title: Battle of Britain

text: To offset some losses, some 58 Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot volunteers were seconded to RAF squadrons, and a similar number of former Fairey Battle pilots were used. Most replacements from Operational Training Units (OTUs) had as little as nine hours flying time and no gunnery or air-to-air combat training. At this point, the multinational nature of Fighter Command came to the fore. Many squadrons and personnel from the air forces of the Dominions were already attached to the RAF, including top-level commanders – Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, Rhodesians and South Africans. In addition, there were other nationalities represented, including Free French, Belgian and a Jewish pilot from the British mandate of Palestine.


title: Battle of Britain

text: They were bolstered by the arrival of fresh Czechoslovak and Polish squadrons. These had been held back by Dowding, who thought non-English speaking aircrew would have trouble working within his control system: Polish and Czech fliers proved to be especially effective. The pre-war Polish Air Force had lengthy and extensive training, and high standards; with Poland conquered and under brutal German occupation, the pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, the highest-scoring Allied unit, were strongly motivated. Josef František, a Czech regular airman who had flown from the occupation of his own country to join the Polish and then French air forces before arriving in Britain, flew as a guest of 303 Squadron and was ultimately credited with the highest "RAF score" in the Battle of Britain.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The RAF had the advantage of fighting over home territory. Pilots who bailed out of their downed aircraft could be back at their airfields within hours, while if low on fuel and/or ammunition they could be immediately rearmed. One RAF pilot interviewed in late 1940 had been shot down five times during the Battle of Britain, but was able to crash land in Britain or bail out each time. For Luftwaffe aircrews, a bailout over England meant capture – in the critical August period, almost exactly as many Luftwaffe pilots were taken prisoner as were killed – while parachuting into the English Channel often meant drowning or death from exposure. Morale began to suffer, and "Kanalkrankheit" ("Channel sickness") – a form of combat fatigue – began to appear among the German pilots. Their replacement problem became even worse than the British.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The effect of the German attacks on airfields is unclear. According to Stephen Bungay, Dowding, in a letter to Hugh Trenchard accompanying Park's report on the period 8 August – 10 September 1940, states that the Luftwaffe "achieved very little" in the last week of August and the first week of September. The only Sector Station to be shut down operationally was Biggin Hill, and it was non-operational for just two hours. Dowding admitted 11 Group's efficiency was impaired but, despite serious damage to some airfields, only two out of 13 heavily attacked airfields were down for more than a few hours. The German refocus on London was not critical.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Retired Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, head of the RAF Museum, discussed the logistics of the battle in 2000 and 2010, dealing specifically with the single-seat fighters. Dye contends that not only was British aircraft production replacing aircraft, but replacement pilots were keeping pace with losses. The number of pilots in RAF Fighter Command increased during July, August and September. The figures indicate the number of pilots available never decreased: from July, 1,200 were available, and from 1 August, 1,400 were available. Just over that number were in the field by September. In October the figure was nearly 1,600. By 1 November 1,800 were available. Throughout the battle, the RAF had more fighter pilots available than the Luftwaffe. Although the RAF's reserves of single-seat fighters fell during July, the wastage was made up for by an efficient Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO), which by December had repaired and put back into service some 4,955 aircraft, and by aircraft held at Air Servicing Unit (ASU) airfields.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Richard Overy agrees with Dye and Bungay. Overy asserts only one airfield was temporarily put out of action and "only" 103 pilots were lost. British fighter production produced 496 new aircraft in July and 467 in August, and another 467 in September (not counting repaired aircraft), covering the losses of August and September. Overy indicates the number of serviceable and total strength returns reveal an "increase" in fighters from 3 August to 7 September, 1,061 on strength and 708 serviceable to 1,161 on strength and 746 serviceable. Moreover, Overy points out that the number of RAF fighter pilots grew by one-third between June and August 1940. Personnel records show a constant supply of around 1,400 pilots in the crucial weeks of the battle. In the second half of September it reached 1,500. The shortfall of pilots was never above 10%. The Germans never had more than between 1,100 and 1,200 pilots, a deficiency of up to one-third. "If Fighter Command were 'the few', the German fighter pilots were fewer".


title: Battle of Britain

text: Other scholars assert that this period was the most dangerous of all. In "The Narrow Margin", published in 1961, historians Derek Wood and Derek Dempster believed that the two weeks from 24 August to 6 September represented a real danger. According to them, from 24 August to 6 September 295 fighters had been totally destroyed and 171 badly damaged, against a total output of 269 new and repaired Spitfires and Hurricanes. They assert that 103 pilots were killed or missing and 128 were wounded, which represented a total wastage of 120 pilots per week out of a fighting strength of just fewer than 1,000. They conclude that during August no more than 260 fighter pilots were turned out by OTUs and casualties in the same month were just over 300. A full squadron establishment was 26 pilots whereas the average in August was 16. In their assessment, the RAF was losing the battle. Denis Richards, in his 1953 contribution to the official British account "History of the Second World War", agreed that lack of pilots, especially experienced ones, was the RAF's greatest problem. He states that between 8 and 18 August 154 RAF pilots were killed, severely wounded, or missing, while only 63 new pilots were trained. Availability of aircraft was also a serious issue. While its reserves during the Battle of Britain never declined to a half dozen planes as some later claimed, Richards describes 24 August to 6 September as the critical period because during these two weeks Germany destroyed far more aircraft through its attacks on 11 Group's southeast bases than Britain was producing. Three more weeks of such a pace would indeed have exhausted aircraft reserves. Germany had seen heavy losses of pilots and aircraft as well, thus its shift to night-time attacks in September. On 7 September RAF aircraft losses fell below British production and remained so until the end of the war.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Hitler's "Directive No. 17 – For the conduct of air and sea warfare against England" issued on 1 August 1940, reserved to himself the right to decide on terror attacks as measures of reprisal. Hitler issued a directive that London was not to be bombed save on his sole instruction. In preparation, detailed target plans under the code name Operation Loge for raids on communications, power stations, armaments works and docks in the Port of London were distributed to the "Fliegerkorps" in July. The port areas were crowded next to residential housing and civilian casualties would be expected, but this would combine military and economic targets with indirect effects on morale. The strategy agreed on 6 August was for raids on military and economic targets in towns and cities to culminate in a major attack on London. In mid-August, raids were made on targets on the outskirts of London.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Luftwaffe doctrine included the possibility of retaliatory attacks on cities, and since 11 May small scale night raids by RAF Bomber Command had frequently bombed residential areas. The Germans assumed this was deliberate, and as the raids increased in frequency and scale the population grew impatient for measures of revenge. On 25 August 1940, 81 bombers of Bomber Command were sent out to raid industrial and commercial targets in Berlin. Clouds prevented accurate identification and the bombs fell across the city, causing some casualties among the civilian population as well as damage to residential areas. Continuing RAF raids on Berlin led to Hitler withdrawing his directive on 30 August, and giving the go-ahead to the planned bombing offensive. On 3 September Göring planned to bomb London daily, with General Albert Kesselring's enthusiastic support, having received reports the average strength of RAF squadrons was down to five or seven fighters out of twelve and their airfields in the area were out of action. Hitler issued a directive on 5 September to attack cities including London. In his widely publicised speech delivered on 4 September 1940, Hitler condemned the bombing of Berlin and presented the planned attacks on London as reprisals. The first daylight raid was titled "Vergeltungsangriff" (revenge attack).


title: Battle of Britain

text: On 7 September, a massive series of raids involving nearly four hundred bombers and more than six hundred fighters targeted docks in the East End of London, day and night. The RAF anticipated attacks on airfields and 11 Group rose to meet them, in greater numbers than the Luftwaffe expected. The first official deployment of 12 Group's Leigh-Mallory's Big Wing took twenty minutes to form up, missing its intended target, but encountering another formation of bombers while still climbing. They returned, apologetic about their limited success, and blamed the delay on being scrambled too late.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The German press jubilantly announced that "one great cloud of smoke stretches tonight from the middle of London to the mouth of the Thames." Reports reflected the briefings given to crews before the raids – "Everyone knew about the last cowardly attacks on German cities, and thought about wives, mothers and children. And then came that word 'Vengeance!'" Pilots reported seeing ruined airfields as they flew towards London, appearances which gave intelligence reports the impression of devastated defences. Göring maintained that the RAF was close to defeat, making invasion feasible.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Fighter Command had been at its lowest ebb, short of men and machines, and the break from airfield attacks allowed them to recover. 11 Group had considerable success in breaking up daytime raids. 12 Group repeatedly disobeyed orders and failed to meet requests to protect 11 Group airfields, but their experiments with increasingly large Big Wings had some success. The Luftwaffe began to abandon their morning raids, with attacks on London starting late in the afternoon for fifty-seven consecutive nights.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The most damaging aspect to the Luftwaffe of targeting London was the increased distance. The Bf 109E escorts had a limited fuel capacity resulting in only a 660 km (410-mile) maximum range solely on internal fuel, and when they arrived had only 10 minutes of flying time before turning for home, leaving the bombers undefended by fighter escorts. Its eventual stablemate, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190A, was flying only in prototype form in mid-1940; the first 28 Fw 190s were not delivered until November 1940. The Fw 190A-1 had a maximum range of 940 km (584 miles) on internal fuel, 40% greater than the Bf 109E. The Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 corrected this deficiency by adding a ventral centre-line ordnance rack to take either an SC 250 bomb or a standard 300-litre Luftwaffe drop tank to double the range to 1,325 km (820 mi). The ordnance rack was not retrofitted to earlier Bf 109Es until October 1940.


title: Battle of Britain

text: On 14 September, Hitler chaired a meeting with the OKW staff. Göring was in France directing the decisive battle, so Erhard Milch deputised for him. Hitler asked "Should we call it off altogether?" General Hans Jeschonnek, Luftwaffe Chief of Staff, begged for a last chance to defeat the RAF and for permission to launch attacks on civilian residential areas to cause mass panic. Hitler refused the latter, perhaps unaware of how much damage had already been done to civilian targets. He reserved for himself the power to unleash the terror weapon. Instead, political will was to be broken by destroying the material infrastructure, the weapons industry, and stocks of fuel and food.


