title: Caliphate

text: Maya Shatzmiller states that the demographic behavior of medieval Islamic society varied in some significant aspects from other agricultural societies. Nomadic groups within places like the deserts of Egypt and Morocco maintained high birth rates compared to rural and urban populations, though periods of extremely high nomadic birth rates seem to have occurred in occasional "surges" rather than on a continuous basis. Individuals living in large cities had much lower birth rates, possibly due to the use of birth control methods and political or economic instability. This led to population declines in some regions. While several studies have shown that Islamic scholars enjoyed a life expectancy of 59–75 years between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, the overall life expectancy of men in the same societies was lower. Factoring in infant mortality, Lawrence Conrad estimates the average lifespan in the early Islamic caliphate to be above 35 years for the general population, compared to around 40 years for the population of Classical Greece and 31 years for the population of thirteenth century England.


title: Caliphate

text: The early Islamic Empire also had the highest literacy rates among pre-modern societies, alongside the city of classical Athens in the 4th century BC, and later, China after the introduction of printing from the 10th century. One factor for the relatively high literacy rates in the early Islamic Empire was its parent-driven educational marketplace, as the state did not systematically subsidize educational services until the introduction of state funding under Nizam al-Mulk in the 11th century. Another factor was the diffusion of paper from China, which led to an efflorescence of books and written culture in Islamic society; thus papermaking technology transformed Islamic society (and later, the rest of Afro-Eurasia) from an oral to scribal culture, comparable to the later shifts from scribal to typographic culture, and from typographic culture to the Internet. Other factors include the widespread use of paper books in Islamic society (more so than any other previously existing society), the study and memorisation of the Qur'an, flourishing commercial activity and the emergence of the Maktab and Madrasah educational institutions.


title: Babar Azam

text: Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, ; born 15 October 1994), is a Pakistani international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all formats. Regarded as one of the finest batters in contemporary world cricket, he is the only cricketer in the world to be in the top five rankings across all formats. He is ranked as the number one batter in ODIs number 3 in Tests and fourth in T20Is. A right-handed top-order batter, he plays for Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and captains Central Punjab in domestic cricket of Pakistan. With 40 wins, he is one of the most successful T20I captains of all time.


title: Babar Azam

text: Babar Azam was born on 15 October 1994 into a Punjabi Muslim family. He was born in the Walled City and recalls the memories of "playing cricket and roaming around like a free bird in those streets." His cousins Kamran and Umar Akmal, who are older than him, were the reason he was attracted to cricket and their stories and success instilled inspiration in him. Therefore, he decided to take cricket as his profession. He had been a ball boy at Gaddafi Stadium before joining a cricket academy and starting his domestic cricket career there and was present during the home series Pakistan played between 2006 and 2008. He sought guidance from Rana Sadiq, his first coach, who taught him in real terms, what batting is. Later, he went on to be a part of the Pakistan U-19 setup.


title: Babar Azam

text: In May 2015, Babar was included in the Pakistani ODI squad for home series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut in the third ODI on 31 May and scored an impressive fifty scoring 54 runs off 60 balls. His impressive debut earned him a place in both Test and ODI squads selected for an away series against Sri Lanka. He was not selected to play in the Test series. During the ODI series, he only scored 37 runs in the two matches that he played. Babar was included in the squad for the away ODI series against Zimbabwe in September 2015.


title: Babar Azam

text: He was retained in the ODI squad for the home series against England. In the first ODI of the four match series he scored 62 not out with a strike rate of 100 which helped Pakistan win the match. He had scores of 4, 22 and 51 in next three matches respectively. He finished the series with 139 runs at an average of 46.33.


title: Babar Azam

text: In January 2016, Pakistan toured New Zealand. In the first ODI match, Babar scored 62 runs off 76 balls. Pakistan lost the match by 70 runs. He was the leading run scorer in the ODI series with 145 runs in 2 innings at an average of 72.50.


title: Babar Azam

text: In the five-match ODI series against England in July, he batted in five games and only scored 122 runs. He made his Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan against England on 7 September. He scored an unbeaten 15 runs off 11 balls. Pakistan won the match and series.


title: Babar Azam

text: Besides the England series, Pakistan played two match ODI series against Ireland. In the first ODI of the series, Pakistan beat Ireland by 255 runs and created record of their biggest win in terms of runs in an ODI. Babar contributed in his side's victory by scoring 29 runs. With the second and final ODI abandoned due to rain, Pakistan won the series 1–0.


title: Babar Azam

text: Babar Azam was selected in the home series against the West Indies in 2016. In the first match of the ODI series he scored his maiden international century, scoring 120 off 131 balls and winning his first man of the match award. In the second ODI, he scored another century, this time scoring 123 off 126 balls, and helping Pakistan to put up a total of more than 330. In the third and final ODI of the series Azam ended up scoring a third consecutive century (117 from 106). He also broke the record for scoring the most runs (360) in a three match ODI series. He became the only batsman to score 350+ runs in a three match ODI series.


title: Babar Azam

text: He made his Test debut for Pakistan against the West Indies in Dubai on 13 October 2016 and scored 69 runs in his first innings. He was the first player to score a fifty on his Test debut through a day/night Test.


title: Babar Azam

text: On 19 January 2017, in the third ODI against Australia, Azam became then joint-fastest player to score 1,000 runs in ODIs and then fastest for Pakistan in his 21st innings before his national record and world record was eclipsed by his compatriot Fakhar Zaman. He scored a century in the fifth ODI, which was only the second century ever scored by a Pakistani batsman in Australia after Zaheer Abbas in 1981. He also entered the top 10 batsmen's ranking in ODIs for the first time ever.


title: Babar Azam

text: Sarfaraz Ahmed replaced Azhar Ali as Pakistan's ODI team captain against the West Indies after Azhar Ali stepped down from the captaincy after a humiliating defeat against Australia in ODI series. He scored an unbeaten 125 in the 2nd ODI of the three–match ODI series at Providence Stadium, Guyana. Azam along with Imad Wasim put on an unbeaten 99 runs partnership which helped Pakistan to a total of 282. Meanwhile, Azam also broke the record of scoring the most runs after the first 25 ODI innings in this match.


title: Babar Azam

text: In the Champions Trophy 2017, Azam scored 46 off 52 balls in the final match against India. After a successful Champions trophy tour, ICC sent the World XI team in Pakistan where they played three T20I matches. Azam was the top runs-getter in the series, scoring 179. In the first T20I played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, he scored 86 playing only 52 balls, and won his first Man of the match award in T20Is, helping Pakistan win the match by 20 runs.


title: Babar Azam

text: In September 2017, he had a poor Test series against Sri Lanka, where he managed to score only 39 runs across 2 Test matches. In the second ODI he became the fastest batsman to score 7th ODI century in ODIs and the first batsman in ODI history to score five consecutive centuries in one country. He had scores of 30 and 69 (not out) in next two innings while chasing.


title: Babar Azam

text: He was the leading runs-scorer for Pakistan in 2016 in ODIs and T20Is with 872 and 352 runs respectively. At the 2017 PCB awards, he was awarded Pakistan's ODI Player of the year. He was also listed in 2017's ICC World ODI XI for the first time ever.


title: Babar Azam

text: Pakistan's first assignment in 2018 was tour to New Zealand. Babar was an automatic selection in the ODI team. However he could score only 0, 10, 8, 3, 10 across 5 innings, scoring only 31 runs at an average of 6.2 as Pakistan were whitewashed 5–0, his worst series till date. But performed well in the T20I series and contributed in team's winning the series 2–1. Babar was the leading run scorer with 109 runs. He had scores of 41, 50* and 18 in these T20Is. He became the no.1 T20I batsmen, the second to reach the feat after Misbah-ul-Haq, but soon slipped to no. 3 position. He regained no. 1 spot in the rankings after a successful series against West Indies, who were touring Pakistan after thirteen years. His best performance came in the second T20I where he scored an unbeaten 97 runs which won him Man of the match award. He finished the series as leading run-getter with 165 runs at an average of 82.50 and a strike rare of 148.64, and won the man of the series. Pakistan won the series 3–0.Babar, Fakhar lead Pakistan to 3–0.


title: Babar Azam

text: During a Test match against England in May 2018, Azam was struck on the arm without padding by a bouncer from Ben Stokes, when he was batting on 68. After an X-ray examination, it was confirmed that Azam had a fracture in his left wrist with a broken forearm. After fully recovering from his injury, he made his return to the side against Zimbabwe in July for a five-match ODI series. He performed well and managed to score 184 runs at an average of 184 in 4 innings including 76 balls 106 runs in the final odi of the series.


title: Babar Azam

text: In September 2018, he was selected for 2018 Asia Cup held in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Playing his first Asia Cup, he didn't have a good time of it, only managing to score 156 runs at an average of 31.20 in 5 matches. In November 2018, in the second Test against New Zealand, Azam scored his first century in Test cricket.


title: Babar Azam

text: In April 2019, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as one of the five exciting talents making their Cricket World Cup debut. In May 2019, he was also signed by Somerset as their overseas player for the 2019 t20 Blast.


