title: Abwehr

text: During January 1942, partisan fighters at the port city of Eupatoria in the Crimea assisted a Red Army landing there and revolted against the German occupying forces. Reinforcements were sent in under General Erich von Manstein and the port city was retaken. Reprisals against the partisans were carried out under the direction of Major Riesen, an "Abwehr" officer on the Eleventh Army's staff, who oversaw the execution of 1200 civilians, the bulk of whom were Jews. Additional evidence over the duties assigned to operatives in theater are revealing. Out in the field, the army group commander of the G-2 was provided assistance for the army group "Abwehr" officer ("Frontaufklaerungskommando" III), with additional help coming available from the secret field police. "Abwehr" officers in this capacity were tasked with overseeing personnel in counterintelligence, the safeguarding of classified information, and preventive security. The "Frontaufklaerungskommando" III received instructions concerning the "Abwehr" from "OKH/General z.b.V./Gruppe Abwehr", and "informed army group G-2 of all "Abwehr" matters in a monthly report or special reports." Security within army headquarters was another area of responsibility so detachments of the secret field police were placed at his disposal and he cooperated with particular departments of the SD, the SS, and the police in order to be well versed in all fields of counterintelligence and kept tabs on guards, checking their reliability against available personnel records. According to the United States War Dept. General Staff,


title: Abwehr

text: The "Abwehr" officer maintained close liaison with "Frontaufklaerungskommando" III in order to be well informed about counterintelligence conditions, especially as far as the non-German population was concerned. The net of agents produced a clear picture of the morale and attitude of the population within the sector of the army group and reported on all activities of the enemy intelligence service, on resistance movements and other illegal groups, and on guerrilla conditions.


title: Abwehr

text: According to Bauer, the "Abwehr" was more interested in perpetuating its own interests than it was in saving Jews. While there are accounts of the "Abwehr" assisting Jews to safety via clandestinely arranged emigration, there are also cases of "Abwehr" operatives enriching themselves in the process through bribes and other monetary payoffs.


title: Abwehr

text: A major "Abwehr" failure occurred when the existence of a resistance group and spy ring, which operated out of Austria and had been working with the Allies, was uncovered by the Gestapo; a failing for which the "Abwehr" was embarrassed. This resistance group provided the OSS with plans and information on Peenemünde, the V-1, V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, aircraft (Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, etc.), and supplied information on the existence of major concentration camps like Auschwitz. Despite the Gestapo's use of torture, they were unable to uncover the true extent of the group's success, particularly in providing information for Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, both preliminary missions for Operation Overlord. Some twenty members of the group—including its key figures, Franz Joseph Messner (codenamed CASSIA by the OSS) and the priest Heinrich Maier—were eventually executed due to the intelligence failures of the OSS, who hired Bedřich Laufer (OSS Code name: Iris), a double agent who had also been working for the SD.


title: Abwehr

text: Several examples demonstrate that some "Abwehr" members were opposed to the Nazi regime. In January 1944 for example, American statesman Allen Dulles revealed his knowledge of a coalescing resistance against the Nazis, an assemblage of intellectuals from military and government circles; his main contact was "Abwehr" officer Hans Bernd Gisevius, who was stationed in Zurich as the German Vice Consul. Dulles communicated with the "Abwehr" concerning their intrigue against Hitler and even attempted discussions about a separate peace, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt would have none of it, preferring instead a policy of unconditional surrender for the Nazi government. Machinations against the National Socialists by the "Abwehr" were considerable in terms of the chain of command. General Oster of the "Abwehr" remained in regular contact with Dulles. Foreknowledge and penetration of the Abwehr was such that Dulles reported later in February 1944 that the "Abwehr" was going to be absorbed by the SD.


title: Abwehr

text: The SS continually undermined the "Abwehr" by putting its officers under investigation, believing them to be involved in anti-Hitler plots. Heydrich ensured that the "Abwehr" and Canaris were closely monitored. The SS also accused Canaris of being defeatist in his intelligence assessments, especially on the Russian campaign and the "Abwehr" was under investigation for treason related to the earlier attack on Belgrade.


title: Abwehr

text: Following the launch of Operation Barbarossa, an NKVD Soviet agent named Alexander Demyanov penetrated the "Abwehr" in late 1941 by posing as a member of a pro-German underground resistance with alleged access to the Soviet military leadership—this was a complete fabrication concocted by the GRU and NKVD, who used Demyanov as a double agent. During the autumn of 1942, Demyanov informed his German handlers that he was working as a communications officer at the Soviet HQ in Moscow, which would give him access to important intelligence, a ruse that managed to fool the Nazi intelligence commander on the Russian front at the time, Reinhard Gehlen. Demyanov manipulated the military operations around Stalingrad, convincing Gehlen that Army Group Center would be unable to move west of Moscow to aide General Friedrich Paulus and the Sixth Army, which was ultimately encircled by the Red Army.


title: Abwehr

text: Likewise, a group of White Russians under General Anton Turkul sought asylum in Germany and offered to provide radio intelligence for the Germans and worked with the "Abwehr" in getting the necessary communication links established. One of the primary radio links was code-named MAX, supposedly located near the Kremlin. MAX was not the intelligence mechanism the "Abwehr" believed it to be, instead, it was "a creature of the NKGB" , through which information was regularly disseminated concerning Foreign Armies East and Foreign Air Forces East and troop movements. Careful message trafficking and deception operations by the Soviets allowed them to misdirect the Germans and aided in the strategic surprise they enjoyed against Army Group Center in June 1944. Even though the "Abwehr" no longer existed at this point, the heritage operations connected to MAX gave the Soviet armies an advantage they would not have otherwise possessed and further prove the extent of damage attributable to the "Abwehr's" incompetence, as Moscow's disinformation repeatedly fooled the German high command.


title: Abwehr

text: On 10 September 1943, the incident which eventually resulted in the dissolution of the "Abwehr" occurred. The incident came to be known as the "Frau Solf Tea Party".


title: Abwehr

text: Hanna Solf was the widow of Wilhelm Solf, a former Colonial Minister under Kaiser Wilhelm II and ex-ambassador to Japan. Frau Solf had long been involved in the anti-Nazi intellectual movement in Berlin. Members of her group were known as members of the "Solf Circle". At a tea party hosted by her on 10 September, a new member was included into the circle, a handsome young Swiss doctor named Paul Reckzeh. Reckzeh was an agent of the Gestapo (Secret State Police), to which he reported on the meeting, providing several incriminating documents. The members of the Solf Circle were all rounded up on 12 January 1944. Eventually everyone who was involved in the Solf Circle, except Frau Solf and her daughter (Lagi Gräfin von Ballestrem), were executed.


title: Abwehr

text: One of those executed was Otto Kiep, an official in the Foreign Office, who had friends in the "Abwehr", among whom were Erich Vermehren and his wife, the former Countess Elizabeth von Plettenberg, who were stationed as agents in Istanbul. Both were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo in connection with the Kiep case. Fearing for their lives, they contacted the British and defected.


title: Abwehr

text: Hitler had long suspected that the "Abwehr" had been infiltrated by anti-Nazi defectors and Allied agents, and the defection of Vemehren after the Solf Circle arrests all but confirmed it. It was also mistakenly believed in Berlin that the Vermehrens absconded with the secret codes of the "Abwehr" and turned them over to the British. That proved to be the last straw for Hitler. Despite the efforts of the "Abwehr" to shift the blame to the SS or even to the Foreign Ministry, Hitler had had enough of Canaris and he told Himmler so twice. He summoned the chief of the Abwehr for a final interview and accused him of allowing the "Abwehr" to "fall to bits". Canaris quietly agreed that it was "not surprising", as Germany was losing the war.


title: Abwehr

text: Hitler fired Canaris on the spot, and on 18 February 1944, Hitler signed a decree that abolished the "Abwehr". Its functions were taken over by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and the senior RSHA official Walter Schellenberg replaced Canaris functionally within the RSHA. This action strengthened Himmler's control over the military.


title: Abwehr

text: Canaris was cashiered and given the empty title of Chief of the Office of Commercial and Economic Warfare. He was arrested on 23 July 1944, in the aftermath of the "20 July Plot" against Hitler and executed shortly before the end of the war, along with Oster, his deputy. The functions of the "Abwehr" were then fully absorbed by "Amt" VI, "SD-Ausland", a sub-office of the RSHA, which was part of the SS.


title: Abwehr

text: During the war, the "Abwehr" assembled a secret dossier detailing many of the crimes committed in Eastern Europe by the Nazis, known as the Zossen documents. These files were gathered together with the intention of exposing the regime's crimes at a future date. The documents were kept in a safe at the Zossen military headquarters not far from Berlin and remained under "Abwehr" control. Some of the papers were allegedly buried, but the individual responsible for this, Werner Schrader, ended up implicated in the 20 July plot against Hitler and committed suicide shortly thereafter. Later, the documents were discovered by the Gestapo and under the personal supervision of then SD Chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner, they were taken to the castle Schloss Mittersill in the Tyrol and burned. Supposedly amongst the Zossen documents was the personal diary of Admiral Canaris, as well as the Vatican and Fritsch papers.


title: Abwehr

text: Many historians agree that, in general, the "Abwehr" had a poor reputation for the quality of its work and for its unusually decentralized organization. Some of the "Abwehr"s less than stellar image and performance was due to the intense rivalry it had with the SS, the RSHA and with the SD. Other factors in the failings of the "Abwehr" may have included Allied success in deciphering the German Enigma machine ciphers through the code-breakers at Bletchley Park. During the August and September 1942 engagements in North Africa against Rommel, this Allied capability was a crucial element to Montgomery's success, as British signals intelligence (SIGINT) was superior to that of the Germans.