title: Battle of Britain

text: On 15 September, two massive waves of German attacks were decisively repulsed by the RAF by deploying every aircraft in 11 Group. Sixty German and twenty-six RAF aircraft were shot down. The action was the climax of the Battle of Britain.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Two days after the German defeat Hitler postponed preparations for the invasion of Britain. Henceforth, in the face of mounting losses in men, aircraft and the lack of adequate replacements, the Luftwaffe completed their gradual shift from daylight bomber raids and continued with nighttime bombing. 15 September is commemorated as Battle of Britain Day.


title: Battle of Britain

text: At the 14 September OKW conference, Hitler acknowledged that the Luftwaffe had still not gained the air superiority needed for the Operation Sea Lion invasion. In agreement with Raeder's written recommendation, Hitler said the campaign was to intensify regardless of invasion plans: "The decisive thing is the ceaseless continuation of air attacks." Jeschonnek proposed attacking residential areas to cause "mass panic", but Hitler turned this down: he reserved to himself the option of terror bombing. British morale was to be broken by destroying infrastructure, armaments manufacturing, fuel and food stocks. On 16 September, Göring gave the order for this change in strategy. This new phase was to be the first independent strategic bombing campaign, in hopes of a political success forcing the British to give up. Hitler hoped it might result in "eight million going mad" (referring to the population of London in 1940), which would "cause a catastrophe" for the British. In those circumstances, Hitler said, "even a small invasion might go a long way". Hitler was against cancelling the invasion as "the cancellation would reach the ears of the enemy and strengthen his resolve". On 19 September, Hitler ordered a reduction in work on Operation Sea Lion. He doubted if strategic bombing could achieve its aims, but ending the air war would be an open admission of defeat. He had to maintain the appearance of concentration on defeating Britain, to conceal from Joseph Stalin his covert aim to invade the Soviet Union.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Throughout the battle, most Luftwaffe bombing raids had been at night. They increasingly suffered unsustainable losses in daylight raids, and the last massive daytime attacks were on 15 September. A raid of 70 bombers on 18 September also suffered badly, and day raids were gradually phased out leaving the main attacks at night. Fighter command still lacked any successful way of intercepting night-time raiders, the night fighter force was mostly Blenheims and Beaufighters, and lacked airborne radar so had no way of finding the bombers. Anti-aircraft guns were diverted to London's defences, but had a much-reduced success rate against night attacks.


title: Battle of Britain

text: From mid September, Luftwaffe daylight bombing was gradually taken over by Bf 109 fighters, adapted to take one 250 kg bomb. Small groups of fighter-bombers would carry out "Störangriffe" raids escorted by large escort formations of about 200 to 300 combat fighters. They flew at altitudes over where the Bf 109 had an advantage over RAF fighters, except the Spitfire. The raids disturbed civilians, and continued the war of attrition against Fighter Command. The raids were intended to carry out precision bombing on military or economic targets, but it was hard to achieve sufficient accuracy with the single bomb. Sometimes, when attacked, the fighter-bombers had to jettison the bomb to function as fighters. The RAF was at a disadvantage and changed defensive tactics by introducing standing patrols of Spitfires at high altitude to monitor incoming raids. On a sighting, other patrols at lower altitude would fly up to join the battle.


title: Battle of Britain

text: A Junkers Ju 88 returning from a raid on London was shot down in Kent on 27 September resulting in the Battle of Graveney Marsh, the last action between British and foreign military forces on British mainland soil.


title: Battle of Britain

text: German bombing of Britain reached its peak in October and November 1940. In post-war interrogation, Wilhelm Keitel described the aims as economic blockade, in conjunction with submarine warfare, and attrition of Britain's military and economic resources. The Luftwaffe wanted to achieve victory on its own and was reluctant to cooperate with the navy. Their strategy for the blockade was to destroy ports and storage facilities in towns and cities. Priorities were based on the pattern of trade and distribution, so for these months, London was the main target. In November their attention turned to other ports and industrial targets around Britain.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Hitler postponed the Sealion invasion on 13 October "until the spring of 1941". It was not until Hitler's Directive 21 was issued, on 18 December 1940, that the threat to Britain of invasion finally ended.


title: Battle of Britain

text: During the battle, and for the rest of the war, an important factor in keeping public morale high was the continued presence in London of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth. When war broke out in 1939, the King and Queen decided to stay in London and not flee to Canada, as had been suggested. George VI and Elizabeth officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they often spent weekends at Windsor Castle to visit their daughters, Elizabeth (the future queen) and Margaret. Buckingham Palace was damaged by bombs which landed in the grounds on 10 September and, on 13 September, more serious damage was caused by two bombs which destroyed the Royal Chapel. The royal couple were in a small sitting room about 80 yards from where the bombs exploded. On 24 September, in recognition of the bravery of civilians, King George VI inaugurated the award of the George Cross.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Overall, by 2 November, the RAF fielded 1,796 pilots, an increase of over 40% from July 1940's count of 1,259 pilots. Based on German sources (from a Luftwaffe intelligence officer Otto Bechtle attached to KG 2 in February 1944) translated by the Air Historical Branch, Stephen Bungay asserts German fighter and bomber "strength" declined without recovery, and that from August–December 1940, the German fighter and bomber strength declined by 30 and 25 percent. In contrast, Williamson Murray argues (using translations by the Air Historical Branch) that 1,380 German bombers were on strength on 29 June 1940, 1,420 bombers on 28 September, 1,423 level bombers on 2 November and 1,393 bombers on 30 November 1940. In July–September the number of Luftwaffe pilots available fell by 136, but the number of operational pilots had shrunk by 171 by September. The training organisation of the Luftwaffe was failing to replace losses. German fighter pilots, in contrast to popular perception, were not afforded training or rest rotations, unlike their British counterparts. The first week of September accounted for 25% of Fighter Command's and 24% of the Luftwaffe's overall losses. Between the dates 26 August – 6 September, on only one day (1 September) did the Germans destroy more aircraft than they lost. Losses were 325 German and 248 British.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Luftwaffe losses for August numbered 774 aircraft to all causes, representing 18.5% of all combat aircraft at the beginning of the month. Fighter Command's losses in August were 426 fighters destroyed, amounting to 40 per cent of 1,061 fighters available on 3 August. In addition, 99 German bombers and 27 other types were destroyed between 1 and 29 August.


title: Battle of Britain

text: From July to September, the Luftwaffe's loss records indicate the loss of 1,636 aircraft, 1,184 to enemy action. This represented 47% of the initial strength of single-engined fighters, 66% of twin-engined fighters, and 45% of bombers. This indicates the Germans were running out of aircrew as well as aircraft.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Throughout the battle, the Germans greatly underestimated the size of the RAF and the scale of British aircraft production. Across the Channel, the Air Intelligence division of the Air Ministry consistently overestimated the size of the German air enemy and the productive capacity of the German aviation industry. As the battle was fought, both sides exaggerated the losses inflicted on the other by an equally large margin. The intelligence picture formed before the battle encouraged the Luftwaffe to believe that such losses pushed Fighter Command to the very edge of defeat, while the exaggerated picture of German air strength persuaded the RAF that the threat it faced was larger and more dangerous than was the case. This led the British to the conclusion that another fortnight of attacks on airfields might force Fighter Command to withdraw their squadrons from the south of England. The German misconception, on the other hand, encouraged first complacency, then strategic misjudgement. The shift of targets from air bases to industry and communications was taken because it was assumed that Fighter Command was virtually eliminated.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Between 24 August and 4 September, German serviceability rates, which were acceptable at "Stuka" units, were running at 75% with Bf 109s, 70% with bombers and 65% with Bf 110s, indicating a shortage of spare parts. All units were well below established strength. The attrition was beginning to affect the fighters in particular. By 14 September, the Luftwaffe's Bf 109 "Geschwader" possessed only 67% of their operational crews against authorised aircraft. For Bf 110 units it was 46 per cent; and for bombers it was 59 per cent. A week later the figures had dropped to 64 per cent, 52% and 52 per cent. Serviceability rates in Fighter Command's fighter squadrons, between 24 August and 7 September, were listed as: 64.8% on 24 August; 64.7% on 31 August and 64.25% on 7 September 1940.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Due to the failure of the Luftwaffe to establish air supremacy, a conference assembled on 14 September at Hitler's headquarters. Hitler concluded that air superiority had not yet been established and "promised to review the situation on 17 September for possible landings on 27 September or 8 October. Three days later, when the evidence was clear that the German Air Force had greatly exaggerated the extent of their successes against the RAF, Hitler postponed "Sea Lion" indefinitely."


