title: Daily Mirror

text: In 2002, the "Mirror" attempted to move mid-market, claiming to eschew the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip. The paper changed its masthead logo from red to black (and occasionally blue), in an attempt to dissociate itself from the term "red top", a term for a sensationalist mass-market tabloid. (On 6 April 2005, the red top came back.) Under then-editor Piers Morgan, the newspaper's editorial stance opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and ran many front pages critical of the war. It also gave financial support to the 15 February 2003 anti-war protest, paying for a large screen and providing thousands of placards. Morgan re-hired John Pilger, who had been sacked during Robert Maxwell's ownership of the Mirror titles. Despite such changes, Morgan was unable to halt the paper's decline in circulation, a decline shared by its direct tabloid rivals "The Sun" and the "Daily Star".


title: Daily Mirror

text: Morgan was fired from the "Mirror" on 14 May 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs allegedly showing Iraqi prisoners being abused by British Army soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Within days the photographs were shown to be fakes. Under the headline "SORRY.. WE WERE HOAXED", the "Mirror" responded that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for the publication of the photographs.


title: Daily Mirror

text: The "Mirror" front page on 4 November 2004, after the re-election of George W. Bush as U.S. President, read "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?". It provided a list of states and their alleged average IQ, showing the Bush states all below average intelligence (except for Virginia), and all John Kerry states at or above average intelligence. The source for this table was "The Economist", although it was a hoax. Richard Wallace became editor in 2004.


title: Daily Mirror

text: On 30 May 2012, Trinity Mirror announced the merger of the "Daily Mirror" and "Sunday Mirror" into a single seven-day-a-week title. Richard Wallace and Tina Weaver, the respective editors of the "Daily Mirror" and "Sunday Mirror", were simultaneously dismissed and Lloyd Embley, editor of "The People", appointed as editor of the combined title with immediate effect. In 2018, Reach plc acquired the Northern & Shell titles, including the Daily Express, which led to a number of editor moves across the stable. Lloyd Embley was then promoted to editor-in-chief across the entire group, and Alison Phillips (previously deputy editor-in-chief for the Trinity Mirror titles) was appointed editor of the Daily Mirror.


title: Daily Mirror

text: The "Mirror" has consistently supported the Labour Party since the 1945 general election. On 3 May 1979, the day of the general election, the "Daily Mirror" urged its readers to vote for the governing Labour Party led by James Callaghan. As widely predicted by the opinion polls, Labour lost this election and Conservative Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. The "Mirror"s continued support of the Labour government was in spite of its falling popularity over the previous few months which had been the result of the Winter of Discontent, where the country was crippled by numerous public sector strikes.


title: Daily Mirror

text: By the time of the 1983 general election, Labour support was at a postwar low, partly due to the strong challenge by the recently formed SDP–Liberal Alliance. Despite this, the "Daily Mirror" remained loyal to Labour and urged its readers to vote for the party, now led by Michael Foot, condemning the Thatcher-led Tory government for its "waste of our nation" and the rise in unemployment that Thatcher's Conservative government had seen in its first term in power largely due to monetarist economic policies to reduce inflation, although the government's previously low popularity had dramatically improved since the success of the Falklands conflict a year earlier. However, the Conservatives were re-elected and Labour suffered its worst postwar general election result, only narrowly bettering the SDP–Liberal Alliance in terms of votes whilst winning considerably more seats.


title: Daily Mirror

text: At the 1987 general election, the "Daily Mirror" remained loyal to Labour, now led by Neil Kinnock, and urged its readers with the slogan "You know he's right, chuck her out." By this stage, unemployment was falling and inflation had remained low for several years. As a result, the Tories were re-elected for a third successive term, although Labour did cut the Tory majority slightly. For the 1992 general election, the "Daily Mirror" continued to support Labour, still led by Neil Kinnock. By this stage, Thatcher had stepped down and the Tory government was now led by John Major. The election was won by the Conservatives, although Labour managed to significantly cut the Tory majority to 21 seats compared to the triple-digit figure of the previous two elections, which led to a difficult term for Major. The outcome of this election had been far less predictable than any of the previous three elections, as opinion polls over the previous three years had shown both parties in the lead, although any Labour lead in the polls had been relatively narrow since the Conservative government's change of leader from Thatcher to Major in November 1990, in spite of the onset of the early 1990s recession which had pushed unemployment up again after several years of decline. Labour's credibility was helped by plans including extra National Health Service (NHS) funding and moving away from firm commitments on re-nationalisation to reverse the Conservative policy of privatisation, but its decision to be up-front about tax increases was seen as a key factor in its failure to win.


title: Daily Mirror

text: By the time of the 1997 general election, support for the Labour Party, now led by Tony Blair, in the opinion polls had exceeded that of support for the Conservative government led by John Major since late 1992, whose reduced popularity largely blamed on the failings of Black Wednesday in September of that year and it had failed to recover popularity in spite of a strong economic recovery and fall in unemployment. A reinvented New Labour had further improved its credibility under Blair by promising traditional Labour essentials including more funding for healthcare and education, but also promising not to increase income tax and ending its commitment to the nationalisation of leading industries. The "Daily Mirror" urged its readers that their country needed Tony Blair, and to vote Labour.


title: Daily Mirror

text: The 1997 election produced a Labour landslide that ended the party's 18-year exile from power, followed by two further election wins in 2001 and 2005. On 4 May 2010, the newspaper printed a picture of Conservative leader David Cameron with a giant red cross through his face. The headline read "How to stop him" in reference to the 2010 general election two days later, confirming the "Daily Mirror"s Labour allegiance. The election ended in Britain's first hung parliament since 1974, but Cameron still became prime minister within days as the Conservatives formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The "Daily Mirror" was the only leading national newspaper to remain loyal to Labour and Gordon Brown at a time when opinion polls showed the party on course for their worst election result since 1983.


title: Daily Mirror

text: The newspaper was critical of the Liberal Democrats for forming the coalition which enabled the Conservatives to form a new government in 2010, and branded leader Nick Clegg as Pinickio (alluding to the lying fictional character Pinocchio) for going back on numerous pre-election pledges. It has frequently referred to the party as the "Fib Dems" or "Lib Dumbs". The "Daily Mirror" endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 United States presidential election. Also in 2016, the newspaper asked for Jeremy Corbyn's resignation "for the good of the party and of the country." Despite this critical position, the "Daily Mirror" endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 general election. For the 2019 general election, the newspaper again endorsed Labour "to protect NHS, end poverty and for a kinder Britain."


title: Daily Mirror

text: On 2 April 1996, the "Daily Mirror" was printed entirely on blue paper. This was done as a marketing exercise with Pepsi-Cola, who on the same day had decided to relaunch its cans with a blue design instead of the traditional red and white logo.


title: Daily Mirror

text: "The Daily Mirror" won "Newspaper of the Year" in 2002 at the British Press Awards. It won "Scoop of the Year" in 2003 ("3am", 'Sven and Ulrika'), 2004 (Ryan Parry, 'Intruder at the Palace'), 2006 and 2007 (both Stephen Moyes). The "Mirror" won "Team of the Year" in 2001 ('Railtrack'), 2002 ('War on the World: World against Terrorism'), 2003 ('Soham'), and 2006 ('London bombings'); and "Front Page of the Year" in 2007. The "Mirror" also won the "Cudlipp Award" in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2010.


title: Vaseline

text: Vaseline () is an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products owned by transnational company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, and deodorants.


title: Vaseline

text: In many languages, the word "Vaseline" is used as generic for petroleum jelly; in Portugal, the Unilever products are called Vaselina, and in Brazil and some Spanish-speaking countries, the Unilever products are called Vasenol.


title: Vaseline

text: In 1859, Robert Chesebrough, a chemist who formerly clarified kerosene from the oil of sperm whales, traveled to the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania to research what new materials might be created from this new fuel. There he learned of a residue called rod wax that had to be periodically removed from oil rig pumps. The oil workers had been using the substance to heal cuts and burns. Chesebrough took samples of the rod wax back to Brooklyn, extracted the usable petroleum jelly, and began manufacturing a medicinal product he called Vaseline.


title: Vaseline

text: The first known reference to the name Vaseline was by Chesebrough in his U.S. patent (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. "I, Robert Chesebrough, have invented a new and useful product from petroleum which I have named Vaseline..."


title: Vaseline

text: The name "vaseline" is said by the manufacturer to be derived from German "Wasser" "water" + Greek έλαιον ("elaion") "oil".


title: Vaseline

text: Vaseline was made by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company until the company, which merged with Pond's in 1955, was purchased by Unilever in 1987.


title: Vaseline

text: Vaseline can be used as a lubricant for metallic and plastic surfaces. Vaseline should never be used as a lubricant in sexual practices, as it may introduce infection-causing bacteria, damage latex condoms, and is not recommended for internal use. It can also be used as a moisture insulator for local skin conditions characterized by dry skin, such as atopic dermatitis and eczema.


title: Vaseline

text: As a petrolatum product, Vaseline is used as a topical moisturizer which assists with skin water retention by acting as an occlusive agent that prevents evaporation of water from the stratum corneum (outermost skin layer) and seals out external water. Vaseline is intended for external use only, and is not recommended for deep skin cuts or punctures, animal bites, or serious burns. Topical petrolatum products like Vaseline are used to manage and relieve atopic dermatitis and eczema in adults.


title: Vaseline

text: Vaseline contains mineral oils. Unrefined mineral oils often contain adulterants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can increase risk for certain forms of cancer when consumed orally. When used topically (as is recommended with Vaseline), dermal absorption of PAHs is insignificant. No link between topical petroleum jelly-based moisturizers and cancer has been found in large studies over many years.


title: Basil Joseph

text: Basil Joseph (born 28 April 1990) is an Indian film director and actor who works in the Malayalam film industry. He directed three films, "Kunjiramayanam" (2015), "Godha" (2017) and "Minnal Murali" (2021). All three films were a huge success both commercially and critically. Besides direction, Basil is also an actor and has acted in numerous films.


