title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: On 19 June 2007, the same day the BBFC refused to classify "Manhunt 2" in the UK, the ESRB issued the game with an Adults Only (AO) rating. The initial impact of this decision was that major retail chains, such as Walmart and Target would not stock the title. The following day, 20 June, Sony and Nintendo both issued statements saying they do not allow AO titles on their platforms, which effectively meant the game was banned in the US.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: In August, Rockstar submitted the re-edited version to the ESRB, who granted it an M rating on 24 August. Later that day, the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood and California State Senator Leland Yee called for a federal investigation into how the game had had its rating downgraded. On 29 August, ESRB President Patricia Vance stated that the ESRB had no intention of revealing how it came to the decision to downgrade the rating.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: "Manhunt 2" was released for PSP, PS2 and Wii in the US on 31 October, with an M rating. The very next day, 1 November, a method that removed the blurring effect on the PSP and PS2 versions was released by a group of PSP crackers. Leland Yee and the Parents Television Council demanded that "Manhunt 2" be re-rated AO, but after examining the situation, the ESRB concluded it was not Rockstar's fault that these hacks could be used and decided to stick with the M rating. Despite the ESRB statement, however, on 6 November, Target removed "Manhunt 2" from its shelves. On 22 November, US Senators Joe Lieberman, Sam Brownback, Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton wrote an open letter to the ESRB asking for the game to be re-rated AO; "we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of 'ultraviolent' video games and the advances in game controllers. We have consistently urged parents to pay attention to the ESRB rating system. We must ensure that parents can rely on the consistency and accuracy of those ratings." The ESRB again refused to re-rate the game, and stuck with the M rating.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: On 31 October 2009, Rockstar started taking pre-orders for a PC port of the original unedited version of the game through Direct2Drive. It was released in the US on 6 November 2009 with an AO rating. However, the game was later removed from the service after Direct2Drive was purchased by GameFly, due to GameFly's policy of not carrying AO-rated games.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: The "Manhunt" series has garnered a cult following among video game fans. It has garnered positive reviews for the most part, especially the first game. At the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, "Manhunt" was nominated for "Console Action Adventure Game of the Year". In 2010, it was included in "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die", and listed at #85 in IGN's "Top 100 PlayStation 2 Games". The first game was nominated in the 2nd British Academy Video Games Awards in the Audio Category.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: "Manhunt 2" was listed at #82 in Complex's "The 100 Best Video Games of the Complex Decade". It was nominated for GameSpy's 2007 "Game of the Year" Award for the PS2, and Rockstar London was nominated for the "Best New UK/European Studio" Award. Giant Bomb listed it at #13 in their "Best Storyline in Gaming" list, and at #5 in their "Shocking Moments in Video Games" list. When GameSpot asked Jeronimo Barrera if the trouble that Rockstar had experienced in attempting to bring "Manhunt 2" to release in North America had put the publisher off the franchise, Barrera shot down any doubt by confirming that if the fans wanted it, they were willing to continue the brand. Rockstar Games admitted that they were proud of the series and the fact people still want to pick on the games is "a strange and unfortunate reality." Mark Washbrook gave an interview with the "Official UK PlayStation Magazine" in April 2007, in which he said that much of the reasoning behind the development of "Manhunt 2" was its fan base.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: Because of its presentation of grim graphical violence and the amount of controversy it has garnered, "Manhunt" has been noted by many as one of the most violent video games in history. It was listed at #1 in Gameranx' list of the "Top 25 Goriest Games of all Time", at #8 in IGN's "Top 10 Gaming Controversies" and was also listed in UGO's "The Most Controversial Video Games". Machinima ranked it #1 in their "Top 10 Bloodiest Games Ever". The "Chicago Tribune" called it "The "Clockwork Orange" of video games," saying that it marked a significant moment in video gaming history by introducing mature content into the medium. Switched.com named it a "modern classic."


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: During the release of the first game a former Rockstar employee admitted that the game almost caused a mutiny in the company, saying that "It may sound surprising, but there was almost a mutiny at the company over that game. It was Rockstar North's pet project - most of us at Rockstar Games wanted no part of it. We'd already weathered plenty of controversy over "GTA III" and "Vice City" - we were no strangers to it - but "Manhunt" felt different. With "GTA", we always had the excuse that the gameplay was untethered - you never had to hurt anybody that wasn't a "bad guy" in one of the missions. You could play completely ethically if you wanted, and the game was parody anyway, so lighten up."


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: There has been speculation about future titles in the "Manhunt" series, specifically concerning "Manhunt 3", with rumours including the possibility of a PlayStation 3 release utilizing the PlayStation Move. Take-Two, however, have rebuked such rumors.


title: Manhunt (video game series)

text: In October 2007, Stephen Totilo of MTV Games asked Rockstar Games producer Jeronimo Barrera about the possibilities of a multiplayer component being added to future iterations of the "Manhunt" franchise, such as adding the game to the Rockstar Games Social Club. Barrera seemingly embraced the idea.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Webster's Dictionary is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's name in honor. ""Webster's"" has since become a genericized trademark in the United States for English dictionaries, and is widely used in dictionary titles.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Merriam-Webster is the corporate heir to Noah Webster's original works, which are in the public domain.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Noah Webster (1758–1843), the author of the readers and spelling books which dominated the American market at the time, spent decades of research in compiling his dictionaries. His first dictionary, , appeared in 1806. In it, he popularized features which would become a hallmark of American English spelling ("center" rather than "centre", "honor" rather than "honour", "program" rather than "programme", etc.) and included technical terms from the arts and sciences rather than confining his dictionary to literary words. Webster was a proponent of English spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. In "A Companion to the American Revolution" (2008), John Algeo notes: "it is often assumed that characteristically American spellings were invented by Noah Webster. He was very influential in popularizing certain spellings in America, but he did not originate them. Rather [...] he chose already existing options such as "center, color" and "check" on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology". In William Shakespeare's first folios, for example, spellings such as "center" and "color" are the most common. He spent the next two decades working to expand his dictionary.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In 1828, when Noah Webster was 70, his "American Dictionary of the English Language" was published by S. Converse in two quarto volumes containing 70,000 entries, as against the 58,000 of any previous dictionary. There were 2,500 copies printed, at $20 (adjusted for inflation: $539.77) for the two volumes. At first the set sold poorly. When he lowered the price to $15 (adjusted for inflation: $404.82), its sales improved, and by 1836 that edition was exhausted. Not all copies were bound at the same time; the book also appeared in publisher's boards; other original bindings of a later date are not unknown.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In 1841, 82-year-old Noah Webster published a second edition of his lexicographical masterpiece with the help of his son, William G. Webster. Its title page does not claim the status of second edition, merely noting that this new edition was the "first edition in octavo" in contrast to the quarto format of the first edition of 1828. Again in two volumes, the title page proclaimed that the "Dictionary" contained "the whole vocabulary of the quarto, with corrections, improvements and several thousand additional words: to which is prefixed an introductory dissertation on the origin, history and connection of the languages of western Asia and Europe, with an explanation of the principles on which languages are formed. B. L. Hamlen of New Haven, Connecticut, prepared the 1841 printing of the second edition.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: When Webster died, his heirs sold unbound sheets of his 1841 revision "American Dictionary of the English Language" to the firm of J. S. & C. Adams of Amherst, Massachusetts. This firm bound and published a small number of copies in 1844 – the same edition that Emily Dickinson used as a tool for her poetic composition. However, a $15 (adjusted for inflation: $512.78) price tag on the book made it too expensive to sell easily, so the Amherst firm decided to sell out. Merriam acquired rights from Adams, as well as signing a contract with Webster's heirs for sole rights.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The third printing of the second edition was by George and Charles Merriam of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1845. This was the first "Webster's Dictionary" with a Merriam imprint.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Lepore (2008) demonstrates Webster's innovative ideas about language and politics and shows why Webster's endeavors were at first so poorly received. Culturally conservative Federalists denounced the work as radicaltoo inclusive in its lexicon and even bordering on vulgar. Meanwhile, Webster's old foes, the Jeffersonian Republicans, attacked the man, labeling him mad for such an undertaking.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Scholars have long seen Webster's 1844 dictionary to be an important resource for reading poet Emily Dickinson's life and work; she once commented that the "Lexicon" was her "only companion" for years. One biographer said, "The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as a priest his breviary – over and over, page by page, with utter absorption.";


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Austin (2005) explores the intersection of lexicographical and poetic practices in American literature, and attempts to map out a "lexical poetics" using Webster's dictionaries. He shows the ways in which American poetry has inherited Webster and drawn upon his lexicography to reinvent it. Austin explicates key definitions from both the "Compendious" (1806) and "American" (1828) dictionaries and brings into its discourse a range of concerns including the politics of American English, the question of national identity and culture in the early moments of American independence, and the poetics of citation and of definition.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Webster's dictionaries were a redefinition of Americanism within the context of an emergent and unstable American socio-political and cultural identity. Webster's identification of his project as a "federal language" shows his competing impulses towards regularity and innovation in historical terms. Perhaps the contradictions of Webster's project represented a part of a larger dialectical play between liberty and order within Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary political debates.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Noah Webster's assistant, and later chief competitor, Joseph Emerson Worcester, and Webster's son-in-law Chauncey A. Goodrich, published an abridgment of Noah Webster's 1828 "American Dictionary of the English Language" in 1829, with the same number of words and Webster's full definitions, but with truncated literary references and expanded etymology. Although it was more successful financially than the original 1828 edition and was reprinted many times, Noah Webster was critical of it. Worcester and Goodrich's abridgment of Noah Webster's dictionary was published in 1841 by White and Sheffield, printed by E. Sanderson in Elizabethtown, N.J. and again in 1844 by publishers Harper and Brothers of New York City, in 1844, with added words as an appendix.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Upon Webster's death in 1843, the unsold books and all rights to the copyright and name "Webster" were purchased by brothers George and Charles Merriam, who then hired Webster's son-in-law Chauncey A. Goodrich, a professor at Yale College, to oversee revisions. Goodrich's "New and Revised Edition" appeared on September 24, 1847, and a "Revised and Enlarged" edition in 1848, which added a section of illustrations indexed to the text. His revisions remained close to Webster's work, but removed what later editors referred to as his "excrescences".


