title: Francis Galton

text: A nervous breakdown prevented Galton's intent to try for honours. He elected instead to take a "poll" (pass) B.A. degree, like his half-cousin Charles Darwin. (Following the Cambridge custom, he was awarded an M.A. without further study, in 1847.) He briefly resumed his medical studies but the death of his father in 1844 left him emotionally destitute, though financially independent, and he terminated his medical studies entirely, turning to foreign travel, sport and technical invention.


title: Francis Galton

text: In his early years Galton was an enthusiastic traveller, and made a notable solo trip through Eastern Europe to Constantinople, before going up to Cambridge. In 1845 and 1846, he went to Egypt and travelled up the Nile to Khartoum in the Sudan, and from there to Beirut, Damascus and down to Jordan.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1850 he joined the Royal Geographical Society, and over the next two years mounted a long and difficult expedition into then little-known South West Africa (now Namibia). He wrote a book on his experience, "Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa". He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal in 1853 and the Silver Medal of the French Geographical Society for his pioneering cartographic survey of the region. This established his reputation as a geographer and explorer. He proceeded to write the best-selling "The Art of Travel", a handbook of practical advice for the Victorian on the move, which went through many editions and is still in print.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was a polymath who made important contributions in many fields, including meteorology (the anticyclone and the first popular weather maps), statistics (regression and correlation), psychology (synaesthesia), biology (the nature and mechanism of heredity), and criminology (fingerprints). Much of this was influenced by his penchant for counting and measuring. Galton prepared the first weather map published in "The Times" (1 April 1875, showing the weather from the previous day, 31 March), now a standard feature in newspapers worldwide.


title: Francis Galton

text: He became very active in the British Association for the Advancement of Science, presenting many papers on a wide variety of topics at its meetings from 1858 to 1899. He was the general secretary from 1863 to 1867, president of the Geographical section in 1867 and 1872, and president of the Anthropological Section in 1877 and 1885. He was active on the council of the Royal Geographical Society for over forty years, in various committees of the Royal Society, and on the Meteorological Council.


title: Francis Galton

text: James McKeen Cattell, a student of Wilhelm Wundt who had been reading Galton's articles, decided he wanted to study under him. He eventually built a professional relationship with Galton, measuring subjects and working together on research.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1888, Galton established a lab in the science galleries of the South Kensington Museum. In Galton's lab, participants could be measured to gain knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. Galton also used these data for his own research. He would typically charge people a small fee for his services.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1873, Galton wrote a controversial letter to "The Times" titled 'Africa for the Chinese', where he argued that the Chinese, as a race capable of high civilization and only temporarily stunted by the recent failures of Chinese dynasties, should be encouraged to immigrate to Africa and displace the supposedly inferior aboriginal blacks.


title: Francis Galton

text: The publication by his cousin Charles Darwin of "The Origin of Species" in 1859 was an event that changed Galton's life. He came to be gripped by the work, especially the first chapter on "Variation under Domestication", concerning animal breeding.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton devoted much of the rest of his life to exploring variation in human populations and its implications, at which Darwin had only hinted in "The Origin of Species", although he returned to it in his 1871 book "The Descent of Man", drawing on his cousin's work in the intervening period. Galton established a research program which embraced multiple aspects of human variation, from mental characteristics to height; from facial images to fingerprint patterns. This required inventing novel measures of traits, devising large-scale collection of data using those measures, and in the end, the discovery of new statistical techniques for describing and understanding the data.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was interested at first in the question of whether human ability was hereditary, and proposed to count the number of the relatives of various degrees of eminent men. If the qualities were hereditary, he reasoned, there should be more eminent men among the relatives than among the general population. To test this, he invented the methods of historiometry. Galton obtained extensive data from a broad range of biographical sources which he tabulated and compared in various ways. This pioneering work was described in detail in his book "Hereditary Genius" in 1869. Here he showed, among other things, that the numbers of eminent relatives dropped off when going from the first degree to the second degree relatives, and from the second degree to the third. He took this as evidence of the inheritance of abilities.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton recognized the limitations of his methods in these two works, and believed the question could be better studied by comparisons of twins. His method envisaged testing to see if twins who were similar at birth diverged in dissimilar environments, and whether twins dissimilar at birth converged when reared in similar environments. He again used the method of questionnaires to gather various sorts of data, which were tabulated and described in a paper "The history of twins" in 1875. In so doing he anticipated the modern field of behaviour genetics, which relies heavily on twin studies. He concluded that the evidence favored nature rather than nurture. He also proposed adoption studies, including trans-racial adoption studies, to separate the effects of heredity and environment.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton recognized that cultural circumstances influenced the capability of a civilization's citizens, and their reproductive success. In "Hereditary Genius", he envisaged a situation conducive to resilient and enduring civilization as follows:


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton invented the term "eugenics" in 1883 and set down many of his observations and conclusions in a book, "Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development". In the book's introduction, he wrote:


title: Francis Galton

text: He believed that a scheme of 'marks' for family merit should be defined, and early marriage between families of high rank be encouraged via provision of monetary incentives. He pointed out some of the tendencies in British society, such as the late marriages of eminent people, and the paucity of their children, which he thought were "dysgenic". He advocated encouraging eugenic marriages by supplying able couples with incentives to have children. On 29 October 1901, Galton chose to address eugenic issues when he delivered the second Huxley lecture at the Royal Anthropological Institute.


title: Francis Galton

text: "The Eugenics Review", the journal of the Eugenics Education Society, commenced publication in 1909. Galton, the Honorary President of the society, wrote the foreword for the first volume. The First International Congress of Eugenics was held in July 1912. Winston Churchill and Carls Elliot were among the attendees.


title: Francis Galton

text: According to the "Encyclopedia of Genocide", Galton bordered on the justification of genocide when he stated: "There exists a sentiment, for the most part quite unreasonable, against the gradual extinction of an inferior race."


title: Francis Galton

text: In June 2020, UCL announced the renaming of a lecture theatre named after Galton because of his connection with eugenics.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton's formulation of regression and its link to the bivariate normal distribution can be traced to his attempts at developing a mathematical model for population stability. Although Galton's first attempt to study Darwinian questions, "Hereditary Genius", generated little enthusiasm at the time, the text led to his further studies in the 1870s concerning the inheritance of physical traits. This text contains some crude notions of the concept of regression, described in a qualitative matter. For example, he wrote of dogs: "If a man breeds from strong, well-shaped dogs, but of mixed pedigree, the puppies will be sometimes, but rarely, the equals of their parents. They will commonly be of a mongrel, nondescript type, because ancestral peculiarities are apt to crop out in the offspring."


title: Francis Galton

text: This notion created a problem for Galton, as he could not reconcile the tendency of a population to maintain a normal distribution of traits from generation to generation with the notion of inheritance. It seemed that a large number of factors operated independently on offspring, leading to the normal distribution of a trait in each generation. However, this provided no explanation as to how a parent can have a significant impact on his offspring, which was the basis of inheritance.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton's solution to this problem was presented in his Presidential Address at the September 1885 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, as he was serving at the time as President of Section H: Anthropology. The address was published in "Nature," and Galton further developed the theory in "Regression toward mediocrity in hereditary stature" and "Hereditary Stature." An elaboration of this theory was published in 1889 in "Natural Inheritance." There were three key developments that helped Galton develop this theory: the development of the law of error in 1874–1875, the formulation of an empirical law of reversion in 1877, and the development of a mathematical framework encompassing regression using human population data during 1885.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton's development of the law of regression to the mean, or reversion, was due to insights from the Galton board ('bean machine') and his studies of sweet peas. While Galton had previously invented the quincunx prior to February 1874, the 1877 version of the quincunx had a new feature that helped Galton demonstrate that a normal mixture of normal distributions is also normal. Galton demonstrated this using a new version of quincunx, adding chutes to the apparatus to represent reversion. When the pellets passed through the curved chutes (representing reversion) and then the pins (representing family variability), the result was a stable population. On Friday 19 February 1877 Galton gave a lecture entitled "Typical Laws of Heredity" at the Royal Institution in London. In this lecture, he posited that there must be a counteracting force to maintain population stability. However, this model required a much larger degree of intergenerational natural selection than was plausible.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1875, Galton started growing sweet peas, and addressed the Royal Institution on his findings on 9 February 1877. He found that each group of progeny seeds followed a normal curve, and the curves were equally disperse. Each group was not centered about the parent's weight, but rather at a weight closer to the population average. Galton called this reversion, as every progeny group was distributed at a value that was closer to the population average than the parent. The deviation from the population average was in the same direction, but the magnitude of the deviation was only one-third as large. In doing so, Galton demonstrated that there was variability among each of the families, yet the families combined to produce a stable, normally distributed population. When Galton addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1885, he said of his investigation of sweet peas, "I was then blind to what I now perceive to be the simple explanation of the phenomenon."


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was able to further his notion of regression by collecting and analyzing data on human stature. Galton asked for help of mathematician J. Hamilton Dickson in investigating the geometric relationship of the data. He determined that the regression coefficient did not ensure population stability by chance, but rather that the regression coefficient, conditional variance, and population were interdependent quantities related by a simple equation. Thus Galton identified that the linearity of regression was not coincidental but rather was a necessary consequence of population stability.


title: Francis Galton

text: The model for population stability resulted in Galton's formulation of the Law of Ancestral Heredity. This law, which was published in "Natural Inheritance," states that the two parents of an offspring jointly contribute one half of an offspring's heritage, while the other, more-removed ancestors constitute a smaller proportion of the offspring's heritage. Galton viewed reversion as a spring, that when stretched, would return the distribution of traits back to the normal distribution. He concluded that evolution would have to occur via discontinuous steps, as reversion would neutralize any incremental steps. When Mendel's principles were rediscovered in 1900, this resulted in a fierce battle between the followers of Galton's Law of Ancestral Heredity, the biometricians, and those who advocated Mendel's principles.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton conducted wide-ranging inquiries into heredity which led him to challenge Charles Darwin's hypothesis of pangenesis. Darwin had proposed as part of this model that certain particles, which he called "gemmules" moved throughout the body and were also responsible for the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Galton, in consultation with Darwin, set out to see if they were transported in the blood. In a long series of experiments in 1869 to 1871, he transfused the blood between dissimilar breeds of rabbits, and examined the features of their offspring. He found no evidence of characters transmitted in the transfused blood.


title: Francis Galton

text: Darwin challenged the validity of Galton's experiment, giving his reasons in an article published in "Nature" where he wrote:


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton explicitly rejected the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarckism), and was an early proponent of "hard heredity" through selection alone. He came close to rediscovering Mendel's particulate theory of inheritance, but was prevented from making the final breakthrough in this regard because of his focus on continuous, rather than discrete, traits (now regarded as polygenic traits). He went on to found the biometric approach to the study of heredity, distinguished by its use of statistical techniques to study continuous traits and population-scale aspects of heredity.


title: Francis Galton

text: This approach was later taken up enthusiastically by Karl Pearson and W. F. R. Weldon; together, they founded the highly influential journal "Biometrika" in 1901. (R. A. Fisher would later show how the biometrical approach could be reconciled with the Mendelian approach.) The statistical techniques that Galton invented (correlation and regression—see below) and phenomena he established (regression to the mean) formed the basis of the biometric approach and are now essential tools in all social sciences.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1884, London hosted the International Health Exhibition. This exhibition placed much emphasis on highlighting Victorian developments in sanitation and public health, and allowed the nation to display its advanced public health outreach, compared to other countries at the time. Francis Galton took advantage of this opportunity to set up his anthropometric laboratory. He stated that the purpose of this laboratory was to "show the public the simplicity of the instruments and methods by which the chief physical characteristics of man may be measured and recorded." The laboratory was an interactive walk-through in which physical characteristics such as height, weight, and eyesight, would be measured for each subject after payment of an admission fee. Upon entering the laboratory, a subject would visit the following stations in order.


title: Francis Galton

text: First, they would fill out a form with personal and family history (age, birthplace, marital status, residence, and occupation), then visit stations that recorded hair and eye color, followed by the keenness, color-sense, and depth perception of sight. Next, they would examine the keenness, or relative acuteness, of hearing and highest audible note of their hearing followed by an examination of their sense of touch. However, because the surrounding area was noisy, the apparatus intended to measure hearing was rendered ineffective by the noise and echoes in the building. Their breathing capacity would also be measured, as well as their ability to throw a punch. The next stations would examine strength of both pulling and squeezing with both hands. Lastly, subjects' heights in various positions (sitting, standing, etc.) as well as arm span and weight would be measured.


title: Francis Galton

text: One excluded characteristic of interest was the size of the head. Galton notes in his analysis that this omission was mostly for practical reasons. For instance, it would not be very accurate and additionally it would require much time for women to disassemble and reassemble their hair and bonnets. The patrons would then be given a souvenir containing all their biological data, while Galton would also keep a copy for future statistical research.


title: Francis Galton

text: Although the laboratory did not employ any revolutionary measurement techniques, it was unique because of the simple logistics of constructing such a demonstration within a limited space, and because of the speed and efficiency with which all the necessary data were gathered. The laboratory itself was a see-through (lattice-walled) fenced off gallery measuring 36 feet long by 6 feet long. To collect data efficiently, Galton had to make the process as simple as possible for people to understand. As a result, subjects were taken through the laboratory in pairs so that explanations could be given to two at a time, also in the hope that one of the two would confidently take the initiative to go through all the tests first, encouraging the other. With this design, the total time spent in the exhibit was fourteen minutes for each pair.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton states that the measurements of human characteristics are useful for two reasons. First, he states that measuring physical characteristics is useful in order to ensure, on a more domestic level, that children are developing properly. A useful example he gives for the practicality of these domestic measurements is regularly checking a child's eyesight, in order to correct any deficiencies early on. The second use for the data from his anthropometric laboratory is for statistical studies. He comments on the usefulness of the collected data to compare attributes across occupations, residences, races, etc. The exhibit at the health exhibition allowed Galton to collect a large amount of raw data from which to conduct further comparative studies. He had 9,337 respondents, each measured in 17 categories, creating a rather comprehensive statistical database.


title: Francis Galton

text: After the conclusion of the International Health Exhibition, Galton used these data to confirm in humans his theory of linear regression, posed after studying sweet peas. The accumulation of this human data allowed him to observe the correlation between forearm length and height, head width and head breadth, and head length and height. With these observations he was able to write "Co-relations and their Measurements, chiefly from Anthropometric Data". In this publication, Galton defined what co-relation as a phenomenon that occurs when "the variation of the one [variable] is accompanied on the average by more or less variation of the other, and in the same direction."


title: Francis Galton

text: The method used in "Hereditary Genius" has been described as the first example of historiometry. To bolster these results, and to attempt to make a distinction between 'nature' and 'nurture' (he was the first to apply this phrase to the topic), he devised a questionnaire that he sent out to 190 Fellows of the Royal Society. He tabulated characteristics of their families, such as birth order and the occupation and race of their parents. He attempted to discover whether their interest in science was 'innate' or due to the encouragements of others. The studies were published as a book, "English men of science: their nature and nurture", in 1874. In the end, it promoted the nature versus nurture question, though it did not settle it, and provided some fascinating data on the sociology of scientists of the time.


title: Francis Galton

text: Sir Francis was the first scientist to recognise what is now known as the lexical hypothesis. This is the idea that the most salient and socially relevant personality differences in people's lives will eventually become encoded into language. The hypothesis further suggests that by sampling language, it is possible to derive a comprehensive taxonomy of human personality traits.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton's inquiries into the mind involved detailed recording of people's subjective accounts of whether and how their minds dealt with phenomena such as mental imagery. To better elicit this information, he pioneered the use of the questionnaire. In one study, he asked his fellow members of the Royal Society of London to describe mental images that they experienced. In another, he collected in-depth surveys from eminent scientists for a work examining the effects of nature and nurture on the propensity toward scientific thinking.


title: Francis Galton

text: Core to any statistical analysis is the concept that measurements vary: they have both a central tendency, or mean, and a spread around this central value, or variance. In the late 1860s, Galton conceived of a measure to quantify normal variation: the standard deviation.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was a keen observer. In 1906, visiting a livestock fair, he stumbled upon an intriguing contest. An ox was on display, and the villagers were invited to guess the animal's weight after it was slaughtered and dressed. Nearly 800 participated, and Galton was able to study their individual entries after the event. Galton stated that "the middlemost estimate expresses the "vox populi", every other estimate being condemned as too low or too high by a majority of the voters", and reported this value (the median, in terminology he himself had introduced, but chose not to use on this occasion) as 1,207 pounds. To his surprise, this was within 0.8% of the weight measured by the judges. Soon afterwards, in response to an enquiry, he reported the mean of the guesses as 1,197 pounds, but did not comment on its improved accuracy. Recent archival research has found some slips in transmitting Galton's calculations to the original article in "Nature": the median was actually 1,208 pounds, and the dressed weight of the ox 1,197 pounds, so the mean estimate had zero error. James Surowiecki uses this weight-judging competition as his opening example: had he known the true result, his conclusion on the wisdom of the crowd would no doubt have been more strongly expressed.


title: Francis Galton

text: The same year, Galton suggested in a letter to the journal "Nature" a better method of cutting a round cake by avoiding making radial incisions.


title: Francis Galton

text: Studying variation, Galton invented the Galton board, a pachinko-like device also known as the bean machine, as a tool for demonstrating the law of error and the normal distribution.


title: Francis Galton

text: He also discovered the properties of the bivariate normal distribution and its relationship to correlation and regression analysis.


title: Francis Galton

text: In 1846, the French physicist Auguste Bravais (1811–1863) first developed what would become the correlation coefficient. After examining forearm and height measurements, Galton independently rediscovered the concept of correlation in 1888 and demonstrated its application in the study of heredity, anthropology, and psychology. Galton's later statistical study of the probability of extinction of surnames led to the concept of Galton–Watson stochastic processes.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton invented the use of the regression line and for the choice of r (for reversion or regression) to represent the correlation coefficient.


title: Francis Galton

text: In the 1870s and 1880s he was a pioneer in the use of normal theory to fit histograms and ogives to actual tabulated data, much of which he collected himself: for instance large samples of sibling and parental height. Consideration of the results from these empirical studies led to his further insights into evolution, natural selection, and regression to the mean.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was the first to describe and explain the common phenomenon of regression toward the mean, which he first observed in his experiments on the size of the seeds of successive generations of sweet peas.


title: Francis Galton

text: The conditions under which regression toward the mean occurs depend on the way the term is mathematically defined. Galton first observed the phenomenon in the context of simple linear regression of data points. Galton developed the following model: pellets fall through a "quincunx" or "bean machine" forming a normal distribution centered directly under their entrance point. These pellets could then be released down into a second gallery (corresponding to a second measurement occasion). Galton then asked the reverse question "from where did these pellets come?"


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton went beyond measurement and summary to attempt to explain the phenomena he observed. Among such developments, he proposed an early theory of ranges of sound and hearing, and collected large quantities of anthropometric data from the public through his popular and long-running Anthropometric Laboratory, which he established in 1884, and where he studied over 9,000 people. It was not until 1985 that these data were analysed in their entirety.


title: Francis Galton

text: He made a beauty map of Britain, based on a secret grading of the local women on a scale from attractive to repulsive. The lowest point was in Aberdeen.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton's study of human abilities ultimately led to the foundation of differential psychology and the formulation of the first mental tests. He was interested in measuring humans in every way possible. This included measuring their ability to make sensory discrimination which he assumed was linked to intellectual prowess. Galton suggested that individual differences in general ability are reflected in performance on relatively simple sensory capacities and in speed of reaction to a stimulus, variables that could be objectively measured by tests of sensory discrimination and reaction


title: Francis Galton

text: time. He also measured how quickly people reacted which he later linked to internal wiring which ultimately limited intelligence ability. Throughout his research Galton assumed that people who reacted faster were more intelligent than others.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton also devised a technique called "composite portraiture" (produced by superimposing multiple photographic portraits of individuals' faces registered on their eyes) to create an average face (see averageness). In the 1990s, a hundred years after his discovery, much psychological research has examined the attractiveness of these faces, an aspect that Galton had remarked on in his original lecture. Others, including Sigmund Freud in his work on dreams, picked up Galton's suggestion that these composites might represent a useful metaphor for an Ideal type or a concept of a "natural kind" (see Eleanor Rosch)—such as Jewish men, criminals, patients with tuberculosis, etc.—onto the same photographic plate, thereby yielding a blended whole, or "composite", that he hoped could generalise the facial appearance of his subject into an "average" or "central type". (See also entry "Modern physiognomy" under Physiognomy).


title: Francis Galton

text: This work began in the 1880s while the Jewish scholar Joseph Jacobs studied anthropology and statistics with Francis Galton. Jacobs asked Galton to create a composite photograph of a Jewish type. One of Jacobs' first publications that used Galton's composite imagery was "The Jewish Type, and Galton's Composite Photographs," "Photographic News", 29, (24 April 1885): 268–269.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton hoped his technique would aid medical diagnosis, and even criminology through the identification of typical criminal faces. However, his technique did not prove useful and fell into disuse, although after much work on it including by photographers Lewis Hine and John L. Lovell and Arthur Batut.


title: Francis Galton

text: The method of identifying criminals by their fingerprints had been introduced in the 1860s by Sir William James Herschel in India, and their potential use in forensic work was first proposed by Dr Henry Faulds in 1880. Galton was introduced to the field by his half-cousin Charles Darwin, who was a friend of Faulds's, and he went on to create the first scientific footing for the study (which assisted its acceptance by the courts) although Galton did not ever give credit that the original idea was not his.


title: Francis Galton

text: In a Royal Institution paper in 1888 and three books ("Finger Prints", 1892; "Decipherment of Blurred Finger Prints", 1893; and "Fingerprint Directories", 1895), Galton estimated the probability of two persons having the same fingerprint and studied the heritability and racial differences in fingerprints. He wrote about the technique (inadvertently sparking a controversy between Herschel and Faulds that was to last until 1917), identifying common pattern in fingerprints and devising a classification system that survives to this day. He described and classified them into eight broad categories: 1: plain arch, 2: tented arch, 3: simple loop, 4: central pocket loop, 5: double loop, 6: lateral pocket loop, 7: plain whorl, and 8: accidental.


title: Francis Galton

text: In an effort to reach a wider audience, Galton worked on a novel entitled "Kantsaywhere" from May until December 1910. The novel described a utopia organized by a eugenic religion, designed to breed fitter and smarter humans. His unpublished notebooks show that this was an expansion of material he had been composing since at least 1901. He offered it to Methuen for publication, but they showed little enthusiasm. Galton wrote to his niece that it should be either "smothered or superseded". His niece appears to have burnt most of the novel, offended by the love scenes, but large fragments survived, and it was published online by University College, London.


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton is buried in the family tomb in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels, in the village of Claverdon, Warwickshire.


title: Francis Galton

text: In January 1853, Galton met Louisa Jane Butler (1822–1897) at his neighbour's home and they were married on 1 August 1853. The union of 43 years proved childless.


title: Francis Galton

text: It has been written of Galton that "On his own estimation he was a supremely intelligent man." Later in life, Galton proposed a connection between genius and insanity based on his own experience:


title: Francis Galton

text: Over the course of his career Galton received many awards, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society (1910). He received in 1853 the Founder's Medal, the highest award of the Royal Geographical Society, for his explorations and map-making of southwest Africa. He was elected a member of the Athenaeum Club in 1855 and made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1860. His autobiography also lists:


title: Francis Galton

text: Galton was knighted in 1909. His statistical heir Karl Pearson, first holder of the Galton Chair of Eugenics at University College, London (now Galton Chair of Genetics), wrote a three-volume biography of Galton, in four parts, after his death.


title: Francis Galton

text: University College London has in the twenty-first century been involved in a historical inquiry into its role as the institutional birthplace of eugenics. Galton established a laboratory at UCL in 1904. Some students and staff have called on the university to rename its Galton lecture theatre. "Galton's seductive promise was of a bold new world filled only with beautiful, intelligent, productive people. The scientists in its thrall claimed this could be achieved by controlling reproduction, policing borders to prevent certain types of immigrants, and locking away "undesirables", including disabled people."


title: Mark McGrath

text: Mark Sayers McGrath (born March 15, 1968) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist of the rock band Sugar Ray. McGrath is also known for his work as a co-host of "Extra", and he was the host of "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" in 2010. McGrath hosted the second season of the TV show "Killer Karaoke", taking the place of Jackass star Steve-O.


title: Mark McGrath

text: McGrath was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His family moved from Connecticut to Newport Beach, California when he was eight years old. He attended Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach and later the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.


title: Mark McGrath

text: McGrath, Rodney Sheppard, Murphy Karges, and Stan Frazier formed Sugar Ray in Orange County, California in 1992. In 1994 the band signed with Atlantic Records. Their first success came in 1997 with the song "Fly".


title: Mark McGrath

text: McGrath's personal popularity soared as he appeared on such national magazine covers as those of "Rolling Stone" and "Spin". He also made numerous appearances on MTV, VH1, and various talk and awards shows. "People" magazine named him the "Sexiest Rocker" of 1998.


title: Mark McGrath

text: McGrath contributed the track "Reaching Out" on "Strait Up", a tribute album to late vocalist James Lynn Strait, whom he has a dedication tattoo to memorialize. He appeared in the video of "Angel's Son", another song written for the album by Sevendust, and performed with the band during their appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2012, McGrath—along with Everclear's Art Alexakis—organized the SummerLand Tour, which consisted of Sugar Ray, Everclear, Lit, Marcy Playground and Gin Blossoms. McGrath and Alexakis decided to split ways in 2013, and McGrath formed the "Under the Sun Tour" with Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, Gin Blossoms, Vertical Horizon, and Fastball.


title: Mark McGrath

text: McGrath is a three-time champion of "Rock & Roll Jeopardy!" on VH1. In the finals he won against Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Gary Dell'Abate of "The Howard Stern Show". He and his band Sugar Ray performed as themselves in the 2002 "Scooby-Doo" movie, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar. In 2004, he and his band performed in the series "Las Vegas" (Season 1, Episode 19).


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2004, McGrath began his work as co-host of the "Extra" television show on September 13, after a producer had noticed his work hosting various VH1 and MTV programs, and asked him to join. McGrath left the show in July 2008 to focus on his music career.


title: Mark McGrath

text: He served as a guest judge for "American Idol" auditions that were aired in early 2005. McGrath received the part of Dex Lawson on The WB show "Charmed" in 2005, but he ultimately turned it down due to scheduling conflicts, and he was replaced by Jason Lewis. McGrath was the host of "" (2007) and "" (2008).


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2010, McGrath began hosting the third season of "Don't Forget the Lyrics" which aired on syndication. He appeared on "The Celebrity Apprentice Season 4" which premiered in March 2011, where he was fired in week six and finished in tenth place.


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2013, he appeared on "Celebrity Wife Swap" and the penultimate episode of "The Office". McGrath continued his TV appearances in 2014 and 2015 by guest starring on "The Neighbors" and "Workaholics". McGrath also hosted truTv's "Killer Karaoke" and starring in "". In 2016, he appeared in the pilot episode of "Lady Dynamite" portraying himself.


