title: Bill Robinson

text: The last theatrical project for Robinson was to have been "Two Gentlemen from the South", with James Barton as the master and Robinson as his servant, in which the black and white roles reverse and eventually the two come together as equals, but the show did not open.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson's final public appearance in 1949, a few weeks before his death, was as a surprise guest on a TV show, Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour, in which he emotionally embraced a competitor on the show who had tap-danced for the audience. A friend remarked, "he was handing over his crown, like him saying, 'this is my good-bye.'"


title: Bill Robinson

text: Little is known of Robinson's first marriage to Lena Chase in 1907. They separated in 1916, and the marriage ended in 1922. His second wife was Fannie S. Clay whom he married shortly after his divorce from Chase. They divorced in 1943. His third marriage was in 1944 to Elaine Plaines in Columbus, Ohio, and they remained together until Robinson's death in 1949. There were no children from any of the marriages.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Political figures and celebrities appointed Robinson an honorary mayor of Harlem, a lifetime member of policemen's associations and fraternal orders, and a mascot of the New York Giants major league baseball team. Robinson reciprocated with open-handed generosity and frequently credited the White dancer James Barton for his contribution to his dancing style.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Despite being the highest-paid Black performer of the first half of the 20th century, earning more than US$2 million during his lifetime, Robinson died penniless on November 25, 1949, from heart failure. His funeral was arranged and paid for by longtime friend and television host Ed Sullivan. Robinson lay in repose at the 369th Infantry Regiment Armory in Harlem, where an estimated 32,000 people filed past his open casket to pay their last respects. The schools in Harlem were closed for a half-day so that children could attend or listen to the funeral, which was broadcast over the radio. Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr. conducted the service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, and New York Mayor William O'Dwyer gave the eulogy. Robinson is buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens, Brooklyn, New York.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson was successful despite the obstacle of racism. A favorite Robinson anecdote is that he seated himself in a restaurant and a customer objected to his presence. When the manager suggested that it might be better if Robinson leave, he smiled and asked, "Have you got a ten-dollar bill?" Politely asking to borrow the manager's note for a moment, Robinson added six $10 bills from his own wallet and mixed them up, then extended the seven bills together, adding, "Here, let's see you pick out the colored one". The restaurant manager served Robinson without further delay.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936 with financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler. The team was a successful member of the Negro National League until it disbanded in 1948, after Major League Baseball was desegregated.


title: Bill Robinson

text: In 1989, a joint U.S. Senate/House resolution declared "National Tap Dance Day" to be May 25, the anniversary of Bill Robinson's birth.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.


title: Bill Robinson

text: There are several commonly cited anecdotes about Robinson that are likely the result of conflicting stories put out by Robinson's second wife Fanny, or his manager, Marty Forkins, or by various show business associates of Robinson. There are also numerous documented instances in which Robinson gave conflicting stories to news reporters at different times.


title: Bill Robinson

text: According to his biographer, Robinson had previously served in the Spanish–American War, where he sustained an accidental gunshot wound. He was 36 when the U.S entered World War I, and received a letter of commendation from the War Department for his work during the war in boosting morale at training camps in the United States, not overseas.


title: Bill Robinson

text: It has further been claimed that, along with serving in the trenches in World War I, Robinson was also the drum major for the 369th Hellfighters Band and led the regimental band up Fifth Avenue on the 369th's return from overseas.


title: Bill Robinson

text: While numerous sources repeat the claim of Bill Robinson's appointment as drum major in the 369th Regiment Band, this is not mentioned in either "Mr. Bojangles", the Bill Robinson biography by Jim Haskins and N. R. Mitgang, or "A Life in Ragtime", the biography of James Reese Europe, the leader of the 369th regimental band.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Tales about the origin of Robinson's nickname even varied across the color line, a consequence of differing opinions of him by Black and White people. To Whites, for example, his nickname "Bojangles" meant happy-go-lucky, while the Black variety artist Tom Fletcher claimed it was slang for "squabbler." Robinson himself said he got the nickname as a child in Richmond, which is the most commonly-accepted version.


title: Bill Robinson

text: The date and location of Robinson's second marriage, to Fanny Clay, or even the year they met, is uncertain because the couple gave different dates and locations in interviews, possibly because they were worried about unfavorable publicity about the marriage occurring so soon after Robinson's divorce. Robinson's biographer estimates that they met in late 1920 and were married in early 1922.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson's meeting with the man who became his manager, Marty Forkins, is said to have occurred when Robinson, working as a waiter, spilled soup on Forkins. After Robinson's death, Forkins and his wife, Rae Samuel, admitted that Samuels made the introduction after having seen Robinson perform with his partner, George Cooper. Their explanation was that the story was made up in order to obscure Robinson's & Cooper's partnership, and to more effectively promote Robinson as a solo act. The ruse was successful, making Robinson one of the first solo acts to break vaudeville's two-colored rule, which required African-American performers to work in pairs.


title: Bill Robinson

text: A dance contest between Robinson and three other dance legends (typically Ray Bolger, Fred Astaire, and James Barton) in which Robinson emerges the victor is recounted in many places, but no verifiable source can be found describing where and when the contest might have taken place.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson is given credit for having popularized the word "copacetic" and claimed to have invented it while still living in Richmond. The "Oxford English Dictionary" lists the origins of the word as "unknown" and documents the earliest written use of the word in 1919, by the newspaperman and author Irving Bacheller, in his serialized book, "A Man for the Ages"; this was followed by uses in 1926 by Carl Van Vechten in his novel "Nigger Heaven", in 1934 in "Webster's New International Dictionary", and by John O'Hara in his novel "Appointment in Samarra". Haskins' biography of Robinson includes, "Bill was shelling peas at the Jefferson Market, a "New York Daily Mirror" reporter asked him how he was, and the reply just popped into his head: 'I'm copasetic. The word was not popularized until Robinson used the term as an opening for his vaudeville and radio performances. The word was used in films Robinson made with Shirley Temple in the 1930s.


title: Bill Robinson

text: One of Robinson's methods for generating publicity in cities where he was not the headliner was to engage in "freak sprinting" races, such as running backward. In 1922, Robinson set the world record for running backward (100 yards in 13.5 seconds). The record stood until 1977, when Paul Wilson ran the distance in 13.3 seconds. Although Robinson's speed running backwards is undisputed, the circumstances in which this feat was accepted as a world record are unclear, and were likely the result of a staged publicity event rather than a sanctioned athletic contest.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 folk song "Mr. Bojangles" has been misinterpreted as a song about Robinson; it indirectly references Robinson through the lead character's use of his nickname "Bojangles," a reference to both being adept at tap dance. According to Walker, a street performer in the New Orleans first precinct jail who called himself "Bo Jangles" was the subject of the song. In the song, the street performer is a heavy drinker and has a dog that died; Walker also noted that the street-performer Bo Jangles was white. By Robinson's own account and those of his friends, he neither smoked nor drank (although he was a frequent and avid gambler), and he never had a dog.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Robinson came under heavy criticism for playing stereotyped roles, and took offense at such claims. Once, after being called an "Uncle Tom" in the newspaper 'The New York Age', Robinson went to its office in Harlem, pistol in hand, demanding to see the editor. In his eulogy at Robinson's funeral, Rev. Adam Clayton Powell argued against the claim that Robinson was an "Uncle Tom" figure, focusing on Robinson's ability as an entertainer and a man who transcended color lines.


title: Bill Robinson

text: In 1973, the film historian Donald Bogle, in his history of African Americans in American film, refers to Robinson's role in "The Littlest Rebel" and other Shirley Temple movies as the "quintessential Uncle Tom." Other critics noted that such criticism fails to account for the genuine affection and chemistry between Robinson and Temple that came through on the screen, and that the role represented a breakthrough for Hollywood stereotypes in that it was the first time a Black man was made the guardian of a white life. Bogle later moderated his criticism by noting that the reliable, articulate Uncle Billy character in "The Littlest Rebel" was a cut above the characters portrayed by Lincoln "Stepin Fetchit" Perry.


title: Bill Robinson

text: Haskins explains that critics calling Robinson an "Uncle Tom" often disregarded the discriminatory limitations Robinson endured and combated throughout his career. In addition to the impact of Jim Crow policies and the Depression, Haskins writes, "That Bill traveled, at least professionally, in increasingly white circles was not so much a matter of choice as one of reality." Having overcome numerous policies inhibiting his success to reach an unmatched level of stardom, Robinson had limited venue opportunities for a performer of his caliber.


title: Bill Robinson

text: In 1933, Robinson was named an honorary Mayor of Harlem for his philanthropic contributions to his community, and for his renowned success. He took this role seriously, performing over 3,000 benefits in the course of his career, aiding hundreds of unorganized charities and individuals.


title: Bill Robinson

text: On March 21, 1908, as a result of a dispute with a tailor over a suit, Robinson was arrested in New York City for armed robbery. On September 30, he was convicted and sentenced to 11–15 years hard labor at Sing Sing prison. Robinson had failed to take the charges and trial seriously and paid little attention to mounting a defense. After his conviction, Robinson's partner, George Cooper, organized his most influential friends to vouch for him, and hired a new attorney who produced evidence that Robinson had been falsely accused. Though he was exonerated at his second trial and his accusers were indicted for perjury, the trial and time spent in the Tombs (Manhattan's prison complex) affected Robinson deeply. After he was released, he made a point of registering his pistol at the local police station of each town where he performed. Robinson's second wife, Fanny, also sent a letter of introduction with complimentary tickets and other gifts to the local police chief's wife in each town ahead of Robinson's engagements.


