title: Aston Martin Valkyrie

text: In an Autocar interview (22 May 2021), Aston Martin's CEO indicated that a convertible version could also be launched in 2022. This is likely to be reserved for buyers of the Coupé version.


title: Aston Martin Valkyrie

text: Ten cars, fewer than planned, were delivered in the last quarter of 2021, causing the company to miss its profit target. The company said that this only affected timing, all production had been sold but not yet delivered. The Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider was two times oversubscribed.


title: Aston Martin Valkyrie

text: Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer announced a policy in a Twitter post on 4 July 2017, stating that if the owner were to "flip" the car (buy and sell quickly to make a profit), the owner would not be provided the opportunity to buy any further special edition models from Aston Martin. This policy is also used for Ford's new GT and Mercedes-AMG's ONE sports cars.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: Robert Coppola Schwartzman (born December 24, 1982) is an American filmmaker, director, screenwriter, actor and musician. Schwartzman is best known for directing "Dreamland", "The Unicorn", and "The Argument", acting in his cousin Sofia Coppola's projects "Lick the Star" and "The Virgin Suicides", as well as starring in "The Princess Diaries" and as the lead vocalist of the rock/pop band Rooney.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: Schwartzman was born in Los Angeles to Talia Shire (née Coppola) and film producer Jack Schwartzman. His paternal grandparents were Polish Jews, while his mother is an Italian-American Catholic. His older brother, Jason Schwartzman, is also an actor and musician. His paternal half-siblings are Stephanie and cinematographer John Schwartzman, while his maternal half-brother is Matthew Shire.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: As a member of the Coppola family, many of his relatives are also involved in the entertainment industry—he is the nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and opera conductor Anton Coppola; the cousin of actor Nicolas Cage and filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola, and Christopher Coppola; and the grandson of Coppola family matriarch Italia Coppola (née Pennino) and composer Carmine Coppola.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: Schwartzman attended Windward School in Los Angeles, California and formed his band Rooney in his junior year of school in 1999. He left the band temporarily when he attended Eugene Lang College in New York City in 2001. Schwartzman wrote songs in his dorm room and flew home every month to perform new material for Rooney in his first semester at college. Most of the songs on the first Rooney album were written while in college. It was during this time that he realized that he wanted to go back to Los Angeles and pursue a professional career in music with Rooney.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: Shortly after he left school, he was signed to Geffen/Interscope records in early 2002. Rooney recorded their debut self-titled album in June 2002. They also were selected by Schwartzman's friend, Johnny Ramone, for the Ramones tribute album entitled "We're A Happy Family", which was released in early 2003. Rooney opened for Weezer during their headlining tour in the summer of 2002, it was their first national support slot. The next tour the band landed was with the band The Strokes. Rooney's album was finally released in May 2003 and has since sold approximately 500,000 copies. The band had a cameo appearance in an episode of "The O.C.", "The Third Wheel". Their song "Blueside" was featured on the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" 2004 soundtrack, and their song "I'm Shakin'" was featured on an episode of the daytime soap opera "All My Children".


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: On November 16, 2004, the band issued their first DVD, "Spit & Sweat". The hour-long documentary features interviews with the band and live performances from Los Angeles. The DVD also includes the videos for "Blueside", "I'm Shakin'", "If It Were Up to Me", and "Popstars", which was released as a never-before-seen video. Following their 2006 summer tour, the band began the recording sessions for their second album. Three songs from previous sessions ("Don't Come Around Again", "Paralyzed", and "Tell Me Soon"), were kept for their new album, "Calling the World". On March 6, 2007, the single "When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" was released on their MySpace account. The single also was used in commercials for the TV show "Beauty and the Geek". The album was released to stores July 17, 2007, and debuted at #42 on the "Billboard" Top 100 Albums chart.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: Schwartzman released his first solo album, "Double Capricorn", on October 25, 2011. All profits from the sale of the album will be donated to the Tibetan Healing Fund, to help build a new birthing center. He scored the 2013 film "Palo Alto" with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: In 2016, Schwarzmann wrote and directed "Dreamland", starring Johnny Simmons and Amy Landecker. It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 14, 2016. It was released in a limited release and through video on demand on November 11, 2016. In 2018, he directed "The Unicorn" starring Lauren Lapkus and Nick Rutherford. It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2018.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: In 2018, Robert co-founded Utopia Media, a "filmmaker first" distribution company. In 2020, Utopia Media announced the launch of Altavod, a platform for filmmakers to more easily distribute and profit from their films. Altavod originally launched in partnership with Unanimous Media’s documentary "Jump Shot", a documentary that uncovered the inspiring true story of the forgotten basketball legend who developed, pioneered, and popularized the modern-day jump shot. Stephen Curry served as an executive producer on the film, which was distributed by Aspiration Media.


title: Robert Schwartzman

text: In 2020, Utopia Media released a 4K restoration of the 1980s cult-classic "Rad" by director Hal Needham. It starred Schwartzman's mother, Talia Shire, and was executive produced by his father, Jack Schwartzman.The film made its belated Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD debut in May 2020, from Vinegar Syndrome and Utopia Distribution.


title: Manu Bennett

text: Jonathan Manu Bennett (born 10 October 1969) is a New Zealand actor. He is primarily known for portraying characters in epic fantasy works, such as Crixus in the TV series "Spartacus", Allanon in "The Shannara Chronicles", Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in "Arrow", and Azog the Defiler in "The Hobbit trilogy".


title: Manu Bennett

text: Bennett was born in New Zealand in 1969. His mother Jean Bennett was an Australian bikini model and father Ted Bennett a New Zealand singer. The family moved to Australia when Bennett was a few months old. Bennett's father is of Māori (specifically Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu) and Irish descent. His mother is of Scottish descent. He was raised mostly between Sydney and Newcastle in Australia, where he attended Merewether High School. In 1986, Bennett returned to New Zealand to attend Te Aute College, where he played for the 1st XV. Upon returning to Australia, Bennett was chosen in the New South Wales Schoolboys Rugby Union Team. Interested in modern dancing, classical ballet, and piano, Bennett quit rugby to attend university to study dance and drama, then traveled to Los Angeles on a scholarship to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. In an audience Q&A in Boston, Bennett talked about the car accident he experienced at a young age that killed his mother and brother and put him in a two-week coma. At that time, his girlfriend was a ballet dancer, which got him into acting; he found it to be the medium into which he wanted to direct his emotions, saying, "Acting was my route to survival."


title: Manu Bennett

text: Bennett's professional acting career began in 1993 in the teen soap "Paradise Beach". He then played guest roles in other Australian TV dramas, including "Water Rats", "All Saints", and "Beastmaster". Bennett then starred alongside Claudia Karvan in the miniseries "The Violent Earth", produced by French company Gaumont. In 1996, Bennett participated in theatre. In an open-air production of "Lady Chatterley's Lover", based on D. H. Lawrence's novel, directed by Australian film/theatre director Robert Chuter, he played the title role, the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors in which he met model/actor Darlene Rada Ford from Bondi Beach who encouraged him to pursue more serious acting roles abroad.


title: Manu Bennett

text: In 1999, Bennett landed his first leading role in a feature film named "Tomoko", shot on location in Tokyo, starring opposite Rumiko Koyanagi. In 2000, Bennett guest starred in "" as Marc Antony, then played a role opposite "Without a Trace" star Anthony LaPaglia, where Bennett displayed his dancing skills as a salsa dance teacher in the award-winning Australian film, "Lantana".


title: Manu Bennett

text: Bennett returned to New Zealand in 2000 to appear in the popular television drama, "Shortland Street", then went on to play a cop turned lawyer in "Street Legal" before working with his director cousin Michael Bennett on the Māori "Twilight Zone"-styled series "Mataku" before working with Richard Taylor from the Academy Award-winning firm Weta Workshop on "Creature Quest".