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2018, he was announced as one of the eleven houseguests to be competing on the first American edition of "Celebrity Big Brother". He finished in third place, tied with Ariadna Gutiérrez. McGrath also appeared in the second season as a special guest.


title: Mark McGrath

text: In 2021, McGrath competed on the fifth season of "The Masked Singer" as the wild card contestant "Orca". Also in 2021, he became the host and narrator of the documentary television series "Dark Side of the 90s".


title: Mark McGrath

text: On December 19, 2022, McGrath appeared on the first episode of the American version of “The Wheel”. He was one of the celebrities helping the contestants win money.


title: Mark McGrath

text: He married beautician Carin Kingsland on September 24, 2012. The couple met in 1994 and were engaged on New Year's Eve 2009 after 16 years of on-and-off dating. McGrath and Kingsland are parents to twins Lydon Edward and Hartley Grace, born on April 29, 2010.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener especially on the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning squad by contributing crucial 38 runs as a top scorer in the finals against West Indies.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Srikkanth was the First player in the World to have a Career with International Centuries, 5 Wicket Hauls, and also 5 Catches in an Innings. Known for his aggressive opening style, he has represented the Indian National Cricket team and Tamil Nadu in Indian domestic cricket. He is also a commentator on Star Sports Tamil.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Srikkanth played domestic cricket, for Tamil Nadu and South Zone. He made his One Day International debut against England in Ahmedabad in 1981, followed two days later by his Test debut against England at Bombay at the age of 21. He opened the innings partnering Sunil Gavaskar. Known for his aggressive batting style, he was an early role model for opening batsmen in future years to adopt a similar approach.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: As he matured, he tempered his aggression somewhat and became a mainstay of the Indian cricket team. He was an integral member of the Indian squad when they won the 1983 Prudential World Cup and 1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket. In the 1983 World Cup final against the West Indies, Srikkanth top-scored in the finals.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: He was made the captain of the Indian team in 1989. In the same year, Sachin Tendulkar made his debut under Srikkanth's captaincy . He remained the captain of the team for India's tour of Pakistan in 1990 and managed to draw all the Tests of the series. But the selectors were disappointed with his batting failures and dropped him. He returned two years later and played for another year before being dropped again. He retired from international cricket in 1993. He was the first Indian player to score a half-century and pick up 5 wickets in an ODI. He achieved this feat against New Zealand at Visakhapatnam in 1988. Srikanth Ended his Test Career with 5 Catches in an Innings during his Last Test Match.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Srikkanth holds the unusual distinction of scoring the only run ever scored in international cricket at Ray Mitchell Oval, in Mackay, Australia. The venue hosted its only international match during the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and the match was washed out after two deliveries.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Srikkanth was an opening batsman noted for his aggressive attacking strokes in contrast to his first batting partner and senior Sunil Gavaskar. He is the pioneer in Pinch-hitting in ODIs at least a decade before Mark Greatbatch started in the 1992 World-Cup & Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya much later. He was known to take risks even in the early part of the innings, often scoring boundaries over the inner ring of fielders. He shares three 100-run ODI partnerships with Ravi Shastri which included the first for India in ODI.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: After retirement he had a stint as the coach of the India 'A' team. He has since been a broadcaster and commentator with various sports and news channels. On 18 February 2008, Krish Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the Chennai Super Kings franchise of Indian Premier League.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: On 27 September 2008, he was appointed the Chief Selector of the Indian Cricket team. His tenure ended in 2012.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: On 20 December 2012, Krish Srikkanth was named the ambassador for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise of Indian Premier League.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Also, he is a commentator for the TV Network Star Sports Tamil. Srikkanth is also included to the panel of All India Council of Sports (AICS) as a member in January 2020.


title: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

text: Srikkanth is an electrical engineer who graduated from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. Srikkanth is married to Vidya. Srikkanth has two sons, one of whom, Anirudha, plays for Tamil Nadu cricket team and has played for both Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. Their eldest son is Aditya.


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor and singer best known for playing the role of Booger in the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies, Herbert Viola on the TV series "Moonlighting", Miles Dalby in the film "Risky Business", and record producer Ahmet Ertegun in the film "Ray" as well as for playing the role of Metatron on the TV series "Supernatural."


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: He is also known for providing his voice for such characters as Schmuley "Snot" Lonstein on the animated TV series "American Dad!" and Maru in the animated film "" in addition to portraying the title character on the animated TV series "Dan Vs.", Mr. Moleguaco in "The Emperor's New School", Ezekiel the Cockroach on "Doom Patrol", and Robot Default on "Robot and Monster".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: From 2013 to 2015, he served as the co-host of the TBS reality television competition series "King of the Nerds".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Norma E. Armstrong (née D'Amico), a teacher of Italian (Abruzzese) descent, and Robert Leroy Armstrong. During his childhood, he lived in Switzerland for a few years while his father worked there. His family returned to Michigan, and he graduated from Berkley High School in Berkley, Michigan


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong attended Western Michigan University and later transferred to the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, graduating in 1975.


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong had a Catholic upbringing; he later converted to Judaism when he married Elaine Aronson. His daughter Lily Armstrong was born in 1996. Armstrong announced via social media that his father died on May 25, 2020, of COVID-19.


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: His first role came in the 1983 film "Risky Business". However, he is best known for his role of Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds" and its sequel "". He later reprised his role as Booger in the 1992 television movie "" and the 1994 television movie "". Armstrong's typecasting in the role was mocked in "The Simpsons" episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". His other films include "Better Off Dead", "Big Bully", "One Crazy Summer", "Bad Medicine", "National Lampoon's Van Wilder", "Smokin' Aces", "", "Jingle All The Way", "Southland Tales", and "Beer for My Horses". He also had a recurring role as Herbert Viola on the television series "Moonlighting", and played the part of Ahmet Ertegun in the biographical film "Ray" (2004).


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong provided the voices for Mr. Moleguaco and Mr. Bugspit on the Disney Channel original series "The Emperor's New School" and "The Buzz on Maggie". Armstrong was also in "Akeelah and the Bee". He played "Farley", a fictional composite character based on members of Elvis Presley's real entourage in the 1997 cult-comedy film "Elvis Meets Nixon". He also had a bit part as "Russ" on the short-lived TV show "Reaper."


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong was cast in the 2000 film "Shanghai Noon" as Wild West hawker Bulldog Drummond, but all three scenes in which his character appears were cut from the film during the editing phase. He voices "Snot" on the animated sitcom "American Dad!", parodying his role from "Revenge of the Nerds". He also had a role as Double Wide in the cartoon series "Stroker and Hoop" on Adult Swim. He appeared in the 2006 production of "Akeelah and the Bee" as Mr. Welch. He was on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars despite being thirty when he played his first role. He played "Mecklen" in the 2007 film, "Smokin' Aces".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: In the feature film "Ray", for preparation for his role as music executive Ahmet Ertegun, he had the top part of his head shaved to simulate male pattern baldness. He guest starred in episode 10 — "Much Too Much" — and had a much smaller part in episode 11 — "Owner of a Lonely Heart" — in season two of "Grey's Anatomy". Armstrong played a deejay named Jerry Thunder on "That '70s Show", episode 315, "Radio Daze." In 2006 Armstrong was in an episode of Boston Legal. In 2008, he guest starred on the "iCarly" episode "iStakeout" as a convenience store clerk who was suspected of making unauthorized copies of movies. In 2009 he appeared in "", and "Locker 13". He played fictional astronaut Chaz Dalton on an episode of the TV series "My Name is Earl". From 2008–2013 he portrayed Dr Parker/Dr Dawson on "The Game".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: 2009 found Armstrong playing a paranoid character in a mental institution on the "House" season six premiere, "Broken". Also in 2009 Armstrong appeared in "", as a teacher obsessed with the principal of the school, and he also appeared as a bumbling bandit in the movie "Gold Retrievers".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: In 2010, he made a guest appearance on the television show "Glory Daze" and began voicing the main character on the animated series "Dan Vs." He also voices Robot in "Robot and Monster". He also appeared on Spike TV's "Blue Mountain State" (S01E11). In 2011, he appeared on an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", and has a recurring role as attorney Peter Goldman on season seven of "The Closer". He reprises this role in season four of "Major Crimes".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: In addition to his acting career, Armstrong's affinity for the music of Harry Nilsson has prompted him to become an enthusiast of Nilsson's work. He has written liner notes for CD reissues of Nilsson albums and has been instrumental in archival and bonus track preparation for these reissues. Additionally, Armstrong is an avid fan of Washington Irving, Laurel and Hardy, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Armstrong and former "Revenge of the Nerds" co-star Robert Carradine host the TBS reality TV competition series "King of the Nerds". The series, which pits contestants with expertise in a variety of geek interests to see who will be crowned with the eponymous title, premiered in January 2013.


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: He continued to play the angel Metatron in several episodes in the 9th, 10th and 11th seasons of "Supernatural".


title: Curtis Armstrong

text: Also, he is currently playing the pizza delivery guy in a Domino's commercial that pays homage to Tom Cruise's role in "Risky Business".


title: Jean Arthur

text: Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur had feature roles in three Frank Capra films: "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936) with Gary Cooper, "You Can't Take It with You" (1938) co-starring James Stewart, and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), also starring Stewart. These three films all championed the "everyday heroine", personified by Arthur. She also co-starred with Cary Grant in the adventure-drama "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939) and in the comedy-drama "The Talk of the Town" (1942). She starred as the lead in the acclaimed and highly successful comedy films "The Devil and Miss Jones" (1941) and "A Foreign Affair" (1948), the latter of which she starred alongside Marlene Dietrich. Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in "The More the Merrier" (1943), a comedy which also starred Joel McCrea.


title: Jean Arthur

text: James Harvey wrote in his history of the romantic comedy: "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her." She has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady". Her last film performance was non-comedic, playing the homesteader's wife in George Stevens's "Shane" in 1953.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Like Greta Garbo, Arthur was well known in Hollywood for her aversion to publicity; she rarely signed autographs or granted interviews. "Life magazine" observed in a 1940 article: "Next to Garbo, Jean Arthur is Hollywood's reigning mystery woman." As well as recoiling from interviews, after a certain age she avoided photographers and refused to become a part of any kind of publicity.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur was born Gladys Georgianna Greene in Plattsburgh, New York, to Protestant parents, Johanna Augusta Nelson and Hubert Sidney Greene. Gladys' Lutheran maternal grandparents immigrated from Norway to the American West after the Civil War. Her Congregationalist paternal ancestors immigrated from England to Rhode Island in the second half of the 1600s. During the 1790s, Nathaniel Greene helped found the town of St. Albans, Vermont, where his great-grandson, Hubert Greene, was born.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Johanna and Hubert were married in Billings, Montana, on July 7, 1890. Gladys's three older brothers—Donald Hubert Greene, Robert Brazier Greene, and Albert Sidney Greene—were born in the West. Around 1897, Hubert moved his wife and three sons from Billings to Plattsburgh, NY, so he could work as a photographer at the Woodward Studios on Clinton Street. Johanna gave birth to stillborn twins on April 1, 1898.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Two and a half years later, Johanna gave birth to Gladys. The product of a nomadic childhood, the future Jean Arthur lived at times in Saranac Lake, New York; Jacksonville, Florida, where George Woodward, Hubert's Plattsburgh employer, opened a second studio; and Schenectady, New York, where Hubert had grown up and where several members of his family still lived. The Greenes lived on and off in Westbrook, Maine, from 1908 to 1915 while Gladys's father worked at Lamson Studios in Portland. Relocating in 1915 to New York City, the family settled in the Washington Heights neighborhood – at 573 West 159th Street – of upper Manhattan, and Hubert worked at Ira L. Hill's photographic studio on Fifth Avenue.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Gladys dropped out of high school in her junior year due to a "change in family circumstances". Presaging many of her later film roles, she worked as a stenographer on Bond Street in lower Manhattan during and after World War I. Both her father (at age 55, claiming to be 45) and siblings registered for the draft. Her brother Albert died in 1926 as a result of respiratory injuries suffered during a mustard gas attack during World War I.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Discovered by Fox Film Studios while she was doing commercial modeling in New York City in the early 1920s, the newly named Jean Arthur landed a one-year contract and debuted in the silent film "Cameo Kirby" (1923), directed by John Ford. She reputedly took her stage name from two of her greatest heroes, Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) and King Arthur. The studio was at the time looking for new American sweethearts with sufficient sex appeal to interest the Jazz Age audiences. Arthur was remodeled as such a personality, a flapper.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Following the small role in "Cameo Kirby", she received her first female lead role in "The Temple of Venus" (1923), a plotless tale about a group of dancing nymphs. Dissatisfied with her lack of acting talent, the film's director Henry Otto replaced Arthur with actress Mary Philbin during the third day of shooting. Arthur agreed with the director: "There wasn't a spark from within. I was acting like a mechanical doll personality. I thought I was disgraced for life."


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur was planning on leaving the California film industry for good, but reluctantly stayed due to her contract, and appeared in comedy shorts instead. Despite lacking the required talent, Arthur liked acting, which she perceived as an "outlet". To acquire some fame, she registered herself in the Los Angeles city directory as a photo player operator, as well as appearing in a promotional film for a new Encino nightclub, but to no avail.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Change came when one day she showed up at the lot of Action Pictures, which produced B Westerns, and impressed its owner Lester F. Scott Jr., with her presence. He decided to take a chance on a complete unknown, and she was cast in over 20 Westerns in a two-year period. Only receiving $25 a picture, Arthur suffered from difficult working conditions: "The films were generally shot on location, often in the desert near Los Angeles, under a scorching sun that caused throats to parch and make-up to run. Running water was nowhere to be found, and even outhouses were a luxury not always present. The extras on these films were often real cowboys, tough men who were used to roughing it and who had little use for those who were not." The films were moderately successful in second-rate Midwestern theaters, though Arthur received no official attention. Aside from appearing in films for Action Pictures between 1924 and 1926, she worked in some independent Westerns, including "The Drug Store Cowboy" (1925), and Westerns for Poverty Row, as well as having an uncredited bit part in Buster Keaton's "Seven Chances" (1925) as the receptionist.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In 1927, Arthur attracted more attention when she appeared opposite Mae Busch and Charles Delaney as a gold-digging chorus girl in "Husband Hunters". Subsequently, she was romanced by actor Monty Banks in "Horse Shoes" (1927), both a commercial and critical success. She was cast on Banks's insistence, and received a salary of $700. Next, director Richard Wallace ignored Fox's wishes to cast a more experienced actress by assigning Arthur to the female lead in "The Poor Nut" (1927), a college comedy which gave her wide exposure to audiences. A reviewer for "Variety" did not spare the actress in his review:


title: Jean Arthur

text: With everyone in Hollywood bragging about the tremendous overflow of charming young women all battering upon the directorial doors leading to an appearance in pictures, it seems strange that from all these should have been selected two flat specimens such as Jean Arthur and Jane Winton. Neither of the girls has screen presence. Even under the kindliest treatment from the camera, they are far from attractive and in one or two side shots almost impossible.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Fed up with the direction that her career was taking, Arthur expressed her desire for a big break in an interview at the time. She was skeptical when signed to a small role in "Warming Up" (1928), a film produced for a big studio, Famous Players-Lasky, and featuring major star Richard Dix. Promoted as the studio's first sound film, it received wide media attention, and Arthur earned praise for her portrayal of a club owner's daughter. "Variety" opined, "Dix and Arthur are splendid in spite of the wretched material", while "Screenland" wrote that Arthur "is one of the most charming young kissees who ever officiated in a Dix film. Jean is winsome; she neither looks nor acts like the regular movie heroine. She's a nice girl – but she has her moments." The success of "Warming Up" resulted in Arthur being signed to a three-year contract with the studio, soon to be known as Paramount Pictures, at $150 a week.


title: Jean Arthur

text: With the rise of the talkies in the late 1920s, Arthur was among the many silent-screen actors of Paramount Pictures initially unwilling to adapt to sound films. Upon realizing that the craze for sound films was not a phase, she met with sound coach Roy Pomeroy. Her distinctive, throaty voice – in addition to some stage training on Broadway in the early 1930s – eventually helped make her a star in the talkies, but it initially prevented directors from casting her in films. In her early talkies, this "throaty" voice is still missing, and whether it had not yet emerged or whether she hid it remains unclear. Her all-talking film debut was "The Canary Murder Case" (1929), in which she co-starred opposite William Powell and Louise Brooks. Arthur impressed only a few with the film, and later claimed that at the time she was a "very poor actress ... awfully anxious to improve, but ... inexperienced so far as genuine training was concerned."


title: Jean Arthur

text: In the early years of talking pictures, Paramount was known for contracting Broadway actors with experienced vocals and impressive background references. Arthur was not among these actors, and she struggled for recognition in the film industry. Her personal involvement with rising Paramount executive David O. Selznick – despite his relationship with Irene Mayer Selznick – proved substantial; she was put on the map and became selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1929. Following a silent B-western called "Stairs of Sand" (1929), she received some positive notices when she played the female lead in the lavish production of "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu" (1929). Arthur was given more publicity assignments, which she carried out, though she immensely disliked posing for photographers and giving interviews.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Through Selznick, Arthur received her "best role to date" opposite famous sex symbol Clara Bow in the early sound film "The Saturday Night Kid" (1929). Of the two female leads, Arthur was thought to have "the better part", and director Edward Sutherland claimed, "Arthur was so good that we had to cut and cut to keep her from stealing the picture" from Bow. While some argued that Bow resented Arthur for having the "better part," Bow encouraged Arthur to make the most of the production. Arthur later praised her working experience with Bow: "[Bow] was so generous, no snootiness or anything. She was wonderful to me." The film was a moderate success, and "The New York Times" wrote that the film would have been "merely commonplace, were it not for Jean Arthur, who plays the catty sister with a great deal of skill."


title: Jean Arthur

text: Following a role in "Halfway to Heaven" (1929) opposite popular actor Charles "Buddy" Rogers (of which "Variety" opined that her career could be heading somewhere if she acquired more sex appeal), Selznick assigned her to play William Powell's wife in "Street of Chance" (1930). She did not impress the film's director John Cromwell, who advised the actress to move back to New York because she would not make it in Hollywood. By 1930, her relationship with Selznick had ended, causing her career at Paramount to slip. Following a string of "lifeless ingenue roles" in mediocre films, she debuted on stage in December 1930 with a supporting role in Pasadena Playhouse's 10-day production run of "Spring Song". Back in Hollywood, Arthur saw her career deteriorating, and she dyed her hair blonde in an attempt to boost her image and avoid comparison with more successful actress Mary Brian. Her effort did not pay off; when her three-year contract at Paramount expired in mid-1931, she was given her release with an announcement from Paramount that the decision was due to financial setbacks caused by the Great Depression.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In late 1931, Arthur returned to New York City, where a Broadway agent cast Arthur in an adaptation of "Lysistrata", which opened at the Riviera Theater on January 24, 1932. A few months later, she made her Broadway debut in "Foreign Affairs" opposite Dorothy Gish and Osgood Perkins. Though the play did not fare well and closed after 23 performances, critics were impressed by her work on stage. She next won the female lead in "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head", which opened on September 8, 1932, at the Broadhurst Theatre to mostly mixed notices for Arthur; negative reviews for the play caused the production to be halted quickly. Arthur returned to California for the holidays, and appeared in the RKO film "The Past of Mary Holmes" (1933), her first film in two years.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Back on Broadway, Arthur continued to appear in small plays that received little attention. Critics, however, continued to praise her in their reviews. In this period, Arthur arguably developed confidence in her acting craft for the first time. On the contrast between films in Hollywood and plays in New York, Arthur commented:


title: Jean Arthur

text: I don't think Hollywood is the place to be yourself. The individual ought to find herself before coming to Hollywood. On the stage I found myself to be in a different world. The individual counted. The director encouraged me and I learned how to be myself... I learned to face audiences and to forget them. To see the footlights and not to see them; to gauge the reactions of hundreds of people, and yet to throw myself so completely into a role that I was oblivious to their reaction.


title: Jean Arthur

text: "The Curtain Rises", which ran from October to December 1933, was Arthur's first Broadway play in which she was the center of attention. With an improved résumé, she returned to Hollywood in late 1933, and turned down several contract offers until she was asked to meet with an executive from Columbia Pictures. Arthur agreed to star in a film, "Whirlpool" (1934), and during production, she was offered a long-term contract that promised financial stability for both of her parents and her. Though hesitant to give up her stage career, Arthur signed the five-year contract on February 14, 1934.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In 1935, at age 34, Arthur starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in the gangster farce "The Whole Town's Talking", also directed by Ford, and her popularity began to rise. It was the first time Arthur portrayed a hard-boiled working girl with a heart of gold, the type of role with which she would be associated for the rest of her career. She enjoyed the acting experience and working opposite Robinson, who remarked in his biography that it was a "delight to work with and know" Arthur. By the time of the film's release, her hair, naturally brunette throughout the silent film portion of her career, was bleached blonde and mostly stayed that way. She was known for maneuvering to be photographed and filmed almost exclusively from the left; Arthur felt that her left was her better side, and worked hard to keep it in the fore. Director Frank Capra recalled producer Harry Cohn's description of Jean Arthur's imbalanced profile: "half of it's angel, and the other half horse."


title: Jean Arthur

text: Her next few films, "Party Wire" (1935), "Public Hero No. 1" (1935), and "If You Could Only Cook" (1935), did not match the success of "The Whole Town's Talking", but they all brought the actress positive reviews. In his review for "The New York Times", critic Andre Sennwald praised Arthur's performance in "Public Hero No. 1", writing that she "is as refreshing a change from the routine it-girl as Joseph Calleia is in his own department." Another critic wrote of her performance in "If You Could Only Cook" that "[she is] outstanding as she effortlessly slips from charming comedienne to beautiful romantic." With her now apparent rise to fame, Arthur was able to extract several contractual concessions from Harry Cohn, such as script and director approval and the right to make films for other studios.


title: Jean Arthur

text: The turning point in Arthur's career came when she was chosen by Frank Capra to star in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936). Capra had spotted her in a daily rush from the film "Whirlpool" in 1934 and convinced Cohn to have Columbia Studios sign her for his next film as a tough newspaperwoman who falls in love with a country bumpkin millionaire. Though several colleagues later recalled that Arthur was troubled by extreme stage fright during production, "Mr. Deeds" was critically acclaimed and propelled her to international stardom. In 1936 alone, she earned $119,000, more than the President of the United States and baseball star Lou Gehrig "combined".


title: Jean Arthur

text: With fame also came media attention, something Arthur greatly disliked. She did not attend any social gatherings, such as formal parties in Hollywood, and acted difficult when having to work with an interviewer. She was named the American Greta Garbo – who was also known for her reclusive life – and magazine "Movie Classic" wrote of her in 1937: "With Garbo talking right out loud in interviews, receiving the press and even welcoming an occasional chance to say her say in the public prints, the palm for elusiveness among screen stars now goes to Jean Arthur."


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur's next film was "The Ex-Mrs. Bradford" (1936), on loan to RKO Pictures, in which she starred opposite William Powell on his insistence, and hoped to take a long vacation afterwards. Cohn, however, rushed her into two more productions, "Adventure in Manhattan" (1936) and "More Than a Secretary" (1936). Neither film attracted much attention.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Next, again without pause, she was reteamed with Cooper, playing Calamity Jane in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Plainsman" (1936) on another loan, this time for Paramount Pictures. Arthur, who was De Mille's second choice after Mae West, described Calamity Jane as her favorite role thus far.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In 1937 she appeared as a working girl, her typical role, in Mitchell Leisen's screwball comedy, "Easy Living" (1937), with Ray Milland. She followed this with another screwball comedy, Capra's "You Can't Take It with You" (1938), which teamed her with James Stewart. The film won an Academy Award for Best Picture with Arthur getting top billing.


title: Jean Arthur

text: So strong was her box-office appeal by now that she was one of four finalists for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939). The film's producer, David O. Selznick, had briefly romanced Arthur in the late 1920s when they both were with Paramount. Arthur reunited with director Frank Capra and Stewart for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), with Arthur cast once again as a working woman, this time one who teaches the naïve Mr. Smith the ways of Washington, DC. Arthur was offered a third reunion with Capra and Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), playing the role of Stewart's wife Mary (which eventually went to Donna Reed), but she refused in order to attend Stephens College.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur continued to star in films such as Howard Hawks' "Only Angels Have Wings" (also 1939), with Cary Grant, "The Talk of the Town" (1942), directed by George Stevens (with Cary Grant and Ronald Colman, working together for the only time, as Arthur's two leading men), and again for Stevens as a government clerk in "The More the Merrier" (1943), for which Arthur was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (losing to Jennifer Jones for "The Song of Bernadette"). As a result of being in dispute with studio boss Harry Cohn, her fee for "The Talk of the Town" (1942) was only $50,000, while her male co-stars Grant and Colman received upwards of $100,000 each.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur remained Columbia's top star until the mid-1940s, when she left the studio; Rita Hayworth took over as the studio's biggest name. Stevens famously called her "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen," while Capra credited her as "my favorite actress."


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur retired when her contract with Columbia Pictures expired in 1944. She reportedly ran through the studio's streets, shouting "I'm free, I'm free!" For the next several years, she turned down virtually all film offers, the two exceptions being Billy Wilder's "A Foreign Affair" (1948), in which she played a congresswoman and rival of Marlene Dietrich, and as a homesteader's wife in the classic Western "Shane" (1953), which turned out to be the biggest box-office hit of her career. The latter was her final film, and the only color film in which she appeared.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur's postretirement work in theater was intermittent, somewhat curtailed by her unease and discomfort about working in public. Capra claimed she vomited in her dressing room between scenes, yet emerged each time to perform a flawless take. According to John Oller's biography, "Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew" (1997), Arthur developed a kind of stage fright punctuated with bouts of psychosomatic illnesses. A prime example was in 1945, when she was cast in the lead of the Garson Kanin play "Born Yesterday". Her nerves and insecurity got the better of her and she left the production before it reached Broadway, opening the door for a then-unknown Judy Holliday to take the part.


title: Jean Arthur

text: She did score a major triumph on Broadway in 1950, starring in Leonard Bernstein's adaptation of "Peter Pan", playing the title character, when she was almost 50. She tackled the role of her eponym, Joan of Arc, in a 1954 stage production of George Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan", but she left the play after a nervous breakdown and battles with director Harold Clurman.


title: Jean Arthur

text: After "Shane" and the Broadway play "Joan of Arc", Arthur went into retirement for 11 years. In 1965, she returned to show business in an episode of "Gunsmoke". In 1966, the extremely reclusive Arthur took on the role of Patricia Marshall, an attorney, on her own television sitcom, "The Jean Arthur Show", which was canceled mid-season by CBS after only 12 episodes. Ron Harper played her son, attorney Paul Marshall.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In 1967, Arthur was coaxed back to Broadway to appear as a midwestern spinster who falls in with a group of hippies in the play "The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake". In his book "The Season, "William Goldman reconstructed the disastrous production, which eventually closed during previews when Arthur refused to go on.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur next decided to teach drama, first at Vassar College and then the North Carolina School of the Arts.


title: Jean Arthur

text: While living in North Carolina, in 1973, Arthur made front-page news by being arrested and jailed for trespassing on a neighbor's property to console a dog she felt was being mistreated. An animal lover her entire life, Arthur said she trusted them more than people. She was convicted, fined $75 and given three years' probation.


title: Jean Arthur

text: After eleven performances of "First Monday in October" in Cleveland, OH, 1975, Arthur then retired for good, retreating to her oceanside home in Carmel, California, steadfastly refusing interviews until her resistance was broken down by the author of a book about Capra. Arthur once famously said that she would rather have her throat slit than give an interview.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur was a Democrat and supported the campaigns of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election and John F. Kennedy in 1960.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur's first marriage, to photographer Julian Anker in 1928, was annulled after one day. She married producer Frank Ross Jr., in 1932. They divorced in 1949. She had no children by either union.


title: Jean Arthur

text: Arthur lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California for 30 years,<ref name="courant/la-et-mn-feud"></ref> and died from heart failure June 19, 1991, at the age of 90. No funeral service was held. She was cremated, and her remains were scattered off the coast of Point Lobos, California.


title: Jean Arthur

text: For her contribution to the motion picture industry Jean Arthur has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6333 Hollywood Blvd. The Jean Arthur Atrium was her gift to the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.


title: Jean Arthur

text: In 2014 Arthur was inducted in the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.


title: United States Central Command

text: The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF).


title: United States Central Command

text: Its Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes the Middle East, including Egypt in Africa, and Central Asia and parts of South Asia. The command has been the main American presence in many military operations, including the Persian Gulf War's Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. , CENTCOM forces were deployed primarily in Afghanistan under the auspices of Operation Freedom's Sentinel, which was itself part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission (from 2015 to 2021), and in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve since 2014 in supporting and advise-and-assist roles.


title: United States Central Command

text: Of all seven American regional unified combatant commands, CENTCOM is among four that are headquartered outside their area of operations (the other three being USAFRICOM, USSOUTHCOM, and USSPACECOM). CENTCOM's main headquarters is located at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. A forward headquarters was established in 2002 at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar, which in 2009 transitioned to a forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.


title: United States Central Command

text: In January 2021, Israel became the 21st country of the AOR, added to another 20 nations including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.


title: United States Central Command

text: The command was established on 1 January 1983. As its name implies, CENTCOM covers the "central" area of the globe located between the African, European and Indo-Pacific Commands. When the hostage crisis in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan underlined the need to strengthen U.S. interests in the region, President Jimmy Carter established the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) in March 1980. Steps were taken to transform the RDJTF into a permanent unified command over a two-year period. The first step was to make the RDJTF independent of U.S. Readiness Command, followed by the activation of CENTCOM in January 1983. Overcoming skeptical perceptions that the command was still an RDJTF in all but name, designed to support a Cold War strategy, took time.


title: United States Central Command

text: The Iran–Iraq War clearly underlined the growing tensions in the region, and developments such as Iranian mining operations in the Persian Gulf led to CENTCOM's first combat operations. On 17 May 1987, the , conducting operations in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, was struck by Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft, resulting in 37 casualties. Soon afterward, as part of what became known as the "Tanker War", the Federal government of the United States reflagged and renamed 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers. In Operation Earnest Will, these tankers were escorted by USCENTCOM's Middle East Force through the Persian Gulf to Kuwait and back through the Strait of Hormuz.


title: United States Central Command

text: By late 1988, the regional strategy still largely focused on the potential threat of a massive Soviet invasion of Iran. Exercise Internal Look has been one of CENTCOM's primary planning events. It had frequently been used to train CENTCOM to be ready to defend the Zagros Mountains from a Soviet attack and was held annually.


title: United States Central Command

text: In autumn 1989, the main CENTCOM contingency plan, OPLAN 1002-88, assumed a Soviet attack through Iran to the Persian Gulf. The plan called for five-and-two-thirds US divisions to deploy, mostly light and heavy forces at something less than full strength (apportioned to it by the Joint Strategic Capability Plan [JSCAP]). The original plan called for these five-and-two-thirds divisions to march from the Persian Gulf to the Zagros Mountains and prevent the Soviet Ground Forces (army) from seizing the Iranian oil fields.


title: United States Central Command

text: After 1990, General Norman Schwarzkopf reoriented CENTCOM's planning to fend off a threat from Iraq, and Internal Look moved to a biennial schedule. There was a notable similarity between the 1990 Internal Look exercise scripts and the real-world movement of Iraqi forces which culminated in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait during the final days of the exercise. U.S. President George Bush responded quickly. A timely deployment of forces and the formation of a coalition deterred Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia, and the command began to focus on the liberation of Kuwait. The buildup of forces continued, reinforced by United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, which called for Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait. On 17 January 1991, U.S. and coalition forces launched Operation Desert Storm with a massive air interdiction campaign, which prepared the theater for a coalition ground assault. The primary coalition objective, the liberation of Kuwait, was achieved on 27 February, and the next morning a ceasefire was declared, just one hundred hours after the commencement of the ground campaign.


title: United States Central Command

text: The end of formal hostilities did not bring the end of difficulties with Iraq. Operation Provide Comfort, implemented to provide humanitarian assistance to the Kurds and enforce a "no-fly" zone in Iraq, north of the 36th parallel, began in April 1991. In August 1992, Operation Southern Watch began in response to Saddam's noncompliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 condemning his brutal repression of Iraqi civilians in southeastern Iraq. Under the command and control of Joint Task Force Southwest Asia, coalition forces in this operation enforced a no-fly zone south of the 32nd parallel. In January 1997, Operation Northern Watch replaced Provide Comfort, with a focus on enforcing the northern no-fly zone. Throughout the decade, CENTCOM carried out a string of operationsVigilant Warrior, Vigilant Sentinel, Desert Strike, Desert Thunder (I and II), and Desert Foxto try to coerce Saddam into greater compliance with U.S. wishes.


title: United States Central Command

text: The 1990s also brought significant challenges in Somalia as well as from the growing threat of regional terrorism. To prevent widespread starvation as the Somali Civil War continued, CENTCOM began Operation Provide Relief in 1992 to supply humanitarian assistance to Somalia and northeastern Kenya. CENTCOM's Operation Restore Hope supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 794 and a multinational Unified Task Force, which provided security until the U.N. created UNOSOM II in May 1993. In spite of some UNOSOM II success in the countryside, the situation in Mogadishu worsened, and the significant casualties of the Battle of Mogadishu ultimately led President Bill Clinton to order the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Somalia.


title: United States Central Command

text: Throughout the 1990s, following the Gulf War, terrorist attacks had a major impact on CENTCOM forces. Faced with attacks such as the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, which killed 19 American airmen, the command launched Operation Desert Focus, designed to relocate U.S. installations to more defensible locations (such as Prince Sultan Air Base), reduce the U.S. forward "footprint" by eliminating nonessential billets, and return dependents to the United States. In 1998 terrorists attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 250 persons, including 12 Americans. The October 2000 attack on the USS "Cole", resulting in the deaths of 17 U.S. sailors, was linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida organization.


title: United States Central Command

text: From April to July 1999, CENTCOM conducted Exercise Desert Crossing 1999, centered on the scenario of Saddam Hussein being ousted as Iraq's dictator. It was held in the offices of Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, Virginia. The exercise concluded that unless measures were taken, "fragmentation and chaos" would ensue after Saddam Hussein's overthrow.


title: United States Central Command

text: The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC led President George W. Bush to declare a war against international terrorism. CENTCOM soon launched Operation Enduring Freedom to expel the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which was harboring Al Qaida terrorists and hosting terrorist training camps.


title: United States Central Command

text: Exercise Internal Look has been employed for explicit war planning on at least two occasions: Internal Look '90, which dealt with a threat from Iraq, and Internal Look '03, which was used to plan what became Operation Iraqi Freedom - the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq, which began on 19 March 2003.


title: United States Central Command

text: Following the defeat of both the Taliban regime in Afghanistan (9 November 2001) and Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq (8 April 2003), CENTCOM has continued to provide security to the new freely-elected governments in those countries, conducting counterinsurgency operations and assisting host nation security forces to provide for their own defense.


title: United States Central Command

text: Beginning in October 2002, CENTCOM conducted operations in the Horn of Africa to combat terrorism, establish a secure environment, and foster regional stability. These operations involved a series of Special Operations Forces raids, humanitarian assistance, consequence management, and a variety of civic action programs.


title: United States Central Command

text: The command has also remained poised to provide disaster relief throughout the region; its most recent significant relief operations have been a response to the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, and the large-scale evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon in 2006.


title: United States Central Command

text: On 1 October 2008, the Department of Defense transferred responsibility for Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia to the newly established Africa Command. Egypt, home to Exercise Bright Star, the Department of Defense's largest reoccurring military exercise, remained in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. On 15 January 2021, responsibility for Israel was transferred from Europe Command to CENTCOM.


title: United States Central Command

text: In January 2015, CENTCOM's Twitter feed was reported to have been hacked on 11 January by ISIS sympathizers. This situation lasted for less than one hour; no classified information was posted and "none of the information posted came from CENTCOM's server or social media sites"; however, some of the slides came from the federally funded Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In August 2015, intelligence analysts working for CENTCOM complained to the media, alleging that CENTCOM's senior leadership was altering or distorting intelligence reports on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In February 2017, the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense completed its investigation and cleared the senior leadership of CENTCOM, concluding that "allegations of intelligence being intentionally altered, delayed or suppressed by top CENTCOM officials from mid-2014 to mid-2015 were largely unsubstantiated."


title: United States Central Command

text: In January 2018, Turkey urged the United States to remove its troops from Syrian city of Manbij, saying that otherwise they might come under attack from Turkish troops; however, former CENTCOM commander Joseph Votel confirmed an American commitment to keeping troops in Manbij. In 2019, the Iranian government designated the United States Central Command a terrorist organization after the Trump administration branded Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the same label.


title: United States Central Command

text: CENTCOM's main headquarters is located at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida. CENTCOM headquarters staff directorates include personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, plans & policy, information systems, training & exercises, and resources, and other functions. The intelligence section is known as Joint Intelligence Center, Central Command, or JICCENT, which serves as a Joint Intelligence Center for the co-ordination of intelligence. Under the intelligence directorate, there are several divisions including the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence.


title: United States Central Command

text: Two major subordinate multi-service commands reporting to Central Command were responsible for Afghanistan: Combined Joint Task Force 180 and Combined Forces Command Afghanistan (CFC-A). CFC-A was disestablished in February 2007. From that point onward, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) directed most U.S. forces in Afghanistan. A U.S. general (Dan K. McNeill) assumed command of ISAF that same month.


title: United States Central Command

text: Temporary task forces include the Central Command ForwardJordan (CF-J), which was announced in April 2013. CF-J's stated purpose was to work with the Jordanian armed forces to improve the latter's capabilities. There was speculation, however, that another reason for its establishment was to serve as a base from which raids into Syria could be launched to seize Syrian WMD if necessary, and as a launch pad for looming American military action in Syria.


title: United States Central Command

text: On 1 October 2008 Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti was transferred to United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM). The United States Forces – Iraq or USF-I, was a major subordinate multi-service command during the Iraq War order of battle until it was disestablished in 2011.


title: United States Central Command

text: (USSOCOM), operate in the CENTCOM area. It appears that SOCCENT does "not" direct the secretive Task Force 88, the ad-hoc grouping of Joint Special Operations Command 'black' units such as Delta Force and Army Rangers, which is tasked to pursue the most sensitive high-value targets such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban leadership since 11 September 2001. Rather, TF 77, which started out as Task Force 11 and has gone through a number of name/number changes, reports directly to Joint Special Operations Command, part of USSOCOM.


title: United States Central Command

text: , CENTCOM forces are deployed primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan in combat roles and have support roles at bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and central Asia. CENTCOM forces have also been deployed in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.


title: United States Central Command

text: Others listed by Arkin's supplements include CENTCOM CONPLAN 1211-07 "Foreign Humanitarian Assistance / Disaster Response Operations." It was issued in November 2007, and required using the Request for Forces method via then-U.S. Joint Forces Command to supply any required forces.


title: United States Central Command

text: With the 1983 establishment of CENTCOM Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti came within the area of responsibility (AOR). Thus CENTCOM directed the 'Natural Bond' exercises with Sudan, the 'Eastern Wind' exercises with Somalia, and the 'Jade Tiger' exercises with Oman, Somalia, and Sudan. Exercise Jade Tiger involved the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit with Oman from 29 November 1982 to 8December 1982.


title: United States Central Command

text: On 7 February 2007, plans were announced for the creation of a United States Africa Command which transferred responsibility for U.S. military operations across Africa to the new USAFRICOM, except for Egypt. On 1October 2008, the Africa Command became operational and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, the primary CENTCOM force on the continent, started reporting to AFRICOM at Stuttgart instead of CENTCOM in Tampa.


title: United States Central Command

text: The Department of Defense uses a variable number of base locations depending on its level of operations. With ongoing warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003, the United States Air Force used 35 bases, while in 2006 it used 14, including four in Iraq. The United States Navy maintains one major base and one smaller installation, with extensive deployments afloat and ashore by U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard ships, aviation units and ground units.


title: United States Central Command

text: Two of the former U.S. Central Command Commanders would later serve as United States Secretary of Defense: General James Mattis and General Lloyd Austin. Mattis served as the 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense. Austin became the 28th U.S. Secretary of Defense on January 22, 2021; he is the current incumbent.


title: United States Central Command

text: The unit awards depicted below are for Headquarters, U.S. Central Command at MacDill AFB. Award for unit decorations do not apply to any subordinate organization such as the service component commands or any other activities unless the orders specifically address them.


title: Robert Stephens

text: Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was a leading English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. He was one of the most respected actors of his generation and was at one time regarded as the natural successor to Laurence Olivier.


title: Robert Stephens

text: Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard labourer and costing surveyor Reuben Stephens (19051985) and chocolate-factory worker Gladys Millicent (née Deverill; 19061975). When aged 18, he won a scholarship to Esme Church's Bradford Civic Theatre School in Yorkshire, where he met his first wife Nora, a fellow student. His first professional engagement was with the Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre, which he followed in 1951 by a year of more challenging parts in repertory at the Royalty Theatre, Morecambe, followed by seasons of touring and at the Hippodrome, Preston. The London director Tony Richardson saw a performance at the Royalty and this led to an offer of a place in the "momentous" first season of English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956. His success was assured.


title: Robert Stephens

text: He appeared in two versions of "Epitaph for George Dillon" on Broadway during the 1958-59 season for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.


title: Robert Stephens

text: His early films included "A Taste of Honey" (1961), "Cleopatra" (1963) and "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969) with his then wife Maggie Smith. There was also a minor role as Prince Escalus in Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), as well as a starring role in Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) and the gothic horror film "The Asphyx" (1972).


title: Robert Stephens

text: Stephens played Atahuallpa in the original 1964 National Theatre production of "The Royal Hunt of the Sun". He and Smith appeared together on stage and in film, notably in "The Recruiting Officer" at the Old Vic and the film version of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969. However, following his departure from the National Theatre in 1970 and the break-up of their marriage in 1973, he suffered a career slump, not helped by heavy drinking and a breakdown.


title: Robert Stephens

text: Although he continued to work on stage (notably in the National Theatre's" The Mysteries" in 1986), film ("The Fruit Machine" in 1988—titled "Wonderland" in the US—and Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V"), and television (notably in the role of Abner Brown in the 1984 BBC TV dramatisation of the children's classic "The Box of Delights" and as the Master of an Oxford college in an episode of "Inspector Morse"), it was not until the 1990s that he re-established himself at the forefront of his profession, when the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play Falstaff in "Henry IV" for director Adrian Noble (opening April 1991), the title roles in "Julius Caesar" (director Stephen Pimlott) later in the year and then "King Lear", again for Noble, in May 1993. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 for Best Actor, for his performance as Falstaff.


title: Robert Stephens

text: Stephens provided the voice of Aragorn in the 1981 BBC Radio serialisation of "The Lord of the Rings". In 1985, he directed the British premiere production of "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" by John Patrick Shanley at the Gate Theatre, London.


title: Robert Stephens

text: Stephens was knighted as a Knight Bachelor in the 1995 New Years Honours List "For services to Drama".


title: Robert Stephens

text: Following years of ill health, he died on 12 November 1995 at the age of 64 due to complications during surgery, eleven months after having been knighted.


title: Bill Gurley

text: John William Gurley (born May 10, 1966) is an American businessman. He is a general partner at Benchmark, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California. He is listed consistently on the Forbes Midas List and is considered one of technology’s top dealmakers.


title: Bill Gurley

text: John William Gurley was born in Dickinson, Texas, outside of Houston, on May 10, 1966. Gurley graduated from the University of Florida in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree. While at the University of Florida, he was a member of the men’s basketball team. Gurley received his Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business in 1993.


title: Bill Gurley

text: Prior to his investment career, Gurley was a design engineer at Compaq Computer, where he worked on products such as the 486/50 and Compaq's first multi-processor server. Before Compaq, he worked in the technical marketing group of Advanced Micro Devices' embedded processor division.


title: Bill Gurley

text: Gurley was a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He had also spent four years on Wall Street as a research analyst, including three years at CS First Boston. He was considered “one of Wall Street’s premier technology analysts." He covered companies including Dell, Compaq and Microsoft and was the lead analyst on the Amazon.com IPO.


title: Bill Gurley

text: At Benchmark, Gurley has led investments in and holds board seats on Brighter, DogVacay, Good Eggs, GrubHub, HackerOne, Linden Lab, LiveOps, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Sailthru, Scale Computing, Stitch Fix, Vessel,<ref name="Re/Code"></ref> and Zillow.


title: Bill Gurley

text: Other investments of his have included: Avamar Technologies (acquired by EMC Corporation), Business.com (acquired by R.H. Donnelley), Clicker.com (acquired by CBS Interactive), Demandforce (acquired by Intuit), Employease (acquired by Automatic Data Processing), JAMDAT Mobile (acquired by Electronic Arts), Nordstrom.com (acquired by Nordstrom), Shopping.com (acquired by eBay), The Knot, Uber, and Vudu (acquired by Walmart).


title: Bill Gurley

text: With the economic collapse in the fall of 2008, Gurley garnered attention when he sent a letter to his portfolio companies, advising CEOs to exercise caution in spending but to look for and take advantage of opportunities that become available during harsh economic times. In a 2015 interview Gurley said of private tech investing, "It’s my belief that Silicon Valley and the venture-backed businesses have moved into a world that is both speculative and unsustainable." Gurley’s warnings, and posts on his personal blog, Above the Crowd, on venture capital spending, have been widely discussed in the industry. He also advises family offices to be careful before investing in unicorn companies.


title: Bill Gurley

text: Gurley left Uber's board of directors in June 2017. The announcement was released one day after the company announced the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick following months of controversy over Uber's corporate culture. An advisor for Uber during allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, Gurley was reportedly instrumental in the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick.


title: Bill Gurley

text: Gurley reportedly had a close relationship with CEO Travis Kalanick. He was Uber’s most engaged board member and the closest thing Mr. Kalanick has to a consigliere. Gurley shared his support for Kalanick on Twitter, stating "There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world."


title: Bill Gurley

text: In April 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gurley would be stepping back from Benchmark as he was not investing in a new fund that his venture capital firm was raising.