title: Surrey

text: Under the early Tudor kings, magnificent royal palaces were constructed in northeastern Surrey, conveniently close to London. At Richmond an existing royal residence was rebuilt on a grand scale under King Henry VII, who also founded a Franciscan friary nearby in 1499. The still more spectacular palace of Nonsuch was later built for Henry VIII near Ewell. The palace at Guildford Castle had fallen out of use long before, but a royal hunting lodge existed outside the town. All these have since been demolished.


title: Surrey

text: During the Cornish Rebellion of 1497, the rebels heading for London briefly occupied Guildford and fought a skirmish with a government detachment on Guildown outside the town, before marching on to defeat at Blackheath in Kent. The forces of Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554 passed through what was then northeastern Surrey on their way from Kent to London, briefly occupying Southwark and then crossing the Thames at Kingston after failing to storm London Bridge.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey's cloth industry declined in the 16th century and collapsed in the 17th, harmed by falling standards and competition from more effective producers in other parts of England. The iron industry in the Weald, whose rich deposits had been exploited since prehistoric times, expanded and spread from its base in Sussex into Kent and Surrey after 1550. New furnace technology stimulated further growth in the early 17th century, but this hastened the extinction of the business as the mines were worked out. However, this period also saw the emergence of important new industries, centred on the valley of the Tillingbourne, south-east of Guildford, which often adapted watermills originally built for the now moribund cloth industry. The production of brass goods and wire in this area was relatively short-lived, falling victim to competitors in the Midlands in the mid-17th century, but the manufacture of paper and gunpowder proved more enduring. For a time in the mid-17th century the Surrey mills were the main producers of gunpowder in England.


title: Surrey

text: A glass industry also developed in the mid-16th century on the southwestern borders of Surrey, but had collapsed by 1630, as the wood-fired Surrey glassworks were surpassed by emerging coal-fired works elsewhere in England. The Wey Navigation, opened in 1653, was one of England's first canal systems.


title: Surrey

text: George Abbot, the son of a Guildford clothworker, served as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1611–1633. In 1619 he founded Abbot's Hospital, an almshouse in Guildford, which is still operating. He also made unsuccessful efforts to revitalise the local cloth industry. One of his brothers, Robert, became Bishop of Salisbury, while another, Maurice, was a founding shareholder of the East India Company who became the company's Governor and later Lord Mayor of London.


title: Surrey

text: Southwark expanded rapidly in this period, and by 1600, if considered as a separate entity, it was the second-largest urban area in England, behind only London itself. Parts of it were outside the jurisdiction of the government of the City of London, and as a result the area of Bankside became London's principal entertainment district, since the social control exercised there by the local authorities of Surrey was less effective and restrictive than that of the City authorities. Bankside was the scene of the golden age of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, with the work of playwrights including William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and John Webster performed in its playhouses. The leading actor and impresario Edward Alleyn founded the College of God's Gift in Dulwich with an endowment including an art collection, which was later expanded and opened to the public in 1817, becoming Britain's first public art gallery.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey almost entirely escaped the direct impact of fighting during the main phase of the English Civil War in 1642–1646. The local Parliamentarian gentry led by Sir Richard Onslow were able to secure the county without difficulty on the outbreak of war. Farnham Castle was briefly occupied by the advancing Royalists in late 1642, but was easily stormed by the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller. A new Royalist offensive in late 1643 saw skirmishing around Farnham between Waller's forces and Ralph Hopton's Royalists, but these brief incursions into the western fringes of Surrey marked the limits of Royalist advances on the county. At the end of 1643 Surrey combined with Kent, Sussex and Hampshire to form the South-Eastern Association, a military federation modelled on Parliament's existing Eastern Association.


title: Surrey

text: In the uneasy peace that followed the Royalists' defeat, a political crisis in summer 1647 saw Sir Thomas Fairfax's New Model Army pass through Surrey on their way to occupy London, and subsequent billeting of troops in the county caused considerable discontent. During the brief Second Civil War of 1648, the Earl of Holland entered Surrey in July, hoping to ignite a Royalist revolt. He raised his standard at Kingston and advanced south, but found little support. After confused manoeuvres between Reigate and Dorking as Parliamentary troops closed in, his force of 500 men fled northwards and was overtaken and routed at Kingston.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey had a central role in the history of the radical political movements unleashed by the civil war. In October 1647 the first manifesto of the movement that became known as the Levellers, "The Case of the Armie Truly Stated", was drafted at Guildford by the elected representatives of army regiments and civilian radicals from London. This document combined specific grievances with wider demands for constitutional change on the basis of popular sovereignty. It formed the template for the more systematic and radical "Agreement of the People", drafted by the same men later that month. It also led to the Putney Debates shortly afterwards, in which its signatories met with Oliver Cromwell and other senior officers in the Surrey village of Putney, where the army had established its headquarters, to argue over the future political constitution of England. In 1649 the Diggers, led by Gerrard Winstanley, established their communal settlement at St. George's Hill near Weybridge to implement egalitarian ideals of common ownership, but were eventually driven out by the local landowners through violence and litigation. A smaller Digger commune was then established near Cobham, but suffered the same fate in 1650.


title: Surrey

text: Prior to the Great Reform Act of 1832, Surrey returned fourteen Members of Parliament (MPs), two representing the county and two each from the six boroughs of Bletchingley, Gatton, Guildford, Haslemere, Reigate and Southwark. For two centuries before the Reform Act, the dominant political network in Surrey was that of the Onslows of Clandon Park, a gentry family established in the county from the early 17th century, who were raised to the peerage in 1716. Members of the family won at least one of Surrey's two county seats in all but three of the 30 general elections between 1628 and 1768, while they took one or both of the seats for their local borough of Guildford in every election from 1660 to 1830, usually representing the Whig Party after its emergence in the late 1670s. Successive heads of the family held the post of Lord Lieutenant of Surrey continuously from 1716 to 1814.


title: Surrey

text: One of the principal residences of the British monarchy in the 18th century was Kew Palace in north Surrey, leased by Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1728 and inhabited by her son Frederick, Prince of Wales, and later by King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. After the latter's death at the palace in 1818 it was sold. The White House was demolished about this time, but the Dutch House survives and is now a museum.


title: Surrey

text: Until the modern era Surrey, apart from its northeastern corner, was quite sparsely populated in comparison with many parts of southern England, and remained somewhat rustic despite its proximity to the capital. Communications began to improve, and the influence of London to increase, with the development of turnpike roads and a stagecoach system in the 18th century. A far more profound transformation followed with the arrival of the railways, beginning in the late 1830s. The availability of rapid transport enabled prosperous London workers to settle all across Surrey and travel daily to work in the capital. This phenomenon of commuting brought explosive growth to Surrey's population and wealth, and tied its economy and society inextricably to London.


title: Surrey

text: There was rapid expansion in existing towns like Guildford, Farnham, and most spectacularly Croydon, while new towns such as Woking and Redhill emerged beside the railway lines. The huge numbers of incomers to the county and the transformation of rural, farming communities into a "commuter belt" contributed to a decline in the traditional local culture, including the gradual demise of the distinctive Surrey dialect. This may have survived among the "Surrey Men" into the late 19th Century, but is now extinct.


title: Surrey

text: Meanwhile, London itself spread swiftly across north-eastern Surrey. In 1800 it extended only to Vauxhall; a century later the city's growth had reached as far as Putney and Streatham. This expansion was reflected in the creation of the County of London in 1889, detaching the areas subsumed by the city from Surrey. The expansion of London continued in the 20th century, engulfing Croydon, Kingston and many smaller settlements. This led to a further contraction of Surrey in 1965 with the creation of Greater London, under the London Government Act 1963; however, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames, previously in Middlesex, were transferred to Surrey, extending the county across the Thames. Surrey's boundaries were altered again in 1974 when Gatwick Airport was transferred to West Sussex.


title: Surrey

text: In 1849 Brookwood Cemetery was established near Woking to serve the population of London, connected to the capital by its own railway service. It soon developed into the largest burial ground in the world. Woking was also the site of Britain's first crematorium, which opened in 1878, and its first mosque, founded in 1889. In 1881 Godalming became the first town in the world with a public electricity supply.


title: Surrey

text: The eastern part of Surrey was transferred from the Diocese of Winchester to that of Rochester in 1877. In 1905 this area was separated to form a new Diocese of Southwark. The rest of the county, together with part of eastern Hampshire, was separated from Winchester in 1927 to become the Diocese of Guildford, whose cathedral was consecrated in 1961.


title: Surrey

text: During the later 19th century Surrey became important in the development of architecture in Britain and the wider world. Its traditional building forms made a significant contribution to the vernacular revival architecture associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, and would exert a lasting influence. The prominence of Surrey peaked in the 1890s, when it was the focus for globally important developments in domestic architecture, in particular the early work of Edwin Lutyens, who grew up in the county and was greatly influenced by its traditional styles and materials.


title: Surrey

text: The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the demise of Surrey's long-standing industries manufacturing paper and gunpowder. Most of the county's paper mills closed in the years after 1870, and the last survivor shut in 1928. Gunpowder production fell victim to the First World War, which brought about a huge expansion of the British munitions industry, followed by sharp contraction and consolidation when the war ended, leading to the closure of the Surrey powder mills.


title: Surrey

text: New industrial developments included the establishment of the vehicle manufacturers Dennis Brothers in Guildford in 1895. Beginning as a maker of bicycles and then of cars, the firm soon shifted into the production of commercial and utility vehicles, becoming internationally important as a manufacturer of fire engines and buses. Though much reduced in size and despite multiple changes of ownership, this business continues to operate in Guildford. Kingston and nearby Ham became a centre of aircraft manufacturing, with the establishment in 1912 of the Sopwith Aviation Company and in 1920 of its successor H.G. Hawker Engineering, which later became Hawker Aviation and then Hawker Siddeley.