title: Bill Robinson

text: After Jesse Owens returned from the 1936 Olympics, Robinson befriended him. Despite his fame from his four Olympic track wins, undermining Adolf Hitler's claims of Aryan supremacy, Owens found most of the offers that had been made to employ him had been nothing more than publicity stunts that had no substance. Robinson was the one exception, finding work for Owens within a few months of his return to the U.S. Robinson also introduced Owens to his manager, Marty Forkins, who secured a series of demonstration races for Owens which were viewed by many as degrading to the dignity of an Olympic athlete, most notably an event in Cuba in which Owens raced against a horse. As a result, Forkins and Robinson were viewed as having taken advantage of Owens. According to Forkins’ son, Robinson had told Owens that he should start running demonstration races that would both earn money for him and keep him in the public eye. Robinson had done many such races (including a race in which he set the world record for running backwards) and did not view them as undignified. Moreover, the events paid Owens well and provided him with a source of funds when no one else was offering him employment or helping him financially. Owens made a gift to Robinson of one of his four Olympic gold medals, as a gesture of gratitude for the help Robinson had given him.


title: Bill Robinson

text: In 1937, Robinson caused a stir in the Harlem community by choosing a white dancer, Geneva Sawyer, as his dance partner over Jeni Le Gon in the Twentieth Century Fox film "Café Metropole" (1937). Le Gon had danced with him in "Hooray for Love" (1935) and had received favorable reviews. Sawyer had been Shirley Temple's dance coach during the time Temple and Robinson made movies together, and Sawyer had taken tap lessons from Robinson while he was teaching Temple and choreographing her routines. Robinson suggested to the producers that Sawyer could be cast as his partner if she wore blackface. Le Gon's career suffered as a result, and she never worked with Robinson again. Although the scene was shot with Sawyer in blackface, the studio became convinced that a mixed-race adult couple dancing together would be too controversial: both scenes with Robinson were cut from the final version of the movie and the deleted scenes were only released in 2008 as part of a Fox DVD boxed set of Tyrone Power movies.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: Nathalie Delon (born Francine Canovas, also known as Nathalie Barthélémy; 1 August 194121 January 2021) was a French actress, model, film director and writer. In the 1960s, Nathalie was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world and in the 1970s, she was known as a French sex symbol. She is notable for her first acting role, appearing opposite her husband, actor Alain Delon, in the neo-noir film "Le Samouraï" directed by Jean-Pierre Melville (1967). She appeared in 30 films and directed two more. Nathalie was also credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: Francine Canovas was born on 1 August 1941 in Nice, France to a French family of Italian-Spanish origin, but very soon she moved with her mother to Oujda, Morocco, then under French Protectorate in Morocco. She was the daughter of Louis Canovas (1915–2003), pied-noir of Oran (Algeria), manager of a transport company in Morocco, who abandoned the family when she was 8-months-old in 1942 and Antoinette Rodriguez, who was from Melilla. Nathalie had a sister, Louisette, and a brother.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: In 1957, Nathalie married for the first time to a conscript from the north of France, Guy Barthélémy, who later become the signing officer of the Omnium Marocain d'Assurance. They lived in Morocco and had a daughter named Nathalie Barthélémy. They broke up in 1960 and she moved to Paris in 1961. Their divorce was granted in July 1964.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: In August 1962, Nathalie met the French actor Alain Delon at New Jimmy's, a Paris nightclub, and they began a secret relationship that night that lasted one year. In May 1963, Nathalie accompanied Delon on the shooting of his new film La Tulipe Noire. In April 1964 they had a great engagement and on 13 August 1964, Nathalie and Alain got married in the Loir-et-Cher. Their son, Anthony Delon, was born on September 30, 1964 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. They were one of the most glamorous and talked about couples of the '60s. In June 1968, Nathalie broke up with Delon. The couple divorced on 14 February 1969. They collaborated on two films: Le Samouraϊ (while they were married) and Doucement les Basses (some years after their separation).


title: Nathalie Delon

text: During the '60s and '70s she dated Bobby Keys, Marc Porel, Eddie Fisher, Renaud Verley, Louis Malle and Franco Nero, among others. Her greatest love was Chris Blackwell with whom she formed a couple for 15 years (1978–1993).


title: Nathalie Delon

text: During the 1960s, Nathalie Delon was a model. She photographed by top French and foreign photographers for famous magazines such as Vogue.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: In 1967, Nathalie became a film actress, starring opposite her husband in the film "Le Samouraï" by Jean-Pierre Melville, which became a hit. Writing of the Delons' performances in "Le Figaro", Bertrand Guyard notes husband and wife are both nearly silent but "their gazes, fraught with meaning, are enough to thrill the camera" with the director drawing from their portrayals "a mythical couple in the seventh art."


title: Nathalie Delon

text: Thereafter, Nathalie Delon continued her acting career until the 1980s. In 1968 she appeared in The Private Lesson which made her a star in Japan ranking her in the top 10 foreign actresses. In 1971 she appeared in "When Eight Bells Toll" with Anthony Hopkins and in 1972 she appeared in The Monk with Franco Nero. In 1973, she appeared in "Le Sex Shop", her turn one of the film's "moments of real pleasure" as one of its "really marvelous girls", Roger Greenspun wrote in "The New York Times".


title: Nathalie Delon

text: In addition to acting in 30 films in her career, she also directed two, "" () in 1982 and "Sweet Lies" in 1988. "They Call It an Accident", which Delon directed and wrote, is the story of a mother whose son dies in surgery.


title: Nathalie Delon

text: In 2006, Delon published a memoir, "Pleure pas, c'est pas grave" ("Don't cry, it's okay"). "Le Figaro" described it as an account of "her shadowy period, her marriage to Delon, her descent into hell with drugs. But still full of life, she also recounts the exceptional encounters she has had with people who made her laugh and who make us laugh by proxy. Delightful and entertaining anecdotes".


title: Heist film

text: The heist film or caper film is a subgenre of crime film focused on the planning, execution, and aftermath of a significant robbery.


title: Heist film

text: One of the early defining heist films was "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), which "Film Genre 2000" wrote "almost single-handedly popularized the genre for mainstream cinema". It featured robbers whose personal failings ultimately led to the failure of their robbery. Similar films using this formula were "Armored Car Robbery" (1950), "The Killing" (1956), and "The Getaway" (1972). By the 1990s, heist films began to "experiment and play with these conventions," incorporating things like comedy into heist stories.


title: Heist film

text: While there is sometimes some confusion as to what counts as a heist film, there are characteristics that most films in the genre follow.


title: Heist film

text: The most basic of these is that films in the genre tend to follow the planning, execution and aftermath of one large robbery. While there can be smaller crimes leading up to the major crime, this major crime is the centerpiece of the film and is the event which informs much of the film's plot. As a result of this, heist films tend to focus on the process of the heist, often showing how the criminals plan the heist in great detail. They also tend to devote a large portion of the film's runtime to the heist itself, giving the viewer a detailed look of how the criminals complete the heist.


title: Heist film

text: The genre is also distinct for almost exclusively following the people who are committing the crime rather than following the people trying to stop the criminals. This often leads to the viewer building some form of sympathy or respect for the criminals. Another common characteristic of the heist film is the assembling of a team to complete the heist. Each team member often has some unique skill or set of skills which are needed to complete the heist.


title: Heist film

text: Over time filmmakers have taken these characteristics and changed them to create interesting plays on the genre. For example, "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) skips the planning and execution of the heist, choosing instead to focus exclusively on the aftermath. Another example of this is "The Italian Job" (1969), which shows the planning and execution of the heist but doesn't fully show the aftermath.


title: Heist film

text: While those characteristics stand as the defining characteristics of the genre, there are other tropes and trends which frequently appear. One such trend is the failure of the heist due to some failing of the criminals involved in the heist. These failings include one of the criminals in the heist getting injured during the heist, or one of the criminals betraying the others during or after the heist. This trend started as a result of the initial films in the genre being made in Hollywood during the Motion Picture Production Code. Under the code, criminals were not allowed to get away with crime, so the heists in these early movies all fail, establishing it as a trend in the genre. In the years since the code filmmakers have made heist films where the criminals get away; however, the trope of failed heists still exists in modern films. One of the most dynamic examples is "Reservoir Dogs", which focuses solely on trying to figure out which of their group members betrayed them after a failed heist. Another popular trope is "one last job", whereby a criminal looking to stop being a criminal enlists the team to do one last heist so they will have money for the rest of their life. This can be seen in early films such as "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) as well as more recent films like "Heat" (1995).


title: Heist film

text: While elements of the heist film can be seen in movies as early as "The Great Train Robbery" (1903), the genre didn't begin until the late 1940s and the early 1950s. The film widely agreed upon as the first film in the genre is John Huston's 1950 film "The Asphalt Jungle", starring Sterling Hayden and Sam Jaffee (with Marilyn Monroe in a supporting role). The film contains many of the hallmarks of the genre, the most obvious of which is its following of the planning, execution, and aftermath of a single heist from the criminal's perspective. It also devotes a large amount of time to the heist itself and involves a group of variously skilled criminals who are brought together to complete the crime. Two earlier films that some consider earlier examples of the genre are "Criss Cross" (1949) and "The Killers" (1946). While these films do follow the planning, execution, and aftermath of a single heist from the criminals' perspective, critics argue that they devote too much time to the planning and aftermath of the heist and too little to the actual heist. As a result they are frequently cited as key films in the development of the genre but not the start of the genre itself. All of these films are also notable for having elements which are indebted to the film noir genre. This includes their moody, expressionistic black and white cinematography as well as a dark and fatalistic tone key in film noir. As a result, scholars such as Daryl Lee refer to this era of heist films as “noir heists”. Anne Billson of the BBC cites Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954) as an influence on the "assembling the team" trope that later became a common characteristic of heist films.


