\nDuring his time in Boyolali, he was employed as a sinder (supervisor) at a tea plantation owned by the Imperial Japanese Army in Baros Tampir village near Boyolali.\n\nReligious life \nDoeriat was originally a Muslim. His grandfather completed his Hajj pilgrimage in 1925. He converted to Catholic when he was fifth grade.\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\nReferences \n\nIndonesian Roman Catholics\n1913 births\n1998 deaths\nPeople from Yogyakarta\nMembers of the People's Representative Council, 1955" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,", "Was there another school he went to?", "He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University." ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	What year did he graduate?	4	What year did Ranveer Singh graduate from Indiana University?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007,	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	true	[ "Allen R. Dyer is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences with the George Washington University. He is a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.\n As of January 2017 he is the sole surviving member of the committee that formulated the Goldwater rule of the American Psychiatric Association.\n\nEducation\nDyer is a graduate of Brown University and did his MD and PhD (religion/biomedical ethics) at Duke University.\n\nSelected publications\n Ethics and Psychiatry: Toward Professional Definition. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C., 1988.\n One More Mountain to Climb: What My Illness Taught me about Health\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Allen_Dyer\n\nAmerican psychiatrists\nGeorge Washington University faculty\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nDuke University School of Medicine alumni\nBrown University alumni", "Kelle Cruz is an astrophysicist who specializes in studying brown dwarfs. She currently works as an associate professor at Hunter College in New York City. With her study of brown dwarfs, Cruz hopes to better understand planets outside the Solar System and map out the universe, saying, \"I hope that what I’m doing in our little bit of the galaxy is similar to what the explorers did by discovering and mapping the New World and North America.\"\n\nFurther reading\n\nPublications\n 2MASS 22344161+4041387AB: A Wide, Young, Accreting, Low-mass Binary in the LkHa233 Group \n Measuring Tiny Mass Accretion Rates Onto Young Brown Dwarfs. \n Young L. Dwarfs Identified in the Field: A Preliminary Low-Gravity, Optical Spectral Sequence from L0 to L5. \n A Sample of Very Young Field L Dwarfs and Implications for the Brown Dwarf \"Lithium Test\" at Early Ages \n The Brown Dwarf Kinematics Project (BDKP)I. Proper Motions and Tangential Velocities for a Large Sample of Late-type M, L, and T Dwarfs\n\nAwards and honors\n Spitzer Fellowship, 2007 \n NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2004 \n NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2001 \n NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (Honorable Mention), 2000 \n APS Corporate Minority Scholar, 1998 & 1999\n\nSee also\n List of astronomers (includes astrophysicists)\n\nReferences\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nAmerican astrophysicists\nWomen astronomers\nWomen astrophysicists" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,", "Was there another school he went to?", "He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.", "What year did he graduate?", "After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007," ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Where did he grow up at?	5	Where did Ranveer Singh grow up at?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	in Mumbai,	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	true	[ "\"When I Grow Up\" is a 1998 song written, recorded and produced by alternative rock band Garbage. The song was released as the fourth international single to be taken from the band's multi-platinum second album Version 2.0 over the course of the following year.\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" was the first split-single release in Europe for Garbage, in some countries, \"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing\" was released in its place. \"When I Grow Up\" proved to be a charting hit in both United Kingdom and Spain, before going on to become Garbage's most successful single release in Australia and New Zealand at that point in their career.\n\nIn North America, \"When I Grow Up\" served as one of two singles (along with Sheryl Crow's cover version of \"Sweet Child o' Mine\") released from the soundtrack of the Adam Sandler comedy film Big Daddy.\n\nComposition\n\"When I Grow Up\" was written and recorded at Smart Studios during the 1997 sessions for Version 2.0. For the intro, the band routed a Nord synthesizer through a guitar pedal and distorted the sound in a 48-track ProTools set up. Drummer Butch Vig used three different snare drums, each hit consecutively and each processed (one through a flanger, one pitch shifted down and one gated), and made into a loop and matched with the Nord for that opening sequence. The scratchy vinyl record sound came from a Victrola gramophone that belonged to engineer Billy Bush's grandfather. The percolating keyboard parts were created by programming some sounds on a Planet Phatt synth module and running them through a guitar amp, complimented by a harmonic guitar note with a filter pulse applied. All of Shirley's vocal, drum and bass parts (performed by the band's touring bassist Daniel Shulman) were recorded to analogue \"to get tape compression\", while loops and sound effects were left in ProTools. A MicroLynx deck synchronizer was used to marry the analogue tape and digital audio workstation outputs, while the final mix was printed utilizing two Studer 2\" tape machines.\n\nGuitarist Steve Marker credited Garbage front-person Shirley Manson for coming up with a lot of the \"sunny-pop\" melodies on the song, explaining \"that's something that we've always tried to do - have a dark lyric disguised by a happy pop melody. We like that sort of contradiction and juxtaposition.\" Lyrically, Manson described \"When I Grow Up\" as being about \"that delirious state of wishing and hoping and dreaming for things, not giving up. There's a great quote by Flaubert where he says, 'Sometimes the forces of the world hold us back for a while, but not for ever' ... \". Manson stated that despite the song dealing with growing up, it actually questions whether adulthood brings maturity (\"Even though you're sussed and you're smart and you've worked it all out, you haven't even got the remotest inkling of what it's all about. And you can never hope to\") and mocks those who feel that way; \"I'm constantly patronised by people who think they're really mature and have their life in order and are really together. That's so small minded.\" \"When I Grow Up\" notably snuck the phrase \"golden shower(s)\" onto daytime radio, of which Manson remained proud of afterwards: \"It's our little trojan horse!\"\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" was remastered in 2007 for Garbage's greatest hits album Absolute Garbage and remastered from the original studio tapes in 2018 for Version 2.0 (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition).\n\nSingle release\n\"When I Grow Up\" was released to UK radio stations at the end of 1998 and was A-listed at Radio One, Atlantic 252, XFM and GLR, B-listed at Virgin and playlisted at a further sixty-eight regional radio stations. KISS FM also playlisted the Danny Tenaglia remix. The music video was placed on heavy rotation by both MTV (who sponsored the upcoming tour) and The Box. Import copies of \"When I Grow Up\" from Europe were sold in a few UK record stores, leading the single to chart early at number 198 on the UK Singles Chart as the band's arena tour kicked off in Ireland and then routed into the United Kingdom. Supported by the tour and airplay for the single, Version 2.0 climbed back into the top forty of the UK Albums Chart. Mushroom Records issued \"When I Grow Up\" on January 25 as a 2×CD single set and a cassette single. The first CD and the cassette was backed with \"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\"; the CD also included the Danny Tenaglia remix. The second CD single included \"Tornado\" and the Rickedy Raw version of \"Special\". After a week on sale, \"When I Grow Up\" debuted at number 28 on the Irish Singles Chart, and debuted at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. This was the band's fifth UK top ten hit. At the end of January, Garbage performed \"When I Grow Up\" on Friday Night's All Wright, Top of The Pops and Pepsi Chart Show The single received strong radio support and peaked at number 7 in Ireland and at number 17 on the UK airplay chart. On February 1, in the fourth of a series of limited edition 3\" CD Garbage singles, this edition for \"When I Grow Up\", was issued. The same week, the resurgent Version 2.0 album hit number 12. \"When I Grow Up\" ultimately spent seven weeks in the Top 75.\n\nAt the start of January 1999, \"When I Grow Up\" was serviced to European radio, where it was one of the Most Added titles in its first week. In its third week at radio, \"When I Grow Up\" peaked at number 34 on the European airplay chart as it debuted at number 39 on the European Hot 100. Buoyed by the release of the single, and tourdates, Version 2.0 recharted and climbed to number 44 on the European Top 100 albums due to strong sales in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Spain and Sweden. In February, \"When I Grow Up\" debuted at number 5 in Spain, peaking at four a week later. At the end of the month, IFPI certified Version 2.0 platinum for one million sales across Europe. Although \"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing\" was released instead in Germany, after the success of Garbage's James Bond theme \"The World Is Not Enough\" in (where it reached number 38 on the single sales chart) BMG released \"When I Grow Up\" as the sixth single from Version 2.0 on March 6, 2000.\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" was released in North America as Garbage were at the end of a two-month arena tour around the United States opening for Alanis Morissette. A month prior, the Danny Tenaglia remixes had reached nightclubs around the country on import from Europe achieving Hot Dance Breakout status. \"When I Grow Up\" subsequently debuted on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart at #47. By the end of March, third Version 2.0 single \"Special\" was gaining traction at Top 40 radio, and the song thereafter started climbing the Billboard Hot 100. On March 20, Garbage performed both \"Special\" and \"When I Grow Up\" on Saturday Night Live. Almo Sounds serviced \"When I Grow Up\" to alternative rock radio in the United States on April 12. The song debuted at #40 a week after \"Special\" left the alternative charts. In May, \"When I Grow Up\" remixes reached number four on the Club Play chart; and by the first week of June, reached a high of 23 in its sixth week on the Modern Rock chart.\n\nIn June 1999, \"When I Grow Up\" was licensed to the soundtrack of the upcoming Adam Sandler-vehicle Big Daddy. To help promote the movie release, Almo, in partnership with Sony's C2 Records, serviced two new pop radio edits of \"When I Grow Up\" to Top 40 radio on June 15. A week later, as Almo released a 12\" vinyl featuring the Danny Tenaglia mix of \"When I Grow Up\" and a Brothers In Rhythm mix of \"Special\" to record stores, a new version of the music video featuring shots from the film premiered on MTV and VH1. Big Daddy opened in North America the weekend of June 25, and debuted at number 1 with a box office take of almost $42 million. After dropping for two weeks, \"When I Grow Up\" stabilized at number 24 for a fortnight before leaving the Modern Rock chart at the start of August. \"When I Grow Up\" had spent a total of fifteen weeks on the alternative charts and fourteen on the dance charts.\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" was released by Festival Mushroom in New Zealand in mid-July on CD (featuring \"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\", \"Tornado\" and the Danny Tenaglia remix) and cassette single (featuring only the remix). The single debuted on the RIANZ Singles Chart as the second-highest new entry at number 27 at the end of the month. \"When I Grow Up\" peaked at 24 two weeks later. The single stayed on the charts for seven weeks before recharting at number 42 at the end of September. Version 2.0 charted in New Zealand for the first time since May on the RIANZ Album chart in mid-September, reaching 26, the same week that Version 2.0 tour reached the country.\n\nIn Australia, Festival Mushroom launched a two-week national advertising campaign on Channel Ten to promote the single and the planned limited edition album repackage (Version 2.0 Special Live Edition) which featured a bonus disc of four tracks recorded live at the Roskilde Festival. \"When I Grow Up\" was released by Festival Mushroom as a CD single on August 2, and debuted the following week as the second-highest new entry at number 22 on the ARIA Charts. The same week, Version 2.0 re-entered the ARIA Albums Chart for the first time in a year. Big Daddy was released to cinemas across Australia on September 16, while Garbage visited the country to perform at Brisbane's Livid Festival and co-headline a tour with Alanis Morissette the following month. On October 9, Garbage appeared on Hey Hey It's Saturday to perform the single. \"When I Grow Up\" moved back up the charts to number 25 by the end of the month, while the Version 2.0 album surged up to number 8. \"When I Grow Up\" eventually dropped off the ARIA chart when Garbage released follow-up single \"You Look So Fine\" on December 6. That single did not make the chart. \"When I Grow Up\" reappeared at 47 at the end of the month and charted for a final time in mid-January 2000, having clocked up a total of twenty-one weeks. \"When I Grow Up\" became Garbage's most successful single release in Australia at that point in their career.\n\nMusic video\n The original \"When I Grow Up\" music video documented the frenzy of a Version 2.0 tour concert. director Sophie Muller shot footage over the course of four Garbage shows over November 17–21, 1998 in Indianapolis, Indiana, St. Louis, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, and Madison, Wisconsin during the band's North American tour. At all of the concerts, the band performed \"When I Grow Up\" twice, once in the main set and a second time as an encore, to provide enough footage for Muller to utilise. Footage for the music video for \"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing\" was also filmed by Muller on the same nights. Unlike the special effects-laden videos for their previous three singles, \"When I Grow Up\" was intended to focus on the performance side of the band. Both videos were ready to air by December 3, 1998 and was broadcast in support of the single releases in United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. A remastered version of the \"When I Grow Up\" video was included on Garbage's 2007 greatest hits DVD Absolute Garbage and later uploaded to the band's VEVO channel in 2018.\n\nA second music video was directed by Muller in London at the start of June 1999. It was filmed on a stage set backed by lighted replicas of the bands G, Version 2.0 globe and \"When I Grow Up\" thought balloon logos. Three sequences within the video featured Manson performing choreographed dance moves with two dancers. The second video was filmed to promote Big Daddy in North America; a second edit of the video also incorporated montage footage from the movie. The video premiered on MTV's Total Request Live and VH1 on June 21, 1999. The edit of the \"When I Grow Up\" video that incorporated footage from the movie was included as a bonus feature on the 2000 Big Daddy DVD.\n\nAlternate versions\nFor the single release \"When I Grow Up\" was remixed by Danny Tenaglia; he provided a full club remix and a dub version (\"Golden Shower dub\"), as well as a short vocal cut (\"Shirlapella\"). All three mixes were pressed to vinyl for club play in Europe, the full club mix and a radio edit were also serviced to North American DJs. In 2007, an edit of the club mix was included on the Garbage Mixes bonus disc of the Absolute Garbage (Special Edition) two-disc set. Both club and dub mixes were remastered and included on 2018's Version 2.0: The Official Remixes digital album.\n\nGarbage themselves produced a new single version, downplaying the guitar elements and with additional synth, for the North American Top 40 radio release. This mix was serviced in two forms; one (\"Pop Mix Main\") and the other (\"Alt Pop Mix\") replaced the lyrics \"Happy hours, golden showers\" with \"Happy lovers, ache for hours\" and \"Unexpected, unprotected, damn the consequences\" with \"Unprotected, unexpected, fear the consequences\" for radio play. This new version was remastered for Version 2.0: The Official Remixes, however used the standard lyrics, and was cut a few bars longer, and included an extra lyric: \"How'd you like it best, you'll let me know\".\n\nCritical reception\n\"When I Grow Up\" experienced a mostly positive response from music journalists upon the impact of Version 2.0 and again upon single release. Stephen Jones of Music Week posted a track-by-track review of Version 2.0 as the album campaign launched, where he described \"When I Grow Up\" as \"pure pop in a Strawberry Switchblade vein\", and adding that the song was his favourite track. Bradley Bamberger, in his album campaign launch write-up for Billboard, described the song as \"a disco-fied girl group essay on teen angst the long-term benefits of a forward-minded attitude\". Entertainment Weeklys album reviewer compared the song's \"breathy refrain\" to 70's/80's group Blondie, while Paul Brannigan also compared the song to Blondie [\"... gone Eurodisco\"] in his album review for Kerrang!. In a review for Select, John Harris wrote that \"When I Grow Up\" was \"one of the album's only real troughs\", adding that the lyrical matter makes the song sound like \"the kind of icky floss they play at the end of California Dreams. Tom Laskin, in his review for Goldmine, noted Manson's \"fluffy Kim Wilde delivery\" wasn't very interesting, but that it fitted the \"buoyant pop setting\". In single reviews for Billboard, Chuck Taylor wrote that the song was \"edgier, more daring, and lots more fun than the average pop hit\", and later described the \"Pop Mix\" as \"an artful slice of bubblegum\". Michael Paolettea wrote of the Danny Tenaglia remixes, \"with a rubbery bassline, squiggly synth patterns and \"Plastic Dreams\" inspired drum programming... the song now travels down a road less rocky, but no less energetic\".