title: Abwehr

text: American historian Robin Winks says that the "Abwehr" was "an abysmal failure, failing to forecast Torch, or Husky, or Overlord". English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper says it was "rotten with corruption, notoriously inefficient, [and] politically suspect". He adds that it was under the "negligent rule" of Admiral Canaris, who was "more interested in anti-Nazi intrigue than in his official duties". Historian Norman Davies agrees with this observation and avows that Canaris "was anything but a Nazi enthusiast". According to Trevor-Roper, for the first two years of the World War II it was a "happy parasite" that was "borne along ... on the success of the German Army". When the tide turned against the Nazis and the "Abwehr" proved unable to produce the intelligence the Axis leadership demanded, the Nazi authorities merged the "Abwehr" into the SS in 1944. Numerous intelligence failures and general incompetence led to catastrophic disasters for the German military in both its eastern and western campaigns. In his book, "The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939–1945", historian Max Hastings claims that other than suborning Yugoslav officers ahead of their 1941 emergency mobilization, the "Abwehr"s espionage operations were "uniformly unsuccessful".


title: Abwehr

text: Such harsh criticism of the "Abwehr" aside, the organization achieved some notable successes earlier in its existence. Members of the "Abwehr" played an important role (along with the SD) in helping to lay the groundwork for the 1938 "Anschluß" with Austria with Germany, and during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia an "Abwehr" group aided in the seizure of a strategically important railway tunnel in Polish Silesia in the final week of August 1939. Historian Walter Goerlitz claimed in his 1952 work, "History of the German General Staff, 1657–1945", that Canaris and the "Abwehr" formed the "real centre of military opposition to the regime", a view which many others do not share. Former OSS Berlin station-chief and later director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles, evaluated German intelligence officers from the "Abwehr" at the end of the war and concluded that only the upper echelons were active dissenters and part of the opposition movement. According to Dulles, the "Abwehr" participated in a lot more than just machinations against Hitler's régime and asserted that approximately 95 per cent of the "Abwehr" actively worked "against the Allies" whereas only about 5 per cent of them were anti-Nazi in disposition. Military historian John Wheeler-Bennett wrote that the "Abwehr" "failed conspicuously as a secret intelligence service", that it was "patently and incontestably inefficient" and adds that members of the "Abwehr" "displayed no great efficiency either as intelligence officers or as conspirators...". Whatever successes the "Abwehr" enjoyed before the start of the Second World War, there were virtually none once the war began and worse, the British successfully ran 19 double agents through the "Abwehr" which fed them false information, duping the German intelligence service to the very end. Soviet infiltration into the "Abwehr" and NKVD successes against Abwehr agents also reflect poorly on German military intelligence efforts. Historian Albert Seaton makes an important observation regarding the German Army's failures as a result of poor intelligence by asserting that all too often, decisions were made as a result of the opinion of Hitler and that he imposed "his" views on the military chain of command and therewith, the choice of actions taken during the war. Max Hastings makes similar claims about the general nature of totalitarian systems: in Nazi Germany, intelligence assessments required adjustment to fit within the constraints of what Hitler would accept. Nonetheless, the general historical reputation of the "Abwehr" remains unfavourable in the view of most scholars.


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: Caroline McWilliams (April 4, 1945 – February 11, 2010) was an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Marcy Hill in the television series "Benson". McWilliams had also appeared in nine episodes of its parent-series "Soap", as Sally. She was a regular on the CBS soap "Guiding Light" (as Janet Norris) for several years and appeared in a short-term role (as Tracy DeWitt) on the NBC soap "Another World". She also had a recurring role on "Beverly Hills, 90210" playing the mother of Jamie Walters' character, Ray Pruit.


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: McWilliams was born in Seattle and grew up in Rhode Island. She graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She was married in 1982 to Michael Keaton, with whom she had a son, Sean. She and Keaton divorced in 1990.


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: McWilliams's television appearances spanned every decade from the 1960s through the 2000s. She was a regular player on "Guiding Light" as Janet Mason Norris from 1969 until 1975. She portrayed a prostitute who helped an immigrant stay in the country by marrying him for money on "Barney Miller" in 1977. She was a semi-regular on "Soap" during the second season in 1978. She then appeared on "Benson" (as a different character) when that series premiered in 1979. She remained on "Benson" until 1981: the storyline stated that her character was departing to move away with her husband (her fiancé-turned-husband on the show having been played by Ted Danson).


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: On stage, she appeared in the musical "Boccaccio", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "The Rothschilds" and productions with the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, and the New York Shakespeare Festival.


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: After this, she made a number of appearances in television comedies and dramas, including "Kojak"; "Quincy, M.E."; "The Incredible Hulk"; "$weepstake$"; "Project U.F.O."; "Hill Street Blues"; "Night Court"; "St. Elsewhere"; "Cagney & Lacey"; "Sisters" (two episodes); "Home Improvement"; "Murphy Brown" and "Judging Amy" (three episodes). In 1989, she portrayed the ghostly wife, Clair Pritchard, in the short-lived comedy series "Nearly Departed". She also appeared in numerous made-for-television movies, including "The Death of Ocean View Park" (1979), "Rage!" (1980), "The Gift of Life" (1982), and "Sworn to Silence" (1987). In 1982, she starred in "Cass Malloy", a CBS sitcom television pilot which aired as a one-off that summer but did not result in a regular series, although it served as the basis for "She's the Sheriff", which aired in first-run syndication from 1987 to 1989 with Suzanne Somers in the starring role.


title: Caroline McWilliams

text: McWilliams died from multiple myeloma at her home in Los Angeles, California on February 11, 2010, aged 64.


title: Roger Rees

text: Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby". He also received Obie Awards for his role in "The End of the Day" and as co-director of "Peter and the Starcatcher". Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.


title: Roger Rees

text: He was widely known to American television audiences for playing the characters Robin Colcord in "Cheers" and Lord John Marbury in "The West Wing". Americans also know him as the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks' "".


title: Roger Rees

text: Rees was born in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales, the son of Doris Louise (née Smith), a shop clerk, and William John Rees, a police officer. He and his parents moved to Balham, London, where he grew up. He studied art at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Slade School of Fine Art, turning to acting when he was painting backdrops at the Wimbledon Theatre and was asked to fill a part in a play.


title: Roger Rees

text: Rees continued his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He played Malcolm in the acclaimed Trevor Nunn 1976 stage and 1978 television production of "Macbeth". Rees created the title role in the original production of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby", David Edgar's stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for Actor of the Year in a New Play in 1980 and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1982. A recorded version of the play also earned him an Emmy nomination in 1983. He also starred in the original production of "The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard at the Strand Theatre in London in 1982.


title: Roger Rees

text: Rees began to work in television during the 1980s, appearing opposite Laurence Olivier in "The Ebony Tower" (1984). That same year, Rees portrayed Fred Hollywell in "A Christmas Carol", which he also narrated, starring George C. Scott as Scrooge. In 1986, he played William Tyndale in "God's Outlaw". From 1988 to 1991 he starred in the British sitcom "Singles", with co-star Judy Loe. From 1989 to 1991 and in 1993, he also appeared intermittently on the long-running American television series "Cheers" as the English business tycoon Robin Colcord, a love interest for Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). He played British Ambassador Lord John Marbury in several episodes of "The West Wing" from 2000 to 2005. His later television appearances also include "My So-Called Life" as substitute teacher Mr. Racine, and James MacPherson on "Warehouse 13". His film career began in the 1980s. Rees played the Sheriff of Rottingham in the Mel Brooks movie, "" (1993). Rees' later film appearances include "Frida" (2002), "The Prestige" (2006), and "The Pink Panther" (2006).


title: Roger Rees

text: Continuing his work in the theatre through the 1990s, both as an actor and a director, Rees was awarded an Obie Award for his 1992 performance in the Off-Broadway play "The End of the Day". In 1995, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in "Indiscretions". He recorded many audiobooks, including "Memnoch the Devil" by Anne Rice.


title: Roger Rees

text: From November 2004 to October 2007, Rees was artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, only the fourth person to hold the post in its half-century history. He replaced Nathan Lane in the role of Gomez Addams in the Broadway musical adaptation of "The Addams Family", on 22 March 2011 and remained until the end of the run on 31 December 2011.


title: Roger Rees

text: In 2012, Rees took his one-man Shakespeare show, "What You Will", to London's West End, playing a three-week engagement at the Apollo Theatre.


title: Roger Rees

text: In 2013, Rees directed Crispin Whitell's play, "The Primrose Path", at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.


title: Roger Rees

text: In 2014, Rees directed "Dog and Pony", a musical written by Rick Elice and Michael Patrick Walker, which had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.


title: Roger Rees

text: His last role was as Anton Schell in the musical version of "The Visit", opposite Chita Rivera, which opened on Broadway on 23 April 2015 and closed on 14 June 2015. Rees left the production in May 2015 owing to his illness.


title: Roger Rees

text: Rees was to have directed a new musical written by Elice and Will Van Dyke, "Magnificent Climb", in the fall of 2016 at MCC Theater in New York City. He was also scheduled to perform his one-man Shakespeare show, "What You Will" in New York in the autumn of 2015, and had hoped to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a stint in "Don Quixote" in 2016. He was inducted into the exclusive entertainment fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats, as a full member.


title: Roger Rees

text: Rees lived in the United States for more than 25 years and became a naturalized American citizen in 1989. He converted to Judaism in the 1980s. Rees married his partner of 33 years, playwright Rick Elice, in 2011, shortly after same-sex marriage in New York was legalised. Rees and Elice also collaborated professionally, including as co-playwrights of the comedic thriller "Double Double". Elice co-wrote (with Marshall Brickman) the libretto for "The Addams Family" musical, the cast of which Rees had joined on 22 March 2011. In 2012, Elice and Rees received Tony Award nominations for Elice's stage adaptation and Rees' co-direction (with Alex Timbers), respectively, of "Peter and the Starcatcher". In October 2017, Elice wrote a memoir of his life with Rees, entitled "Finding Roger: An Improbably Theatrical Love Story".