title: Heist film

text: The period between 1955 - 1975 is considered by scholars to be the most productive period of the heist genre. This period began with American filmmakers continuing the noir heist trend in films like "5 Against the House" (1955) and "The Killing" (1956). The 50s also saw the release of the first international heist films. Notably, a handful of heist films made in France were influenced by and responding to the American noir heists. Two notable films are "Rififi" (1955), which is known for its detailed 30 minute heist sequence, and "Bob Le Flambeur" (1956), known for its playful ending which plays with the conventions of the heist genre. The 1950s also marked the beginning of British heist films, notable ones being "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1951) and "The Lady Killers" (1955), films whose importance comes from the introduction of comedy to the heist genre. This was uncommon for the genre at the time but became more common in later heist films. Another notable heist film from this period is the Italian film "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1958), a parody of the heist genre.


title: Heist film

text: In the 1960s heist stories became more mainstream, with glossier and higher-budget heist films which moved away from the fatalism and darkness present in the earlier noir heists. Two examples of this from the early 1960s are the British film "The League of Gentlemen" (1960) and the American film "Seven Thieves" (1960). Despite having conventional heist plots about gathering together a group to commit a heist, both films balance comedy and drama, unlike the darkness of the earlier noir heist films. The mainstream shift as well as a growing cultural interest in travel led to a wave of glossy heist films involving exotic international locals, such as"Topkapi" (1964) and "How to Steal a Million" (1966). In France "Rififi" spawned a number of lower-budget crime films which often used "Rififi" as part of their title. These include films such as "Rififi in Tokyo" (1963) and "Du rififi à Paname" (1966). As the decade continued, the French also began to produce more glossy heist films which served as star vehicles for big stars of the time, such as "Any Number Can Win" (1963) starring Alain Delon and "Greed in the Sun" (1964) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. The most celebrated French heist films of this time where directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, whose heist film "Le Cercle Rouge" (1970) is often regarded as one of the greatest heist movies of all time. This expansion of the genre in the 1960s also led to remakes of older heist movies, with an early example being "Cairo" (1963), which is a remake of "The Asphalt Jungle". In 1968, the motion picture production code was abolished, paving the way for a number of heist films that didn't shy away from portraying graphic violence. This included films like "Charley Varrick" (1973) and "The Getaway" (1972). Another important 1970s heist film is Sidney Lumet's 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon", which is regarded by some critics as the last important heist film of the genre's most productive era.


title: Heist film

text: The period between 1975 and the early 1990s is considered a low point for productivity in the heist genre. While there were some films made in the genre such as "Thief" (1981) and a remake of "Big Deal on Madonna Street" called "Crackers" (1984), critics don't consider these films as meaningful developments of the genre. The 1990s would see the return of the heist genre, with a number of films creating new interest. While films like John Woo's "Once a Thief" (1991) and Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" (1998) would bring some interest in the genre, the three films which most brought the genre back to prominence were "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), "Heat" (1995) and "The Usual Suspects" (1995), all of which were big enough hits that they reintroduced a large audience to the pleasures of the heist genre.


title: Heist film

text: This renewed interest led to a large output of heist films throughout the 2000s. These range from British films like "Snatch" (2000) and "Sexy Beast" (2000) to kids' films like "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009) to popular Hollywood films like "Inside Man" (2006) and remakes of heist classics like "The Italian Job" (2003). Some of the most popular heist films of this era are the remake of "Ocean's 11" (2001) and its sequels "Oceans 12" (2004) and "Oceans 13" (2007). These films were hits on release and are still popular today.


title: The Two Towers

text: The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel "The Lord of the Rings". It is preceded by "The Fellowship of the Ring" and followed by "The Return of the King".


title: The Two Towers

text: "The Lord of the Rings" is composed of six "books", aside from an introduction, a prologue and six appendices. However, the novel was originally published as three separate volumes, due to post-World War II paper shortages and size and price considerations. "The Two Towers" covers Books Three and Four.


title: The Two Towers

text: Tolkien wrote: ""The Two Towers" gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books Three and Four; and can be left ambiguous." At this stage he planned to title the individual books. The proposed title for Book Three was "The Treason of Isengard". Book Four was titled "The Journey of the Ringbearers" or "The Ring Goes East". The titles "The Treason of Isengard" and "The Ring Goes East" were used in the "Millennium edition". In other editions the Books are often untitled.


title: The Two Towers

text: In letters to Rayner Unwin, Tolkien considered naming the two as Orthanc and Barad-dûr, Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. However, a month later, he wrote a note published at the end of "The Fellowship of the Ring", and later drew a cover illustration, both of which identified the pair as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. In the illustration, Orthanc is shown as a black tower, three-horned, with the sign of the White Hand beside it; Minas Morgul is a white tower, with a thin waning moon above it, in reference to its original name, Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon. Between the two towers a Nazgûl flies.


title: The Two Towers

text: Some editions of the volume contain a Synopsis for readers who have not read the earlier volumes. The body of the volume consists of Book Three: The Treason of Isengard, and Book Four: The Ring Goes East.<onlyinclude>


title: The Two Towers

text: A party of large Orcs, Uruk-hai, sent by Saruman, and other Orcs sent by Sauron and led by Grishnákh, attack the Fellowship. Boromir tries to protect Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, but they kill him and capture the two hobbits. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas decide to pursue the Orcs taking Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan, the Orcs are killed by Riders of Rohan, led by Éomer. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn. There they unexpectedly meet Gandalf.


title: The Two Towers

text: Gandalf explains that he killed the Balrog. He was also killed in the fight, but was sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission. He is clothed in white and is now Gandalf the White, for he has taken Saruman's place as the chief of the wizards. Gandalf assures his friends that Merry and Pippin are safe. Together they ride to Edoras, capital of Rohan. Gandalf frees Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman's spy Gríma Wormtongue. Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides with his men to the ancient fortress of Helm's Deep, while Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard.


title: The Two Towers

text: Meanwhile, the Ents, roused by Merry and Pippin from their peaceful ways, attack and destroy Isengard, Saruman's stronghold, and flood it, trapping the wizard in the tower of Orthanc. Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid. He brings an army of Rohirrim to Helm's Deep, and they defeat the Orcs, who flee into the forest of Huorns, never to be seen again. Gandalf, Théoden, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, and are surprised to find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins. Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to turn away from evil. When Saruman refuses to listen, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. After Saruman leaves, Wormtongue throws down a hard round object to try to kill Gandalf. Pippin picks it up; Gandalf swiftly takes it, but Pippin steals it in the night. It is revealed to be a "palantír", a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron, and that Sauron used to ensnare him. Sauron sees Pippin, but misunderstands the circumstances. Gandalf immediately rides for Minas Tirith, chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.


title: The Two Towers

text: Frodo and Sam, heading for Mordor, struggle through the barren hills and cliffs of the Emyn Muil. They become aware they are being watched and tracked; on a moonlit night they capture Gollum, who has followed them from Moria. Frodo makes Gollum swear to serve him, as Ringbearer, and asks him to guide them to Mordor. Gollum leads them across the Dead Marshes. Sam overhears Gollum debating with his alter ego, Sméagol, whether to break his promise and steal the Ring.


title: The Two Towers

text: They find that the Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded, so instead they travel south through the land of Ithilien to a secret pass that Gollum knows. On the way, they are captured by rangers led by Faramir, Boromir's brother, and brought to the secret fastness of Henneth Annûn. Faramir resists the temptation to seize the Ring and, disobeying standing orders to arrest strangers found in Ithilien, releases them.


title: The Two Towers

text: Gollum – who is torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring – guides the hobbits to the pass, but leads them into the lair of the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo holds up the gift given to him in Lothlórien: the Phial of Galadriel, which holds the light of Eärendil's star. The light drives Shelob back. Frodo cuts through a giant web using his sword Sting. Shelob attacks again, and Frodo falls to her venom. Sam picks up Sting and the Phial. He seriously wounds and drives off the monster. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam takes the Ring to continue the quest alone. Orcs find Frodo; Sam overhears them and learns that Frodo is still alive, but is separated from him. </onlyinclude>


title: The Two Towers

text: Donald Barr in "The New York Times" gave a positive review, calling it "an extraordinary work – pure excitement, unencumbered narrative, moral warmth, barefaced rejoicing in beauty, but excitement most of all".


title: The Two Towers

text: Anthony Boucher, reviewing the volume in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", wrote that "The Two Towers" "makes inordinate demands upon the patience of its readers" with passages which "could be lopped away without affecting form or content". Nevertheless, he lavished praise on the volume, saying "no writer save E. R. Eddison has ever so satisfactorily and compellingly created his own mythology and made it come vividly alive ... described in some of the most sheerly beautiful prose that this harsh decade has seen in print."


title: The Two Towers

text: "The Times Literary Supplement" called it a "prose epic in praise of courage" and stated that Tolkien's Westernesse "comes to rank in the reader's imagination with Asgard and Camelot".


title: The Two Towers

text: Mahmud Manzalaoui, in the "Egyptian Gazette", wrote that the book "has not pleased readers of the staple modern


title: The Two Towers

text: John Jordan, reviewing the book for the "Irish Press", wrote admiring its narrative "weaving of epic, heroic romance, parable, and fairy tale, and the more adventurous kind of detective story, into a pattern at once strange and curiously familiar to our experience". He compared the wizard Gandalf's death and reappearance to Christ's resurrection.


title: Shailesh Lodha

text: Shailesh Lodha (born 8 November 1969) is an Indian poet, actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for portraying Taarak Mehta in the Hindi sitcom "Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah".


