title: Space Shuttle program

text: On October 14, 2012, "Endeavour" completed an unprecedented drive on city streets from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center, where it has been on display in a temporary hangar since late 2012. The transport from the airport took two days and required major street closures, the removal of over 400 city trees, and extensive work to raise power lines, level the street, and temporarily remove street signs, lamp posts, and other obstacles. Hundreds of volunteers, and fire and police personnel, helped with the transport. Large crowds of spectators waited on the streets to see the shuttle as it passed through the city. "Endeavour", along with the last flight-qualified external tank (ET-94), is currently on display at the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Pavilion (in a horizontal orientation) until the completion of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center (a planned addition to the California Science Center). Once moved, it will be permanently displayed in launch configuration, complete with genuine solid rocket boosters and external tank.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: One area of Space Shuttle applications is an expanded crew. Crews of up to eight have been flown in the Orbiter, but it could have held at least a crew of ten. Various proposals for filling the payload bay with additional passengers were also made as early as 1979. One proposal by Rockwell provided seating for 74 passengers in the Orbiter payload bay, with support for three days in Earth orbit. With a smaller 64 seat orbiter, costs for the late 1980s would be around US$1.5 million per seat per launch. The Rockwell passenger module had two decks, four seats across on top and two on the bottom, including a 25-inch (63.5 cm) wide aisle and extra storage space.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: Another design was Space Habitation Design Associates 1983 proposal for 72 passengers in the Space Shuttle Payload bay. Passengers were located in 6 sections, each with windows and its own loading ramp at launch, and with seats in different configurations for launch and landing. Another proposal was based on the Spacelab habitation modules, which provided 32 seats in the payload bay in addition to those in the cockpit area.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: There were some efforts to analyze commercial operation of STS. Using the NASA figure for average cost to launch a Space Shuttle as of 2011 at about $450 million per mission, a cost per seat for a 74 seat module envisioned by Rockwell came to less than $6 million, not including the regular crew. Some passenger modules used hardware similar to existing equipment, such as the tunnel, which was also needed for Spacehab and Spacelab


title: Space Shuttle program

text: During the three decades of operation, various follow-on and replacements for the STS Space Shuttle were partially developed but not finished.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: One effort in the direction of space transportation was the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program, initiated in 1994 by NASA. This led to work on the X-33 and X-34 vehicles. NASA spent about US$1 billion on developing the X-33 hoping for it be in operation by 2005. Another program around the turn of the millennium was the Space Launch Initiative, which was a next generation launch initiative.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: The Space Launch Initiative program was started in 2001, and in late 2002 it was evolved into two programs, the Orbital Space Plane Program and the Next Generation Launch Technology program. OSP was oriented towards provided access to the International Space Station.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: Other vehicles that would have taken over some of the Shuttles responsibilities were the HL-20 Personnel Launch System or the NASA X-38 of the Crew Return Vehicle program, which were primarily for getting people down from ISS. The X-38 was cancelled in 2002, and the HL-20 was cancelled in 1993. Several other programs in this existed such as the Station Crew Return Alternative Module (SCRAM) and Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV)


title: Space Shuttle program

text: According to the 2004 Vision for Space Exploration, the next human NASA program was to be Constellation program with its Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and the Orion spacecraft; however, the Constellation program was never fully funded, and in early 2010 the Obama administration asked Congress to instead endorse a plan with heavy reliance on the private sector for delivering cargo and crew to LEO.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program began in 2006 with the purpose of creating commercially operated uncrewed cargo vehicles to service the ISS. The first of these vehicles, SpaceX Dragon, became operational in 2012, and the second, Orbital Sciences's Cygnus did so in 2014.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: The Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program was initiated in 2010 with the purpose of creating commercially operated crewed spacecraft capable of delivering at least four crew members to the ISS, staying docked for 180 days and then returning them back to Earth. These spacecraft, like SpaceX's Dragon 2 and Boeing CST-100 Starliner were expected to become operational around 2020. On the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, SpaceX's Dragon 2 sent astronauts to the ISS, restoring America's human launch capability. The first operational SpaceX mission launched on November 15, 2020 at 7:27:17 p.m. ET, carrying four astronauts to the ISS.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: Although the Constellation program was canceled, it has been replaced with a very similar Artemis program. The Orion spacecraft has been left virtually unchanged from its previous design. The planned Ares V rocket has been replaced with the smaller Space Launch System (SLS), which is planned to launch both Orion and other necessary hardware. Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft, launched on December 5, 2014 on a Delta IV Heavy rocket.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: Artemis 1 is the first flight of the SLS and was launched as a test of the completed Orion and SLS system. During the mission, an uncrewed Orion capsule will spend 10 days in a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth. Artemis 2, the first crewed mission of the program, will launch four astronauts in 2024 on a free-return flyby of the Moon at a distance of . After Artemis 2, the Power and Propulsion Element of the Lunar Gateway and three components of an expendable lunar lander are planned to be delivered on multiple launches from commercial launch service providers. Artemis 3 is planned to launch in 2025 aboard a SLS Block 1 rocket and will use the minimalist Gateway and expendable lander to achieve the first crewed lunar landing of the program. The flight is planned to touch down on the lunar south pole region, with two astronauts staying there for about one week.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: The Space Shuttle program occupied over 654 facilities, used over 1.2 million line items of equipment, and employed over 5,000 people. The total value of equipment was over $12 billion. Shuttle-related facilities represented over a quarter of NASA's inventory. There were over 1,200 active suppliers to the program throughout the United States. NASA's transition plan had the program operating through 2010 with a transition and retirement phase lasting through 2015. During this time, the Ares I and Orion as well as the Altair Lunar Lander were to be under development, although these programs have since been canceled.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: In the 2010s, two major programs for human spaceflight are Commercial Crew Program and the Artemis program. Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A is, for example, used to launch Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9.


title: Space Shuttle program

text: Many other vehicles were used in support of the Space Shuttle program, mainly terrestrial transportation vehicles.


title: Electrical substation

text: A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and consumer, electric power may flow through several substations at different voltage levels. A substation may include transformers to change voltage levels between high transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at the interconnection of two different transmission voltages. They are a common component of the infrastructure, for instance there are 55,000 substations in the United States.


title: Electrical substation

text: Substations may be owned and operated by an electrical utility, or may be owned by a large industrial or commercial customer. Generally substations are unattended, relying on SCADA for remote supervision and control.


title: Electrical substation

text: The word "substation" comes from the days before the distribution system became a grid. As central generation stations became larger, smaller generating plants were converted to distribution stations, receiving their energy supply from a larger plant instead of using their own generators. The first substations were connected to only one power station, where the generators were housed, and were subsidiaries of that power station.


title: Electrical substation

text: Substations may be described by their voltage class, their applications within the power system, the method used to insulate most connections, and by the style and materials of the structures used. These categories are not disjointed; for example, to solve a particular problem, a transmission substation may include significant distribution functions.


title: Electrical substation

text: A "transmission substation" connects two or more transmission lines. The simplest case is where all transmission lines have the same voltage. In such cases, substation contains high-voltage switches that allow lines to be connected or isolated for fault clearance or maintenance. A transmission station may have transformers to convert between two transmission voltages, voltage control/power factor correction devices such as capacitors, reactors or static VAR compensators and equipment such as phase shifting transformers to control power flow between two adjacent power systems.


title: Electrical substation

text: Transmission substations can range from simple to complex. A small "switching station" may be little more than a bus plus some circuit breakers. The largest transmission substations can cover a large area (several acres/hectares) with multiple voltage levels, many circuit breakers, and a large amount of protection and control equipment (voltage and current transformers, relays and SCADA systems). Modern substations may be implemented using international standards such as IEC Standard 61850.


title: Electrical substation

text: A "distribution substation" transfers power from the transmission system to the distribution system of an area. It is uneconomical to directly connect electricity consumers to the main transmission network, unless they use large amounts of power, so the distribution station reduces voltage to a level suitable for local distribution.


title: Electrical substation

text: The input for a distribution substation is typically at least two transmission or sub-transmission lines. Input voltage may be, for example, 115 kV, or whatever is common in the area. The output is a number of feeders. Distribution voltages are typically medium voltage, between 2.4 kV and 33 kV, depending on the size of the area served and the practices of the local utility. The feeders run along streets overhead (or underground, in some cases) and power the distribution transformers at or near the customer premises.


title: Electrical substation

text: In addition to transforming voltage, distribution substations also isolate faults in either the transmission or distribution systems. Distribution substations are typically the points of voltage regulation, although on long distribution circuits (of several miles/kilometers), voltage regulation equipment may also be installed along the line.


title: Electrical substation

text: The downtown areas of large cities feature complicated distribution substations, with high-voltage switching, and switching and backup systems on the low-voltage side. More typical distribution substations have a switch, one transformer, and minimal facilities on the low-voltage side.


title: Electrical substation

text: In distributed generation projects such as a wind farm or photovoltaic power station, a collector substation may be required. It resembles a distribution substation although power flow is in the opposite direction, from many wind turbines or inverters up into the transmission grid. Usually for economy of construction the collector system operates around 35 kV, although some collector systems are 12 kV, and the collector substation steps up voltage to a transmission voltage for the grid. The collector substation can also provide power factor correction if it is needed, metering, and control of the wind farm. In some special cases a collector substation can also contain an HVDC converter station.


title: Electrical substation

text: Collector substations also exist where multiple thermal or hydroelectric power plants of comparable output power are in proximity. Examples for such substations are Brauweiler in Germany and Hradec in the Czech Republic, where power is collected from nearby lignite-fired power plants. If no transformers are required for increasing the voltage to transmission level, the substation is a switching station.