\n\nTrack listings\n \n UK cassette Mushroom MUSH43MCS\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\" – 2:55UK CD1 Mushroom MUSH43CDS\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\" – 2:55\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Danny Tenaglia's Club mix) – 11:08UK CD2 Mushroom MUSH43CDSX\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Tornado\" – 3:45\n\"Special\" (Rickidy Raw's R+B mix) – 3:25\n UK 3\" CD Mushroom MUSH43CDSXXX\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\" – 2:55\n\"Tornado\" – 3:45\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Danny Tenaglia's Club mix) – 11:08American 12\" single Almo Sounds AMS12-88007\"When I Grow Up\" (Danny Tenaglia's Club mix) – 11:08\n\"Special\" (Brothers in Rhythm mix) – 7:24\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Danny Tenaglia's Club mix edit) – 4:00Australia CD maxi Festival MUSH01863.2Europe CD maxi BMG 74321 63492 2\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\" – 2:55\n\"Tornado\" – 3:45\n\"When I Grow Up\" (Danny Tenaglia's Club mix) – 9:59Europe CD single BMG 74321 63493 2'\n\n\"When I Grow Up\" – 3:24\n\"Can't Seem to Make You Mine\" – 2:55\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Garbage official website\n \"When I Grow Up\" lyrics\n \"When I Grow Up\" music video / US version / Big Daddy version\n \"When I Grow Up\" release discography\n\n1999 singles\nGarbage (band) songs\nMusic videos directed by Sophie Muller\nSong recordings produced by Butch Vig\n1998 songs\nMushroom Records singles\nAmerican power pop songs\nSongs written by Shirley Manson\nSongs written by Duke Erikson\nSongs written by Steve Marker\nSongs written by Butch Vig", "Acetobacterium carbinolicum is a homoacetogenic, strictly anaerobic bacterium that oxidises primary aliphatic alcohols.\n\nThese Gram-positive, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped bacteria grow at optimal temperatures of about 30 °C, but some subspecies are also psychrotolerant, being able to grow at a minimum temperature of 2 °C, as the microorganisms belonging to the subspecies A. carbinolicum kysingense, which have been isolated from fine sand and mud sedimented in a brackish fjord in Jutland, Denmark, where concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) in water are up to 4.3%.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nType strain of Acetobacterium carbinolicum at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase\n\nEubacteriaceae\nAnaerobes\nAcetogens\nBacteria described in 1985" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,", "Was there another school he went to?", "He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.", "What year did he graduate?", "After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007,", "Where did he grow up at?", "in Mumbai," ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Did he have any brothers or sisters?	6	Did Ranveer Singh have any brothers or sisters?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani.	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	true	[ "Brothers and Sisters may refer to:\n{{TOC rig\n\nBooks\n Brothers and Sisters, a 1994 novel by Bebe Moore Campbell\n Brothers and Sisters, a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett\n\nFilm and television\n Brothers and Sisters (1979 TV series), an American sitcom\n Brothers and Sisters (1980 film), a 1980 British film\n Brothers and Sisters (1992 film), a 1992 Italian film\n Brothers and Sisters (1998 TV series), a British television series starring Sandra Bee, John Adewole, and Mark Arden\n Brothers & Sisters (2006 TV series), an American television series\n \"Brothers & Sisters\" (Family Guy), episode of Family Guy\n \"Brothers and Sisters\" (The Green Green Grass), episode of The Green Green Grass\n \"Brothers & Sisters\" (Arrow), an episode of Arrow\n\nMusic\n Brothers and Sisters (album), by The Allman Brothers Band\n Brothers & Sisters (album), a 2014 album by Soil & \"Pimp\" Sessions\n Brother, Sister, an album by mewithoutYou\n Brother Sister, an album by the Brand New Heavies\n\nSongs\n \"Brothers and Sisters\", a song by Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers / Ziggy Marley Joy and Blues (1993)\n \"Brothers and Sisters\", a song by 2 Funky 2 (1993)\n \"Brothers & Sisters\" (song), a 1999 single by Coldplay\t\n \"Brothers and Sisters\", a song by Blur from Think Tank (2003)\n \"Brothers and Sisters\", a song by Twin Atlantic from Great Divide (2004)\n \"Brothers and Sisters\", a song by Joe Kum Yung Memorial Band & Dallas Tamaira from the single Happy Cones (2004)\n\nSee also\n Sibling, an individual who has one or both parents in common\n Birth order\n Brother and Sister (disambiguation)\n Sisters and Brothers (disambiguation)\n Sisters & Brothers, a 2011 Canadian film\n The Sisters Brothers (novel) 2011 Western novel\n The Sisters Brothers (film), 2018 Western film", "Sisters and brothers are siblings.\n\nSisters and Brothers may also refer to:\n\n\"Sisters and Brothers\", a song by German singer Sandra from The Long Play\nSisters & Brothers, a 2011 Canadian film\n\nSee also\n Sibling, an individual who has one or both parents in common\n Birth order\n The Sisters Brothers (novel) 2011 Western novel\n The Sisters Brothers (film), 2018 Western film\nBrother and Sister (disambiguation)\nBrothers and Sisters (disambiguation)" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,", "Was there another school he went to?", "He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.", "What year did he graduate?", "After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007,", "Where did he grow up at?", "in Mumbai,", "Did he have any brothers or sisters?", "He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani." ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Did she ever go on to act?	7	Did Ranveer Singh's sister Ritika Bhavnani ever go on to act?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	false	[ "Karen Cliche (; born July 22, 1976) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as a regular on the television series Vampire High, Adventure Inc., Mutant X, Young Blades and Flash Gordon.\n\nEarly life\nCliche always wanted to act and did it in school. However, she thought she was \"too ambitious to go into acting\" and started to study psychology. During this time she already did some modeling and a bit later her modeling agency started an acting department. After studying psychology for a year Cliche decided to leave the university and wanted to focus on her acting career.\n\nCareer\nIn 2001 Cliche auditioned for a part in Vampire High. She was cast as the vampire Essie Rachimova.\n\nIn 2017, she played Jessica in Killer Mom. Jessica is a mother who first meets her daughter Allison and wants to be the mother Allison never had.\n\nPersonal life\nCliche married Brian Mellersh on September 24, 2005. They have a daughter, born on January 6, 2010.\n\nFilmography\n\nFilm\n\nTelevision\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1976 births\nAnglophone Quebec people\nCanadian film actresses\nCanadian television actresses\nLiving people\nPeople from Sept-Îles, Quebec", "Kitty Burke was a nightclub entertainer from Cincinnati, Ohio who was noted for being the only female to ever attempt to bat in a Major League Baseball game, albeit unofficially.\n\nOn July 31, 1935, Burke was sitting in the stands at Crosley Field during a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals when she began heckling the players. In what may have been a publicity stunt, she then strode to the on-deck circle, took Babe Herman's bat and proceeded to \"pinch hit\". She ended up grounding out to first base; however, the appearance was purely informal, and the umpires did not count this as an official at bat or out, as she was not on the roster. Allegedly, the Reds later gave her a uniform which she used while performing her act.\n\nReferences\n\nCabaret\nPeople from Cincinnati\nCincinnati Reds" ]
[ "Ranveer Singh", "Early life and education", "When was Ranveer Singh born?", "Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.", "Where did he go to school at?", "he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai,", "Was there another school he went to?", "He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.", "What year did he graduate?", "After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007,", "Where did he grow up at?", "in Mumbai,", "Did he have any brothers or sisters?", "He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani.", "Did she ever go on to act?", "I don't know." ]	C_c7bc4fe18b5546718200d1901a35137b_1	Is there anything else interesting about his early life?	8	Besides having an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani, Is there anything else interesting about Ranveer Singh's early life?	Ranveer Singh	Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi family in Mumbai, to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents, Sunder Singh Bhavnani and Chand Burke, moved to Mumbai from Karachi, Sindh, (present-day Pakistan) during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the maternal cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (nee Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." CANNOTANSWER	Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her.	Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes Indias Celebrity 100 list since 2012. After completing his bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue an acting career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone. Early life and education Singh was born on 6 July 1985 into a Sindhi Hindu family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani. His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. Singh is the paternal grandson of Chand Burke, maternal third cousin of Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani). Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity". Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not easy. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson. He also worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not." Career Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014) In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films. They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film. However, writer-director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until the three were completely convinced of his caliber. After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead. Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy. To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus. Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart." The film earned approximately at the domestic box office. At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut. Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma. According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars." Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned domestically. Singh found rave acclaim coming his way with Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance Lootera (2013), co-starring Sonakshi Sinha. An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, the film tells the story of Pakhi Roy Chowdhury, a young Bengali woman who falls in love with Varun Shrivastava, a conman posing as an archaeologist. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression." Lootera underperformed commercially at the box office. Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, titled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo. Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance. Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star." The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success, with worldwide revenues of . For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare. In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan. David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role". Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film. Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener, and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of worldwide. After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews. Established actor (2015–present) Zoya Akhtar's ensemble comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), produced by and cameo-starring her brother Farhan Akhtar, featured Singh alongside Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Priyanka Chopra as the younger sibling of a dysfunctional Punjabi business family who aspires to become a pilot. Writing for Mumbai Mirror, Kunal Guha found Singh to be the "surprise element" of the film; he praised his "immaculate comic timing" and took note of his subtlety. Commercially, the film underperformed. He next reunited with Bhansali in the period romance Bajirao Mastani (2015), opposite Padukone and Chopra. He portrayed Bajirao I, for which he shaved his head and to prepare, he locked himself in a hotel room for 21 days. Raja Sen wrote that Singh "brings his character to life and does so with both machismo and grace", and commended him for his perfecting his character's gait and accent. The film earned to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films, and garnered Singh the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 2016, Singh starred in Aditya Chopra's comedy-romance Befikre opposite Vaani Kapoor. He played Dharam Gulati, a stand-up comic whose romantic liaisons with Kapoor's character leads to conflict between them. Set in Paris, Befikre marked the fourth project to be directed by Chopra. Singh performed a nude scene for it, a rare occurrence in an Indian film. Jay Weissberg of Variety found the film to be an "overly energetic twist on the old friends with benefits theme" and criticised Singh's "manic behavior". It underperformed at the box office. After a year-long absence from the screen, Singh portrayed Alauddin Khilji, a ruthless Muslim king, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat (2018), co-starring Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor, which marked his third collaboration with Bhansali and Padukone. Right-wing Hindu groups speculated that the film distorted historical facts, and issued violent threats against the cast and crew. The film's release was deferred and was allowed for exhibition after several modifications were made to it. Ankur Pathak of HuffPost criticised the film's misogynistic and regressive themes, but praised Singh for his "astute brilliance" in depicting Khilji's bisexuality. Rajeev Masand opined that he "plays the part with the sort of grotesque flamboyance that makes it hard to look at anyone or anything else when he's on the screen". Padmaavats production budget of made it the most expensive Hindi film ever made at that time. With a worldwide gross of over , it ranks as Singh's highest-grossing release and is among India cinema's biggest grossers. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor (shared with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun) and gained a Best Actor nomination at the ceremony. Towards the close of the same year, Singh played the titular corrupt policeman in Rohit Shetty's action comedy Simmba, based on the Telugu-language film Temper (2015), co-starring Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, which marked his first collaboration with filmmaker Karan Johar, who co-produced the film with Shetty. Despite disliking the film, Uday Bhatia of Mint credited Singh for playing his "cardboard creation" of a character with an "underlying sweetness that renders it more winsome than the humourless masculinity of Devgn's Singham". With worldwide earnings of , Simmba emerged as Singh's second top-earning Indian film of 2018. Singh next reteamed with the Akhtars on Gully Boy (2019), a musical inspired by the life of the street rappers Divine and Naezy. Singh found little in common with his character of a poor man who aspires to become a rapper, and in preparation he underwent acting workshops and spent time with both Divine and Naezy. He performed his own rap songs and was pleased that the film brought attention to India's underground music scene. The film premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter commended him for displaying a "pleasingly full emotional range that extends to drama and hip-hop" and writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan praised his ghetto accent and found his understated performance to be a "superb showreel for his range". Gully Boy won a record 13 Filmfare Awards, and Singh received another Best Actor award. Singh launched his own production company named Maa Kasam Films in 2020.He reprised his role as Simmba in Shetty's action film Sooryavanshi in an extended cameo. He next portrayed cricketer Kapil Dev in Kabir Khan's 83, a sports film based on the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Initially planned for a April 2020 release, 83 was delayed several times owing to the casting and pre-production works that postponed filming and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Reviews for the film were positive, with praise for the performances of the cast, screenplay, direction and technical aspects. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure. Singh made his small screen debut as a host in the television game show The Big Picture which premiered on 16 October 2021 on Colors TV. As of February 2022, Singh has three project at various stages of production. He has completed filming for the social comedy Jayeshbhai Jordaar. He will team up again with Rohit Shetty for Cirkus where he will feature in a double role for the first time in his career. He will also be seen in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani opposite Alia Bhatt. Sigh has also committed to playing the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh in Johar's historical drama Takht, featuring an ensemble cast including Vicky Kaushal, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor which was set to release initially in December 2021 but was delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic. He is slated to appear in Tamil filmmaker Shankar's rehash of his 2005 cult classic Anniyan. Personal life and media image Singh began dating Deepika Padukone, his co-star in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in August 2012. In October 2018, the couple announced their impending marriage. The following month, they married in traditional Konkani Hindu and Sikh Anand Karaj (Singh's paternal grandfather is Sikh) ceremonies at Lake Como, Italy. Singh has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012, reaching his highest position (seventh) in 2019. That year, the magazine estimated his annual earnings to be and ranked him as the fifth-highest-paid actor in the country. He was also featured by GQ in their listing of the 50 most influential young Indians of 2017 and 2019. In 2019, India Today featured him among the nation's 50 most powerful people. In addition to his acting career, Singh endorses several brands, including Adidas, Head & Shoulders, Ching's, Jack & Jones, Thums Up and MakeMyTrip. Duff & Phelps estimated his brand value to be US$63 million, in 2018, the fourth-highest of Indian celebrities. In 2019, Singh launched his own record label named IncInk to promote local musicians. Filmography Film Television Discography Awards and nominations Singh is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards: Best Male Debut for Band Baaja Baaraat (2010), Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani (2016) and Gully Boy (2019), and Best Actor (Critics) for Padmaavat (2018). References External links 1985 births Indian male film actors Indian male dancers Indiana University alumni Living people Male actors in Hindi cinema Sindhi people Male actors from Mumbai 21st-century Indian male actors Filmfare Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners	false	[ "\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison", "\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" is a song written by Billy Livsey and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in February 2001 as the third and final single from his self-titled album. The song reached number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in July 2001. It also peaked at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.\n\nContent\nThe song is about man who is giving his woman the option to leave him. He gives her many different options for all the things she can do. At the end he gives her the option to stay with him if she really can’t find anything else to do. He says he will be alright if she leaves, but really it seems he wants her to stay.\n\nChart performance\n\"If You Can Do Anything Else\" debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of March 3, 2001.\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2001 singles\n2000 songs\nGeorge Strait songs\nSongs written by Billy Livsey\nSongs written by Don Schlitz\nSong recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer)\nMCA Nashville Records singles" ]
