title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB is considered to be a "Public Ivy". The 2021 edition of "U.S. News & World Report" ranked UC Santa Barbara as tied for the 6th best public university and tied for the 30th best university in the United States. "Money" magazine ranked UC Santa Barbara 30th in the U.S. out of the 744 schools it evaluated for its 2019 Best Colleges ranking. In 2019, "Kiplinger" ranked UCSB 30th out of 174 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and fifth in California. UC Santa Barbara was ranked 32nd in the United States out of 1,380 colleges and universities by Payscale and CollegeNet's 2018 Social Mobility Index rankings.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" ranked UCSB 48th worldwide for 2016–17, while the "Academic Ranking of World Universities" (ARWU) in 2016 ranked UCSB 42nd in the world, 28th in the nation, and in 2015 tied for 17th worldwide in engineering.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: In the United States National Research Council rankings of graduate programs, 10 UCSB departments were ranked in the top ten in the country: Materials, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Marine Science Institute, Geography, History, and Theater and Dance. Among U.S. university Materials Science and Engineering programs, UCSB was ranked first in each measure of a study by the National Research Council of the NAS


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The Centre for Science and Technologies Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands ranked UCSB as the seventh-best research university in the world based on mean normalized citation score, and as the second best in the world based on the proportion of the publications to the top 10% most frequently cited.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: "The Global Research Report: United States" published by Thomson Reuters in November 2010 rated UCSB's research fourth nationally in citation impact.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Among U.S. university economics programs, in 2010 UCSB was ranked sixth for experimental economics, third for environmental economics, and 12th for cognitive and behavioral economics by RePEc.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: "Washington Monthly" named UCSB as the 20th best national university in 2020, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: In the United States National Research Council rankings of graduate programs, 10 UCSB departments were ranked in the top ten in the country: Materials, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Marine Science Institute, Geography, History, and Theater and Dance.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: "U.S. News & World Report"s 2016 rankings placed UCSB's graduate programs in Materials Engineering and Chemical Engineering the second and ninth best in the U.S., respectively; graduate school Physics was ranked 10th best, including the fifth-best program for Condensed Matter Physics, seventh-best program for Quantum Physics, seventh-best program for Elementary Particles/Field/String Theory, and eighth-best program for Cosmology/Relativity/Gravity. In terms of the social sciences, UCSB's graduate program in Sociology is ranked first for research in sex and gender, and the History department is ranked seventh for women's history.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB's Department of Communication was recognized as top in the nation based on data from the National Research Council's study. Several areas in UCSB's Department of Communication have been Ranked Best in Nation by the National Communication Association. Specifically, UCSB's Department of Communication has been ranked first in the nation for Interpersonal and Small Group Communication, first in the nation for Intercultural/International Communication, second in the nation Organizational Communication, fourth in the nation for Communication and Technology, and 17th in the nation for Mass Communication.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB's Department of Communication has been ranked third in the nation in terms of research productivity, according to a recent analysis of scholarly articles that have appeared in eight academic journals sponsored by the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. In addition, UCSB's Department of Communication has been named one of the top high-impact departments in the nation.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: "Forbes" magazine ranked the university 114th in the nation (and 50th best research university) in July 2016. This ranking focuses mainly on net positive financial impact, in contrast to other rankings, and generally ranks liberal arts colleges above most research universities.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: PayScale's 2015–16 College Salary Report (ranking universities in terms of graduates' salary potential), UCSB came in first in computer science, seventh in engineering, 14th in Humanities, and 30th in Social Sciences.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Santa Barbara is one of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California. The University of California is governed by a 26-member Board of Regents, 18 of which are appointed by the Governor of California to 12-year terms, seven serving as "ex officio" members, and a single student regent. The position of chancellor was created in 1952 to lead individual campuses. The Board of Regents appointed Henry T. Yang to be the fifth chancellor of the university in 1994.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UC Santa Barbara has three colleges: the College of Letters & Science, the College of Engineering, and the College of Creative Studies. The College of Creative Studies offers students an alternative approach to education by supporting advanced, independent work in the arts, mathematics, and sciences. The campus also has two professional schools: the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, located in Bren Hall, and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Founded in 1973, the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER), originally the Community and Organization Research Institute (CORI), is the research unit for work in the social sciences. In 1990, it absorbed the Social Process Research Institute (SPRI), and its work now includes the humanities.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: In February 2015, UCSB opened The Confucius Institute on campus, one of about 400 installments located around the world. It will be aimed at promoting the study of Chinese language, culture, history, science, politics, and economics.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: In 2008, the Institute for Energy Efficiency was founded with the goal to establish a new, cross-disciplinary institute that would integrate the many diverse research projects in energy efficiency and provide a focus for work in this area.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The university runs on a quarter system. There are three terms in the normal academic year: fall, winter, and spring, as well as a summer term. At the beginning of each term, there are one to three days of pre-instructional activities, where faculty meet to discuss instructional plans. During this period, students acquaint themselves to the campus and have the opportunity to take placement tests. At the end of each term, one week is devoted to final exams and special academic activities. There are 146 days of instruction, with a minimum of 48 per term.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB is a politically active campus. For the 2008 presidential election, UCSB won a national college competition for student voter registration by registering 10,857 voters, or 51.5% of the student population. Over the years, many political parties and organizations have been known to be active on campus, such as the College Republicans, Campus Democrats, Green Party, Libertarians, NORML, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Queer Student Union.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: There are a variety of on campus centers offering social, recreational, religious, and preprofessional activities for students. The UCSB Multicultural Center puts on numerous activities every year to support students of color and promote awareness of diversity issues on campus. Other organizations and centers include "The Daily Nexus", a daily newspaper; the school radio station, KCSB 91.9; "The Bottom Line", a weekly newspaper; and "The Gaucho Free Press", the campus's conservative magazine.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The UCSB Recreation Center also hosts a variety of activities, from adventure programs to ballroom dancing classes. Further, UCSB offers a space for UCSB's large Jewish population and a place for Jewish students to come together in a unique building in Isla Vista. Students socialize at the Arbor, the UCen, the Coral Tree Cafe, the Courtyard Cafe, and for a special lunch, the Club and Guest House.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB is also known for its annual free music festival, Extravaganza. It is held at Harder Stadium in the spring and generally attracts around 8,000 people. Past performers have included Nas, T.I., E-40, Sublime, Run-D.M.C., The Pharcyde, Social Distortion, Jack Johnson, Drake, Dada Life, Jane's Addiction, and Snoop Dogg, among many others.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The Nu chapter of Phrateres, a non-exclusive nonprofit social-service club, was installed here in 1939. Between 1924 and 1967, 23 chapters of Phrateres were installed in universities across North America.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: There are eight residence halls at UCSB, seven of which are located at the main campus. One, Santa Catalina (formerly Francisco Torres Towers), is located near the entrance to West Campus north of Isla Vista.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Santa Catalina has its own dining commons, Portola Dining Commons, as well as a heated swimming pool, two lounges, numerous study rooms, two recreational rooms, a gym, as well as tennis courts and an expansive lawn. Because Santa Catalina is nearly off-campus, it has its own campus police station, as well as housing offices and Res-Net support center.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The Main Campus residence halls are found in two different locations. On the east end of campus are the residence halls named after five of the Channel Islands: Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Miguel and San Nicolas. There are two dining commons located near the Channel Islands residence halls. The Ortega Dining Commons is located between San Miguel and the University Center (UCen), and the De La Guerra Dining Commons is located between Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and San Nicolas.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The two other residence halls, San Rafael and Manzanita Village, are located on the west side of campus and primarily house continuing and transfer students. The Carrillo Dining Commons is located in Manzanita Village, right next to San Rafael Hall. Manzanita Village was completed in 2002, and is the newest residence hall on campus.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: In addition, the university also has four housing complexes for graduate students and their families: San Clemente Villages for single graduate students, Santa Ynez Apartments, El Dorado Apartments, Westgate Apartments, and family student housing: West Campus Apartments and the Storke Apartment complexes. There is also faculty housing at the West Campus Point and new construction underway at the North Campus. The Sierra Madre Villages, located by the West Campus Apartments, was completed in September 2015 and was the first residential complex certified as LEED platinum throughout the entire UC system. UC Santa Barbara is the only campus in the UC system with any "LEED for Homes" certifications.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Billionaire Charles Munger has promised the university a $200 million donation on condition that it builds an 11-story dormitory, to be called Munger Hall, following his design, which assigns each of 4,536 residents a small individual room, 94% without natural light, in order to house more students and to encourage socialization in common areas. UCSB's acceptance of the proposal, presented in October 2021, led to the resignation of architect Dennis McFadden from the campus design review committee, followed by protests from students and from others including the AIA. In October 2022, the plan was modified to eliminate two floors, reducing the capacity of the building to 3,500.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Private residence halls are also available to UCSB students. Tropicana Del Norte, located directly adjacent to the Main Campus, houses UCSB students in 51 furnished suites, and has an on-site dining hall and heated pool.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Students may also choose to rent housing in the bordering community of Isla Vista. An estimated average for rent costs is $500 to $800 a month to share a bedroom, and includes trash pickup and water utilities. Parking on UCSB's campus is restricted during the day to students living farther than 2 miles from campus, so many Isla Vista residents often bike to class. Low-cost housing is limited, with the cheapest source being the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Other sources of housing include the Greek system, and outlying communities (i.e., Goleta, Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, Montecito). Some students live in Isla Vista, which is immediately adjacent to campus. Since the early '60s, Isla Vista has had a reputation of being a party environment. UCSB is also affiliated with the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative in Isla Vista, which seeks to provide low rent co-op housing regardless of gender, race, social, political, or religious affiliation, thereby influencing the community to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the community.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: There are a number of academic resources offered by the university, including a writing center, open computer labs, a machine shop, a career and counseling center, and drop-in academic advising.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The UCSB Recreation Center provides classes and facilities for students and faculty. The center has swimming pools, racquetball courts, a rock wall, and exercise machines. The University Center has facilities for meetings and presentations, and also contains a bookstore, restaurants, and a cashier.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UCSB has a health clinic. Students with ailments or seeking medical assistance may consult a physician at the clinic. The clinic also offers basic healthcare, and provides emergency medicine and contraceptives. The university is the only UC campus with its own paramedic rescue unit. It's staffed by full-time professional paramedics and part-time undergraduate EMTs.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: SexInfo, which was started in 1976 by professors John and Janice Baldwin, is run by students doing advanced course work and research on sexuality through UCSB's Sociology Department. The site is dedicated to providing accurate information about sexuality in a way that is both informative and personal. SexInfo answers questions sent in by readers from all over the world, as well as regularly updates and posts articles on various topics related to human sexuality. This program helps students getting their degree in psychology.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The mascot of UCSB is the Gaucho and the school colors are blue and gold. UCSB's sports teams compete in the Big West Conference, with the exception of the men's water polo, men's and women's swimming, and the men's volleyball teams, which are in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Santa Barbara is best known for its men's swimming and men's soccer teams. In 2006, UCSB won their first NCAA men's soccer title and its second overall NCAA championship (1979 water polo) in school history.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: While there are some 400 students in ICA, there are over 700 in club sports teams, including Alpine racing, cycling, fencing, field hockey, lacrosse, roller hockey, rugby, sailing, soccer, triathlon, ultimate frisbee, water ski, and rowing. Many of these teams are highly regarded and compete against Intercollegiate teams from across the U.S. For example, rowing has produced several national team members including nine-time National Rowing Team member Amy Fuller, winner of several Olympic and World Championship medals, and currently head of the UCLA Rowing Program. The UCSB cycling team has also produced several national team members, Olympians, and members of numerous U.S. and international professional teams.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Hundreds of students participate in a large intramural program consisting of badminton, basketball, bowling, flag football, golf, floor hockey, indoor and outdoor soccer, racquetball, squash, running, softball, tennis, table tennis, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, inner-tube water polo, and kickball.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Surfing also draws many students to UCSB. The on-campus beaches include a number of decent surfing sites, including "Poles," "Campus Point," "Depressions" and "Sands" and "Devereaux Point" on West Campus. Because Campus Beach actually faces south and east, and is shielded by the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, the surf is usually quite small. However, a large north or west swell can wrap in to create great waves that are typically very clean and good for surfing. UCSB has a surf team that competes in National Scholastic Surfing Association competitions and is generally considered one of the best in the nation. They continued their reputation by winning a record 14th national title at the college level in 2010's finals.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Current UCSB faculty have received several prestigious awards, including six Nobel Prizes and a Fields Medal. In addition, there are 29 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 27 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 31 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences on the faculty.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: UC Santa Barbara alumni have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and otherwise. Carol Greider, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2009), graduated from the College of Creative Studies with a B.A. in biology in 1983. Robert Ballard, oceanographer who discovered the RMS Titanic in 1985, graduated from UCSB in 1965 with a degree in chemistry and geology.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Actors who have studied at UCSB include Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, who received a B.A. in drama in 1968 and who is honorary president of the UCSB Alumni Association, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who studied anthropology before dropping out to act.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Filmmakers who have studied at UCSB include Academy Award nominee Don Hertzfeldt, who received a B.A. in Film Studies in 1998; Gregg Araki, director of films like "Mysterious Skin" and "The Doom Generation", who got his B.A. from UCSB in 1982; Brad Silberling, director of films like "Moonlight Mile" and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"; and Gavin Garrison, who received a B.A. in Global Studies in 2007 and now produces the Emmy-nominated television show "Whale Wars"; and Forrest Galante, wildlife biologist and star of Extinct or Alive on the Animal Planet Network.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Musicians who have attended include Robby Krieger, guitarist in The Doors, singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys, Jeffrey Foskett, and electro-house musician Steve Aoki.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Chairman of the Oracle Corporation Jeffrey O. Henley graduated with a B.A. in Economics in 1966, while Knut Vollebæk, former foreign minister of Norway, graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1973.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: Athletes who have studied at UCSB include swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak, NBA player and head coach Brian Shaw, and UCLA basketball coach Cori Close. Television journalist Katy Tur of NBC and MSNBC received a degree in 2005, and Elizabeth Wagmeister of "Page Six TV" and "Variety" graduated with a B.A. in communications in 2012.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: The United States Census Bureau has designated the UC Santa Barbara campus as a separate census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes. It first appeared as a CDP in the 2020 Census with a population of 9,710.