title: Electrical substation

text: Converter substations may be associated with HVDC converter plants, traction current, or interconnected non-synchronous networks. These stations contain power electronic devices to change the frequency of current, or else convert from alternating to direct current or the reverse. Formerly rotary converters changed frequency to interconnect two systems; nowadays such substations are rare.


title: Electrical substation

text: A switching station is a substation without transformers and operating only at a single voltage level. Switching stations are sometimes used as collector and distribution stations. Sometimes they are used for switching the current to back-up lines or for parallelizing circuits in case of failure. An example is the switching stations for the HVDC Inga–Shaba transmission line.


title: Electrical substation

text: A switching station may also be known as a switchyard, and these are commonly located directly adjacent to or nearby a power station. In this case the generators from the power station supply their power into the yard onto the generator bus on one side of the yard, and the transmission lines take their power from a Feeder Bus on the other side of the yard.


title: Electrical substation

text: An important function performed by a substation is switching, which is the connecting and disconnecting of transmission lines or other components to and from the system. Switching events may be planned or unplanned. A transmission line or other component may need to be de-energized for maintenance or for new construction, for example, adding or removing a transmission line or a transformer. To maintain reliability of supply, companies aim at keeping the system up and running while performing maintenance. All work to be performed, from routine testing to adding entirely new substations, should be done while keeping the whole system running.


title: Electrical substation

text: Unplanned switching events are caused by a fault in a transmission line or any other component, for example:


title: Electrical substation

text: The function of the switching station is to isolate the faulty portion of the system in the shortest possible time. De-energizing faulty equipment protects it from further damage, and isolating a fault helps keep the rest of the electrical grid operating with stability.


title: Electrical substation

text: Electrified railways also use substations, often distribution substations. In some cases a conversion of the current type takes place, commonly with rectifiers for direct current (DC) trains, or rotary converters for trains using alternating current (AC) at frequencies other than that of the public grid. Sometimes they are also transmission substations or collector substations if the railway network also operates its own grid and generators to supply the other stations.


title: Electrical substation

text: A "mobile substation" is a substation on wheels, containing a transformer, breakers and buswork mounted on a self-contained semi-trailer, meant to be pulled by a truck. They are designed to be compact for travel on public roads, and are used for temporary backup in times of natural disaster or war. Mobile substations are usually rated much lower than permanent installations, and may be built in several units to meet road travel limitations.


title: Electrical substation

text: Substations generally have switching, protection and control equipment, and transformers. In a large substation, circuit breakers are used to interrupt any short circuits or overload currents that may occur on the network. Smaller distribution stations may use recloser circuit breakers or fuses for protection of distribution circuits. Substations themselves do not usually have generators, although a power plant may have a substation nearby. Other devices such as capacitors, voltage regulators, and reactors may also be located at a substation.


title: Electrical substation

text: Substations may be on the surface in fenced enclosures, underground, or located in special-purpose buildings. High-rise buildings may have several indoor substations. Indoor substations are usually found in urban areas to reduce the noise from the transformers, for reasons of appearance, or to protect switchgear from extreme climate or pollution conditions.


title: Electrical substation

text: A grounding (earthing) system must be designed. The total ground potential rise, and the gradients in potential during a fault (called "touch" and "step" potentials), must be calculated to protect passers-by during a short circuit in the transmission system. Earth faults at a substation can cause a ground potential rise. Currents flowing in the Earth's surface during a fault can cause metal objects to have a significantly different voltage than the ground under a person's feet; this touch potential presents a hazard of electrocution. Where a substation has a metallic fence, it must be properly grounded to protect people from this hazard.


title: Electrical substation

text: The main issues facing a power engineer are reliability and cost. A good design attempts to strike a balance between these two, to achieve reliability without excessive cost. The design should also allow expansion of the station, when required.


title: Electrical substation

text: Selection of the location of a substation must consider many factors. Sufficient land area is required for installation of equipment with necessary clearances for electrical safety, and for access to maintain large apparatus such as transformers.


title: Electrical substation

text: Where land is costly, such as in urban areas, gas insulated switchgear may save money overall. Substations located in coastal areas affected by flooding and tropical storms may often require an elevated structure to keep equipment sensitive to surges hardened against these elements. The site must have room for expansion due to load growth or planned transmission additions. Environmental effects of the substation must be considered, such as drainage, noise and road traffic effects.


title: Electrical substation

text: The substation site must be reasonably central to the distribution area to be served. The site must be secure from intrusion by passers-by, both to protect people from injury by electric shock or arcs, and to protect the electrical system from misoperation due to vandalism.


title: Electrical substation

text: The first step in planning a substation layout is the preparation of a one-line diagram, which shows in simplified form the switching and protection arrangement required, as well as the incoming supply lines and outgoing feeders or transmission lines. It is a usual practice by many electrical utilities to prepare one-line diagrams with principal elements (lines, switches, circuit breakers, transformers) arranged on the page similarly to the way the apparatus would be laid out in the actual station.


title: Electrical substation

text: In a common design, incoming lines have a disconnect switch and a circuit breaker. In some cases, the lines will not have both, with either a switch or a circuit breaker being all that is considered necessary. A disconnect switch is used to provide isolation, since it cannot interrupt load current. A circuit breaker is used as a protection device to interrupt fault currents automatically, and may be used to switch loads on and off, or to cut off a line when power is flowing in the 'wrong' direction. When a large fault current flows through the circuit breaker, this is detected through the use of current transformers. The magnitude of the current transformer outputs may be used to trip the circuit breaker resulting in a disconnection of the load supplied by the circuit break from the feeding point. This seeks to isolate the fault point from the rest of the system, and allow the rest of the system to continue operating with minimal impact. Both switches and circuit breakers may be operated locally (within the substation) or remotely from a supervisory control center.


title: Electrical substation

text: With overhead transmission lines, the propagation of lightning and switching surges can cause insulation failures into substation equipment. Line entrance surge arrestors are used to protect substation equipment accordingly. Insulation Coordination studies are carried out extensively to ensure equipment failure (and associated outages) is minimal.


title: Electrical substation

text: Once past the switching components, the lines of a given voltage connect to one or more buses. These are sets of busbars, usually in multiples of three, since three-phase electrical power distribution is largely universal around the world.


title: Electrical substation

text: The arrangement of switches, circuit breakers, and buses used affects the cost and reliability of the substation. For important substations a ring bus, double bus, or so-called "breaker and a half" setup can be used, so that the failure of any one circuit breaker does not interrupt power to other circuits, and so that parts of the substation may be de-energized for maintenance and repairs. Substations feeding only a single industrial load may have minimal switching provisions, especially for small installations.


title: Electrical substation

text: Once having established buses for the various voltage levels, transformers may be connected between the voltage levels. These will again have a circuit breaker, much like transmission lines, in case a transformer has a "fault" (commonly called a "short circuit").


title: Electrical substation

text: Along with this, a substation always has control circuitry needed to command the various circuit breakers to open in case of the failure of some component.


title: Electrical substation

text: Early electrical substations required manual switching or adjustment of equipment, and manual collection of data for load, energy consumption, and abnormal events. As the complexity of distribution networks grew, it became economically necessary to automate supervision and control of substations from a centrally attended point, to allow overall coordination in case of emergencies and to reduce operating costs. Early efforts to remote control substations used dedicated communication wires, often run alongside power circuits. Power-line carrier, microwave radio, fiber optic cables as well as dedicated wired remote control circuits have all been applied to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) for substations. The development of the microprocessor made for an exponential increase in the number of points that could be economically controlled and monitored. Today, standardized communication protocols such as DNP3, IEC 61850 and Modbus, to list a few, are used to allow multiple intelligent electronic devices to communicate with each other and supervisory control centers. Distributed automatic control at substations is one element of the so-called smart grid.


title: Electrical substation

text: Switches, circuit breakers, transformers and other apparatus may be interconnected by air-insulated bare conductors strung on support structures. The air space required increases with system voltage and with the lightning surge voltage rating. For medium-voltage distribution substations, metal-enclosed switchgear may be used and no live conductors exposed to the environment at all. For higher voltages, gas-insulated switchgear, in a gas insulated substation (GIS) reduces the space required around live buses. Instead of bare conductors, buses and apparatus such as switchgear are built into pressurized tubular containers filled with sulfur hexafluoride (SF), or an alternative gas. This gas has a higher insulating value than air, allowing the dimensions of the apparatus to be reduced. In addition to air or SF gas, apparatus will use other insulation materials such as transformer oil, paper, porcelain, and polymer insulators.


title: Electrical substation

text: Outdoor, above-ground substation structures include wood pole, lattice metal tower, and tubular metal structures, although other variants are available. Where space is plentiful and appearance of the station is not a factor, steel lattice towers provide low-cost supports for transmission lines and apparatus. Low-profile substations may be specified in suburban areas where appearance is more critical. Indoor substations may be gas insulated substations (GIS) (at high voltages, with gas insulated switchgear), or use metal-enclosed or metal-clad switchgear at lower voltages. Urban and suburban indoor substations may be finished on the outside so as to blend in with other buildings in the area.


title: Electrical substation

text: A "compact substation" is generally an outdoor substation built in a metal enclosure, in which each item of the electrical equipment is located very near to each other to create a relatively smaller footprint size of the substation.


title: Gregory Porter

text: Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for "Liquid Spirit" and then again in 2017 for "Take Me to the Alley".