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In 1850, Blackie and Son in Glasgow published the first general dictionary of English that made heavy use of pictorial illustrations integrated with the text, "The Imperial Dictionary, English, Technological, and Scientific, Adapted to the Present State of Literature, Science, and Art; On the Basis of Webster's English Dictionary." Editor John Ogilve used Webster's 1841 edition as a base, adding many new, specialized, and British words, increasing the vocabulary from "Webster"s 70,000 to more than 100,000.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In response to Joseph Worcester's groundbreaking dictionary of 1860, "A Dictionary of the English Language", the G. & C. Merriam Company created a significantly revised edition, "A Dictionary of the English Language". It was edited by Yale University professor Noah Porter and published in 1864, containing 114,000 entries. It was sometimes referred to as the "Webster–Mahn" edition, because it featured revisions by Dr. C. A. F. Mahn, who replaced unsupportable etymologies which were based on Webster's attempt to conform to Biblical interpretations of the history of language. It was the first edition to largely overhaul Noah Webster's work, and the first to be known as the "Unabridged". Later printings included additional material: a "Supplement Of Additional Words And Definitions" containing more than 4,600 new words and definitions in 1879, "A Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary" containing more than 9,700 names of noteworthy persons in 1879, and a "Pronouncing Gazetteer" in 1884. The 1883 printing of the book contained 1,928 pages and was 8½ in (22 cm) wide by 11½ in (29 cm) tall by 4¼ in (11 cm) thick. The 1888 printing (revision?) is similarly sized, with the last printed page number "1935" which has on its back further content (hence, 1936th page), and closes with "Whole number of pages 2012". This dictionary carries the 1864 Preface by Noah Porter with postscripts of 1879 and 1884.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: James A.H. Murray, the editor of the "Oxford English Dictionary" (1879–1928) says Webster's unabridged edition of 1864 "acquired an international fame. It was held to be superior to every other dictionary and taken as the leading authority on the meaning of words, not only in America and England, but also throughout the Far East."


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Porter also edited the succeeding edition, "Webster's International Dictionary of the English Language" (1890), which was an expansion of the "American Dictionary". It contained about 175,000 entries. In 1900, "Webster's International" was republished with a supplement that added 25,000 entries to it.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The Merriam Company issued a complete revision in 1909, "Webster's New International Dictionary", edited by William Torrey Harris and F. Sturges Allen. Vastly expanded, it covered more than 400,000 entries, and double the number of illustrations. A new format feature, the "divided page", was designed to save space by including a section of "words below the line" at the bottom of each page: six columns of very fine print, devoted to such items as rarely used, obsolete, and foreign words, abbreviations, and variant spellings. Notable improvement was made in the treatment and number of "discriminated synonyms", comparisons of subtle shades of meaning. Also added was a twenty-page chart comparing the Webster's pronunciations with those offered by six other major dictionaries. This edition was reprinted in 1913. Being in the public domain and having been scanned and OCRd, this edition has had substantial influence on Wiktionary.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In 1934, the "New International Dictionary" was revised and expanded for a second edition, which is popularly known as "Webster's Second" or "W2", although it was not published under that title. It was edited by William Allan Neilson and Thomas A. Knott. It contained 3350 pages and sold for $39.50 (adjusted for inflation: $755.77). Some versions added a 400-page supplement called "A Reference History of the World", which provided chronologies "from earliest times to the present". The editors claimed more than 600,000 entries, more than any other dictionary at that time, but that number included many proper names and newly added lists of undefined "combination words". Multiple definitions of words are listed in chronological order, with the oldest, and often obsolete, usages listed first. For example, the first definition of "starve" includes dying of exposure to the elements as well as from lack of food.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The numerous picture plates added to the book's appeal and usefulness, particularly when pertaining to things found in nature. Conversely, the plate showing the coins of the world's important nations quickly proved to be ephemeral. Numerous gold coins from various important countries were included, including American eagles, at a time when it had recently become illegal for Americans to own them, and when most other countries had withdrawn gold from active circulation as well.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Because of its style and word coverage, "Webster's Second" is still a popular dictionary. For example, in the case of "Miller Brewing Co. v. G. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc"., 561 F.2d 75 (7th Cir. 1977) – a trademark dispute in which the terms "lite" and "light" were held to be generic for light beer and therefore available for use by anyone – the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, after considering a definition from "Webster's Third New International Dictionary", wrote that "[T]he comparable definition in the previous, and for many the classic, edition of the same dictionary is as follows:..."


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: After about a decade of preparation, G. & C. Merriam issued the entirely new "Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged" (commonly known as "Webster's Third", or "W3") in September 1961.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Although it was an unprecedented masterwork of scholarship, it was met with considerable criticism for its descriptive (rather than prescriptive) approach. The dictionary's treatment of "ain't" was subject to particular scorn, since it seemed to overrule the near-unanimous denunciation of that word by English teachers.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Since the 1961 publication of the "Third", Merriam-Webster has reprinted the main text of the dictionary with only minor corrections. To add new words, they created an "Addenda Section" in 1966, included in the front matter, which was expanded in 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1993, and 2002. However, the rate of additions was much slower than it had been throughout the previous hundred years. Following the purchase of Merriam-Webster by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. in 1964, a three-volume version was issued for many years as a supplement to the encyclopedia. At the end of volume three, this edition included the "Britannica World Language Dictionary", 474 pages of translations between English and French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yiddish. A CD-ROM version of the complete text, with thousands of additional new words and definitions from the "addenda", was published by Merriam-Webster in 2000, and is often packaged with the print edition. The third edition was published in 2000 on Merriam-Webster's website as a subscription service.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Planning for a Fourth edition of the "Unabridged" began with a 1988 memo from Merriam-Webster president William Llewellyn, but was repeatedly deferred in favor of updates to the more lucrative "Collegiate". Work on a full revision finally began in 2009. In January 2013 the "Third New International" website service was rebranded as the "Unabridged" with the first "Release" of 4,800 new and revised entries added to the site. There were two further "Releases" in 2014. The revised website is not branded as the "Fourth edition" and it is unlikely that a print version will ever be produced, because demand is declining and its increased size would make it unwieldy and expensive.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Merriam-Webster introduced its "Collegiate Dictionary" in 1898 and the series is now in its eleventh edition. Following the publication of "Webster's International" in 1890, two "Collegiate" editions were issued as abridgments of each of their "Unabridged" editions.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: With the ninth edition ("Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary" (WNNCD), published in 1983), the "Collegiate" adopted changes which distinguish it as a separate entity rather than merely an abridgment of the "Third New International." Some proper names were returned to the word list, including names of Knights of the Round Table. The most notable change was the inclusion of the date of the first known citation of each word, to document its entry into the English language. The eleventh edition (published in 2003) includes more than 225,000 definitions, and more than 165,000 entries. A CD-ROM of the text is sometimes included.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: This dictionary is preferred as a source "for general matters of spelling" by "The Chicago Manual of Style", which is followed by many book publishers and magazines in the United States. The "Chicago Manual" states that it "normally opts for" the first spelling listed.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In addition to its "Collegiate" editions G. & C. Merriam Co. also produced abridged editions for students ("Primary School, Elementary School, Secondary School, High School, Common School, Academic") as well as for general public ("Condensed, Practical, Handy"). The first edition of the abridged "Primary School" dictionary was prepared by Noah Webster in 1833 and later revised by William G. Webster and William A. Wheeler.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Since the late 19th century, dictionaries bearing the name "Webster's" have been published by companies other than Merriam-Webster. Some of these were unauthorized reprints of Noah Webster's work; some were revisions of his work. One such revision was "Webster's Imperial Dictionary", based on John Ogilvie's "The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language", itself an expansion of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary".


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Following legal action by Merriam, successive US courts ruled by 1908 that "Webster's" entered the public domain when the "Unabridged" did, in 1889. In 1917, a US court ruled that "Webster's" entered the public domain in 1834 when Noah Webster's 1806 dictionary's copyright lapsed. Thus, "Webster's" became a genericized trademark and others were free to use the name on their own works.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Since then, use of the name "Webster" has been rampant. Merriam-Webster goes to great pains to remind dictionary buyers that it alone is the heir to Noah Webster. Although Merriam-Webster revisers find solid ground in Noah Webster's concept of the English language as an ever-changing tapestry, the issue is more complicated than that. Throughout the 20th century, some non-Merriam editions, such as "Webster's New Universal", were closer to Webster's work than contemporary Merriam-Webster editions. Further revisions by Merriam-Webster came to have little in common with their original source, while the "Universal", for example, was minimally revised and remained largely out of date.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: So many dictionaries of varied size and quality have been called "Webster's" that the name no longer has any specific brand meaning. Despite this, many people still recognize and trust the name. Thus, "Webster's" continues as a powerful and lucrative marketing tool. In recent years, even established dictionaries with no direct link to Noah Webster whatsoever have adopted his name, adding to the confusion. Random House dictionaries are now called "Random House Webster's", and Microsoft's "Encarta World English Dictionary" is now "Encarta Webster's Dictionary". The dictionary now called "Webster's New Universal" no longer even uses the text of the original "Webster's New Universal" dictionary, but rather is a newly commissioned version of the "Random House Dictionary".