title: Babar Azam

text: Just before the World Cup, Pakistan played against England in one-off T20I and 5-match ODI series to prepare for the tournament. In the T20I fixture he scored 65 from 42 balls before getting run-out. In the 5-match ODI series, he ended up as the joint leading runs-scorer, scoring 277 runs including a century and two half-centuries, going into the World Cup with runs under his belt. On 26 June 2019, in the match against New Zealand, Azam became the fastest batsman for Pakistan, in terms of innings, to score 3,000 runs in ODIs (68). In the same match, he also scored his 10th century in ODIs, finishing 101 not out, with Pakistan winning by 6 wickets. With this century, he also became the first middle-order batsman from Pakistan to hit a century in a World Cup match after 32 years. A week later, in the match against Bangladesh, Babar broke Javed Miandad's record of the most runs by a Pakistani batsman in a single edition of the World Cup, scoring 474 runs in 8 innings.


title: Babar Azam

text: In September 2019, before the home series against Sri Lanka, he was named as the vice-captain of Pakistan cricket team in both ODIs and T20Is, on the back of his consistent performances in these formats. After the first ODI was washed out, Pakistan managed to win both of the remaining matches to clinch the series 2–0. He scored his 11th ton in the second ODI and became the fastest Pakistani player to reach 1,000 ODI runs in terms of innings in a calendar year beating the previous record of Javed Miandad. In October 2019, he was named captain of the Pakistan cricket team in T20Is, ahead of the Australia series.


title: Babar Azam

text: In the first Test of the series, he scored his second Test century, against a strong bowling line up. He missed out on his second consecutive century when he was dismissed on 97 in the second Test match. He scored 210 runs with an average of 52.50.


title: Babar Azam

text: In December 2019, Sri Lanka returned to Pakistan for a two-match Test series. This marked the return of Test cricket in Pakistan after a decade's absence, with Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium hosting the first Test match. Babar, batting in his first ever Test inning on home soil, scored an unbeaten quick-fire century on day 5 of the rain-affected match, resulting in a draw. In the Second Test, played at National Stadium, he scored 60 and 100 not out respectively, ending the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262. Pakistan won the match by 263 runs, winning the series 1–0. In January 2020, he was named in 2019's ICC World ODI XI, making the list for the second time.


title: Babar Azam

text: In January 2020, Bangladesh toured Pakistan for a three-match T20I series, with Azam captaining Pakistan for the first time at home. Pakistan won the T20I series 2–0, with the third match abandoned due to rain. It was Pakistan's first series win under his captaincy and his first Player of the series award as captain. In the first match of the Test series, he scored fluent 143 runs, beating his previous career best score of 127*. In May 2020, he was appointed as ODI captain as well. In June 2020, he was named as the T20I captain in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's tour to England during the COVID-19 pandemic to play three Tests and three T20Is. In July, he was shortlisted in Pakistan's 20-man squad for the Test matches against England. During the first day of the first Test, he scored an attacking unbeaten 69 runs in difficult conditions, to help his side get out of danger, his knock earned him appreciation from former England captains, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan.


title: Babar Azam

text: In the third and final Test of the series, he scored his 2,000th run in Test cricket, achieving the feat in his 29th Test. He finished the series with 195 runs at an average of 48.75 in five innings with two half-centuries.


title: Babar Azam

text: In the second T20I against England, he became the joint-fastest batsman to score 1,500 runs in T20Is, reaching the milestone in 39 innings. He finished the series with 77 runs in two innings. Pakistan drew the series 1-1, after winning the third and final T20I, with the first match being washed out.


title: Babar Azam

text: On 8 September 2020, he slipped to number two position in the T20I batsmen ranking after leading it for 22 months. He captained the team for the first time in ODIs in Pakistan's home series against Zimbabwe. Pakistan won the series 2–1. He scored 221 runs including a century score of 125 runs in the 3rd and final ODI and was named as Man of the series. In the first T20I of the series against Zimbabwe, he scored 82 runs, becoming the first batsman to score more than 1,000 runs in T20 cricket for the second consecutive year.


title: Babar Azam

text: On 10 November 2020, Babar was appointed captain of Pakistan's Test side, ahead of their tour to New Zealand. He suffered a thumb injury while practicing and was ruled out of the Test series and later from the T20I series as well.


title: Babar Azam

text: In April 2021, while playing against South Africa in the first ODI, Babar scored his 13th ODI century in his 76th innings, making him the quickest to reach this mark, surpassing the record of Hashim Amla who took 83 innings to achieve the record. At the end of the series, he became the No. 1 ODI batsman, with 865 points, surpassing Virat Kohli who had previously been the top-rated ODI batsman for 1258 days.


title: Babar Azam

text: On 14 April 2021, Babar scored his maiden T20I century (122), in a winning cause against South Africa in the Centurion Stadium. He and Mohammad Rizwan shared a partnership of 197 runs, which is the highest partnership for Pakistan in T20Is and the fourth-highest partnership of all time in the format. On 25 April 2021, in the third T20I against Zimbabwe, Babar became the fastest batsman, in terms of innings, to score 2,000 runs in T20Is, doing so in his 52nd innings. In September 2021, Babar was named as the captain of Pakistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. During the tournament he regained his position as the number one T20I batsman in the rankings. Babar break the record of most fifties (4) and runs (303) in a T20 World Cup edition. He led Pakistan to the semi-finals, where they lost to Australia, ending their campaign. In March 2022, Australia toured Pakistan after 24 years, in the second test match of the series, he scored 196 runs and broke the record of most runs by a captain in the fourth innings of a test. A week later, during the first ODI against Australia played at Gaddafi Stadium, he became the second fastest overall and fastest Asian to score 4,000 ODI runs, achieving the feat in his 82nd inning. Few days later, during the second ODI match, he became the first Pakistani skipper to score an ODI century against Australia, also becoming the fastest batsman overall in terms of innings (83) to score 15th ODI century, and helped Pakistan to register their highest successful run chase in ODIs. In the third and decider match of the series, he scored yet another hundred which helped Pakistan chase 211 runs comfortably and win the series 2-1. This was Pakistan's first ODI series win against Australia since 2002. He was named man of the match for second consecutive time in the series and also man of the series for his 276 runs with an average of 138.00.


title: Babar Azam

text: Babar initially played domestic cricket for the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited cricket team and for Islamabad Leopards as an emerging player. For next couple of years, he played first-class cricket for State Bank of Pakistan cricket team and Sui Southern Gas Company cricket team in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy respectively.


title: Babar Azam

text: In September 2019, Babar was named as the captain of the newly formed Central Punjab for the 2019–20 domestic season. His team went on to win the trophy after defeating Northern in the final. He led his side in the 2019–20 National T20 Cup. In the first match for his side, he scored a century, becoming the first Pakistani cricketer to score three centuries as well as more than 1,500 runs in Twenty20 cricket in a calendar year.


title: Babar Azam

text: He was retained by Central Punjab for the 2020–21 domestic season, both as a player and captain of the team. On 12 October 2020, during the match against Balochistan, he became the fastest batsman in terms of innings (27) to score 1,000 runs in National T20 Cup's history. In October 2021, in the 2021–22 National T20 Cup, he became the fastest batsman, in terms of innings, to score 7,000 runs in T20 cricket (187).


title: Babar Azam

text: Babar represented Islamabad United in the inaugural season of the Pakistan Super League. Before the 2017 PSL players draft he moved to Karachi Kings. He performed well in the 2017 season, scoring 291 runs at a batting average of 32.33 runs per innings and finishing the tournament as the second leading runs-scorer behind his cousin Kamran Akmal. He was retained by the Kings for the 2018 season and was the third-highest run-scorer with five half-centuries. He was again retained ahead of the 2019 Pakistan Super League. Before the 2020 season, he was appointed as vice captain of the franchise. He was leading runs scorer in Pakistan Super League 2020. He scored 473 runs with an average of 59.12. He led his team to PSL final victory. He won man of the match award in Qualifier and Final. He was also Player of the tournament in 2020 season. In the 2021 season, he scored 554 runs with an average of 69.25, breaking his own record of most runs in a single PSL edition. However, this record was broken in the next season by Fakhar Zaman. In December 2021, he was named as the captain of the Karachi Kings following the players' draft for the 2022 Pakistan Super League. Prior to the 2023 Pakistan Super League, Babar was traded by Karachi to Peshawar Zalmi in exchange for Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik while Peshawar also received the first pick in the supplementary round.


title: Babar Azam

text: In 2016, he was signed by Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise Rangpur Riders, (later renamed as Rangpur Rangers), however due to national duties, he could not participate. In 2017, Babar played for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League and Sylhet Sixers in the BPL. In 2019, Somerset signed Babar for the 2019 t20 Blast county cricket competition. He was the competition's highest run-scorer with 578 runs in 13 matches including four half-centuries and one century and recorded a batting average of 52.54 runs per innings. In January 2019, it was announced that he would rejoin Somerset for 12 matches in the 2020 t20 Blast as well as for two first-class matches. In August 2020, Somerset confirmed his participation, and was available after fulfilling his national duties. On 16 September 2020, in the match against Glamorgan, he registered his career best score of 114 not out off 62 balls and also completed his 5,000 runs in T20s, becoming the third fastest in the world and fastest Asian in terms of innings to achieve the milestone. The century against Glamorgan was also the first hit by a batsman in a T20 game at Sophia Gardens. He ended the season with 218 runs in 7 matches with an average of 36.33, finishing as team's second highest runs-getter. However, Somerset did not qualify for the quarter-finals.


