title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: "Legally Blonde" premiered in pre-Broadway tryouts in San Francisco, California. In April 2007 the show moved to Broadway, opening to mixed reviews and disappointing sales. Jerry Mitchell directed and choreographed. The original cast starred Laura Bell Bundy as Elle, Christian Borle as Emmett, and Richard H. Blake as Warner. It received seven Tony nominations and ten Drama Desk nominations but did not win any. The West End production opened in January 2010 at the Savoy Theatre. The West End production was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards and won three, including the Best New Musical award.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The musical was recorded in September 2007 and aired on MTV in October 2007. Following this, a aired showing the audition process for the next person to play Elle Woods on Broadway. The winner was Bailey Hanks, who played the role from July 23, 2008, until the production closed on October 19, 2008. The runner-up, Autumn Hurlbert, was Hanks's understudy.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The girls of UCLA's sorority Delta Nu celebrate the expected engagement of their sorority president, Elle Woods, to her boyfriend Warner Huntington III, who is expected to propose that night. Led by Margot, Serena and Pilar, the girls help Elle find the perfect dress for the occasion ("Omigod You Guys"). However, when Elle goes on her dinner date with Warner, he tells her that he needs someone more serious to achieve his dream of getting a seat in the Senate, and breaks up with her ("Serious").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Elle is devastated and stays in her room for twelve days ("Daughter Of Delta Nu"), but decides to chase Warner to Harvard Law School to prove that she can be serious. With help from Delta Nu sister Kate, Elle studies for the LSATS. Instead of writing a personal essay, Elle bursts into the Harvard admission offices backed by a squad of cheerleaders. She is accepted after revealing she is motivated by love ("What You Want").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Having been granted acceptance to Harvard, Elle's highly-achieved classmates disapprove of her attire and personality, and the only person who is willing to help her is law-teaching assistant Emmett Forrest ("The Harvard Variations"). However, he cannot protect her in class from the bloodthirsty Professor Callahan ("Blood In The Water"). Callahan kicks the under-prepared Elle out of class at the suggestion of her classmate Vivienne Kensington, who happens to be Warner's new girlfriend. This "tragedy" summons the apparitions of the sisters of Delta Nu, who, acting as a Greek chorus visible and audible only to Elle, encourage her to stay positive ("Positive").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Elle, believing that being blonde is the problem, decides to become a brunette. She heads to the Hair Affair salon where she meets beautician Paulette, who, after counselling Elle that all bad hair decisions are motivated by love, talks to Elle of her dreams of meeting a handsome Irishman ("Ireland"), and encourages her not to give up or downplay her personal qualities. At the salon, Vivienne, who is discussing a party planned for next Friday, unexpectedly gives Elle an invitation, telling her it is a costume party. Paulette sends Elle off with a costume for the party with lyrics of encouragement ("Ireland (Reprise)").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Walking into the party as a Playboy Bunny, Elle soon realizes that she was tricked by Vivienne, as no one else is wearing a costume. Despite this, she still seeks out Warner in an effort to win him back, but he remains unimpressed ("Serious (Reprise)"). Elle runs from the party, only to meet Emmett, who struggles to understand Elle's love problems. He has Elle assess her priorities until she realizes it is her obsession with Warner that keeps her from earning his respect ("Chip On My Shoulder"). Freed from her need to please Warner, she defeats him in a classroom debate. Elle then helps Paulette get her dog back from her ex-boyfriend, using legal jargon and demonstrating that she is beginning to understand law.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Along with Enid Hoopes, Warner and Vivienne win two of Callahan's coveted internship positions, and Warner proposes to Vivienne on the spot right in front of Elle. Vivienne accepts with a kiss. Elle is devastated, but Emmett shows her the internship list, revealing Elle got an internship position as well. Elle realizes that she does not need a man to feel accepted in the world, and that all she needs is to believe in herself. Overjoyed, she celebrates, disses Warner, calls her mother to tell her the news and eagerly anticipates the trial ("So Much Better").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Act two begins with fitness queen Brooke Wyndham and her fitness team's workout video, which is being viewed by Elle, Callahan, Emmett, Vivienne, Warner, and Enid ("Whipped Into Shape"). Callahan tells the legal team that Brooke is accused of murdering her billionaire husband. At the jail, the legal team is unable to get Brooke to tell them her alibi and she refuses to plead guilty. Upon learning that they were both Delta Nu sisters, Brooke then privately tells Elle her alibi: Brooke was getting liposuction, which, if the public discovered, could destroy her fitness empire. She makes Elle promise not to tell anyone ("Delta Nu Nu Nu"). Because of Elle's loyalty to her client and refusal to state the alibi, Elle, and consequently Emmett, are shunned by the group. To cheer Emmett up and to increase his chances of impressing Callahan, Elle gives him a makeover ("Take It Like A Man").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Back at the salon, Elle is getting a manicure when Kyle, a sexy UPS courier, walks into the salon to deliver a package to Paulette. Paulette is in awe of Kyle, but her low self-confidence prevents her from making a move. When he leaves, Pilar, Serena, and Margot are summoned by Paulette's amazing "Bend and Snap" when picking up the package. The sorority girls tell Paulette to use the "Bend and Snap" dance move on Kyle to turn him on, but when she does, she accidentally breaks his nose ("Bend and Snap").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: At the trial, Brooke's pool boy Nikos claims to have been having an affair with Brooke, giving her a motive for murdering her husband. After doing the Bend and Snap in front of Nikos and getting no response, Elle suspects that Nikos is gay, although Callahan and her teammates are not convinced. Her colleagues posit that his perceived flamboyance might just be a cultural difference as Nikos is European. Emmett successfully makes Nikos slip and state that his boyfriend's name is Carlos, although Nikos claims that he misunderstood "boyfriend" for "best friend". Carlos, fed up with the closeted nature of his gay boyfriend, appears from the gallery and proclaims Nikos's homosexuality. Nikos confesses that he is indeed gay and European ("There! Right There! (Gay or European?)").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Later that night in Callahan's office, the interns celebrate Elle's skill. Warner finds problems with calling a finely tuned awareness of homosexuality a legal victory. Callahan, annoyed with Warner's behavior, sends Warner out of the room to fetch a coffee. Callahan dismisses Emmett and the other interns but requests Elle to remain for a few moments. Callahan forcibly kisses Elle, who slaps him. In turn, Callahan fires her. Warner and Vivienne both see the kiss through the door of the room. Warner turns away in anger, leaving Vivienne to be the only one to witness the slap. After Callahan leaves, Warner re-enters the office and mocks Elle, but Vivienne tells him to shut up and they both leave. A defeated Elle prepares to go home, despite Emmett asking her to stay, finally realizing that he is in love with her ("Legally Blonde").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Elle heads to the Hair Affair to say goodbye to Paulette, but before she can leave, Vivienne and Enid convince Elle otherwise. Elle discards her lawyerly navy suit, dons a pink dress and leads a parade back to the courtroom. They meet Kyle on the way, who has taken a liking to Paulette, and reveals himself to be Irish, prompting everyone present to Irish dance. Back at the trial, Brooke fires Callahan and hires Elle ("Legally Blonde Remix"). Brooke's stepdaughter Chutney goes to the witness stand and her testimony is damning, stating after she got out of the shower she saw Brooke covered in her father's blood. After Chutney states she received a perm the day of the murder, Elle realizes a flaw in Chutney's alibi and suggests that the entire court should be moved to the scene of the crime—the bathroom where the murder took place ("Scene of the Crime"). As a demonstration, Elle asks Paulette to give Enid a perm and asks Enid to step into the shower upon entering the crime scene. Relying on her knowledge of hair maintenance, Elle's demonstration is successful as Enid walks out of the shower with completely flattened hair—revealing that Chutney could not have possibly showered immediately after getting a perm because her perm was still intact. Under Elle's intense questioning, Chutney confesses that she killed her father, thinking that it was Brooke ("Omigod You Guys (Reprise)"). Chutney is arrested and Brooke is set free.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Warner proposes to Elle, having been dumped by Vivienne. Elle gently refuses, claiming to have been changed by the experience. Three years later, Elle ends up as the valedictorian of her class. Paulette tells the audience that Elle is not one to brag about her valedictorian status, so she decided to allow Paulette to play "Where Are They Now" during her speech. Paulette says that Enid practices family law, Vivienne is training for the Peace Corps, and Warner dropped out to pursue a modeling career. Callahan ran for governor but was defeated, and his wife hired Emmett to handle their divorce. Paulette married Kyle, had two kids and is pregnant with a third. They live in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Paulette bought a new salon ("Find My Way"). At the end of the graduation, Elle proposes to Emmett, who happily accepts ("Finale").


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: During its San Francisco run, the musical included a song called "Love and War", but during its transfer to Broadway, the song was replaced with what is now "Positive". Another predecessor to "Positive" was "Beacon of Positivity".


