title: Evel Knievel

text: In the late 1990s, Knievel was in need of a life-saving liver transplant as a result of suffering the long-term effects from Hepatitis C. He contracted the disease after one of the numerous blood transfusions he received prior to 1992. In February 1999, Knievel was given only a few days to live and he requested to leave the hospital and die at his home. En route to his home, Knievel received a phone call from the hospital stating a young man had died in a motorcycle accident and could be a donor. Days later, Knievel received the transplant.


title: Evel Knievel

text: In 2005, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and terminal lung disease that required him to be on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day. In 2006, he had an internal morphine pain pump surgically implanted to help him with the excruciating pain in his deteriorated lower back, one of the costs of incurring so many traumas over the course of his career as a daredevil. He also had two strokes after 2005, but neither left him with severe debilitation.


title: Evel Knievel

text: On July 27, 2006, he appeared on "The Adam Carolla Show" and discussed his health problems. The following day, he appeared on stage with Robbie at "Evel Knievel Days" in Butte, marking the last performance in which the two appeared together. Robbie jumped in a tribute to his father on a much lighter motorcycle with far superior suspension.


title: Evel Knievel

text: Shortly before his death, Knievel featured in a BBC2 Christmas special presented by "Top Gear" presenter Richard Hammond. The 60-minute program "Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel" aired on December 23, 2007, less than a month after his death. The documentary was filmed in July 2007 at the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in his old home town of Butte.


title: Evel Knievel

text: On April 1, 2007, Knievel appeared on Robert H. Schuller's television program "Hour of Power" and announced that he "believed in Jesus Christ" for the first time. At his request, he was baptized at a televised congregation at the Crystal Cathedral by Pastor Schuller. Knievel's televised testimony triggered mass baptisms at the Crystal Cathedral.


title: Evel Knievel

text: Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida, on November 30, 2007, aged 69. He had been suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis for many years. A longtime friend reported that Knievel had trouble breathing while at his residence in Clearwater, but died on the way to the hospital. The friend said, "It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?"


title: Evel Knievel

text: Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte, Montana, on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center presided over by Robert H. Schuller with actor Matthew McConaughey giving the eulogy. Prior to the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel's casket into the center.


title: Evel Knievel

text: On July 10, 2010, a special temporary exhibit entitled "True Evel: The Amazing Story of Evel Knievel" was opened at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibit was opened in collaboration with Harley-Davidson Motorcycles and Evel's oldest son, Kelly. Among the various artifacts from Knievel's life, the exhibit included his "Shark Jump" Harley-Davidson XR-750, the Skycycle X-2, a blue jumpsuit from late in his career without any sponsor patches, and his trademark "red, white and blue" jumpsuit complete with his helmet and walking stick. Evel Knievel merchandising, personal artifacts, and X-rays from his injuries were also exhibited. In December 2010, a traveling version of the exhibit began a one-year tour of the United Kingdom and Europe.


title: Evel Knievel

text: On September 17, 2016, professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a replica of Knievel's Snake River rocket. Braun cited Knievel as an inspiration, and wanted to show that Knievel's jump would have been successful had the parachute not deployed too early. Braun stated that he was "finishing out [the] dream" of his hero, Knievel.


title: Evel Knievel

text: In 2017, the Evel Knievel Museum, a museum honoring Knievel was opened in Topeka, Kansas, by co-founders Lathan Mckay and Mike Patterson. Featuring his motorcycles, leathers, helmets, wardrobe and jewelry along with various displays and a virtual reality motorcycle jump.


title: Evel Knievel

text: On July 8, 2018, Travis Pastrana from Nitro Circus paid tribute to Evel on History Channel live event, "Evel Live", with 3 of Evel's most famous record-breaking Las Vegas jumps in one night. He was riding a Roland Sands Design–prepared 450-pound Indian Scout FTR750, and dressed in a full Evel Knievel getup, down to wearing vintage-style-appearing dress boots from Bates, the manufacturer that had made Evel's.


title: Evel Knievel

text: In November 2010, General Motors premiered a television commercial featuring footage of Knievel's Wembley Stadium crash in 1975, followed by Knievel getting onto his feet. The ad focused on GM's restructuring and emphasized the belief that "we all fall down".


title: Evel Knievel

text: On July 18, 2012, Audi of America recreated Knievel's Snake River jump in a promotional commercial for the Audi RS5. The commercial depicts the RS5 being driven by a professional driver and jumping the canyon off a jump ramp.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, actress, and media personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time.


title: Emma Bunton

text: During the Spice Girls hiatus, Bunton released her debut solo album, "A Girl Like Me" (2001), which debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. The album spawned the single "What Took You So Long?", which topped the UK Singles Chart, as well as the top five singles "What I Am" and "Take My Breath Away" and the top 20 single "We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight". Her second studio album, "Free Me" (2004), included the singles "Free Me", "Maybe", "I'll Be There", and "Crickets Sing for Anamaria". Following the release of her third studio album, "Life in Mono" (2006), Bunton reunited with the Spice Girls in 2007 for a one-off international tour and greatest hits album. Since 2018, she has reunited as the Spice Girls with Geri Halliwell, Melanie C and Mel B. In 2019, she released her fourth studio album, "My Happy Place."


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton's television appearances include a recurring role on the BBC One comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous" (2003-2012), being a contestant on the fourth series of the BBC dancing competition show "Strictly Come Dancing", and being a judge on the ITV celebrity skating show "Dancing on Ice" (2010–2011) and entertainment series "Your Face Sounds Familiar" (2013). From 2013 to 2018, she was a radio presenter on the "Heart Breakfast Show" in London with Jamie Theakston, and also currently presents her own show on Sunday evenings.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton was born in Finchley, Barnet, London. Her parents, Pauline, a karate instructor, and Trevor Bunton, a milkman, split when she was 11, after which she stayed with her mother. She has a younger brother, Paul James. As stated in a TV interview with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford on "This Morning" during August 2016, Bunton's maternal family originate from County Wexford, Ireland. Bunton went to St Theresa's Roman Catholic Primary School in Finchley.


title: Emma Bunton

text: She enrolled in the Sylvia Young Theatre School. At the SYTS, she became friendly with Keeley Hawes; they lived and travelled together for six months.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton appeared briefly in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" in 1992 as a mugger. In 1993, she appeared in the ITV police drama "The Bill", and made a brief appearance as a prostitute in the BBC drama series "To Play the King". Bunton also appeared in a public information film for the British government concerning firework safety.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 1994, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Adams responded to an advertisement in "The Stage". Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Adams, and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, along with Michelle Stephenson, who due to her lack of commitment was replaced with Abigail Kis, then Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherd's Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Adams' father Anthony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted with Heart Management. Bunton was the youngest member of the group.


title: Emma Bunton

text: The group began a relationship with Simon Fuller of 19 Entertainment and finally signed with him in March 1995. During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point on, up to the summer of 1996, the group continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of the United States, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific. On 8 July 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. In the weeks leading up to the release, the video for "Wannabe", got a trial airing on The Box music channel. "Wannabe" proved to be a major hit, topping the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks and also topping the charts in a further 34 countries, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany and the United States. and becoming the all-time biggest-selling single by an all-female group. It was followed by nine further number-one singles from their albums "Spice", "Spiceworld" and "Forever". Each member of the group received a nickname from the media. Bunton was named "Baby Spice".


title: Emma Bunton

text: Other successful releases followed, including "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" from "Spice", and "Spice Up Your Life", "Too Much", "Stop" and "Viva Forever" from "Spiceworld". In 1999, she presented "Emma" on VH1. She recorded "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind" for the film "" and contributed background vocals to Melanie B's song "Sophisticated Lady", which appeared as a B-side to her single "Word Up". In November 1999 she released her debut solo single, a cover of What I Am in collaboration with Tin Tin Out. In 2000, after the release of the group's comeback single, a double A-side of "Holler"/"Let Love Lead The Way" and the third studio album, "Forever", which charted at number two in the UK, the Spice Girls stopped recording, concentrating on their solo careers in regards to their foreseeable future. She also provided background vocals for Melanie B's album track, "Hotter", which appeared on the latter's debut solo studio album "Hot" in October 2000.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton's debut solo album, "A Girl Like Me", was released in the United Kingdom on 16 April 2001 by Virgin Records. The album debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart, with 21,500 copies sold in its first week. Its lead single, "What Took You So Long?", debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Although initial success was promising, "A Girl Like Me" fell down the chart quickly. However, the top five single "Take My Breath Away", and top twenty "We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight" helped the album stay on the UK Albums Chart for several weeks. On 7 September 2001, "A Girl Like Me" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales in excess of 100,000 copies, ultimately becoming the 147th best-selling album in the United Kingdom for 2001. The album sold 125,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The poor sales led to Bunton losing her contract with Virgin in 2002. Bunton performed at Party at the Palace, an event that was held at Buckingham Palace Garden on 3 June 2002 in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Her solo performances at the event were a cover of The Supremes' 1964 hit "Baby Love" and her own "What Took You So Long?".


title: Emma Bunton

text: After parting ways with Virgin, Bunton signed a new deal with 19 Recordings, run by former Spice Girls' manager Simon Fuller, to release her second album, "Free Me", on 9 February 2004. The album was largely produced by Mike Peden and Yak Bondy. Other contributions on the album courtesy of Cathy Dennis, Henry Binns and Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi. Inspired by the Motown and the 1960s era, the album was widely acclaimed by critics by its "charm and grace". It debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, spending over twelve weeks inside chart, and being certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The album had three top five singles in the United Kingdom – the title track, "Maybe" and "I'll Be There" – and a top twenty single, "Crickets Sing for Anamaria". In the United States, both "Free Me" and "Maybe" were dance club regulars, reaching numbers four and six on the US "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart respectively. In 2005, Bunton appeared in the Bollywood film "".