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The "" is not linked to Merriam-Webster Online. It is a multilingual online dictionary created in 1999 by Philip M. Parker. This site compiles different online dictionaries and encyclopedia including the "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary" (1913), Wiktionary and Wikipedia.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Noah Webster's main competitor was a man named Joseph Emerson Worcester, whose 1830 "Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language" brought accusations of plagiarism from Webster. The rivalry was carried on by Merriam after Webster's death, in what is often referred to as the "Dictionary Wars". After Worcester's death in 1865, revision of his "Dictionary of the English Language" was soon discontinued and it eventually went out of print.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The American edition of Charles Annandale's four volume revision of "The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language", published in 1883 by the Century Company, was more comprehensive than the "Unabridged". The "Century Dictionary", an expansion of the "Imperial" first published from 1889 to 1891, covered a larger vocabulary until the publication of "Webster's Second" in 1934, after the "Century" had ceased publication.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: In 1894 came "Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary", an attractive one volume counterpart to "Webster's International". The expanded "New Standard" of 1913 was a worthy challenge to the "New International", and remained a major competitor for many years. However, Funk & Wagnalls never revised the work, reprinting it virtually unchanged for more than 50 years, while Merriam published two major revisions.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The "Oxford English Dictionary" ("OED"), which published its complete first edition in 1933, challenged "Merriam" in scholarship, though not in the marketplace due to its much larger size. The "New International" editions continued to offer words and features not covered by the "OED", and vice versa. In the 1970s, the "OED" began publishing "Supplements" to its dictionary and in 1989 integrated the new words in the supplements with the older definitions and etymologies in its "Second Edition".


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Between the 1930s and the 1950s, several college dictionaries, notably the "American College Dictionary" and (non-Merriam) "Webster's New World Dictionary", entered the market alongside the "Collegiate". Among larger dictionaries during this period was (non-Merriam) "Webster's Universal Dictionary" (also published as "Webster's Twentieth Century Dictionary") which traced its roots to Noah Webster and called itself "unabridged", but had less than half the vocabulary and paled in scholarship against the "Merriam" editions.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: After the commercial success of "Webster's Third New International" in the 1960s, Random House responded by adapting its college dictionary by adding more illustrations and large numbers of proper names, increasing its print size and page thickness, and giving it a heavy cover. In 1966, it was published as a new "unabridged" dictionary. It was expanded in 1987, but it still covered no more than half the actual vocabulary of "Webster's Third".


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The American Heritage Publishing Co., highly critical of "Webster's Third", failed in an attempt to buy out Merriam-Webster and determined to create its own dictionary, "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language". In 1969, it issued a college-sized dictionary. Now in its fifth edition, it is only slightly greater in vocabulary than the "Collegiate", but it appears much larger and has the appeal of many pictures and other features, such as a usage panel of language professionals which is polled for the acceptability of certain word usage, and a discussion for some entries of subtle differences among words with similar meaning. Other medium-sized dictionaries have since entered the market, including the "New Oxford American" and the "Encarta Webster's", while Merriam-Webster has not attempted to compete by issuing a similar edition.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The 1828 edition of the "American Dictionary of the English Language" (2 volumes; New York: S. Converse) can be searched online at:


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: Plain-text versions are also available from the Internet Archive (with some errors, due to automatic optical character recognition).


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: "An American Dictionary of the English Language", edited by Chauncey A. Goodrich, first pictorial edition.


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: "Webster's International Dictionary", edited by Noah Porter and W. T. Harris, 1890 edition plus 1900 supplement


title: Webster's Dictionary

text: The "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary" (editor Noah Porter, Springfield, MA: C. & G. Merriam Co., 1913), from which copyright has lapsed and is now in the public domain, has been digitized in 1996 by MICRA, Inc. and is now available at various free online resources, including:


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Nomads have also used hitchhiking as a primary mode of travel for the better part of the last century, and continue to do so today.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhikers use a variety of signals to indicate they need a ride. Indicators can be physical gestures or displays including written signs. The physical gestures, e.g., hand signals, hitchhikers use differ around the world:


title: Hitchhiking

text: In 1971, during the Vietnam War, drivers invented methods to communicate various messages to hitchhikers (frequently soldiers in those areas of the U.S. near military bases). To indicate to a hitchhiking soldier that their vehicles have no additional space to accommodate them, drivers could tap on the vehicle roof. Another common message that drivers could signal to hitchhikers—who usually sought to travel long distances, distances too far to walk in a reasonable amount of time—was that the driver's destinations were located nearby—and of little use to the hitchhiker—by pointing at the ground for a few seconds.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhiking is a historically common (autonomous) practice worldwide and hence there are very few places in the world where laws exist to restrict it. However, a minority of countries have laws that restrict hitchhiking at certain locations. In the United States, for example, some local governments have laws outlawing hitchhiking, on the basis of drivers' and hitchhikers' safety. In 1946, New Jersey arrested and imprisoned a hitchhiker, leading to intervention by the American Civil Liberties Union. In Canada, several highways have restrictions on hitchhiking, particularly in British Columbia and the 400-series highways in Ontario. In all countries in Europe, it is legal to hitchhike and in some places even encouraged. However, worldwide, even where hitchhiking is permitted, laws forbid hitchhiking where pedestrians are banned, such as the Autobahn (Germany), Autostrade (Italy), motorways (United Kingdom and continental Europe, with the exception of, at least, Lithuania) or interstate highways (United States), although hitchhikers often obtain rides at entrances and truck stops where it is legal at least throughout Europe with the exception of Italy.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In 2011, "Freakonomics Radio" reviewed sparse data about hitchhiking, and identified a decline in hitchhiking in the US since the 1970s, which it attributed to a number of factors, including lower air travel costs due to deregulation, the presence of more money in the economy to pay for travel, more numerous and more reliable cars, and a lack of trust of strangers. Fear of hitchhiking is thought to have been spurred by movies such as "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) and a few real stories of imperiled passengers, notably the kidnapping of Colleen Stan in California. See , below.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Julian Portis points out that the rise of faster highways, such as freeways, motorways, and expressways, has made hitchhiking more difficult. He adds:


title: Hitchhiking

text: Some British researchers discuss reasons for hitchhiking's decline in the UK, and possible means of reviving it in safer and more-organized forms.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In recent years, hitchhikers have started efforts to strengthen their community. Examples include the annual Hitchgathering, an event organized by hitchhikers, for hitchhikers, and websites such as hitchwiki and hitchbase, which are platforms for hitchhikers to share tips and provide a way of looking up good hitchhiking spots around the world. While hitchhiking is on the decline, it is still in regular use around the globe.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Since the mid-2010s, local authorities in rural areas in Germany have started to support hitch-hiking, and this has spread to Austria and the German-speaking region of Belgium. The objectives are both social and environmental: as ridesharing improves mobility for local residents (particularly young and old people without their own cars) in places where public transport is inadequate, thus improving networking among local communities in an environmentally friendly way. This support typically takes the form of providing hitch-hiking benches (in German "") where people hoping for a ride can wait for cars. These benches are usually brightly coloured and located at the exit from a village, sometimes at an existing bus stop lay-by where vehicles can pull in safely. Some are even provided with large fold-out or slide-out signs with place names allowing hitchers to clearly signal where they want to go. Some "Mitfahrbänke" have been installed with the help of the EU's LEADER programme for rural local development


title: Hitchhiking

text: In Austria, "Mitfahrbänke" are especially common in Lower Austria and Tyrol, and are promoted by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism under its "klimaaktiv" climate protection initiative. In 2018 the Tyrolean "MobilitäterInnen" network published a "Manual for the Successful Introduction of Hitch-hiking Benches".


title: Hitchhiking

text: Limited data is available regarding the safety of hitchhiking. Compiling good safety data requires counting hitchhikers, counting rides, and counting problems: a difficult task.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Two studies on the topic include a 1974 California Highway Patrol study and a 1989 German federal police (Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden) study . The California study found that hitchhikers were not disproportionately likely to be victims of crime. The German study concluded that the actual risk is much lower than the publicly perceived risk; the authors did not advise against hitchhiking in general. They found that in some cases there were verbal disputes or inappropriate comments, but physical attacks were very rare.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In Cuba, picking up hitchhikers is mandatory for government vehicles, if passenger space is available. Hitchhiking is encouraged, as Cuba has few cars, and hitchhikers use designated spots. Drivers pick up waiting riders on a first come, first served basis.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In Israel, hitchhiking is commonplace at designated locations called ( in Hebrew, derived from the German ). Travelers soliciting rides, called , wait at , typically junctions of highways or main roads outside of a city.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhiking in Lithuania is no longer as common as it used to be, but there are still people soliciting rides, more so in the summer.