title: Gregory Porter

text: Gregory Porter was born in Sacramento, California, and was raised in Bakersfield, California, where his mother Ruth was a minister. Porter has seven siblings. His mother was a large influence on his life, having encouraged him to sing in church at an early age. His father, Rufus, was largely absent from his life. Says Porter, "Everybody had some issues with their father, even if he was in the house. He may have been emotionally absent. My father was just straight-up absent. I hung out with him just a few days in my life. And it wasn't a long time. He just didn’t seem to be completely interested in being there. Maybe he was, I don't know."


title: Gregory Porter

text: After graduating from Highland High School in 1989, he received a full athletic scholarship as a football lineman from San Diego State University (SDSU Aztecs), but a shoulder injury during his junior year cut short his football career.


title: Gregory Porter

text: Porter's mother died from cancer when he was 21 years old. From her death bed, she entreated him: "Sing, baby, sing!"


title: Gregory Porter

text: Porter moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in 2004, along with his brother Lloyd. He worked as a chef at Lloyd's restaurant Bread-Stuy (now defunct), where he also performed. Porter performed at other neighborhood venues including Sista's Place and Solomon's Porch, and moved on to Harlem club St. Nick's Pub, where he maintained a weekly residency. Out of this residency evolved what would become Porter's touring band.


title: Gregory Porter

text: Porter released two albums on the Motéma label together with Membran Entertainment Group, 2010's "Water" and 2012's "Be Good", before signing with Blue Note Records (under Universal Music Group) on May 17, 2013. His third album, "Liquid Spirit", was released on September 2, 2013, in Europe and on September 17, 2013, in the US. The album, produced by Brian Bacchus, won the 2014 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album. "Liquid Spirit" enjoyed commercial success rarely achieved by albums in the jazz genre, reaching the top 10 on the UK album charts. It was certified gold by the BPI, selling over 100,000 units in the UK.


title: Gregory Porter

text: In August 2014, Porter released "The 'In' Crowd" as a single. On May 9, 2015, Porter participated in , a televised commemorative concert from Horse Guards Parade in London, singing "As Time Goes By".


title: Gregory Porter

text: His fourth album, "Take Me to the Alley", was released on May 6, 2016. In UK's "The Guardian" it was Alexis Petridis's album of the week.


title: Gregory Porter

text: On June 26, 2016, Porter performed on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival 2016. Writing for "The Daily Telegraph", Neil McCormick said, "The portly middle-aged jazzer may be the oddest pop star on the planet but he is a refreshing testament to the notion that the most important organ for musical appreciation should always be our ears. And Porter has one of the most easy-on-the-ear voices in popular music, a creamy baritone that flows thick and smooth across a rich gateaux of juicy melody. It's a voice that makes you want to lick your lips and dive right in."


title: Gregory Porter

text: In September 2016, Porter performed at Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park from Hyde Park, London. He would go on to perform in the annual "BBC Children in Need" show in November, a night dedicated to Sir Terry Wogan, who hosted it in previous years and was a fan of Porter.


title: Gregory Porter

text: In January 2017, Porter performed the song "Holding On" on BBC One's "The Graham Norton Show". In September 2017 he performed as part of the "Later... with Jools Holland: Later 25" concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In October 2017 he performed the song "Mona Lisa", with Jeff Goldblum on piano, on "The Graham Norton Show".


title: Gregory Porter

text: On August 28, 2020, Porter released his sixth studio album, "All Rise". On November 5, 2021, Porter released a Greatest Hits compilation album titled "Still Rising - The Collection" on the Blue Note label. The same day he performed the song "Revival" on "The Graham Norton Show".


title: Gregory Porter

text: On June 2, 2022, Porter, accompanied by the London Community Gospel Choir, sang the specially-composed song "A Life Lived with Grace" for the lighting of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Beacons.


title: Gregory Porter

text: Describing his own style Porter said in a 2014 interview: "I would say Donny Hathaway, Nat King Cole, Bill Withers – I hear something of me in all of them that is similar to the culture that I grew up in i.e. Gospel music. I could hear the familiarity to Gospel music in the songs of someone like Ray Charles; just voices that influence my soul and are rooted in Gospel music."


title: Gregory Porter

text: His debut album, "Water", was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. He was also a member of the original Broadway cast of "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues". His second album, "Be Good", which contains many of Porter's compositions, garnered critical acclaim for both his distinctive singing and his compositions, such as "Be Good (Lion's Song)", "Real Good Hands", and "On My Way to Harlem". "Real Good Hands" was also nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. In his review of "Water", the BBC's Kevin Le Gendre wrote that "Gregory Porter has a voice and musicality to be reckoned with."


title: Gregory Porter

text: "The New York Times" described Porter as "a jazz singer of thrilling presence, a booming baritone with a gift for earthy refinement and soaring uplift" in its review of "Liquid Spirit".


title: Gregory Porter

text: Michael G. Nastos of AllMusic wrote a mixed review of "Water", stating: "In hard bop trim, Shorter's 'Black Nile' has Porter shouting out a lyric line that was done many years ago by Chicago's Luba Raashiek, but Porter's voice is strained and breaks up. While on every track Porter sings with great conviction, he's more effective on lower-key compositions", but went on to say that "he's right up there with José James as the next big male vocal jazz star."


title: Gregory Porter

text: Porter is married to Victoria and they have two sons, Demyan and Lev. Their home is in Bakersfield, California. His brother Lloyd Cornelius Porter (* 1970) died in May 2020 due to complications from a Covid-19 infection.


title: Gregory Porter

text: For public appearances, Porter always wears a hat reminiscent of a deerstalker incorporating fabric that covers his ears and chin. In a 2012 interview with Jazzweekly.com, when asked: "What's with the weird and wonderful hat?" Porter replied: "I've had some surgery on my skin, so this has been my look for a little while and will continue to be for a while longer. People recognize me by it now. It is what it is." In an interview with "The Daily Telegraph" in 2016, he divulged that he received some facial scars when he was "seven or eight", but declined to go into the specifics of how they were sustained. He said: "I just saw it one day (the hat) and said 'I'm gonna put this on, I like it.' It was before the music career." The cap is a Kangol Summer Spitfire.


title: Darius III

text: Darius III ( ; ; c. 380 – 330 BC) was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC.


title: Darius III

text: Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Darius was a distant member of the Achaemenid dynasty. During his early career, he was reportedly an obscure figure among his peers and first rose to prominence during the Cadusian expedition of Artaxerxes III in the 350s BC. As a reward for his bravery, he was given the Satrapy of Armenia. Around 340 BC, he was placed in charge of the royal "postal service," a high-ranking position. In 338 BC, Artaxerxes III met an abrupt end after being poisoned by the court eunuch and chiliarch ("hazahrapatish") Bagoas, who installed his youngest son Arses on the throne. He only reigned for a few years, until Bagoas had him poisoned as well. Darius was subsequently installed on the throne and soon forced Bagoas to drink his poison after discovering that the eunuch had planned to poison him as well.


title: Darius III

text: In 334 BC, Alexander the Great began his invasion of the Persian Empire and subsequently defeated the Persians in several battles before looting and destroying their capital, Persepolis, by fire in 330 BC. With the Persian Empire now effectively under Alexander's control, Alexander then decided to pursue Darius. Before Alexander reached him, however, Darius was killed by his relative Bessus, who was also the satrap of Bactria.


title: Darius III

text: Darius is partially remembered in Iranian traditions as Dara II, the last king of the mythological Kayanian dynasty, which reflected memories of the Achaemenids.


title: Darius III

text: Before his accession, Darius bore the name of Artashata (Old Persian: "*Artašiyāta", "Happy in Arta"). The 2nd-century Roman historian Justin is the only historian to refer Darius as Codomannus, a name he supposedly bore before he rose to prominence. It may have been his nickname, or possibly a third name. Its etymology is uncertain. Badian has suggested that the name was of Western Semitic origin, most likely from the Aramaic "qdmwn" ("from the East, Easterner"). Having two names was not unusual; there are several recorded instances of Babylonian figures having two names, often a Babylonian and Aramaic name. One Persian magnate is also attested with a Babylonian and Iranian name. However, this practice seems to have fallen out of favour during Darius' lifetime. Badian suggests that his birth name was the Aramaic Codomannus, which he later dropped in favour of Artashata when he rose in ranks. He first adopted the regnal name of Darius (Old Persian: "Daraya-vahauš", "he who holds firm the good(ness)") when he ascended the Achaemenid throne in 336 BC.


title: Darius III

text: The last century of the Achaemenid era is notable for lacking in sources, especially during the reign of Darius III. He is not attested in any Persian sources and is almost completely only known from the reports of Greek historians, who portray his career as a contradiction to that of the successful Alexander the Great.


title: Darius III

text: Darius was born in . He was a distant member of the royal Achaemenid dynasty. He was the son of a certain Arsames, and grandson of Ostanes, whose father Darius II ruled the Achaemenid Empire from 424 BC to 405 BC. His mother was Sisygambis, a woman of obscure origins. She was probably of Achaemenid descent, although it is unknown to which branch she belonged. She may have been the daughter of Ostanes, and thus the sister of Arsames. Darius had a brother and sister; Oxyathres and Stateira I respectively.


title: Darius III

text: Artashata is first attested during the Cadusian expedition of Artaxerxes III () in the 350s BC. During a battle, Artashata distinguished himself by slaying a warrior in single combat. His exploit was noticed by Artaxerxes III, who sent him gifts and gave him the Satrapy of Armenia. It was probably after this promotion that Artashata married for the first time, to an unknown noblewoman, who bore him two daughters, and possibly a son named Ariobarzanes. His first marriage has suggested being the "terminus ad quem" for when he dropped his Aramaic name, Codomannus. Greek writers report that Artashata later became the "courier" and "slave" of the king, which some modern historians believe was written to belittle Artashata. However, the terms are in reality a Greek translation of the Old Persian "bandaka", which did not mean slave, but "henchman, (loyal) servant, vassal."