title: Emma Bunton

text: In October 2006, Bunton was a contestant in the BBC programme "Strictly Come Dancing", partnered with Darren Bennett. She reached the semi-final and finished in third place. On 13 November 2006, Bunton released the charity single for the BBC Children in Need appeal, recording Petula Clark's 1960s song "Downtown". It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, and was followed by her third studio album, "Life in Mono". Much like her previous album, "Life in Mono" experimented with elements of 1960s pop music. For this particular album, the musical arrangement was more directed towards the 1960s French pop music, with some elements of British 1960s pop and Motown. The album was Bunton's first not to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom, only reaching number 65 on the albums chart. The second single from it was "All I Need to Know", released on 12 February 2007, intended for Valentine's Day. Bunton shot the video around Old Street in East London, in the week before Christmas 2006. Entering the UK Singles Chart at number 60, "All I Need to Know" became the lowest-charting single of Bunton's solo career.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 2007, the Spice Girls re-grouped and announced plans to tour as a quintet for the last time for a The Return of the Spice Girls, from which they were said to have earned £10 million each (approximately $20 million). The team's members said that they were still enjoying doing their "own thing". The group decided to release their first compilation album, a collection of their "Greatest Hits". This album was released in early November 2007, and the tour began on 2 December 2007. During the reformation Film maker Bob Smeaton directed an official film of the tour, which he titled "Spice Girls: Giving You Everything". As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Judy Craymer teamed up with the Spice Girls and Simon Fuller and began to develop a Spice Girls musical entitled "Viva Forever". Although the girls were not to star in the show themselves, they were to influence the show's cast and production choices in a story which uses their music but bears no relation to their personal story; similar to that of ABBA's music in "Mamma Mia!".


title: Emma Bunton

text: On 26 June 2012, all five Spice Girls were in attendance at a press conference in London to promote the launch of "Viva Forever: The Musical". The press conference was held at St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel, the location where the Spice Girls filmed the music video for their breakthrough hit "Wannabe", sixteen years earlier, to the day. The musical opened at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre on 11 December 2012. After poor reviews from critics and "a loss of £5 million", the show has its final performance on 29 June 2013.


title: Emma Bunton

text: On 12 August 2012, after much speculation, Bunton and the Spice Girls performed a medley of "Wannabe" and "Spice Up Your Life" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, reuniting as a quintet for the last time for the event.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Their performance was the most tweeted moment of Olympics closing ceremony with over 116,000 tweets on Twitter per minute. Bunton also worked with fellow Spice Girl Melanie C on her 2012 album, "Stages" for the album track "I Know Him So Well". The song was released as a single on 11 November 2012. In March 2013, Bunton was named the Foxy Bingo Celebrity Mum of the Year. In March 2014, Bunton, along with Melanie C, took part in recording England's 2014 World Cup song. She collaborated with fellow pop stars Eliza Doolittle, Katy B, Conor Maynard, Kimberley Walsh and Pixie Lott on "Greatest Day", a track originally performed by British band Take That. The track was produced by Gary Barlow and recorded at Sarm Studios in London. The track also featured past footballers such as Gary Lineker, Michael Owen, Geoff Hurst, David Seaman, Peter Shilton, Glenn Hoddle and Dion Dublin on backing vocals.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In June 2018, Bunton said during an interview on "This Morning" that she was back in the studio working on new material, more than a decade after her last album, "Life in Mono." Bunton told host Phillip Schofield, "I am back in the studio, and I'm saying this here for the first time...I am in the studio having fun with some music of my own, just to see". In November 2018, Bunton announced she had signed a record deal with BMG Rights Management and was preparing a new album.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In September 2018, she voices the character Mama Bear in the UK version of the successful animated movie "Smallfoot", starring Channing Tatum, James Corden, LeBron James and Danny DeVito. The movie is a success and grossed $83.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $130.9 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $214.1 million. In November 2018, Bunton reunited with the Spice Girls to announce a UK and Ireland Stadium tour, Spice World - 2019 Tour, which began at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and ended in London, England on 15 June 2019.


title: Emma Bunton

text: On 27 February 2019, she released the first single of the new album, "Baby Please Don't Stop", which received generally positive reviews. She later released a promo single, "Too Many Teardrops", on 9 March 2019. She then released her duet with her partner Jade Jones, "You're All I Need to Get By", a cover the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell song. On 12 April 2019, Bunton released her fourth album, "My Happy Place". The tracklist consists of two original songs and eight covers of songs beloved by Bunton. The album, which featured appearances from Jones, Robbie Williams, Will Young and Josh Kumra, sold 6,500 copies in its first week in the UK, and entered the UK Album Chart at number 11. "My Happy Place" became her first Top 20 album in 15 years.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In November 2019, Bunton released a Christmas single, "Coming Home For Christmas", which also included a cover of "Santa Baby". On 6 December 2019, Bunton performed her first solo show in over a decade at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The concert was a special one-off Christmas show that featured Bunton performing well known Christmas covers as well as duets onstage with Will Young, Matt Goss and her fiancé Jade Jones. The inclusive theater company, Chickenshed, of which Bunton has been a patron for many years, also joined her onstage for a rendition of the Spice Girls song "Mama".


title: Emma Bunton

text: In February, and again between May and June 2009, Bunton starred as guest presenter on Heart London's "Heart Breakfast" alongside Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott. Bunton began hosting her own pre-recorded Saturday drive time radio show on Heart in the Saturday afternoon slot 4–7 pm starting on Saturday 13 June 2009. Bunton provided maternity leave cover for "Heart Breakfast" co-presenter Harriet Scott from 3 October until 23 December 2011 on Heart London. Following Harriet Scott's departure from "Heart Breakfast" in November 2012, it was announced Bunton would succeed her as co-host along with Jamie Theakston from 7 January 2013. She co-presented with Theakston until December 2018, making her final Heart Breakfast appearance on 14 December. In March 2017, Bunton won the awards for "Radio Presenter of the Year" and "Digital Radio Programme" at the annual Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) Awards for her work on Heart London. In January 2018, Bunton was offered a new Sunday night show that runs between 7 and 10. The first show aired on 14 January.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton left Heart London Breakfast at Christmas 2018 to focus on the 2019 Spice Girls Tour. She currently still presents the Sunday Evening Heart Show, Hearts Feel Good Weekend with Emma Bunton.


title: Emma Bunton

text: Bunton has been seen in a television commercial for the supermarket chain Tesco. She also had a cameo role on the Australian soap opera "Neighbours" in the episode "What's a Spice Girl Like You...?". In July 2008, Bunton stood in as co-presenter alongside Richard Madeley on the television show "Richard & Judy" while Judy Finnigan was recovering from a knee operation. In October 2008, Bunton appeared on the UK series of "The X Factor" to assist judge Dannii Minogue in choosing the three best over-25s acts to take through to the live shows. In December 2008, Bunton debuted as a member of the panel on "Loose Women" on ITV.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In February 2010, Bunton appeared in a UK National Television campaign first aired during "Coronation Street", showing her in the Heart Radio studios at the start and the end of the advert. In January 2010, Bunton joined the "Ice Panel" on ITV dancing show "Dancing on Ice" replacing former judge Ruthie Henshall. She stepped down from this role on 2 December 2011. Bunton hosted Channel 5's "Don't Stop Believing" from July to August 2010. In August 2010, Bunton guest presented "GMTV with Lorraine" on GMTV. On 8 October 2010, 19 November 2010 and 7 January 2011, she guest presented "Lorraine" on ITV Breakfast.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In January 2012, Bunton reprised her role as one of fictional PR manager Edina Monsoon's disgruntled clients in a revival of the BBC's "Absolutely Fabulous". In August that same year, Bunton made a cameo appearance in "". In the summer of 2013, Bunton was a judge on the ITV Saturday night entertainment series "Your Face Sounds Familiar" alongside Julian Clary and a different guest judge each week. In October 2014, Bunton appeared on The X Factor to assist judge and fellow Spice Girl Mel B in choosing the three best boys acts to take through to the live shows. In 2015, Bunton made a cameo appearance in Spanish comedy film "Cómo sobrevivir a una despedida", during a scene in which the five main characters are seen impersonating the Spice Girls in a talent show. In March 2016, Bunton has co-presented "Too Much TV", a daily magazine show on BBC Two. In 2015, Bunton made a cameo appearance in the 2016 film "". In addition, she gave her voice to Muhimu in the UK version of the episode "The Mbali Fields Migration" of the Disney Channel's television series "The Lion Guard".


