title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2003, Aguilera visited and donated over $200,000 dollars to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, a support center for victims of domestic violence. In 2019, she donated part of the proceeds from her residency concert to an organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Furthermore, she has starred in commercials on the Lifetime channel calling for an end to violence against women, and collaborated with institutions that fight breast cancer. In 2005, she participated in a gala event designed to raise funds for child support organizations, including Nelson Mandela Children's Fund; similarly, in 2008, she participated in the Turkish version of the game show "Deal or No Deal", where she earned ₺180,000 lire — an amount converted into donations to the country's orphanages. In a "Montblanc" initiative, she participated in a charity event promoting children's access to music education in 2010. Aguilera was also involved in campaigns to encourage people to vote. During the 2004 United States presidential election, she was featured on advertising panels for Declare Yourself and served as a spokesperson for Rock the Vote in the 2008 presidential election.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2005, Aguilera donated her wedding gifts to charities in support of families affected by Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, as a result of the disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy, she participated in a special organized by National Broadcasting Company (NBC), where she performed the song "Beautiful" (2002) and asked for donations to the American Red Cross. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she auctioned off a Chrysler 300 and used the money raised to help disaster victims. She additionally appeared on the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, where donations directly benefited Oxfam America, Partners In Health, Red Cross, and UNICEF. In 2009, she became the global spokesperson for the World Food Program, a branch of the United Nations (UN). Through the program, she traveled to several countries with high rates of malnutrition, such as Guatemala, Ecuador, and Rwanda. Since then, it is estimated that she has helped raise more than $148 million for the organization and other hunger relief agencies in 45 countries. In 2012, her role in the project earned her the George McGovern Leadership Award, which she received in the White House from former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2016, Aguilera donated proceeds of her single "Change" to the victims and families of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Aguilera noted that, "Like so many, I want to help be part of the change this world needs to make it a beautiful, inclusive place where humanity can love each other freely and passionately".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series "Kids Incorporated" (1989–1991). She had her breakthrough as Sarah Reeves Merrin on the Fox teen drama "Party of Five" (1995–1999) and rose to fame as a teen star for her role as Julie James in the horror films "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997) and its 1998 sequel, as well as her role as Amanda Beckett in the teen comedy film "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998).


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt's other notable films include "Heartbreakers" (2001), "The Tuxedo" (2002) and the two (2004–2006). She has starred as Melinda Gordon on the CBS supernatural drama "Ghost Whisperer" (2005–2010), Riley Parks on the Lifetime drama series "The Client List" (2012–2013), Special Agent Kate Callahan on the CBS crime drama "Criminal Minds" (2014–2015), and since 2018, Maddie Buckley on the Fox first-responder procedural . She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for "The Client List" pilot film (2010).


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In music, Hewitt has released four studio albums to date. After her debut album, "Love Songs" (1992), was released at age 12 exclusively in Japan, she went on to record "Let's Go Bang" (1995), "Jennifer Love Hewitt" (1996) and "BareNaked" (2002), the latter of which became her first album to chart in the United States, peaking at number 37 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. Her most successful single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart was the 1999 release "How Do I Deal", which peaked at number 59. In addition to music and acting, Hewitt has served as a producer on some of her film and television projects. She has appeared in several magazines' lists of the world's most beautiful women.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt was born in Waco, Texas to Patricia Mae (née Shipp), a speech-language pathologist, and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. She grew up in Nolanville in Central Texas, and has close kinship ties in parts of Arkansas. After their parents divorced, Hewitt and her older brother Todd were raised by their mother.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: As a toddler, Hewitt was attracted to music, which led to her first encounters with the entertainment industry. At age three, she sang "The Greatest Love of All" at a livestock show. The following year, at a restaurant-dance hall, she entertained an audience with her version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night". By age five, she had tap dancing and ballet in her portfolio. At nine, she became a member of the Texas Show Team, which also toured the Soviet Union.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: At age ten, at the suggestion of talent scouts and after winning the title of "Texas Our Little Miss Talent Winner", she moved to Los Angeles with her mother to pursue a career in both acting and singing. In Los Angeles, she attended Lincoln High School where her classmates included Jonathan Neville, who became a talent scout and recommended Hewitt for her role in "Party of Five".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: After moving to Los Angeles, Hewitt appeared in more than twenty television commercials, including some for Mattel toys. Her first break came as a child actress on the Disney Channel variety show "Kids Incorporated" (1989–1991), which earned her, as a member of the cast, three Young Artist Award nominations. In 1992, she appeared in the live action video short "Dance! Workout with Barbie" (1992), which was released by Buena Vista, and obtained her first feature film role in the independent production "Munchie", in which she played Andrea, the love interest of a bullied young boy. A year later, she had her first starring role in "Little Miss Millions", as a wealthy nine-year old who runs away from her stepmother to find her real mother, and appeared as a choir member in "". Hewitt played Pierce Brosnan's daughter in a pilot for NBC called "Running Wilde" (1993), which featured Brosnan as a reporter for "Auto World" magazine, whose stories cover his own wild auto adventures, but the series was not picked up and the pilot never aired. Hewitt later had roles in several short-lived television series, such as Fox's "Shaky Ground" (1992–1993), ABC's "The Byrds of Paradise" (1994), and "McKenna" (1994–95).


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt rose to teen idol status after landing the role of Sarah Reeves Merrin on the popular Fox show "Party of Five" (1995–99). Originally cast for a nine-episode arc in season two, reception from producers and audiences was so positive that she became a series regular, continuing to play the character until the show's sixth and final season. Co-creator Amy Lippman once stated: "She was a crazy professional. You didn't have to ask yourself, ‘I don't know if she'll be able to work up a head of steam here, I don't know if she'll be able to cry.' She wasn't running to her trailer [between takes] to smoke cigarettes or play with a toy poodle. She was reading material and trying to plot her career". For her performance, Hewitt garnered nominations for a Kids' Choice Award, a Teen Choice Award and a YoungStar Award.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt became a film star with the release of the horror film "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997), in which she starred opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze, Jr, portraying Julie James, the final girl. She was cast in the role based on her "ability to project vulnerability," which the producers, director Jim Gillespie, and writer Kevin Williamson unanimously agreed upon. While the film received mixed reviews, an "Entertainment Weekly" columnist praised Hewitt's performance, noting that she knows how to "scream with soul". Budgeted at US$17million, the movie made US$125million globally. For her role, she received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film — Leading Young Actress and the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Female Newcomer. She appeared in the sequel "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" (1998), which, though not as successful as the first film, took in more money on its opening weekend.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt starred as Amanda Beckett, the most popular girl in school and the senior class prom queen, in the teen comedy "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998). Critic James Berardinelli asserted that Hewitt was "so likable that it's hard not to have at least a minor rooting interest" in her character, and with a US$25.6 million gross at the North American domestic box office, the film emerged as a moderate commercial success. "Telling You", another 1998 teen comedy, featured Hewitt as the annoyingly sweet ex-girlfriend of a college student working in a pizza joint. In 1999, she played a record company executive in the independent comedy "The Suburbans" and starred in and produced "Time of Your Life", a "Party of Five" spin-off following her character as she moved to New York City to learn more about her biological parents. Despite Hewitt's popularity at the time, the show received a lackluster viewership and was cancelled after only half the season had aired.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In "The Audrey Hepburn Story" (2000), a biographical drama television film based on the life of actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, Hewitt starred as the title role and served as an executive producer. She had been recommended for the role by director Steven Robman, who had previously directed her in "Party of Five". The production aired as a three-hour film on ABC on March 27, 2000, and drew mixed reviews. "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that Hewitt had "guts" to take on the role and called her "excellent at conveying Hepburn's studied modesty", while "The Baltimore Sun" review stated: "What's impossibly wrong with this film is that Hewitt has no physical grace while Hepburn was the very embodiment of it".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in the romantic comedy "Heartbreakers" (2001), playing a mother-daughter team setting up an elaborate con to swindle wealthy men out of their money. Roger Ebert noted that Hewitt "spends the entire film with her treasures on display, maybe as product placement for the Wonderbra", while BBC.com asserted: "Hewitt though, lacks the necessary duplicity for her character and is too patently agreeable to bitch convincingly, ultimately reducing her to eye-candy among the professionals. Still, she has the right cleavage for the role, and there's sure to be legions of men thankful for that alone".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt starred as a genius scientist with aspirations of field work, alongside Jackie Chan, in the action comedy "The Tuxedo" (2002). Robert Koehler of "Variety" noted that Hewitt "has displayed a Chan-like sweetness herself in past roles" and was disappointed that her character is "a haggling, high-strung shrew who's instantly repellent" rather than an amusing sidekick as Chan has had in other Hollywood films. The film made US$104.4 million worldwide. In 2002, she also lent her voice for two direct-to-DVD animated films —"The Hunchback of Notre Dame II" and "The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2004, Hewitt starred as a musician in the romantic fantasy drama "If Only", the love interest of Ebenezer Scrooge in the television film "A Christmas Carol", and Dr. Liz Wilson in the live-action comedy "". With a worldwide gross of US$200 million, "Garfield" became Hewitt's highest-grossing film to date.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt portrayed Melinda Gordon, a woman with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, on the CBS television series "Ghost Whisperer", which ran on CBS for five seasons and 107 episodes, from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. She also served as a producer and directed three episodes, including the 100th episode. In his review for the first season, David Bianculli, of "New York Daily News", wrote: "If [television] really wants a success built around this actress, someone in Hollywood should pay attention to her chameleonic and comedic role in "Heartbreakers", and give her a role that plays to those strengths, instead of something this translucent". Nevertheless, the series emerged as a ratings success and earned Hewitt two Saturn Awards for Best Television Actress. In 2005, she played a happily married English woman in the romantic comedy "The Truth About Love", and a 28-year-old advertising executive more concerned with being a well-known socialite than being a good person in the television film "Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt reprised her role as Dr. Liz Wilson for "" (2006), which, though it did not perform as well as its predecessor, achieved a strong box office gross. Her next film release was the comedy "Shortcut to Happiness", in which she starred as The Devil, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Filmed in NYC in early 2001, the film became an asset in a federal bank fraud trial when investor Jed Barron was convicted of bank fraud while the film was in production. The film was eventually acquired by The Yari Group and was finally released in 2007. In 2008, she made a cameo appearance in the successful action comedy "Tropic Thunder", and reunited with Freddie Prinze Jr. in the animated production "Delgo" which, when released, was a massive box office bomb, taking in only US$694,782 in North America.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2010, Hewitt portrayed a good-hearted barista in the independent drama "Café", and a struggling prostitute in the Lifetime film "The Client List". While a reviewer felt that Hewitt did "a surprisingly credible job of acting seen-it-all exasperated and emotionally mature without once going giggly-girly" in "Café", "Entertainment Weekly"s Ken Tucker felt that the actress was able to sell "The Client List" to the audiences due to her "talent for communicating sincerity and charm". She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for the latter.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt starred as a journalist, opposite Betty White, in the Hallmark Hall of Fame film "The Lost Valentine" (2011). While reviewers unanimously praised White's performance, "Variety" wrote: "The same can hardly be said of Hewitt, who —in her current TV movie phase— was put to better use as a mom turned hooker in Lifetime's "The Client List". With 14.53 million viewers, the film won its time period and represented the most-watched Hallmark movie in four years.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2012, Hewitt starred as the love interest of a gentile pretending to be Jewish, alongside Ivan Sergei and Joel David Moore in the independent comedy "Jewtopia", and played an erotic massagist in the television series "The Client List". Based on the 2010 television film of the same name, the series ran for two seasons and featured Hewitt as a different character in a premise that was slightly different from the film.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Between 2014 and 2015, Hewitt played the regular role of Kate Callahan, an undercover agent who joins the BAU, in the tenth season of "Criminal Minds". She left the series at the end of the season due to her second pregnancy, and decided to take a career hiatus for the next three years. In an interview with "Elle" magazine, Hewitt remarked: “I was looking in the mirror, talking with myself, going, ‘Hey, we started something, remember? We were gonna take a step back. So let's do that.'"