title: Basil Joseph

text: He started his career as an assistant director of Vineeth Sreenivasan in the 2013 film "Thira". His acting debut was through the 2013 film "" directed by T.K. Rajeev Kumar.


title: Basil Joseph

text: Basil Joseph began his career in 2012 as an actor in the short film "CET Life" during his engineering days at College of Engineering, Trivandrum. He has also scripted and directed the short films, with Albert S "Oru Thundu Padam" and "Priyamvadha Katharayano" during his stint at Infosys, Trivandrum.


title: Basil Joseph

text: Basil started his career in the Malayalam film industry by assisting Vineeth Sreenivasan in his third directional venture, "Thira" in 2013. His directorial debut was in 2015 with "Kunjiramayanam "which had malayalam film actor brothers Vineeth Sreenivasan and Dhyan Sreenivasan acting together for the first time. The movie narrated the tale of people from a quaint imaginary village called 'Desom' where myths, legends and superstitions play a major part in their life.The film become a commercial success at the box office among 2015 malayalam film onam releases. Basil Joseph's second directorial venture "Godha" was a sports comedy movie pivoted around wrestling got released in 2017 which had Punjabi actress Wamiqa Gabbi acting debut in malayalam film.The movie was a commercial success and went on to become the highest grossing film of Tovino Thomas during that period. His third film "Minnal Murali" has Tovino Thomas plays the role of a homegrown hero with superpowers. The movie, which was announced in 2020 and released on Netflix India on 24 December 2021, and should be noted that it is the first-ever superhero film of the malayalam film industry and had a simultaneous release in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages.


title: Basil Joseph

text: Basil Joseph made his acting debut in 2013 Malayalam film "" and has played various supporting actor roles around 18 Malayalam movies till date.


title: Basil Joseph

text: On 17 August 2017, Basil married Elizabeth Samuel, with whom he was in a relationship for over seven years. He is an alumnus of College of Engineering, Trivandrum.


title: Lateralus

text: Lateralus () is the third studio album by American rock band Tool. It was released on May 15, 2001, through Volcano Entertainment. The album was recorded at Cello Studios in Hollywood and The Hook, Big Empty Space, and The Lodge, in North Hollywood, between October 2000 and January 2001. David Bottrill, who had produced the band's two previous releases "Ænima" and "Salival", produced the album along with the band, and became the last Tool album produced by Bottrill to date. On August 23, 2005, "Lateralus" was released as a limited edition two-picture-disc vinyl LP in a holographic gatefold package.


title: Lateralus

text: The album debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, selling more than 555,200 copies in its first week of release. It was certified double platinum by the RIAA on August 5, 2003. On February 13, 2015, the album was certified Gold by the BPI. It was also certified platinum in Australia, and double platinum in Canada. The band won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Schism" in 2002. "Lateralus" was ranked No. 123 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list.


title: Lateralus

text: "Lateralus" emerged after a four-year legal dispute with Tool's label, Volcano Entertainment. In January 2001, the band announced that their new album's title would be "Systema Encéphale" and provided a 12-song track list with titles such as "Riverchrist", "Numbereft", "Encephatalis", "Musick", and "Coeliacus". File sharing networks such as Napster were flooded with bogus files bearing the titles' names. At the time, Tool members were outspokenly critical of file-sharing networks in general due to the negative impact on artists that are dependent on success in record sales to continue their career. During an interview with "NY Rock" in 2000, Keenan stated:


title: Lateralus

text: I think there are a lot of other industries out there that might deserve being destroyed. The ones who get hurt by MP3s are not so much companies or the business, but the artists, people who are trying to write songs.


title: Lateralus

text: A month later, the band revealed that the new album was actually titled "Lateralus" (supposedly a portmanteau of the leg muscle Vastus lateralis and the term lateral thinking) and that the name "Systema Encéphale" and the track list had been a ruse.


title: Lateralus

text: "Lateralus" and the corresponding tours would take Tool a step further toward art rock, and progressive rock territory, in contrast to the band's earlier material, which has often been labeled as alternative metal. The album has also been described as progressive metal. "Rolling Stone" wrote in an attempt to summarize the album that "Drums, bass and guitars move in jarring cycles of hyperhowl and near-silent death march ... The prolonged running times of most of "Lateralus" thirteen tracks are misleading; the entire album rolls and stomps with suitelike purpose." Joshua Klein of "The A.V. Club" in turn expressed his opinion that "Lateralus", with its 79-minute running time and relatively complex and long songs—topped by the ten-and-a-half minute music video for "Parabola"—posed a challenge to fans and music programming alike. Drummer Danny Carey said, "The manufacturer would only guarantee us up to 79 minutes ... We thought we'd give them two seconds of breathing room." Carey aspired to create longer songs like those by artists he grew up listening to. The band had segues to place between songs, but had to cut out a lot during the mastering phase. The CD itself was mastered using HDCD technology.


title: Lateralus

text: Just as "Salival" was initially released with several errors on the track listing, early pressings of "Lateralus" had the ninth track incorrectly spelled as "Lateralis". The original title of "Reflection" was "Resolution" before being changed three months prior to the album's release.


title: Lateralus

text: The track listing is altered on the vinyl edition, with "Disposition" appearing at track 8. Because of the long running time, the double vinyl edition could not be released like the disc since the songs would not fit on each disc side in that order. By moving "Disposition" to an earlier point, the sides were balanced and could fit the material. However, this edit breaks the segue that occurs between "Disposition" and "Reflection", which, along with "Triad", are linked together on the tracklist.


title: Lateralus

text: Two of the singles from the album, "Parabola" and "Schism", are featured in the video game "Guitar Hero World Tour".


title: Lateralus

text: The insert is translucent and flips open to reveal the different layers of the human body. Disguised in the brain matter on the final layer is the word "God". The artwork was done by artist Alex Grey, who would later design the 3D edition cover for the followup to "Lateralus", "10,000 Days".


title: Lateralus

text: Drummer Danny Carey sampled himself breathing through a tube to simulate the chanting of Buddhist monks for "Parabol", and banged piano strings for samples on "Reflection". "Faaip de Oiad" samples a recording of a 1997 call on Art Bell's radio program "Coast to Coast AM". "Faaip de Oiad" is Enochian for "The Voice of God".


title: Lateralus

text: "Disposition", "Reflection", and "Triad" form a sequence that has been performed in succession live with occasional help from various tourmates such as Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osborne, Tricky, and members of Isis, Meshuggah, and King Crimson.


title: Lateralus

text: The title track, "Lateralus", incorporates the Fibonacci sequence. The theme of the song describes the desire of humans to explore and to expand for more knowledge and a deeper understanding of everything. The lyrics "spiral out" refer to this desire and also to the Fibonacci spiral, which is formed by creating and arranging squares for each number in the sequence's 1,1,2,3,5,8... pattern, and drawing a curve that connects to two corners of each square. This would, allowed to continue onwards, theoretically create a never-ending and infinitely-expanding spiral. Related to this, the song's main theme features successive time signatures 9/8, 8/8, and 7/8. The number 987 is the sixteenth integer of the Fibonacci sequence.


title: Lateralus

text: "Eon Blue Apocalypse" is about Adam Jones's Great Dane named Eon, who had died from bone cancer. The track "Mantra" is the slowed-down sound of Maynard James Keenan gently squeezing one of his cats.


title: Lateralus

text: Overall, "Lateralus" was met with generally favorable reviews by mainstream music critics upon its initial release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 75, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 15 reviews. Many of their responses mentioned the album's ambition and ability to confound listeners, such as "Spin"'s Ryan Rayhil's summarization of it as a "monolithic puzzlebox". Rob Theakston reviewed the record for AllMusic, where he claimed that "Lateralus demands close listening from the first piece onward, as it becomes quickly apparent that this is not going to be an album one can listen to and accept at face value. Complex rhythm changes, haunting vocals, and an onslaught of changes in dynamics make this an album other so-called metal groups could learn from."


title: Lateralus

text: Terry Bezer praised Lateralus in a review for "Drowned in Sound" by comparing it to the band's previous album, "Ænima", calling it "more focused and cunning record than its predecessors that in many ways puts everything the band have formerly produced into perspective." David Fricke of "Rolling Stone" also measured the album up to earlier works from the band's oeuvre; "Tool have everything it takes to beat you senseless; they proved it on 1993’s Undertow and their 1996 Grammy-winning beast, Aenima. Here, Tool go to extravagant lengths to drown you in sensation." In a review for "Kerrang!", Dave Everly claimed "It’s the most perfectly played, perfectly produced record you’re likely to hear this or any other year" and that it was "one of the greatest albums you’ll hear in your lifetime." Writing for "NME", Andy Capper also approved of it; "Lateralus has added a little more colour to their palette of chanting, drumming and high drama. Singer Maynard James Keenan has been unaffected by the comparative tunefulness of his side project A Perfect Circle, while the stripped-down nature of the instrumentation means that Tool's innate heaviness shines out in a world of production tricks and dodges. There's no trickery—Tool's progressiveness is all their own work."


title: Lateralus

text: While Lateralus was generally met with positive reception by many music reviewers, there were some who were very critical of the album. In the article for "Pitchfork", Brent DiCrescenzo claimed that "With the early new century demanding 'opuses', Tool follows suit. The problem is, Tool defines 'opus' as taking their 'defining element' (wanking sludge) and stretching it out to the maximum digital capacity of a compact disc." Reviewing the album for the "Village Voice", essayist Robert Christgau lambasted the album, calling it "meaning-mongering for the fantasy fiction set" The review published in "Blender" described the album as sounding like "Black Sabbath jamming with Genesis at the bottom of a coal shaft." Despite this, Lateralus would eventually be placed at on Blender's 2001 'Albums of the Year' list.