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 2017, she appeared as a judge in the TV show "Boy Band" alongside Nick Carter, Rita Ora and Timbaland.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 1999, 2001 and 2003 she was one of the donors of the charity campaign Nordoff-Robbins, focused in therapy for children with psychological, physical or developmental disabilities. In April 1999 she helped launch the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's anti-child abuse campaign with Tony Blair and Prince Andrew. She also starred in a government safety campaign to warn drinkers of the dangers of handling fireworks, recording commercials to air on television. In 2000 Bunton supported the charity campaign Children Nationwide, which raised money to finance the research into childhood diseases. In 2001 she donated £500,000 to performing arts and music charities funds. In 2006 she was ambassador of BBC's Children in Need and released the charity single "Downtown", donating the money for the campaign. In 2010 she supported the World Children's Champions. In 2011, Bunton was ambassador of Heart's Have a Heart campaign to help homeless people.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 2013, she supported the UNICEF's campaign Every Parent's Dream, which raised money for vaccine against maternal and newborn tetanus (MNT). In 2014 she became an ambassador of UNICEF and travelled to Africa to assist in humanitarian work to eradicate the MNT. In April 2015, Bunton teamed up with Specsavers in Bishop's Stortford to launch a contest, where each entry would generate £1 for anti-bullying charity Kidscape to help vulnerable children.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 1997, Bunton dated British singer Lee Brennan. In the same year, she was briefly linked to American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1998, she began dating British singer Jade Jones, from the group Damage, but they split for the first time in May 1999. From September 1999 to September 2000, Bunton was in a relationship with the England footballer Rio Ferdinand, who was introduced by her friends David Beckham and Victoria Beckham. In November 2000, she returned to Jones, but they split for the second time in March 2002, when Bunton decided to work again with Simon Fuller; Jones was against this decision. In 2003, she was briefly linked to American singer Justin Timberlake.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 2004 she returned to Jade Jones and the relationship stabilised. On 26 January 2007 she announced her pregnancy. Her first child, a son, was born on 10 August 2007. On 6 May 2011, her second son was born. The couple became engaged on 21 January 2011 but Bunton said that she did not want to get married in a civil or religious ceremony, stating: "We don't need a wedding to justify our relationship." Nevertheless, Bunton and Jones married on 13 July 2021.


title: Emma Bunton

text: In 1999, Bunton moved to a £1.6million penthouse in the Mount Vernon Village, in Hampstead, London. In 2003, she had some problems with neighbours, who complained about her late-night parties. In 2006, she and Jones moved to a mansion in Barnet, London. Bunton was diagnosed with endometriosis. She is also a godmother to Geri Halliwell's daughter, Bluebell Madonna Halliwell, born in 2006. Bunton is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football club.


title: The Boring Company

text: The Boring Company (TBC) is an American infrastructure and tunnel construction services company founded by Elon Musk. Its ongoing and proposed projects are designed for intra-city ("loop") transit systems.


title: The Boring Company

text: After six years TBC has completed one out of six publicly announced projects. The only operational one is situated inside the Las Vegas convention center (LVCC) and operates on limited days for loop travel during conventions. It connects the LVCC West Hall to the existing campus over a stretch of 1.7 miles with an average speed of 30mph in non-autonomous regular Tesla 3 cars that are steered by an driver, despite promised to have 150mph average speeds and autonomous "sleek custom pods". The majority of Las Vegas local residents are not served by the LVCC limited transportation system. The TBC completed one tunnel for testing in Los Angeles County. During the opening of the test tunnel at the end of 2018, it was described as "just a regular Tesla driving through a paved tunnel". Many other TBC projects have been announced and subsequently became inactive or were cancelled and are widely considered a failure. Proposed projects in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Baltimore were ultimately scrapped due to escalating cost calculations by TBC and inactivity by TBC. The Wall Street Journal described the lack of follow up from TBC as "ghosting American cities".


title: The Boring Company

text: The Boring Company was formed as a subsidiary of SpaceX, before separating in 2018. As of December 2018, 90% of the equity was owned by Musk, with 6% held by SpaceX in return for the use of SpaceX resources during the startup of the company. Outside investments during 2019 changed the equity split.


title: The Boring Company

text: Musk announced the existence of the Boring Company in December 2016. Musk cited difficulty with Los Angeles traffic, and what he sees as limitations of its two-dimensional transportation network, as his early inspiration for the project. The Boring Company was formed as a SpaceX subsidiary. According to Musk, the company's goal is to enhance tunneling speed enough such that establishing a tunnel network is financially feasible. The company claims that future boring operations will implement simultaneous boring and tunnel reinforcement to reduce cost, in addition to reducing tunnel size, reusing soil materials for tunnel construction, and further technological improvements.


title: The Boring Company

text: In early 2018, the Boring Company was spun out from SpaceX and into a separate corporate entity. Somewhat less than 10% of equity was given to early employees, and over 90% to Elon Musk. Subsequent concerns by SpaceX shareholders resulted in a December 2018 reallocation of 6% of the Boring Company's equity to SpaceX.


title: The Boring Company

text: TBC provided an update on the state of their technology and product line in December 2018 when they opened to the public their first test tunnel in Hawthorne, California. In July 2019, the Boring Company sold US$120 million in stock to venture capital firms, after raising $113 million in non-outside capital during 2018.


title: The Boring Company

text: By November 2019, Steve Davis had become company president after leading efforts for Musk since 2016. Davis was one of the earliest hires at SpaceX (in 2003) and has twin master's degrees in particle physics and aerospace engineering. In November 2020, TBC announced hiring for positions in Austin, Texas, and by December 2020 had leased two buildings in a industrial complex northeast of Austin, approximately north of Texas Gigafactory.


title: The Boring Company

text: On April 20, 2022, the company announced an additional $675 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at approximately $5.675 billion. The round was led by Vy Capital and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, 8VC, Craft Ventures, and DFJ Growth. Additionally, several real estate partners joined the round, including Brookfield, Lennar, Tishman Speyer, and Dacra. The company said that the funds from this round would be used to "significantly increase hiring across engineering, operations, and production to build and scale Loop projects, including Vegas Loop and others, in addition to accelerating the research and development of Prufrock and future products."


title: The Boring Company

text: The company's first machine was "Godot", a conventional TBM made by Lovat. Its second, "Line-storm," was a modified conventional boring machine.


title: The Boring Company

text: The company's third machine, "Prufrock," was designed and built by TBC and was under development by May 2018. "Prufrock" is named after "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot. Its tunnels are in diameter, considerably smaller than its conventional competitors, comparable to the deep-level lines of the London Underground.


title: The Boring Company

text: In 2018, the company claimed it would support a 15x improvement in tunneling speed over the 2017 state of the art. In 2021, TBC stated that "Prufrock" would tunnel six times faster than "Godot". However, in the event, "Prufrock" achieved tunneling rates of 49 ft/day, similar to conventional machines.


title: The Boring Company

text: TBC began constructing a high-speed tunnel in 2017 on a route in Hawthorne, California, at the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility. The project opened to the public on December 18, 2018, showcasing a Tesla Model X used in the tunnel.


title: The Boring Company

text: In September 2018 the City of Hawthorne announced that a test spur and elevator had been proposed near the intersection of 120th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard. The elevator spur would enable engineering tests. According to planning documents, those tests would consist of:


title: The Boring Company

text: By June 2019, the company had paved the tunnel roadway with asphalt, smoothed the surface, added a guide-way for autonomous vehicle operation, and was testing car trips (without a skate) through the mile-long tunnel at speeds of with autonomous control and up to under human control.


title: The Boring Company

text: In March 2019, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recommended TBC for a system to shuttle visitors in a loop underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). In May 2019, the company won a $48.7 million project to do so. Construction started in October. The project in the end used two Prufrock machines. The second was assembled and brought online in August 2021.


title: The Boring Company

text: Boring of the first tunnel, long, began on November 15 and finished on February 14, 2020, excavating an average of per day. For comparison, the Second Avenue tunnel in New York City averaged between 40 and 50 feet per day (twin tunnels with diameters of up to .). In May 2020, the boring of the second tunnel was completed, for a total of of tunnels.


title: The Boring Company

text: The tunnel was unveiled in mid-April 2021. Standard Tesla Model 3 and Model X cars with human drivers were used as shuttles, traveling at about . The service was described as "embarrassing" and "lame", due to comparisons with earlier promises of "electric autonomous vehicles with alignment wheels".


title: The Boring Company

text: Testing with volunteers in late May 2021 showed the system could transport 4,400 passengers per hour, though the highest traffic the LVCC Loop has transported in an uncontrolled setting was reached in July 2021 at 1,355 passengers per hour. The system started transporting attendees of a convention center exhibition on June 8, 2021. The target was to reduce a 25-minute walk to a 2-minute ride, but additional data revealed in November 2021 demonstrated that the average trip time in any day had never broken 3 minutes. In January 2022, video taken during CES 2022 captured a traffic jam at the LVCC.


title: The Boring Company

text: In June 2020 two Las Vegas strip hotels, Encore and Resorts World Las Vegas, applied for permits for TBC to dig private tunnels to allow direct access between the hotels and LVCC.


title: The Boring Company

text: In October 2021, Clark County Commissioners approved a 50-year franchise agreement for a 51-stop, mostly-underground system, a "15-mile dual loop system ... operating mainly in the Resort Corridor with stations at various resorts and connections to Allegiant Stadium and the UNLV [University of Nevada, Las Vegas]" according to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The county approved the route, but separate land use permits for the stops, and City approval for the underground portions were required. TBC planned to build five to ten stations during the first year, and then add approximately 15 stations per year thereafter. The Boring Company would be responsible for funding the tunnel, while station costs would be funded by the resort properties and land owners.


title: The Boring Company

text: In February 2019, San Jose, California mayor Sam Liccardo announced that he had held talks with the Boring Company regarding a link between San Jose International Airport and Diridon station, as an alternative to a traditional rail link that had been quoted at $800 million. San Jose has released two requests for information: one for the airport/Diridon station route and another that "would run along the Stevens Creek corridor, a busy thoroughfare that connects downtown to Cupertino, about a dozen miles west."


