title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Some of the former employees of Digital Equipment Corp were responsible for developing DEC Alpha and StrongARM:


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Some of the work of the Research Labs was published in the "Digital Technical Journal", which was in published from 1985 until 1998. At least some of the research reports are available online.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: , decades-old hardware (including PDP-11, VAX, and AlphaServer) is being emulated to allow legacy software to run on modern hardware; funding for this is planned to last at least until 2030.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: DEC supported the ANSI standards, especially the ASCII character set, which survives in Unicode and the ISO 8859 character set family. DEC's own Multinational Character Set also had a large influence on ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) and, by extension, Unicode.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Beyond DECsystem-10/20, PDP, VAX and Alpha, DEC was known for its work in communication subsystem designs, such as Ethernet, DNA (DIGITAL Network Architecture: predominantly DECnet products), DSA (Digital Storage Architecture: disks/tapes/controllers), and its "dumb terminal" subsystems including VT100 and DECserver products.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: One of the most unusual peripherals produced for the PDP-10 was the DECtape. The DECtape was a length of special 3/4-inch wide magnetic tape wound on 5-inch reels. The recording format was a highly reliable redundant 10-track design using fixed-length numbered data "blocks" organized into a standard file structure, including a directory. Files could be written, read, changed, and deleted on a DECtape as though it were a disk drive. For greater efficiency, the DECtape drive could read and write to a DECtape in both directions.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: In fact, some PDP-10 systems had no disks at all, using DECtapes alone for their primary data storage. The DECtape was also widely used on other PDP models, since it was much easier to use than hand-loading multiple paper tapes. Primitive early time-sharing systems could use DECtapes as system devices and swapping devices. Although superior to paper tape, DECtapes were relatively slow, and were supplanted once reliable disk drives became affordable.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: DEC was both a manufacturer and a buyer of magnetic disk storage, offering more than 100 different models of hard disk drive (HDD) and floppy disk drive (FDD) during its existence. In the 1970s, it was the single largest OEM purchaser of HDDs, procuring from Diablo, Control Data Corporation, Information Storage Systems, and Memorex, among others.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: DEC's first internally developed HDD was the RS08, a 256 kWord fixed-head contact-start-stop drive using plated media; it shipped in 1969.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Beginning in the 1970s, DEC moved first its HDD manufacturing and then its mass storage development labs to Colorado Springs.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: DEC pioneered a number of HDD technologies, including sampled data servos (RL01, 1977) and serial HDD interfaces (Standard Disk Interconnect, 1983). The last internally developed disk drive family (RA9x series) used plated media, departing from the HDD industry trend to carbon overcoated sputtered media. DEC designated a $400 million investment to bring this product line into production. The RA92 (1.5 GB) was introduced in 1992, using a 14-inch platter.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: The way the 400 KB DEC standard RX50 floppy disk drive supported DEC's initial offerings seemed to encapsulate their approach to the personal computer market. Although the mechanical drive hardware was nearly identical to other 5" floppy disk drives available on competing systems, DEC sought to differentiate their product by using a proprietary disk format for the data written on the disk. The DEC format had a higher capacity for data, but the RX50 drives were incompatible with other PC floppy drives. This required DEC owners to buy higher-priced, specially formatted floppy media, which was harder to obtain through standard distribution channels. DEC attempted to enforce exclusive control over its floppy media sales by copyrighting its proprietary disk format, and requiring a negotiated license agreement and royalty payments from anybody selling compatible media. The proprietary data format meant that RX50 floppies were not interchangeable with other PC floppies, further isolating DEC products from the developing de facto standard PC market. Hardware hackers and DEC enthusiasts eventually reverse-engineered the RX50 format, but the damage had already been done, in terms of market confusion and isolation.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: The Video-on-Demand project at DEC started in 1992, following Ken Olsen's retirement. At the time the company was rapidly downsizing under Robert Palmer, and it was difficult to gain funding for any new project. DEC's Interactive Video Information Server architecture gained traction and excelled over those of other companies, in that it was highly scalable, using a gateway to set up interactive video delivery sessions on large numbers of video and information servers. Initially high-end VAXes were used, then Alphas.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: The scalability feature allowed it to win contracts for many of the video-on-demand trials in the 1993–95 timeframe, since the system could theoretically accommodate unlimited interactive video streams and other non-video content.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: The design was proposed and incorporated into the MPEG-2 international standard. Its object-oriented interface became the mandatory user-to user core interface in DSM-CC, widely used in video stream and file delivery for MPEG-2 compliant systems.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Commercially, DEC's Digital and Interactive Information System was used by Adlink to distribute advertising to over 2 million subscribers.


title: Digital Equipment Corporation

text: Originally the users' group was called DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer User Society) during the 1960s to 1990s. When Compaq acquired DEC in 1998, the users group was renamed CUO, the Compaq Users' Organisation. When HP acquired Compaq in 2002, CUO became HP-Interex, although there are still DECUS groups in several countries. In the United States, the organization is represented by the Encompass organization; currently Connect.


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, clubs, charities, and governments. Enterprise software is an integral part of a (computer-based) information system; a collection of such software is called an enterprise system. These systems handle a number of operations in an organization to enhance the business and management reporting tasks. The systems must process the information at a relatively high speed and can be deployed across a variety of networks.


title: Enterprise software

text: Services provided by enterprise software are typically business-oriented tools. As enterprises have similar departments and systems in common, enterprise software is often available as a suite of customizable programs. Generally, the complexity of these tools requires specialist capabilities and specific knowledge. Enterprise computing is the information technology (IT) tool that businesses use for efficient production operations and back-office support. These IT tools cover database management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, business process management and so on.


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise software is a collection of computer programs that have common business applications, tools for modeling how the entire organization works, and development tools for building applications unique to the organization. The software is intended to solve an enterprise-wide problem, rather than a departmental problem. Enterprise-level software aims to improve the enterprise's productivity and efficiency by providing business logic support functionality.


title: Enterprise software

text: According to Martin Fowler, "Enterprise applications are about the display, manipulation, and storage of large amounts of often complex data and the support or automation of business processes with that data."


title: Enterprise software

text: Although there is no single, widely accepted list of enterprise software characteristics, they generally include performance, scalability, and robustness. Furthermore, enterprise software typically has interfaces to other enterprise software (for example LDAP to directory services) and is centrally managed (a single admin page, for example).


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise application software performs business functions such as order processing, procurement, production scheduling, customer information management, energy management, and accounting. It is typically hosted on servers and provides simultaneous services to many users, typically over a computer network. This is in contrast to a single-user application that is executed on a user's personal computer and serves only one user at a time.


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise systems (ES) are large-scale enterprise software packages that support business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics in complex organizations. While ES are generally packaged enterprise application software (PEAS) systems they can also be bespoke, custom-developed systems created to support a specific organization's needs.


title: Enterprise software

text: Although data warehousing or business intelligence systems are enterprise-wide packaged application software often sold by ES vendors, since they do not directly support execution of business processes, they are often excluded from the term.


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise systems are built on software platforms, such as SAP's NetWeaver and Oracle's Fusion, and databases.


title: Enterprise software

text: From a hardware perspective, enterprise systems are the servers, storage and associated software that large businesses use as the foundation for their IT infrastructure. These systems are designed to manage large volumes of critical data and thus are typically designed to provide high levels of transaction performance and data security.


title: Enterprise software

text: Enterprise software can be categorized by business function. Each type of enterprise application can be considered a "system" due to the integration with a firm's business processes. Categories of enterprise software may overlap due to this systemic interpretation. For example, IBM's Business Intelligence platform (Cognos), integrates with a predictive analytics platform (SPSS) and can obtain records from its database packages (Infosphere, DB2). Blurred lines between package functions make delimitation difficult, and larger software companies define these somewhat arbitrary categories in many ways. Nevertheless, certain industry-standard product categories have emerged, and these are shown below:


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: The SpaceX Mars program is a set of projects through which the aerospace company SpaceX hopes to facilitate the colonization of Mars. The company claims that this is necessary for the long-term survival of the human species and that its Mars program, including the ongoing development of the SpaceX Starship, will reduce space transportation costs, thereby making travel to Mars a more realistic possibility.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX, first presented his goal of enabling Mars colonization in 2001 as a member of the Mars Society's board of directors. In the 2000s and early 2010s, SpaceX made many vehicle concepts for delivering payloads and crews to Mars, including space tugs, heavy-lift launch vehicles, "Red Dragon" capsules. The company's current Mars plan was first formally proposed in 2016 International Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusable launch vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, the launch vehicle proposal was altered and renamed to "Starship", and has been in development since. The company has given many estimates of dates of the first human landing on Mars.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: SpaceX plans for early missions to Mars to involve small fleets of Starship spacecraft, funded by public–private partnerships. The company hopes that once infrastructure is established on Mars and the launch cost is reduced further, colonization can begin.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: The program has been criticized as impractical, both because of uncertainties regarding its financing and because it only addresses transportation to Mars and not the problem of sustaining human life there.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Before founding SpaceX, Musk joined the Mars Society's board of directors for a short time. He was offered a plenary talk at their convention where he announced "Mars Oasis", a project to land a miniature experimental greenhouse and grow plants on Mars, to revive public interest in space exploration. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr ICBM for the project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell. Russian officials were unreceptive to Musk's approach and on the flight back from Moscow, Musk worked on a spreadsheet and concluded that they could build their own rockets. Over time, Musk's goal evolved from a small publicity mission to generate interest in going to Mars, to a full-scale effort to create an architecture that would enable a self-sustaining human settlement on Mars. This lead to the formation of SpaceX.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: As early as 2007, Elon Musk stated a personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars, although his personal public interest in Mars goes back at least to 2001 at the Mars Society. SpaceX has stated its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Starship's reusability is expected to reduce launch costs, expanding space access to more payloads and entities. According to Robert Zubrin, aerospace engineer and advocate for human exploration of Mars, Starship's lower launch cost would make space-based economy, colonization, and mining practical. Lower cost to space may potentially make space research profitable, allowing major advancements in medicine, computers, material science, and more. Musk has stated that a Starship orbital launch will cost less than $2 million. Pierre Lionnet, director of research at Eurospace, claimed otherwise, citing the rocket's multi-billion-dollar development cost and its current lack of external demand.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Starship is designed to be a fully reusable and orbital rocket, aiming to drastically reduce launch costs and maintenance between flights. The rocket will consist of a Super Heavy first stage or a booster and a Starship second stage or spacecraft, powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines. Both the rocket stages' body are made from stainless steel, giving Starship its shine and strength for atmospheric entry.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Methane was chosen for the Raptor engines because it is relatively cheap, produces low amount of soot as compared to other hydrocarbons, and can be created on Mars from carbon dioxide and hydrogen via the Sabatier reaction. The engine family uses a new alloy for the main combustion chamber, allowing it to contain of pressure, the highest of all current engines. In the future, it may be mass-produced and cost about $230,000 per engine or $100 per kilonewton.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Starship is the launch vehicle's second stage and will serve as a long-duration spacecraft on some missions. The spacecraft is tall and has a dry mass of less than . Starship's payload volume is about , larger than the International Space Station's pressurized volume by , and can be even bigger with an extended -tall volume. By refueling the Starship spacecraft in orbit using tanker spacecraft, Starship will be able to transport larger payloads and more astronauts to other Earth orbits, the Moon, and Mars.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: SpaceX plans to build a crewed base on Mars for an extended surface presence, which it hopes will grow into a self-sufficient colony. A successful colonization, meaning an established human presence on Mars growing over many decades, would ultimately involve many more economic actors than SpaceX. Musk has made many tentative predictions about the date Starship's first Mars landing, including 2029.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Musk plans for the first crewed Mars missions to have approximately 12 people, with the goals of "build[ing] out and troubleshoot[ing] the propellant plant and Mars Base Alpha power system" and establishing a "rudimentary base." He has claimed that, in the event of an emergency during travel, the spaceship would be able to safely return to Earth. The company plans to process resources on Mars into fuel for return journeys, and use similar technologies on Earth to create carbon-neutral propellant.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: The program aims to send a million people to Mars, using a thousand Starships sent during a Mars launch window. Proposed journeys would require 80 to 150 days of transit time, with averaging approximately 115 days (for the nine synodic periods occurring between 2020 and 2037).


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: In November 2005, before SpaceX launched the Falcon 1, its first rocket, CEO Elon Musk first referenced a long-term and high-capacity rocket concept named BFR. The BFR would be able to launch to low Earth orbit and equipped with Merlin 2 engines. The Merlin 2 is in direct lineage to the Merlin engines used in the Falcon 9 and comparable to the F-1 engines used in the Saturn V.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: In July 2010, after the final launch of Falcon 1 a year prior, SpaceX presented launch vehicle and Mars space tug concepts at a conference. The launch vehicle concepts were called Falcon X, Falcon X Heavy, and Falcon XX; the largest of all is the Falcon XX with a capacity to low Earth orbit. To deliver such payload, the rocket was going to be as tall as the Saturn V and use six powerful Merlin 2 engines. Around 2012, the company first mentioned the Mars Colonial Transporter rocket concept in public. It was going to be able to carry 100 people or of cargo to Mars and powered by methane-fueled Raptor engines.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: On 26 September 2016, a day before the 67th International Astronautical Congress, the Raptor engine fired for the first time. At the event, Musk announced SpaceX was developing a new rocket using Raptor engines called the Interplanetary Transport System. It would have two stages, a reusable booster and spacecraft. The stages' tanks were to be made from carbon composite, storing liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Despite the rocket's launch capacity to low Earth orbit, it was expected to have a low launch price. The spacecraft featured three variants: crew, cargo, and tanker; the tanker variant is used to transfer propellant to spacecraft in orbit. The concept, especially the technological feats required to make such a system possible and the funds needed, garnered a large amount of skepticism.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: In September 2017, at the 68th Annual International Astronautical Congress, Musk announced the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket), a revision to the Interplanetary Transport System's design. The rocket was still going to be reusable, but its launch capacity to low Earth orbit was reduced to , and its body was smaller. Unlike its conceptual predecessor, the potential applications for the BFR were more varied. Variants of the BFR would be able to send satellites to orbit, resupply the International Space Station, land on the Moon, travel between spaceports on Earth, and ferry crew to Mars. In April 2018, the Mayor of Los Angeles confirmed plan for a BFR rocket production facility at the Port of Los Angeles, but it was cancelled around May 2020.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: A year later in September 2018, Musk updated about the spacecraft's new two forward flaps at the top and three larger aft flaps at the bottom. Both set of flaps help control the spacecraft's descent, and the aft flaps are used as landing legs for the final touchdown. Two months later in November 2018, the rocket booster was first termed Super Heavy and the spacecraft was termed Starship.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Starship's development is iterative and incremental, marked by tests on rocket prototypes. The first prototype to fly using a Raptor engine was called Starhopper. The vehicle had three non-retractable legs and was shorter than the final spacecraft design. The craft performed two tethered hops in early April 2019 and three months later, it hopped without a tether to around . In August 2019, the vehicle hopped to and traveled to a landing pad nearby.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: Mk1 was destroyed November 2019 during a pressure stress test and Mk2 did not fly because the Florida facility was deconstructed throughout 2020. SpaceX began naming its new Starship upper-stage prototypes with the prefix "SN", short for "serial number". No prototypes between SN1 and SN4 flew; SN1 and SN3 collapsed during pressure stress tests and SN4 exploded after its fifth engine firing. Starship SN5 was built with no flaps or nose cone, giving it a cylindrical shape. The test vehicle consisted of one Raptor engine, propellant tanks, and a mass simulator. On 5 August 2020, SN5 performed a -high flight, successfully landing on a nearby pad. On 3 September 2020, the similar-looking Starship SN6 successfully repeated the hop.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: SN8 was the first complete Starship prototype and underwent four static fire tests between October and November 2020. On 9 December 2020, SN8 flew, slowly turning off its three engines one by one, and reaching to an altitude of . The craft then performed the belly-flop maneuver and dove back through the atmosphere. As it tried to land, an issue with fuel tank pressure caused the prototype to lose thrust and impact the pad. On 2 February 2021, Starship SN9 launched to and crashed on landing, similar to SN8.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: A month later, on 3 March 2021, Starship SN10 launched on the same flight path and landed hard, crushing its landing legs and exploded, probably due to a propellant tank rupture. Starship SN11, on 30 March 2021, flew into thick fog along the same flight path. During descent, the vehicle exploded, scattering debris up to away. Starship prototypes SN12, SN13, and SN14 were scrapped before completion, and Starship SN15 was selected to fly instead. The prototype features general improvement on its avionics, structure, and engines, incorporating prior prototype's failures. On 5 May 2021, SN15 launched, completed the same maneuvers as older prototypes, and landed softly after six minutes.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: In July 2021, Super Heavy BN3 conducted its first full-duration static firing, lighting three engines. A month later, using cranes, Starship SN20 was stacked atop Super Heavy BN4 for the first time. SN20 was the first to include a body-tall heat shield, made of hexagonal heat tiles. In October 2021, the catching mechanical arms were installed onto the integration tower, and the first tank farm's construction was completed.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: SpaceX aims to perform the first Starship orbital test flight in 2022. During the test flight, the rocket is planned to launch from Starbase, after which the Super Heavy booster will separate and perform a soft water landing around from the Texas shoreline. The spacecraft will continue flying with its ground track passing through the Straits of Florida and then softly land in the Pacific Ocean around northwest of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. The spaceflight will last ninety minutes.


title: SpaceX Mars program

text: SpaceX has not detailed plans for the spacecraft's life-support systems, radiation protection, and in situ resource utilization, technologies which are essential for space colonization.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Allen Bernard Robinson II (born August 24, 1993) is an American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and played for the Jaguars for four seasons before signing with the Chicago Bears in 2018. He played college football at Penn State.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended St. Mary's Preparatory, where he played on the football team. In his senior season, he led the Eaglets to the Division 3 State Championship, where they lost 35–27 to East Grand Rapids High School. He was a teammate of former Penn State quarterback Rob Bolden. In addition to football, Robinson was a competitor for the St. Mary's Preparatory track and field team. Robinson committed to Penn State on November 29, 2010, after being recruited by Penn State assistant coach Ron Vanderlinden. He had also received offers from Minnesota, Buffalo, and Toledo.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson appeared in 12 games and caught three passes for 29 yards during his freshman year in 2011 under head coach Joe Paterno. On September 10, 2011, he had one reception for 12 receiving yards, the first of his collegiate career, in a 27–11 loss to #3 Alabama. He made his first career start on the road against #15 Wisconsin in a vital game that would help determine the Big Ten Leaders Division champion.