title: Lateralus

text: The album was a commercial success in the United States, debuting at No. 1 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 albums chart with over 555,200 copies sold in its first week of release. On August 5, 2003, the album was certified double platinum by the RIAA. On April 30, 2010, the album was certified gold by the BPI for sales of 100,000 in the U.K. In addition, "Lateralus" was certified platinum by the ARIA and double platinum by MC.


title: Lateralus

text: Tool received the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Schism". During the band's acceptance speech, drummer Danny Carey stated that he would like to thank his parents "for putting up with [him]", and bassist Justin Chancellor concluded, "I want to thank my dad for doing my mom."


title: Lateralus

text: "Lateralus" was named by many music publications in their 'End of Year' lists for 2001. Some of these include "Alternative Press" where it ranked at , "Metal Hammer", which placed it at and "Terrorizer" who listed it at . "Kludge" ranked it at on their list of top 10 albums of 2001. "Kerrang!" placed the album at on their 2001 "Albums Of The Year" list. "Q" listed "Lateralus" as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.


title: Lateralus

text: The album continued to gain accolades in the years following its release. It was placed on the "Best Albums of the 2000s" list for both "Consequence of Sound" in 2009 and "Terrorizer" in 2010, while also being listed on "Kerrang"s "100 Greatest Rock Albums" list in 2006. In 2016, Loudwire named Lateralus the hard rock/metal album of the 21st century. The magazine also ranked it on their "Top 25 Progressive Metal Albums of All Time." The album was ranked at on "Rolling Stone"s "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time" list. "Louder Sound" placed the album at on their "Top 100 Prog Albums of All Time" list.


title: Lateralus

text: Publications have also continued to praise the performances by the band members on the album. NutSie.com ranked the drumming performance by Danny Carey on the song "Ticks & Leeches" at on their list of Top 100 Rock Drum Performances.


title: Lateralus

text: A vinyl edition and two DVD singles from the album were released later. The "double vinyl four-picture disc" edition of "Lateralus" was first released as a limited autographed edition exclusively available to fan club members and publicly released on August 23, 2005. Two music videos were produced; one for "Schism" (with the short ambient segue "Mantra" at the beginning) and one for "Parabol/Parabola". These were subsequently released as two separate DVD singles on December 20, 2005, featuring remixes of the tracks by Lustmord.


title: Lateralus

text: "Lateralus" sold 555,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number one on the "Billboard" 200. As of July 7, 2010, "Lateralus" has sold 2,609,000 copies in the US. It is ranked number 123 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and current sporting director of Austin FC.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Europe, playing in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, the Premier League for Sunderland and Manchester City, and in the Scottish Premier League for Rangers. He finished his career in 2008 for New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, where he was team captain.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna earned 112 caps for the United States men's national team from 1994 to 2006, being selected for four FIFA World Cups and retiring from the team after the 2006 edition. He was also chosen for two Olympic tournaments, four CONCACAF Gold Cups and the 1995 Copa América. He was named in the Team of the Tournament for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Following retirement, Reyna continued his association with the City Football Group and became technical director of New York City FC in 2013, a position he held until 2019 before joining Austin FC in a similar position.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna's father Miguel moved to the United States in 1968 from Argentina, where he had gone through the youth system of Independiente and played professionally with Los Andes. He settled in Springfield Township, New Jersey in the 1970s. Reyna was born in Livingston, New Jersey, where he learned the game from his father.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In New Jersey, Reyna became a youth player at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, as a teammate of Gregg Berhalter and Robert Ducey. He graduated from St. Benedict's in 1991. During Reyna's three years with the team, St Benedict's went undefeated (65–0) while Reyna was named as the only two-time Parade Magazine's national high school Player of the Year and the Gatorade National Player of the Year. In 1999, he was named by "The Star-Ledger" as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Highly recruited out of high school, Reyna elected to attend the University of Virginia from 1991 to 1993 on a full scholarship. While at Virginia, he spent three seasons on the men's soccer team, coached by future U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena. The Cavaliers won the NCAA Championship each of his three seasons. On an individual level, Reyna won the Hermann Trophy in 1993 and the MAC Award in 1992 and 1993; and was named the 1992 and 1993 "Soccer America" Player of the Year. In 2000, the magazine placed him on its "Team of the Century" and named him the "Male Player of the Century".


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On August 8, 1994, Reyna signed with German Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen after playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He had difficulty finding playing time with the Leverkusen first team, making only five appearances. Leverkusen loaned Reyna to fellow Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in July 1997. He quickly established himself in Wolfsburg's first team where he became the first American to captain a European club.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: He was halfway through his second year with Wolfsburg when Scottish Premier League club Rangers expressed an interest in Reyna.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On April 1, 1999, Rangers paid $826,400 to Wolfsburg and $2.76 million to Leverkusen for Reyna. Reyna would remain with Rangers until December 2001. Despite building his reputation in Germany and on the national team as a creative midfielder, he spent most of his years at Rangers playing right midfield. He scored thirteen goals for the Ibrox club in all competitions, one of the most notable was a strike that proved decisive over Italian club Parma for qualification for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On December 7, 2001, Reyna signed a five-year contract at Sunderland in England's Premier League, for a fee of £4 million. He completed the deal minutes before the midday deadline, having played for Rangers in the UEFA Cup at Paris Saint-Germain the night before.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna made his debut on December 15, starting in a 2–0 loss at Southampton in place of the injured Julio Arca, and had a 20-yard first-half shot saved by Paul Jones. A week later, he scored the only goal of the game against Everton, in his first game at the Stadium of Light. On April 1, 2002 he scored twice in a 2–1 home win over Leicester City in which all goals were scored in the first 18 minutes; twelve days later he was sent off at the end of a loss to visitors Liverpool for a foul on goalscorer Michael Owen.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In October 2002, Reyna injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee against Bolton Wanderers, ruling him out for six months and ending his season.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna joined Manchester City on August 29, 2003, for £2.5 million after a move on the same fee to Fulham collapsed.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna's time at City was frequently punctuated by injury, restricting him to thirty appearances in his first season with the club, and causing him to miss six months of the 2004–05 season. In three and a half seasons at the City of Manchester Stadium, Reyna made 87 appearances, scoring four goals.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On January 11, 2007, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce announced that the club had agreed to terminate Reyna's contract with a view to a move to Major League Soccer for family reasons. This was finalized on January 23, 2007.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On January 24, 2007, Reyna signed with New York Red Bulls, where he rejoined his former University of Virginia and U.S. national team head coach Bruce Arena. However, much like his years in Britain, Reyna was almost constantly bothered by injuries. He only played in twenty-seven games during two years with New York and only six games in 2008 as he rehabilitated a herniated disc. Reyna announced his professional retirement on July 16, 2008.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: As a U.S. national player, Reyna got his first cap against Norway on January 15, 1994. He was a member of the team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup on home turf, but did not play due to injury. Reyna did play in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In 2002, despite sitting out the opening 3–2 upset win over Portugal due to injury, he was a key contributor in the next three U.S. games — a tie against South Korea, a loss to Poland, and a win over CONCACAF rival Mexico. In the quarterfinals, the U.S. lost to eventual runner-up Germany. He was named to the World Cup all-tournament team, the first American to do so.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In 2006, Reyna again captained the U.S. at the World Cup in Germany. Trailing 1–0 in the opener against the Czech Republic, Reyna fired a 30-yard shot that bounced off the post, the best American chance in the game. In the final group game against Ghana, Reyna suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament when he lost the ball to Haminu Draman who then dribbled in alone and scored Ghana's first goal.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On June 23, 2006, the day after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup, Reyna announced his retirement from the national team. He ended his international career with 111 caps and eight goals.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna also represented the U.S. at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In Great Britain, he was occasionally referred to as "Captain America" because of his status as captain of the U.S. national team.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On May 22, 2013, Reyna was appointed Sporting Director of MLS expansion team New York City FC. New York City FC made the conference semifinals four of the five years that Reyna was the Sporting Director. Between 2016 and 2019, New York City FC accumulated 231 points, the most of any team in the league during that time. Reyna left the club in November 2019.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: On November 21, 2019, Reyna was named Sporting Director of another MLS expansion team, Austin FC. Reyna led the club in its 2021 inaugural season with his former US national team teammate, Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: Reyna married Danielle Egan, then a member of the United States women's national soccer team, in July 1997, one week after attending the FIFA All-Star Game in Hong Kong and two weeks after the U.S. team's World Cup qualifier at El Salvador. They have had four children: Jack (1999–2012), Giovanni (born 2002), Joah-Mikel, and Carolina. Giovanni, named after former Rangers teammate Giovanni van Bronckhorst, transferred from the New York City FC development academy to Borussia Dortmund's academy in November 2018. Jack, Reyna's eldest child, died of brain cancer in 2012. The family resides in Bedford, New York.


title: Claudio Reyna

text: In February 2012, Reyna and fellow New Jersey native Tony Meola were elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame, with Reyna named on 96% of the ballots.


title: Somebody Somewhere (TV series)

text: Somebody Somewhere is an American comedy-drama television series starring Bridget Everett and created by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen. It premiered on HBO on January 16, 2022. In February 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Somebody Somewhere (TV series)

text: Set in Manhattan, Kansas, the series follows Sam as she deals with a midlife crisis after the death of her sister.


title: Somebody Somewhere (TV series)

text: In July 2020, HBO ordered "Somebody Somewhere" to series which is inspired by the life of Bridget Everett who plays the lead role and is also an executive producer. In June 2021, the cast was announced, which included Jeff Hiller, Mary Catherine Garrison, Danny McCarthy, Mike Hagerty (in his final acting role before his death in May 2022), Murray Hill, Jon Hudson Odom, and Heidi Johanningmeier. In February 2022, HBO renewed the series for a second season.


title: Somebody Somewhere (TV series)

text: The series was filmed in suburban Chicago, primarily in Lockport and Warrenville. The creators chose Chicago as a filming location because of the talent pool available; Hannah Bos said, "We cast a lot of roles out of Chicago, and the talent pool was insane. It was exciting to have so many choices for so many roles. I'm biased because I love the Chicago style of acting — which I feel is very grounded, very real, very nuanced — and we had many wonderful actors to draw on to fill our world in."