title: Roger Rees

text: After a diagnosis of brain cancer in October 2014, Rees focused his energy on his commitment to playing opposite Chita Rivera on Broadway in "The Visit", the final musical written by John Kander and Fred Ebb. While undergoing two brain surgeries, two courses of radiation and ongoing chemotherapy, Rees managed to rehearse, preview and open in "The Visit" on 23 April 2015. By the middle of May, it had become too difficult for him to speak, and he left the show. Rees died at age 71 at his home in New York City on 10 July 2015. On Wednesday, 15 July 2015, the marquee lights at all the theatres on Broadway were dimmed in his honour. His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. Two months later, there was a memorial service for him at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre. On 16 November 2015, Rees was inducted, posthumously, into the Broadway Theatre Hall of Fame.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress. Her film debut at the age of 13 was in "The Golden Compass", as the lead character Lyra Belacqua. Other lead roles include the wayward teenager April in "Dustbin Baby" and Maria in the 2009 film "The Secret of Moonacre". In 2011 she played Franky Fitzgerald in the third generation cast of British teen drama "Skins." She has also played roles in television, film and on stage.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards was born at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the Fulham Road, London. The family moved to Sussex, where she attended Newlands School. She attended St Paul's Primary School in Brighton, and later Blatchington Mill School in Hove and KBis Theatre School in Brighton.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: After seeing the stage adaptation of "His Dark Materials" at the National Theatre, she says she "just wanted to be Lyra". The audition process had ten thousand applicants, and Philip Pullman (author of the books) said, "As soon as I saw Dakota's screen test, I realised that the search was over." Chris Weitz, the director, added that Richards "made what should have been an extremely difficult decision quite easy." "The Golden Compass" with Richards as Lyra was released worldwide in December 2007 and grossed $372 million.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards' performance in "The Golden Compass" was variously described as "efficient", "a decent job", "nicely played", and "enchanting." One review called the selection of Richards for the role of Lyra "terrific casting". Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" commented "Lyra is nicely played by 13-year-old newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, though with an Artful Dodger-ish 'urchin' accent that comes and goes a bit", while "Empire" noted that she "struggles with lumpy dialogue". Roger Ebert was more effusive, calling Richards "a delightful find" who was "pretty, plucky, forceful, self-possessed, charismatic and just about plausible as the mistress of an armoured bear and the protector of Dust."


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards appeared in series 5 and 6 of the E4 teen drama "Skins", which premiered on 27 January 2011. She played the character of Franky Fitzgerald with her androgynous looks, wacky dress sense, two gay dads (one played by John Sessions) and a tragic cyber-bullying backstory. Originally she auditioned for the role of Liv, and in an interview explained "only became Franky right at the very end of the audition process". As a member of the third generation of its young cast, Richards said "It's crazy to be part of this "Skins" phenomenon, it's as much a lifestyle choice as anything because of the attention that comes with it."


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: In this full-length film, Richards plays a protagonist's sister-in-law, cajoled into acting the role of author of a chick-lit novel written by four patrons of a local pub in Norfolk. The character, Zoe, demands £500 a week for as long as the four true authors need her. The film is an erotic British comedy.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Before "The Golden Compass" was released, Richards had already been cast as the lead in another film, "The Secret of Moonacre", her second book-to-film adaption, in which she would play Maria Merryweather from the book "The Little White Horse". Principal photography began in October 2007 and the film was eventually released February 2009.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: In December 2008, Richards played April Johnson in "Dustbin Baby", the BBC dramatisation of the Jacqueline Wilson novel of the same name. She described April as a difficult character to play, "she is a really different person to me. On the one hand, she does go through normal things that I can relate to, such as fighting with your parents or getting presents you don't like; but on the other, she has had such a hard life."


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: In April 2012, she performed a British indie feature "The Fold" in Bristol and Cornwall, playing Eloise, the daughter of an Anglican priest. The film is written by Poppy Cogan, winner of the Harpers/William Morris Short Script Award, and directed by John Jencks. It commercially opened in limited release in UK on 24 March 2014. The movie won best screenplay at the Women's Independent Festival in LA, Best Picture at the Independent Film Makers Showcase and was nominated for best drama at the National Film Awards.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards played a title role in ITV thriller "Lightfields" alongside Jill Halfpenny and Kris Marshall. It is a supernatural five-part drama which follows on from the ITV drama "Marchlands" and tells the story of three families living in the same house with a ghost during different time periods.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: In 2013, she appeared in French filmmaker Stéphanie Joalland's sci-fi thriller "The Quiet Hour", about a brother and sister trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic England. During the same year she filmed a short film entitled "Girl Power".


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Between 2016 and 2018 she was cast in the part of WPC Shirley Trewlove in the "Endeavour" television series. In 2018, she was cast for the part of Margaret Osborne in the ITV drama "Beecham House". It began airing in 2019.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards revealed that as a young actress, she "suffered at the hands of school bullies because of her ginger hair".


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: In 2008, she attended the "Our Space" camp of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (in the Lake District), which gathered "teenagers from different backgrounds to discuss human rights and discrimination". Since 2010 she has supported Action for Children, a charity in the United Kingdom helping vulnerable young people overcome injustice and deprivation. In 2011, she fronted their advertising campaign to promote a new charity project.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards also backs The Young Actors Group, an acting school in Brighton opened in 2014 that gives children and teenagers the training to work professionally in stage and screen.


title: Dakota Blue Richards

text: Richards describes herself as "quite into modern art and abstract stuff" and a fan of photographer Christian Coigny, artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, and films from Studio Ghibli.


title: I, Robot

text: I, Robot is a fixup (compilation) novel of science fiction short stories or essays by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines "Super Science Stories" and "Astounding Science Fiction" between 1940 and 1950 and were then compiled into a book for stand-alone (single issue / special edition) publication by Gnome Press in 1950, in an initial edition of 5,000 copies. The stories are woven together by a framing narrative in which the fictional Dr. Susan Calvin tells each story to a reporter (who serves as the narrator) in the 21st century. Although the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots, and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics.


title: I, Robot

text: Several of the stories feature the character of Dr. Calvin, chief robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., the major manufacturer of robots. Upon their publication in this collection, Asimov wrote a framing sequence presenting the stories as Calvin's reminiscences during an interview with her about her life's work, chiefly concerned with aberrant behaviour of robots and the use of "robopsychology" to sort out what is happening in their positronic brain. The book also contains the short story in which Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics first appear, which had large influence on later science fiction and had impact on thought on ethics of artificial intelligence as well. Other characters that appear in these short stories are Powell and Donovan, a field-testing team which locates flaws in USRMM's prototype models.


title: I, Robot

text: The collection shares a title with the then recent short story "I, Robot" (1939) by Eando Binder (pseudonym of Earl and Otto Binder), which greatly influenced Asimov. Asimov had wanted to call his collection "Mind and Iron" and objected when the publisher made the title the same as Binder's. In his introduction to the story in "Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories" (1979), Asimov wrote:


title: I, Robot

text: "The New York Times" described "I, Robot" as "an exciting science thriller [which] could be fun for those whose nerves are not already made raw by the potentialities of the atomic age".


title: I, Robot

text: P. Schuyler Miller recommended the collection: "For puzzle situations, for humor, for warm character, [and] for most of the values of plain good writing."


title: I, Robot

text: At least three of the short stories from "I, Robot" have been adapted for television. The first was a 1962 episode of "Out of this World" hosted by Boris Karloff called "Little Lost Robot" with Maxine Audley as Susan Calvin. Two short stories from the collection were made into episodes of "Out of the Unknown": "The Prophet" (1967), based on "Reason"; and "Liar!" (1969). Both episodes were wiped by the BBC and are no longer thought to exist, although video clips, audio extracts and still photographs have survived. The 12th episode of the USSR science fiction TV series "This Fantastic World", filmed in 1987 and entitled "Don't Joke with Robots", was based on works by Aleksandr Belyaev and Fredrik Kilander as well as Asimov's "Liar!" story.


title: I, Robot

text: Both the original and revival series of "The Outer Limits" include episodes named "I, Robot"; however, both are adaptations of the Earl and Otto Binder story of that name and are unconnected with Asimov's work.


title: I, Robot

text: In the late 1970s, Warner Bros. acquired the option to make a film based on the book, but no screenplay was ever accepted. The most notable attempt was one by Harlan Ellison, who collaborated with Asimov himself to create a version which captured the spirit of the original. Asimov is quoted as saying that this screenplay would lead to "the first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made."


title: I, Robot

text: Ellison's script builds a framework around Asimov's short stories that involves a reporter named Robert Bratenahl tracking down information about Susan Calvin's alleged former lover Stephen Byerly. Asimov's stories are presented as flashbacks that differ from the originals in their stronger emphasis on Calvin's character. Ellison placed Calvin into stories in which she did not originally appear and fleshed out her character's role in ones where she did. In constructing the script as a series of flashbacks that focused on character development rather than action, Ellison used the film "Citizen Kane" as a model.


title: I, Robot

text: Although acclaimed by critics, the screenplay is generally considered to have been unfilmable based upon the technology and average film budgets of the time. Asimov also believed that the film may have been scrapped because of a conflict between Ellison and the producers: when the producers suggested changes in the script, instead of being diplomatic as advised by Asimov, Ellison "reacted violently" and offended the producers. The script was serialized in "Asimov's Science Fiction" magazine in late 1987, and eventually appeared in book form under the title "I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay", in 1994 (reprinted 2004, ).


title: I, Robot

text: The film "I, Robot", starring Will Smith, was released by Twentieth Century Fox on July 16, 2004 in the United States. Its plot incorporates elements of "Little Lost Robot", some of Asimov's character names and the "Three Laws". However, the plot of the movie is mostly original work adapted from the screenplay "Hardwired" by Jeff Vintar, completely unlinked to Asimov's stories and has been compared to Asimov's "The Caves of Steel", which revolves around the murder of a roboticist (although the rest of the film's plot is not based on that novel or other works by Asimov). Unlike the books by Asimov, the movie featured hordes of killer robots.