title: Manu Bennett

text: In August 2002, Bennett landed a screen test opposite Angelina Jolie for a part in the "Tomb Raider" sequel "". Actor Gerard Butler ended up beating him for the role.


title: Manu Bennett

text: In 2006, Bennett was cast in "The Marine" alongside WWE wrestling star John Cena and Robert Patrick. In 2007, Bennett was cast as one of ten convicts alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones in "The Condemned". In 2006, Bennett was cast opposite Josh Hartnett to play Deputy Billy Kitka in the US film "30 Days of Night".


title: Manu Bennett

text: From 2010 to 2013, Bennett co-starred in the new American television series "Spartacus", about the defiant gladiator Spartacus. Bennett played the key role of Crixus, Champion of Capua. He was the only cast member of the series who starred on all four seasons, as well as starring in the most episodes of this series.


title: Manu Bennett

text: In 2012, he played the villain Azog the Defiler in "", and continued to portray the character in the sequels. In November 2012, Bennett was cast in the first season of "Arrow" as Slade Wilson, and in March 2013, he was promoted to series regular for the second season. He then made several guest appearances in subsequent seasons.


title: Manu Bennett

text: In May 2014, Bennett revealed he had lost two roles in "Stargate Atlantis" and the 2011 film "Conan the Barbarian" to actor Jason Momoa.


title: Manu Bennett

text: In December 2014, Manu was cast as the druid Allanon in MTV's television series "The Shannara Chronicles".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: "Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the "Saturday Night Fever" motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. The band co-produced the song with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004, "Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004, it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in ""The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song"".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: On its release, "Stayin' Alive" climbed the charts to hit the number one spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 the week of 4 February 1978, remaining there for four consecutive weeks. Consequently, it became one of the band's most recognisable tunes, partly because it appeared in the opening credits of "Saturday Night Fever". In the United States, it would become the second of six consecutive number-one singles, tying the record with the Beatles for most consecutive number ones in the United States at the time (a record broken by Whitney Houston who achieved seven consecutive number-ones).


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The executive producer of the "Saturday Night Fever" motion picture soundtrack and Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood asked the band to write a few songs for the soundtrack. At this point, the film was in early stages and it did not have a title; in fact, all Stigwood had to go on was a "New York" cover story about discomania.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: They wrote "Stayin' Alive" over the course of a few days while sprawled on the staircase at the Château d'Hérouville studio near Paris. As with many other artists during the 1970s, the Bee Gees recorded most of the soundtrack in France for tax reasons.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: RSO Records wanted the song to share the then-title of the film, "Saturday Night", but the Bee Gees refused a title change, insisting that there had been too many songs with "Saturday" in the title, and the album already had a song with the word "night" in the title—"Night Fever". Rather than change the name of the former song to match the film, Stigwood expanded the name of the film to encompass the title of the latter song. Over the years, the brothers have had mixed feelings about the song, admitting it brought them tremendous fame but conversely branded them as a disco act, despite a long and varied career before and after.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Several words from Robin Gibb's Concorde ticket inspired the Gibbs to write the lyrics for "Stayin' Alive". Robin recalls, "The subject matter of 'Stayin' Alive' is actually quite a serious one; It's about survival in the streets of New York, and the lyrics actually say that". Barry Gibb also recalls, "People crying out for help. Desperate songs. Those are the ones that become giants. The minute you capture that on record, it's gold. 'Stayin' Alive' is the epitome of that. Everybody struggles against the world, fighting all the bullshit and things that can drag you down. And it really is a victory just to survive. But when you climb back on top and win bigger than ever before, well that's something everybody reacts to everybody". "We'd also written a song called 'Saturday Night'", Maurice explains, "But there were so many songs called 'Saturday Night' even one by the Bay City Rollers, so when we rewrote it for the movie, we called it 'Stayin' Alive'.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The track was finished at Criteria Studios, with Maurice Gibb laying down a bass line similar to the guitar riff, Barry Gibb and Alan Kendall on guitar riffs, and Blue Weaver adding synthesizers. The Boneroo Horns parts were added. Barry sings falsetto on the whole song, except on the line "life's going nowhere, somebody help me".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The band's drummer Dennis Bryon left the recording sessions early due to the death of his mother, and the group first looked for a replacement. The shortage of qualified drummers in the area prompted the group to try a drum machine, but it did not offer satisfactory results. After listening to the drum track of the already-recorded "Night Fever", the group and producer Albhy Galuten took two bars from that track, rerecorded them as a recurrent loop on a separate tape (creating the song's constant rhythm), and proceeded with sessions for "Stayin' Alive". The group jokingly listed the drummer as "Bernard Lupe" (a takeoff on session drummer Bernard Purdie). Lupe became a highly sought-after drummer—until it was discovered that he did not exist.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The song was not initially scheduled for release, with "How Deep Is Your Love" selected as lead single, but fans called radio stations and RSO Records requesting the song immediately after seeing trailers for "Saturday Night Fever", featuring the track over the aforementioned introductory scene. The single was eventually released in mid-December, a month after the album, and moved to the top of the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the United States in February, where it stayed for four weeks. Soon after, it slid to number two, near the third hit from the album, "Night Fever". In the United Kingdom, "Stayin' Alive" was not as popular as it was in the United States, but was still a hit, reaching number four.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Further demonstrating the Bee Gees' US chart domination in 1978, "Stayin' Alive" was replaced at number one with the group's younger brother Andy Gibb's single, "Love Is Thicker Than Water", followed by the Bee Gees' "Night Fever" for their longest run, eight weeks. This was then replaced by Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You". Barry Gibb had a hand in writing all four of these songs, becoming the only person in history to write four successive US number-one singles. Besides the version that appeared on the soundtrack album (4:43 in length) and the edited 45RPM single for Top 40 radio release (3:29), there was yet another version, from the same recording session but of a slightly different mix, that was distributed on twelve-inch vinyl to club DJs and radio stations that specialised in airing longer versions of hit songs. This "Special Disco Version" featured all the same parts as the album version but had a horn rhythm section interjected twice. Although twelve-inch disco mixes were usually sped up, this version was slowed down slightly. It is the longest version of "Stayin' Alive" ever made, and faded at 6:59. It was finally released on CD in 2007 by Reprise on an expanded and remastered version of "Bee Gees Greatest".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Initial plans were for Yvonne Elliman, then known for ballads, to record "How Deep Is Your Love" for "Saturday Night Fever", while the Bee Gees produced their own version of the more disco-oriented "If I Can't Have You" for the film. Robert Stigwood thought he would prefer the songs from different genders and directed the group to cut the ballad, while Elliman cut "If I Can't Have You" with her usual producer Freddie Perren. Satisfied with this switch, Elliman's interpretation made the soundtrack, while the Bee Gees' version was relegated to the B-side of the "Stayin' Alive" single. The brothers' version has since appeared on CD in hits compilations.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: George Martin commented about this song saying: "The great thing about 'Stayin' Alive' is that it had a great guitar hook to start with which set up the theme, that pulsating beat. It's no coincidence, by the way, that the disco beat of 120 beats per minute coincides the heartbeat of your heart when you're excited. This was a key thing which underlined the whole tune, and when the vocals came in, the vocals were so designed that they pushed that beat further".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: "Billboard Magazine" reviewed the single calling it one of the Bee Gees best songs and an "almost irresistible dance tune." "Cash Box" said that it "combines catchy melodies, falsetto harmonies and a dancing beat in a package that will lead to big pop and R&B chart numbers."