title: Babar Azam

text: He is the third-fastest Pakistani batsman to reach 1000 runs in ODI cricket (21 innings). He is also the joint fastest Pakistani batsman to reach 2000 runs in ODI cricket (45 innings), along with Zaheer Abbas. Babar Azam is also the fastest Asian batsman to reach 3000 runs in ODI cricket (68 innings). He also holds the record to score the most runs in the first 25 innings of his career (1306 runs). Babar Azam is the only cricketer to score 5 consecutive centuries in a single country (United Arab Emirates). Babar is the fastest batsman to score 7, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 ODI centuries. With 17 centuries in ODIs he has the second most centuries in the format for a Pakistani batter. He is the only batsman in history to score 3 consecutive centuries twice. He is the fastest captain to reach 1000 ODI runs in 13 innings. He has the highest number of runs with 303 runs in the 2021 T20 World Cup. He is also the fastest batsman, in terms of time taken, to reach 1000 runs in T20 Internationals (26 innings). Babar Azam has also scored the most runs for Pakistan in a single World Cup (474 runs in 2019 World Cup). He has been the top ODI scorer for Pakistan in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021. Babar Azam has also been the top Test scorer for Pakistan in 2018 and 2019. He has the highest Test score for a captain and for Pakisatan in the fourth innings of a Test match.


title: Babar Azam

text: He has the most consecutive 50+ scores in men's international cricket. He is the first Pakistani captain to beat India in a world cup match. Babar is also the first Pakistani to win the ICC ODI cricketer of the year. He has the highest individual score for a Pakistani captain in ODIs. He is the fastest batsman to reach 2000 and 2500 T20I runs. He is one of 3 Pakistani batsman to score a century in all formats and has the highest T20I score for Pakistan. In the PSL he is the highest run scorer in the 2020 and 2021 with 473 and 554 runs. He is the first Pakistani Capitan and fifth overall to complete 1000 runs across all formats. He was the first Pakistani and fourth captain to score a century in every format. The 425 balls he faced is the fourth most by a player in the fourth innings of a Test match. He also has the record for the second-most minutes batted in the fourth innings of a match. He has the joint most international centuries by a Pakistani capitan.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a series of compact executive cars produced by Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Introduced in 1993 as a replacement for the 190 (W201) range, the C-Class was the smallest model in the marque's line-up until the W168 A-Class arrived in 1997. The C-Class has been available with a "4MATIC" four-wheel drive option since 2002. The third generation (W204) was launched in 2007 while the current W206 generation was launched in 2021.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: Initially available in sedan and a station wagon configurations, a fastback coupé (SportCoupé) variant followed and was later renamed to Mercedes-Benz CLC-Class. It remained in production until 2011 when a new W204 C-Class coupé replaced it for the 2012 model year.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: In October 1986, three years into Mercedes-Benz 190 (W201)'s production run, work began on a successor. Design work began in 1987, with the final design by Murat Günak selected in 1989 and the production design by Olivier Boulay delayed in January 1990, finally being patented on 19 December 1990. Rough prototypes went into testing in 1989, with first production design prototypes commencing trial in 1990. In May 1993, the first generation W202 C-Class was introduced as a replacement for the 190. The first C-Class (W202) sedan was manufactured on 1 June 1993. The C-Class sedan was the company's entry-level model up until 1997 when Mercedes launched the A-Class. Styling themes were carried over from the previous W201 series, but the new series had a smoother and rounder design than the last generation of compact Mercedes, with styling cues from the W124 E-Class (short, high trunk and taller tail lights), W140 S-Class (front end), and R129 SL-Class (headlights).


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: In 1994, development began on the W203 C-Class. Design work commenced in mid-1994, with the final design being approved in December 1995 by the executive board. Design patents were filed on 20 April 1998 and 4 March 1999. Testing began in 1997, with development concluding in 2000. The second generation C-Class was introduced in March 2000 and production began on 18 July 2000. The sedan debuted with a range of inline-four and V6 petrol engines and inline-four and -five diesels, later W203's received the V6 diesel. Most of the engines were carried over from the W202, but the C320 was exclusive, offering . The diesels now featured common rail direct fuel injection and variable geometry turbochargers. A six-speed manual gearbox was optional on some of the range, With exception to the C320 and C32 AMG.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: Notably (post 2005), for the first time, the number designations were no longer equivalent to the engine displacement, more specifically in the Mercedes C200 (1.8-litre), C240 (2.6-litre) and C200 CDI (2.2-litre).


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: DaimlerChrysler introduced the W204 C-Class on 18 January 2007 and displayed it in the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. Sales started on 31 March 2007 in almost all European countries. The new family had an extended wheelbase and tracks, a stiffer body/shell and a design inspired by the W221 S-Class with some influences from the C219 CLS-Class. The C-Class received a facelift in 2011 for the 2012 model year including new LED taillights, a revised dashboard and instrument cluster layout, and a revised front fascia and headlights. The W204 platform continued into 2015 with the C-Class coupe. The final farewell of the W204, and also the naturally aspirated V8, was in the Edition 507 model. This had increased power, lightweight wheels and the vented hood from the Black Series.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: The W205 C-Class was launched at the 2014 North American International Auto Show. The new structure was significantly lighter using aluminium and high strength steel extensively throughout the body, resulting in a weight decrease. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class 205 chassis spawned four C-Class bodystyles; sedan (W205), wagon (S205), coupe (C205), and cabriolet (A205).


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: The car was officially unveiled on 16 December 2013. W205 production commenced on 4 February 2014 at the Bremen plant. Production was also undertaken at Mercedes-Benz plants in East London (South Africa), Iracemápolis (Brazil) and Tuscaloosa, Alabama (United States). European sales began in March 2014, while the vehicle went on sale in North America in September 2014.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: A mid-life update made its debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, including exterior changes and new engines.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: The W206 C-Class was unveiled on 23 February 2021. In China, the C-Class was launched in a long-wheelbase version (V206). For the first time, all W206 C-Class models are equipped with four-cylinder engines coupled with an integrated starter generator (15 kW electric motor) and a 48-volt electrical system.


title: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

text: The C-Class All-Terrain (X206) was released as an off-road focused, crossover-inspired estate model. The model received external body cladding, a 40 mm increase in ride height, 4Matic AWD and additional drive modes.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru cars are known for their use of a boxer engine layout in most vehicles above 1,500 cc. The Symmetrical All Wheel Drive drive-train layout was introduced in 1972. Both became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most markets by 1996. The lone exception is the BRZ, introduced in 2012 via a partnership with Toyota, which pairs the boxer engine with rear-wheel-drive. Subaru also offers turbocharged versions of their passenger cars, such as the WRX, Legacy and Outback XT, Ascent, and formerly the Legacy GT and Forester XT.


title: Subaru

text: In Western markets, Subaru vehicles have traditionally attracted a small but devoted core of buyers. The company's marketing targets those who desire its signature engine and drive train, all-wheel drive and rough-road capabilities, or affordable sports car designs.


title: Subaru

text: "Subaru" is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster M45, or the "Seven Sisters" (one of whom tradition says is invisible – hence only six stars in the Subaru logo), which in turn inspires the logo and alludes to the companies that merged to create FHI.


title: Subaru

text: Fuji Heavy Industries started out as the Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1915, headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganized as "Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd" and soon became a major manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II. At the end of the Second World War, Nakajima Aircraft was again reorganized, this time as Fuji Sangyo Co, Ltd. In 1946, the company created the Fuji Rabbit, a motor scooter, with spare aircraft parts from the war. In 1950, Fuji Sangyo was divided into 12 smaller corporations according to the Japanese government's 1950 anti-zaibatsu legislation, the Corporate Credit Rearrangement Act. Between 1953 and 1955, five of these corporations and a newly formed corporation decided to merge to form "Fuji Heavy Industries". These companies were: "Fuji Kogyo", a scooter manufacturer; coachbuilder "Fuji Jidosha"; engine manufacturer "Omiya Fuji Kogyo"; chassis builder "Utsunomiya Sharyo" and the "Tokyo Fuji Sangyo" trading company.


title: Subaru

text: Kenji Kita, CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries at the time, wanted the new company to be involved in car manufacturing and soon began plans for building a car with the development code-name P-1. Kita canvassed the company for suggestions about naming the P1, but none of the proposals were appealing enough. In the end he gave the company a Japanese name that he "had been cherishing in his heart": Subaru, which is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster. The first Subaru car was named the Subaru 1500. Only twenty were manufactured owing to multiple supply issues. Subsequently, the company designed and manufactured dozens of vehicles including the 1500 (1954), the tiny air-cooled 360 (1958), the Sambar (1961), and the 1000 (which saw the introduction of the Subaru boxer engine in 1965).


title: Subaru

text: Nissan acquired a 20.7% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company, in 1968 during a period of government-ordered merging of the Japanese auto industry in order to improve competitiveness under the administration of Prime Minister Eisaku Satō. Nissan would utilize FHI's bus manufacturing capability and expertise for their Nissan Diesel line of buses. In turn many Subaru vehicles, even today, use parts from the Nissan manufacturing keiretsu. The Subaru automatic transmission, known as the 4EAT, is also used in the first generation Nissan Pathfinder. While under this arrangement with Nissan, Subaru introduced the R-2 (1969), the Rex and the Leone (1971), the BRAT (1978), Alcyone (1985), the Legacy (1989), the Impreza (1993) (and its WRX subtype), and the Forester (1997).