title: University of California, Santa Barbara

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Lee Sang-yeob

text: Lee Sang-yeob (born May 8, 1983) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for starring in the sitcom "Living Among the Rich" (2011–12), the melodrama "The Innocent Man" (2012), the period drama "Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love" (2013), and the fantasy drama "While You Were Sleeping" (2017).


title: Lee Sang-yeob

text: Lee was cast in his first leading role in the weekend drama "A Little Love Never Hurts" (2013). He recently gained immense recognition for portraying the role of Yoon Gyu-jin in the weekend drama "Once Again" (2020).


title: Lee Sang-yeob

text: Lee is the only grandson of the late businessman Kim Jong-jin, who served in executive positions at POSCO and Dongkuk Steel. In August 2013, he admitted he had been in a relationship with Gong Hyun-joo for half a year and affection began when they were colleagues in the same agency. In August 2016, the agency announced they broke up due to personal reasons. They changed agencies respectively after their break-up.


title: Watford

text: Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.


title: Watford

text: Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and breweries. While industry has declined in Watford, its location near London and transport links has attracted several companies to site their headquarters in the town. Cassiobury Park is a public park that was once the manor estate of the Earls of Essex.


title: Watford

text: The town developed next to the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey. In the 12th century, a charter was granted allowing a market, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A mansion was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another country house was built at The Grove.


title: Watford

text: The Grand Junction Canal in 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837 resulted in Watford's rapid growth, with paper-making mills such as John Dickinson at Croxley, influencing the development of printing in the town. Two brewers, Benskins and Sedgwicks, amalgamated and flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford to be a major sub-regional centre. Several head offices are based in Watford. International conferences and sporting events have also taken place in Watford, including the 2006 World Golf Championship, the 2013 Bilderberg Conference and the 2019 NATO summit which all took place at The Grove.


title: Watford

text: Watford became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894 and a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922. The borough, which had 90,301 inhabitants at the 2011 census, is separated from Greater London to the south by Three Rivers District. Watford Borough Council is the local authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head – one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England and Wales.


title: Watford

text: There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area, with a few Celtic and Roman finds, though there is no evidence of a settlement until much later. Watford stands where the River Colne could be crossed on an ancient trackway from the southeast to the northwest. Watford's High Street follows the line of part of this route. The town was located on the first dry ground above the marshy edges of the River Colne. The name Watford may have arisen from the Old English for "waet" (full of water – the area was marshy), or "wath" (hunting), and ford. St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Casio (then called "Albanestou"), which included Watford, dating from a grant by King Offa in AD 793.


title: Watford

text: The name Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007, where "Watforda" is one of the places marking the boundary of "Oxanhaege". It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when this area was part of St Albans Abbey's manor of Cashio. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The settlement's location helped it to grow, since as well as trade along this north-south through route it possessed good communications into the vale of St Albans to the east and into the Chiltern Hills along the valley of the River Chess to the west. The town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. The houses were expanded and developed throughout the following centuries. Cassiobury became the family seat of the Earls of Essex, and The Grove the seat of the Earls of Clarendon.


title: Watford

text: In 1762, Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road was established across the Chilterns. The toll road approximately followed the route of the original A41 road. The location of a toll house can be seen at the bottom of Chalk Hill on the Watford side of Bushey Arches; set in an old flint stone wall is a Sparrows Herne Trust plaque.


title: Watford

text: In 1778, Daniel Defoe described Watford as a "genteel market town, very long, having but one street".


title: Watford

text: Watford remained an agricultural community with some cottage industry for many centuries. The Industrial Revolution brought the Grand Junction Canal (now Grand Union Canal) from 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1837, both located here for the same reasons the road had followed centuries before, seeking an easy gradient over the Chiltern Hills. The land-owning interests permitted the canal to follow closely by the river Gade, but the prospect of smoke-emitting steam trains drove them to ensure the railway gave a wide berth to the Cassiobury and Grove estates. Consequently, although the road and canal follow the easier valley route, the railway company was forced to build an expensive tunnel under Leavesden to the north of the town.


title: Watford

text: Watford's original railway station opened in 1837 on the west side of St Albans Road, a small, single-storey red-brick building. It closed in 1858 when it was replaced by a new, larger station at Watford Junction approximately further south-east. The old station house still stands today; it is a Grade-II-listed building, now in the middle of a high density housing development, it and was for many years a second-hand car dealership. Watford Junction railway station is situated to the north east of the town centre.


title: Watford

text: These developments gave the town excellent communications and stimulated its industrial growth during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Grand Union Canal, allowed coal to be brought into the district and paved the way for industrial development. The Watford Gas and Coke Company was formed in 1834 and gas works built. The canal allowed paper-making mills to be sited at Croxley. The John Dickinson and Co. mill beside the canal manufactured the Croxley brand of fine quality paper. There had been brewing in Watford from the 17th century and, by the 19th century, two industrial scale brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks were located in the town. The parish church of St Mary's was extensively restored in 1871. The town expanded slightly during this time. In 1851 a new street off the High Street was opened, King Street, followed by Queens Road and Clarendon Road in the early 1860s. During this time, Watford had a population of around 6,500 The railways also continued to expand from Watford during this period; the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway opened in 1862 as a short branch line via to , and another branch was added to in 1912. The original plan was to extend the Rickmansworth line south connecting Watford to Uxbridge; this scheme failed and both the Rickmansworth and Croxley branches closed.


title: Watford

text: Watford's population had risen to 17,063 by 1891 to become very cramped. Local landowners sold land for the development of the town and it was bought up by commercial interests. Various factories and other works sprung up in Watford, mostly breweries and prints, but also engineering works, a steam laundry, a cold storage company and a cocoa processing plant. The town expanded rapidly, most of the new inhabitants moving in from London.


title: Watford

text: At the start of the 20th century the town was growing fast. New roads were laid out in Callowland, North Watford, and in West Watford on farmland. Many continued to live in the cramped and unsanitary houses in the yards and alley-ways opening off the High Street. Some of these people were among those who rioted in 1902 when the celebration for King Edward VII's coronation was postponed. The Council had a programme of slum clearance which stopped with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Building council houses resumed after the war and in the 1920s the Harebreaks estate was developed.


title: Watford

text: By the 1920s, printing had become the biggest industry in Watford. The biggest printers in the town were Sun Printers Ltd and Odhams Press. Watford was the biggest printing centre in the world and many advances in printing were made in Watford. During World War II the prints were taken over by the government who used them to print propaganda. After the war, the printing industry began going into decline. Union activity was common in Watford and advances in technology meant much of the industry became obsolete. Odhams Press closed down in 1978 and The Sun moved out of Watford during the 1980s after market reforms allowed it to do so.


title: Watford

text: In 1925, the Metropolitan Railway Company built a branch to Watford, opening a station close to Cassiobury Park.


title: Watford

text: In the 1950s and 1960s, Watford was the home of the British designer furniture manufacturer Hille. At their premises on St Albans Road, designed by the modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger, the designer Robin Day conceived the polypropylene stacking chair, now recognised as a classic of modern design. Although Hille left the area in 1983, the listed Goldfinger building still stands on St Albans Road. Mod culture found expression through clubs such as the Ace of Herts in the 1960s.


title: Watford

text: The de Havilland factory at Leavesden was responsible for the manufacture of the Mosquito fighter bomber and the Halifax bomber and later became Leavesden Aerodrome, to the north of Watford. No longer operational, it was converted into Leavesden Film Studios, now famously the home of the "Harry Potter" films.


title: Watford

text: Watford developed on the River Colne in southern Hertfordshire, England, northwest of central London. Ethnicity is 61.9% white British, 2.3% Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish traveller, 7.7% other white, 17.9% Asian/Asian British, 5.8% black or black British.


title: Watford

text: The borough had 90,301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District. The Watford subdivision of the Greater London Urban Area, which includes much of the neighbouring districts, had a total population of 120,960 in the 2001 census.


title: Watford

text: Watford has two tiers of local government, at district (borough) and county level: Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council.


title: Watford

text: Watford is one of only 15 authorities in England and Wales headed by a directly elected mayor. Dorothy Thornhill was the first directly-elected mayor of Watford, elected in May 2002 and re-elected in May 2006 and May 2010. She was the first female directly-elected mayor in England and the Liberal Democrats' first directly-elected mayor.


title: Watford

text: Since 1999 Watford has been divided into 12 wards. Each ward has three councillors who are elected for a four-year term. Watford elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, for the Watford constituency. Prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the three seat constituency of Hertfordshire.


title: Watford

text: The council have made twinning links with five towns. The first was Mainz, Germany, in 1956, and the most recent is Pesaro, Italy, in 1988; the others are Nanterre, Novgorod, and Wilmington, Delaware. The council award an honorary status of Freedom of the Borough to certain individuals "who have in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent services to the borough"; as of 2020 there are three freemen: Elton John, and two local councillors involved in the twinning process.


title: Watford

text: The ancient parish of Watford was included in the hundred of Cashio. In 1835, Watford became the centre of a poor law union, and a workhouse was built in 18361837 at 60 Vicarage Road (then called Hagden Lane).


title: Watford

text: In 1850 a local board of health was established for the town. The local board district covered part of the parish of Watford and part of the neighbouring parish of Bushey. The Watford Local Board District came into effect on 15 August 1850, and the first board was elected the following month.


title: Watford

text: The local board was responsible for building the town's waterworks and sewers. For a time the board held its meetings at an upper room of the waterworks on Local Board Road. In 1891 the board purchased Upton House at 14 High Street for £2,650, converting it to become their offices and meeting place, holding its first meeting in the building on 1 October 1891.


title: Watford

text: Under the Local Government Act 1894, the Watford Local Board was reconstituted as Watford Urban District Council with effect from 31 December 1894. The act also stipulated that parishes could not be partly in an urban district and partly outside it. The old parish of Watford was therefore split, with the part of the parish outside the urban district becoming the parish of Watford Rural with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894. At the same time, the parish of Bushey was split, with the part within the Watford Urban District becoming a parish called Bushey Urban, which was later renamed Oxhey in 1906. Watford Urban and Bushey Urban / Oxhey were both classed as urban parishes and so did not have parish councils of their own, but were directly administered by Watford Urban District Council. The two urban parishes merged in 1935 to form a single parish called Watford.


title: Watford

text: Watford became a municipal borough on 18 October 1922 when it was granted a charter of incorporation. The council was granted a coat of arms on 16 October 1922, two days before it became a borough.


title: Watford

text: Upton House at 14 High Street continued to serve as the meeting place and offices for Watford Urban District Council and then Watford Borough Council until 1940. In 1938 work began on building Watford Town Hall at the junction of Rickmansworth Road and Hempstead Road, and the building officially opened on 5 January 1940. Upton House was subsequently demolished in 1961 and Gade House built on the site.


title: Watford

text: Under the Local Government Act 1972 Watford kept the same boundaries, but changed from being a municipal borough to a non-metropolitan district with borough status.


title: Watford

text: Watford is a major regional centre in the northern home counties. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford and Stevenage to be its major sub-regional centres, heading its list of preferred sites for retail development.


title: Watford

text: The High Street is the main focus of activity at night having a high concentration of the town's bars, clubs and restaurants. The primary shopping area is the Harlequin Shopping Centre, a large purpose-built indoor mall with over 140 shops, restaurants and cafes built during the 1990s, opened officially in June 1992. The owners of the shopping centre, Capital Shopping Centres, changed their name to Intu, resulting in The Harlequin changing name to "intu Watford" from May 2013. Carrying forward £4.5 billion of debt into 2020, the company was not able to survive the retail downturn due to the COVID-19 crisis, and went into administration in June 2020. The council owns part of the freehold the site, and feels that as the shopping centre is very popular (it was one of top 20 places to shop in the UK in 2019), it will remain open and viable.


title: Watford

text: The town contains the head offices of a number of national companies such as J D Wetherspoon, Camelot Group, Bathstore, and Caversham Finance (BrightHouse). Watford is also the UK base of various multi-nationals including Hilton Worldwide, TotalEnergies, TK Maxx, Costco, JJ Kavanagh and Sons, Vinci and Beko. Both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference, took place at The Grove hotel. The town was home to the Scammell Lorries factory from 1922 until 1988. The site is now a residential area. Tandon Motorcycles, founded by Devdutt Tandon, were manufactured in Colne Way from 1947 until 1959.


title: Watford

text: The name Cassiobury has had various spellings over time. It is derived from 'Caegshoe', which is believed to be the combination of 'caeg', a person's name, and 'hoe', meaning a spur of land. When the land was granted to Sir Richard Morrison in the 16th century, it was called 'Cayshobury', with 'bury' indicating a manor.


title: Watford

text: Cassiobury Park was formed from the grounds of Cassiobury House and consists of of open space. The house was demolished in 1927 and the Cassiobury Gates in 1970, for road widening. In July 2007, the park won a Green Flag Award, which recognises the best green spaces in the country. There is a children's play area, which includes a paddling pool, play equipment, a bouncy castle, an ice cream van, a kiosk where one may buy food, and 10.25" gauge miniature railway. The Grand Union Canal passes through the park. Cassiobury Park is host to the weekly 5k community event parkrun.


title: Watford

text: Awarded Green Flag status since 2009, Cheslyn has been open to the public since 1965 as a formal gardens and house. The 3.5 acre gardens comprise a formal open area to the front and a semi-natural woodland area to the rear. Henry and Daisy Colbeck originally owned the house and gardens. Mr Colbeck was a renowned local architect, and designed Cheslyn House; he and his wife created the original gardens. The Colbecks travelled extensively, and this is reflected in the range of unusual and exotic plants in the gardens. Since the space has been open to the public it has been further developed, with new features added such as the pond, rock garden, large herbaceous borders and aviary.


title: Watford

text: Awarded Green Flag status since 2011, Woodside Playing Fields cover approximately 59 acres of playing fields, sports facilities and woodland. The site comprises a range of sports facilities including an eight lane synthetic track and stadium, an indoor bowls green, a community centre, cricket squares, football pitches and Woodside Leisure Centre. Woodside Stadium is home to Watford Harriers Athletics Club and hosts national level events such as the British Milers Club Grand Prix.


title: Watford

text: There are 92 nationally listed buildings in Watford. These include St Mary's Church, which dates to the 12th century, and Holy Rood Church which dates to 1890.


title: Watford

text: St Mary's is noted for its interior which was renovated in 1850 by the architect George Gilbert Scott and includes fine oak pews decorated in the Gothic Revival style. It also contains the Essex Chapel, which served at the burial place of the nobility of the Cassiobury Estate, including the Earls of Essex. The chapel contains a number of large, ornate marble tombs and memorials dating from the 16th century and later, and was described by Pevsner as "the chief glory of Watford Church".


title: Watford

text: The Roman Catholic Church, Holy Rood, is a much later structure. Built in 1890 by John Francis Bentley, the architect responsible for Westminster Cathedral in London, it is noted as a particularity fine example of Gothic Revival architecture. The ornate interior contains stained glass by the designer Nathaniel Westlake.


title: Watford

text: There are ten conservation areas in Watford; one Grade II Listed Park, and 240 locally-listed buildings.


title: Watford

text: The Watford Palace Theatre opened in 1908 and is the only producing theatre in Hertfordshire. It presents an annual traditional pantomime, world premières, dance and family shows. Situated just off the High Street, the Edwardian 600-seat theatre underwent a refurbishment in 2004. The Palace houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, café and bar. It also shows films and 'live' and 'as live' streams of opera and ballet during its theatre season.


title: Watford

text: The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre is based in an old pumping station situated just off the Lower High Street. The building was converted for use as a theatre, with rehearsal rooms, and meeting place for local arts based groups. Current facilities include a 124-seat theatre, rehearsal rooms, and live music venue. Community groups currently meeting at the Pump House include Dance House (children's ballet), Pump House Clog Morris (women's Morris dancing), Pump House Jazz (jazz club), Open House (live open mic music), Woodside Morris Men (men's Morris dancing), child, youth and adult theatre groups and also the Giggle Inn comedy club. In 2018, the venue hosted the inaugural Watford Short Film Festival alongside Watford Museum.


title: Watford

text: Watford Colosseum is an entertainment venue in the town. Established in 1938, as the Assembly Rooms for Watford Town Hall, the complex was extended in 2011 with improvements which included new meeting spaces, a new restaurant and new bar facilities. Performers at the venue have included the soprano Maria Callas in September 1954 and the tenor Luciano Pavarotti in June 1995. The Colosseum has been used to record various film soundtracks and is regularly used to host concerts by the BBC Concert Orchestra, including "Friday Night is Music Night". It has also housed performances by performers including The Who, Robbie Williams, and Oasis.


title: Watford

text: The Colosseum is also an important venue for boxing matches with heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury building on his reputation, shortly after turning professional, in 2009. The venue also has seen some important and highly popular plays taking place and it regularly holds events in support of charities. The 2020 Snooker Shoot Out professional snooker tournament was held at the Colosseum between 20 and 23 February 2020.


title: Watford

text: Watford Museum, housed in a former brewery building on the Lower High Street, is home to a collection of fine art and sculpture which includes works by J. M. W. Turner, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake and Jacob Epstein. The museum also hold special collections related to the Cassiobury Estate, Watford Football Club, and local heritage, as well as an archive collection of documents, printed ephemera, photographs and diaries related to Watford townsfolk, local government, nobility and businesses.


title: Watford

text: The Hertfordshire Fire Museum is dedicated to the history of firefighting in the county. It is based in a purpose-built building at Watford Fire Station, on the same street as Watford Museum. The Museum includes a wide range of vehicles, equipment, uniforms and archive material.


title: Watford

text: Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden is an 80-hectare film studio complex which has been used for a wide range of Hollywood film productions. Part of the site is open to the public and houses the "Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter", displaying costumes and sets from the "Harry Potter" films which were produced at Leavesden. The studio complex is to the north of the borough, around from the town centre, and a special shuttle bus provides a connection from Watford Junction station to the studios.


title: Watford

text: Watford is northwest of central London. Post World War II road-building has resulted in Watford being close to several motorway junctions on both the M1 motorway and the M25 London Orbital Motorway.


title: Watford

text: Watford is served by a number of different companies, including Arriva Kent Thameside, Arriva Shires & Essex, Carousel, London Sovereign, Lucketts of Watford, Mullanys Coaches, Red Eagle Buses, Red Rose Travel, Sullivan Buses, Uno, and Vale Travel. Oyster Cards are accepted on TfL routes 142 (towards Brent Cross) and 258 (towards Harrow) into London. Intalink Explorer and Hertfordshire SaverCard is accepted on all but the London Bus routes.


title: Watford

text: The hourly Green Line bus route 724 connects Watford Junction station and the town centre to London Heathrow Airport on weekdays, with a service once every two hours at weekends and on bank holidays. Regular bus services run between Watford and Luton, but not directly to Luton Airport. Direct train services run from Watford Junction Station to Birmingham Airport.


title: Watford

text: Elstree Airfield is east of Watford. Several private charter companies and flying clubs are based there. Watford is the base for 2F (Watford) Squadron, Air Training Corps.


title: Watford

text: Watford is served by five railway stations and a London Underground station. is on the West Coast Main Line with trains from to the Midlands, the northwest and Scotland. Journey time to London Euston is typically 16 minutes non-stop. The station is mainly served by frequent suburban and regional trains operated by London Northwestern which run to and Milton Keynes and the cross-London Southern service to via . Two all-stations services terminate at Watford Junction: the suburban service operated by London Overground which runs to Euston; and the Abbey Line shuttle service to .


title: Watford

text: The London Overground service from Watford Junction runs south via a suburban loop and stops at , before continuing via to London Euston.


title: Watford

text: Watford tube station is the terminus of the Watford branch of London Underground's Metropolitan line. The station is located outside the centre of Watford, close to Cassiobury Park.


title: Watford

text: Watford is on the main Grand Union Canal route northwards from London. There is little commercial use, since the advent of the motorways, but the canal is used for recreational purposes. The River Gade and the River Colne flow through Watford.


title: Watford

text: Watford town centre and the surrounding area is relatively compact and the terrain is generally quite flat. Over of new cycle routes have been developed in the town since 2003 and a range of cycle maps are available locally. In Watford cycling to work makes up 2.2% of all journeys compared with 1.6% across the whole of Hertfordshire.


title: Watford

text: National Cycle Routes 6 and 61 run across the eastern and southern sides of the town, using the off-road Ebury Way and Abbey Way. There is a continuous cycle route through the north-south axis of the town centre, including the pedestrianised parts along The Parade and High Street. Cycle parking is provided at intermittent points in the town centre and at local centres in the wider town.


title: Watford

text: There is an expression, "North of Watford", meaning locations north of Greater London. Alternatively, "North of Watford Junction" was used with similar meaning referring to Watford Junction railway station's position as the last urban stop on the main railway line out of Euston. The phrase's original use pre-dates the M1 motorway Watford Gap services but current use may refer to either Watford or the Watford Gap services.


title: Watford

text: In 2008 a proposal was made that Regional Eurostar services could run via Watford to Paris via Kensington Olympia. In 1999 the Select Committee on Environment, Transport and the Regions took the view that Watford was "well placed to become an integrated transport hub" and it recommended that "services from Watford to Paris should commence as soon as possible". The Regional Eurostar scheme eventually came to nothing and was put on hold indefinitely.


title: Watford

text: A scheme to introduce light rail to Watford was conceived in 2009 when it was proposed that the Abbey Line should be converted to tram-train operation and run by Hertfordshire County Council. The project was cancelled due to the complications and expense of transferring the line from National Rail to the county council.


title: Watford

text: In 2013 the Croxley Rail Link project was approved to extend the London Underground Metropolitan line to Watford Junction by reinstating a stretch of the former Watford and Rickmansworth Railway. As part of the scheme, Watford Metropolitan station would have closed to passengers and been replaced by new stations on the reopened route at and . The project did not go ahead due to funding problems.


title: Watford

text: In August 2014, the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as , with potential Crossrail stops at , , , , , , and . This proposal was subsequently shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".


title: Watford

text: The earliest records of schooling in Watford are of a schoolmaster named George Redhead in 1595, and of a Free School receiving an annual donation of £10 in 1640. The school consisted of "a room over two houses belonging to the Church Estate, nearest the churchyard." In 1704, Elizabeth Fuller of Watford Place built a new Free School for forty boys and twenty girls on her land next to the churchyard, with rooms for a master and a mistress. In the mid-19th century, the recorded schools in Watford were Fuller's Free School, by now in a poor state, and the separate boys and girls national schools of St Mary's in Church Street. All offered elementary education.


title: Watford

text: The Free School closed in 1882, and its endowment contributed to founding the Watford Endowed Schools, which provided secondary education and charged fees. After these schools, now called the Watford Grammar School for Boys and the Watford Grammar School for Girls, moved to new sites in 1907 and 1912, the building housed the Watford Central school, which taught pupils up to the age of 14.


title: Watford

text: St Mary's National Schools closed in 1922, and the site is now a car park. The London Orphan Asylum, later Reed's School, was located near Watford Junction station between 1871 and 1940.


title: Watford

text: The only independent secondary school in the borough is Stanborough School, a day and boarding school operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are several independent schools nearby, including Purcell School, a specialist music school.


title: Watford

text: All the state-funded primary schools in Watford are co-educational. Under an earlier system, schools were divided into infant schools, covering Reception and Years 1 and 2, and junior schools, covering Years 3 to 6. Most such schools have amalgamated to form Junior Mixed Infant schools or (equivalently) primary schools, and all new schools are of this type.


title: Watford

text: Although all state-funded secondary schools in Hertfordshire are comprehensive, there is a great deal of differentiation in the southwestern corner of the county, centred on Watford but also including most of the Three Rivers district and Bushey in Hertsmere district.


title: Watford

text: The partially selective schools and Bushey Meads School operate common admissions tests in mathematics and non-verbal reasoning each autumn. In addition to those seeking selective places, all applicants to Bushey Meads and Queens' School are required to take the tests, so they are taken by the majority of Year 6 children in the area. The partially selective schools also operate a common test and audition procedure to select children for specialist music places.


title: Watford

text: Results achieved by the schools at GCSE are also widely spread, including the three highest and the two lowest scoring state schools within Hertfordshire. The area also has by far the highest incidence in the county of children allocated to schools to which they had not applied.


title: Watford

text: The Watford Campus of West Herts College is the only grade 1 further education college in the United Kingdom according to a 2011 Ofsted report. The Centre for Missional Leadership (CML) is the Watford branch of the London School of Theology, Europe's largest evangelical theological college.


title: Watford

text: The professional football team Watford F.C. competes in the EFL Championship in the 2022-2023 season. Watford reached the 1984 and 2019 FA Cup Finals, also finishing as league Division One (now the Premier League) runners-up in 1983. They were relegated from Division One in 1988. In 1996, Watford was relegated from the new Division One (now the Football League Championship). Watford won the then Nationwide Division Two championship in 1998, then the following season (1998–99) reached the Premier League. The club was relegated the next season. After five years, Watford won the Football League Championship play-off final achieving promotion to the Premier League in 2006, this time beating Leeds United FC by three goals to nil.


title: Watford

text: The club was relegated to the Football League Championship after a single season (2006–2007) in the Premier League. It was promoted to the Premier League in 2015, after finishing second in the Championship. The singer-songwriter, Sir Elton John, is a keen, long-term supporter of Watford FC and a former club chairman. He still maintains his links with Watford as Honorary Life President. Between 1997 and 2013, the club shared its ground, Vicarage Road, with Saracens Rugby Football Club.


title: Watford

text: Other sports teams include a non-League football team, Sun Sports FC, which plays at The Sun Postal Sports & Social Club, the Watford Cheetahs, an American football team which played home games at Fullerians RFC between 2008 and 2012, Glen Rovers, who play both hurling and Gaelic football, and Watford Town Cricket Club. Watford Chess Club plays in the 4 Nations Chess League and is particularly noted for its large junior membership.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from December 6–17, 2001, during the opening stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (; "Black Cave") is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In Operation Cyclone during the early 1980s, CIA officers had assisted the mujahideen in extending and shoring up the caves to use for resistance during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The U.S. then supported their effort. Several years later, the Taliban formed and took control of most of the country, enforcing fundamentalist rule. Several cave areas were used in much earlier periods, as the difficult terrain formed a natural defensive position and had been used by tribal warriors fighting foreign invaders.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: At the end of 2001, al-Qaeda fighters were still holding out in the mountains of the Tora Bora region.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: On December 3, 2001, a group of 20 U.S. CIA National Clandestine Service's (NCS) Special Activities Division and 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (SFG[A]) ODA572 team members, code-named Jawbreaker, were inserted by helicopter in Jalalabad, Afghanistan to begin an operation against them. On December 5, 2001, Afghan Northern Alliance fighters wrested control of the low ground below the mountain caves from al-Qaeda fighters. The Jawbreaker team and SF teams equipped with laser designators called in Air Force bombers to take out targets; non-stop heavy air strikes including laser-guided bombs and missiles lasted for 72 hours. The al-Qaeda fighters withdrew to higher fortified positions and dug in for the battle. Approximately a week later, 70 special forces operators from the Army Delta Force's A Squadron, and Air Force STS arrived overland by vehicle to support the bombing campaign with ground forces. Two British SBS Commandos from M Sqn were embedded with A Sqn Delta, one of whom continued to work for JSOC, albeit in a different capacity. During the hours of darkness, the al-Qaeda fighters would light fires, which would reveal their specific location and aid laser-designated targeting for air-launched weapons.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: The Afghan Northern Alliance fighters continued a steady advance through the difficult terrain, backed by airstrikes and U.S. and British Special Forces. Facing defeat, al-Qaeda forces negotiated a truce with a local Afghan militia commander to give them time to surrender their weapons. In retrospect, however, some critics believe that the truce was a device to allow important al-Qaeda figures, including Osama bin Laden, to escape.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: On December 12, 2001, the fighting flared again, possibly initiated by a rear guard buying time for the main force's escape through the White Mountains into the tribal areas of Pakistan. Tribal forces backed by U.S. special operations troops and air support pressed ahead against fortified al-Qaeda positions in caves and bunkers scattered throughout the mountainous region. Twelve British SBS commandos, and one British Royal Signals Specialist from 63 Signals squadron (now known as 18 [UKSF] Signal Regiment), accompanied the U.S. special operations forces in attacking the cave complex at Tora Bora. Special Forces Operators of the German KSK took part in the battle as well. They were reportedly responsible for protecting the flanks in the mountains and conducted reconnaissance missions.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: The U.S. focus increased on the Tora Bora. Local tribal militias, paid and organized by Special Forces and CIA SAD paramilitary, numbering over 2,000 strong, continued to mass for an attack as heavy bombing continued on suspected al-Qaeda positions.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: It was reported that U.S forces found small outposts and a few minor training camps. Journalist Matthew Forney, covering the battle, described being allowed access to see "rough bunkers" deep in the mountains, which he considered "remarkable."


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: By December 17, 2001, the last cave complex had been taken and their defenders overrun. U.S forces continued searching the area into January, but did not find any signs of bin Laden or the al-Qaeda leadership. Former CIA officer Gary Berntsen led the CIA team tasked with locating bin Laden. He said that al-Qaeda detainees had reported that bin Laden escaped into Pakistan via an easterly route to Parachinar. Berntsen believed that bin Laden could have been captured during the battle if the U.S military had committed more troops early in the battle. CIA intelligence had indicated that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were trapped in the caves early in the battle, and Berntsen had wanted to send less than 1,000 American Army Rangers to eliminate them, which he believed would have ended the War on Terror very quickly. However, the request was turned down by the Bush Administration, which had argued that the Pakistanis would capture bin Laden if he attempted to flee into Pakistan. In a 2005 interview, another former CIA agent, Gary Schroen, concurred with Berntsen's opinion. Pentagon documents suggest bin Laden escaped at Tora Bora.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In an October 2004 opinion article in "The New York Times", General Tommy Franks, who was the general commander of U.S forces in Afghanistan at the time, wrote,


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: Many enemy fighters fled through the rough terrain and into tribal areas of Pakistan to the south and east. Allied forces estimated that around 200 of the al-Qaeda fighters were killed during the battle, along with an unknown number of anti-Taliban tribal fighters. No coalition deaths were reported. Bin Laden would not be seen until 2004 when a video of him surfaced on the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In 2009, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations led an investigation into the Battle of Tora Bora. They concluded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks had not committed enough troops during the battle to secure the area around Tora Bora. They believed that Osama bin Laden had likely been at Tora Bora and his escape prolonged the war in Afghanistan.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: The former Delta Force officer Thomas Greer, using the pen name "Dalton Fury", who was the ground force commander at Tora Bora, wrote that bin Laden escaped into Pakistan on or around December 16, 2001. Fury gives three reasons for why he believes bin Laden was able to escape: (1) the US mistakenly thought that Pakistan was effectively guarding the border area, (2) NATO allies refused to allow the use of air-dropped GATOR mines, which might have kept bin Laden and his forces inside the Tora Bora area, and (3) over-reliance on native Afghan military forces as the main force deployed against bin Laden and his fighters. Fury theorized that, because the battle took place over the holy religious month of Ramadan, the Afghan forces would leave the battlefield in the evenings to break fast, giving al-Qaeda a chance to regroup, reposition, or escape.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In an October 2008 interview on "60 Minutes," Fury said that his Delta Force team and CIA Paramilitary Officers traveled to Tora Bora after the CIA had identified bin Laden's location. Fury's team proposed an operation to attack bin Laden's suspected position from the rear, over the 14,000 foot-high mountain separating Tora Bora from Pakistan. He said unidentified officials at higher headquarters rejected his proposal. Fury suggested dropping GATOR mines in the passes leading away from Tora Bora, but this was also denied. Fury and his team approached the suspected position from the front and were within 2,000 meters, but withdrew because of uncertainty over the number of al-Qaeda fighters and a lack of support from allied Afghan troops.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: A short time later, the Afghan military forces declared a ceasefire with al-Qaeda. In his 2008 book, "Kill bin Laden", Fury described the following. His team planned to advance again on the al-Qaeda forces, but after the cease-fire, Afghan soldiers drew their weapons on the US soldiers. After 12 hours of negotiations, the Afghans stood down, but bin Laden and his bodyguards had left. Fury reports that his team intercepted and interpreted radio calls by bin Laden in the afternoon of December 13, 2001. He said to his fighters, "the time is now, arm your women and children against the infidel." Then, after a few hours of bombing, bin Laden broke radio silence again, saying: "Our prayers were not answered. Times are dire and bad. We did not get support from the apostate nations who call themselves our Muslim brothers. Things might have been different." Fury said that Bin Laden's final words to his fighters that night were "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this battle if you can no longer resist, you may surrender with my blessing."


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: During his interview on "60 Minutes" to discuss his book, Fury said that his team saw a group whom they believed to be bin Laden and his bodyguards entering a cave. The team called down several bombing attacks on the site, and believed that they had killed bin Laden. Six months later, US and Canadian forces returned and checked several caves in the area, finding remains of al-Qaeda fighters, but not of bin Laden. Fury thought that bin Laden was injured during the bombing of the cave, but was hidden, given medical care, and assisted out of the area into Pakistan by allied local Afghans.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: U.S. authorities have justified the continued detention of several dozen Afghan Guantanamo captives by the suspicion they had participated in the battle of Tora Bora, had been present during the battle, or had passed through the area of the battle before or after it concluded, or helped Osama bin Laden to escape.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In September 2007, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, a Yemeni medical doctor held as an enemy combatant by the United States, was reported to have described the conditions during the battle:


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: Following Tora Bora, UK and U.S. forces and their Afghan allies consolidated their position in the country. The Taliban and al-Qaeda forces did not give up and went into hiding. A "Loya jirga" or grand council of major Afghan factions, tribal leaders, and former exiles, an interim Afghan government, was established in Kabul under Hamid Karzai. Mullah Saifur Rehman, a Taliban fugitive in Paktia province, began rebuilding some of his militia forces in support of the anti-US fighters. They totaled over 1,000 by the beginning of Operation Anaconda in March 2002. The insurgents planned to use the region as a base for launching guerrilla attacks and possibly a major offensive in the style of the mujahedin during the 1980s.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: U.S. forces established their main base at Bagram Air Base just north of Kabul. They used Kandahar International Airport as an important base for accepting and distributing supplies and personnel. Several outposts were established in eastern provinces to hunt for Taliban and Al-Qaeda fugitives. The number of U.S. troops operating in the country would eventually grow to more than 10,000 as efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaeda were increased.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In 2009, a U.S. Senate report concluded that the failure to capture bin Laden "[laid] the foundation for today's protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan." Al-Qaeda forces began regrouping in the Shahi-Kot mountains of Paktia Province throughout January and February 2002.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In December 2009, "New Republic" published Peter Bergen's "The Battle for Tora Bora" In his critique of the battle, Bergen reconstructed the U.S. allies engagement at Tora Bora. He said that General Tommy Franks, then U.S. Army chief, refused to deploy 800 Army Rangers from nearby bases to assault the complex of caves where bin Laden was supposedly hiding. Bergen characterized this as "one of the greatest military blunders in recent US history". Bergen says that the US failure to capture bin Laden at the time provided energy to the Taliban. It regrouped and became stronger after U.S. officials diverted forces for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and war there.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: U.S. intelligence agencies continued to track bin Laden. On May 2, 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, who was living in a compound in the city of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. He was killed by a US Navy SEAL raid on the urban compound.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: Tora Bora was variously described by the Western media to be an impregnable cave fortress housing 2000 men complete with a hospital, a hydroelectric power plant, offices, a hotel, arms and ammunition stores, roads large enough to drive a tank into, and elaborate tunnel and ventilation systems. Both the British and American press published elaborate plans of the base. When presented with such plans in an NBC interview on "Meet the Press", Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defense, said, "This is serious business, there's not one of those, there are many of those".


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: When Tora Bora was eventually captured by the U.S., British and Afghan troops, no traces of the supposed 'fortress' were found despite painstaking searches in the surrounding areas. Tora Bora turned out to be a system of small natural caves housing at most, 200 fighters. While arms and ammunition stores were found, there were no traces of the advanced facilities claimed to exist.


title: Battle of Tora Bora

text: In an interview published by the Public Broadcasting Service, a Staff Sergeant from the U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 572, who had been in the Battle of Tora Bora described the caves:


title: Wrigley Company

text: The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois.


title: Wrigley Company

text: Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, Incorporated, and, along with Mars chocolate bars and other candy products, makes up Mars Wrigley Confectionery. It is the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world.


title: Wrigley Company

text: The company currently sells its products in over 180 countries and districts, operates in over 50 countries, and has 21 production facilities in 14 countries including the United States, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Poland, Russia, China, India, Japan, Kenya, Australia, and New Zealand.


title: Wrigley Company

text: The company was founded on April 1, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois by William Wrigley Jr. Wrigley's gum was traditionally made out of chicle, sourced largely from Latin America. In 1952, in response to Decree 900, land reforms attempting to end feudal working conditions for peasant farmers in Guatemala, Wrigley's discontinued purchasing chicle from that country. In the 1960s, Wrigley's changed the composition of its chewing gum from using chicle to synthetic rubber, which was cheaper to manufacture.


title: Wrigley Company

text: Wrigley's announced the closure of its Santa Cruz, California manufacturing plant in April 1996. The plant had been built in 1955. The 385,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was put on the market in October 1996 for US$11.3 million, or about $30 a square foot.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In 2005, Wrigley purchased Life Savers and Altoids from Kraft Foods for US$1.5 billion. On January 23, 2007, Wrigley signed a purchase agreement to acquire an 80% initial interest in A. Korkunov for $300 million with the remaining 20% to be acquired over time. On April 28, 2008, Mars, Incorporated announced that it would acquire Wrigley for approximately $23 billion. Financing for the transaction was provided by Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan; Berkshire Hathaway held a minority equity investment in Wrigley until October 2016.


title: Wrigley Company

text: The Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue, one of Chicago's best-known landmarks on the Magnificent Mile, was originally the company's global headquarters until 2011, when it was sold to an investor group that included Zeller Realty Group as well as Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. The company has been headquartered in the GIC since 2012.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In 2016, Mars announced that Wrigley would be merged with its chocolate segment to form a new subsidiary, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The new company will maintain global offices in Chicago, while moving its U.S. offices to New Jersey, in Hackettstown and Newark, respectively.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In 1891, 29-year-old William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932) came to Chicago from Philadelphia with $32 and the idea to start a business selling Wrigley's Scouring Soap. Wrigley offered premiums as an incentive to buy his soap, such as baking powder. Later in his career, he switched to the baking powder business, in which he began offering two packages of chewing gum for each purchase of a can of baking powder. The popular premium, chewing gum, began to seem more promising, prompting another switch in product focus. Wrigley also became the majority owner of the Chicago Cubs in 1921.


title: Wrigley Company

text: After William Wrigley Jr. died, his son Philip K. Wrigley (1894–1977) assumed his father's position as CEO of the Wrigley Company. Wrigley is most well known for his unusual move to support US troops and protect the reputation of the Wrigley brand during World War II, in which he dedicated the entire output of Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, and Juicy Fruit to the US Armed Forces. Wrigley launched the "Remember this Wrapper" ad campaign to keep the Wrigley brands on the minds of the customers during times of wartime rationing. Wrigley's P.K. brand was named after P.K. Wrigley.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In 1961, Philip K. Wrigley handed control to his son, William Wrigley III (1933–1999). Wrigley led a strategic global expansion by establishing Wrigley facilities in nine new countries. On June 26, 1974, a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio installed the first bar code scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned using a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. (This pack of gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.) In 1984, Wrigley introduced a new gum, Extra, which followed the new trend of sugar-free gums in the US. Wrigley also assumed control of the Chicago Cubs after his father's death in 1977, and sold the team to the "Chicago Tribune" in 1981.


title: Wrigley Company

text: William "Beau" Wrigley IV (1963–), following the death of Wrigley III (his father), led the sugar-free gum campaign across Europe, Australia, Spain, India, and China. In 2005, Kraft Foods sold the Life Savers and Altoids businesses to Wrigley in exchange for $1.5 billion as part of a reorganization plan. Wrigley helped establish the Wrigley Science Institute (WSI) in 2006 to study the oral health benefits of gum chewing. The WSI investigates the effects of gum chewing on weight management, stress relief, concentration, and oral health.


title: Wrigley Company

text: On October 23, 2006, William D. Perez (1948–) succeeded Bill Wrigley as CEO, becoming the first person outside the Wrigley family to head the company. In 2007, the company debuted 5 Gum in the US. The 5 Gum brand was marketed using cinematic TV commercials portraying "How it feels to chew 5 Gum." Perez led the efforts of improving slimmer packaging (Slim Pack) with flavor improvements across both Extra and Wrigley brands.


title: Wrigley Company

text: Dushan Petrovich (1954–) succeeded Perez almost immediately after Mars, Incorporated's 2008 purchase of Wrigley. In 2009, Wrigley's Global Innovation Center received the LEED Gold Certification through Wrigley's commitment to global sustainability. In the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wrigley was the Official Confectionery Supplier of the games, in which the company sported Olympic-themed packs and products.


title: Wrigley Company

text: Martin Radvan became the president of the Wrigley Company after Petrovich. He is responsible for the company's worldwide strategy, operations, and business performance.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In some countries, xylitol is used to sweeten gum instead of aspartame. By avoiding sugar, the chance of tooth decay is lowered, since the sugar otherwise used may turn into acid after chewing the gum. It is also claimed that in chewing, it may help to remove food residues. Xylitol-based products are allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration to make the medical claim that they do not promote dental cavities. Xylitol is fatal to dogs in small amounts.


title: Wrigley Company

text: In 2013, Wrigley temporarily halted production and sales of its new Alert energy gum after the US Food and Drug Administration said it would investigate the safety of added caffeine in food products.


title: Wrigley Company

text: Alpine Gum was a gum made by Wrigley's, and was only sold in Canada. It is an alternative to cough syrup. It cools the throat and relieves sore throat pain. Alpine was discontinued in 2005.


title: Golda Rosheuvel

text: Golda Rosheuvel (born 1 January 1970) is a Guyanese-British actress and singer. She is known for her theatre work and a number of on-screen roles, most prominently for the portrayal of Queen Charlotte in Netflix's "Bridgerton".


title: Golda Rosheuvel

text: Rosheuvel was born in Guyana to a Guyanese father and an English mother. She has a brother. She moved to England when she was five.


title: Golda Rosheuvel

text: Rosheuvel's stage credits including "Porgy and Bess", "Macbeth", "The Winter's Tale", "Romeo and Juliet", "Angels in America", "", and "Jesus Christ Superstar". In 2018, Rosheuvel played lesbian Othello in "Othello".


title: Golda Rosheuvel

text: In 2019, Rosheuvel was cast as Queen Charlotte in the Netflix period drama "Bridgerton" produced by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on 25 December 2020 with positive reviews from critics.


title: Golda Rosheuvel

text: Her partner is writer Shireen Mula. She is Patron of An Tobar and Mull Theatre, a multi art form creative hub on the Hebridean island of Mull.


title: Yoko Taro

text: Critics have noted Yoko's unconventional game design and writing style. One of the main aspects of his work is exploring the darker aspects of people, such as why they are driven to kill each other, although he typically does not share a common opinion on his story's dark natures. His writing technique, described as "backwards scriptwriting", involves outlining the ending of the story first and building the narrative backward from that point. Due to his disdain for being photographed, he generally wears a mask when giving interviews or presenting games.


title: Yoko Taro

text: Yoko Taro was born in Nagoya, Aichi, on June 6, 1970. Taro's parents were often absent from home due to their jobs, so he was mostly raised by his grandmother, who left a strong impression on him. During his youth, he heard about an incident that would influence his later work as a scenario writer: while an acquaintance was in a shopping street with a group of friends, one of them who was walking along a high building roof slipped and died from the fall. The scene as Yoko heard it was initially "horrifying", but included a humorous element as well. He studied at Kobe Design University and graduated in March 1994. He is married to Yukiko Yoko, an illustrator who worked on "Taiko no Tatsujin" series and also did work on "Drakengard 3".


title: Yoko Taro

text: Initially not intending to pursue a career in video games, his first job a month after graduating was as a 3D CGI designer for Namco. In 1999, he joined Sugar & Rockets Inc., a now-defunct in-house developer owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. In 2001, a year after Sugar & Rockets' consolidation by Sony, Yoko got a job at Cavia. While working at Cavia, he became involved in the creation of "Drakengard". While the game's co-producer Takuya Iwasaki intended to take the director's role, he was busy with other projects, so Yoko was asked to take up director's duties. He also helped create the scenario and characters, as well as co-writing the script with Sawako Natori. During its production, Yoko was unhappy with the amount of changes asked for by the game's advisory board. It got to the point where he decided he would not work on another "Drakengard". He was later involved in the production of "Drakengard 2", being credited as a video editor while also remaining as one of the game's creative staff. Mostly tied up with another project during production, his original concept for the game as an arcade-style game with dragons in space was vetoed and he had creative clashes with the game's new director Akira Yasui.


title: Yoko Taro

text: After "Drakengard 2" was completed, Yoko started work on a third entry in the series. As the game developed, the initial concept was developed to the point where the game was rebranded as "Nier", a spin-off from the series. Despite this, Yoko continued to consider it the third entry in the series. After "Nier" was released and Cavia was absorbed into AQ Interactive, Yoko left the company and pursued an independent career. During this period, he took an unknown role in the development of Square Enix's social game "Monster × Dragon". The majority of his freelancer work involved social mobile games. Many years later, Yoko teamed back up with multiple staff from the production of "Drakengard" and "Nier" to create a true second sequel to "Drakengard", determining through questionnaires that the main appeal to the fanbase was the dark stories. After the completion of "Drakengard 3", Yoko "went back into unemployment". After that, he began writing a short-term special column for "Famitsu" titled "Taro Yoko's Circle of No Good Thinking". In 2015, Yoko announced that he had started his own company called Bukkoro, staffed by Yoko, his wife Yukiko, and Hana Kikuchi, novelist and scenario writer for "Nier" and "Drakengard 3". His recent works include the 2023 anime television series based on "" titled "", co-writing the script with the anime's director Ryouji Masuyama.


title: Yoko Taro

text: Yoko has stated his intense dislike of interviews. His reason, according to his "Famitsu" column, was that he feels video game developers are not entertainers or commentators on their work and that he thinks the subjects they talk about in interviews would be overly boring to those reading or listening. When he does give interviews, he prefers to wear a mask to avoid being photographed, and in a video interview concerning "Drakengard 3", he used a glove puppet. He has also stated that he likes to be blunt when stating his opinions, as he feels that video game fans deserve truth and honesty.


title: Yoko Taro

text: Yoko is noted for creating games with a dark, disturbing or unusual atmosphere. This was stated as the main reason he was brought in to work on "Monster × Dragon". His writing method, which he has not seen in other works of fiction, is called "backwards scriptwriting". He described it as starting with the ending first, then working backwards from there. He then creates central plot points that form emotional peaks in the narrative, adds details, then scatters them through the narrative so the player can build a suitable emotional connection. He uses a secondary method called "photo thinking" in conjunction with his scriptwriting method. Yoko describes it as a method of visualizing and keeping in order events and emotional peaks throughout the story. He cited his inspiration for this method as "The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci" by Jonathan Spence. He is keen in experimenting with the video game format, feeling that many conventions of the video game market inhibit developers' creative freedom. Many of his games reflect his own feelings about death and his socratic questioning of the concept. Yoko also considers food an important tool in creating a game, stating that he thinks that types of food from across the world can help him get a feel for the people the game is being aimed at.


title: Yoko Taro

text: Yoko was influenced in his style for the "Drakengard" series by many games of the day: a commonality he noted was that the player got gradings for their performance after killing dozens or hundreds of enemy units in a "gloating" manner. Because the concept of enjoying killing seemed insane to him, he designed the first game's main protagonists to be insane. He also wished to explore what drove people to kill each other. Later, for "Nier" and "Drakengard 3", Yoko explored the idea of a terrible event where both sides believed they were doing the right thing. For "Nier", he took direct inspiration from the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror. Another direct influence on "Nier" was of the gameplay of the "God of War" series, which both he and the game's producer Yosuke Saito admired. He has stated his dislike for the "plain and forgettable" type of female video game character: he demonstrated his dislike for this and the stereotypical role-playing video game romance in Furiae, an important character in "Drakengard". Another character he has been greatly involved in creating is Zero, "Drakengard 3"s protagonist: while creating her, he felt it would be interesting to create a character who was formerly a prostitute as it was a character type that was fairly rare in video games. In general, Yoko does not consider his writing to be as dark as others see it, while admitting that he deliberately incorporates dark elements. A notable influence on the gameplay of his titles was the classic shoot 'em up "Ikaruga"; it directly inspired the dragon flight sequences of "Drakengard" and bullet hell sections in "Nier"; and informed Yoko on the synchronization of gameplay with the music. A biography of him drawn Keiji Yoshida and based on Yoko Taro's own words was released in the "Game Creators of Biography" web manga series, under the title ""ヨコオタロウ編"" (""Yokoo Tarō-hen""). It was published by Cygames on its Cycomi platform, starting from February 21, 2021.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: Xi Zhongxun (15 October 1913 – 24 May 2002) was a Chinese communist revolutionary and a subsequent political official in the People's Republic of China. He is considered to be among the first and second generation of Chinese leadership. The contributions he made to the Chinese communist revolution and the development of the People's Republic, from the founding of Communist guerrilla bases in northwestern China in the 1930s to initiation of economic liberalization in southern China in the 1980s, are numerous and broad. He was known for political moderation and for the setbacks he endured in his career. He was imprisoned and purged several times. His second son is the current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: Xi was born on 15 October 1913, to a land-owning family, in rural Fuping County, Shaanxi. He joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in May 1926 and took part in student demonstrations in the spring of 1928, for which he was imprisoned by the ruling nationalist authorities. In prison, he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1928.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In 1930, Xi was appointed by the party to work in the Guominjun under Yang Hucheng. In March 1932, he led an unsuccessful uprising within that army in Liangdang, Gansu. Subsequently, he joined Communist guerrillas north of the Wei River. In March 1933, he joined Liu Zhidan and others in founding the Shaanxi–Gansu (Shaangan) Border Region Soviet Area, and became the chairman of the Soviet area government while leading guerillas in resisting Nationalist incursions and expanding the Soviet area. In early 1935, the Shaanxi–Gansu Border and Northern Shaanxi Soviet Areas merged to form the Revolutionary Base Area of the Northwest and Xi became one of the leaders of the base area. But in September 1935, he along with Liu Zhidan and Gao Gang were jailed during a Leftist rectification campaign within the party. By his own account, he was within four days of being executed when CCP Chairman Mao Zedong arrived on the scene and ordered Xi and his comrades released. Xi's guerrilla base in the Northwest gave refuge to Mao Zedong and the party center, and allowed them to end the Long March. It is said that Xi's "Revolutionary Base Area of the Northwest saved the Party Center and the Party Center saved the revolutionaries of the Northwest." The base area eventually became the Yan'an Soviet, the headquarters of the Chinese Communist movement until 1947.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xi stayed in the Yan'an Soviet to manage civilian and military affairs, boost economic production within the Soviet, and implement party policies. He was known for evaluating policies based on empirical assessment and resisting "leftist" extremism in implementing party directives. At the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in August 1945, he was named an alternate member of the Central Committee and became the deputy director of the party's organization department, in charge of making personnel decision. As World War II in China was winding down, he defeated Nationalist attack on the Yan'an Soviet at Futaishan and assisted the breakout of Wang Zhen's 359 Brigade from the North China Plains.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: With the outbreak of full-scale civil war between Communists and Nationalists in early 1947, Xi remained in northwestern China to coordinate the protection and then recapture of the Yan'an Soviet Area. As political commissar, Xi and commander Zhang Zongxun defeated Nationalists west of Yan'an at the Battle of Xihuachi in March 1947. After Yan'an fell to Hu Zongnan on 19 March 1947, Xi worked on the staff of Peng Dehuai in the battles to retake Yan'an and capture northwest China.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: Xi directed the political work of the Northwest Political and Military Affairs Bureau, which was tasked with bringing Communist governance to the newly captured areas of the Northwest. In this capacity, Xi was known for his moderate policies and the use of non-military means to pacify rebellious areas.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In July 1951, following the Communists' defeat of the Ma Clique armies in Qinghai, remnants of the Muslim warlords incited rebellion among Tibetan tribesmen. Among those who took up arms was chieftain Xiang Qian of the Nganglha Tribe in eastern Qinghai. As the PLA sent troops to quell the uprising, Xi Zhongxun urged for a political solution. Numerous envoys including Geshe Sherab Gyatso and the Panchen Lama went to negotiate. Though Xiang Qian rebuffed dozens of offers and the PLA managed to capture the chieftain's villages, Xi continued to pursue a political solution. He released captured tribesmen, offered generous terms to Xiang Qian and forgave those who took part in the uprising. In July 1952, Xiang Qian returned from hiding in the mountains, pledged his allegiance to the People's Republic and was invited by Xi to attend the graduation ceremony of the Nationalities College in Lanzhou. In 1953, Xiang Qiang became the chief of Jainca County. Mao compared Xi's deft treatment of Xiang Qian to Zhuge Liang's conciliation of Meng Huo in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: Also in 1952, Xi Zhongxun halted the campaign of Wang Zhen and Deng Liqun to implement land reform and class struggle to pastoralist regions of Xinjiang. Xi, based on experience in Inner Mongolia, advised against assigning class labels and waging class struggle among pastoralists, but was ignored by Wang and Deng who directed the seizure of livestock from landowners and land from religious authorities. The policies inflamed social unrest in pastoralist northern Xinjiang where Ospan Batyr uprising had just been quelled. With the support of Mao, Xi reversed the policies, had Wang Zhen relieved from Xinjiang and released over a thousand herders from prison.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: When the 14th Dalai Lama visited Beijing in 1954 for several months of political meetings and studies in Chinese and Marxism, Xi spent time with the Tibetan leader, who fondly recalled Xi as "very friendly, comparatively open-minded, very nice." As a gift, the Dalai Lama gave Xi an Omega watch. When the Dalai Lama's brother visited Beijing in the early 1980s, Xi was still wearing that watch.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In September 1952, Xi Zhongxun became chief of the party's propaganda department and supervised cultural and education policies. At the 8th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1956, he was elected a member of the CCP Central Committee. In 1959, he became a vice-premier and worked under Premier Zhou Enlai in directing the State Council's lawmaking and policy research functions.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In 1962, he was accused by Kang Sheng of leading an anti-party clique for supporting the "Biography of Liu Zhidan", and purged from all leadership positions. The biography, written by Li Jiantong () to commemorate Xi's former comrade who died a party martyr in 1936, was alleged to be a covert effort to subvert the party by rehabilitating Gao Gang, another former comrade who had been purged in 1954. Xi Zhongxun was forced to undergo self-criticism and in 1965 was demoted to the position of a deputy manager of a tractor factory in Luoyang. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted, jailed and spent long periods in confinement in Beijing. He regained his freedom in May 1975 and was assigned to another factory in Luoyang.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: After the Cultural Revolution ended, Xi was fully rehabilitated at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee in December 1978. From 1978 to 1981, he held leadership roles in Guangdong Province, successively as the second and then first provincial secretary, governor and political commissar of the Guangdong Military Region. In Guangdong, he stabilized the provincial government and began to liberalize the economy.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: When he first arrived in Guangdong, he was told the provincial government had long been struggling to hold back the exodus of Chinese to Hong Kong since 1951. At the time, daily wages in Guangdong averaged 0.70 yuan, about 1/100 of wages in Hong Kong. Xi understood the disparity in standards of living and called for economic liberalisation in Guangdong. To do so, he needed to win over leaders in Beijing skeptical of the market economy. In meetings in April 1979, he convinced Deng Xiaoping to permit Guangdong to make its own foreign trade policy decisions and to invite foreign investment to projects in experimental areas along the provincial border with Hong Kong and Macau and in Shantou, which has a large overseas diaspora. As for the name of the experimental areas, Deng said, "let's call them, 'special zones', [after all, your] Shaanxi-Gansu Border Region began as a 'special zone'." Deng added, "The Central Government has no funds, but we can give you some favorable policies." Borrowing a phrase from their guerrilla war days, Deng told Xi, "You have to find a way, to fight a bloody path out." Xi submitted a formal proposal on the creation of special zones, later renamed special economic zones and in July 1979, the party center and State Council approved the creation of the first four special economic zones.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In 1981, Xi returned to Beijing and was elected the deputy chair of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and also held the chair of the legal affairs committee. In this capacity, he oversaw the drafting of numerous laws. In September 1982, he was elected to the CCP Politburo and the CCP secretariat. In 1987, Deng Xiaoping and powerful elder Chen Yun were dissatisfied with the liberal inclination of Hu Yaobang, and called a meeting to force Hu to resign as CCP General Secretary. Xi was the only one that defended Hu. Xi retired from public service in April 1988 and spent most of his retirement years in Shenzhen.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In 1936, Xi married Hao Mingzhu, the niece of revolutionary fighter Wu Daifeng, in Shaanxi. The union lasted until 1944, and the couple had three children: one son, Xi Fuping (aka Xi Zhengning), and two daughters, Xi Heping, and Xi Ganping. According to official records, Xi Heping died during the Cultural Revolution due to persecution, which historians have concluded means that she most likely committed suicide under duress. Little is known about Xi Ganping, except that she was retired by 2013 and regularly appears at meetings of red princelings. Xi Zhengning, meanwhile, was a researcher in the Ministry of Defence but later pursued a bureaucratic career; he died in 1998.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: In 1944, Xi Zhongxun married Qi Xin, his second wife, and had four children: Qi Qiaoqiao, Xi An'an, Xi Jinping and Xi Yuanping. Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 15 November 2012, and has been President of China since March 2013.


title: Xi Zhongxun

text: Xi Zhongxun died 24 May 2002. His funeral and subsequent cremation at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on 30 May was attended by party and state leaders. His ashes were subsequently buried at a cemetery named in honor of him at Fuping County.