title: Darius III

text: On the Behistun inscription, Darius the Great () uses the term to refer to his high-ranking officers. It has been deduced that Artashata was probably in charge of the royal "postal service," a high-ranking position. He may have held the same Persepolis sector headed by the prominent Persian officer Pharnaces (d. 497 BC). It is uncertain when this happened, it has been suggested this promotion took place around 340 BC, when Artashata married for a second time, with his sister Stateira I. In 339 BC, they had a son named Ochus. This demonstrates that Artaxerxes III, who was highly alert on any possible relative to challenge the throne, did not consider Artashata to pose the slightest threat to him or his son Arses.


title: Darius III

text: In late August/late September 338 BC, the court eunuch and chiliarch ("hazahrapatish") Bagoas orchestrated the poisoning and subsequent death of Artaxerxes III through the latter's physician. The majority of Artaxerxes III's sons, except for Arses and Bisthanes, were also murdered by Bagoas. Artaxerxes III's early death proved to be a problematic issue for Persia. Several modern historians argue that his sudden death paved the way for the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. Bagoas, acting as kingmaker, put the young Arses (Artaxerxes IV) on the throne. Arses was determined on trying to free himself from Bagoas' authority and influence; he made an unsuccessful effort to have the latter poisoned, only to be poisoned himself along with the rest of his family by Bagoas, who put Artashata on the throne in 336 BC. Darius III's reputation for bravery, his probable royal descent, and the support he enjoyed from Artaxerxes III all helped him gain acceptance amongst the aristocracy. Macedonian propaganda, made to legitimize the conquests of Alexander the Great a few years later, accused Darius III of playing a key role in the murder of Arses, who was portrayed as the last king of the Achaemenid royal house.


title: Darius III

text: Bagoas soon attempted to poison Darius III as well, but his plans were discovered. Darius III summoned Bagoas and asked him to drink a toast for him, giving him his cup which was filled with poison. Bagoas was forced to drink the cup, resulting in his death. This happened around the time of Alexander's accession to the Macedonian throne in the autumn of 336 BC. At the start of Darius III's reign, Egypt and Babylon may have briefly been plunged into rebellion. Regardless, they were seemingly not of heavy significance, as reports about the events quickly disappear.


title: Darius III

text: In 336 BC Philip II of Macedon was authorized by the League of Corinth as its Hegemon to initiate a sacred war of vengeance against the Persians for desecrating and burning the Athenian temples during the Second Persian War, over a century before. He sent an advance force into Asia Minor under the command of his generals Parmenion and Attalus to liberate the Greeks living under Persian control. After they took the Greek cities of Asia from Troy to the Maiandros river, Philip was assassinated and his campaign was suspended while his heir consolidated his control of Macedonia and the rest of Greece.


title: Darius III

text: In the spring of 334 BC, Philip's heir, Alexander, who had himself been confirmed as Hegemon by the League of Corinth, invaded Asia Minor at the head of an army of Macedonian and other Greek soldiers. This invasion, which marked the beginning of the Wars of Alexander the Great, was followed almost immediately by the victory of Alexander over the Persians at Battle of the Granicus. Darius never showed up for the battle, because there was no reason for him to suppose that Alexander intended to conquer the whole of Asia, and Darius may well have supposed that the satraps of the ‘lower’ satrapies could deal with the crisis, so he instead decided to remain at home in Persepolis and let his satraps handle it. In the previous invasion of Asia Minor by the Spartan king Agesilaus II, the Persians had pinned him in Asia Minor while fomenting rebellion in Greece. Darius attempted to employ the same strategy, with the Spartans rebelling against the Macedonians, but the Spartans were defeated at Megalopolis.


title: Darius III

text: Darius did not take the field against Alexander's army until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC. His forces outnumbered Alexander's soldiers by at least a 2 to 1 ratio, but Darius was still outflanked, defeated, and forced to flee. It is told by Arrian that at the Battle of Issus the moment the Persian left went to pieces under Alexander's attack and Darius, in his war-chariot, saw that it was cut off, he incontinently fled – indeed, he led the race for safety. On the way, he left behind his chariot, his bow, and his royal mantle, all of which were later picked up by Alexander. Greek sources such as Diodorus Siculus' "Library of History" and Justin's "Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum" recount that Darius fled out of fear at the Battle of Issus and again two years later at the Battle of Gaugamela despite commanding a larger force in a defensive position each time. At the Battle of Issus, Darius III even caught Alexander by surprise and failed to defeat Alexander's forces. Darius fled so far so fast that Alexander was able to capture Darius’ headquarters and take Darius’ family as prisoners in the process. Darius petitioned to Alexander through letters several times to get his family back, but Alexander refused to do so unless Darius would acknowledge him as the new emperor of Persia.


title: Darius III

text: Circumstances were more in Darius’ favor at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. He had a good number of troops who had been organized on the battlefield properly, he had the support of the armies of several of his satraps, and the ground on the battlefield was almost perfectly even, so as not to impede movement of his scythed chariots. Despite all these beneficial factors, he still fled the battle before any victor had been decided and deserted his experienced commanders as well as one of the largest armies ever assembled. Another source accounts that when Darius perceived the fierce attack of Alexander, as at Issus he turned his chariot around, and was the first to flee, once again abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. Many Persian soldiers lost their lives that day, so many in fact that after the battle the casualties of the enemy ensured that Darius would never again raise an imperial army. Darius then fled to Ecbatana and attempted to raise a third army, while Alexander took possession of Babylon, Susa, and the Persian capital at Persepolis. Darius reportedly offered all of his empire west of the Euphrates River to Alexander in exchange for peace several times, each time denied by Alexander against the advice of his senior commanders. Alexander could have declared victory after the capture of Persepolis, but he instead decided to pursue Darius.


title: Darius III

text: The Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia in 331 BC, took place approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Erbil, Iraq. After the battle, Darius managed to flee to the city. However, somewhat inaccurately, the confrontation is sometimes known as the "Battle of Arbela."


title: Darius III

text: Darius did attempt to restore his once-great army after his defeat at the hands of Alexander, but he failed to raise a force comparable to that which had fought at Gaugamela, partly because the defeat had undermined his authority, and also because Alexander's liberal policy, for instance in Babylonia and Persis, offered an acceptable alternative to Persian policies.


title: Darius III

text: When at Ecbatana, Darius learned of Alexander's approaching army, he decided to retreat to Bactria where he could better use his cavalry and mercenary forces on the more even ground of the plains of Asia. He led his army through the Caspian Gates, the main road through the mountains that would work to slow the following army. Persian forces became increasingly demoralized with the constant threat of a surprise attack from Alexander, leading to many desertions and eventually a coup led by Bessus, a satrap, and Nabarzanes, who managed all audiences with the King and was in charge of the palace guard. The two men suggested to Darius that the army regroup under Bessus and that power would be transferred back to the King once Alexander was defeated. Darius did not accept this plan and his conspirators became more anxious to remove him for his successive failures against Alexander and his forces. Patron, a Greek mercenary, encouraged Darius to accept a bodyguard of Greek mercenaries rather than his usual Persian guard to protect him from Bessus and Nabarzanes, but the King could not accept for political reasons and grew accustomed to his fate. Bessus and Nabarzanes eventually bound Darius and threw him in an ox-cart while they ordered the Persian forces to continue. According to Curtius' "History of Alexander", at this point Alexander and a small, mobile force arrived and threw the Persians into a panic, leading Bessus and two other conspirators, Satibarzanes and Barsaentes, to wound the king with their javelins and leave him to die.


title: Darius III

text: A Macedonian soldier found Darius either dead or dying in the wagon shortly thereafter—a disappointment to Alexander, who wanted to capture Darius alive. Alexander saw Darius’ dead body in the wagon and took the signet ring off the dead king's finger. Afterwards, he sent Darius's body back to Persepolis, gave him a magnificent funeral and ordered that he be buried, like all his royal predecessors, in the royal tombs. Darius's tomb has not yet been discovered. Alexander eventually married Darius' daughter Stateira at Susa in 324 BC.


