title: Howard the Duck

text: Howard the Duck makes cameo appearances in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, voiced by Seth Green.


title: Howard the Duck

text: Plans have also occurred for Howard the Duck to star in his own film. In 2016, Rob Zombie claimed that he had pitched a "Howard the Duck" film to Marvel, but was turned down. After a rumor in June 2017 incorrectly stated that Marvel Studios was developing a film based Howard the Duck that would involve Gunn as a producer, Gunn confirmed that September that a film for the character was not being made. He said that while there were several comics characters he loved, he was "not making films of them all". In June 2018, Lea Thompson revealed that she was preparing to meet with Marvel Studios about her pitch for a new Howard the Duck film she wanted to direct, after previously starring in the 1986 film as Beverly Switzler. Thompson had developed the pitch to be set in the MCU, and worked on it "for a really long time" with modern Howard the Duck comic book writers Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones, who had included her as a character in one of their comic runs. That September, Thompson said Marvel Studios loved her pitch, but told her they had no plans for a Howard the Duck film and they would contact her again following the development of their MCU television series on Disney+. Thompson expressed further interest in directing an MCU reboot for the character following his appearance in "What If...?".


title: Howard the Duck

text: Howard the Duck makes a vocal cameo in the Disney California Adventure attraction , voiced again by Seth Green. He mocks the Collector's misfortune over an intercom following the latter's creatures and the Guardians of the Galaxy escaping his collection. In addition, Howard can briefly be seen in the background of the Collector's welcome video in the attraction's queue.


title: Howard the Duck

text: Between June 6, 1977 and October 29, 1978, Howard the Duck appeared in a syndicated daily comic strip that comic strip historian Allan Holtz has described as having low distribution and that was eventually replaced by the "Incredible Hulk" comic strip. The strip was syndicated in almost 70 newspapers (by the Register and Tribune Syndicate), including the "Toronto Star" and "Spokane Daily Chronicle". When the strip was dropped by the "Cleveland Plain Dealer", a Cleveland TV station began televising the strip for two minutes each night.


title: Howard the Duck

text: A total of eleven story arcs, as well as a number of single-joke strips, constitute the 511 individual strips that were printed.


title: Howard the Duck

text: The strip started with original stories written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Gene Colan: "Pop Syke -- The Consciousness of Success", "The Cult of Entropy" and "Fred Feenix the Self-Made Man". The latter was started by Colan and completed by Val Mayerik, who stayed on to do two additional Gerber-scripted stories: "The Sleigh Jacking" and "In Search of the Good Life".


title: Howard the Duck

text: These were followed by an adaptation of the "Sleep of the Just" story from issue #4 of the Marvel comic, scripted by Gerber and illustrated by Alan Kupperberg. Gerber was fired from the strip in early 1978 over chronic problems with deadlines. He was replaced by Marv Wolfman as writer, while Alan Kupperberg continued as artist. The remaining stories were: "Close Encounters of the Fowl Kind", "The Tuesday Ruby", "The Clone Ranger", "Bye Bye, Beverly" and "The Mystery of the Maltese Human". As the series drew to an end, its already meager list of client papers shrank, making copies of these last post-Gerber stories particularly hard to find.


title: Howard the Duck

text: In November 1978, the first of a projected eight-issue series reprinting the entire strip was published by John Zawadzki. Titled "It's Adventure Time With...Howard the Duck", only the initial issue was published.


title: Howard the Duck

text: In 1980, a pilot for a radio show version of Howard was recorded. James Belushi played the role of Howard, although the program was never aired.


title: Howard the Duck

text: Michael Burkett of the Orange County Register described Howard the Duck as a "cantankerous, stogie-chomping, nattily dressed" antihero with an "acerbic wit, irascible personality and down-and-dirty street smarts" that distinguished him from other cartoon animal characters. Burkett likened Howard to "Donald Duck cross-bred with Groucho Marx and Jean-Paul Sartre." He wrote that Howard's "cult-worshipped" 1970s comic book series brought the "surrealism, social commentary, political satire and what-the-hell-am-I-doing-here philosophy" of 1960s "underground comics" into the mainstream. The New Yorker said Howard believed in "mainstream social Darwinism" and was "a web-footed Eric Hoffer." Kenneth Turan of The Washington Post called Howard "an Everyman with feathers, forever shooting his mouth off, battling a gloomy reality."


title: Howard the Duck

text: Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas thought that Howard, as a "funny animal" character, was inappropriate for the horror comic book in which he was introduced. He told Gerber to dispose of the character "as fast as you can." After Gerber showed Howard seemingly dying by falling into a void, Marvel's "office was flooded with letters" of protest. One fan even sent in a duck carcass to make his point. At San Diego Comic-Con, the auditorium stood up and applauded when a fan asked Thomas if Howard would ever come back. Marvel responded by bringing Howard back for more appearances and soon launching his own self-titled comic book series.


title: Howard the Duck

text: Howard the Duck #1 "was the best-selling book Marvel ever had (that wasn’t based on a movie)" according to artist Frank Brunner. The debut issue of his series instantly became a target of speculators and "occasionally sold for as much as $25." Comic-book dealer Jim Kovacs said he followed a delivery truck on the day of its release and "bought 900 copies right off the newsstands." Marvel's circulation director Ed Shukin said he "underestimated" demand, only printing 275,000 copies, the minimum amount allowed at the time. By December 1977, the issue was selling for an average price of $12.50, which comic book price guide publisher Robert Overstreet described as "the most phenomenal growth of any comic book that has been published." Gerber was angry about the hoarding situation, "I felt as if the book had been sabotaged by the very people who supposedly liked the character." He suspected that the lack of availability of issue #1 eventually led to lower sales on the entire series. Howard's first issue has been cited as "the first big speculative book in the collectors market" for comic books.


title: Howard the Duck

text: The Howard the Duck comic book has been described as "the first successful title aimed at an older audience." Former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter said that Howard "had developed some cult favorite status that extended as far as Hollywood." During post-production on "Star Wars", George Lucas showed issue #1 to his friends and collaborators Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, telling them, "this would make a great movie." Gerber was surprised at how quickly the character attracted mainstream media attention. He was contacted for interviews by New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and others.


title: Howard the Duck

text: "Precious", a song written by Chrissie Hynde for The Pretenders' first album, features the lyric "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed / Trapped in a world they never made". According to lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, quoted in "Beat" magazine, "Chrissie used to read "Howard the Duck" comic books and then she introduced Howard to [bassist] Pete [Farndon] and Pete was well over the top on it. He's got every "Howard the Duck" comic ever."


title: Howard the Duck

text: After Gerber parted ways with Marvel in 1978 amid numerous legal and creative disputes, and other writers took over for him, Howard the Duck's popularity diminished rapidly. Stan Lee, Shooter and Gerber himself criticized the post-Gerber stories for their lack of substance and clever humor. Within three years of Gerber's departure, Marvel had ceased publishing new Howard the Duck material. Lucasfilm's big-budget 1986 "Howard the Duck" movie disappointed critics, audiences and the character's fans alike. Although Marvel has occasionally released new Howard comic books, some written by Gerber, and sometimes features the character in other media, Howard's popularity has never again approached what it was in the 1970s.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the border with Wales. Including suburban areas, Gloucester has a population of around 150,000. It is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester was founded by the Romans and became an important city and "colony" in AD 97 under Emperor Nerva as "Colonia Glevum Nervensis".


title: Gloucester

text: It was granted its first charter in 1155 by Henry II. In 1216, Henry III, aged only nine years, was crowned with a gilded iron ring in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral. Gloucester's significance in the Middle Ages is underlined by the fact that it had a number of monastic establishments, including: St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 (later Gloucester Cathedral), the nearby St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester founded in the 880s or 890s and Llanthony Secunda Priory, founded 1136. The town is also the site of the siege of Gloucester in 1643, during which the city held out against Royalist forces in the First English Civil War.


title: Gloucester

text: A major attraction of the city is Gloucester Cathedral, which is the burial place of King Edward II and Walter de Lacy; it features in scenes from the "Harry Potter" films. Other features of interest include the museum and school of art and science, the former county jail (on the site of a Saxon and Norman castle), the Shire Hall (now headquarters of the County Council) and the Whitefield memorial church. A park in the south of the city contains a spa, a chalybeate spring having been discovered in 1814.


title: Gloucester

text: Economically, the city is dominated by the service industries and has strong financial, research, distribution and light industrial sectors. Historically, it was prominent in the aerospace industry.


title: Gloucester

text: In 1926, the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company at Brockworth changed its name to the Gloster Aircraft Company because international customers claimed that the name "Gloucestershire" was too difficult to spell. A sculpture in the city centre celebrates Gloucester's aviation history and its involvement in the jet engine.


title: Gloucester

text: From the city's Roman name, "Glevum", Anglo-Saxon migrants after 410, with their fledgling feudal structure, the Kingdom of Wessex, culturally overwhelmed the area's Romano-Celtic society and changed the city's name from "Caerloyw" (), Gloucester's name in modern Welsh, while recognising the presence of the Roman fort. "Caerloyw" is: "caer" (meaning "fort, stronghold or castle") and "loyw", a lenition of "gloyw" as it would have been pronounced by many speakers, means "bright/shiny/glowy".


title: Gloucester

text: A variant of the term "-cester/chester/caster" instead of the Welsh "caer" was eventually adopted. The name Gloucester thus means roughly "bright fort". Mediaeval orthographies include "Caer Glow, Gleawecastre" and "Gleucestre".