title: The Boring Company

text: In February 2021, Miami, Florida mayor Francis X. Suarez revealed that Musk had proposed to dig a two-mile tunnel under the Miami River for $30 million, within a six-month timescale, compared with $1 billion over four years estimated by the local transit authority. Much of the savings would be achieved by simplifying ventilation systems and allowing only electric vehicles.


title: The Boring Company

text: Also in February, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority in California approved beginning contract negotiations with TBC to build a nearly tunnel connecting the Ontario airport with the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink train station.


title: The Boring Company

text: In July 2021, Fort Lauderdale, Florida accepted a proposal from the Boring Company for a tunnel between downtown and the beach, to be dubbed the "Las Olas Loop". Other companies had 45 days to submit competitive proposals, but the two bids submitted within the timeframe were disqualified for not meeting the requirements. As of August 2021, the city was beginning final negotiations with TBC. Mayor Dean Trantalis estimated the total cost of the round-trip tunnel would be between $90 and $100 million, including stations.


title: The Boring Company

text: In August 2021, a preliminary concept discussion was held with officials of Cameron County on the potential construction of a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. The tunnel would pass beneath the Brownsville Ship Channel so would need to be deeper than the ship channel depth of at high tide.


title: The Boring Company

text: In July 2017, Musk announced plans to build a Hyperloop tunnel connecting Washington, DC and New York City. He initially stated that the project had "verbal government approval", but government officials disputed this claim and Musk later clarified that he lacked formal approval.


title: The Boring Company

text: In March 2018, a route between Washington, DC and downtown Baltimore, following the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, was announced . The proposed tunnel would use the company's "Loop" concept, carrying passengers or vehicles on electric "skates".


title: The Boring Company

text: In April 2019, a draft Environmental Assessment for the project was published by the Federal Highway Administration. The proposed system would include autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs), main artery tunnels, loop stations, ventilation shafts, four TBM launch shafts, and maintenance terminals for vehicle charging and maintenance. The proposed system appeared to not meet key safety requirements such as the number of emergency exits. However, National Fire Protection Association standards allow alternative solutions to be proposed if a risk-based assessment demonstrates that they are equivalent or superior to the stated methods, subject to specific approval.


title: The Boring Company

text: In early 2021, the Boring Company no longer listed the Hyperloop project on its website. A Federal Highway Administration spokesman said that TBC had not indicated that it would pursue the project.


title: The Boring Company

text: In March 2018, a competition to build a high-speed link from downtown Chicago to the soon-to-be-expanded O'Hare Airport was reduced to two bidders. The Boring Company was selected in June 2018 and was to work on a contract to be presented to the Chicago City Council. Construction was to be entirely financed by TBC, which would then maintain and operate the system. The system would transport passengers in electric vans carrying 16 passengers and their luggage through parallel tunnels running under existing public way alignments, traveling from Block 37 to the airport in 12 minutes, at speeds reaching , with pods departing as often as every 30 seconds.


title: The Boring Company

text: Several local politicians and civic groups criticized the proposed project as unnecessary, for its environmental impacts, for its unproven technology, and for a lack of transparency. At a forum of mayoral candidates in January 2019, most expressed reservations about the project. In June 2021, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation said the plan had been dropped.


title: The Boring Company

text: In May 2018, TBC announced a concept to develop a second privately funded tunnel in the Los Angeles area: a test tunnel on a north–south alignment parallel to Interstate 405 and adjacent to Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, near the junction with Interstate 10. It was to be a single-tunnel shaft on private property. It was not to be used for public transportation, but for experimentation. The goal of the experimentation included public customer feedback to help the company learn so that they could submit more complete and better information to the California environmental regulator for a long-lead-time Environmental Impact Assessment for the broader loop tunnel transportation system that might be designed for the Los Angeles area.


title: The Boring Company

text: In August 2018, a proposal to build a tunnel called the "Dugout Loop" in Los Angeles was first publicly discussed. The tunnel would extend from Vermont Avenue to Dodger Stadium. The project would be a public-private partnership, and was anticipated to require 14 months to complete. Also in August 2018, the City of Los Angeles published a study and environmental checklist for the proposed project, along with a list of the sixteen California public regulatory agencies that would oversee and permit various aspects of the project. , the project had not advanced and had been removed from TBC's website.


title: The Boring Company

text: In January 2019, Musk responded via Twitter to a query from an Australian MP regarding a tunnel through the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, suggesting costs of or $750 million for the tunnel, plus $50 million per station. Tunneling experts dismissed these numbers as "totally out of the ballpark", and Transport for NSW estimated $3 billion for a road tunnel or $6 billion for combined road-rail.


title: The Boring Company

text: In 2018, the company began to engage in a number of marketing promotions and offered several types of promotional merchandise to consumers. To date, these have included hats, fire extinguishers, and "flamethrowers".


title: The Boring Company

text: The company began its consumer sales by offering 50,000 hats. When the hats sold out in January 2018, it began offering 20,000 "flamethrowers" for preordering. The "flamethrower" was a blow torch shaped to look like a gun and is legal to use in all U.S. states except Maryland. The promotion attracted criticism. Politician Miguel Santiago introduced legislation that would ban sales of the device in California. In just a few days, all 20,000 "flamethrowers" were sold, but after customs officials said that they would not allow any items called 'flamethrowers', Musk announced that he would rename them to "Not-A-Flamethrower" and subsequently updated the website where it stated that it is the "world's safest flamethrower". Musk also announced separate sales of a fire extinguisher, which he described as "overpriced... but this one comes with a cool sticker".


title: The Boring Company

text: In 2020, TBC released rules for a student tunnel-boring competition. A competition was held in Las Vegas in September 2021. Officially named the Not-a-Boring Competition, the challenge was to "quickly and accurately drill a tunnel that was -long and -wide." SpaceX had earlier sponsored a Hyperloop pod competition in 2016–2019 for student teams, and had considered building a longer vacuum tube for a potential competition in 2020, but they also began exploring holding a competition for building the tunnel itself.


title: The Boring Company

text: Applications were received from 400 potential participants. A technical design review reduced the number to 12 teams. Those teams were invited to Las Vegas to demonstrate their engineering solution for increasing the speed of automated boring of a small-diameter tunnel. The winning team was "TUM Boring" from Technical University of Munich who managed to excavate a bore while meeting the requisite safety requirements. "TUM Boring" used a conventional pipe jacking method to build the tunnel, but employed a novel revolving pipe storage design to minimize downtime between pipe segments. The second-place team was "Swissloop Tunneling" who achieved a bore of .


title: The Boring Company

text: A number of civil engineering experts and tunneling industry veterans questioned whether Musk can render tunnels more quickly and cheaply than competitors. "Tunnelling Journal" dismissed the company as a “vanity project” that was inconsistent in its promised offerings. The much-hyped tunnel project constructed at the convention center in Las Vegas turned out to be a single-lane underground roadway less than a mile long, driven by conventional Tesla automobiles, constructed at a total cost of $48 million. Musk's planned tunnels were criticized for lacking such safety features as emergency exit corridors, ventilation systems, or fire suppression. In addition, the tunnels themselves are projected to be single lane, making it impossible for vehicles to pass one another in the event of collision, mechanical failure, or other traffic obstruction, and instead would shut the entire tunnel section down.


title: The Boring Company

text: Critics have argued that the low capacity of the Boring Company's projects make them inefficient and less equitable than existing public transit solutions, with only a fraction of the capacity of a conventional rapid-transit subway. Musk was criticized for his 2017 comments disparaging public transit.


title: The Boring Company

text: James Moore, director of transportation engineering at the University of Southern California, said that "there are cheaper ways to provide better transportation for large numbers of people", such as managing traffic with tolls. Public transit consultant Jarrett Walker called TBC "wildly hyped", and criticized how the company that "dazzled city governments and investors with visions of an efficient subway where you never have to get out of your car, turns out to be a paved road tunnel."


title: Kathryn Newton

text: Kathryn Newton (born February 8, 1997) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Louise Brooks in the CBS comedy series "Gary Unmarried" (2008–2010), Abigail Carlson in the HBO mystery drama series "Big Little Lies" (2017–2019), and Allie Pressman in the Netflix teen drama series "The Society" (2019). She is also known for portraying the older versions of Claire Novak in The CW dark fantasy series "Supernatural" (2014–2018) and Joanie Clark in the AMC period drama series "Halt and Catch Fire" (2016–2017).


title: Kathryn Newton

text: Newton has starred in the comedy film "Bad Teacher" (2011), the supernatural horror film "Paranormal Activity 4" (2012), for which she received the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, the crime drama film "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017), the sex comedy film "Blockers" (2018), the drama film "Ben Is Back" (2018), the film "Pokémon Detective Pikachu" (2019), the slasher comedy film "Freaky" (2020), and the Amazon Studios science fiction romantic comedy-drama "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things" (2021).


title: Kathryn Newton

text: Newton was born in Orlando, Florida, the only child of Robin and David Newton. She began playing golf tournaments at age 8.


title: Kathryn Newton

text: Newton graduated from Notre Dame High School in 2015. She was a member of the Notre Dame High School girls golf team; she helped the school's golf team to win three league championships. She routinely shot in the 70s, and her lowest 18-hole score in a tournament was a 69. In addition, she also set a school record with a five-under-par (-5) round in a nine-hole match and she played to a plus-2 handicap (+2). She initially wanted to play in the 2012 U.S. Women's Open, but she had to withdraw from the sectional qualifier after getting the lead acting role in "Paranormal Activity 4".