[ "Larry Holmes", "IBF heavyweight champion" ]	C_7e4e9e7d3360430da3ae262a264f155d_0	When did he become champion	1	When did Larry Holmes become champion	Larry Holmes	Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesar's Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. On September 21, 1985, Holmes stepped in the ring looking to equal Rocky Marciano's 49-0 career record and to make his twentieth successful title defense. His opponent was looking to make history as well. After winning the undisputed championship at light heavyweight, Michael Spinks decided to move up in weight and try to become the second fighter after Bob Fitzsimmons to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. An elder statesman who had tried for these latter honors, Archie Moore, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, albeit controversially, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144-141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141-144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142-144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine--and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, the Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Holmes is the only boxer to have defeated Muhammad Ali via stoppage and the only boxer left alive to have defeated him. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton (the man he defeated in 1978 for WBC Championship), Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams and Marvis Frazier. He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in an upset in 1985. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following year, but made repeated comebacks. He was unsuccessful in four further attempts (against Mike Tyson in 1988, Evander Holyfield in 1992, Oliver McCall in 1995 and Brian Nielsen in 1997) to regain the heavyweight title. Holmes fought for the final time in 2002, aged 52, against the 334lb Eric "Butterbean" Esch, and ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses, with all of his losses coming in world title fights. He is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Holmes was the fourth of twelve children born to John and Flossie Holmes. After the family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1954, Holmes's father went to Connecticut. He worked as a gardener there until his death in 1970. He visited his family every three weeks. "He didn't forsake us", said Flossie Holmes. "He just didn't have anything to give." The family survived on welfare. To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work at a car wash for $1 an hour. He later drove a dump truck and worked in a quarry. Amateur career When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-first bout, he boxed Nick Wells in the semifinals of the 1972 National Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Wells, a southpaw known for unprecedently high knockout-to-win percentage for an amateur boxer, with a majority of knockouts coming in the first round, stopped Holmes in the first round. Nevertheless, Holmes was chosen by a selection committee of the National Olympic authorities to fight at the Olympic Box-offs in West Point, New York, where he had a match-up versus a fighting seaman, Duane Bobick. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but could not corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding. Professional career Early years After compiling an amateur record of 19–3, Holmes turned professional on March 21, 1973, winning a four-round decision against Rodell Dupree. Early in his career he worked as a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, and Jimmy Young. He was paid well and learned a lot. "I was young, and I didn't know much. But I was holding my own sparring those guys", Holmes said. "I thought, 'hey, these guys are the best, the champs. If I can hold my own now, what about later?'" Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978. Holmes won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third. Holmes's victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978. WBC heavyweight champion: Holmes vs. Norton The fight between Holmes and Norton was a tough, competitive fight. After fourteen rounds, each of the three judges scored the fight dead even at seven rounds each. Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win the round on two scorecards and take the title by a split decision. In his first two title defenses, Holmes easily knocked out Alfredo Evangelista and Ossie Ocasio. His third title defense was a tough one. On June 22, 1979, Holmes faced future WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver, who was lightly regarded going into the fight sporting an uninspiring 19–8 record. After ten tough rounds, Holmes dropped Weaver with a right uppercut late in round eleven. In the twelfth, Holmes immediately went on the attack, backing Weaver into the ropes and pounding him with powerful rights until the referee stepped in and stopped it. "This man knocked the devil out of me", Holmes said. "This man might not have had credit before tonight, but you'll give it to him now." Three months later, on September 28, 1979, Holmes had a rematch with Shavers, who got a title shot by knocking out Ken Norton in one round. Holmes dominated the first six rounds, but in the seventh, Shavers sent Holmes down with a devastating overhand right. Holmes got up, survived the round, and went on to punish Shavers in the eleventh round and the referee stopped the fight . His next three defenses were knockouts of Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, and Scott LeDoux. On October 2, 1980, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Holmes defended his title against Muhammad Ali, who was coming out of retirement in an attempt to become the first four-time World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes dominated the 38-year-old Ali from start to finish, winning every round on every scorecard. At the end of the tenth round, Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was Ali's only loss without "going the distance" for a judges' decision. After the win, Holmes received recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by The Ring. Ali blamed his poor performance on thyroid medication which he had been taking, saying that it helped him lose weight (he weighed 217½, his lowest weight since he fought George Foreman in 1974), but it also left him drained for the fight. Holmes seemed to show signs of sadness in punishing Ali so much during the fight. He appeared in a post-fight interview with tears in his eyes. When asked why he was crying, he said that he respected Ali "a whole lot" and "he fought one of the baddest heavyweights in the world today, and you cannot take credit from him." After eight consecutive knockouts, Holmes was forced to go the distance when he successfully defended his title against future WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick on April 11, 1981. In his next fight, two months later, Holmes knocked out former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks in three rounds. On November 6, 1981, Holmes rose from a seventh-round knockdown (during which he staggered into the turnbuckle) to stop Renaldo Snipes in the eleventh. Holmes vs. Cooney On June 11, 1982, Holmes defended his title against Gerry Cooney, the undefeated #1 contender and an Irish-American. The lead-up to the fight had many racial overtones, with promoter Don King and others hyping Cooney as the "Great White Hope." Holmes said that if Cooney wasn't white, he would not be getting the same purse as the champion (both boxers received $10 million for the bout). Although Cooney tried to deflect questions about race, members of his camp wore shirts that said "Not the White Man, but the Right Man." In their fight previews, Sports Illustrated and Time put Cooney on the cover, not Holmes. President Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Cooney's dressing room so he could call him if he won the fight. Holmes had no such arrangement. Lastly, boxing tradition dictates that the champion be introduced last, but the challenger, Cooney, was introduced last. The bout was held in a 32,000-seat stadium erected in a Caesar's Palace Parking lot, with millions more watching around the world. After an uneventful first round, Holmes dropped Cooney with a right in the second. Cooney came back well in the next two rounds, jarring Holmes with his powerful left hook. Holmes later said that Cooney "hit me so damned hard, I felt it—boom—in my bones." Cooney was tiring by the ninth, a round in which he had two points deducted for low blows. In the tenth, they traded punches relentlessly. At the end of the round, the two nodded to each other in respect. Cooney lost another point because of low blows in the eleventh. By then, Holmes was landing with ease. In the thirteenth, a barrage of punches sent Cooney down. He got up, but his trainer, Victor Valle, stepped into the ring and stopped the fight. After the fight, Holmes and Cooney became close friends. Trouble with the WBC Holmes's next two fights were one-sided decision wins over Randall "Tex" Cobb and ex-European champion Lucien Rodriguez. On May 20, 1983, Holmes defended his title against Tim Witherspoon, the future WBC and WBA Heavyweight Champion. Witherspoon, a six to one underdog and with only 15 professional bouts to his name, surprised many by giving Holmes a difficult fight. After twelve rounds, Holmes retained the title by a disputed split decision. On September 10, 1983, Holmes successfully defended the WBC title for the sixteenth time, knocking out Scott Frank in five rounds. Holmes then signed to fight Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, on November 25, 1983. The WBC refused to sanction the fight against the unranked Frazier. They ordered Holmes to fight Greg Page, the #1 contender, or be stripped of the title. Promoter Don King offered Holmes $2.55 million to fight Page, but the champion didn't think that was enough. He was making $3.1 million to fight Frazier and felt he should get as much as $5 million to fight Page. Holmes had an easy time with Frazier, knocking him out in the first round. The following month, Holmes relinquished the WBC championship. IBF heavyweight champion Despite his no longer being recognized by the WBC as champion, Holmes was still regarded as the lineal champion as well as being recognized as world champion by The Ring. On December 11, 1983, the newly formed International Boxing Federation extended recognition to Holmes, and he accepted. As 1984 began, Holmes and Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA champion, were signed to unify the titles on June 15, 1984 at Caesars Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesars Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. Holmes vs. Spinks Holmes's next fight had the potential to make boxing history. He agreed to terms to fight Michael Spinks, the undisputed champion at light heavyweight, for his twentieth world title defense. A victory for Holmes would have tied Rocky Marciano's mark of 49 consecutive wins without a loss. Spinks, meanwhile, was looking to join Bob Fitzsimmons as the only other boxer at the time to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. In addition, if he defeated Holmes, Spinks would become the first ever reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. Before the fight Archie Moore, the long-time light heavyweight champion who unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown himself twice, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144–141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141–144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142–144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine—and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. Comebacks On January 22, 1988, Holmes was lured out of retirement by a $2.8 million purse to challenge reigning Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. Tyson dropped Holmes in the fourth round with an overhand right. Holmes got up, but Tyson put him down two more times in the round, and the fight was stopped. It was the only time Holmes was knocked out in his career. After the fight, Holmes again retired. Holmes returned to the ring in 1991 and became a much more active fighter, usually fighting on USA Tuesday Night Fights cards every few weeks against up and comers and journeymen. After five straight wins, he fought Ray Mercer, the undefeated 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, on February 7, 1992. Holmes pulled off the upset and won by a 12-round unanimous decision. (Holmes later claimed that he fought Mercer in spite of having a detached retina.) The win got Holmes a shot at Evander Holyfield for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. On June 19, 1992, Holyfield defeated Holmes by a twelve-round unanimous decision. On April 8, 1995, he fought Oliver McCall for the WBC title. Holmes lost by a close 12-round unanimous decision. Two of the judges had him losing by one point, while the other judge had him losing by three points. Holmes was back in the ring five months later, resuming the pace he had set since his comeback. However, he was growing tired of the sport and, after he fought and knocked out Anthony Willis in June 1996 on another USA boxing event, Holmes announced that unless he received a shot at the title, the fight against Willis was likely to be his last. On January 24, 1997, Holmes got his last opportunity to fight for a heavyweight championship when he traveled to Copenhagen to fight undefeated International Boxing Organization champion Brian Nielsen. Nielsen won by a 12-round split decision to retain the title. Holmes and George Foreman signed to fight on January 23, 1999 at the Houston Astrodome. Foreman called off the fight several weeks before it was to take place because the promoter failed to meet the deadline for paying him the remaining $9 million of his $10 million purse. Foreman received a nonrefundable $1 million deposit, and Holmes got to keep a $400,000 down-payment of his $4 million purse. Holmes's next two fights were rematches with old foes. On June 18, 1999, he stopped "Bonecrusher" Smith in eight rounds, and on November 17, 2000, he stopped Mike Weaver in six. Holmes's final fight was on July 27, 2002 in Norfolk, Virginia. He defeated Eric "Butterbean" Esch by a 10-round unanimous decision. Life after boxing Holmes invested the money he earned from boxing and settled in his hometown of Easton. When he retired from boxing, Holmes employed more than 200 people through his various business holdings. In 2008, he owned two restaurants and a nightclub, a training facility, an office complex, a snack food bar and slot machines. Holmes In 2014, Holmes sold his business complex in Easton to business entrepreneur Gerald Gorman, CEO of Lawyer.com. In 2016, Holmes guest starred as himself in an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries, titled "Unsolved Situations". Personal life In 1979, Larry Holmes married Diane Robinson, with whom he has had two children. He also has three daughters from two previous relationships. As of 2019, Holmes lived in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania, near Easton. Holmes' younger brother, Mark Holmes, was a middleweight boxer from 1980 to 1987. Honors Holmes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008. Professional boxing record See also List of heavyweight boxing champions List of WBC world champions List of IBF world champions List of The Ring world champions References External links Cyber Boxing Zone Boxing Hall of Fame Larry Holmes profile at About.com Larry Holmes Q&A at BoxingInsider 1949 births African-American boxers International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Living people Sportspeople from Easton, Pennsylvania World Boxing Council champions World heavyweight boxing champions Boxers from Pennsylvania People from Cuthbert, Georgia American male boxers The Ring (magazine) champions 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople	false	[ "The CMLL Universal Championship (Campeonato Universal in Spanish) is an annual lucha libre tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 2009. The tournament format is a \"tournament of champions\" with sixteen male CMLL champions participating. With the 2019 tournament CMLL has held nine tournaments in total with only two repeat winners, Último Guerrero who won in both 2009 and 2014 and El Terrible who won in 2012 and 2019.\n\nEven though the tournament winner is given a title belt, it is not defended like a regular championship throughout the year.\n\nMale tournament winners\n\nFemale tournament winners\n\nTournament history\n\nThe Universal Championship tournament was created in 2009 to replace the Leyenda de Plata as CMLL's top tournament of the year. The Leyenda de Plata commemorated El Santo, a legend in lucha libre, but when CMLL and El Santo's son, El Hijo del Santo had a very public falling out in 2008 they decided to no longer run the annual Leyenda de Plata tournament. They came up with the concept of the Universal Championship tournament, a tournament exclusively for CMLL champions. The first Universal Championship tournament took place over three shows in June, with June 5, 2009, and June 12, 2009 CMLL Super Viernes shows each hosting a three-round block of the tournament and the June 19, 2009 Super Viernes featuring the finals as its main event. On June 19, 2009 CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, and one of the tournament favorites, Último Guerrero defeated El Texano Jr. the reigning NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion. CMLL later announced the 2010 Universal Championship, confirming that it will indeed be an annual event. The second annual Universal Championship tournament started on July 30, 2010, ended on August 13 and saw New Japan Pro-Wrestling representative and CMLL World Middleweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger defeat CMLL World Trios Champion La Sombra to become the 2010 Universal Champion. The 2011 edition started on September 2, ended on September 16 and saw La Sombra, now the NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion, come back to defeat CMLL World Trios Champion Averno in the finals to win the tournament.\nIn 2012, CMLL World Heavyweight Champion El Terrible defeated New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tanahashi to win the tournament. The following year, Tanahashi, now the CMLL World Tag Team Champion, became the second Japanese winner of the tournament by defeating Mexican National Trios Champion Rush in the finals. In 2014, CMLL World Trios Champion and the 2009 Universal Champion Último Guerrero defeated the NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion and 2011 Universal Champion La Sombra to become the first two-time Universal Champion.