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The licensed orchestration follows the orchestration that was used in the West End production: three keyboards, bass, guitar, drums, percussion, two woodwind parts, two trumpets, trombone, and solo violin. The first keyboard part is played by the conductor. The bass part doubles on electric bass, double bass, fretless bass, and 5-string bass. The guitar doubles on electric, acoustic, nylon-string, Hollow Body archtop and 12-string guitars, as well as mandolin. The first woodwind part doubles on alto sax, flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe (optional), and English horn (optional); the second part doubles on flute, clarinet, and baritone sax. Both trumpets double on flugelhorn and the trombone doubles on tenor and bass trombones.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: This orchestration was originally used for the first United States national tour, without the violin and with slightly different reed doublings. The first reed player doubled on alto sax, clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe (optional), and English horn (optional); the second player doubled on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor and baritone sax, and pennywhistle.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: In addition to the licensed orchestration, the original Broadway production also had a French horn part, a viola and cello part, a second guitar, and had three woodwind parts instead of two. The first reed part doubled on alto sax, clarinet, flute, piccolo, and pennywhistle; the second part doubled on clarinet, flute, oboe, English horn, and tenor sax; the third doubled on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, and baritone sax.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Before going to Broadway, "Legally Blonde" did a short tryout at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre from January 23 to February 25, 2007, with an official opening on February 5. "Legally Blonde" later opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 29, 2007, following previews which began on April 3. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, with set design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller. The original Broadway cast included Laura Bell Bundy in the lead role of Elle Woods and featured Christian Borle, Orfeh, and Michael Rupert. The show received mixed reviews and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Leading Actress in a Musical, but did not win any.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The musical was filmed for television in front of a live audience on September 18, 2007, as well as two other dates where it was filmed without an audience. The three performances edited together were broadcast on MTV on October 13 and 14, 2007, with subsequent air dates on November 3 and 14, 2007. MTV's involvement with the musical continued with a reality show program called "", which aimed to cast the next actress to play Elle Woods on Broadway, replacing Laura Bell Bundy. The show was hosted by Haylie Duff and premiered on June 2, 2008, on MTV. The show ran for eight episodes. The focus was on the preparation and coaching of the contestants, as well as the auditions themselves. The competition was won by Bailey Hanks, age 20, from Anderson, South Carolina. The results were first aired on July 21, 2008, on MTV, and Hanks's debut as Elle Woods was on July 23. The runner-up, Autumn Hurlbert, also debuted on Broadway in this show as a sorority sister in Delta Nu, as well as serving as Hanks's understudy.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The production closed on October 19, 2008, after playing 30 previews and 595 regular performances. The run was considered a financial disappointment and failed to fully recoup its investment.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The first national tour started on September 21, 2008. Becky Gulsvig, who appeared in the ensemble of the original Broadway cast and understudied the role of Elle Woods, was featured as Elle Woods. Lauren Ashley Zakrin and Rhiannon Hansen, both finalists of the MTV reality show, appeared in the national tour. The original tour closed on August 15, 2010, in Vienna, Virginia, at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: A non-Equity tour launched in Jackson, Mississippi, on September 21, 2010. Nikki Bohne led the cast as Elle Woods, with Kahlil Joseph as Professor Callahan. The tour closed on May 15, 2011, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: It was announced through BroadwayWorld that the show will embark on a 2022 non-Equity US Tour was announced in early August and will begin performances in Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 14, 2022.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The West End production opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 13, 2010, following previews from December 5, 2009. The original London cast included Sheridan Smith in the lead role of Elle Woods, with Duncan James, Alex Gaumond, Jill Halfpenny and Peter Davison. In the London production, the lyrics to “Ireland” were changed.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: In October 2009, Sheridan Smith, with other cast members, recorded a pop video to the song "So Much Better". The West End cast of "Legally Blonde" performed a medley from the show at the BBC Television Centre on November 19, 2009, during the "Children in Need" telethon.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: "Legally Blonde" was the first West End show to offer a ticket lottery. The trend is popular on Broadway but had never been used for a West End production. The show had taken £2 million in advance sales before it officially opened. It extended its booking period from the earlier date of October 2011 until March 31, 2012.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Susan McFadden replaced Sheridan Smith as Elle on January 10, 2011. McFadden was later replaced by Carley Stenson on July 11, 2011. Other notable replacements included Richard Fleeshman and Ben Freeman as Warner, Denise van Outen and Natalie Casey as Paulette, Lee Mead and Stephen Ashfield as Emmett, Carley Stenson as Margot, and Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The West End show won three Laurence Olivier Awards on March 13, 2011: Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Sheridan Smith), and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Jill Halfpenny).


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The show closed in London on April 7, 2012, after 974 performances, significantly more than it played on Broadway.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The first UK tour began on July 8, 2011, at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. The cast included Faye Brooks as Elle, Dave Willetts as Professor Callahan, and Iwan Lewis as Emmett. Liz McClarnon initially played Paulette, followed by Claire Sweeney.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Following Willets, Professor Callahan was played by Matthew Kelly, and later Les Dennis, alongside Niki Evans as Paulette. Amy Lennox covered as Elle for the Aberdeen run of the tour, with Stephen Ashfield briefly reprising his role as Emmett just weeks after leaving the show in London. On July 17, 2012, Jennifer Ellison replaced Niki Evans as Paulette, and Gareth Gates replaced Ray Quinn as Warner.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The Australian production began previews in September 2012 at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney, before opening on October 4, 2012.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Lucy Durack played Elle Woods with Rob Mills as Warner, David Harris as Emmett, Erika Heynatz as Brooke Wyndham, and Helen Dallimore as Paulette, with Cameron Daddo returning to the Australian stage for the first time in 20 years to play Professor Callahan.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The production concluded its run at Melbourne's Princess Theatre on July 14, 2013. The show won five Helpmann Awards, including Best Musical.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: "Legally Blonde" has had international productions in South Korea, China, Malaysia, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Dominican Republic, Panama, New Zealand, and Germany.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: In Paris, France, a French-language production opened on May 17, 2012, at Le Palace. The show was a commercial flop and closed on June 10, 2012, after only three weeks because of the lack of spectators.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: A Hebrew-language production of "Legally Blonde" was planned to premiere in Israel in February 2020. The cast included Ania Bukstein as Elle Woods, Oz Zehavi as Emmett, Sassi Keshet as Professor Callahan, Hana Laszlo as Paulette, and Mei Finegold as Brooke.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: In April and May 2016, a production was presented at the Curve Theatre, Leicester. The cast included X-Factor finalist Lucie Jones cast as Elle Woods, Ian Kelsey as Callahan, Tupele Dorgu as Paulette, Jon Robyns as Emmett, and Danny Mac as Warner.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Throughout 2017 and 2018, the second national UK tour of Legally Blonde performed with a new cast. The first performance was at the Churchill Theatre from September 14 to 23, 2017, and its final performance was at the Palace Theatre on June 30, 2018. The cast included Lucie Jones as Elle Woods, David Barret as Emmet, Liam Doyle as Warner, Rita Simons as Paulette, Helen Petrovna as Brooke, and Laura Harrison as Vivienne.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: A London revival opened at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre from 13 May to 2 July 2022. It was directed by Lucy Moss and choreographed by Ellen Kane. It starred Courtney Bowman as Elle, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay as Emmett, Lauren Drew as Brooke, Vanessa Fisher as Vivienne, Isaac Hesketh as Margot, Nadine Higgin as Paulette, Alžbeta Matyšáková as Enid, Eugene McCoy as Callahan, Grace Mouat as Pilar, Alistair Toovey as Warner, and Hannah Yun Chamberlain as Serena. Hesketh was the first Trans Non-Binary Person to play Margot and Matyšáková was the first Trans Non-Binary person to play Enid in a professional production of the show, with the character of Enid having been changed to match Matyšáková Non-Binary identity.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The musical received mixed reviews but was praised for being a fun and upbeat production. Ben Brantley, reviewing the musical in "The New York Times", wrote that the show was a "high-energy, empty-calories, and expensive-looking hymn to the glories of girlishness". He praised Laura Bell Bundy, saying, "she sings and dances flawlessly, and she delivers silly lines as if she meant them." Clive Barnes, in his "New York Post" review, praised Heather Hach's book but criticized the "amorphous, synthetic, and maniacally empty-headed music", summarizing the show as "a pleasant if noisy night out". Elysa Gardner for "USA Today" wrote that the musical was an "ingratiating trifle", and the "game cast ensure that the proceedings, however patronizing, aren't irritating." Jeremy McCarter in "New York Magazine" lamented that the musical "doesn’t summon memories of Tracy Flick, the steely student-council campaigner that Reese Witherspoon played in "Election" before starring in "Legally Blonde"", writing that the "Flickish manic drive" in Witherspoon's "Legally Blonde" performance had been his favorite part of the film.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The West End production received mostly positive reviews. Benedict Nightingale in "The Times" wrote, "Let's overlook some forgettable tunes and welcome dance that embraces everything from skipping with ropes to spoof Riverdance. Let's relish the support both of a fake-Greek chorus dressed as cheerleaders and of two cute, unnaturally obedient dogs. Let's agree that "Legally Blonde" is, well, fun". Paul Taylor for "The Independent" called the show "Ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish."


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The show also received some negative criticism. Tim Walker wrote in "The Sunday Telegraph": "It is a great big empty vessel of a show that makes a lot of noise and not much else, and would have been better entitled 'Irredeemably Bland'. I was aware that for the whole of the two hours and 25 minutes that it ran, I was sitting among a group of people with vacant smiles on faces that otherwise seemed entirely numbed. That was how I looked, too. It is the expression that registers when what one is seeing doesn't entirely sync with what is going on in one's brain."


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: The Original Broadway Cast recording was recorded on May 7 and 8, 2007, and released on July 17, 2007, by Ghostlight Records (an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records). During the week of July 23, 2007, the cast album made its debut on Billboard's Cast Album chart, placing at #1, and it charted at #86 on the Billboard 200.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Before previews, a promotional sampler CD was released including "Omigod You Guys", "So Much Better", and "Take It Like a Man", featuring a slightly divergent cast, arrangement and lyrics of that of the final show's.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: During the development phase of the musical, a demo recording was released with twelve songs featuring Kerry Butler and others as Elle. The demo featured workshop versions of "There! Right There!" (labelled on the sampler as "Gay or European"), "Blood in the Water", "Omigod You Guys", "Serious", "What You Want", "Legally Blonde", "Legally Blonde Remix", "So Much Better", and "Take It Like a Man", in addition to two songs not present in the finalized version of the show: "Beacon of Positivity" (which became "Love and War" for the previews and eventually "Positive" for the finalized version of the show) and "Good Boy", a song in the place of "Ireland".