title: I, Robot

text: BBC Radio 4 aired an audio drama adaptation of five of the "I, Robot" stories on their 15 Minute Drama in 2017, dramatized by Richard Kurti and starring Hermione Norris.


title: I, Robot

text: The Asimov estate asked Mickey Zucker Reichert (best known for the Norse fantasy "Renshai" series) to write three prequels for "I, Robot", since she was a science fiction writer with a medical degree who had first met Asimov when she was 23, although she did not know him well. She was the first female writer to be authorized to write stories based on Asimov's novels.


title: I, Robot

text: The follow-ups to Asimov's "Foundation" series had been written by Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and David Brin.


title: I, Robot

text: In 2004, "The Saturday Evening Post" said that "I, Robot"'s Three Laws "revolutionized the science fiction genre and made robots far more interesting than they ever had been before." "I, Robot" has influenced many aspects of modern popular culture, particularly with respect to science fiction and technology. One example of this is in the technology industry. The name of the real-life modem manufacturer named U.S. Robotics was directly inspired by "I, Robot". The name is taken from the name of a robot manufacturer ("United States Robots and Mechanical Men") that appears throughout Asimov's robot short stories.


title: I, Robot

text: An episode of the original "" series, "I, Mudd" (1967), which depicts a planet of androids in need of humans, references "I, Robot". Another reference appears in the title of a "" episode, "I, Borg" (1992), in which Geordi La Forge befriends a lost member of the Borg collective and teaches it a sense of individuality and free will.


title: I, Robot

text: A "Doctor Who" story, "The Robots of Death" (1977), references "I, Robot" with the "First Principle", stating: "It is forbidden for robots to harm humans."


title: I, Robot

text: In the film "Aliens" (1986), the synthetic person Bishop paraphrases Asimov's First Law in the line: "It is impossible for me to harm, or by omission of action allow to be harmed, a human being."


title: I, Robot

text: An episode of "The Simpsons" entitled "I D'oh Bot" (2004) has Professor Frink build a robot named "Smashius Clay" (also named "Killhammad Aieee") that follows all three of Asimov's laws of robotics.


title: I, Robot

text: The animated science fiction/comedy "Futurama" makes several references to "I, Robot". The title of the episode "I, Roommate" (1999) is a spoof on "I, Robot" although the plot of the episode has little to do with the original stories. Additionally, the episode "The Cyber House Rules" included an optician named "Eye Robot" and the episode "Anthology of Interest II" included a segment called "I, Meatbag." Also in "Bender's Game" (2008) the psychiatrist is shown a logical fallacy and explodes when the assistant shouts "Liar!" a la "Liar!". Leela once told Bender to "cover his ears" so that he would not hear the robot-destroying paradox which she used to destroy Robot Santa (he punishes the bad, he kills people, killing is bad, therefore he must punish himself), causing a total breakdown; additionally, Bender has stated that he is Three Laws Safe.


title: I, Robot

text: The positronic brain, which Asimov named his robots' central processors, is what powers Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation", as well as other Soong type androids. Positronic brains have been referenced in a number of other television shows including "Doctor Who", "Once Upon a Time... Space", "Perry Rhodan", "The Number of the Beast", and others.


title: I, Robot

text: Author Cory Doctorow has written a story called "I, Robot" as homage to and critique of Asimov, as well as "I, Row-Boat", both released in the 2007 short story collection "". He has also said, "If I return to this theme, it will be with a story about uplifted cheese sandwiches, called 'I, Rarebit.'"


title: I, Robot

text: Other cultural references to the book are less directly related to science fiction and technology. The album "I Robot" (1977), by The Alan Parsons Project, was inspired by Asimov's "I, Robot". In its original conception, the album was to follow the themes and concepts presented in the short story collection. The Alan Parsons Project were not able to obtain the rights in spite of Asimov's enthusiasm; he had already assigned the rights elsewhere. Thus, the album's concept was altered slightly although the name was kept (minus comma to avoid copyright infringement). An album, "I, Human" (2009), by Singaporean band Deus Ex Machina, draws heavily upon Asimov's principles on robotics and applies it to the concept of cloning.


title: I, Robot

text: The Indian science fiction film "Endhiran" (2010) refers to Asimov's three laws for artificial intelligence for the fictional character "Chitti: The Robot". When a scientist takes in the robot for evaluation, the panel inquires whether the robot was built using the Three Laws of Robotics.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Katharine Teresa Gun ("née" Harwood) (born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to "The Observer", concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council. The diplomats were due to vote on a second United Nations resolution on the prospective 2003 invasion of Iraq.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Katharine Harwood moved to Taiwan in 1977 with her parents, Paul and Jan Harwood. Her father had studied Chinese at Durham University and now teaches at Tunghai University in the city of Taichung, central Taiwan. She has a younger brother who teaches in Taiwan.


title: Katharine Gun

text: After spending her childhood in Taiwan, where she attended Morrison Academy until the age of 16, Katharine returned to Britain to study for her A-levels at Moira House School, a girls' boarding school in Eastbourne. Her upbringing later led her to describe herself as a "third culture kid". In 1993 she began studying Japanese and Chinese at Durham University.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Gun graduated with an upper second-class degree, then took a job as an assistant English teacher with the JET program in Hiroshima, Japan. She left teaching in 1999, and after some temporary jobs, finding it difficult to find work as a linguist, Gun applied to GCHQ in 2001, after reading a newspaper advertisement for the organisation. Gun had previously been unaware of GCHQ, later saying that "I didn't have much idea about what they did...I was going into it pretty much blind. Most people do."


title: Katharine Gun

text: Gun's regular job at GCHQ in Cheltenham was to translate Mandarin Chinese into English. While at work at GCHQ on 31 January 2003, Gun read an email from Frank Koza, the chief of staff at the "regional targets" division of the American signals intelligence agency, the National Security Agency.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Koza's email requested aid in a secret operation to bug the United Nations offices of six nations: Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, and Pakistan. These were the six "swing nations" on the UN Security Council that could determine whether the UN approved the invasion of Iraq. The plan might have contravened Articles 22 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which regulates global diplomacy.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Gun was outraged by the email, and took a printed copy of it home with her. After contemplating the email over the weekend, Gun gave the email to a friend who was acquainted with journalists. In February, she travelled to London to take part in the demonstration against the impending invasion of Iraq. Gun heard no more of the email, and had all but forgotten about it until Sunday 2 March, when she saw it reproduced on the front page of "The Observer" newspaper. Less than a week after the "Observer" story, on Wednesday 5 March, Gun confessed to her line manager at GCHQ that she had leaked the email, and was arrested. In a BBC interview with Jeremy Paxman, she said that she had not raised the matter with staff counsellors as she "honestly didn't think that would have had any practical effect". Gun spent a night in police custody, and eight months later was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. While waiting to hear whether she would be charged, Gun embarked on a postgraduate degree course in global ethics at Birmingham University.


title: Katharine Gun

text: On 13 November 2003, Gun was charged with an offence under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989. Her case became a "cause célèbre" among activists, and many people stepped forward to urge the government to drop the case. Among them were Reverend Jesse Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg (the US government official who leaked the Pentagon Papers), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich.


title: Katharine Gun

text: The case came to court on 25 February 2004. Within half an hour, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. At the time, the reasons for the Attorney-General to drop the case were murky. The day before the trial, Gun's defence team had asked the government for any records of legal advice about the lawfulness of the war that it had received during the run-up to the war. A full trial might have exposed any such documents to public scrutiny, as the defence was expected to argue that trying to stop an unlawful war of aggression outweighed Gun's obligations under the Official Secrets Act. Gun was defended by Alex Bailin KC. Speculation was rife in the media that the prosecution service had bowed to political pressure to drop the case so that any such documents would remain secret. A government spokesman said that the decision to drop the case had been made before the defence's demands had been submitted. "The Guardian" newspaper had reported plans to drop the case the previous week. On the day of the court hearing, Gun said, "I'm just baffled in the 21st century we as human beings are still dropping bombs on each other as a means to resolve issues." In May 2019 "The Guardian" stated the case was dropped "when the prosecution realised that evidence would emerge ... that even British government lawyers believed the invasion was unlawful."


title: Katharine Gun

text: In September 2019 Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said the case against Gun was not dropped in order to stop the Attorney General's advice on the legality of the Iraq War from being revealed. Macdonald stated that Gun would not have received a fair trial without the disclosure of information that would have compromised national security. Gavin Hood, the director of "Official Secrets", expressed scepticism about Macdonald's statement and called for the declassification of the official documents referred to by Macdonald.


title: Katharine Gun

text: Gun received the Sam Adams Award for 2003 and was supported in her case by the UK human rights pressure group Liberty and in the US by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Following the dropping of the case, Liberty commented, "One wonders whether disclosure in this criminal trial might have been a little too embarrassing."


title: Katharine Gun

text: Two years after her trial, Gun wrote an article titled "Iran: Time to Leak", which asked whistleblowers to make public any information about plans for a potential war against Iran. She urged "those in a position to do so to disclose information which relates to this planned aggression; legal advice, meetings between the White House and other intelligence agencies, assessments of Iran's threat level (or better yet, evidence that assessments have been altered), troop deployments and army notifications. Don't let 'the intelligence and the facts be fixed around the policy' this time."


title: Katharine Gun

text: In January, 2019, the film "Official Secrets", recounting Gun's actions in 2003, received its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, with Keira Knightley playing Gun. Daniel Ellsberg praised the swiftness and importance of Gun taking action, saying it was in some ways more significant than his own whistleblowing on the Vietnam War. In July 2019, in a lengthy interview on the US program "Democracy Now!," Gun, Gavin Hood (the film's director), and Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy (the journalists who broke the story of the leaked memo) discussed the events that the film describes. Together with journalist Peter Beaumont, Gun advised and consulted over the years it took to make the film and they are "very happy with the result.”