title: Somebody Somewhere (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 100% approval rating based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Led by a captivating Bridget Everett, "Somebody Somewhere" explores the human condition with tenderness, grace, and warmth. On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 86 out of 100, based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Sir Henry Percy (20 May 1364 – 21 July 1403), nicknamed Hotspur, was an English knight who fought in several campaigns against the Scots in the northern border and against the French during the Hundred Years' War. The nickname "Hotspur" was given to him by the Scots as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack. The heir to a leading noble family in northern England, Hotspur was one of the earliest and prime movers behind the deposition of King Richard II in favour of Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. He later fell out with the new regime and rebelled, and was slain at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 at the height of his fame.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Henry Percy was born 20 May 1364 at either Alnwick Castle or Warkworth Castle in Northumberland, the eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, and Margaret Neville, daughter of Ralph de Neville, 2nd Lord Neville of Raby, and Alice de Audley. He was knighted by King Edward III in April 1377, together with the future Kings Richard II and Henry IV. In 1380, he was in Ireland with the Earl of March, and in 1383, he travelled in Prussia. He was appointed warden of the east march either on 30 July 1384 or in May 1385, and in 1385 accompanied Richard II on an expedition into Scotland. "As a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack" on the Scottish borders, the Scots bestowed on him the name 'Haatspore'. In April 1386, he was sent to France to reinforce the garrison at Calais and led raids into Picardy. Between August and October 1387, he was in command of a naval force in an attempt to relieve the siege of Brest. In appreciation of these military endeavours, at the age of 24 he was made a Knight of the Garter in 1388. Reappointed as warden of the east march, he commanded the English forces against James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, at the Battle of Otterburn on 10 August 1388, where he was captured, but soon ransomed for a fee of 7000 marks.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: During the next few years Percy's reputation continued to grow. Although not 30, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Cyprus in June 1393 and appointed Lieutenant of the Duchy of Aquitaine (1394–98) on behalf of John of Gaunt, Duke of Aquitaine. He returned to England in January 1395, taking part in Richard II's expedition to Ireland, and was back in Aquitaine the following autumn. In the summer of 1396, he was again in Calais.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Percy's military and diplomatic service brought him substantial marks of royal favour in the form of grants and appointments, but despite this, the Percy family decided to support Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, in his rebellion against Richard II. On Henry's return from exile in June 1399, Percy and his father joined his forces at Doncaster and marched south with them. After King Richard's deposition, Percy and his father were 'lavishly rewarded' with lands and offices.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Under the new king, Percy had extensive civil and military responsibility in both the east march towards Wales, where he was appointed High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1399, and in the north toward Scotland. In north Wales, he was under increasing pressure as a result of the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. In March 1402, Henry IV appointed Percy royal lieutenant in north Wales, and on 14 September 1402, Percy, his father, and the Earl of Dunbar and March were victorious against a Scottish force at the Battle of Homildon Hill. Among others, they made a prisoner of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: In spite of the favour that Henry IV showed the Percys in many respects, they became increasingly discontented with him. Among their grievances were:


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Spurred by these grievances, the Percys rebelled in the summer of 1403 and took up arms against the king. According to J. M. W. Bean, it is clear that the Percys were in collusion with Glyndŵr. On his return to England shortly after the victory at Homildon Hill, Henry Percy issued proclamations in Cheshire accusing the king of 'tyrannical government'.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Joined by his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, Percy marched to Shrewsbury, where he intended to do battle against a force there under the command of the Prince of Wales. The army of his father, however, was slow to move south and it was without the assistance of his father that Henry Percy and Worcester arrived at Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, where they encountered the king with a large army. The ensuing Battle of Shrewsbury was fierce, with heavy casualties on both sides but, when Henry Percy himself was struck down and killed, his own forces fled.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: The circumstances of Percy's death differ in accounts. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham stated in his "Historia Anglicana" that "while he led his men in the fight rashly penetrating the enemy host, [Hotspur] was unexpectedly cut down, by whose hand is not known". Another account states that Percy was struck in the face by an arrow when he opened his vizor for a better view. This is the view taken by Alnwick Castle, home of Hotspur’s descendants and place where a statue of him is exhibited. The legend that he was killed by the Prince of Wales seems to have been given currency by William Shakespeare, writing at the end of the following century. The Earl of Worcester was executed two days later.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: King Henry, upon being brought Percy's body after the battle, is said to have wept. The body was taken by Thomas Neville, 5th Baron Furnivall, to Whitchurch, Shropshire, for burial. However, when rumours circulated that Percy was still alive, the king "had the corpse exhumed and displayed it, propped upright between two millstones, in the market place at Shrewsbury". That done, the king dispatched Percy's head to York, where it was impaled on the Micklegate Bar (one of the city's gates). His four-quarters were sent to London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol, and Chester before they were finally delivered to his widow. She had the body buried in York Minster in November of that year. In January 1404, Percy was posthumously declared a traitor, and his lands were forfeited to the Crown.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Henry Percy married Elizabeth Mortimer, the eldest daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, and his wife, Philippa, the only child of Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster. By her he had two children:


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Sometime after 3 June 1406, Elizabeth Mortimer married, as her second husband, Thomas de Camoys, 1st Baron Camoys, by whom she had a son, Sir Roger Camoys. Thomas Camoys distinguished himself as a soldier in command of the rearguard of the English army at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: Henry Percy, 'Hotspur', is one of Shakespeare's best-known characters. In "Henry IV, Part 1", Percy is portrayed as the same age as his rival, Prince Hal, by whom he is slain in single combat. In fact, he was 23 years older than Prince Hal, the future King Henry V, who was a youth of 16 at the date of the Battle of Shrewsbury.


title: Henry Percy (Hotspur)

text: The name of one of England's football clubs, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., is named after Hotspur, who lived in and whose descendants owned land in the neighbourhood of the club's first ground in the Tottenham Marshes.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Leona Roberts Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007) was an American businesswoman. Her flamboyant personality and reputation for tyrannical behavior earned her the nickname Queen of Mean.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: After allegations of non-payment were made by contractors hired to improve Helmsley's Connecticut home, she was investigated and convicted of federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. Although having initially received a sentence of sixteen years, she was required to serve only nineteen months in prison and two months under house arrest. During the trial, a former housekeeper testified that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes", a quote which was identified with her for the rest of her life.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Leona Helmsley was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal in Marbletown, New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrants, Ida (née Popkin), a homemaker, and Morris Rosenthal, a hatmaker. Her family moved to Brooklyn while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan. After dropping out of Abraham Lincoln High School to seek her fortune, she changed her name several times over a short periodfrom Lee Roberts, Mindy Roberts, and Leni Robertsbefore finally going by Leona Mindy Roberts and having her surname legally changed to Roberts.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Roberts' first husband was attorney Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1952. Their only son was Jay (1940–1982), who had four children with his wife, Mimi. Jay died of heart failure at age 42. Leona was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin. After a brief period at a sewing factory, she joined a New York real estate firm, where she eventually became vice-president.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Roberts was a chain smoker, consuming several packs a day. She would later claim that she appeared in billboard ads for Chesterfield cigarettes, but her claim remains unsubstantiated.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: In 1968, while Roberts was working as a condominium broker, she met and began her involvement with the then-married real estate entrepreneur Harry Helmsley. Two years later, she joined one of Harry's brokerage firms—Brown Harris Stevens—as a senior vice-president. At that time, she was already a millionaire in her own right. Harry divorced his wife of 33 years and married Roberts on April 8, 1972. The marriage may well have saved her career, as several of her tenants had sued her the year before for forcing them to buy condominiums. They won, and she was forced not only to compensate the tenants but to give them three-year leases. Her real estate license was also suspended, so she focused on running Harry's growing hotel empire.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Supposedly under her influence, Harry began a program of conversion of apartment buildings into condos. He later concentrated on the hotel industry, building the Helmsley Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue. Together, the Helmsleys built a New York real estate empire that included 230 Park Avenue, the Empire State Building, and the Tudor City apartment complex on the East Side, as well as Helmsley-Spear Inc., their management and leasing business. The couple also developed properties that included the Helmsley Palace Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel, the Park Lane Hotel, and hotels in Florida and other states. By the beginning of 1989, twenty-three hotels in the chain were directly controlled by Leona Helmsley.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley was featured in an advertising campaign portraying her as a demanding "queen" who wanted nothing but the best for her guests. The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing, and Helmsley was known to shout insults and obscenities at targeted employees just before they were fired.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: On March 31, 1982, Helmsley's only child, Jay Panzirer, died of a heart attack resulting from arrhythmia. Her son's widow, who lived in a property that Helmsley owned, received an eviction notice shortly after his funeral. Helmsley successfully sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he had borrowed, and she was ultimately awarded $146,092.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Despite the Helmsleys' net worth totalling over $1 billion, they were known for disputing payments to contractors and vendors. In 1983, the Helmsleys bought Dunnellen Hall, a 21-room mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, to use as a weekend retreat. The property cost $11 million but the Helmsleys wanted to make it even more luxurious. The work included a $1 million dance floor, a silver clock and a mahogany card table. The remodeling bills came to $8 million, which the Helmsleys were loath to pay. A group of contractors sued the Helmsleys for non-payment and the Helmsleys eventually paid off most of the debt owed to the contractors.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: In 1985, during court proceedings in relation to the lawsuit, the contractors revealed that most of their work was being illegally billed to the Helmsleys' hotels as business expenses. The contractors sent a stack of the falsified invoices to the "New York Post" to prove that the Helmsleys were trying to avoid tax liabilities. The resulting "Post" story led to a federal criminal investigation.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Jeremiah McCarthy, the Helmsleys' executive engineer, also alleged that Leona repeatedly demanded that he sign invoices to bill personal expenses to the Helmsley-Spear and, when McCarthy declined to do so, exploded with tyrannical outbursts, shouting, "You're not my fucking partner! You'll sign what I tell you to sign." In 1988, then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani indicted the Helmsleys and two of their associates on several tax-related charges, as well as extortion.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: The trial was delayed until the summer of 1989 due to numerous motions by the Helmsleys' attorneys, most of them related to Harry's health. He had begun to appear feeble shortly after the beginning of his relationship with Leona years before and had recently suffered a stroke on top of a pre-existing heart condition. Ultimately, he was ruled mentally and physically unfit to stand trial and Leona would face the charges alone.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: At trial, a former Helmsley-Spear executive, Paul Ruffino, said that he refused to sign phony invoices billing the company for work done on the Connecticut mansion. Ruffino, originally employed to assist Harry through the Hospitality Management Services arm, said that Leona fired him on several occasions for refusing to sign the bills, only for Harry to usually tell him to ignore her and come back to work.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Another one of the key witnesses was a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home, Elizabeth Baum, who recounted Leona telling her, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." Leona denied saying this. By then, however, the trial was already highlighting her abusive and micromanaging behavior towards family members, employees, contractors and even senior executives. Former employees testified at trial "about how they feared her, with one recalling how she casually fired him while she was being fitted for a dress". Most legal observers felt that Helmsley's hostile personality, arrogance, and "naked greed" alienated the jurors.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: On August 30, Helmsley was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, three counts of tax evasion, three counts of filing false personal tax returns, sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns, and ten counts of mail fraud. She was, however, acquitted of extortion—a charge that could have sent her to prison for the rest of her life. Helmsley was instead sentenced to sixteen years in prison, which was eventually reduced when all but eight of the convictions were dropped. Nonetheless, when it was clear that she was going to prison, Helmsley collapsed outside the courthouse. She was later diagnosed with a heart irregularity and hypertension.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley's new lawyer, retained to appeal the judgment, was Alan Dershowitz. Following the appeal, which resulted in a reduced sentence, she was ordered to report to prison on tax day, April 15, 1992. She was released from custody on January 26, 1994, after serving twenty-one months.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley's later years were apparently spent in isolation, especially after Harry died in 1997. He left her his entire fortune, including the Helmsley hotels, the Helmsley Palace and the Empire State Building, estimated to be worth well in excess of $5 billion. Her few friends included Patrick Ward and Kathy and Rick Hilton. A 2001 "Chicago Sun-Times" article depicted her as estranged from her grandchildren and with few friends, living alone in a lavish apartment with her dog. Helmsley was forced to give up control of her hotel empire, since most of her hotels had bars and New York does not allow convicted felons to hold alcohol licenses. She spent her final years at her penthouse atop the Park Lane Hotel.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: In 2002, Helmsley was sued by Charles Bell, a former employee who alleged that he was discharged solely for being gay. A jury agreed and ordered Mrs. Helmsley to pay Bell $11,200,000 in damages. A judge subsequently reduced this amount to $554,000.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Although Helmsley had a reputation as the "Queen of Mean", some considered her generous in her charitable contributions after her prison term. After the 9/11 attacks, Helmsley donated $5 million to help the families of New York City firefighters and police. Other contributions included $25 million to New York–Presbyterian Hospital for medical research in 2006 through a charitable trust fund, the donations eventually grew to $65 million to establish the Center for Advanced Digestive Care at the hospital in 2009.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Leona Helmsley died of congestive heart failure at the age of 87, on August 20, 2007, at Dunnellen Hall, her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Cardiovascular disease ran in her family, claiming the lives of her father, son and a sister. After a week at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, she was entombed next to Harry Helmsley in a mausoleum constructed for $1.4 million and set on ¾-acres in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Westchester County, New York. Among the few distinctive features of the mausoleum are three wall-embedded stained-glass windows, in the style of Louis Tiffany, showing the skyline of Manhattan. Leona Helmsley was known for not liking dirt, and left $3 million for the 1,300-square-foot family mausoleum to be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year".