title: Subaru

text: Upon Nissan's alliance with Renault, its stake in FHI was sold to General Motors in 1999. Troy Clarke of General Motors served as representative to Fuji Heavy Industries on their corporate board. During that time, Subaru introduced the Baja (2003), and the Tribeca (2005). The Subaru Forester was sold as a Chevrolet Forester in India in exchange for the Opel Zafira being sold as a Subaru Traviq in Japan. Also, the Chevrolet Borrego concept was presented in 2002, a crossover coupe/pickup truck being derived from the Japanese-market Legacy Turbo platform. During the brief General Motors period, a badge engineered Impreza was sold in the United States as the Saab 9-2X. An SUV (Subaru Tribeca/Saab 9-6X) was also planned<ref name="edmunds.com/insideline"></ref><ref name="autocar.co.uk/News"></ref> but the Saab version did not proceed, and styling was recycled in the 2008 Tribeca refresh.


title: Subaru

text: GM liquidated their holdings in FHI in 2005. Nearly all Saab-Subaru joint projects were dropped at that time, other than Subaru supplying parts for the Saab 9-2x. Toyota Motors bought a little over 40% of GM's former FHI stock, amounting to 8.7% of FHI.


title: Subaru

text: (The rest of GM's shares went to a Fuji stock buy-back program.) Toyota and Subaru have since collaborated on a number of projects, among them building the Toyota Camry in Subaru's Indiana U.S. plant beginning in April 2007. Subaru introduced the Exiga in 2008.


title: Subaru

text: Toyota increased their share of FHI to 16.5% in July 2008. Subsequently, Toyota and Subaru jointly developed the Subaru BRZ, first sold in January 2012. Toyota sold the BRZ as the Scion FR-S until 2018, where it was renamed to the Toyota 86 due to the discontinuation of Scion in 2016. Around the time of Toyota's increased ownership, Subaru also declared that they would no longer develop their own Kei cars and trucks, instead selling rebadged products from Toyota's Daihatsu subsidiary. This also allowed Subaru, a small manufacturer, to focus on their core of boxer-engined family cars. The last of Subaru's own kei vehicles to be built was the sixth generation Subaru Sambar, which was taken out of production in March 2012 after 54 years of continuous manufacturing in this category.


title: Subaru

text: Some of the advertising slogans Subaru has used in the past include: "Inexpensive, and built to stay that way" (USA 1970s – early 1980s), "The World's Favourite Four Wheel Drive" (in the UK), "Plus on y pense, plus on a le goût de la conduire" (French: "The more you think about it, the more you want to drive it.") in French Quebec, "We built our reputation by building a better car", "What to Drive", "The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive", "Driven by What's Inside", "Think, Feel, Drive", "Love. It's what makes Subaru, a Subaru" (USA early 2010s) and currently "Confidence in Motion" in North America, "All 4 The Driver" in Australia, "Uncommon Engineering, Uncommon Stability, Uncommon Roadholding, Uncommon Sense" in the UK and "Technology that gives you Confidence in Motion" in Southeast Asia.


title: Subaru

text: In the 1990s, an ad firm hired by Subaru found the all-wheel-drive cars were popular among lesbians. The company started including subtle marketing to this demographic.


title: Subaru

text: According to Automotive Lease Guide, Subaru ranked second place in vehicles that have the highest overall predicted resale values among all industry and all luxury vehicles for MY 2009. The awards are derived after carefully studying segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends. According to a study done by J.D. Power and Associates for the 2008 Customer Retention Study, Subaru ranked at 50.5%, which was above the national average of 48%.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru launched an animation series "Wish Upon the Pleiades" developed jointly with Gainax. The 4-part mini episode series was released on YouTube on 1 February 2011. It featured a magical girl plot with Subaru as a leading protagonist.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru is distinct from many of its Japanese competitors in that as of early 2016 it still made almost 75% of its cars sold internationally in Japan. Subaru's facilities designated to automotive manufacturing are located in Ōta, Gunma Prefecture, consisting of four locations: Subaru-chō is where the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 is built; having been re-purposed from "kei" car production, Yajima Plant is where all current Subaru cars are built; Otakita Plant is where commercial "kei" trucks are built (originally a factory location of Nakajima Aircraft Company); and Oizumi Plant in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, is where engines and transmissions are built.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru's major overseas manufacturing facility is located in Lafayette, Indiana; the factory is called Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. Due to continued sales growth in North American markets, vehicle production capacity at the Lafayette assembly plant is set to expand to 390,000 vehicles annually. Under the current strategic plan, Subaru will have a total production capacity of 1,026,000 vehicles per year at the end of 2016.


title: Subaru

text: In Asian countries outside of Japan, Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories are supplied by Motor Image Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed and Singapore-headquartered Tan Chong International Limited under businessman Glenn Tan.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru has entered the Philippine operations started in 1996 under the Columbian Motors Philippines ownership but withdrew in 2000. Subaru models were temporarily sold in GM Autoworld dealerships from 2000 to 2005. The brand re-entered the market in 2006 under the new management by Motor Image Pilipinas, Inc. Subaru has seventeen dealerships in the country: Greenhills, Pasig, Manila Bay, Alabang, Davao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Santa Rosa, Batangas, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, General Santos, Cavite, Legazpi, Albay, Camarines Sur, Bacolod, and Pampanga. Subaru has seen popularity in their SUV line-up in the market in recent years, with the Forester and the XV being one of their popular selling models.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru once had a presence in South Korea, established in 2009 in Yongsan, Seoul under Choi Seung-dal. Sales started in April 2010 with the Legacy, Outback and Forester as the initial lineup for the South Korean market. They were the fifth Japanese automobile manufacturer to enter after Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi. According to the company, they delayed their entry due to market dominance by Hyundai and Kia. By 2012, Subaru Korea announced that they would discontinue selling 2013 car models due to low sales.


title: Subaru

text: On 23 April 2019, Subaru officially opened its production plant in Lat Krabang, Bangkok, Thailand, the plant is a joint venture between Subaru Corporation and Hong Kong-listed Tan Chong International (TCIL), which holds a 74.9 percent stake. The plant was formerly a Mitsubishi Fuso factory that was repurposed, and will supply Subaru vehicle to markets in Asia, including Australia and New Zealand. According to media interview with Glenn Tan, the plant will have a maximum capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year, and up to a maximum of 4 models to be manufactured. Current production in 2019 is planned for 6,000 vehicles for Forester model only.


title: Subaru

text: In 1974, Robert Edmiston was finance director at sports car manufacturer Jensen Motors. When the company went bankrupt, he used a redundancy payout to set up International Motors, which acquired the UK franchise for Subaru and Isuzu. The Coleshill-based company is still the parent for Subaru in the UK.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru of America (SOA) was established in 1968 in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, by Malcolm Bricklin and Harvey Lamm and relocated to Pennsauken, New Jersey, shortly thereafter. In 1986, SOA relocated to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Fuji Heavy Industries (now known as Subaru Corporation) acquired full ownership in 1990. In 2018, SOA relocated to a brand new headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. SOA operates regional offices, zone offices and parts distribution centers throughout the United States. SOA also operates port facilities on both the West and East coasts.


title: Subaru

text: In 1989, Subaru and then-partner Isuzu opened a joint factory in Lafayette, Indiana, called Subaru-Isuzu Automotive, or SIA, which initially manufactured the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu Rodeo. In 2001 Isuzu sold their stake in the plant to Fuji Heavy Industries for $1 due to flagging sales and it was renamed Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. SIA has been designated backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and has achieved a zero-landfill production designation (the first automotive assembly plant in the United States to earn that designation).


title: Subaru

text: Subaru Rally Team Japan led by Noriyuki Koseki (founder of Subaru Tecnica International, STI) ran Subaru Leone coupé, sedan DL, RX (SRX) and RX Turbo in the World Rally Championship between 1980 and 1989. Drivers for individual rallies included Ari Vatanen, Per Eklund, Shekhar Mehta, Mike Kirkland, Possum Bourne and Harald Demut. Mike Kirkland finished 6th overall and won the A Group at the 1986 Safari Rally. That year Subaru was one of the only manufacturers combining 4WD and turbo after Audi's successful quattro system had been introduced in 1980, but Audi withdrew from the WRC after safety concerns and Ford's serious accident early in the 1986 season. Subaru changed the rally model to Legacy RS for the 1990–1992 period and took part in the first complete season in the World Rally Championship with the same model in 1993.


title: Subaru

text: Modified versions of the Impreza WRX and WRX STi have been competing successfully in rallying. Drivers Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003) have won World Rally Championship drivers' titles with the Subaru World Rally Team and Subaru took the manufacturers' title three years in a row from 1995 to 1997. Subaru's World Rally Championship cars are prepared and run by Prodrive, the highly successful British motorsport team. Several endurance records were set in the early and mid-nineties by the Subaru Legacy. The Subaru Justy also holds the world record for the fastest sub 1.0L car without a turbo: 123.224 mph average, it was set in 1989.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru was briefly involved in Formula One circuit racing when it bought a controlling interest in the tiny Italian Coloni team for the 1990 season. The Coloni 3B's 12-cylinder engine was badged as a Subaru and shared the boxer layout with the company's own engines, but was an existing design built by Italian firm Motori Moderni. The cars were overweight and underpowered and the partnership broke down before the season finished. With the rise of rally racing and the Import scene in the US, the introduction of the highly anticipated Subaru Impreza WRX in 2001 was successful in bringing high-performance AWD compact cars into the sports car mainstream. Subaru supplies a factory-backed team, Subaru Rally Team USA for Rally America and has won the driver's title six times, most recently in 2011 with David Higgins. "Grassroots Motorsports" awarded Subaru with the Editors' Choice Award in 2002.