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The accompanying music video for the song is of an entirely different concept from "Saturday Night Fever". Filmed on MGM Studios' backlot #2 in Culver City, California, while the group was simultaneously filming the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on the lot, the video featured Quality Street (a set that was used for such films as "The Three Musketeers" and "Young Frankenstein") as well as the Grand Central Station set used in the films "The Band Wagon" and the opening of "That's Entertainment!" with Fred Astaire. As the group walks past one of the railway cars in the video, the words "New York Central" can be seen printed on the side of the train above a passenger window. The MGM art directors added this bit of authenticity because the actual New York Central Railroad operated several lines from Grand Central Terminal in New York City during the 20th century until 1969.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: "Stayin' Alive" was used in a study to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performing CPR. The song has around 103 beats per minute, and 100–120 chest compressions per minute are recommended by the British Heart Foundation and endorsed by the Resuscitation Council (UK). A study on medical professionals found that the quality of CPR is better when thinking about "Stayin' Alive". This was parodied in the Season 5 episode of comedy series "The Office" "Stress Relief" and the song itself was used in a season 11 episode of the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" in 2015.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: On 15 June 2011, the song was featured in a Hands Only CPR PSA campaign video from the American Heart Association and featured actor and medical doctor Ken Jeong in the classic John Travolta outfit from "Saturday Night Fever". Vinnie Jones starred in the British version of this CPR video in association with the British Heart Foundation shown on TV in January 2012.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: In 1995, British electronic music group N-Trance recorded a dance version of the song, with new lyrics and rapping by Ricardo da Force. This cover was released as the third single from the group's debut album, "Electronic Pleasure" (1995). It reached number one on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart and Canada's "RPM" Dance/Urban chart. The song was also a major hit in Europe, reaching number two in Finland, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and reached the top 5 in several other countries. On the Eurochart Hot 100, "Stayin' Alive '95" peaked at number three.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Larry Flick from "Billboard" commented, "U.K. import enthusiasts are already aware of this jumpy rap interpretation of the Bee Gees disco classic. Early radio reaction holds promise for a quick and successful ride up the Hot 100. There is not a whole lot of substance in TLK's rap [sic], but he certainly has a rousing, infectious style that makes the track spark. Singer Kelly Llorenna injects some bright diva flash during the bridge and chorus." James Masterton for Dotmusic stated that N-Trance "take the song into a whole new dimension". He added, "This is no ordinary cover, this is a fantastic reinterpretation that only the bold would bet against being Number One next week."


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Ross Jones from "The Guardian" complimented the group's "knack for ingenious disco updates". A reviewer from "Music Week" rated the song three out of five, saying that rapper da Force "takes the mic for this radical reworking of the Bee Gees classic which isn't Euro enough to grab the same audience as their recent international hit Set You Free". James Hamilton from the magazine's "RM" Dance Update described it as a "jiggly rolling 0-106.4bpm chugger".


title: Stayin' Alive

text: N-Trance's cover of "Stayin' Alive" peaked at number one in Australia and on the "RPM" Dance/Urban chart in Canada. In Europe, it peaked at number one in Scotland and reached number two in Finland, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK. In the latter nation, the single peaked during its first week on the UK Singles Chart, on September 10, 1995. It also reached number-one on the "RM" UK on a Pop Tip Club Chart. It additionally made it to the top 10 also in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it rose to number three.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: Outside Europe, "Stayin' Alive '95" went to number three in New Zealand, number nine on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales in the United States, number 56 on the "RPM" Top Singles chart in Canada, and number 62 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The single earned a gold record in France and Germany, a silver record in the UK, a platinum record in New Zealand, and a double-platinum record in Australia.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: On 10 February 2017, Capitol Records released a new version of the song entitled "Stayin' Alive" (Serban mix). The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea from "hi-resolution audio files" from the original recording session of "Stayin' Alive", and it was mastered by Tom Coyne. The single was released in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) soundtrack.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: The song is used in the 1980 comedy film "Airplane!". During a bar-room fight, the song accidentally starts playing on a jukebox, turning the scene into a parody of "Saturday Night Fever". Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker sped the track up by 10% in the film, and had to get permission from the Gibb brothers to do so.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: In the BBC show "Sherlock", as a ringtone of Jim Moriarty, in its series two premiere on New Year's Day, 2012. It is also heard in the series two finale, when Moriarty tells Sherlock that their final problem is 'Stayin' Alive', whilst playing the song on his phone.


title: Stayin' Alive

text: A Japanese-language cover version by Avu-chan appeared on the soundtrack to the "Bullet Train" 2022 film.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: Breathe is a 2017 biographical drama film directed by Andy Serkis in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by William Nicholson. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Ed Speleers and Dean-Charles Chapman; it tells the story of Robin Cavendish, who became paralysed from the neck down by polio at the age of 28.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2017. It was released in the United States by Bleecker Street on 13 October 2017 and in the United Kingdom by STXinternational on 27 October 2017. Upon release the film was with received with mixed reviews. Critics praised Serkis' directing and Garfield and Foy's acting but some felt that the film was glossed over with romance rather than focusing on Cavendish's disability and the lives of him and his family.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: In 1958 in Kenya, Robin Cavendish falls ill from polio at age 28, not long after meeting and marrying his wife Diana. Paralysed from the neck down and unable to breathe without the assistance of a respirator, he is given only three months to live. He is repatriated to Britain. Initially he is depressed, refusing to see his wife or newborn son, Jonathan, and wishing to be removed from life support. However, Diana is persistent and slowly his spirits improve. When Diana realises she can provide for his daily care and suggests they move Robin and the respirator home, Robin brightens considerably. Over the strenuous objections of the hospital's administrator Dr. Entwistle (who tells Diana that he will die if without the ventilator for two minutes) and with the help of some of the other doctors and nurses, Robin is brought home and meets his son.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: While Jonathan is playing with his dog, the dog knocks out the plug of the ventilator. Robin realises, but unable to move or speak, he cannot get Diana's attention, so instead makes clicking noises with his tongue. Eventually, Diana finds him unresponsive and plugs the ventilator back in.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: Seeing his son push a pram gives Robin the idea for a mobile chair with a built-in respirator, so he enlists the help of his friend Teddy Hall to build one. Using the chair, and with the help of Diana and her two brothers, Robin is able to travel away from home for the first time, and with a specially constructed van, the family begins to venture out further, even flying the van on a cargo plane to Spain.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: Teddy makes various improvements to his design over time and eventually Robin teams up with Dr Clement Aitken to produce more of the chairs. After observing a German hospital's prison-like confinement of their severely disabled patients, Robin then appears at a conference and appeals to doctors to treat their patients more humanely, drawing a standing ovation. Robin returns to his original hospital with more of Teddy's chairs and the rest of the patients in the ward leave with him.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: Years later, Robin begins to experience severe bleeding due to his extended time on the respirator and decides it is time to stop prolonging his life indefinitely. He discusses his decision with Dr. Aitken who advises that Diana and Jonathan cannot be involved. He holds a farewell party with his many friends. Sometime later, he instructs his family to leave and return to the house at precise times. Jonathan, now in his twenties, and Diana see Aitken driving away and return to the house. Fading, Robin expresses his love for both of them and dies, having transformed the lives of many others like him.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: The Cavendishes' son, Jonathan Cavendish, who runs The Imaginarium production company with director Andy Serkis, commissioned writer William Nicholson to write the film's screenplay and is one of the producers of the film. He stated in an interview with "London Evening Standard" that in producing the film, he wanted to capture the "swashbuckling band of eccentrics" he knew in his childhood.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: In September 2016, Bleecker Street acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. In February 2017, STXinternational acquired British distribution rights to the film.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: It was also screened at the Opening Night Gala at the BFI London Film Festival. It was released in the United States on October 13, 2017, and the United Kingdom on October 27, 2017.