title: Gloucester

text: Glevum was established around AD 48 at an important crossing of the River Severn and near to the Fosse Way, the early front line after the Roman invasion of Britain. Initially, a Roman fort was established at present-day Kingsholm. Twenty years later, a larger legionary fortress was built on slightly higher ground nearby, centred on present-day Gloucester Cross, and a civilian settlement grew around it. Probably the Roman Legion XX Valeria Victrix was based here until 66 and then Legio II Augusta as they prepared to invade Roman Wales between 66 and 74 AD, who stayed later until around 87.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester became a "Colonia" in 97 as "Colonia Nervia Glevensium", or "Glevum", in the reign of Nerva. It is likely that Glevum became the provincial capital of Britannia Secunda.


title: Gloucester

text: Within about 15 years new privately constructed properties replaced the earlier barracks and public buildings, temples and bath houses were under construction in stone. Piped water began to be supplied. Drains and sewers were laid. On the site of the legionary "principia" an imposing central "forum" was laid out surrounded by colonnades and flanked on three sides by part-timbered ranges of shops. Closing off the south of the forum was the 100m x 40m Basilica. Many fine homes with mosaic floors were built in the town.


title: Gloucester

text: At its height, Glevum may have had a population of as many as 10,000 people. The entire area around Glevum was intensely Romanised in the second and third centuries with a higher than normal distribution of villas.


title: Gloucester

text: At the end of the 3rd century or the start of the 4th, major changes were made to the city's 2nd century wall. It was replaced in two stages by a stronger and higher one of stone resting on massive reused stone blocks. In the second stage, the blocks rested on deep timber foundation piles. Stone external towers were added; two parallel wide ditches were also cut in front of the new walls.


title: Gloucester

text: Withdrawal of all Roman forces and many societal leaders in about the year 410 may have allowed leading families of the Dobunni tribe to regain power within the now Roman-influenced, interconnected and intermixed Celtic Brythonic local people. This intermix is reflected by the fact a large minority of basic words and available synonyms in Welsh have a Latin base. In the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" Gloucester is shown as part of Wessex from the Battle of Deorham in 577. At some point afterwards, along with the rest of its shire excluding the Forest of Dean, Gloucester was part of the minor kingdom of the Hwicce. In 628, as a result of the Battle of Cirencester, that kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia. From about 780, the Hwicce was no longer feigning any pretense as a kingdom and became part of Mercia. Mercia, allied by matrimony and sharing a desire to counter the Danish onslaught as had conquered swathes of the wider island at large, submitted to Alfred the Great's Kingdom of Wessex in about 877–883. A 20th century writer intuitively adds that Roman stem Gleu- Glev- was, doubtless, pronounced without any final consonant. "Claudia Castra" is mentioned in the 18th century as a possible Latin name related to the city.


title: Gloucester

text: The first bridging point on a navigable, defensive barrier, great river and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by Æthelred of Mercia, favoured town growth; and before the Norman conquest of England, Gloucester was a borough governed by a portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence, and a mint. In the early 10th century the remains of Saint Oswald were brought to a small church here and shrine built there, a draw for pilgrims. The core street layout is thought to date to the reign of Æthelflæd in late Saxon times.


title: Gloucester

text: In 1051 Edward the Confessor held court at Gloucester and was threatened there by an army led by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, but the incident resulted in a standoff rather than a battle.


title: Gloucester

text: After the Norman Conquest, William Rufus made Robert Fitzhamon the first baron or overlord of Gloucester. Fitzhamon had a military base at Cardiff Castle, and for the succeeding years the history of Gloucester was closely linked to that of Cardiff.


title: Gloucester

text: A unique coin, dated to 1077–80, was discovered, just north of the city, in November 2011. It features the name of the moneyer Silacwine and its place of minting. The Portable Antiquities Scheme said that, until the coin was discovered, there had been no known examples of William I coins minted in Gloucester in this period.


title: Gloucester

text: During the Anarchy, Gloucester was a centre of support for the Empress Matilda, who was supported in her claim to the throne by her half-brother, Fitzhamon's grandson, Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (also known as Robert of Gloucester). After this period of strife ended with the ascent of her son Henry to the throne Henry II of England, Henry granted Robert possession of Cardiff Castle, and it later passed to Mathilda's son Robert Curthose and his son, William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester. The story of the Anarchy is vividly told in a series of 19th-century paintings by William Burges at the Castle.


title: Gloucester

text: Henry granted Gloucester its first charter in 1155, which gave the burgesses the same liberties as the citizens of London and Winchester. A second charter of Henry II gave them freedom of passage on the River Severn. The first charter was confirmed in 1194 by King Richard I. The privileges of the borough were greatly extended by the charter of King John (1200), which gave freedom from toll throughout the kingdom and from pleading outside the borough.


title: Gloucester

text: In 1216 King Henry III, aged only ten years, was crowned with a gilded iron ring in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester's significance in the Middle Ages is underlined by the fact that it had a number of monastic establishments, including St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 (later Gloucester Cathedral), the nearby St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester founded in the 880s or 890s, Llanthony Secunda Priory, founded 1136 as a retreat for a community of Welsh monks (now near the western bypass), the Franciscan Greyfriars community founded in 1231 (near Eastgate Shopping Centre), and the Dominican Blackfriars community founded in 1239 (Ladybellegate Street). It also has some very early churches including St Mary de Lode Church, Gloucester near the Cathedral and the Norman St Mary de Crypt Church, Gloucester in Southgate Street. Additionally, there is evidence of a Jewish community in Gloucester as early as 1158–1159; they lived around present-day East Gate Street and had a synagogue on the north side.


title: Gloucester

text: In the Middle Ages the main export was wool, which came from the Cotswolds and was processed in Gloucester; other exports included leather and iron (tools and weapons). Gloucester also had a large fishing industry at that time.


title: Gloucester

text: One of the most significant periods in Gloucester's history began in 1378 when Richard II convened Parliament in the city. Parliaments were held there until 1406 under Henry IV of England. The Parliament Rooms at the Cathedral remain as testimony to this important time.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester was incorporated by King Richard III in 1483, the town being made a county in itself. This charter was confirmed in 1489 and 1510, and other charters of incorporation were received by Gloucester from Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Gloucester was the site of the execution by burning of John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, in the time of Queen Mary in 1555. In 1580, Gloucester was awarded the status of a port by Queen Elizabeth I. The siege of Gloucester in 1643 was a battle of the English Civil War in which the besieged parliamentarians emerged victorious.


title: Gloucester

text: The 16th and 17th centuries saw the foundation of two of Gloucester's grammar schools: the Crypt School in 1539 and Sir Thomas Rich's School in 1666. Both still flourish as grammar schools today, along with Ribston Hall and Denmark Road High School.


title: Gloucester

text: In the 19th century the city grew with new buildings including Wellington Parade and the Grade II listed Picton House (c. 1825).


title: Gloucester

text: During the Second World War, two petroleum storage depots were constructed in Gloucester. A Government Civil Storage depot with six 4,000-ton semi-buried tanks was constructed on the Berkeley Canal in 1941/42 by Shell-Mex and BP and connected to the pipeline that ran from the Mersey to the Avon. It was also connected to the Air Force Reserve Depot and a Shell Mex and BP facility for road and rail loading. Due to severe tank corrosion, it was demolished in 1971/2 and disposed of in 1976. The second depot was an Air Force Reserve Depot with four 4,000-ton semi-buried tanks constructed in 1941/42 by Shell, Shell-Mex and BP at the Monk Meadow Dock on the Canal. Originally, delivery was by road, rail and barge and pipeline. It was also connected to the docks and to the Shell Mex and BP installation for rail and road loading facilities and the civil storage site. It was transferred from the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Power in 1959, closed in the 1990s and disposed of in the later 2000s.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester's most important citizens include Robert Raikes (founder of the Sunday School movement) who is still commemorated by the name of Robert Raikes' House in Southgate Street. Its most infamous citizen was Fred West.


title: Gloucester

text: In July 2007, Gloucester was hit badly by a flood that struck Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas. Hundreds of homes were flooded, but the event was most memorable because of its wider impact – about 40,000 people were without power for 24 hours, and the entire city (plus surrounding areas) was without piped water for 17 days.


title: Gloucester

text: In 2009, Gloucester Day was revived as an annual day of celebration of Gloucester's history and culture. The day originally dates from the lifting of the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, during which the city held out against Royalist forces during the First English Civil War.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester is one of the few cities in England with two coats of arms. The first consists of three chevrons surrounded by ten roundels. The chevrons come from the arms of the Clare family, who were earls of Gloucester from the 12th to the 14th centuries, while the roundels come from the arms of the Bishop of Worcester, whose bishopric historically encompassed Gloucester. This coat is the older of the two, though it is usually termed the "Commonwealth coat", as it was not officially granted to the city until 1652, during the Commonwealth period. The crest and supporters (lions bearing broadswords and trowels) were also adopted at this time, along with the motto "Fides Invicta Triumphat" ("unconquered faith triumphs", in reference to the royalist siege withstood by the city in 1643).


title: Gloucester

text: The second coat, termed the "Tudor coat", was granted in 1538. It features the roses of York and Lancaster, the boar's head of Richard III, a ceremonial sword and cap, and two horseshoes surrounded by nails, to represent Gloucester's historical association with ironworking.


title: Gloucester

text: Although grants made by Commonwealth heralds were nullified after the Restoration, the Commonwealth coat continued to be used by the city rather than the Tudor coat. The Commonwealth coat, along with the crest and supporters, was legally granted to the city by letters patent dated 16 April 1945. This was reconfirmed in 1974 following the local government changes of that year.