title: Shailesh Lodha

text: Lodha was born in Jodhpur in a Marwari family. Lodha is married to a management author, Swati Lodha, and has a daughter Swara. Since his father was transferred to different places, Lodha travelled a lot. His mother loved reading and had a good vocabulary in Hindi. At the age of nine, Lodha was nicknamed "Baal Kavi". He had an office job, but he left it to follow his passion, i.e. writing poems. In a 2015 interview Lodha said, "I am half Jain".


title: Shailesh Lodha

text: Lodha first appeared on "Comedy Circus" as a contestant, and later in "Comedy ka Mahamukabla". He portrayed Taarak Mehta in the sitcom series "Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah" from 2008 to 2022.


title: Shailesh Lodha

text: Lodha was the main presenter in the TV program "Wah! Wah! Kya Baat Hai!" telecasted on SAB TV during 2012-13. In 2019, he appeared in the comedy film "Wig Boss" along with Sunil Pal and Rakhi Sawant.


title: Shailesh Lodha

text: Lodha has written four books: the first two are satirical humour; the third is a self-help book co-written with his wife; and his most recent book, "Diljale Ka Facebook Status", is a collection of poems written from the point of view of a jilted lover.


title: Russell Hornsby

text: Russell Hornsby (born May 15, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Edward "Eddie" Sutton on ABC Family's "Lincoln Heights", as Luke on the HBO drama "In Treatment", as Detective Hank Griffin on the NBC series "Grimm", and as Lyons in the movie "Fences". He also played Carl Gatewood in the Showtime TV series "The Affair".


title: Russell Hornsby

text: Hornsby was born in San Francisco, California. He was a football player at St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, California. He auditioned for a spring musical and got the role of the Scarecrow in "The Wiz". After that, he became very interested in theatre and acting and was highly involved with the rest of the school theatrical productions. After graduating, he studied theater at Boston University, from which he graduated with a degree in performance. After graduation, Hornsby continued his studies at the British American Drama Academy.


title: Russell Hornsby

text: After finishing his studies at Oxford, Hornsby moved to New York City and was subsequently cast in leading roles in Off Broadway productions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (as Atticus Finch), "Joe Louis Blues", and "Six Degrees of Separation" (as Paul). In the late 1990s, he decided to move to Los Angeles in order to transition into television and film. He has appeared in several different television productions including appearing in recurring roles in "Haunted" as Detective Marcus Bradshaw and "Gideon's Crossing" as Chief Resident Dr. Aaron Boise. His other television credits include "Grey's Anatomy", "Law & Order", and "In Justice" among others. He also played running back Leon Taylor in ESPN's drama series "Playmakers". On the big screen, he has appeared in such films as "After the Sunset", "Big Fat Liar", "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", "Keep the Faith, Baby", "Meet the Parents", and "Stuck" among others. In 2000, Hornsby appeared in the Off-Broadway production of "Jitney" for which he won a Drama Desk Award and an Obie Award.


title: Russell Hornsby

text: He starred in the NBC fantasy drama "Grimm" from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, he played Isaiah Butler in the Netflix crime drama "Seven Seconds". That same year, Hornsby joined the cast of the movie "Creed II".


title: Russell Hornsby

text: In 2021, he went on to star in the Starz crime drama television series "BMF", with costars Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Da'Vinchi and Demetrius Flenory Jr., who played Demetrius Flenory Sr.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, and radical right organization operating in contravention of Article 18 of the Constitution of Italy that banned secret associations. In its latter period, during which the lodge was headed by Licio Gelli, P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Holy See-affiliated Banco Ambrosiano, the murders of journalist Mino Pecorelli and banker Roberto Calvi, and corruption cases within the nationwide bribe scandal Tangentopoli. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of Michele Sindona's financial empire.


title: Propaganda Due

text: P2 was sometimes referred to as a "state within a state" or a "shadow government". The lodge had among its members prominent journalists, members of parliament, industrialists, and military leaders—including Silvio Berlusconi, who later became Prime Minister of Italy; the Savoy pretender to the Italian throne Victor Emmanuel; and the heads of all three Italian intelligence services (at the time SISDE, SISMI, and CESIS). When searching Gelli's villa in 1982, police found a document entitled "Plan for Democratic Rebirth", which called for a consolidation of the media, suppression of trade unions, and the rewriting of the Italian constitution.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Outside Italy, P2 was also active in Venezuela, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Among its Argentine members were Raúl Alberto Lastiri, who was briefly interim president of the country after the end of the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973); Emilio Massera, who was part of the military junta led by Jorge Rafael Videla during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983); José López Rega, who was Minister of Social Welfare (1973–1975) and founder of the paramilitary organisation Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA); and General and convicted murderer Guillermo Suárez Mason.


title: Propaganda Due

text: "Propaganda" was founded in 1877, in Turin, as "Propaganda Massonica". This lodge was frequented by politicians and government officials from across Italy who were unable to attend their own lodges and included prominent members of the Piedmont nobility. During its history, the lodge included important Italian figures, such as the poet Giosuè Carducci, politicians Francesco Crispi and Arturo Labriola and journalist Gabriele Galantara. "Propaganda Massonica" was banned in 1925, alongside all other Masonic lodges and secret societies, by the Fascist regime.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Following the end of World War II, Freemasonry became legal again and the lodge was reformed. The name was changed to "Propaganda Due" when the Grand Orient of Italy numbered its lodges. By the 1960s, the lodge was all but inactive, holding few meetings. This original lodge had little to do with the one Licio Gelli established in 1966, two years after becoming a freemason.


title: Propaganda Due

text: During the Cold War, Italian Freemasonry traditions of free-thinking under the Risorgimento transformed into fervent anti-communism. The increasing influence of the political left at the end of the 1960s had the Masons of Italy deeply worried. In 1971, Grand Master Lino Salvini of the Grand Orient of Italy—one of Italy's largest Masonic lodges—assigned to Gelli the task of reorganizing the lodge.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Gelli took a list of "sleeping members"—members not invited to participate in Masonic rituals anymore, as Italian Freemasonry was under close scrutiny by Christian Democracy (DC) in power through the Pentapartito. From these initial connections, Gelli was able to extend his network throughout the echelons of the Italian establishment.


title: Propaganda Due

text: The Grand Orient of Italy officially expelled Gelli and the P2 Lodge in 1976. In 1974 it was proposed that P2 be erased from the list of lodges by the Grand Orient of Italy, and the motion carried overwhelmingly. The following year a warrant was issued by the Grand Master for a new P2 lodge. It seems the Grand Orient in 1976 had only suspended, and not actually expelled, the lodge on Gelli's request. Gelli was found to be active in the Grand Orient's national affairs two years later, financing the election of a new Grand Master. In 1981 a Masonic tribunal decided that the 1974 vote did mean the lodge had factually ceased to exist and that Gelli's lodge had therefore been (Masonically and politically) illegal since that time.


title: Propaganda Due

text: The activities of the P2 lodge were discovered by prosecutors while investigating banker Michele Sindona, the collapse of his bank and his ties to the Sicilian Mafia. In March 1981, police found a list of alleged members in Gelli's house in Arezzo. It contained 962 names, among which were important state officials, important politicians and a number of military officers, including the heads of the three Italian secret services. Future Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was on the list, although he had not yet entered politics at the time. Another famous member was Victor Emmanuel, the son of the last Italian king.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani (whose "chef de cabinet" was a P2 member as well) appointed a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by the independent DC Tina Anselmi. In May 1981, Forlani was forced to resign due to the P2 scandal, causing the fall of the Italian government.


title: Propaganda Due

text: In January 1982, the P2 lodge was definitively disbanded by the Law 25 January 1982, no. 17. In July 1982, new documents were found hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase belonging to Gelli's daughter at Fiumicino airport in Rome. The documents were entitled "Memorandum sulla situazione italiana" ("Memorandum on the Italian Situation") and "Piano di rinascita democratica" ("Plan of Democratic Rebirth"), and are seen as the political programme of P2. According to these documents, the main enemies of Italy were the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the trade unions, particularly the Communist Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL). These had to be isolated and cooperation with the PCI, the second biggest party in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, which was proposed in the Historic Compromise by Aldo Moro, needed to be disrupted.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Gelli's goal was to form a new political and economic elite to lead Italy away from the danger of Communist rule. More controversially, it sought to do this by means of an authoritarian form of democracy. P2 advocated a programme of extensive political corruption: "political parties, newspapers and trade unions can be the objects of possible solicitations which could take the form of economic-financial manoeuvres. The availability of sums not exceeding 30 to 40 billion lire would seem sufficient to allow carefully chosen men, acting in good faith, to conquer key positions necessary for overall control."


title: Propaganda Due

text: Opinions about the importance and reach of P2 differ. Some see the P2 as a reactionary, shadow government ready to preempt a takeover of power in case of an electoral victory of the Italian Communist Party. Others think it was nothing more than a sordid association of people eager to improve their careers by making powerful and important connections. Nevertheless, P2 was implicated in numerous Italian scandals and mysteries.


title: Propaganda Due

text: In 1977 the P2 took control of the "Corriere della Sera" newspaper, a leading paper in Italy. At the time, the paper had encountered financial trouble and was unable to raise bank loans because its then editor, Piero Ottone, was considered hostile to the ruling Christian Democrats. Corriere's owners, the publishing house Rizzoli, struck a deal with Gelli. He provided the money with funds from the Vatican Bank directed by archbishop Paul Marcinkus. Ottone was fired and the paper's editorial line shifted to the right.


title: Propaganda Due

text: The paper published a long interview with Gelli in 1980. The interview was carried out by the television talk show host Maurizio Costanzo, who would also be exposed as a member of P2. Gelli said he was in favour of rewriting the Italian constitution towards a Gaullist presidential system. When asked what he always wanted to be, he replied: "A puppet master".