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: Bailey Hanks, who won the reality show "", recorded the song "So Much Better", which was released as a single on July 22, 2008.


title: Legally Blonde (musical)

text: A live London cast recording was recorded featuring Sheridan Smith, Alex Gaumond, and Duncan James in June 2010. It was released on August 16, 2010. The London Cast Recording used the same track listing as the Broadway Cast Recording, with bonus tracks "Kyle the Magnificent" and the curtain call music added to the digital download version.


title: The Lion Guard

text: The Lion Guard is an American animated television series developed by Ford Riley and based on Disney's 1994 film "The Lion King". The series was first broadcast with a television film titled The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar on Disney Channel on November 22, 2015, and began airing as a TV series on January 15, 2016, on Disney Junior. It is the second television series to be based on "The Lion King," the first being "Timon & Pumbaa". "The Lion Guard" is a sequel and spin-off to "The Lion King", and takes place during the time-gap within the 1998 film "", with the third and final season taking place in parallel with the film's second act, followed by the final two episodes of the series serving as an epilogue to the film.


title: The Lion Guard

text: The second season premiered on July 7, 2017, followed by the third on August 3, 2019, with the series finale airing on November 3 the same year.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Prince Kion is the son of King Simba and Queen Nala and the younger brother of Princess Kiara. As the second-born cub of the royal family, he is gifted with a power called the Roar of the Elders and becomes the leader of the Lion Guard, a team who protects the Pride Lands and defends the Circle of Life. Despite the tradition that the Lion Guard has always been made of lions, Kion appoints his friends Bunga the honey badger, Beshte the hippopotamus, Fuli the cheetah, and Ono the egret, and together, they set out to keep their homeland safe and protect it from animals who do not respect the Circle of Life.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Starting in season 2, the Lion Guard's mission becomes harder when Kion’s deceased great uncle Scar returns as a fiery spirit and plans to destroy the Pride Lands. Scar forms an army consisted of animals from the Outlands. This eventually leads to an all-out battle between the Pridelanders and the Outlanders.


title: The Lion Guard

text: At the beginning of season 3, the Lion Guard have become teenagers and defeat Scar. They then leave the Pride Lands and travel out of Africa to get to the Tree of Life in Asia to cure Kion and Ono’s battle injuries. Kion's team also gets a new member, a martial eagle named Anga who replaces Ono's position as the keenest of sight after Ono temporarily loses his eyesight, while he gains a new position as the smartest.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Once reaching the Tree of Life, the Lion Guard assists in defending the haven from intruders together with the Night Pride, the group who protects the Tree of Life. After Kion and Ono are healed and their enemies are defeated, hyenas Jasiri and Janja come looking for them and alert them that Zira and her pride are back. The Lion Guard returns to the Pride Lands, only to find out that the conflict has already been settled. Zira's daughter, Vitani, has formed her own Lion Guard in their absence, causing an argument between them and Kion's Lion Guard. However, after seeing Vitani's confidence in becoming a leader even without the Roar, Kion allows Vitani's Lion Guard to succeed his Guard as defenders of the Pride Lands. Kion and his friends return to the Tree of Life where Kion marries the Night Pride’s leader, Queen Rani, and is crowned King of the Tree of Life with his family and friends attending.


title: The Lion Guard

text: The series was announced by Disney on June 9, 2014 on the run-up to the first film's 20th anniversary. Disney Junior general manager Nancy Kanter stated: "It's kind of like "The Lion King" meets "The Avengers."" The series' announcement came after a meeting between Kanter and Disney chief executive Robert Iger. Iger suggested to Kanter that Disney Junior should consider producing content to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Lion King" in 2014. Disney had shown early footage to young test audiences, who were able to make suggestions, such as adjusting the look of the hyenas. Disney Consumer Products launched a line of toys to tie into the television series, as well at book titles based on the series such as "Return of the Roar," "Can't-Wait to be Queen," "Bunga the Wise," "Meet the New Guard," "Fuli Finds Her Place," "Join the Lion Guard!" and "Kion's Animal Alphabet." A sneak peek of "The Lion Guard" was shown at the 2015 D23 Expo. On August 12, 2015, a sneak peek was shown, with new information that the television movie was scheduled to air in November 2015 to be titled "The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar." On October 9, 2015, it was announced that "Return of the Roar" would premiere on November 22, 2015, on Disney Channel.


title: The Lion Guard

text: On coming up with the idea, the series' creator and executive producer Ford Riley noted that at the end of "The Lion King" the presentation of Simba and Nala's newborn cub is seen. In "," it is revealed that the cub in question is Kiara and that she will be the future queen. Riley was interested in the idea of a second-born cub and what his role would be if Kiara is destined to become queen. Additionally, he was inspired by his 8-year-old son, who would visit the park with friends and pretend to be a superhero team.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Riley confirmed the timeline of the series; in "Simba's Pride" there is a years-long time gap, "The Lion Guard" takes place during the years in-between Kiara's first meeting with Kovu as a cub and her first hunt as an adult. Riley also noted the inclusion of Swahili into the series, which is used for names of characters, locations, songs and catchphrases.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Classic mythology is used as inspiration for the show. Riley stated "We want it to feel epic and so we're trying to draw from as many epics in classical literature and classical television in addition to ("The Lion King") itself." Riley noted that protecting the Circle of Life is the main theme of the series; "The animals who respect it don't eat too much, allow for the grass to grow, and larger animals to eat smaller animals. Our bad guys come from those that don't respect the Circle of Life. They just want to eat and wreak havoc."


title: The Lion Guard

text: In terms of giving "The Lion Guard" the same look as the original film, director Howy Parkins stated that they were mindful to keep the essence of "The Lion King." To that end, the crew did extensive research on the look of the backgrounds and characters and were able to obtain some original model sheets. In addition, Barry Atkinson and Mike Surrey, background painter and supervising animator for Timon on the original film respectively, were brought in to consult with the series' background artists, animators and storyboard artists.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Speaking on the show's educational aspect, Parkins stated that research was done on animals and habitats in the Serengeti, and that this information is woven into storylines without being overt.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Like its American counterpart, "Return of the Roar" premiered on November 22, 2015 on Disney Channel in Canada, while the series premiered on January 17, 2016 on Disney Junior, two days after its American premiere. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, "Return of the Roar" premiered on Disney Junior on February 8, 2016, while the series premiered on April 13, 2016. In Australia and New Zealand, the pilot debuted on February 6, 2016 and the series began airing on February 28, 2016 on Disney Junior. In Southeast Asia, the pilot premiered on March 20, 2016 on Disney Channel (April 11 on Disney Junior) and the series itself on April 17 on the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Max Nicholson from IGN gives the pilot episode score of 7.7, describing the special as "a fun-filled, if younger-skewing, hour television." He praised the pilot for introducing more of the "Lion King" lore, and also the animation, music, and performance of the new voice actors. However, he found Janja and his clan lacked the appeal to make a compelling villain.


title: The Lion Guard

text: Ed Power of "The Daily Telegraph" scored the pilot two stars out of five, labeling it a "Soggy, Sentimental throwback."


title: The Lion Guard

text: Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gives the series four out of five stars, stating "With its strong messages about courage, responsibility, and friendship, this series is a fun pick for kids, and parents who watch with their kids will enjoy seeing the original "The Lion King" gang -- including Timon, Pumbaa, and the eccentric Rafiki -- in cameos throughout the series."


title: The Lion Guard

text: A second soundtrack release entitled "The Lion Guard: Disney Junior Music" was released digitally on September 1, 2017.


title: Del Shannon

text: Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one "Billboard" hit "Runaway". In 1999, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, he also had minor acting roles.


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover on December 30, 1934, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Bert and Leone Mosher Westover, and grew up in nearby Coopersville. He learned to play the ukulele and guitar and listened to country-and-western music by artists such as Hank Williams, Hank Snow, and Lefty Frizzell. He was drafted into the Army in 1954 and, while in Germany, played guitar in a band called The Cool Flames. When his service ended, he returned to Battle Creek, Michigan, and worked as a carpet salesman and as a truck driver for a furniture factory. He found part-time work as a rhythm guitarist in singer Doug DeMott's group, The Moonlight Ramblers, working at the Hi-Lo Club.


title: Del Shannon

text: When DeMott was fired in 1958 for drunkenness, Westover took over as leader and singer, giving himself the name Charlie Johnson and renaming the band the Big Little Show Band. In early 1959 he added the keyboardist Max Crook, who played an instrument he called a Musitron (an early synthesizer of Crook's own invention, though modeled on the commercially released Clavioline). Crook had made recordings, and he persuaded Ann Arbor disc jockey Ollie McLaughlin to listen to the band. McLaughlin took the group's demos to Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik of Talent Artists in Detroit. In July 1960, Westover and Crook signed to become recording artists and composers for Bigtop Records. Balk suggested Westover use a new name, and they came up with "Del Shannon", combining Mark Shannon—a wrestling pseudonym used by a regular at the Hi-Lo Club—with Del, derived from the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, his favorite car.


title: Del Shannon

text: He flew to New York City, but his first sessions were not successful. McLaughlin then persuaded Shannon and Crook to rewrite and re-record one of their earlier songs, originally called "Little Runaway", using the Musitron as lead instrument. On January 21, 1961, they recorded "Runaway", which was released as a single in February 1961, reaching number 1 on the "Billboard" chart in April. Shannon followed with "Hats Off to Larry", which peaked at number 5 on the "Billboard" chart and number 2 on the "Cashbox" chart in 1961, and the less popular "So Long, Baby", another song of breakup bitterness. "Runaway" and "Hats Off to Larry" were recorded in a day. "Little Town Flirt", in 1962 (with Bob Babbitt), reached number 12 in 1963, as did the album of the same title. After these hits, Shannon was unable to keep his momentum in the U.S. but had continued success in the United Kingdom, where he had always been more popular. In 1963, he became the first American to record a cover version of a song by the Beatles: his version of "From Me to You" charted in the U.S. before the Beatles' version.


title: Del Shannon

text: By August 1963, Shannon's relationship with his managers and Bigtop had soured, so he formed his own label, Berlee Records, named after his parents, distributed by Diamond Records. Two singles were issued: the apparently Four Seasons-inspired "Sue's Gotta Be Mine" was a moderate hit, reaching number 71 in the U.S. and number 21 in the UK (where Shannon's records continued on the London Records label). The second single, "That's the Way Love Is", did not chart, and Shannon patched things up with his managers soon after. In early 1964, he was placed on Amy Records' (Stateside label in the UK), and the Berlee label disappeared.


title: Del Shannon

text: He returned to the charts immediately with "Handy Man" (a 1960 hit by Jimmy Jones), "Do You Wanna Dance?" (a 1958 hit by Bobby Freeman), and two originals, "Keep Searchin'" (number 3 in the UK; number 9 in the U.S.), and "Stranger in Town" (number 40 in the UK). In late 1964, Shannon produced a demo recording session for a young fellow Michigander named Bob Seger, who would go on to stardom much later. Shannon gave acetates of the session to Dick Clark (he had performed in one of Clark's tours, in 1965) and, by 1966, Seger was recording for Philadelphia's famed Cameo Records, resulting in some regional hits, which eventually led to a deal with a major label, Capitol Records. Also in late 1964, Shannon paid tribute to one of his own musical idols with "Del Shannon Sings Hank Williams" (Amy Records 8004). The album was recorded in hard-core country honky-tonk style, and no singles were released. Shannon opened for Ike and Tina Turner at Dave Hull's Hullabaloo club in Los Angeles, California, on December 22, 1965.