title: Gloucester

text: There are two tiers of local government covering Gloucester, at district (city) and county level: Gloucester City Council and Gloucestershire County Council.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester was an ancient borough, being treated as a borough from Saxon times and being granted its first borough charter by Henry II in 1155. In 1483 the town of Gloucester was made a separate county with its own magistrates, making it administratively independent from the surrounding county of Gloucestershire. When the Diocese of Gloucester was founded in 1541, the town was given the right to call itself a city. The city's borough corporation was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 to make it a municipal borough with city status. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Gloucester was made a county borough, retaining its independence from Gloucestershire, with the borough corporation providing all local government services for the city.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester Guildhall at 23 Eastgate Street was built in 1892 and served as the city's administrative headquarters until 1986, when the council moved to North Warehouse at Gloucester Docks.


title: Gloucester

text: On 1 April 1974, the modern district of Gloucester was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the same area as the abolished County Borough of Gloucester. The reforms also saw the city become subordinate to Gloucestershire County Council, losing the independence it had held since 1483. The parish of Quedgeley was subsequently transferred into Gloucester from Stroud District in 1991. Quedgeley retains its own parish council, unlike the rest of Gloucester, which is an unparished area. In 2017, Quedgeley Parish Council changed its name to Quedgeley Town Council, making it a town within a city.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester is the county town of Gloucestershire, and is the 53rd largest settlement in the United Kingdom by population. In 2002, its population was 110,600. It has the traditional lowest bridging point of the longest river in Great Britain, connecting it with Over. The 2011 census recorded that the city had a population of 121,921 and by 2016 its population was estimated to be 128,488. The city's urban area extends beyond its boundaries, with . The 2011 census gave the population of the Gloucester Urban Area as 150,053, absorbing areas such as Brockworth and Churchdown.


title: Gloucester

text: The city is located on the eastern bank of the River Severn, sheltered by the Cotswolds to the east, while the Forest of Dean and the Malvern Hills rise to the west and north, respectively. Gloucester is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which runs from Gloucester's docks to the Severn Estuary, allowing larger ships to reach the docks than would be possible on the tidal reaches of the river itself, which go well north of the city to Haw Bridge. The wharfs, warehouses and the docks themselves fell into disrepair until their renovation in the 1980s. They now form a public open space. Some warehouses now house the Gloucester Waterways Museum, others were converted into residential flats, shops and bars. Additionally, the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum is located in the Custom House. Next to the museum is Gloucester Yacht Club. The port still houses the most inland RNLI lifeboat in the United Kingdom.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester is made up of a variety of neighbourhoods, some of which correspond to electoral divisions of the City Council.


title: Gloucester

text: The city itself contains no green belt; however it is bordered to the north east by the green belt in the surrounding Tewkesbury district, helping to maintain local green space, prevent further urban sprawl and unplanned expansion towards Cheltenham and Innsworth, as well as protecting smaller nearby villages such as Churchdown, Badgeworth, Shurdington, and Twigworth.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester Cathedral, in the north of the city near the river, originates in the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter in 681. It is the burial place of King Edward II and Walter de Lacy. The cathedral (mainly its cloisters) was used for corridor scenes in the films "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". The crypt was used for a scene in "Sherlock Christmas special". Attached to the deanery is the Norman prior's chapel. In St Mary's Square outside the Abbey gate, the Bishop of Gloucester, Bishop John Hooper, was martyred under Queen Mary I in 1555.


title: Gloucester

text: A good number of medieval and Tudor period gabled and half timbered houses survive from earlier periods of Gloucester's history. At the point where the four principal streets intersected stood the Tolsey (town hall), which was replaced by a modern building in 1894. None of the old public buildings are left except for the New Inn in Northgate Street. It is a timbered house, with strong, massive external galleries and courtyards. It was built around 1450 by John Twyning, a monk.


title: Gloucester

text: Kings Square is at the heart of the city centre and occupies what was once a cattle market and bus station. Officially opened in 1972, it was the centrepiece of a radical redesign of the city, The Jellicoe Plan, which was first proposed in 1961. It stands beside the Debenham's (formerly Bon Marché) store built in the early 1960s. Many of the features of the redevelopment have since been dismantled; the brutalist concrete fountains in the middle of the square have gone and the overhead roadways which linked three multi storey car parks around the centre have been either closed or dismantled. The main bus station received a Civic Trust Award in 1963 but has since been demolished, with a new bus station being constructed on the same site during 2018. In 2012 a £60 million plan was unveiled to revamp the square. In 2014 the prominent Golden Egg restaurant was demolished and a new look public space was created. A prior archaeological dig revealed a Roman house underneath.


title: Gloucester

text: An indoor market opened in Eastgate Street in 1968, followed by the Eastgate Shopping Centre in 1973. The Kings Walk Shopping Centre was built between 1969 and 1972. The corner of Eastgate Street and Brunswick Road was redeveloped around this time; Roman remains unearthed below street level in 1974 may be seen through a glass observation panel outside the Boots building, which opened in 1980. The HSBC building on the Cross was renovated and a modern extension added to the Westgate Street aspect in 1972 which received a Civic Trust Award. Sainsbury's opened a supermarket in Northgate Street in 1970; it retains its original interior. Opposite, Tesco opened a large two-storey supermarket in June 1976 on the site of a demolished chapel. This is now occupied by Wilkinson's after Tesco moved to Quedgeley in 1984. Asda opened its first store in Gloucester in Bruton Way in 1983.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester Leisure Centre opened on the corner of Eastgate Street and Bruton Way in September 1974 and was redeveloped and rebranded (as "GL1") in August 2002. Gloucester Central railway station was rebuilt in 1977 to serve both the original traffic to that railway station and the services from the closed Gloucester Eastgate railway station (former Midland Railway) which had stood on another site further east along the same road. Opposite the station stands one of the city's largest office blocks, Twyver House, opened in 1968, which houses the regional Land Registry. The main shopping streets were pedestrianised in the late 1980s.


title: Gloucester

text: The 1966 "Heights Plan for Gloucester" sought to restrict construction of tall buildings and defend spiritual values by protecting views of Gloucester Cathedral. The tower of Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, started in 1970 and completed in August 1975, can be seen from miles around. In Brunswick Road, a brown concrete tower, which housed classrooms at the Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology (now moved to a site near Llanthony Bridge). The tower was added incongruously to the existing 1930s Technical College buildings in 1971 which has now been demolished. Clapham Court, a tall block of flats, stands in Columbia Close, between London Road and Kingsholm Road. It was built in 1963 and stands on what was once Columbia Street in a small district formerly known as Clapham.


title: Gloucester

text: Other features of interest include the museum and school of art and science, the former county jail (on the site of a Saxon and Norman castle), the Shire Hall (now headquarters of the County Council) and the Whitefield memorial church. A park in the south of the city contains a spa, a chalybeate spring having been discovered in 1814. West of this, across the canal, are the remains (a gateway and some walls) of Llanthony Secunda Priory, a cell of the mother abbey in the Vale of Ewyas, Monmouthshire, which in the reign of King Edward IV became the secondary establishment.


title: Gloucester

text: The city's Northgate and Southgate streets feature a series of public art mosaic panels depicting Gloucester's medieval trades made by artists Gary Drostle and Rob Turner in 1998 and 1999. Eastgate and Westgate streets feature a series of mosaic panels made by arts group 'The Pioneers'.


title: Gloucester

text: The Three Choirs Festival, originating in the 18th century and one of the oldest music festivals in the British Isles, is held in Gloucester every third year, the other venues being Hereford and Worcester. Gloucester hosted the festival in 2019, and it is next due in the city in 2023.


title: Gloucester

text: The city's main theatre and cultural venue is the Guildhall. The Guildhall hosts a huge amount of entertainment, including live music, dance sessions, a cinema, bar, café, art gallery and much more. The Leisure Centre, GL1, hosts concerts and has a larger capacity than the Guildhall.


title: Gloucester

text: The annual Gloucester International Rhythm and Blues Festival takes place at the end of July and early August. Gloucester International Cajun and Zydeco Festival, the largest in the UK and longest-running in Europe, runs for a weekend in January each year. A Medieval Fayre is held in Westgate Street each year during the summer.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester is also noted as the home of the Frightmare Halloween Festival, the largest Halloween festival in the South West.


title: Gloucester

text: The main museum in the city is The Museum of Gloucester but there are several other important museums.


title: Gloucester

text: The Tailor of Gloucester House which is dedicated to the author Beatrix Potter can be found near the cathedral.


title: Gloucester

text: Since 2013 Gloucester has marked Armed Forces Day with a Drum Head Service held on College Green in the shadow of the cathedral. This is followed by a parade of serving forces, veterans and cadets through the city centre to the docks for a family day with military and military-related charity displays and entertainment in Back Badge Square in front of the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum.


title: Gloucester

text: The city features in the popular, well-known nursery rhyme (of unknown date and origin) about a Doctor Foster, who reportedly visited the city, got wet, and swore to stay away as a result.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester has many churches, and historically has also had many dissenting chapels. It may have been the old proverb "as sure as God's in Gloucester" that provoked Oliver Cromwell to declare that the city had "more churches than godliness". Gloucester was the host of the first Sunday school in England; this was founded by Robert Raikes in 1780. Four of the churches that are of special interest are


title: Gloucester

text: In the neighbourhood around St Mary de Crypt there are slight remains of Greyfriars and Blackfriars monasteries, and also of the city wall. Under the Golden Fleece (The Monks Bar) and Saracen's Head inns early vaulted cellars still remains. In addition, in the city is St Peter's Roman Catholic Church, a Grade II* listed building.