title: Battle of Britain

text: Propaganda was an important element of the air war which began to develop over Britain from 18 June 1940 onwards, when the Luftwaffe began small, probing daylight raids to test RAF defences. One of many examples of these small-scale raids was the destruction of a school at Polruan in Cornwall, by a single raider. Into early July, the British media's focus on the air battles increased steadily, the press, magazines, BBC radio and newsreels daily conveying the contents of Air Ministry communiques. The German OKW communiques matched Britain's efforts in claiming the upper hand.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Central to the propaganda war on both sides of the Channel were aircraft claims, which are discussed under 'Attrition statistics' (above). These daily claims were important both for sustaining British home front morale and persuading America to support Britain, and were produced by the Air Ministry's Air Intelligence branch. Under pressure from American journalists and broadcasters to prove that the RAF's claims were genuine, RAF intelligence compared pilots' claims with actual aircraft wrecks and those seen to crash into the sea. It was soon realised that there was a discrepancy between the two, but the Air Ministry decided not to reveal this. In fact, it was not until May 1947 that the actual figures were released to the public, by which time it was of far less importance. Many though refused to believe the revised figures, including Douglas Bader.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The place of the Battle of Britain in British popular memory partly stems from the Air Ministry's successful propaganda campaign in July–October 1940, and its valorisation of the defending pilots from March 1941 onwards. The 3d pamphlet "The Battle of Britain" sold in huge numbers internationally, leading even Goebbels to admire its propaganda value. Focusing only upon the fighter pilots, with no mention of RAF bomber attacks against invasion barges, the Battle of Britain was soon established as a major victory for Fighter Command. This inspired feature films, books, magazines, works of art, poetry, radio plays and MOI short films.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The Air Ministry also developed the Battle of Britain Sunday commemoration, supported a Battle of Britain clasp for issue to the pilots in 1945 and, from 1945, Battle of Britain Week. The Battle of Britain window in Westminster Abbey was also encouraged by the Air Ministry, Lords Trenchard and Dowding on its committee. By July 1947 when the window was unveiled, the Battle of Britain had already attained central prominence as Fighter Command's most notable victory, the fighter pilots credited with preventing invasion in 1940. Although given widespread media coverage in September and October 1940, RAF Bomber and Coastal Command raids against invasion barge concentrations were less well-remembered.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The Battle of Britain marked the first major defeat of Germany's military forces, with air superiority seen as the key to victory. Pre-war theories had led to exaggerated fears of strategic bombing, and UK public opinion was buoyed by coming through the ordeal. For the RAF, Fighter Command had achieved a great victory in successfully carrying out Sir Thomas Inskip's 1937 air policy of preventing the Germans from knocking Britain out of the war.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The battle also significantly shifted American opinion. During the battle, many Americans accepted the view promoted by Joseph Kennedy, the American ambassador in London, who believed that the United Kingdom could not survive. Roosevelt wanted a second opinion, and sent William "Wild Bill" Donovan on a brief visit to the UK; he became convinced the UK would survive and should be supported in every possible way. Before the end of the year, American journalist Ralph Ingersoll, after returning from Britain, published a book concluding that "Adolf Hitler met his first defeat in eight years" in what might "go down in history as a battle as important as Waterloo or Gettysburg". The turning point was when the Germans reduced the intensity of the Blitz after 15 September. According to Ingersoll, "[a] majority of responsible British officers who fought through this battle believe that if Hitler and Göring had had the courage and the resources to lose 200 planes a day for the next five days, nothing could have saved London"; instead, "[the Luftwaffe's] morale in combat is definitely broken, and the RAF has been gaining in strength each week."


title: Battle of Britain

text: Both sides in the battle made exaggerated claims of numbers of enemy aircraft shot down. In general, claims were two to three times the actual numbers. Postwar analysis of records has shown that between July and September, the RAF claimed 2,698 kills, while the Luftwaffe fighters claimed 3,198 RAF aircraft downed. Total losses, and start and end dates for recorded losses, vary for both sides. Luftwaffe losses from 10 July to 30 October 1940 total 1,977 aircraft, including 243 twin- and 569 single-engined fighters, 822 bombers and 343 non-combat types. In the same period, RAF Fighter Command aircraft losses number 1,087, including 53 twin-engined fighters. To the RAF figure should be added 376 Bomber Command and 148 Coastal Command aircraft lost conducting bombing, mining, and reconnaissance operations in defence of the country.


title: Battle of Britain

text: There is a consensus among historians that the Luftwaffe was unable to crush the RAF. Stephen Bungay describes Dowding and Park's strategy of choosing when to engage the enemy whilst maintaining a coherent force as vindicated; their leadership, and the subsequent debates about strategy and tactics, had created enmity among RAF senior commanders and both were sacked from their posts in the immediate aftermath of the battle. All things considered, the RAF proved to be a robust and capable organisation that was to use all the modern resources available to it to the maximum advantage. Richard Evans writes:


title: Battle of Britain

text: The Germans launched some spectacular attacks against important British industries, but they could not destroy the British industrial potential, and made little systematic effort to do so. Hindsight does not disguise the fact the threat to Fighter Command was very real, and for the participants it seemed as if there was a narrow margin between victory and defeat. Nevertheless, even if the German attacks on the 11 Group airfields which guarded southeast England and the approaches to London had continued, the RAF could have withdrawn to the Midlands out of German fighter range and continued the battle from there. The victory was as much psychological as physical. Writes Alfred Price:


title: Battle of Britain

text: The truth of the matter, borne out by the events of 18 August is more prosaic: neither by attacking the airfields nor by attacking London, was the Luftwaffe likely to destroy Fighter Command. Given the size of the British fighter force and the general high quality of its equipment, training and morale, the Luftwaffe could have achieved no more than a Pyrrhic victory. During the action on 18 August, it had cost the Luftwaffe five trained aircrew killed, wounded or taken prisoner, for each British fighter pilot killed or wounded; the ratio was similar on other days in the battle. And this ratio of 5:1 was very close to that between the number of German aircrew involved in the battle and those in Fighter Command. In other words, the two sides were suffering almost the same losses in trained aircrew, in proportion to their overall strengths. In the Battle of Britain, for the first time during the Second World War, the German war machine had set itself a major task which it patently failed to achieve, and so demonstrated that it was not invincible. In stiffening the resolve of those determined to resist Hitler the battle was an important turning point in the conflict.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The British victory in the Battle of Britain was achieved at a heavy cost. Total British civilian losses from July to December 1940 were 23,002 dead and 32,138 wounded, with one of the largest single raids on 19 December 1940, in which almost 3,000 civilians died. With the culmination of the concentrated daylight raids, Britain was able to rebuild its military forces and establish itself as an Allied stronghold, later serving as a base from which the liberation of Western Europe was launched.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Winston Churchill summed up the battle with the words, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". Pilots who fought in the battle have been known as "The Few" ever since, at times being specially commemorated on 15 September, "Battle of Britain Day". On this day in 1940, the Luftwaffe embarked on their largest bombing attack yet, forcing the engagement of the entirety of the RAF in defence of London and the South East, which resulted in a decisive British victory that proved to mark a turning point in Britain's favour.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Within the Commonwealth, Battle of Britain Day has been observed more usually on the third Sunday in September, and even on the 2nd Thursday in September in some areas in the British Channel Islands.


title: Battle of Britain

text: The day has been observed by many artists over the years, often with works that show the battle itself. Many mixed media artists have also created pieces in honour of the Battle of Britain.


title: Battle of Britain

text: Plans for the Battle of Britain window in Westminster Abbey were begun during wartime, the committee chaired by Lords Trenchard and Dowding. Public donations paid for the window itself, which replaced a window destroyed during the campaign, this officially opened by King George VI on 10 July 1947. Although not actually an 'official' memorial to the Battle of Britain in the sense that government paid for it, the window and chapel have since been viewed as such. During the late 1950s and 1960, various proposals were advanced for a national monument to the Battle of Britain, this also the focus of several letters in "The Times". In 1960 the Conservative government decided against a further monument, taking the view that the credit should be shared more broadly than Fighter Command alone, and there was little public appetite for one. All subsequent memorials are the result of private subscription and initiative, as discussed below.


title: Battle of Britain

text: There are numerous memorials to the battle. The most important ones are the Battle of Britain Monument in London and the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne in Kent. As well as Westminster Abbey, St James's Church, Paddington also has a memorial window to the battle, replacing a window destroyed during it. There is also a memorial at the former Croydon Airport, one of the RAF bases during the battle, and a memorial to the pilots at Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which is topped by a raven sculpture. The Polish pilots who served in the battle are among the names on the Polish War Memorial in west London.


title: Battle of Britain

text: There are also two museums to the battle: one at Hawkinge in Kent and one at Stanmore in London, at the former RAF Bentley Priory.


title: Battle of Britain

text: In 2015 the RAF created an online 'Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary Commemorative Mosaic' composed of pictures of "the few" – the pilots and aircrew who fought in the battle – and "the many" – 'the often unsung others whose contribution during the Battle of Britain was also vital to the RAF's victory in the skies above Britain', submitted by participants and their families.


title: Cinderella

text: "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world. The protagonist is a young woman living in forsaken circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between around 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.


title: Cinderella

text: The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his "Pentamerone" in 1634; the version that is now most widely known in the English-speaking world was published in French by Charles Perrault in "Histoires ou contes du temps passé" in 1697. Another version was later published as "Aschenputtel" by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection "Grimms' Fairy Tales" in 1812.


title: Cinderella

text: Although the story's title and main character's name change in different languages, in English-language folklore Cinderella is an archetypal name. The word Cinderella has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized: one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of Cinderella continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media.


title: Cinderella

text: The oldest known oral version of the Cinderella story is the ancient Greek story of Rhodopis, a Greek courtesan living in the colony of Naucratis in Egypt, whose name means "Rosy-Cheeks". The story is first recorded by the Greek geographer Strabo in his "Geographica" (book 17, 33): "They [the Egyptians] tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, and became the wife of the king."


title: Cinderella

text: The same story is also later reported by the Roman orator Aelian (–) in his "Miscellaneous History", which was written entirely in Greek. Aelian's story closely resembles the story told by Strabo, but adds that the name of the pharaoh in question was Psammetichus. Aelian's account indicates that the story of Rhodopis remained popular throughout antiquity.


title: Cinderella

text: Herodotus, some five centuries before Strabo, records a popular legend about a possibly related courtesan named Rhodopis in his "Histories", claiming that she came from Thrace, was the slave of Iadmon of Samos and a fellow-slave of the story-teller Aesop, was taken to Egypt in the time of Pharaoh Amasis, and freed there for a large sum by Charaxus of Mytilene, brother of Sappho the lyric poet.


title: Cinderella

text: The resemblance of the shoe-testing of Rhodopis with Cinderella's slipper has already been noted in the 19th century, by Edgar Taylor and Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould.