title: Darius III

text: With the old king defeated and given a proper burial, Alexander's rulership of Persia became official. This led to Darius being regarded by some historians as cowardly and inefficient, as under his rulership, the entirety of the Persian Empire fell to a foreign invader. After killing Darius, Bessus took the regal name Artaxerxes V and began calling himself the King of Asia. He was subsequently captured by Alexander, tortured, and executed. Another of Darius' generals ingratiated himself to Alexander by giving the conqueror Darius' favored companion, Bagoas.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Westfalenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is the home of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, the name derives from the former Prussian province of Westphalia.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium is one of the most famous football stadiums in Europe and is renowned for its atmosphere. It has a league capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated) and an international capacity of 65,829 (seated only). It is Germany's largest stadium, the seventh-largest in Europe, and the second-largest home to a top-flight European club after Camp Nou and before the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. It holds the European record for average fan attendance, set in the 2011–12 season with almost 1.37 million spectators over 17 games at an average of 80,588 per game. Sales of annual season tickets amounted to 55,000 in 2015.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The 24,454 capacity "Südtribüne" (South Bank) is the largest terrace for standing spectators in European football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the south terrace has been nicknamed "Die Gelbe Wand", meaning "The Yellow Wall". The Borusseum, the museum of Borussia Dortmund, is located in the north-east part of the stadium.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium hosted matches in the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. It also hosted the 2001 UEFA Cup Final. Various national friendlies and qualification matches for World and European tournaments have been played there as well as matches in European club competitions.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Plans to construct a new stadium were drawn up in the 1960s, as the need arose to expand and refurbish the traditional ground of Borussia Dortmund, the Stadion Rote Erde ("Red Soil Stadium"). Following the historic triumph in the 1966 Cup Winners' Cup (Dortmund was the first German team to win a European club title), it became clear that the Stadion Rote Erde was too small for the increasing number of Borussia Dortmund supporters. The city of Dortmund, however, was not able to finance a new stadium and federal institutions were unwilling to help.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: In 1971, Dortmund was selected to replace the city of Cologne, which was forced to withdraw its plans to host games in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The funds originally set aside for the projected stadium in Cologne were thus re-allocated to Dortmund. However, architects and planners had to keep an eye on the costs due to a tight budget. This meant that plans for a 60 million DM oval stadium featuring the traditional athletic facilities and holding 60,000 spectators had to be discarded. Instead, plans for a much cheaper 54,000 spectator football arena, built of pre-fabricated concrete sections, became a reality. Ultimately, the costs amounted to 32.7 million DM, of which 1.6 million DM were invested in the refurbishment of the Stadion Rote Erde. The city of Dortmund, initially burdened with 6 million DM, only had to pay 800,000 DM, and quickly profited from the stadium's high revenues.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: On 2 April 1974, Borussia Dortmund officially moved into their new home and has played in the Westfalenstadion ever since. Having been relegated in 1972, Borussia Dortmund was the only member of the 2. Bundesliga (second Division) to host the 1974 World Cup games in a completely new stadium. In 1976, after promotion to the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund played its first game in Germany's highest division in their new home stadium.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the Westfalenstadion hosted three group stage games and one final group game. The maximum capacity of the stadium was 54,000.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Due to sponsorship contracts, however, the arena was called "FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund" during the World Cup.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Six games were played there during the tournament, including Germany's first loss ever at the stadium, a 2–0 defeat to Italy. Also, Trinidad and Tobago played their first ever World Cup match at the stadium, against Sweden.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Situated directly next to Stadion Rote Erde, the Westfalenstadion is composed of four roofed grandstands, each facing the playing field on the east, south, west and north sides. The eastern and western stands (Ost- und Westtribüne) run the entire length of the field, while the breadth is covered by the north and south stands (Nord- und Südtribüne).


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Originally, the corners between the four grandstands remained empty and the spectators appreciated the extensive roof, which covered over 80% of the stands. The eastern and western stands housed the stadium's 17,000 seats, while the 37,000 standing places were housed in the northern and southern stands.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Located on the southern terrace of the stadium is Dortmund's "Yellow Wall", which is the largest free-standing grandstand in Europe with a capacity of 25,000. The "Yellow Wall" gives Westfalenstadion one of the most intimidating home atmospheres in all of Europe, aiding Borussia Dortmund to an unbeaten home campaign in 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. Then-Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, when asked whether he feared Dortmund's players or their manager more, responded by saying "It is the Yellow Wall that scares me the most."


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The first expansion plans are dated back to 1961, although the required funding was not available until 4 October 1971 when the city council decided to rebuild the stadium between 1971 and 1974 for the FIFA World Cup. As part of the extensions an additional roof was added around the stadium that weighed 3000 tons.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The original capacity of 54,000 was reduced in 1992 due to UEFA regulations. As the standing rows on the entire northern, the lower eastern and the lower western grandstands were converted into seats, the capacity shrank to 42,800. With 26,000 seats (23,000 covered), the seating in the Westfalenstadion outnumbered the standing rows.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: After Borussia Dortmund won the Bundesliga in 1995, the Westfalenstadion was expanded yet again. In the first private venture stadium expansion in German history, the two main grandstands, the eastern and the western blocks, received a second tier. Covered by a new roof-construction, each section housed an additional 6,000 seats. Thus, the stadium's capacity was restored to the original 54,000, of which the majority (38,500) were now covered seats. Following Dortmund's 1997 UEFA Champions League victory, success and an ever-growing number of enthusiastic fans made it necessary to enlarge the Westfalenstadion yet again. The southern and northern grandstands were enlarged this time, boosting the total capacity to 68,800 spectators. The southern standing ranks (""Die Südtribüne"", where the home team's supporters gather) became the largest free-standing grandstand of its kind in the whole of Europe, with a capacity of 25,000.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: When Germany won the World Cup bid in 2000, it became clear that Westfalenstadion would play a leading role in hosting the tournament. However, as the Westfalenstadion failed to fulfill FIFA requirements for hosting semi-finals, it had to be enlarged a third time. Four new stands were built to fill the corners between the existing grandstands, raising the seating capacity for international games from 52,000 to 67,000. Additionally, the new corner elements provide seating and catering to VIP guests, increasing the total number of VIP seats to 5,000. In order to provide the new sections with an unblocked view of the field, the existing interior roof supports were removed and replaced by exterior pylons, which were painted yellow to suit the Borussia Dortmund colors. During the course of those renovations, construction workers found an undetonated 1,000–pound (450 kg) bomb dropped by an Allied bomber in World War II that was only about one metre below the halfway line on the pitch. Bomb disposal experts had to evacuate the stadium and surrounding neighbourhood in Dortmund, which as part of Germany's industrial centre was bombed heavily, before taking an hour to defuse the device.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Now it is considered one of the biggest and most comfortable stadiums in Europe. The last renovation was made for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The stadium has a glass front, under-soil heating (allowing matches in winter) and the biggest terraced stand. It is Germany's largest stadium capacity of 81,360. The expansion was realised by the German architectural firm of Architekten Schröder Schulte-Ladbeck. There are four video screens inside the stadium. The fifth screen on the outside of the north stands is smaller, measuring 28 square meters.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Since 1 December 2005, Westfalenstadion carries the name of Signal Iduna Park. This agreement was extended in February 2022 until 2031.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium now hosts up to 81,365 fans (standing and seated) for league matches, and 65,829 seated spectators for international games where the characteristic Southern grandstand is re-equipped with seats to conform with FIFA regulations. As match ticket prices are among the lowest among Europe's Big Five football leagues (England, Germany, Spain, France and Italy), the stadium attracts many English fans to its games and has starting conducting stadium tours in English.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium is set to undergo some renovation works in 2018 with the stadium's capacity to rise to 81,365 for Bundesliga Matches and 66,099 for international matches. Free wifi is due to be introduced but the club plans to shut off the signal while play is going on so fans will put their smartphones away and pay attention to supporting the team.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The property of the Westfalenstadion, originally belonging to the city of Dortmund and later sold to the club Borussia Dortmund, was sold to a real estate trust in 2002 when the club was facing serious financial problems. Following that, Westfalenstadion was in the possession of Florian Homm for about two years, it was sold back to a real estate trust with Borussia Dortmund intending to repurchase the stadium gradually up to 2017. However, the club was not able to pay the regular rates in spring 2005 and the holders of the trust agreed in cutting back the asset's interest rates and allowed the club to pay the rates after financial reorganisation. Because of these measures, bankruptcy of the club was avoided and the future of the facility was secured. In 2006, Borussia Dortmund became the new owner by buying the stadium back with the help of a loan from Morgan Stanley. Borussia Dortmund paid off the loan from Morgan Stanley in 2008.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: In order to reduce debt, the naming rights to the stadium was sold to an insurance company, Signal Iduna. From 2005 until 2031, the stadium is known as the "Signal Iduna Park". During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the stadium was called "FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund" since Signal Iduna was not FIFA's sponsor.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: Signal Iduna Park can be reached with the Dortmund Stadtbahn (light rail) lines U42 ("Theodor-Fliedner-Heim" Station), U45 ("Stadion" Station), U46 ("Westfalenhallen" Station and also "Stadion"). The U45 and U46 are unique in that they serve the special station, "Stadion", that is open on game days only. Additionally "Deutsche Bahn" serves the "Dortmund Signal-Iduna-Park" station with both regularly scheduled and special game-day trains. This station can be reached using regional RB trains from Dortmund Central Station, as well as from other cities in the metropolitan area, such as Hagen, Iserlohn, and Lüdenscheid. However, some supporters usually alight the U42 and S4 at the "Möllerbrücke" station and walk to Signal Iduna Park through the "Kreuzviertel" via "Lindemannstraße" or "Arneckestraße".


title: Westfalenstadion

text: The stadium can be reached from Dortmund Airport by taking the shuttle bus to the Holzwickede/Dortmund Airport train station, taking train towards Dortmund Central Station and getting out at "Signal Iduna Park".


title: Westfalenstadion

text: By car the stadium can be reached via the B 1 "Ruhrschnellweg" and B 54. Parking is also available at Dortmund University of Technology, where shuttle busses take fans to the stadium.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: From the subway station "Möllerbrücke" visitors approach the stadium through the Kreuzviertel. It is well known for its many bars, clubs, pubs, and cafes, concentrated in the vicinity of Kreuzstraße and Vinkeplatz and create a day and nightlife atmosphere unique from the rest of the city. That's the reason why the subway station and the city quarter is popular by local fans and those visiting of Borussia Dortmund as a last resort for drinking a cheap beer in the numerous Pubs around the Stadium. On match days, many traders sell beer, sausages (Bratwurst) and jerseys on the street. The north side of the stadium is also the site of a lot of exhibition hotels, apartments and the "Mit Schmackes", a football-themed restaurant and fan clubhouse conceived by former Borussia Dortmund player Kevin Grosskreutz.