title: Propaganda Due

text: P2 members Gelli and the head of the secret service Pietro Musumeci were condemned for attempting to mislead the police investigation of the Bologna massacre on 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.


title: Propaganda Due

text: P2 became the target of considerable attention in the wake of the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano (one of Milan's principal banks, owned in part by the Vatican Bank), and the suspicious 1982 death of its president Roberto Calvi in London, initially ruled a suicide but later prosecuted as a murder. It was suspected by investigative journalists that some of the plundered funds went to P2 or to its members.


title: Propaganda Due

text: One of the documents found in 1981 was about a numbered bank account, the so-called "Protezione account", at the Union Bank of Switzerland in Lugano (Switzerland). It detailed the payment of US$7 million by the president of ENI, Florio Fiorini through Roberto Calvi to the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) leader Claudio Martelli on behalf of Bettino Craxi, the socialist Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987.


title: Propaganda Due

text: The full extent of the payment became clear only twelve years later, in 1993, during the mani pulite (Italian for "clean hands") investigations into political corruption. The money was allegedly a kickback on a loan which the Socialist leaders had organised to help bail out the ailing Banco Ambrosiano. Rumours that the Minister of Justice, Martelli, was connected with the account had been circulating since investigations began into the P2 plot. He always flatly denied them. Learning that formal investigations were opened, he resigned as minister.


title: Propaganda Due

text: The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by Anselmi, concluded that the P2 lodge was a secret criminal organization. Allegations of surreptitious international relationships, mainly with Argentina (Gelli repeatedly suggested that he was a close friend of Juan Perón) and with some people suspected of affiliation with the American Central Intelligence Agency were also partly confirmed. Soon a political debate overtook the legal level of the analysis. The majority report said that P2 action resulted in "the pollution of the public life of a nation. It aimed to alter, often in decisive fashion, the correct functioning of the institutions of the country, according to a project which ... intended to undermine our democracy." A minority report by Massimo Teodori concluded that P2 was not just an abnormal outgrowth from an essentially healthy system, as upheld by the majority report, but an inherent part of the system itself.


title: Propaganda Due

text: Even though outlawed by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1925, Masonic institutions have been tolerated in Italy since the end of World War II and have been quite open about their activities and membership. A special law was issued that prohibited "secret lodges", i.e. those whose locations and dates of meeting are secret, like Gelli's pseudo-Masonic association. The "Grande Oriente d'Italia", after taking disciplinary action against members with P2 connections, distanced itself from Gelli's lodge. Other laws introduced a prohibition on membership in allegedly secret organizations for some categories of state officials (especially military officers). These laws have been recently questioned by the European Court of Human Rights. Following an action brought by a serving British naval officer, the European Court has established as precedent the illegality of any member nation attempting to ban Masonic membership for military officers, as a breach of their human rights.


title: Propaganda Due

text: On 17 March 1981, a list composed by Licio Gelli was found in his country house (Villa Wanda). The list should be contemplated with some caution, as it is considered to be a combination of P2 members and the contents of Gelli's Rolodex. Many on the list were apparently never asked if they wanted to join P2, and it is not known to what extent the list includes members who were formally initiated into the lodge. Since 1981, some of those on the list have demonstrated their distance from P2 to the satisfaction of the Italian legal system.


title: Propaganda Due

text: On 21 May 1981, the Italian government released the list. The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry headed by Tina Anselmi considered the list reliable and genuine. It decided to publish the list in its concluding report, "Relazione della Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sulla Loggia massonica P2".


title: Propaganda Due

text: The list contains 962 names (including Gelli's). It has been claimed that at least 1,000 names may still be secret, as the membership numbers begin with number 1,600, which suggests that the complete list has not yet been found. The list included all of the heads of the secret services, 195 officers of the different armed forces (12 generals of the Carabinieri, 5 of the financial police Guardia di Finanza, 22 of the army, 4 of the air force and 8 admirals), as well as 44 members of parliament, 3 ministers and a secretary of a political party, leading magistrates, a few prefects and heads of police, bankers and businessmen, civil servants, journalists and broadcasters. Included were a top official of the Banco di Roma, Italy's third largest bank at the time, and a former director-general of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), the country's largest.


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: Adam Pearson (born 6 January 1985) is a British actor, presenter and campaigner. He appeared in the 2013 film "Under the Skin". He has neurofibromatosis and has been involved in outreach programmes to prevent bullying associated with deformities.


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: Adam Pearson was born on 6 January 1985, along with his identical twin brother, Neil. After he hit his head at the age of five, the resultant bump persisted instead of healing. He was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type I, which causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on nerve tissue. Both Neil and his brother Adam have the condition, which manifests very differently between them.


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: Pearson graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in business management. He worked various jobs in television production for the BBC and Channel 4 including the shows "The Undateables" and "Beauty and the Beast".


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: In 2013, he was cast alongside Scarlett Johansson in Jonathan Glazer's film "Under the Skin". He said that he hoped the role would challenge disfigurement stigma. He worked as a researcher for the BBC and Channel 4 before becoming a strand presenter on the first series of "Beauty and the Beast: the Ugly Face of Prejudice" on Channel 4. He was also one of the development team of "Beauty and the Beast" and consulted on the Dutch version of the series.


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: Pearson has worked on all five series of "The Undateables" for Channel 4 as the casting researcher. He has presented the BBC Three documentaries, "Adam Pearson: Freak Show" and "The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime", and appeared as a reporter in the Channel 4 series, "Tricks of the Restaurant Trade".


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: Adam Pearson is a regular caller and occasional guest host to "The Bedtime Babble On", a radio programme that airs on Spark Sunderland, weeknights from 10pm.


title: Adam Pearson (actor)

text: In August 2022, Pearson appeared on "Celebrity Masterchef", becoming the first contestant to be eliminated in his heat.


title: Billy Summers

text: Billy Summers is a crime novel written by American author Stephen King, published by Scribner on August 3, 2021.


title: Billy Summers

text: Billy Summers is a 44-year-old hitman and former U.S. Marine sniper, who only accepts jobs killing truly evil men, but now he wants to retire from the assassin life altogether. Nick Majarian, a mobster whom Billy has worked for many times before, offers him one last job--one that pays $500,000 up front, and $1.5 million after it's done.


title: Billy Summers

text: Billy's target is Joel Allen, also a hitman, who was arrested for murdering a man who won a fortune off of him in a poker game. Allen has claimed to have valuable information that the police wants in order to make a plea deal, and apparently, someone, whom Nick can't name, doesn't want Allen talking, which is why Billy has been hired to take him out. The job requires Billy to spend some quiet time undercover as a resident in the small town of Midwood, where an office space has been rented out for his use. Billy's cover story is that he is a writer named David Lockridge, who has been tasked by his publishing agent to stay there, and go to the office and write each day in an attempt to meet his deadline. The office has a direct view of the courthouse, where Joel Allen will eventually be taken to be arraigned for his murder charge. Billy is meant to shoot and kill him at that time, and then disappear.


title: Billy Summers

text: However, Billy starts to become suspicious when Nick offers up a getaway plan for after the hit takes place, since typically he leaves that up to Billy to figure out. Nick's plan involves Billy escaping in a city transit truck that will have someone waiting for him to drive away, causing Billy to suspect that Nick intends to kill him after he pulls off the hit. Instead, Billy starts to formulate his own plan, including renting out a new apartment under the alias, Dalton Smith.


title: Billy Summers

text: While he waits for the big day to kill Joel Allen, Billy also starts writing his fake book his character is supposed to be writing, just as a way to kill time because, as an avid reader, he wants to. He changes all of the real names, but writes about his life, starting with his little sister being beaten and killed by his mother's drunk boyfriend when he was eleven. A young Billy ended up finding a gun and killing the boyfriend. He later ended up in foster care, and then joined the U.S. Marines when he was 17.


title: Billy Summers

text: Back in the present, the shooting and killing of Joel Allen goes off without a hitch. Billy evades the transit truck, and gets away by disguising himself as one of the office workers in the building. He then goes to hide out in his Dalton Smith apartment, where he intends to lay low for a while during the police hunt and media frenzy surrounding the shooting. When Nick doesn't pay him the rest of the money he promised after the hit, Billy now knows that his suspicions were correct, and also soon learns that there is a $6 million bounty on his head.


title: Billy Summers

text: While Billy is trying to remain out of sight from the police, he sees a young woman get dumped out of a truck onto the street, drugged and half-dead. Not wanting to attract police attention to his area, he reluctantly goes out to save her. It turns out that the woman, 21-year-old Alice Maxwell, had just been raped and abandoned by a group of men. Alice recognizes Billy as the shooter, but she ends up wanting to stay with him for a while, fearing that the men who raped her might come back for her.


title: Billy Summers

text: As Billy continues writing his book, he writes about his experiences in the military, and becoming a talented and decorated sniper. He also writes about an incident in Iraq, where he and his comrades were sent to check out a large house, and a majority of them were killed in action there. One of the survivors, Johnny Capps, would later hook Billy up with his first job as a hitman.


title: Billy Summers

text: When Billy decides it's time to hit the road and escape from town, he first goes to confront Alice's attackers. He demands that two of them apologize to her over the phone, and then he sodomizes their leader with an immersion blender. After that, Billy and Alice drive across America to Sidewinder, Colorado, to meet with Bucky Hanson, Billy's "broker" and the only person Billy fully trusts, and plans how to go after Nick.