title: Allen Robinson

text: After losing Justin Brown, who transferred to Oklahoma, Devon Smith, who transferred to Marshall, and Curtis Drake, who was dismissed after a violation of team rules, Robinson was quickly thrust into the spotlight as the team's number one returning wide receiver in 2012 under new head coach Bill O'Brien.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson quickly struck an accord with new coach Bill O'Brien and quarterback Matt McGloin in the Nittany Lions' 9–4 season. He caught nine passes for 97 receiving yards in the team's first game of the year, a 24–14 loss to Ohio on September 1. In the following week, on September 8, he had 10 receptions for 89 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown, the first of his collegiate career, on a 30-yard reception in the 17–16 loss to Virginia. In the first game since Shawney Kersey was dismissed from the team, Robinson responded by catching five passes for 136 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in a 34–7 victory over Navy. After the game, Penn State assistant head coach and wide receivers coach Stan Hixon remarked, "Obviously he's made a big improvement from the spring, and from the spring we saw that he has potential to be a really good receiver. Each and every day, he's getting better and better at running routes, coming out of routes, and also, a much better job catching the ball in his hands. He has done a good job getting separation in certain routes, like we ask him to do, and he's been a really good student of the game." On September 22, he had five receptions for 82 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in a 24–13 victory over Temple. On October 6, he had nine receptions for 85 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 39–28 victory over #24 Northwestern. On October 20, he had six receptions for 39 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in a 38–14 victory over Iowa. Robinson set a single season record for most receptions in a season on November 17 as part of an effort in which he finished with 10 receptions, 197 receiving yards, and three receiving touchdowns in a 45–22 victory over Indiana. His 197 receiving yards were the most in a game by a Penn State receiver since Deon Butler had 216 in 2006. He surpassed Bobby Engram and O. J. McDuffie, who had each recorded 63 receptions in a season.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In his sophomore season, Robinson totaled 77 receptions for 1,018 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns, which all led the Big Ten Conference in 2012. His 77 receptions were the most by a sophomore in school history. He won the Richter–Howard Receiver of the Year award for the 2012 season.


title: Allen Robinson

text: As a junior, Robinson served as a productive anchor for the Nittany Lion offense in their 7–6 season. In Penn State's season opener against Syracuse, Robinson recorded 11 receptions for 133 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown from freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the 23–17 victory at MetLife Stadium. For the second consecutive game, Robinson caught seven passes and scored a receiving touchdown, this time in a 45–7 victory over Eastern Michigan. The next week, the Nittany Lions suffered their first setback of the season, while Robinson made nine receptions for 144 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 34–31 loss to Central Florida.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In the fifth game of the regular season at Indiana, Robinson recorded a season-high 12 receptions for 173 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 44–24 loss. On October 26, 2013, Robinson tied his season-highs after catching 12 passes for 173 receiving yards and scored a receiving touchdown in a 63–14 loss to #4 Ohio State. On November 23, he had eight receptions for 106 receiving yards in a 23–20 loss to Nebraska. In his last career collegiate game, he finished with a total of eight receptions for 122 receiving yards in a 31–24 victory over #14 Wisconsin. He finished his junior season with a total of 97 receptions for 1,432 receiving yards and six touchdown receptions, while starting all 12 regular season games. His reception and receiving yard totals led the Big Ten Conference in 2013. Robinson finished his collegiate career with the second-most receptions, third-most receiving yards, and fifth-most receiving touchdowns in school history.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson became was the first wide receiver to lead the Big Ten in receptions and yardage since 1985. He won the Richter–Howard Receiver of the Year award for the second consecutive season. Robinson was named an All-American by "The Sporting News" and Phil Steele named Robinson to his second-team All-America squad. On January 2, 2014, he announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2014 NFL Draft.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Coming out of Penn State, Robinson was projected by the majority of analysts and scouts to be a first-to-third round draft selection. NFLDraftScout.com ranked him as the sixth best wide receiver and the 34th overall prospect, while "Sports Illustrated" ranked him seventh among wide receivers. He was invited to the 2014 NFL Combine and completed the majority of workouts, but elected not to perform the bench press. Robinson participated at Penn State's Pro Day and decided to perform all the drills except the bench and shuttle and was able to improve on all of his combine numbers.


title: Allen Robinson

text: The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Robinson in the second round with the 61st overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was the 11th wide receiver selected and the second receiver drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014, behind Marqise Lee who was selected in the second round at 39th overall. In addition, Robinson was one of three Penn State Nittany Lions to be selected that year. On June 21, 2014, the Jaguars signed Robinson to a four-year, $3.51 million contract that included $1.17 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $877,718.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson opened the regular season as the fourth wide receiver behind Marqise Lee, Cecil Shorts, and fellow rookie Allen Hurns. In the Jaguars' season opener on September 7, he caught his first career pass from Chad Henne for no gain in a 34–17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. On September 14, he had four receptions for 75 receiving yards in the 41–10 loss to the Washington Redskins. On September 21, he earned his first career start and caught seven passes for 79 receiving yards in a 44–17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3. On October 12, he caught a season-high eight passes for 68 receiving yards in a 14–16 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The following week, Robinson caught his first touchdown from fellow rookie Blake Bortles during a 24–6 victory over the Cleveland Browns to help the Jacksonville Jaguars end a nine-game losing streak. On October 26, he had five receptions for 82 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 27–13 loss to the Miami Dolphins. On November 9, he had five receptions for 60 receiving yards in a 31–17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The game against the Cowboys was Robinson's last game in the 2014 season where he recorded any meaningful statistics due to a stress fracture in his right foot.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson finished his rookie season with 48 receptions for 548 receiving yards and two touchdowns while starting eight games and playing in ten.


title: Allen Robinson

text: The following season, Robinson was named one of the regular season starters, along with fellow second-year player Allen Hurns.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In the season opener, he caught one pass for 27 receiving yards in a 9–20 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The next game, Robinson caught six passes for a season-high 155 receiving yards and scored two receiving touchdowns during a 23–20 victory over the Miami Dolphins On October 11, he had seven receptions for 72 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 38–31 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the next game on October 18, he had six receptions for 86 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 31–20 loss to the Houston Texans. The next week, he had six receptions for 98 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in a 34–31 victory over the Buffalo Bills. On November 8, he had six receptions for 121 receiving yards in the 28–23 victory over the New York Jets. On November 19, he had five receptions for 113 receiving yards in a 19–13 victory over the Tennessee Titans. On December 20, Robinson caught a season-high 10 receptions for 153 receiving yards and a season-high three receiving touchdowns during a 39–42 loss to the Tennessee Titans. On December 27, he had six receptions for 151 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 38–27 loss to the New Orleans Saints. His receiving touchdown in the game was a 90-yard reception, which was the longest in the NFL for the 2015 season and the longest play from scrimmage in franchise history. In the regular season finale on January 3, 2016, he had five receptions for 108 receiving yards in a 30–6 loss to the Houston Texans as the Jaguars finished with a 5–11 record.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson finished his second season with 80 receptions for 1,400 receiving yards and 14 touchdown receptions. He led the Jaguars in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns during the 2015 season and was the first Jaguars' receiver since Jimmy Smith in 2005 to have over 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. Robinson recorded the second-most receiving yards in a season in franchise history at the time. He, along with Doug Baldwin and Brandon Marshall, tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns with 14. He was the first player in franchise history to be a league leader in receiving touchdowns in a single season.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson was named as a first alternate to the 2016 Pro Bowl and replaced Calvin Johnson, who was unable to participate due to injury. He was ranked 31st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.


title: Allen Robinson

text: After Robinson and Hurns both had breakout seasons in 2015 with over 60 receptions, 1,000 receiving yards, and 10 touchdown receptions each, they were nicknamed "Thunder and Lightning" and "The Allen Brothers".


title: Allen Robinson

text: In the Jaguars' season-opener against the Green Bay Packers, Robinson caught six passes for 72 receiving yards in a 23–27 loss. On September 25, he made seven receptions for 57 receiving yards, and caught his first two touchdowns of the season during a 17–19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. During a Week 10 matchup against AFC South rival Houston, Robinson had a nine receptions, 107 receiving yards, and a receiving touchdown during the 21–24 loss. The victory over the Texans was Robinson's first game of the season eclipsing 100 receiving yards. On Christmas Eve, he bounced back and caught nine passes for a season-high 147 receiving yards in a 38–17 victory over their division rival Tennessee Titans.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson finished the 2016 season with 73 receptions for 883 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.


title: Allen Robinson

text: During Week 1 against the Houston Texans, Robinson had one reception for 17 yards but had to leave the game early in the first quarter with an apparent knee injury. Hours later, it was confirmed that his left knee was diagnosed with a torn ACL, which prematurely ended his 2017 season. He was placed on injured reserve on September 12, 2017.