title: Surrey

text: During the Second World War a section of the GHQ Stop Line, a system of pillboxes, gun emplacements, anti-tank obstacles and other fortifications, was constructed along the North Downs. This line, running from Somerset to Yorkshire, was intended as the principal fixed defence of London and the industrial core of England against the threat of invasion. German invasion plans envisaged that the main thrust of their advance inland would cross the North Downs at the gap in the ridge formed by the Wey valley, thus colliding with the defence line around Guildford.


title: Surrey

text: Between the wars Croydon Airport, opened in 1920, served as the main airport for London, but it was superseded after the Second World War by Heathrow, and closed in 1959. Gatwick Airport, where commercial flights began in 1933, expanded greatly in the 1950s and 1960s, but the area occupied by the airport was transferred from Surrey to West Sussex in 1974.


title: Surrey

text: In June 1972, British European Airways Flight 548 crashed near Staines just after taking off from Heathrow Airport. This remains the worst air accident in the UK.


title: Surrey

text: Few traces of the ancient British and Roman periods survive in Surrey. There are a number of round barrows and bell barrows in various locations, mostly dating to the Bronze Age. Remains of Iron Age hillforts exist at Holmbury Hill, Hascombe Hill, Anstiebury (near Capel), Dry Hill (near Lingfield), St Ann's Hill (Chertsey) and St George's Hill (Weybridge). Most of these sites were created in the 1st century BC and many were re-occupied during the middle of the 1st century AD. Only fragments of Stane Street and Ermine Street, the Roman roads which crossed the county, remain.


title: Surrey

text: Anglo-Saxon elements survive in a number of Surrey churches, notably at Guildford (St Mary), Godalming (St Peter & St Paul), Stoke D'Abernon (St Mary), Thursley, Witley, Compton and Albury (in "Old Albury").


title: Surrey

text: Numerous medieval churches exist in Surrey, but the county's parish churches are typically relatively small and simple, and experienced particularly widespread destruction and remodelling of their form in the course of Victorian restoration. Important medieval church interiors survive at Chaldon, Lingfield, Stoke D'Abernon, Compton and Dunsfold. Large monastic churches fell into ruin after their institutions were dissolved, although fragments of Waverley Abbey and Newark Priory survive. Southwark Priory, no longer in Surrey has survived, though much altered, and is now Southwark Cathedral. Farnham Castle largely retains its medieval structure, while the keep and fragments of the curtain walls and palace buildings survive at Guildford Castle.


title: Surrey

text: Very little non-military secular architecture survives in Surrey from earlier than the 15th century. Wholly or partially surviving houses and barns from that century, with considerable later modifications, include those at Wanborough Manor, Bletchingley, Littleton, East Horsley, Ewhurst, Dockenfield, Lingfield, Limpsfield, Oxted, Crowhurst Place, Haslemere and Old Surrey Hall.


title: Surrey

text: Major examples of 16th-century architecture include the grand mid-century country houses of Loseley Park and Sutton Place and the old building of the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, founded in 1509. A considerable number of smaller houses and public houses of the 16th century are also still standing. From the 17th century the number of surviving buildings proliferates further. Abbot's Hospital, founded in 1619, is a grand edifice built in the Tudor style, despite its date. More characteristic examples of major 17th-century building include West Horsley Place, Slyfield Manor, and the Guildhall in Guildford.


title: Surrey

text: Besides its role in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, many important writers have lived and worked in Surrey.


title: Surrey

text: The "Surrey Delta" produced many of the musicians in 60s British blues movements. The Rolling Stones developed their music at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond.


title: Surrey

text: The county is covered by BBC London and ITV London. BBC South and ITV Meridian can be received in western parts of Surrey and BBC South East in southeastern parts of the county.


title: Surrey

text: The county has numerous football teams. In the Combined Counties League can be found the likes of Ash United, Badshot Lea, Banstead Athletic, Camberley Town, Chessington & Hook United, Cobham, Epsom & Ewell, Epsom Athletic, Farleigh Rovers, Farnham Town, Frimley Green, Horley Town, Knaphill, Mole Valley SCR, Molesey, Sheerwater, Spelthorne Sports and Westfield; Lingfield play at the same level but in the Southern Combination; Ashford Town, Chertsey Town, Godalming Town and Guildford City play higher in the Southern League; equally Leatherhead, Merstham, Redhill, South Park, Staines Town, Walton Casuals and Walton and Hersham are in the Isthmian; Dorking Wanderers and Woking are currently the highest ranked Surrey based clubs, playing in the National League.


title: Surrey

text: Chelsea F.C. practice at the Cobham Training Centre located in the village of Stoke d'Abernon near Cobham, Surrey. The training ground was built in 2004 and officially opened in 2007.


title: Surrey

text: The Local Government Act 1888 reorganised county-level local government throughout England and Wales. Accordingly, the administrative county of Surrey was formed in 1889 when the Provisional Surrey County Council first met, consisting of 19 aldermen and 57 councillors. The county council assumed the administrative responsibilities previously exercised by the county's justices in quarter sessions. The county had revised boundaries, with the north east of the historic county bordering the City of London becoming part of a new County of London. These areas now form the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth, and the Penge area of the London Borough of Bromley. At the same time, the borough of Croydon became a county borough, outside the jurisdiction of the county council.


title: Surrey

text: For purposes other than local government the administrative county of Surrey and county borough of Croydon continued to form a "county of Surrey" to which a Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum (chief magistrate) and a High Sheriff were appointed.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey had been administered from Newington since the 1790s, and the county council was initially based in the sessions house there. As Newington was included in the County of London, it lay outside the area administered by the council, and a site for a new county hall within the administrative county was sought. By 1890 six towns were being considered: Epsom, Guildford, Kingston, Redhill, Surbiton and Wimbledon. In 1891 it was decided to build the new County Hall at Kingston, and the building opened in 1893, but this site was also overtaken by the growing London conurbation, and by the 1930s most of the north of the county had been built over, becoming outer suburbs of London, although continuing to form part of Surrey administratively.


title: Surrey

text: In 1960 the report of the Herbert Commission recommended that much of north Surrey (including Kingston and Croydon) be included in a new "Greater London". These recommendations were enacted in highly modified form in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The areas that now form the London Boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, and Sutton and that part of Richmond south of the River Thames, were transferred from Surrey to Greater London. At the same time part of the county of Middlesex, which had been abolished by the legislation, was added to Surrey. This area now forms the borough of Spelthorne.


title: Surrey

text: Further local government reform under the Local Government Act 1972 took place in 1974. The 1972 Act abolished administrative counties and introduced non-metropolitan counties in their place. The boundaries of the non-metropolitan county of Surrey were similar to those of the administrative county with the exception of Gatwick Airport and some surrounding land which was transferred to West Sussex. It was originally proposed that the parishes of Horley and Charlwood would become part of West Sussex; however this met fierce local opposition and it was reversed by the Charlwood and Horley Act 1974.


title: Surrey

text: As of 2 May 2019, the Conservative local councillors controlled 4 out of 11 councils in Surrey, the Liberal Democrats controlled Mole Valley, the Residents Associations of Epsom and Ewell controlled Epsom and Ewell, and the remaining 5 are in No Overall Control. Of the five No Overall Control councils, Elmbridge and Waverley were both run by coalitions of Residents and Liberal Democrats, Guildford was run by a Liberal Democrats minority administration, and Tandridge and Woking were both run by Conservative minority administrations.


title: Surrey

text: The average wage in Surrey is bolstered by the high proportion of residents who work in financial services.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey has more organisation and company headquarters than any other county in the UK. Electronics manufacturers Canon, Toshiba, Samsung and Philips are housed here, as are distributors Burlodge, Future Electronics, Kia Motors and Toyota UK, the medico-pharma companies Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis and oil giant Esso. Some of the largest fast-moving consumer goods multinationals in the world have their UK and/or European headquarters here, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Superdrug, Nestlé, SC Johnson, Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive. NGOs including WWF UK & Compassion in World Farming are also based here.


title: Surrey

text: Much of Surrey lies within the London commuter belt with regular services into Central London. South Western Railway is the sole train operator in Elmbridge, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Woking and Waverley, and the main train operator in the Borough of Guildford, running regular services into and regional services towards the south coast and South west. Southern is the main train operator in Mole Valley, Epsom and Ewell and Reigate and Banstead and the sole train operator in Tandridge, providing services into and .


title: Surrey

text: There are many railway lines in the county, those of note include the Waterloo to Reading Line, South West Main Line, Portsmouth Direct Line, Sutton and Mole Valley Lines (from Horsham, West Sussex itself on the Arun Valley Line from Littlehampton) and the Brighton Main Line.


title: Surrey

text: The Waterloo to Reading Line calls at , , and in Surrey. The South West Main Line calls at and up to six other Surrey stops including . The Portsmouth Direct Line is significant in linking , and to the South West Main Line at Woking. The Sutton and Mole Valley Lines link , , , to Waterloo via or London Victoria via . The Brighton Main Line calls at and before reaching either London Bridge or London Victoria. is on the east–west North Downs Line.


title: Surrey

text: Consequently, the towns Staines, Woking, Guildford, Walton-on-Thames, Epsom and Ewell and Reigate and Redhill, statistically the largest examples, are established rapid-transit commuter towns for Central London. The above routes have had a stimulative effect. The relative development of Surrey at the time of the Beeching cuts led to today's retention of numerous other commuter routes except the Cranleigh Line, all with direct services to London, including:


title: Surrey

text: The only diesel route is the east–west North Downs Line, which runs from Reading via Guildford, , and Redhill.