title: Ushanka

text: An ushanka (, from , "ears"), also called an "ushanka-hat" (), is a Russian fur cap with ear covering flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or fastened at the chin to protect the ears, jaw, and lower chin from the cold. An alternative is to bend the flaps back and tie them behind the head, which is called "ski-style" — this offers less protection from the elements, but much better visibility, essential for high-speed skiing. The dense fur also offers some protection against blunt impacts to the head. They are also traditionally worn in the Baltic region including Sweden and Finland and the whole eastern European region.


title: Ushanka

text: Ushankas are often made from inexpensive sheepskin ("tsigeyka"), rabbit or muskrat fur. Artificial fur hats are also manufactured and are referred to as "fish fur" since the material is not from any real animal. The simplest "fish fur" of "ushanka"s was made of wool pile with cloth substrate and cloth top, with the exception of the flaps, which had the pile exposed. Mink fur ushankas are widely used in the Arctic regions of Russia, protecting the ears and chin of the wearer even from "deep frost", which is around .


title: Ushanka

text: Hats with fur earflaps have been known for centuries, especially in the Balkan countries Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, as well as in Northeastern Italy, in the Julian March, Trieste, and surrounding areas where there has been a large Slavic population for centuries. Such hats are also seen in Nordic countries Sweden, Norway and Finland, in the Eurasian and European Slavic countries Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Romania, Moldova and in Caucasus region in Georgia and Armenia. The design of ushanka with a perfectly round crown was developed in the 17th century when in central and northern Russia a hat with earflaps called treukh was worn. The modern ushanka design from 1917 is also inspired by the Norwegian "norvezhka", a hat which was invented by Norwegian arctic explorers. The main difference from the treukh is that the earflaps of the norvezhka were much longer. In addition, Cossacks of the Kuban have influenced the design of modern Ushanka through interaction with peoples from Central Asia and Caucasus.


title: Ushanka

text: In 1917 during the Russian Civil War, the ruler of Siberia, Aleksandr Kolchak, introduced a winter uniform hat, commonly referred to as a "kolchakovka", c. 1918. It was similar to the ushanka. In 1933, W. C. Fields wore a kolchakovka in the short film "The Fatal Glass of Beer". However, Kolchak and the White Army lost the war, and their headgear was not adopted in the new Soviet Union.


title: Ushanka

text: Red Army soldiers instead wore the budenovka, which was made of felt. It was designed to resemble historical bogatyr helmets, and did not provide much protection from the cold.


title: Ushanka

text: During the Winter War against Finland, organizational failures and inadequate equipment left many Soviet troops vulnerable to cold, and many died of exposure. The Finnish army had much better equipment including an ushanka-style fur hat, the turkislakki M36, introduced in 1936. In 1939, shortly before the Winter War, the slightly improved turkislakki M39 was introduced, and is still in use today. After the Winter War, the Red Army received completely redesigned winter uniforms. "Budenovkas" were finally replaced with ushankas based on the Finnish example. Officers were issued fur ushankas; other ranks received ushankas made with plush or "fish fur". When they experienced the harsh Russian winter, for example during the Battle of Moscow, German soldiers started to wear ushankas and other Soviet-type winter gear, as their uniforms did not provide adequate protection. WW2 ushanka presented in the Army museum (Russia) and Saumur tank museum (France).


title: Ushanka

text: The ushanka became a symbol and media icon of the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation. Photographs of U.S. President Gerald Ford wearing the cap during a 1974 visit to the Soviet Union were seen as a possible sign of détente.


title: Ushanka

text: Identified with Soviet rule and issued in all Warsaw Pact armies, the ushanka has since become a part of the winter uniform for military and police forces in Canada and other Western countries with a cold winter. Gray (American civilian police), green (for camouflage), blue (police, United States Post Office) and black versions are in current usage. In 2013, the Russian army announced that the ushanka was being replaced by new headgear, which is essentially the same ushanka with a rounder crown and small sealable openings in the flaps for wearing headphones. It is also still used by the Polish armed forces.


title: Ushanka

text: The ushanka was used by the East German authorities before German reunification, and remained part of the German police uniform in winter afterwards. In the Finnish Defence Forces, a gray hat is used with M62 uniform and a green one of different design is a part of M91 and M05 winter dress. Armoured troops have a black hat (M92), while generals may wear a white M39 hat. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police use a "regulation hat" (between an ushanka and an aviator hat), made of muskrat fur. This replaced the former Astrakhan (hat). Similar ones are used by Toronto Transit Commission staff during winter.


title: Ushanka

text: A similar type of headgear is worn in China's People's Liberation Army's winter uniform. Featured in an iconic image of Lei Feng, this type of hat is often called by Chinese "the Lei Feng hat" (雷锋帽, "Lei Feng mao").


title: Ushanka

text: It is claimed that British wartime airmen visiting the Kola Inlet to help to protect the Arctic convoys quickly started to wear ushankas because their own uniform hats were not warm enough, but "kept the ear flaps tied up to the crown as any Russian would, because it was considered unmanly to wear them down." However, in the Russian military up to this day, the way of wearing the ushanka — up flaps, down flaps or ski-style — is considered a part of uniform of the day and is usually decided by a unit commander at reveille, so the Russian soldiers aren't actually free about the way they wear their hats.


title: Ushanka

text: A variant of the ushanka is popular in Norway, especially in the north. It is infamous for its name, "bjørnefitte" (bear's vagina), which is considered vulgar in most parts of the country.


title: Ushanka

text: Trapper hats are "a sort of hybrid between the aviator cap and the ushanka—they combine the style of the former with the furriness of the latter". They are considered more casual than the military-derived ushanka.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. He founded a magazine, which was also named "Kalki", with T Sadasivam being the co-founder, in 1941. Krishnamurthy‘s writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy was born in a Brahmin family on 9 September 1899 in Puthamangalam, near Manalmedu, in Mayiladuthurai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Krishnamurthy's father was Ramaswamy Aiyar, an accountant in Puttamangalam village in the old Tanjore district of erstwhile Madras Presidency. He began his primary education in his village school and later attended Municipal High School in Mayavaram but quit in 1921, just short of completion of his Senior School Leaving Certificate, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's 1921 call for non-co-operation joining the Indian National Congress instead.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: His son Kalki Rajendran was married to Sadasivam's daughter Vijaya. And Krishnamurthy's daughter Anandi was married to Sadasivam's nephew (sister's son) Ramachandran, known as Ambi in music circles. Anandi's daughter Gowri Ramanarayanan was a music critic for The Hindu newspaper, and she also learned music under M S Subbulakshmi.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Krishnamurthy started writing fiction stories in "Navaskthi" in 1923 where he worked as a sub editor. He was working under the tutelage of Thiru Vi Ka when he published his first book in 1927. He started working with C Rajagopalachari in Thiruchengode in Gandhi Ashram. He published "Vimochanam" along with "Rajaji", a journal propogating liquor prohibition. He was working in freedom struggle and during 1931, he was jailed for six months. He joined "Ananda Vikatan", a popular Tamil magazine along with editor S S Vasan. He became very popular as a critic, witty author, political commentator and short story writer. He wrote under various pen names like "Kalki", "Ra. Ki", "Tamil Theni" and "Karnatkam". He left "Ananda Vikatan" and joined freedom struggle in 1941. On his release, he and Sadasivam started a weekly named "Kalki". He was the editor in the journal till his death on 5 December 1954


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Krishnamurthy was also a film and music critic, writing under the pseudonym "Karnatkam". He also penned lyrics for many songs, most of which were adapted into Carnatic Music.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Krishnamurthy died in Chennai on 5 December 1954 aged 55 years from tuberculosis. "Kalki" magazine's special issue for Annai Sarada Devi, dated the day Krishnamurthy died, was his last editorial work. The magazine shared the information that his health was improving prior to his demise.


title: Kalki Krishnamurthy

text: Veteran actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R.), actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan and director Mani Ratnam tried to adapt Krishnamurthy's novel "Ponniyin Selvan" into a film at different times, but only Mani Ratnam succeeded. The first part of Mani Ratnam's two-part film was released on 30 September 2022 as "".


title: OK boomer

text: "OK boomer" or "okay boomer" is a catchphrase and internet meme that has been used by Millennials and Gen Z to dismiss or mock attitudes typically associated with baby boomers – people born in the two decades following World War II. The phrase first drew widespread attention due to a November 2019 TikTok video in response to an older man, though the phrase had been coined years before that. Considered by some to be ageist, the phrase has developed into a retort for resistance to technological change, climate change denial, marginalization of members of minority groups, or opposition to younger generations' values.


title: OK boomer

text: The phrase has also been used commercially to sell merchandise and has been the subject of multiple trademark applications.


title: OK boomer

text: The first recorded instance of "OK boomer" is in a Reddit comment on 29 January 2009, and it appeared in 2015 on 4chan. "OK boomer" reached mass popularity in late 2019 as a reaction to an unidentified older man's rant on TikTok condemning "infantile" younger generations "hobbled" by social media and participation trophies. He said, "millennials and Generation Z have the Peter Pan syndrome [...] they don't ever want to grow up [and] they think that the utopian ideals that they have in their youth are somehow going to translate into adulthood". Thousands of viewers responded with "OK boomer" as "a sophisticated, mass retaliation" against the impact of past generations.


title: OK boomer

text: The phrase has been used as a retort for perceived resistance to technological change, climate change denial, marginalization of members of minority groups, or opposition to younger generations' ideals. Various media publications have noted the meme's usage on social media platforms beyond TikTok, and "The New York Times" wrote that "teenagers use it to reply to cringey YouTube videos, Donald Trump tweets, and basically any person over 30 who says something condescending about young peopleand the issues that matter to them." , videos tagged with #OkBoomer on TikTok had been viewed nearly 3.8 billion times.


title: OK boomer

text: In early November 2019, while giving a speech supporting a climate change bill, New Zealand MP Chlöe Swarbrick claimed that the average age of parliamentarians was 49 years old, and Gen X MP Todd Muller interrupted her, to which she responded "OK boomer". She wrote in an article in "The Guardian" that her comment "symbolised exhaustion of multiple generations." Swarbrick received widespread support on social media, as well as criticism for allegedly promoting ageism, including by the MP Christopher Bishop.