title: Hitchhiking

text: It is legal to hitchhike in Lithuania, and the country is unique in Europe in that it is actually legal to hitchhike on the emergency lane of motorways.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In Nepal, hitchhiking is very common in rural areas. Many do not own cars so hitchhiking is a common practice especially in and around villages.


title: Hitchhiking

text: In the Netherlands, hitchhiking is legal and un-official signs indicate where one may wait for a ride. These designated hitchhiking locations are called "liftershalte" or "liftplaats" in Dutch, and they are particularly common in university towns.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhiking in Poland has a long history and is still popular. It was legalised and formalised in 1957 so hitchhikers could buy booklets including coupons from travel agencies. These coupons were given to drivers who took hitchhikers. By the end of each season drivers who collected the highest number of coupons could exchange them for prizes, and others took part in a lottery. This so-called "Akcja Autostop" was popular till the end of the 1970s, but the sale of the booklet was discontinued in 1995.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Hitchhiking in Ireland is legal, unless it takes place on motorways. A backpacker will most likely still get a lift if the car has enough space to park. Local police (Gardaí) usually let backpackers get away with a verbal warning.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Warnings of the potential dangers of picking up hitchhikers were publicized to drivers, who were advised that some hitchhikers would rob drivers and, in some cases, sexually assault or murder them. Other warnings were publicized to the hitchhikers themselves, alerting them to the same types of crimes being carried out by drivers. Still, hitchhiking was part of the American psyche and many people continued to stick out their thumbs, even in states where the practice had been outlawed.


title: Hitchhiking

text: Today, hitchhiking is legal in 44 of the 50 states, provided that the hitchhiker is not standing in the roadway or otherwise hindering the normal flow of traffic. Even in states where hitchhiking is illegal, hitchhikers are rarely ticketed. For example, the Wyoming Highway Patrol approached 524 hitchhikers in 2010, but only eight of them were cited (hitchhiking was subsequently legalized in Wyoming in 2013). Hitchhiking is still in regular practice, but hitchhikers must accept the risks.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: Gashmeer Mahajani (born 8 June 1985) is an Indian film and television actor, dancer and play director. He is better known for his work in Marathi cinema. He is the son of veteran Marathi film actor Ravindra Mahajani.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: Gashmeer made his silver screen debut with P. Som Shekar's Hindi film "Muskurake Dekh Zara" (2010), although only in 2015 did he achieve popularity, when "Carry On Maratha", which was his Marathi film debut and "Deool Band" were released.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: He is the son of renowned and veteran Marathi actor Ravindra Mahajani. He married Gauri Deshmukh on 28 December 2014. On 21 December 2019, the couple had their first child, a boy, Vyom.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2010, Mahajani made his screen debut with a Bollywood film named "Muskurake Dekh Zara" as Vivek. This film was commercially unsuccessful. Gashmeer next joined Mumbai's Prithvi Theatre, wherein he enacted various roles and directed.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2015, Gashmeer debuted in the Regional Marathi Film Industry with his popular Marathi debut film "Carry On Maratha" as Maartand opposite actress Kashmira Kulkarni. In the same year, he also starred in another Marathi film "Deoold Band", where he portrayed the role of Dr. Raghav Shastri. This film saw some success globally.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2016, he played Raghu in "Kanha" and Aditya Rane in "One Way Ticket". He also starred in another Bollywood film "Dongri Ka Raja" as Raja.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2018, he did a crime horror show named "", an Indian paranormal investigative series, which aired on Discovery Jeet.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2020, he portrayed Aditya Deodhar in "Bonus". Later he made his web debut with SonyLIV's "Shrikant Bashir", an action drama series. From 2020 to 2022, Mahajani was seen in "Imlie" as Aditya Kumar Tripathi, opposite Sumbul Touqueer Khan and Mayuri Deshmukh.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2022, he was seen in and as "Vishu" alongside Mrinmayee Godbole. Next, he was seen in "Sarsenapati Hambirrao" where he portrayed double roles, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.


title: Gashmeer Mahajani

text: In 2022, he was seen as a contestant in a dance-based reality show "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 10", where he finished at 4th place. Currently, he is seen as a judge in Zee Marathi's "Dance Maharashtra Dance L'il Masters".


title: Biological half-life

text: Biological half-life (also known as elimination half-life, pharmacologic half-life) is the time taken for concentration of a biological substance (such as a medication) to decrease from its maximum concentration (C) to half of C in the blood plasma, and is denoted by the abbreviation formula_1.


title: Biological half-life

text: This is used to measure the removal of things such as metabolites, drugs, and signalling molecules from the body. Typically, the biological half-life refers to the body's natural cleansing through the function of the liver and through the excretion of the measured substance through the kidneys and intestines. This concept is used when the rate of removal is roughly exponential.


title: Biological half-life

text: In a medical context, half-life explicitly describes the time it takes for the blood plasma concentration of a substance to halve ("plasma half-life") its steady-state when circulating in the full blood of an organism. This measurement is useful in medicine, pharmacology and pharmacokinetics because it helps determine how much of a drug needs to be taken and how frequently it needs to be taken if a certain average amount is needed constantly. By contrast, the stability of a substance in plasma is described as "plasma stability." This is essential to ensure accurate analysis of drugs in plasma and for drug discovery.


title: Biological half-life

text: The relationship between the biological and plasma half-lives of a substance can be complex depending on the substance in question, due to factors including accumulation in tissues (protein binding), active metabolites, and receptor interactions.


title: Biological half-life

text: The biological half-life of water in a human is about 7 to 14 days. It can be altered by behavior. Drinking large amounts of alcohol will reduce the biological half-life of water in the body. This has been used to decontaminate humans who are internally contaminated with tritiated water. The basis of this decontamination method is to increase the rate at which the water in the body is replaced with new water.


title: Biological half-life

text: The removal of ethanol (drinking alcohol) through oxidation by alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver from the human body is limited. Hence the removal of a large concentration of alcohol from blood may follow zero-order kinetics. Also the rate-limiting steps for one substance may be in common with other substances. For instance, the blood alcohol concentration can be used to modify the biochemistry of methanol and ethylene glycol. In this way the oxidation of methanol to the toxic formaldehyde and formic acid in the human body can be prevented by giving an appropriate amount of ethanol to a person who has ingested methanol. Note that methanol is very toxic and causes blindness and death. A person who has ingested ethylene glycol can be treated in the same way. Half life is also relative to the subjective metabolic rate of the individual in question.


title: Biological half-life

text: The biological half-life of caesium in humans is between one and four months. This can be shortened by feeding the person prussian blue. The prussian blue in the digestive system acts as a solid ion exchanger which absorbs the caesium while releasing potassium ions.


title: Biological half-life

text: For some substances, it is important to think of the human or animal body as being made up of several parts, each with their own affinity for the substance, and each part with a different biological half-life (physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modelling). Attempts to remove a substance from the whole organism may have the effect of increasing the burden present in one part of the organism. For instance, if a person who is contaminated with lead is given EDTA in a chelation therapy, then while the rate at which lead is lost from the body will be increased, the lead within the body tends to relocate into the brain where it can do the most harm.


title: Biological half-life

text: Some substances may have different half-lives in different parts of the body. For example, oxytocin has a half-life of typically about three minutes in the blood when given intravenously. Peripherally administered (e.g. intravenous) peptides like oxytocin cross the blood-brain-barrier very poorly, although very small amounts (< 1%) do appear to enter the central nervous system in humans when given via this route. In contrast to peripheral administration, when administered intranasally via a nasal spray, oxytocin reliably crosses the blood–brain barrier and exhibits psychoactive effects in humans. In addition, also unlike the case of peripheral administration, intranasal oxytocin has a central duration of at least 2.25 hours and as long as 4 hours. In likely relation to this fact, endogenous oxytocin concentrations in the brain have been found to be as much as 1000-fold higher than peripheral levels.


title: Biological half-life

text: Half-times apply to processes where the elimination rate is exponential. If formula_2 is the concentration of a substance at time formula_3, its time dependence is given by


title: Biological half-life

text: where "k" is the reaction rate constant. Such a decay rate arises from a first-order reaction where the rate of elimination is proportional to the amount of the substance:


title: Biological half-life

text: where "λ" is the slope of the terminal phase of the time–concentration curve for the substance on a semilogarithmic scale.


title: Biological half-life

text: Half-life is determined by clearance (CL) and volume of distribution (V) and the relationship is described by the following equation:


title: Biological half-life

text: In clinical practice, this means that it takes 4 to 5 times the half-life for a drug's serum concentration to reach steady state after regular dosing is started, stopped, or the dose changed. So, for example, digoxin has a half-life (or t) of 24–36 h; this means that a change in the dose will take the best part of a week to take full effect. For this reason, drugs with a long half-life (e.g., amiodarone, elimination t of about 58 days) are usually started with a loading dose to achieve their desired clinical effect more quickly.


title: Biological half-life

text: The longer half-life is called the "terminal half-life" and the half-life of the largest component is called the "dominant half-life." For a more detailed description see Pharmacokinetics § Multi-compartmental models.


title: Bree Turner

text: Bree Nicole Turner (born March 10, 1977) is an American actress and dancer; she is best known for her role as Rosalee Calvert on "Grimm".


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Alamo, California. Her father is former NFL linebacker Kevin Turner. In 1995, she graduated from Monte Vista High School in Danville, California, where she was voted 1994 Homecoming Queen. She then attended King's College London and University of California, Los Angeles.