title: Allen Robinson

text: On March 14, 2018, Robinson signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chicago Bears. He was part of a position group that contained Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller, and Josh Bellamy. He made his Bears debut in the season opener against the Green Bay Packers on "NBC Sunday Night Football", recording a team-high 61 yards. The next week, he brought in a season-high 10 receptions for 83 yards in a 24–17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on "Monday Night Football". On September 30, he scored his first receiving touchdown with the Bears on a 14-yard reception from Mitchell Trubisky in a 48–10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The next week, he scored again against the Miami Dolphins on a 12-yard catch as part of a 64-yard performance on five receptions in the 31–28 overtime loss.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In Week 10, a 34–22 victory over the Detroit Lions, Robinson had six catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson finished the 2018 season with 55 catches for 754 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. He received an overall grade of 77.7 from Pro Football Focus in 2018, which ranked as the 28th highest grade among all qualifying wide receivers. In his postseason debut, a 16–15 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in the , Robinson set two postseason franchise records: 10 receptions, which tied with Matt Forte, and 143 receiving yards.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, Robinson caught seven passes for 102 receiving yards as the Bears lost 10–3. In Week 2 against the Denver Broncos, Robinson caught four passes for 41 receiving yards as the Bears won 16–14. With seconds left on the game clock, Robinson caught a 25-yard pass from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky that set up a 53-yard game winning field goal by Eddy Piñeiro. In Week 5 against the Oakland Raiders, Robinson caught seven passes for 97 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 24–21 loss. In Week 12 against the New York Giants, Robinson caught six passes for 131 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 19–14 win. In Week 13 against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day, Robinson caught eight passes for 86 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 24–20 win. In the following week's game against the Dallas Cowboys on "Thursday Night Football", Robinson caught five passes for 48 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 31–24 win. In Week 15 against the Packers, Robinson caught seven passes for 125 receiving yards in the 21–13 loss. During the game, Robinson reached 1,000 receiving yards on the season for the first time since 2015. He became the first Bears receiver to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a single season since Alshon Jeffery in 2014. Robinson finished the 2019 season with a career high in receptions with 98 for 1,147 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns.


title: Allen Robinson

text: During Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons, Robinson finished with 123 receiving yards and a touchdown as the Bears won 30–26. In the following week's game against the Indianapolis Colts, Robinson recorded seven catches for 101 yards and another touchdown during the 19–11 loss. In Week 12 against the Green Bay Packers on "Sunday Night Football", he had eight receptions for 74 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns during the 41–25 loss.


title: Allen Robinson

text: In Week 13 against the Detroit Lions, Robinson caught a pass on third down-and-5 with 22 seconds left in the game and stepped out of bounds after four yards instead of going for the first down. The Bears were unable to convert on the ensuing fourth-and-1 attempt and turned the ball over on downs, losing the game by a score of 34–30. In Week 14 against the Houston Texans, he had nine receptions for 123 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 36–7 victory; the performance enabled him to pass 1,000 receiving yards for the second straight season. The following week's game saw Robinson play against his former team in the Jacksonville Jaguars, during which he recorded 103 receiving yards and surpassed 100 season receptions for the first time in his career as the Bears won 41–17. Overall, Robinson finished the 2020 season with 102 receptions for 1,250 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns. Robinson's 102 receptions tied him with Matt Forte for the second-most in franchise history for a single season.


title: Allen Robinson

text: On March 9, 2021, the Bears placed the franchise tag on Robinson. He signed the one-year tender on March 24. Overall, Robinson finished the 2021 season with 38 receptions for 410 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in 12 games played.


title: Allen Robinson

text: On March 17, 2022, Robinson signed a three year, $46.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams. He was placed on injured reserve on November 29, 2022.


title: Allen Robinson

text: Robinson was raised by Tracie and Allen Robinson Sr. and has a sister, Ashley. He was a telecommunications major at Penn State. He has an interest in sportscasting and coaching. While in Jacksonville, Robinson started the Within Reach Foundation, which supports education programs for children.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is a British singer, presenter, musician, model and businesswoman. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass has been a television and radio presenter. She has hosted television series including "Popstar to Operastar" (2010–2011) and "BBQ Champ" (2015) on ITV and "The One Show" (2007) on BBC One. She was briefly a regular panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show "Loose Women" in 2014.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to an Austrian father and a Filipino mother. She attended Notre Dame High School, Norwich, but transferred to the closer Cliff Park Ormiston Academy in the Gorleston-on-Sea area of Great Yarmouth, to complete her secondary education. While at school, she spent her Saturdays studying singing at the Junior Department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She spent two years studying for her A-levels at East Coast College (Great Yarmouth Campus) and then took a musical theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music, University of London. She is also studying AstroPhysics at the Open University.


title: Myleene Klass

text: After graduating, Klass spent a short period as part of a reality show for Bravo, called "The Dolls' House". She sang backing vocals for Sir Cliff Richard, with whom she had previously worked at age 10 when she sang in a choir featured in his 1988 single "Mistletoe and Wine", which was that year's Christmas number one on the UK Singles Chart, and made her West End theatre debut in "Miss Saigon". Her brother, Don Klass, is an actor.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Early television work came in 1998, when Klass sang soprano for the music of the Channel 4 film "Alice through the Looking Glass".


title: Myleene Klass

text: In 2001, Klass auditioned for the ITV reality show "Popstars", which offered contestants an opportunity to become part of a newly formed pop band. Klass was chosen as one of the ten finalists and became a member of Hear'Say, with Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, Danny Foster and Noel Sullivan. Following the success of their first album, the band was given its own TV show entitled "Hear'Say It's Saturday". During the show's run, the band had a chance to perform with such established artists as Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, Bradley Walsh, Blue and Atomic Kitten. At the end of 2001, Hear'Say appeared on the Royal Variety Performance.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Subsequently, the group achieved a 37-date sold-out arena tour and performed numerous television guest appearances. Klass made many appearances with Hear'Say on TV and in live performances during 2002. The pop act's many promotional appearances during the year were also broadcast as part of their own TV shows, entitled "Hear'Say: A New Chapter in Full" and "The Hear'Say Story". In total, Hear'Say had four Top 10 singles including two number-ones in the British charts, before splitting up after a reported long-term feud between Klass and Marsh. The feud resulted in Marsh leaving the band in December 2001, to be replaced by Johnny Shentall in 2002. The band split up in October of that year.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 13 May 2003, Klass signed a five-album deal with "Classics and Jazz". Promotion started with the release of the main promotional single "Toccata and Fugue" to TV channels. She also appeared in the video for "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" with The Girls of FHM, which went to No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass's album, "Moving On", was launched on 20 October 2003 at Harrods, London. The album included reworked versions of popular classical pieces such as Fauré's "Pavane", Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and Satie's "Gymnopedie No.2". "Moving On" also included music from the Oscar-winning films "Gladiator" and "The Piano". New arrangements for piano of more contemporary works were also included on the album, namely Linkin Park's "Crawling" and Daniel Bedingfield's "If You're Not the One". In its first week of release. "Moving On" peaked at No. 2 in the UK Classical Chart, behind Hayley Westenra. It peaked at No. 32 in the UK Albums Chart. By mid-December 2003, the album had been certified gold. In April 2004, "Moving On" was nominated as "Album of the Year" in the Classical BRIT Awards. The award went to Bryn Terfel's platinum-selling record "Bryn".


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass confirmed there would be a re-release of the album with five new tracks, but its release was pushed back because of conflicts between Klass's new management company (Mel Bush Organisation) and her previous (Safe Management) regarding royalties. Ultimately, the release was cancelled, the only remnant being the Asian release of "Moving On", which includes three new tracks: "Trouble" (a Coldplay cover version with Klass's vocals), "Sahara" and "Le Onde". Klass then said that she would be working on a new album which would include a number of tracks with her vocals. However, on 23 October 2004, it was announced that Klass would not be releasing any further material through her label UCJ, Universal Classics and Jazz.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 28 March 2007, Klass signed a record contract with EMI Classics as both a recording artist and an ambassador for the EMI Classics UK roster of artists. These include Alfie Boe, Natasha Marsh and Natalie Clein. The deal included the release of a series of albums on which Klass performed two exclusive tracks and chose a number of her favourite classical pieces from the EMI Classics back catalogue. The first album, "Myleene's Music for Romance", was released on 2 July 2007 and went straight to number 1 in the classical chart. A music video to accompany the lead track, "Cinema Paradiso", was shot at the Bucharest Opera House in Romania in April.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass's second album in the EMI series, "Myleene's Music for Mothers", was released on 18 February 2008, and has two tracks played by Klass. These two tracks are the popular "America" from "West Side Story", written by Leonard Bernstein, and Ennio Morricone's "Chi Mai", known best as the theme to the 1981 BBC TV drama serial "The Life and Times of Lloyd George". In March 2013, she helped to celebrate Andrew Lloyd Webber's 40-year work with her rendition of "Shakalaka- Baby" from the musical "Bombay Dreams".


title: Myleene Klass

text: In August 2005, Klass was signed as a presenter for the ITV music show "" with Lauren Laverne and Johny P, with her first appearance shown on 17 September 2005. In 2005, Klass appeared as a guest panellist on the topical discussion show "The Wright Stuff" which she did on a number of occasions. At Christmas 2005, Klass appeared on a celebrity version of the BBC's quiz show "Mastermind".