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Beginning in 2018, Hewitt has played Maddie Buckley, an ER nurse working as an 9-1-1 operator after leaving an abusive relationship, on the Fox police procedural "9-1-1". Describing her character, she stated: "Maddie has a toughness to her. But she's also empathetic and sensitive. People will see her composed on the phone, but fully dealing with the pain and anguish of the callers [once she hangs up]".


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt was one of the back-up singers in Martika's number-one single, "Toy Soldiers" (1989). At age 12, Meldac funded the recording of Hewitt's debut studio album, "Love Songs" (1992). The album was released exclusively in Japan, where Hewitt became a pop star. Her explanation for her success in Japan is that the Japanese "love perky music. The poppier the music, the better." She was subsequently signed to Atlantic Records, who released her next two albums —"Let's Go Bang" (1995) and "Jennifer Love Hewitt" (1996). The albums, along with their singles, failed to chart and Atlantic dropped Hewitt, who did not return to the music scene for three years.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt recorded the single "How Do I Deal" (1999) for the "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" soundtrack, which became her first charting single, climbing to No. 59 on the Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Top 40 Mainstream. It reached No. 8 in Australia. She also recorded a cover of the Gloria Gaynor song "I Will Survive", which is featured briefly in the film.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt appeared in the LFO video for "Girl on TV" (1999), a song which band member Rich Cronin band wrote for her while the two were dating. She also appeared in the music video for the Enrique Iglesias song, "Hero" (2001), as the singer's love interest.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2002, Hewitt signed to Jive Records and recorded her fourth studio album, "BareNaked", with singer, songwriter, and producer Meredith Brooks. The first single, "BareNaked" (2002), became her biggest radio hit to date when it peaked at No. 24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, No. 31 on the Adult Top 40 and No. 25 on the Top 40 Mainstream. It climbed to No. 6 in Australia, remaining there for two weeks, and reached No. 33 in the Netherlands. The song later featured in two episodes of "Ghost Whisperer": "The Vanishing" (Season 1, episode 20) and "The Collector" (Season 2, episode 20). The moderate success of the single propelled the album to peak at No. 37 on the "Billboard" 200 and No. 31 in Australia. However, it only remained on the chart for three weeks. The second single, "Can I Go Now" (2003), failed to chart in the US, while managing to peak at No. 8 in the Netherlands and No. 12 in Australia.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Since 2004, Hewitt has remained mostly inactive in the music industry, but she released the compilation albums "Cool with You: The Platinum Collection" (2006) in Asia and "Hey Everybody" (2007) in Brazil. In 2013, she recorded a cover of "I'm a Woman" to promote the second season of "The Client List" and shot a music video for the song, which reached the top ten in the iTunes Music Video chart.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In November 2009, Hewitt made a foray into comic books, when writer Scott Lobdell scripted the five-issue anthology, "Jennifer Love Hewitt's Music Box" (2009–2010), based on Hewitt's ideas. The series was published by IDW Publishing and was collected in a trade paperback.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: She wrote a book titled "The Day I Shot Cupid" (2010), in which she speaks of her experiences with love and dating. While promoting the book during a January 2010, interview on "Lopez Tonight", Hewitt said that there is a chapter in it about "vajazzling" (decorating a woman's pubis with crystals or rhinestones). This became a big internet hit with the video going viral, widespread news coverage and the term "vajazzling" becoming one of the most searched terms on Google the next day. She has since been credited for the popularization of this trend. Helium.com gave the book a positive review, stating: "Jennifer Love Hewitt's book provides some good guidelines for those that need to work on clarifying their relationship desires before trying to establish their relationships". It was commercially successful upon its release, becoming a "New York Times" bestseller within a week.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Regarded as a sex symbol, Hewitt's public "narrative" throughout her career has been that of "the sexy girl next door [or] the MVP of "Maxim"". As noted by "Elle" magazine, it was "bequeathed" to her around the time she turned 18 and starred in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997) and "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998), roles which, along with "Party of Five", "cemented her status as an icon to a whole generation. Every girl wanted to be her, and every boy had a poster of her on his wall". On her public image, she said: "I think when you start [in Hollywood] younger, the narrative takes off without you. And you kind of go, ‘Oh, okay [...] so I'm that person? Great!’ Before I ever knew in my life what 'sexy' was, I was on the sexy list”.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt has appeared in several magazines' lists of the world's most beautiful women. In 2002, she was voted 7th in "FHM"s Sexiest Girls poll, 14th in "Rush"s Sexiest Women list, and 11th in "Stuff"s "102 Sexiest Women in the World". She has ranked 32nd, 20th, 35th, 20th, 6th, and 35th in "Maxim" magazine's Hot 100 Women in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively. Hewitt was identified as the "number one reader choice" on the November 1999 and May 2009 covers of "Maxim". "TV Guide" named her the sexiest woman on television in 2008.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Hewitt graced the February 1997 cover of "Seventeen", and in subsequent years, the list went on to include "Rolling Stone", "Cosmopolitan", "GQ", "CosmoGirl", "Shape", "Health", "Maxim", "FHM", "Vanidades" and "Jane". Hewitt has appeared in numerous print advertisements and commercials for brands such as Victoria Golf, Mrs. Smith, Colonial's Iron Kids Bread, Levi's, Barbie, LA Gear, Chex, Proactiv, Hanes, Neutrogena, Nokia, Jansport and America's Dairy Producers. In 2000, Hewitt was named the "most popular actress on television", as her Q Score — the industry's measure of celebrities' likability — was 37, and in 2008, she ranked as 96th on the annual Celebrity 100 list by "Forbes" magazine, which ranks the most powerful and best-paid celebrities in Hollywood.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: Between the 1990s and the 2000s, Hewitt dated several high-profile figures, including Joey Lawrence, Will Friedle, Carson Daly, Rich Cronin, Patrick Wilson, John Mayer and Jamie Kennedy.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2005, Hewitt began dating Scottish actor Ross McCall after he made an appearance on "Ghost Whisperer". They became engaged in November 2007, while vacationing in Hawaii. "People" magazine reported that Hewitt called off their engagement in late 2008.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In June 2013, Hewitt announced that she was engaged and expecting her first child with co-star, Brian Hallisay. On November 20, 2013, Hewitt and Hallisay married. Their daughter, Autumn James, was born a few days later in November 2013. In June 2015, the couple had a boy, Atticus James. In September 2021, Hewitt and Hallisay welcomed their third child, a son named Aidan James.