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner landed her first speaking role in "". That same year, she was cast on MTV's late night anthology series, "Undressed". She also did TV commercials for Gap "Khaki Country" and "Khaki-a-go-go," and for Dr. Pepper.


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner was a background dancer in feature films as "The Big Lebowski" (1998), "She's All That" (1999) and "" (1999). She had roles in "The Wedding Planner" (2001), "Joe Dirt" (2001), "American Pie 2" (2001), and the starring role of head cheerleader in "Bring It On Again" (2004).


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner has also appeared in independent films, including the musical and romantic drama "True Vinyl" (2000) and the wrestling drama "Backyard Dogs".


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner has worked in television, with recurring roles on the UPN sitcom "Moesha", the ABC sitcom "Spin City", the CBS drama "Cold Case", guest starred on the UPN drama "Sex, Love & Secrets" and starred in the pilot episode ("Incident On and Off a Mountain Road") of Showtime's horror/thriller series "Masters of Horror".


title: Bree Turner

text: Turner has also acted on stage, playing Ivy in "The Pages of My Diary I'd Rather Not Read" at Hudson Mainstage Theater in Los Angeles in January 2003.


title: Bree Turner

text: As of 2017, Turner finished her sixth season on the NBC drama series "Grimm", portraying the character Rosalee Calvert. The part was a recurring role in season 1, moving to the main cast from season 2 onwards.


title: Bree Turner

text: In 2008, Turner married orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman at the Casa Del Mar hotel in Santa Monica, California. They have a daughter named Stella Jean (born June 29, 2010), and a son named Dean (born September 12, 2012). In March 2018, Turner filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the legal stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also brother of the Emperor Tiberius, father to both the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: He launched the first major Roman campaigns across the Rhine and began the conquest of Germania, becoming the first Roman general to reach the Weser and Elbe rivers. In 12 BC, Drusus led a successful campaign into Germania, subjugating the Sicambri. Later that year he led a naval expedition against Germanic tribes along the North Sea coast, conquering the Batavi and the Frisii, and defeating the Chauci near the mouth of the Weser. In 11 BC, he conquered the Usipetes and the Marsi, extending Roman control to the Upper Weser. In 10 BC, he launched a campaign against the Chatti and the resurgent Sicambri, subjugating both. The following year, while serving as consul, he conquered the Mattiaci and defeated the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, the latter near the Elbe. However, Drusus died later that year.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus was the youngest son of Livia Drusilla from her marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was legally declared his father before the couple divorced. Drusus was born between mid-March and mid-April 38 BC, three months after Livia married Augustus on 17 January. Gerhard Radke has proposed the date of 28 March as his most likely birthday, while Lindsay Powell interprets Ovid's "Fasti" as indicating a date of 13 January. Rumors arose that Augustus was the child's real father, although impossible as Livia was already pregnant when she met her future husband, (Emperor Claudius nonetheless encouraged the rumor during his reign to create an impression of more direct lineage from Augustus).


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus was raised in Claudius Nero's house with his brother, the future emperor Tiberius, until his legal father's death. The two brothers developed a famously close relationship that would last the rest of their lives. Tiberius named his eldest son after his brother, although eldest sons were usually named after their father or grandfather. Drusus named his second son (future emperor Claudius) after Tiberius.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: According to Suetonius, Drusus was originally given the name "Decimus Claudius Drusus" but it was later changed to "Nero Claudius Drusus". It is not known when or why the change occurred. The names were unusual at the time, both putting heavy emphasis on his maternal ancestry by using Livia's father's cognomen instead of that of her husband; in his original name the use of the praenomen Decimus was also atypical for prevalent families of the late Republic; the eventual use of his father's cognomen Nero as a praenomen was highly unconventional as well.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Livia may have passed down her fathers cognomen to her son simply because besides her adoptive brother Marcus Livius Drusus Libo there was no one else to pass it down for the future. C. J. Simpson asserted that there are three moments in history where the name change is probable to have happened; when his brother Tiberius was adopted by Marcus Gallius, when their father died in 33 BC, or when he assumed the toga virilis. Simpson personally argued against the time of adoption of his brother as a plausible time for his name change since Simpson believed the event may even have happened before Drusus was born, he also rejected the point of death of their father as likely since it would have probably have brought attention to the circumstances surrounding Livia's divorce and remarriage which had become a part of Mark Antony's propaganda at the time. Simpson stated that in his opinion Livia chose the names Decimus and Drusus for her younger son to minimize association with her ex-husband after she married Octavian due to the former's poor status at the time, but that several years after the man's death it was opportune to emphasize her younger son's connection with his elder brother and that the name change was probably done upon him assuming the toga virilis.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus married Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus' sister, Octavia Minor, and gained a reputation of being completely faithful to her. Their children were Germanicus, Claudius, a daughter named Livilla ('little Livia'), and at least two others who did not survive childhood. After Drusus' death, Antonia never remarried, though she outlived him by nearly five decades. Three emperors were direct descendants of Drusus: his son Claudius, his grandson Caligula, and his great-grandson Nero.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Augustus bestowed many honors on his stepsons. In 19 BC, Drusus was granted the ability to hold all public offices five years before the minimum age. When Tiberius left Italy during his term as praetor in 16 BC, Drusus legislated in his place. He became quaestor the following year, fighting against Raetian bandits in the Alps. Drusus repelled them, gaining honors, but was unable to smash their forces, and required reinforcement from Tiberius. The brothers easily defeated the local Alpine tribes.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus arrived in Gaul in late 15 BC to serve as "legatus Augusti pro praetore" (governor on Augustus' behalf with the authority of a praetor) of the three Gaulish provinces. His contribution to the ongoing building and urban development in Gaul can be seen in the establishment of the "pes Drusianus", or ‘Drusian foot’, of about , which was in use in Samarobriva (modern Amiens) and among the Tungri. From 14 to 13 BC, Augustus himself was also active in Gaul, whether in Lugdunum (modern Lyon) or along the Rhine frontier.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: As governor of Gaul, Drusus made his headquarters at Lugdunum, where he decided to establish the "concilium Galliarum" or ‘council of the Gaulish provinces’ sometime between 14 and 12 BC. This council would elect from its members a priest to celebrate games and venerate Rome and Augustus as deities every 1 August at the altar of the three Gauls that Drusus established at Condate in 10 BC. Drusus' son Tiberius—the future emperor Claudius—was born in Lugdunum on the same day that this altar was inaugurated.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Starting in 14 BC, Drusus built a string of military bases along the Rhine—fifty according to Florus—and established an alliance with the Batavi in preparation for military action in Germania Libera. He is likely to have had seven legions under his command. In spring of 12 BC, he embarked an expeditionary force, perhaps consisting of the Legiones I Germanica and V Alaudae, by ship from the vicinity of modern Nijmegen, making use of one or more canals he had built for the purpose. Drusus sailed to the mouth of the Ems and penetrated into the territory of the Chauci in present-day Lower Saxony. The Chauci concluded a treaty acknowledging Roman supremacy, and would remain allies of Rome for years to come. As they continued to ascend the Ems, the Romans were attacked by the Bructeri in boats. Drusus' forces defeated the Bructeri, but, as it was now late in the campaign season, turned back for their winter quarters in Gaul, taking advantage of their new alliance with the Frisii to navigate through the difficult conditions on the North Sea.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: As a reward for the successes of his campaign in 12 BC, Drusus was made "praetor urbanus" for 11 BC when he returned to Rome for the winter. News of Drusus' achievements—navigating the North Sea, carrying the Roman eagles into new territory, and fixing new peoples into treaty relations with Rome—caused considerable excitement in Rome and were commemorated on coins.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: In the spring of his term as "praetor urbanus", he set out for the German border once more. This time, he assembled a force consisting of all or part of five legions in addition to auxiliaries and, setting out from Vetera on the Rhine, ascended the River Lippe. Here he encountered the Tencteri and Usipetes, whom he defeated in two separate engagements. He reached the Werra Valley before deciding to turn back for the season, as winter was coming on, supplies were dwindling, and the omens were unfavorable. While his forces were making their way back through the territory of the Cherusci, the latter tribe laid an ambush for them at Arbalo. The Cherusci failed to capitalize on their initial advantage, whereupon the Romans broke through their lines, defeated the Germanic attackers, and acclaimed Drusus as "imperator". To show his continued mastery of the ground, Drusus garrisoned a number of positions within Germania during the winter of 11–10 BC, including one somewhere in Hesse and one in Cheruscan territory, probably either at Haltern or Bergkamen-Oberaden, both in present-day North Rhine–Westphalia.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: He rejoined his wife Antonia and two children for a time in Lugdunum before the family returned to Rome, where Drusus reported to Augustus. Drusus was given the honor of an ovation, and for the second time, Augustus closed the doors of the Temple of Janus, signifying that the whole Roman world was then at peace.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus was granted the office of proconsul for the following year. In 10 BC, the Chatti joined with the Sicambri and attacked Drusus' camp, but they were driven back. Drusus pursued them, proceeding from the sites of present-day Mainz and , where he set up a base of supply, to Hedemünden, where a strong new camp was established. Around this time, the canny Marcomannic king Maroboduus responded to the Roman incursion by relocating his people "en masse" to Bohemia. In summer of 10 BC, Drusus left the field in order to return to Lugdunum, where he inaugurated the sanctuary of the Three Gaulish provinces at Condate on 1 August. Augustus and Tiberius were in Lugdunum for this occasion (when Drusus' youngest son Claudius was born), and afterwards Drusus accompanied them back to Rome.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus easily won election as consul for the year 9 BC. Once more he left the city before assuming office. His consulship conferred the chance for Drusus to attain Rome's highest and rarest military honor, the "spolia opima", or spoils of an enemy chieftain slain personally by an opposing Roman general who was fighting (as consuls did) under his own auspices. He quickly returned to the field, stopping to confer with his staff at Lugdunum and to dedicate a temple to Caesar Augustus at Andemantunnum, before rejoining his command at Mainz, from which the year's expedition departed in early spring. Drusus led the army via Rödgen through the territories of the Marsi and Cherusci until he even crossed the river Elbe. Here he is said to have seen an apparition of a Germanic woman who warned him against proceeding farther and that his death was near. Drusus turned back, erecting a trophy to commemorate his reaching the Elbe, perhaps on the site of Dresden or Magdeburg.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus had sought out multiple Germanic (at least three) chieftains during his campaigns in Germany (12 BC–9 BC), engaging them in "dazzling displays of single combat". The sources are ambiguous, but suggest that he could have potentially taken the "spolia opima" from a Germanic king, thus becoming the fourth and final Roman to gain this honor. Regardless of whether he was actually able to take them in combat, however, Drusus' untimely death would prevent him from ever going through with the official ceremony. Notably, after Drusus' death, Augustus deposited the laurels from his "fasces" not in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus as he had done in the past, but in the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius. J.W. Rich suggests that this action was done as an affirmation to Drusus' memory; had the young commander lived, he would have placed "spolia opima" in the temple himself.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus was returning from his advance to the Elbe when he fell from his horse, lingering on for a month after the accident, by which point Tiberius had joined him. Shortly before his death he wrote a letter to Tiberius complaining about the style in which Augustus ruled. Suetonius reports that he had refused to return to Rome just before his death. Drusus' body was brought back to the city, and his ashes were deposited in the Mausoleum of Augustus. He remained extremely popular with the legionaries, who erected a monument (the Drususstein) in "Mogontiacum" (modern Mainz) on his behalf. Remnants of this are still standing.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: The Senate raised an arch on the Appian Way in his memory (unrelated to the Arch of Drusus) which read "DE GERM" and depicted his Elbe trophy as well as him fighting on horseback, a testament to his personal bravery. They also posthumously granted him the hereditary honorific title "Germanicus", which was given to his eldest son before passing to his youngest. It would be used by many members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, including its last three emperors: his grandson Caligula, his son Claudius, and his great-grandson Nero. Augustus later wrote a biography of him which does not survive. By Augustus' decree, festivals were held in Mogontiacum at Drusus' death day and probably also on his birthday.


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Drusus' mother Livia, much affected by the death of her second son, took the advice of the philosopher Areus to put up many statues and images of Drusus and speak often about him. The surviving Latin work "Consolatio ad Liviam" is framed as an Ovidian message of consolation to Livia on this occasion, though it is generally considered a literary exercise "composed between the death of Livia [AD 29] and that of Tiberius [AD 37]".


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Augustus noted the successes of Drusus' campaigns—for which, as Drusus' superior, he took credit—in his "Res Gestae Divi Augusti", written in 14 AD:


title: Nero Claudius Drusus

text: Upon Claudius' accession to the principate in 41 AD, his late father Drusus received new public honors, including annual games in the Circus Maximus on 14 January for Drusus' birthday, coin issues depicting Drusus' likeness and his commemorative arch, and the restoration of a monument near the Ara Pacis Augustae that featured a statue of Drusus. Claudius also completed a road from Italy into Raetia that followed the route Drusus had taken and whose road-markers commemorated Drusus' achievements in the Alpine war. Such Claudian commemorations of Drusus' memory are thought to have become less prominent once Claudius had his own British triumph to celebrate.


title: Al Ain FC

text: Al Ain Football Club (; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of the multi-sports club Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club () Al Ain SCC for short.


title: Al Ain FC

text: The club was founded in 1968 by players from Al Ain, members of a Bahraini group of exchange students and the Sudanese community working in the United Arab Emirates. The team quickly gained popularity and recognition throughout the country, being the team with the most trophies (35 in total).


title: Al Ain FC

text: Al Ain is by far the most successful club in the UAE. Al Ain has won a record 14 UAE Pro League, 7 President's Cups, 5 Super Cups, 3 Federation Cups, two League Cup, two Abu Dhabi Championship, Gulf Club Champions Cup and AFC Champions League. The club is the first and only UAE side so far to win the AFC Champions League.


title: Al Ain FC

text: In the early 1960s, a group of young men learned the rules of the game by watching British soldiers playing football and formed their own team. The first pitch was very simple and small, taking the shape of a square sandy plot of land on the main street near the Clock Roundabout in Al Ain.


title: Al Ain FC

text: In August 1968, the club was officially established, taking its name from the city they lived. The founders thought it was necessary to have a permanent headquarters for the club and rented a house on the current Khalifa Road for club meetings. The club's founders took responsibility for all the club's affairs, from planning the stadium to cleaning the club headquarters and washing the kit. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was approached for assistance and he provided the club with a permanent headquarters in the Al Jahili district and a Land Rover to serve the club and the team. Al Ain made a successful debut by beating a team made up of British soldiers and went


title: Al Ain FC

text: on to play friendly matches against other Abu Dhabi clubs. In 1971, the team played their first match against international opposition when they were defeated 7–0 by the Egyptian club Ismaily in a friendly match for the war effort.


title: Al Ain FC

text: In 1971, a group members of the club (Hadher Khalaf Al Muhairi, Saleem Al Khudrawi, Mohammed Khalaf Al Muhairi and Mahmoud Fadhlullah) broke away and founded Al Tadhamun Club. In 1971, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan provided the club with new headquarters with modern specifications: the Khalifa Stadium in Al Sarooj district. In 1974 Al Ain combined with the breakaway Al Tadhamun, to form the "Al Ain Sports Club". The first board of directors of the club was formed after the merger under the chairmanship Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri.


title: Al Ain FC

text: The founders were Mohammed Saleh Bin Badooh and Khalifa Nasser Al Suwaidi, Saeed Bin Ghannoum Al Hameli, Abdullah Hazzam, Salem Hassan Al Muhairi, Abdullah and Mane'a Ajlan, Saeed Al Muwaisi, Nasser Dhaen, Abdullah Matar, Juma Al Najem, Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, Ibrahim Rasool and Ali Al Maloud and Ali Bu Majeed, who were the members of the Bahraini group of exchange students and Maamoun Abdulqader, Mahmoud Fadhlullah, Al Fateh Al Talib, Hussain Al Mirghani, Abbas Ali and Nasser, Abdullah Al Mansouri from the Sudanese and Saudi community working in the UAE.


title: Al Ain FC

text: On 2 February 1974, the club won its first title, the Abu Dhabi League. On 13 November 1974, Sheikh Khalifa was named honorary president of Al Ain, in recognition of his continuing support for the club. On 21 May 1975, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected Chairman of Board of Directors. In 1975, Al Ain won its second Abu Dhabi League. In the same year on 21 March 1975, the club played its first UAE President Cup losing 4–5 on penalties in the Round of 16 against Al Shaab after drawing 1–1 in normal time. In 1975–76 season, the team participated for the first time in the UAE Football League, finishing runners-up behind Al Ahli. Al Ain won its first League title in the 1976–77 season, after drawing 1–1 with Al Sharjah in the last match. In the following season, they finished runners-up to Al Nasr; Mohieddine Habita was the top scorer with 20 goals. In the 1978–79 season, Al Ain secure third place with 27 points in the league and defeated by Sharjah in the President Cup final.


title: Al Ain FC

text: Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan became president of Al Ain on 19 January 1979. Al Ain won the League again in the 1980–81 season and lost the President Cup final to Al Shabab of Dubai. In 1983–84, the team won Joint League Cup and followed with its third League title, becoming the second with Al Ahli to have won the championship three times. The team had the strongest attack with 35 goals, and Ahmed Abdullah, with 20 goals was the joint-winner of the Arab League Golden Boot award for top scorer, alongside Al Wasl striker Fahad Khamees. This season was the first season in which foreign players were excluded from the UAE League, a restriction which was opposed by Al Ain. After winning the League title in 1983–84 season, Al Ain failed to win any trophies until 1989 when they won the Federation Cup. In the following year they reached the final of the President Cup, losing to Al Shabab.


title: Al Ain FC

text: The 1992–93 season began with several new signings: Saif Sultan (Ittihad Kalba), Salem Johar (Ajman), Saeed Juma (Emirates). Al Ain won their fourth League title with three games left to play, after a 5–0 win at Al Khaleej. In the following season, they finished second in the Football League and were runners-up the 1993 UAE Super Cup losing 2–1 against Al Shaab. They also reached the President Cup final but were beaten 1–0 by Al Shabab, failing for the fourth time to win the Cup. In 1994 and 1995, Al Ain lost two President Cup finals, finished second in the League, won the 1995 UAE Super Cup and lost out in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup second round to the Kuwaiti team Kazma. In the 1996–97 season, Al Ain were eliminated in the round of 16 of the President Cup by Hatta and finished fourth in the Football League.