title: Surrey

text: The major stations in the county are Guildford (8.0 million passengers), Woking (7.4 million passengers), Epsom (3.6 million passengers), Redhill (3.6 million passengers) and Staines (2.9 million passengers).


title: Surrey

text: Both Heathrow (in the London Borough of Hillingdon) and Gatwick (in Crawley Borough, West Sussex) have a perimeter road in Surrey. A National Express coach from Woking to Heathrow Airport and early-until-late buses to nearby Surrey towns operate.


title: Surrey

text: Fairoaks Airport on the edge of Chobham and Ottershaw is from Woking town centre and operates as a private airfield with two training schools and is home to other aviation businesses.


title: Surrey

text: The UK has a comprehensive, state-funded education system, accordingly Surrey has 37 state secondary schools, 17 Academies, 7 sixth form colleges and 55 state primaries. The county has 41 independent schools, including Charterhouse (one of the nine independent schools mentioned in the Public Schools Act 1868) and the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. More than half the state secondary schools in Surrey have sixth forms. Brooklands (twinned with a site in Ashford, Surrey), Reigate, Esher, Egham, Woking and Waverley host sixth-form equivalent colleges each with technical specialisations and standard sixth-form study courses. Brooklands College offers aerospace and automotive design, engineering and allied study courses reflecting the aviation and motor industry leading UK research and maintenance hubs nearby.


title: Surrey

text: Significant landscapes in Surrey include Box Hill just north of Dorking; the Devil's Punch Bowl at Hindhead and Frensham Common. Leith Hill southwest of Dorking in the Greensand Ridge is the second highest point in southeast England. Witley Common and Thursley Common are expansive areas of ancient heathland south of Godalming run by the National Trust and Ministry of Defence. The Surrey Hills are an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).


title: Surrey

text: More manicured landscapes can be seen at Claremont Landscape Garden, south of Esher (dating from 1715). There is also Winkworth Arboretum southeast of Godalming and Windlesham Arboretum near Lightwater created in the 20th century. Wisley is home to the Royal Horticultural Society gardens. Kew, historically part of Surrey but now in Greater London, features the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as The National Archives for England & Wales.


title: Surrey

text: Surrey's important country houses include the Tudor mansion of Loseley Park, built in the 1560s and Clandon House, an 18th-century Palladian mansion in West Clandon to the east of Guildford. Nearby Hatchlands Park in East Clandon, was built in 1758 with Robert Adam interiors and a collection of keyboard instruments. Polesden Lacey south of Great Bookham is a regency villa with extensive grounds. On a smaller scale, Oakhurst Cottage in Hambledon near Godalming is a restored 16th-century worker's home. Shalford Mill on the River Tillingbourne, is an 18th-century water-mill.


title: Surrey

text: A canal system, the Wey and Godalming Navigations is administered at Dapdune Wharf in Guildford, where an exhibition commemorates the work of the canal system and is home to a restored Wey barge, the Reliance. The Wey and Arun Canal is being restored by volunteers with hopes of a future full reopening.


title: Surrey

text: Guildford Cathedral is a 20th-century cathedral built from bricks made from the clay of the hill on which it stands.


title: Surrey

text: Brooklands Museum recognises the motoring and aeronautical past of Surrey. The county is also home to the Thorpe Park amusement park.


title: Surrey

text: Jane Austen's novel "Emma" is set in the fictional town of Highbury, Surrey, and the picnic at which Emma Woodhouse embarrasses Miss Bates takes place on Box Hill. Austen's unfinished novel "The Watsons" is also set in Surrey, and Emma Watson's brothers Robert and Samuel live in Croydon and Guildford, respectively, while Emma has recently returned home to the fictional village of Stanton.


title: Surrey

text: Much of H. G. Wells' 1898 novel "The War of the Worlds" is set in Surrey with many specific towns and villages identified. The Martians first land on Horsell Common on the north side of Woking, outside the Bleak House pub, now called Sands. The narrator flees in the direction of London, first passing Byfleet and then Weybridge before travelling east along the north bank of the Thames.


title: Surrey

text: The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman mentions Camberley in his poem "A Subaltern's Lovesong", while Carshalton forms the literary backdrop to many of the poems by James Farrar.


title: Surrey

text: The character Ford Prefect from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" claimed to be from Guildford in Surrey, but in actuality he was from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.


title: Surrey

text: Thomas Paine Kydd, the hero of the "Kydd" series of naval adventure novels written by Julian Stockwin, starts off as a young wig-maker from Guildford who is pressed into service and thus begins a life at sea.


title: Surrey

text: In J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, Harry spends his childhood in the fictional town of Little Whinging, Surrey, under the guardianship of his pernicious relatives, the Dursleys. He leaves their house permanently four days before his seventeenth birthday, and that night there is an aerial battle in the skies over Surrey between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters.


title: Surrey

text: The county has also been used as a film location. In the 1976 film "The Omen", the scenes at the cathedral were filmed at Guildford Cathedral. Part of the movie "The Holiday" was filmed in Godalming and Shere: Kate Winslet's character Iris lived in a cottage in Shere and Cameron Diaz's character Amanda switched houses with her as part of a home exchange. The final scene of "" uses the village church, also in Shere, as does the movie "The Wedding Date".


title: Surrey

text: Surrey woodland represented Germany in the opening scene of "Gladiator", starring Russell Crowe; it was filmed at the Bourne Woods near Farnham in Surrey. The film "I Want Candy" follows two hopeful lads from Leatherhead trying to break into the movies, and was partly filmed in Brooklands College (Weybridge campus).


title: Surrey

text: Scenes for the 2009 BBC production of "Emma", starring Romola Garai and Michael Gambon, were filmed at St Mary the Virgin Church, Send near Guildford and at Loseley House.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typical romantic comedy, the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and seemingly meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference, a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally united. A fairy-tale-style happy ending is a typical feature.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Romantic comedy films are a certain genre of comedy films as well as of romance films, and may also have elements of screwball comedies. However, a romantic comedy is classified as a film with two genres, not a single new genre. Some television series can also be classified as romantic comedies.


title: Romantic comedy

text: The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two characters meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately realize their love for one another and reunite. Sometimes the two leads meet and become involved initially, then must confront challenges to their union. Sometimes they are hesitant to become romantically involved because they believe they do not like each other. After all, one of them already has a partner, or because of social pressures. However, the screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are attracted to each other and that they would be a good love match. The characters often split or seek time apart in order to sort out their emotions or deal with external obstacles to their being together, which they eventually overcome.


title: Romantic comedy

text: While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them usually realizes that they love the other person. Then, one party makes some extravagant effort (sometimes called a "grand gesture") to find the other person and declare their love. This is not always the case, as sometimes there is a remarkable coincidental encounter where the two meet again. Alternatively, one plans a sweet romantic gesture to show that they still care. Then, perhaps with some comic friction or awkwardness, they declare their love for each other, and the film ends on a happy note. Even though it is implied that they live happily ever after, it does not always state what that happy ending will be. The couple does not necessarily get married or even live together for it to be a "happily ever after". The conclusion of a romantic comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in its protagonists' lives, even if they physically separate in the end (e.g. "Shakespeare in Love", "Roman Holiday"). Most of the time the ending gives the audience a sense that if it is true love, it will always prevail no matter what is thrown in the way.


title: Romantic comedy

text: There are many variations on this basic plotline. Sometimes, instead of the two lead characters ending up in each other's arms, another love match will be made between one of the principal characters and a secondary character (e.g., "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend"). Alternatively, the film may be a rumination on the impossibility of love, as in Woody Allen's film "Annie Hall." The basic format of a romantic comedy film can be found in much earlier sources, such as Shakespeare plays like "Much Ado About Nothing" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream".


title: Romantic comedy

text: Over the years, romantic comedies have slowly been becoming more popular to both men and women. They have begun to spread out of their conventional and traditional structure into other territory. This territory explores more subgenres and more complex topics. These films still follow the typical plot of "a light and humorous movie, play, etc., whose central plot is a happy love story" but with more complexity. These are a few ways romantic comedies are adding more subtlety and complexity into the genre. Two ways they are adding to the complexity are through the general obstacles that come between the couple and the general morals that the characters feel throughout the entire film.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Some romantic comedies have adopted extreme or strange circumstances for the main characters, as in "Warm Bodies" where the protagonist is a zombie who falls in love with a human girl after eating her boyfriend. The effect of their love towards each other is that it starts spreading to the other zombies and even starts to cure them. With the zombie cure, the two main characters can now be together since they don't have that barrier between them anymore. Another strange set of circumstances is in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" where the two protagonists are building a relationship while trying to make a porno together. Both these films take the typical story arc and then add strange circumstances to add originality.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Other romantic comedies flip the standard conventions of the romantic comedy genre. In films like "500 Days of Summer", the two main interests do not end up together, leaving the protagonist somewhat distraught. Other films like "Adam" have the two main interests end up separated but still content and pursuing other goals and love interests.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Some romantic comedies use reversal of gender roles to add comedic effect. These films contain characters who possess qualities that diverge from the gender role that society has imposed upon them, as seen in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in which the male protagonist is especially in touch with his emotions, and "Made of Honor" in which the female bridesmaids are shown in a negative and somewhat masculine light in order to advance the likability of the male lead.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Other remakes of romantic comedies involve similar elements, but explore more adult themes such as marriage, responsibility, or even disability. Two films by Judd Apatow, "This Is 40" and "Knocked Up", deal with these issues. "This Is 40" chronicles the mid-life crisis of a couple entering their 40s, and "Knocked Up" addresses unintended pregnancy and the ensuing assuming of responsibility. "Silver Linings Playbook" deals with mental illness and the courage to start a new relationship.