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: Upon release, the film received generally mixed reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 168 reviews and a weighted average of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Strong performances from "Breathe"s well-matched leads help add an edge to a biopic that takes a decidedly heartwarming approach to its real-life story." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". "The Guardian" writer Mark Kermode gave the film four out of five stars praising Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Robin Cavendish stating that "There's real terror in Garfield's eyes as Robin stares into the abyss, spitting in the face of a hospital chaplain who announces that his suffering is somehow part of God's great plan". He also gave praise to the film's score and the role of Diana Cavendish's twin brothers, portrayed in a dual role by Tom Hollander. Peter Bradshaw, another writer for "The Guardian" added to this, stating that the film "highlights a vital chapter of history" for disabled people but fails to shed "light and shade in the Cavendish'es themselves".


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: "The New York Times" writer Jeannette Catsoulis gave a mixed review on the film stating that the film's true purpose "is smothered by a cloying fairy tale romance that turns every challenge the couple faces into a lark". She did, however, go on to praise the actors but stated that they were held back by the script noting that "Mr. Garfield smiles broadly through episodes of near-suffocation and bloody sputum, while Ms. Foy embodies the buck-up-and-carry-on mentality that William Nicholson’s screenplay demands". "The Hollywood Reporter" writer Stephen Dalton also agreed that the film "feels more like Downton Abbey with a medical subplot than a serious biopic about an astoundingly able disabled man and his devoted wife". On the main cast, he stated that,


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: ""Breathe" paints them as borderline saints, flattening their humanity and carefully glossing over potentially tricky subjects, notably sexual matters. Foy's performance, perky with a hint of steel, mostly rises above these limitations. But Garfield is inevitably hampered by a role that restricts him to little more than nodding and grinning. Tom Hollander also does double duty as Diana’s twin brothers, his dual role seemingly an excuse for some creaky comic banter and slick visual effects".


title: Breathe (2017 film)

text: "The New Zealand Herald" writer Toby Woollaston praised Serkis' directing suggesting that "his attention to the film's technical minutia elevates it beyond a mere actorly drama". He also praised the cast, specifically Garfield who "climbs wholeheartedly into the role of Robin and delivers a convincing performance despite only having his face to act with". "IndieWire" writer Eric Kohn praised Garfield and Foy's performances noting that "Foy [...] gives a fragile, sincere performance as Robin's endlessly supportive partner, but Garfield ultimately emerges as the real draw. With subtle facial tics, he’s able to convey a range of attitudes that serve as the movie’s soulful core". "The Sydney Morning Herald" writer Sandra Hall agreed that the movie is one of the "cheeriest" and often "there are times when the film's unassailable optimism gets in the way of its credibility". "Los Angeles Times" writer Robert Abele called the film a "clichéd execution" noting that "Garfield and Foy, tasked with packing a whole marriage into one film, easily convey the attractiveness of being an indomitable team, but rarely get to plumb the depths of anything else".


title: Christmas tree

text: A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern Germany where German Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. It acquired popularity beyond the Lutheran areas of Germany and the Baltic governorates during the second half of the 19th century, at first among the upper classes.


title: Christmas tree

text: The tree was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, [and] sweetmeats". Moravian Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there is a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments, such as garlands, baubles, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem, respectively, from the Nativity. Edible items such as gingerbread, chocolate, and other sweets are also popular and are tied to or hung from the tree's branches with ribbons. The Catholic Church had long resisted this custom of the Lutheran Church and the Vatican Christmas tree stood for the first time in Vatican City in 1982.


title: Christmas tree

text: In the Western Christian tradition, Christmas trees are variously erected on days such as the first day of Advent or even as late as Christmas Eve depending on the country; customs of the same faith hold that the two traditional days when Christmas decorations, such as the Christmas tree, are removed are Twelfth Night and, if they are not taken down on that day, Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations.


title: Christmas tree

text: The Christmas tree is sometimes compared with the "Yule-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloric origins.


title: Christmas tree

text: Modern Christmas trees originated during the Renaissance in early modern Germany. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther, who is said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree. The Christmas tree was first recorded to be used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer. The Moravian Christians put lighted candles on those trees." The earliest known firmly dated representation of a Christmas tree is on the keystone sculpture of a private home in Turckheim, Alsace (then part of Germany, today France), with the date 1576.


title: Christmas tree

text: Modern Christmas trees have been related to the "tree of paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.


title: Christmas tree

text: At the end of the Middle Ages, an early predecessor appears referred in the 15th century Regiment of the Cistercian Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal. The Regiment of the local "high-Sacristans" of the Cistercian Order refers to what may be considered the oldest references to the Christmas tree: "Note on how to put the Christmas branch, "scilicet": On the Christmas eve, you will look for a large Branch of green laurel, and you shall reap many red oranges, and place them on the branches that come of the laurel, specifically as you have seen, and in every orange you shall put a candle, and hang the Branch by a rope in the pole, which shall be by the candle of the high altar."


title: Christmas tree

text: Other sources have offered a connection between the symbolism of the first documented Christmas trees in Germany around 1600 and the trees of pre-Christian traditions, though this claim has been disputed. According to the "Encyclopædia Britannica", "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time."


title: Christmas tree

text: During the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, houses were decorated with wreaths of evergreen plants, along with other antecedent customs now associated with Christmas.


title: Christmas tree

text: The Vikings and Saxons worshiped trees. The story of Saint Boniface cutting down Donar's Oak illustrates the pagan practices in 8th century among the Germans. A later folk version of the story adds the detail that an evergreen tree grew in place of the felled oak, telling them about how its triangular shape reminds humanity of the Trinity and how it points to heaven.


title: Christmas tree

text: Customs of erecting decorated trees in winter time can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia), in 1441, 1442, 1510, and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their guild houses in Reval (now Tallinn) and Riga. On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square, where the members of the brotherhood danced around it.


title: Christmas tree

text: A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels, and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day. In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square, where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".


title: Christmas tree

text: After the Protestant Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs. This transition from the guild hall to the bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the present-day, the churches and homes of Protestants and Catholics feature both Christmas cribs and Christmas trees.


title: Christmas tree

text: In Poland, there is a folk tradition dating back to an old Slavic pre-Christian custom of suspending a branch of fir, spruce, or pine from the ceiling rafters, called "podłaźniczka", during the time of the Koliada winter festival. The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, acorns, and stars made of straw. In more recent times, the decorations also included colored paper cutouts ("wycinanki"), wafers, cookies, and Christmas baubles. According to old pagan beliefs, the branch's powers were linked to good harvest and prosperity.


title: Christmas tree

text: The custom was practiced by the peasants until the early 20th century, particularly in the regions of Lesser Poland and Upper Silesia. Most often the branches were hung above the "wigilia" dinner table on Christmas Eve. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the tradition over time was almost completely replaced by the later German practice of decorating a standing Christmas tree.


title: Christmas tree

text: In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Introduced by Fanny von Arnstein and popularized by Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg the Christmas tree reached Vienna in 1814 during the Congress of Vienna, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark a Danish newspaper claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published a fairy tale called "The Fir-Tree" in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir tree being used as a Christmas tree.


title: Christmas tree

text: By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.