title: Cinderella

text: A second predecessor for the Cinderella character, hailing from late Antiquity, may be Aspasia of Phocaea. Her story is told in Aelian's "Varia Storia": lost her mother in early childhood and raised by her father, Aspasia, despite living in poverty, has dreamt of meeting a noble man. As she dozes off, the girl has a vision of a dove transforming into a woman, who instructs her on how to remove a physical imperfection and restore her own beauty. In another episode, she and other courtesans are made to attend a feast hosted by Persian regent Cyrus the Younger. During the banquet, the Persian King sets his sights on Aspasia herself and ignores the other women.


title: Cinderella

text: The twelfth-century AD "lai" of "Le Fresne" ("The Ash-Tree Girl"), retold by Marie de France, is a variant of the "Cinderella" story in which a wealthy noblewoman abandons her infant daughter at the base of an ash tree outside a nunnery with a ring and brocade as tokens of her identity because she is one of twin sisters—the mother fears that she will be accused of infidelity (according to popular belief, twins were evidence of two different fathers). The infant is discovered by the porter, who names her "Fresne", meaning "Ash Tree", and she is raised by the nuns. After she has attained maturity, a young nobleman sees her and becomes her lover. The nobleman, however, is forced to marry a woman of noble birth. Fresne accepts that she will never marry her beloved but waits in the wedding chamber as a handmaiden. She covers the bed with her own brocade but, unbeknownst to her, her beloved's bride is actually her twin sister, and her mother recognizes the brocade as the same one she had given to the daughter she had abandoned so many years before. Fresne's true parentage is revealed and, as a result of her noble birth, she is allowed to marry her beloved, while her twin sister is married to a different nobleman.


title: Cinderella

text: The Maltese Cinderella is named Ċiklemfusa. She is portrayed as an orphaned child in her early childhood. Before his death, her father gave her three magical objects: a chestnut, a nut and an almond. She used to work as a servant in the King's palace. Nobody ever took notice of the poor girl. One day she heard of a big ball and with the help of a magical spell turned herself into a beautiful princess. The prince fell in love with her and gave her a ring. On the following night the Prince gave her a diamond and on the third night he gave her a ring with a large gem on it. By the end of the ball Ċiklemfusa would run away hiding herself in the cellars of the Palace. She knew that the Prince was very sad about her disappearance so one day she made some krustini (typical Maltese biscuits) for him and hid the three gifts in each of them. When the Prince ate the biscuits he found the gifts he had given to the mysterious Princess and soon realized the huge mistake he had made of ignoring Ċiklemfusa because of her poor looks. They soon made marriage arrangements and she became his wife.


title: Cinderella

text: The tale of Ye Xian first appeared in "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang" written by Duan Chengshi around 860. In this version, Ye Xian is the daughter of the local tribal leader who died when she was young. Because her mother died before her father, she is now under the care of her father's second wife, who abused her. She befriends a fish, which is the reincarnation of her deceased mother. Her stepmother and half-sister kill the fish, but Ye Xian finds the bones, which are magical, and they help her dress appropriately for a local Festival, including a very light golden shoe. Her stepfamily recognizes her at the festival, causing her to flee and accidentally lose the shoe. Afterwards, the king of another sea island obtains the shoe and is curious about it as no one has feet that can fit the shoe. The King searches everywhere and finally reaches Ye's house, where she tries on the shoe. The king realises she is the one and takes her back to his kingdom. Her cruel stepmother and half-sister are killed by flying rocks. Variants of the story are also found in many ethnic groups in China.


title: Cinderella

text: "The Story of Tam and Cam", from Vietnam, is similar to the Chinese version. The heroine Tấm also had a fish that was killed by the stepmother and the half-sister, and its bones also give her clothes. Later after marrying the king, Tấm was killed by her stepmother and sister, and reincarnated several times in form of a bird, a loom and a "gold apple". She finally reunited with the king and lived happily ever after.


title: Cinderella

text: There exists a Cambodian version (called "Khmer" by the collectors) with the name "Néang Kantoc". Its collectors compared it to the Vietnamese story of "Tam and Cam".


title: Cinderella

text: Another version was collected from the Cham people of Southeast Asia, with the name "La Sandale d'Or" ("The Golden Sandal") or "Conte de demoiselles Hulek et Kjong" ("The tale of the ladies Hulek and Kjong").


title: Cinderella

text: 20th century folktale collector Kenichi Mizusawa published an analysis of Japanese variants of Cinderella, separating them into two types: "Nukabuku, Komebuku" (about rival step-sisters) and "Ubagawa" (about the heroine's disguise).


title: Cinderella

text: Several different variants of the story appear in the medieval "One Thousand and One Nights", also known as the "Arabian Nights", including "The Second Shaykh's Story", "The Eldest Lady's Tale" and "Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers", all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others, they are male. One of the tales, "Judar and His Brethren", departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.


title: Cinderella

text: The first European version written in prose was published in Naples, Italy, by Giambattista Basile, in his "Pentamerone" (1634). The story itself was set in the Kingdom of Naples, at that time the most important political and cultural center of Southern Italy and among the most influential capitals in Europe, and written in the Neapolitan dialect. It was later retold, along with other Basile tales, by Charles Perrault in "Histoires ou contes du temps passé" (1697), and by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection "Grimms' Fairy Tales" (1812).


title: Cinderella

text: The name "Cenerentola" comes from the Italian word "cenere" (ash, cinder). It has to do with the fact that servants and scullions were usually soiled with ash at that time, because of their cleaning work and also because they had to live in cold basements so they usually tried to get warm by sitting close to the fireplace.


title: Cinderella

text: Giambattista Basile, a Neapolitan writer, soldier and government official, assembled a set of oral folk tales into a written collection titled "Lo cunto de li cunti" (The Story of Stories), or "Pentamerone". It included the tale of Cenerentola, which features a wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters, magical transformations, a missing slipper, and a hunt by a monarch for the owner of the slipper. It was published posthumously in 1634.


title: Cinderella

text: One of the most popular versions of Cinderella was written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, under the name "Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre". The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story, including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of "glass" slippers.


title: Cinderella

text: The first moral of the story is that beauty is a treasure, but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything.


title: Cinderella

text: However, the second moral of the story mitigates the first one and reveals the criticism that Perrault is aiming at: That "without doubt it is a great advantage to have intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense. These, and similar talents come only from heaven, and it is good to have them. However, even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a godfather or a godmother."


title: Cinderella

text: Another well-known version was recorded by the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century. The tale is called ""Aschenputtel"" [“The Little Ash Girl”] or ""Cinderella"" in English translations). This version is much more violent than that of Charles Perrault and Disney, in that Cinderella's father has not died and the two stepsisters mutilate their feet to fit in the golden slipper. There is no fairy godmother in this version of the Brothers Grimm, but rather help comes from a wishing tree that the heroine planted on her deceased mother's grave when she recites a certain chant. In the second edition of their collection (1819), the Brothers Grimm supplemented the original 1812 version with a coda in which the two stepsisters suffer a terrible punishment by the princess Cinderella for their cruelty.


title: Cinderella

text: A plague infests a village, and a wealthy gentleman's wife lies on her deathbed. She calls for her only daughter, and tells her to remain good and kind, as God would protect her. She then dies and is buried. The child visits her mother's grave every day to grieve and a year goes by. The gentleman marries another woman with two older daughters from a previous marriage. They have beautiful faces and fair skin, but their hearts are cruel and wicked. The stepsisters steal the girl's fine clothes and jewels and force her to wear rags. They banish her into the kitchen, and give her the nickname "Aschenputtel" ("Ashfool"). She is forced to do all kinds of hard work from dawn to dusk for the sisters. The cruel sisters do nothing but mock her and make her chores harder by creating messes. However, despite all of it, the girl remains good and kind, and regularly visits her mother's grave to cry and pray to God that she will see her circumstances improve.


title: Cinderella

text: One day the gentleman visits a fair, promising his stepdaughters gifts of luxury. The eldest asks for beautiful dresses, while the younger for pearls and diamonds. His own daughter merely begs for the first twig to knock his hat off on the way. The gentleman goes on his way, and acquires presents for his stepdaughters. While passing a forest he gets a hazel twig, and gives it to his daughter. She plants the twig over her mother's grave, waters it with her tears and over the years, it grows into a glowing hazel tree. The girl prays under it three times a day, and a white bird always comes to her as she prays. She tells her wishes to the bird, and every time the bird throws down to her what she has wished for.


title: Cinderella

text: The king decides to proclaim a festival that will last for three days and invites all the beautiful maidens in that country to attend so that the prince can select one of them for his bride. The two sisters are also invited, but when Aschenputtel begs them to allow her to go with them into the celebration, the stepmother refuses because she has no decent dress nor shoes to wear. When the girl insists, the woman throws a dish of lentils into the ashes for her to pick up, guaranteeing her permission to attend the festival if she can clean up the lentils in two hours. When the girl accomplished the task in less than an hour with the help of a flock of white doves that came when she sang a certain chant, the stepmother only redoubles the task and throws down even a greater quantity of lentils. When Aschenputtel is able to accomplish it in a greater speed, not wanting to spoil her daughters' chances, the stepmother hastens away with her husband and daughters to the celebration and leaves the crying stepdaughter behind.


title: Cinderella

text: The girl retreats to the graveyard and asks to be clothed in silver and gold. The white bird drops a gold and silver gown and silk shoes. She goes to the feast. The prince dances with her all the time, claiming her as his dance partner whenever a gentleman asks for her hand, and when sunset comes she asks to leave. The prince escorts her home, but she eludes him and jumps inside the estate's pigeon coop. The father came home ahead of time and the prince asks him to chop the pigeon coop down, but Aschenputtel has already escaped from the back, to the graveyard to the hazel tree to return her fine clothes. The father finds her asleep in the kitchen hearth, and suspects nothing. The next day, the girl appears in grander apparel. The prince again dances with her the whole day, and when dark came, the prince accompanies her home. However, she climbs a pear tree in the back garden to escape him. The prince calls her father who chops down the tree, wondering if it could be Aschenputtel, but Aschenputtel was already in the kitchen when the father arrives home. The third day, she appears dressed in grand finery, with slippers of gold. Now the prince is determined to keep her, and has the entire stairway smeared with pitch. Aschenputtel, in her haste to elude the prince, loses one of her golden slippers on that pitch. The prince picks the slipper and proclaims that he will marry the maiden whose foot fits the golden slipper.


title: Cinderella

text: The next morning, the prince goes to Aschenputtel's house and tries the slipper on the eldest stepsister. Since she will have no more need to go on foot when she will be queen, the sister was advised by her mother to cut off her toes to fit the slipper. While riding with the stepsister, the two magic doves from heaven tell the prince that blood drips from her foot. Appalled by her treachery, he goes back again and tries the slipper on the other stepsister. She cut off part of her heel to get her foot in the slipper, and again the prince is fooled. While riding with her to the king's castle, the doves alert him again about the blood on her foot. He comes back to inquire about another girl. The gentleman tells him that his dead wife left a "dirty little Cinderella" in the house, omitting to mention that she is his own daughter, and that she is too filthy to be seen, but the prince asks him to let her try on the slipper. Aschenputtel appears after washing clean her face and hands, and when she puts on the slipper, which fitted her like a glove, the prince recognizes her as the stranger with whom he has danced at the festival, even before trying it. To the stepmother and the two limping sisters horror, their merely servant-girl had won without any subterfuge. The prince put Aschenputtel before him on his horse and rode off to the palace. While passing the hazel tree the two magic doves from heaven declare Aschenputtel as the true bride of the prince, and remained on her shoulders, one on the left and the other on the right.


title: Cinderella

text: In a coda added in the second edition of 1819, during Aschenputtel's royal wedding, the false stepsisters had hoped to worm their way into her favour as the future queen, but this time they don't escape their princess' silent rage, which she kept to herself until that day. As she walks down the aisle with her stepsisters as her bridesmaids, Aschenputtel's doves fly off her shoulders and strike the two stepsisters' eyes, one in the left and the other in the right. It is their last chance of redemption, but since they are desperate to win the new princess' affections, they don't give up and go through the ceremony, so when the wedding comes to an end, and Aschenputtel and her beloved prince march out of the church, her doves fly again, promptly striking the remaining eyes of the two evil stepsisters blind, a truly awful comeuppance they have to endure. Then, finally free from abuse and enslavement, Aschenputtel leaves her family forever to be a princess with her prince, while the stepsisters live their lives as blind beggars, as her father and stepmother are in disgrace.


title: Cinderella

text: Folklorists have long studied variants on this tale across cultures. In 1893, Marian Roalfe Cox, commissioned by the Folklore Society of Britain, produced "Cinderella: Three Hundred and Forty-Five Variants of Cinderella, Catskin and, Cap o'Rushes, Abstracted and Tabulated with a Discussion of Medieval Analogues and Notes." Further morphology studies have continued on this seminal work.


title: Cinderella

text: Joseph Jacobs has attempted to reconstruct the original tale as "The Cinder Maid" by comparing the common features among hundreds of variants collected across Europe. The Aarne–Thompson–Uther system classifies "Cinderella" as type 510A, "Persecuted Heroine". Others of this type include "The Sharp Grey Sheep"; "The Golden Slipper"; "The Story of Tam and Cam"; "Rushen Coatie"; "The Wonderful Birch"; "Fair, Brown and Trembling"; and "Katie Woodencloak".


title: Cinderella

text: International versions lack the fairy godmother present in the famous Perrault's tale. Instead, the donor is her mother, incarnated into an animal (if she is dead) or transformed into a cow (if alive). In other versions, the helper is an animal, such as a cow, a bull, a pike, or a saint or angel. The bovine helper appears in some Greek versions, in "the Balkan-Slavonic tradition of the tale", and in some Central Asian variants. The mother-as-cow is killed by the heroine's sisters, her bones gathered and from her grave the heroine gets the wonderful dresses.


title: Cinderella

text: Africanist Sigrid Schmidt stated that "a typical scene" in Kapmalaien (Cape Malays) tales is the mother becoming a fish, being eaten in fish form, the daughter burying her bones and a tree sprouting from her grave.


title: Cinderella

text: Professor Gražina Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė recognizes that the fish, the cow, even a female dog (in other variants), these animals represent "the [heroine's] mother's legacy". Jack Zipes, commenting on a Sicilian variant, concluded much the same: Cinderella is helped by her mother "in the guise of doves, fairies, and godmothers". In his notes to his own reconstruction, Joseph Jacobs acknowledged that the heroine's animal helper (e.g., cow or sheep) was "clearly identified with her mother", as well as the tree on Cinderella's mother's grave was connected to her.


title: Cinderella

text: Although many variants of Cinderella feature the wicked stepmother, the defining trait of type 510A is a female persecutor: in "Fair, Brown and Trembling" and "Finette Cendron", the stepmother does not appear at all, and it is the older sisters who confine her to the kitchen. In other fairy tales featuring the ball, she was driven from home by the persecutions of her father, usually because he wished to marry her. Of this type (510B) are "Cap O' Rushes", "Catskin", All-Kinds-of-Fur, and "Allerleirauh", and she slaves in the kitchen because she found a job there. In "Katie Woodencloak", the stepmother drives her from home, and she likewise finds such a job.


title: Cinderella

text: In "La Cenerentola", Gioachino Rossini inverted the sex roles: Cenerentola is mistreated by her stepfather. (This makes the opera Aarne-Thompson type 510B.) He also made the economic basis for such hostility unusually clear, in that Don Magnifico wishes to make his own daughters' dowries larger, to attract a grander match, which is impossible if he must provide a third dowry. Folklorists often interpret the hostility between the stepmother and stepdaughter as just such a competition for resources, but seldom does the tale make it clear.


title: Cinderella

text: In some retellings, at least one stepsister is somewhat kind to Cinderella and second guesses the Stepmother's treatment. This is seen in "Ever After", to Walt Disney's 1950 film, and the 2013 Broadway musical.


title: Cinderella

text: The number of balls varies, sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three. The fairy godmother is Perrault's own addition to the tale. The person who aided Cinderella (Aschenputtel) in the Grimms's version is her dead mother. Aschenputtel requests her aid by praying at her grave, on which a tree is growing. Helpful doves roosting in the tree shake down the clothing she needs for the ball. This motif is found in other variants of the tale as well, such as in the Finnish "The Wonderful Birch". Playwright James Lapine incorporated this motif into the Cinderella plotline of the musical "Into the Woods". Giambattista Basile's "Cenerentola" combined them; the Cinderella figure, Zezolla, asks her father to commend her to the Dove of Fairies and ask her to send her something, and she receives a tree that will provide her clothing. Other variants have her helped by talking animals, as in "Katie Woodencloak", "Rushen Coatie", "Bawang Putih Bawang Merah", "The Story of Tam and Cam", or "The Sharp Grey Sheep"—these animals often having some connection with her dead mother; in "The Golden Slipper", a fish aids her after she puts it in water. In "The Anklet", it's a magical alabaster pot the girl purchased with her own money that brings her the gowns and the anklets she wears to the ball. Gioachino Rossini, having agreed to do an opera based on "Cinderella" if he could omit all magical elements, wrote "La Cenerentola", in which she was aided by Alidoro, a philosopher and formerly the Prince's tutor.


title: Cinderella

text: The midnight curfew is also absent in many versions; Cinderella leaves the ball to get home before her stepmother and stepsisters, or she is simply tired. In the Grimms' version, Aschenputtel slips away when she is tired, hiding on her father's estate in a tree, and then the pigeon coop, to elude her pursuers; her father tries to catch her by chopping them down, but she escapes.


title: Cinderella

text: The glass slipper is unique to Charles Perrault's version and its derivatives; in other versions of the tale it may be made of other materials (in the version recorded by the Brothers Grimm, German: "Aschenbroedel" and "Aschenputtel", for instance, it is gold) and in still other tellings, it is not a slipper but an anklet, a ring, or a bracelet that gives the prince the key to Cinderella's identity. In Rossini's opera ""La Cenerentola"" ("Cinderella"), the slipper is replaced by twin bracelets to prove her identity. In the Finnish variant "The Wonderful Birch" the prince uses tar to gain something every ball, and so has a ring, a circlet, and a pair of slippers. Some interpreters, perhaps troubled by sartorial impracticalities, have suggested that Perrault's "glass slipper" ("pantoufle de verre") had been a "squirrel fur slipper" ("pantoufle de vair") in some unidentified earlier version of the tale, and that Perrault or one of his sources confused the words; however, most scholars believe the glass slipper was a deliberate piece of poetic invention on Perrault's part. Nabokov has Professor Pnin assert as fact that "Cendrillon's shoes were not made of glass but of Russian squirrel fur – "vair", in French". The 1950 Disney adaptation takes advantage of the slipper being made of glass to add a twist whereby the slipper is shattered just before Cinderella has the chance to try it on, leaving her with only the matching slipper with which to prove her identity.


title: Cinderella

text: In many variants of the tale, the prince is told that Cinderella can not possibly be the one, as she is too dirty and ragged. Often, this is said by the stepmother or stepsisters. In the Grimms' version, both the stepmother and the father urge it. The prince nevertheless insists on her trying. Cinderella arrives and proves her identity by fitting into the slipper or other item (in some cases she has kept the other).


title: Cinderella

text: According to Korean scholarship, East Asian versions of "Cinderella" "typically" continue as the heroine's stepmother replaces the Cinderella-like character for her own daughter, while the heroine goes through a cycle of transformations. Such tales continue the fairy tale into what is in effect a second episode.