title: Romantic comedy

text: All of these go against the stereotype of what romantic comedy has become as a genre. Yet the genre of romantic comedy is simply a structure, and all of these elements do not negate the fact that these films are still romantic comedies.


title: Romantic comedy

text: One of the conventions of romantic comedy films is the entertainment factor in a contrived encounter of two potential romantic partners in unusual or comic circumstances, which film critics such as Roger Ebert or the Associated Press' Christy Lemire have called a "meet-cute" situation. During a "meet-cute", scriptwriters often create a humorous sense of awkwardness between the two potential partners by depicting an initial clash of personalities or beliefs, an embarrassing situation, or by introducing a comical misunderstanding or mistaken identity situation. Sometimes the term is used without a hyphen (a "meet cute"), or as a verb ("to meet cute").


title: Romantic comedy

text: Roger Ebert describes the "concept of a Meet Cute" as "when boy meets girl in a cute way." As an example, he cites "The Meet Cute in "Lost and Found" [which] has Jackson and Segal running their cars into each other in Switzerland. Once recovered, they Meet Cute again when they run into each other while on skis. Eventually... they fall in love."


title: Romantic comedy

text: In many romantic comedies, the potential couple comprises polar opposites, two people of different temperaments, situations, social statuses, or all three ("It Happened One Night"), who would not meet or talk under normal circumstances, and the meet cute's contrived situation provides the opportunity for these two people to meet.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Certain movies are entirely driven by the meet-cute situation, and contrived circumstances throw the couple together for much of the screenplay. However, movies in which the contrived situation is the main feature, such as "Some Like It Hot", rather than the romance being the main feature, are not considered "meet-cutes".


title: Romantic comedy

text: The use of the meet-cute is less marked in television series and novels, because these formats have more time to establish and develop romantic relationships. In situation comedies, relationships are static and meet-cute is not necessary, though flashbacks may recall one ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Mad About You") and lighter fare may require contrived romantic meetings.


title: Romantic comedy

text: The heyday of "meet cute" in films was during the Great Depression in the 1930s; screwball comedy films made heavy use of contrived romantic "meet cutes", perhaps because the more rigid class consciousness and class divisions of this period made cross-social class romances into tantalizing fantasies.


title: Romantic comedy

text: Comedies, rooted in the fertility rites and satyr plays of ancient Greece, have often incorporated sexual or social elements.


title: Romantic comedy

text: The "Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms" defines romantic comedy as "a general term for comedies that deal mainly with the follies and misunderstandings of young lovers, in a light‐hearted and happily concluded manner which usually avoids serious satire". This reference states that the "best‐known examples are Shakespeare's comedies of the late 1590s, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Twelfth Night", and "As You Like It" being the most purely romantic, while "Much Ado About Nothing" approaches the comedy of manners and "The Merchant of Venice" is closer to tragicomedy."


title: Romantic comedy

text: It was not until the development of the literary tradition of romantic love in the western European medieval period, though, that "romance" came to refer to "romantic love" situations, rather than the heroic adventures of medieval Romance. Those adventures traditionally focused on a knight's feats on behalf of a lady, and so the modern themes of love were quickly woven into them, as in Chrétien de Troyes's "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart".


title: Romantic comedy

text: The contemporary romantic comedy genre was shaped by 18th-century Restoration comedy and 19th-century romantic melodrama. Restoration comedies were typically comedies of manners that relied on knowledge of the complex social rules of high society, particularly related to navigating the marriage-market, an inherent feature of the plot in many of these plays, such as William Wycherley’s "The Country Wife". While the melodramas of the Romantic period had little to do with comedy, they were hybrids incorporating elements of domestic and sentimental tragedies, pantomime “with an emphasis on gesture, on the body, and the thrill of the chase,” and other genres of expression such as songs and folk tales.


title: Romantic comedy

text: In the 20th century, as Hollywood grew, the romantic comedy in America mirrored other aspects of society in its rapid changes, developing many subgenres through the decades, such as the screwball comedy in response to the censorship of the Hays Code in the 1920s-1930s, the career woman comedy


title: Romantic comedy

text: (such as George Stevens' "Woman of the Year", starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) post-WWII, and the sex comedy made popular by Rock Hudson and Doris Day in the 1950s-1960s.


title: Romantic comedy

text: In 1972 "What's Up, Doc?" was a success, although the film follows the conventions of the screwball comedy, as its tagline confirms: "A Screwball Comedy. Remember them?".


title: Romantic comedy

text: The more sexually charged "When Harry Met Sally" had a successful box office run in 1989, paving the way for a rebirth for the Hollywood romantic comedy in the mid-1990s.


title: Romantic comedy

text: The French film industry went in a completely different direction, with less inhibitions about sex. Virginia Woolf, tired of stories that ended in 'happily ever after' at the beginning of a serious relationship, called "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, with its portrayal of a difficult marriage, "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people."


title: Romantic comedy

text: There have been at least two studies conducted that examined the effect of watching romantic comedies on individuals' perceptions of romance and long-term relationships.


title: Zaire

text: Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa (after Sudan and Algeria), and the 11th-largest country in the world. With a population of over 23 million inhabitants, Zaire was the most-populous officially Francophone country in Africa, as well as one of the most populous in Africa.


title: Zaire

text: The country was a one-party totalitarian military dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence from Belgium known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalized. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second Congolese Republic.


title: Zaire

text: A wider campaign of , ridding the country of the influences from the colonial era of the Belgian Congo, was also launched under Mobutu's direction. Weakened by the termination of American support after the end of the Cold War, Mobutu was forced to declare a new republic in 1990 to cope with demands for change. By the time of its downfall, Zaire was characterised by widespread cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement.


title: Zaire

text: Zaire collapsed in the 1990s, amid the destabilization of the eastern parts of the country in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and growing ethnic violence. In 1996, , the head of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) militia, led a popular rebellion against Mobutu. With rebel forces successfully making gains westward, Mobutu fled the country, leaving Kabila's forces in charge as the country restored its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo the following year, and he died less than four months later while in exile in Morocco.


title: Zaire

text: The country's name, , was derived from the name of the Congo River, sometimes called in Portuguese, which in turn was derived from the Kikongo word or ('river that swallows all rivers'). The use of "Congo" seems to have replaced "Zaire" gradually in English usage during the 18th century and "Congo" was the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to "Zahir" or "Zaire" as the name used by the local population (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.


title: Zaire

text: In 1965, as in 1960, the division of power in Congo-Léopoldville (a former Belgian colony) between President and Parliament led to a stalemate and threatened the country's stability. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu again seized power. Unlike the first time, however, Mobutu assumed the presidency, rather than remaining behind the scenes. From 1965, Mobutu dominated the political life of the country, restructuring the state on more than one occasion, and claiming the title of "Father of the Nation".


title: Zaire

text: When, under the authenticité policy of the early 1970s, Zairians were obliged to adopt "authentic" names, Mobutu dropped Joseph-Désiré and officially changed his name to "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga", or, more commonly, Mobutu Sésé Seko, roughly meaning "the all-conquering warrior, who goes from triumph to triumph".


title: Zaire

text: In retrospective justification of his 1965 seizure of power, Mobutu later summed up the record of the First Republic as one of "chaos, disorder, negligence, and incompetence". Rejection of the legacy of the First Republic went far beyond rhetoric. In the first two years of its existence, the new regime turned to the urgent tasks of political reconstruction and consolidation. Creating a new basis of legitimacy for the state, in the form of a single party, came next in Mobutu's order of priority.


title: Zaire

text: A third imperative was to expand the reach of the state in the social and political realms, a process that began in 1970 and culminated in the adoption of a new constitution in 1974. By 1976, however, this effort had begun to generate its own inner contradictions, thus paving the way for the resurrection of a Bula Matari ("the breaker of rocks") system of repression and brutality.


title: Zaire

text: By 1967, Mobutu had consolidated his rule and proceeded to give the country a new constitution and a single party. The new constitution was submitted to popular referendum in June 1967 and approved by 98 percent of those voting. It provided that executive powers be centralised in the president, who was to be head of state, head of government, commander in chief of the armed forces and the police, and in charge of foreign policy.


title: Zaire

text: But the most far-reaching change was the creation of the Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—MPR) on 17 April 1967, marking the emergence of "the nation politically organised". Rather than government institutions being the emanation of the state, the state was henceforth defined as the emanation of the party. Thus, in October 1967 party and administrative responsibilities were merged into a single framework, thereby automatically extending the role of the party to all administrative organs at the central and provincial levels, as well as to the trade unions, youth movements, and student organisations.


title: Zaire

text: Three years after changing the country's name to Zaire, Mobutu promulgated a new constitution that consolidated his hold on the country. Every five years (seven years after 1978), the MPR elected a president who was simultaneously nominated as the only candidate for president of the republic; he was confirmed in office via a referendum. Under this system, Mobutu was reelected in 1977 and 1984 by implausibly high margins, claiming a unanimous or near-unanimous "yes" vote. The MPR was defined as the country's "single institution," and its president was vested with "plentitude of power exercise." Every five years, a single list of MPR candidates was returned to the National Assembly, with official figures showing near-unanimous support. All citizens of Zaire automatically became members of the MPR at birth. For all intents and purposes, this gave the president of the MPR—Mobutu—complete political control over the country.