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon signed with Liberty in 1966 and revived Toni Fisher's "The Big Hurt" and the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb". Peter and Gordon released his song "I Go to Pieces" in 1965. Shannon also discovered the country singer Johnny Carver, who was then working in the Los Angeles area. He got Carver a contract with Liberty Records' subsidiary Imperial Records, writing, producing and arranging both sides of Carver's debut single, "One Way or the Other"/"Think About Her All the Time". Carver went on to have nearly 20 hits on the country chart during the late 1960s and 1970s. The liner notes to his debut album for Imperial acknowledge Shannon's role in bringing him to the label.


title: Del Shannon

text: In the late 1960s, not having charted for several years, Shannon turned to production. In 1969, he discovered the band Smith and arranged their hit "Baby, It's You", which had been a hit for the Shirelles in 1962. In 1970, he produced Brian Hyland's million-seller "Gypsy Woman", a cover version of the hit by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions.


title: Del Shannon

text: During Shannon's tenure at Liberty Records, success on a national scale eluded him, but he did have several regional U.S. chart hits with "The Big Hurt", "Under My Thumb", "She", "Led Along" and "Runaway" (1967 version). That version (recorded in England and produced by Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham) also did well on the Canadian and Australian pop charts. In early 1967 Shannon recorded the album "Home and Away" in England, with Oldham at the helm. Intended by Oldham as the British answer to "Pet Sounds", "Home and Away" was shelved by Liberty Records, although a handful of singles were issued. It was not until 1978 that all of the tracks were eventually issued (with three unrelated tracks) on a British album, "And the Music Plays On". In 1991, all of the tracks were released in the United States as part of the CD "Del Shannon; The Liberty Years". In 2006, 39 years after it was recorded, "Home and Away" was finally released as a stand-alone collection by EMI Records in the UK. This CD collected the 11 original tracks in stereo and five singles (released in the U.S., the UK and the Philippines) in their original monaural mixes.


title: Del Shannon

text: In September 1967, Shannon began laying down the tracks for "The Further Adventures of Charles Westover", which was highly regarded by fans and critics alike despite disappointing sales. The album yielded two 1968 singles, "Thinkin' It Over" and "Gemini". In October 1968, Liberty Records released their tenth (in the United States) and final Shannon single, a cover of Dee Clark's 1961 hit "Raindrops". This brought to a close a commercially disappointing period in Shannon's career. In 1972, he signed with United Artists and recorded "Live in England", released in June 1973. Reviewer Chris Martin critiqued the album favourably, saying that Shannon never improvised, was always true to the original sounds of his music and that only Lou Christie rivaled his falsetto. In April 1975, he signed with Island Records.


title: Del Shannon

text: After he and his manager jointly sought back royalties for Shannon, Bug Music was founded in 1975 to administer his songs. By 2011, when Bug was acquired by BMG Rights Management, its catalogue had grown to include 250,000 compositions.


title: Del Shannon

text: A 1976 article on Shannon's concert at the Roxy Theatre described the singer as "personal, pure and simple rock 'n' roll, dated but gratifyingly undiluted." Shannon sang some of his new rock songs along with classics like "Endless Sleep" and "The Big Hurt". The "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "Shannon's haunting vignettes of heartbreak and restlessness contain something of a cosmic undercurrent which has the protagonist tragically doomed to a bleak, shadowy struggle."


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon's career slowed down greatly in the 1970s, owing in part to his alcoholism. The Welsh rock singer Dave Edmunds produced the single "And the Music Plays On" in 1974. In 1978 Shannon stopped drinking and began work on "Sea of Love", released in 1982 on his album "Drop Down and Get Me", produced by Tom Petty. The album took two years to record and featured Petty's band, the Heartbreakers, backing Shannon. However, RSO Records, to which Shannon was signed, folded. Further work on the LP was done for Network Records (distributed by Elektra Records). Seven songs are Shannon originals with covers of songs recorded by the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones, and Frankie Ford, along with "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips. It was Shannon's first album in eight years.


title: Del Shannon

text: In February 1982, Shannon appeared at the Bottom Line. He performed pop-rock tunes and old hits. Stephen Holden, a reviewer for "The New York Times", described an "easygoing pop-country" style. On "Runaway" and "Keep Searchin'", Shannon and his band rediscovered the sound "in which his keen falsetto played off against airy organ obbligatos." In the 1980s, Shannon performed "competent but mundane country-rock". In 1986 he had a top-ten hit as a songwriter when the pop-country singer Juice Newton released her cover of Shannon's "Cheap Love" as a single, which reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot Country chart.


title: Del Shannon

text: In 1986, Luis Cardenas, the drummer for the band Renegade, made his version of Shannon's hit "Runaway". The video for the song featured stop-animation dinosaurs, in which Shannon made a cameo appearance as a police officer.


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon had a resurgence of popularity after re-recording "Runaway" with new lyrics as the theme for the NBC-TV program "Crime Story". In 1988, Shannon sang "The World We Know" with the Smithereens on their album "Green Thoughts". Two years later, he recorded with Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra, and there were rumors he would join the Traveling Wilburys after the death of Roy Orbison. Previously, in 1975, Shannon had recorded tracks with Lynne, along with "In My Arms Again", a country song he wrote and recorded for Warner Bros. Records, which had signed Shannon in 1984.


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon committed suicide, shooting himself with a .22 caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California, on February 8, 1990. He was 55, and had been suffering from depression in the years leading up to his death. Shannon was cremated, and his ashes were scattered.


title: Del Shannon

text: Following his death, the Traveling Wilburys honored him by recording a version of "Runaway". Jeff Lynne also co-produced Shannon's posthumous album, "Rock On", released by Silvertone Records in 1991.


title: Del Shannon

text: Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Del Shannon was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.


title: Del Shannon

text: A Del Shannon Memorial Scholarship Fund was set up following Shannon's death. Coopersville, Michigan, also holds an annual Del Shannon Car Show.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis). They performed under the name "The Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the name "Legion of Doom" (LOD) in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing wrestlers in face paint. For brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke "Power Warrior" Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately and together, while in WWE were joined by Ahmed Johnson and Droz in the 1990s and Heidenreich in the 2000s. The team also had three managers: Sunny in the 1990s, Christy Hemme in the 2000s, and Paul Ellering, the manager associated with the original team.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Hawk and Animal were known for their impressive physiques, as their physical size was larger than most wrestlers of the era. Their face paint and spiked armor were inspired by the Mad Max film "The Road Warrior"; they were the first wrestlers to bring a theme from a movie into the wrestling world. They also introduced a tandem maneuver known as the Doomsday Device. Both men used the move as a team finisher throughout their careers, even when teaming with other partners.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The duo headlined multiple events including Survivor Series in 1991 and , and are regarded by many as the greatest tag team in professional wrestling history. The Road Warriors became the subject of the second season of the Canadian docuseries, "Dark Side of the Ring".


title: The Road Warriors

text: Joe Laurinaitis had briefly competed as the Road Warrior before Ole Anderson paired him up with Mike Hegstrand to form the Road Warriors in 1983. They were initially brought into "Precious" Paul Ellering's stable as a replacement for his team of Matt Borne and Arn Anderson after Borne was fired from the company. After a few months of rapid success, the Road Warriors dumped Ellering as manager, claiming that they did not need a manager. This was short-lived, as in early 1984, they and "Precious" Paul Ellering formed a stable called The Legion of Doom in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory. The group consisted of the Road Warriors, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, & The Spoiler. The stable was short-lived and the name "Legion of Doom" soon referred only to the Road Warriors and Ellering with either name used interchangeably throughout their career. Animal reveals in the "Road Warriors: The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History" DVD set that the name "Legion of Doom" was taken from the "Super Friends" cartoon.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors' high-impact powerhouse style and unique attire quickly got them noticed by fans and dreaded by opponents, so much so that some wrestlers would grab their bag and leave the arena when they saw they were scheduled to face the Road Warriors. In Georgia, the team quickly rose to the top despite being very young and having not undergone the traditional "paying dues" period simply because they were so believable in their role. They gained a reputation for being very stiff and not selling simply because they could, and most of their matches ended quickly as a result. They won the NWA National Tag Team Championship upon their debut, a title they would win three more times while in Georgia.