\n\n40 individuals have competed in the six tournaments that have been held up to and including the 2014 Universal Championship tournament, with 13 wrestlers having appeared at only 1 tournament so far. Dragón Rojo Jr., La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada and Mephisto have all participated in five of the six tournaments held so far. Diamante Azul previously competed in the tournament as \"Metro\" and is the only wrestler to compete under two different ring identities. Only one non-CMLL champion has participated in the tournament, Hiroshi Tanahashi, who held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when he participated in 2012 and 2013, but held the CMLL World Tag Team Championship when participating in 2011. Despite holding the CMLL World Lightweight Championship Virus did not compete in the 2011 and 2012 tournaments but did participate in 2013 and 2014. Jushin Thunder Liger won the tournament in 2010 but did not compete in 2011 or 2012 despite holding CMLL championships at the time, the CMLL World Middleweight Championship and the CMLL World Tag Team Championship respectively. Prince Devitt did not participate in the 2012 tournament despite holding the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship as he was in Japan at the time. Místico the holder of the CMLL World Welterweight Championship was unable to participate in the 2014 tournament due to an injury.\n\nReferences", "Hans Alsér (23 January 1942 – 15 January 1977) was a Swedish international table tennis player and later the head coach of West German (1971–1974) and Swedish (1974–1977) national teams. His nickname, Hasse (Alsér or Alser), was often used in media.\n\nTable tennis career\nHans Alsér was an international top level player. He was the European champion (singles) 1962 and 1970, World champion (doubles) 1967 and 1969, and European champion (doubles) 1966.\n\nHans Alsér was Swedish singles Champion six times. During the years 1960–1971 he played in the Swedish singles Championship final every year. The years when he did not become the Swedish singles Champion he was second placed. In 1967 he also became Swedish mixed double Champion with Eva Johansson.\n\nHe also won an English Open title.\n\nHis playing style was more all-round than most other players in the 1960s. He could attack close to the table but also defend far from the table. He mastered top-spin, chopping, looping and all other types of play.\n\nStiga (manufacturer of table tennis tables, rackets, rubber and balls) made a very popular racket with the Alsér-grip. It became thicker towards the end of the grip, decreasing the risk of the racket slipping out of the player's grip.\n\nHe died in 1977 at the age of 34 in a plane crash at Kälvesta near Stockholm.\n\nSee also\n List of table tennis players\n List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Stiga Company History, Photo of Stellan Bengtsson, Kjell Johansson, Hans Alsér.\n Stiga Company History, the Hans Alsér racket.\n\n1942 births\n1977 deaths\nPeople from Borås\nSwedish male table tennis players\nSwedish table tennis coaches\nVictims of aviation accidents or incidents in Sweden" ]
[ "Larry Holmes", "IBF heavyweight champion", "When did he become champion", "I don't know." ]	C_7e4e9e7d3360430da3ae262a264f155d_0	What can you tell me about the fight	2	What can you tell me about the IBF heavyweight champion fight	Larry Holmes	Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesar's Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. On September 21, 1985, Holmes stepped in the ring looking to equal Rocky Marciano's 49-0 career record and to make his twentieth successful title defense. His opponent was looking to make history as well. After winning the undisputed championship at light heavyweight, Michael Spinks decided to move up in weight and try to become the second fighter after Bob Fitzsimmons to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. An elder statesman who had tried for these latter honors, Archie Moore, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, albeit controversially, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144-141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141-144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142-144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine--and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. CANNOTANSWER	Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace.	Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, the Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Holmes is the only boxer to have defeated Muhammad Ali via stoppage and the only boxer left alive to have defeated him. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton (the man he defeated in 1978 for WBC Championship), Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams and Marvis Frazier. He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in an upset in 1985. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following year, but made repeated comebacks. He was unsuccessful in four further attempts (against Mike Tyson in 1988, Evander Holyfield in 1992, Oliver McCall in 1995 and Brian Nielsen in 1997) to regain the heavyweight title. Holmes fought for the final time in 2002, aged 52, against the 334lb Eric "Butterbean" Esch, and ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses, with all of his losses coming in world title fights. He is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Holmes was the fourth of twelve children born to John and Flossie Holmes. After the family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1954, Holmes's father went to Connecticut. He worked as a gardener there until his death in 1970. He visited his family every three weeks. "He didn't forsake us", said Flossie Holmes. "He just didn't have anything to give." The family survived on welfare. To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work at a car wash for $1 an hour. He later drove a dump truck and worked in a quarry. Amateur career When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-first bout, he boxed Nick Wells in the semifinals of the 1972 National Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Wells, a southpaw known for unprecedently high knockout-to-win percentage for an amateur boxer, with a majority of knockouts coming in the first round, stopped Holmes in the first round. Nevertheless, Holmes was chosen by a selection committee of the National Olympic authorities to fight at the Olympic Box-offs in West Point, New York, where he had a match-up versus a fighting seaman, Duane Bobick. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but could not corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding. Professional career Early years After compiling an amateur record of 19–3, Holmes turned professional on March 21, 1973, winning a four-round decision against Rodell Dupree. Early in his career he worked as a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, and Jimmy Young. He was paid well and learned a lot. "I was young, and I didn't know much. But I was holding my own sparring those guys", Holmes said. "I thought, 'hey, these guys are the best, the champs. If I can hold my own now, what about later?'" Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978. Holmes won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third. Holmes's victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978. WBC heavyweight champion: Holmes vs. Norton The fight between Holmes and Norton was a tough, competitive fight. After fourteen rounds, each of the three judges scored the fight dead even at seven rounds each. Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win the round on two scorecards and take the title by a split decision. In his first two title defenses, Holmes easily knocked out Alfredo Evangelista and Ossie Ocasio. His third title defense was a tough one. On June 22, 1979, Holmes faced future WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver, who was lightly regarded going into the fight sporting an uninspiring 19–8 record. After ten tough rounds, Holmes dropped Weaver with a right uppercut late in round eleven. In the twelfth, Holmes immediately went on the attack, backing Weaver into the ropes and pounding him with powerful rights until the referee stepped in and stopped it. "This man knocked the devil out of me", Holmes said. "This man might not have had credit before tonight, but you'll give it to him now." Three months later, on September 28, 1979, Holmes had a rematch with Shavers, who got a title shot by knocking out Ken Norton in one round. Holmes dominated the first six rounds, but in the seventh, Shavers sent Holmes down with a devastating overhand right. Holmes got up, survived the round, and went on to punish Shavers in the eleventh round and the referee stopped the fight . His next three defenses were knockouts of Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, and Scott LeDoux. On October 2, 1980, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Holmes defended his title against Muhammad Ali, who was coming out of retirement in an attempt to become the first four-time World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes dominated the 38-year-old Ali from start to finish, winning every round on every scorecard. At the end of the tenth round, Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was Ali's only loss without "going the distance" for a judges' decision. After the win, Holmes received recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by The Ring. Ali blamed his poor performance on thyroid medication which he had been taking, saying that it helped him lose weight (he weighed 217½, his lowest weight since he fought George Foreman in 1974), but it also left him drained for the fight. Holmes seemed to show signs of sadness in punishing Ali so much during the fight. He appeared in a post-fight interview with tears in his eyes. When asked why he was crying, he said that he respected Ali "a whole lot" and "he fought one of the baddest heavyweights in the world today, and you cannot take credit from him." After eight consecutive knockouts, Holmes was forced to go the distance when he successfully defended his title against future WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick on April 11, 1981. In his next fight, two months later, Holmes knocked out former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks in three rounds. On November 6, 1981, Holmes rose from a seventh-round knockdown (during which he staggered into the turnbuckle) to stop Renaldo Snipes in the eleventh. Holmes vs. Cooney On June 11, 1982, Holmes defended his title against Gerry Cooney, the undefeated #1 contender and an Irish-American. The lead-up to the fight had many racial overtones, with promoter Don King and others hyping Cooney as the "Great White Hope." Holmes said that if Cooney wasn't white, he would not be getting the same purse as the champion (both boxers received $10 million for the bout). Although Cooney tried to deflect questions about race, members of his camp wore shirts that said "Not the White Man, but the Right Man." In their fight previews, Sports Illustrated and Time put Cooney on the cover, not Holmes. President Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Cooney's dressing room so he could call him if he won the fight. Holmes had no such arrangement. Lastly, boxing tradition dictates that the champion be introduced last, but the challenger, Cooney, was introduced last. The bout was held in a 32,000-seat stadium erected in a Caesar's Palace Parking lot, with millions more watching around the world. After an uneventful first round, Holmes dropped Cooney with a right in the second. Cooney came back well in the next two rounds, jarring Holmes with his powerful left hook. Holmes later said that Cooney "hit me so damned hard, I felt it—boom—in my bones." Cooney was tiring by the ninth, a round in which he had two points deducted for low blows. In the tenth, they traded punches relentlessly. At the end of the round, the two nodded to each other in respect. Cooney lost another point because of low blows in the eleventh. By then, Holmes was landing with ease. In the thirteenth, a barrage of punches sent Cooney down. He got up, but his trainer, Victor Valle, stepped into the ring and stopped the fight. After the fight, Holmes and Cooney became close friends. Trouble with the WBC Holmes's next two fights were one-sided decision wins over Randall "Tex" Cobb and ex-European champion Lucien Rodriguez. On May 20, 1983, Holmes defended his title against Tim Witherspoon, the future WBC and WBA Heavyweight Champion. Witherspoon, a six to one underdog and with only 15 professional bouts to his name, surprised many by giving Holmes a difficult fight. After twelve rounds, Holmes retained the title by a disputed split decision. On September 10, 1983, Holmes successfully defended the WBC title for the sixteenth time, knocking out Scott Frank in five rounds. Holmes then signed to fight Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, on November 25, 1983. The WBC refused to sanction the fight against the unranked Frazier. They ordered Holmes to fight Greg Page, the #1 contender, or be stripped of the title. Promoter Don King offered Holmes $2.55 million to fight Page, but the champion didn't think that was enough. He was making $3.1 million to fight Frazier and felt he should get as much as $5 million to fight Page. Holmes had an easy time with Frazier, knocking him out in the first round. The following month, Holmes relinquished the WBC championship. IBF heavyweight champion Despite his no longer being recognized by the WBC as champion, Holmes was still regarded as the lineal champion as well as being recognized as world champion by The Ring. On December 11, 1983, the newly formed International Boxing Federation extended recognition to Holmes, and he accepted. As 1984 began, Holmes and Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA champion, were signed to unify the titles on June 15, 1984 at Caesars Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesars Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. Holmes vs. Spinks Holmes's next fight had the potential to make boxing history. He agreed to terms to fight Michael Spinks, the undisputed champion at light heavyweight, for his twentieth world title defense. A victory for Holmes would have tied Rocky Marciano's mark of 49 consecutive wins without a loss. Spinks, meanwhile, was looking to join Bob Fitzsimmons as the only other boxer at the time to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. In addition, if he defeated Holmes, Spinks would become the first ever reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. Before the fight Archie Moore, the long-time light heavyweight champion who unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown himself twice, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144–141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141–144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142–144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine—and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. Comebacks On January 22, 1988, Holmes was lured out of retirement by a $2.8 million purse to challenge reigning Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. Tyson dropped Holmes in the fourth round with an overhand right. Holmes got up, but Tyson put him down two more times in the round, and the fight was stopped. It was the only time Holmes was knocked out in his career. After the fight, Holmes again retired. Holmes returned to the ring in 1991 and became a much more active fighter, usually fighting on USA Tuesday Night Fights cards every few weeks against up and comers and journeymen. After five straight wins, he fought Ray Mercer, the undefeated 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, on February 7, 1992. Holmes pulled off the upset and won by a 12-round unanimous decision. (Holmes later claimed that he fought Mercer in spite of having a detached retina.) The win got Holmes a shot at Evander Holyfield for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. On June 19, 1992, Holyfield defeated Holmes by a twelve-round unanimous decision. On April 8, 1995, he fought Oliver McCall for the WBC title. Holmes lost by a close 12-round unanimous decision. Two of the judges had him losing by one point, while the other judge had him losing by three points. Holmes was back in the ring five months later, resuming the pace he had set since his comeback. However, he was growing tired of the sport and, after he fought and knocked out Anthony Willis in June 1996 on another USA boxing event, Holmes announced that unless he received a shot at the title, the fight against Willis was likely to be his last. On January 24, 1997, Holmes got his last opportunity to fight for a heavyweight championship when he traveled to Copenhagen to fight undefeated International Boxing Organization champion Brian Nielsen. Nielsen won by a 12-round split decision to retain the title. Holmes and George Foreman signed to fight on January 23, 1999 at the Houston Astrodome. Foreman called off the fight several weeks before it was to take place because the promoter failed to meet the deadline for paying him the remaining $9 million of his $10 million purse. Foreman received a nonrefundable $1 million deposit, and Holmes got to keep a $400,000 down-payment of his $4 million purse. Holmes's next two fights were rematches with old foes. On June 18, 1999, he stopped "Bonecrusher" Smith in eight rounds, and on November 17, 2000, he stopped Mike Weaver in six. Holmes's final fight was on July 27, 2002 in Norfolk, Virginia. He defeated Eric "Butterbean" Esch by a 10-round unanimous decision. Life after boxing Holmes invested the money he earned from boxing and settled in his hometown of Easton. When he retired from boxing, Holmes employed more than 200 people through his various business holdings. In 2008, he owned two restaurants and a nightclub, a training facility, an office complex, a snack food bar and slot machines. Holmes In 2014, Holmes sold his business complex in Easton to business entrepreneur Gerald Gorman, CEO of Lawyer.com. In 2016, Holmes guest starred as himself in an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries, titled "Unsolved Situations". Personal life In 1979, Larry Holmes married Diane Robinson, with whom he has had two children. He also has three daughters from two previous relationships. As of 2019, Holmes lived in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania, near Easton. Holmes' younger brother, Mark Holmes, was a middleweight boxer from 1980 to 1987. Honors Holmes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008. Professional boxing record See also List of heavyweight boxing champions List of WBC world champions List of IBF world champions List of The Ring world champions References External links Cyber Boxing Zone Boxing Hall of Fame Larry Holmes profile at About.com Larry Holmes Q&A at BoxingInsider 1949 births African-American boxers International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Living people Sportspeople from Easton, Pennsylvania World Boxing Council champions World heavyweight boxing champions Boxers from Pennsylvania People from Cuthbert, Georgia American male boxers The Ring (magazine) champions 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople	false	[ "\"Tell Me What You Want\" is the fourth single by English R&B band Loose Ends from their first studio album, A Little Spice, and was released in February 1984 by Virgin Records. The single reached number 74 in the UK Singles Chart.\n\nTrack listing\n7” Single: VS658\n \"Tell Me What You Want) 3.35\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Dub Mix)\" 3.34\n\n12” Single: VS658-12\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Extended Version)\" 6.11\n \"Tell Me What You Want (Extended Dub Mix)\" 5.41\n\nU.S. only release - 12” Single: MCA23596 (released 1985)\n \"Tell Me What You Want (U.S. Extended Remix)\" 6.08 \n \"Tell Me What You Want (U.S. Dub Version)\" 5.18\n\n The U.S. Extended Remix version was released on CD on the U.S. Version of the 'A Little Spice' album (MCAD27141).\n\nThe Extended Version also featured on Side D of the limited gatefold sleeve version of 'Magic Touch'\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Tell Me What You Want at Discogs.\n\n1984 singles\nLoose Ends (band) songs\nSong recordings produced by Nick Martinelli\nSongs written by Carl McIntosh (musician)\nSongs written by Steve Nichol\n1984 songs\nVirgin Records singles", "\"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" is the title of a number-one R&B single by singer Tevin Campbell. To date, the single is Campbell's biggest hit peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending one week at number-one on the US R&B chart. The hit song is also Tevin's one and only Adult Contemporary hit, where it peaked at number 43. The song showcases Campbell's four-octave vocal range from a low note of E2 to a D#6 during the bridge of the song.\n\nTrack listings\nUS 7\" vinyl\nA \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (edit) – 4:16\t\nB \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (instrumental) – 5:00\n\n12\" vinyl\nA \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (edit) – 4:16\t\nB \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (album version) – 5:02\n\nUK CD\n \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" – 4:16\n \"Goodbye\" (7\" Remix Edit) – 3:48\n \"Goodbye\" (Sidub and Listen) – 4:58\n \"Goodbye\" (Tevin's Dub Pt 1 & 2) – 6:53\n\nJapan CD\n \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" – 4:10\n \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (instrumental version) – 4:10\n\nGermany CD\n \"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do\" (edit) – 4:10\n \"Just Ask Me\" (featuring Chubb Rock) – 4:07\n \"Tomorrow\" (A Better You, Better Me) – 4:46\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nSee also\nList of number-one R&B singles of 1992 (U.S.)\n\nReferences\n\nTevin Campbell songs\n1991 singles\n1991 songs\nSongs written by Tevin Campbell\nSongs written by Narada Michael Walden\nSong recordings produced by Narada Michael Walden\nWarner Records singles\nContemporary R&B ballads\nPop ballads\nSoul ballads\n1990s ballads" ]
[ "Larry Holmes", "IBF heavyweight champion", "When did he become champion", "I don't know.", "What can you tell me about the fight", "Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace." ]	C_7e4e9e7d3360430da3ae262a264f155d_0	who was the favorite	3	who was the favorite IBF heavyweight champion	Larry Holmes	Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesar's Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. On September 21, 1985, Holmes stepped in the ring looking to equal Rocky Marciano's 49-0 career record and to make his twentieth successful title defense. His opponent was looking to make history as well. After winning the undisputed championship at light heavyweight, Michael Spinks decided to move up in weight and try to become the second fighter after Bob Fitzsimmons to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. An elder statesman who had tried for these latter honors, Archie Moore, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, albeit controversially, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144-141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141-144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142-144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine--and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, the Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Holmes is the only boxer to have defeated Muhammad Ali via stoppage and the only boxer left alive to have defeated him. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton (the man he defeated in 1978 for WBC Championship), Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams and Marvis Frazier. He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in an upset in 1985. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following year, but made repeated comebacks. He was unsuccessful in four further attempts (against Mike Tyson in 1988, Evander Holyfield in 1992, Oliver McCall in 1995 and Brian Nielsen in 1997) to regain the heavyweight title. Holmes fought for the final time in 2002, aged 52, against the 334lb Eric "Butterbean" Esch, and ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses, with all of his losses coming in world title fights. He is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Holmes was the fourth of twelve children born to John and Flossie Holmes. After the family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1954, Holmes's father went to Connecticut. He worked as a gardener there until his death in 1970. He visited his family every three weeks. "He didn't forsake us", said Flossie Holmes. "He just didn't have anything to give." The family survived on welfare. To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work at a car wash for $1 an hour. He later drove a dump truck and worked in a quarry. Amateur career When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-first bout, he boxed Nick Wells in the semifinals of the 1972 National Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Wells, a southpaw known for unprecedently high knockout-to-win percentage for an amateur boxer, with a majority of knockouts coming in the first round, stopped Holmes in the first round. Nevertheless, Holmes was chosen by a selection committee of the National Olympic authorities to fight at the Olympic Box-offs in West Point, New York, where he had a match-up versus a fighting seaman, Duane Bobick. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but could not corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding. Professional career Early years After compiling an amateur record of 19–3, Holmes turned professional on March 21, 1973, winning a four-round decision against Rodell Dupree. Early in his career he worked as a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, and Jimmy Young. He was paid well and learned a lot. "I was young, and I didn't know much. But I was holding my own sparring those guys", Holmes said. "I thought, 'hey, these guys are the best, the champs. If I can hold my own now, what about later?'" Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978. Holmes won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third. Holmes's victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978. WBC heavyweight champion: Holmes vs. Norton The fight between Holmes and Norton was a tough, competitive fight. After fourteen rounds, each of the three judges scored the fight dead even at seven rounds each. Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win the round on two scorecards and take the title by a split decision. In his first two title defenses, Holmes easily knocked out Alfredo Evangelista and Ossie Ocasio. His third title defense was a tough one. On June 22, 1979, Holmes faced future WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver, who was lightly regarded going into the fight sporting an uninspiring 19–8 record. After ten tough rounds, Holmes dropped Weaver with a right uppercut late in round eleven. In the twelfth, Holmes immediately went on the attack, backing Weaver into the ropes and pounding him with powerful rights until the referee stepped in and stopped it. "This man knocked the devil out of me", Holmes said. "This man might not have had credit before tonight, but you'll give it to him now." Three months later, on September 28, 1979, Holmes had a rematch with Shavers, who got a title shot by knocking out Ken Norton in one round. Holmes dominated the first six rounds, but in the seventh, Shavers sent Holmes down with a devastating overhand right. Holmes got up, survived the round, and went on to punish Shavers in the eleventh round and the referee stopped the fight . His next three defenses were knockouts of Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, and Scott LeDoux. On October 2, 1980, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Holmes defended his title against Muhammad Ali, who was coming out of retirement in an attempt to become the first four-time World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes dominated the 38-year-old Ali from start to finish, winning every round on every scorecard. At the end of the tenth round, Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was Ali's only loss without "going the distance" for a judges' decision. After the win, Holmes received recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by The Ring. Ali blamed his poor performance on thyroid medication which he had been taking, saying that it helped him lose weight (he weighed 217½, his lowest weight since he fought George Foreman in 1974), but it also left him drained for the fight. Holmes seemed to show signs of sadness in punishing Ali so much during the fight. He appeared in a post-fight interview with tears in his eyes. When asked why he was crying, he said that he respected Ali "a whole lot" and "he fought one of the baddest heavyweights in the world today, and you cannot take credit from him." After eight consecutive knockouts, Holmes was forced to go the distance when he successfully defended his title against future WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick on April 11, 1981. In his next fight, two months later, Holmes knocked out former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks in three rounds. On November 6, 1981, Holmes rose from a seventh-round knockdown (during which he staggered into the turnbuckle) to stop Renaldo Snipes in the eleventh. Holmes vs. Cooney On June 11, 1982, Holmes defended his title against Gerry Cooney, the undefeated #1 contender and an Irish-American. The lead-up to the fight had many racial overtones, with promoter Don King and others hyping Cooney as the "Great White Hope." Holmes said that if Cooney wasn't white, he would not be getting the same purse as the champion (both boxers received $10 million for the bout). Although Cooney tried to deflect questions about race, members of his camp wore shirts that said "Not the White Man, but the Right Man." In their fight previews, Sports Illustrated and Time put Cooney on the cover, not Holmes. President Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Cooney's dressing room so he could call him if he won the fight. Holmes had no such arrangement. Lastly, boxing tradition dictates that the champion be introduced last, but the challenger, Cooney, was introduced last. The bout was held in a 32,000-seat stadium erected in a Caesar's Palace Parking lot, with millions more watching around the world. After an uneventful first round, Holmes dropped Cooney with a right in the second. Cooney came back well in the next two rounds, jarring Holmes with his powerful left hook. Holmes later said that Cooney "hit me so damned hard, I felt it—boom—in my bones." Cooney was tiring by the ninth, a round in which he had two points deducted for low blows. In the tenth, they traded punches relentlessly. At the end of the round, the two nodded to each other in respect. Cooney lost another point because of low blows in the eleventh. By then, Holmes was landing with ease. In the thirteenth, a barrage of punches sent Cooney down. He got up, but his trainer, Victor Valle, stepped into the ring and stopped the fight. After the fight, Holmes and Cooney became close friends. Trouble with the WBC Holmes's next two fights were one-sided decision wins over Randall "Tex" Cobb and ex-European champion Lucien Rodriguez. On May 20, 1983, Holmes defended his title against Tim Witherspoon, the future WBC and WBA Heavyweight Champion. Witherspoon, a six to one underdog and with only 15 professional bouts to his name, surprised many by giving Holmes a difficult fight. After twelve rounds, Holmes retained the title by a disputed split decision. On September 10, 1983, Holmes successfully defended the WBC title for the sixteenth time, knocking out Scott Frank in five rounds. Holmes then signed to fight Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, on November 25, 1983. The WBC refused to sanction the fight against the unranked Frazier. They ordered Holmes to fight Greg Page, the #1 contender, or be stripped of the title. Promoter Don King offered Holmes $2.55 million to fight Page, but the champion didn't think that was enough. He was making $3.1 million to fight Frazier and felt he should get as much as $5 million to fight Page. Holmes had an easy time with Frazier, knocking him out in the first round. The following month, Holmes relinquished the WBC championship. IBF heavyweight champion Despite his no longer being recognized by the WBC as champion, Holmes was still regarded as the lineal champion as well as being recognized as world champion by The Ring. On December 11, 1983, the newly formed International Boxing Federation extended recognition to Holmes, and he accepted. As 1984 began, Holmes and Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA champion, were signed to unify the titles on June 15, 1984 at Caesars Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesars Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. Holmes vs. Spinks Holmes's next fight had the potential to make boxing history. He agreed to terms to fight Michael Spinks, the undisputed champion at light heavyweight, for his twentieth world title defense. A victory for Holmes would have tied Rocky Marciano's mark of 49 consecutive wins without a loss. Spinks, meanwhile, was looking to join Bob Fitzsimmons as the only other boxer at the time to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. In addition, if he defeated Holmes, Spinks would become the first ever reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. Before the fight Archie Moore, the long-time light heavyweight champion who unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown himself twice, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144–141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141–144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142–144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine—and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. Comebacks On January 22, 1988, Holmes was lured out of retirement by a $2.8 million purse to challenge reigning Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. Tyson dropped Holmes in the fourth round with an overhand right. Holmes got up, but Tyson put him down two more times in the round, and the fight was stopped. It was the only time Holmes was knocked out in his career. After the fight, Holmes again retired. Holmes returned to the ring in 1991 and became a much more active fighter, usually fighting on USA Tuesday Night Fights cards every few weeks against up and comers and journeymen. After five straight wins, he fought Ray Mercer, the undefeated 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, on February 7, 1992. Holmes pulled off the upset and won by a 12-round unanimous decision. (Holmes later claimed that he fought Mercer in spite of having a detached retina.) The win got Holmes a shot at Evander Holyfield for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. On June 19, 1992, Holyfield defeated Holmes by a twelve-round unanimous decision. On April 8, 1995, he fought Oliver McCall for the WBC title. Holmes lost by a close 12-round unanimous decision. Two of the judges had him losing by one point, while the other judge had him losing by three points. Holmes was back in the ring five months later, resuming the pace he had set since his comeback. However, he was growing tired of the sport and, after he fought and knocked out Anthony Willis in June 1996 on another USA boxing event, Holmes announced that unless he received a shot at the title, the fight against Willis was likely to be his last. On January 24, 1997, Holmes got his last opportunity to fight for a heavyweight championship when he traveled to Copenhagen to fight undefeated International Boxing Organization champion Brian Nielsen. Nielsen won by a 12-round split decision to retain the title. Holmes and George Foreman signed to fight on January 23, 1999 at the Houston Astrodome. Foreman called off the fight several weeks before it was to take place because the promoter failed to meet the deadline for paying him the remaining $9 million of his $10 million purse. Foreman received a nonrefundable $1 million deposit, and Holmes got to keep a $400,000 down-payment of his $4 million purse. Holmes's next two fights were rematches with old foes. On June 18, 1999, he stopped "Bonecrusher" Smith in eight rounds, and on November 17, 2000, he stopped Mike Weaver in six. Holmes's final fight was on July 27, 2002 in Norfolk, Virginia. He defeated Eric "Butterbean" Esch by a 10-round unanimous decision. Life after boxing Holmes invested the money he earned from boxing and settled in his hometown of Easton. When he retired from boxing, Holmes employed more than 200 people through his various business holdings. In 2008, he owned two restaurants and a nightclub, a training facility, an office complex, a snack food bar and slot machines. Holmes In 2014, Holmes sold his business complex in Easton to business entrepreneur Gerald Gorman, CEO of Lawyer.com. In 2016, Holmes guest starred as himself in an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries, titled "Unsolved Situations". Personal life In 1979, Larry Holmes married Diane Robinson, with whom he has had two children. He also has three daughters from two previous relationships. As of 2019, Holmes lived in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania, near Easton. Holmes' younger brother, Mark Holmes, was a middleweight boxer from 1980 to 1987. Honors Holmes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008. Professional boxing record See also List of heavyweight boxing champions List of WBC world champions List of IBF world champions List of The Ring world champions References External links Cyber Boxing Zone Boxing Hall of Fame Larry Holmes profile at About.com Larry Holmes Q&A at BoxingInsider 1949 births African-American boxers International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Living people Sportspeople from Easton, Pennsylvania World Boxing Council champions World heavyweight boxing champions Boxers from Pennsylvania People from Cuthbert, Georgia American male boxers The Ring (magazine) champions 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople	false	[ "Favorite was a small steamboat that was operated on the Coquille River, Coos Bay and on the Siuslaw River, in the southern Oregon coast region from 1900 to 1918.\n\nConstruction\nFavorite was built in 1901 at Coquille at the yard of Arthur Ellingson (born 1875). Favorite was long, with a beam of and depth of hold of ,\n\nThe overall size of the vessel was 63 gross and 46 net tons. Favorite had two cabins and could carry about 125 passengers.\n\nChange in ownership\nIn May 1901, David Perkins and John Moomaw bought out W.R. Panter's interest in the river transportation business, which included the steamers Dispatch and Favorite. At that time, Favorite had been on the beach having its hull repainted. Once returned to service, Favorite was expected to be making a run from Coquille City to Bandon and back. Capt. Panter and his family were reported to be moving to their ranch downriver from Riverton.\n\nAttempted salvage of Welcome\nOn March 7, 1902, at 12:30 pm while en route to Bandon, the sternwheel steamer Welcome became stranded on the north flats of the Coquille River during a very heavy squall, with the wind blowing at gale strength and a rough sea. The grounded vessel was immediately spotted by the personnel at the Coquille River Life-Saving Station, who boarded the steamer and then passed a line to the steamer Favorite. Favorite however was not able to haul Welcome off the bank. This was effected the following night by the life-saving crew with the use of an anchor, hawser, and cables.\n\nGrounding\nOn November 9, 1907, Favorite grounded on a tide flat just upriver from Bandon. The sternwheeler Liberty made the trip in its place.\n\nReturn and resignation of Captain Willard\nOn July 23, 1907, it was reported that Capt. Ott Willard would return as master of Favorite, which he had formerly commanded. On November 12, 1907, Captain Willard gave notice that he would resign as master of Favorite to take charge of a new gasoline-powered boat that he was having built at the yard of Max Timmerman in Coos Bay. (This was probably Wolverine.) Once built, Willard intended to place it on the run from Bandon to Coquille under his own command.\n\nSunk at mooring\n\nOn the night of February 5, 1908, while tied to a dock at Coquille, Oregon, Favorite filled up with water and sank. The next morning there was nothing visible of the steamer except the smokestack rising clear of the water. The value of the vessel at the time was estimated to have been about $4,500. At the time, Favorite was owned by the Coquille River Steamboat Company and was run under the command of Captain Ross. The cause for the sinking was said to be a defective hull, and the vessel was reportedly in need of repair. The sternwheeler Liberty, which had been running with the Favorite would be the only boat on the run between Bandon and Coquille until Favorite could be raised and repaired, or a new boat brought onto the route.\n\nOn February 18, 1908, it was reported that Favorite had been raised. While the cause of the accident had not been determined by then, it was supposed that somehow the gunwale of the steamer had been caught under the beams supporting wharf floor, and as the river rose, the vessel was trapped and pushed under the water. Favorite had sunk on a Friday, but with the use of jackscrews, and the aid of the tug Triumph and a scow, by Sunday evening, Favorite had been raised sufficiently high above the water for a fire to be raised in the boiler. It was estimated that Favorite could be returned to service within a few days after repairs could be effected.\n\nRoute in 1908\n\nFrom August 6, 1908, to March 3, 1910, Favorite was running on the following schedule on the Coquille River set by its owners, the Coquille River Transportation Company: two trips a day running between Bandon and Coquille City, departing from Bandon at 6:45 am, and 1:20 p.m, and departing from Coquille City at 9:15 am and at 4:00 p.m.\n\nThis schedule was claimed to allow travellers from Bandon to meet all trains connecting with Marshfield (the former name of Coos Bay). It also permitted travellers from Marshfield to leave on a Coquille-bound train in the morning and reach Bandon by noon. Persons from the Coquille river could be picked up by the steamer, transfer at Coquille City on to a Marshfield-bound train, and spend three hours in Marshfield before having to return to Coquille City.\n\nTransfer \nIn 1908 or 1909, Favorite was transferred to Coos Bay. On January 20, 1910, it was reported that Favorite would be transferred from service on Coos Bay north to the Siuslaw River where it would be run between Florence and Mapleton, Oregon under the command of Capt. Ludwig Christensen.\n\nIn a comprehensive list of the steamboats operating on the Coquille River published November 29, 1915, Favorite was not listed as in being in service. Favorite was listed on the Merchant Vessel Register for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, with its home port shown as Empire, Oregon.\n\nDisposition\nFinal disposition of Favorite is not known. The boat was last on the Merchant Vessel Registry for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918.\n\nSee also \nSteamboats of the Coquille River\n\nNotes \n\n1900 ships\nSteamboats of Oregon\nCoos Bay Mosquito Fleet\nSteamboats of the Coquille River\nShips built in Oregon\nMaritime incidents in 1902\nMaritime incidents in 1907\nMaritime incidents in 1908\nShipwrecks of the Oregon coast", "The MTV Asia Awards was the Asian equivalent of the European MTV EMA. Held from 2002 to 2008, the show gave recognition and awards to Asian and international artists in achievement, cinema, fashion, humanitarian, and music. Just like the EMAs, most of the awards were voted by viewers from the Asian region.\n\nThe trophy design was a gold toblerone-like bar. The twin prism shape represents the letter M and double A, the acronyms for MTV Asia Awards.\n\nThe show was absent in 2007 and was discontinued after 2008.\n\nCeremonies\n\nCategories\n\nViewers' choice awards\n\nRegional awards\n Favorite Artist Mainland China\n Favorite Artist Hong Kong\n Favorite Artist India\n Favorite Artist Indonesia\n Favorite Artist Korea\n Favorite Artist Malaysia\n Favorite Artist Philippines\n Favorite Artist Singapore\n Favorite Artist Taiwan\n Favorite Artist Thailand\n\nInternational awards\nFavorite Breakthrough Artist\nFavorite Female Artist\nFavorite Male Artist\nFavorite Pop Act\nFavorite Rock Act\nFavorite Video\n\nSpecial awards\n\nReferences\n\n \nAsian music\nAsian music awards\nAwards established in 2002\nAwards disestablished in 2008" ]
[ "Larry Holmes", "IBF heavyweight champion", "When did he become champion", "I don't know.", "What can you tell me about the fight", "Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace.", "who was the favorite", "I don't know." ]	C_7e4e9e7d3360430da3ae262a264f155d_0	Was there a large prize	4	Was there a large prize for the IBF heavyweight champion	Larry Holmes	Holmes signed to fight Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA Champion, on June 15, 1984 at Caesar's Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesar's Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. On September 21, 1985, Holmes stepped in the ring looking to equal Rocky Marciano's 49-0 career record and to make his twentieth successful title defense. His opponent was looking to make history as well. After winning the undisputed championship at light heavyweight, Michael Spinks decided to move up in weight and try to become the second fighter after Bob Fitzsimmons to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. An elder statesman who had tried for these latter honors, Archie Moore, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, albeit controversially, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144-141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141-144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142-144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine--and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. CANNOTANSWER	CANNOTANSWER	Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin". Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, the Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Holmes is the only boxer to have defeated Muhammad Ali via stoppage and the only boxer left alive to have defeated him. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton (the man he defeated in 1978 for WBC Championship), Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams and Marvis Frazier. He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in an upset in 1985. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following year, but made repeated comebacks. He was unsuccessful in four further attempts (against Mike Tyson in 1988, Evander Holyfield in 1992, Oliver McCall in 1995 and Brian Nielsen in 1997) to regain the heavyweight title. Holmes fought for the final time in 2002, aged 52, against the 334lb Eric "Butterbean" Esch, and ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses, with all of his losses coming in world title fights. He is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Holmes was the fourth of twelve children born to John and Flossie Holmes. After the family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1954, Holmes's father went to Connecticut. He worked as a gardener there until his death in 1970. He visited his family every three weeks. "He didn't forsake us", said Flossie Holmes. "He just didn't have anything to give." The family survived on welfare. To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work at a car wash for $1 an hour. He later drove a dump truck and worked in a quarry. Amateur career When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-first bout, he boxed Nick Wells in the semifinals of the 1972 National Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Wells, a southpaw known for unprecedently high knockout-to-win percentage for an amateur boxer, with a majority of knockouts coming in the first round, stopped Holmes in the first round. Nevertheless, Holmes was chosen by a selection committee of the National Olympic authorities to fight at the Olympic Box-offs in West Point, New York, where he had a match-up versus a fighting seaman, Duane Bobick. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but could not corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding. Professional career Early years After compiling an amateur record of 19–3, Holmes turned professional on March 21, 1973, winning a four-round decision against Rodell Dupree. Early in his career he worked as a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, and Jimmy Young. He was paid well and learned a lot. "I was young, and I didn't know much. But I was holding my own sparring those guys", Holmes said. "I thought, 'hey, these guys are the best, the champs. If I can hold my own now, what about later?'" Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978. Holmes won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third. Holmes's victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas on June 9, 1978. WBC heavyweight champion: Holmes vs. Norton The fight between Holmes and Norton was a tough, competitive fight. After fourteen rounds, each of the three judges scored the fight dead even at seven rounds each. Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win the round on two scorecards and take the title by a split decision. In his first two title defenses, Holmes easily knocked out Alfredo Evangelista and Ossie Ocasio. His third title defense was a tough one. On June 22, 1979, Holmes faced future WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver, who was lightly regarded going into the fight sporting an uninspiring 19–8 record. After ten tough rounds, Holmes dropped Weaver with a right uppercut late in round eleven. In the twelfth, Holmes immediately went on the attack, backing Weaver into the ropes and pounding him with powerful rights until the referee stepped in and stopped it. "This man knocked the devil out of me", Holmes said. "This man might not have had credit before tonight, but you'll give it to him now." Three months later, on September 28, 1979, Holmes had a rematch with Shavers, who got a title shot by knocking out Ken Norton in one round. Holmes dominated the first six rounds, but in the seventh, Shavers sent Holmes down with a devastating overhand right. Holmes got up, survived the round, and went on to punish Shavers in the eleventh round and the referee stopped the fight . His next three defenses were knockouts of Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, and Scott LeDoux. On October 2, 1980, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Holmes defended his title against Muhammad Ali, who was coming out of retirement in an attempt to become the first four-time World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes dominated the 38-year-old Ali from start to finish, winning every round on every scorecard. At the end of the tenth round, Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was Ali's only loss without "going the distance" for a judges' decision. After the win, Holmes received recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by The Ring. Ali blamed his poor performance on thyroid medication which he had been taking, saying that it helped him lose weight (he weighed 217½, his lowest weight since he fought George Foreman in 1974), but it also left him drained for the fight. Holmes seemed to show signs of sadness in punishing Ali so much during the fight. He appeared in a post-fight interview with tears in his eyes. When asked why he was crying, he said that he respected Ali "a whole lot" and "he fought one of the baddest heavyweights in the world today, and you cannot take credit from him." After eight consecutive knockouts, Holmes was forced to go the distance when he successfully defended his title against future WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick on April 11, 1981. In his next fight, two months later, Holmes knocked out former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks in three rounds. On November 6, 1981, Holmes rose from a seventh-round knockdown (during which he staggered into the turnbuckle) to stop Renaldo Snipes in the eleventh. Holmes vs. Cooney On June 11, 1982, Holmes defended his title against Gerry Cooney, the undefeated #1 contender and an Irish-American. The lead-up to the fight had many racial overtones, with promoter Don King and others hyping Cooney as the "Great White Hope." Holmes said that if Cooney wasn't white, he would not be getting the same purse as the champion (both boxers received $10 million for the bout). Although Cooney tried to deflect questions about race, members of his camp wore shirts that said "Not the White Man, but the Right Man." In their fight previews, Sports Illustrated and Time put Cooney on the cover, not Holmes. President Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Cooney's dressing room so he could call him if he won the fight. Holmes had no such arrangement. Lastly, boxing tradition dictates that the champion be introduced last, but the challenger, Cooney, was introduced last. The bout was held in a 32,000-seat stadium erected in a Caesar's Palace Parking lot, with millions more watching around the world. After an uneventful first round, Holmes dropped Cooney with a right in the second. Cooney came back well in the next two rounds, jarring Holmes with his powerful left hook. Holmes later said that Cooney "hit me so damned hard, I felt it—boom—in my bones." Cooney was tiring by the ninth, a round in which he had two points deducted for low blows. In the tenth, they traded punches relentlessly. At the end of the round, the two nodded to each other in respect. Cooney lost another point because of low blows in the eleventh. By then, Holmes was landing with ease. In the thirteenth, a barrage of punches sent Cooney down. He got up, but his trainer, Victor Valle, stepped into the ring and stopped the fight. After the fight, Holmes and Cooney became close friends. Trouble with the WBC Holmes's next two fights were one-sided decision wins over Randall "Tex" Cobb and ex-European champion Lucien Rodriguez. On May 20, 1983, Holmes defended his title against Tim Witherspoon, the future WBC and WBA Heavyweight Champion. Witherspoon, a six to one underdog and with only 15 professional bouts to his name, surprised many by giving Holmes a difficult fight. After twelve rounds, Holmes retained the title by a disputed split decision. On September 10, 1983, Holmes successfully defended the WBC title for the sixteenth time, knocking out Scott Frank in five rounds. Holmes then signed to fight Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, on November 25, 1983. The WBC refused to sanction the fight against the unranked Frazier. They ordered Holmes to fight Greg Page, the #1 contender, or be stripped of the title. Promoter Don King offered Holmes $2.55 million to fight Page, but the champion didn't think that was enough. He was making $3.1 million to fight Frazier and felt he should get as much as $5 million to fight Page. Holmes had an easy time with Frazier, knocking him out in the first round. The following month, Holmes relinquished the WBC championship. IBF heavyweight champion Despite his no longer being recognized by the WBC as champion, Holmes was still regarded as the lineal champion as well as being recognized as world champion by The Ring. On December 11, 1983, the newly formed International Boxing Federation extended recognition to Holmes, and he accepted. As 1984 began, Holmes and Gerrie Coetzee, the WBA champion, were signed to unify the titles on June 15, 1984 at Caesars Palace. The fight was being promoted by JPD Inc., but it was canceled when Caesars Palace said the promoters failed to meet the financial conditions of the contract. Holmes was promised $13 million and Coetzee was promised $8 million. Even after cutting the purses dramatically, they still couldn't come up with enough financial backing to stage the fight. Don King then planned to promote the fight, but Holmes lost a lawsuit filed by Virginia attorney Richard Hirschfeld, who said he had a contract with Holmes that gave him right of first refusal on a Holmes-Coetzee bout. Holmes then decided to move on and fight someone else. On November 9, 1984, after a year out of the ring, Holmes made his first defense of the IBF title, stopping James "Bonecrusher" Smith on a cut in the twelfth round. In the first half of 1985, Holmes stopped David Bey in ten rounds for his 19th title defense. His next against Carl "The Truth" Williams was unexpectedly tough. The younger, quicker Williams was able to out-jab the aging champion, who was left with a badly swollen eye by the end of the bout. Holmes emerged with a close, and disputed, fifteen-round unanimous decision. Holmes vs. Spinks Holmes's next fight had the potential to make boxing history. He agreed to terms to fight Michael Spinks, the undisputed champion at light heavyweight, for his twentieth world title defense. A victory for Holmes would have tied Rocky Marciano's mark of 49 consecutive wins without a loss. Spinks, meanwhile, was looking to join Bob Fitzsimmons as the only other boxer at the time to win titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight. In addition, if he defeated Holmes, Spinks would become the first ever reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. Before the fight Archie Moore, the long-time light heavyweight champion who unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown himself twice, predicted an easy win for Holmes: "I'm afraid Larry will chew him up. Michael may be faster than Larry, but you can only go so fast." Despite the assessment, it indeed would be Spinks whose historical destiny would be fulfilled, as he defeated Holmes via unanimous decision to become the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title. After the fight, a bitter Holmes said, "Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap." Holmes had a rematch with Spinks on April 19, 1986. Spinks retained the title with a disputed fifteen-round split decision. The judges scored the fight: Judge Joe Cortez 144–141 (Holmes), Judge Frank Brunette 141–144 (Spinks) and Judge Jerry Roth 142–144 (Spinks.) In a post-fight interview with HBO, Holmes said, "the judges, the referees and promoters can kiss me where the sun don't shine—and because we're on HBO, that's my big black behind." On November 6, 1986, three days after his 