title: Zaire

text: Translating the concept of "the nation politically organised" into reality implied a major expansion of state control of civil society. It meant, to begin with, the incorporation of youth groups and worker organisations into the matrix of the MPR. In July 1967, the Political Bureau announced the creation of the Youth of the Popular Revolutionary Movement (Jeunesse du Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—JMPR), following the launching a month earlier of the National Union of Zairian Workers (Union Nationale des Travailleurs Zaïrois—UNTZA), which brought together into a single organisational framework three preexisting trade unions.


title: Zaire

text: Ostensibly, the aim of the merger, in the terms of the Manifesto of N'Sele, was to transform the role of trade unions from "being merely a force of confrontation" into "an organ of support for government policy", thus providing "a communication link between the working class and the state". Similarly, the JMPR was to act as a major link between the student population and the state. In reality, the government was attempting to bring under its control those sectors where opposition to the regime might be centred. By appointing key labour and youth leaders to the MPR Political Bureau, the regime hoped to harness syndical and student forces to the machinery of the state. Nevertheless, as has been pointed out by numerous observers, there is little evidence that co-optation succeeded in mobilising support for the regime beyond the most superficial level.


title: Zaire

text: The trend toward co-optation of key social sectors continued in subsequent years. Women's associations were eventually brought under the control of the party, as was the press, and in December 1971 Mobutu proceeded to emasculate the power of the churches. From then on, only three churches were recognised: the Church of Christ in Zaire (L'Église du Christ au Zaïre), the Kimbanguist Church, and the Roman Catholic Church.


title: Zaire

text: Nationalisation of the universities of Kinshasa and Kisangani, coupled with Mobutu's insistence on banning all Christian names and establishing JMPR sections in all seminaries, soon brought the Roman Catholic Church and the state into conflict. Not until 1975, and after considerable pressure from the Vatican, did the regime agree to tone down its attacks on the Roman Catholic Church and return some of its control of the school system to the church. Meanwhile, in line with a December 1971 law, which allowed the state to dissolve "any church or sect that compromises or threatens to compromise public order", scores of unrecognised religious sects were dissolved and their leaders jailed.


title: Zaire

text: Mobutu was careful also to suppress all institutions that could mobilise ethnic loyalties. Avowedly opposed to ethnicity as a basis for political alignment, he outlawed such ethnic associations as the Association of Lulua Brothers (Association des Lulua Frères), which had been organised in Kasai in 1953 in reaction to the growing political and economic influence in Kasai of the rival Luba people, and Liboke lya Bangala (literally, "a bundle of Bangala"), an association formed in the 1950s to represent the interests of Lingala speakers in large cities. It helped Mobutu that his ethnic affiliation was blurred in the public mind. Nevertheless, as dissatisfaction arose, ethnic tensions surfaced again.


title: Zaire

text: Running parallel to the efforts of the state to control all autonomous sources of power, important administrative reforms were introduced in 1967 and 1973 to strengthen the hand of the central authorities in the provinces. The central objective of the 1967 reform was to abolish provincial governments and replace them with state functionaries appointed by Kinshasa. The principle of centralisation was further extended to districts and territories, each headed by administrators appointed by the central government.


title: Zaire

text: The only units of government that still retained a fair measure of autonomy—but not for long—were the so-called local collectivities, i.e. chiefdoms and sectors (the latter incorporating several chiefdoms). The unitary, centralised state system thus legislated into existence bore a striking resemblance to its colonial antecedent, except that from July 1972 provinces were called regions.


title: Zaire

text: With the January 1973 reform, another major step was taken in the direction of further centralisation. The aim, in essence, was to operate a complete fusion of political and administrative hierarchies by making the head of each administrative unit the president of the local party committee. Furthermore, another consequence of the reform was to severely curtail the power of traditional authorities at the local level. Hereditary claims to authority would no longer be recognised; instead, all chiefs were to be appointed and controlled by the state via the administrative hierarchy. By then, the process of centralisation had theoretically eliminated all preexisting centres of local autonomy.


title: Zaire

text: The analogy with the colonial state becomes even more compelling when coupled with the introduction in 1973 of "obligatory civic work" (locally known as "Salongo" after the Lingala term for work), in the form of one afternoon a week of compulsory labor on agricultural and development projects. Officially described as a revolutionary attempt to return to the values of communalism and solidarity inherent in the traditional society, Salongo was intended to mobilise the population into the performance of collective work "with enthusiasm and without constraint".


title: Zaire

text: In reality, the conspicuous lack of popular enthusiasm for Salongo led to widespread resistance and foot dragging (causing many local administrators to look the other way). Although failure to comply carried penalties of one month to six months in jail, by the late 1970s most Zairians shirked their Salongo obligations. By resuscitating one of the most bitterly resented features of the colonial state, obligatory civic work contributed in no small way to the erosion of legitimacy suffered by the Mobutist state.


title: Zaire

text: In 1977 and 1978, Katangan rebels based in Angola launched two invasions—Shaba I and Shaba II—into the Katanga Province (renamed "Shaba" in 1972). The rebels were driven out with military assistance from the Western Bloc, particularly from the Safari Club.


title: Zaire

text: The Battle of Kolwezi, fought in May 1978, resulted in an airborne operation in an aim of rescuing Zairian, Belgian and French miners held as hostages by pro-Communist Katangan guerrillas.


title: Zaire

text: During the 1980s, Zaire remained a one-party state. Although Mobutu successfully maintained control during this period, opposition parties, most notably the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social—UDPS), were active. Mobutu's attempts to quell these groups drew significant international criticism.


title: Zaire

text: As the Cold War came to a close, internal and external pressures on Mobutu increased. In late 1989 and early 1990, Mobutu was weakened by a series of domestic protests, by heightened international criticism of his regime's human rights practices, by a faltering economy, and by government corruption, most notably his massive embezzlement of government funds for personal use. In June 1989, Mobutu visited Washington, D.C., where he was the first African head of state to be invited for a state meeting with newly elected U.S. President George H. W. Bush.


title: Zaire

text: In May 1990, Mobutu agreed to the principle of a multi-party system with elections and a constitution. As details of a reform package were delayed, soldiers began looting Kinshasa in September 1991 to protest their unpaid wages. Two thousand French and Belgian troops, some of whom were flown in on U.S. Air Force planes, arrived to evacuate the 20,000 endangered foreign nationals in Kinshasa.


title: Zaire

text: In 1992, after previous similar attempts, the long-promised Sovereign National Conference was staged, encompassing over 2,000 representatives from various political parties. The conference gave itself a legislative mandate and elected Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya as its chairman, along with Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, leader of the UDPS, as prime minister. By the end of the year Mobutu had created a rival government with its own prime minister. The ensuing stalemate produced a compromise merger of the two governments into the High Council of Republic–Parliament of Transition (HCR–PT) in 1994, with Mobutu as head of state and Kengo wa Dondo as prime minister. Although presidential and legislative elections were scheduled repeatedly over the next 2 years, they never took place.


title: Zaire

text: By 1996, tensions from the neighbouring Rwandan Civil War and genocide had spilled over to Zaire (see History of Rwanda). Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe), who had fled Rwanda following the ascension of an RPF-led government, had been using Hutu refugee camps in eastern Zaire as bases for incursion against Rwanda. These Hutu militia forces soon allied with the Zairian armed forces (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire, known as the Banyamulenge. In turn, these Zairian Tutsis formed a militia to defend themselves against attacks. When the Zairian government began to escalate its massacres in November 1996, the Tutsi militias erupted in rebellion against Mobutu, starting what would become known as the First Congo War.


title: Zaire

text: The Tutsi militia was soon joined by various opposition groups and supported by several countries, including Rwanda and Uganda. This coalition, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, became known as the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL). The AFDL, now seeking the broader goal of ousting Mobutu, made significant military gains in early 1997, and by the middle of 1997 had almost completely overrun the country. The only thing that seemed to slow the AFDL forces down was the country's ramshackle infrastructure; irregularly used dirt paths and river ports were all that connected some areas to the outside world. Following failed peace talks between Mobutu and Kabila, Mobutu fled into exile in Morocco on 17 May. Kabila named himself president, consolidated power around himself and the AFDL, and marched unopposed into Kinshasa three days later. On 21 May Kabila officially reverted the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


title: Zaire

text: The country was governed by the Popular Movement of the Revolution as a one-party state as the only legally permitted party in the country, though the Congo had effectively been a one-party state since the MPR's formation. Despite the constitution nominally allowing for the existence of two parties, the MPR was the only party that was allowed to nominate a candidate for the 1 November 1970 presidential election. Mobutu was confirmed in office by an implausible margin of over 10,131,000 votes against only 157 who voted "no." At parliamentary elections held two weeks later, voters were presented with a single MPR list that was approved with over 99 percent support.


title: Zaire

text: The president served as the head of state of Zaïre whose role was to appoint and dismiss cabinet members and determine their areas of responsibility. The ministers, as heads of their respective departments, were to execute the programs and decisions of the president. The president also was to have the power to appoint and dismiss the governors of the provinces and the judges of all courts, including those of the Supreme Court of Justice.


title: Zaire

text: The bicameral parliament was replaced by a unicameral legislative body called the Legislative Council. Governors of provinces were no longer elected by provincial assemblies but appointed by the central government. The president had the power to issue autonomous regulations on matters other than those pertaining to the domain of law, without prejudice to other provisions of the constitution. Under certain conditions, the president was empowered to govern by executive order, which carried the force of law.


title: Zaire

text: The doctrinal foundation was disclosed shortly after its birth, in the form of the Manifesto of N'sele (named so because it was issued from the president's rural residence at N'sele, 60 km upriver from Kinshasa), made public in May 1967. Nationalism, revolution, and authenticity were identified as the major themes of what came to be known as "Mobutism".