title: Subaru

text: Since 2005, Cusco Racing have entered an Impreza and a BRZ in the Super GT championship. In 2008, the Impreza was the first 4-door and first 4WD vehicle to win a race.


title: Subaru

text: Starting in 2006, Subaru of America (SOA), as the official distributor of Subaru vehicles in the United States participates in the Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT) with a Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Spec-B in the Grand-Am Street Tuner class. In 2010, SRRT campaigns a Subaru Impreza WRX STI in the Grand Sport class. In 2011, SRRT switched from the hatchback to a 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI sedan.


title: Subaru

text: On 16 December 2008, it was announced that Subaru would no longer be competing in the World Rally Championships. The decision was made by Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), partly as a result of the economic downturn but also because it was felt Subaru had achieved its sporting and marketing objectives. Ikuo Mori denied that alterations to the WRC technical regulations in 2010 or a rumored deterioration in the working relationship with Prodrive had any impact on the decision. He also said that the possibility of a Subaru car back in the top category of WRC in the future is not zero, but for this moment there can be no assumption of a comeback.


title: Subaru

text: In 2011, Mark Higgins used a stock Impreza to set a lap record at the Isle of Man TT course. In 2016, Higgins again broke the record in a modified WRX STI.


title: Subaru

text: On 4 May 2012, Subaru Rally Team USA announced that a new rallycross team, Subaru Puma Rallycross Team USA, will participate in the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship season with Dave Mirra, Bucky Lasek, and Sverre Isachsen. They also competed in the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship.


title: Subaru

text: Also in 2012, Subaru became the naming rights sponsor of the chief domestic road cycling competition in Australia, the National Road Series.


title: Subaru

text: The Impreza has won hillclimbs such as the Silverstone Race to the Sky and Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race.


title: Subaru

text: In 2008, Subaru introduced their EyeSight collision avoidance system, a type of advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS). Unlike most such systems, which use radar sensors, EyeSight initially launched with dual CCD cameras mounted at the top of the windshield. Depth information is derived from the parallax between two video signals and used to judge the distance to the next vehicle for features such as pre-collision braking and adaptive cruise control. Real-world studies of early EyeSight generations show that this system reduces rear-end crashes with injuries by 85 percent, and reduces pedestrian-related injuries by 35 percent.


title: Subaru

text: As of 2022, Subaru sold 5 million cars equipped with the system, and EyeSight-equipped vehicles account for 91% of total vehicle sales. In the U.S., the EyeSight system is standard on most models equipped with CVTs, and is also standard on automatic transmission BRZ models.


title: Subaru

text: Unlike some other manufacturers (e.g. Toyota), Subaru North America has not provided clear and consistent branding of their Eyesight generations — though some versions are referenced in their owners manuals. This makes it challenging to distinguish key differences, performance, and improvements among model years. Much more detailed information is available in the .


title: Subaru

text: The 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show saw Subaru introduce a horizontally opposed, water-cooled, common rail turbodiesel using a variable geometry turbocharger called the Subaru EE engine, the first of its type to be fitted to a passenger car. Volkswagen had experimented with this idea during the 1950s and made two air-cooled boxer prototype diesel engines that were not turbocharged. VW installed one engine in a Type 1 and another in a Type 2.


title: Subaru

text: The Subaru engine was rated at and with a displacement of 2.0 liters. In March 2008 Subaru offered the Legacy Sedan and Wagon and the Outback Wagon with 2.0 liter turbodiesel in the EU with a 5-speed manual transmission.


title: Subaru

text: In September 2008, Subaru announced that the diesel Forester and diesel Impreza will be introduced at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, with Forester sales to begin October 2008 and diesel Impreza sales to start January 2009 in the UK. The Forester and Impreza will have a 6-speed manual transmission, whereas the Legacy and Outback have 5-speed manual transmissions.


title: Subaru

text: In June 2006, Fuji Heavy Industries, Inc. (FHI) launched its Subaru Stella Plug-in electric vehicle which is a kei car equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack. The vehicle has a short range of but it actually costs more than the Mitsubishi iMiEV, at (), including Japanese Government consumption taxes with an exemption of $2,240. It also qualified for a rebate from the Japanese Government of up to $14,200, bringing the price down to $30,660. The vehicle is much like the i-MiEV, with a 47-kilowatt motor and a quick-charge capability, but the two-door mini-car has a boxy shape. FHI set a goal of selling 170 vehicles by March 2010.


title: Subaru

text: In Japan, Subaru tested two electric vehicles called the Subaru R1e and Subaru G4e between 2003 and 2009.


title: Subaru

text: The Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept is a four-seat vehicle with gull-wing doors that combines a 2-liter turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine with a continuously variable transmission and two axle-mounted motors. A lithium-ion battery pack provides energy storage for the vehicle.


title: Subaru

text: In early 2018, Subaru, along with Suzuki, Daihatsu and Hino Motors, joined the nascent EV C.A. Spirit venture to collaborate on electric vehicle technology development. The project was launched by Toyota, Mazda and automotive component manufacturer Denso in September 2017.


title: Subaru

text: In the U.S., the short-lived Crosstrek hybrid was on the market only for the 2014 to 2017 model years. In 2018, for the 2019 model year, Subaru unveiled the 2019 model year Crosstrek Plug-in Hybrid, based in large part on technology from shareholder Toyota's Prius Prime platform. The EV range is . It is only available in California and parts of the East Coast.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru's first all-electric car, named Solterra, is the first vehicle to be based on the e-Subaru Global Platform (e-SGP) co-developed by Toyota and Subaru. The Solterra debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 17, 2021, and worldwide sales of the Solterra commenced in mid-2022.


title: Subaru

text: Since the 2005 model year, Subaru has adopted CAN bus technology for the US and Canada markets. Starting in the 2007 model year, all Subaru vehicles use the CAN technology. Typically, two CAN-buses are used on vehicles: a high-speed CAN running at 500 kbit/s for powertrain communication, and a low-speed CAN running at 125 kbit/s for body control functions and instrument panels. A body-integrated unit (BIU) is used between these two networks.


title: Subaru

text: Clarion and Harman Kardon are among the audio, video, and navigation technology suppliers for Subaru products in North America. Clarion announced in 2015 that it was introducing its "Smart Access" platform, formerly only offered on Clarion's aftermarket products, to the units to be installed in certain Subaru 2015 models in North America. Smart Access is able to work with the driver's smartphone (either iPhone or Android) and allows access to various car-safe apps running on the phone via the car's built-in infotainment screen.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru and Clarion have also, with Liberty Mutual Insurance, introduced the "RightTrack" in-vehicle app which will be able to monitor the driver's habits, make suggestions for safer driving, and possibly offer insurance discounts.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru debuted its new chassis design, dubbed the Subaru Global Platform, with the release of the 2017 model year Impreza. Having spent over a billion dollars on research and development the company plans to extend the architecture to all of its other models, with the exception of the BRZ which is co-developed with Toyota. By incorporating high-strength steel into the chassis updated vehicles will have stiffer bodies that increase safety through greater impact absorption while also improving ride comfort. Another focus of the new platform is modularity, allowing Subaru to reduce development costs by streamlining production throughout its network of facilities. The platform will be able to accommodate a variety of powertrains, including gasoline, hybrid, and fully electric designs.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru claims to have implemented advanced policies which include recycling, reducing harmful emissions, and educating their employees. Their efforts have helped them in their environmental initiatives. The Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana (SIA) was the first auto assembly plant to achieve zero-landfill status; nothing from the manufacturing process goes into a landfill. The company has developed a recycling plan for the "end-of-life" of their cars. Most of their modern products use highly recyclable materials throughout the vehicle, in the engine, transmission, suspension and elsewhere in each vehicle leaving Subaru with a 97.3% recycling ratio rate for their end-of-life vehicles.


title: Subaru

text: An excerpt from the Subaru website stated "In 2006, SIA was awarded the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Gold Achievement Award as a top achiever in the agency's WasteWise program to reduce waste and improve recycling." The website also stated that "It also became the first U.S. automotive assembly plant to be designated a wildlife habitat."


title: Subaru

text: Subaru currently offers a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) certified Legacy, Outback, Impreza, XV/Crosstrek and Forester models which are available for sale anywhere in the U.S. Subaru PZEV vehicles meet California's Super-Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle exhaust emission standard. All other models have been certified LEV2.


title: Subaru

text: Subaru has partnered with various manufacturers over time. Below are some of the models sold in Asia and Europe. In Japan they are in the Kei car class with either front or all wheel drive and a straight engine.


title: Subaru

text: An article posted by Autoblog on 16 April 2008, stated that due to a corporate investment by Toyota, all Kei cars built by Subaru will be replaced by Daihatsu models beginning in 2010.


title: Naomi Judd

text: Naomi Judd (born Diana Ellen Judd; January 11, 1946 – April 30, 2022) was an American singer and actress. In 1980, she and her daughter Wynonna (born Christina Claire) formed the duo known as The Judds, which became a very successful country music act, winning five Grammy Awards and nine Country Music Association awards. The Judds ceased performing in 1991 after Naomi was diagnosed with hepatitis; while Wynonna continued to perform as a solo artist, she occasionally reunited with her mother for tours as The Judds. Naomi struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 30, 2022, the day before she and Wynonna were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.


title: Naomi Judd

text: Judd was born to Pauline Ruth "Polly" (née Oliver) and Charles Glen Judd on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky. Her father owned a gas station. Her brother Brian died of leukemia in 1965 at the age of 17; Naomi Judd's first child, Christina Claire Ciminella (later Wynonna Judd), was born when Judd was 18. Her first daughter was given the last name Ciminella after Michael Ciminella, the man who Judd quickly married after being abandoned by her boyfriend and Wynonna's biological father, Charles Jordan. After the birth of her second daughter, Ashley (1968), who later became a film and stage actress, and the end of her marriage to Ciminella, Judd brought up both daughters as a single parent, first attending nursing school at California's College of Marin while living in nearby Lagunitas, California, and later beginning a successful singing career with daughter Wynonna. When she reverted to her maiden name following her divorce, she also took the opportunity to change her name, Diana, which she did not think fit "her own spiritual, rural Kentucky conception of her true heritage", and decided to pay homage to the Biblical figure Naomi, finding resonance in her story of moving to another land and eventually being left without a husband raising two women.


title: Naomi Judd

text: With her daughter Wynonna Judd, Naomi formed the highly successful singing duo known as the Judds. As country music's most famous mother–daughter team, they scored twenty top ten hits (including fifteen number ones) and went undefeated for eight consecutive years at all three major country music awards shows. They won five Grammy Awards and a vast array of other awards and honors. Naomi won a Country Song of the Year Grammy for writing "Love Can Build a Bridge".


title: Naomi Judd

text: The Judds broke up soon after Naomi Judd was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1991. The band's farewell concert was the most successful musical event in cable pay-per-view history. Judd created the Naomi Judd Education and Research Fund in 1991 to raise awareness of hepatitis C, and used the strength of her experiences as a spokes-model for the American Liver Foundation.


title: Naomi Judd

text: She received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1993. She continued to act, and in 1999 she starred as Lily Waite in the film "A Holiday Romance".


title: Naomi Judd

text: The Judds reunited for a 1999 New Year's Eve concert in Phoenix at the America West Arena, with Ashley as the MC. The Judds reunited again in 2000 for their "Power to Change" tour, performing to over 300,000 people on 30 dates. The duo was nominated as the Academy of Country Music's top vocal duo of the year in 2001. From 2003 to 2004, Judd judged the revamped version of "Star Search" hosted by Arsenio Hall.


title: Naomi Judd

text: She began "Naomi's New Morning", a Sunday morning talk show on the Hallmark Channel, in 2005. The show lasted two seasons. She was also the author of several self-help books, including "Naomi's Guide to Aging Gratefully: Facts, Myths, and Good News for Boomers" (2007).


title: Naomi Judd

text: Judd joined a new television reality-competition series "Can You Duet", as a judge and mentor in 2008. The show aired on CMT. She starred alongside actress Laura Prepon in the 2011 Lifetime television movie "The Killing Game". In 2014, she starred as "Honey" in "An Evergreen Christmas". She competed with her husband, Larry Strickland, in the first season of the Fox Broadcasting reality cooking series "My Kitchen Rules" in 2017.


title: Naomi Judd

text: Judd had two daughters, Wynonna (born 1964) and Ashley (born 1968). Wynonna is a musician and was the other half of their duo, The Judds. Ashley is an actress with a career spanning more than three decades.


title: Naomi Judd

text: On April 30, 2022, Judd died by suicide by firearm at her home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee; she was 76. She had long been struggling with depression accompanied by anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. The medications prescribed to her, including lithium, produced side effects including facial edema, alopecia and tremors, which caused her further emotional distress.


title: Naomi Judd

text: Announcing her death, her daughters tweeted: "Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness." Ashley Judd revealed the cause of her mother's death in a May 12, 2022, interview with Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America". She made the revelation to help raise awareness of mental illness, which she hoped would help those suffering from it. She also said that she and the rest of the family wanted the manner of death to be shared by them rather than a secondhand source.


title: Naomi Judd

text: A memorial for Judd was televised on CMT. "Naomi Judd: A River of Time Celebration" was broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium, as specified by Judd before she died and was hosted by Robin Roberts. It featured appearances from Ashley Judd, Larry Strickland, Bono, Bette Midler, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Reese Witherspoon, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey and Salma Hayek, plus performances by Wynonna, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Emmylou Harris and Allison Russell, Little Big Town, Brandi Carlile, and Jamey Johnson.


title: Jason Patric

text: Jason Patric (born June 17, 1966) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as "The Lost Boys", "Rush", "Sleepers", "", "Your Friends & Neighbors", "Narc", "The Losers", "The Alamo", and "". His father was actor/playwright Jason Miller and his maternal grandfather was actor Jackie Gleason.


title: Jason Patric

text: Born in New York City in the borough of Queens, Patric is the son of Academy Award-nominated actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jason Miller (born John Anthony Miller Jr.) and actress Linda Miller (born Linda Mae Gleason), and his maternal grandfather was actor/comedian Jackie Gleason. His half-brother is actor Joshua John Miller. His ancestry is mostly Irish, with some German.


title: Jason Patric

text: Growing up in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, he attended schools such as Cavallini Middle School and the all-boys Catholic school Salesian Roman Catholic Don Bosco Preparatory High School (Ramsey, New Jersey). In California, he attended Saint Monica Catholic High School (Santa Monica, California). He appeared in high school productions of "Dracula" and "Grease".


title: Jason Patric

text: After graduation, he was cast in the television drama "Toughlove" with Bruce Dern. The following year, Patric was cast in "Solarbabies" alongside Peter DeLuise, Jami Gertz, Lukas Haas, James LeGros and Adrian Pasdar. Within a couple years, Patric would reunite with Gertz in "The Lost Boys" and "After Dark, My Sweet" with Dern. He co-starred with George Dzundza and Stephen Baldwin in "The Beast".


title: Jason Patric

text: In 1993, he starred alongside Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall as 1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood in the movie "". His scenes in "The Thin Red Line" were cut before the film's release. He appeared in the Alec Baldwin film "The Devil and Daniel Webster", which was shot in 2001, and released in late 2007 as "Shortcut to Happiness", but turned down the lead role in "The Firm" (1993), which went to Tom Cruise. He garnered excellent reviews for his performances as undercover narcotics officers in "Rush" (1991) and "Narc" (2002).


title: Jason Patric

text: In 2005, Patric appeared on Broadway as "Brick" in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", opposite Ashley Judd, Ned Beatty and esteemed character actress Margo Martindale. He next appeared on Broadway opposite Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Kiefer Sutherland and Jim Gaffigan in a revival of his father Jason Miller's play, "That Championship Season", which began previews on February 9, 2011, and closed on May 29, 2011. The play (written by Jason Miller) debuted in 1972, and won, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award.


title: Jason Patric

text: In 2012, he began filming the Civil War film, "", but several weeks into the shoot, he was removed from the project by the director, Ronald F. Maxwell for "failing to take direction". His replacement was Billy Campbell.


title: Jason Patric

text: Patric began dating actress Julia Roberts days after she canceled her wedding to Kiefer Sutherland in June 1991.


title: Jason Patric

text: He then dated Danielle Schreiber off-and-on for approximately ten years. During the relationship they conceived a son through in vitro fertilization. However they separated in May 2012. Schreiber's attorneys argued that, under California law, Patric was merely a sperm donor, as Schreiber and Patric had not married and the conception of the child was by artificial means, and therefore Patric had no custody rights. Patric pursued changes to the law that bars such parental rights. He then sued for parental rights to the child, but lost the case at the trial court level.


title: Jason Patric

text: The Court of Appeal of California, however, ruled that the California Family Code did not preclude Patric from establishing that he was presumed a parent based on his post-birth conduct. The case was sent back to the trial court, and in late 2014 he was legally recognized as the father of his son, with the court granting him parental rights. Following his loss in trial court, he lobbied the California legislature to give parental rights to sperm donors.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Elementary is an American procedural drama television series that presented a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. It was created by Robert Doherty and starred Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. The series premiered on CBS on September 27, 2012. It was set and filmed primarily in New York City. With 24 episodes per season, by the end of season two, Jonny Lee Miller became the actor who had portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the most episodes on television or in film.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: The show follows Holmes, a recovering drug addict and former consultant to Scotland Yard, as he assists the New York City Police Department in solving crimes. His indifference to police procedure often leads to conflict with Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn), although the two still remain respectful of one another. Holmes is accompanied by Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), who initially acts as his sober companion. She is a former surgeon and was hired by Sherlock's father to help him in his rehabilitation. They eventually begin to work together on his cases; in time she becomes Holmes's apprentice and later his professional partner. The series also features Holmes's ongoing conflict with his nemesis and former lover Jamie Moriarty (Natalie Dormer). Other supporting roles include Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell, Rhys Ifans as Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes, and John Noble as Sherlock's father Morland Holmes.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Before the series premiered, it was met with some criticism, given it followed closely on the heels of the BBC's modern adaptation "Sherlock". After the premiere, it was picked up for a full season and later an extra two episodes. The season two premiere was partly filmed on location in London. The series was well received by critics, who praised the performances, writing, novel approach to the source material, and fresh modern twist detailed throughout the show's New York–based adaptation down to the size of the brownstone first seen in the series premiere. The seventh and final season premiered on May 23, 2019, and concluded on August 15, 2019.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in drug rehabilitation, a modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes relocates to Manhattan, where his wealthy father forces him to live with a sober companion, Dr. Joan Watson. Formerly a successful surgeon until she lost a patient, Watson views her current job as another opportunity to help people. However, Sherlock is nothing like her previous clients. He informs her that none of her expertise as an addiction specialist applies to him and that he has devised his own post-rehab regimen: resuming his work as a police consultant in New York City. Watson has no choice but to accompany her mercurial new charge on his jobs.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Over time, Sherlock finds her medical background helpful, and Watson realizes she has a talent for investigation. Sherlock's police contact, New York Police Captain Thomas Gregson, knows from previous experience working with Scotland Yard that Sherlock is brilliant at solving cases and welcomes him as part of the team. The investigative group also includes Detective Marcus Bell, an investigator with sharp intuition and intimidating interrogation skills. Although initially skeptical of Holmes and his unorthodox methods, Bell begins to recognize Sherlock as an invaluable asset in solving his cases.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: "Elementary" often has characters who are loosely based on characters from the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Writer and producer Robert Doherty created the show. Doherty has commented that it was Carl Beverly who "initially was the one who brought up the possibility of developing a Sherlock show." Beverly spoke about the relationship between Sherlock and Watson in the show in July 2012:


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Liu was cast by February 2012. That July, she said that Watson is not "someone who's on the sideline; she's his sober companion, she's engaged in "him", not the mystery, ... From that point on you get to see how that blossoms out. The foot-in-the-bucket and that kind of Watson happens because in entertainment, there's got to be a sidekick. In this case, that's not the direction we're going in. Ask me in six episodes and if I have a foot in a bucket then we'll have a discussion."


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: "Sherlock", a contemporary reworking of the Sherlock Holmes story, premiered in the UK in July 2010 and in the U.S. in October 2010. The British show has since sold to more than 200 territories. In January 2012, shortly after CBS's announcement they had ordered the pilot for "Elementary", "Sherlock" producer Sue Vertue told newspaper "The Independent", "[W]e understand that CBS are doing their own version of an updated Sherlock Holmes. It's interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn't resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying." The following month Vertue said that "We have been in touch with CBS and informed them that we will be looking at their finished pilot very closely for any infringement of our rights."


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: CBS made a statement on the issue: "Our project is a contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes that will be based on Holmes, Watson and other characters in the public domain, as well as original characters. We are, of course, respectful of all copyright laws and will not infringe on any stories or works that may still be protected."


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Creator Robert Doherty discussed comparisons between "Sherlock" and "Elementary" the following July, pointing out that a tradition of updated Holmes stories dates back to the Basil Rathbone films of the 1940s, and that he did not think it was the case that "Elementary" took anything from "Sherlock", which he described as a "brilliant show" having watched its first series. Several months later, Lucy Liu confirmed the producers of the UK "Sherlock" were shown the pilot, "saw how different it was from theirs," and were "okay with it now."


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Some interior scenes were shot at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City. Some exterior shots of Sherlock's brownstone were filmed in Harlem, which was a stand-in for Brooklyn Heights. Several episodes have been filmed in Whitestone, Queens, most recently on 11 August 2017.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: The first season was met with positive reviews from critics, who highlighted the show's novel approach to the source material, the writing quality, and the performances and chemistry found between its two leads and supporting cast. Season one holds an 85% approval rating on aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 62 reviews, with an average score of 7.69/10. The site's consensus reads: "It may not appeal to purists, but Elementary provides a fresh new spin on Sherlock Holmes, and Jonny Lee Miller shines in the title role." It also holds a Metacritic score of 73 out of 100 based on 29 sampled reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Guardian's Phelim O'Neill felt that "Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu make it a double act to rival "Sherlock"" and noted that "the pacing feels perfect and the details are light: viewers can keep up with the investigation and feel involved, not something every investigative show achieves". Lori Rackl of "the Chicago Sun-Times" gave the pilot episode 3 stars out of 4, and said "While the latest interpretation doesn't live up to the British import, it's still more entertaining than your typical CBS procedural." Hank Stuever of "The Washington Post" gave it a B+ and felt that the show "exhibits enough stylish wit in its mood and look to quickly distinguish itself from the latest British "Sherlock" series (seen on PBS)".


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Season 2 was met with equally positive reviews. It holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 17 reviews, with an average score of 8.29/10. The site's consensus reads, "With the introduction of Mycroft and Lestrade, Elementary successfully extends into the Sherlock Holmes canon in season two." Several critics praised Rhys Ifans for his portrayal of Mycroft Holmes, with Myles McNutt of "The A.V. Club" calling his casting choice "inspired" and praising him for being able to match with Miller's "bitterness" and praising the premiere episode overall - he later went on to offer positive words on Ifans' performance in the finale episodes pertaining to Mycroft's story, despite finding flaws in the overall arc. Noel Kirkpatrick of TV.com also praised Ifans, saying he "very finely" played the role. The episode "The Diabolical Kind" also attracted wide acclaim, with many singling out the emotional depth and Natalie Dormer's performance as Moriarty. McNutt called Moriarty's presence in both the episode and the series as a whole "refreshingly dominant" and also praised the storytelling and dialogue, singling out several bits of witty humor in the episode. The episode has a 9.0 rating on TV.com with Kirkpatrick claiming Dormer was "having a ball" playing the role of Moriarty and saying there was "good stuff" to be had in her. Kirkpatrick also appreciated the season as a whole for its development of Holmes' character, as well as the performance of the cast.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Season 3 continues "Elementary"s trend of a positive critical response. It holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 8.32/10. The site's consensus reads, ""Elementary"s third season leverages the estrangement between Sherlock and Joan to further explore both characters, proving that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creations still have room to grow". IGN praised the evolution of Watson as a character in the show, saying "While other Holmes/Watson incarnations focus on Watson being a friend, medic, and put-upon backup, Elementary has elevated the character into someone with loftier aspirations." Particular praise was given to Ophelia Lovibond for her performance as Sherlock's protege Kitty Winter, with critics feeling she was a welcome addition to the cast. The episode "The One That Got Away" garnered critical acclaim for its resolution of Kitty's story, as well as the performances of Miller and Lovibond. The Season 3 finale was met with positive reviews. IGN's Matt Fowler gave the Season finale: "A Controlled Descent" an 8.3/10 saying that "The one-two punch of Sherlock both giving into his anger and his heroin lust was a scorching way to send us out of Season 3".


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: Season 4, like previous seasons, was met with a positive critical response. It holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 15 reviews, with an average score of 7.45/10. IGN's Matt Fowler gave the season 4 premiere episode "The Past Is Parent" a 7.3/10. He praised Joan and Sherlock's deepening friendship and John Noble's performance as Sherlock's father, but criticized the fact that the episode did not capitalize on the crisis from the Season 3 finale, saying that "while there wasn't anything necessarily bad about "The Past Is Parent," it just failed to capitalize off the momentum from last season".


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: In Australia, "Elementary" premiered on Network Ten on 3 February 2013. The second season started airing on 23 March 2014. The third season started airing on 2 March 2015.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: In Canada, it airs simultaneously on Global. In New Zealand, it premiered on Prime on 27 February 2013.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series was acquired by Sky Witness (previously Sky Living), a subscription channel. It debuted on 23 October 2012. The second season premiered on 22 October 2013. The third season began airing on 11 November 2014. Season 1 premiered on free-to-air TV in the UK on Sky-owned channel Pick on 6 February 2017.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: On 3 February 2013, "Elementary" was broadcast after Super Bowl XLVII as the official lead-out program. The episode drew 20.8 million viewers, despite running out of prime time in the Eastern time zone as a result of a game delay.


title: Elementary (TV series)

text: In February 2015, Titan Books published the first official tie-in novel, "The Ghost Line" (), written by Adam Christopher. A second novel, also written by Adam Christopher and titled "Blood and Ink", was published on 26 April 2016 ().


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, "sui generis" style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as "trencadís" which used waste ceramic pieces.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the "Modernista" movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream "Modernisme", culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect" and led to calls for his beatification.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus to the coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879), Francesc (1851–1876) and Antoni. Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí's exact birthplace is unknown because no supporting documents have been found, leading to a controversy about whether he was born in Reus or Riudoms, two neighbouring municipalities of the Baix Camp district. Most of Gaudí's identification documents from both his student and professional years gave Reus as his birthplace. Gaudí stated on various occasions that he was born in Riudoms, his paternal family's village. Gaudí was baptised in the church of Sant Pere Apòstol in Reus the day after his birth under the name "Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet".


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí had a deep appreciation for his native land and great pride in his Mediterranean heritage for his art. He believed Mediterranean people to be endowed with creativity, originality and an innate sense for art and design. Gaudí reportedly described this distinction by stating, "We own the image. Fantasy comes from the ghosts. Fantasy is what people in the North own. We are concrete. The image comes from the Mediterranean. Orestes knows his way, where Hamlet is torn apart by his doubts." Time spent outdoors, particularly during summer stays in the Gaudí family home Mas de la Calderera, afforded Gaudí the opportunity to study nature. Gaudí's enjoyment of the natural world led him to join the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya in 1879 at the age of 27. The organisation arranged expeditions to explore Catalonia and southern France, often riding on horseback or walking ten kilometres a day.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Young Gaudí suffered from poor health, including rheumatism, which may have contributed to his reticent and reserved character. These health concerns and the hygienist theories of Dr. Kneipp contributed to Gaudí's decision to adopt vegetarianism early in his life. His religious faith and strict vegetarianism led him to undertake several lengthy and severe fasts. These fasts were often unhealthy and occasionally, as in 1894, led to life-threatening illness.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí attended a nursery school run by Francesc Berenguer, whose son, also called Francesc, was later one of Gaudí's main assistants. He enrolled in the Piarists school in Reus where he displayed his artistic talents via drawings for a seminar called "El Arlequín" (the Harlequin). During this time, he worked as an apprentice in the "Vapor Nou" textile mill in Reus. In 1868, he moved to Barcelona to study teaching in the Convent del Carme. In his adolescent years, Gaudí became interested in utopian socialism and, together with his fellow students Eduard Toda i Güell and Josep Ribera i Sans, planned a restoration of the Poblet Monastery that would have transformed it into a Utopian phalanstère.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Between 1875 and 1878, Gaudí completed his compulsory military service in the infantry regiment in Barcelona as a Military Administrator. Most of his service was spent on sick leave, enabling him to continue his studies. His poor health kept him from having to fight in the Third Carlist War, which lasted from 1872 to 1876. In 1876, Gaudí's mother died at the age of 57, as did his 25-year-old brother Francesc, who had just graduated as a physician. During this time Gaudí studied architecture at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture, graduating in 1878. To finance his studies, Gaudí worked as a draughtsman for various architects and constructors such as Leandre Serrallach, Joan Martorell, Emili Sala Cortés, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano and Josep Fontserè. In addition to his architecture classes, he studied French, history, economics, philosophy, and aesthetics. His grades were average and he occasionally failed courses. When handing him his degree, Elies Rogent, director of Barcelona Architecture School, said: "We have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius. Time will show." Gaudí, when receiving his degree, reportedly told his friend, the sculptor Llorenç Matamala, with his ironical sense of humour, "Llorenç, they're saying I'm an architect now."


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense (Workers' Cooperative of Mataró) building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received more significant proposals. At the Paris World's Fair of 1878 Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic "modernista" design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell (Güell palace), the Park Güell (Güell park) and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell. Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed "El Capricho" in Comillas.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, or Sagrada Família). Gaudí completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until his death he devoted himself entirely to this project. Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction. Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols. In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural Sant Feliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table as a sign of his gratitude.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: The 1888 World Fair was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the "Modernisme" movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica (Transatlantic Company). Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project was ultimately not carried out. In the early 1890s Gaudí received two commissions from outside of Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga, and the Casa Botines in León. These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain. In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of Comillas had requested him to design.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: In 1899 Gaudí joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc (Saint Luke artistic circle), a Catholic artistic society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat (spiritual league of Our lady of Montserrat), another Catholic Catalan organisation. The conservative and religious character of his political thought was closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan people.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: At the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style inspired by nature. In 1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet. During the first decade of the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like the Casa Figueras (Figueras house, better known as Bellesguard), the Park Güell, an unsuccessful urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for which he visited Majorca several times. Between 1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló (Batlló house) and the Casa Milà (Milá house), two of his most emblematic works.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: As a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902 the painter Joan Llimona chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same year.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences, generally in the area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career he moved around several rented flats in the Eixample area. Finally, in 1906, he settled in a house in the Güell Park that he owned and which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a showcase property for the estate. It has since been transformed into the Gaudí Museum. There he lived with his father (who died in 1906 at the age of 93) and his niece Rosa Egea Gaudí (who died in 1912 at the age of 36). He lived in the house until 1925, several months before his death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada Família.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: An event that had a profound impact on Gaudí's personality was Tragic Week in 1909. Gaudí remained in his house in Güell Park during this turbulent period. The anticlerical atmosphere and attacks on churches and convents caused Gaudí to worry for the safety of the Sagrada Família, but the building escaped damage.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: In 1910, an exhibition in the Grand Palais of Paris was devoted to his work, during the annual salon of the Société des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Society) of France. Gaudí participated on the invitation of count Güell, displaying a series of pictures, plans and plaster scale models of several of his works. Although he participated "hors concours", he received good reviews from the French press. A large part of this exposition could be seen the following year at the I Salón Nacional de Arquitectura that took place in the municipal exhibition hall of El Buen Retiro in Madrid.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: During the Paris exposition in May 1910, Gaudí spent a holiday in Vic, where he designed two basalt lampposts and wrought iron for the Plaça Major of Vic in honor of Jaume Balmes's centenary. The following year he resided as a convalescent in Puigcerdà while suffering from tuberculosis. During this time he conceived the idea for the façade of the Passion of the Sagrada Família. Due to ill health he prepared a will at the office of the notary Ramon Cantó i Figueres on 9 June, but later completely recovered.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: The decade from 1910 was a hard one for Gaudí. During this decade, the architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which paralysed work on the Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work at the Colonia Güell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work. Gaudí confessed to his collaborators:


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí dedicated the last years of his life entirely to the "Cathedral of the Poor", as it was commonly known, for which he took alms in order to continue. Apart from his dedication to this cause, he participated in few other activities, the majority of which were related to his Catholic faith: in 1916 he participated in a course about Gregorian chant at the Palau de la Música Catalana taught by the Benedictine monk Gregori M. Sunyol.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: In 1936, during the course of the Spanish Civil War, Gaudí's workshop in the Sagrada Familia was assaulted, destroying a large number of documents, plans and models of the modernist architect.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession, remaining single. He is known to have been attracted to only one woman—Josefa Moreu, teacher at the Mataró Cooperative, in 1884—but this was not reciprocated. Thereafter Gaudí took refuge in the profound spiritual peace his Catholic faith offered him. Gaudí is often depicted as unsociable and unpleasant, a man of gruff reactions and arrogant gestures. However, those who were close to him described him as friendly and polite, pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons Eusebi Güell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras i Bages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and Jacint Verdaguer, the physician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as Francesc Berenguer and Llorenç Matamala.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí's personal appearance—Nordic features, blond hair and blue eyes—changed radically over the course of time. As a young man, he dressed like a dandy in costly suits, sporting well-groomed hair and beard, indulging gourmet taste, making frequent visits to the theatre and the opera and visiting his project sites in a horse carriage. The older Gaudí ate frugally, dressed in old, worn-out suits, and neglected his appearance to the extent that sometimes he was taken for a beggar, such as after the accident that caused his death.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí left hardly any written documents, apart from technical reports of his works required by official authorities, some letters to friends (particularly to Joan Maragall) and a few journal articles. Some quotes collected by his assistants and disciples have been preserved, above all by Josep Francesc Ràfols, Joan Bergós, Cèsar Martinell and Isidre Puig i Boada. The only written document Gaudí left is known as the Manuscrito de Reus (Reus Manuscript) (1873–1878), a kind of student diary in which he collected diverse impressions of architecture and decorating, putting forward his ideas on the subject. Included are an analysis of the Christian church and of his ancestral home, as well as a text about ornamentation and comments on the design of a desk.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí was a committed Catalan nationalist and proponent of Catalan culture but was reluctant to become politically active to campaign for its autonomy. Politicians, such as Francesc Cambó and Enric Prat de la Riba, suggested that he run for deputy but he refused. Compared to some of his colleagues and contemporaries, his Catalan nationalism was less political and more geared towards art, history, culture, and language.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: Gaudí has a deep attachment to his native Catalan language. When King of Spain Alfonso XIII visited the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí declined to speak in Spanish and only spoke to him in Catalan. Gaudí also refused to speak Spanish with Prime Minister Antonio Maura, who, being a native of Mallorca and therefore Catalan-speaking, ended up responding to Gaudí in Catalan, thus breaking protocol in front of the King Alfonso XIII. Similarly, when philosopher Miguel de Unamuno visited the Sagrada Família, poet Joan Maragall had to translate Gaudí's Catalan tour into Spanish. Gaudí also spoke Catalan in public, despite it being declared illegal by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, which severely tried to suppress Catalan culture.


title: Antoni Gaudí

text: In 1920 he was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations, a Catalan culture celebration. On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia, he was beaten at a demonstration against the banning of the Catalan language by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Gaudí was arrested by the Civil Guard as he was headed to the church of Sant Just i Sant Pastor to attend a mass in memory of the Catalonian patriots. Gaudí refused to speak Castilian Spanish and kept responding in Catalan, stating that "My profession obliges me to pay my taxes, and I pay them, but not to stop speaking my own language." He was then taken to prison, from which he was freed after paying 50 pesetas bail.