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 6 August 2006, Klass was a guest reporter on BBC One's Sunday morning religion and ethics show, "Heaven & Earth, with Gloria Hunniford". Klass's report, billed as the feature of the week, was on the Pope's astronomer. From 10 October 2006, Klass co-presented Living's "Ghost Towns" with the medium and ex-"Most Haunted" star Derek Acorah. In May 2007, Klass appeared on Sky HD's Test Card.


title: Myleene Klass

text: From July to August 2007, Klass co-presented the daily BBC One programme "The One Show" with Adrian Chiles, before leaving to concentrate on looking after her baby. On 31 December 2007, Klass presented the BBC One programme, "New Year Live", for the countdown to the year 2008 at midnight.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass was announced as the new presenter of the Channel 4 series "10 Years Younger", on November 5, 2008, and first hosted on February 5 of the following year. The programme was broadcast every Thursday evening, from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm. Klass replaced Nicky Hambleton-Jones as presenter. She also co-hosted the American version of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!" in 2009 on NBC.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass took part in the sixth series of ITV's reality television series "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", which began on 13 November 2006 and ended on 1 December 2006. She finished in second place, behind Matt Willis. Klass's brother Don, noticing his sister's popularity with the male audience, suggested she auction off her bikinis from the show on eBay. Within a week of leaving the jungle, Klass took his advice and put her white bikini from the show on auction on eBay until 7 December 2006. Klass pledged that all the money raised from the auction would go to charity to help victims of the Farepak savings scandal. The auction raised £7,500.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass's newly found sex symbol status was cemented further after "Playboy" offered her a six-figure deal to pose nude for the magazine. The offer was sent to Klass's agent while she was still on the show, with many offers from other magazines, chat shows and TV work. The demand for Klass increased so much that it is estimated she received enough offers of several million pounds.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Returning to the UK, Klass did several TV and press interviews about her time on the show. Commenting on her famous showers, she said she never expected it to be such a focus of attention and that the reason for her frequent cold showers was to help cope with her sexual frustration, saying, "Forget snakes and spiders – going without sex was the hardest thing." She revealed that so great was her frustration and sexual urges after nearly three weeks without sex, that on her release from the jungle, she spent the first hours having unprotected sex with her boyfriend which resulted in her pregnancy with her first child. She also tried to end the widespread debate about whether or not her breasts are real, saying, "They're absolutely real and natural, I can assure you." About her new offers, she said she had been approached by several companies about doing bikini ranges with them.


title: Myleene Klass

text: After only one week on "I'm a Celebrity...", Klass became the most searched for celebrity from the show on the Internet search engine MSN/Live Search and the third most searched for celebrity in the UK.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 20 September 2020, it was announced that Klass would be a contestant on the thirteenth series of "Dancing on Ice". She was paired with Łukasz Różycki. She became the first celebrity to be eliminated following a skate-off against Lady Leshurr and Brendyn Hatfield.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In November 2014, Klass caused controversy by engaging in a heated debate with then-leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, on the ITV show "The Agenda". Discussing his proposals for a so-called mansion tax on larger homes, Klass expressed the view that this would hit "little grannies". In the course of discussion, she pointed to a glass of water, saying, "You can't just point at things and tax them." The row later featured in an attack on Miliband by the prime minister, David Cameron, at Prime Minister's Questions.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In February 2006, Klass began presenting the "Sunday Breakfast" programme on Classic FM, taking over from Aled Jones (who returned to this slot in 2016). She worked for several years on the station's early morning show on Saturdays and Sundays and since 2006 presents the Saturday and Sunday evening "Smooth Classics" programme (10pm1am). While working on the weekend morning show for Classic FM, she was also heard on London's Capital Radio on Sunday evenings from 8 to 10 pm. This show was also broadcast on GCap Media's One Network local commercial radio stations around the UK.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 27 May 2008, Klass presented the BBC Radio 2 show "Friday Night is Music Night" in front of a live audience at the Watford Colosseum in Watford, Hertfordshire. The recording of this show was broadcast on 18 July 2008. Klass presented various shows on TalkRADIO, filling in for James Whale and Jon Gaunt.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass began presenting a Saturday drive-time show on Smooth Radio in 2014. Klass presented the weekday 10 am – 1 pm show covering for Kate Garraway while she was looking after her husband who had Coronavirus. Garraway returned to the mid-morning show on 14 September and Klass returned to her usual Saturday drive-time show.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In November 2004, Klass posed for "Loaded" magazine. After she appeared in a shot for "Maxim" magazine in February 2006, it was revealed in April 2006 that Klass charted at number 78 in the FHM "100 Sexiest Women of 2006", after not being included the previous year. She had previously appeared at number 84 in 2002, number 33 in 2003 and 43 in 2004. Klass was chosen as the new face of Ortak Jewellery. In January 2007, it was announced that Klass had signed a multimillion-pound deal with Marks & Spencer to model clothes and swimwear for the new season. As the new face and body of Marks & Spencer's Spring and Summer Collection, Klass appeared in both print and television advertising, including one modelled on Ursula Andress's first appearance in "Dr. No". From 2012, Klass modelled for the catalogue store Littlewoods.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In early 2006, Klass was cast as one of the three women starring in the long-running play "The Vagina Monologues" and performed in Bromley, Richmond and Brighton. Her run was then extended to include all dates in Nottingham. Olympic champions joined Klass on 13 December 2006 to launch "Lucky Dog", a new London 2012 National Lottery scratchcard. In 2008, Klass began designing a range of baby clothes for Mothercare called Baby K. Klass also writes a regular blog for the pregnancy and parenting website "Gurgle", which is owned by Mothercare]. Klass is the official godmother of the cruise ship "Carnival Splendor". Klass is an EDF Energy / Team Green Britain Ambassador and took part in the launch of the EDF London Eye on 27 January 2011. In 2011, Klass began working with the children's shoe brand Start-rite, helping the company to design and promote a range of fitted footwear.


title: Myleene Klass

text: Klass has been an amateur astronomer for most of her life, having been taught the basics by her father. She was one of a handful of celebrities, engineers and scientists who were at the UK National Space Centre control centre for the touchdown of the UK Mars probe Beagle 2 in the early morning of Christmas Day 2003. Since then, she has been a keen supporter of the UK's work in the European space programme. In March 2006, Klass publicly criticised the proposed closure of the London Planetarium and explained on television how to view Venus in the early morning. She also appeared on Channel 4's "Richard & Judy" to discuss the book "Moondust", which follows the lives of the first men on the moon, and in 2007 attended the televised party on BBC One, held at the home of Patrick Moore in Selsey to mark the 50th anniversary of Moore's monthly programme, "The Sky at Night". Klass once studied astronomy with the Open University.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In December 2005, Klass was attacked by a group of teenagers in a newsagent in Bermondsey. She had a bag of chips dropped on her head and was pushed to the ground. The teenagers attempted to take photos of Klass on their mobile phones.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In May 2006, Klass was involved in a go-karting crash at a charity race in Cardiff, South Wales, sustaining an injury to her leg.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 1 April 2007, she announced she was expecting her first child on 7 September. As a result, she delayed her wedding to Graham Quinn until 2008. Their daughter Ava was born on 16 August 2007. Klass's spokesman said, "Myleene presented "The One Show" and felt a bit weird on the way home. She went to the hospital to get checked out and they told her she was in labour." Klass published a book about her experiences of being pregnant, entitled "My Bump and Me: From Morning Sickness to Motherhood – An Honest Diary of My Pregnancy". She gave birth to a second daughter on 25 March 2011, called Hero.


title: Myleene Klass

text: In January 2010, Klass claimed she received a warning from Hertfordshire Police for brandishing a kitchen knife (through a window) at a group of teenagers who entered her garden while she and her daughter were alone in the house. She said that she was "utterly terrified" and "aghast" at the response by the police. Hertfordshire Police denied making any such warning and stated that the law allows householders the proportionate use of force to protect themselves. It has subsequently been reported that it was Klass's agent or publicist who notified the police of the incident and who then passed on the story to "The Sun".


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 21 October 2011, Klass and Quinn married, with 16 people in attendance. On 23 April 2013, she was granted a divorce from Quinn.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 1 August 2019, she gave birth to her third child, a boy named Apollo. This was Klass's first child with her partner Simon Motson, who also has two children from a previous relationship. On 13 September 2020, Klass announced that she had become engaged to Motson.


title: Myleene Klass

text: As part of World Vision's 24-hour famine appeal, Klass visited Sierra Leone to see how World Vision was working to help villagers build up their lives. She has also been the face of various charity campaigns such as stop text bully and ChildLine, and helped aid the Niger famine appeal by manning the telephone lines.


title: Myleene Klass

text: At the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist, Norwich on 24 June 2005, Klass performed a selection of tracks from her "Moving On" album, as well as accompanying some local schoolchildren in a concert of classical standards. The cathedral summer concert was organised to raise funds for an extension of the church building. Part of this performance was recorded by MTV, which was following Klass at the time for a show called "The Price of Fame". The programme was later broadcast by VH1 and also by ITV, where it was only shown in the London region. The recording by the music channel was acknowledged by Klass during the evening.


title: Myleene Klass

text: On 15 July 2006, as part of BBC One's "Sport Relief" charity spectacular, Klass appeared as a special guest in the "Question of Sport Relief" segment. Klass's appearance involved her playing a variety of TV sport theme tunes on a grand piano. This part of the fundraiser was based on the BBC's popular "A Question of Sport" quiz show and was hosted by Sue Barker. Guest panellists on the show included Nancy Dell'Olio and Zara Phillips, who played alongside the regular team captains Ally McCoist and Matt Dawson.


title: Myleene Klass

text: During December 2006, Klass also appeared on "The Big Finish with Graham Norton", in which she competed alongside Bill Oddie and "Big Brother" star Nikki Grahame for the "Showbiz" team (against "Soap", "Sport", "News" and "Judges" teams) to compete to win £10,000 for the winning team's chosen charities. The Showbiz team, represented by Graham in the final round, was beaten by the Soap team represented by the former "EastEnders" actress Wendy Richard. In November 2007, Klass guest-presented BBC Children in Need and performed "Your Song" with John Barrowman. She also collaborates with Norwood, a Jewish charity for children.


title: Ella Hunt

text: Ella Hunt (born 29 April 1998) is an English actress and singer. She was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA for her performance in the film "Anna and the Apocalypse" (2017). On television, she is known for her roles as Ellie Marsden in the ITV comedy-drama "Cold Feet" (2016–2017) and Sue Gilbert in the Apple TV+ series "Dickinson" (2019–2021).


title: Ella Hunt

text: Born in London to sculptor and actress Louise Hunt and art dealer David Grob, Hunt grew up on a farm in Parracombe, North Devon near Barnstaple. She is of Swiss descent on one side. She has an older brother William, a younger brother Arthur, as well as three older half-siblings from her father's first marriage.


title: Ella Hunt

text: Hunt attended Millfield Preparatory School in Somerset and then Blundell's School in Tiverton. She was discovered by an agent when she was in a school production at Millfield at the age of 11.


title: Ella Hunt

text: Beginning as a child actress, Hunt appeared in the 2011 film "Intruders", the 2012 film "Les Misérables", and the 2014 independent film "Robot Overlords". She made her television debut at 18 in 2016 as Ellie Marsden alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones as her twin Olivia in the ITV series "Cold Feet".


title: Ella Hunt

text: Hunt starred as Anna Shepherd in the 2018 film "Anna and the Apocalypse", which earned her a Scottish BAFTA nomination as well as an ensemble award at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. She also appeared in the 2019 film "Summer Night" and starred as Kat Malone in the 2020 film "Kat and the Band". In 2018, Hunt was cast as Sue Gilbert in the 2019 Apple TV+ period drama "Dickinson".


title: Ella Hunt

text: In April 2020, Hunt released her first single, "Magpie". In November 2021, Hunt released the single "Holding On," followed by the EP "Triptych" a month later.


title: Ella Hunt

text: Hunt made her professional theatre debut as Alice in the 2022 production of "Closer" at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith alongside Jack Farthing, Sam Troughton, and Nina Toussaint-White.


title: Ella Hunt

text: Hunt splits her time between Islington, London and Brooklyn Heights, New York. In March 2021, she came out as queer. She is now in a relationship with Thomas Bartlett.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soccer League (NASL) franchise of the same name.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The club played its home games at TCF Bank Stadium, on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, for its first two seasons in MLS play. The club began playing in Saint Paul (becoming the city's fourth professional sports team, joining the Minnesota Wild, the St. Paul Saints, and Minnesota Whitecaps), at Allianz Field in the Midway neighborhood starting in the spring of 2019.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Minnesota United FC's ownership is led by Bill McGuire, former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, and includes other Minnesota sports owners: the Pohlad family, owners of the Twins; former Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor; former Wild investor Glen Nelson, and his daughter Wendy Carlson Nelson of the Carlson hospitality company.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On March 25, 2015, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced Minnesota United as the league's 23rd club and awarded the franchise to a group led by McGuire. The ownership group includes other Minneapolis-St. Paul sports owners, Twins owner Jim Pohlad, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, and Wild investor Glen Nelson. They beat out a competing bid by Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf (both of whom would later become minority owners of MLS expansion franchise Nashville SC). Garber said Minnesota would begin play in 2017 or 2018 – if Los Angeles FC was not ready to play in 2017, Minnesota would take its place.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The Twin Cities were previously represented by the Minnesota Kicks in the top-level North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1976 to 1981, and later the Minnesota Strikers in 1984. The Kicks played their home games at Bloomington's Metropolitan Stadium, while the Strikers played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The Minnesota Legislature had passed a bill in May 2012 for a new NFL stadium projected to open by fall 2016 and gave a provision allowing for the Vikings to pursue an MLS franchise, including a five-year exclusive window to host MLS games in the new stadium. The Wilfs' bid also had the support of Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, and Minnesota Senator Tom Bakk called Major League Soccer to inform them that the state legislature would not be providing financing for a soccer-specific stadium. However, Commissioner Garber said that whenever possible, the league preferred a stadium that would be an "outdoor, soccer-specific stadium, 20,000 seats, playing on grass" as opposed to larger, covered venues with artificial turf like U.S. Bank Stadium, and McGuire had the support of Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat and at least three members of the Minneapolis City Council.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The team played their inaugural Major League Soccer match on March 3, 2017, a 5–1 away defeat to the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. The result represented the heaviest defeat by an expansion side making their debut. Previously no MLS expansion team had lost by more than two goals in their first game. Christian Ramirez scored the team's first MLS goal. The following weekend they played their home opener against fellow expansion team Atlanta United FC in a snowstorm with an MLS record-low kickoff temperature of . They lost the game 6–1, handing Minnesota more unwanted records including the record defeat of any expansion side and becoming the only team in MLS history to concede five or more in consecutive games. Following a 2–2 draw at the Colorado Rapids and a 5–2 loss at New England Revolution, United had conceded 18 goals in their first four games, which is an MLS record through the first six games of a season. The team got its first win in MLS with a 4–2 home victory over Real Salt Lake on April 1. As the season progressed, so had the team. In the mid-season, Minnesota had acquired Duluth native Ethan Finlay from Columbus Crew SC and made other signings to improve on the field. United finished its inaugural MLS season in ninth place in the Western Conference.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: MNUFC lost two key players - midfielders Kevin Molino and Ethan Finlay - to season-ending knee injuries early in the 2018 season. Shortly before Finlay's injury, the team signed its first Designated Player; Darwin Quintero joined Minnesota United from Liga MX's Club América. Despite joining the team after five matches had already been played, Quintero led the team for 2018 in both goals (11) and assists (15). On July 4, 2018, Quintero scored a hat trick in a home match versus Toronto FC, the first in Minnesota United's history. Colombian forward Ángelo Rodríguez joined the club as its second Designated Player later in the season. MNUFC averaged nearly 24,000 fans per match during its second year at TCF Bank Stadium, including a crowd of 52,242 at the final match in their temporary home. The team managed 10 wins at home, but struggled on the road with only one victory.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: MNUFC made substantial roster additions prior to the 2019 season, including its third Designated Player, midfielder Ján Greguš from F.C. Copenhagen; 2017 MLS Defender of the Year Ike Opara, traded from Sporting KC; longtime Seattle Sounders defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso; Ligue 2 defender Romain Métanire; and goalkeeper Vito Mannone, loaned from Reading F.C.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: After beginning the 2019 season with five matches on the road, MNUFC played their first match at the new Allianz Field on April 13, earning a 3–3 draw versus New York City FC. The team went on to post 10 wins, 6 draws and 2 losses at home. MNUFC's performance on the road was vastly improved in 2019, posting 5 wins and 2 draws including a 2-0 statement win at LAFC on September 1.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The club made a very successful run in the 2019 U.S. Open Cup. On August 27, the club traveled to Mercedes Benz Stadium to take on Atlanta United in the Cup final, Minnesota's first final appearance since joining MLS. The match resulted in a 2–1 Atlanta victory.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: MNUFC finished fourth in the Western Conference, after placing as high as second late in the regular season. As a result, the club was awarded a spot in the 2020 Leagues Cup. MNUFC played in its first MLS playoff match, hosting the LA Galaxy on October 20; the result was a 2–1 defeat.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Two players received league-wide honors at the conclusion of the season. Ike Opara was named 2019 MLS Defender of the Year, winning the award for the second time. Vito Mannone, who earned 11 cleansheets and conceded only 43 goals, was named 2019 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: After the 2019 season, Minnesota United traded Darwin Quintero to the Houston Dynamo for midfielder Marlon Hairston and $600,000 in allocation money. Upon the end of goalkeeper Vito Mannone's loan, Minnesota United brought in Tyler Miller (soccer) via trade with Los Angeles FC to take the starting job. Prior to the season, MNUFC added a number of players including striker Luis Amarilla via loan from Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The Loons got off to an excellent start for 2020 with two convincing road wins at the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes in March, before Major League Soccer suspended its season due to the COVID-19 epidemic, first for 30 days and then indefinitely as the severity of the epidemic became clearer.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The 2020 season restarted in July with the league's MLS is Back Tournament, held in Orlando, Florida and including 24 of the league's 26 teams. The month-long tournament included a group stage, counted as part of the regular season standings; and a knockout stage. The Loons finished second in Group D, with one win and two draws. In the knockout stage, MNUFC defeated the Columbus Crew 1–1 on penalty kicks and the San Jose Earthquakes 4–1, before losing to Orlando City SC in the tournament semifinal.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Following the tournament, the 2020 season resumed normal match play, with a planned schedule of 18 matches ending on November 8. The Loons continued to add players, with midfielder Emanuel Reynoso joining the club from Boca Juniors as a Designated Player, and veteran forward Kei Kamara joining via trade from the Colorado Rapids.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: MNUFC finished the regular season in fourth place in the MLS Western Conference. They hosted their second playoff match in franchise history, defeating the Colorado Rapids 3–0 at Allianz Field, then went on to defeat No. 1 seeded Sporting Kansas City 3–0 on the road. The Loons then traveled to Seattle for the Western Conference final match against the Sounders. Despite leading 2-0 at the 75th minute, Seattle scored three straight late goals, including the winner in stoppage time to end Minnesota's historic run.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Although they had been minutes from advancing to the MLS Cup final in 2020, the 2021 season got off to a disappointing start, with four straight losses. In mid May, the Loons began to quickly climb from the bottom of the table, losing only two of their next seventeen games. Key players returned from injury and the squad signed Argentinian Franco Fragapane and Frenchman Adrien Hunou. They ended the regular season in fifth place, earning an opening round playoff berth on the road against the Portland Timbers, but their season was ended with a 3-1 Portland victory.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: 2022 saw the breakout of goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair who anchored an impressive 8-save shutout against the New York Red Bulls in his week 3 debut. The Loons had a solid first half of the season going 8-6-3 in the first 17 games. In the 2022 U.S. Open Cup Minnesota fell to USL League One side Union Omaha 2-1 in a notable upset. Midfield DP Emanuel Reynoso joined St. Clair in the 2022 MLS All-Star Game which was hosted at Allianz Field.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The second half of the season saw Minnesota struggle to find their footing with a 6-game winless streak going into the final 2 games of the season. Minnesota finally won a make-or-break game against the Vancouver Whitecaps decision day to clinch the 6th seed in the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs, making them the only team in the western conference to qualify for the playoffs 4 years in a row. After finishing 120 minutes tied 1-1, MNUFC was knocked out of the playoffs in a (5)-(4) shootout against FC Dallas.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The badge features a stylized loon, which is the state bird of Minnesota, with eleven spread feathers, one for each of the players on the field. The team's colors are gray, sky blue, and black, with a red accent. The blue line across the logo represents the Mississippi River. The two sides of the blue represent the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The gray color represents the Iron Range of Minnesota. The upward pointing crest and the North Star were inspired by "L'Etoile du Nord" which is the state motto. Zeus Jones created the designs.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Minnesota United's mascot is PK, a loon. PK has been the club mascot since mid-2014. The two main supporter groups of Minnesota United FC are Dark Clouds and True North Elite, although the overarching organization "MNWonderwall" includes affiliated groups the Red Loons and Dark Glitterati as well. In early 2019, Wonderwall founded "THUNDERWALL", a coalition drumline permanently affixed in Allianz Field that provides percussion to support chants in the Wonderwall section during match days.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: McGuire stated a desire to build an 18,500-seat, outdoor soccer-specific stadium next to the Minneapolis Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis. At the time of the club's launch, the league did not give any timeline for the stadium plan, but said it was working on finalizing a plan by July 1, 2015, the deadline set by the league. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said he would oppose a publicly financed stadium, but said he would not oppose ancillary support for infrastructure reinforcements.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: In a plan released in April 2015, the ownership showed a projected cost for the stadium of $250 million: $100 million for MLS expansion fee, $30 million for land acquisition, and $120 million for construction. The ownership group met with Governor Dayton and other state political leaders to share the plan. The group asked the politicians for a sales tax exemption of up to $3 million on construction materials, as well as breaks or caps on city and county property taxes for the stadium site. The tax relief could potentially add up to around $50 million.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The day after the meeting, Mayor Hodges said she opposed the sales tax and property tax exemption because unlike other stadiums in Minneapolis that have received similar breaks, Minnesota United's stadium would be privately owned. The following week, the Minnesota Senate voted 61–4 to prevent any state funds or tax expenditures from being used for the stadium, although the vote was termed "largely symbolic" as McGuire had not asked for state funds and the bill would not prevent the team from seeking city or county funds. McGuire later said that he would be open to signing the property over to Minneapolis, Hennepin County, or another public entity if that would make property tax exemption possible.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Although the July 1 deadline passed without a stadium deal, and the plan for a Downtown Minneapolis stadium was the primary reason for choosing McGuire's group, league deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said Minnesota was still considered an expansion site, partly because of interest from the neighboring St. Paul. Later that month, St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman spoke to Abbott proposed building on a city-owned vacant lot that formerly housed the Metro Transit bus barn near Interstate 94.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On August 31, 2015, the team's deal for an exclusive right to purchase industrial land near the Farmer's Market expired with no public statement about any extension of the deal.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On September 8, 2015, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners passed a non-binding resolution to support the stadium's construction on the St. Paul bus barn site, provided the design and construction are paid for by private funds.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On October 23, 2015, it was announced that Minnesota United would build a stadium on the 35-acre St. Paul Bus Barn site. The proposed stadium will seat approximately 20,000 and will be privately financed.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On December 9, 2015, the team hired Mortenson Construction as part of the stadium construction along with Populous.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On February 24, 2016, the team revealed design plans for their 21,500-seat soccer-specific stadium, set to be built by 2018 and financed privately by the team.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: On August 19, 2016, it was announced that Minnesota United would play in the 2017 Major League Soccer season, with home matches at TCF Bank Stadium.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: The stadium had been home to the club for 2017–2018 while their soccer-specific stadium was in construction.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: All non-nationally broadcast Minnesota United games were broadcast locally on WFTC for the 2017 Major League Soccer season, then moved to Bally Sports North and Bally Sports Wisconsin in the 2018 season (which were then named at the time as Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin respectively). For the 2021 Major League Soccer season, WUCW became the over-the-air home of Minnesota United, airing 16 matches as simulcasts from Bally Sports North. KSTP serves as the team's radio partner.


title: Minnesota United FC

text: Minnesota United's commentary team features Callum Williams as the play-by-play commentator. Williams had previously worked for Sporting Kansas City when they were known as the Kansas City Wizards and during their rebrand as Sporting Kansas City. He has also worked in his native UK for notable broadcasters including the BBC and Sky Sports. Williams is joined in the commentary box by Kyndra de St. Aubin who provides color commentary. De St. Aubin, a Stillwater native, is the only female color commentator currently covering Major League Soccer. Prior to joining Minnesota United's broadcast team, she worked across the country covering many men's and women's soccer games at college and professional levels. She also covered the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup as part of the five broadcast teams that covered that tournament.


title: Master and Commander

text: Master and Commander is a nautical historical novel by the English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in the UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel Aubrey–Maturin series, set largely in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, on which O'Brian continued working until his death in 2000.


title: Master and Commander

text: The novel is set at the turn of the 19th century. It follows the young Jack Aubrey, a Royal Navy captain who has just been promoted to the rank of Master and Commander, and Stephen Maturin, a destitute physician and naturalist whom Aubrey appoints as his naval surgeon. They sail in HM sloop-of-war "Sophie" with first lieutenant James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. The naval action in the Mediterranean is closely based on the real-life exploits of Lord Cochrane, including a battle modelled after Cochrane's spectacular victory in the brig HMS "Speedy" over the vastly superior Spanish frigate "El Gamo".


title: Master and Commander

text: "Master and Commander" met with mixed reviews on its first publication. Although UK sales were respectable enough for O'Brian to continue with the series, it was not initially a success in the US. In Britain and Ireland, however, voices of praise gradually became dominant. The novel has been lauded for having "a brilliant sense of period", and for O'Brian's "easy command of the philosophical, political, sensual and social temper of the times [that] flavors a rich entertainment", putting the reader into the times in every aspect, from exceptional detail on the practices of the Royal Navy on sailing ships to the states of science, medicine, and society during the Napoleonic era.


title: Master and Commander

text: In 1990, the US publisher W. W. Norton & Company re-issued the book and its sequels, which was an almost immediate success and drew O'Brian a new and large readership. O'Brian's biographer has placed the novel at the start of what he called the author's magnum opus, a series that has become perhaps the best-loved "roman fleuve" of the 20th century.


title: Master and Commander

text: The novel opens on 18 April 1800 and covers the period until mid 1801, the action being portrayed within the historical setting of War of the Second Coalition, one phase in England's long and continuing war against the French following Nelson's victories in the Mediterranean, including the British victory at the 1798 Battle of the Nile. Events in the novel also largely take place in the Mediterranean, with the French, British, and Spanish navies attempting to capture and disrupt the merchant shipping of their enemies.


title: Master and Commander

text: A significant subplot of the novel concerns the divided loyalties of two Irishmen, Dillon and Maturin, following their involvement in the unsuccessful Irish Rebellion of 1798. Ireland was then a country governed by Britain, and political dissent had been increasing for some time. Irish Protestants bemoaned the lack of an effective political voice and the fact that much of the best agricultural land was held by absentee English landlords, while the majority Catholic population was excluded from full participation in politics and the respectable professions. The United Irishmen had been formed in the late 18th century to tackle these grievances, leading ultimately to rebellion. In the rebellion's aftermath many disaffected Irishmen (such as Maturin in the novel) had left the island to seek their fortunes elsewhere.


title: Master and Commander

text: The novel opens in April 1800. Jack Aubrey, a shipless lieutenant wasting away in the Royal Navy port of Mahon in Minorca, meets Stephen Maturin, a destitute Irish-Catalan physician and natural philosopher, at a concert at the Governor's Mansion. During the performance, Maturin elbows Aubrey who is beating the measure "half a beat ahead". The men, both at personal low points, treat the matter as one of honour; they exchange names and anticipate a duel.


title: Master and Commander

text: Later that evening, Aubrey learns that he has been promoted to the rank of commander and has been given command of the 14-gun HM Sloop "Sophie". Meeting Maturin in the street the next day, Aubrey's joy overcomes his animosity and he invites Maturin to dine. The men discover a shared love of music, Aubrey playing the violin and Maturin the cello. On learning Maturin's profession, Aubrey asks him to join his ship. Although as a physician Maturin's expertise goes far beyond that normally expected of a naval surgeon, he agrees.


title: Master and Commander

text: "Sophie" is sent to accompany a small convoy of merchant ships in the Mediterranean. Aubrey takes the opportunity to get to know his sailors and work them into a fighting unit with the aid of his new first lieutenant, James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. Dillon and Maturin recognize each other, having previously met (a fact they keep to themselves) as members of the United Irishmen, a society dedicated to Irish home rule and Catholic emancipation. Dillon suffers a crisis of conscience when ordered to intercept an American ship thought to be harbouring Irish rebels, and he works to help them avoid capture.


title: Master and Commander

text: Maturin, who has never been aboard a man-of-war, struggles to understand nautical customs, and the crew explain to him (and to the reader) naval terminology and the official practice whereby prize money can be awarded for captured enemy vessels. Maturin is treated by the crew as a landsman, though without offence. As a natural philosopher he relishes the opportunity to study rare birds and fish.


title: Master and Commander

text: His convoy duties complete, Aubrey is permitted by Admiral Lord Keith to cruise the Mediterranean independently, looking to capture French and Spanish merchant vessels, at which he is very successful, taking many prizes. "Sophie" meets and defeats the much larger and better-armed "Cacafuego", a Spanish 32-gun xebec-frigate, though a number of the crew, including Dillon, die in the bloody action. A victory against such odds would normally bring official recognition, promotion, and significant prize money, but unfortunately for Aubrey his superior at Mahon is Captain Harte, with whose wife Aubrey has been having an affair. Harte ensures that Aubrey receives none of those things, though he cannot prevent Aubrey gaining a reputation within the Royal Navy as one of its great, young fighting captains.


title: Master and Commander

text: On escort duty, "Sophie" is captured by a squadron of four large French warships, and the crew is taken prisoner. The French Captain Christy-Pallière is courteous; he feeds Aubrey well and tells him of his own cousins in Bath. During the crew's confinement, the French are attacked by a British squadron in what becomes the First Battle of Algeciras. Several days later the officers are paroled to Gibraltar from where they are able to witness from afar the second battle. Aubrey faces a court-martial for the loss of his ship and is acquitted.


title: Master and Commander

text: In an introductory "Author's Note" to the novel, O'Brian sets out his approach to historical accuracy, noting that historic records of naval battles are filled with "actions that few men could invent". He goes on to say, "That is why I have gone straight to the source for the fighting in this book ... and so when I describe a fight I have log-books, official letters, contemporary accounts or the participants' own memoirs to vouch for every exchange ... Yet, on the other hand, I have not felt slavishly bound to precise chronological sequence; ... within a context of general historical accuracy I have changed names, places and minor events". He considers that "authenticity is a jewel", and that "the admirable men of these times ... are best celebrated in their own splendid actions rather than in imaginary contests".


title: Master and Commander

text: The naval actions of the novel are closely based on the exploits of Thomas Cochrane (1775–1860), 10th Earl of Dundonald, a notoriously fiery naval captain and later admiral. Cochrane's own ship, HMS "Speedy", forms the basis for Aubrey's "Sophie".


title: Master and Commander

text: Although Aubrey's exploits are historically-sourced, his personality is O'Brian's own invention and differs significantly from that of the real Cochrane, a Scot who could at times be rash, confrontational and disagreeable. The character of Maturin is likewise of O'Brian's devising, though it has been said that the author's own personality, attitudes, interests and even appearance are closely reflected in his character's persona.


title: Master and Commander

text: The capture in the novel of the Spanish "Cacafuego" by the vastly inferior "Sophie" is based on the real-life capture on 6 May 1801 of the Spanish frigate "El Gamo" by the British brig-sloop HMS "Speedy". One of the most spectacular single-ship victories in British Naval history, the "El Gamo" incident captured the public imagination and founded the reputation of the "Speedy's" commander, Thomas Cochrane. Like Aubrey in the book, however, Cochrane did not receive from the Admiralty the promotion and prize money he might have expected from so spectacular a victory.


title: Master and Commander

text: The capture of "Sophie" by Christy-Pallière of the "Desaix" parallels the experience of Cochrane aboard the "Speedy", down to the detail of the real Christy-Pallière refusing to accept the vanquished captain's sword: "I will not accept the sword of an officer who has for so many hours struggled against impossibility".


title: Master and Commander

text: The exploit of deceiving a ship at night by attaching lights to a decoy was executed by Cochrane and was described in his "Autobiography of a Seaman". A similar exploit was reported to have been used by the French privateer Joseph-Marie Potier to escape a British frigate near Quiberon Bay in January 1809.


title: Master and Commander

text: For the Algeciras Campaign O'Brian studied the dispatches of admiral Sir James Saumarez along with other contemporary reports of the battle.


title: Master and Commander

text: In the 1960s two of O'Brian's seafaring books for children, "The Golden Ocean" (1956) and "The Unknown Shore" (1959), caught the attention of a US publisher, J B Lippincott, who were seeking an author to follow in the footsteps of C S Forester, creator of the Hornblower series of novels. Forester had died in 1966 and a year later, at the age of 53, O'Brian started work on "Master and Commander". The novel was first published in the US by Lippincott in 1969.


title: Master and Commander

text: O'Brian's then UK publisher Macmillan, who had originally agreed to jointly commission the book, rejected it as too full of jargon. It was taken up and published by Collins in 1970.


title: Master and Commander

text: The novel did respectably in Britain ("selling a most surprising number" according to O'Brian), but was not initially successful in the US. O'Brian later commented, "I am sorry to say that the Americans did not like it much at its first appearance (they have changed their minds since, bless them)".


title: Master and Commander

text: Lippincott persevered in the US with publication of the next two novels in the series, "Post Captain" (1972) and "HMS Surprise" (1973), though sales remained slow. A change of US publisher to Stein and Day for "The Mauritius Command" did not help, and US publications ceased with "Desolation Island" in 1978.


title: Master and Commander

text: In 1989 Starling Lawrence, an editor with the US publisher W W Norton, borrowed a copy of "The Reverse of the Medal" from O'Brian's London literary agent to read on his flight home to New York. Lawrence persuaded Norton that in spite of the failed attempts of two previous US publishers "Master and Commander" and the subsequent novels were worth re-publishing. Norton's re-issued series (from 1990) was an almost immediate success and drew a new, large readership.


title: Master and Commander

text: C S Forester having died just a few years earlier, some critics were left bewildered and disappointed by the complexity of O'Brian's creation after the predictability of the Hornblower series. "Not, I think, memorable, at least in the Hornblower way" wrote the "Irish Press", while according to the "Library Journal", "Mourning Hornblower fans may prefer to read a good if disappointing new book rather than to reread one of the master's epics".


title: Master and Commander

text: The reception of other critics was more positive. In the US, The "New York Times Book Review" noted the author's "delightful subtlety", and his "easy command of the philosophical, political, sensual and social temper of the times [that] flavors a rich entertainment", while "Kirkus Reviews" said that the book was "A welcome treat for sea hounds who care more for belaying pins than ravaged bodices below decks".


title: Master and Commander

text: Several UK press reviewers were also impressed. The "Sunday Mirror" said "Nothing is glamourised. The press gangings, the squalor are all here...The battle scenes are tremendous...This is not secondhand Forester, but a really fine piece of writing", while Benedict Nightingale writing in "The Observer" called the book "Dashing, well-timbered, pickled in the period, and with strong human tensions and cross-currents". According to Tom Pocock in "The Evening Standard," "It is as though, under Mr O'Brian's touch, those great sea-paintings at Greenwich had stirred and come alive".


title: Master and Commander

text: The sailor Sir Francis Chichester, recently returned from his 1967 single-handed voyage round the world, described the book as "the best sea story I have ever read", a quote which the publishers adopted for use on the novel's front cover. Also used on the book's jacket in Britain was a heartfelt quote from the author Mary Renault, "A spirited sea-tale with cracking pace and a brilliant sense of period. In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real first-rater".


title: Master and Commander

text: As the series of novels expanded, single-volume reviews became less common and reviewers tended to prefer retrospectives of the entire series to date. As one reviewer noted, "The best way to think of these novels is as a single 5,000-page book".


title: Master and Commander

text: Although "Master and Commander" and its immediate sequels had received at first a somewhat muted reception in the US, in Britain and Ireland the voices of praise continued to increase and gradually became dominant. By 2000, O'Brian's reputation was such that his American biographer Dean King was able to place "Master and Commander" at the start of what he called the author's magnum opus, a twenty-novel series that has become perhaps the best-loved "roman fleuve" of the twentieth century: "[an] epic of two heroic yet believably realistic men that would in some ways define a generation".


title: Master and Commander

text: Following O'Brian's death in 2000, Kevin Myers recalled in "The Daily Telegraph" his first reading of this and the subsequent two novels in the series: "the most glorious literary mixture ever – Jane Austen meets Gray's Anatomy meets John Buchan meets Apothecaries' Gazetteer. The author's cast of characters is Dickensian in its scope, but of greater subtlety and sophistication in its portrayal."


title: Master and Commander

text: According to Richard Snow in 2004, the first meeting between Aubrey and Maturin (with which the novel opens) led to "the greatest friendship of modern literature". Snow quotes Fredric Smoler, professor of history and literature, in a Shakespearean comparison: "It's like Prince Hal meeting Falstaff".


title: Master and Commander

text: Writing in 2013, the author Nicola Griffith professed herself smitten: "In these books every reader who loves fiction both intellectually and viscerally will find something to treasure – and every writer something to envy. They will sweep you away and return you delighted, increased and stunned". She noted that while many reviewers have compared O'Brian to C S Forester, such comparisons are 'nonsense' – "This is Jane Austen on a ship of war, with the humanity, joy and pathos of Shakespeare".


title: Master and Commander

text: The 2003 Peter Weir film "", starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany, uses some of the characters, dialogue and events from the Aubrey–Maturin series, but does not faithfully reproduce the plot of the books.


title: Battle of the Wilderness

text: The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The fighting occurred in a wooded area near Locust Grove, Virginia, about west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, nearly 29,000 in total, a harbinger of a war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.