title: Gloucester

text: During the construction of the Boots store on the corner of Brunswick Road and Eastgate Street in 1974, Roman remains were found. These can be seen through a glass case on the street. At the back of the Gloucester Furniture Exhibition Centre part of the city's South Gate can be seen.


title: Gloucester

text: There are three endowed schools: the historic The King's School, refounded by Henry VIII as part of the cathedral establishment; the school of St Mary de Crypt now known as "The Crypt School, Gloucester" since it moved to a mile from town centre to Podsmead, founded by Dame Joan Cooke in the same reign (1539), Sir Thomas Rich's School, previously known as "Sir Thomas Rich's Bluecoat Hospital for Boys" (1666); The High School for Girls (1883) ; and Ribston Hall High School for Girls.


title: Gloucester

text: Comprehensives include Henley Bank High School, Beaufort Co-operative Academy, St Peter's High School (Catholic school), Chosen Hill School, Severn Vale School, Gloucester Academy, Barnwood Park School and Churchdown School Academy.


title: Gloucester

text: There is a Steiner Waldorf School founded in 1937 with a High School added just after the Second World War.


title: Gloucester

text: The city is home to one of three campuses of the University of Gloucestershire, based at Oxstalls, just outside the city centre. The University has also purchased the former Debenhams store in the city centre with a new campus due to open there in 2023. The University also manages student accommodation and halls of residence in the city, with the other campuses based in Cheltenham 7 miles away.


title: Gloucester

text: The M5 motorway, opened in 1971, runs east of the city bounds. Junction 12 serves south Gloucester and Quedgeley; junction 11a serves central Gloucester; and junction 11 serves north Gloucester. The A38 runs north–south through Gloucester, connecting the city with Tewkesbury and Bristol. The A40 runs west to east, connecting Gloucester with Cheltenham to the east (via a dual carriageway section known as "The Golden Valley Bypass") and the Forest of Dean and South Wales to the West. The A46 and A4173 links Stroud, and the A417 links Cirencester in the south-east and Ledbury in the north-west. Gloucester has a network of cycle paths.


title: Gloucester

text: Until the construction of the Severn Bridge in 1966, Gloucester was the lowest road bridging point on the river and hence was an important settlement between South Wales and the southernmost counties of England including London. The Severn has a small anabranch here to reach Alney Island and then the main western bank. A bridge at Over, built by Thomas Telford in 1829, still stands, notable for its very flat arch, but its fragility and narrowness means it is disused; since 1974, it has been paralleled by a modern bridge. The Gloucester to Newport Line railway bridge is close to both, the lowest crossing of the UK's longest river until the Severn Railway Bridge 1879–1970, which was coupled with the Severn Tunnel in 1886, the present holder of that status.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester railway station has frequent trains to London Paddington, via Reading, Bristol, Cardiff Central, and Birmingham. Gloucester was the site of the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company railway works, which have now closed. A Hunts Grove railway station has been floated on the southern edge of the city near Quedgeley as part of MetroWest plans to extend Bristol commuter services to the city.


title: Gloucester

text: Most local buses are run by Stagecoach West centred at a depot on London Road with connections to Cheltenham, Stroud and Ross-on-Wye, as well as other smaller communities. For many years, there were both stopping and express services to Worcester and Birmingham operated by Midland Red and later Midland Red West, but this connection was lost due to service reductions.


title: Gloucester

text: National Express Coaches operate the 444 to London; previously an additional service to Heathrow Airport also operated.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester is linked to the Severn Estuary by the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, which is navigable by small coasters. The city is linked to the River Avon and Stourport-on-Severn by the navigable part of the River Severn, which is navigable by river craft of a few hundred tonnes' displacement. Gloucester Docks mark the Normal Tidal Limit (NTL) of the river. Gloucester was formerly linked to Ledbury and Hereford by the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal; and subsequently by the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway, which used the southern section of the former canal, until it also closed in 1964. This canal is now being restored and the restored canal basin in the adjacent village of Over is a local attraction.


title: Gloucester

text: Commercial airports with scheduled services are Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff International Airport 40–60 miles away; global hub Heathrow is about 100 miles by road and shares with Gloucester its main rail interchange at London Paddington. Gloucestershire Airport 8 miles east is a private and special charters airfield.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester has a long history in the aerospace business. In 1926 the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company at Brockworth changed its name to the Gloster Aircraft Company because international customers claimed that the name "Gloucestershire" was too difficult to spell. A sculpture in the city centre celebrates Gloucester's aviation history and its involvement in the jet engine. Frank Whittle's pioneering turbojet engine powered the Gloster E.28/39, the first British jet aircraft, which first flew at the company's airfield at Brockworth. This is commemorated by the pub "The Whittle" at Gloucester Business Park, which now occupies the site. Roads in the business park are named after other Gloster aircraft and a small statue overlooks the site of the old main runway. Messier-Dowty's landing gear plant and GE Aviation Dowty Propellers plants are on the outskirts of the city.


title: Gloucester

text: The large insurer Ecclesiastical Insurance is based in the city, as is its owner, the charity Allchurches Trust. Lloyds Banking Group and TSB Bank each have an office in Barnwood, the former previously having been the headquarters of Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester was the home of Priday, Metford and Company Limited, a family milling firm which survived for over one hundred years, and hydraulic engineering firm Fielding & Platt.


title: Gloucester

text: Gloucester Business Park is a business park on the outskirts on the city and is home to a number of big brands including Fortis and BAE Systems Applied Intelligence.


title: Gloucester

text: "The Citizen", published by Local World is Gloucester's main newspaper, which shares all its content with the "Gloucestershire Echo" and the weekly "Forester" covering the Forest of Dean and Chepstow. As of 2018, these newspapers have all moved to weekly publication rather than daily.


title: Gloucester

text: BBC Radio Gloucestershire has its studios on London Road in Gloucester. Heart West, previously Severn Sound, is based in Bristol. Gloucester FM is a community radio station specialising in black and urban music. (Sunshine Radio, which broadcasts for Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, can also be picked up in the city).


title: Gloucester

text: A number of TV and film productions have been filmed in Gloucester; most notably at the cathedral and docks. These include three of the Harry Potter films, "Doctor Who", "Outlaw" and "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass".


title: Brian Acton

text: Brian Acton (born 1972/1973) is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. Acton is the executive chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018. , Acton also serves as interim CEO of Signal Messenger LLC.


title: Brian Acton

text: He was formerly employed at Yahoo!, and co-founded WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for US$19 billion, with Jan Koum. Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017 to start the Signal Foundation. According to "Forbes" (2020), Acton is the 836th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.


title: Brian Acton

text: Acton grew up in Michigan, later moving to Central Florida where he graduated from Lake Howell High School. Acton received a full scholarship to study engineering at the University of Pennsylvania but left after a year to study at Stanford. He graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in computer science.


title: Brian Acton

text: In 1992, he became a systems administrator for Rockwell International, before becoming a product tester at Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems. In 1996, he joined Yahoo Inc.


title: Brian Acton

text: In 1998, Jan Koum was hired by Yahoo! as an infrastructure engineer shortly after he met Acton while working at Ernst & Young as a security tester. Over the next nine years, they worked at Yahoo!. Acton invested in the dotcom boom and lost millions in the dot-com bubble of 2000. In September 2007 Koum and Acton left Yahoo! and took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied, and failed, to work at Facebook. In January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that the then seven-month-old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. He visited his friend Alex Fishman and talked about developing an app. Koum almost immediately chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up", and a week later on his birthday, Feb. 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California.


title: Brian Acton

text: In 2014, Koum and Acton sold WhatsApp to Facebook for approximately US$19 billion in cash and stock. "Forbes" estimated that Acton held over 20% stake in the company, making his net worth around $3.8 billion.


title: Brian Acton

text: In 2016, Acton led a funding round for Trak N Tell and raised $3.5 million along with two other investors.


title: Brian Acton

text: In September 2017, Acton left WhatsApp. Acton told "Forbes" that he left over a dispute with Facebook regarding monetization of WhatsApp, and voluntarily left $850 million in unvested options on the table by leaving a few months before vesting was completed. He also said that he was coached by Facebook executives to mislead European regulators regarding Facebook's intention to merge Facebook and WhatsApp user data.


title: Brian Acton

text: Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017 to start a new foundation, the Signal Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people have access to private communication through an encrypted messaging app. Signal is broadly used by journalists and human rights activists.


title: Brian Acton

text: In February 2018, it was announced that Acton was investing $50 million into Signal. This funding was a loan from Brian Acton to the new non-profit Signal Technology Foundation. By the end of 2018, the loan had increased to $105,000,400, which is due to be repaid on February 28, 2068. The loan is unsecured and at 0% interest.


title: Brian Acton

text: On March 20, 2018, "Forbes" reported that Acton had publicly tweeted support for the #DeleteFacebook movement, in a "new level of public backlash". In November 2019, the journalist Steven Levy asked Acton why he decided to make his feelings so public. Acton said he felt that it was time because there was pressure unfolding against Facebook.


title: Brian Acton

text: Since 2014, Brian Acton and his wife Tegan Acton started to build a philanthropic network through the foundation Wildcard Giving, with three sister foundations: Sunlight Giving, Acton Family Giving and Solidarity Giving.


title: Brian Acton

text: The couple started Sunlight Giving in 2014, a family foundation dedicated to supporting the basic services of low-income families with young children ages 0–5. It also provides support for safe spaces and organizations that ensure food security, housing stability, and healthcare access. The foundation supports low-income families with children age five and below living in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's a sister organization belonging to the Wildcard Giving family. Sunlight Giving has $470 million in assets. It granted $6.4 million in 2015, $19.2 million in 2016, and $23.6 million in 2017. This private foundation helped to fund "Magnify Community", a non-profit organization with the goal of redirecting philanthropists' givings to nonprofits.