title: Kathryn Newton

text: She postponed college at USC to pursue her acting career. She considered playing as a "walk-on" member of University of Southern California women's golf team.


title: Kathryn Newton

text: She started her career at age four, making her television debut on the soap opera "All My Children", playing Colby Marian Chandler from 2001 to 2004. Meanwhile, she also starred in two short films, "Abbie Down East" (2002) and "Bun-Bun" (2003). In 2008, Newton was cast in the role of Louise Brooks in the CBS television series "Gary Unmarried". When she was twelve, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she attended the Notre Dame High School.


title: Kathryn Newton

text: In 2010, Newton won two Young Artist Awards for "Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series" and "Best Performance in a TV series (Comedy or Drama)" for "Gary Unmarried". Newton played the role of Chase Rubin-Rossi in the 2011 film "Bad Teacher". She had the lead role, Alex, in the 2012 film "Paranormal Activity 4", the fourth in the franchise, and won an award at the 34th Young Artist Awards for her performance in the film. Beginning in season 10, she had a recurring role as Claire Novak on "Supernatural".


title: Kathryn Newton

text: In 2017, Newton appeared in the HBO series "Big Little Lies" based on the Liane Moriarty novel of the same name. She also had major roles in the films "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" as Angela Hayes and "Ben Is Back" as Ivy Burns.


title: Kathryn Newton

text: Newton plays Lucy in the 2019 blockbuster "Pokémon Detective Pikachu", a live action film based on the video game of the same name. She also played the lead role of Allie in the Netflix mystery drama series "The Society", which premiered on May 10, 2019. In 2020, she starred in the well-reviewed horror comedy film "Freaky", directed by Christopher Landon, as a teenage girl who switches bodies with a serial killer. In 2021, she appeared in "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things", directed by Ian Samuels. She will be portraying Cassie Lang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "".


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United States Army Brigadier general John T. Thompson in 1918. It was originally designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare of World War I, but was not finished until after the war ended.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson saw early use by the United States Marine Corps during the Banana Wars, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Irish Republican Army, the Republic of China, and the FBI (following the Kansas City Massacre).


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The weapon was also sold to the general public. Because it could be obtained so easily, the Thompson became notorious during the Prohibition era as the signature weapon of various organized crime syndicates in the United States in the 1920s. It was a common sight in the media at the time, and was used by both law enforcement officers and criminals.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson was widely adopted by the U.S. armed forces during World War II, and was also used extensively by other Allied troops during the war. Its main models were designated as the M1928A1, M1 and M1A1 during this time. More than 1.5 million Thompson submachine guns were produced during World War II.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The original selective-fire Thompson variants are no longer produced, although numerous semi-automatic civilian versions are still being produced by the manufacturer Auto-Ordnance. These models retain a similar appearance to the original models, but have various modifications in order to comply with US firearm laws.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Brigadier general John T. Thompson was the original developer of the Thompson submachine gun, who spent most of his career in the ordnance department of the U.S. Army. He envisioned it as being a fully automatic rifle in order to replace the bolt-action service rifles then in use (such as the American M1903 Springfield).


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Brigadier general Thompson came across a patent issued to the American inventor John Bell Blish in 1915, while searching for a way to allow his weapon to operate safely without the complexity of a recoil or gas-operated reloading mechanism. Blish's design (then known as the Blish Lock) was based on the supposed adhesion of inclined metal surfaces under pressure. Thompson gained financial backing from the businessman Thomas F. Ryan and proceeded to found a company, which he named the Auto-Ordnance Company, in 1916, for the purpose of developing his new "auto rifle".


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson was primarily developed in Cleveland, Ohio. Its principal designers were Theodore H. Eickhoff, Oscar V. Payne, and George E. Goll. By late 1917, the limits of the Blish Lock were discovered (which is essentially an extreme manifestation of static friction), and, rather than the firearm working as a locked breech, the weapon was instead designed to function as a friction-delayed blowback action. It was found that the only cartridge currently in service suitable for use with the new lock was the .45 ACP. General Thompson envisioned a "one-man, hand-held machine gun" chambered in .45 ACP to be used as a "trench broom" for the ongoing trench warfare of World War I. Oscar V. Payne designed the new firearm along with its stick and drum magazines. The project was titled "Annihilator I". Most of the design issues had been resolved by 1918; however, the war ended two days before prototypes could be shipped to Europe.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: At an Auto-Ordnance board meeting in 1919, in order to discuss the marketing of the "Annihilator", with the war now over the weapon was officially renamed the "Thompson Submachine Gun". While other weapons had been developed shortly prior with similar objectives in mind, the Thompson was the first weapon to be labeled and marketed as a "submachine gun". Thompson intended for the weapon to provide a high volume of automatic, man-portable fire for use in trench warfare—a role for which the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) had been determined ill-suited. The concept had already been developed by German troops using their own Bergmann MP 18 (the world's first submachine gun) in concert with their "Sturmtruppen" tactics.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The first Thompson entered production as the M1921. It was available to civilians, but, because of the weapon's high price, initially saw poor sales. The Thompson (with one Type XX 20 round "stick" magazine) had been priced at $200 in 1921 (roughly ).


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: M1921 Thompsons were sold in small numbers to the United States Postal Inspection Service so they could protect the mail from a spate of robberies. It was also sold to the United States Marine Corps, who used their Thompsons in the Banana Wars. Thompsons had also been widely used throughout China, where several Chinese warlords and their military factions running various parts of the fragmented country made purchases of the weapon, and subsequently produced many local copies.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson saw popularity as a point-defense weapon for countering ambushes by Nicaraguan guerrillas (in the Banana Wars) and led to the creation of four-man fire teams which had as much firepower as a nine-man rifle squad. Federal sales were then followed by sales to police departments in the US, as well as to various international armies and constabulary forces; chiefly in Central and South America.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The major initial complaints concerning the Thompson were its cumbersome weight, its inaccuracy at ranges over , and its lack of penetrating power using the .45 ACP cartridge.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson was first used in combat in June 13 1921, when West Virginia state troopers fired on the mountainside near Lick Creek, where striking miners were firing at passing cars. By the time of the Battle of Blair Mountain, 37 had been acquired by the West Virginia state police and 56 were in the hands of coal companies and local law enforcement. The guns were also shipped to various hardware stores in the region.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Some of the first batches of Thompsons were bought (in America) by agents of the Irish Republic (notably the Irish politician Harry Boland). The first test of the Thompson in Ireland was performed by Irish Republican Army unit commander Tom Barry, of the West Cork Brigade, in the presence of IRA leader Michael Collins. They purchased a total of 653 units, though US customs authorities in New York seized 495 of the units in June 1921. The remainder found their way to the Irish Republican Army by way of Liverpool, England, and were used in the last month of the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). After a truce with the British in July 1921, the Irish Republican Army imported more units, which were used in the subsequent Irish Civil War (1922–23). The Thompson was not found to be very effective in Ireland; having only caused serious casualties in 32 percent of the action in which it was used.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: During the failed 1924 coup Estonian communists used Thompsons in an attempt to storm the Tallin barracks; meanwhile the MP18 was used by the defenders. this was possibly the first engagement were submachineguns were used on both sides.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson achieved early notoriety in the hands of Prohibition and Great Depression-era gangsters and the lawmen who pursued them. It was also depicted in Hollywood films during this era, most notably regarding the St Valentine's Day Massacre. The Thompson guns used in the massacre are still being held by the Berrien County Sheriff's Department. The Thompson has been referred to by one researcher as the "gun that made the twenties roar".


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In 1926, the Cutts Compensator (a muzzle brake) was offered as an attachment option for the Thompson. Models with the compensator were cataloged as "No. 21AC," at the original price of $200. The plain Thompson (without the attachment) was designated "No. 21A" at a reduced price of $175.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In 1928, Federal Laboratories took over distribution of the weapon from Thompson's Auto Ordnance Corporation. The new cost was listed as $225 per weapon (), with $5 per 50-round drum and $3 per 20-round magazine.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Nationalist China acquired a substantial number of Thompson guns for use against Japanese land forces. They began producing copies of the Thompson in small quantities for use by their armies and militias. In the 1930s, Taiyuan Arsenal (a Chinese weapons manufacturer) produced copies of the Thompson for Yan Xishan, then warlord of Shanxi province.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: A number of these guns were acquired by a construction company in Brazil, after construction of a federal road in Sergipe was distrupted by armed Cangaçeiros in December 1937. The bandits violently opposed any attempts to build roads near their territory.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In 1938, the Thompson submachine gun was adopted by the U.S. military and was used during World War II.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Military users of the M1928A1 units had complaints of the "L" 50-round drum magazine. The British Army criticized "the [magazine's] excessive weight, [and] the rattling sound they made" and shipped thousands back to the U.S. in exchange for 20-round box magazines. The Thompson had to be cocked, bolt retracted, ready to fire, in order to attach the drum magazine. The drum magazine also attached and detached by sliding sideways, which made magazine changes slow and cumbersome. They also created difficulty when clearing a cartridge malfunction ("jam"). Reloading an empty drum with cartridges was a difficult and involved process in which the 50 rounds would be inserted and then the magazine wound up until a minimum of 9 to 11 loud "clicks" were heard before seating the magazine into the weapon.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In contrast, the "XX" twenty-round box magazine was light and compact. It tended not to rattle, and could be inserted with the bolt safely closed. The box magazine was quickly attached and detached, and was removed downward, making clearing jams easier. The box magazine tripped the bolt open lock when empty, facilitating magazine changes. An empty box was easy to reload with loose rounds. However, users complained that it was limited in capacity. In the field, some soldiers would tape two "XX" magazines together, in what would be known as "jungle style", to quicken magazine changes.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Two alternatives to the "L" 50-round drum and "XX" 20-round box magazines were tested December 6, 1941, at Fort Knox, Kentucky. An extended thirty-round box magazine and a forty-round magazine, which were made by welding two 20-round magazines face to face, jungle style, were tested. The testers considered both superior to either the "XX" box or "L" drum. The 30-round box was approved as the new standard in December 1941 to replace the "XX" and "L" magazines. (The concept of welding two box magazines face-to-face was also carried over to the M42 submachine gun.)