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley left the bulk of her estate—estimated at more than $4 billion—to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. In addition to providing directly for her own dog in her will, she left separate instructions that the trust, now valued at $5 billion, be used to benefit dogs. The courts have ruled that the trust is not legally bound to wishes separate from the trust documents.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: The will left her Maltese dog, Trouble, a $12 million trust fund. This sum was subsequently reduced to $2 million as excessive to fulfill its purpose. Her choice was branded 3rd in "Fortune" magazine's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2007.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Trouble lived in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, with several death threats having been received. Lekic, Trouble's caretaker, stated that $2 million would pay for the dog's maintenance for more than 10 years—the annual $100,000 for full-time security, $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for food. Lekic was paid a $60,000 annual guardianship fee. Trouble died at age twelve in December 2010, at which time the remainder of the funds reverted to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Although Helmsley's wishes were to have the dog interred with her in the mausoleum, New York state law prohibits interment of pets in human cemeteries and the dog was subsequently cremated.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley had four grandchildren. Two of them each received $5 million in trust and $5 million in cash, under the condition that they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year. Their signing a registration book would prove that they had visited the grave. Her other two grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, received nothing.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: In a 2008 judgment, Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Renee Roth ruled that Helmsley was mentally unfit when she executed her will. Roth reduced the $12 million trust fund for the pet Trouble to $2 million. Of the $10 million originally bequeathed to Trouble, $4 million was awarded to the charitable trust, and $6 million was awarded to Craig and Meegan Panzirer, who had been disinherited in the will. The ruling requires the Panzirers to keep silent about their dispute with their grandmother and deliver to the court any documents they have about her.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: She left $15 million for her brother Alvin Rosenthal. Helmsley also left $100,000 to her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley acquired the moniker "The Queen of Mean", reportedly inspired after an advertising campaign promoting her as the "Queen of the Palace" of the Helmsley Palace Hotel. Helmsley became known by this nickname in the mainstream press.


title: Leona Helmsley

text: Helmsley was known for "tyrannizing her employees". Alan Dershowitz, while having breakfast with her at one of the Helmsley hotels, received a cup of tea with a tiny bit of water spilled on the saucer. Helmsley grabbed the cup from the waiter and smashed it on the floor, then told him to beg for his job. In another account of Helmsley's behavior, she had a barbecue pit constructed for her home. The work was performed by Eugene Brennan, a personal friend of Jeremiah McCarthy, the chief engineer of Helmsley-Spear. When the final bill came to $13,000, she refused to pay, citing shoddy workmanship. When McCarthy pleaded with her to honor the bill, citing the favor done on his behalf and informing her that Brennan had six children to support, Helmsley replied, "Why didn't he keep his pants on? Then he wouldn't need the money."


title: Leona Helmsley

text: In 1989, an unauthorized biography titled "The Queen of Mean: The Unauthorized Biography of Leona Helmsley" was published by Bantam Books (). The 1990 TV movie "Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean" starred Suzanne Pleshette as Leona and Lloyd Bridges as Harry. Pleshette was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the portrayal.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pāla Empire (r. 750-1161 CE) was an imperial power during the post-classical period in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. It is named after its ruling dynasty, whose rulers bore names ending with the suffix "Pāla" ("protector" in Prakrit). The empire was founded with the election of Gopāla as the emperor of Gauda in late eighth century AD. The Pala stronghold was located in Bengal and eastern Bihar, which included the major cities of Gauḍa, Vikramapura, Pāṭaliputra, Monghyr, Somapura, Ramavati (Varendra), Tāmralipta and Jaggadala.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pālas were astute diplomats and military conquerors. Their army was noted for its vast war elephant corps. Their navy performed both mercantile and defensive roles in the Bay of Bengal. At its zenith under emperors Dharmapala and Devapala in the early ninth century, the Pala empire extended their dominance into the northern Indian region, with its territory stretching across the Gangetic plain to include some parts of western, southern and northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Dharmapala also exerted a strong cultural influence through Buddhist scholar Atis Dipankar in Tibet, as well as in Southeast Asia. Pala control of North India was ultimately ephemeral, as they struggled with the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas for the control of Kannauj and were defeated. After a short lived decline, Emperor Mahipala I defended imperial bastions in Bengal and Bihar against South Indian Chola invasions. Emperor Ramapala was the last strong Pala ruler, who gained control of Kamarupa and Kalinga. The empire was considerably weakened with many areas engulfed and their heavy dependence on Samantas being exposed through 11th century rebellion. It finally led to the rise of resurgent Hindu Senas as sovereign power in 12th century and final expulsion of the Palas from Bengal by their hands marking the end of last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pala period is considered one of the golden eras of Bengali history. The Palas brought stability and prosperity to Bengal after centuries of civil war between warring divisions. They advanced the achievements of previous Bengali civilisations and created outstanding works of arts and architecture. The Charyapada in Proto-Bengali language was written by Buddhist Mahasiddhas of tantric tradition, which laid the basis of several eastern Indian languages in their rule. Palas built grand temples and monasteries, including the Somapura Mahavihara and Odantapuri, and patronised the great universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. The empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire, the Tibetan Empire and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate. Islam first arrived in Bengal during this period as a result of flourishing mercantile and intellectual contacts with Middle-East. The Pala legacy is still reflected in Tibetan Buddhism.


title: Pala Empire

text: According to the Khalimpur copper plate inscription, the first Pala king Gopala was the son of a warrior named Vapyata. The "Ramacharitam" attests that Varendra (North Bengal) was the fatherland ("Janakabhu") of the Palas. The ethnic origins of the dynasty are unknown, although later records claim that Gopala was a Kshatriya or descended from the legendary Solar dynasty. The "Ballala-Carita" states that the Palas were Kshatriyas, a claim reiterated by Taranatha in his "History of Buddhism in India" as well as Ghanaram Chakrabarty in his "Dharmamangala" (both written in the 16th century CE). The "Ramacharitam" also attests the fifteenth Pala emperor, Ramapala, as a Kshatriya. According to Nitish Sengupta, such claims of belonging to the legendary Solar dynasty seems to be unreliable and appear to be an attempt to cover up the humble origins of the dynasty. The Pala dynasty has also been branded as Śudra in some sources such as "Manjushri-Mulakalpa"; this might be because of their Buddhist leanings. According to Dr. K. N. Sahay, "we can claim Palas also as Kayasthas".