title: OK boomer

text: A July 2019 song titled "OK boomer" fuelled the meme like an anthem, with cutting lyrics. During halftime of the Harvard-Yale football game on 23 November 2019, climate change protesters interrupted the game by rushing the field and remained even after they were asked to leave, instead chanting "OK boomer."


title: OK boomer

text: On 9 January 2020, during the "Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time" tournament, "OK boomer" was the answer to a 400-point question in the "OK" category: "A 2019 "New York Times" article says this 2-word phrase 'marks the end of friendly generational relations'." Ken Jennings elicited laughter from the audience with the response, "I get to say it to Alex! What is 'OK, boomer'?" The phrase was used by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on 15 January 2020, as part of questioning for the "Babb v. Wilkie" age discrimination case.


title: OK boomer

text: On 2 March 2020, streamer Neekolul posted a video of lip-syncing and dancing to the Senzawa song "Oki Doki Boomer" while wearing a Bernie 2020 shirt. With more than 6 million views in four days and more than 30 million that month, viewer reception was mixed between cute and cringeworthy.


title: OK boomer

text: A hoodie bearing the phrase "OK boomer have a terrible day", designed by U.S. art student Shannon O’Connor, generated more than in sales by November 1, 2019. Multiple trademark applications were filed for "OK boomer", including one from Fox Media in 2019 with the intent to launch "an ongoing television series featuring reality competition, comedy, and game shows".


title: OK boomer

text: Many reactions have been positive. According to India Ross of the "Financial Times", the phrase has "come to symbolise a generational cultural fracture" with attacks on its use from baby boomers perhaps only serving to increase its power and use. Clémence Michallon of "The Independent" applauded the phrase as "just the right amount of dismissive" while warning against its overuse. Miyo McGinn of "Grist" applauded the term, writing, "This joy undeniably stems from righteous indignation as much as simple amusement—the two words feel downright poetic after "years" of hearing my generation blamed for 'killing' everything from restaurant chains to department stores to relationships." Some have commented that the term should be considered a shorthand term for "The Establishment" rather than targeting a specific age group.


title: OK boomer

text: Some commentators have considered the phrase to be ageist. The conservative radio host Bob Lonsberry went as far as labeling the word "boomer" as "the N-word of ageism" in a widely criticized and soon deleted tweet. Furthermore, Lonsberry stated that "being hip and flip does not make bigotry OK, nor is a derisive epithet acceptable because it is new". "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" mocked him: "Clearly this fella needs to play the hot new game: 'Is This The New N-Word?' No, it's not. Thank you for playing." Francine Prose of "The Guardian" suggested that the phrase reflects general cultural acceptance of discrimination against older generations. Also writing for "The Guardian", Bhaskar Sunkara criticized the meme and said that baby boomers instead "need solidarity" because many "older workers and retirees are struggling to survive" as "half of Americans approaching age 65 have less than $25,000 in savings". In an interview, AARP executive Myrna Blyth told "Axios", "OK, millennials. But we're the people that actually have the money." Several French politicians have also accused the phrase of being ageist, with MP Audrey Dufeu Schubert (La République en Marche!) deeming it an ageist slur in a special report on "succeeding in bridging the generational gap and fighting ageism".


title: OK boomer

text: "OK boomer" was one of the top five words for the year 2019 as selected by readers of a blog published on PublicAddress.net. It was nominated for a similar designation by a university in Switzerland, landing in second place. The phrase is on Lake Superior State University's 45th annual Banished Words List.


title: OK boomer

text: Some writers and critics of the "OK boomer" meme have responded with their own generational hostilities, particularly aimed towards the "digital natives" of Generation Z who are sometimes referred to as "zoomers." Columnist Cosmo Landesman, writing for "The Spectator," retorted that the Internet-heavy culture of zoomers lacked substance compared to that of the boomers, and would eventually be rejected by the children of Generation Z: "I suspect that future generations will want to stick the boot into the boomers too, but Generation Z will provoke nothing but a yawn. Their children will look at them and their infatuation with the latest bit of digital technology, roll their eyes and declare: OK zoomer." Viviana Freyer, staff editor of "The Bi-College News," the student newspaper of Bryn Mawr and Haverford College, responded to these kinds of criticisms in an editorial, writing that "When it is our turn to take the heat from “Generation Alpha” and whatever generation comes next, we hopefully will understand that this comes with getting older, and we’ll take the jokes with more grace than some thirty-something on Twitter getting overly defensive over side parts or cursive." American television comedian Bill Maher also took aim at what he described as a sense of impatience and moral superiority among Generation Z's activists such as environmentalist Greta Thunberg, in a "New Rule" segment for his HBO current events program "Real Time" titled "OK Zoomer."


title: OK boomer

text: The term "groomer" refers to a person who forms close, trusting relationships with children and/or their families or caregivers in order to prime minors for abusive sexual behaviour. Originally, "OK groomer" was a statement of backlash by viewers against YouTube personality Onision, who had been accused of grooming practices targeting his young fans, and was even the subject of a documentary produced by television journalist Chris Hansen, best known for the "Dateline NBC" series of primetime TV specials entitled "To Catch a Predator". Later on, however, the context of "OK groomer" has evolved to become a reactionary statement by those opposed to sex- and gender-focused instruction of children in schools, and a broader inclusion of sex- and gender-based content in mass media marketing and popular culture aimed at youth. It has gained particularly common usage among those who also support the controversial revisions to curriculum in the state of Florida signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, the critics of which have referred to as "Don't Say Gay" legislation. Proponents of the Florida law and other legislative proposals like it, which seek to curtail or diminish discussion of sex- and gender-oriented content in classrooms, have described educators and activists looking to include or promote such material as "groomers" for what is believed to be a foisting of inappropriate and explicit content upon a captive audience of young children and impressionable teenagers who look upon teachers and other adult figures as people to trust. Writing for "The American Conservative," senior editor Rod Dreher criticized the Walt Disney Company's vocal opposition to the Florida law, and a gradual inclusion over the years of LGBTQ-focused content in Disney productions, promotional marketing materials, and theme park attractions (such as "Disney Pride"), as being an example of institutional "grooming" by a major corporate brand that is synonymous with children's entertainment and innocence. Mary Harrington, contributing editor at British politics and culture website "UnHerd," also defended the use of the term as a critique of what she described as a normalization of the sexualization of children being framed as a progressive civil-rights struggle. Research from the Harvard Law School's Cyber Law Clinic tracking the use of the "OK groomer" phrase on Twitter noted that its use began to surge in early 2022, reaching a peak of 7,959 mentions on 29 March of that year, one day after the Florida bill became law.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Panchayati Raj (Council of five officials) is the system of local self-government of villages in rural India as opposed to urban and suburban municipalities.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: It consists of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) through which the self-government of villages is realized. They are tasked with "economic development, strengthening social justice and implementation of Central and State Government Schemes including those 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule."


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Part IX of the Indian Constitution is the section of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats. It stipulates that in states or Union Territories with more than two million inhabitants there are three levels of PRIs:


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: In states or Union Territories with less than two million inhabitants there are only two levels of PRIs. The Gram Sabha consists of all registered voters living in the area of a Gram Panchayat and is the organization through which village inhabitants participate directly in local government. Elections for the members of the Panchayats at all levels take place every five years. The Panchayats must include members of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the same proportion as in the general population. One third of all seats and chairperson posts must be reserved for women, in some states half of all seats and chairperson posts.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The modern Panchayati Raj system was introduced in India by the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992, although it is based upon the historical Panchayati raj system of the Indian subcontinent and is also present in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Following a proposal submitted in 1986 by the LM Singhvi Committee to make certain changes to the Panchayati raj institutions, which had already existed in early Indian history and which had been reintroduced, not very successfully, in the 20th century, the modern Panchayati raj system was formalized and introduced in India in April 1999 as the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, following a study conducted by a number of Indian committees on various ways of implementing a more decentralized administration. The modern Panchayati Raj and its "Gram Panchayats" are not to be confused with the extra-constitutional "Khap Panchayats" found in parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: In India, the Panchayati Raj now functions as a system of governance in which gram panchayats are the basic units of local administration. Currently, the Panchayati Raj system exists in all states except Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, and in all Union Territories except Delhi.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Panchayati raj originated in 2nd millennium BCE in India during Vedic times. Since Vedic times, the village (gram) in the country is considered as the basic unit for regional self-administration.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj as the foundation of India's political system, as a decentralized form of government in which each village would be responsible for its own affairs. The term for such a vision was "Gram Swaraj" ("village self-governance"). Instead, India developed a highly centralized form of government. However, this has been moderated by the delegation of several administrative functions to the local level, empowering elected gram panchayats. There are significant differences between the traditional Panchayati Raj system, that was envisioned by Gandhi, and the system formalized in India in 1992.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The Panchayati Raj system was first adopted by the state of Bihar by the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act of 1947. It was a continued legacy of local self government started by Lord Ripon in the British era. Later it was implemented by the state of Rajasthan in Nagaur district on 2 October 1959. During the 1950s and 60s, other state governments adopted this system as laws were passed to establish panchayats in various states.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, headed by the Member of Parliament Balwantrai Mehta, was a committee appointed by the Government of India in January 1957 to examine the work of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953), to suggest measures to improve their work. The committee's recommendation was implemented by NDC in January 1958, and this set the stage for the launching of Panchayati Raj Institutions throughout the country. The committee recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralization’, which finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj. This led to the establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj system: Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level, and Zila Parishad at the district level.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: On 24 April 1993, the Constitutional (73rd amendment) Act of 1992 came into force in India to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions. This amendment was extended to Panchayats in the tribal areas of eight states, namely: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan beginning on 24 December 1996. This amendment contains provisions for the devolution of powers and responsibilities to the panchayats, both for the preparation of economic development plans and social justice, as well as for implementation in relation to 29 subjects listed in the eleventh schedule of the constitution, and the ability to levy and collect appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees. The Act aims to provide a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all states having a population of over two million, to hold Panchayat elections regularly every five years, to provide seats reserved for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women, to appoint a State Finance Commission to make recommendations regarding the financial powers of the Panchayats, and to constitute a District Planning Committee.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The Sarpanch is its elected head. The members of the gram panchayat are elected directly by the voting-age village population for a period of five years.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Just as the tehsil goes by other names in various parts of India, notably "mandal" and "taluka", there are a number of variations in nomenclature for the block panchayat. For example, it is known as "Mandal Praja Parishad" in Andhra Pradesh, "Taluka Panchayat" in Gujarat and Karnataka, and "Panchayat Samiti" in Maharashtra. In general, the block panchayat has the same form as the gram panchayat but at a higher level.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: Membership in the block panchayat is mostly ; it is composed of: all of the "Sarpanchas" (gram panchayat chairmen) in the Panchayat Samiti area, the MPs and MLAs of the area, the Sub-District Officer (SDO) of the sub-division, co-opt members (representatives of the SCs , STs and women), associate members (a farmer from the area, a representative of the cooperative societies and one from marketing services), and some elected members. However, in Kerala, block panchayat members are directly elected, just like gram panchayat and district panchayat members.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The Panchayat Samiti is elected for a term of five years and is headed by a chairman and a deputy chairman.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: There is an officer for every department. A government-appointed Block Development Officer (BDO) is the executive officer to the Samiti and the chief of its administration, and is responsible for his work to the CEO of ZP.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The governing of the advance system at the district level in Panchayat Raj is also popularly known as Zilla Parishad. The chief of administration is an officer of the IAS cadre and chief officer of the Panchayat raj for the district level.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: The Panchayats, throughout the years, have relied on federal and state grants to sustain themselves economically. The absence of mandatory elections for the Panchayat council and infrequent meetings of the Sarpanch have decreased the spread of information to villagers, leading to more state regulation. Many Panchayats have been successful in achieving their goals, through cooperation between different bodies and the political mobilization of previously underrepresented groups in India. There is an obstacle of literacy that many Panchayats face for engagement of villagers, with most development schemes being on paper. However, homes linked to the Panchayati Raj System have seen an increase in participation for local matters. The reservation policy for women on the Panchayat councils have also led to a substantial increase in female participation and have shaped the focus of development to include more domestic household issues.


title: Panchayati raj in India

text: In 2020, the Indian series Panchayat premiered with a second season in 2022. While Panchayat is mainly based on village life of an underpaid panchayat secretary, it also loosely highlights the day to day working of a panchayat and daily life in an ordinary Indian village in a humorous way. It succeeds in showing how women are sidelined in the panchayat politics even though government has mandated women representation and how elected Panchayat representatives often have to beg MP & MLAs for funds for their villages development.


title: Audi S4

text: The Audi S4 is the high performance variant of Audi's compact executive car A4. The original Audi S4, built from 1991 until 1994, was a performance-oriented version of Audi's 100 saloon/sedan. All subsequent S4s since 1997 have been based on the Audi A4; and as the A4 has evolved from one generation to the next, so has the S4.


title: Audi S4

text: A more powerful internal combustion engine, larger upgraded brakes, firmer suspension, larger wheels, and distinctive sheetmetal, styling clues and badging have always been amongst the many upgrades the S4 receives over its mainstream 100 and A4 siblings. In markets where the even higher-performance Audi RS 4 is not offered, the S4 is the top-of-the-line trim of the A4 family.


title: Audi S4

text: Like its regular A4 counterpart, all S4 variants have had longitudinally oriented, front-mounted engines. A single turbocharged 2.2-litre inline five-cylinder powered the original C4 version, and a 2.7-litre twin turbocharged V6 engine was found in the B5 generation. The B6 and B7 versions shared a common 4.2-litre V8 engine, the first time that a V8 engine was placed in a compact executive car, placing it in direct competition with the BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG which at the time had a 3.2 L inline 6. The B8 generation uses a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 TFSI engine and competes with the both BMW 335i and BMW 335i/340i xDrive, and Mercedes-Benz C350. The recently introduced B9 generation is powered by a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 TFSI engine, as opposed to a supercharger like in the previous iteration. This current generation competes with the BMW M340i xDrive and Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG/Mercedes-AMG C43 4MATIC.


title: Audi S4

text: All versions of the S4 have their transmission mounted immediately at the rear of the engine in a longitudinal orientation, in the form of a transaxle, and like all Audi "S" cars, are only available as standard with Audi's quattro all-wheel drive (AWD) system, using a Torsen-based centre differential system.


title: Audi S4

text: All versions of the S4 have been manufactured at Audi's plant in Ingolstadt, Germany; they are, or have been available as a four-door five-seat saloon and a five-door five-seat Avant (Audi's name for an estate car/station wagon) body styles since the model's inception in 1991. A two-door four-seat Cabriolet (convertible) S4 variant was introduced as part of the B6 and B7 generation A4 lineups. The B8 Cabriolet has now been built off the A5 coupe body style and the "S" variant is marketed under the Audi S5 nameplate.


title: Audi S4

text: Factory production of the original Audi S4 ("Typ" 4A), usually known as Audi 100 S4, began in August 1991 to serve as the performance version of the newly updated C4 platform 100 four-door, five-seat saloon. It was designed to replace the outgoing C3 based Audi 200 quattro turbo, which had been Audi's first true sports-saloon and had been discontinued at the end of 1990. Being the first S4 model from Audi, it is commonly referred to as the "Ur-S4", derived from the augmentive word (meaning: original).


title: Audi S4

text: Audi mildly updated the C4-based model line in 1994 and dropped the 100 nomenclature; all variants of the former Audi 100 line were now re-badged as the Audi A6. In line with the switch in model name, Audi temporarily discontinued the use of the S4 name and began selling an updated but fundamentally identical version of the car, based on the "new" A6 and badged as S6. Despite the change in name, differences between the outgoing S4 and incoming S6 were primarily cosmetic.


title: Audi S4

text: A more powerful, more expensive and more exclusive variant known first as the S4 Plus and later as the S6 Plus was available from October 1992 through to July 1994. Built in very small numbers, the "Plus" models featured numerous performance enhancing upgrades; including the use of Audi's 4.2-litre V8 engine in place of the then current inline-five engine.


title: Audi S4

text: An all-new C5-based Audi A6 debuted for 1997, after which the S4 and S6 became distinctly separate models based on very different platforms.


title: Audi S4

text: One of its most renowned owners was Ayrton Senna who owned a silver Avant, not least because he was the Audi distributor for Brazil.


title: Audi S4

text: In standard form, the powertrain detail of the C4-based S4 was available with only one engine, a single turbocharged and intercooled version of Audi's 2.2-litre 20-valve inline five-cylinder engine This displaced and was equipped with an advanced Bosch Motronic electronic engine control unit (ECU). This engine (parts code prefix: 034, identification code: AAN), developed a motive power output of at 5,900 revolutions per minute (rpm) and of torque 1,950 rpm. This powerplant made it rather powerful by contemporary standards, and the vehicle with five-speed manual transmission was able to accelerate from standstill to in 6.2 seconds.


title: Audi S4

text: Both five- and six-speed manual transmissions (parts code prefix: 01E, identification codes: five-speed: CBD, CET, six-speed: CBL, CMG) were offered to European customers, but a five-speed manual was the only transmission available in North America; a four-speed automatic transmission (parts code prefix: 01F, identification code: CBF) was available as an option worldwide. Front and rear axle final drive ratio is either 4.111 or 3.889 (dependent on transmission type), and the rear axle (parts code prefix: 017, identification codes: AAT, AET) uses a driver-selectable electro-pneumatic-mechanical switchable diff lock.


title: Audi S4

text: Audi's quattro four-wheel-drive system was standard on the C4 S4/S6; a first-generation Torsen-based system which used the "T-1" automatically biasing centre differential (ATB) was used on vehicles equipped with manual transmissions, while a transfer box based system was used on vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission.


title: Audi S4

text: S4/S6 "Plus" models equipped with a 4.2-litre all-aluminium alloy V8 engine (parts code prefix: 077, identification code: ABH) became available to European customers as an option from October 1992, only with the six-speed manual gearbox, in either saloon or Avant body styles.


title: Audi S4

text: All C4 S4s' came equipped as standard with a conventional fixed-assistance rack and pinion power assisted steering (PAS) system. An electronically controlled 'servotronic' system, which varied the level of assistance in accordance with the road speed, was available as an option.


title: Audi S4

text: There were two different types of high performance brake systems on offer for the C4 S4. All S4s' initially had diameter by thick, radially ventilated disc brakes up front, each with an ATE single-piston sliding caliper inside a 'UFO' styled bell-shaped disc. With the introduction of the V8 engine, a new front brake setup became standard; again the discs used radial ventilation, but these front discs were now sized at by - with a conventionally mounted Lucas-Girling caliper in an external position over the disc. US models had smaller discs. The rear brakes, by and also radially ventilated - remained the same throughout C4 production; they used a Lucas-Girling single-piston sliding caliper with an integrated cable-actuated handbrake mechanism. A Bosch three-channel operation (four-channel sensing) Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with a mechanical load sensing valve for the rear brakes was standard throughout production.


title: Audi S4

text: For wheel options, the standard five-arm "Fuchs" forged alloy wheels were 8.0Jx16H2 ET40, and were shod with 225/50 R16 sized tyres. Several other tyre and wheel designs were optionally available: a 7.5Jx15H2 ET40 six-spoke with 215/60 R15 tyres, an 8.0Jx16H2 ET40 five-double-spoke, a 7.5Jx16H2 ET35 six spoke "Avus", and an 8.0Jx17H2 ET40 ten-spoke.