title: Westfalenstadion

text: On the other side of the Autobahn, the Trade fair with its Westfalenhallen and TV Tower called Florianturm affords a marvellous view on the stadium.


title: Sriti Jha

text: Sriti Jha (born 26 February 1986) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi television. She made her acting debut in 2007 with "Dhoom Machaao Dhoom" playing Malini Sharma. Jha earned wider recognition with her portrayal of Pragya Arora in "Kumkum Bhagya", which won her various awards including Indian Telly Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role and ITA Award for Best Actress Drama.


title: Sriti Jha

text: Jha's notable works include portraying Suhani in "Shaurya Aur Suhani", Sudha/Devika in "Jyoti", Jhanvi/Sia in "Dil Se Di Dua... Saubhagyavati Bhava?" and Ganga in "Balika Vadhu". She has also participated in "" and "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 10".


title: Sriti Jha

text: Jha was born on 26 February 1986 in Begusarai, Bihar, India. She went to live with her family in Kolkata, where they stayed for 10 years, then moved to Kathmandu, Nepal. They then moved to New Delhi, where she continued her studies at Laxman Public School. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Sri Venkateswara College, New Delhi. She has an elder sister, Meenakshi.


title: Sriti Jha

text: Jha made her television debut in 2007 playing Malini Sharma in Disney India's teen drama "Dhoom Machaao Dhoom". She went on to be a part of "Jiya Jale" where she played Sunaina Kotak. Jha also participated in the dance reality show "Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan". In 2009, she played Suhani in Star Plus's "Shaurya Aur Suhani". She rose to prominence with "Jyoti" on NDTV Imagine playing Sudha Sharma, a split personality patient. In 2011, she played Jhanvi, a victim of domestic violence in "Dil Se Di Dua... Saubhagyavati Bhava?". In 2013, she played Ganga in Colors TV's "Balika Vadhu". Jha received wider critical acclaim and praise after she played Pragya Arora in Ekta Kapoor's "Kumkum Bhagya" opposite Shabir Ahluwalia. She became a household name with her portrayal of Pragya and won several awards.


title: Sriti Jha

text: In 2022, she participated in "" which was being shot in Cape Town, South Africa and ended up finishing at 10th place. In the same year, she joined "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 10" as a wildcard entry and finished at 5th place.


title: Sriti Jha

text: In January 2021, Jha recited a poem "Confessions Of An Asexual Romantic", during the 2020 Kommune India Spoken Fest, in which she spoke about how the life of an asexual might be and how there is a lack of freedom in India when it comes to talking about one's sexuality. In an interview, she clarified she is not an asexual and that the poem isn't about her. She also recited two more poems regarding people with different sexual preferences and the problems they face such as "Choodiyaan" which talks about a gay male, and "Chaabi Gum Gai Hai", based on a lesbian female. In "It's Pehla Pyaar Every Time", she talks about how every time we fall in love, it feels as if it's the first time.


title: Sriti Jha

text: Her other works such as "To Like? Or To Love?" differentiate between loving and liking and how liking is free of boundaries while love is limiting. Jha's first open letter "A Letter To Myself" is about what she wants to tell her 15 year old self in the past and that we should never compromise under any circumstance. In this collaboration with ITC Vivel, Jha inspires women to uncondition, challenge stereotypes and go forth to fulfill their dreams with confidence and say out loud, "Ab Samjhauta Nahin". She also presented a poem "Cheesy Stupid Ishq" as a narrator a day before the Valentines Day in 2021.


title: Role Models

text: Role Models is a 2008 American comedy film directed by David Wain, who co-wrote it with Timothy Dowling, Paul Rudd and Ken Marino. The film follows two energy drink salesmen who are ordered to perform 150 hours of community service as punishment for various offenses. For their service, the two men work at a program designed to pair children with adult role models. The film stars Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Jane Lynch and Elizabeth Banks.


title: Role Models

text: Danny and Wheeler are salesmen promoting the energy drink "Minotaur", supposedly to keep kids off drugs. Wheeler loves the job, while Danny considers it pointless and dead-end, making him depressed and jaded. Danny's uncouth behavior results in the collapse of his relationship with Beth, who breaks up with him after an impulsive proposal.


title: Role Models

text: After a botched presentation at a high school, Danny and Wheeler's Minotaur truck is towed from the no-parking zone. Danny tries to free the truck, almost hitting a security guard then crashing into a statue. They are arrested and charged.


title: Role Models

text: Beth makes a deal with the judge: they must do 150 hours of community service over the next 30 days, in lieu of 30 days in jail. Their service is with Sturdy Wings, a big brother-big sister program led by Gayle Sweeny, a recovering addict. She warns them that if they fail to meet her requirements they will be sent to prison. Wheeler is given Ronnie Shields, a vulgar young boy who has driven away all the other "Bigs" he has been paired with. Danny is assigned Augie Farks, a shy teen obsessed with a medieval LARPG called "LAIRE" (Live Action Interactive Role-playing Explorers).


title: Role Models

text: Danny doesn't find common ground with Augie, while Ronnie dislikes Wheeler. Danny considers giving up and choosing jail, but Wheeler talks him out of it. Gradually bonding with their "littles"; Ronnie and Wheeler talk about having been abandoned by their fathers, while Danny learns about Augie's medieval fantasy realm. Ronnie hears about Wheeler's favorite band, Kiss, and discovers that Wheeler shares his obsession with breasts, which Wheeler teaches him to control. Danny and Augie bond discovering they are both involved in the Sturdy Wings program against their will. Danny joins Augie's LAIRE and tries to get back with Beth, who insists "it is for the best".


title: Role Models

text: However, their good luck is short-lived. When Augie sneaks up on the King of LAIRE, Argotron, the King lies and tells everyone that he killed Augie. Defending Augie, Danny confronts and shoves the King, getting them banned from LAIRE permanently. Later, Danny insults Augie's mother and her boyfriend for not supporting Augie, earning their hatred. As they kick Danny out of the house, Danny retorts, "I'd be psyched if he was my kid." Meanwhile, Wheeler takes Ronnie to a party, but leaves him unsupervised, resulting in Ronnie walking home alone. When both kids' parents ask Sturdy Wings for new mentors, Gayle expels Danny and Wheeler from the program, resulting in both men failing to complete their community service. Although Beth agrees to defend Danny and Wheeler in court, she warns them that they will most likely go to jail.


title: Role Models

text: Danny convinces King Argotron to allow him and Augie to fight in the battle royale. Wheeler gets permission from Karen to hang out with Ronnie after he gets out of jail, and Ronnie forgives him. However, the King secretly warns the other members of Augie's LAIRE "country" of Xanthia that allowing Augie to fight with them will lead to severe retribution in the game. They call Augie to tell him he is a liability and out of the group. Danny and Augie form a new LAIRE country by asking Wheeler and Ronnie to join them. They arrive with Wheeler's Kiss costumes and a Kiss-themed Minotaur truck, naming their country "Kiss-My-Anthia". Augie finally defeats the king, but Sarah, a hidden player who goes by Esplen in LAIRE, attacks and defeats Augie; crowned the new queen, she chooses Augie as her king-consort. Augie's parents forgive Danny.


title: Role Models

text: Impressed that Wheeler and Danny care for the children, Gayle clears their names with the judge. Danny serenades Beth with a rendition of the Kiss song "Beth" and they reconcile.


title: Role Models

text: The film was originally announced in December 2006 under the title "Big Brothers", with Luke Greenfield directing and Timothy Dowling writing the script. A January 22, 2007, draft of the script credits Moses Port and David Guarascio as writers, with no listing of Dowling. During promotion for the film "Knocked Up", Paul Rudd revealed that shooting on "Big Brothers" was on hiatus while the script was being retooled. News was later revealed that Rudd was commissioned to write a new draft of the script and David Wain had signed on to direct. Wain later revealed the film was now titled "Little Big Men". UniversalPictures.com listed the film under the final title "Role Models", which made its release on November 7, 2008. It was pre-screened at the University of Maryland's Hoff Theater on October 30, 2008, to positive accord.


title: Role Models

text: A running gag in the film is a song entitled "Love Take Me Down (to the Streets)", which is claimed by Martin to be by the band Wings. In the initial scene at the Sturdy Wings building, Martin begins singing the song, which he claims is "one of their hits from the '70s", a fact which Danny denies. During the credits, the song plays and is listed on the film soundtrack as being performed by "Not Wings". The song was written by Charles Gansa, a composer who worked on the film, and A. D. Miles, who plays Martin in the film. It was written to imitate the style of the music of Wings and performed by Joey Curatolo, a Paul McCartney soundalike who performs in the Beatles tribute band .


title: Role Models

text: "Role Models" opened #2 at the box office behind "" with $19.2 million. The film made a total of $67,300,955 domestically and $25,201,210 in foreign countries, for a total of $92,502,165 worldwide.


title: Role Models

text: "Role Models" was met with generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 77%, based on 162 reviews. The site's consensus reads, ""Role Models" is a frequently crude, always funny comedy with the cast providing solid work throughout." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 61 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".


title: Role Models

text: In their year end review, IGN awarded "Role Models" with "Best Comedy Film of 2008". Eye Weekly selected "Role Models" as one of the best films of 2008.