title: Billy Summers

text: At Nick's Las Vegas estate, Billy pretends to be a migrant gardener, and kills or injures many of Nick's men, including seriously injuring Nick's right-hand man, Frank Macintosh, whose mother Marge also works for Nick. Billy manages to extract a promise from Nick to pay him the money owed, and to tell people that Billy is dead. Nick also confesses to Billy that the person who ordered the hit of Joel Allen was Roger Klerke, a wealthy media mogul. Roger originally hired Allen to kill his own son, Patrick Klerke, after Patrick learned about Roger's secret life as a pedophile, and his promiscuity with young girls, of which he managed to obtain photo evidence. Then, when Patrick learned that his father wasn't planning to pass his company on to him, he lashed out by blackmailing Roger. Allen successfully killed Patrick, but in doing so, discovered the blackmail evidence about Roger as well. So, when Allen got arrested for his murder charge of the man in the poker game and was trying to use that information to cut a plea deal with the prosecutors of his case, Roger turned to Nick to hire someone (Billy) to take out Allen, and then to have Billy dead to prevent a repeat of the Allen situation.


title: Billy Summers

text: Billy and Alice stay for a long time at Bucky's place, where their relationship grows, and Billy finishes writing his book to bring it all the way up to the present. Meanwhile, he learns that Frank Macintosh lives, but suffers from extreme seizures caused by the pain Billy inflicted upon him. When it's finally time to deal with Roger, Alice takes photos of herself dressed up as a teenager to send to Roger to entice him into a meeting. Roger takes the bait, and Alice and Billy show up at his estate, and Alice shoots and kills Roger. During their escape, Marge Macintosh appears and shoots Billy, hoping to take revenge on what he did to her son. Billy is wounded, and when he and Alice get back to their hotel, Billy thinks about how he's bad for Alice, and she's better off being free from an outlaw lifestyle. He leaves with the hopes of becoming a full-time writer, and maybe even being able to atone for the things he's done in his life.


title: Billy Summers

text: Then, in the final chapter, it is revealed that the last part of Billy's story was in fact written by Alice as Billy died from his wounds, and Alice wrote it to convey his thoughts, and how she wished he would have survived.


title: Billy Summers

text: Stephen King first mentioned the novel in an NPR interview in April 2020, where he discussed having to change the story from taking place in 2020 to 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that month, in a live streamed conversation with John Grisham, King again mentioned it, saying it was a crime novel about a hired assassin.


title: Billy Summers

text: "Entertainment Weekly" officially announced "Billy Summers" on January 28, 2021, with a release date of August 3, 2021. The announcement also included a short excerpt.


title: Billy Summers

text: In February 2022, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that the novel will be adapted into a limited television series with J. J. Abrams, King, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz as executive producers.


title: Billy Summers

text: The novel debuted at number one on "The New York Times" fiction best-seller list for the week ending August 7, 2021.


title: Billy Summers

text: In a rave review, John Dugdale of "The Sunday Times" wrote, "Disciplined but adventurous, equally good at action scenes and in-depth psychology, King shows with this novel that, at 73, he's a writer back at the top of his game." Neil McRobert of "The Guardian" called it King's "best book in years," praising his "own brand of muscular, heightened realism." McRobert wrote that the "odd balance with the sunlit, languorous first half" of the book succeeded "largely because King is so good at character and making us care through incidental details."


title: Marble (toy)

text: A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called "marbles", as well being placed in marble runs or races, or created as a form of art. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Sizes may range from less than to over , while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over wide.


title: Marble (toy)

text: In the North of England the objects and the game are called "taws", with larger taws being called "bottle washers" after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles, which were often collected for play.


title: Marble (toy)

text: In the early twentieth century, small balls of stone from about 2500 BCE, identified by archaeologists as marbles, were found by excavation near Mohenjo-daro, in a site associated with the Indus Valley civilization. Marbles are often mentioned in Roman literature, as in Ovid's poem "Nux" (which mentions playing the game with walnuts), and there are many examples of marbles from excavations of sites associated with Chaldeans of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. They were commonly made of clay, stone or glass. Marbles arrived in Britain, imported from the Low Countries, during the medieval era.


title: Marble (toy)

text: In 1503, the town council of Nuremberg, Germany, limited the playing of marble games to a meadow outside the town. The name "marble", used for the little toy balls, comes from this region and era, and refers to the stone called marble. At this point, marbles were made in mills and quarries by polishing small fragments of real stone like marble, agate, alabaster, limestone, and even brass.


title: Marble (toy)

text: It is unknown where marbles were first manufactured. A German glassblower invented marble scissors, a device for making marbles, in 1846. Ceramic marbles entered inexpensive mass production in the 1870s.


title: Marble (toy)

text: The game has become popular throughout the US and other countries. The first mass-produced toy marbles (clay) made in the US were made in Akron, Ohio, by S. C. Dyke, in the early 1890s. Some of the first US-produced glass marbles were also made in Akron by James Harvey Leighton. In 1903, Martin Frederick Christensen—also of Akron—made the first machine-made glass marbles on his patented machine. His company, M. F. Christensen & Son Co., manufactured millions of toy and industrial glass marbles until they ceased operations in 1917. The next US company to enter the glass marble market was Akro Agate. This company was started by Akronites in 1911, but located in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Today, there are only two American-based toy marble manufacturers: Jabo Vitro in Reno, Ohio, and Marble King, in Paden City, West Virginia.


title: Marble (toy)

text: One game popular in the United Kingdom and United States is ring taw (or "ringer"), where a ring is drawn on the ground and a number of small marbles placed within it. Players take turns to flick a larger "taw" marble at these marbles, attempting to knock them out of the ring.


title: Marble (toy)

text: The British and World Marbles Championship has been held at Tinsley Green, West Sussex, England, every year since 1932. (Marbles has been played in Tinsley Green and the surrounding area for many centuries: "TIME" magazine traces its origins to 1588.) Traditionally, the marbles-playing season started on Ash Wednesday and lasted until midday on Good Friday: playing after that was thought to bring bad luck. More than 20 teams from around the world take part in the championship, each Good Friday; German teams have been successful several times since 2000, although local teams from Crawley, Copthorne and other Sussex and Surrey villages often take part as well; the first championship in 1932 was won by Ellen Geary, a young girl from London.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Art marbles are high-quality collectible marbles arising out of the art glass movement. They are sometimes referred to as contemporary glass marbles to differentiate them from collectible antique marbles, and are spherical works of art glass.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Collectible contemporary marbles are made mostly in the United States by individual artists such as Josh Simpson.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Art marbles are usually around in diameter (a size also known as a "toe breaker"), but can vary, depending on the artist and the print.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Marble players often grow to collect marbles after having outgrown the game. Marbles are categorized by many factors including condition, size, type, manufacturer/artisan, age, style, materials, scarcity, and the existence of original packaging (which is further rated in terms of condition). A marble's worth is primarily determined by type, size, condition and eye-appeal, coupled with the law of supply and demand. Ugly, but rare marbles may be valued as much as those of very fine quality. However, this is the exception, rather than the rule, and normally "condition is king" when it comes to marbles. Any surface damage (characterized by missing glass, such as chips or pits) typically cuts book value by 50% or more.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Due to the large market, there are many related side businesses that have sprung up such as numerous books and guides, web sites dedicated to live auctions of marbles only, and collector conventions. Additionally, many glass artisans produce art marbles for the collectors' market only, with some selling for thousands of dollars.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Marbles are made using many techniques. They can be categorized into two general types: hand-made and machine-made.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Marbles were originally made by hand. Stone or ivory marbles can be fashioned by grinding. Clay, pottery, ceramic, or porcelain marbles can be made by rolling the material into a ball, and then letting dry, or firing, and then can be left natural, painted, or glazed. Clay marbles, also known as "crock marbles" or "commies" ("common"), are made of slightly porous clay, traditionally from local clay or leftover earthenware ("crockery"), rolled into balls, then glazed and fired at low heat, creating an opaque imperfect sphere that is frequently sold as an "old timey" marble. Glass marbles can be fashioned through the production of glass rods which are stacked together to form the desired pattern, cutting the rod into marble-sized pieces using marble scissors, and rounding the still-malleable glass.


title: Marble (toy)

text: One mechanical technique is dropping globules of molten glass into a groove made by two interlocking parallel screws. As the screws rotate, the marble travels along them, gradually being shaped into a sphere as it cools. Color is added to the main batch glass and to additional glass streams that are combined with the main stream in a variety of ways. For example, in the "cat's-eye" style, colored glass veins are injected into a transparent main stream. Applying more expensive colored glass to the surface of cheaper transparent or white glass is also a common technique.


title: Marble (toy)

text: Currently, the world's largest manufacturer of playing marbles is Vacor de Mexico. Founded in 1934, the company now makes 90 percent of the world's marbles. Over 12 million are produced daily.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: Gentleman is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language heist action film co-written and directed by S. Shankar in his directorial debut, and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Arjun, Madhubala and Subhashri, with M. N. Nambiar, Manorama, Goundamani, Senthil, Charan Raj, Vineeth, and Rajan P. Dev in supporting roles. It revolves around a respected Madras-based businessman who moonlights as a thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor for their education.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: "Gentleman" was released on 30 July 1993, and distributed by Kunjumon himself as distributors were reluctant. Despite this, the film became a box office success, running for over 175 days in theatres besides winning three South Filmfare Awards (including Best Film – Tamil and Best Director – Tamil), four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards (including Best Actor and Best Director) and five Cinema Express Awards. The film was remade in Hindi as "The Gentleman" (1994).


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: In Ooty, Krishnamoorthy "Kicha" and his sidekick Mani perform a swashbuckling heist of money of several crores while being in disguise diverting the attention of police, and escape in Nilgiri Mountain Railway, much to the frustration of a chasing police officer named Ratnam. Kicha is a respected citizen who runs a legitimate papadam business along with Mani in Madras. Susheela, one of Kicha's many female employees, has a crush on him and is constantly demanding his attention. Another thing adding to her woes is the arrival of her jovial cousin Sugandhi. She makes the place so lively and playful with silly fights between Mani and Babloo. Sugandhi later develops a crush on Kicha, especially after being saved by him from some molesting goons.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: Kicha tells Sugandhi that he has no such feelings for her and wants her to find a suitable husband. Before leaving Madras, Sugandhi steals Kicha's ring as a souvenir. After several unsuccessful attempts at nabbing the thief, a disgraced police officer Azhagar Nambi shaves his head and is left with a ring mark on his face, after a scuffle with the thief. He investigates the design of the mark, believing it was formed by a ceremonial ring worn by Brahmin priests, but to his vain, finds that such a design is uncommon to Brahmin priests, but rather resembles a mangala sutra. Nambi is forced by his parents into getting married and by coincidence to Sugandhi, from whom he gets the particular ring that he was tracking and finds out that it belongs to Kicha.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: In an attempt to trap and arrest Kicha, Nambi plots an attempt at Kicha's house where they were invited for a wedding dinner, hosted by Kicha, where he shoots Kicha, but the latter narrowly escapes with a bullet injury in his hand, along with Mani. Susheela follows them to their hideout, where Susheela finds the duo and accuses Kicha of his deed. After Susheela threatens to commit suicide, Kicha reveals his past: Kicha was a district-level topper along with his best friend Ramesh, and when they both were denied their desired medical college seats despite scoring high marks due to caste-based reservation and bribery, that led to the suicides of Kicha's mother and Ramesh. Since then, Kicha became a thief to build a college of his own, where he desires to make education available to the deserved, regardless of income, caste, or religion.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: To fund the final stages of the college building, aware of the police trap, Kicha makes one last attempt to steal money from the CM, resulting in success, but Nambi gains the upper hand in arresting him. In the courtroom, Kicha demands that the CM, who was previously the educational minister who demanded the bribe from him, should come to the courtroom. Though the CM is exposed to the public, he is still let off, which infuriates a youth who was inspired by Kicha's testimony. The youth kills the CM in a suicide bombing. 6 years later, Kicha and Mani, having completed their jail sentence, inaugurate Kicha's college and Kicha unites with Susheela.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: After scoring back-to-back successes like "Vasanthakala Paravai" (1991) and "Surieyan" (1992), producer K. T. Kunjumon of A. R. S. Film International wanted to collaborate again with director Pavithran and actor R. Sarathkumar; however since they went on to do other projects, the collaboration did not happen. Photographer Stills Ravi and editor V. T. Vijayan suggested the name of S. Shankar who worked as an assistant in these two films. Shankar had prepared a story, but it was rejected by many producers. After listening to the story, an impressed Kunjumon decided to produce the film which would later be titled "Gentleman", but on the condition that Shankar accept any changes he suggest, to which Shankar agreed, making his directorial debut. While Shankar also wrote the screenplay, Kunjumon selected Balakumaran to write the dialogues. Cinematography was handled by Jeeva, editing by Vijayan and B. Lenin, and art direction by Maghi, while Vikram Dharma was the action choreographer.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: Shankar wanted Kamal Haasan to play the lead role, but he refused because of the politics shown in the story and felt "it was not the right position to take on the subject". Shankar also suggested Rajasekhar to Kunjumon, but they were unsuccessful in casting him. When Arjun was approached, he was reluctant. According to him, no directors wanted to make a film with him until the success of "Sevagan" (1992) which was directed by Arjun himself. Therefore when Shankar approached him with the script of "Gentleman", he decided to decline without listening to the script just as he did to a few other directors. But he listened to the script after much persuasion and, impressed by the story, decided to do it. The climax scene where a student kills the antagonist in a suicide bombing was inspired from the assassination of the then President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa. Kunjumon insisted Shankar to rewrite the climax by adding this element, much to the dissatisfaction of Arjun, who felt that his heroism would get diluted. However, Kunjumon was adamant about the climax and it was shot as per his wish.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: The score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman. Vairamuthu wrote the lyrics for all songs except "Chikku Bukku Rayile" and "Parkathey", which were written by Vaali. The songs were recorded at Panchathan Record Inn, and the soundtrack was released under the Pyramid label. The film and soundtrack were dubbed and released in Telugu with the same name. The lyrics were penned by Rajasri for this version. The original Tamil soundtrack sold over 300,000 cassettes.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: The song "Ottagathai Kattiko" is often thought to have been lifted from the 1991 Telugu song, "Eddem Ante Teddam Antav", composed by Raj–Koti and sung by Malgudi Subha from the album "Chik Pak Chik Bam"; in reality, Rahman, who was an arranger in Raj–Koti's team, helped them in composing the original song. Once when Rahman went to visit a friend whose house was near the railway station, the sound of trains frequently disturbed their conversation; nonetheless, the train sounds inspired Rahman to compose "Chikku Bukku Rayile". "Parkathey" is based on "Kilele" by Osibisa. "Ottagathai Kattiko" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Dharmavati, "En Veetu Thotathil" is set in Chenchurutti, "Parkathey" is set in Mohanam, and "Usalampatti Penkutti" is also set in Dharmavati.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: The songs from "Gentleman" were reused in the Hindi remake "The Gentleman" (1994), though only Anu Malik was credited for the music. "Ottagathai Kattiko" was later remixed by the French rap group La Caution as "Pilotes Automatique".


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: "Gentleman" was released on 30 July 1993. Kunjumon had to distribute the film on his own since no distributors were willing to buy this film as they felt "it looked like a dubbed film". Despite this, it became a major commercial success, running for over 175 days in theatres.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: Writing for "The Indian Express" on 6 August 1993, Malini Mannath said, "Shankar makes a promising debut infusing his script with action, sentiment, comedy and even some titillating scenes for added measure and tries to give something different within the parameters of commercial cinema. Jeeva's camera is effective in capturing the well choreographed stunt scenes (Vikram Dharma)." K. Vijiyin of "New Straits Times" wrote on 14 August 1993, "Sankar .. has provided thought-provoking story [..] build up the story well, making us eager to find out why the hero is committing all those robberies." On 22 August 1993, "Ananda Vikatan" rated the film 50 out of 100.


title: Gentleman (1993 film)

text: In the 2019 Tamil film "Hero", Arjun reprises his role as Sathyamoorthy (whose name is similar to Krishnamoorthy), a man who takes away money from the rich to build a school that is free for everyone. The 2021 film "Dikkiloona" was titled after the word used by Goundamani and Senthil in "Gentleman". In June 2022, a sequel was announced with Kunjumon returning to produce, and Gokul Krishna directing.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew training. It is a member of the Star Alliance as well as the International Air Transport Association. The airline's IATA code "SN" is inherited from its predecessors, Sabena and SN Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group. The company slogan is "′You’re in good company′."


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines was created following the merger of SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) and Virgin Express, the former subsequently created after the bankruptcy of Belgium's previous national carrier Sabena. On 12 April 2005, SN Airholding, the company behind SNBA, signed an agreement with Richard Branson, giving it control over Virgin Express. On 31 March 2006 SNBA and Virgin Express announced their merger into a single company. On 7 November 2006, the new name, Brussels Airlines, was announced at a press conference at Brussels Airport. Brussels Airlines began operations on 25 March 2007. Sometime between this period, the airline was forced to change its 13-dot logo to a 14-dot logo due to superstitious passengers complaining about the logo.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 15 September 2008, it was announced that Lufthansa would acquire a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines with an option to acquire the remaining 55% from 2011. As a part of this deal, Brussels Airlines would join Star Alliance. From 26 October 2008, the ICAO code was changed from "DAT" to "BEL".