title: Pala Empire

text: André Wink mentions that the founder, Gopala was elected, and "definitely not of royal blood but probably of a line of brahmans which transformed itself into kshatriyas". According to Wink, the Palas patronized Buddhism right from the beginning, which is evident from their copper plates. Wink also mentions that Abul Fazl "describes these kings as Kayastha".


title: Pala Empire

text: After the fall of Shashanka's kingdom, the Bengal region was in a state of anarchy. There was no central authority, and there was constant struggle between petty chieftains. The contemporary writings describe this situation as "matsya nyaya" ("fish justice" i.e. a situation where the big fish eat the small fish). Gopala ascended the throne as the first Pala king during these times. The Khalimpur copper plate suggests that the "prakriti" (people) of the region made him the king. Taranatha, writing nearly 800 years later, also writes that he was democratically elected by the people of Bengal. However, his account is in form of a legend, and is considered historically unreliable. The legend mentions that after a period of anarchy, the people elected several kings in succession, all of whom were consumed by the Naga queen of an earlier king on the night following their election. Gopal, however managed to kill the queen and remained on the throne. The historical evidence indicates that Gopala was not elected directly by his citizens, but by a group of feudal chieftains. Such elections were quite common in contemporary societies of the region.


title: Pala Empire

text: Gopala's ascension was a significant political event as the several independent chiefs recognised his political authority without any struggle.


title: Pala Empire

text: Gopala's empire was greatly expanded by his son Dharmapala and his grandson Devapala. Dharmapala was initially defeated by the Pratihara ruler Vatsaraja. Later, the Rashtrakuta king Dhruva defeated both Dharmapala and Vatsaraja. After Dhruva left for the Deccan region, Dharmapala built a mighty empire in the northern India. He defeated Indrayudha of Kannauj, and installed his own nominee Chakrayudha on the throne of Kannauj. Several other smaller states in North India also acknowledged his suzerainty. Soon, his expansion was checked by Vatsaraja's son Nagabhata II, who conquered Kannauj and drove away Chakrayudha. Nagabhata II then advanced up to Munger and defeated Dharmapala in a pitched battle. Dharmapala was forced to surrender and to seek alliance with the Rashtrakuta emperor Govinda III, who then intervened by invading northern India and defeating Nagabhata II. The Rashtrakuta records show that both Chakrayudha and Dharmapala recognised the Rashtrakuta suzerainty. In practice, Dharmapala gained control over North India after Govinda III left for the Deccan. He adopted the title "Paramesvara Paramabhattaraka Maharajadhiraja".


title: Pala Empire

text: Dharmapala was succeeded by his son Devapala, who is regarded as the most powerful Pala Emperor. His expeditions resulted in the invasion of Pragjyotisha (present-day Assam) where the king submitted without giving a fight and the Utkala (present-day Northern Odisha) whose king fled from his capital city. The inscriptions of his successors also claim several other territorial conquests by him, but these are possibly exaggerated (see the Geography section below).


title: Pala Empire

text: His oldest son, Rajyapala predeceased him, and as so Mahendrapala, his next older son succeeded him. He possibly maintained his father's vast territories and carried out further campaigns against the Utkalas and the Hunas. He passed his empire intact to his younger brother Shurapala I, who held sway over a considerably large territory encompassing Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, proven by his Mirzapur copperplate.


title: Pala Empire

text: What happened in Gopala II's rule, the son of Surapala I, is still unknown. After Gopala II, Dharmapala's line came to an end for reasons which are not known yet. Dharmapala's descendants, if any, were passed over as Dharmapala's younger brother, Vakapala's lineage assumed the throne.


title: Pala Empire

text: Shortly afterwards, the empire gradually started disintegrating. Vakapala's grandson and Jayapala's son, Vigrahapala I abdicated the throne after a brief rule, and became an ascetic. Vigrahapala's son and successor Narayanapala proved to be a weak ruler. During his 54-year long reign, Mihira Bhoja defeated the Palas. Encouraged by the Pala decline, the King Harjara of Assam assumed imperial titles.


title: Pala Empire

text: Naryanapala's son Rajyapala ruled for at least 32 years, and constructed several public utilities and lofty temples. Earlier it was thought that his son Gopala III lost Bengal after a few years of rule, and then ruled only Bihar. However, it has been debunked by his Bhagalpur inscription, in which he granted a Brahmin two villages in "Pundrabardhanabhukti " in Northern Bengal, signaling his control over it. His son and the next king, Vigrahapala II, had to bear the invasions from the Chandelas and the Kalachuris. During his reign, the Pala empire disintegrated into smaller kingdoms like Gauda, Radha, Anga and Vanga. Kantideva of Harikela (eastern and southern Bengal) also assumed the title "Maharajadhiraja", and established a separate kingdom, later ruled by the Chandra dynasty. The Gauda state (West and North Bengal) was ruled by the Kamboja Pala dynasty. The rulers of this dynasty also bore names ending in the suffix -pala (e.g. Rajyapala, Narayanapala and Nayapala). However, their origin is uncertain, and the most plausible view is that they originated from a Pala official who usurped a major part of the Pala kingdom along with its capital.


title: Pala Empire

text: Mahipala I recovered northern and eastern Bengal within three years of ascending the throne in 978 CE.H also recovered his capital, Gauda, which had been lost to he Kambojas. He also recovered the northern part of the present-day Burdwan division. During his reign, Rajendra Chola I of the Chola Empire frequently invaded Bengal from 1021 to 1023 CE to get Ganges water and in the process, succeeded to humble the rulers, acquiring considerable booty. The rulers of Bengal who were defeated by Rajendra Chola were Dharmapal, Ranasur and Govindachandra, who might have been feudatories under Mahipala I of the Pala Dynasty. Rajendra Chola I also defeated Mahipala, and obtained from the Pala king "elephants of rare strength, women and treasure". Mahipala also gained control of north and south Bihar, probably aided by the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni, which exhausted the strength of other rulers of North India. He may have also conquered Varanasi and surrounding area, as his brothers Sthirapala and Vasantapala undertook construction and repairs of several sacred structures at Varanasi. Later, the Kalachuri king Gangeyadeva annexed Varanasi after defeating the ruler of Anga, which was probably Mahipala's son Nayapala.


title: Pala Empire

text: Nayapala, the son of Mahipala I, defeated the Kalachuri king Karna (son of Ganggeyadeva) after a long struggle. The two later signed a peace treaty at the mediation of the Buddhist scholar Atiśa. During the reign of Nayapala's son Vigrahapala III, Karna once again invaded Bengal but was defeated. The conflict ended with a peace treaty, and Vigrahapala III married Karna's daughter Yauvanasri. Vigrahapala III was later defeated by the invading Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI. Vigrahapala III also faced another invasion led by the Somavamsi king Mahasivagupta Yayati of Orissa. Subsequently, a series of invasions considerably reduced the power of the Palas. The Varmans occupied eastern Bengal during his reign.


title: Pala Empire

text: The successor and older son of Vighrahapala III by his wife Yauvanashri, Mahipala II's reign is well-documented by Sandhyakar Nandi in "Ramacharitam". Mahipala II imprisoned his brothers Ramapala and Surapala II, on the suspicion that they were conspiring against him. Soon afterwards, he faced a rebellion of vassal chiefs from the Kaibarta (fishermen). A chief named Divya (or Divvoka) killed him and occupied the Varendra region. The region remained under the control of his successors Rudak and Bhima. Surapala II escaped to Magadha and died after a short reign. He was succeeded by his brother Ramapala, who launched a major offensive against Divya's nephew Bhima. He was supported by his maternal uncle Mathana and cousin Sivarajadeva of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, as well as several feudatory chiefs of south Bihar and south-west Bengal. Ramapala conclusively defeated Bhima, killing him and his family in a cruel manner.


title: Pala Empire

text: After gaining control of Varendra, Ramapala tried to revive the Pala empire with some success. He ruled from a new capital at Ramavati, which remained the Pala capital until the dynasty's end. He reduced taxation, promoted cultivation and constructed public utilities. He brought Kamarupa and Rar under his control, and forced the Varman king of east Bengal to accept his suzerainty. He also struggled with the Ganga king for control of present-day Orissa; the Gangas managed to annex the region only after his death. Ramapala maintained friendly relations with the Chola king Kulottunga to secure support against the common enemies: the Ganas and the Chalukyas. He kept the Senas in check, but lost Mithila to a Karnataka chief named Nanyuadeva. He also held back the aggressive design of the Gahadavala ruler Govindacharndra through a matrimonial alliance, by marrying off his cousin Kumaradevi to the king.


title: Pala Empire

text: Ramapala was the final strong Pala Emperor, although his son Kumarapala managed to keep most of his territories. After his death, a rebellion broke out in Kamarupa during his son Kumarapala's reign. The rebellion was crushed by Vaidyadeva, minister of Kumarapala. Vaidyadeva also won a naval war in southern Bengal for his liege. but after Kumarapala's death, Vaidyadeva practically created a separate kingdom. Kumarapala's son, Gopala IV ascended the throne as a child, and according to the Rajibpur copperplate inscription, his uncle Madanpala acted as his regent. Gopala IV either died in battle or was murdered by Madanapala. During Madanapala's rule, the Varmans in east Bengal declared independence, and the Eastern Gangas renewed the conflict in Orissa. Madanapala captured Munger from the Gahadavalas, but was defeated by Vijayasena, who gained control of southern and eastern Bengal. Two rulers, named Govindapala and Palapala ruled over the Gaya district from around 1162 CE to 1200 CE, but there is no concrete evidence about their relationship to the imperial Palas. The Pala dynasty was replaced by the Sena dynasty. The descendants of the Palas, who claimed the status of Kshatriya, "almost imperceptibly merged" with the Kayastha caste.


title: Pala Empire

text: The borders of the Pala Empire kept fluctuating throughout its existence. Though the Palas conquered a vast region in North India at one time, they could not retain it for long due to constant hostility from the Gurjara-Pratiharas, the Rashtrakutas and other less powerful kings.


title: Pala Empire

text: No records are available about the exact boundaries of original kingdom established by Gopala, but it might have included almost all of the Bengal region. The Pala empire extended substantially under Dharmapala's rule. Apart from Bengal, he directly ruled the present-day Bihar. The kingdom of Kannauj (present-day Uttar Pradesh) was a Pala dependency at times, ruled by his nominee Chakrayudha. While installing his nominee on the Kannauj throne, Dharmapala organised an imperial court. According to the Khalimpur copper plate issued by Dharmapala, this court was attended by the rulers of Bhoja (possibly Vidarbha), Matsya (Jaipur region), Madra (East Punjab), Kuru (Delhi region), Yadu (possibly Mathura, Dwarka or Simhapura in the Punjab), Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara and Kira (Kangra Valley). These kings accepted the installation of Chakrayudha on the Kannauj throne, while "bowing down respectfully with their diadems trembling". This indicates that his position as a sovereign was accepted by most rulers, although this was a loose arrangement unlike the empire of the Mauryas or the Guptas. The other rulers acknowledged the military and political supremacy of Dharmapala, but maintained their own territories. The poet Soddhala of Gujarat calls Dharmapala an "Uttarapathasvamin" ("Lord of the North") for his suzerainty over North India.


title: Pala Empire

text: The epigraphic records credit Devapala with extensive conquests in hyperbolic language. The Badal pillar inscription of his successor Narayana Pala states that by the wise counsel and policy of his Brahmin minister Darbhapani, Devapala became the suzerain monarch or Chakravarti of the whole tract of Northern India bounded by the Vindhyas and the Himalayas. It also states that his empire extended up to the two oceans (presumably the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal). It also claims that Devpala defeated Utkala (present-day Northern Odisha), the Hunas, the Kambojas, the Dravidas, the Kamarupa (present-day Assam), and the Gurjaras:


title: Pala Empire

text: His sons and grandson probably managed to keep the core area of the empire intact. However, the empire started disintegrating shortly after. Narayanapala lost control of Assam and Orissa. It was thought he also briefly lost control over Magadha and north Bengal, although it has now been debunked. Gopala III suffered serious reverses at the hands of the Chandra king, and ruled only from a part of northern Bengal. The Pala empire disintegrated into smaller kingdoms during the reign of Vigrahapala II. Mahipala recovered parts of Bengal, Bihar and up to Varansi. His successors lost east and south Bengal again. The last strong Pala ruler, Ramapala, gained control of Bengal, Bihar, Assam and parts of Orissa. By the time of Madanapala's death, the Pala kingdom was confined to parts of central and east Bihar along with northern Bengal.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pala rule was monarchial. The king was the centre of all power. Pala kings would adopt imperial titles like "Parameshwara", "Paramvattaraka", "Maharajadhiraja". Pala kings appointed Prime Ministers. The Line of Garga served as the Prime Ministers of the Palas for 100 years.


title: Pala Empire

text: Pala Empire was divided into separate "Bhukti"s (Provinces). Bhuktis were divided into "Vishaya"s (Divisions) and "Mandala"s (Districts). Smaller units were "Khandala", "Bhaga", "Avritti", "Chaturaka", and Pattaka. Administration covered widespread area from the grass root level to the imperial court.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Palas were patrons of Mahayana Buddhism. A few sources written much after Gopala's death mention him as a Buddhist, but it is not known if this is true. The subsequent Pala kings were definitely Buddhists. Taranatha states that Gopala was a staunch Buddhist, who had built the famous monastery at Odantapuri. Dharmapala made the Buddhist philosopher Haribhadra his spiritual preceptor. He established the Vikramashila monastery and the Somapura Mahavihara. Taranatha also credits him with establishing 50 religious institutions and patronising the Buddhist author Haribhadra. Devapala restored and enlarged the structures at Somapura Mahavihara, which also features several themes from the epics "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata". Mahipala I also ordered construction and repairs of several sacred structures at Saranath, Nalanda and Bodh Gaya. The "Mahipala geet" ("songs of Mahipala"), a set of folk songs about him, are still popular in the rural areas of Bengal.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Palas developed the Buddhist centres of learnings, such as the Vikramashila and the Nalanda universities. Nalanda, considered one of the first great universities in recorded history, reached its height under the patronage of the Palas. Noted Buddhist scholars from the Pala period include Atisha, Santaraksita, Saraha, Tilopa, Bimalamitra, Dansheel, Dansree, Jinamitra, Jnanasrimitra, Manjughosh, Muktimitra, Padmanava, Sambhogabajra, Shantarakshit, Silabhadra, Sugatasree and Virachan.


title: Pala Empire

text: As the rulers of Gautama Buddha's land, the Palas acquired great reputation in the Buddhist world. Balaputradeva, the Sailendra king of Java, sent an ambassador to him, asking for a grant of five villages for the construction of a monastery at Nalanda. The request was granted by Devapala. He appointed the Brahmin Viradeva (of Nagarahara, present-day Jalalabad) as the head of the Nalanda monastery. The Buddhist poet Vajradatta (the author of Lokesvarashataka), was in his court. The Buddhist scholars from the Pala empire travelled from Bengal to other regions to propagate Buddhism. Atisha, for example, preached in Tibet and Sumatra, and is seen as one of the major figures in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana Buddhism.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Palas also supported the Saiva ascetics, typically the ones associated with the Golagi-Math. Narayana Pala himself established a temple of Shiva, and was present at the place of sacrifice by his Brahmin minister. Queen of King Madanapaladeva, namely Chitramatika, made a gift of land to a Brahmin named Bateswara Swami as his remuneration for chanting the Mahabharata at her request, according to the principle of the Bhumichhidranyaya. Besides the images of the Buddhist deities, the images of Vishnu, Siva and Sarasvati were also constructed during the Pala dynasty rule.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Palas patronised several Sanskrit scholars, some of whom were their officials. The "Gauda riti" style of composition was developed during the Pala rule. Many Buddhist Tantric works were authored and translated during the Pala rule. Besides the Buddhist scholars mentioned in the Religion section above, Jimutavahana, Sandhyakar Nandi, Madhava-kara, Suresvara and Chakrapani Datta are some of the other notable scholars from the Pala period.


title: Pala Empire

text: The notable Pala texts on philosophy include "Agama Shastra" by Gaudapada, "Nyaya Kundali" by Sridhar Bhatta and "Karmanushthan Paddhati" by Bhatta Bhavadeva. The texts on medicine include


title: Pala Empire

text: Sandhyakar Nandi's semi-fictional epic "Ramacharitam" (12th century) is an important source of Pala history.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pala school of sculptural art is recognised as a distinct phase of the Indian art, and is noted for the artistic genius of the Bengal sculptors. It is influenced by the Gupta art.


title: Pala Empire

text: The Pala style was inherited and continued to develop under the Sena Empire. During this time, the style of sculpture changed from "Post-Gupta" to a distinctive style that was widely influential in other areas and later centuries. Deity figures became more rigid in posture, very often standing with straight legs close together, and figures were often heavily loaded with jewellery; they very often have multiple arms, a convention allowing them to hold many attributes and display mudras. The typical form for temple images is a slab with a main figure, rather over half life-size, in very high relief, surrounded by smaller attendant figures, who might have freer tribhanga poses. Critics have found the style tending towards over-elaboration. The quality of the carving is generally very high, with crisp, precise detail. In east India, facial features tend to become sharp.


title: Pala Empire

text: Much larger numbers of smaller bronze groups of similar composition have survived than from previous periods. Probably the numbers produced were increasing. These were mostly made for domestic shrines of the well-off, and from monasteries. Gradually, Hindu figures come to outnumber Buddhist ones, reflecting the terminal decline of Indian Buddhism, even in east India, its last stronghold.


title: Pala Empire

text: As noted earlier, the Palas built a number of monasteries and other sacred structures. The Somapura Mahavihara in present-day Bangladesh is a World Heritage Site. It is a monastery with a complex with 177 cells, numerous stupas, temples and a number of other ancillary buildings. The gigantic structures of other Viharas, including Vikramashila, Odantapuri, and Jagaddala are the other masterpieces of the Palas. These mammoth structures were mistaken by the forces of Bakhtiyar Khalji as fortified castles and were demolished. The art of Bihar and Bengal during the Pala and Sena dynasties influenced the art of Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Java.


title: Pala Empire

text: Most of the Pala inscriptions mention only the regnal year as the date of issue, without any well-known calendar era. Because of this, the chronology of the Pala kings is hard to determine. Based on their different interpretations of the various epigraphs and historical records, different historians estimate the Pala chronology as follows:


title: Pala Empire

text: The highest military officer in the Pala empire was the "Mahasenapati" (commander-in-chief). The Palas recruited mercenary soldiers from a number of kingdoms, including Malava, Khasa, Huna, Kulika, Mithila, Kanrata, Lata, Odra and Manahali. According to the contemporary accounts, the Rashtrakutas had the best infantry, the Gurjara-Pratiharas had the finest cavalry and the Palas had the largest elephant force. The Arab merchant Sulaiman states that the Palas had an army bigger than those of the Balhara (possibly the Rashtrakutas) and the king of Jurz (possibly the Gurjara-Pratiharas). He also states that the Pala army employed 10,000–15,000 men for fuelling and washing clothes. He further claims that during the battles, the Pala king would lead 50,000 war elephants. Sulaiman's accounts seem to be based on exaggerated reports; Ibn Khaldun mentions the number of elephants as 5,000.