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The staff of Savage Arms looked for ways to simplify the M1928A1, and produced a prototype in February 1942, which was tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in March 1942. Army Ordnance approved adoption (as the M1) in April 1942. M1s were made by Savage Arms and by Auto-Ordnance. M1s were issued with the 30-round box magazine and would accept the earlier 20-round box, but would not accept the drum magazine.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson was used in World War II in the hands of Allied troops as a weapon for scouts, non-commissioned officers (corporal, sergeant, and higher), and patrol leaders, as well as commissioned officers, tank crewmen, and soldiers performing raids on German positions. In the European theater, the gun was widely utilized in British and Canadian commando units, as well as in the U.S. Army paratrooper and Ranger battalions, where it was issued more frequently than in line infantry units because of its high rate of fire and its stopping power, which made it very effective in the kinds of close combat these special operations troops were expected to undertake. Military Police were fond of it, as were paratroopers, who "borrowed" Thompsons from members of mortar squads for use on patrols behind enemy lines. The gun was prized by those lucky enough to get one and proved itself in the close street fighting that was encountered frequently during the invasion of France. A Swedish variant of the M1928A1, the "Kulsprutepistol m/40" (submachine gun, model 40), served in the Swedish Army between 1940 and 1951. Through Lend-Lease, the Soviet Union also received the Thompson, but due to a shortage of appropriate ammunition, its use was not widespread.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In the Malayan Campaign, the Burma Campaign and the Pacific Theater, Lend-Lease-issue Thompsons were used by the British Army, Indian Army, Australian Army infantry and other Commonwealth forces. They used the Thompson extensively in jungle patrols and ambushes, where it was prized for its firepower, though it was criticized for its hefty weight and poor reliability. In New Guinea, the Thompson was the only submachine gun available to the Australian Army for most of the vital Kokoda Track campaign in 1942. It became so prized that soldiers routinely picked up Thompson guns dropped by killed or wounded comrades. However, the weight of the ammunition and difficulties in supply eventually led to its replacement in Australian Army units in 1943 by Australian-made submachine guns, the Owen and Austen. Thompsons were also given to the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In Burma and India, British forces largely replaced the Thompson with the Sten gun. New Zealand commando forces in the South Pacific campaign initially used Thompsons but switched them for the more reliable, lighter, and more accurate Owen during the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal campaigns. The U.S. Marines also used the Thompson as a limited-issue weapon, especially during their later island assaults. The Thompson was soon found to have limited effect in heavy jungle cover, where the low-velocity .45 bullet would not penetrate most small-diameter trees or protective armor vests. (In 1923, the Army had rejected the .45 Remington–Thompson, which had twice the energy of the .45 ACP). In the U.S. Army, many Pacific War jungle patrols were originally equipped with Thompsons in the early phases of the New Guinea and Guadalcanal campaigns, but soon began employing the Browning Automatic Rifle in its place as a point defense weapon.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Army introduced the U.S. M3 and M3A1 submachine guns in 1943 with plans to produce the latter in numbers sufficient to cancel future orders for the Thompson, while gradually withdrawing it from the first-line service. However, due to unforeseen production delays and requests for modifications, the M3/M3A1 never replaced the Thompson, and purchases continued until February 1944. Though the M3 was considerably cheaper to produce, at the end of World War II, the Thompson, with a total wartime production of over 1.5 million, outnumbered the M3/M3A1 submachine guns in service by nearly three to one.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Thompson submachine guns were used by both sides during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Following the war, Thompsons were issued to members of Israel's elite Unit 101, upon the formation of that unit in 1953.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: During the Greek Civil War, the Thompson submachine gun was used by both sides. The Hellenic Armed Forces, gendarmerie and police units were equipped with Thompson submachine guns supplied by the British and later in the war by the United States. The opposing Communist fighters of the Democratic Army of Greece were also using Thompson submachine guns, either captured from government forces or inherited from ELAS. ELAS was the strongest of the resistance forces during the period of Greek Resistance against the Germans and Italians and were supplied with arms from both the British and the United States. After the demobilization of ELAS, an unspecified number of arms were not surrendered to the government but kept hidden, and were later used by the Democratic Army of Greece.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson also found service with the KNIL and the Netherlands Marine Corps during their attempt to retake their former colony of Indonesia. During by Indonesian infiltrators during the 1965 Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: By the time of the Korean War in 1950, the Thompson had seen much use by the U.S. and South Korean military, even though the Thompson had been replaced as standard-issue by the M3/M3A1. With huge numbers of guns available in army ordnance arsenals, the Thompson remained classed as Limited Standard or Substitute Standard long after the standardization of the M3/M3A1. Many Thompsons were distributed to the US-backed Nationalist Chinese armed forces as military aid before the fall of Chiang Kai-shek's government to Mao Zedong's communist forces at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 (Thompsons had already been widely used throughout China since the 1920s, at a time when several Chinese warlords and their military factions running various parts of the fragmented country made purchases of the weapon and then subsequently produced many local copies). During the Korean War, US troops were surprised to encounter communist Chinese troops armed with Thompsons (amongst other captured US-made Nationalist Chinese and American firearms), especially during unexpected night-time assaults which became a prominent Chinese combat tactic in the conflict. The gun's ability to deliver large quantities of short-range automatic assault fire proved very useful in both defense and assault during the early part of the war when it was constantly mobile and shifting back and forth. Many Chinese Thompsons were captured and placed into service with American soldiers and marines for the remaining period of the war.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Yugoslav Army received 34,000 M1A1 Thompsons during the 1950s as part of a "US Military Aid to Yugoslavia Agreement". These guns were used during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: During the Cuban Revolution, the Thompson submachine gun was used by both Batista's army and Fidel Castro's guerrillas. Both the latter and the Brigade 2506 also used some during the bay of Pigs Invasion.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: During the Vietnam War, some South Vietnamese army units and defense militia were armed with Thompson submachine guns, and a few of these weapons were used by reconnaissance units, advisors, and other American troops. It was partially replaced by the MAC-10, albeit during Vietnam, the fully automatic fire provided by the M16 made the Thompson less effective than it previously had been. Still, not only did some U.S. soldiers have use of them in Vietnam, they encountered them as well. The Viet Cong liked the weapon and used both captured models as well as manufacturing their own copies in small jungle workshops.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Australian government destroyed most of their Thompson machine carbines in the 1960s. They shipped their remaining stocks to arm the forces of Lon Nol's Khmer Republic in 1975. They were then captured and used by the Khmer Rouge.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles (1969–1998), the Thompson was again used by the Irish Republican paramilitaries. According to historian Peter Hart, "The Thompson remained a key part of both the Official IRA and Provisional IRA arsenals until well into the 1970s when it was superseded by the Armalite and the AK-47."


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Thompson was also used by U.S. and overseas law enforcement and police forces, most prominently by the FBI. The FBI used Thompsons until they were declared obsolete and ordered destroyed in the early 1970s.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Because of their quality and craftsmanship, as well as their gangster-era and WWII connections, Thompsons are sought as collector's items. There were fewer than 40 pre-production prototypes. The Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut was contracted by the Auto-Ordnance Corporation to manufacture the initial mass production of 15,000 Thompson Submachine Guns in 1920. An original Colt Model 1921 A or AC, Model 1927 A or AC, Model 1928 Navy A or AC, properly registered in working condition with original components can easily fetch from US$25,000 to $45,000+ depending on condition and accessories. For WWII, approximately 1,700,000 Thompson Submachine Guns were produced by Auto-Ordnance and Savage Arms, with 1,387,134 being the simplified World War II M1 and M1A1 variants (without the Blish lock and oiling system).