title: Christmas tree

text: Early Slovenian custom dating back to around the 17th century was to suspend the tree either upright or upside-down above the well, a corner of the dinner table, in the backyard, or from the fences, modestly decorated with fruits or not decorated at all. German brewer Peter Luelsdorf brought the first Christmas tree of the current tradition to Slovenia in 1845. He set it up in his small brewery inn in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. German officials, craftsmen and merchants quickly spread the tradition among the bourgeois population. The trees were typically decorated with walnuts, golden apples, carobs, and candles. At first the Catholic majority rejected this custom because they considered it a typical Protestant tradition. The first decorated Christmas Market was organized in Ljubljana already in 1859. However, this tradition was almost unknown to the rural population until World War I, after which everyone started decorating trees. Spruce trees have a centuries-long tradition in Slovenia. After World War II during Yugoslavia period, trees set in the public places (towns, squares, and markets) were politically replaced with fir trees, a symbol of socialism and Slavic mythology strongly associated with loyalty, courage, and dignity. However, spruce retained its popularity in Slovenian homes during those years and came back to public places after independence.


title: Christmas tree

text: Although the tradition of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas was long established, the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until some two centuries ago. The German-born Queen Charlotte introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800. The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote:


title: Christmas tree

text: After dinner... we then went into the drawing room near the dining room... There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees...


title: Christmas tree

text: After Victoria's marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread as wealthier middle-class families followed the fashion. In 1842 a newspaper advert for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet, German origins and association with children and gift-giving. An illustrated book, "The Christmas Tree", describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844. On 2January 1846 Elizabeth Fielding (née Fox Strangways) wrote from Lacock Abbey to William Henry Fox-Talbot: ""Constance is extremely busy preparing the Bohemian Xmas Tree. It is made from Caroline's description of those she saw in Germany"". In 1847 Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas trees is not less than ours used to be". A boost to the trend was given in 1848 when "The Illustrated London News", in a report picked up by other papers, described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years their use in better-off homes was widespread. By 1856 a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them, as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree. They had not yet spread down the social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".


title: Christmas tree

text: Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiar however, and in 1906 a charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums "who had never seen a Christmas tree" would enjoy one that year. Anti-German sentiment after World WarI briefly reduced their popularity but the effect was short-lived, and by the mid-1920s the use of Christmas trees had spread to all classes. In 1933 a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to the "rapid growth of a new industry" as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand. By 2013 the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately eight million and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season.


title: Christmas tree

text: Georgians have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichilaki, made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaped to form a small coniferous tree. These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from to . Chichilakis are most common in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea, but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of Tbilisi.


title: Christmas tree

text: Georgians believe that Chichilaki resembles the famous beard of St. Basil the Great, because Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates St. Basil on 1January.


title: Christmas tree

text: The earliest reference of Christmas trees being used in The Bahamas dates to January 1864 and is associated with the Anglican Sunday Schools in Nassau, New Providence: "After prayers and a sermon from the Rev. R. Swann, the teachers and children of St. Agnes', accompanied by those of St. Mary's, marched to the Parsonage of Rev. J. H. Fisher, in front of which a large Christmas tree had been planted for their gratification. The delighted little ones formed a circle around it singing "Come follow me to the Christmas tree"." The gifts decorated the trees as ornaments and the children were given tickets with numbers that matched the gifts. This appears to be the typical way of decorating the trees in the 1860s Bahamas. In the Christmas of 1864, there was a Christmas tree put up in the Ladies Saloon in the Royal Victoria Hotel for the respectable children of the neighbourhood. The tree was ornamented with gifts for the children who formed a circle about it and sung the song "Oats and Beans". The gifts were later given to the children in the name of Santa Claus.


title: Christmas tree

text: The tradition was introduced to North America in the winter of 1781 by Hessian soldiers stationed in the Province of Québec (1763–1791) to garrison the colony against American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party for the officers at Sorel, Quebec, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.


title: Christmas tree

text: The Christmas tree became very common in the United States of America in the early nineteenth century. Dating from late 1812 or early 1813, the watercolor sketchbooks of John Lewis Krimmel contain perhaps the earliest depictions of a Christmas tree in American art, representing a family celebrating Christmas Eve in the Moravian tradition. The first published image of a Christmas tree appeared in 1836 as the frontispiece to "The Stranger's Gift" by Hermann Bokum. The first mention of the Christmas tree in American literature was in a story in the 1836 edition of "The Token and Atlantic Souvenir", titled "New Year's Day", by Catherine Maria Sedgwick, where she tells the story of a German maid decorating her mistress's tree. Also, a woodcut of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in "The Illustrated London News" December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in "Godey's Lady's Book". "Godey's" copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene. The republished "Godey's" image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree". Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than "Godey's Lady's Book"". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become even more common in America.


title: Christmas tree

text: Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America. Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree. August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is said to be the first to popularize the practice of decorating a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments, gilded nuts and Kuchen. German immigrant Charles Minnigerode accepted a position as a professor of humanities at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater, Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time. An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "German in origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs in different states however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New York it is.


title: Christmas tree

text: When Edward H. Johnson was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of Con Edison, he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights".


title: Christmas tree

text: The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune begin "OChristmas tree...", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the German word (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead .


title: Christmas tree

text: Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, the Christmas tree along with the entire celebration of the Christian holiday, was banned in that country after the October Revolution but then the government introduced a "New-year spruce" (, ) in 1935 for the New Year holiday. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday, for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of Bethlehem Star, but as the Red star. Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing the Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.


title: Christmas tree

text: The "Peanuts" TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the TV special and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term "Charlie Brown Christmas tree", describing any poor-looking or malformed little tree, also derives from the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.


title: Christmas tree

text: Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide.


title: Christmas tree

text: The use of fire retardant allows many indoor public areas to place real trees and be compliant with code. Licensed applicants of fire retardant solution spray the tree, tag the tree, and provide a certificate for inspection.


title: Christmas tree

text: The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House, becoming part of what evolved into a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran. The same was true in 1980, except the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.


title: Christmas tree

text: During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of the "National Enquirer" in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.


title: Christmas tree

text: In some cities, a charity event called the Festival of Trees is organized, in which multiple trees are decorated and displayed.


title: Christmas tree

text: The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918 the city of Manchester sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for the children of the much-bombarded town of Lille in northern France. In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War; in Boston, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that leveled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington, D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.


title: Christmas tree

text: Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates; liturgically, this is done through the hanging of the greens ceremony. In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree on Advent Sunday, the first day of the Advent season. Traditionally, however, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until the evening of Christmas Eve (24 December), the end of the Advent season and the start of the twelve days of Christmastide. It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on the last day of the twelve days of Christmastide that falls on 5 January—Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night), although those in other Christian countries remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of the extended Christmas-Epiphany season (Epiphanytide). According to the first tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the second opportunity to remove them; failure to observe this custom is considered inauspicious.


title: Christmas tree

text: Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. The first decorated trees were adorned with apples, white candy canes and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany, and also garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations fueled the production of glass figures made by highly skilled artisans with clay molds.


title: Christmas tree

text: Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used as Christmas tree decorations. Silvered saran-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest, especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration.


title: Christmas tree

text: Lighting with electric lights (Christmas lights or, in the United Kingdom, fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree-topper, sometimes an angel but more frequently a star, completes the decoration.


title: Christmas tree

text: In the late 1800s, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree.


title: Christmas tree

text: In the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s, flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow.


title: Christmas tree

text: Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5billion on Christmas trees. By 2016 that had climbed to $2.04billion for natural trees and a further $1.86billion for artificial trees. In Europe, 75 million trees worth €2.4billion ($3.2 billion) are harvested annually.


title: Christmas tree

text: The most commonly used species are fir ("Abies"), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining good foliage color and scent; but species in other genera are also used.


title: Christmas tree

text: Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as giant sequoia, Leyland cypress, Monterey cypress, and eastern juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the blue spruce and, less commonly, the white spruce); but spruces begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States; however, its winter color is faded. The long-needled eastern white pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island pine is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera "Casuarina" and "Allocasuarina" are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Pinus radiata Monterey pine. "Adenanthos sericeus" or Albany woolly bush is commonly sold in southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally considered unsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight of lights and ornaments.


title: Christmas tree

text: Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, often from a plant nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health; additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy, leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees are a large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees is low. However, when done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.


title: Christmas tree

text: European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public lands) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.


title: Christmas tree

text: In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's agriculture census for 2007, 21,537 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, were planted in Christmas trees.


title: Christmas tree

text: The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between eight and twelve years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of three to four years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and how the trees are tended by the Christmas tree farmer.


title: Christmas tree

text: The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century, though earlier examples exist. These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green, as one response by Germans to continued deforestation. Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small tree to a large tree sold in department stores during the 1920s. Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.


title: Christmas tree

text: Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, the U.S.-based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles. Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree, first manufactured in Chicago in 1958, and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees were produced. Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from used packaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Approximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.


title: Christmas tree

text: Other trends have developed in the early 2000s as well. Optical fiber Christmas trees come in two major varieties; one resembles a traditional Christmas tree. One Dallas-based company offers "holographic mylar" trees in many hues. Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard, glass, ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside-down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores and opened up floor space for more products.


title: Christmas tree

text: Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late 20th century. Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, because they are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative. They are also considered much safer as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007 artificial Christmas tree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million. Currently it is estimated that around 58% of Christmas trees used in the United States are artificial while numbers in the United Kingdom are indicated to be around 66%.


title: Christmas tree

text: The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growers contend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts. However, trade groups such as the American Christmas Tree Association, continue to refute that artificial trees are more harmful to the environment, and maintain that the PVC used in Christmas trees has excellent recyclable properties.


title: Christmas tree

text: Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife. Alternately, live trees can be donated to livestock farmers who find that such trees uncontaminated by chemical additives are excellent fodder. In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides.


title: Christmas tree

text: Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the "Keteleeria evelyniana" and "Abies fraseri", for Christmas trees.


title: Christmas tree

text: Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch, wildlife habitat, or used to prevent erosion. Real trees are carbon-neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing. However, emissions can occur from farming activities and transportation. An independent life-cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce over its lifetime. Some people use living Christmas or potted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, while purchased trees can be planted by the owner after use or donated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services. Smaller and younger trees may be replanted after each season, with the following year running up to the next Christmas allowing the tree to carry out further growth.


title: Christmas tree

text: Most artificial trees are made of recycled PVC rigid sheets using tin stabilizer in the recent years. In the past, lead was often used as a stabilizer in PVC, but is now banned by Chinese laws. The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees has been an issue of concern among politicians and scientists over recent years. A 2004 study found that while in general artificial trees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there do exist "worst-case scenarios" where major health risks to young children exist. A 2008 United States Environmental Protection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificial Christmas trees aged it began to degrade. The report determined that of the fifty million artificial trees in the United States approximately twenty million were nine or more years old, the point where dangerous lead contamination levels are reached. A professional study on the life-cycle assessment of both real and artificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least twenty years to leave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree.


title: Christmas tree

text: The earliest legend of the origin of a fir tree becoming a Christian symbol dates back to 723 AD, involving Saint Boniface as he was evangelizing Germany. It is said that at a pagan gathering in Geismar where a group of people dancing under a decorated oak tree were about to sacrifice a baby in the name of Thor, Saint Boniface took an axe and called on the name of Jesus. In one swipe, he managed to take down the entire oak tree, to the crowd's astonishment. Behind the fallen tree was a baby fir tree. Boniface said, "let this tree be the symbol of the true God, its leaves are ever green and will not die." The tree's needles pointed to heaven and it was shaped triangularly to represent the Holy Trinity.


title: Christmas tree

text: The Christmas tree was first recorded to be used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer. In the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees." When decorating the Christmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, a fact recorded by "The School Journal" in 1897. Professor David Albert Jones of the University of Oxford writes that in the 19th century, it became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus.


title: Christmas tree

text: Under the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet anti-religious campaign. The League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an anti-religious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement. With the Christmas tree being prohibited in accordance with Soviet anti-religious legislation, people supplanted the former Christmas custom with New Year's trees. In 1935, the tree was brought back as New Year tree and became a secular, not a religious holiday.


title: Christmas tree

text: Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Christmas Tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations, and in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes. In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life", an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity. In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas." The Catholic Church's official "Book of Blessings" has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home. The Episcopal Church in "The Anglican Family Prayer Book", which has the imprimatur of The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam of the Anglican Communion, has long had a ritual titled "Blessing of a Christmas Tree", as well as "Blessing of a Crèche", for use in the church and the home.


title: Christmas tree

text: Chrismon trees, which find their origin in the Lutheran Christian tradition though now used in many Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church and Methodist Church, are used to decorate churches during the liturgical season of Advent; during the period of Christmastide, Christian churches display the traditional Christmas tree in their sanctuaries.


title: Christmas tree

text: In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used to decorate the Boston Common a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree". The name change was reversed after the city was threatened with several lawsuits.


title: Commando

text: A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines.


title: Commando

text: Originally "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, "commando" and kommando denote a "command", including the sense of a military or an elite special operations unit. In the militaries and governments of most countries, commandos are distinctive in that they specialize in unconventional assault on high-value targets.


title: Commando

text: In English, to distinguish between an individual commando and a commando unit, the unit is occasionally capitalized.


title: Commando

text: From an ancient lingual perspective the term commando derives from Latin "commendare", to recommend. From the perspective of the early modern era the word stems from the Dutch word "kommando", which translates as "a command or order" and also roughly to "mobile infantry regiment". This term originally referred to units of Boer mounted infantry, who fought during the Xhosa Wars and the First and Second Boer Wars. It is also possible the word was adopted into Afrikaans from interactions with the Portuguese in their nearby African colonies,


title: Commando

text: in whose language the word "comando" means "command". Less likely, it is a High German loan word, which was borrowed from Italian in the 17th century, from the sizable minority of German settlers in the initial European colonization of South Africa.


title: Commando

text: The Oxford English Dictionary ties the English use of the word meaning "[a] member of a body of picked men ..." directly into its Afrikaans' origins:


title: Commando

text: Due to the special mental and physiological requirements made of the applicants, there are restrictions entering "commando" units. Applicants have to fulfil special requirements. Selecting applicants with the highest motivation, modern special forces run special selection processes.


title: Commando

text: Historically there is evidence of selection for the "Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerow," predecessors of the modern Russian speznas. Soldiers had to be younger than 30 years, were mostly athletes or hunters and had to show the highest motivation. During training and selection some participants died since they were exhausted and left to their devices.


title: Commando

text: The German Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) demands from their applicants high levels of physical resilience, teamwork, willingness to learn, mental resilience, willpower, sense of responsibility, flexibility, secrecy and adaptation. These skills are proved during assessment.


title: Commando

text: The fitness test of the US-Navy Seals tests swimming speed over 500 yards, number of push-ups and sit-ups within 2 minutes, pull-ups and running 1.5 miles.


title: Commando

text: Long range desert group hired their personnel after a very long interrogation. First SAS members had to fulfil a march of 50km and the royal marine commandos where testing their applicants motivation during an obstacle course using real explosives and machinegun fire close to Achnacary in Scotland. The French Foreign Legion is still selecting their applicants throughout different stages of assessment. Interrogations, medical-, intelligence-, logic-, and fitness tests as well as small drills and solving small tasks gives the Legion first impressions of their applicant's character and skills.


title: Commando

text: Commando soldiers shall think independently. This is the opposite of military tradition but necessary to work in small and smallest groups, avoiding enemies reconnaissance.


title: Commando

text: After the Dutch Cape Colony was established in 1652, the word was used to describe bands of militia. The first "Commando Law" was instated by the original Dutch East India Company chartered settlements and similar laws were maintained through the independent Boer Orange Free State and South African Republic. The law compelled burghers to equip themselves with horses and firearms when required in defense. The implementation of these laws was called the "Commando System". A group of mounted militiamen was organized in a unit known as a "commando" and headed by a commandant, who was normally elected from inside the unit. Men called up to serve were said to be "on commando". British experience with this system led to the widespread adoption of the word "commandeer" into English in the 1880s.


title: Commando

text: During the Great Trek, conflicts with Southern African peoples such as the Xhosa and the Zulu caused the Boers to retain the commando system despite being free of colonial laws. Also, the word became used to describe any armed raid. During this period, the Boers also developed guerrilla techniques for use against numerically superior but less mobile bands of natives such as the Zulu, who fought in large, complex formations.


title: Commando

text: In the First Boer War, Boer commandos were able to use superior marksmanship, fieldcraft, camouflage and mobility to expel the British (wearing red uniforms, poorly trained in marksmanship and unmounted) from the Transvaal. These tactics were continued throughout the Second Boer War. In the final phase of the war, 25,000 Boers carried out asymmetric warfare against the 450,000-strong British Imperial forces for two years after the British had captured the capitals of the two Boer republics. During these conflicts the word entered the English language, retaining its general Afrikaans meaning of a "militia unit" or a "raid". Robert Baden-Powell recognised the importance of fieldcraft and was inspired to form the scouting movement.


title: Commando

text: In 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke of the British Imperial General Staff, suggested the name "commando" for specialized raiding units of the British Army Special Service in evocation of the effectiveness and tactics of the Boer commandos. During World War II, American and British publications, confused over the use of the plural "commandos" for that type of British military units, gave rise to the modern common habit of using "a commando" to mean one member of such a unit, or one man engaged on a raiding-type operation.


title: Commando

text: Since the 20th century and World War II in particular, commandos have been set apart from other military units by virtue of their extreme training regimes; these are usually associated with the awarding of green berets which originated with British Commandos. The British Commandos were instrumental in founding many other international commando units during World War II. Some international commando units were formed from members who served as part of or alongside British Commandos, such as the Dutch Korps Commandotroepen (who still wear the recognition flash insignia of the British Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife), the Belgian 5th Special Air Service, or Greek Sacred Band. In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS, and the Belgian 5th SAS. The French Army special forces (1er RPIMa) still use the motto "Qui Ose Gagne", a translation of the SAS motto "Who Dares Wins".


title: Commando

text: In addition, many Commonwealth nations were part of the original British Commando units. They developed their own national traditions, including the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, the New Zealand Special Air Service, and the Rhodesian Special Air Service, all of whom share (or used to) the same insignia and motto as their British counterparts. During the Second World War, the British SAS quickly adopted sand-coloured berets, since they were almost entirely based in the North African theatre; they used these rather than green berets to distinguish themselves from other British Commando units. (See History of the Special Air Service). Other Commonwealth commando units were formed after the Second World War directly based on the British Commando units, such as the Australian Army Reserve 1st Commando Regiment (Australia), distinct from the Regular Army 2nd Commando Regiment (Australia), who originated from the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in 1997 .


title: Commando

text: The US Rangers were founded by Major General Lucian Truscott of the US Army, a liaison officer with the British General Staff. In 1942, he submitted a proposal to General George Marshall that an American unit be set up "along the lines of the British Commandos". The original US Rangers trained at the British Commandos centre at Achnacarry Castle. The US Navy SEALs' original formation, the Observer Group, was also trained and influenced by British Commandos. The US Special Forces originated with the First Special Service Force, formed under British Combined Operations. The First Special Service Force was a joint American-Canadian unit and modern Canadian special operations forces also trace their lineage to this unit and through it to British Commandos, despite existing in their modern incarnation only since 2006.


title: Commando

text: Malaysian green beret special forces PASKAL and Grup Gerak Khas (who still wear the Blue Lanyard of the Royal Marines) were originally trained by British Commandos. The Brazilian marine special operations COMANF also originated with Royal Marines mentoring. Other British units, such as the SAS, led to the development of many international special operations units that are now typically referred to as commandos, including the Bangladeshi Para-Commando Brigade, Pakistani Special Services Group, the Indian MARCOS, Jordanian Special Operation Forces and Philippine National Police Special Action Force.


title: Commando

text: Commando or special forces operators typically are more emotional stable, conscientious, and closed minded than matched civilian controls and other types of soldiers.


title: Commando

text: During the winter of 1914–1915 large parts of the Eastern Front switched to trench warfare. To cope with the new situation many Austro-Hungarian regiments spontaneously formed infantry squads called "Jagdkommandos". These squads were named after the specially trained forces of Russian army formed in 1886 and were used to protect against ambushes, to perform reconnaissance and for low intensity fights in no-man's-land.


title: Commando

text: Austro-Hungarian High army command ("Armeeoberkommando", AOK) realized the need for special forces and decided to draw on German experience. Starting in September–October 1916 about 120 officers and 300 NCOs were trained in the German training area in Beuville (near the village of Doncourt) to be the main cadre of the newly raised Austro-Hungarian army assault battalions. The former "Jagdkommandos" were incorporated into these battalions.


title: Commando

text: The first country to establish commando troops was Italy, in the summer 1917, shortly before Germany.


title: Commando

text: Italy used specialist trench-raiding teams to break the stalemate of static fighting against Austria-Hungary, in the Alpine battles of World War I. These teams were called "Arditi" (meaning "daring, brave ones"); they were almost always men under 25 in top physical condition and, possibly at first, bachelors (due to fear of very high casualty rates). Actually the Arditi (who were led to the lines just a few hours before the assault, having been familiarised with the terrain via photo-reconnaissance and trained on trench systems re-created ad hoc for them) suffered fewer casualties than regular line infantry and were highly successful in their tasks. Many volunteered for extreme-right formations in the turbulent years after the war and (the Fascist Party took pride in this and adopted the style and the mannerism of Arditi), but some of left-wing political persuasions created the "Arditi del Popolo" (People's Arditi) and for some years held the fascist raids in check, defending Socialist and Communist Party sections, buildings, rallies and meeting places.


title: Commando

text: The Australian Army formed commando units, known as Australian independent companies in the early stages of World War II. They first saw action in early 1942 during the Japanese assault on New Ireland, and in the Battle of Timor. Part of the 2/1st Independent Company was wiped out on New Ireland, but on Timor, the 2/2nd Independent Company formed the heart of an Allied force that engaged Japanese forces in a guerrilla campaign. The Japanese commander on the island drew parallels with the Boer War, and decided that it would require a 10:1 numerical advantage to defeat the Allies. The campaign occupied the attention of an entire Japanese division for almost a year. The independent companies were later renamed commando squadrons, and they saw widespread action in the South West Pacific Area, especially in New Guinea and Borneo. In 1943, all the commando squadrons except the 2/2nd and 2/8th were grouped into the 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/9th Cavalry Commando Regiments.


title: Commando

text: Later in the war the Royal Australian Navy also formed commando units along the lines of the Royal Naval Commandos to go ashore with the first waves of major amphibious assaults, to signpost the beaches and carry out other naval tasks. These were known as RAN Commandos. Four were formed—lettered A, B, C and D like their British counterparts—and they took part in the Borneo campaign.


title: Commando

text: Z Force, an Australian-British-New Zealand military intelligence commando unit, formed by the Australian Services Reconnaissance Department, also carried out many raiding and reconnaissance operations in the South West Pacific theatre, most notably Operation Jaywick, in which they destroyed tonnes of Japanese shipping at Singapore Harbour. An attempt to replicate this success, with Operation Rimau, resulted in the death of almost all those involved. However, Z Force and other SRD units continued operations until the war's end.


title: Commando

text: A joint Canadian-American Commando unit, the 1st Special Service Force, nicknamed the Devil's Brigade, was formed in 1942 under the command of Colonel Robert Frederick. The unit initially saw service in the Pacific, in August 1943 at Kiska in the Aleutians campaign. However most of its operations occurred during the Italian campaign and in southern France. Its most famous raid, which was documented in the film "Devil's Brigade", was the battle of Monte la Difensa. In 1945, the unit was disbanded; some of the Canadian members were sent to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion as replacements, and the American members were sent to either the 101st Airborne Division or the 82nd Airborne Division as replacements or the 474th Regimental Combat Team. Ironically they were sent to serve in Norway in 1945, the country they were formed to raid.


title: Commando

text: The Finns fielded the Erillinen Pataljoona 4 and about 150 men were trained before the beginning of summer 1941. At first, the units had as few as 15 men, but during the war this was increased to 60. On July 1, 1943, the units were organised in the 4th Detached Battalion. In 1944, a special unit with amphibious He 115 planes was founded to support the battalion. The total strength of the battalion was 678 men and 76 women (see Lotta Svärd).


title: Commando

text: In the Battle of Ilomantsi, soldiers of the 4th disrupted the supply lines of the Soviet artillery, preventing effective fire support. The battalion made over 50 missions in 1943 and just under 100 in 1944, and was disbanded on November 30 of that same year.


title: Commando

text: Sissiosasto/5.D is another Finnish Commando unit of the World War Two era. The Detachment was founded on August 20, 1941, under the Lynx Division (5th Division, Finnish VI Corps). It was a self-contained unit for reconnaissance patrolling, sabotage and guerrilla warfare operations behind enemy lines.


title: Commando

text: In December 1939, following the success of German infiltration and sabotage operations in the Polish campaign, the German Office for Foreign and Counter-Intelligence (OKW Amt Ausland/Abwehr) formed the Brandenburger Regiment (known officially as the 800th Special Purpose Training and Construction Company). The Brandenburgers conducted a mixture of covert and conventional operations but became increasingly involved in ordinary infantry actions and were eventually converted into a Panzer-Grenadier Division, suffering heavy losses in Russia. Otto Skorzeny (most famed for his rescue of Benito Mussolini) conducted many special operations for Adolf Hitler. Skorzeny commanded Sonderlehrgang z.b.V. Oranienburg, Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal, and SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502, 500th SS Parachute Battalion, SS-Jagdverband Mitte and all other SS commando units.


title: Commando

text: The German Fallschirmjäger were famous for their elite skills and their use in rapid commando style raids and as elite "fire brigade" infantrymen. Fort Eben-Emael on the Belgian border was captured in 1940 by Fallschirmjäger troops as part of the German invasion and occupation of Belgium.


title: Commando

text: A report written by Major-General Robert Laycock in 1947 claimed that there was a German raid on a radar station on the Isle of Wight in 1941.


title: Commando

text: The Sacred band () was a Greek special forces unit formed in 1942 in the Middle East, composed entirely of Greek officers and officer cadets under the command of Col. Christodoulos Tsigantes. It fought alongside the SAS in the Libyan Desert and with the SBS in the Aegean, as well as with General Leclerc's "Free French Forces" in Tunisia. It was disbanded in August 1945.


title: Commando

text: Italy's most renowned commando unit of World War II was "Decima Flottiglia MAS" ("10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla"), which, from mid-1940, sank or damaged a considerable tonnage of Allied ships in the Mediterranean.


title: Commando

text: After Italy surrendered in 1943, some of the "Decima Flottiglia MAS" were on the Allied side of the battle line and fought with the Allies, renaming themselves the "Mariassalto". The others fought on the German side and kept their original name but did not operate at sea after 1943, being mostly employed against Italian partisans; some of its men were involved in atrocities against civilians.


title: Commando

text: In post-war years the Italian marine commandos were re-organised as the "Comsubin" (an abbreviation of "Comando Subacqueo Incursori", or Underwater Raiders Command). They wear the green Commando beret.


title: Commando

text: In 1944–45, Japanese "Teishin Shudan" ("Raiding Group") and "Giretsu" ("heroic") detachments made airborne assaults on Allied airfields in the Philippines, Marianas and Okinawa. The attacking forces varied in size from a few paratroopers to operations involving several companies. Due to the balance of forces concerned, these raids achieved little in the way of damage or casualties, and resulted in the destruction of the Japanese units concerned. Considering that there were no plans to extract these forces, and the reluctance to surrender by Japanese personnel during that era, they are often seen in the same light as "kamikaze" pilots of 1944–45.


title: Commando

text: Nakano School trained intelligence and commando officers and organized commando teams for sabotage and guerrilla warfare.


title: Commando

text: The navy had commando units "S-toku" (Submarine special attack units, see ) for infiltrating enemy areas by submarine. It was called the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces of Kure 101st, Sasebo 101st and 102nd.


title: Commando

text: Cichociemni (; the "Silent Unseen") were elite special-operations paratroopers of the Polish Army in exile, created in Great Britain during World War II to operate in occupied Poland ("Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej").


title: Commando

text: Voyennaya Razvyedka (Razvedchiki Scouts) are "Military intelligence" personnel/units within larger formations in ground troops, airborne troops and marines. Intelligence battalion in the division, reconnaissance company in the brigade, a reconnaissance platoon in the regiment.


title: Commando

text: The legendary Soviet Naval Scout Viktor Leonov commanded an elite unit of Naval Commandos. The 4th Special Volunteer Detachment was a unit of 70 veterans. Initially they were confined to performing small scale reconnaissance missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway. Later they were renamed the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment. They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation. They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along the Finnish and Russian coasts. After the European conflict ended, Leonov and his men were sent to the Pacific theatre to conduct operations against the Japanese.


title: Commando

text: In 1940, the British Army formed "independent companies", later reformed as battalion sized "commandos", thereby reviving the word. The British intended that their commandos be small, highly mobile surprise raiding and reconnaissance forces. They intended them to carry all they needed and not remain in field operations for more than 36 hours. Army Commandos were all volunteers selected from existing soldiers still in Britain.


title: Commando

text: During the war the British Army Commandos spawned several other famous British units such as the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Parachute Regiment. The British Army Commandos themselves were never regimented and were disbanded at the end of the war.


title: Commando

text: The Special Operations Executive (SOE) also formed commando units from British and displaced European personnel (e.g., Cichociemni) to conduct raiding operations in occupied Europe. They also worked in small teams, such as the SAS, which was composed of ten or fewer commandos because that was better for special operations. One example is Norwegian Independent Company 1, which destroyed heavy water facilities in Norway in 1941.


title: Commando

text: The Royal Navy also controlled Royal Navy Beach Parties, based on teams formed to control the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. These were later known simply as RN Commandos, and they did not see action until they successfully fought for control of the landing beaches (as in the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942). The RN Commandos, including Commando "W" from the Royal Canadian Navy, saw action on D-Day.


title: Commando

text: In 1942, the Royal Navy's nine Royal Marines infantry battalions were reorganized as Commandos, numbered from 40 to 48, joining the British Army Commandos in combined Commando Brigades. After the war the Army Commandos were disbanded. The Royal Marines form an enduring Brigade-strength capability as 3 Commando Brigade with supporting Army units.