title: The Road Warriors

text: In 1984, the Road Warriors moved on to Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) along with their manager Paul Ellering. On August 25, 1984, they defeated The Crusher and Baron von Raschke for the AWA World Tag Team Championship. The Road Warriors were brought in by Gagne to work as heels, but their squash matches soon won over fans. They became the AWA's top draw throughout 1984 and 1985, feuding primarily with The Fabulous Ones and later The Fabulous Freebirds. The Warriors then began splitting their time between the AWA and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) where they started feuding with NWA World tag team champions The Russians, all while still holding the AWA belts, The AWA and various NWA members were co-promoting cards at the time, in an effort to compete with the World Wrestling Federation. Hawk and Animal eventually lost the AWA title to Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal on September 29, 1985, due to the interference of the Freebirds. The Road Warriors' last appearance in the AWA was on April 20, 1986 at WrestleRock where they defeated the team of Garvin and Michael Hayes in a steel cage match.


title: The Road Warriors

text: During their AWA stint the team became well known for using the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" as their entrance theme.


title: The Road Warriors

text: In March 1985, the Road Warriors began touring Japan, mainly with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) where they made an immediate impact squashing the monster team of Killer Khan and Animal Hamaguchi in under 4 minutes. This and subsequent dominant victories garnered the Road Warriors a lot of Japanese wrestling media headlines and front-page stories. Their tours with AJPW in 1985 and 1986 made the Road Warriors such legends in Japan that they toured the country whenever they were “between contracts” of the big three.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors won the NWA International Tag Team Championship on March 12, 1987 from Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu and would hold them for 15 months before losing them to PWF World Tag Team champions Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu to unify the titles as the AJPW World Tag Team titles, making the Road Warriors the last defending champions of the NWA International Tag Team titles. Their last match in Japan during this period was on July 22, 1990, for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), losing to Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh by disqualification.


title: The Road Warriors

text: On April 19, 1986, The Road Warriors won the inaugural Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament by beating Ron Garvin and Magnum T. A. in the finals. Building upon their rapid push, Hawk and Animal were featured attractions of The Great American Bash 1986 tour where they were matched against Ivan and Nikita Koloff as well as the Midnight Express. At Starrcade '86, the Road Warriors were featured in a Scaffold Match, defeating the Midnight Express.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Warriors joined forces with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff in a bloody feud with The Four Horsemen. During the 1987 Great American Bash, the rival sides faced off in the first ever WarGames match. The Road Warriors were on the winning side of War Games both matches that summer taking their feud with the Horsemen to Starrcade '87, where they lost by disqualification to Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson. The Road Warriors also picked up the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship twice alongside Dusty Rhodes. The Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) where the Road Warriors finally met their equal physically, but the angle ended when the Powers of Pain left JCP after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches that they were supposed to lose.


title: The Road Warriors

text: In 1988, Hawk and Animal turned heel, attacking substitute partner Sting during a defense of the Six-Man championship. They finally won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on October 29, 1988 in New Orleans, Louisiana at a house show against the Midnight Express, In November of that year the Road Warriors played a role in ending Dusty Rhodes' tenure as head booker for the promotion. During the November 26 episode of "World Championship Wrestling", which was under strict instructions from TBS television executives prohibiting blading, the Road Warriors attacked Rhodes, removed a spike from their shoulder pads, and attempted to gouge his eye out. Rhodes was fired for that episode shortly after Starrcade '88. Before Rhodes was fired, Animal beat him at the "Clash of the Champions", so the Road Warriors were allowed to pick a new partner to hold the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team titles; they picked AJPW superstar Genichiro Tenryu but the titles were quickly abandoned.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors quickly turned face yet again due to overwhelming fan support no matter how brutal or violent they were. Their World Tag Team title reign came to an end when they faced The Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) on April 2, 1989. The title change was a controversial one as referee Teddy Long performed an excessively fast count. Long would be fired from his job due to the count but the titles were not returned to the Road Warriors. Hawk and Animal would spend the rest of their tenure in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (as JCP became known after being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System in 1988) feuding with teams like The Samoan Swat Team and The Skyscrapers. Their last big wins in WCW came when they defeated three other teams (including the red hot Steiner Brothers) to win the "Ironman Tag Team Tournament" at Starrcade 1989 “Future Shock” (The Steiners actually defeated the Warriors by pinfall in their match, but the Warriors won the round robin style tournament on a point system basis.) and over The Skyscrapers in a Chicago Street Fight at WrestleWar '90: Wild Thing.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors made their last WCW pay-per-view appearance on May 19, 1990 at Capital Combat where they teamed with Norman “The Lunatic” against Kevin Sullivan, Cactus Jack and Bam Bam Bigelow in a match that was cut from the commercial tape of the event. They left WCW in June 1990 due to heat with then-WCW head Jim Herd according to Animal on their WWE produced DVD.


title: The Road Warriors

text: When Hawk and Animal signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in June 1990, Vince McMahon retired the Road Warriors moniker, since at the time there were other wrestlers with "warrior" in their names, such as The Ultimate Warrior and Kerry Von Erich "The Modern Day Warrior". They both made their TV debuts on the July 15, 1990 episode of "Wrestling Challenge". In the WWF the team would be known only as the "Legion of Doom". Despite the altered team name, they were still individually introduced as "Road Warrior" Hawk and "Road Warrior" Animal.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Hawk and Animal immediately entered into a feud with Demolition, the team McMahon had supposedly created in their likeness three years earlier, which led into a televised six-man tag-team match where Hawk and Animal teamed up with WWF World Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Warrior against all three members of Demolition. Bill Eadie (Ax) was having health issues and an agreement was made to phase him out and eventually replace him with Crush (Brian Adams), while Barry Darsow continued in his role of Smash. Ax was moved into a role as manager for the team with the hope of taking a front office position, which eventually fell through. The Legion of Doom / Demolition feud did not have the expected intensity because of the change and LOD soon set their sights on the tag team titles. At SummerSlam 1991 in Madison Square Garden, the Legion of Doom defeated The Nasty Boys in a no DQ street fight to win the World Tag Team Championship, becoming the only team to win world tag titles in all three of the top promotions of the 1980s. Hawk and Animal would eventually lose the titles to Money Inc. (IRS (Mike Rotunda) and Ted DiBiase) on February 7, 1992 after which they briefly left the promotion.


title: The Road Warriors

text: LOD would return a short time later with their original manager Paul Ellering at WrestleMania VIII. The team later incorporated a ventriloquist dummy called "Rocco" (Originally introduced as "Freckles" in front of a live crowd at a WWF TV Taping, the segment bombed so badly that it never aired) which served as their “inspiration”, but this gimmick was short-lived. Hegstrand left the company in disgust with the Rocco gimmick immediately after SummerSlam 1992 at the Wembley Stadium where LOD rode to the ring on motorbikes in front of over 80,000 fans. He then went AWOL in London after the event with John Nord (The Berzerker) and missed the flight back to the U.S., while Laurinaitis stuck around and finished the team's contractual obligations with former Demolition member Crush (now repackaged from his Demolition character to being a face, becoming a tanned muscle guy from the beaches of his native Hawaii) replacing Hawk on house shows in Europe in mid September 1992, after Hawk left the WWF. Crush and Animal teamed to defeat The Beverly Brothers five times and Kato and Skinner once. Paul Ellering also joined Crush and Animal in some six man tag team matches. When the newly formed team returned to North America, Animal and Crush both started wrestling singles matches and the team was no more. Shortly after Animal then left the WWF, because an injury to his back forced him into a lengthy hiatus.


title: The Road Warriors

text: When Hawk left the WWF after SummerSlam 1992 he traveled to Japan and started working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he quickly teamed up with young mid-carder Kensuke Sasaki who was soon dubbed "Power Warrior" as he adopted the trademark Road Warrior face paint and spiked shoulder pads. The duo was dubbed "The Hell Raisers" and carried on the legacy of the Road Warriors in NJPW winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Tony Halme and Scott Norton in December 1992 and then again from the team of Scott Norton and Hercules (known as the Jurassic Powers) in January 1994. They also competed in both the 1993 and 1994 versions of the Super Grade Tag league making it to the semi finals of the 1994 tournament before losing to Masahiro Chono and Super Strong Machine.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Teaming with Hawk (or Hawk Warrior as he was called) helped elevate Kensuke Sasaki in the eyes of the fans, so much so that when the Hell Raisers broke up in the middle of 1995, Sasaki shed the Power Warrior gimmick and became a main eventer on the singles scene. On special occasions, Sasaki would break out the "Power Warrior" persona, similar to Keiji Mutoh and his "Great Muta" persona. During this stint, they used the theme song "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne. When Animal came back from his back injury, he joined the duo in Japan in 1996. The three were announced collectively as the Road Warriors, using "Iron Man" as their theme music.


title: The Road Warriors

text: When Laurinaitis’ back was finally healed enough for him to return to wrestling, the Road Warriors signed a contract with WCW in late 1995. Upon their return in January 1996, immediately started a feud with the returning Steiner Brothers, as well as Harlem Heat before moving on to challenging the WCW Tag Team Champions Sting and Lex Luger. The Road Warriors had several shots at the champions but failed to win the titles.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Hegstrand and Laurinaitis stayed with WCW for about six months, before leaving over a dispute with Eric Bischoff. The pair made claims that Bischoff promised them a second-highest paid contract, as well as a separate contract from Japan, something which he denies remembering.