title: Zaire

text: Nationalism implied the achievement of economic and political independence. Revolution, described as a "truly national revolution, essentially pragmatic", meant "the repudiation of both capitalism and communism". Thus, "neither right nor left" became one of the legitimising slogans of the regime, along with "authenticity".


title: Zaire

text: In the 1970s and 1980s, Mobutu's government relied on a selected pool of technocrats, often referred to as the "nomenklatura", from which the Head of State drew, and periodically rotated, competent individuals. They comprised the Executive Council and led the full spectrum of Ministries, Departments or, as governmental terminology shifted, Commissariats. Among these individuals were internationally respected appointees such as Djamboleka Lona Okitongono who was named Secretary of Finance, under Citizen Namwisi (Minister of Finance), and later became President of OGEDEP, the National Debt Management Office.


title: Zaire

text: Ultimately, Djamboleka became Governor of the Bank of Zaire in the final stage of Mobutu's government. His progress was fairly typical of the rotational pattern established by Mobutu, who retained the most sensitive ministerial portfolios (such as Defense) for himself.


title: Zaire

text: Zaire was divided into 8 regions with its capital Kinshasa. In 1988, the Province of Kivu was split into three regions. They were renamed into provinces in 1997.


title: Zaire

text: The zaïre was introduced to replace the franc as the new national currency. 100 makuta (singular likuta) equaled one zaïre. The likuta was also divided into 100 sengi. However this unit was worth very little, so the smallest coin was for 10 sengi. The currency and the cities named above had actually already been renamed between 1966 and 1971.


title: Zaire

text: While the country began to stabilize after Mobutu took control, the economic situation began to decline, and by 1979, the purchasing power was only 4% of that from 1960. Starting in 1976 the IMF provided stabilizing loans to his regime. Much of the money was embezzled by Mobutu and his circle.


title: Zaire

text: According to the 1982 report by IMF's envoy Erwin Blumenthal documented. He stated, it is "alarmingly clear that the corruptive system in Zaire with all its wicked and ugly manifestations, its mismanagement and fraud will destroy all endeavors of international institutions, of friendly governments, and of the commercial banks towards recovery and rehabilitation of Zaire's economy". Blumenthal stated that there was "no chance" that creditors would ever recover their loans. Yet the IMF and the World Bank continued to lend money that was either embezzled, stolen, or "wasted on elephant projects". "Structural adjustment programmes" implemented as a condition of IMF loans cut support for health care, education, and infrastructure.


title: Zaire

text: The concept of authenticity was derived from the MPR's professed doctrine of "authentic Zairian nationalism and condemnation of regionalism and tribalism". Mobutu defined it as being conscious of one's own personality and one's own values and of being at home in one's culture. In line with the dictates of authenticity, the name of the country was changed to the Republic of Zaire on 27 October 1971, and that of the armed forces to Zairian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Zaïroises—FAZ).


title: Zaire

text: This decision was curious, given that the name "Congo", which referred both to the river Congo and to the mediaeval Kongo Empire, was fundamentally authentic to pre-colonial African roots, while "Zaire" is in fact a Portuguese corruption of another African word, "Nzadi" ("river", by Nzadi o Nzere, "the river that swallows all the other rivers", another name of the Congo river). General Mobutu became Mobutu Sésé Seko and forced all his citizens to adopt African names and many cities were also renamed.


title: Zaire

text: In addition, the adoption of Zairian, as opposed to Western or Christian, names in 1972 and the abandonment of Western dress in favour of the wearing of the abacost were subsequently promoted as expressions of authenticity.


title: Zaire

text: Mobutu used the concept of authenticity as a means of vindicating his own brand of leadership. As he himself stated, "in our African tradition there are never two chiefs ... That is why we Congolese, in the desire to conform to the traditions of our continent, have resolved to group all the energies of the citizens of our country under the banner of a single national party."


title: Zaire

text: Critics of the regime were quick to point out the shortcomings of Mobutism as a legitimising formula, in particular its self-serving qualities and inherent vagueness; nonetheless, the MPR's ideological training centre, the Makanda Kabobi Institute, took seriously its assigned task of propagating through the land "the teachings of the Founder-President, which must be given and interpreted in the same fashion throughout the country". Members of the MPR Political Bureau, meanwhile, were entrusted with the responsibility of serving as "the repositories and guarantors of Mobutism".


title: Zaire

text: Quite aside from the merits or weaknesses of Mobutism, the MPR drew much of its legitimacy from the model of the overarching mass parties that had come into existence in Africa in the 1960s, a model which had also been a source of inspiration for the MNC-Lumumba. It was this Lumumbist heritage which the MPR tried to appropriate in its effort to mobilise the Zairian masses behind its founder-president. Intimately tied up with the doctrine of Mobutism was the vision of an all-encompassing single party reaching out to all sectors of the nation.


title: Zaire

text: Zaire's IOC code was ZAI, which the nation's athletes used at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events like the All-Africa Games. It has since changed to COD.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelsea, and Queens Park Rangers. He also played for and captained the Welsh national team, having qualified through a Welsh grandparent. Best remembered for his time at Wimbledon as a pivotal member of the famous "Crazy Gang", he won the 1988 FA Cup with the London side, a club for which he played over 200 games during two spells between 1986 and 1998. He played 184 games in the Premier League, in which he scored 13 goals. Throughout his career, Jones gained a reputation for a highly aggressive and physically uncompromising style of play, earning him a "hard man" image on and off the field.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Since retiring from football in 1998, Jones capitalised on his tough image and is now well known as an actor; he is often typecast as violent criminals and thugs. His film career began with "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) and continued with roles in films such as "Snatch" (2000), "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), "Mean Machine" (2001), and Juggernaut in "" (2006). He has also appeared on television, namely as Sebastian Moran in "Elementary" and Brick in "Arrow".


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Vincent Peter Jones was born on 5 January 1965 in Watford, Hertfordshire, the son of Glenda ("née" Harris) and gamekeeper Peter Jones. He attended schools in nearby Bedmond and Abbots Langley, and captained his school's football team. He is of partial Welsh and Irish descent.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Having begun playing as a teenager in local amateur football, a 19-year-old Jones was signed on semi-professional terms by Wealdstone of the Alliance Premier League in 1984. A young addition to the experienced Wealdstone team which was soon to become the first ever club to achieve the non-league "double" in the 1984–85 season, he was a non-playing squad member in the club's victory at Wembley Stadium in the 1985 FA Trophy final. He combined playing football with working as a hod carrier on construction sites.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: He played one season on loan with Swedish club IFK Holmsund in 1986, helping to lead the team to the Division 3 Mellersta Norrland title.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In the autumn of 1986, a 21-year-old Jones became a full-time professional footballer when he was signed by Wimbledon of the First Division, who paid Wealdstone £10,000 for him. He scored in only his second appearance for Wimbledon on 29 November 1986, in a 1–0 win over Manchester United. He was a member of the Wimbledon team which won the FA Cup in 1988, beating league champions Liverpool 1–0 in the final. Wimbledon cemented their status as a formidable First Division side during this time, with Jones making his name as an enthusiastic and uncompromisingly tough midfielder and a leading member of Wimbledon's famed Crazy Gang.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was transferred from Wimbledon to Leeds United for a fee of £650,000 in June 1989, and played in all but one league games as Leeds finished as champions of the Second Division, winning promotion to the First Division in 1990. Jones proved he could thrive, and under the stewardship of Howard Wilkinson he received only three yellow cards during the entire season.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones left Leeds United early in the 1990–91 season after losing his regular first-team place to youngsters David Batty and Gary Speed. His former Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett signed him for Sheffield United in September 1990 for a transfer fee of £700,000. He played a total of 35 matches for The Blades in the First Division, scoring two goals.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was then sold to Chelsea a year later on 30 August 1991, for a fee of £575,000. Jones made his Chelsea debut one day after his signing in the 4–1 win against Luton. On 18 September 1991, Jones scored his first goal for the club in the 2–0 win against Aston Villa. He went on to make 52 total appearances for Chelsea, scoring 7 goals and receiving only 3 yellow cards.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: After just one season at Stamford Bridge, he was back with Wimbledon in the early stages of the 1992–93 season, when the FA Premier League had just been formed. He helped Wimbledon equal their best ever league finish in 1993–94, when they finished sixth in the Premier League. Three seasons later, he contributed to another strong season for the club, who reached the semi-finals of both the F.A. Cup and the League Cup, and finished eighth in the Premier League. That season he scored the winning goal as Wimbledon won 1–0 against Arsenal at Highbury.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: His second exit from Wimbledon came when he became player/coach of QPR in early 1998, scoring on his debut against Huddersfield Town. He announced his retirement from football in late 1998 at the age of 34.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In December 1994 Jones was named in the Wales international squad, qualifying under FIFA rules via his Ruthin-born maternal grandfather. He had previously sought to play for the Republic of Ireland due to eligibility through a grandparent. He made his international debut under Mike Smith for Wales on 14 December 1994, three weeks before his 30th birthday, in a 3–0 home defeat to Bulgaria in the Euro 96 qualifiers. When Smith was replaced as Wales manager by Jones’s former Wimbledon manager Bobby Gould a few months later, he remained a regular member of the Welsh national squad. The last of his nine caps came on 29 March 1997 in a 2–1 defeat to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier, also at Cardiff Arms Park.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones' international call-up was however greeted with consternation by some and was even ridiculed by Jimmy Greaves, who said, "Well, stone me! We've had cocaine, bribery and Arsenal scoring two goals at home. But just when you thought there were truly no surprises left in football, Vinnie Jones turns out to be an international player!".