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: A Model 1921A believed to have been owned by Bonnie and Clyde, but without historical documentation to substantiate this provenance, sold at auction on January 21, 2012, in Kansas City for $130,000.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Early versions of the Thompson, the Model 1919, had a fairly high cyclic rate of fire, as high as 1,200 rounds per minute (rpm), with most Model 1921s at 800 rpm. This rate of fire, combined with a rather heavy trigger pull and a stock with an excessive drop, increases the tendency for the barrel to climb off target in automatic fire. In 1927, the U.S. Navy ordered 500 Thompsons but requested a lower rate of fire. Thompson requested Payne to develop a method of reducing the cyclic rate of fire. Payne then replaced the actuator with one that was heavier, and replaced the recoil spring with one that was stiffer; the changes reduced the rate of fire from 800 to the 600 rpm of the U.S. Navy Model 1928. Later M1 and M1A1 Thompsons averaged also 600 rpm. Compared to more modern submachine guns, the Thompson is quite heavy, weighing roughly the same as the contemporary M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle, and requires a lot of cleaning. This was one of the major complaints about the weapon by U.S. Army personnel to whom it was issued.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Although the drum magazine provided significant firepower, in military service it was found to be overly heavy and bulky, especially when slung on the shoulder while marching. The M1928A1 Thompson drum magazine was rather fragile, and cartridges tended to rattle inside it, producing unwanted noise. For these reasons, the 20-round and later 30-round box magazines soon proved most popular with military users of the M1928A1, and drum compatibility was not included in the design of the wartime M1 and M1A1 models. The Thompson was one of the earliest submachine guns to incorporate a double-column, staggered-feed box magazine design, which undoubtedly contributed to the gun's reputation for reliability. In addition, the gun performed better than most after exposure to rain, dirt, and mud.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The selective-fire (semi or fully automatic) Thompson fires from the "open bolt" position, in which the bolt is held fully to rearward by the sear when cocked. When the trigger is depressed, the bolt is released, traveling forward to chamber and simultaneously fire the first and subsequent rounds until either the trigger is released or the ammunition is exhausted. This eliminates the risk of "cook-off", which can sometimes occur in closed-bolt automatic weapons.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The 1928 variant can be disassembled easily by first detaching the stock, then sliding off the lower receiver and then simply removing the internal parts, cleaning them, and then putting it back together. When opened up, the Thompson features a small number of parts that need to be removed including the spring, bolt, Blish Lock, and actuator bolt.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: There were two main experimental models of the Thompson. The "Persuader" was a belt-fed version developed in 1917/18. It was partially built, but never completely finished. The "Annihilator", serial no. Ver 10 prototypes were similar in appearance to the later models, but without the rear sight and butt stock mounts. The Annihilator prototypes first were fed from a 20-round box magazine, but later, the 50- and 100-round drum magazine models were developed.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Starting with the Serial no. 11, the Model 1919 takes the final appearance of the later Thompsons with the rear sights and butt stock. The Model 1919 was limited to about 40 units; the first built did not use the drums, as it was too difficult to fire. Many variations have been noted within this model. The weapons had very high cyclic rates up to 1,500 rpm. This was the weapon Brigadier General Thompson demonstrated at Camp Perry in 1920. A number of Model 1919s were made without butt stocks, rear and front sights, but the final version closely resembled the later Model 1921. This model was designed to "sweep" trenches with bullets. The New York City Police Department was the largest purchaser of the M1919. Some experimental calibers aside from the standard .45 ACP (11.4x23mm) were the .22LR, .32 ACP, .38 ACP, and 9mm.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The layout and ergonomics of the Thompson submachine gun were also considered for the role of a Light Rifle before the adoption of the M1 Carbine. An example known as the "Calibre .30 Short Rifle" was based on the M1921/27 variants. However, it was turned down without testing due to logistical problems.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: A .30–06 variant was intended as a rival to the M1918 BAR. It had an extended receiver with a recoil buffer and was fed from 20-round magazines.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1921 (M1921) was the first major production model. Fifteen thousand were produced by Colt for Auto-Ordnance. In its original design, it was finished more like a sporting weapon, with an adjustable rear sight, a blued, finned barrel and vertical foregrip (or pistol grip) and the Blish lock. The M1921 was quite expensive to manufacture, with the original retail price around $200, because of its high-quality wood furniture and finely machined parts. The M1921 was famous throughout its career with police and criminals and in motion pictures. This model gained fame from its use by criminals during Prohibition, and was nicknamed "tommy gun" by the media.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1923 was a heavy submachine gun introduced to potentially expand the Auto-Ordnance product line and was demonstrated for the U.S. Army. It fired the more powerful .45 Remington–Thompson cartridge which fired a heavier bullet at muzzle velocities of about and energy about , with greater range than the .45 ACP. It introduced a horizontal forearm, improved inline stock for accuracy, barrel, bipod, and bayonet lug. The M1923 was intended to rival the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), with which the Army was already satisfied. The Army did not give the Model 1923 much consideration, so it was not adopted. In addition to the .45 Remington–Thompson, the M1923 Thompsons were to be made available to prospective buyers in several calibers, including .45 ACP, 9mm Parabellum, 9mm Mauser, and .351 Winchester Self-loading.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: While not a new model in the usual sense of incorporating major changes, in 1926 the Cutts Compensator (a muzzle brake) was offered as an option for the M1921; Thompsons with the compensator were cataloged as No. 21AC at the original price of $200.00, with the plain M1921 designated No. 21A at a reduced price of $175.00. The Model 1921 was thereafter referred to as Model 1921A or Model 1921AC, though some collectors still refer to it as the Model 1921.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1928 was the first type widely used by military forces, with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps as major buyers through the 1930s. The original Model 1928s were Model 1921s with weight added to the actuator, which slowed down the cyclic rate of fire, a United States Navy requirement. On these guns, the model number "1921" on the receiver was updated by stamping an "8" over the last "1". The Navy Model 1928 has several names among collectors: the "Colt Overstamp", "1921 Overstamp", "28 Navy", or just "28N".


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The 1928 Thompson would be the last small arm adopted by the U.S. Army that used a year designation in the official nomenclature. With the start of World War II, major contracts from several countries saved the manufacturer from bankruptcy. A notable variant of the Model 1928 with an aluminum receiver and tenite grip, buttstock, and forend, was made by Savage.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The M1928A1 variant entered mass production before the attack on Pearl Harbor, as on-hand stocks ran out. Changes included a horizontal forend, in place of the distinctive vertical foregrip ("pistol grip"), and a provision for a military sling. Despite new U.S. contracts for Lend-Lease shipments abroad to China, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as the needs of American armed forces, only two factories supplied M1928A1 Thompsons during the early years of World War II. Though it could use both the 50-round drum and the 20- or 30-round box magazines, active service favored the box magazines as the drums were more prone to jamming, rattled when moving, and were too heavy and bulky on long patrols. 562,511 were made. Wartime production variants had a fixed rear sight without the triangular sight guard wings and a non-ribbed barrel, both like those found on the M1/M1A1.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In addition, the Soviet Union received M1928A1s, included as standard equipment with the M3 light tanks obtained through Lend-Lease. These submachine guns were used to a limited extent by the Red Army.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Some M1928A1 Thompsons were used by the French before and during the Battle of France (1940) under the designation "Pistolet-mitrailleur 11 mm 43 (C.45) M. 28 A1."


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: An M1928A1 with an unusual inline stock, modified with elevated sights to increase accuracy, also was produced. Some Thompsons were built with a folding stock, similar to M1A1 Carbines used by Allied tank crews, drivers and paratroopers and submarine raiders.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In 1940, Commonwealth troops in Egypt and North Africa were issued commercial model Lend-Lease Colt- and Savage-manufactured M1928s. Section leaders carried them instead of pistols or rifles. Many of the Colt models had French-language manuals packed with them as they had been abruptly diverted to England after the fall of France. They soon discovered that the weapon was prone to jamming due to sand. To fix this, the armorers removed the Blish Lock and replaced it with a hex bolt to keep the cocking handle and bolt together. The 20-round Type XX magazines had their peep-holes welded shut to keep sand out and the 50-round Type L drums were discontinued. Ammunition was scarce as it was either in small lots of Lend-Lease commercial ammo or obtained from adjacent American troops. It was later replaced by the 9mm Sten gun and Lanchester SMG.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Models used in the Pacific by Australian troops had their sling swivels remounted on the left side to allow it to be fired more easily while prone. A metal sling mount was fitted to the left side of the wooden buttstock. Ammunition was manufactured in Australia or obtained from adjacent American troops. It was later replaced by the Owen Machine Carbine.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: Responding to a request for further simplification, the M1 was standardized in April 1942 as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M1. Rate of fire was reduced to approximately 600–700 rpm.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: First issued in 1943, the M1 uses a simple blowback operation, with the charging handle moved to the side. The flip-up adjustable Lyman rear sight was replaced with a fixed L sight. Late M1s had triangular guard wings added to the rear L sight, which were standardized on the M1A1. The slots adjoining the magazine well allowing the use of a drum magazine were removed. A new magazine catch with the provision for retaining drum magazines removed, was produced, but most M1s and later M1A1s retained the original. The less expensive and more-easily manufactured "stick" magazines were used exclusively in the M1, with a new 30-round version joining the familiar 20-round type. The Cutts compensator, barrel cooling fins, and Blish lock were omitted while the buttstock was permanently affixed. Late production M1 stocks were fitted with reinforcing bolts and washers to prevent splitting of the stock where it attached to the receiver. The British had used improvised bolts or wood screws to reinforce M1928 stocks. The M1 reinforcing bolt and washer were carried over to the M1A1 and retrofitted to many of the M1928A1s in U.S. and British service. Late M1s also had simplified fire control switches, also carried over to the M1A1. Certain M1s had issues with high rate of fire climbing up to ~800 RPM. The exact cause remains unknown, but was resolved with the transition to the M1A1.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The M1A1, standardized in October 1942 as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M1A1, could be produced in half the time of the M1928A1, and at a much lower cost. The main difference between the M1 and M1A1 was the bolt. The M1 bolt had a floating firing pin and hammer, the bolt of the M1A1 had the firing pin machined to the face of the bolt, eliminating unnecessary parts. The reinforced stock and protective sight wings were standard. The 30-round magazine became more common. In 1939, Thompsons cost the government $209 apiece. By the spring of 1942, cost-reduction design changes had brought this down to $70. In February 1944, the M1A1 reached a low price of $45 each, including accessories and spare parts, although the difference in price between the M1 and M1A1 was only $0.06. By the end of the war, the M1A1 was replaced with the even lower-cost M3 (commonly called the "Grease Gun").