title: Brian Acton

text: In 2019, "Forbes" reported that Brian Acton and his wife had given more than $1 billion to charitable causes over their lifetimes.


title: Untitled (1982 painting)

text: Untitled is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. The artwork, which depicts a skull, is among the most expensive paintings ever. In May 2017, it sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby's, the highest price ever paid at auction for artwork by an American artist in a public sale. That record was surpassed by "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" by Andy Warhol, which sold for $195 million in May 2022.


title: Untitled (1982 painting)

text: "Untitled" was executed by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982, which is considered his most valuable year. A majority of the highest-selling Basquiat paintings at auction date to 1982. "Untitled" depicts a skull, composed of black brushstrokes with red, yellow and white rivulets against a blue background. It originally sold for $4,000 in 1982. It was owned by the Annina Nosei Gallery in New York, before being sold to Phoebe Chason, who sold it to Alexander F. Milliken in 1982. It hadn't been shown in public since it was sold at Christie's to Emily and Jerry Spiegel for $19,000 in 1984.


title: Untitled (1982 painting)

text: In May 2017, the painting was auctioned at Sotheby's to Japanese businessman and art collector Yusaku Maezawa for $110.5 million, which far exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $60 million. Basquiat, who was 21-years-old when he painted "Untitled", is the youngest artist to eclipse the $100 million mark. It is also the first work made after 1980 to sell for more than $100 million. It surpassed Andy Warhol's $105 million auction record for "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)" (1963), and became the sixth-most expensive work ever auctioned. Basquiat's previous record was $57.3 million for "Untitled" (1982), a painting of a devil, also purchased by Maezawa.


title: Untitled (1982 painting)

text: "Untitled" was exhibited for the group show "Fast" at Alexander F. Milliken Inc. in New York, June–July 1982. After Yusaku Maezawa purchased the painting, he loaned it to the Brooklyn Museum and the Seattle Art Museum in 2018. Maezawa plans to open a contemporary art museum in his hometown of Chiba, Japan, which will house the painting with the rest of his art collection. It was on display for the "Jean-Michel Basquiat" exhibition at the Brant Foundation in New York, March–May 2019.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Gerald Maxwell Rivera (born May 23, 1973), known mononymously as Maxwell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence following the release of his debut studio album "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" (1996), which received widespread acclaim, and spawned the singles "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)" and "Sumthin' Sumthin'". The album has since been cited by music critics for helping form the "neo soul" movement that rose to prominence during the late 1990s.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell then released the albums "Embrya" (1998), and "Now" (2001), both of which were certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); with the latter reaching number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart. After taking a hiatus from music, he returned in 2009 with his fourth studio album "BLACKsummers'night," which became his second album to reach number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart. "BLACKsummers'night" was nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for "Pretty Wings", and won Best R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "Pretty Wings"). His fifth studio album "blackSUMMERS'night" (2016), spawned the single "Lake by the Ocean", and was released to critical acclaim.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: He has won three Grammy Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards and two NAACP Image Awards. Maxwell was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Congressional Black Caucus in 2019 for "his innovative contributions to the music industry as a singer, songwriter, and producer".


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a Haitian mother and a Puerto Rican father. His mother grew up in a devout Baptist household in Haiti. Maxwell's father died in a plane crash when Maxwell was three years old. Maxwell grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: After receiving a low-cost Casio keyboard from a friend, the Brooklyn, New York-native began composing music at age 17. Already a fan of what he described as "jheri curl soul", which was the trademark of early 1980s R&B acts such as Patrice Rushen, S.O.S. Band and Rose Royce, Maxwell began to teach himself to play a variety of instruments. According to him, the R&B of the early 1980s contained "the perfect combination of computerized instrumentation with a live feel", and that the genre's dynamics later became lost due to the influence of hip hop on R&B. Despite facing ridicule from classmates for being shy and awkward, he progressed and continued to develop his musical abilities, and he also adopted the look of a more bohemian style outwardly in his clothing, growing long sideburns and letting his hair grow out wildly and combed in an extreme style, or sometimes putting his hair in long thin braids.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Initially influenced by early-1980s urban R&B, Maxwell progressed rapidly, and by 1991 he was performing on the New York City club scene. Maxwell was able to gain access to a 24-track recording studio and started to record songs for a demo tape, which he circulated among his friends. The demo engendered interest, and his official debut concert performance at Manhattan nightclub Nell's drew a crowd. During the next two years, Maxwell wrote and recorded over three hundred songs and played frequently at small venues throughout New York City. Maxwell's performances continued to draw interest and increase the buzz about him, and he was called "the next Prince" by a writer from "Vibe" magazine who attended one of his shows. After earning a considerable reputation, Maxwell signed a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1994. He adopted his middle name as a moniker out of respect for his family's privacy.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell began working with songwriter Leon Ware and noted guitarist Wah Wah Watson to record his debut "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" in the mid 1990s. Recording sessions for the album took place in 1994 and 1995 at Electric Lady Studios, RPM Studios, Sorcerer Studios and Chung King Studios in New York City, and at CRC recording studios in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: After production for the album was completed in 1995, the finished product was presented to Columbia Records in Spring of that same year. However, it was shelved for nearly a year, due to issues with Columbia's management, the label's extensive reorganization and record executives' doubts of the album's commercial potential.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Initially, the album was slow to obtain commercial interest. On April 20, 1996, the album made its chart debut at number 38 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. From August to October 1996, "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" experienced chart growth on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and "Billboard" 200, peaking at number eight on the former and at number 36 on the latter. It spent seventy-eight weeks on the "Billboard" 200 chart. It became a Top 30 hit in the United Kingdom.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The album was later ranked as one of the year's top-10 best albums by "Time", "Rolling Stone" and "USA Today". and was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 39th Grammy Awards, losing the award to The Tony Rich Project's "Words."


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The album spawned four singles. The first single released, "...Til the Cops Come Knockin'", debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks at number 87 in May 1996. Peaking at number 79, the single spent 12 weeks on the chart. The second single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks in August 1996 at number 11, eventually peaking number eight. It spent eighteen weeks on the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number 36 on September 28, 1996.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The third single, "Sumthin' Sumthin'", peaked at number 22 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales. The album's fourth single, "Suitelady (The Proposal Jam)", entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay component chart in May 1997, peaking at number 64. (Maxwell contributed the song "Segurança (Security)" to the AIDS-benefit album "Red Hot + Rio", produced by the Red Hot Organization.)


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell released a series of EPs featuring different versions of his songs from "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite", including "...Til the Cops Come Knockin'", "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", "Whenever Wherever Whatever" and "Sumthin' Sumthin'". These EPs were re-released in 2019. "Sumthin' Sumthin': Mellosmoothe" appeared on the "Loves Jones" soundtrack in March 1997.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Despite Maxwell's having released only one album, the music video television channel MTV saw his burgeoning popularity and asked him to tape an episode of the concert series "MTV Unplugged" in New York City. The show was taped live on June 15, 1997, and he performed his own songs as well as covers of songs by Kate Bush ("This Woman's Work") and Nine Inch Nails ("Closer"). (Maxwell clashed with his label about the release of a full album of his session, resulting in the release of only an extended play, or EP instead, containing seven songs.) The "MTV Unplugged" performance of "...Til the Cops Come Knockin" was included as a bonus track on the international release. The episode of "MTV Unplugged" first aired on the network on July 22, 1997.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell's second studio album, "Embrya", was released on June 30, 1998, and upon its release it was panned by contemporary music critics. The album received mixed criticism for its more "indulgent sound." With its internal focus and esoteric grooves, the album served as a departure for Maxwell, who did not regret risking his reputation with urban listeners for a more challenging record. The album experienced a critical backlash similar to that of other artists' work that broke their previous releases' successful formulas in favor of more compelling projects, now being termed "neo-soul." In 1999, it won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Male Soul/R&B Album. In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Maxwell "overstuffs his songs with ideas that lead nowhere" and called "Embrya" "a bit of a sophomore stumble, albeit one with promising moments." Arion Berger, writing in "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), found the songs monotonous and called the album "unfocused and pretentious ... full of overwrought, underwritten songs with obscure, fancy titles revolving around a sort of sexual gnosticism." Critics have since reappraised "Embrya" as a groundbreaking forerunner to later trends in Alternative R&B, and Columbia Records reissued the album in 2018 on its 20th Anniversary.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Despite the negative press, the album sold more than one million copies and garnered Maxwell a new alternative fanbase, but confounded the traditional urban consumers.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: On May 26, 1999, the album was officially certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Embrya" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, losing to fellow neo-soul artist Erykah Badu's "Baduizm" (1997).


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Later in the year he released "Fortunate", a single written by R. Kelly and featured on the soundtrack for the 1999 film "Life". The single peaked at number one on "Billboard" magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. To date, the song is Maxwell's most successful single and was "Billboard's" number-one R&B single of 1999.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: "Now", Maxwell's third album, was released on August 14, 2001 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the lukewarm radio success of his previous album, Maxwell has stated he felt more comfortable with his artistic direction in the creation of his new album, which does not exhibit his previous work's conceptual style. The album sold over 296,000 units in the U.S. in the first week, according to SoundScan, to earn him his first-ever number one album. The album was later certified platinum by the RIAA. "Lifetime" was the second single from the album. It was a top five hit on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and peaked at No. 22 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. The third single off the album, "This Woman's Work", a live staple of Maxwell's, charted at number 58 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and at number 16 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Once again, despite some criticism towards Maxwell's songwriting, La Weekly stated ""Now" is a disappointment in the wake of 1996's Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite and its 1998 follow-up, Embrya." "Now" received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 78/100 from Metacritic.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Recording sessions for a new album took place during 2007 to 2009 at Chung King Studios, Bowery Digital, and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City. The album was produced entirely by Maxwell and musician Hod David. The album was to serve as the first part of his scheduled trilogy of albums.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: During this time, and after seven years of not performing, he appeared as a surprise musical guest on the 2008 BET Awards, where he performed the song "Simply Beautiful" in a tribute to soul singer Al Green, shocking fans and the audience alike with his ability to still perform well, but also with his new look, his trademark afro and pork-chop sideburns gone, replaced with a more relaxed and subdued look.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The album "BLACKsummers'night" was released on July 7, 2009 and received universal acclaim from music critics. Commercially the album was a success, debuting at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart in July 2009, with first-week sales of 316,000 copies, serving as Maxwell's highest first-week sales.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The album produced four singles. The lead single "Pretty Wings" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, ultimately spending 47 weeks on the chart. It also spent 18 weeks and peaked at number 33 on the Hot 100 and at number 12 on its Radio Songs component chart. The second single, "Bad Habits", peaked at number four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, spending 46 weeks on the chart. It peaked at number 71 on the Hot 100, at number 38 on the Radio Songs chart, and at number 16 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The third single "Cold" spent one week at number 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album's fourth single "Fistful of Tears" spent 24 weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number 11. It charted at number 94 on the Hot 100 and at number 63 on the Radio Songs chart. Maxwell received six nominations for the 2010 Grammy Awards, winning "Best R&B Album" for "BLACKsummers'night" and "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" for "Pretty Wings." "Pretty Wings" was nominated for the "Song of the Year" which was written by Maxwell under his publishing moniker Musze.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: On April 17, 2012, Maxwell announced that he and his eleven-piece band would embark on a six-day tour, MaxwellTwoNight -M2N tour 2012 – two nights in three cities, scheduled for the cities of Los Angeles, California – Staples Center (July 20 and July 21); Atlanta, Georgia – Philips Arena (July 27 and July 28); and Newark, New Jersey the Prudential Center (August 3 and August 4). Maxwell was to perform his discography in its entirety. The first day of the tour Maxwell was to perform songs from his first album "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" and second album "Embrya". The second day of the tour Maxwell was to perform from his third and fourth albums "Now" and "BLACKsummer'snight", respectively. Maxwell was to debut never-performed songs from his BLACKsummer'snight trilogy. lt was also announced that proceeds from the M2N tour merchandise would support the "Obama-Biden 2012" re-election campaign. However, the tour was canceled due to vocal hemorrhaging.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: After two years of occasionally performing and planning, he disclosed during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in May 2014 that he had been working on his fifth studio album for "the past three years" and has been recording in Miami. On December 18, 2014, Maxwell announced on the social media site Twitter the second installment of his trilogy "blackSUMMERS'night" would be arriving sometime in winter 2015.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: On April 7, 2016, Maxwell released his first solo single in 6 years titled "Lake by the Ocean", and also revealed his long-awaited fifth album "blackSUMMERS'night". He performed it on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on May 5, 2016. It was his first television performance in seven years.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: The full-length album was released on July 1, 2016 and charted at number three on the "Billboard" 200 while garnering widespread acclaim from critics.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: In October 2018, Maxwell released the single "Shame", which he said was a preview of his upcoming album "Night", the final installment of his album trilogy. In April 2019 as he was re-issuing his earlier EPs in digital format, Maxwell said that he was scheduling a string of performances for mid-2019. Maxwell had a consecutive four-night concert run at the Kennedy Center, supported by the National Symphony Orchestra, in September 2019.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Along with fellow musicians D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, Maxwell has been credited with helping to shape the "neo soul" movement that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Along with D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" (1995) and Badu's "Baduizm" (1997), "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" has been recognized by writers for beginning neo soul's popularity and helping the genre obtain commercial visibility. However, in contrast to D'Angelo, Maxwell was more conventional in his approach on his debut album.


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: In commenting on the "new soul revival" in music, Maxwell told "Entertainment Weekly" in 1997 that "everything out there musically was inspired or influenced by something from the past. It's not about creating some super-fresh new thing. If it doesn't lend itself to your history, how is it going to extend to your future? That's what's really brilliant about looking into children's eyes—you can see their parents in them." "The Washington Post" called him "the Marvin Gaye of the '90s". Its columnist wrote that "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" "heralded the arrival of a top-of-the-class graduate of the old school of soul, one who could sing about romantic aspiration and tribulation with heart-wrenching emotion. It was as if the aesthetic that Gaye ascribed to — 'music that has feeling, hope and meaning – all the things people are looking for' — had been rediscovered after a long, hedonistic interlude."


title: Maxwell (musician)

text: Maxwell's role in writing and producing the album exhibited a level of artistic control by an R&B artist that was uncommon in the recording industry at the time. On his emergence with "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite", writer Carol Brennan cited him, along with the Fugees, D'Angelo and Tony Rich, as neo soul musicians that "exhibited the identifying characteristics of this new breed of R&B artists: lyrics that give voice to intense personal expression, creative control over the music, and a unexpectedly successful debut."


title: Pegatron

text: Pegatron Corporation () is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company that mainly develops computing, communications and consumer electronics for branded vendors. It also develops, designs and manufactures computer peripherals and components. Pegatron's primary products include notebooks, netbook computers, desktop computers, game consoles, handheld devices, motherboards, video cards and LCD TVs, as well as broadband communication products such as smartphones, set-top boxes and cable modems.


title: Pegatron

text: In January 2008, ASUSTeK Computer began a major restructuring of its operations, splitting into three independent companies: Asus (focused on applied first-party branded computers and electronics); Pegatron (focused on OEM manufacturing of motherboards and components); and Unihan Corporation (focused on non-PC manufacturing such as cases and moulding). In the process of the restructuring, a highly criticised pension plan restructuring effectively zeroed out the existing pension balances. The company paid out all contributions previously made by employees. On 1 June 2010, Asus spun off Pegatron Corp.


title: Pegatron

text: Pegatron has in recent years become a significant components supplier for Tesla Inc. During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Pegatron had to halt their production when some employees tested positive for the virus. Pegatron's India plant took over some production of Apple iPhones due to the pandemic affecting its Shenzhen operations.


title: Pegatron

text: Pegatron's principal executive offices and many assets are located in Taiwan. As of March 2010, Pegatron had approximately 5,646 employees stationed in Taiwan, 89,521 in China, 2,400 in the Czech Republic and 200 in the United States, Mexico, and Japan. Pegatron has manufacturing plants in Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Indonesia, and China, and customer service centers in the United States and Japan.


title: Pegatron

text: As part of the corporate restructuring of ASUSTeK Computer in 2007, Pegatron acquired Unihan Corporation from ASUSTeK in January 2008. Since 2008, the Unihan Corporation has been a subsidiary of Pegatron Corporation that designs and manufactures computers, computer peripherals and audio-video products.


title: Pegatron

text: In June 2008, with its PUreCSR corporate responsibility system, Pegatron became a member of the EICC (Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition), a group of companies in the electronics industry that supports the implementation of the Code of Conduct throughout the electronics and information and communications technology supply chain, ensuring safe working conditions, respect and dignity to employees, and environmentally responsible manufacturing processes. Pegatron's corporate responsibility system, PUreCSR (which stands for "P"egatron & "U"nihan "re"duce, "re"use, "re"cycle, "re"covery, "re"place & "re"pair Corporate Social Responsibility), meets the international standards: the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, the OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health & Safety Management System, and the QC 080000 Hazardous Substance Process Management System. On 18 May 2010, the board of directors at Pegatron unanimously approved to appropriate a sum within 0.5% of net income every year to charity.


title: Pegatron

text: PEGA Design and Engineering is Pegatron's design team that was originally branched off from the ASUSTeK design team. The PEGA D&E helps Pegatron's clients with product development, including market research, conceptualization, product design, materials study, and production.<br>In addition to 3C (computer, communication, consumer) electronic products, Pegatron designs home appliances and home decor products such as LCD TVs, LED lighting, phones and more.


title: Pegatron

text: Led by Alain Lee, the PEGA CASA design team (originally branched off from the Asus design team) is dedicated to the design and development of non-IT products in addition to the existing IT product design, including notebooks, smartphones, e-books, network communication equipment, displays, projectors, cleaning robots and more. These non-IT products include home appliances (PEGA CASA), fashion accessories, vehicle accessories (PEGA MOTORS), building interior design and building materials, multimedia ads and marketing, and cultural businesses.


title: Pegatron

text: In December 2014, a BBC investigation exposed poor working conditions and employee mistreatment at Pegatron factories making Apple products near Shanghai. It found staff being forced to work eighteen days in a row without any days off, workers falling asleep on the production line during shifts lasting between 12 and 16 hours, forced overtime, and a cramped dormitory room which twelve workers were forced to share.


title: Pegatron

text: In August 2016, China Labor Watch published a report which stated that working conditions had not improved since 2014. The average worker at Pegatron's Shanghai factory works 80 hours of overtime a month. Over 62% of workers worked more than 100 overtime hours in March 2016. Workers are required to perform up to 1 hour a day of unpaid overwork. 64% of its maintenance department interns are overworked. At the same time, over 96% of Pegatron workers are only making minimum wage, well below Shanghai's average income despite the extra overtime hours they put in.


title: Pegatron

text: In November 2020, Apple discovered that Pegatron was using student workers in factories in mainland China. Due to this, Apple suspended their business with Pegatron and stated that they would not grant the company any new business until this practice was ceased.


title: Pegatron

text: In December 2020, Pegatron's Shanghai subsidiary Pegaer Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.「昌碩科技」broke out in labor disputes. Thousands of people gathered to ask for salaries. In response, the factory director led the beatings of the people who had gathered, and many police officers came to the scene to suppress it. Some people were beaten to the ground, and many of their fates remain unknown. More than ten people were arrested, triggering a rights defense incident.


title: Def Leppard discography

text: The English rock band Def Leppard have released twelve studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, and three extended plays.


title: Def Leppard discography

text: Def Leppard was formed in 1977 by vocalist Joe Elliott, bass player Rick "Sav" Savage, guitarist Pete Willis, and drummer Tony Kenning. They later released the EP "The Def Leppard E.P." in 1979. The band signed with Mercury Records and released their debut full-length album "On Through the Night". The band's follow up was "High 'n' Dry", which reached number 26 in the UK and was certified platinum two times in the United States. Their next album, titled "Pyromania", would be their big breakthrough album and would later sell more than 10 million copies in the United States alone.


title: Def Leppard discography

text: After touring in support of "Pyromania", the band released "Hysteria" which topped the American and British album charts and is their best-selling album worldwide, selling more than 12 million copies in the United States alone and over 25 million worldwide. "Adrenalize", released in 1992, debuted at number one on the UK Album Chart and the US "Billboard" 200 and launched several successful singles, including "Let's Get Rocked" and "Make Love Like a Man" and went on to sell 8 million albums worldwide. In 1996, the band released its sixth studio album, "Slang"; while successful, the album could not reach the precedent set by Def Leppard's previous albums and was certified gold in the United States. After three years, Def Leppard released "Euphoria", which is the band's last certified album by the RIAA, CRIA, and BPI.


title: Def Leppard discography

text: At the start of the 21st century, the band released "X". Four years later, Def Leppard released the studio/cover album, "Yeah!", which included covers by Thin Lizzy and The Kinks. On 25 April 2008, the band released "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge", which included the single "Nine Lives" featuring country singer Tim McGraw. The band released "Mirrorball", its first live album, in 2011, which would be followed by another live album in 2013, "Viva! Hysteria", featuring the Hysteria album played live in its entirety, from their Las Vegas residency at the Hard Rock Hotel. The band released a self-titled studio album on 30 October 2015. Seven years later, on 27 May 2022, Def Leppard released "Diamond Star Halos".


title: Def Leppard discography

text: In January 2022, it was announced that Primary Wave Music had acquired an “additional” stake in Def Leppard's music publishing catalog, as well as the band's master royalty income stream.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The Valley of Hinnom () is a historic valley surrounding Ancient Jerusalem from the west and southwest. The valley is also known by the name Gehinnom ( "Gēʾ-Hīnnōm", 'Valley of Hinnom') an alternative Biblical Hebrew form which survived into Aramaic and has received various fundamental theological connotations, and by the Greek and Syriac transliteration Gehenna (Γέεννα "Géenna"/ܓܼܼܗܲܢܵܐ "Gihanna").


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The Valley of Hinnom is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (). During the late First Temple period, it was the site of the Tophet, where some of the kings of Judah had sacrificed their children by fire (). Thereafter, it was cursed by the biblical prophet Jeremiah (–). In later Jewish rabbinic literature, Gehinnom became associated with divine punishment in Jewish Apocalypticism as the destination of the wicked. It is different from the more neutral term Sheol, the abode of the dead. The King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word "hell".


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The Valley of Hinnom is the Modern Hebrew name for the valley surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem and the adjacent Mount Zion from the west and south. It meets and merges with the Kidron Valley, the other principal valley around the Old City, near the Pool of Siloam which lie to the southeastern corner of Ancient Jerusalem. It is also known as Wadi er-Rababi ( "valley of the Rebab"). The northwestern part of the valley is now an urban park.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The Bible refers to the valley as "Gei Ben-Hinnom", literally the "valley of the son of Hinnom" or גֵי־הִנֹּם "Gē Hīnnōm", "valley of Hinnom". In Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic, the name was contracted into "Gehinnom" or "Gehinnam."


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: English "Gehenna" represents "Géenna" ( ; from ), the Greek transliteration found in the New Testament.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The exact location of the Valley of Hinnom is disputed. George Adam Smith wrote in 1907 that there are three possible locations considered by historical writers:


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Child sacrifice at other Tophets contemporary with the Bible accounts (700–600 BC) of the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh have been established, such as the bones of children sacrificed at the Tophet to the goddess Tanit in Phoenician Carthage, and also child sacrifice in ancient Syria-Palestine. Scholars such as Mosca (1975) have concluded that the sacrifice recorded in the Hebrew Bible, such as Jeremiah's comment that the worshippers of Baal had "filled this place with the blood of innocents", is literal. Yet, the biblical words in the Book of Jeremiah describe events taking place in the seventh century in the place of Ben-hinnom: "Because they [the Israelites] have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter". J. Day, Heider, and Mosca believe that the Molech cult took place in the valley of Hinnom at the Topheth.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: No archaeological evidence such as mass children's graves has been found; however, it has been suggested that such a find may be compromised by the heavy population history of the Jerusalem area compared to the Tophet found in Tunisia. The site would also have been disrupted by the actions of Josiah "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." (2 Kings 23). A minority of scholars have attempted to argue that the Bible does not portray actual child sacrifice, but only dedication to the god by fire; however, they are judged to have been "convincingly disproved" (Hay, 2011).


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The oldest historical reference to the valley is found in , which describe tribal boundaries. The next chronological reference to the valley is at the time of King Ahaz of Judah who sacrificed his sons there according to . Since Hezekiah, his legitimate son by the daughter of the High Priest, succeeded him as king, this, if literal, is assumed to mean children by unrecorded pagan wives or concubines. The same is said of Ahaz's grandson Manasseh in . Debate remains as to whether the phrase "cause his children to pass through the fire" referred to a religious ceremony in which the Moloch priest would walk the child between two lanes of fire, or to literal child sacrifice wherein the child is thrown into the fire.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The Book of Isaiah does not mention Gehenna by name, but the "burning place" in which the Assyrian army is to be destroyed, may be read "Topheth", and the final verse of Isaiah which concerns of those that have rebelled against God, .


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: In the reign of Josiah a call came from Jeremiah to destroy the shrines in Topheth and to end the practice , . It is recorded that Josiah destroyed the shrine of Molech on Topheth to prevent anyone sacrificing children there in . Despite Josiah's ending of the practice, Jeremiah also included a prophecy that Jerusalem itself would be made like Gehenna and Topheth (, ).


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: A final purely geographical reference is found in to the exiles returning from Babylon camping from Beersheba to Hinnom.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Frequent references to 'Gehenna' are also made in the books of Meqabyan, which are considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The ancient Aramaic paraphrase-translations of the Hebrew Bible known as Targums supply the term "Gehinnom" frequently to verses touching upon resurrection, judgment, and the fate of the wicked. This may also include addition of the phrase "second death", as in the final chapter of the Book of Isaiah, where the Hebrew version does not mention either Gehinnom or the Second Death, whereas the Targums add both. In this the Targums are parallel to the Gospel of Mark addition of "Gehenna" to the quotation of the Isaiah verses describing the corpses "where their worm does not die".


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Although the actual term [Gehenna] does not occur in the Tanakh or Talmud, it is strictly a [Koine Greek/Alexandrian Dialect] term originated from the Hebrew [Gehinnom] and used by first Century Christ-followers to depict the literal place of eternal damnation spoken of in [Revelation 21:8] - The Lake of Fire. Gehenna is not mentioned in the Torah. Nevertheless, some rabbinic texts maintain that God created Gehenna on the second day of Creation (Genesis Rabbah 4:6, 11:9). Other texts claim that Gehenna was part of God's original plan for the universe and was actually created before the Earth (Pesahim 54a; Sifre Deuteronomy 37). The concept of Gehenna was likely inspired by the biblical notion of Sheol. The original picture of [Sheol] is not the first century "Eternal Lake of Fire" Gehenna as the place of punishment or destruction of the wicked and does not occur frequently in classic rabbinic sources. Gehenna is likened to [Sheol] where the wicked go to suffer when they are judged. The Mishnah names seven Biblical individuals who do not get a share in Olam Ha-Ba: Jeroboam, Ahab, Menasseh, Doeg the Edomite, Ahitophel, Balaam, and Gehazi. According to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, Menasseh got a share in Olam Ha-Ba Midrash Konen places Ahab in the fifth department of Gehenna, as having the heathen under his charge. Absalom was consigned to the 7th circle of Gehenna, and according to the description of Gehenna by Joshua ben Levi, who, like Dante, wandered through hell under the guidance of the angel Duma, Absalom still dwells there, having the rebellious heathen in charge; and when the angels with their fiery rods run also against Absalom to smite him like the rest, a heavenly voice says: "Spare Absalom, the son of David, My servant." His half brother Amnon was said to be possibly consigned to the 2nd circle of Gehenna. Amon of Judah sinned very much but his name was not placed on the list of the kings excluded from the world to come out of respect for his son Josiah; however a midrashic fragment reads: "No sin is more grievous than idolatry, for it is treason against God. Yet even this has been forgiven upon sincere repentance; but he that sins from a mere spirit of opposition, to see whether God will punish the wicked, shall find no pardon, although he say in his heart, 'I shall have peace in the end (by repenting), though I walk in the stubbornness of my evil heart'" (Deut. xxix. 19). Such a one was Amon, the son of Manasseh, for the (Apocryphal) Scripture says: "And Amon reasoned an evil reasoning of transgression and said: 'My father from his childhood was a great transgressor, and he repented in his old age. So will I now walk after the lust of my soul and afterward return to the Lord.' And he committed more evil in the sight of the Lord than all that were before him; but the Lord God speedily cut him off from this good land. And his servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house, and he reigned two years only." It is noteworthy that this very midrashic fragment casts light upon the emphatic teaching of the Mishnah (Yoma, viii. 9): "Whosoever says, 'I will sin and repent thereafter,' will not be granted the time for repentance." In the Aggadah. Jehoiakim is still undergoing punishment for his sins. Although the Babylonian Talmud does not include him among those who have no place in the world to come (cf. Sanh. 103b), the Palestinian Talmud cites him as an example of one who has forfeited his place in heaven by publicly transgressing the law. A Judge of Israel Jair for forcing men to prostrate themselves before an altar of Baal was punished with kareth by the L-D: "Hear the words of the Lord ere thou diest. I appointed thee as prince over my people, and thou didst break My covenant, seduce My people, and seek to burn My servants with fire, but they were animated and freed by the living, the heavenly fire. As for thee, thou wilt die, and die by fire,a fire in which thou wilt abide forever." Thereupon the angel burnt him with a thousand men, whom he had taken in the act of paying homage to Baal. " The worst part of Gehenna is called Tzoah Rotachat.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The specific rabbinical term for heresies, or religious divisions due to an unlawful spirit, is "minim" (lit. "kinds [of belief]"; the singular "min", for "heretic" or "Gnostic," is coined idiomatically, like "goy" and "am ha'aretz"; see Gnosticism). The law "You shall not cut yourselves" (לא תתגדדו) is interpreted by the rabbis: "You shall not form divisions [לא תעשו אגודות אגודות], but shall form one bond" (after , A. V. "troop"). Besides the term "min" (מין) for "heretic," the Talmud uses the words "ḥitzonim" (outsiders), "apikoros", and "kofer ba-Torah", or "kofer ba-ikkar" (he who denies the fundamentals of faith); also "poresh mi-darke tzibbur" (he who deviates from the customs of the community). It is said that all these groups are consigned to Gehinnom for all eternity and have no possibility of a portion in the world to come.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The traditional explanation that a burning rubbish heap in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem gave rise to the idea of a fiery Gehenna of judgment is attributed to Rabbi David Kimhi's commentary on (ca. 1200 AD). He maintained that in this loathsome valley fires were kept burning perpetually to consume the filth and cadavers thrown into it. However, Hermann Strack and Paul Billerbeck state that there is neither archaeological nor literary evidence in support of this claim, in either the earlier intertestamental or the later rabbinic sources. Also, Lloyd R. Bailey's "Gehenna: The Topography of Hell" from 1986 holds a similar view.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: There is evidence however that the southwest shoulder of this valley (Ketef Hinnom) was a burial location with numerous burial chambers that were reused by generations of families from as early as the seventh until the fifth century BCE. The use of this area for tombs continued into the first centuries BCE and CE. By 70 CE, the area was not only a burial site but also a place for cremation of the dead with the arrival of the Tenth Roman Legion, who were the only group known to practice cremation in this region.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Eventually the Hebrew term Gehinnom became a figurative name for the place of spiritual purification for the wicked dead in Judaism. According to most Jewish sources, the period of purification or punishment is limited to only 12 months and every Sabbath day is excluded from punishment, while the fires of Gehinnom are banked and its tortures are suspended. For the duration of Shabbat, the spirits who are serving time there are released to roam the earth. At Motza'ei Shabbat, the angel Dumah, who has charge over the souls of the wicked, herds them back for another week of torment. After this the soul will move on to Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come), be destroyed, or continue to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse. Gehenna became a metonym for "Hell" due to its morbid prominence in Jewish religious texts.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Maimonides declares, in his 13 principles of faith, that the descriptions of Gehenna, as a place of punishment in rabbinic literature, were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature. Instead of being sent to Gehenna, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as Valley of Hinnom, Valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of the children of Hinnom.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: In the synoptic Gospels the various authors describe Jesus, who was Jewish, as using the word "Gehenna" to describe the opposite to life in the Kingdom (). The term is used 11 times in these writings. In certain usage, the Christian Bible refers to it as a place where both soul (Greek: ψυχή, psyche) and body could be destroyed () in "unquenchable fire" ().


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Christian usage of Gehenna often serves to admonish adherents of the religion to live pious lives. Examples of Gehenna in the Christian New Testament include:


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The New Testament also refers to Hades as a place distinct from Gehenna. Unlike Gehenna, Hades typically conveys neither fire nor punishment but forgetfulness. The Book of Revelation describes Hades being cast into the lake of fire (). The King James Version is the only English translation in modern use to translate Sheol, Hades, Tartarus (Greek ταρταρώσας; lemma: ταρταρόω "tartaroō"), and Gehenna as Hell. In the New Testament, the New International Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible (among others) all reserve the term "hell" for the translation of Gehenna or Tartarus (see above), transliterating Hades as a term directly from the equivalent Greek term.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Treatment of Gehenna in Christianity is significantly affected by whether the distinction in Hebrew and Greek between Gehenna and Hades was maintained:


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: Many modern Christians consider Gehenna to be a place of eternal punishment. Annihilationist Christians, however, imagine Gehenna to be a place where sinners are tormented until they are eventually destroyed, soul and all. Some Christian scholars, however, have suggested that Gehenna may "not" be synonymous with the lake of fire, but a prophetic metaphor for the horrible fate that awaited the many civilians killed in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.


title: Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)

text: The name given to Hell in Islam, "Jahannam", directly derives from Gehenna. The Quran contains 77 references to the Islamic interpretation of Gehenna (جهنم), but does not mention Sheol / Hades (abode of the dead), and instead uses the word "Qabr" (قبر, meaning grave). In Muslim tradition, graves are considered gates to the otherworld, both paradise and hell. The mainstream concept of Hell in Islam is in the Hereafter, though some fringe Muslim authors proposed that Hell co-exist with the contemporary world somewhere underground, and tried to locate an entrance to hell, and proposed that one of its gates lies in the Valley of Hinnom.


title: Esso

text: Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic pronunciation of Standard Oil's initials, 'S' and 'O'), to which the other Standard Oil companies would later object.


title: Esso

text: Standard Oil of New Jersey started marketing its products under the Esso brand in 1926. In 1972, the name Esso was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand after the Standard Oil of New Jersey bought Humble Oil, while the Esso name remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, while the Exxon brand is used only in the United States alongside Mobil.


title: Esso

text: In 1911, Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies, some of which were named Standard Oil and had the rights to that brand in certain states (the other companies had no territorial rights). The name Esso is the phonetic pronunciation of the initials 'S' and 'O' in the name Standard Oil. Standard Oil Company (New Jersey; "Jersey Standard") had the rights in that state, plus in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. By 1941, it had also acquired the rights in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana.


title: Esso

text: It also used the Esso brand in New York and the six New England states, where the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony-Vacuum, later Socony Mobil) had the rights, but did not object to the New Jersey company's use of the trademark (the two companies did not merge until November 1999). However, in the other states, the other Standard Oil companies objected and, via a 1937 U.S. federal court injunction, forced Jersey Standard to use other brand names. In most states the company used the Enco ("Energy Company") brand name, and in a few, the Humble brand name. The objections were mostly made by Standard Oil of Ohio and, in the 1960s, Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) after their acquisition of former Esso jobber Standard Oil of Kentucky. The other major Standard Oil spinoff, Standard Oil of Indiana (which became Amoco) largely didn't object due to the Midwestern United States being a weaker market for Esso. Likewise, The Ohio Oil Company, which eventually became Marathon Oil, didn't market its downstream assets under the Standard name due to Sohio and Amoco owning the rights to the name in its core Midwestern territory.


title: Esso

text: The other Standard companies likewise were "Standard" or some variant on that name in their home states, and another brand name in other states. Esso ranked 31st among American corporations in the value of World War II production contracts.


title: Esso

text: During the years of racial segregation in the United States, Esso franchises gave out "The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide".


title: Esso

text: In 1973, Standard Oil of New Jersey renamed itself Exxon Corporation, and adopted the Exxon brand name throughout the country. It maintained the trademark rights to the Standard and Esso brands in the states where it held those rights by selling Esso Diesel in those states at stations that sell diesel fuel, thus preventing the trademark from being declared abandoned.


title: Esso

text: It retained the Esso brand in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands until 2008, when it sold its stations there to TotalEnergies.


title: Esso

text: The Enco brand name was used on locations in the Midwest until 1977, when they were sold to Cheker Oil Co. (now part of 7-Eleven); Exxon continues to have a presence in southern Ohio today (as it does throughout much of Appalachia in general), though Mobil is the company's primary brand in the Midwest.


title: Esso

text: In February 2016, ExxonMobil successfully asked a U.S. federal court to lift the 1930s, trademark injunction that banned it from using the Esso brand in some states. By this time, as a result of numerous mergers and rebranding, most of the remaining Standard Oil companies that had objected to the Esso name had been acquired by BP. ExxonMobil cited trademark surveys in which there was no longer possible confusion with the Esso name as it was more than seven decades before. Neither BP nor Chevron (which had minimized the use of the Standard name in the 1970s) had any objection to lifting the ban.