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 15 June 2009, Brussels Airlines announced that the European Commission had granted approval for Lufthansa to take a minority share in Brussels Airlines. As a result of this clearance by the EU, Brussels Airlines was able to join Star Alliance. Lufthansa purchased 45% of the company in 2009, and acquired the remainder in January 2017.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Since 25 October 2009, Brussels Airlines has been a member of Lufthansa's frequent flyer programme Miles & More. On 9 December 2009, Brussels Airlines became the 26th Star Alliance member during a ceremony at Brussels Town Hall.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 15 December 2009, Brussels Airlines announced it was working on a new regional airline in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name of the airline was "Korongo". The main base of the airline was at Lubumbashi in Congo. The airline was launched in April 2012 and shut down in 2015. Brussels Airlines cancelled the airDC project, due to disagreements with Hewa Bora.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 5 July 2010, a fifth Airbus A330-300 entered into service. Brussels Airlines increased its frequency to Abidjan (up to 6 weekly) and added Accra, Cotonou, Ouagadougou, and Lomé as new destinations. On 11 August 2010, Brussels Airlines and tour operator Club Med announced new cooperation. As from April 2011, Brussels Airlines will transport 80% of all Club Med passengers out of Brussels, both on existing regular Brussels Airlines routes as on new charter routes operated by Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines also announced that it will lease 2 Airbus A320 aircraft from January 2011.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 26 August 2010, the company announced its new maintenance project. The contract with Sabena Technics for the A330 and Boeing 737 ended on 1 January 2011 and Brussels Airlines will then do the maintenance on the planes. To be able to do this, the move from Building 117 to Hangar 41 was necessary. Also, 73 people from Sabena Technics joined the Brussels Airlines maintenance staff.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 1 June 2012 Brussels Airlines inaugurated the route to New York JFK, operating daily with an Airbus A330-300 fitted with the new interior. This is the first Belgian airline in 10 years to fly to New York, after the collapse of Sabena and Delsey Airlines. Since 18 June 2013 they also fly 5 times a week to Washington Dulles. Since April 2016 Toronto Pearson has been added to the North-American network. It has been announced that as from March 2017 a new service to Mumbai will commence with 5 flights per week operated by a new Airbus A330-200 arriving early 2017.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 30 January 2014, Brussels Airlines added 9 seasonal destinations and returned to the Polish market after some years of absence. It also confirmed the permanent exit of its Avro RJ100 fleet by 2016.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In April 2015, Brussels Airlines has been praised by the White House for continuing its normal flying operation to Western African countries during the Ebola outbreak, allowing essential aid to be delivered. All other airline companies, except Royal Air Maroc, suspended their flights to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 22 March 2016, members of the terrorist organization ISIL detonated two bombs in Brussels Airport, closing the airport until Sunday, 27 March 2016. Brussels Airlines shifted some long haul flights to Zurich and Frankfurt and began Airbus A319/Avro RJ100 shuttle service between Liege/Antwerp and Zurich/Frankfurt, as well as providing contracted bus service from Brussels to Antwerp and Liege from where it served European destinations.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 28 September 2016, the supervisory board of Lufthansa announced that the airline would exercise the option to acquire the remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines' parent company SN Airholding. The modalities would be defined before the end of the year to conclude the transaction at the beginning of 2017.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In March 2017, Thomas Cook announced its intention to sell its Belgian flight operations, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, which was shut down by November 2017 with two aircraft and all traffic rights being integrated into Brussels Airlines. Brussels Airlines took over the 160 Thomas Cook Airlines crew members.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In February 2018, CEO Bernard Gustin and financial director Jan De Raeymaeker resigned after a meeting with the Lufthansa board over the future of the airline. Gustin was replaced by Christina Foerster on 1 April 2018. On 1 May 2018, Dieter Vranckx joined the company as CFO.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In December 2019, it was announced that Dieter Vranckx will replace Christina Foerster as CEO of Brussels Airlines effective January 1, 2020.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, Brussels Airlines suspended all flights from March 21 through April 19. Additionally, Brussels Airlines cancelled its wetlease contract with CityJet, leading to the termination of eight European destinations in the wake of the pandemic. At the end of June 2020, Brussels Airlines also announced that they were cancelling a number of flights scheduled for operation in September and October 2020. Like many airlines Brussels Airlines did not refund affected customers in line with Flight Compensation Regulation timelines during the COVID pandemic and encouraged passengers to take credit vouchers or flights on alternative dates instead. However, some passengers who found their flights cancelled by airline never got refunded and had to launch chargeback claims in order to get their money back.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In November 2021, Brussels Airlines announced a revision of their corporate design including a new logo.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: The company is headquartered in the b.house (Building 26) in the General Aviation Zone on the grounds of Brussels Airport and in Diegem, Machelen, Flemish Brabant.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines is the operating name of Brussels Airlines SA/NV (previously Delta Air Transport SA/NV) which has its registered office in , Brussels.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines is almost 100% owned by SN Airholding SA/NV (1,811,308 shares out of 1,811,309), a Belgian holding company. Lufthansa owns 100% of SN Airholding SA/NV, having taken control of the remaining shares it did not own effective January 2017.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Dieter Vranckx has been the CEO since 1 January 2020. The executive committee consists of Dieter Vranckx (CEO & CCO) and Edi Wolfensberger (COO). Dieter Vranckx was previously the CFO of the company.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Limited information on Brussels Airlines appears to be published by the company or the Lufthansa Group. However, accounts for all Belgian companies must be filed with the National Bank of Belgium, and key trends over recent years are shown below (for years ending 31 December):


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In October 2019, Brussels Airlines and Africa World Airlines announced an interline agreement to better connect passengers traveling through their respective hubs in Accra and Brussels.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In December 2019, Brussels Airlines and Aeroflot announced a code-share agreement in effect January 20, 2020 between Moscow-Sheremetyevo and Brussels.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: During 2010, two Airbus A319-100s joined Brussels Airlines' fleet. The first Airbus A320-200 joined the fleet in February 2011 and made its first commercial flight on 23 April 2011. With improving financial performance, rising cash reserves and a desire to reduce costs more rapidly, Brussels Airlines accelerated its fleet replacement plan by ordering 12 aircraft in August 2011. Six A319s, four A320s and two A330-200s were added to the fleet. This has completed the exit of Boeing aircraft from the fleet and accelerated the replacement of the Avro RJ85.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Starting 2016, Brussels Airlines began phasing out its Avro RJ100s and replaced them with the Airbus A320 family and wet-leased Sukhoi Superjets. This was completed by the end of 2017. However, Brussels Airlines announced in July 2018 it would terminate the Superjet wet-lease contracts earlier than planned. This is due to the longer downtimes of the aircraft in case of repairs compared to more common and less new types. The Superjets have been phased out since January 2019.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: In Mid-2021, Brussels Airlines announced that it will take delivery of three Airbus A320neo aircraft in 2023 to replace ageing A319-100's and aim to lower emissions amongst its fleet.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines launched a series of Belgian Icon special liveries on its Airbus A320 fleet, all representing things that are typically Belgian, including Rackham (a "Tintin" themed aircraft), Magritte (an ode to the famous surrealist artist René Magritte), Trident (the aircraft for the Belgian national football team) and Amare (Tomorrowland Festival theme). On 24 March 2018 the airline introduced an additional aircraft themed to "The Smurfs". In spring 2019 an additional aircraft was dedicated to the famous Flemish painter Bruegel.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines uses Miles & More, Lufthansa's frequent flyer programme. Miles can be earned on flights operated by airlines which are part of the programme, in addition to flights operated by Star Alliance airlines.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: On 19 October 2015, Brussels Airlines launched a new customer programme called LOOP, which is available for all flights in the airline's network. LOOP is designed for the increasing number of customers who fly Brussels Airlines regularly and do not receive significant benefits from traditional frequent flyer programmes. The LOOP programme was discontinued on February 1, 2020.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: Brussels Airlines offers two in-flight magazines. For the European network, there is "b-there!" which is a monthly magazine. On the African network, the magazine is named "B Spirit Magazine," which is published every two months. The magazines are also available as a freely downloadable application for Apple iPad.


title: Brussels Airlines

text: From November 2011 until the end of 2012 Brussels Airlines introduced a new interior on the A330 fleet. The new economy seats feature AVOD personal in-flight entertainment 9 inch screens. Additionally, business class has new lie-flat seats with an improved AVOD IFE system with 15 inch screens, supplied by the IMS-Company and known as "RAVE".


title: Brussels Airlines

text: The fare offerings on medium and long-haul flights offered by Brussels Airlines may be different if a passenger has a connecting flights.


title: Balloon

text: A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light sources. Modern day balloons are made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, and can come in many different colors. Some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig bladder. Some balloons are used for decorative purposes or entertaining purposes, while others are used for practical purposes such as meteorology, medical treatment, military defense, or transportation. A balloon's properties, including its low density and low cost, have led to a wide range of applications.


title: Balloon

text: The rubber balloon was invented by Michael Faraday in 1824, during experiments with various gases. He invented them for use in the lab.


title: Balloon

text: Balloons are used for decorating birthday parties, weddings, corporate functions, school events, and for other festive gatherings. The artists who use the round balloons to build are called "stackers" and the artists who use pencil balloons to build are called "twisters." Most commonly associated with helium balloon decor, more recently balloon decorators have been moving towards the creation of air-filled balloon decorations due to the non-renewable natural resource of helium limited in supply. The most common types of balloon decor include arches, columns, centerpieces, balloon drops, sculptures, and balloon bouquets. With the increased aptitude for balloon twisting as well as balloon stacking, the rise of the deco-twister manifests itself as the combination of stacking techniques as well as twisting techniques to create unique and interesting balloon decor options.


title: Balloon

text: Party balloons are mostly made of a natural latex tapped from rubber trees, and can be filled with air, helium, water, or any other suitable liquid or gas. The rubber's elasticity makes the volume adjustable.


title: Balloon

text: Often the term "party balloon" will refer to a twisting balloon or pencil balloon. These balloons are manipulated to create shapes and figures for parties and events, typically along with entertainment.


title: Balloon

text: Filling the balloon with air can be done with the mouth, a manual or electric inflater (such as a hand pump), or with a source of compressed gas.


title: Balloon

text: When rubber or plastic balloons are filled with helium so that they float, they typically retain their buoyancy for only a day or so, sometimes longer. The enclosed helium atoms escape through small pores in the latex which are larger than the helium atoms. However, some types of balloons are labelled "helium-grade". These balloons are often thicker and have less porosity. Balloons filled with air usually hold their size and shape much longer, sometimes for up to a week.


title: Balloon

text: However, a rubber balloon eventually loses gas to the outside. The process by which a substance or solute migrates from a region of high concentration, through a barrier or membrane, to a region of lower concentration is called diffusion. The inside of balloons can be treated with a special gel (for instance, the polymer solution sold under the "Hi Float" brand) which coats the inside of the balloon to reduce the helium leakage, thus increasing float time to a week or longer.


title: Balloon

text: Beginning in the late 1970s, some more expensive (and longer-lasting) foil balloons made of thin, unstretchable, less permeable metallised films such as Mylar (BoPET) started being produced. These balloons have attractive shiny reflective surfaces and are often printed with color pictures and patterns for gifts and parties. The most important attributes of metallised nylon for balloons are its light weight, increasing buoyancy, and its ability to keep the helium gas from escaping for several weeks. Foil balloons have been criticized for interfering with power lines.


title: Balloon

text: Balloon artists are entertainers who twist and tie inflated tubular balloons into sculptures such as animals (see balloon modelling). The balloons used for sculpture are made of extra-stretchy rubber so that they can be twisted and tied without bursting. Since the pressure required to inflate a balloon is inversely proportional to the diameter of the balloon, these tiny tubular balloons are extremely hard to inflate initially. A pump is usually used to inflate these balloons.