title: Jennifer Love Hewitt

text: In 2002, at the Grammy Awards, Diana Napolis, a conspiracy theorist and former social worker, "verbally confront[ed]" Hewitt and attempted to pose as a friend of hers in order to enter the premiere of "The Tuxedo"; she was then arrested for stalking and uttering death threats against Hewitt and Steven Spielberg. Napolis was charged with six felonies related to the incidents. After a year of involuntary commitment, Napolis pleaded guilty and was released on probation with a condition that she was barred from any contact with both Spielberg and Hewitt.


title: Idi Amin

text: Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin was born in Koboko in what is now northwest Uganda to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of major and being appointed commander of the Uganda Army in 1965. He became aware that Ugandan President Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he launched the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état and declared himself president.


title: Idi Amin

text: During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1972, Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime. In 1975, Amin became the chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), a Pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity among African states. Uganda was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1977 to 1979. The UK broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title for "Conqueror of the British Empire".


title: Idi Amin

text: As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for the terrorist hijackers in Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978. The Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere ordered his troops to invade Uganda in response. Tanzanian Army and rebel forces successfully captured Kampala in 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin's rule was characterised by rampant human rights abuses, including political repression, ethnic persecution and extrajudicial killings, as well as nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin did not write an autobiography, and he did not authorize an official written account of his life. There are discrepancies regarding when and where he was born. Most biographical sources claim that he was born in either Koboko or Kampala around 1925. Other unconfirmed sources state Amin's year of birth from as early as 1923 to as late as 1928. Amin's son Hussein has stated that his father was born in Kampala in 1928.


title: Idi Amin

text: According to Fred Guweddeko, a researcher at Makerere University, Amin was the son of Andreas Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire, a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada. He named his first-born son after himself. Abandoned by his father at a young age, Idi Amin grew up with his mother's family in a rural farming town in north-western Uganda. Guweddeko states that Amin's mother was Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic Lugbara and a traditional herbalist who treated members of Buganda royalty, among others. Some sources have also described Amin as being of mixed Kakwa-Nubian origin.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin joined an Islamic school in Bombo in 1941. After a few years, he left school with only a fourth-grade English-language education, and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin joined the British King's African Rifles (KAR) in 1946 as an assistant cook, while at the same time receiving military training until 1947. In later life he falsely claimed to have served in the Burma Campaign of World War II. He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947, and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya Colony until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to northern Kenya to fight against Somali rebels. In 1952, his brigade was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.


title: Idi Amin

text: In 1959, Amin was made "afande" class 2 (Warrant Officer), the highest rank possible for a black African in the colonial British military of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year and received a short-service commission as a lieutenant on 15 July 1961, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers. He was assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads. According to researcher Holger Bernt Hansen, Amin's outlook, behaviour and strategies of communication were strongly influenced by his experiences in the colonial military. This included his direct and hands-on leadership style which would eventually contribute to his popularity among certain parts of Ugandan society.


title: Idi Amin

text: In 1962, following Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom, Amin was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major. He was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army in 1964 and, the following year, to Commander of the Army. In 1970, he was promoted to commander of all the armed forces.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin was an athlete during his time in both the British and Uganda Army. At tall and powerfully built, he was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, as well as a swimmer. Amin was also a formidable rugby forward, although one officer said of him: "Idi Amin is a splendid type and a good (rugby) player, but virtually bone from the neck up, and needs things explained in words of one letter". In the 1950s, he played for Nile RFC.


title: Idi Amin

text: There is a frequently repeated urban myth that he was selected as a replacement by the East Africa rugby union team for their 1955 tour match against the British Lions. Amin, however, does not appear in the team photograph or on the official team list. Following conversations with a colleague in the military, Amin became a keen fan of Hayes F.C.; an affection that remained for the rest of his life.


title: Idi Amin

text: In 1965, Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal, as later alleged by General Nicholas Olenga, an associate of the former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, was part of an arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government trade ivory and gold for arms supplies secretly smuggled to them by Amin. In 1966, the Ugandan Parliament demanded an investigation. Obote imposed a new constitution abolishing the ceremonial presidency held by Kabaka (King) Mutesa II of Buganda, and declared himself executive president. He promoted Amin to colonel and army commander. Amin led an attack on the Kabaka's palace and forced Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara, South Sudanese, and other ethnic groups from the West Nile area bordering South Sudan. The South Sudanese had been residents in Uganda since the early 20th century, having come from South Sudan to serve the colonial army. Many African ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and South Sudan; allegations persist that Amin's army consisted mainly of South Sudanese soldiers.


title: Idi Amin

text: Eventually a rift developed between Amin and Obote, exacerbated by the support Amin had built within the Uganda Army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support the rebellion in southern Sudan and an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote took control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his months-old post of commander of all the armed forces to that of the commander of the Uganda Army.


title: Idi Amin

text: Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed off Entebbe International Airport and took Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked major roads. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the Lango region. Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast. Amin, who presented himself a soldier, not a politician, declared that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be held when the situation was normalised. He promised to release all political prisoners.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin held a state funeral in April 1971 for Edward Mutesa, former king ("kabaka") of Buganda and president who had died in exile; freed many political prisoners; and reiterated his promise to hold free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule in the shortest period possible.


title: Idi Amin

text: On 2 February 1971, one week after the coup, Amin declared himself President of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Uganda Army Chief of Staff, and Chief of Air Staff. He suspended certain provisions of the Ugandan constitution, and soon instituted an Advisory Defence Council composed of military officers with himself as the chairman. Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top government posts and government-owned corporations, and informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military courtesy. Amin ruled by decree; over the course of his rule he issued approximately 30 decrees.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House to "The Command Post". He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at the Kampala suburb of Nakasero became the scene of torture and capital punishment over the next few years. Other agencies used to persecute dissenters included the military police and the Public Safety Unit (PSU).


title: Idi Amin

text: Obote took refuge in Tanzania, having been offered sanctuary there by the Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. Obote was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. The exiles attempted but failed to regain Uganda in 1972, through a poorly organised coup attempt.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972, by purging the Uganda Army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara barracks. By early 1972, some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians, had disappeared. The victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, artists, senior bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects, and foreign nationals. In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal motives or simply at will. Bodies were often dumped into the River Nile.


title: Idi Amin

text: The killings, motivated by ethnic, political, and financial factors, continued throughout Amin's eight years in control. The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at no fewer than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate compiled by exile organisations with the help of Amnesty International puts the number killed at 500,000.


title: Idi Amin

text: Among the most prominent people killed were Benedicto Kiwanuka, a former prime minister and chief justice; Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop; Joseph Mubiru, the former governor of the central bank of Uganda; Frank Kalimuzo, the vice-chancellor of Makerere University; Byron Kawadwa, a prominent playwright; and two of Amin's own cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin recruited his followers from his own ethnic group, the Kakwas, along with South Sudanese. By 1977, these three groups formed 60 percent of the 22 top generals and 75 percent of the cabinet. Similarly, Muslims formed 80 percent and 87.5 percent of these groups even though they were only 5 percent of the population. This helps explain why Amin survived eight attempted coups. The Uganda Army grew from 10,000 to 25,000 by 1978. Amin's military was largely a mercenary force. Half the soldiers were South Sudanese and 26 percent Congolese, with only 24 percent being Ugandan, mostly Muslim and Kakwa.


title: Idi Amin

text: In August 1972, Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly from the Indian subcontinent and born in the country, their ancestors having come to Uganda in search of prosperity when India was still a British colony. Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, which formed the backbone of the Ugandan economy.


title: Idi Amin

text: On 4 August 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 50,000 Asians who were British passport holders. This was later amended to include all 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens. Around 30,000 Ugandan Asians emigrated to the UK. Others went to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, South Africa, Canada, and Fiji, or to India, Kenya, Pakistan, Sweden, Tanzania, and the United States. Amin expropriated businesses and properties belonging to the Asians and the Europeans and handed them over to his supporters. Without the experienced owners and proprietors, businesses were mismanaged and many industries collapsed from lack of operational expertise and maintenance. This proved disastrous for the already declining Ugandan economy. At the time, Asians accounted for 90% of the country's tax revenue; with their removal, Amin's administration lost a large chunk of government revenue. The economy all but collapsed.


title: Idi Amin

text: In 1975, Emmanuel Blayo Wakhweya, Idi Amin's finance minister and longest-serving cabinet member at the time, defected to London. This prominent defection helped Henry Kyemba, Amin's health minister and a former official of the first Obote regime, to defect in 1977 and resettle in the UK. Kyemba wrote and published "A State of Blood", the first insider exposé of Amin's rule.


title: Idi Amin

text: Initially, Amin was supported by Western powers such as Israel, West Germany, and, in particular, Great Britain. During the late 1960s, Obote's move to the left, which included his Common Man's Charter and the nationalisation of 80 British companies, had made the West worried that he would pose a threat to Western capitalist interests in Africa and make Uganda an ally of the Soviet Union. Amin, who had served with the King's African Rifles and taken part in Britain's suppression of the Mau Mau uprising prior to Ugandan independence, was known by the British as "intensely loyal to Britain". This made him an obvious choice as Obote's successor. Although some have claimed that Amin was being groomed for power as early as 1966, the plotting by the British and other Western powers began in earnest in 1969, after Obote had begun his nationalisation programme.


title: Idi Amin

text: Throughout the first year of his presidency, Amin received key military and financial support from the United Kingdom and Israel. In July 1971 he visited both countries and asked for advanced military equipment, but the states refused to provide hardware unless the Ugandan government paid for it. Amin decided to seek foreign support elsewhere and in February 1972 he visited Libya. Amin denounced Zionism, and in return Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged Uganda an immediate $25 million loan to be followed by more lending from the Libyan–Ugandan Development Bank. Over the following months Amin successively removed Israeli military advisers from his government, expelled all other Israeli technicians, and finally broke diplomatic relations. Gaddafi also mediated a resolution to long-standing Ugandan–Sudanese tensions, with Amin agreeing to stop backing Anyanya rebels in southern Sudan and instead recruit the former guerilla fighters into his army.


title: Idi Amin

text: Following the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972, most of whom were of Indian descent, India severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. The same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin broke diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom and nationalised all British-owned businesses. The United Kingdom and Israel ceased all trade with Uganda, but this commercial gap was quickly filled by Libya, the United States, and the Soviet Union.


title: Idi Amin

text: The Soviet Union grew interested in Uganda as a strategic counterbalance to perceived Chinese influence in Tanzania and Western influence in Kenya. It dispatched a military mission to Uganda in November 1973. While it could not supply the financial level available from the Western powers, the Soviet Union opted to provide Amin with military hardware in exchange for his support. The Soviet Union quickly became Amin's largest arms supplier, sending Uganda tanks, jets, artillery, missiles, and small arms. By 1975, it was estimated that the Soviets had provided Amin's government with $12 million in economic assistance and $48 million in arms. Amin also sent several thousand Ugandans to Eastern Bloc countries for military, intelligence, and technical training, especially Czechoslovakia. East Germany was involved in the General Service Unit and the State Research Bureau, the two agencies that were most notorious for terror. Later during the Ugandan invasion of Tanzania in 1979, East Germany attempted to remove evidence of its involvement with these agencies.


title: Idi Amin

text: In June 1976, Amin allowed an Air France airliner from Tel Aviv to Paris hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two members of the German Revolutionäre Zellen to land at Entebbe Airport. The hijackers were joined there by three more. Soon after, 156 non-Jewish hostages who did not hold Israeli passports were released and flown to safety, while 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 others who refused to abandon them (among whom were the captain and crew of the hijacked Air France jet), continued to be held hostage. In the subsequent Israeli rescue operation, codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (popularly known as Operation Entebbe), on the night of 3–4 July 1976, a group of Israeli commandos flew in from Israel and seized control of Entebbe Airport, freeing nearly all the hostages. Three hostages died during the operation and 10 were wounded; 7 hijackers, about 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 1 Israeli soldier, Yoni Netanyahu (the commander of the unit), were killed. A fourth hostage, 75-year-old Dora Bloch, an elderly Jewish Englishwoman who had been taken to Mulago Hospital in Kampala before the rescue operation, was subsequently murdered in reprisal. The incident further soured Uganda's international relations, leading the United Kingdom to close its High Commission in Uganda. In retaliation for Kenya's assistance in the raid, Amin also ordered the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda.


title: Idi Amin

text: Uganda under Amin embarked on a large military build-up, which raised concerns in Kenya. Early in June 1975, Kenyan officials impounded a large convoy of Soviet-made arms "en route" to Uganda at the port of Mombasa. Tension between Uganda and Kenya reached its climax in February 1976, when Amin announced that he would investigate the possibility that parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, up to within of Nairobi, were historically a part of colonial Uganda. The Kenyan Government responded with a stern statement that Kenya would not part with "a single inch of territory". Amin backed down after the Kenyan army deployed troops and armoured personnel carriers along the Kenya–Uganda border. Amin's relations with Rwanda were tense, and during his tenure he repeatedly jeopardized its economy by denying its commercial vehicles transit to Mombasa and made multiple threats to bomb Kigali.


title: Idi Amin

text: In January 1977 Amin appointed General Mustafa Adrisi Vice President of Uganda. That year, a split in the Uganda Army developed between supporters of Amin and soldiers loyal to Adrisi, who held significant power in the government and wanted to purge foreigners, particularly Sudanese, from the military. The growing dissatisfaction in the Uganda Army was reflected by frequent coup attempts; Amin was even wounded during one of them, namely Operation Mafuta Mingi in June 1977. By 1978, the number of Amin's supporters and close associates had shrunk significantly, and he faced increasing dissent from the populace within Uganda as the economy and infrastructure collapsed as a result of the years of neglect and abuse. After the killings of Bishop Luwum and ministers Oryema and Oboth Ofumbi in 1977, several of Amin's ministers defected or fled into exile. In early 1978, Adrisi was severely injured in a car accident and flown to Cairo for treatment. While he was there, Amin stripped him of his positions as Minister of Defence and Minister of Home Affairs and denounced him for retiring senior prison officials without his knowledge. Amin then proceeded to purge several high-ranking officials from his government and took personal control of several ministerial portfolios. The shakeup caused political unrest and especially angered Adrisi's followers, who believed that the car accident was a failed assassination attempt.


title: Idi Amin

text: In November 1978, troops loyal to Adrisi mutinied. Amin sent troops against the mutineers, some of whom had fled across the Tanzanian border. Fighting consequently broke out along the Ugandan–Tanzanian border, and the Uganda Army launched an invasion of Tanzanian territory under unclear circumstances. According to several experts and politicians, Amin directly ordered the invasion in an attempt to distract the Ugandan military and public from the crisis at home. Other accounts suggest, however, that Amin had lost control of parts of the Uganda Army. Accordingly, the invading troops acted without his orders, and Amin sanctioned the invasion "post facto" to save face. In any case, Amin accused Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere of initiating the war against Uganda after the hostilities had erupted, and proclaimed the annexation of a section of Kagera when the Ugandan invasion initially proved to be successful. However, as Tanzania began to prepare a counter-offensive, Amin reportedly realised his precarious situation, and attempted to defuse the conflict without losing face. The Ugandan President publicly suggested that he and Nyerere participate in a boxing match which, in lieu of military action, would determine the outcome of the conflict. Nyerere ignored the message.


title: Idi Amin

text: In January 1979, Nyerere mobilised the Tanzania People's Defence Force and counterattacked, joined by several groups of Ugandan exiles who had united as the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Amin's army retreated steadily, despite military help from Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The President reportedly made several trips abroad to other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq during the war, attempting to enlist more foreign support. He made few public appearances in the final months of his rule, but spoke frequently on radio and television. Following a major defeat in the Battle of Lukaya, parts of the Uganda Army command reportedly urged Amin to step down. He angrily refused, and declared: "If you don't want to fight, I'll do it myself." He consequently fired chief of staff Yusuf Gowon. However, Amin was forced to flee the Ugandan capital by helicopter on 11 April 1979, when Kampala was captured. After a short-lived attempt to rally some remnants of the Uganda Army in eastern Uganda which reportedly included Amin proclaiming the city of Jinja his country's new capital, he fled into exile. Amin first escaped to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed him sanctuary and paid him a generous subsidy in return for staying out of politics. Amin lived for a number of years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel on Palestine Road in Jeddah. Brian Barron, who covered the Uganda–Tanzania War for the BBC as chief Africa correspondent, together with cameraman Mohamed Amin (no relation) of Visnews in Nairobi, located Amin in 1980, and secured the first interview with him since his deposition. While in exile, Amin funded remnants of his army that fought in the Ugandan Bush War. Though he continued to be a controversial figure, some of Amin's former followers as well as several rebel groups continued to fight in his name for decades, and occasionally advocated for his amnesty and even his restoration to Ugandan Presidency. During interviews he gave during his exile in Saudi Arabia, Amin held that Uganda needed him, and never expressed remorse for the brutal nature of his regime.


title: Idi Amin

text: In 1989, Amin left his exile without authorization by the Saudi Arabian government, and flew alongside one of his sons to Zaire. There, he intended to mobilize a rebel force to reconquer Uganda which was engulfed in another civil war at the time. The rest of his family stayed in Jeddah. Despite using a false Zairean passport, Amin was easily recognized upon arriving with Air Zaïre at N'djili Airport, and promptly arrested by Zairean security forces. The Zairean government reacted unfavourably to Amin's arrival, and attempted to expel him from the country. At first, Saudi Arabia refused to allow him to return, as its government was deeply offended that he had "abused their hospitality" by leaving without permission. The Zairean government wanted neither to extradite Amin to Uganda where the ex-president faced murder charges nor keep him in Zaire, thereby straining international relations. As a result, Amin was initially expelled to Senegal from where he was supposed to be sent to Saudi Arabia, but the Senegalese government sent him back to Zaire when Saudi Arabia continued to refuse Amin a visa. Following appeals by Moroccan King Hassan II, the Saudi Arabian leadership finally relented and allowed Amin to return. In return, Amin had to promise to never again participate in any political or military activities or give interviews. He consequently spent the remainder of his life peacefully and quietly in Saudi Arabia.


title: Idi Amin

text: In the final years of his life, Amin reportedly ate a fruitarian diet. His daily consumption of oranges earned him the nickname "Dr Jaffa" among Saudi Arabians.


title: Idi Amin

text: On 19 July 2003, Amin's fourth wife, Nalongo Madina, reported that he was in a coma and near death at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure. She pleaded with the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life. Museveni replied that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back". Amin's family eventually decided to disconnect life support, and Amin consequently died at the hospital in Jeddah on 16 August 2003. He was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah in a simple grave, without any fanfare.


title: Idi Amin

text: After Amin's death, David Owen revealed that during his term as the British Foreign Secretary (1977 to 1979), he had proposed having Amin assassinated. He has defended this, arguing: "I'm not ashamed of considering it, because his regime goes down in the scale of Pol Pot as one of the worst of all African regimes".


title: Idi Amin

text: A polygamist, Idi Amin married at least six women, three of whom he divorced. He married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966. In 1967, he married Nora, and then married Nalongo Madina in 1972. On 26 March 1974, he announced on Radio Uganda that he had divorced Malyamu, Nora, and Kay. Malyamu was arrested in Tororo on the Kenyan border in April 1974 and accused of attempting to smuggle a bolt of fabric into Kenya. In 1974, Kay Amin died under mysterious circumstances, with her body found dismembered. Nora fled to Zaire in 1979; her current whereabouts are unknown.


title: Idi Amin

text: In July 1975, Amin staged a £2 million wedding to 19-year-old Sarah Kyolaba, a go-go dancer with the "Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band", nicknamed "Suicide Sarah". The wedding was held during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting in Kampala, and the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat served as Amin's best man. Before she met Amin, Sarah was living with a boyfriend, Jesse Gitta; he vanished and it is not clear if he was beheaded, or detained after fleeing to Kenya. The couple had four children and enjoyed rally race driving Amin's Citroën SM, with Sarah as navigator. Sarah was a hairdresser in Tottenham when she died in 2015.


title: Idi Amin

text: By 1993, Amin was living with the last nine of his children and one wife, Mama a Chumaru, the mother of the youngest four of his children. His last known child, daughter Iman, was born in 1992. According to "The Monitor", Amin married again a few months before his death in 2003.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin fathered as many as 60 children. Until 2003, Taban Amin (born 1955), Idi Amin's eldest son, was the leader of West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), a rebel group opposed to the government of Yoweri Museveni. In 2005, he was offered amnesty by Museveni, and in 2006, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organisation. Another of Amin's sons, Haji Ali Amin, ran for election as Chairman (i.e. mayor) of Njeru Town Council in 2002 but was not elected. In early 2007, the award-winning film "The Last King of Scotland" prompted one of his sons, Jaffar Amin (born in 1967), to speak out in his father's defence. Jaffar Amin said he was writing a book to rehabilitate his father's reputation. Jaffar is the tenth of Amin's 40 official children by seven official wives.


title: Idi Amin

text: Among Amin's closest associates was the Briton Bob Astles. Isaac Maliyamungu was an instrumental affiliate and one of the more feared officers in Amin's army.


title: Idi Amin

text: As the years progressed, Amin's behaviour became more erratic, unpredictable, and strident. After the United Kingdom broke off all diplomatic relations with his regime in 1977, Amin declared that he had defeated the British, and he conferred on himself the decoration of CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire). His full self-bestowed title ultimately became: "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular", in addition to his officially stated claim of being the uncrowned king of Scotland. He never received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) or the Military Cross (MC). He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University as well as the Victorious Cross (VC), a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin became the subject of rumours, including a widespread belief that he was a cannibal. Amin reportedly also boasted that he kept the decapitated heads of political enemies in his freezer, although he said that human flesh was generally "too salty" for his taste.


title: Idi Amin

text: During Amin's time in power, popular media outside of Uganda often portrayed him as an essentially comic and eccentric figure. Julius Harris emphasized Amin's allegedly clownish side in "Victory at Entebbe", while Yaphet Kotto drew more praise for projecting Amin's sinister nature in "Raid on Entebbe". In a 1977 assessment typical of the time, a "Time" magazine article described him as a "killer and clown, big-hearted buffoon and strutting martinet". The comedy-variety series "Saturday Night Live" aired four Amin sketches between 1976 and 1979, including one in which he was an ill-behaved houseguest in exile, and another in which he was a spokesman against venereal disease. In 1979, radio host Don Imus made multiple on-air telephone calls in an attempt to talk to Amin, and later hosted a phony interview with him that was deemed "very dirty." In a "Benny Hill Show" episode transmitted in January 1977, Hill portrayed Amin sitting behind a desk that featured a placard reading "ME TARZAN, U GANDA".


title: Idi Amin

text: The foreign media were often criticised by Ugandan exiles and defectors for emphasising Amin's self-aggrandizing eccentricities and taste for excess while downplaying or excusing his murderous behaviour. Other commentators even suggested that Amin had deliberately cultivated his eccentric reputation in the foreign media as an easily parodied buffoon in order to defuse international concern over his administration of Uganda. Ugandan soldier and rebel Patrick Kimumwe argued that Amin's "clowning conceal[ed] a ruthless extinction of human rights" in Uganda. Journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey wrote, "facile explanations of Amin's regime, as either a one-man show or a lawless and ruthless band of killers, do not get at the heart of the power structure."


title: Idi Amin

text: Gender historian Alicia Decker wrote that the "deeply embedded culture of militarism in Uganda is undoubtedly Amin's most enduring legacy." His reputation in Uganda has been viewed over the decades following his rule in more complex ways than in the international community. Some Ugandans have praised him as a "patriot" and supported his decision to expel Asians from the country. At the time of his death, he was particularly well-regarded in north-western Uganda. One of Amin's sons, Jaffar Remo, criticised the negative public perception of his father and called for a commission to investigate the veracity of the abuses committed under his rule.


title: Idi Amin

text: "Rise and Fall of Idi Amin" (1981) is a Kenyan film that details the history of Idi Amin's reign. This film popularized many rumors about Amin's brutality, such as his alleged mutilation of one of his wives. Amin is played by Joseph Olita, who reprised this role in "Mississippi Masala" (1991), a film about romance between African and Asian-Americans following Amin's 1972 expulsion of Asians from Uganda.


title: Idi Amin

text: Amin is the subject of English journalist Giles Foden's book "The Last King of Scotland" (1998), which focuses on Idi Amin's Uganda through the eyes of a Scottish medical student. "The Last King of Scotland" (2006) was adapted into a movie, where Amin is portrayed by Forest Whitaker. Whittaker won the best leading actor award for this role at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actor's Guild Award, and the BAFTAs.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The Flash is an American superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns, airing on The CW. It is based on the Barry Allen incarnation of DC Comics character the Flash, a costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to move at superhuman speeds. It is a spin-off of "Arrow", existing in the same fictional universe known as the Arrowverse. The series follows Barry Allen, portrayed by Grant Gustin, a crime scene investigator who gains super-human speed, which he uses to fight criminals, including others who have also gained superhuman abilities.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: Initially envisioned as a backdoor pilot, the positive reception Gustin received during two appearances as Barry on "Arrow" led to executives choosing to develop a full pilot to make use of a larger budget and help flesh out Barry's world in more detail. The series is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: "The Flash" premiered in North America on October 7, 2014, where the pilot became the second-most watched premiere in the history of The CW, after "The Vampire Diaries" in 2009. It has been well received by critics and audiences, and won the People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Drama" in 2014. The series, together with "Arrow", has spun characters out to their own show, "Legends of Tomorrow", which premiered on January 21, 2016. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a ninth and final season which is set to premiere on February 8, 2023.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The first season follows crime-scene investigator Barry Allen who gains super-human speed after the explosion of the S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator which he uses to fight crime and hunt other metahumans in Central City as the Flash, a masked superhero. Barry eventually discovers that his mentor Harrison Wells is actually Eobard Thawne, his archenemy from the future who murdered his mother Nora Allen when he was a child. By the end of the season, Eobard's ancestor Eddie sacrifices himself to erase Eobard from existence only to open a singularity in the process.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In the second season, the singularity brings speedster Zoom from a parallel universe of Earth-2, who seeks to eliminate all other speedsters in the multiverse where Barry meets his father Henry Allen's Earth-3 counterpart Jay Garrick. After Zoom kills Barry's father, Barry defeats Zoom and travels back in time to save his mother's life.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In the third season, Barry creates the alternate timeline "Flashpoint" following his decision to change his past. He is somewhat able to restore the timeline, but causes the emergence of Savitar, a god-like speedster with a grudge against Barry. When Barry accidentally travels to the future and sees Iris West killed by Savitar, he becomes desperate to change the future to prevent that from happening. After saving Iris and defeating Savitar, Barry takes his place in the Speed Force in order to repent for his creation of Flashpoint.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The fourth season sees Team Flash successfully bring Barry back from the Speed Force, but in the process release dark matter that turns a dozen people on a city bus into metahumans, masterminded by Clifford DeVoe, an adversary with the fastest mind alive. After the defeat of DeVoe, the team is approached by Barry and Iris' daughter from the future Nora West-Allen.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: During the fifth season, the team discover that Nora's presence has altered the timeline and unleashed Cicada, a serial killer bent on killing metahumans, as well as the aftermath of thwarting Thinker's plot causing ordinary items to be imbued with dark matter that turns them into Meta-Tech. They also eventually learn of her allegiance with an imprisoned Eobard, who orchestrated Nora's arrival and previously trained her when it came to her fight with Godspeed. Barry and Nora succeed in subduing an escaped Eobard, but are forced to let him go and Nora is erased from the timeline.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In the sixth season, Barry and Iris learn that the date of the crisis in which Barry disappears has moved up to December 2019, and that in order to save billions, the Flash must die. Meanwhile, Ramsey Rosso has discovered a way to cure people through dark matter, only to turn himself into a metahuman with a violent bloodthirst. Following Rosso's defeat, Barry surviving Crisis, and the multiverse's destruction and rebirth, Team Flash try to navigate the world post-Crisis all while the secret organization Black Hole and quantum engineer Eva McCulloch, who is trapped in a dimension called the Mirror Dimension, move forward with their mysterious plans. Eva captures Iris and Kamila and later Captain Singh and imprisons them in her Mirror Dimension using their mirror versions to fight Team Flash.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In the seventh season, Team Flash continues their fight against Eva as they successfully create a new Speed Force while Iris continues to search for a way out of the Mirror Dimension. As a side effect of Eva's attacks, Caitlin and Frost are separated into different bodies. Afterwards, Team Flash must contend with the other forces created from the Speed Force's rebirth like the Strength Force, the Sage Force, and the Still Force. Fuerza becomes the avatar of the Strength force, Psych becomes the avatar of the Sage Force, and Deon Owen becomes the avatar of the Still Force. Afterwards, Team Flash gets caught up in a war between the different Godspeed drones who are looking for August Heart. Barry is reunited with his future daughter Nora and meets his future son Bart Allen. With the Speed Force tapping into the Negative Speed Force, Thawne is restored to help fight Godspeed when he regains his memory. While Godspeed is defeated, Thawne gets away vowing to become faster than Barry.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The eighth season starts with the five-part event "Armageddon", where Barry is targeted by Despero, who claims that Barry was running at a speed that destroys the Earth from Despero's point in the future. As Barry persuades Despero to give him seven days to prove him wrong, he starts to suffer from memory issues where he can't remember causing havoc in Central City or Joe West somehow dying six months ago, later revealed to be due to Thawne creating a "Reverse-Flashpoint", where he was Flash and Barry was Reverse-Flash. With help from the Damien Darhk of the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline, Barry is able to restore the timeline and prevent Joe's death. After Barry undid Reverse-Flashpoint, Thawne and Dahrk were revealed to still be alive, but fading away. Thawne asks Barry to save him or else he'd be erased from the timeline; Barry ultimately decides to save him by removing his speed and connection to the Negative Speed Force while also repelling Despero. After this, Team Flash deals with the birth of Deathstorm, whose eventual defeat comes at the cost of Frost's life. Barry also encounters Meena Dhawan, who has also gained super-speed with help from a revived time remnant of Thawne. They then deal with an infection to the Still Force caused by negative tachyons as it kills the imprisoned Thawne. This infection also created the negative versions of the Strength Force, the Sage Force, and the Still Force. The Negative Forces use Iris to revive Thawne in his time remnant's body, but are then defeated, with Thawne being removed from the timeline entirely.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On July 30, 2013, it was announced that "Arrow" co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, "Arrow" pilot director David Nutter, and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns would develop a television series based on the Flash for The CW, and it would detail Barry Allen's origin. Kreisberg revealed after the announcement that Allen would first appear as a recurring character on "Arrow" in three episodes of season two—all written by Berlanti, Kreisberg and Johns—and the last of the episodes would act as a backdoor pilot for the new show. Kreisberg added that Allen would be a forensic scientist and the introduction of his superpowers, as well as the reactions to this, will be very human and grounded. Johns stated that the character of the Flash in the show would resemble his comic book counterpart, complete with his trademark red costume, and not be a poor imitation. Kreisberg elaborated: "No sweat suits or strange code names; he "will be" The Flash." While researching the best way to depict the Flash's lightning speed, Johns stated it would not just be the standard "blurring around".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: Barry ultimately appeared twice in "Arrow" second season, with the planned backdoor pilot cancelled in favor of a traditional pilot by The CW executives, who had been impressed by early cuts of Barry's first two episodes on "Arrow". This allowed the creative team to flesh out Barry's story and his world on a bigger budget, as opposed to a backdoor pilot's constraint of incorporating characters from the parent show. The pilot was officially ordered on January 29, 2014, and was written by Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Johns, and directed by Nutter. On May 8, 2014, "The Flash" was officially picked up as a series, with an initial order of 13 episodes. Three more scripts were ordered in September 2014 following a positive response to newly completed episodes by executives, while a back ten was ordered the next month for a full 23-episode season.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: With the commencement of production on the series' second season, former "Arrow" and "Ugly Betty" writer Gabrielle Stanton was promoted to executive producer and showrunner; after having served as consulting producer and writer on the first season's finale "Fast Enough". However, it was later reported that Kreisberg would be returning to sole showrunner duties at an unspecified time. That time was later proved to be at the start of 2016, "Potential Energy", when Stanton was no longer credited as being involved with the show. In May 2017, it was reported that Aaron Helbing would be departing the series. Helbing had served as a writer since the first season, and as co-showrunner, along with his brother Todd and Kreisberg, since the second. In 2019, Todd departed as showrunner, and Eric Wallace, who had been co-executive producer since the fourth season, was promoted to the sole showrunner, effective from season six.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season, which premiered on October 9, 2018. On January 31, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a sixth season, which premiered on October 8, 2019. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a seventh season, which premiered on March 2, 2021. In April 2020, Gustin, who had been contracted for seven seasons, said there had been discussions about renewing the series through a ninth season, but those were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On February 3, 2021, the series was renewed for an eighth season which premiered on November 16, 2021. In late January 2022, Gustin was reported to be renewing his contract for a ninth season. On March 22, 2022, The CW renewed the series for a ninth season. On August 1, 2022, it was announced that the series will be concluding with its upcoming ninth season, and that the season would receive a 13-episode order. The ninth and final season is scheduled to premiere on February 8, 2023.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The costume was designed by Colleen Atwood, who also designed the costumes for "Arrow". It features a burgundy color scheme, a masked helmet, and gold accents throughout, and went through multiple adjustments from the moment it was placed in computer renderings to the day of filming the pilot. Primarily made of leather, the suit contains areas with a stretchable material to allow Gustin room to bend. According to Atwood "It was all about a costume that could sell speed, Grant [Gustin] was continually moving in the suit, so it had to be designed to make that all happen visually and functionally." It initially took Gustin approximately 40 minutes to get into his costume, as the first cowl was prosthetic and had to be zipped and glued to his face. This was cut down to approximately 15 minutes by episode eight, when designers were able to develop a new cowl that easily slid over Gustin's face and locked into place. Maya Mani replaced Atwood as the costume designer for the second season and made slight changes to the Flash costume, such as changing the color of his crest from yellow to white, being faithful to the Flash costume from the comics.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: Production on the pilot began in March 2014, with filming taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia; additional filming for the series takes place in Portland, Oregon. On how action sequences are shot for the series, compared to "Arrow", Gustin said, "When ["Arrow"] shoot[s] action sequences, pretty much what you see is what you get and they're really doing everything. We do a lot of plate shots that are empty shots of the area we're going to be in and then they're putting us in later in post. I do a lot of the fighting. I don't have to do it full speed and then they ramp it up and a lot of people have to freeze and I keep moving. Then I have to clear frame and step back into frame. It's really tedious stuff that we have to do. On theirs, they learn fight choreography and they shoot it from the perfect angles and what you see is what you get." Production on the third season began in early July 2016. On March 13, 2020, production on the sixth season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Season seven began filming in October 2020 and concluded on May 19, 2021.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: "Arrow" composer Blake Neely is the primary composer of the series, and was first hired in April 2014 to score the pilot. He had previously composed a theme for Barry Allen which was featured in "Arrow"s season two episodes "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts". The theme was titled "The Scientist" when it was released on the "Arrow: Season 2" soundtrack. According to Neely, "It had to be different [from "Arrow"]... but it also couldn't be so different that it couldn't fit in the "Arrow" universe... it had to be in a style that could hold hands with "Arrow"." On December 18, 2014, WaterTower Music released a selection of music from "The Flash"/"Arrow" crossover episodes, as well as two bonus tracks from their respective 2014 midseason finales. The first season, two-disc soundtrack was released on October 16, 2015. The second season's soundtrack was released digitally on July 22, 2016, and in CD format on July 26, 2016. Season 3 saw two soundtrack releases. The first was for the episode "Duet", which featured six songs from the episode and a guitar version of the last song "Running Home to You". It was released on March 21, 2017. The overall soundtrack was released on October 10, 2017. The score of the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover released on June 15, 2018, and the season four soundtrack was released on March 15, 2019. The soundtracks for seasons five and six, and of the crossovers "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths", were not released until February 26 and March 5, 2021, ahead of the seventh season's premiere. A soundtrack for the five-episode "Armageddon" event that began the show's eighth season was released on March 4, 2022.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The sound design for the series is handled by Mark Camperell. The sound effect for Barry is made up of elements of thunder, electricity, jets, fireballs, and various custom whooshes and impacts. Speaking about designing the sound for the Flash's ability, Mark says: "My approach for the sounds of the Flash's ability was to editorially treat him like a really aggressively driven hot rod. This doesn't mean that I used car sounds for him, though. What I mean is that when thinking about how to edit his sounds, I thought about it like cutting a car chase."


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: "The Flash" was screened at the Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment panel at San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2014. The series officially premiered on The CW on October 7, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season and also premiered in Canada on the same night. The second episode was screened at New York Comic Con on October 9, 2014, as a way to repay the viewers that watched the series' premiere episode. The series premiered in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 28, 2014, and in Australia on December 3, 2014.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The complete first season was first released on Blu-ray and DVD in Region 1 on September 22, 2015, the second season on September 6, 2016, the third season on September 5, 2017, the fourth season on August 28, 2018, and the fifth season on August 27, 2019. Each season release contains additional features, which include: making-of featurettes, episode commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reels, and Comic-Con panels. The second, fourth and fifth season boxsets include the Arrowverse crossover episodes from the other connected television series, as well as commentary on those episodes. On Netflix in the United States, the first season became available for streaming on October 6, 2015, the second season on October 4, 2016, the third season on May 31, 2017, the fourth season on May 30, 2018, and the fifth season on May 22, 2019. In India, the series streamed on Hotstar due to a partnership between them and Hooq; it dissolved in April 2020 after Hooq shut down due to bankruptcy. The last episode of the series to stream on Hotstar was "Death of the Speed Force" in mid-March. A year later, Amazon Prime Video acquired the streaming rights for India, with the series premiering there on May 24, 2021.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The first episode of "The Flash" was watched by 4.8 million viewers and had a 1.9 18–49 demographic rating, making it The CW's most watched and highest rated series premiere since "The Vampire Diaries" in 2009. Factoring Live + 7 day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 6.8 million viewers, becoming The CW's most-watched telecast and the highest-rated premiere among men 18–34 (2.5 rating). It broke the previous record for the most-watched telecast held by the cycle 8 finale of "America's Next Top Model" in 2007 (6.69 million). Additionally, across all platforms, including initiated streams on digital platforms and total unduplicated viewers on-air over two airings the week of October 7, 2014, the premiere was seen more than 13 million times.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The Canadian premiere was watched by 3.11 million viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast that night and the second for that week. In the United Kingdom, the premiere was the fourth highest-rated broadcast of the week and the eleventh of that month, with 1.53 million viewers. The timeshifted version got 82,000 viewers. The premiere in Australia was the most-watched broadcast on pay television, with 129,000 viewers tuning in.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In 2016, according to an analysis from Parrot Analytics, which used ratings data (where available), peer-to-peer sharing, social media chatter, and other factors to estimate viewer demand for various shows, "The Flash" was the 5th most popular show in the world with 3.1 million demand expressions per day, behind "Game of Thrones", "The Walking Dead", "Pretty Little Liars", and "Westworld". TorrentFreak also gauged "The Flash" as the fourth most-torrented television show of 2016.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.75/10 based on 63 reviews. The website's consensus reads, ""The Flash" benefits from its purposefully light atmosphere, making it a superhero show uniquely geared toward genre fans as well as novices." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". IGN's Eric Goldman and Joshua Yehl praised the show's premise and cast after viewing a press screening copy of the pilot. Goldman and Yehl favorably compared it to "Arrow", stating that "The Flash" progresses with a confidence that "Arrow" did not get until later in the series. Reviews for the series became increasingly positive as the season progressed, with the finale receiving critical acclaim. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the season a B+ overall, giving praise to the pacing of the plot, the performances of the cast and the special effects, and also pointing out the series' boldness to embrace its comic book influences, something that conventional superhero shows tend not to do. Weekly episode reviewer Scott Von Doviak gave consistently high ratings to the season and awarded the season finale a perfect A grade, calling the episode "richly satisfying" and also commending the show for "[capturing] the essence of its source material in a fun, light-on-its-feet way that few other comic book adaptations have managed." He also gave high praise to the emotional value and performances of the cast, as well as the cliffhanger and multiple easter eggs found in the episode. The second season of "The Flash" scored a Metacritic rating of 81 out of 100 indicating "universal acclaim".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: "The Flash" has been nominated for six BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards (won all), two Hollywood Post Alliance Awards, one Hugo Award, seventeen "IGN" Awards (winning four), ten Kids' Choice Awards, sixteen Leo Awards (winning five), two MTV Movie & TV Awards, five People's Choice Awards (winning one), one Primetime Emmy Award, twenty-two Saturn Awards (winning seven), one TCA Award, twenty-seven Teen Choice Awards (winning six), one "TV Guide" Award (won), and one Visual Effects Society Award. The show also holds the world records for "Most in-demand superhero TV show" and "Most in-demand action and adventure TV show" from the "Guinness World Records".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In 2016, "Rolling Stone" ranked the show 23rd on its list of the "40 Best Science Fiction TV Shows of All Time".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: "The Flash: Season Zero", written by Kreisberg, Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak, with art by Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur, is intended to take place between the pilot episode and episode 2. Kreisberg stated, "Barry will [already] be the Flash, he will have his team, everyone will be in that world, and we'll introducing a new set of villains that we won't be seeing on the TV show. It'll feel like the same heart, humor and spectacle that you get watching "Flash"." The comic will showcase the entire TV cast, plus new rogues, a group of circus performers who gained super powers as a result of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion. The group is led by Mr. Bliss, a character who first appeared in "Starman". The comic launched digitally biweekly on September 8, 2014, with its first physical release featuring a collection of the digital releases, releasing on October 1.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On February 24, 2015, The CW launched a blog account known as "The Chronicles of Cisco". The blog, originally based at Tumblr, features posts written by the fictional character of Cisco Ramon, at first serving as write-ups of the metahuman villains on the show. Starting with the second season of the show, the posts evolved into the general musings of Ramon and his commentary on the events during and outside of "The Flash"'s episodes. On September 17, 2019, "The Chronicles of Cisco" moved to Instagram.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On April 19, 2016, a four-episode series of shorts, titled "Chronicles of Cisco: Entry 0419", premiered. The series, which was presented by AT&T, features Valdes and Britne Oldford reprise their role as Cisco Ramon and Shawna Baez / Peek-a-Boo, respectively. Set in the second season of the television series, the series sees Cisco attempting to make the Flash suit bulletproof and body-odor proof. While working on these, he receives a late-night Meta-Human Alert within S.T.A.R. Labs, and learns that Peek-a-Boo triggered the alert. She has come to S.T.A.R. Labs to make Cisco create a weapon for her, as he did for Golden Glider, Captain Cold, and Heat Wave. When he does not cooperate, she shoots him. Cisco survives being shot, realizing that the orange soda he spilled on his shirt was the missing catalyst to his bulletproof formula. Cisco tries to bring Peek-a-Boo back to the pipeline, but she locks him in the cell instead. Cisco is then seen being woken up due to a call from Barry. He believes he dreamt the whole experience, until he finds the bullet that shot him on the ground.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On November 14, 2017, a three-episode series of shorts, known as "Stretched Scenes", premiered. The series, presented by Microsoft Surface, features Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Panabaker, and Candice Patton as Ralph Dibny, Cailtin Snow, and Iris West respectively. Set during the show's fourth season, it shows Dibny as he continually bothers Cailtin and Iris for their help, or for attention. The shorts premiered online as well as during the commercial breaks of the episodes "When Harry Met Harry...", "Therefore I Am", and "Don't Run".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The series has also been featured in other video games based on DC Comics property. In the mobile version of "", the show's versions of the Flash and Reverse-Flash appear as alternate costumes for the Flash. The show's version of S.T.A.R. Labs also appears as a hidden area in "Lego Dimensions". The video game "Lego DC Super-Villains" features DLC inspired by "The Flash" in the "DC Super Heroes: TV Series DLC Character Pack". The DLC pack includes The Flash and Vibe as playable characters.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On November 29, 2016, Titan Books released "The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen", a tie-in novelization written by Susan and Clay Griffith, set during the course of the second season, after Barry has closed the temporal anomaly that nearly destroyed Central City. Barry must seek help from Oliver Queen, due to his own abilities beginning to break down, in order to deal with five members of his Rogues Gallery—including Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, and Peek-a-Boo. The story continued in "", released on March 28, 2017. A subsequent novel, following the villain Weather Wizard in his attempts at revenge, was released in May 2018. Written by Richard A. Knaak, it is titled "The Flash: Climate Changeling".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In October 2017, Abrams Books started a new trilogy of "The Flash" novels, written by Barry Lyga, aimed at middle-grade readers in tandem with a similar trilogy of "Supergirl" novels. The first, "The Flash: Hocus Pocus", was released on October 3, 2017. The novel takes place in an alternate timeline where the show's "Flashpoint" event never occurred, and The Flash must fight a villain known as Hocus Pocus who can control the minds and actions of people. A sequel, "The Flash: Johnny Quick" was released on April 3, 2018, as well as a third novel, titled "The Flash: The Tornado Twins", on October 2, 2018.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: On October 21, 2016, "The Art and Making of The Flash" by Abbie Bernstein was released. This is a 160-page behind-the-scenes book with production art and behind-the-scenes photography. The book also includes interviews with the cast and crew from the show.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In May 2018, Titan Books released the first guidebook for "The Flash", written by Nick Aires from the perspective of Cisco Ramon. "S.T.A.R. Labs: Cisco Ramon's Journal" features "his confidential journal entries, covering everything from his tech designs, the villains and other heroes the team encounter, the team's personal challenges and his own Vibe abilities prior to Flashpoint."