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1927 was the open bolt semi-automatic version of the M1921. It was made by modifying an existing Model 1921, including replacing certain parts. The "Thompson Submachine Gun" inscription was machined over to replace it with "Thompson Semi-Automatic Carbine", and the "Model 1921" inscription was also machined over to replace it with "Model 1927." Although the Model 1927 was semi-automatic only, it was easily converted to fully automatic by installing a full-auto Model 1921 fire control group (internal parts). Most Model 1927s owned by police have been converted back to full-auto. The original Model 1927 is classified as a machine gun under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (a) by being "readily convertible" by swapping parts and (b) by a 1982 BATF ruling making all open bolt semi-automatic firearms manufactured after the date of this ruling classified as machine guns.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1927A1 is a semi-automatic replica version of the Thompson, originally produced by Auto-Ordnance of West Hurley, New York for the civilian collector's market from 1974 to 1999. It has been produced since 1999 by Kahr Arms of Worcester, Massachusetts. It is officially known as the "Thompson Semi-Automatic Carbine, Model of 1927A1." The internal design is completely different to operate from the closed bolt and the carbine has a barrel length of (versus open bolt operation and barrel length of for the fully automatic versions). Under federal regulations, these changes make the Model 1927A1 legally a rifle and remove it from the federal registry requirements of the National Firearms Act. These modern versions should not be confused with the original semi-automatic M1927, which was a slightly modified M1921 produced by Colt for Auto-Ordnance.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1927A1 is the semi-automatic replica of the Thompson Models of 1921 and 1927. The "Thompson Commando" is a semi-automatic replica of the M1928A1. The Auto-Ordnance replica of the Thompson M1 and M1A1 is known as the TM1, and may be found marked "Thompson Semi-Automatic Carbine, Caliber .45M1".


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1927A3 is a semi-automatic, .22 caliber version of the Thompson produced by Auto-Ordnance in West Hurley.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The Model 1927A5 is a semi-automatic, .45 ACP pistol version of the Thompson originally produced by Auto-Ordnance in West Hurley from the 1970s until the early 1990s or late 1980s. It featured an aluminum receiver to reduce weight. It has since been replaced with the Kahr Arms TA5 Pistol, which features a 10.5" barrel and steel receiver, unlike the 1927A5's 13" barrel and aluminum receiver.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: As per the NFA (National Firearms Act of 1934), the "1927A5 .45 ACP Pistol" is simply classified as a "Firearm" (Any type of firearm with an overall length of 26" or greater, that does not have a buttstock) as it neither fits the definition of a Pistol or Rifle under federal law. This categorization also legally allows it to have 1921 or 1928 style foregrip equipped, unlike other "pistol style" Thompson variants, without an AOW (Any Other Weapon) Tax Stamp.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The 1928A1 LTD is a civilian semi-automatic conversion by Luxembourg Defense Technology (LuxDefTec) in Luxembourg. They are made from original 1928A1 guns of various appearance (with or without Cutt's compensator, ribbed or smooth barrels, adjustable or fixed sights), that were imported Lend-Lease guns from Russia.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: In an attempt to expand interest and sales overseas, Auto-Ordnance entered into a partnership with and licensed the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) in England to produce a European model. These were produced in small quantities and have a different appearance than the classic style. The BSA 1926 was manufactured in 9mmP and 7.63mm Mauser and were tested by various governments, including France, in the mid-1920s. It was never adopted by any military force, and only a small number were produced.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: A special purpose machine pistol variant of the Thompson is manufactured by RPB Industries of Atlanta.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: All variants and modified versions of Thompson submachine guns (even semiautomatic-only versions) are prohibited by name in Canada, as part of Prohibited Weapons Order No. 13 in 1995. Consequently, they cannot be legally imported or owned except under very limited circumstances. For example, to own one the person must be "grandfathered" and have owned one before the bill was passed against it. The submachine gun is not grandfathered like in the U.S., only the owner. The submachine gun can only be sold to other grandfathered individuals; this keeps prices extremely low as the number of permitted licensed individuals is very small and dwindling with time. Eventually, all prohibited guns will be out of circulation.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The perceived popularity of submachine guns such as the Thompson with violent gangsters in the 1920s and 1930s was one of the main reasons given for passage of the National Firearms Act by the United States Congress in 1934. One of its provisions was that owners of fully automatic firearms were required to register them with the predecessor agency of the modern Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The law also placed restrictions on the possession, transfer, and transport of the weapons.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: There are several U.S. made automatic and semi-automatic variants, copies, or replicas. The semi-automatic versions are less regulated by federal law.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The possession of any fully automatic firearm is prohibited in the UK by the Firearms Act 1968; prohibited firearms can be possessed on a section 5 certificate, but these are not issued for sporting purposes. A fully automatic firearm that has been converted to semi-automatic fire, such as the Model 1927, is prohibited by the Firearms Act 1988, as is any centre-fire purpose-made semi-automatic weapon, such as the Model 1927A1. It is now effectively impossible for a firearm of this type to be legally possessed by a member of the general public, except in certified deactivated condition or where specifically manufactured as a semi-automatic in caliber .22LR.


title: Thompson submachine gun

text: The gun, in a government approved semiautomatic conversion or clone, can legally be owned by hunters and sport shooters. With a design date prior to 1942 it is not considered a "weapon of war." Only the fully automatic version is a prohibited weapon. As a long gun, it can be bought by hunters (even if it cannot be used to actually hunt for legal reasons). There are disciplines in government approved sport shooting rulebooks that allow this type to be used, therefore the gun can be bought by sport shooters, too.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: Lal Bahadur Shastri (; 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966 and 6th Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. He promoted the White Revolution – a national campaign to increase the production and supply of milk – by supporting the Amul milk co-operative of Anand, Gujarat and creating the National Dairy Development Board. Underlining the need to boost India's food production, Shastri also promoted the Green Revolution in India in 1965. This led to an increase in food grain production, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: Shastri was born to Sharada Prasad Srivastava and Ramdulari Devi in Mughalsarai on 2 October 1904. He studied in East Central Railway Inter college and Harish Chandra High School, which he left to join the non-cooperation movement. He worked for the betterment of the Harijans at Muzaffarpur and dropped his caste-derived surname of "Srivastava". Shastri's thoughts were influenced by reading about Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Annie Besant. Deeply impressed and influenced by Gandhi, he joined the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. He served as the president of Servants of the People Society (Lok Sevak Mandal), founded by Lala Lajpat Rai and held prominent positions in Indian National Congress. Following independence in 1947, he joined the Indian government and became one of Prime Minister Nehru's key cabinet colleagues, first as Railways Minister (1951–56), and then in numerous other prominent positions, including the Home Minister.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: He led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. His slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" ("Hail to the soldier; Hail to the farmer") became very popular during the war. The war formally ended with the Tashkent Agreement on 10 January 1966; he died the following day, still in Tashkent, with the cause of his death in dispute. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: Shastri was born on 2 October 1904 at the home of his maternal grandparents in a Kayastha family. Shastri's paternal ancestors had been in the service of the "zamindar" of Ramnagar near Banaras, and Shastri lived there for the first year of his life. Shastri's father, Sharada Prasad Srivastava, was a school teacher who later became a clerk in the revenue office at Allahabad, while his mother, Ramdulari Devi, was the daughter of Munshi Hazari Lal, the headmaster and English teacher at a railway school in Mughalsarai. Shastri was the second child and eldest son of his parents; he had an elder sister, Kailashi Devi (b. 1900).


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: In April 1906, when Shastri was hardly 18 months old, his father, who had only recently been promoted to the post of deputy tahsildar, died in an epidemic of bubonic plague. Ramdulari Devi, then only 23 years old and pregnant with her third child, took her two children and moved from Ramnagar to her father's house in Mughalsarai and settled there for good. She gave birth to a daughter, Sundari Devi, in July 1906. Thus, Shastri and his sisters grew up in the household of his maternal grandfather, Hazari Lalji. However, Hazari Lalji himself died from a stroke in mid-1908. Thereafter, the family was looked after by his brother (Shastri's great-uncle) Darbari Lal, who was the head clerk in the opium regulation department at Ghazipur, and later by his son (Ramdulari Devi's cousin) Bindeshwari Prasad, a school teacher in Mughalsarai.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: This situation was perfectly in tune with the milieu of the times, where the Indian Joint family system was a thriving reality; the sense of family relationship and responsibility it fostered was the primary social security of the time. Nor should be surmised from these circumstances that Shastri grew up in an under-privileged manner, or that his education and comforts were compromised in any manner. On the contrary, since he was a rank student, he received a better education than some of his cousins. Then as now, education was highly prized in Kayastha families, and Bindeshwari Prasad, on the limited salary of a school teacher, with many dependents, nevertheless managed to give a good education to all the children in his care.


title: Lal Bahadur Shastri

text: In 1917, Bindeshwari Prasad was transferred to Varanasi, and the entire family moved there, including Ramdulari Devi and her three children. In Varanasi, Shastri joining the seventh standard at Harish Chandra High School. At this time, he decided to drop his caste-derived surname of "Srivastava" (which is a traditional surname for a sub-caste of Kayastha families).