title: Cinderella

text: In "The Thousand Nights and A Night", in a tale called "The Anklet", the stepsisters make a comeback by using twelve magical hairpins to turn the bride into a dove on her wedding night. In "The Wonderful Birch", the stepmother, a witch, manages to substitute her daughter for the true bride after she has given birth.


title: Cinderella

text: In 1804 "Cinderella" was presented at Drury Lane Theatre, London, described as "A new Grand Allegorical Pantomimic Spectacle" though it was very far in style and content from the modern pantomime. However, it included notable clown Joseph Grimaldi playing the part of a servant called Pedro, the antecedent of today's character Buttons. In 1820 "Harlequin and Cinderella" at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden had much of the modern story (taken from the opera La Cenerentola) by Rossini but was a Harlequinade again featuring Grimaldi. In 1830 Rophino Lacy used Rossini's music but with spoken dialogue in a comic opera with many of the main characters: the Baron, the two stepsisters and Pedro the servant all as comic characters, plus a Fairy Queen instead of a magician. However it was the conversion of this via burlesque and rhyming couplets by Henry Byron that led to what was effectively the modern pantomime in both story and style at the Royal Strand Theatre in 1860: "Cinderella! Or the Lover, the Lackey, and the Little Glass Slipper".


title: Cinderella

text: In the traditional pantomime version the opening scene takes place in a forest with a hunt in progress; here Cinderella first meets Prince Charming and his "right-hand man" Dandini, whose name and character come from Gioachino Rossini's opera ("La Cenerentola"). Cinderella mistakes Dandini for the Prince and the Prince for Dandini. Her father, Baron Hardup, is under the thumb of his two stepdaughters, the Ugly sisters, and has a servant, Cinderella's friend Buttons. (Throughout the pantomime, the Baron is continually harassed by the Broker's Men (often named after current politicians) for outstanding rent. The Fairy Godmother must magically create a coach (from a pumpkin), footmen (from mice), a coach driver (from a frog), and a beautiful dress (from rags) for Cinderella to go to the ball. However, she must return by midnight, as it is then that the spell ceases.


title: Cinderella

text: Over the decades, hundreds of films have been made that are either direct adaptations from Cinderella or have plots loosely based on the story.


title: Graham Norton

text: Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show "The Graham Norton Show" (2007–present) and an eight-time award-winner overall—he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance three times for "So Graham Norton" (2000 to 2002). Originally shown on BBC Two before moving to other slots on BBC One, his chat show succeeded "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" in BBC One's prestigious late-Friday-evening slot in 2010.


title: Graham Norton

text: From 2010 to 2020, Norton presented the Saturday-morning slot on BBC Radio 2. In 2021, he began presenting on Saturdays and Sundays on Virgin Radio UK. Since 2009, he has served as the BBC's television commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, which led "Hot Press" to describe him as "the 21st century's answer to Terry Wogan". He has been noted for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style. Prior to establishing himself as a presenter Norton appeared as Father Noel Furlong in three episodes of the multiple award-winning Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted". In 2012, he sold his production company So Television to ITV for around £17 million. In 2019, he became a judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race UK".


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton was born Graham William Walker on 4 April 1963 at 48, St Brigid's Road, in Clondalkin, County Dublin, Ireland to William "Billy" (died 2000), a sales representative for Guinness, and Rhoda Walker. He has an older sister, Paula. He grew up in a Protestant (Church of Ireland) family in the town of Bandon, County Cork, which he has said made him feel somewhat isolated. His father's family were from County Wicklow, while his mother is a native of Belfast. He discovered during a 2007 episode of the genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?" that his father's direct ancestors were English, having originated in Yorkshire before emigrating to Ireland in 1713. Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School in County Cork and then University College Cork, where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s, but did not complete his studies after having a breakdown and refusing to leave his flat. He later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2013. In the late 1980s, he moved to London to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama. He also worked as a waiter during that time. Upon joining the actors' union Equity, he chose Norton (his great-grandmother's maiden name) as his new surname as there was already an actor called Graham Walker represented by the union.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 1992, Norton's stand-up comedy drag act as a tea-towel-clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa. His first appearances in broadcasting were in the UK, where he had a spot as a regular comedian and panellist on the BBC Radio 4 show "Loose Ends" in the early 1990s, when the show ran on Saturday mornings. He was one of the early successes of Channel 5, winning an award as stand-in host of a late-night TV talk show usually presented by Jack Docherty. This was followed by a comic quiz show on Channel 5 called "Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment", which was not well received as a programme but enhanced Norton's reputation as a comic and host. In 1996, he co-hosted the late-night quiz show "Carnal Knowledge" on ITV with Maria McErlane.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 1996, Norton played the part of Father Noel Furlong in three episodes ("Hell", "Flight into Terror", "The Mainland") of the Channel 4 series "Father Ted", which was set on the fictional Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland. Father Furlong was often seen taking charge of the St Luke's Youth Group.


title: Graham Norton

text: After this early success, Norton moved to Channel 4 in 1998 to host his own chat shows, including the weekly "So Graham Norton" (1998–2002), followed by the daily weeknight show "V Graham Norton" (2002–03). As a performer who is not only openly gay, but also camp and flamboyant, it was here that Norton's act was fully honed as a cheeky, innuendo-laden joker.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2003, he was the subject of controversy in the United Kingdom when, on his show on Channel 4, he made a comedic reference to the recent death of Bee Gees singer Maurice Gibb. The Independent Television Commission (I.T.C.) investigated after complaints about this insensitivity were received and eventually Channel 4 had to make two apologies: one in the form of a caption slide before the show, another from Norton in person.


title: Graham Norton

text: Also in 2003, Norton was listed in "The Observer" as one of the 1,000 funniest acts in British comedy. (Though Norton is Irish, the bulk of his television career has been in the UK.) In January 2004, he was named the most powerful person in TV comedy by "Radio Times".


title: Graham Norton

text: In the summer of 2004, Norton ventured into American television. "The Graham Norton Effect" debuted on 24 June 2004 on Comedy Central, and was also broadcast in the UK on BBC Three. In the midst of controversy surrounding Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's Super Bowl performance, Norton was wary of moving into the market.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2005, Norton moved to the BBC and began hosting the Saturday evening reality TV series "Strictly Dance Fever" on BBC One, as well as a new comedy chat show, "Graham Norton's Bigger Picture". He also read stories some nights on the BBC children's channel CBeebies as part of "Bedtime Hour".


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2006, Norton hosted the BBC One series "How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?" in which Andrew Lloyd Webber tried to find a lead actress for his West End version of "The Sound of Music". Norton has subsequently presented the three follow-up series: "Any Dream Will Do" in 2007, in which a group of males competed to win the role of Joseph in the West End production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"; "I'd Do Anything" in 2008, in which Lloyd Webber seeks to find the parts of Nancy and Oliver for Sir Cameron Mackintosh's production of Lionel Bart's "Oliver!"; and "Over the Rainbow" in 2010, following a similar format to find a new Dorothy for a "Wizard of Oz" West end Production.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton hosted various other shows for the BBC during this time, including "When Will I Be Famous?" (2007), "The One and Only" (2008) and "Totally Saturday" (2009). Since 2007, Norton has also been a regular host of The British Academy Television Awards. On 7 July 2007, Norton presented at Live Earth and undertook a trip to Ethiopia with the Born Free Foundation to highlight the plight of the Ethiopian wolf – the rarest canid in the world. In the same year, he was the subject of an episode of the BBC1 genealogy documentary "Who Do You Think You Are?"


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton's chat show, "The Graham Norton Show", began on 22 February 2007 on BBC Two. The format is very similar to his previous Channel 4 shows. On 6 October 2009, the show moved to BBC One, in a new one-hour format.


title: Graham Norton

text: In May 2010, he stood in for Chris Evans' breakfast show on BBC Radio 2. Later that month, it was confirmed that he would be replacing Jonathan Ross's Saturday morning slot on the same station.


title: Graham Norton

text: In December 2011, the panel show "Would You Rather...? with Graham Norton" premiered on BBC America in the time slot immediately following "The Graham Norton Show". Recorded in New York, it is one of BBC America's earliest efforts at producing original programming, and is also the first panel game the channel has shown, either of British or American origin.


title: Graham Norton

text: In October 2018, talking to BBC News about his reported 2017–18 BBC salary, Norton said that he genuinely "doesn't know" how the corporation arrived at that figure. "Myself and my agent look at that number and we go 'I wonder how they came up with that'," he says. "It bears no relation to anything I know. But if that's what they say I earn, that's what I earn."


title: Graham Norton

text: In February 2019, it was announced that Norton would be a judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race UK" alongside Alan Carr in a rotating basis. Norton and Carr were joined by permanent judges Michelle Visage and RuPaul.


title: Graham Norton

text: Since 1999 Graham Norton has appeared regularly on the BBC Radio 4 panel show "Just a Minute", appearing in over 100 episodes.


title: Graham Norton

text: On 2 October 2010, Norton began presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, which he took over from Jonathan Ross. Norton co-hosted with Maria McErlane who featured as an "agony aunt" on the segment "Grill Graham". "Tune with a Tale" is where a listener suggests playing a song with a plot, summarising the story it contains, and "I Can't Believe It's Not Better" is a feature where a listener requests a song that was previously a hit, but might be considered particularly bad now. Unlike "Steve Wright in the Afternoon" aired from 14:00 to 17:00 on weekdays, it is well established as being a "brand", with its end of each hour style of presentations, although Norton regularly uses the standard BBC Radio 2 jingles along with jingles unique to the Saturday morning show, written and performed by the BBC Radio 2 Orchestra.


title: Graham Norton

text: In January 2012, Norton asked listeners to his Radio 2 show to help find his car, shortly after it was stolen. He called it "The Great Car Hunt" and told listeners to


title: Graham Norton

text: On 11 November 2020, Norton announced that he would step down from the show and hosted his final Saturday morning show on 19 December 2020 after 10 years. He was replaced by Claudia Winkleman from February 2021.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton confirmed in November 2020 that he would join Virgin Radio UK in 2021 to host shows on Saturday and Sunday.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton, along with Claudia Winkleman, hosted the first annual Eurovision Dance Contest, which was held on 1 September 2007 in London, England. The format was based on the BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing" and the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest. Norton and Winkleman also hosted the 2008 Contest in Glasgow, Scotland.


title: Graham Norton

text: In October 2008, it was confirmed by the BBC that Norton would replace Terry Wogan as the presenter of the UK national selection of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Your Country Needs You".


title: Graham Norton

text: On 5 December 2008, it was announced that Norton would also take over from Wogan as the British commentator for the main Eurovision Song Contest. The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Olympic Stadium, Moscow on 16 May 2009.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton's debut jokes received some positive reviews from the British press. "The Guardian" noted his comments on Iceland's entry, which finished in second place, had "rooted around in a cupboard and found an old bridesmaid dress from 1987" and the Armenian singers, who finished in 10th place, were sporting traditional dress, "which would be true if you come from the village where Liberace is the mayor." "The Times" noted his highlighting of the arrest of 30 gay rights protesters in Moscow – "heavy-handed policing has really marred what has been a fantastic Eurovision."