title: Al Ain FC

text: Before the start of the 1997–98 season, the honorary board was formed on 7 June 1997. After this initiative, Al Ain won the league championship. In the following season, they won the President Cup and finished runner-up in the league and secured the third place in their second appearance in Asian Club Championship, after the 1985. Ilie Balaci took charge in 1999. He led them to their sixth League championship, while in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup they were eliminated by Al Jaish on the away goals rule in the first round.


title: Al Ain FC

text: In 2003, Al Ain contested the AFC Champions League competition. In the Group stage they won all three matches, beating Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Al Sadd of Qatar and Esteghlal of Iran. In the semi-final they were matched against the Chinese side Dalian Shide over two legs. In the first game, Al Ain won 4–2 at home, with Boubacar Sanogo scoring twice. In the return match in China Al Ain went 4–2 down with six minutes to play but won 7–6 on aggregate after a late goal by Farhad Majidi the Iranian legend. The final saw Al Ain face BEC Tero Sasana of Thailand. In the home leg, Al Ain prevailed 2–0 with goals from Salem Johar and Mohammad Omar. At the Rajamangala Stadium on 11 October, Al Ain were beaten 1–0 by Tero Sasana, but won 2–1 on aggregate to become the first Emirati club to win the Champions League.


title: Al Ain FC

text: In December 2018, Al Ain which celebrated the 50th anniversary participating in the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup, representing the host nation as the reigning champions of the UAE Pro-League. Al Ain beat Team Wellington from New Zealand in the first round and Espérance de Tunis of 2018 CAF Champions League champions to enter semifinal. On 18 December 2018, Al Ain defeated Copa Libertadores champions River Plate by penalties hosted in their home stadium Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to enter the final for the first time in team history and became the first Emirati club to reach the decisive match. The final, on 22 December, Al Ain lost 4–1 to UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.


title: Al Ain FC

text: Al Jahili Fort is considered as a symbol of the club, because it reflects the history of the city and also was the formal home of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan since 1946 when he was a ruler's representative. It officially became a crest for the club in 1980. They import a single star in their emblem because of their 2003 AFC Champions League victory.


title: Al Ain FC

text: The team began playing in green and white in 1968. After merging with Al Tadhamon in 1974, their red colour became Al Ain's from season 1974–75 until the start of season 1976–77. During the first team training camp in Morocco in 1977, a friendly tournament was held by Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca with the Nice, Sporting CP, and Anderlecht. Al Ain admired Anderlecht's purple colors, and an idea came to change Al Ain's colors to purple. The idea was presented to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who agreed to change the club colors officially to the purple with the beginning of the season 1977–78.


title: Al Ain FC

text: Al Ain first playground was set up on the main street near the Clock Roundabout in Al Ain. Took the shape of a square sandy plot of land. In 1971, Al Ain moved to new stadium in Al Sarouj district at a cost of £40,290. On 18 June 1978, the new stadium named after honorary president Khalifa Bin Zayed known as Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium. The stadium underwent a renovation in 2002 and increased its capacity to 12,000 people and as of the 2006–07 season all the Al Ain matches are played in this stadium. The stadium went through another significant upgrade and renovation, to prepare for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, hosted in the UAE. As of 14 January 2014, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium been Al Ain home ground.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless onscreen character often called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of "Trouble in Store", his first film in a lead role.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were the only ones with Western actors permitted to be shown by dictator Enver Hoxha. Charlie Chaplin once referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway in New York City and as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play "Going Gently" in 1981. He toured Australia and South Africa. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was named in his honour. In 1995, he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana. The same year, he was appointed OBE and was knighted five years later.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Norman Joseph Wisdom was born in the Marylebone district of London. His parents were Frederick, a chauffeur, and Maud Wisdom (née Targett), a dressmaker who often worked for West End theatres, and had made a dress for Queen Mary. The couple married in Marylebone on 15 July 1912. Wisdom had an elder brother, Frederick Thomas "Fred" Wisdom (13 December 1912 – 1 July 1971).


title: Norman Wisdom

text: The family lived at 91 Fernhead Road, Maida Vale, London W9, where they slept in one room. He and his brother were brought up in extreme poverty and were frequently hit by their father who would pick them up and throw them across the room.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: After a period in a children's home in Deal, Kent, Wisdom ran away when he was 11 but returned to become an errand boy in a grocer's shop on leaving school at 13. Having been kicked out of his home by his father he become homeless and slept rough in London, in 1929 he walked (by his own account) to Cardiff, Wales, where he became a cabin boy in the Merchant Navy. He later also worked as a waiter and page in hotels where room and board was supplied for the staff.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom first enlisted into the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), but his mother had him discharged as he was under age. He later re-enlisted as a drummer boy in the 10th Royal Hussars. In 1930, he was posted to Lucknow, in the United Provinces of British India, as a bandsman.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: He rode horses, became the flyweight boxing champion of the British Army in India and taught himself to play the piano, trumpet, saxophone, flute, drums, bugle and clarinet.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: At the outbreak of the Second World War, Wisdom was sent to work in a communications centre in a command bunker in London, where he connected telephone calls from war leaders to the prime minister. He met Winston Churchill on several occasions when asked for updates on incoming calls. Wisdom then joined the Royal Corps of Signals, and performed a similar military function at the unit headquarters in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Whilst performing a shadow boxing routine in an army gym, Wisdom discovered he had a talent for entertainment, and began to develop his skills as a musician and stage entertainer. In 1940 aged 25, at a NAAFI entertainment night, during a dance routine, Wisdom stepped down from his position in the orchestra pit, and started shadow boxing. Hearing his colleagues and officers giggling, he broke into a duck waddle, followed by a series of facial expressions. He later described the reaction as: "They were in hysterics. All the officers were falling about laughing."


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom later said this was where he first patented his persona as "The Successful Failure". Over the next few years, until he was demobilised in 1945, his routine included his characteristic singing and the trip-up-and-stumble. After Wisdom appeared at a charity concert at Cheltenham Town Hall on 31 August 1944, actor Rex Harrison came backstage and urged him to become a professional entertainer.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: After being demobilised Wisdom worked as a private hire car driver. Having improved his diction in the army, he also took a job as a night telephone operator.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom made his debut as a professional entertainer at the age of 31 still calling himself "The Successful Failure". In the anonymity of small suburban music halls he built an act out of his shyness, his ability to fall and his multi-instrumental music skills and singing talent where the theatre band constantly changed key and he could never keep up until pulling out his virtuosity and beating them at their own game. One outstanding review in August 1946 read, "An unusual and most versatile comedian, Norman Wisdom, contributes two remarkable turns. He is an accomplished pianist, a pleasing singer, a talented instrumentalist, a clever mimer, and withal, a true humorist.". His rise to the top was relatively fast. A very successful run at the London Casino in April 1948, led to a summer season in "Out of the Blue" in Scarborough. Magician David Nixon was also part of the cast and the two worked together so well that they went on to continue the act on other variety stages starting at the London Casino in September 1948. Christmas 1948 saw him in the pantomime "Robinson Crusoe" at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre. Wisdom had already adopted the costume that would remain his trademark: tweed flat cap askew, with peak turned up; a suit at least two sizes too tight; a crumpled collar and a mangled tie. The character that went with this costume — known as the Gump — was to dominate Wisdom's film career. A West End theatre star within two years, he honed his act into a star turn mainly between theatres in London and Brighton:


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom made his TV debut in 1948 and was soon commanding enormous audiences and had a small film role in "A Date with a Dream" released in the same year.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom made a series of low-budget star-vehicle comedies for the Rank Organisation, beginning with "Trouble in Store" (1953). This film earned him a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Film in 1954. It was the second most popular film at the British box-office in 1954 and exhibitors voted him the tenth biggest star at the British box office the same year.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: His films' cheerful, unpretentious appeal make them the direct descendants of those made a generation earlier by George Formby. Never highly thought of by the critics, they were very popular with domestic audiences and Wisdom's films were among Britain's biggest box-office successes of their day. They were also successful in some unlikely overseas markets, helping Rank stay afloat financially when their more expensive film projects were unsuccessful.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: The films usually involved the Gump character, usually called Norman, in a manual occupation in which he is barely competent and in a junior position to a straight man, often played by Edward Chapman (as Mr Grimsdale) or Jerry Desmonde. They benefited from Wisdom's capacity for physical slapstick comedy and his skill at creating a sense of the character's helplessness. The series often contained a romantic subplot; the Gump's inevitable awkwardness with women is a characteristic shared with the earlier Formby vehicles. His innocent incompetence still made him endearing to the heroine.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom's second film as star, "One Good Turn" (1955), was the seventh most popular movie of 1955 in Britain. He made a cameo in "As Long as They're Happy" (1955), then returned in "Man of the Moment" (1955). He was the 6th most popular star of 1955.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was a window cleaner in "Up in the World" (1956) and worked in a jewellery store in "Just My Luck" (1957). The box office receipts of these last few films had declined from previous Wisdom films but "The Square Peg" (1959), an army comedy, reversed the trend and was one of the year's biggest hits. The film was the 7th most popular movie at the British box office in 1959. Less successful was "Follow a Star" (1959). "There Was a Crooked Man" (1960) was an attempt to change Wisdom's image away from Rank Organisation. "The Bulldog Breed" (1960) was more conventional. The film also starred a young Michael Caine who later recalled he did not enjoy working with Wisdom because he "wasn't very nice to support-part actors". Wisdom remained the 10th biggest star at the British box office.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was in "The Girl on the Boat" (1961) from a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, a second film away from the Rank formula. "On the Beat" (1962) as a car cleaner and "A Stitch in Time" (1963), in which he was cast as an apprentice butcher, returned him to the regular format.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: "The Early Bird" (1965), his first colour film, had Wisdom as a milkman. After a cameo in "The Sandwich Man" (1966), Wisdom starred in "Press for Time" (1966), the last film in this sequence of starring vehicles. Wisdom was still voted the 5th most popular star at the British box office.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Whilst Wisdom's stage performances often involved musical numbers, he wrote only a few of them. He has seven songs attributed to him in the ASCAP database, which are: "Beware", "Don't Laugh at Me ('cause I'm a Fool)", "Falling in Love", "Follow a Star", "I Love You", "Please Opportunity", and "Up in the World".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In 1966, Wisdom spent a short period in the United States to star in the Broadway production of the Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn musical comedy "Walking Happy" based on the play "Hobson's Choice" by Harold Brighouse. His performance as "Will Mosop" was nominated for a Tony Award.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: This led to Wisdom's being cast in his first Hollywood film, "The Night They Raided Minsky's" (1968) and in the US Television musical of George Bernard Shaw's "Androcles and The Lion" (1967) with songs by Richard Rogers and co-starring Noël Coward.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: After a typical performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, further US opportunities were denied him when he had to return to London after his second wife left him. His subsequent career was largely confined to television, and he toured the world with a successful cabaret act. He won critical acclaim in 1981 for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was one of several actors initially considered for the role of Frank Spencer in "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em." However, he turned the role down and it eventually went to Michael Crawford. The creator of the series Raymond Allen later stated "Norman Wisdom was offered the role but turned it down because he didn't find it funny".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: On 31 December 1976, Wisdom performed his theme song "Don't Laugh at Me ('cause I'm a Fool)" on BBC1's "A Jubilee of Music", celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee. Wisdom had performed in front of the Queen at many Royal Command Performances, the first being in 1952.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: After touring South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia with some success, his appearances in Britain became more infrequent. He spent much of the 1980s in seclusion on the Isle of Man.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom's career revived in the 1990s, helped by the young comedian Lee Evans, whose act was often compared to Wisdom's work. The high point of this new popularity was the knighthood he was awarded, for services to entertainment, in the 2000 New Year's honours list. During the ceremony, once he had received his knighthood, he walked away and again performed his trademark trip, at which the Queen smiled and laughed.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: From 1995 until 2004 he appeared in the recurring role of Billy Ingleton in the long-running BBC comedy "Last of the Summer Wine".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was a guest on a "This Is Your Life" special in 2000 for actor and director Todd Carty. He appeared as a half-time guest at the England vs Albania 2002 World Cup qualifier at St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, and scored a penalty at the Leazes End.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In 2002 Wisdom filmed a cameo role as a butler in a low-budget horror film. In 2004, he made an appearance on "Coronation Street", playing fitness fanatic pensioner Ernie Crabbe. In 2007 he came out of retirement to take a role in a short film called "Expresso".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was a well-known performer in Albania, where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country under Enver Hoxha. According to Hoxha's dialectical materialist viewpoint, proletarian Norman's ultimately victorious struggles against capitalism, personified by Mr Grimsdale and the effete aristocratic characters played by Jerry Desmonde, were a Communist parable on the class war. He was known as Mr Pitkin after the character from his films. In 1995, he visited the post-Stalinist country where, to his surprise, he was greeted by many appreciative fans, including the then President, Sali Berisha. During this trip, Wisdom was filmed by "Newsnight" as he visited a children's project funded by ChildHope UK.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: On a visit in 2001, which coincided with the England football team playing Albania in the city of Tirana, his appearance at the training ground overshadowed that of David Beckham. He appeared on the pitch before the start of the Albania v England match wearing a half-Albanian and half-English football shirt. He was well received by the crowd, especially when he performed one of his trademark trips on his way out to the centre circle. In 1995 Wisdom was made an honorary citizen of Tirana.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In his book and TV series "One Hit Wonderland", Tony Hawks united with Wisdom and, along with Tim Rice, released a single, "Big in Albania", in an attempt to enter the Albanian pop charts. It reached number 18 on the Top Albania Radio chart.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In October 2004, Wisdom announced he would retire from the entertainment industry on his 90th birthday (4 February 2005). He announced that he intended to spend more time with his family, playing golf and driving around the Isle of Man, where he was living.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In 2007, Wisdom returned to acting in a short film directed by Kevin Powis, "Expresso". The film, which Wisdom later announced (reported BBC/ITV News) was to be officially his last film role, is set during one day in a coffee shop and was funded by the UK Film Council and ScreenWM. Shot in January, it premièred at the Cannes Film Festival on 27 May 2007. It was later adopted by the UK charity Macmillan and released on DVD in aid of the charity.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In the film, Wisdom plays a vicar plagued by a fly in a café. Producer Nigel Martin Davey gave him only a visual role so that he would not have to remember any lines, but on the day, Wisdom was alert and had his performance changed to add more laughs.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was married twice. His first wife was Doreen Brett, whom he married in 1941. By 1944 they had separated when Doreen gave birth to a son, Michael (born 1944), fathered by Albert Gerald Hardwick, a telephone engineer. The marriage was dissolved in 1946.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: He married his second wife, Freda Isobel Simpson, in 1947; they had two children: Nicholas (born 1953, who later played first-class cricket for Sussex) and Jacqueline (born 1954). The couple divorced in 1969, with Wisdom granted full custody of the children. Freda Wisdom died in Brighton in 1992.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Popular in the Isle of Man, he lived for 27 years in a house in Andreas named Ballalough (Manx for "lake farm", also a humorous corruption of the English "belly laugh"). He supported various charities and charitable works, including orphanages in Albania. In 2005, Wisdom starred in a video for the Manx girl group Twisted Angels, for their single "LA", in support of the local charity Project 21.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: During the 1960s, he was involved in a famous legal case ("Wisdom v Chamberlain", 1968) in which he was pursued by the Inland Revenue for tax on profits made from the sale of silver bullion he had bought when concerned about the further devaluation of sterling. He contended that it was an investment, but the court held that it had been a trading venture and was duly chargeable to income tax.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom was a lifelong supporter and a former board member of football team Brighton & Hove Albion. He also liked Everton and Newcastle United. He enjoyed golf, and was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats. He was an honorary member of the Winkle Club, a charity in Hastings, East Sussex.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: A lover of cars, his collection included a 1956 Bentley S1 Continental R Type fastback, which he first bought in 1961, and then again in the late 1980s. In 1969, he purchased, after the divorce from Freda Simpson, a Shelby Cobra 427, CSX3206, in New York, which he kept until 1986, when it was sold to another car enthusiast in Brighton, UK. Until his age and declining mental health meant he failed a Department of Transport fitness-to-drive test, he owned and drove a 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit and a Jaguar S-Type, which were sold in September 2005.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In 1963, he bought a new motor yacht. The long hull and superstructure were built in Spain for £80,000, before being towed to Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, for fitting out. After three years of extensive works and sea trials, she was named M/Y "Conquest" and valued at £1.25 million by insurers. It was available for charter at £6,000 a month but Wisdom later sold it, saying that he was "no sailor".


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Actress Fenella Fielding, who worked with Wisdom on his 1959 film "Follow a Star", said he was "not a very pleasant man. Always making a pass – hand up your skirt first thing in the morning. Not exactly a lovely way to start a day's filming." Lynda Bellingham, who worked with Wisdom on "A Little Bit of Wisdom", recalled a comedy sketch where "for ten minutes I stood there while he basically touched me up and you couldn't say anything because he was the master of comedy." Singer Tina Charles, who had a number one with "I Love To Love" in 1976, alleged that Wisdom molested her in his dressing room when she was 16.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In mid-2006, after he suffered an irregular heart rhythm, Wisdom was flown by helicopter to hospital in Liverpool and was fitted with a heart pacemaker.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: Wisdom resided in the Abbotswood nursing home in Ballasalla, where he had been resident from 12 July 2007.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: On the release of "Expresso" to DVD in the same month, BBC News confirmed that Wisdom lived in a care home, because of his suffering from vascular dementia. It was also reported that he had granted his children power of attorney over his affairs and, having sold off his flat in Epsom, Surrey, they were now in the process of selling his Isle of Man home to raise money to fund his longer-term care.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: On 16 January 2008, BBC2 aired "Wonderland: The Secret Life Of Norman Wisdom Aged 92 and 3/4." The documentary highlighted the dilemma of coping with an ageing parent. His family said that Wisdom's memory loss had become so severe that he no longer recognised himself in his films.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: In the six months prior to his death, Wisdom suffered a series of strokes, causing a decline in his physical and mental health. He died on 4 October 2010 at Abbotswood nursing home on the Isle of Man at the age of 95.


title: Norman Wisdom

text: His funeral took place on 22 October 2010 in Douglas, Isle of Man, and all of the island were invited. His trademark cloth cap was placed on the coffin in the church. The funeral was attended by a large number of showbusiness personalities and, at Wisdom's request, Moira Anderson sang "Who Can I Turn To", which was specially arranged for the occasion by Gordon Cree. Wisdom's body was buried at Kirk Bride Churchyard, Bride, Isle of Man.


title: Kenneth Anger

text: Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle". His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle". Anger has been called "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner", and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise [...] impossible to overestimate", with several films released before the legalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults in the United States. He focused on occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the English gnostic mage and poet Aleister Crowley, and is an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded.