title: Mothra

text: Mothra was first conceived in the January 1961 serial "The Luminous Fairies and Mothra" by authors Shinichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga and Yoshie Hotta, who had been commissioned by Toho to write the outline of a future film. The character was further developed by Shinichi Sekizawa, whose experiences of starving in the South Pacific islands during World War II prompted him to envision a movie featuring an island where mysterious events occurred.


title: Mothra

text: In her 1961 debut, Mothra's adult form consisted of a wire-operated mechanical puppet, while the larva was a suitmation puppet operated by six stuntmen crawling in single file. In "Mothra vs. Godzilla" three years later, the adult Mothra puppet was modified with radio-controlled legs, while the larvae were portrayed via a combination of motor-driven props and hand puppets. The larval Mothra featured in "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" remained largely unchanged from its previous appearance, though the color of its eyes was changed from blue to red. The adult Mothra prop featured in "Mothra vs. Godzilla" was reused in "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep", though previous heavy use had dulled its colors, frayed the fur on the head and damaged the wings.


title: Mothra

text: During the early Heisei era of "Godzilla "films, which ignored the continuity established in pre-1984 movies, several attempts were made to develop a Mothra standalone feature. Akira Murao wrote a screenplay in 1990 entitled "Mothra vs. Bagan", which revolved around a shape-shifting dragon called Bagan who sought to destroy humanity for its abuse of the Earth's resources, only to be defeated by Mothra, the god of peace. The screenplay was revised by Kazuki Ōmori after the release of "Godzilla vs. Biollante", though the project was ultimately scrapped by Toho, due to the poor box office performance of "Godzilla vs. Biollante", as well as the assumption that Mothra was a character born purely out of Japanese culture and thus would have been difficult to market overseas, unlike the more internationally recognized Godzilla. With the success of "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah", Toho sought to continue the series' newfound profitability by reintroducing familiar monsters rather than inventing new ones. Mothra was chosen as Godzilla's next antagonist on account of the character's popularity with women, who constituted the majority of cinemagoers at the time. Special effects head Koichi Kawakita co-wrote a screenplay entitled "Godzilla vs. Gigamoth" in 1991, which would have pitted Mothra against Godzilla and an irradiated Mothra doppelganger called Gigamoth, though this was rejected early on and replaced with the final plotline that was seen in the film "Godzilla vs. Mothra". Kawakita's depiction of Mothra's adult form was given the ability to fire energy beams, which were rendered via optical effects, and the pollen dust emitted from its wings were given a sparkling effect not seen in prior movies. During the character's transformation from larva to adult, it was initially planned to have Mothra's unfolding wings rendered through CGI, though this was scrapped on account of it not looking "sensitive" enough. Although the movie was a financial success, the Mothra props were criticized by several authors, who noted that the adult Mothra's brighter colors made it look like a "plush toy" and that its wings flapped less gracefully than in previous incarnations, as they were made of heavy cloth. The Mothra puppet's immobile chicken-like feet and the lack of undulation in the larva prop's movements were also commented on as being inferior to the effects seen in 1960s Mothra movies. Criticism was also leveled at Mothra's altered origin story, which portrayed her as an extraterrestrial, thus dampening the character's motivation for protecting Earth. The character's newfound popularity nevertheless prompted Toho to produce "Rebirth of Mothra" in 1996.


title: Mothra

text: For "", director Shūsuke Kaneko had originally planned on using Anguirus as one of Godzilla's antagonists, but was pressured by Toho chairman Isao Matsuoka to use the more recognizable and profitable Mothra, as the previous film in the franchise, "Godzilla x Megaguirus", which featured an original and unfamiliar antagonist, was a box office and critical failure.


title: Mothra

text: For 2003's "", special effects director Eiichi Asada sought to model Mothra directly on her appearance in the original 1961 film and to keep optical effects to a minimum. As with "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah", the adult Mothra was given mobile legs, though they were made to constantly move, as it was felt that the prop stopped looking realistic once they became immobile. Creature designer Shinichi Wakasa had initially wanted Mothra's wings to have the angular design seen in "Rebirth of Mothra II", though the prop was ultimately given the wing shape seen in the 1960s movies. In addition, Mothra's twin larvae, one male and one female, were given nicknames by the staff on set - the male, who can be distinguished by his longer tusks and spikes, was nicknamed Taro, while the female was nicknamed Hanako.


title: Mothra

text: Mothra is usually accompanied by tiny twin female fairies, which Shinichi Sekizawa termed , meaning "little beauties". The original draft for "Mothra" called for four fairies, though Sekizawa reduced the number to two, as twins were comparatively rare in Japan, thus adding to the characters' mystique. Toho also sought to reinforce its links with Columbia Pictures, by featuring the singing duo the Peanuts, who had been popularized in America by Columbia Records. Yūji Koseki composed the song "Mosura no uta" ("Song of Mothra") for the fairies to sing when summoning Mothra. The song was originally sung in the Malay language or Indonesian language, but there is also a later version, set to the same tune, sung in Japanese:


title: Mothra

text: The Peanuts were given an additional song in "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" entitled "Cry for Happiness", composed by Hiroshi Miyagawa. The Peanuts did not reprise their role in "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" and were replaced by the singing duo Pair Bambi.


title: Mothra

text: In "Godzilla vs. Mothra", the fairies are renamed the and are played by Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa. This casting move was criticized by Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle, who lamented the fact that the two actresses were not identical and that their singing voices were "paper thin." According to Takao Okawara, the Cosmos scenes were among the hardest scenes he had ever filmed, as the actresses had to synchronize their movements without looking at each other.


title: Mothra

text: In the "Rebirth of Mothra" trilogy, Mothra Leo's fairies are called the which consist of Moll, Lora, and their estranged sister Belvera. Moll and Lora contrast with prior adaptations because they possess separate personalities and rarely act in unison. Megumi Kobayashi was cast as Moll for all three films, Sayaka Yamaguchi as Lora for the first two films, Misato Tate as Lora for the third film and Aki Hano as Belvera for all three films.


title: Mothra

text: "" does not feature Mothra's fairies, but they are given a nod in the form of a pair of twin girls wearing white clothes during the scene where Mothra flies over Tokyo. They are played by sisters Ai and Aki Maeda.


title: Mothra

text: In the anime trilogy directed by Gen Urobuchi, the fairies are human-sized sisters named Maina and Miana. Their people are the , descendants of humans that evolved through Mothra's influence with both telepathy and an immunity to the assimilative properties of nanometal.


title: Mothra

text: In "", it's revealed that Monarch researcher Dr. Ilene Chen (played by Zhang Ziyi) has an identical twin sister named Dr. Ling Chen, who is also in Monarch and is present at Mothra's hatching. The Chens are part of a family which appears to consist almost entirely of pairs of identical twin sisters, two of whom are shown visiting Infant Island (Mothra's traditional home) in 1961. The film's director and co-screenwriter, Michael Dougherty, confirmed the twins to be an updated version of the fairies, explaining, "It was important to me to find ways to modernize the ideas that [Mothra] has followers. Modernize the priestesses. [There] are still certain realms of believability to keep in take. You have to ease people into the more fantastical aspects." He noted that the twins were a "perfect example" of humans and monsters cooperating and forming a "symbiotic relationship with each other", saying, “The twins are an example of a very successful, long relationship...so I wanted to make sure that we found some way to incorporate them, even if it was a little bit of an Easter egg.” Dougherty, who is half-Vietnamese, felt the need to retain the twins' Asian ethnicity.


title: Mothra

text: In the Showa continuity, Mothra is depicted as a mystical being that is worshiped by a primitive human culture native to Infant Island. "Mothra" has her hatching from an egg after her priestesses are abducted by a Rolisican capitalist hoping to exploit them as media celebrities. The larval Mothra swims to Tokyo and cocoons herself around the Tokyo Tower. Upon reaching her adult form, Mothra flies to Rolisica's capital and causes widespread destruction until her priestesses are returned to her.


title: Mothra

text: Mothra in this era, most notably the first individual appeared in the 1961 film is the largest incarnation of all, being 180 meters in length with a wingspan of 250 meters and weighed 20,000 tonnes as an Imago, and 135 meters in body length and weighed 15,000 tonnes as a larva. In later films, the size of the Imagoes decreased to 53 meters in 1964 film and 40 meters in body length and 8,000 tonnes in weight in 1968 film respectively, while the size of the larva in 1966 film stayed the same to the 1961 individual.


title: Mothra

text: In "Mothra vs. Godzilla", a Mothra egg appears on the coast of Japan, and is exploited as a tourist attraction. Mothra's priestesses attempt to negotiate the return of the egg to Infant Island, but are rebuffed. Godzilla attacks Japan, forcing humanity to beseech an embittered Mothra to intervene. Mothra willingly sacrificed herself whilst fighting Godzilla, but the latter is defeated when two larvae emerge from the egg and encase Godzilla in a cocoon.


title: Mothra

text: In "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster", it is revealed that only one of the larvae survived. The remaining larva attempts to convince Godzilla and Rodan to join forces with her in order to fight King Ghidorah, but the two monsters reject her proposal. Mothra is nearly killed attempting to fight Ghidorah alone, but is saved through the intervention of Godzilla and Rodan.


title: Mothra

text: The larva ultimately gains adulthood in "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep", where she saves a group of slaves taken from Infant Island from a terrorist base on Letchi Island undergoing a self-destruct sequence.


title: Mothra

text: Another larva appears in "Destroy All Monsters", living alongside other monsters in Monsterland. Along with the other monsters, Mothra is briefly enslaved by the Kilaaks, who force her to attack Beijing and later join Godzilla in the destruction of Tokyo. The Kilaaks' mind control is ultimately broken and Mothra joins the other monsters in the final battle against King Ghidorah. This was the character's final starring role in the Showa era, although Mothra would later be seen in stock footage from "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" and "Destroy All Monsters" for "Godzilla vs. Gigan" in 1972.


title: Mothra

text: 1992's "Godzilla vs. Mothra" portrays Mothra as a guardian of the Earth who presided over an advanced civilization over 12,000 years ago. When the civilization created a device designed to control the Earth's climate, the Earth responded by creating the Black Mothra, Battra – which Mothra defeated, but not before the civilization was wiped out. Mothra's egg is later discovered in 1992 on Infant Island by the Marutomo real estate agency, which seeks to exploit it and Mothra's priestesses for profit. The egg hatches during a fight between Godzilla and a resurrected Battra, and the larva later attacks Tokyo in order to save its priestesses. Mothra forms a cocoon around the National Diet Building, attains its adult form, then briefly fights Battra before joining forces with him in order to fight Godzilla. Battra dies in the attempt and Mothra pledges to fulfill her fallen comrade's role in preventing a meteorite from devastating the Earth in 1999.


title: Mothra

text: In "Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla", Mothra detected SpaceGodzilla's advance towards Earth and sends her priestesses to warn the planet of his arrival.


title: Mothra

text: The "Rebirth of Mothra" trilogy is separate from the Godzilla Heisei continuity and portrays Mothra as the last remaining member of a species of giant moths who guard the Elias' civilization. This civilization was destroyed millions of years ago by the dragon Desghidorah, whom Mothra defeated. Mothra lays an egg in modern times, but is too weak to fight Desghidorah once it returns. The egg hatches and the new Mothra, a male larva named Mothra Leo, goes to protect his mother, but sadly Mothra is mortally wounded by Desghidorah while Leo is still too weak to injure the dragon. After Mothra dies, Leo metamorphoses into an adult, then manages to kill Desghidorah.


title: Mothra

text: Leo returns in "Rebirth of Mothra II", where he acquires a new and more powerful form in order to fight the pollution monster Dagahra.


title: Mothra

text: In "Rebirth of Mothra III", Leo is forced to travel backwards through time to the Cretaceous Period in order to retroactively kill the space dragon King Ghidorah. After seemingly defeating Ghidorah's younger form in the Cretaceous, Leo hibernates in a cocoon constructed by an ancestral Mothra species for 65 million years until the present day, where he defeats King Ghidorah's far stronger modern form with a new, equally strong form of his own.


title: Mothra

text: In "", Mothra is portrayed as having been one of the three guardians of Yamato, originating 1,000 years before the events of the film. Initially an antagonist, Mothra was imprisoned in Lake Ikeda, only to be reawakened in 2001 to halt Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo. She is defeated, but transfers her spirit to King Ghidorah.


title: Mothra

text: "" has the Mothra from the original 1961 film send her priestesses to demand that Japan dismantle the anti-Godzilla weapon Kiryu or face destruction, as she considers the cyborg to be against the natural order, having been created using the bones of the first Godzilla. When the second Godzilla lands, Mothra attempts to fight the monster alongside Kiryu, but is killed in the process. Two larvae hatch on Infant Island and reach Tokyo in order to fight Godzilla, whom they encase in a cocoon, which is then transported into the ocean by Kiryu.


title: Mothra

text: "", which ignores the continuity of the previous film, establishes that Mothra protected the Earth 10,000 years ago from the cyborg Gigan. In the distant future, Gigan returns, under the control of the Xiliens, and is confronted by Mothra. In the ensuing battle, Mothra catches fire, but manages to kill Gigan by ramming into it and exploding. However, in a mid-credits scene, Mothra is shown to be alive after all and flying back to Infant Island to be reunited with the Shobijin.


title: Mothra

text: In the anime trilogy, while Mothra never made a physical appearance, she was mentioned in "" to have been killed by Godzilla years prior, though her egg ended up in the protection of the Houtua people, a species of evolved humans who adapted Mothra-like features to survive the now Godzilla ruled Earth. An astral projection of Mothra's unborn child in their adult form appears in "".


title: Mothra

text: In "Godzilla Singular Point", dozens of small moths, that bear a striking resemblance to Mothra, appear in the final episodes of the Godzilla animated television series . ("Visual similarities include: blue eyes, orange and yellow patterns on the wings, a 'false eye' pattern as seen on Mothra as well as other species of Lepidoptera"). These small moths even seem to shed their golden scales, similar to how Mothra has done the same thing in the past. These moths also have a brief interaction with Jet Jaguar, making it the first on-screen interaction between the two Toho characters ("outside of comics, video games, spin-offs, etc.").


title: Mothra

text: However, due to this show's nature to rename / rebrand existing monsters as new ones ("For example: A creature that heavily resembles “Varan”, both in its visual design & its sound design, is later revealed to be a different creature"), we do not have any direct confirmation that this is actually Mothra. One may assume these moths are related to Mothra in some way ("or actually are several Mothras"), but the show does not provide any context as to what they actually are.


title: Mothra

text: Several of Mothra's previous incarnations make cameo appearances in the show's ending credits ("alongside several other Toho properties").


title: Mothra

text: In 2014, Legendary Pictures announced that they had acquired the rights to Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah from Toho to use in their MonsterVerse.


title: Mothra

text: In the post-credits scene at the end of the 2017 film "", Mothra appears in a series of cave paintings depicting other monsters that are known to exist that are shown in the footage to James Conrad and Mason Weaver, along with Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidorah.


title: Mothra

text: A casting call confirmed that Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah will all be featured in "". Viral marketing for the movie has shown that Mothra has retained her status as a creature who is deified as an angelic-like goddess, referred to as the Queen of the Monsters. Monarch Sciences, the film's promotional website, identifies the Yunnan rainforest as Mothra's location (however, Infant Island was referenced within the film, and the name "Mosura" is said to be derived from a small Indonesian island) and states in its adult form to be capable of emitting beta-wave bioluminescence that can be projected through the intricate patterns on its wings and weaponized into destructive and blinding ‘god rays’. Further promotional material also revealed narrower wings, a wider wingspan (at 803 feet or 244.75 meters, it is second only to her original 250-meter wingspan), long praying mantis-like forearms and legs as opposed to bird-like limbs and a body design that is more reminiscent of real-life moths, with a smaller body and head. The markings on her wings are said to mark her as the "Queen of the Monsters" and that they apparently link Mothra to Godzilla, the King of the Monsters, since the eye spots on her wings are modeled after Godzilla's eyes. Within the film, she is shown to have a symbiotic relationship with Godzilla, and temporarily paralyzes Rodan with a hidden abdominal stinger. These changes make Mothra the most heavily redesigned monster in the series.


title: Mothra

text: Mothra first appears hatching from her egg in her larval state and is calmed by Dr. Emma Russell using the ORCA bio-acoustics device, becoming docile. When eco-terrorists led by Colonel Alan Jonah arrive soon after and capture Russell, her daughter Madison and the ORCA device, Mothra retreats under a waterfall and cocoons herself, later emerging from her cocoon in her adult form and flying off. During the fight in Boston, Mothra defeats Rodan and is disintegrated by King Ghidorah while protecting a fallen Godzilla. Her power is transferred to Godzilla as a result via her ashes, preventing him from suffering a nuclear meltdown and allowing him to defeat Ghidorah by achieving his burning form. During the credits, a news program speculates about the existence of a second Mothra egg, which the director later confirmed.


title: London Fields (film)

text: London Fields is a 2018 neo-noir film directed by Mathew Cullen with a screenplay by Roberta Hanley and Martin Amis, based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Amis. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton as Samson Young, a terminally ill writer who has suffered from writer's block for 20 years. The cast also includes Amber Heard, Jim Sturgess, Theo James, Jason Isaacs, Cara Delevingne, Obi Abili, and Jaimie Alexander.


title: London Fields (film)

text: It was selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, but it was later pulled from the festival roster after director Mathew Cullen sued the film's producers, accusing them of fraud and using his name to promote a cut of the film he does not support. After the producers reached a settlement with Cullen in a separate lawsuit, "London Fields" was released theatrically in the United States on 26 October 2018, and was a critical and commercial failure.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Nicola Six has clairvoyant powers and discovers that she will die at the hands of one man. She begins an affair with three men to discover which of them is the killer.


title: London Fields (film)

text: The story opens with Samson Young, a terminally ill American writer who has come to London, apartment swapping with fellow writer Mark Asprey. He is taken there by taxi driver Keith Talent, a crude slob who despite not being very bright, excels at darts. After going to Mark's flat, Keith takes him to a pub called the Black Cross where he meets Guy Clinch, the current head of his family's business empire, who is trapped in a loveless marriage with his wife Hope. Clinch has a disturbed son, who tries to destroy everything he can get his hands on, although he tries to be a good man, and is not crude unlike Keith, but for some reason is his friend. Keith keeps borrowing money from Guy, so he can pay of all the loan sharks he owes, including darts rival Chick Purchase. While at the pub, they meet Nicola Six, who has just arrived from a funeral. Keith starts flirting with her. Guy does not, but does try to be a gentleman. Samson is fascinated by her.


title: London Fields (film)

text: The next day in the park, Samson sees Nicola dump a few books in a bin. Samson picks them out and starts reading them; the books imply that Nicola has the power to see into the future, but can only see people's deaths. It tells that she knew how her parents, sister, and best friend were going to die. Samson takes them back to her flat, and asks Nicola if she would be the central character for his novel. Nicola looks annoyed but agrees. Samson discovers that Nicola lives in the apartment above him and places recording devices between the cracks.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Nicola then plays the innocent naive woman with Guy who is trying to help her find her friend in Burma and the friend's son. Guy becomes overprotective of her and eventually makes love to her. She lies about being a virgin to Guy, whilst also being the "femme fatale" with Keith. She tells Guy she is teaching Keith to read, and tells Keith it is all part of a con so Keith can pay off his debt. She seduces and manipulates both of them by openly flirting with one in front of the other.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Samson emails his novel, "The Murderee", to his publicists, Missy and Mark. Missy responds by email that she will not publish it because she believes it is about her. He receives a phone call from Mark saying he admires Samson's nerve.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Nicola, pretending to be from social services, visits Keith's flat where she meets Keith's wife Kath and their daughter. Nicola mocks the way they live and threatens to turn their daughter over to child services. Later that night, Keith goes to Nicola's flat to threaten her, but she has the money to pay off Chick (who paid off the other loan sharks, so now Keith owes it all to him), which he does.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Nicola and Samson meet at a restaurant where Samson tells Nicola he thinks the reader will only ever see her as a male fantasy figure. Nicola then tells Samson she knows he is dying and begins to flirt with him. Samson initially rejects her, eventually giving in and making love.


title: London Fields (film)

text: At the darts world championship, Nicola rejects both Keith and Guy, kissing Chick in front of both of them. Samson finds photos in one of Mark's books showing his affair with Nicola, on Guy Fawkes Night. On Nicola's 30th birthday, it is revealed that Samson is the one to kill her. Although she knew she was going to die that night, she did not know who would kill her. She accepts her fate and Samson kills her. He then takes her body back to Mark's flat and prints his novel. He renames it "London Fields" and leaves a note on top of the novel, before placing it on Nicola. He then lies next to her and dies.


title: London Fields (film)

text: The next morning, Mark returns home to find them dead. He picks up Samson's novel and starts reading it. He sells the novel under his own name and it becomes a number-one bestseller. Keith and Kath watch him on television annoyed.


title: London Fields (film)

text: Johnny Depp has an uncredited cameo as Chick Purchase. His character is loosely based on darts legend Bobby George.


title: London Fields (film)

text: David Cronenberg was approached in 2001 to do a film adaptation of the book, and Amis wrote a draft of the script. However, Cronenberg left the film for "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises". Other directors approached included David Mackenzie and Michael Winterbottom. The film entered production with Mathew Cullen in September 2013 in London, England.


title: London Fields (film)

text: The soundtrack was written and produced by Toydrum, Benson Taylor, and Adam Barber, and features music by Grinderman and London Grammar.


title: London Fields (film)

text: In September 2015, Lionsgate and Grindstone acquired distribution rights to the film with the intention of releasing it through Lionsgate Premiere. Although the film screened for press and industry at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, three scheduled screenings for the public were cancelled by the Festival because of a legal dispute between the director and producer. In 2016, it was reported that Lionsgate had dropped the film.


title: London Fields (film)

text: The official trailer for "London Fields" debuted on 5 June 2018. The film was released theatrically in Russia on 20 September 2018, followed by a release in the United States on 26 October 2018 by GVN Releasing, a small distributor which previously had focused on faith-based films. According to "The Hollywood Reporter", "a select few theaters" in the United States played a cut of the film that was put together by director Mathew Cullen, but that version was not widely exhibited and was not the cut screened for critics.


title: London Fields (film)

text: In September 2015, the film was pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival, after Matthew Cullen filed a lawsuit against the film's producers, for fraud, failing to pay him, and taking away the final cut. The producers responded to the lawsuit stating: The timing and the content of the director's lawsuit shows that it is a publicity stunt. The filing of Mathew Cullen's complaint violates the arbitration provisions of his own guild, the DGA. Sadly, Mathew can't deal with the fact that he does not control the final cut of the movie. He was given two deadlines to deliver a 'director's cut' and missed both deadlines. His guild has rules for withdrawing his name from the picture and he missed those deadlines. The production company will vigorously oppose the lawsuit. In November 2015, the producers counterclaimed for breach of contract, saying they had terminated the director's formal editing rights period and notified the Directors Guild of America when the film was $2 million over budget and late for delivery. They accuse Cullen of violating both his agreement with them and DGA rules by working on a music video for Katy Perry during his time editing "London Fields", and further that Cullen withheld promotional support and committed tortious interference by discouraging the film's stars from performing promotional and post-production services. In April 2016, a judge allowed the case to proceed.


title: London Fields (film)

text: In November 2016, a second lawsuit was filed by the producers suing Amber Heard for $10 million. The lawsuit claims Heard and Cullen made unauthorised changes to the film's script and failed to finish voice-over work. Heard countersued claiming the producers violated a nudity clause in her contract by filming scenes with a body double and digitally replacing the double's face with Heard's. In September 2018, the producers reached a settlement with Heard.


title: London Fields (film)

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed $168,575 in the United States from 613 theaters with a per-screen average of $261, becoming the second worst US box office opening for a wide release film of all time, behind "Proud American" (2008).


title: London Fields (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, of reviews are positive, with an average rating of . The critics' consensus reads, ""London Fields" bungles its beloved source material and an intriguingly eclectic cast, leaving audiences with a would-be neo-noir of interest only to the morbidly curious." According to Metacritic, which reports a weighted average score of 16 out of 100 based on 12 critics, the film received "overwhelming dislike".


title: London Fields (film)

text: Peter Sobczynski of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film 0.5/4 and described it as a "boring and garish mess that even fans of the book will find nearly impossible to follow." Jeannette Catsoulis from "The New York Times" called it "horrendous" and "a trashy, tortured misfire from beginning to end". Andrew Barker of "Variety" wrote: "Despite lush photography and a cast attractive enough to lure curious distributors, this misbegotten mess risks suffering the same fate at the box office that befalls its heroine on her dead-end street, but Cullen genuinely deserves credit for making it this far — sometimes you have to try to adapt a seemingly unadaptable book just to learn how truly unadaptable it is."


title: London Fields (film)

text: Writing for "The Independent", Kaleem Aftab rated the film one out of five stars, writing, "Most scenes lack pace, are performed badly and are accompanied by a running commentary of action we can see for ourselves. It's car-crash film-making. Of the characters, it's only the uncredited Depp, the coolest guy in the room, with his dapper dress sense and long sideburns, who comes away with any credit."


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Mudbound is a 2017 American historical drama film directed by Dee Rees. It was written by Rees and Virgil Williams, who based their screenplay on the 2008 novel "Mudbound" by Hillary Jordan. It stars Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Jonathan Banks, Rob Morgan and Mary J. Blige. The film depicts two World War II veterans – one white, one black – who return to rural Mississippi each to address racism and PTSD in his own way. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2017, and was released on Netflix and in limited release on November 17, 2017.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Critics praised its screenplay and direction, and the cast's performances. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards it received nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Blige) and Best Original Song ("Mighty River"). At the 90th Academy Awards, the film earned four nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Blige; Best Original Song for Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson (Blige became the first person to ever be nominated for both acting and songwriting in the same year); Best Adapted Screenplay for Rees and Virgil Williams (Rees became the first Black woman to ever be nominated) and Best Cinematography, which made Rachel Morrison the first woman to ever be nominated in the category.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: In the Mississippi Delta, white brothers Henry and Jamie McAllan dig a grave during a rainstorm and struggle to lower their deceased father's coffin into it. When the Jacksons, a black sharecropper family pass by in a wagon, Henry asks the father, Hap, for help. Henry seems uncomfortable asking and Hap hesitates to reply.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: A few years prior, Henry is conned out of renting a home and is forced to live near sharecroppers on a farm outside the town of Marietta, Mississippi and moves there with his wife Laura, their daughters, and his virulently racist father, Pappy. The Jackson family, led by tenant farmer Hap and his wife Florence, work the farm's cotton field and dream of owning their own land one day. As World War II begins, Jamie and the Jacksons' eldest son, Ronsel, join the United States Army Air Corps and U.S. Army, respectively. Both men experience severe war trauma in the European theater as Jamie flies B-25 bombers and Ronsel commands tanks. Ronsel also falls in love with a white German woman. Meanwhile, in Mississippi both families continue to live in poverty and support each other out of necessity. When the Jacksons' mule has to be euthanized, Henry offers to rent out his mule but exacts half of the Jacksons' crop in payment; leaving the Jacksons no choice but to accept. Florence also helps the McAllan family when their two young daughters fall ill with whooping cough; and then Laura offers Florence work helping care for her daughters permanently. Hap, who serves as the preacher for the local black community, falls while helping to build a church, breaking his leg and rendering him unable to work his fields. Laura sneaks money from her husband's safe so Hap can be properly treated by a doctor, much to Henry's disapproval and causing their passionless marriage to worsen.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: When the war ends, Ronsel and Jamie return home and realize that they have changed but the Mississippi Delta has not. Jamie becomes an alcoholic and suffers from PTSD. Ronsel, accustomed to the relative lack of racism among Europeans, struggles with racism in Mississippi. They become aware of each other's difficulties and bond over their war experiences. Ronsel questions why Jamie treats him with respect, and Jamie recounts that on a bomber mission a black fighter pilot saved his life. Jamie grows close to Laura but his alcoholism worsens and he drunkenly crashes his truck. Henry leaves on a trip and tells Jamie to depart from the farm before he returns. Ronsel receives a letter and photo from the German woman with whom he had been romantically involved and learns that they had a child together and she wants him to come to Europe. The photo is of her and, (obviously their,) child. Ronsel shares this with Jamie while driving together when their truck passes Pappy, and Ronsel is forced to duck down to hide. Pappy confronts Jamie about him socializing with Ronsel and scolds him for his drunken behavior and sneers at Laura, claiming she has romantic feelings for Jamie. Later, Ronsel realizes that he lost the photograph which Pappy finds in the truck. Laura confronts Jamie as he prepares to leave and they have sex.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: As Ronsel frantically searches for his photograph, he is ambushed and beaten by Pappy and members of the Ku Klux Klan. Pappy brings Jamie to a barn where the Klan is preparing to kill Ronsel for fathering a child with a white woman. Jamie points a gun at his father in an effort to save his friend and is also beaten by the Klan. As Jamie is restrained, he is told to choose Ronsel's punishment for his crime — to lose his eyes, tongue or testicles; or death. Through the pain, Jamie whispers "tongue" and Ronsel's tongue is cut out. Ronsel is left bound and wounded for his family to find. Later that night, Jamie wakes Pappy who had previously belittled Jamie's war experience because he had not looked into the eyes of the people he killed during the war. Jamie looks Pappy in the eye and smothers him with a pillow.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: The following day, the Jacksons appear to be leaving with their meager belongings in the wagon when they pass Henry and Jamie who are struggling to bury Pappy. Hap accedes to Henry's request to help with the coffin and says a prayer over the grave. In a rebuke to Pappy's wickedness, Hap recites from the Book of Job, verses 14:2–12. Jamie approaches the Jacksons' wagon and gives the German woman's letter to Florence, asking her to give it to Ronsel.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Much later, Jamie moves to the city. Ronsel returns to Europe and reunites with his German lover and their son.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Development on the film was announced on March 21, 2016, with Dee Rees engaged as director and Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke and Jason Mitchell cast in roles. On May 25, Mary J. Blige was added to the cast. On May 31, Jonathan Banks and Rob Morgan were cast, and filming began in New Orleans, Louisiana and post-production started in the United Kingdom by July 2016.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Dee Rees asked Rachel Morrison to focus on "the idea of the American dream vs. the American reality," so Rachel turned to books by Farm Security Administration photographers for reference points regarding color and composition, in particular Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn and Walker Evans. Another primary source for her was a Gordon Parks essay in "Life" magazine in the 1950s called "A Segregation Story" – regarding color that "felt period, but it didn't feel washed-out". Rachel's term for the goal they tried to achieve is "subjective naturalism," which she describes as first of all, real, and then potentially dramatized with light at main plot points – but remaining real throughout. Through that reality, the focus was on the elements in the picture and not the period itself: "The period wasn't a character in this film. The mud was a character, the weather was a character, the house was a character ... we were trying to make more of a commentary about just how tough times were through experiences." A. O. Scott in the "New York Times" on the result: "Rachel ... brings the soil, the flora and the weather to life in a way that emphasizes the archaic, elemental power of the story."


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Following its 2017 Sundance Film Festival premiere, "Mudbound" had distribution offers from A24 and Annapurna Pictures. On January 29, 2017, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film. The film premiered on the streaming platform, as well as began a one-week theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles, on November 17, 2017.


title: Mudbound (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 199 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Mudbound" offers a well-acted, finely detailed snapshot of American history whose scenes of rural class struggle resonate far beyond their period setting." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Mudbound (film)

text: Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising the cast and direction. Writing for "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers also gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising Blige's performance and Rees' direction, saying: "The director and her cinematographer Rachel Morrison do wonders with the elements that batter the people of every race and social class in the Delta. But it's the storm raging inside these characters that rivets our attention and makes "Mudbound" a film that grabs you and won't let go."


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Vitória de Guimarães have finished third in the Primeira Liga on four occasions, most recently in 2007–08. They have won one Taça de Portugal (2013) and one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (1988), while also being runners-up of the former on six occasions.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: The club have competed regularly in European competitions, where their best finish was the quarter-finals of the 1986–87 UEFA Cup.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Vitória was formed in 1922. Its name seems to be a tribute to Vitória de Setúbal, which at the time was a top contender for the Campeonato de Portugal, though these days Guimarães supporters downplay the connection. After seasons of toiling in the Braga FA leagues, the "Vimaranenses" were first promoted to the Primeira Liga in 1941, and two seasons later battled the "Sadinos" from Setúbal for the first time in the League. Surprise package Guimarães, against all odds, reached their first Taça de Portugal final in their debut season, but lost to Belenenses 2–0.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Vitória's furthest progress in a European tournament was in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, in which they were defeated 5–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals by West German club Borussia Mönchengladbach.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: In the early 2000s, Vitória struggled in some years to retain its status in the top Portuguese division, then named the Superliga. Those years were marked by the decline of the leadership of Pimenta Machado, former club president, who was accused on charges of embezzlement. In February 2008 he was sentenced to four years and three months of prison on a suspended sentence, though a year later he was cleared of this charge and instead ordered to pay a €4,000 fine for falsifying a document.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Despite this, in 2004–05, the club secured a fifth-place finish in the league and qualified for European competition via the UEFA Cup. The next season (2005–06), however, they were relegated to the Segunda Liga (where they last played in 1958) after finishing 17th in the Superliga, despite reaching the Taça de Portugal semi-final, having beaten Benfica in the quarter-finals. The club also failed to progress from their UEFA Cup group, as eventual winners Sevilla, Premier League outfit Bolton Wanderers and Russian team Zenit Saint Petersburg progressed.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Vitória bounced back immediately to the top-flight as runners-up to Leixões S.C. under the management of Manuel Cajuda. A joint-best third-place finish in 2007–08, guaranteeing them a place in the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, their first such campaign. There they fell to Swiss side FC Basel 2–1 on aggregate, with a potential away goal winner by Roberto Calmon Félix being ruled out late on for offside. Vitória dropped into the 2008–09 UEFA Cup first round as a result of their elimination, and lost 4–2 on aggregate after extra time to England's Portsmouth.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: Led by Rui Vitória in 2012–13, Vitória found themselves in financial problems, which caused them to lose many experienced players and bet on young players. However, they would go on to win their first Taça de Portugal title after previously losing five finals. Vitória beat rivals Braga en route to the final, where they recovered from 1–0 down against Benfica to win 2–1.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: In 2017, Vitória made the cup final again, losing 2–1 to double winners S.L. Benfica. That September, the team left their mark in UEFA competitions, being the first team to start a game without a European player on the field. In 2020–21, the club went through four managers – Tiago, João Henriques, Bino and Moreno – before finishing seventh, missing Europe by one place.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: After "Os Três Grandes", Vitória is the club which attracts most supporters to the stadium, with average attendances of 20,000 per game. Vitória usually has a higher average than all the other clubs, even when the club played in the Second Division/League.


title: Vitória S.C.

text: The club's 76 seasons (as in 2021) in the top level of Portuguese football make them the club with the joint-fourth longest time there, after Benfica, Porto, and Sporting CP (all with 87); and Belenenses with 77.


title: Cormac McCarthy bibliography

text: Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. McCarthy has written twelve novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and post-apocalyptic genres, as well as multiple short-stories, screenplays, plays, and an essay.


title: Cormac McCarthy bibliography

text: In 1985, he published "Blood Meridian," which received a lukewarm response. The novel has since gained great esteem and is often seen as his magnum opus — some have even labelled it the Great American Novel.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred I (alt. Aethelred, Ethelred; ; 845/848 to 871) was King of Wessex from 865 until his death in 871. He was the fourth of five sons of King Æthelwulf of Wessex, four of whom in turn became king. Æthelred succeeded his elder brother Æthelberht and was followed by his youngest brother, Alfred the Great. Æthelred had two sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were passed over for the kingship on their father's death because they were still infants. Alfred was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with him.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred's accession coincided with the arrival of the Viking Great Heathen Army in England. Over the next five years the Vikings conquered Northumbria and East Anglia, and at the end of 870 they launched a full-scale attack on Wessex. In early January 871, Æthelred was defeated at the Battle of Reading. Four days later, he scored a victory in the Battle of Ashdown, but this was followed by two defeats at Basing and Meretun. He died shortly after Easter. Alfred was forced to pay off the Vikings, but he scored a decisive victory over them seven years later at the Battle of Edington.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred's reign was important numismatically. Wessex and Mercia were close allies when he became king, and he carried the alliance further by adopting the Mercian Lunettes design, thus creating a unified coinage design for southern England for the first time. The common design foreshadowed the unification of England over the next sixty years and the reform coinage of King Edgar a century later.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred's grandfather, Ecgberht, became king of Wessex in 802, and in the view of the historian Richard Abels it must have seemed very unlikely to contemporaries that he would establish a lasting dynasty. For two hundred years, three families had fought for the West Saxon throne, and no son had followed his father as king. No ancestor of Ecgberht had been a king of Wessex since Ceawlin in the late sixth century, but he was believed to be a paternal descendant of Cerdic, the founder of the West Saxon dynasty. This made Ecgberht an ætheling – a prince eligible for the throne. But after Ecgberht's reign, descent from Cerdic was no longer sufficient to make a man an ætheling. When Ecgberht died in 839 he was succeeded by his son Æthelwulf; all subsequent West Saxon kings were Ecgberht's descendants, and were also sons of kings.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: At the beginning of the ninth century, England was almost wholly under the control of the Anglo-Saxons. The Midland kingdom of Mercia dominated southern England, but its supremacy came to an end in 825 when it was decisively defeated by Ecgberht at the Battle of Ellendun. The two kingdoms became allies, which was important in the resistance to Viking attacks. In 853, King Burgred of Mercia requested West Saxon help to suppress a Welsh rebellion, and Æthelwulf led a West Saxon contingent in a successful joint campaign. In the same year Burgred married Æthelwulf's daughter, Æthelswith.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: In 825, Ecgberht sent Æthelwulf to invade the Mercian sub-kingdom of Kent, and its underking, Baldred, was driven out shortly afterwards. By 830, Essex, Surrey and Sussex had also submitted to Ecgberht, and he had appointed Æthelwulf to rule the south-eastern territories as King of Kent. The Vikings ravaged the Isle of Sheppey in 835, and the following year they defeated Ecgberht at Carhampton in Somerset, but in 838 he was victorious over an alliance of Cornishmen and Vikings at the Battle of Hingston Down, reducing Cornwall to the status of a client kingdom. When Æthelwulf succeeded, he appointed his eldest son Æthelstan (who died in the early 850s) as sub-king of Kent. Ecgberht and Æthelwulf might not have intended a permanent union between Wessex and Kent as they both appointed sons as underkings and charters in Wessex were attested (witnessed) by West Saxon magnates, while Kentish charters were witnessed by the Kentish elite; both kings kept overall control and the underkings were not allowed to issue their own coinage.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Viking raids increased in the early 840s on both sides of the English Channel, and in 843 Æthelwulf was defeated at Carhampton. In 850 Æthelstan defeated a Danish fleet off Sandwich in the first recorded naval battle in English history. In 851 Æthelwulf and his second son Æthelbald defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Aclea and, according to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", "there made the greatest slaughter of a heathen raiding-army that we have heard tell of up to this present day, and there took the victory". Æthelwulf died in 858 and was succeeded by his oldest surviving son, Æthelbald, as king of Wessex and by his next oldest son, Æthelberht, as king of Kent. Æthelbald only survived his father by two years and Æthelberht then for the first time united Wessex and Kent into a single kingdom.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred was the fourth of five sons of King Æthelwulf. His mother, Osburh, was of West Saxon royal descent. According to the historian Sean Miller, Æthelred was probably a year or so older than his younger brother, the future Alfred the Great, who was born 848–9, but Richard Abels says that Æthelred was around eight years old in 853, which would mean he was born about 845. Manuscript A of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", which was written in the 890s, states that in 853 Alfred was sent by his father to Rome and was consecrated by the Pope as king. Historians do not believe that he was consecrated king at this young age and the real nature of the ceremony is explained in an extract from a letter of Pope Leo IV to Æthelwulf, which records that he decorated Alfred "as a spiritual son, with the dignity of the belt and the vestments of the consulate, as is customary with Roman consuls". The contemporary "Liber Vitae" (confraternity book) of San Salvatore, Brescia, records the names of both Æthelred and Alfred, indicating that both brothers went to Rome. It is likely that Æthelred was also decorated by the pope, but the ceremony was later regarded as foreshadowing Alfred's greatness and neither the chronicler nor the eleventh-century extractor from the Pope's letters were interested in recording the presence of his lesser known elder brother.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred first witnessed his father's charters as "filius regis" (king's son) in 854, and he witnessed with this title until he succeeded to the throne in 865. He may have acted as an underking before his accession, as in 862 and 863 he issued his own charters as King of the West Saxons. This must have been as deputy or in the absence of his elder brother, King Æthelberht, as there is no record of conflict between them and he continued to witness his brother's charters as a king's son in 864.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred succeeded to the throne on Æthelberht's death in 865, and he married Wulfthryth at an unknown date. West Saxon kings' wives had a low status in the ninth century and very little is known about them. They were not usually given the title of "regina" (queen), an omission which Alfred the Great justified on the ground of the misconduct of a queen at the beginning of the ninth century. The name of Æthelred's wife is only known because she was recorded as a witness to one charter, S 340 of 868, where she is shown as "Wulfthryth regina", suggesting that she had a higher status than other kings' wives. The only other ninth century king's wife known to have been given the title was Æthelwulf's second wife, Judith of Flanders, a great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. Wulfthryth and Æthelred had two known sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold. She might have been Mercian or a daughter of Wulfhere, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, who forfeited his lands after being charged with deserting King Alfred for the Danes in about 878, perhaps because he attempted to secure Viking support for his elder grandson Æthelhelm's claim to the throne against Alfred.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Alfred records in the preamble to his will that Æthelwulf had left property jointly to three of his sons, Æthelbald, Æthelred and Alfred, with the proviso that the brother who lived longest would succeed to all of it. When Æthelbald died in 860, Æthelred and Alfred, who were still young, agreed to entrust their share to the new king, Æthelberht, on a promise that he would return it to them intact. When Æthelred succeeded to the throne, Alfred asked him at a meeting of the witan (assembly of leading men) to give him his share of the property. However, Æthelred said that he had attempted many times to divide it but had found it too difficult, and he would instead leave the whole to Alfred on his death. Some historians see the bequest as including the whole of Æthelwulf's bookland, his personal property which he could leave in his will (as opposed to the folkland which passed according to customary law and property earmarked for the support of the crown); it is further argued that it was considered desirable that the bookland would be kept by the king, so Æthelwulf's provision implies that the throne would pass to each brother in turn. However, other historians assert that the bequest had nothing to do with the kingship, and Alfred Smyth argues that the bequest was provision for Æthelwulf's young sons when they reached adulthood, with Æthelbald as trustee and residuary beneficiary if they died young. When Alfred succeeded, the supporters of Æthelred's infant sons complained that Alfred should have shared the property with them, and Alfred had his father's will read to a meeting of the witan to prove his right to keep the whole of the property. Alfred rarely witnessed Æthelred's charters, and this together with the argument over their father's will suggests that they were not on good terms. The historian Pauline Stafford suggests that Æthelred chose to highlight his wife's status as queen in a charter in order to assert his own sons' claims to the succession.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: In 868, Æthelred issued a charter which was attested by a Mercian ætheling and himself attested a charter issued by his sister, Æthelswith, as queen of Mercia. Æthelred used several different titles in his charters. He is called by his father's usual title, "Rex Occidentalium Saxonum" (King of the West Saxons) in the charter of Ealhswith which he witnessed, and in five of his own. He is "King of the West Saxons and the Men of Kent" in two, and "King" and "King of the Saxons" in one each. The West Saxon charters of Æthelred and his elder brothers followed a uniform style, suggesting that they were produced by a single agency which operated over a number of years.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: The character of Viking attacks on England decisively changed in the year that Æthelred succeeded to the throne. Previously the country had suffered from sporadic raids, but now it faced invasion aiming at conquest and settlement. A large force of Vikings, called by contemporaries the Great Heathen Army, arrived in East Anglia. King Edmund purchased peace by paying tribute and the Vikings stayed a year building up their strength. They then marched on York and conquered Northumbria, installing a puppet king. In late 867 they took Nottingham in Mercia and spent the winter there. Æthelred's brother-in-law, King Burgred, appealed to him for help. Æthelred and Alfred led a large West Saxon army to Nottingham and besieged the Vikings, but they refused to leave the safety of the town's defences. The combined Mercian and West Saxon armies were unable to breach the earth ramparts and ditch, and eventually Burgred bought them off. The Vikings then went back to York.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: In 869 the Vikings returned to East Anglia and conquered the kingdom, killing King Edmund. In December 870 they launched an attempt to conquer Wessex led by Kings Bagsecg and Halfdan. They occupied Reading on around 28 December. The town is between the Thames and Kennet rivers, and they set about building a ditch and rampart on the southern side between the two rivers. Three days after their arrival they sent out a large foraging party, which was defeated by an army of local levies under the command of Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, at the Battle of Englefield. After another four days, on about 4 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred brought up the main West Saxon army and joined Æthelwulf's forces for an attack on the Danes in the Battle of Reading. The West Saxons fought their way to the town, slaughtering all the Danes they found outside, but when they reached the town gate the Vikings burst out and defeated the West Saxons with a successful counter-attack. Among the dead was Æthelwulf, whose body was secretly carried off to be buried in his native Derby. According to the twelfth-century chronicler Gaimar, Æthelred and Alfred only escaped due to their better knowledge of the local terrain, which allowed them to lose their pursuers by fording the River Loddon at Twyford and going on to Whistley Green, which is around east of Reading.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Four days later, on about 8 January, the armies met again in the Battle of Ashdown. The location of the battle is unknown, but may be Kingstanding Hill, north-west of Reading. According to Asser's account, the Vikings arrived first at the battle ground and deployed along the top of the ridge, giving them the advantage. They divided their forces into two contingents, one under their two kings and the other under their earls. When the West Saxons saw this, they decided to copy the formation, with Æthelred facing the kings and Alfred the earls. The king then retired to his tent to hear Mass, while Alfred led his forces to the battlefield. Both sides formed their forces into shield walls. Æthelred would not cut short his devotions and Alfred risked being outflanked and overwhelmed by the whole Danish army. He decided to attack and led his men in a charge. Battle then raged around a small thorn tree and finally the West Saxons were victorious. Although Asser emphasises Alfred's role in the victory and implies that Æthelred was dilatory, in the view of the military historian John Peddie, Æthelred was militarily correct to delay joining the battle until the situation was in his favour. The Vikings suffered heavy losses, including King Bagsecg and five earls, Sidroc the Old, Sidroc the Younger, Osbern, Fræna and Harold. The West Saxons followed the Viking flight until nightfall, cutting them down. The historian Barbara Yorke, who sees Asser's biography as intended to portray Alfred as an ideal king, comments that "Asser is particularly careful to give much credit to Alfred".


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: However, the victory was short-lived. Two weeks later, Æthelred and Alfred were defeated at the royal estate of Basing in the Battle of Basing. There was then a lull of two months until the West Saxons and the Vikings met at an unknown location called Meretun. In the battle on 22 March the Vikings again divided into two divisions and the West Saxons had the advantage for much of the day, putting both divisions to flight, but the Vikings regrouped and finally held control of the battlefield. The West Saxons lost many important men, including Heahmund, the Bishop of Sherborne.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: In the late eighth and ninth centuries the only denomination of coin produced in southern England was the silver penny. As of 2007, 152 coins of Æthelred struck by 32 different moneyers have been recorded. His reign is described by the numismatists Adrian Lyons and William Mackay as "a critical point in the development of the English coinage". His first Four Line issue was stylistically similar to the Floriate Cross penny of his predecessor, Æthelberht, but he soon abandoned this and adopted the design of his Mercian brother-in-law, Burgred, resulting in a common coinage design across southern England for the first time. The historian and numismatist Rory Naismith comments that Æthelred


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: took the important step of adopting a new coin-type based not on local tradition, but on the Lunettes-type current in contemporary Mercia. The year 865 thus saw not only the arrival of the Viking great army that would dismantle most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but also the beginning of the end for separate coinages in separate kingdoms.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: The developments of the late 860s can thus be viewed as an essential precursor that eventually led to the unified reform coinage of Edgar. This convergence of the coinage is also tangible evidence for a growing collaboration between Mercia and Wessex which foreshadowed the eventual creation of a unified England.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: The single coinage design created a form of monetary union in southern England, reinforcing the mingling of economic interests between the two kingdoms and the military alliance against the Vikings. Coin hoards in Wessex dating to the earlier period of separate coinage designs have few non-Wessex coins, but after the adoption of the common Lunettes design, coins of Wessex and Mercia were used in both kingdoms, and even in Wessex hoards coins of Æthelred I form a minor proportion of the total. Between one and one and a half million Æthelred I Regular Lunette coins were produced, but this seems to have been significantly less than in Mercia. It is not known why the Mercian design was adopted, but it probably reflects the fact that the Lunette type had already been used for more than twelve years, the simplicity of the design, which could easily be copied, and the greater strength of the Mercian economy. The bulk of surviving Æthelred I coins are of the Regular Lunettes design, with 118 coins struck by 21 moneyers, six of whom are known to have also worked for Burgred; the coins are notable for consistency in design and good quality of execution, and they were mainly produced by Canterbury moneyers, with a few in the Mercian town of London. Only one coin is known which was produced in Wessex itself. There were also Irregular Lunettes issues, one of which was a degraded and crude variant, perhaps a result of a breakdown in controls at the end of Æthelred's reign, when Wessex was under the pressure of Viking attacks. Alfred kept the Lunettes design for a short period following his accession in 871, but the design disappears from hoards deposited after around 875.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Shortly after Easter 871, which fell on 15 April in that year, Æthelred died. According to Asser, he "went the way of all flesh, having vigorously and honourably ruled the kingdom in good repute, amid many difficulties, for five years". He was buried at the royal minster at Wimborne in Dorset, which had been founded by Saint Cuthburh, a sister of his ancestor, Ingild. While Alfred was attending his funeral, the West Saxons suffered another defeat at Reading, and Alfred himself was then defeated at Wilton. He was forced to buy off the Vikings, who then withdrew to London. In 876, the Vikings returned, and Alfred fought a guerrilla war until he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878.


title: Æthelred I of Wessex

text: Æthelred had two sons, and if he had lived until they were adults it is unlikely that Alfred would ever have become king, but as they were still young children Alfred succeeded. Æthelhelm died before Alfred, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with Edward the Elder after Alfred's death in 899. One of the two places where Æthelwold launched his rebellion was Wimborne, which was symbolically important as his father's burial place. Æthelred's descendants played an important role in governing the country in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. They include Ealdorman Æthelweard, who recorded in his Latin version of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" that he was Æthelred's great-great-grandson. King Eadwig was forced to accept annulment of his marriage to Ælfgifu due to consanguinity; she may have been Æthelweard's sister, which would make her Eadwig's third cousin once removed due to her descent from Æthelred, and thus within the forbidden degrees of relationship according to the church. Æthelweard and his son Æthelmær were leading magnates who governed west Wessex as ealdormen of the western provinces. The family lost their positions and property after Cnut conquered England in 1016, and one of Æthelmær's sons was executed by Cnut in 1017, while a son-in-law was banished in 1020. Another son, Æthelnoth, was Archbishop of Canterbury, and he lived until 1038.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Mark the Evangelist (; ; ; Ge'ez: ማርቆስ; ), also known as Saint Mark, is the person who is traditionally ascribed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. According to Church tradition, Mark founded the episcopal see of Alexandria, which was one of the five most important sees of early Christianity. His feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: According to William Lane (1974), an "unbroken tradition" identifies Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, and John Mark as the cousin of Barnabas. However, Hippolytus of Rome in "On the Seventy Apostles" distinguishes Mark the Evangelist (2 Tim 4:11), John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37), and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10; Phlm 1:24). According to Hippolytus, they all belonged to the "Seventy Disciples" who were sent out by Jesus to disseminate the gospel (Luke 10:1ff.) in Judea.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: According to Eusebius of Caesarea ("Eccl. Hist." 2.9.1–4), Herod Agrippa I, in his first year of reign over the whole of Judea (AD 41), killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, planning to kill him after the Passover. Peter was saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the realm of Herod (Acts 12:1–19). Peter went to Antioch, then through Asia Minor (visiting the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, as mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1), and arrived in Rome in the second year of Emperor Claudius (AD 42; Eusebius, Eccl, Hist. 2.14.6). Somewhere on the way, Peter encountered Mark and took him as travel companion and interpreter. Mark the Evangelist wrote down the sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark ("Eccl. Hist." 15–16), before he left for Alexandria in the third year of Claudius (AD 43).


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: According to tradition, in AD 49, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark travelled to Alexandria and founded the Church of Alexandria – today, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and the Coptic Catholic Church trace their origins to this original community. Aspects of the Coptic liturgy can be traced back to Mark himself. He became the first bishop of Alexandria and he is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: According to Eusebius ("Eccl. Hist." 2.24.1), Mark was succeeded by Anianus as the bishop of Alexandria in the eighth year of Nero (62/63), probably, but not definitely, due to his coming death. Later Coptic tradition says that he was martyred in 68.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Modern Bible scholars have concluded that the Gospel of Mark was written by an anonymous author rather than by Mark.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Evidence for Mark the Evangelist's authorship of the Gospel that bears his name originates with Papias(c. 60 – c. 130 AD). Scholars of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School are "almost certain" that Papias is referencing John Mark. Modern mainstream Bible scholars find Papias's information difficult to interpret.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: The Coptic Church accords with identifying Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, as well as that he was one of the Seventy Disciples sent out by Christ (Luke 10:1), as Hippolytus confirmed. Coptic tradition also holds that Mark the Evangelist hosted the disciples in his house after Jesus's death, that the resurrected Jesus Christ came to Mark's house (John 20), and that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost in the same house. Furthermore, Mark is also believed to have been among the servants at the Marriage at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine (John 2:1–11).


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: According to the Coptic tradition, Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa (now Libya). This tradition adds that Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by Paul to Colossae (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24. Some, however, think these actually refer to Mark the Cousin of Barnabas), and serving with him in Rome (2 Tim 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to Alexandria. When Mark returned to Alexandria, the pagans of the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. In AD 68, they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: The Feast of St Mark is observed on April 25 by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. For those Churches still using the Julian Calendar, April 25 according to it aligns with May 8 on the Gregorian Calendar until the year 2099. The Coptic Orthodox Church observes the Feast of St Mark on Parmouti 30 according to the Coptic Calendar which always aligns with April 25 on the Julian Calendar or May 8 on the Gregorian Calendar.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Where John Mark is distinguished from Mark the Evangelist, John Mark is celebrated on September 27 (as in the Roman Martyrology) and Mark the Evangelist on April 25.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Mark is remembered in the Church of England and in much of the Anglican Communion, with a Festival on 25 April.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Mark the Evangelist is most often depicted writing or holding his gospel. In Christian tradition, Mark the Evangelist is symbolized by a lion.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Mark the Evangelist attributes are the lion in the desert; he can be depicted as a bishop on a throne decorated with lions; as a man helping Venetian sailors. He is often depicted holding a book with "pax tibi Marce" written on it or holding a palm and book. Other depictions of Mark show him as a man with a book or scroll, accompanied by a winged lion. The lion might also be associated with Jesus' Resurrection because lions were believed to sleep with open eyes, thus a comparison with Christ in his tomb, and Christ as king.


title: Mark the Evangelist

text: Mark the Evangelist can be depicted as a man with a halter around his neck and as rescuing Christian slaves from Saracens.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: USS "Intrepid" (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, "Intrepid" participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. She was the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit in separate attacks by four Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I".


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Decommissioned for the second time in 1974, in 1982 "Intrepid" became the foundation of the "Intrepid" Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: The keel for "Intrepid" was laid down on 1 December 1941 in Shipway 10 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into World War II. She was launched on 26 April 1943, the fifth to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover. On 16 August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training. She thereafter returned to Norfolk, before departing on 3 December, bound for San Francisco. She proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving there on 10 January, where she began preparations to join the rest of the Pacific Fleet for offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Navy.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: "Intrepid" joined the Fast Carrier Task Force, then Task Force 58 (TF 58), for the next operation in the island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific: the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. On 16 January 1944, "Intrepid", her sister ship , and the light carrier left Pearl Harbor to conduct a raid on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll from 29 January to 2 February. The three carriers' air group destroyed all 83 Japanese aircraft stationed on Roi-Namur in the first two days of the strikes, before Marines went ashore on neighboring islands on 31 January in the Battle of Kwajalein. That morning, aircraft from "Intrepid" attacked Japanese beach defenses on Ennuebing Island until ten minutes before the first Marines landed. The Marines quickly took the island and used it as a fire base to support the follow-on attack on Roi.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: After the fighting in the Kwajalein Atoll finished, on 3 February, "Intrepid" and the rest of TF 58 proceeded to launch Operation Hailstone, a major raid on the main Japanese naval base in the Central Pacific, Truk Lagoon. From 17 to 19 February, the carriers pounded Japanese forces in the lagoon, sinking two destroyers and some of merchant ships. The strikes demonstrated the vulnerability of Truk, which convinced the Japanese to avoid using it in the future. "Intrepid" did not emerge from the operation unscathed, however; on the night of 17–18 February, a Japanese torpedo bomber (given the designation "Raid Easy" by "Intrepid's" CIC) scored a hit on the carrier near her stern. The torpedo struck below the waterline, jamming the ship's rudder to port and flooding several compartments. Sprague was able to counteract the jammed rudder for two days by running the port side screw at high speed while idling the starboard screw, until high winds overpowered the improvised steering. The crew then jury-rigged a sail out of scrap canvas and hatch covers, which allowed the ship to return to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 24 February. Temporary repairs were effected there, after which "Intrepid" steamed on 16 March to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for permanent repairs, arriving there six days later.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: The work was completed by 9 June, and "Intrepid" began two months of training around Pearl Harbor. Starting in early September, "Intrepid" joined operations in the western Caroline Islands; the Fast Carrier Task Force was now part of the Third Fleet under Admiral William Halsey Jr., and had been renamed Task Force 38. On 6 and 7 September, she conducted air strikes on Japanese artillery batteries and airfields on the island of Peleliu, in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu. On 9 and 10 September, she and the rest of the fleet moved on to attack airfields on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, followed by further strikes on bases in the Visayan Sea between 12 and 14 September. On 17 September, "Intrepid" returned to Pelelieu to provide air support to the Marines that had landed on the island two days before.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: "Intrepid" and the other carriers then returned to the Philippines to prepare for the Philippines campaign. At this time, "Intrepid" was assigned to Task Group 38.2. In addition to targets in the Philippines themselves, the carriers also struck Japanese airfields on the islands of Formosa and Okinawa to degrade Japanese air power in the region. On 20 October, at the start of the Battle of Leyte, "Intrepid" launched strikes to support Allied forces as they went ashore on the island of Leyte. By this time Halsey had reduced the carriers of TG 38.2, commanded by Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan aboard "Intrepid", to just "Intrepid", "Cabot", and the light carrier .


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Between 23 and 26 October, the Japanese Navy launched a major operation to disrupt the Allied landings in the Philippines, resulting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the morning of 24 October, a reconnaissance aircraft from "Intrepid" spotted Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's flagship, . Two hours later, "Intrepid" and "Cabot" launched a strike on Kurita's Center Force, initiating the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea; this included eight Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers from "Intrepid", which launched their attack at 10:27. One bomb struck the roof of Turret No. 1, failing to penetrate. Two minutes later, the battleship "Musashi" was struck starboard amidships by a torpedo from a Grumman TBF Avenger, also from "Intrepid". The Japanese shot down two Avengers. Another eight Helldivers from "Intrepid" attacked "Musashi" again at around noon, scoring two more hits, with two Helldivers shot down. Three minutes later, nine Avengers attacked from both sides of the ship, scoring three torpedo hits on the port side. Further strikes from and inflicted several more bomb and torpedo hits at around 13:30. At 15:25, 37 aircraft from "Intrepid", the fleet carrier , and "Cabot" attacked "Musashi", hitting her with 13 bombs and 11 torpedoes for the loss of three Avengers and three Helldivers. In addition to the loss of "Musashi", many of Kurita's other ships, including battleships "Yamato", and , and heavy cruiser were damaged in the attacks, forcing him to break off the operation temporarily.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: After Kurita's force began to withdraw, Halsey ordered TF 38 to steam north to intercept the aircraft carriers of the Northern Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa. Bogan correctly perceived that Ozawa's force was intended to lure TF 38 away from the landing area to allow Kurita to attack it, but Halsey overruled him and several other Task Group commanders who voiced similar concerns. Early on 25 October, aircraft from "Intrepid" and the other carriers launched a strike on the Japanese carriers. Aircraft from "Intrepid" scored hits on the carrier and possibly the carrier . Further strikes throughout the morning resulted in the sinking of four Japanese aircraft carriers and a destroyer in the Battle off Cape Engaño. Halsey's preoccupation with the Northern Force allowed Kurita the respite he needed to turn his force back to the east, push through the San Bernardino Strait, where it engaged the light forces of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts that were directly covering the landing force in the Battle off Samar. Kurita nevertheless failed to break through the American formation, and ultimately broke off the attack.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 27 October, TG 38.2 returned to operations over Luzon; these included a raid on Manila on 29 October. That day, a kamikaze suicide aircraft hit "Intrepid" on one of her port side gun positions; ten men were killed and another six were wounded, but damage was minimal. A Japanese air raid on 25 November struck the fleet shortly after noon. Two kamikazes crashed into "Intrepid", killing sixty-nine men and causing a serious fire. The ship remained on station, however, and the fires were extinguished within two hours. She was detached for repairs the following day, and reached San Francisco on 20 December.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In the middle of February 1945, back in fighting trim, the carrier steamed for Ulithi, arriving on 13 March. She set off westward for strikes on Japan on 14 March and four days later launched strikes against airfields on Kyūshū. That morning a twin-engined Japanese G4M "Betty" broke through a curtain of defensive fire, turned toward "Intrepid", and exploded 50 ft (15 m) off "Intrepid"s forward boat crane. A shower of flaming gasoline and aircraft parts started fires on the hangar deck, but damage control teams quickly put them out. "Intrepid"s aircraft joined attacks on remnants of the Japanese fleet anchored at Kure damaging 18 enemy naval vessels, including battleship "Yamato" and carrier . The carriers turned to Okinawa as L-Day, the start of the most ambitious amphibious assault of the Pacific war, approached. Between 26 and 27 March, their aircraft attacked the Ryūkyūs, softening up enemy defensive works. The invasion began on 1 April. "Intrepid" aircraft flew support missions against targets on Okinawa and made neutralizing raids against Japanese airfields in range of the island. On 16 April, during an air raid, a Japanese aircraft dived into "Intrepid"s flight deck; the engine and part of the fuselage penetrated the deck, killing eight men and wounding 21. In less than an hour the flaming gasoline had been extinguished; three hours after the crash, aircraft were again landing on the carrier.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 17 April, "Intrepid" retired homeward via Ulithi. She made a stop at Pearl Harbor on 11 May, arriving at San Francisco for repairs on 19 May. On 29 June, the carrier left San Francisco. On 6 August, her aircraft launched strikes against Japanese on bypassed Wake Island. "Intrepid" arrived at Eniwetok on the next day. On 15 August, when the Japanese surrendered, she received word to "cease offensive operations." "Intrepid" got under way on 21 August to support the occupation of Japan. On 2 December, she left Yokosuka and arrived at San Pedro, California, on 15 December.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 4 February 1946, "Intrepid" moved to San Francisco Bay. The carrier was reduced in status to "commission in reserve" on 15 August, and she was decommissioned on 22 March 1947. After her decommissioning, "Intrepid" became part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. On 9 February 1952, she was recommissioned and on 12 March began the voyage to Norfolk, where the carrier would receive SCB-27C modernization to operate jet aircraft as an attack aircraft carrier. On 9 April, "Intrepid" was temporarily decommissioned for the modernization at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. On 1 October, she was reclassified as attack carrier CVA-11 and recommissioned in reserve on 18 June 1954. On 13 October, the carrier became the first to launch aircraft with American-built steam catapults. Two days later, "Intrepid" became part of the Atlantic Fleet in full commission.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In 1955, "Intrepid" conducted her shakedown cruise out of Guantánamo Bay. On 28 May, she departed Mayport, Florida, for the first of two deployments in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet. "Intrepid" returned to Norfolk from the second deployment on 5 September. On 29 September, she entered the New York Navy Yard for her SCB-125 modernization, which added an enclosed bow and an angled flight deck. After the end of the modernization in April 1957, "Intrepid" conducted refresher training out of Guantánamo Bay. In September, she participated in Operation Strikeback, the largest peacetime naval exercise up to that time in history, which simulated a Soviet attack on NATO. In December, operating from Norfolk, she conducted Operation Crosswind, a study of the effects of wind on carrier launches. The study proved that carriers could safely conduct flight operations without turning into the wind and even launch aircraft while steaming downwind. Between 1958 and 1961, "Intrepid" alternated Mediterranean deployments with operations along the Atlantic coast of the United States and exercises in the Caribbean.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: "Intrepid" was reclassified to an anti-submarine warfare carrier, CVS-11, on 8 December 1961. On 10 March 1962, the carrier entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for overhaul and refit for her new anti-submarine warfare role. After the completion of the overhaul and refit, she departed on 2 April with Carrier Antisubmarine Air Group 56 embarked. After training exercises, "Intrepid" was selected as the principal ship in the recovery team for astronaut Scott Carpenter and his Project Mercury space capsule, "Aurora 7". Shortly before noon on 24 May 1962, Carpenter splashed down in "Aurora 7" northeast of Puerto Rico and several hundred miles from "Intrepid". Minutes after he was located by land-based search aircraft, two helicopters from "Intrepid", carrying NASA officials, medical experts, Navy frogmen, and photographers, were airborne and headed to the rescue. One of the helicopters picked him up over an hour later and flew him to the carrier, which safely returned him to the United States. "Intrepid" spent the summer of 1962 training midshipmen at sea, and received a thorough overhaul at Norfolk in the fall.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 23 January 1963, the carrier departed Hampton Roads for warfare exercises in the Caribbean. In late February, she interrupted these operations to join a sea hunt for the Venezuelan freighter "Anzoátegui", which had been hijacked by a group of pro-Castro mutineers led by the second mate. After the mutineers had surrendered at Rio de Janeiro, the carrier returned to Norfolk on 23 March. "Intrepid" operated along the Atlantic Coast for the next year from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean perfecting her antisubmarine techniques. On 11 June 1964, she left Norfolk carrying midshipmen to the Mediterranean for a hunter-killer at sea training with the 6th Fleet. While in the Mediterranean, "Intrepid" aided in the surveillance of a Soviet task group. En route home her crew learned that she had won the coveted Battle Efficiency "E" for antisubmarine warfare during the previous fiscal year. In the fall of 1964, the carrier operated along the East Coast. In early September, "Intrepid" entertained 22 NATO statesmen as part of their tour of U.S. military installations. Between 18 and 19 October 1964, "Intrepid" was at Yorktown for ceremonies commemorating Lord Cornwallis's surrender 183 years before. The French Ambassador attended the ceremony and presented the U.S. with 12 cannon cast from molds found in the Bastille, replicas of those brought to American forces by Lafayette.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On the night of 21 November, during a brief deployment off North Carolina, airman Jenner Sanders, who had fallen overboard while driving an aircraft towing tractor, was rescued. In early 1965, "Intrepid" began preparations for a role in NASA's first manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3. On 23 March, Lieutenant Commander John Young and Major Gus Grissom in "Molly Brown" (the Gemini 3 spacecraft) splashed down some from "Intrepid", after the first controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere ended their three-orbit flight aboard Gemini 3. A Navy helicopter flew the astronauts to "Intrepid" for medical examination and debriefing. Later, "Intrepid" retrieved "Molly Brown" and returned the spacecraft and astronauts to Cape Kennedy.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: After this mission "Intrepid" entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard in April for a major overhaul to bring her back to peak combat readiness. This was the final Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization job performed by the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, which was scheduled to close. In September 1965, "Intrepid", with her work approximately 75% completed, eased down the East River to moor at the Naval Supply Depot at Bayonne, New Jersey, for the completion of her multimillion-dollar overhaul. After builder's sea trials and fitting out at Norfolk she sailed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on a shakedown cruise.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: From April 1966 to February 1969, "Intrepid" made three Vietnam deployments, with Carrier Air Wing 10 embarked. Mid-1966 found "Intrepid" with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam. Nine A-4 Skyhawks and six A-1 Skyraiders, loaded with bombs and rockets, were catapulted in seven minutes, with only a 28-second interval between launches. A few days later planes were launched at 26-second intervals. After seven months of service with the United States Seventh Fleet off Vietnam, "Intrepid" returned to Norfolk having earned her commanding officer, Captain John W. Fair, the Legion of Merit for combat operations in Southeast Asia.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 9 October 1966 Lieutenant, junior grade William T. Patton of VA-176 from "Intrepid", flying a propeller driven A-1H Skyraider, shot down one MiG-17. For the action, Lieutenant (jg) Patton was awarded the Silver Star.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In June 1967, "Intrepid" returned to the Western Pacific by way of the Suez Canal just before it closed due to the Israeli-Arab crisis. There she began another tour with the Seventh Fleet.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In 1968, "Intrepid" won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. For Carrier Air Wing 10's final cruise aboard "Intrepid" from 4 June 1968 to 8 February 1969 off Southeast Asia, the wing consisted of VF-111 Detachment 11 (F-8C), VA-106 with the A-4E, VA-66 Waldos (A-4C), VFP-63 Detachment 11 (RF-8G), VA-36 'Roadrunners' (A-4C), VAQ-33 Detachment 11 (EA-1F), VAW-121 Detachment 11 (E-1B), and HC-2 Detachment 11.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In 1969, "Intrepid" was home ported at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, relieving as the flagship for Commander Carrier Division 16. In the fall, the ship was run aground by Captain Horus E. Moore, but was freed within two hours. From April–October 1971, "Intrepid" took part in NATO exercises, and made calls in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean ports of Lisbon, Plymouth, Kiel, Naples, Cannes, Barcelona, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Greenock, Rosyth, Portsmouth, and Bergen. During this cruise, submarine detection operations were conducted in the Baltic and at the edge of the Barents Sea above the Arctic Circle, under close scrutiny of Soviet air and naval forces. She subsequently returned to her homeport to be refitted.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Beginning in July 1972, "Intrepid" participated once again in NATO exercises, visiting Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Bergen, Brussels, Portsmouth and Gourock. "Intrepid" found herself in the Barents and made round the clock flight operations as she was above the Arctic Circle. She cut her North Atlantic cruise short, returning to Quonset Point for a mini-overhaul. She made her final cruise in the Mediterranean, stopping twice in Barcelona and Malaga Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Nice, France; Naples, Italy; Palma, Majorca; and Piraeus, Greece once. Due to fuel limitations "Intrepid" spent as much time in port as she did underway.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In 1976, "Intrepid" was moored at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia and hosted exhibits as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Plans originally called for "Intrepid" to be scrapped after decommissioning, but a campaign led by Michael D. Piccola, president of the nonprofit organization Odysseys in Flight saved the carrier and established it as a museum ship. In August 1982, the ship opened at Pier 86 on the Hudson River in New York City as the "Intrepid" Sea, Air & Space Museum. Four years later, "Intrepid" was officially designated as a National Historic Landmark.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: Over the years "Intrepid" hosted many events including wrestling, press conferences, and parties, and served as the FBI operations center after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: The "Intrepid" museum operated a fund for its restoration, raising over $60 million to refit "Intrepid", to improve its exhibits for visitors, and improve Pier 86.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: In early July 2006, it was announced that "Intrepid" would undergo renovations and repairs, along with Pier 86 itself. It closed on 1 October 2006, in preparation for being towed to Bayonne, New Jersey, for repairs, and later Staten Island, New York, for renovation and temporary docking.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 6 November 2006 the aircraft carrier could not be moved due to 24 years worth of accumulated silt; a $3 million program dredged away the mud and silt over three weeks. On 5 December 2006 "Intrepid" was removed from its pier and was towed to Bayonne.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: At Staten Island, "Intrepid" received an $8 million interior renovation. The forecastle (fo'c'sle, commonly known as the anchor chain room), general berthing quarters and the ship's machine shop were opened to the public for the first time. The hangar deck layout and design were improved. Around 1,200 tons of steel were removed and 339 epoxy-coated steel pilings 60 to 183 feet long were installed. 7,000 gallons of paint were used to re-paint the interior, hull, towers, and decks. Total cost of the renovation was $120 million—$55 million for the ship and $65 million for Pier 86.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: The carrier was towed back into place on the Hudson River on 2 October 2008 and reopened to the public on 8 November.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: On 12 December 2011, ownership of the Space Shuttle "Enterprise" was officially transferred to the "Intrepid" Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. On 27 April 2012 "Enterprise" was flown from Dulles International Airport for a fly-by over the Hudson River, New York's JFK International Airport, the Statue of Liberty, the George Washington and Verrazano-Narrows Bridges, and several other landmarks in the city in an approximately 45-minute "final tour", landing at JFK International Airport.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: The shuttle was returned by barge to Hangar 1 on 12 May 2012 and taken to the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan on 6 June.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: "Enterprise" went on public display on 19 July 2012, at the "Intrepid" Museum's new Space Shuttle Pavilion.


title: USS Intrepid (CV-11)

text: "Intrepid" earned five battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II, and a further three battle stars for Vietnam service.


title: Ken Berry

text: Kenneth Ronald Berry (November 3, 1933 – December 1, 2018) was an American actor, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series "F Troop", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Mayberry R.F.D." and "Mama's Family". He also appeared on Broadway in "The Billy Barnes Revue", headlined as George M. Cohan in the musical "George M!" and provided comic relief for the medical drama "Dr. Kildare" with Richard Chamberlain in the 1960s.


title: Ken Berry

text: Berry was born in Moline in Northwestern Illinois, one of two children of an accountant, Darrell Berry, and his wife, Bernice. Berry was of Swedish-English descent.


title: Ken Berry

text: Berry realized he wanted to be a dancer and singer at age 12, as he watched a children's dance performance during a school assembly. He then dreamed of starring in musicals and went to movie theaters to watch Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in some of his favorite films such as "Easter Parade", "Royal Wedding", "On the Town", and "Summer Stock". Berry soon began attending tap dance classes, and by age 15 he won a local talent competition sponsored by radio and television big band leader Horace Heidt. Impressed by the young dancer's talent, Heidt asked him to join his popular traveling performance ensemble, "The Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program". Berry accepted and toured the United States and Europe for 15 months, dancing and singing for the public and at post-World War II United States Air Force bases overseas. Berry during those months made lasting relationships with several ensemble members, including Heidt's son, Horace Jr., who later launched a big band and radio career.


title: Ken Berry

text: After high school graduation, Berry volunteered for the United States Army, and was assigned to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina.


title: Ken Berry

text: His first year in the Army was spent in the artillery, where he entered a post talent contest; the winner went on Arlene Francis' "Soldier Parade" in New York City. Berry, who always carried his tap shoes with him, worked out a routine and a few hours later won the contest. He headed to New York for his television debut.


title: Ken Berry

text: Berry's second and final year in the Army was with Special Services, under Sergeant Leonard Nimoy, who encouraged Berry to go to Hollywood and pursue acting. As a part of Special Services, he toured Army posts and officers' clubs entertaining the troops, as well as visiting colleges for recruiting purposes. Soon, another talent competition was held, the All Army Talent Competition, looking to find service personnel to appear on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town". Berry placed third in the "Specialty Act" category with the song "There'll Be Some Changes Made" and returned to New York City and television.


title: Ken Berry

text: The Sullivan appearance was to take place shortly before Berry would muster out of the Army. Nimoy sent telegrams to several studios and talent agents asking them to watch Berry on the show. The performance led to an offer from 20th Century Fox and a screen test at Universal Studios. He signed with an agent as soon as he arrived in Hollywood.


title: Ken Berry

text: Berry accepted Universal's offer and began as a contract player. Soon he was being groomed to take over for Donald O'Connor in the "Francis the Talking Mule" movie series; however, Mickey Rooney became available and got the part. At Universal, Berry took full advantage of the studio's talent development program, and later, under the G.I. Bill, he took jazz dance, ballet, vocal, and additional acting classes.