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: A second guidebook for "The Flash" was released in November 2018, this time published by Abrams Books. "The Secret Files of Barry Allen: The Ultimate Guide to the Hit TV Show" features the Flash's "top-secret notes", as well as "classified S.T.A.R. Labs dossiers on everyone in Central City", an episode guide on the first four season of the series, and details on the life of the Flash "in Barry's own words."


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: Audio studio Serial Box is currently developing an audio series based on "The Flash", titled "The Flash: Rogues". The series will feature Lex Luthor altering the timeline in order to turn The Flash, Green Arrow, White Canary, and Supergirl evil, while their friends attempt to fix the timeline. The series currently has eight episodes planned.


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: In January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz announced the intention to do a "Flash"/"Arrow" crossover every season, and The CW announced that an animated web-series, "Vixen", featuring the DC heroine of the same name and set in the universe of "Arrow" and "The Flash", would be debuting on CW Seed in late 2015. The character is expected to make a live-action appearance on "Arrow" and/or "The Flash" as well. The next month, it was reported that a spin-off series, which is described as a superhero team-up show, was in discussion by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release. Berlanti and Kreisberg would executive produce alongside Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter. The potential series would be headlined by several recurring characters from both "Arrow" and "The Flash", with the potential for other "Arrow"/"Flash" characters to cross over to the new series as well. In May 2015, The CW officially picked up the series, titled "Legends of Tomorrow".


title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: The second season begins to explore the concept of the multiverse by introducing Earth-2, which features doppelgängers of the inhabitants of Earth-1 (the main setting of "Arrow", "The Flash", and "Legends of Tomorrow"), along with Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-2, and Zoom. In the episode "Welcome to Earth-2", as Barry, Cisco and Harrison Wells of Earth-2 travel to Earth-2, glimpses of the multiverse are seen, including an image of "Supergirl" star Melissa Benoist as Supergirl and an image of John Wesley Shipp as the Flash from the 1990 television series, implying the two characters and their respective television series exist on alternate Earths to Earth-1; "Supergirl"s world is later designated Earth-38 in the Arrowverse multiverse. Gustin appeared as Barry on the eighteenth episode of "Supergirl", "Worlds Finest", which aired on CBS on March 28, 2016. Intersecting with the events of the eighteenth episode of "The Flash", which aired on April 19, 2016, Barry accidentally arrives on Earth-38 and helps Kara battle two of her enemies, Silver Banshee (Italia Ricci) and Livewire (Brit Morgan), before returning home.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian actor, martial artist, filmmaker, and fight choreographer. Born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, at the age of ten his father enrolled him in martial arts classes, which led to Van Damme participating in several competitions. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film "Bloodsport" (1988).


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Van Damme became a popular action film star and followed up with "Cyborg" (1989), "Kickboxer" (1989), "Lionheart" (1990), "Death Warrant" (1990), "Double Impact" (1991), "Universal Soldier" (1992), "Nowhere to Run" (1993), "Hard Target" (1993), "Timecop" (1994), "Street Fighter" (1994), "Sudden Death" (1995), "The Quest" (1996), "Maximum Risk" (1996), etc. After a decline, Van Damme returned to prominence with the critically acclaimed crime drama "JCVD" (2008).


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: From thereon, Van Damme continued starring in more action films and playing supporting roles in "The Expendables 2" (2012), the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise (2011–2016), and the (2016–2018).


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, on 18 October 1960, in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant and florist. His father is from Brussels and bilingual, and his mother is Flemish (Dutch-speaking). Van Damme was brought up Roman Catholic. His paternal grandmother was Jewish.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shōtōkan karate school. His styles consist of Shōtōkan Karate and Kickboxing. He eventually earned his black belt in karate at 18. He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title. At the age of 16, he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. According to Van Damme, ballet "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport." Later he took up both Taekwondo and Muay Thai.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: At the age of 12, Van Damme joined the "Centre National de Karaté" (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Claude Goetz in Belgium. Van Damme trained for four years and he earned a spot on the Belgian Karate Team; he later trained in full-contact karate and kickboxing with Dominique Valera.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: At the age of 15, Van Damme started his competitive karate career in Belgium. From 1976 to 1980, Van Damme compiled a record of 44 victories and 4 defeats in tournament and non-tournament semi-contact matches.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Van Damme was a member of the Belgium Karate Team when it won the European Karate Championship on 26 December 1979 at La Coupe François Persoons Karate Tournament in Brussels.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Van Damme placed second at the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials). At the 3-day tournament, Van Damme defeated 25 opponents before losing in the finals to teammate Angelo Spataro.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: On 8 March 1980, in Brussels, Belgium, Van Damme competed against his former teammate Patrick Teugels at the Forest National Arena on the undercard of the Dan Macaruso-Dominique Valera Professional Karate Association Light-Heavyweight World Championship bout. Prior to this match, Teugels had defeated Van Damme twice by decision, including a match for the Belgium Lightweight Championship. Van Damme had a 1977 victory over Teugels. Teugels was coming off an impressive showing at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations World Championships four months earlier, and was favored by some to win this match. According to reports, and Patrick Teugels' own interview (with photos), Teugels lost to Van Damme by TKO in the 1st round. Teugels was kicked in the nose and was unable to continue as a result. In a 2013 interview, Van Damme called this fight his most memorable match.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Van Damme began his full-contact career in 1977, when Claude Goetz promoted the first ever full-contact karate tournament in Belgium.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: In 1979, he had an uncredited role in André Delvaux's "Woman Between Wolf and Dog", a Belgian-French drama film starring Marie-Christine Barrault, and Rutger Hauer.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: In 1980, Van Damme caught the attention of "Professional Karate Magazine" publisher and editor Mike Anderson and multiple European champion Geert Lemmens. Both men tabbed Van Damme as an upcoming prospect. Van Damme retired from competition in 1982.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: During his early life, Van Damme sold flowers in restaurants, and got a loan to open a gym to save some money before his move to the United States.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: In 1982, Van Damme and childhood friend Michel Qissi moved to the United States in the hope of working as actors. They did a variety of jobs to support themselves. Their first job working on a film as extras in the hip hop dance film "Breakin'" (1984), made by Cannon Films. They are seen dancing in the background at a dance demonstration.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: Around that time he developed a friendship with action martial art film star Chuck Norris. They started sparring together, and Van Damme started to work as a bouncer at a bar named Woody's Wharf, owned by Norris.


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: In the 1984 action film "Missing in Action" starring Norris, which was also released by Cannon Films, Van Damme is credited in the stunt team crew. That same year he also had a role in the comedy short film "Monaco Forever."


title: Jean-Claude Van Damme

text: On 2 May 1986, Corey Yuen's martial arts film "No Retreat, No Surrender" premiered in Los Angeles. It was Van Damme's first sizeable role when he was cast as the Russian villain. It starred Kurt McKinney, and was released through New World Pictures. McKinney performs as Jason Stillwell, a U.S. teenager who learns karate from the spirit of Bruce Lee. Stillwell uses these lessons to defend his martial arts dojo against a Soviet martial artist played by Van Damme. He was set to star in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2," but backed out.