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was known for his "hard man" image on the pitch. He was sent off 12 times in his career, as well as holding the record for the quickest ever booking in a football match, being booked after just three seconds for a foul on the opposition player Dane Whitehouse in an FA Cup tie between Chelsea and Sheffield United in 1992. In his autobiography, he recalls: "I must have been too high, too wild, too strong or too early, because, after three seconds, I could hardly have been too bloody late!"


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In an incident in October 1987, Jones was famously photographed covertly grabbing Paul Gascoigne by his testicles during a league game for Wimbledon against Newcastle United.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: He also was the presenter of the infamous "Soccer's Hard Men" video released in 1992, which featured archived footage of him and many other "hard men" of the game, and included advice for budding "hard men". After the release of the video, Jones was fined £20,000 and given a six-month ban (suspended for three years) for "bringing the game into disrepute". Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam branded Jones a "mosquito brain". After this incident, Jones failed to stay out of trouble. After exceeding 40 disciplinary points that season, he was once again summoned to Lancaster Gate, the headquarters of The Football Association, but failed to appear. The FA banned Jones indefinitely. Jones explained that he had "mixed up" the date of the hearing, for which he received a four-match ban and was told by Football Association officials to "grow up". Jones commented later: "The FA have given me a pat on the back. I've taken violence off the terracing and onto the pitch" – an obvious reference to the football hooliganism problem which had blighted the English game during the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones made an appearance for Carlisle United, coming on as a second-half substitute in 2001 in a friendly against Irish team Shelbourne, teaming up with friend Roddy Collins who was manager at the time. In June 2010, he released a press statement stating that he was donating his 1988 FA Cup winners medal to the fans of AFC Wimbledon, wishing the club the best for the future. The medal is displayed at the club's stadium. He briefly served as club president of non-league Soham Town Rangers.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In 2020, Jones appeared on the ITV show Harry's Heroes, It featured former football manager Harry Redknapp attempting get a squad of former England international footballers back fit and healthy for one last game, vs a Germany Legends team. Despite playing for Wales during his professional career, Jones briefly took part in Season Two and played for the England legends in one of their warm up games against San Marino veterans.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In 1998, Jones made his film debut in Guy Ritchie's crime comedy "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", in which he played a mob enforcer named Big Chris. He has since been typecast in similar roles as criminals or villains, including the dapper gun-for-hire "Bullet-Tooth Tony" in Ritchie's 2000 follow up "Snatch". Jones became known to American audiences in the 2000 film remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds", in which he played Sphinx. Although this was a major role with significant screen time, he only had one line of dialogue because his character was a silent, tough brawler. He teamed up with director Dominic Sena again the following year for the thriller "Swordfish", in which he played one of John Travolta's henchmen.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones played Danny Meehan in "Mean Machine", a 2001 British remake of the Burt Reynolds film "The Longest Yard". He played a former captain of the England national football team, who is sent to prison and subsequently takes control of a team of inmates who play against the prison guards' team. In the 2004 Japanese film "Survive Style 5+", he played a hitman from Britain. He played another football role as Mad Maynard, the leader of a Manchester United football hooligan firm, in the 2004 film "EuroTrip". His next role was in the 2006 film, "", as the comic book villain Juggernaut. He said that he would like to play Juggernaut in a spin-off. One of his lines in the film ("I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!") was based on a pre-existing Internet parody. The same year, he was featured in another football film, "She's the Man", as the coach of the Illyria team. In 2007, he played McStarley in "The Condemned", a film about death row inmates forced to fight to the death on a remote island.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was a housemate on the reality television show "Celebrity Big Brother 7" in 2010, and celebrated his 45th birthday while he participated. He received loud cheers as he entered the house and was the favourite to win going into the house, but he did not maintain popularity with the public; the crowd chanted "get Vinnie out" on the final night and booed him as he left the house after he finished in third place. Speaking of his experience on the show, he said: "It was like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in there – and I was Jack Nicholson."


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones played a professional killer in the Kazakhstani film "Liquidator" in 2011. His character is an elite assassin invited to eliminate the main character. Producers of the film dealt with the Kazakh-to-English language barrier by writing Jones' character as a mute who does not speak. In the same year, he played Zed in the movie "Blood Out". He played a role in the Hungarian film "The Magic Boys" in 2012. That same year, he voiced Freddie the Dog in "". He co-starred alongside Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action-thriller "Escape Plan", released in 2013, and was featured with Danny Trejo in the 2014 horror-thriller "Reaper".


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In 2021, Jones competed in the third season of the Australian version of "The Masked Singer" as "Volcano". He was the first contestant eliminated.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Having met Tanya Terry when they were both 12 years old and next-door neighbours in Watford, Jones later married her in 1994. Tanya had a daughter by her first husband, footballer Steve Terry. Jones and Tanya had a son, Aaron Ellison-Jones, who in 2008 graduated from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and then was going on to join the Blues and Royals regiment of the British Army. In November 2013, Jones received treatment after finding signs of skin cancer below his eye. At some point, his wife was also diagnosed with skin cancer, which then spread to her brain by 2018. Jones was at her bedside during her death of cancer on 6 July 2019. He discussed her death during an appearance on "Piers Morgan's Life Stories" in September 2020, and said that he does not plan to remarry.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: In 1998, Jones penned an autobiography called "Vinnie: The Autobiography", which was later revised and reprinted to include information on his first film appearance. During his football career, he resided mainly in Dronfield, Derbyshire. He splits his time between Los Angeles and Petworth, West Sussex. He is a supporter of the Conservative Party and once described himself as "very proud of being British, very pro the monarchy, and very conservative".


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was convicted in June 1998 of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage against a neighbour in November 1997.


title: Vinnie Jones

text: Jones was convicted in December 2003 of assault and threatening behaviour on an aircraft for an air rage incident, during which he slapped a passenger in the face and threatened to murder the cabin crew while drunk on an aircraft. He was fined £1,100 () and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service. As a result of the conviction, Hertfordshire police revoked Jones' firearms licence and seized the weapons listed on the licence.


title: John Madden

text: John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight playoff appearances, seven division titles, seven AFL / AFC Championship Game appearances, and the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XI. Never having a losing season, Madden holds the highest winning percentage among NFL head coaches who coached 100 games.


title: John Madden

text: After retiring from coaching, Madden was a color commentator for NFL telecasts from 1979 to 2008, which earned him 16 Sports Emmy Awards. Madden appeared on all four major American television networks, providing commentary for games broadcast by CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC. He also lent his name, expertise, and commentary to the "Madden NFL" video game series (1988–present), which became the best-selling football video game franchise of all time. Madden was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.


title: John Madden

text: John Earl Madden was born in Austin, Minnesota on April 10, 1936, the son of Earl Russell Madden (1905-1961) and Mary (née Flaherty) Madden (1917-2011). His father, an auto mechanic, moved the Madden family to Daly City, California, located south of San Francisco, when John was young. John attended Catholic parochial school with John Robinson at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, graduating in 1950, and then Jefferson High School, graduating in 1954.


title: John Madden

text: A football star in high school, Madden played one season at the College of San Mateo, in 1954, before he was given a football scholarship to the University of Oregon, studying pre-law, and playing football with childhood friend John Robinson. He was redshirted because of a knee injury and had a knee operation. Then he attended the College of San Mateo in 1955, then Grays Harbor College, playing in the fall of 1956, before transferring to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, where he played both offense and defense for the Mustangs in 1957 and 1958 while earning a Bachelor of Science in education in 1959 and then a Master of Arts in education in 1961. Madden's senior research project at Cal Poly focused on the use of weights to increase strides and speed in athletic training.


title: John Madden

text: He won first-team all-conference honors at offensive tackle in his debut season at Cal Poly, and was a catcher on the Mustangs baseball team. Known amongst his teammates for his impressive downfield speed for a lineman, Madden also was selected by United Press International for Little All-Coast Second Team accolades following his junior season of 1957. During the 1957 season, Madden caught a pass from future fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, then-teammate and Cal Poly quarterback, Bobby Beathard.


title: John Madden

text: Madden was drafted in the 21st round (244th overall) by the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1958 (months before beginning his senior season at Cal Poly). His senior year, which again saw Madden regularly start on the left side of the offensive line, was cut short due to a season-ending collarbone injury suffered while making a tackle against Long Beach State in October 1958, with four games remaining on the schedule.


title: John Madden

text: However, on January 3, 1959, Madden played in the All-American Bowl in Tucson, Arizona, and was later praised by Lou Pavlovich of The Sporting News for his play in the showcase. Then, however, he suffered an injury on his other knee in his first training camp, during an Eagles scrimmage in August 1959, ending his playing career without having had an opportunity to play in a regulation game professionally.


title: John Madden

text: "I got hurt in my rookie year with the Philadelphia Eagles – a knee injury – and I couldn't play. While I was rehabbing, Norm Van Brocklin would be watching films and would explain what was happening. I ended up with a degree in teaching and my love for football meshed with teaching."


title: John Madden

text: In 1960, he became an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He was promoted to head coach in 1962. Madden went 12-6 in two seasons, including an 8-1 mark in 1963, during which his Bulldogs were ranked No. 9 nationally among city colleges. Following the 1963 season, he was hired as a defensive assistant coach at San Diego State, where he served through 1966. During that final campaign, the 1966 Aztecs were ranked among the top small colleges in the country. While at San Diego State, Madden coached under Don Coryell, whom Madden credited as being an influence on his coaching.