37th birthday, Holmes announced his retirement. Comebacks On January 22, 1988, Holmes was lured out of retirement by a $2.8 million purse to challenge reigning Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. Tyson dropped Holmes in the fourth round with an overhand right. Holmes got up, but Tyson put him down two more times in the round, and the fight was stopped. It was the only time Holmes was knocked out in his career. After the fight, Holmes again retired. Holmes returned to the ring in 1991 and became a much more active fighter, usually fighting on USA Tuesday Night Fights cards every few weeks against up and comers and journeymen. After five straight wins, he fought Ray Mercer, the undefeated 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, on February 7, 1992. Holmes pulled off the upset and won by a 12-round unanimous decision. (Holmes later claimed that he fought Mercer in spite of having a detached retina.) The win got Holmes a shot at Evander Holyfield for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. On June 19, 1992, Holyfield defeated Holmes by a twelve-round unanimous decision. On April 8, 1995, he fought Oliver McCall for the WBC title. Holmes lost by a close 12-round unanimous decision. Two of the judges had him losing by one point, while the other judge had him losing by three points. Holmes was back in the ring five months later, resuming the pace he had set since his comeback. However, he was growing tired of the sport and, after he fought and knocked out Anthony Willis in June 1996 on another USA boxing event, Holmes announced that unless he received a shot at the title, the fight against Willis was likely to be his last. On January 24, 1997, Holmes got his last opportunity to fight for a heavyweight championship when he traveled to Copenhagen to fight undefeated International Boxing Organization champion Brian Nielsen. Nielsen won by a 12-round split decision to retain the title. Holmes and George Foreman signed to fight on January 23, 1999 at the Houston Astrodome. Foreman called off the fight several weeks before it was to take place because the promoter failed to meet the deadline for paying him the remaining $9 million of his $10 million purse. Foreman received a nonrefundable $1 million deposit, and Holmes got to keep a $400,000 down-payment of his $4 million purse. Holmes's next two fights were rematches with old foes. On June 18, 1999, he stopped "Bonecrusher" Smith in eight rounds, and on November 17, 2000, he stopped Mike Weaver in six. Holmes's final fight was on July 27, 2002 in Norfolk, Virginia. He defeated Eric "Butterbean" Esch by a 10-round unanimous decision. Life after boxing Holmes invested the money he earned from boxing and settled in his hometown of Easton. When he retired from boxing, Holmes employed more than 200 people through his various business holdings. In 2008, he owned two restaurants and a nightclub, a training facility, an office complex, a snack food bar and slot machines. Holmes In 2014, Holmes sold his business complex in Easton to business entrepreneur Gerald Gorman, CEO of Lawyer.com. In 2016, Holmes guest starred as himself in an episode of Mike Tyson Mysteries, titled "Unsolved Situations". Personal life In 1979, Larry Holmes married Diane Robinson, with whom he has had two children. He also has three daughters from two previous relationships. As of 2019, Holmes lived in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania, near Easton. Holmes' younger brother, Mark Holmes, was a middleweight boxer from 1980 to 1987. Honors Holmes was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008. Professional boxing record See also List of heavyweight boxing champions List of WBC world champions List of IBF world champions List of The Ring world champions References External links Cyber Boxing Zone Boxing Hall of Fame Larry Holmes profile at About.com Larry Holmes Q&A at BoxingInsider 1949 births African-American boxers International Boxing Federation champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Living people Sportspeople from Easton, Pennsylvania World Boxing Council champions World heavyweight boxing champions Boxers from Pennsylvania People from Cuthbert, Georgia American male boxers The Ring (magazine) champions 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople	false	[ "The 1976 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was the 13th World Match Play Championship. It was played from Thursday 7 to Saturday 9 October on the West Course at Wentworth. Eight players competed in a straight knock-out competition, with each match contested over 36 holes. There was a large increase in the prize money with the champion receiving £25,000 compared to £10,000 the previous year. In the final, David Graham beat defending champion Hale Irwin after 38 holes.\n\nFor the first time there was a play-off between the losing semi-finalists for third place. It was played over 36 holes and was won by Gary Player.\n\nThis was the last World Match Play Championship sponsored under the Piccadilly name.\n\nCourse\nSource:\n\nScores\nSource:\n\nPrize money\nThe winner received £25,000, the runner-up £15,000, third place £8,500, fourth place £6,500 and the first round losers £5,000, making a total prize fund of £75,000.\n\nReferences\n\nVolvo World Match Play Championship\nGolf tournaments in England\nPiccadilly World Match Play Championship\nPiccadilly World Match Play Championship\nPiccadilly World Match Play Championship", "Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa was a Latin American Spanish language literary award. The winner received US$200,000 making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. Beyond the large endowment, the award was also notable for the large number of books which were judged; in 2010 over 600 books entered the award, far surpassing the approximately 120 books which entered the Man Booker Prize, for example.\n\nThe first award was in 2007. It was given annually, generally in March, in a Latin American capital that was designated each year. The Prize was for an unpublished text written in Spanish, and had an endowment of $200,000 for the winner and $50,000 for the runner-up. The goal of the award was to promote Spanish-language fiction in all Latin American countries. The prize was sponsored by Grupo Planeta, one of the largest publishers in the world. The jury was composed of five members: one representative of each of the two convening entities (Editorial Planeta and Casa de América) and three personalities in the world of Latin American literature.\n\nThe 2010 Prize, that was to be given in Valparaíso, Chile, was suspended because of the 2010 Chile earthquake. In 2011 there was no runner-up prize. After 2012, the prize was canceled.\n\nWinners and runner(s)-up\n\nBlue Ribbon () = winner\n Runner(s)-up\n2007 Bogotá, Colombia\n Pablo de Santis, El enigma de París\nAlonso Cueto, El susurro de la mujer ballena\n\n2008 Buenos Aires, Argentina\n Jorge Edwards, La Casa de Dostoievsky\nFernando Quiroz, Justos por pecadores\n\n2009 Mexico City, Mexico\n Ángela Becerra, Ella, que todo lo tuvo\nPedro Ángel Palou, El dinero del diablo\n\n2010 Valparaíso, Chile\n Suspended because of the 2010 Chile earthquake.\n\n2011 Santiago, Chile\n Antonio Skármeta, Los días del arco iris\nNo runner-up.\n\n2012 Madrid, Spain\n Jorge Volpi, La tejedora de sombras\n10 runners-up.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nPlaneta-Casa de América de Narrativa, official website\n\nSpanish literary awards\nSpanish-language literary awards\nAwards established in 2007\n2007 establishments in Spain\n2013 disestablishments in Spain\nFiction awards\nLiterary awards honoring unpublished books or writers\nPlaneta literary awards" ]
[ "Graeme Obree", "The bike" ]	C_d388b067e509464dbca087ad7e42b702_0	What did Obree do with bikes?	1	What did Graeme Obree do with bikes?	Graeme Obree	Obree had built frames for his bike shop and made another for his record attempt. Instead of traditional dropped handlebars it had straight bars like those of a mountain bike. He placed them closer to the saddle than usual and rode with the bars under his chest, his elbows bent and tucked into his sides like those of a skier. Watching a washing machine spin at 1,200rpm led him to take the bearings, which he assumed must be of superior quality, and fit them to his bike. Obree later regretted admitting to the bearings experiment, because journalists referred to that before his achievements and other innovations. Obree called his bike "Old Faithful". It has a narrow bottom bracket, around which the cranks revolve, to bring his legs closer together, as he thought this is the "natural" position. As shown in the film, he thought a tread of "one banana" would be ideal. The bike has no top tube, so that his knees did not hit the frame. The chainstays are not horizontal to the ground. Thus the cranks can pass with a narrow bottom bracket. The fork had only one blade, carefully shaped to be as narrow as possible. A French writer who tried it said the narrow handlebars made it hard to accelerate the machine in a straight line but, once it was at speed, he could hold the bars and get into Obree's tucked style. At a high enough speed, [I could] tuck in my arms. And, above all, get in a very forward position on the bike, on the peak of the saddle. The Obree position isn't advantageous simply aerodynamically, it also allows, by pushing the point of pedalling towards the rear, to benefit from greater pressure while remaining in the saddle. You soon get an impression of speed, all the greater because you've got practically nothing [deux fois rien] between your hands. Two other things I noticed after a few hundred metres: I certainly didn't have the impression of turning 53 x 13, and the Obree position is no obstruction to breathing. But I wasn't pedalling at 55kmh, 100 turns of the pedals a minute, yet my arms already hurt. CANNOTANSWER	Obree had built frames for his bike shop and made another for his record attempt.	Graeme Obree (born 11 September 1965), nicknamed The Flying Scotsman, is a Scottish racing cyclist who twice broke the world hour record, in July 1993 and April 1994, and was the individual pursuit world champion in 1993 and 1995. He was known for his unusual riding positions and for the Old Faithful bicycle he built which included parts from a washing machine. He joined a professional team in France but was fired before his first race. He also competed in the men's individual pursuit at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Obree has created some radical innovations in bicycle design and cycling position but has had problems with the cycling authorities banning the riding positions his designs required. Obree has been very open about living with bipolar disorder and depression, and the fact that he has attempted suicide three times in his life, using his experiences as a means of encouraging other sportspeople to talk about their own mental health. His life and exploits have been dramatised in the 2006 film The Flying Scotsman and more recently in the documentary film Battle Mountain: Graeme Obree's Story, which follows his journey to Battle Mountain, Nevada to compete in the 2013 World Human Powered Speed Championships. In March 2010 he was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Biography Origins Obree was born in Nuneaton, a large town in northern Warwickshire, England, but has lived almost all his life in Scotland and considers himself Scottish. An individual time triallist, his first race was a 10-mile time trial to which he turned up wearing shorts, anorak and Doc Marten boots. He thought the start and finish were at the same place and stopped where he had started, 100 metres short of the end. He had started to change his clothes when officials told him to continue. He still finished in "about 30 minutes." In 2011 Obree came out as gay. Obree suffers from bipolar disorder. He attempted suicide in his teens by gassing himself. He was saved by his father, who had returned early from work. In the 1990s he took an overdose of aspirin washed down by water from a puddle. He had personality problems, sniffed the gas he used to weld bicycles, and was being chased for £492 owed in college fees. The bike shop that he ran failed and he decided the way out of his problems was to attack the world hour velodrome record. It had been held for nine years by Francesco Moser, at 51.151 kilometres. Obree said: The record had fascinated me since Moser broke it. It was the ultimate test – no traffic, one man in a velodrome against the clock. I didn't tell myself that I will attempt the record, I said I would break it. When your back is against the wall, you can say it's bad or you can say: 'I'll go for it.' I decided, that's it, I've as good as broken the record. The bike Obree had built frames for his bike shop and made another for his record attempt. Instead of traditional dropped handlebars it had straight bars like those of a mountain bike. He placed them closer to the saddle than usual and rode with the bars under his chest, his elbows bent and tucked into his sides like those of a skier. Watching a washing machine spin at 1,200rpm led him to take the bearings, which he assumed must be of superior quality, and fit them to his bike. Obree later regretted admitting to the bearings experiment, because journalists referred to that before his achievements and other innovations. Obree called his bike "Old Faithful". It has a narrow bottom bracket, around which the cranks revolve, to bring his legs closer together, as he thought this is the "natural" position. As shown in the film, he thought a tread of "one banana" would be ideal. The bike has no top tube, so that his knees did not hit the frame. The chainstays are not horizontal to the ground. Thus the cranks can pass with a narrow bottom bracket. The fork had only one blade, carefully shaped to be as narrow as possible. A French writer who tried it said the narrow handlebars made it hard to accelerate the machine in a straight line but, once it was at speed, he could hold the bars and get into Obree's tucked style. At a high enough speed, [I could] tuck in my arms. And, above all, get in a very forward position on the bike, on the peak of the saddle. The Obree position isn't advantageous simply aerodynamically, it also allows, by pushing the point of pedalling towards the rear, to benefit from greater pressure while remaining in the saddle. You soon get an impression of speed, all the greater because you've got practically nothing [deux fois rien] between your hands. Two other things I noticed after a few hundred metres: I certainly didn't have the impression of turning 53 × 13, and the Obree position is no obstruction to breathing. But I wasn't pedalling at 55 km/h, 100 turns of the pedals a minute, yet my arms already hurt. Taking the record Obree attacked Moser's record, on 16 July 1993, at the Vikingskipet velodrome in Norway. He failed by nearly a kilometre. He had booked the track for 24 hours and decided to come back the next day. The writer Nicholas Roe said: To stop his aching body seizing up, Obree then took the unusual measure of drinking pint upon pint of water so that he had to wake up to go to the lavatory every couple of hours through the night. Each time he got up, he stretched his muscles. On the next weary day, he was up and out within minutes, at the deserted velodrome by 7:55 am and on the track ready to start just five minutes after that. He had barely slept. He had punished his body hugely the previous day. Surely this was a waste of time? Obree said: I was Butch Cassidy in terms of swagger. I didn't want any negativity. This was blitzkrieg. I'm going in there. Let me do it. I'm not going to be the timorous guy from Scotland. That's what the difference was. Purely mental state. The day before, I had been a mouse. Now I was a lion. On 17 July 1993, Obree set a new record of 51.596 kilometres, beating Moser's record of 51.151 kilometres by 445 metres. Losing the record Obree's triumph lasted less than a week. On 23 July 1993, the British Olympic champion, Chris Boardman broke Obree's record by 674 metres, riding 52.270 km at Bordeaux. His bike had a carbon monocoque frame, carbon wheels, and a triathlon handlebar. Their rivalry grew: a few months later Obree knocked Boardman out of the world championship pursuit to take the title himself. Regaining the record Francesco Moser, whose record Obree had beaten, adopted Obree's riding position—adding a chest pad—and established not an outright world record but a veterans' record of 51.84 kilometres. He did it on 15 January 1994, riding in the thin air of Mexico City as he had for his outright record, whereas Obree and Boardman had ridden at close to sea level. Obree retook the record on 27 April 1994, using the track that Boardman had used at Bordeaux. He had bolted his shoes to his pedals, to avoid what had happened in the final of the national pursuit championship, when he pulled his foot off the pedal during his starting effort. He rode 52.713 kilometres, a distance beaten on 2 September 1994 by the Spanish Tour de France winner, Miguel Induráin. Old Faithful banned The world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, grew concerned that changes to bicycles were making a disproportionate influence to track records. Among other measures, it banned his riding position: he did not find out until one hour before he began the world championship pursuit in Italy. Judges disqualified him when he refused to comply. The magazine Cycling Weekly blamed "petty-minded officialdom." Obree developed another riding position, the "Superman" style, his arms fully extended in front, and he won the individual pursuit at the world championships with this and Old Faithful in 1995. That position was also banned. However, in May 2014 the UCI relented, acknowledging that fixing the kind of equipment to be used was hindering technical progress. It restored previous banned world records, from 2000, now to be described as "Best hour performance". The original Old Faithful bike is on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, while two near-replicas built for use in the Flying Scotsman film are displayed in the Riverside Transport Museum in Glasgow. In March 2018, Obree tested another replica of Old Faithful in the Mercedes-Benz F1 team's wind tunnel to gauge the aerodynamic efficiency of his various riding positions on the bike, having never previously participated in wind-tunnel testing. It was found that the (drag coefficient) of Obree's initial "tuck" or "crouch" position was 0.17, compared to a conventional 1990s bike position of 0.20 and a modern conventional position of 0.188, leading to an estimated gain in speed of about 2-2.5 km/h over his rivals in the 1990s and a gain of 1.5 km/h over contemporary track cyclists: meanwhile the "Superman" position was found only to be marginally more efficient than the 1990s conventional position, and less efficient than the modern conventional position. Obree however noted that the discomfort of the "crouch" position takes a lot of energy out of the rider through holding the hands and shoulders in place, whilst the "Superman" position was much more manageable. Other achievements Obree was individual pursuit world champion in 1993 and 1995. He broke the British 10-mile individual time trial record in 1993, won the RTTC 50-mile championship the same year (a record 1h 39m 1s), and won the 25-mile championship in 1996. In 1997 he joined forces with coach Joe Beer and clocked 18m 36s in a 10-mile time trial (V718 Hull) and next day won the British Cycling Federation 25-mile championship - this was part of building towards an hour record attempt that was