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2015, Norton, along with Petra Mede, hosted the "Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits" concert show on 31 March at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London to commemorate the contest's 60th anniversary.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton played a fictionalized version of himself in his role of the British Eurovision commentator in the 2020 Netflix film "".


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton played Mr Puckov in the 2006 American comedy spoof film "Another Gay Movie". In 2007, Norton played Taylor in the romantic comedy film, "I Could Never Be Your Woman".


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton was involved in a high-publicity advertising campaign for the UK National Lottery as an animated unicorn, the stooge to a character based on Lady Luck (played by Fay Ripley). He has also advertised McVitie's biscuits.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2007, Norton featured in Girls Aloud and Sugababes' Comic Relief video for the single "Walk This Way"


title: Graham Norton

text: In January 2009, Norton made his West End stage debut in a revival of "La Cage Aux Folles" at the Playhouse Theatre. In 2009, Norton was the host of the comedy game-show "Most Popular" on US cable television channel WE tv.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton wrote an advice column in "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper from 2006 to 2018. In October 2010, his columns were made into a book entitled "Ask Graham", published by John Blake Publishing. In late 2018, Norton stood down from the role and the newspaper found a replacement as their agony aunt in Richard Madeley.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2016, Norton published his debut novel "Holding", published by Hodder & Stoughton, about a murder in an Irish rural community. Norton won Popular Fiction Book of the Year award for "Holding" in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2016. In 2022, an adaptation of the book, directed by Kathy Burke, aired on ITV.


title: Graham Norton

text: On 7 March 2013, Norton broke the Guinness World Record for "Most Questions Asked on a TV Chat Show" on "Comic Relief's Big Chat", which raised £1.02 million.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2014, Norton criticised the decision by Irish broadcaster RTÉ to settle out of court with opponents of gay marriage who claimed they had been defamed in an edition of the "Saturday Night Show".


title: Graham Norton

text: In 2014, Norton publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign toward UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable".


title: Graham Norton

text: In October 2014, Norton released his second memoir, "The Life and Loves of a He-Devil". It won in the Non-Fiction Book of the Year category at the 2014 Irish Book Awards. Also in 2014, he was named in the top 10 on the World Pride Power list.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton has a shareholding of two per cent in New Zealand winery Invivo Wines. Norton has his own wine range in collaboration with Invivo, the first wine was first released in 2014.


title: Graham Norton

text: In July 2015, the Bishop of Cork, Paul Colton, hosted an evening with Norton involving 90 minutes of interview, questions, and answers with an audience of more than 400 people. The event, part of the West Cork Literary Festival, was sold out.


title: Graham Norton

text: On 9 October 2020, Norton announced via Twitter he had been cast as the voice of Moonwind, a spiritual sign twirler, in the Disney/Pixar animated feature "Soul", starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey.


title: Graham Norton

text: In 1989, Norton was mugged, beaten up, and stabbed by a group of attackers in London. He lost half of his blood and nearly died. He said that an elderly couple were the ones who found him and that they "saved his life" after calling for an ambulance. He did not think the attack was homophobic, as he was walking alone at the time. He was hospitalised for two-and-a-half weeks before eventually recovering from the attack.


title: Graham Norton

text: In January 2012, Norton's home was burgled. The keys to his Lexus were stolen during the burglary. He appealed for the return of his car during his BBC Radio 2 show the following day.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton primarily resides in the Wapping area of London. He also owns an apartment in New York City and a holiday home in Ahakista, County Cork. He had two dogs, a labradoodle called Bailey and a terrier called Madge, which he adopted from the UK charity Dogs Trust in 2012. In September 2020, he said that Madge had died in December 2019, and said in October 2020 that Bailey had recently died in Cork at the age of 15.


title: Graham Norton

text: Norton is gay. He dated Kristian Seeber, who performs as the drag queen Tina Burner. He split up from his partner of two years, Trevor Patterson, in 2013, and broke up with his subsequent partner, Andrew Smith, in 2015. He said in 2015 that his ex-boyfriends often resented the role they had to play in the public eye as his partner.


title: Graham Norton

text: On 10 July 2022, Norton held a wedding blessing party, with his new husband Jonathan McLeod, at Bantry House in West Cork.


title: Graham Norton

text: In October 2022, Norton deactivated his Twitter account following criticism from J. K. Rowling and supporters after he had replied to an interview question on transgender rights that it would be better to "talk to trans people, talk to the parents of trans kids, talk to doctors" than to celebrities like himself.


title: Walton family

text: The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the richest family in the United States of America.


title: Walton family

text: The three most prominent living members (Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton) have consistently been in the top twenty of the "Forbes" 400 list since 2001, as were John ( 2005) and Helen (d. 2007) prior to their deaths. Christy Walton took her husband John's place in the ranking after his death. The majority of the family's wealth derives from the heritage of Bud and Sam Walton, who were the co-founders of Walmart. Walmart is the world's largest retailer, one of the world's largest business enterprises in terms of annual revenue, and, with just over 2.2 million employees, the world's largest private employer.


title: Walton family

text: , the Waltons collectively owned 50.8 percent of Walmart. In 2018, the family sold some of their company's stock and now owns just under 50%. In January 19, the Walton family's net worth was around US$240.6 billion.


title: Walton family

text: In 1987, Sam Walton endowed a charitable foundation. The Walton Family Foundation primarily focused on charter schools, but it later extended its program to include environmental issues, particularly water-related.


title: Walton family

text: In 2016, Alice and Jim Walton put a $250 million grant towards building charter school facilities. The Walton Family Foundation created the Building Equity Initiative to provide charter schools with access to capital to create and expand their facilities. This initiative was established after the foundation announced in 2016 that it would spend $1 billion over the next five years to expand "educational opportunity" by partnering with charter school operators, researchers, and education reformers.


title: War (2019 film)

text: War is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language vigilante spy action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand, who co-wrote the film's script with Aditya Chopra, Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala.The film was produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It is the third installment in the YRF Spy Universe and stars Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, and Vaani Kapoor. In the film, Khalid Rahmani (Shroff), an Indian soldier, is assigned to eliminate his former mentor Kabir Dhaliwal (Roshan), who has inexplicably gone rogue.


title: War (2019 film)

text: "War" opened worldwide on 2 October 2019 on Gandhi Jayanti 5-day extended weekend. Released simultaneously with its Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions, it received generally positive reviews, with praise for Roshan performance. The film was a commercial success grossing over , becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2019 and one of the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Major Kabir Dhaliwal kills V.K. Naidu, an army veteran, in New Delhi instead of his assignment to kill Iraqi terrorist Farid Haqqani. The army, led by Defence Minister Sherna Patel and Colonel Sunil Luthra, summon Captain Khalid Rahmani and Kabir's student, to capture him.


title: War (2019 film)

text: It is revealed that Khalid's father, Major Abdul Rahmani, betrayed the army in a previous mission, leaving Kabir with two gunshot wounds; Kabir then killed Abdul. Reluctant to work with Khalid, Kabir eventually allows him to join his squad, consisting of Saurabh, Prateek, Muthu, and Aditi, on a successful mission in Tikrit to kill a cell of Haqqani's associates. The squad reunite to target terrorist Rizwan Illiyasi but as they capture him, he tells Kabir that he planted a mole in his team. Killing Prateek and Muthu, Saurabh reveals himself as the mole; after a rooftop chase, a shootout ensues, knocking Kabir out. He wakes at the hospital and meets a severely injured Khalid, who tells him that he killed Saurabh.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Khalid is nearly taken off the mission to capture Kabir when Jimmy Shroff, a Lieutenant colonel, is murdered by Kabir. Kabir then organizes a public meet with Khalid, informing him that his next target is Dr. Utpal Biswas. Khalid is unable to prevent Biswas from being killed by Kabir and is suspended. Khalid tracks Kabir down through a previous case; he learns Khalid is on a covert mission to find a government hard drive with secret codes, and is targeting Illiyasi's known associates. He also learns Kabir faked a relationship with Naina Verma, a dancer, to get her to spy on Firoze Contractor, one of Illiyasi's previous associates. Naina was ultimately murdered by Firoze, who Kabir deduces is actually Illiyasi following plastic surgery.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Kabir and Khalid agree to work together but Kabir's hideout is attacked; they escape and reach Kerala, to Aditi's wedding, and recover a hard drive with the secret codes. Kabir hands the drive to Khalid, who poisons Kabir with TTX on a boat. It is revealed that Khalid was ultimately shot dead by Illiyasi in Tikrit, with Saurabh undergoing plastic surgery to disguise himself as Khalid. Saurabh throws Kabir into a river and returns to Illiyasi, who is based on a heavily armed icebreaker ship.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Kabir then parachutes aboard, eliminating Illiyasi's militia. Kabir tells Saurabh he knew that he was not Khalid, having seen him shoot perfectly from his right side and drink alcohol (Khalid lacked peripheral vision in his right eye and refused to drink alcohol due to religious beliefs) and that he acquired the TTX antidote from Aditi. Saurabh shoots Illiyasi and escapes the ship to a derelict church, where Kabir kills him by collapsing the church's dome.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Khalid is posthumously honoured for his bravery and sacrifice; his mother, Nafeesa, receives an award from the Prime Minister on his behalf. Kabir, who is still officially designated a traitor by the army, now takes care of Ruhi, Naina's daughter. After meeting Luthra, Kabir agrees to a covert mission to kill Haqqani.


title: War (2019 film)

text: On Yash Chopra's birth anniversary, Yash Raj Films announced a new action film starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. Vaani Kapoor was finalised to play the female lead. Two international action choreographers from Hollywood and Korea were employed to design action sequences.


title: War (2019 film)

text: The climax scene of the film was shot actually on the Arctic Circle, becoming the first-ever Indian film to do so. Siddharth Anand, the director of the film stated, "We want to push the benchmark of action movies that are made in our country. So, we are bringing two of the biggest action choreographers together to design some of the most outlandish and visually-spectacular sequences. On one hand, we have Andy R Armstrong from Hollywood and on the other, we have Mr SeaYoung Oh, who is an outstanding martial arts action choreographer from South Korea."


title: War (2019 film)

text: Principal photography began in the second week of September 2018. The film also has a dance off between the two stars in the song "Jai Jai Shivshankar". The film schedule was wrapped up in the beginning of March 2019. The film has been shot in multiple exotic locations at Delhi, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Georgia. The bike chase sequence between the two stars was filmed in Portugal. The car chase sequence which is the climax of the film was shot at the Arctic Circle.


title: War (2019 film)

text: The music of the film is composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with lyrics written by Kumaar. All themes are composed by Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara.


title: War (2019 film)

text: "War" opened with collection of 53.35 crore on its first day. It is the highest opening day collection for Hindi film. On the second day it collected 24.35 crore, On the third day it collected 22.45 crore, taking its total collection to 100.15 crore. "War" has already created six new records as the film reaches to 100 crore mark at the box-office. The film entered the 100 Crore Club in three days of its release. The extended opening weekend collection of the film at 166.25 crore is the highest opening weekend collection for any 2019 Bollywood film. The film by crossing 200 crore in its opening week has become the fastest Bollywood film of 2019 to achieve the feat.


title: War (2019 film)

text: As of now, with gross of 378.46 crore from India and 97.04 crore from overseas, the film has grossed 475.50 crore worldwide, and has become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2019.


title: War (2019 film)

text: "War" received generally positive reviews from critics; on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 72% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.


title: War (2019 film)

text: Among positive reviews, Anupama Chopra said "War is a popcorn entertainer and you can't ask too many questions but if you're willing to suspend disbelief, the twists and turns exert a solid grip." A writer for Bollywood Hungama gave the film four stars out of five, and said ""War" is an action entertainer which has style as well as enough twists and turns to keep the viewers engrossed. At the box office, the extended weekend, dazzling action, stunning international locales and stylish execution will ensure mammoth footfalls for the film". Taran Adarsh gave it four stars out of five and called the film "[e]scapist cinema at its best". Komal Nahta of "Film Information" opined, "The film could prove to be the starting of a new franchise for the Yash Raj Films banner". Writing for "India TV", Sonal gave the film three and a half stars out of five, writing, "Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff of Abbas Mustan kinda twists, turns, characters, situations, logic, gravity, physics, chemistry, and some Ekta Kapoor-esque tricks all tossed together to make a visually spectacular concoction". Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film two and a half out of five stars and said, "Both Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff fully commit to the action, bringing swag to the big stylish sequences and a visceral energy to the one-on-one punch-ups in the movie."


title: War (2019 film)

text: Among the reviewers who granted the film mixed reviews, "The Times of India" rated it three stars out of five and felt the film had "lot of style, stunts and show, but lacking a solid storyline". "India Today" rated it two and a half stars out of five and wrote, ""War" is a crowd-puller, but it isn't meant to further the cause of cinema". "Daily News and Analysis" gave three stars out of five and wrote, ""War" seems more like a Hrithik Roshan and YRF come back than anything else". Writing for "The Indian Express", Shubhra Gupta granted the film two stars out of five, stating, "The chief trouble with "War" is that all the space is divvied up between Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff, that the poor baddies don't really get a chance". Writing for "Firstpost", Anna M. M. Vetticad gave two stars out of five, opining that the film "could have been a suspenseful, eyecatching, entertaining ride. But for its politics... [it] is a painfully condescending ode to Muslim loyalty to our vatan, an ode that is particularly cynical and offensive". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film one and a half stars out of five and stated, "Powered by two loose-limbed and resolutely stone-faced male leads, Hrithik and Tiger, War is all style and no substance".


title: War (2019 film)

text: At a launch party for War, Anand confirmed that he was working on the script of its sequel and had plans to convert the film into a franchise, depending on the audience response to the film; War sequel is expected to have a theatrical release in October 2025. Hrithik Roshan is expected to have cameos as Kabir in both YRF Spy Universe movies "Pathaan" and "Tiger 3" as Kabir.


title: Jami Gertz

text: Jami Beth Gertz (born October 28, 1965) is an American actress. Gertz is known for her early roles in the films "Crossroads", "The Lost Boys", "Less than Zero" and "Quicksilver", the 1980s TV series "Square Pegs" and 1996's "Twister", as well as for her roles as Judy Miller in the CBS sitcom "Still Standing" and as Debbie Weaver in the ABC sitcom "The Neighbors". Along with husband Tony Ressler, she is a part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association.


title: Jami Gertz

text: Gertz was born in Chicago, Illinois, and lived in the suburb of Glenview. She attended public schools, graduating from Maine East High School. Her parents are Sharyn and Walter Gertz, who was a builder and contractor, and she has two brothers, Michael and Scott. Gertz, who is Jewish, was raised in Conservative Judaism.


title: Jami Gertz

text: As a child actor, Gertz was in one episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" along with Andrew Dice Clay. She also had a recurring role on "The Facts of Life" as Blair's friend and fellow schoolmate Boots St. Clair. Gertz made her film debut in the 1981 romance film "Endless Love", which was followed by a co-starring role in the 1982–83 TV sitcom series "Square Pegs". She gained more significant attention with a starring role in 1987's "Less than Zero", as the friend of a doomed drug addict played by Robert Downey Jr. She also starred in the 1987 film "The Lost Boys" as Star, the "half vampire" girlfriend, with Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric.


title: Jami Gertz

text: After working in Paris as a scent designer for Lanvin, Gertz returned to the United States and landed a key supporting role in the 1996 blockbuster "Twister" after other films including 1986's "Solarbabies" and "Crossroads", the 1989 film "Listen to Me" with Kirk Cameron, "The Boyfriend School", and "Jersey Girl". In the 1994 episode of "Seinfeld", "The Stall", she appeared as one of Jerry's girlfriends who works as a phone sex operator and can't "spare a square" of toilet paper to Elaine in the restroom. Also in 1994 she played Sarah in the TV movie "This Can't Be Love" starring Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Quinn, and Jason Bateman. Gertz later played the recurring character Dr. Nina Pomerantz during the 1997 season of "ER". She reportedly was offered, but declined, the role of Rachel Green, during pre-production of "Friends".


title: Jami Gertz

text: In 2000, Gertz took up a recurring role on the Fox hit "Ally McBeal" as Kimmy Bishop, John Cage's love interest. Gertz was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She returned to this role in one more episode as a guest star in the show's final season in 2002. Also in 2002, she portrayed comedian Gilda Radner in the television movie "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something". Gertz's character on "Still Standing", Judy Miller, is named after a character Radner portrayed on "Saturday Night Live". "Still Standing", a television sitcom in which Gertz co-starred with Mark Addy and which originally aired from 2002 to 2006, was her longest-running and most successful television show to date.


title: Jami Gertz

text: In 2003, Gertz starred as Brandy, a wanted criminal's girlfriend, in "Undercover Christmas", and in 2005 Gertz played the lead role in the TV film "". In 2009–10, she had a recurring role as Marlo Klein, wife of Ari Gold's newest business partner Andrew Klein, an agent at Miller-Gold Talent Agency, on HBO's "Entourage". In 2011, she returned to broadcast television with a guest role in the "Modern Family" episode "Slow Down Your Neighbors". In 2011, she earned a producers' credit on the Academy Award-nominated film "A Better Life", which was put in limited release throughout the month of June and early July before arriving on DVD in October.


title: Jami Gertz

text: From 2012 to 2014, Gertz starred in the ABC sitcom "The Neighbors" in which she played the mother of a human family that moves into a neighborhood populated by residents from another planet.


title: Jami Gertz

text: Gertz has been married to business executive Tony Ressler since 1989. They have three sons: Oliver Jordan Ressler (born 1992), Nicholas Simon Ressler (born 1995), and Theo Ressler (born 1998).


title: Jami Gertz

text: Gertz and her husband are members of the investment group led by Mark Attanasio which purchased the MLB franchise Milwaukee Brewers. Gertz-Ressler High Academy, a member of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, is named for Gertz and her husband. They also became owners of the NBA team Atlanta Hawks in 2015. Gertz represented the Hawks in the NBA Draft Lottery for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 NBA drafts.


title: Jami Gertz

text: The Giving Back Fund named Gertz and her husband the number-one donor to charity of any celebrity in 2010. Gertz serves as a board director for the Melanoma Research Alliance, the largest nonprofit funder of melanoma research.


title: Noah Glass

text: Noah Glass is an American technology entrepreneur, whose early work included launching Twitter and Odeo, a podcasting company that closed in 2017. Glass is credited for coining the name "Twitter", which began as "Twttr".