title: John Madden

text: Building on that success, Madden was hired by Al Davis as linebackers coach for the AFL's Oakland Raiders in 1967, putting him in the Sid Gillman coaching tree. He helped the team reach Super Bowl II that season. A year later, after Raiders head coach John Rauch resigned to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, Madden was named the Raiders' head coach on February 4, 1969, becoming, at the age of 32, the AFL/NFL's youngest head coach to that time.


title: John Madden

text: Madden's first Raiders squad went 12–1–1 in 1969 but lost 17–7 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the last-ever American Football League Championship Game. This would become a frustrating trend during Madden's coaching career. Oakland won seven AFC West division championships and always played to a winning record during his ten seasons as head coach, but they also lost in six AFL/AFC Championship Games. One of the most frustrating playoff defeats came in 1972, when what appeared to be a last-minute AFC championship victory over the Steelers instead became a part of football lore when Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception" gave Pittsburgh a 13–7 win. In 1974, after knocking the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins out of the playoffs in dramatic fashion, the Raiders again lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. The Steelers would once more end the Raiders' season one game short of the Super Bowl in the 1975 AFC Championship game.


title: John Madden

text: In 1976, the Raiders went 13–1 in the regular season and escaped the first round of the playoffs with a dramatic and controversial 24–21 victory over the New England Patriots. In their third straight battle with the Steelers in the AFC Championship game, Madden's Raiders finally defeated their nemesis 24–7 to reach Super Bowl XI. On January 9, 1977, Madden won his first and only NFL title with a 32–14 win over the Minnesota Vikings.


title: John Madden

text: The Raiders again won the AFC West in 1977 but again lost the AFC Championship Game, this time to the Denver Broncos. The Raiders enjoyed their tenth straight winning campaign under Madden in 1978 but failed to qualify for the playoffs for just the second time in his tenure. Soon after their season ended, Madden announced his retirement on January 4, 1979 due to a troublesome ulcer and occupational burnout, stating that he was permanently ending his coaching career.


title: John Madden

text: Among Madden's accomplishments as a head coach were winning a Super Bowl, and becoming the youngest coach to reach 100 career regular-season victories, a record he compiled in only ten full seasons of coaching at the age of 42. Madden is still the coach with the most wins in Raiders history.


title: John Madden

text: Madden never had a losing season as a head coach. His overall winning percentage, including playoff games, ranks second in league history behind Guy Chamberlin and is the highest among those who coached 100 games. Madden achieved his record during a period that included head coaches Tom Landry, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and Bud Grant, who are generally regarded as the top coaches of that era.


title: John Madden

text: Madden joined CBS as a color commentator in 1979. After working lower-profile contests during his first years, he was elevated to the network's top football broadcasting duo with Pat Summerall in 1981, replacing Tom Brookshier. Prior to teaming with Summerall on CBS, Madden was paired with a variety of announcers, such as Vin Scully, Dick Stockton, Frank Glieber, and Gary Bender. The team of Madden and Summerall would go on to call eight Super Bowls together. On occasions in which Summerall was unavailable (during the CBS years, Summerall was normally scheduled to commentate on the U.S. Open tennis tournament during the early weeks of the NFL season), Madden would team with the likes of Vin Scully and subsequently, Verne Lundquist. On their final CBS telecast together (the on January 23, 1994), Madden told Summerall that while CBS may no longer have the NFL, at least they have the memories. On ABC's final "Monday Night Football" telecast in 2005, Madden used a similar choice of words.


title: John Madden

text: When the Fox Network gained the rights to NFC games in 1994, CBS employees became free agents. Madden was the biggest star in football broadcasting, and Fox, ABC, and NBC made offers higher than the $2 million a year maximum for sportscaster salaries; NBC's owner General Electric offered to make Madden its "worldwide spokesman", and GE Rail would build for him a luxury train. After he almost joined ABC, Madden and Summerall joined Fox's NFL coverage, giving the network credibility to broadcast what Rupert Murdoch called "the crown jewel of all sports programming in the world". Madden's contract paid him more annually than any NFL player. However, toward the end of his tenure, Fox was reportedly losing an estimated $4.4 billion on its NFL contract for the eight-year deal it signed in 1998, and it had been trying to cut programming costs as a result. Madden's Fox contract would have been worth $8 million for 2003.


title: John Madden

text: In 2002, Madden became a commentator on ABC's "Monday Night Football", working with longtime play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. Madden reportedly made $5 million per year.


title: John Madden

text: In 2005, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, announced that Madden would provide color commentary for NBC's Sunday night NFL games, beginning with the 2006 season, making him the first sportscaster to have worked for all of the "Big Four" U.S. broadcast television networks. On October 13, 2008, NBC announced that Madden would not be traveling to the October 19 "Sunday Night Football" Seattle Seahawks–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in Tampa, Florida, marking the end of Madden's 476-weekend streak of consecutive broadcast appearances. Madden, who traveled by bus, decided to take the week off because he had traveled from Jacksonville to San Diego, and would have had to go back to Florida before returning to his Northern California home. Madden was replaced by "Football Night in America" studio analyst Cris Collinsworth for the game, and returned for the following telecast on November 2, 2008, in Indianapolis (until 2010 the NFL did not schedule Sunday night games for one week in October, so as not to overlap with the World Series taking place roughly around the same time). Madden called his final game on February 1, 2009, for Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Madden announced his official retirement from the broadcasting booth on April 16, 2009. He was succeeded by Collinsworth.


title: John Madden

text: Madden got his start in broadcasting calling in to longtime San Francisco radio personality "The Emperor" Gene Nelson's show on station KYA in the 1970s while coach of the Raiders. He followed Nelson when he moved to station KSFO, and the call-ins continued even after Madden's coaching retirement. Madden later made appearances on KNBR. In 1997, he began calling in to radio station KCBS five days a week at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time. This continued through Thanksgiving 2015, when he ceased calling after heart surgery and other health concerns. He began making twice-weekly appearances on KCBS radio again in 2017, appearing Mondays and Fridays at 9:15 a.m. He stopped making regular radio call-ins in August 2018, citing a desire to remove any obligations from his schedule. KCBS named him "Senior Investigative At-Large Correspondent", indicating that he may occasionally call in again. Madden also aired sports commentaries in syndication on the Westwood One radio network in the United States.


title: John Madden

text: Madden's lively and flamboyant delivery won him critical acclaim and fourteen Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst. His announcing style was punctuated with interjections such as "Boom!", "Whap!", "Bang!", and "Doink!"' and with his use of the telestrator, a device which allowed him to superimpose his light-penned diagrams of football plays over video footage. Madden's use of the telestrator helped to popularize the technology, which has become a staple of television coverage of all sports.


title: John Madden

text: Madden was also known for working the annual Thanksgiving Day games for CBS and later Fox. He would award a turkey or turducken to the winning team. He would also award a turkey drumstick to players of the winning team following the Thanksgiving Day game, often bringing out a "nuclear turkey" with as many as eight drumsticks on it for the occasion. The drumsticks served as an odd take on the "player of the game" award. Madden stopped announcing the Thanksgiving Day games after he moved to ABC in 2002, but the tradition continued. Fox, CBS, and the NFL Network present the Galloping Gobbler to the game's "Most Valuable" player.


title: John Madden

text: The NFL is now honoring John Madden every Thanksgiving. This started in 2022. A recording of John Madden was played before each of the Thanksgiving games in 2022. There also will be a “Madden player of the game” after each game.


title: John Madden

text: In 1984, Madden took the advice of NFL coach John Robinson—a friend of Madden since elementary school—and created the "All-Madden" team, a group of players who Madden thought represented football and played the game the way he thought it should be played. Madden continued to pick the All-Madden team through the 2001 season when he left to move to ABC and "Monday Night Football". Madden added his "Haul of Fame" for his favorite players, he created a special 10th Anniversary All-Madden team in 1994, an All-Madden Super Bowl Team in 1997, and an All-Time All-Madden team in 2000. "All Madden" was also the title of Madden's third best-selling book (after "Hey, Wait A Minute? I Wrote a Book" and "One Knee Equals Two Feet").


title: John Madden

text: What does it mean to be 'All-Madden'? It's a whole range of things. For defensive linemen and linebackers, it's about Jack Youngblood playing with a busted leg, Lawrence Taylor wreaking havoc on the offense and Reggie White making the other guy wish he put a little more in the collection plate at church. It's about a guy who's got a dirty uniform, mud on his face and grass in the ear hole of his helmet.


title: John Madden

text: Madden was featured in the movie "Little Giants". He also played himself as the broadcaster of the fictional games in the film "The Replacements" alongside his broadcast partner at the time Pat Summerall.


title: John Madden

text: On December 25, 2021, the Fox network presented "All Madden", a documentary highlighting Madden's rise to stardom as an NFL coach and broadcaster. Former and current NFL players appear in the film, which premiered prior to a Christmas Day contest on Fox between the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers in Green Bay.


title: John Madden

text: Madden appeared in a variety of radio and television commercials including Ace Hardware, Outback Steakhouse (the corporate sponsor of the "Madden Cruiser"), Verizon Wireless, Rent-A-Center, Miller Lite, Toyota, Sirius Satellite Radio, and "Tough Actin" Tinactin. In particular, the Miller beer advertisements cemented Madden's image in the public eye as a bumbling but lovable personality.


title: John Madden

text: Madden appeared in a 1999 episode of "The Simpsons", "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday". Madden also hosted an episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in 1982 with musical guest Jennifer Holliday. As well, Madden was featured in the Irish band U2's music video for the song "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". He made a similar appearance in the video for Paul Simon's 1972 single "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard", in which he attempts to teach football fundamentals to a group of kids playing a pickup game.