to be eventually shelved. The writer Peter Bryan, of The Times, said: To see Obree in full flight, shoulders hunched and elbows tucked into his ribs, is a memorable sight. His face contorted with pain illustrates the effort he is putting in. And yet, not too many minutes after he has finished a ride the champion is sufficiently relaxed to talk with a queue of pressmen. Professional career Obree rode his hour records as an amateur. He took a professional licence after winning his first world championship, telling Bryan: "I reckon I can make more money on the bike than I get from unemployment benefit." He joined Le Groupement, a French team but did not attend a meeting in Les Carroz d'Arâches (fr) and was fired for "lack of professionalism." Obree had been racing in Florida when the team first met. But he was on holiday there when the team met again for publicity photographs. He got to the next get-together but flew to Paris instead of Lille, where the meeting was held. The team manager, Patrick Valcke, said: "If a rider has that attitude, it's best to stop working together as soon as possible. We paid for his tickets [to fly from Glasgow to Geneva] and he didn't even turn up, didn't even phone to explain why he was not coming. He said that he did not want to leave his family so soon after the death of his brother (see below) but he could have phoned to tell us that. I don't want any more to do with him." Obree said: "I was too ill to attend the get-together and had no success when I attempted to contact team officials on 1 January. My wife, Anne, who is a nurse, insisted I was not well enough to travel to France." The Le Groupement team fell apart after a short time, when the sponsoring company was involved in scandal, with accusations that it was nothing but a pyramid selling scheme. Some of the team members claimed that they were owed money, and their wages had not been paid. Attitude to doping Obree said of his short professional career: "I still feel I was robbed of part of my career. I was signed up to ride in the prologue of the Tour back in 1995, but it was made very obvious to me I would have to take drugs. I said no, no way, and I was sacked by my team. So there I was, 11 years later, sitting there waiting for the Tour cyclists to come by, and something welled up in me. I feel I was robbed by a lot of these bastards taking drugs. I also hate the way that people think anyone who has ever achieved anything on a bike must have been taking drugs. I was surprised how resentful I felt when I was in Paris. It had obviously been simmering away in there for years. That's something new I'll have to talk to my therapist about." In 1996, he told the magazine L'Équipe: "In my opinion, 99 percent of riders at élite level take EPO or a similar drug, not particularly to dope themselves but to be at the same level as the others. And that's rather sad." His web site says: "AND by the way, I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time as has been happening in the sport for a long time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. In other words, if you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later." Further suicide attempt Obree's brother, Gordon, died in a car crash in October 1994, and Graeme Obree again slid in and out of depression. In 2001 he was found unconscious at Bellsland Farm in Kilmaurs, 12 km from his Ayrshire home. The Obree family horse was stabled there, and he was discovered by a woman checking a barn. He had tried to hang himself. His wife, Anne, said he had been diagnosed as having severe bipolar disorder three years earlier. Present day Obree is divorced from his wife, with whom he has two children. He continues to race occasionally in individual time trials for Ayrshire-based Fullarton Wheelers cycling club. In May 2005, he crashed in the rain in the national 10-mile time trial championship near Nantwich in Cheshire. He was a member of the winning three-man club squad that took the team title in the Scottish 10-mile championship in May 2006. In December 2006, he competed in the track event, Revolution 15, in a four kilometre pursuit challenge. In January 2011, Obree disclosed in an interview with the Scottish Sun that he is gay and that his difficulty with coming to terms with his sexual orientation contributed to his earlier suicide attempts. "I was brought up by a war generation; they grew up when gay people were put in jail. Being homosexual was so unthinkable that you just wouldn't be gay. I'd no inkling about anything, I just closed down." He came out to his family in 2005. New Hour record attempt In May 2009, Obree announced that he would make an attempt at the "Athlete's Hour" record on a bike he had built himself during 2009. Obree said in October 2009 that the attempt had been cancelled as the bike he'd built himself was not suitable for the conditions. He will not be attempting this again. In December 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame while in March 2010, he was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Human-powered vehicle land speed record In December 2011, Obree announced that he would make an attempt at the human-powered vehicle (HPV) land speed record, hoping to hit 100 mph. In May 2012, he revealed that the bike he is building for this attempt is a prone bike. The attempt was originally to take place in Britain, and the record speed was then . However, he competed in the 2013 World Human Powered Speed Championships in Battle Mountain, Nevada, where the record was also set. He achieved a speed of on the morning of Friday, 13 September. While Obree did not break the HPV land speed record, he did set a new record for a rider in the prone position. The previous day, Obree had set a speed of , which was a record speed in the prone position on a two-wheeled HPV (the overall prone record being held by a trike). Book and films He published his autobiography in 2003 titled The Flying Scotsman. He said: "It started with the psychologist saying it would do me good and ended up as my life story." A film based on the book premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2006, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Boyd. In November 2006 Metro-Goldwyn Mayer bought world distribution rights and the film was released in the US on 29 December 2006; it was given a UK release on 29 June 2007. The DVD was released in the UK on 5 November 2007. Battle Mountain: Graeme Obree's Story, a documentary film about Obree's appearance at the 2013 World Human Powered Speed Championships in Battle Mountain, Nevada, premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film, directed by David Street with music by Alun Woodward of Chemikal Underground, went on public release on 21 March 2016, with a tour of cinemas featuring a question-and-answer session with Obree following screenings. The film was crowdfunded through the Kickstarter website. Notes References Related media Flying Scotsman: Cycling to Triumph Through My Darkest Hours Graeme Obree VeloPress 2005 Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree Birlinn Books 2003 External links Graeme Obree – Biography at CyclingInfo.co.uk Graeme Obree's home made bike photograph 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Nuneaton Sportspeople from North Ayrshire Scottish male cyclists UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) People with bipolar disorder Gay sportsmen LGBT sportspeople from Scotland LGBT cyclists Scottish track cyclists Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics	true	[ "The Flying Scotsman is a 2006 Scottish drama film, based on the life and career of Scottish amateur cyclist Graeme Obree. The film covers the period of Obree's life that saw him take, lose, and then retake the world one-hour distance record. The film stars Jonny Lee Miller as Obree, Laura Fraser, Billy Boyd, and Brian Cox.\n\nPlot\nThe film starts with Graeme Obree (Miller), who suffers from a depressive moment (which we learn is due to a crippling bipolar disorder), cycles into a wood where he attempts to hang himself. A flashback to Obree's (Sean Brown) childhood depicts him being physically attacked at school by other pupils, leaving the young Graeme with severe psychological scars. One day Obree is given a bicycle by his parents and we see Obree evading the bullies.\n\nAs the film progresses the adult Obree is married to Anne with a child. In between competing in local races, he runs a failing cycle shop and has to supplement his income as a bicycle courier. Graeme encounters Malky McGovern (Boyd), a fellow bike courier, who recognises who Graeme is and they become friends. While working in his shop an older gentleman called Baxter (Cox), asks Graeme to repair his old bike. Graeme agrees after roping Baxter into being the judge over a race with a local van driver. Baxter takes a liking to Graeme but recognises a darkness in Graeme. \n\nGraeme decides to try and beat the hour record. However, he has neither the funding nor the quality of bicycle required. Determined to succeed, he asks Malky to take over his management and fund raising from his wife Anne who is overwhelmed with work and raising their child. Cox turns out to be a boatyard owner and offers Graeme and Malky his yard to build a fitting bike. Graeme sets himself 8 weeks to build a bike, raise funds for the challenge and pay for access to a fitting velodrome. Chris Boardsman is attempting to break the record within 9 weeks.\n\nGraeme manages to build a revolutionary prototype called Old Faithful, for maximum efficiency, made up from scrap metal and components from a washing machine. Malky chastises Graeme that they cannot attempt the record using a Old Faithful as Boardsman is going to be using a bike designed by computers and costing £500,000. Nevertheless Malky, Anne and Graeme arrive in Norway for their attempt, Graeme is derided by officials. Malky reveals to Graeme that he has had a proper bike built based off the prototype of Old Faithful. Graeme agrees to use the new bike but his first attempt at the record proves to be a failure. \n\nGraeme tells everyone he intends to go again as he has the velodrome booked for 24 hours. Everyone cautions him against this as the record takes a physical toll. Graeme devises a cunning way to prevent his body from ceasing up and cramping and exercises through the night. The next morning he and Anne sleep in and rush to Malky, who unknown to Graeme has rebuilt the bike using Old Faithful's parts. Graeme embarks on his attempts and is successful. \n\nHowever, his victory is short-lived as his record is broken by Chris Boardman (Adrian Grove, credited as Adrian Smith) a week later. The Union Cycliste Internationale changes the rules to discourage Obree from using his experimental bicycle. Obree is severely depressed the night following his record-making ride. This is exacerbated when Boardman breaks the record. When Obree is confronted in a pub by the four bullies who had victimised him years earlier at school, he becomes completely withdrawn and rarely leaves his house. Baxter attempts to counsel him, but Obree feels betrayed when he discovers that Baxter is the pastor of a local church.\n\nHe recovers enough to compete in the Individual Pursuit World Championship in 1993, in which he uses his bicycle design again. The UCI officials begin rigorously enforcing the new ruling, penalizing him for riding in the stance that his bicycle design is intended to support. The physical and emotional exertion take their toll, and he crashes disastrously, breaking his arm.\n\nThe plot then returns to the opening of the film. The rope Graeme attempts to use to hang himself breaks, and he is found by another cyclist who summons the authorities. Graeme initially resists treatment, until Baxter tells him about his wife, who also suffered from bipolar disorder and ultimately took her own life. At Graeme's request, his wife, Anne, a hospital nurse, agrees to help him begin treatment.\n\nGraeme later makes a comeback and regains his world title. The new bicycle configuration that he uses, which supports the \"Superman\" stance, is later banned by the UCF after eight riders win gold medals with it.\n\nCast\n Jonny Lee Miller as Graeme Obree: The main character in the film. Jonny Lee Miller joined the project in 2002, and he and Obree spent time together, Miller keen to pick up mannerisms and speech patterns. Obree would later stand-in for Miller during some cycling sequences in the film.\n Laura Fraser as Anne Obree: Obree's wife, who was once his manager. Laura Fraser had misgivings about playing Obree's wife, Anne, when she was sent Obree's autobiography from Douglas Mackinnon. \"I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as I thought it would be all about sport,\" said Laura, \"but I got into the book straight away, it was absolutely compelling.\" It is the first time Fraser has played a real person and before filming began, she and Miller talked with the Obrees to help show their relationship during the film.\n Billy Boyd as Malky McGovern: Obree's manager. When approached to have a role in the film, Boyd knew only the \"basic elements\" of Obree's story. Boyd, being Scottish, felt it important to have the right script and further promote Scottish film.\n Brian Cox as Douglas Baxter: A minister who helps Obree chase his demons and concentrate on his goal. Cox, a seasoned actor, had been working in Europe before returning to Scotland to shoot the film. He commented that the story is one of \"perseverance and passion\". He said, since seeing the film, \"[t]he end result is even better than I hoped – it's a masterpiece.\"\n Morven Christie as Katie, a friend of Anne and within the film, Malky's girlfriend\n\nProduction\n\nThe Flying Scotsman first attracted screenwriter Simon Rose in 1994. Along with Rob Roy producer, Peter Broughan, and Scottish director, Douglas Mackinnon, he based the film's script on Obree's autobiography, also entitled The Flying Scotsman. The film, however, seemed doomed to fail and was cancelled several times.\n\nIn 2002, the death of a key American investor caused The Flying Scotsman to collapse only days before shooting was planned to commence. East Ayrshire Council, who originally gave £5000 to fund the project, refused to give further finance, stating that it didn't feel it would contribute to the community. Producer, Broughan, called the decision \"a disgrace\". It took three years for the project to get back on track. Broughan was joined by producer Damita Nikapota on the project who secured pre-production finance from Freewheel Productions. Peter Broughan tried to sack the director Douglas Mackinnon but Damita Nikapota refused to let this happen.\n\nShooting of the film began on 7 July 2006 and ended 4 September 2006. The film was shot largely in Galston, Scotland, with East Ayrshire, Glasgow and velodromes in Germany standing in for places in the story such as Colombia, France and Norway.\n\nRelease\nThe Flying Scotsman's first country-wide release was in New Zealand, where the film reached number 2 in the box office and stayed in the top 8 for the first seven weeks of its release. The film kicked off the 60th Edinburgh Film Festival, and later was given a wide-release date of 29 June 2007. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer was the main distributor in the United States, and the film was released there firstly on 29 December 2006. It also received a limited release on 4 May 2007.\n\nReception\n\nReview aggregation web site Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 49% based on 53 reviews. The sites consensus reads: \"The Flying Scotsman's too-brisk pacing reduces the scale of cyclist Graham Obree's accomplishments while not uncovering what makes him tick.\"\n \nThe film gained mixed reviews worldwide following its release, with most of the praise being aimed at Jonny Lee Miller's performance in the title role. Russell Baillie, reviewer at the New Zealand Herald, gave the film four stars, commenting that it is \"gripping, affecting and inspiring\". John Daly-Peoples also praised the film, calling it \"compelling & heart-warming\". \nBill Zwecker, of the Chicago Sun-Times, said \"[t]urmoil and victory meet in remarkable Scotsman\". Zwecker also called Miller's acting a \"revelation\". Tom Keogh also praised Miller's acting, calling him \"enormously sympathetic and appealing\" as Obree. He also gave acclaim to the \"terrific supporting cast\", commending Brian Cox.\n\nTotal Film gave the film a fairly negative review. The film magazine said the mesh of Obree's depression and the \"Brit-flick furniture (loyal wife, rural scenery, gawky comic relief)\" came off flat, \"diminish[ing] rather than elevat[ing] its hero’s achievements\". The Guardian also questioned the film's comedic aspect combined with the issue of Obree's condition. Obree is an \"opaque and unsympathetic figure\" in the film, said reviewer Peter Bradshaw, also calling the record-breaking attempts \"weirdly anticlimactic and blank\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n2000s sports drama films\n2006 biographical drama films\n2006 directorial debut films\n2006 drama films\n2006 films\nBritish biographical drama films\nBritish films\nBritish sports drama films\nCycling films\nEnglish-language films\nFilms about bipolar disorder\nFilms about bullying\nFilms set in 1993\nFilms set in 1994\nFilms set in 1995\nMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer films", "Mike Burrows (born 1943) is a bicycle designer from Norwich, England.\n\nHe is best known for his collaborative work with the design of the track carbon-fibre Lotus 108 time trial bicycle manufactured by Lotus for Chris Boardman, when he won the 1992 Olympic 4000m pursuit in Barcelona. He also attempted to copy the famous \"old Faithful\" bike used by Graeme Obree, to be used as a spare in an attempt on the world hour record. However the bike was not liked by Obree and not used in any record attempt.\n\nBurrows has long been involved in the recumbent bicycle/tricycle world, having designed the Speedy or Windcheetah trike and more recently the Ratcatcher, Ratracer and Ratracer B. He has collaborated on projects with Richard Ballantine.\n\nHe is also involved in utility cycling and has designed a folding cycle (the Giant Halfway), an especially thin machine (the 2D) that takes up little space in a hallway, the 8-Freight cargo bike in use with cycle courier companies such as Outspoken Delivery, and makes customised screen and PA carrying freight bikes with extendable \"batwings\" for AV2 Hire.\n\nIn the 1990s, Burrows worked for Giant Bicycles and designed the compact frame TCR road bike among others, the bike design was truly revolutionary, to minimise bike manufacturing cost.\n\nBurrows' designs often feature cantilever suspended wheels. He supplied a bike fitted with a front monoblade to television science presenter Adam Hart-Davis, which featured in some of Hart-Davis' programmes. Hart-Davis also owned a Speedy, finished in pink and yellow.\n\nMike is currently involved with the design of a recumbent that could break the speed record for an HPV. The design Aim 93 will attempt to break the record at the International HPV Association's world championships at Battle Mountain.\n\nBibliography \nBicycle Design: Towards the Perfect Machine ().\nFrom Bicycle to Superbike ().\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nVelovision 8-Freight review\nVelovision Ratcatcher review\nOfficial 8 Freight website\n8 Freight users\nNext stop Nevada: British cycle team aim at 90 mph record\n\n1943 births\nLiving people\nSportspeople from Norwich\nEnglish male cyclists\nBritish cycle designers" ]

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