title: Audi S4

text: The second generation S4 ("Type" 8D), also known as the Audi S4 quattro debuted in 1997, with factory production commencing October 1997, as part of the facelifted B5 platform Audi A4 line-up, although it wasn't available in North America until late 1999.


title: Audi S4

text: In addition to the saloon (sedan), an estate version (wagon)–the Audi S4 Avant–was introduced into the lineup from 1998. Production of the B5 S4 ceased in September 2001, although it was still sold together with the next B6 platform generation through 2002 in North America. Examples produced July 2001 to end of production are 2002 Model Year cars, the 10th digit of the VIN being the number "2".


title: Audi S4

text: Several years after it was sold new, the B5 S4 remains a potent enthusiast car, and as featured in the December 2007 issue of "Sport Compact Car" magazine, a Torque Factory tuned S4 won a comparison test against several other extreme performance cars.


title: Audi S4

text: The powertrain details of the B5 S4 feature a 2.7-litre twin-turbo ('biturbo') 90° third-generation V6 engine (parts code prefix: 078, identification codes: AGB, AZB, APB). Details of the powerplant include a cast iron cylinder block with two lightweight aluminium alloy cylinder heads. The valvetrain includes 30 valves (five valves per cylinder), twin hybrid-driven (timing belt and roller chain) double overhead camshafts and variable valve timing for the inlet valves. The intake air is pressurized by two parallel water-cooled BorgWarner K03-series turbochargers; the charged air is cooled by two side-mounted air-to-air intercoolers (SMICs). It displaces , and is rated to produce a motive power output of at 5,800 rpm, and generates of torque at 1,850 rpm. Engine management was by way of a Bosch Motronic ME 7.1 (7.0 in North America) electronic engine control unit (ECU), and helped it meet the European EU-3D emissions standard. In all US-market cars, the engine was detuned to meet US emissions regulations; output was reduced to and (identification code: APB).


title: Audi S4

text: As in the previous S4, a six-speed C90 manual transmission (parts code prefix: 01E, identification code: DSY, gear ratios: 1st: 3.500, 2nd: 1.889, 3rd: 1.231, 4th: 0.967, 5th: 0.806, 6th: 0.684) was standard equipment, as was the Torsen T-2 quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. Final drive (parts code prefix: 01H, identification code: DQA) ratio is 4.111. A five-speed ZF 5HP19 tiptronic automatic transmission (parts code prefix: 01V) became available for the first time as an option.


title: Audi S4

text: The B5 S4 claims acceleration from in 5.7 seconds, and has an electronically limited top speed of , making it both the quickest saloon/sedan in the Audi model line, and among the quickest saloon/sedans in the world at that time.


title: Audi S4

text: The B5 S4 is fitted with 4-wheel independent suspension. The front suspension is a multi-link design with four individual control arms per wheel. The rear suspension is an unequal length double wishbone design; the lower control arms are mounted to a subframe which also carries the differential housing. Shock absorbers, coil springs, and anti-roll bars are fitted front and rear.


title: Audi S4

text: The B5 S4 brake system consisted of radially ventilated discs, in diameter by thick up front, and by at the rear. Two-piston Lucas HP2 brake calipers at the front (with four pads per caliper), with Lucas single-piston sliding brake calipers at the rear. A Bosch ABS 5.3 four-channel Anti-lock Braking System (with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) - and later with ESP or Electronic Stability Programme), coupled with a vacuum servo completed the system.


title: Audi S4

text: Standard wheels were Audi's die-cast aluminium alloy six-arm 'Avus' 7.5Jx17H2 ET45 wheels, shod with 225/45 ZR17 performance tyres.


title: Audi S4

text: Available exterior colors included Brilliant Black, Laser Red, Light Silver, Cactus Green, Santorin Blue, Hibiscus Red, Casablanca White, Pearlescent White, Imola Yellow ("spicy mustard"), and Nogaro Blue. The last two colors were exclusive to the S4 model. Interior leather was available in Onyx or Silver. Available options included:


title: Audi S4

text: The Sport Package replaced the wood-grain belt line trim with silver aluminum trim, and the wood grain finish around the shifter with black plastic. The Alcantara seat inserts were silver (on Onyx leather). With the black, white, or blue exteriors, the inserts were also available in blue Alcantara. On the early 2000 models, the Alcantara inserts in the rear seats did not fully extend forward to the front edge of the seat.


title: Audi S4

text: A motor racing version of the car achieved great success in the SpeedVision World Challenge with Michael Galati taking the 2001 SpeedVision GT title in a Champion Racing S4, winning four races, and helping Audi to its first Manufacturers' Championship.


title: Audi S4

text: The Audi Sport specification Champion A4 chassis included a B5 RS4 engine, and Alcon racing brake calipers (4 piston front and 2 piston rear calipers).


title: Audi S4

text: Don Istook, with Istook's Motorsports, built and campaigned several B5 S4's in first the Motorola Cup, and then the Grand Am Cup. The S4's were even raced by Istook's Motorsports in the Rolex GT category for several races to help fill the field. Of note, one of the S4's, racing against true GT cars, even ran as high as second place (in the rain) at Barber Motorsports Park. These S4's were built using existing S4, not RS4 engines, but used the B5 Audi RS4 K04 turbochargers.


title: Audi S4

text: The third generation Audi S4 quattro (Type" 8E — saloon: 8E2, Avant: 8E5, and Cabriolet: 8H7) debuted its saloon and Avant bodystyles in Europe in March 2003, and appeared in North America slightly later. This was based on the latest Volkswagen Group B6 (PL46) platform used by the then current Audi B6 A4. Despite having moved to an entirely new platform, one of the S4's most publicised new features was its new engine - a 4.2-litre V8 engine. Following its initial launch of either a four-door five-seat saloon (sedan), or a five-door five-seat Avant (estate/wagon), it eventually became available in three bodystyles - and for the first time in the Audi 'S' car range, from February 2004, a two-door four-seat Cabriolet (convertible), Type" 8H, was included in the model range.


title: Audi S4

text: Official performance figures for standard discipline of sprinting from standstill to in the saloon with manual transmission are 5.6 seconds (Avant 5.8 s, Cabriolet 5.9 s), however, a road test conducted by the American automotive magazine "Motor Trend" indicated that it could go from a standstill to in less than 5 seconds, and make it to in slightly over 20 seconds, although doing this led to fuel consumption dipping into single digits. This was considerably worse than the earlier V6 models, leading to the addition of a $1,700 gas guzzler tax (combined ) for the six-speed manual sedan in the United States. Top speed is electronically limited to .


title: Audi S4

text: The B6 S4 saloon and Avant variants ceased factory production in December 2004, with the Cabriolet ending twelve months later at December 2005.


title: Audi S4

text: Replacing the 2.7-litre 'biturbo' V6 engine of the previous generation B5 S4, the new B6 S4 powertrain gained an all-aluminium alloy 4.2-litre, 40 valve (five valves per cylinder) V8 engine (parts code prefix: 079.C, identification code: BBK), with chain-driven double overhead camshafts, roller-finger rocker arm cam followers, and included variable inlet camshaft timing. It also used a strengthened alloy crankshaft bedplate for the five main bearings, and a two-part baffled oil sump, and a light-alloy variable intake manifold (VIM), containing the fractionally sequentially actuated fuel injectors. This petrol engine, based on the unit from the Audi A8, displaces , and it produces a motive power output of at 7,000 rpm, and generates torque of at 3,500 rpm, making it more powerful than the RS2 Avant, and nearly as powerful as the B5 RS4. Engine management was by way of a Bosch Motronic ME 7.1.1 electronic engine control unit (ECU), using a Bosch 'E-Gas' drive by wire electronic throttle, and powering eight individual spark coils with longlife quad-electrode Bosch spark plugs. Ignition timing is a mapped direct ignition, with cylinder-selective knock control with the aid of four knock sensors. The exhaust system includes vacuum-operated valves in the twin rear silencers (mufflers), finished with chrome plated tail-pipes.


title: Audi S4

text: Like its predecessors, the B6 S4 was standard with a Getrag six-speed (M6S) manual transmission (parts code prefix: 0A3, identification codes: FVD, HEP) (gear ratios - 1st: 3.667, 2nd: 2.050, 3rd: 1.462, 4th: 1.133, 5th: 0.919, 6th: 0.778), with a single plate dry clutch, and Torsen T-2 quattro permanent four-wheel drive system. Final drive (parts code prefix: 01R, identification code: EXZ) ratios are 3.889, giving a top gear road speed to engine revs ratio of per 1000 rpm. From July 2003, the ZF 6HP19 tiptronic automatic transmission (parts code prefix: 09L, identification codes: GUR, HHU) (ratios - 1st: 4.171, 2nd: 2.340, 3rd: 1.521, 4th: 1.143, 5th: 0.867, 6th: 0.691, with a final drive (identification code: GDF) ratio of 3.539) was included as an option.


title: Audi S4

text: An unusual sight in the engine compartment was the addition of water cooling for the 190 amp alternator, along with two additional thermostatically-controlled side-mounted radiators.


title: Audi S4

text: The B6 S4 came equipped with electronically controlled, variable assisted 'servotronic' rack and pinion power assisted steering (PAS) as standard.


title: Audi S4

text: B6 S4 brakes consisted of radially ventilated disc brakes front and rear. The front discs are sized at in diameter by thick, and are clamped by Continental Teves-ATE FNRG-60 single-piston sliding brake calipers. The rears are by , and again use single-piston sliding calipers, with an integrated cable-operated hand brake mechanism. A Bosch ESP 5.7 Electronic Stability Programme system, complete with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Electronic Differential Lock (EDL) and Anti-Slip Regulation (ASR) - also known as traction control system, coupled with a dual-rate tandem vacuum servo provided the brake actuation.


title: Audi S4

text: Standard wheels were 'Avus-III' die-cast aluminium alloy, 8.0Jx18H2 ET45 in size, and shod with (eXtra Load) high performance tyres, with factory supplies being either Continental SportContact2 or Michelin PilotSport PS2.