title: The Road Warriors

text: After leaving WCW, the duo took various independent bookings both in the U.S. and Japan before signing with the WWF, making their surprise return on the February 24, 1997 edition of "Monday Night Raw" where they destroyed the Headbangers, despite both teams being counted out. The Legion of Doom then went on to team with Ahmed Johnson to face Faarooq, Crush, and Savio Vega of the Nation of Domination in a Street Fight at Wrestlemania 13 in their home town of Chicago. After defeating The Nation, they went on to perform the Doomsday Device on the team of PG 13. Before the match, Ahmed was given special shoulder pads like the LOD wear, however they were never returned due to Hawk giving them to Johnson. The Legion of Doom would be heavily involved in the feud with the Hart Foundation siding with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock and Goldust at . The Legion of Doom also became 2-time WWF tag team champions on October 13, 1997 when they defeated The Godwinns. In November 1997, the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and lost the titles to the upstart team.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Legion of Doom would challenge the Outlaws several times in the next couple of months but could not win the gold. On one episode of Raw, the Outlaws shaved the head of Road Warrior Hawk and were beaten down further by DX. On February 23, 1998, on "Raw", the Legion of Doom seemed to have won the Tag Team titles back when they hit the Doomsday Device, but as Animal went for the pin, the referee was distracted by Hawk's celebration, allowing the Outlaws to take advantage and win the match. After the match, the Legion of Doom brawled with one another out of frustration and weren't seen on WWE television after that, indicating that the team was disbanded for good.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Hawk and Animal next appeared as Legion of Doom 2000, billed as an updated version of the Road Warriors “for the new millennium”, at WrestleMania XIV during a tag team Battle Royal. The duo sported a new look, including new shoulder pads and helmets (the helmets wouldn't last long, as Hawk got rid of his by throwing it to the crowd) and a new manager in Sunny. LOD 2000 won the battle royal and earned a shot at the tag team titles, but did not manage to win the gold.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Sunny soon left the team and Droz, then known as Puke (Darren Drozdov, a former defensive end for the Denver Broncos who earned the name Puke when caught vomiting on "Monday Night Football"), started to accompany them to the ring. At the same time, Paul Ellering returned, but sided with the Disciples of Apocalypse (DOA), whom LOD were feuding with at the time; Ellering and Animal explained on the DVD it was hard for them to rip on each other on promos. For the second time in the history of the Road Warriors they participated in a storyline where tension arose between the members, teasing a break up. In this storyline, Hawk was seen by his partner Animal as unfit to wrestle and Puke was tapped to take Hawk's place in the tag team as an official member. The angle played off Hegstrand's real life alcohol and drug issues, going so far as to faking a suicide jump off the top of the TitanTron. After the angle bombed and both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis voiced their objections to it, the angle was dropped. The Legion of Doom made a very brief return, first on the March 22, 1999 "Raw is War" by attacking Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco in a backstage skit after the two impersonated LOD in a handicap match against Shane McMahon, on the March 15, 1999 "Raw is War". Both LOD entered the pre-WrestleMania battle royal with the last two participants getting a tag team title shot later at WrestleMania XV but both came up short. They would make one final appearance on the March 29, 1999 "Raw" challenging Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett for the tag team titles but failed them; they left the WWF afterwards.


title: The Road Warriors

text: On May 2, 1999 they returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling to team with Johnny Ace as they defeated Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi, and Hakushi at the Giant Baba Memorial Show. Then they went to Australia winning the iGW Tag Team Titles against Public Enemy for i-Generation pay-per-view on June 30, 2000. They performed both as a team and individually.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Animal would return to World Championship Wrestling and competed solo in WCW in early 2001 before WWF bought the company in March 2001. Hegstrand dealt with his personal issues.


title: The Road Warriors

text: In 2001 they feuded with The Nasty Boys for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation. On June 22, 2002, performing for International Wrestling Superstars (IWS), Road Warriors Animal and Hawk defeated the Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the international tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors also appeared very briefly in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) during the early days of the promotion, saving America's Most Wanted, and debuting to what Jeremy Borash quoted as "A 1985 Road Warrior Pop".


title: The Road Warriors

text: Hegstrand and Laurinaitis became born-again Christians in 2001, and would later appear on Ted DiBiase's religion and wrestling shows in 2003. It was during this time that Hegstrand overcame his drug and alcohol addictions.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors' last US TV appearance as a team occurred on the May 12, 2003 "Raw" episode in a tag team match against the World Tag Team Champions, Rob Van Dam and Kane. The Road Warriors had hoped to get a full-time contract with WWE but nothing ever came of it.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Once again they returned to Japan competing in Fighting Of World Japan Pro-Wrestling defeating The Shane Twins for the Tag Team titles on March 1, 2003. They dropped the titles to the Twins three months later in their last televised appearance on June 29, 2003. Their last match was on October 3, 2003 in Oshawa, Ontario at a local church, defeating Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Buff Bagwell.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors last autograph appearance took place in Burton, MI on October 4th, 2003 with LWA Owner and Promoter, Steve Rau of Mid-Michigan. This event took place at Sharky's Sports Bar in Burton, MI. This event was to promote Steve Rau's show called the Legends of Wrestling. The show took place on November 1st, 2003 at the Birch Run Expo Center. Steve Rau re-arranged the Main Event of the night, that was to feature the Road Warriors versus the Powers of Pain, Barbarian and Warlord managed by Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart. Steve Rau received a phone call from Heath Santo, a wrestling writer from Ohio. Heath Santo told Steve Rau the news of Hawk's passing on October 19, 2003. Steve Rau went back to the WJRT ABC 12 TV studio in Flint, MI where they edited the television commercial. Steve Rau then announced that the Legends of Wrestling show was going to be a Hawk Tribute Show, the first of many that were to take place. Animal still came to the event, as the special guest referee. The Main Event was changed to The Powers of Pain versus Greg the Hammer Valentine and Brutus the Barber Beefcake. Animal was a special guest referee. At one point in the evening, Animal along with the other star studded roster came to the ring where Animal addressed the crowd and where a 10 bell salute was given.


title: The Road Warriors

text: Animal would later return to WWE in 2005, teaming with Heidenreich in a feud against the tag team MNM. At The Great American Bash on July 24, 2005, Animal and Heidenreich defeated MNM to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in a match personally dedicated by Animal to Hawk. After winning the titles Heidenreich changed his appearance, to a look that better suited the Legion of Doom image by shaving his hair into a mohawk and wearing face paint. On August 18, 2005, Heidenreich was officially made part of LOD and was presented with his own "Road Warrior spikes". Shortly after winning the tag team titles, Animal paid tribute to his late partner and friend by looking up to the heavens above and saying, "Hawk, this one's for you, brother!". During their feud with MNM, LOD were joined by Christy Hemme, who acted as a valet/manager for a short while. On the October 28, 2005 edition of "SmackDown!", LOD lost the tag team titles to MNM in a Fatal Four-Way tag match that also featured Paul Burchill and William Regal and The Mexicools (Super Crazy and Psicosis). A few months later, on January 17, 2006, Heidenreich was released from WWE. Animal continued to perform for WWE under his old persona, The Road Warrior, for a few months before he was also released.


title: The Road Warriors

text: On September 1, 2007, Road Warrior Animal appeared for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and teamed with Sasaki to form the Hell Warriors, with Animal being billed as "Animal Warrior" to match up with Sasaki's "Power Warrior" and Hawk's "Hawk Warrior" gimmick. The newly formed Hell Warriors defeated the team of "brother" YASSHI and Shuji Kondo. Their theme music was a megamix of "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath and "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne.


title: The Road Warriors

text: On May 11, 2008, The Hell Warriors wrestled in Toryumon Mexico's Dragon-Mania show. They defeated Damián el Terrible and Damián 666 to win the UWA World Tag Team Championship (not the same championship revived by El Dorado Wrestling).


title: The Road Warriors

text: On April 2, 2011, The Road Warriors, along with Paul Ellering, were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Dusty Rhodes. On February 13, 2014, Power Warrior announced his retirement from professional wrestling, ending The Hell Warriors' run.


title: The Road Warriors

text: The Road Warriors made appearances in the video games "WCW Wrestling", "WWF WrestleFest", "WWF European Rampage Tour", the SNES version of "WWF Super WrestleMania", "Legends of Wrestling", "Legends of Wrestling II", and "" as well as in the THQ wrestling games "WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain", "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw", "WWE Legends of WrestleMania", "WWE '12", "WWE '13", "WWE All Stars" and "RetroMania Wrestling"


title: Byron Allen

text: Byron Allen Folks (born April 22, 1961) is the founder of the U.S. entertainment company Entertainment Studios which includes The Weather Channel. He is also a television producer, philanthropist, and comedian in his younger years.


title: Byron Allen

text: Notable shows Allen hosted or co-hosted include: "Real People", "The Byron Allen Show", "Entertainers with Byron Allen", "Comics Unleashed" and "Kickin' It with Byron Allen". He is also the creator and executive producer of "Funny You Should Ask", which he appeared on frequently.


title: Byron Allen

text: Allen was born in Detroit, grew up there until 1968 when he moved with his mother after her divorce to Los Angeles. His interest in show business began during his childhood when he accompanied his mother, Carolyn Folks, to NBC Studios in Burbank (where she worked as a publicist).


title: Byron Allen

text: At age 14, Allen put together his first stand-up routine, and began appearing on amateur night at comedy clubs throughout the Los Angeles area. Allen attended high school at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and college at the University of Southern California.


title: Byron Allen

text: Comedian Jimmie Walker saw Allen's stand-up act and invited the 14-year-old comedian to join his comedy writing team alongside promising young comedians Jay Leno and David Letterman. At age 18, Allen made his television debut on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", becoming the youngest stand-up comedian on the show. One of his earliest roles was as a regular television presenter on the NBC series "Real People", joining the cast at the beginning of the second season.


title: Byron Allen

text: His show "Jammin"' was picked up as "Kickin' It with Byron Allen" in 1992, which ran for more than 21 seasons. Allen's foray into television production began in Los Angeles in 1993, when he founded Entertainment Studios with the launch of his first series "Entertainers with Byron Allen". It was a weekly, one-hour interview series profiling current stars of film and television.


title: Byron Allen

text: In 2018, Entertainment Studios acquired The Weather Channel from NBCUniversal, Bain Capital and Blackstone Inc.


title: Byron Allen

text: In 2019, he partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group in Diamond Sports Group to acquire the regional Fox Sports Networks, which The Walt Disney Company agreed to sell as a condition of its purchase of 21st Century Fox and Diamond Holding Group rebranded as Bally Sports.