title: Role Models

text: The DVD was released on March 10, 2009, selling 1,028,207 during its first week generating $17,469,237 in revenue. As of August 10, 2011 the DVD sold 2,555,713 copies and brought in over $40 million in revenue.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, "The North Ship", was published in 1945, followed by two novels, "Jill" (1946) and "A Girl in Winter" (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, "The Less Deceived", followed by "The Whitsun Weddings" (1964) and "High Windows" (1974). He contributed to "The Daily Telegraph" as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, with his articles gathered in "All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71" (1985), and edited "The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse" (1973). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.


title: Philip Larkin

text: After graduating from Oxford University in 1943 with a first in English Language and Literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls "a very English, glum accuracy" about emotions, places, and relationships, and what Donald Davie described as "lowered sights and diminished expectations". Eric Homberger (echoing Randall Jarrell) called him "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket"—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was "what daffodils were for Wordsworth". Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms. They were described by Jean Hartley, the ex-wife of Larkin's publisher George Hartley (the Marvell Press), as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent", though anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin's public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life. The posthumous publication by Anthony Thwaite in 1992 of his letters triggered controversy about his personal life and political views, described by John Banville as hair-raising, but also in places hilarious. Lisa Jardine called him a "casual, habitual racist, and an easy misogynist", but the academic John Osborne argued in 2008 that "the worst that anyone has discovered about Larkin are some crass letters and a taste for porn softer than what passes for mainstream entertainment". Despite the controversy Larkin was chosen in a 2003 Poetry Book Society survey, almost two decades after his death, as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years, and in 2008 "The Times" named him Britain's greatest post-war writer.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1973 a "Coventry Evening Telegraph" reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry", but in 2010, 25 years after his death, it was Larkin's adopted home city, Kingston upon Hull, that commemorated him with the Larkin 25 Festival which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death. On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Philip Larkin was born on 9 August 1922 at 2, Poultney Road, Radford, Coventry, the only son and younger child of Sydney Larkin (1884–1948) and his wife Eva Emily (1886–1977), daughter of first-class excise officer William James Day. Sydney Larkin's family originated in Kent, but had lived since at least the eighteenth century at Lichfield, Staffordshire, where they were in trade first as tailors, then also as coach-builders and shoe-makers. The Day family were of Epping, Essex, but moved to Leigh in Lancashire in 1914 where William Day took a post administering pensions and other dependent allowances.


title: Philip Larkin

text: The Larkin family lived in the district of Radford, Coventry, until Larkin was five years old, before moving to a large three-storey middle-class house complete with servants’ quarters near Coventry railway station and King Henry VIII School, in Manor Road. Having survived the bombings of the Second World War, their former house in Manor Road was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a road modernisation programme, the construction of an inner ring road. His sister Catherine, known as Kitty, was 10 years older than he was. His father, a self-made man who had risen to be Coventry City Treasurer, was a singular individual, 'nihilistically disillusioned in middle age', who combined a love of literature with an enthusiasm for Nazism, and had attended two Nuremberg rallies during the mid-1930s. He introduced his son to the works of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and above all D. H. Lawrence. His mother was a nervous and passive woman, "a kind of defective mechanism...Her ideal is 'to collapse' and to be taken care of", dominated by her husband.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin's early childhood was in some respects unusual: he was educated at home until the age of eight by his mother and sister, neither friends nor relatives ever visited the family home, and he developed a stammer. Nonetheless, when he joined Coventry's King Henry VIII Junior School he fitted in immediately and made close, long-standing friendships, such as those with James "Jim" Sutton, Colin Gunner and Noel "Josh" Hughes. Although home life was relatively cold, Larkin enjoyed support from his parents. For example, his deep passion for jazz was supported by the purchase of a drum kit and a saxophone, supplemented by a subscription to "DownBeat". From the junior school he progressed to King Henry VIII Senior School. He fared quite poorly when he sat his School Certificate exam at the age of 16. Despite his results, he was allowed to stay on at school; two years later he earned distinctions in English and History, and passed the entrance exams for St John's College, Oxford, to read English.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin began at Oxford University in October 1940, a year after the outbreak of the Second World War. The old upper-class traditions of university life had, at least for the time being, faded, and most of the male students were studying for highly truncated degrees. Due to his poor eyesight, Larkin failed his military medical examination and was able to study for the usual three years. Through his tutorial partner, Norman Iles, he met Kingsley Amis, who encouraged his taste for ridicule and irreverence and who remained a close friend throughout Larkin's life. Amis, Larkin and other university friends formed a group they dubbed "The Seven", meeting to discuss each other's poetry, listen to jazz, and drink enthusiastically. During this time he had his first real social interaction with the opposite sex, but made no romantic headway. In 1943 he sat his finals, and, having dedicated much of his time to his own writing, was greatly surprised at being awarded a first-class honours degree.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1943 Larkin was appointed librarian of the public library in Wellington, Shropshire. It was while working there that in early 1944 he met his first girlfriend, Ruth Bowman, an academically ambitious 16-year-old schoolgirl. In 1945, Ruth went to continue her studies at King's College London; during one of his visits their friendship developed into a sexual relationship. By June 1946, Larkin was halfway through qualifying for membership of the Library Association and was appointed assistant librarian at University College, Leicester. It was visiting Larkin in Leicester and witnessing the university's Senior Common Room that gave Kingsley Amis the inspiration to write "Lucky Jim" (1954), the novel that made Amis famous and to whose long gestation Larkin contributed considerably. Six weeks after his father's death from cancer in March 1948, Larkin proposed to Ruth, and that summer the couple spent their annual holiday touring Hardy country.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In June 1950 Larkin was appointed sub-librarian at The Queen's University of Belfast, a post he took up that September. Before his departure he and Ruth split up. At some stage between the appointment to the position at Queen's and the end of the engagement to Ruth, Larkin's friendship with Monica Jones, a lecturer in English at Leicester, also developed into a sexual relationship. He spent five years in Belfast, which appear to have been the most contented of his life. While his relationship with Jones developed, he also had "the most satisfyingly erotic [experience] of his life" with Patsy Strang, who at the time was in an open marriage with one of his colleagues. At one stage she offered to leave her husband to marry Larkin. From 1951 onwards Larkin holidayed with Jones in various locations around the British Isles. While in Belfast he also had a significant though sexually undeveloped friendship with Winifred Arnott, the subject of "Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album", which came to an end when she married in 1954. This was the period in which he gave Kingsley Amis extensive advice on the writing of "Lucky Jim". Amis repaid the debt by dedicating the finished book to Larkin.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1955 Larkin became University Librarian at the University of Hull, a post he held until his death. Professor R. L. Brett, who was chairman of the library committee that appointed him and a friend, wrote, "At first I was impressed with the time he spent in his office, arriving early and leaving late. It was only later that I realised that his office was also his study where he spent hours on his private writing as well as the work of the library. Then he would return home and on a good many evenings start writing again." For his first year he lodged in bedsits. In 1956, at the age of 34, he rented a self-contained flat on the top-floor of 32 Pearson Park, a three-storey red-brick house overlooking the park, previously the American Consulate. This, it seems, was the vantage point later commemorated in the poem "High Windows." Of the city itself Larkin commented: "I never thought about Hull until I was here. Having got here, it suits me in many ways. It is a little on the edge of things, I think even its natives would say that. I rather like being on the edge of things. One doesn't really go anywhere by design, you know, you put in for jobs and move about, you know, I've lived in other places." In the post-war years, Hull University underwent significant expansion, as was typical of British universities during that period. When Larkin took up his appointment there, the plans for a new university library were already far advanced. He made a great effort in just a few months to familiarize himself with them before they were placed before the University Grants Committee; he suggested a number of emendations, some major and structural, all of which were adopted. It was built in two stages, and in 1967 it was named the Brynmor Jones Library after Sir Brynmor Jones, the university's vice-chancellor.