title: Pala Empire

text: Since Bengal did not have a good native breed of horses, the Palas imported their cavalry horses from the foreigners, including the Kambojas. They also had a navy, used for both mercantile and defence purposes.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup in the 1958–59 season. The club's colours are yellow of a golden shade and black.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: YB began to be successful very early on. Against Lausanne they celebrated a surprising 2–2 draw and on 26 October 1902 a 7–0 victory over Fortuna Basel. In these years YB also came out from the shadow of FC Bern. YB beat their city rivals away 3–1 and on 8 March 1903 5–0 at home. YB won the championship of the Central League and were invited to play in the finals of the Swiss championship. On 22 March was the first final against FC Zürich. YB played, among others, the two Schwab brothers, and they beat Zurich 3–1. On 29 March YB faced the West champion FC Neuchâtel. The guests from Neuchâtel were the clear favorites, because the Bern club had lost to them one month before 1–4. This caused Neuchâtel to make the error of underestimating the Young Boys. The Neuchâtel defense completely broke apart when the YB striker Walter Frey found the net shortly after halftime to post a 1–0 lead. The game ended with a one-sided 5–0 result, and YB after only five years of existence had won their first Swiss football championship.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: After having trained for the early years on the Schwellenmätteli, below the Kirchenfeld bridge, YB played from the year 1904 at Spitalacker-Platz. In subsequent seasons the Young Boys did not win the championship but were always in the top three in the regional group. It took six years for YB to achieve further successes. In 1909, the Berners defeated FC Winterthur in Basel in the finals 1–0. The next year, the Young Boys won the championship finals against FC Aarau 3–1 and against Servette Geneva 2–1. Again in 1911, Servette Geneva and FC Zürich could not prevent YB's fourth championship overall and third in a row. It was the first title hat trick in the history of the Swiss Football Association. YB was also in 1910 and the two following years the champion of the "Anglo-cup", the predecessor of today's Swisscom Cup.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: At the time, the fans spoke of a time all opponents dreaded, the "YB Quarter Hour" 15 minutes before the end of the game. The players sustained their efforts throughout the 90 minutes so effectively that the opponents began to run down after about 75 minutes. An example is the 1910 finals between the YB and Aarau, where until the 80th minute the score stood at 1–1. Similarly, in the game against Servette in the final round in 1911, up through the 72nd minute the game was a 1–1 draw, but three goals in the last 18 minutes turned the result decisively for YB to clinch the title hat trick.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In 1913, the English football instructor Reynold Williams became the first coach of the club. Shortly thereafter, World War I erupted, and Spitalacker-Platz was converted to a potato field. YB arranged to rent facilities at Kirchfeld for 1,400 francs per year. The military also made space available at the barracks for the team's use. Despite these hardships, the club won Swiss league championship again in 1920.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: After the war, the team again played on the Spitalacker-Platz. However, the ground no longer suited the requirements of the Young Boys, so they searched for alternatives. They found space at the northeastern border of the city at the Wankdorffeld, and construction was initiated.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In 1925, the association's name was changed from FC Young Boys to Berner Sport Club Young Boys. This year was also the last game on the old Spitalacker-platz. In October, the new Wankdorf Stadium by the architects Scherler & Berger was opened with a tournament. It was attended by the Old Boys from Basel, Servette Geneva, and the Young Boys. The new sports complex included a main grandstand with 1,200 covered seats, a restaurant, changing rooms, a training hall and a training ground. In total, the new stadium held 22,000 spectators, including covered standing room for 5,000. YB now had a large and modern stadium, which intensified the rivalry with FC Bern, because the older association continued to play at the small and outdated Neufeldplatz. The two clubs went so far as to negotiate a contract, facilitated by Central President Schlegel, to prevent discord.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In 1929, YB once again progressed to the final round of the Swiss championship. The first game, on a Sunday, pitted Urania Geneva Sport against YB, the second a week later Grasshoppers against Urania GC, and on the third Sunday in the final YB–GC. The first game in Geneva ended with a 0–0 draw, which satisfied the Bernese. When the Grasshoppers beat Geneva in Zurich 3–0, the chances for YB to win the title decreased tremendously. In the third game, the guests from Zürich needed only a draw to win the championship for the third time in a row. For this final on 30 June, Young Boys deployed replacement goalkeeper Erich Jung in the offensive midfield position due to player shortages. Striker Johan Baumgartner also scored a goal and YB prevented the championship hat trick with a 2–0 win.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: On 10 February 1930, the club purchased an additional strip of land from the community, having noted that the stadium was too small, increasing the entire area of the Wankdorf stadium ground to 35,585 square metres. The 1930 Young Boys became the first to celebrate a Swiss Cup championship. The Swiss Cup had been initiated only five years earlier following the discontinuation of the Anglo Cup at the First World War. With 30,000 spectators crowding Wankdorf YB beat FC Aarau 1–0. In the following 15 years, YB won neither a league title nor a cup championship.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: During this time, Wankdorf continued to expand. The capacity of the stadium increased by building an extension to 42,000 spectators, costing the association an additional 300,000 francs. Furthermore, another training field was added.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: Towards the end of the 1930s, the world economic crisis started and Swiss football felt the effects. The attendance figures fell steadily, and the Sportplatz Spitalacker could no longer meet its financial obligations. After the outbreak of World War II, the club considered selling the stadium. However, through a debt-reduction and the help of the city of Bern in 1943, the finances of the club were rehabilitated. At that point, the stadium group changed its name to "Verein Fussball-Stadion Wankdorf".


title: BSC Young Boys

text: During World War II, the Bernese succeeded but could not claim a title. Only in 1945, at the end of the war, came the next success: YB won the second Cup against FC St. Gallen with a 2–0 victory at Espenmoos. Two seasons later, the Bernese were relegated to the National League B. It would be three seasons until they returned to the highest league where they would then remain for over 50 years.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In 1951, Norbert Eric Jones was replaced after only one year as the manager by the previously unknown Albert Sing. At that time, no one anticipated the successful years YB would experience under the German coach. Sing acted initially as a player-coach before he decided to become a trainer only. During his tenure YB experienced its most successful period. The team was reinforced by high-level transfers such as Eugene "Geni" Meier. Considerable success during this period was also attributed to the goalkeeper Walter Eich, who was one of the best in the history of the Young Boys. Later, the team consisted of top players like Heinz Schneite and Ernst Wechselberger.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the capacity of the Wankdorf stadium was increased from around 30,000 to more than 60,000 seats.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In the spring of 1953, Young Boys again advanced to the Cup. YB met Grasshoppers Zürich in the final pairing, and the clubs drew 1–1. Five weeks later, the teams met in a replay, which went to the Bernese 3–1. In the summer of that year, YB was invited to tour North America. The team played there against some American teams, Liverpool (1–1), and the Republic of Ireland national team (a 4–1 win for YB). YB produced impressive results overseas for Swiss football and was enthusiastically received by thousands upon its return to Bern. From 1957 and 1960, YB were Swiss champions four times in a row. During this time, YB became one of the more successful teams in European football and was superior to all Swiss opponents. 1958 brought yet another Cup when YB defeated Grasshoppers in a final replay, 4–1.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: Young Boys also achieved success in European competition. At its first appearance in the European Cup, it were politically disadvantaged, however: the Bernese drew the Vasas Budapest, the Hungarian club of the Interior Ministry. Some Swiss politicians demanded that no Swiss sports club should have contacts with the Hungarian football club, especially in Bern, the capital. Servette FC made its Charmilles Stadium available for one game, and 20,000 spectators supported YB in Geneva during a 1–1 draw against the Hungarians. In the return match, however, Young Boys fell 1–2. The following year, Young Boys' opponents in the European Cup were once again from Hungary, this time MTK Budapest. YB won the leg in the Nep Stadium 2–1. 26 November 1958 saw the European premiere in Wankdorf; 28,000 spectators celebrated the Young Boys' 4–1 victory.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In the second round, YB met the East German champions SC Wismut Chemnitz and the Wankdorf was filled with 32,000 spectators. The teams drew 2–2 after a 2–0 lead for the Young Boys. A week later, the teams met in the GDR. The game ended 0–0, which at that time required a deciding game. This took place on 1 April 1959 in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium before 35,000 spectators, and YB won 2–1. Thus, Young Boys qualified for the European Cup semi-finals. Their opponents in the semi-finals were Stade de Reims.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: The game of games in the history of the yellow-and-black took place on 15 April 1959, a rainy Wednesday. Sixty-thousand spectators packed into Wankdorf, but the crowd may have exceeded the official count. After an impressive performance, YB won 1–0 on a Geni Meier goal in the 13th minute. The game was a legend in Bern. Stade de Reims received the Bernese in the return match at the Parc des Princes, Paris, where the Frenchmen won 3–0 to reach the final. No other Swiss team besides FC Zürich has since found as much success in an international competition as Young Boys did in this season.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: In 1960, YB played internationally once again, meeting Eintracht Frankfurt in the first round, where Frankfurt won 4–1 before 36,000 spectators. In the return match at Frankfurt's Waldstadion, YB managed a 1–1 draw. In 1961, the team first travelled to Ireland to meet Limerick, where YB won with an impressive 5–0 showing, then again 4–2 in front of 22,000 spectators at Wankdorf in the return leg. In the second round, YB met Hamburger SV (and its star striker Uwe Seeler) in what was the first European Cup game in that team's history. Forty-five thousand spectators were at the game in the Wankdorf, where Hamburg stunned YB with a 5–0 victory. In Hamburg, the Bernese improved upon their previous performance, earning a 3–3 draw before 40,000 spectators in the Volksparkstadion. It would be the last appearance in Europe for YB for a long time.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: After four league titles, a European Cup run and many successes, Young Boys traveled 31 days through the Far East, in five weeks having visited ten countries and played several friendly matches against Asian teams.


title: BSC Young Boys

text: Albert Sing left BSC Young Boys in 1964 and is still the most successful coach in the history of the club.