title: Byron Allen

text: In February 2022, Allen made a bid to buy the Denver Broncos. Allen was ultimately outbid by S. Robson Walton.


title: Byron Allen

text: In 2018, Allen was selected for the Bloomberg 50 as one of "the people in business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology and science whose 2018 accomplishments were particularly noteworthy".


title: Byron Allen

text: He was also selected for the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at the Goldman Sachs Builders & Innovators Summit 2018, and he was honored by The Salvation Army and the Los Angeles Metropolitan advisory board at the Salvation Army's 11th annual Christmas Kettle luncheon.


title: Byron Allen

text: In January 2019, Allen was a recipient of National Association of Television Program Executives's 16th Annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards, presented during the annual NATPE Miami Marketplace & Conference. Allen received the 2019 Whitney Young Award at the 46th annual Los Angeles Urban League Awards dinner.


title: Byron Allen

text: Allen married TV producer Jennifer Lucas in 2007. The couple has three children. Allen is on the Motion Picture & Television Fund Board of Governors.


title: Althorp

text: Althorp ( ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of central London, situated between the villages of Great Brington and Harlestone. It has been held by the prominent aristocratic Spencer family for more than 500 years, and has been owned by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer since 1992. It was also the home of Lady Diana Spencer (later Princess of Wales) from her parents' divorce until her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales.


title: Althorp

text: Althorp is mentioned as a small hamlet in the Domesday Book as "Olletorp", and by 1377 it had become a village with a population of more than fifty people. By 1505 there were no longer any tenants living there, and in 1508, John Spencer purchased Althorp estate with the funds generated from his family's sheep-rearing business. Althorp became one of the prominent stately homes in England. The house dates to 1688, replacing an earlier house that was once visited by Charles I. The Spencer family amassed an extensive art collection and other valuable household items. During the 18th century, the house became a major cultural hub in England, and parties were regularly held, attracting many prominent members of Great Britain's ruling class. George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp between 1783 and his death in 1834, developed one of the largest private libraries in Europe at the palace, which grew to over 100,000 books by the 1830s. After falling on hard times, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, known as the Red Earl, in 1892 sold much of the collection to Enriqueta Rylands, who was building the University of Manchester Library. Many of Althorp's furnishings were sold off during the twentieth century, and between 1975 and 1992 alone approximately 20% of the contents were auctioned.


title: Althorp

text: The house at Althorp was a "classically beautiful" red brick Tudor building, but its appearance was radically altered, starting in 1788, when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, encasing the brick, and four Corinthian pilasters were added to the front. The grand hall entrance to the house, Wootton Hall, was cited by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the noblest Georgian room in the county". The Great Dining Room in the east wing extension of the house was added in 1877 to designs by John Macvicar Anderson, its walls hung with faded, red damask silk. Numerous fireplaces and furnishings were brought to Althorp from Spencer House in London during the Blitz for safekeeping and still remain. The Picture Gallery stretches for on the first floor of the west wing, and is one of the best remaining examples of the original Tudor oak woodwork and ambiance in the mansion. It has an extensive collection of portraits, including Anthony van Dyck's "War and Peace", a John de Critz portrait of James I, a Mary Beale portrait of Charles II, and many others. Some £2 million was spent on redecorating the palace in the 1980s, during which time most of the religious paintings of Althorp were sold off.


title: Althorp

text: In total, the grounds of Althorp estate contain 28 listed buildings and structures, including nine planting stones. The former falconry, now a Grade I listed building, was built in 1613. Gardener's House is listed as a Grade II* listed building in its own right, as are the Grade II listed West and East Lodges. The mustard-yellow Grade II listed Stable Block, designed by architect Roger Morris with a Palladian influence, was ordered by Charles, Fifth Earl of Sunderland in the early 1730s. The French landscape architect André Le Nôtre was commissioned to lay out the park and grounds in the 1660s, and further alterations were made during the late 18th century under Henry Holland. Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, she was interred on a small island in the middle of the ornamental Round Oval lake. A Doric-style temple with Diana's name inscribed on top, situated across from the lake, is a tourist attraction during July and August when the house and estate are open to the public, although the exhibition centre, situated in the old stable block, closed permanently in 2013.


title: Althorp

text: A manor existed at Althorp in medieval times. It was referred to in the Domesday Book as "Olletorp", meaning Olla's Thorp, believed to refer to a medieval lord named Olla. Thorp is a word of Scandinavian origin, which would have been pronounced as "throop" or "thrupp", and in Danish probably meant "daughter's settlement". In the 13th and 15th centuries it was recorded as "Holtropp" and "Aldrop", although when the estate was bought by John Spencer in 1508 it began being referred to as "Oldthorpe".


title: Althorp

text: The name today is properly pronounced as "Awltrupp", which is not officially recognised on paper and by the media. The current owner, Charles Spencer, noted that none of his family refer to it as Althorp, and that his father insisted on pronouncing it "Awl-trupp". When he assumed ownership in 1992, the BBC Pronunciation Department contacted him and the current "Awl-thorp" was agreed upon.


title: Althorp

text: A hamlet named Althorp existed here in medieval times, believed to have been situated on the southwest side of the park, east of West Lodge. It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of ten at the time, and being part of the parish of Brington. It was officially designated as an "extra parochial district" for centuries under the New Bottle Grove Hundred of Brington, but by 1874 it was being cited as an independent civil parish. 21 residents were documented in 1327, and in 1377 fifty people were reported to have paid Poll Tax over the age of 14. During the 15th century the population of the village diminished, and in 1505 there were no longer any tenants living there. By 1577 most of the land was converted into four substantial sheep pastures.


title: Althorp

text: In 1469 John Spencer's uncle – also named John Spencer – had become feoffee (feudal lord) of Wormleighton in Warwickshire and a tenant at Althorp in Northamptonshire in 1486. The family's administration of their Northamptonshire and Warwickshire estates gained them admiration and a following throughout England, and their sheep-rearing business earned large profits. After beginning construction of Wormleighton Manor the previous year with some 60 relatives, John Spencer bought Althorp in 1508 for £800 from the Catesby family. At the time Spencer was also lord of the manors of Fenny Compton, Stoneton, Nobottle, Great Brington, Little Brington, Harlestone, Glassthorpe, Flore, Wicken, Wyke Hamon, Upper Boddington, Lower Boddington and Hinton, and owned numerous other properties. The park took some four years to establish, with 300 acres of grassland, 100 acres of woodland and 40 acres of water.


title: Althorp

text: When John Spencer died in 1522, he passed the estate to his youngest son, Sir William Spencer, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who held it until his death in 1532. Only a boy at the time of William's death, his son John Spencer inherited Althorp and held it until his death in 1586, when he passed it to his son, also John, who died in 1600. John's son, Robert, was created the 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton on 21 July 1603. Anne of Denmark and Prince Henry came to Althorp on 25 June 1603 from Dingley Hall on their way to Windsor from Edinburgh. She was welcomed by an entertainment scripted by Ben Jonson in which the Fairy Queen Mab gave her a jewel. Lady Anne Clifford described the "infinite number of lords of ladies" who came to see the new queen on Sunday. On Monday, she moved on to Easton Neston.


title: Althorp

text: King Charles I is documented to have visited Althorp during his reign. The drawing room was built and the main hall enlarged for the occasion, with £1,300 spent on the banquet, an exorbitant sum for the period. Upon Robert Spencer's death in 1627 Althorp devolved to William Spencer, 2nd Baron Spencer of Wormleighton who held it until his death in 1636. William's eldest son, Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, known as The Lord Spencer between 1636 and June 1643, fought in the Battle of Edgehill in 1642 and was rewarded for his services on 8 June 1643 when the title of Earl of Sunderland was bestowed upon him, although the title cost him £3,000. He then fought in the siege of Gloucester in August 1643 and the First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643, where he was killed, aged 23, by a cannonball.


title: Althorp

text: Following Henry's death, the estate passed to his eldest son Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, just two years of age at the time. Cosimo III visited Althorp in 1669, documenting it in his "Travels of Cosmo III. Grand Duke of Tuscany, through England, in 1669". Robert built the current house in 1688 and made a series of changes to Althorp park. However, Robert's bad temper and his reputation as a ruthless advocate of absolute monarchy made him numerous enemies, and he was forced to leave the country and flee to the Netherlands the same year. He later underwent a political rehabilitation, becoming Lord Chamberlain of the Household in April 1697 and Lord Justice for a short period before retiring from public life in December of that year, after which he lived a secluded life at Althorp until his death in 1702. Robert passed Althorp to his son, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, who held it for twenty years. Described by John Evelyn as "a youth of extraordinary hopes," Charles inherited his father's passion for intrigue and repellent manners, and from his early years he had a great love of books, spending his leisure and his wealth in expanding the library at Althorp. Charles's second marriage to Anne Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough in 1700 was an important alliance for the Spencers and for his descendants; through it he was introduced to political life, and later the dukedom of Marlborough came to the Spencers. In 1722 he was implicated in what became known as the Atterbury Plot, to restore the House of Stuart, and his death was one of the factors which brought the Plot to light. Althorp was then occupied by his son Robert Spencer, 4th Earl of Sunderland, who died childless in 1729. As a result, his brother, Charles, became 5th Earl of Sunderland, and subsequently 3rd Duke of Marlborough after the death of his aunt, Henrietta Godolphin ("née" Churchill), 2nd Duchess of Marlborough. Charles later led the naval descent on the French coastal port of St Malo during the Seven Years' War, after passing Althorp to the 3rd Earl's son, John Spencer, in January 1733. John Spencer, along with Charles and Thomas Coram, William Hogarth and others, was involved in the charter of the Foundling Hospital. Upon his death in 1746, John passed his estates to his son John, only 12 years of age at the time, beneficiary to the greatest inheritance in the kingdom at the time with an income of almost £30,000 a year.


title: Althorp

text: John served as Member of Parliament for Warwick from 1756 to 1761. He was renowned for his heavy spending on his political pursuits and campaigns, "indulging in the fiercely competitive and heinously expensive business of fighting elections to Parliament – which effectively meant bribing people to vote for his candidate rather than that of another magnate". He spent £120,000 in one campaign alone and spent heavily on his estates, building Spencer House in London. He also wore expensive fashionable attire such as "diamond-buckled shoes". Althorp frequently hosted parties attended by the political and cultural elite, and it became known as a place of indulgence and festivities. At dinners and picnics in the gardens, John hired musicians to play French horns and organised unusual spectacles to entertain guests, such as a "Hooray Henry Olympics", as Charles Spencer calls it, with a donkey race for Lord Fordwick, dance competitions offering a guinea as the first prize, and sack races with the first prize of 30 shillings. The Christmas of 1755 was a grand affair. John celebrated his 21st birthday with a ball at the house on 20 December during which he secretly married 18-year-old Margaret Georgiana Poyntz; the couple did not inform anyone for several days. Around 5,000 guests were invited to a celebration party organised by the Spencers in a shed on the village green in the nearby village of Brington, consuming some 11,000 pints of beer. Althorp was "buzzing with activity", and France's top chefs were brought to Althorp to cater for the family and their guests during the week. He was created Baron Spencer of Althorp and Viscount Spencer by George III on 3 April 1761, and on 1 November 1765, he was given the title Viscount Althorp and made the first Earl Spencer. He was also High Steward of St Albans in 1772 and Mayor of St Albans in 1779. John's daughter, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was also known for her liberal spending, and although she became one of Britain's most prominent socialites in the late 18th century, with many political and literary connections, she suffered from a gambling addiction and had an eating disorder.


title: Althorp

text: John's son George John, 2nd Earl Spencer inherited Althorp after his father's death in 1783. He served as Whig MP for Northampton from 1780 to 1782 and for Surrey from 1782 to 1783 before accepting the title of 2nd Earl Spencer. He was later Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 under Lord Grenville in the Ministry of All the Talents. Extremely interested in literary pursuits, he developed one of the largest private libraries in Europe at Althorp. He was the instigator and first President of the Roxburghe Club (an exclusive bibliophilic club), founded in 1812, President of the Royal Institution from 1813 to 1827, and Commissioner of the Public Records in 1831, among other literary pursuits. In later life, his collecting habit had become an obsession, and he attempted to collect every volume ever published in Britain. Such was his desire to obtain as complete a collection as possible, that when Napoleon instigated the secularisation of religious houses in south Germany, Spencer used the local British agent and Benedictine monk, Alexander Horn to acquire many of their rare books and manuscripts. Althorp became a major cultural hub of England during his time; at one Christmas, the actor David Garrick, the historian Edward Gibbon, the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the painter Joshua Reynolds, among other artistic figures attended a party there together. However, George John's spending became problematic for the Spencers, especially as at the time they were feeling the impact of the agricultural depressions brought on by the Napoleonic Wars. By the time of his death in 1834 he had amassed a debt of £500,000, which he passed onto his son, John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer.


title: Althorp

text: The 3rd Earl became an active statesman, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1830 to 1834. Along with Lord John Russell, he led the fight to pass the Reform Bill of 1832, making more than twenty speeches, and is generally considered the architect of its victory. Despite his debts, in respect for his father, John managed to retain the massive book collection, and also continue to run the other Spencer houses at Wimbledon and Spencer House in London, as well as his farm in Wiseton and shooting retreat in Norfolk. He achieved this mainly by far less extravagant living, spending much of the year at Wiseton where the running costs were £1,200 compared with the £5,000 needed to run Althorp and pay the staff of 40 in the house. As a result, Althorp was largely abandoned during the late 1830s and early 1840s. John also leased out his lands and gardens and sold land in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, repaying all the debt by the time of his death in 1845, and beginning to run his properties at a profit. His son Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp from 1845 until his death in 1857, also retained the collection.


title: Althorp

text: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, known as the Red Earl, inherited Althorp in 1857. He served as a Liberal Party politician and was a close friend of British prime minister William Gladstone, who he served under in all four of his cabinets. Although politically successful, John fell into hard times financially and was forced to eventually sell much of the enormous library collection in 1892 to Enriqueta Rylands, who was building the University of Manchester Library. After dying childless in 1910, John passed Althorp to his half brother, Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, who served as Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912 in the Liberal administrations headed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith.


title: Althorp

text: Times became more difficult for the Spencers by the late 19th century, and many of their assets had to be sold off. Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer inherited the estate after his father Charles' death in 1922. Albert became a well-known art connoisseur and was a trustee of the Wallace Collection, chairman of the Royal School of Needlework, a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of Arts, and from 1961 until 1969 he was Chair of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Despite his keen interest in art, he began selling off paintings and other items to pay off debts. In the 1930s he was forced to sell off a small but immaculate Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII (now at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid) for £10,000 to finance his son's education. Although a large sum at the time, by 1998 it was reputed to be worth around £50 million. Unlike many country houses in Britain during the Second World War which were occupied by the military and converted into hospitals, training camps and barracks, Althorp Palace remained untouched, thanks to Albert who saw to it that they used the stables instead. A Wellington bomber crashed near the ice house during the war, killing all of its crew. Due to Spencer House being in a dangerous location in London during the Blitz, many of the pieces of furniture and items of the house were brought to Althorp for safekeeping, including numerous fireplaces and doors with curled "S" doorknobs, a signature of the Spencer family dating to the 18th century.


title: Althorp

text: The estate was first opened to the public in 1953 by Albert, to mitigate against taxation, and Althorp had its own railway station called Althorp Park on the Northampton Loop Line until 1960. After his death in 1975, Albert passed Althorp to his son Edward John, 8th Earl Spencer, who had served as Equerry to King George VI (1950–52) and to Queen Elizabeth II (1952–54). Edward was a wine connoisseur and had an extensive wine cellar at Althorp. He made his own wine and attracted fellow connoisseurs from around the world to Althorp, although he did not sell much of it. During Edward's ownership of Althorp approximately 20% of the furnishings of Althorp were sold off. The divestment included eleven Van Dykes and nearly every religious painting in the collection, as well as estate housing, and drew severe public criticism, including from the heir.


title: Althorp

text: Edward left the estate to his son, the current owner Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, after his death in 1992. As a teenager, Charles served as a tour guide at the house and acquired a deep knowledge of Althorp. At the time he inherited the estate it was losing some £400,000 annually, and the staff of 14 had to be significantly reduced. Charles' older sister was Diana, Princess of Wales, who grew up with him at Althorp.


title: Althorp

text: Since the 1990s Charles Spencer has done much to increase the revenue earned by the estate to keep it running. The annual Althorp Literary Festival was founded in 2003. The heir apparent is Charles' son Louis Frederick John Spencer (born 1994). Charles has expressed concerns about the future of the estate and whether Louis might be forced to sell it. In 2005 Charles endorsed a furniture collection of replicas from the house, known as the Althorp Living History Collection.


title: Althorp

text: In 2009 a major restoration of the roof, stonework and the mathematical tiles that clad the building was undertaken. Approximately £10 million was spent on repairing the roof alone. In 2010 an auction of over 700 items from Althorp's attics and cellars, as well as a Rubens and other notable works, achieved £21 million.


title: Althorp

text: Althorp house is described as standing in a low situation, "approached by a handsome avenue, beautifully shaded with trees". The house was originally a "classically beautiful" red brick Tudor building, and a Johannes Vorstermans painting dated to 1677 shows a smaller red house at Althorp and Holdenby House in the distance to the far right. Cosmo III noted that the interior of Althorp house was strongly influenced by Italian architecture, and remarked that it "may be said to be the best planned, and best arranged country seat in the kingdom; for though there may be many which surpass it in size, none are superior to it in symmetrical elegance". The current building dates to 1688. Diarist John Evelyn described it that year: "The house, or rather palace, at Althorpe is a noble uniform pile in form of a half H, built of brick and freestone 'a la moderne'; the hall is well, the staircase excellent; the rooms of state, galleries, offices, and furniture, such as may become a great prince. It is situate in the midst of a garden, exquisitely planned and kept and all this in a park walled in with hewn stone, planted with rows and walks of trees, canals and fishponds and stored with game." Its appearance was radically altered in the 18th century when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes starting in 1788. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, brought from Ipswich, encasing the old red brick, and four Corinthian pilasters, made from Roche Abbey stone in Yorkshire, were added to the front. The stone used to make the pilasters was reportedly intended by Christopher Wren to be used in the construction of St Paul's Cathedral. Sash windows with glazing bars and "moulded stone


title: Althorp

text: The interior of the palace is generally considered its strongest asset as the Spencer family has assembled an impressive collection of portrait art, including several pieces painted by the Flemish master Anthony van Dyck including War and Peace, the favourite of the 9th Earl Spencer, as well as countless valuable pieces of porcelain and furniture. One of the rooms in the estate is called the Queen Mary bedroom, which was used by Queen Mary and George V during their visit to the estate in 1913. Some £2 million was spent on redecorating the house in the 1980s by Raine, Countess Spencer. This work has been reversed, and the interior returned to its original grand but understated appearance.


title: Althorp

text: Wootton Hall is the grand hall entrance on the central south side of Althorp house. "Perfectly proportioned" with a two-storey high ceiling, it was cited by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the noblest Georgian room in the county". It takes its name from the painter John Wootton who was commissioned by the family in 1733 to paint a number of massive paintings in his Marylebone studio to reflect the family's love of equestrian pursuits, particularly fox hunting. At the time, Wootton was considered to be the finest painter of horses in the country. The paintings still hang on the walls. The hall has a substantial collection of artefacts collected over the years. Aside from the hall porter's chair, there is a dozen or so lavish-looking hall chairs, one of which is a sedan chair, rediscovered in the Stable Block in 1911, which had once been in Spencer House.