title: Philip Larkin

text: One of Larkin's colleagues at Hull said he became a great figure in post-war British librarianship. Ten years after the new library's completion, Larkin computerized records for the entire library stock, making it the first library in Europe to install a Geac computer system, an automated online circulation system. Richard Goodman wrote that Larkin excelled as an administrator, committee man and arbitrator. "He treated his staff decently, and he motivated them", Goodman said. "He did this with a combination of efficiency, high standards, humour and compassion." He rejected the Net Book Agreement. From 1957 until his death, Larkin's secretary was Betty Mackereth. All access to him by his colleagues was through her, and she came to know as much about Larkin's compartmentalized life as anyone. During his 30 years there, the library's stock sextupled, and the budget expanded from £4,500 to £448,500, in real terms a twelvefold increase.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In February 1961 Larkin's friendship with his colleague Maeve Brennan became romantic, despite her strong Roman Catholic beliefs. In early 1963 Brennan persuaded him to go with her to a dance for university staff, despite his preference for smaller gatherings. This seems to have been a pivotal moment in their relationship, and he memorialised it in his longest (and unfinished) poem "The Dance". Around this time, also at her prompting, Larkin learnt to drive and bought a car – his first, a Singer Gazelle. Meanwhile, Monica Jones, whose parents had died in 1959, bought a holiday cottage in Haydon Bridge, near Hexham, which she and Larkin visited regularly. His poem "Show Saturday" is a description of the 1973 Bellingham show in the North Tyne valley.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1964, following the publication of "The Whitsun Weddings", Larkin was the subject of an edition of the arts programme "Monitor", directed by Patrick Garland. The programme, which shows him being interviewed by fellow poet John Betjeman in a series of locations in and around Hull, allowed Larkin to play a significant part in the creation of his own public persona; one he would prefer his readers to imagine.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1968, Larkin was offered the OBE, which he declined. Later in life he accepted the offer of being made a Companion of Honour.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin's role in the creation of Hull University's new Brynmor Jones Library had been important and demanding. Soon after the completion of the second and larger phase of construction in 1969, he was able to redirect his energies. In October 1970, he started to work on compiling a new anthology, "The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse" (1973). He was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, for two academic terms, allowing him to consult Oxford's Bodleian Library, a copyright library. While he was in Oxford he passed responsibility for the Library to his deputy, Brenda Moon. Larkin was a major contributor to the re-evaluation of the poetry of Thomas Hardy, which, in comparison to his novels, had been overlooked; in Larkin's "idiosyncratic" and "controversial" anthology, Hardy was the poet most generously represented. There were twenty-seven poems by Hardy, compared with only nine by T. S. Eliot (however, Eliot is most famous for long poems); the other poets most extensively represented were W. B. Yeats, W. H. Auden and Rudyard Kipling. Larkin included six of his own poems—the same number as for Rupert Brooke. In the process of compiling the volume he had been disappointed not to find more and better poems as evidence that the clamour over the Modernists had stifled the voices of traditionalists. The most favourable responses to the anthology were those of Auden and John Betjeman, while the most hostile was that of Donald Davie, who accused Larkin of "positive cynicism" and of encouraging "the perverse triumph of philistinism, the cult of the amateur ... [and] the weakest kind of Englishry". After an initial period of anxiety about the anthology's reception, Larkin enjoyed the clamour.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1971, Larkin regained contact with his schoolfriend Colin Gunner, who had led a picturesque life. Their subsequent correspondence has gained notoriety as Larkin expressed right-wing views and used racist language. In the period from 1973 to 1974, Larkin became an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, and was awarded honorary degrees by Warwick, St Andrews and Sussex universities. In January 1974, Hull University informed Larkin that they were going to dispose of the building on Pearson Park in which he lived. Shortly afterwards he bought a detached two-storey 1950s house in Newland Park which was described by his university colleague John Kenyon as "an entirely middle-class backwater". Larkin, who moved into the house in June, thought the four-bedroom property "utterly undistinguished" and reflected, "I can't say it's the kind of dwelling that is eloquent of the nobility of the human spirit".


title: Philip Larkin

text: Shortly after splitting up with Maeve Brennan in August 1973, Larkin attended W. H. Auden's memorial service at Christ Church, Oxford, with Monica Jones as his official partner. In March 1975, the relationship with Brennan restarted, and three weeks after this he initiated a secret affair with Betty Mackereth, who served as his secretary for 28 years, writing the long-undiscovered poem "We met at the end of the party" for her. Despite the logistical difficulties of having three relationships simultaneously, the situation continued until March 1978. From then on he and Jones were a monogamous couple.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1976, Larkin was the guest of Roy Plomley on BBC's "Desert Island Discs". His choice of music included "Dallas Blues" by Louis Armstrong, "Spem in alium" by Thomas Tallis and the Symphony No. 1 in A flat major by Edward Elgar. His favourite piece was "I'm Down in the Dumps" by Bessie Smith.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In December 2010, as part of the commemorations of the 25th anniversary of Larkin's death, the BBC broadcast a programme entitled "Philip Larkin and the Third Woman" focusing on his affair with Mackereth in which she spoke for the first time about their relationship. It included a reading of a newly discovered secret poem, "Dear Jake", and revealed that Mackereth was one of the inspirations for his writings.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin turned sixty in 1982. This was marked most significantly by a collection of essays entitled "Larkin at Sixty", edited by Anthony Thwaite and published by Faber and Faber. There were also two television programmes: an episode of "The South Bank Show" presented by Melvyn Bragg in which Larkin made off-camera contributions, and a half-hour special on the BBC that was devised and presented by the Labour Shadow Cabinet Minister Roy Hattersley.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1983, Jones was hospitalised with shingles, a skin rash. The severity of her symptoms, including its effects on her eyes, distressed Larkin. As her health declined, regular care became necessary: within a month she moved into his Newland Park home and remained there for the rest of her life.


title: Philip Larkin

text: At the memorial service for John Betjeman, who died in July 1984, Larkin was asked if he would accept the post of Poet Laureate. He declined, not least because he felt he had long since ceased to be a writer of poetry in a meaningful sense. The following year, Larkin began to suffer from oesophageal cancer. On 11 June 1985, he underwent surgery, but his cancer was found to have spread and was inoperable. On 28 November, he collapsed and was readmitted to hospital. He died four days later, on 2 December 1985, at the age of 63, and was buried at Cottingham municipal cemetery near Hull.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin had asked on his deathbed that his diaries be destroyed. The request was granted by Jones, the main beneficiary of his will, and Betty Mackereth; the latter shredded the unread diaries page by page, then had them burned. His will was found to be contradictory regarding his other private papers and unpublished work; legal advice left the issue to the discretion of his literary executors, who decided the material should not be destroyed. When she died on 15 February 2001, Jones, in turn, left £1 million to St Paul's Cathedral, Hexham Abbey and Durham Cathedral. Larkin is commemorated with a green plaque on The Avenues, Kingston upon Hull.


title: Philip Larkin

text: From his mid-teens, Larkin "wrote ceaselessly", producing both poetry, initially modelled on Eliot and W. H. Auden, and fiction: he wrote five full-length novels, each of which he destroyed shortly after their completion. While he was at Oxford University, his first published poem, "Ultimatum", appeared in "The Listener". He developed a pseudonymous alter ego in this period for his prose: Brunette Coleman. Under this name he wrote two novellas, "Trouble at Willow Gables" and "Michaelmas Term at St Brides" (2002), as well as a supposed autobiography and an equally fictitious creative manifesto called "What we are writing for". Richard Bradford has written that these curious works show "three registers: cautious indifference, archly overwritten symbolism with a hint of Lawrence and prose that appears to disclose its writer's involuntary feelings of sexual excitement".


title: Philip Larkin

text: After these works, Larkin began to write his first published novel "Jill" (1946). This was published by Reginald A. Caton, a publisher of barely legal pornography, who also issued serious fiction as a cover for his core activities. Around the time that "Jill" was being prepared for publication, Caton inquired of Larkin if he also wrote poetry. This resulted in the publication, three months before "Jill", of "The North Ship" (1945), a collection of poems written between 1942 and 1944 which showed the increasing influence of Yeats. Immediately after completing "Jill", Larkin started work on the novel "A Girl in Winter" (1947), completing it in 1945. This was published by Faber and Faber and was well received, "The Sunday Times" calling it "an exquisite performance and nearly faultless". Subsequently, he made at least three concerted attempts at writing a third novel, but none developed beyond a solid start.


title: Philip Larkin

text: It was during Larkin's five years in Belfast that he reached maturity as a poet. The bulk of his next published collection of poems, "The Less Deceived" (1955), was written there, though eight of the twenty-nine poems included were from the late 1940s. This period also saw Larkin make his final attempts at writing prose fiction, and he gave extensive help to Kingsley Amis with "Lucky Jim", which was Amis's first published novel. In October 1954 an article in "The Spectator" made the first use of the title The Movement to describe the dominant trend in British post-war literature. Poems by Larkin were included in a 1953 PEN Anthology that also featured poems by Amis and Robert Conquest, and Larkin was seen to be a part of this grouping. In 1951, Larkin compiled a collection called "XX Poems" which he had privately printed in a run of just 100 copies. Many of the poems in it subsequently appeared in his next published volume.


title: Philip Larkin

text: In November 1955, "The Less Deceived", was published by the Marvell Press, an independent company in Hessle near Hull (dated October). At first the volume attracted little attention, but in December it was included in "The Times" list of "Books of the Year". From this point, the book's reputation spread and sales blossomed throughout 1956 and 1957. During his first five years in Hull, the pressures of work slowed Larkin's output to an average of just two-and-a-half poems a year, but this period saw the writing of some of his best-known poems, such as "An Arundel Tomb", "The Whitsun Weddings" and "Here".


title: Philip Larkin

text: In 1963, Faber and Faber reissued "Jill", with the addition of a long introduction by Larkin that included much information about his time at Oxford University and his friendship with Kingsley Amis. This acted as a prelude to the publication the following year of "The Whitsun Weddings", the volume which cemented his reputation; a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Literature was granted to Larkin almost immediately. In the years that followed, Larkin wrote several of his most best-known poems, followed in the 1970s by a series of longer and more sober poems, including "The Building" and "The Old Fools". All of these appeared in Larkin's final collection, "High Windows", which was published in June 1974. Its more direct use of language meant that it did not meet with uniform praise; nonetheless it sold over twenty thousand copies in its first year alone. For some critics it represents a falling-off from his previous two books, yet it contains a number of his much-loved pieces, including "This Be The Verse" and "The Explosion", as well as the title poem. "Annus Mirabilis" (Year of Wonder), also from that volume, contains the frequently quoted observation that sexual intercourse began in 1963, which the narrator claims was "rather late for me". Bradford, prompted by comments in Maeve Brennan's memoir, suggests that the poem commemorates Larkin's relationship with Brennan moving from the romantic to the sexual.


title: Philip Larkin

text: Later in 1974 he started work on his final major published poem, "Aubade". It was completed in 1977 and published in 23 December issue of "The Times Literary Supplement". After "Aubade" Larkin wrote only one poem that has attracted close critical attention, the posthumously published and intensely personal "Love Again".


title: Philip Larkin

text: Larkin's poetry has been characterized as combining "an ordinary, colloquial style", "clarity", a "quiet, reflective tone", "ironic understatement" and a "direct" engagement with "commonplace experiences", while Jean Hartley summed his style up as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent".