title: Land

text: The phrase "the law of the land" first appeared in 1215 in the Magna Carta, inspiring its later usage in the United States Constitution. The idea of common land also originated with medieval English law, and refers collective ownership of land, treating it as a common good. In environmental science, economics, and game theory, the tragedy of the commons refers to individuals' use of common spaces for their own gain, deteriorating the land overall by taking more than their fair share and not cooperating with others. The idea of common land suggests public ownership; but there is still some land that can be privatized as property for an individual, such as a landlord or king. In the developed world, land is expected to be privately owned by an individual with legal title, but in the developing world the right to use land is often divided, with the rights to land resources being given to different people at different times for the same area of land. Beginning in the late 20th century, the international community has begun to recognise Indigenous land rights in law, for example, the Treaty of Waitangi for Māori people, the Act on Greenland Self-Government for Inuit people, and the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in the Philippines.


title: Land

text: Borders are geographical boundaries imposed either by geographic features (oceans, mountain ranges, rivers) or by political entities (governments, states, or subnational entities). Political borders can be established through warfare, colonization, or mutual agreements between the political entities that reside in those areas; the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.


title: Land

text: Many wars and other conflicts have occurred in efforts by participants to expand the land under their control, or to assert control of a specific area of considered to hold strategic, historical, or cultural significance. The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries became the largest contiguous land empire in history through war and conquest.


title: Land

text: In the 19th-century United States, a concept of manifest destiny was developed by various groups, asserting that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. This concept was used to justify military action against the indigenous peoples of North America and of Mexico.


title: Land

text: The aggression of Nazi Germany in World War II was motivated in part by the concept of "Lebensraum" ("living space"), which had first became a geopolitical goal of Imperial Germany in World War I (1914–1918) originally, as the core element of the of territorial expansion.<ref name="E/N301"></ref> The most extreme form of this ideology was supported by the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Lebensraum was one of the leading motivations Nazi Germany had in initiating World War II, and it would continue this policy until the end of World War II.


title: Land

text: Land degradation is "the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity" of land as a result of human activity. Land degradation is driven by many different activities, including agriculture, urbanization, energy production, and mining. Humans have altered more than three-quarters of ice-free land through habitation and other use, fundamentally changing ecosystems. Human activity is a major factor in the Holocene extinction, and human-caused climate change is causing rising sea levels and ecosystem loss. Environmental scientists study land's ecosystems, natural resources, biosphere (fauna and flora), troposphere, and the impact of human activity on these. Their recommendations have led to international action to prevent biodiversity loss and desertification, and encourage sustainable forest and waste management. The conservation movement lobbies for the protection of endangered species and the protection of natural areas, such as parks. International frameworks have focused on analyzing how humans can meet their needs while using land more efficiently and preserving its natural resources, notably under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals framework.


title: Land

text: Human land use can cause soil to degrade, both in quality and in quantity. Soil degradation can be caused by agrochemicals (such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides), infrastructure development, and mining among other activities. There are several different processes that lead to soil degradation. Physical processes, such as erosion, sealing, and crusting, lead to the structural breakdown of the soil. This means water cannot penetrate the soil surface, causing surface runoff. Chemical processes, such as salinization, acidification, and toxication, lead to chemical imbalances in the soil. Salinization in particular is detrimental, as it makes land less productive for agriculture and affects at least 20% of all irrigated lands. Deliberate disruption of soil in the form of tillage can also alter biological processes in the soil, which leads to excessive mineralization and the loss of nutrients.


title: Land

text: Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which fertile areas become increasingly arid as a result of natural processes or human activities, resulting in loss of biological productivity. This spread of arid areas can be influenced by a variety of human factors, such as deforestation, improper land management, overgrazing, anthropogenic climate change, and overexploitation of soil. Throughout geological history, desertification has occurred naturally, though in recent times it is greatly accelerated by human activity.


title: Land

text: Ground pollution includes litter. Some landfills, such as the Apex Regional landfill in Las Vegas, can be thousands of acres in size.


title: Land

text: Water pollution on land is the contamination of non-oceanic hydrological surface and underground water features such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands, aquifers, reservoirs, and groundwater as a result of human activities. It may be caused by toxic substances (e.g., oil, metals, plastics, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, industrial waste products), stressful conditions (e.g., changes of pH, hypoxia or anoxia, increased temperatures, excessive turbidity, unpleasant taste or odor, and changes of salinity), or pathogenic organisms.


title: Land

text: Terrestrial biodiversity loss refers to the worldwide extinction of various land-based species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in certain habitats. Biodiversity loss is caused by many human activities. Agriculture can cause biodiversity loss as land is converted for agricultural use at a very high rate, particularly in the tropics, which directly causes habitat loss. The use of pesticides and herbicides can also negatively impact the health of local species. Ecosystems can also be divided and degraded by infrastructure development outside of urban areas.


title: Land

text: Biodiversity loss can sometimes be reversed through ecological restoration or ecological resilience, such as through the restoration of abandoned agricultural areas; however, it may also be permanent (e.g. through land loss). The planet's ecosystem is quite sensitive: occasionally, minor changes from a healthy equilibrium can have dramatic influence on a food web or food chain, up to and including the coextinction of that entire food chain. Biodiversity loss leads to reduced ecosystem services, and can eventually threaten food security. Earth is currently undergoing its sixth mass extinction (the "Holocene extinction") as a result of human activities which push beyond the planetary boundaries. So far, this extinction has proven irreversible.


title: Land

text: Although humans have used land for its natural resources since ancient times, demand for resources such as timber, minerals, and energy has grown exponentially since the Industrial Revolution due to population growth. When a natural resource is depleted to the point of diminishing returns, it is considered the overexploitation of that resource. Some natural resources, such as timber, are considered renewable, because with sustainable practices they replenish to their previous levels. Fossil fuels such as coal are not considered renewable, as they take millions of years to form, with the current supply of coal expected to peak in the middle of the 21st century. Economic materialism, or consumerism, has influenced destructive patterns of modern resource usage, in contrast with pre-industrial usage.


title: Orphan

text: In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usually relevant (i.e. if the female parent has gone, the offspring is an orphan, regardless of the father's condition).


title: Orphan

text: Various groups use different definitions to identify orphans. One legal definition used in the United States is a minor bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents".


title: Orphan

text: In the common use, an orphan does not have any surviving parent to care for them. However, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), and other groups label any child who has lost one parent as an orphan. In this approach, a "maternal orphan" is a child whose mother has died, a "paternal orphan" is a child whose father has died, and a "double orphan" is a child/teen/infant who has lost both parents. This contrasts with the older use of "half-orphan" to describe children who had lost only one parent.


title: Orphan

text: Orphans are relatively rare in developed countries, because most children can expect both of their parents to survive their childhood. Much higher numbers of orphans exist in war-torn nations such as Afghanistan.


title: Orphan

text: Famous orphans include world leaders such as Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, and Pedro II of Brazil; writers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Leo Tolstoy; and athletes such as Aaron Hernandez. The American orphan Henry Darger portrayed the horrible conditions of his orphanage in his art work. Other notable orphans include entertainment greats such as Louis Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth, Ray Charles and Frances McDormand, and innumerable fictional characters in literature and comics.


title: Orphan

text: have led to many children becoming orphans. The Second World War (1939-1945), with its massive numbers of deaths and vast population movements, left large numbers of orphans in many countries—with estimates for Europe ranging from 1,000,000 to 13,000,000. Judt (2006) estimates there were 9,000 orphaned children in Czechoslovakia, 60,000 in the Netherlands 300,000 in Poland and 200,000 in Yugoslavia, plus many more in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, China and elsewhere.


title: Orphan

text: Orphaned characters are extremely common as literary protagonists, especially in children's and fantasy literature. The lack of parents leaves the characters to pursue more interesting and adventurous lives, by freeing them from familial obligations and controls, and depriving them of more prosaic lives. It creates characters that are self-contained and introspective and who strive for affection. Orphans can metaphorically search for self-understanding through attempting to know their roots. Parents can also be allies and sources of aid for children, and removing the parents makes the character's difficulties more severe. Parents, furthermore, can be irrelevant to the theme a writer is trying to develop, and orphaning the character frees the writer from the necessity to depict such an irrelevant relationship; if one parent-child relationship is important, removing the other parent prevents complicating the necessary relationship. All these characteristics make orphans attractive characters for authors.


title: Orphan

text: A number of well-known authors have written books featuring orphans. Examples from classic literature include Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre", Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist", Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" , L. M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables", Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure", and J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". Among more recent authors, A. J. Cronin, Lemony Snicket, A. F. Coniglio, Roald Dahl and J. K. Rowling, as well as some less well-known authors of famous orphans like Little Orphan Annie have used orphans as major characters. One recurring storyline has been the relationship that the orphan can have with an adult from outside their immediate family as seen in Lyle Kessler's play "Orphans".


title: Orphan

text: Orphans are especially common as characters in comic books. Almost all the most popular heroes are orphans: Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Robin, The Flash, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Green Arrow were all orphaned. Orphans are also very common among villains: Bane, Catwoman, and Magneto are examples. Lex Luthor, Deadpool, and Carnage can also be included on this list, though they killed one or both of their parents. Supporting characters befriended by the heroes are also often orphans, including the Newsboy Legion and Rick Jones.


title: Orphan

text: Many religious texts, including the Bible and the Quran, contain the idea that helping and defending orphans is a very important and God-pleasing matter. The religious leaders Moses and Muhammad were orphaned as children. Several scriptural citations describe how orphans should be treated:


title: Natural language

text: In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages can take different forms, such as speech or signing. They are distinguished from constructed and formal languages such as those used to program computers or to study logic.


title: Natural language

text: All varieties of world languages are natural languages, including those that are associated with linguistic prescriptivism or language regulation. (Nonstandard dialects can be viewed as a wild type in comparison with standard languages.) An official language with a regulating academy such as Standard French, overseen by the Académie Française, is classified as a natural language (e.g. in the field of natural language processing), as its prescriptive aspects do not make it constructed enough to be a constructed language or controlled enough to be a controlled natural language.


title: Natural language

text: Controlled natural languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce ambiguity and complexity. This may be accomplished by decreasing usage of superlative or adverbial forms, or irregular verbs. Typical purposes for developing and implementing a controlled natural language are to aid understanding by non-native speakers or to ease computer processing. An example of a widely-used controlled natural language is Simplified Technical English, which was originally developed for aerospace and avionics industry manuals.


title: Natural language

text: Although constructed, International auxiliary languages such as Esperanto and Interlingua are not considered natural languages, with the possible exception of true native speakers of such languages. Natural languages evolve, through fluctuations in vocabulary and syntax, to incrementally improve human communication. In contrast, Esperanto was created by Polish ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th century.


title: Natural language

text: Some natural languages have become organically "standardized" through the synthesis of two or more pre-existing natural languages over a relatively short period of time through the development of a pidgin, which is not considered a language, into a stable creole language. A creole such as Haitian Creole has its own grammar, vocabulary and literature. It is spoken by over 10 million people worldwide and is one of the two official languages of the Republic of Haiti.


title: Natural language

text: As of 1996, there were 350 attested families with one or more native speakers of Esperanto. Latino sine flexione, another international auxiliary language, is no longer widely spoken.


title: Bill Oddie

text: William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.


title: Bill Oddie

text: A birder since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham, Oddie has established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His wildlife programmes for the BBC include "Springwatch" and "Autumnwatch", "How to Watch Wildlife", "Wild in Your Garden", "Birding with Bill Oddie", "Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie" and "Bill Oddie Goes Wild".


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, but moved to Birmingham at a young age; his father was assistant chief accountant at the Midlands Electricity Board. His mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, during most of his youth, lived in a hospital. He was educated at Lapal Primary School, Halesowen Grammar School (now The Earls High School, Halesowen) and King Edward's School, Birmingham, an all-boys direct grant school, where he captained the school's rugby union team. He then studied English literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge.


title: Bill Oddie

text: While at Cambridge University Oddie appeared in several Footlights Club productions. One of these, a revue called "A Clump of Plinths", was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed "Cambridge Circus" and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for and appeared briefly in TV's "That Was the Week That Was".


title: Bill Oddie

text: He appeared in Bernard Braden's television series "On The Braden Beat" in 1964. Subsequently he was a key member of the performers in the BBC radio series "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again", where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album "Distinctly Oddie" (Polydor, 1967). He was one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform. In many shows he would do short impressions of Hughie Green.


title: Bill Oddie

text: On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series "Twice a Fortnight" with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn. Later he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series "Broaden Your Mind" with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which he became a cast member for the second series.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series "The Goodies" (1970–1982). The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "The Funky Gibbon" (co-written by Oddie with Dave MacRae) and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974–75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005 for a successful 13-date tour of Australia.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme "Bananaman".


title: Bill Oddie

text: In the Amnesty International show "A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)", Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon". They also appeared on "Top of the Pops" with the song. Together with Garden (who is a qualified medical doctor), Oddie co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series "Doctor in the House", including most of the first season and all of the second season. He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", on which Garden is and Brooke-Taylor was a regular panellist. In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science-fiction sitcom called "Astronauts" for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie's first published work was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir in the West Midland Bird Club's 1962 Annual Report. (He is first credited in the 1956 report, in which reports of his bird observations are tagged with his initials "WEO"). He has since written a number of books about birds and birdwatching as well as articles for many specialist publications including "British Birds", "Birdwatching Magazine" and "Birdwatch".


title: Bill Oddie

text: He discussed bird-song recordings with Derek Jones in an August 1973 BBC Radio 4 programme called "Sounds Natural".


title: Bill Oddie

text: In the autumn of 1976 Oddie was involved in the successful identification of Britain's first-ever record of Pallas's reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland.


title: Bill Oddie

text: One of Oddie's first forays into the world of television natural history was as a guest on "Animal Magic" in December 1977. Another early natural-history radio appearance was in October, as the guest on Radio 4's "Through My Window", discussing the birds of Hampstead Heath.


title: Bill Oddie

text: On 30 July 1985 he was the subject of a 50-minute "Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie – Bird Watcher", in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer at places where he had spent time birding, including Bartley Reservoir, the Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve at Upton Warren, RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Blakeney Point.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie has since hosted a number of successful nature programmes for the BBC, many produced by Stephen Moss, including:


title: Bill Oddie

text: The first broadcast, in 2004, of "Britain Goes Wild" set a record for its timeslot of 8 pm on BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the Channel 4 programme showing at that time. "Britain Goes Wild", renamed "Springwatch" the following year, became a wildlife broadcasting phenomenon, attracting over 4 million viewers.


title: Bill Oddie

text: He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been vice-president since 1991, and is a former member of the council of the RSPB. Oddie is also a President of the League Against Cruel Sports and a vice-president of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He practised as a bird ringer but allowed his licence to lapse.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2003, Oddie set up a half-marathon to raise money for various wildlife charities in his birth town of Rochdale. Celebrities who have participated in the event include Ray Mears, Katherine Jenkins and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2011, Oddie featured as an investigator in "Snares Uncovered: killers in the countryside". The film was an exposé of snaring in Scotland and was commissioned by animal protection charity OneKind. During the investigation Oddie discovered more than 70 snares and several stink pits.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie wrote original music at Cambridge University for the Footlights and later wrote comic songs for "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again". He also wrote a number of comic songs for The Goodies, most of which he also performed.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In the 1960s and early 1970s Oddie released a number of singles and at least one album. One of the former, issued in 1970 on John Peel's Dandelion Records label (Catalogue No: 4786), was "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at", performed in the style of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from my Friends". The B-side, "Harry Krishna", featured the Hare Krishna chant, substituting the names of contemporary famous people called Harry, including Harry Secombe, Harry Worth, Harry Lauder and Harry Corbett, as well as puns such as "Harry [Hurry] along now" and "Harrystotle [Aristotle]" and ending with "Harry-ly [I really] must go now". Both tracks appear on the compilation CD "Life Too, Has Surface Noise: The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969–1972" (2007). In 1966 he was credited as the vocalist with Spencer's Washboard Kings on "Five Feet Two" (Rayrick LCR1001a). The vocalist on the B-side of this 45rpm single, "If You Knew Susie", was Jean Hart, Oddie's future wife.


title: Bill Oddie

text: He played the drums and saxophone and appeared as Cousin Kevin in a production of The Who's rock opera "Tommy" at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London, on 9 December 1972. He has also contributed vocals to a Rick Wakeman album, "Criminal Record".


title: Bill Oddie

text: He recorded a single, "Superspike", with John Cleese and a group of UK athletes, billed the "Superspike Squad", to fund the latter's attendance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He co-produced the record with Stephen Shane.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera "The Mikado", in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner, taking over the role from Eric Idle. During the early 1990s Oddie was a DJ for London-based jazz radio station 102.2 Jazz FM.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2007, Oddie appeared on the BBC series "Play It Again". In the episode he attempts to realise his dream of becoming a rock guitarist. Initially teacher Bridget Mermikides tries to teach him using traditional methods but he rebels: instead he turns to old friends Albert Lee, Dave Davies (of The Kinks) and Mark Knopfler for advice and strikes out on his own. He succeeds in the target of playing lead guitar for his daughter Rosie's band at her 21st birthday party and even manages to impress his erstwhile teacher.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In November 2010 he agreed, along with fellow members of The Goodies, to rerelease their 1970s hit "The Funky Gibbon" to raise funds for the International Primate Protection League's Save the Gibbon appeal.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie appeared as the hapless window cleaner in the Eric Sykes' comedy story "The Plank" in 1967. He also presented the live children's Saturday morning entertainment show "Saturday Banana" (ITV/Southern Television) during the late 1970s. In the late 1980s he was a presenter of the BBC TV show "Fax" (a show about 'facts').


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 1981, he appeared as a Telethon celebrity in New Zealand, hosted by TV1. He voices Asterix in the UK dub of the 1989 animated film "Asterix and the Big Fight" (an animated adaptation of the books "Asterix and the Big Fight" and "Asterix and the Soothsayer", novelized as "Operation Getafix").


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 1992, he was a guest star in the US comedy television series "Married... with Children" for a three-part episode set in England.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 1997–98, he appeared on the Channel 4 archaeological programme "Time Team", as the team excavated a Roman villa site in Turkdean, Gloucestershire.


title: Bill Oddie

text: He was the compère of a daytime BBC gameshow "History Hunt" (in 2003); and has appeared in the "Doctor Who" audio drama "Doctor Who and the Pirates". In 2004, he appeared on the first ever episode of the BBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which he looked into his ancestry: he was visibly moved by its revelations. In 2005, he took part in "Rolf on Art – the big event at Trafalgar Square" and in September that year was also a celebrity guest along with Lynda Bellingham on the ITV1 programme "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". He also gave opinions on 100 greatest cartoons on Channel 4 that year, talking about "Tom and Jerry" and cartoon incidents such as the "Asses of Fire skit" in "".


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2006, Oddie appeared in the BBC show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks", and also appeared on the topical quiz show "8 out of 10 Cats". He was also the voice behind many B&Q adverts throughout 2006/2007. On 25 May 2007, Oddie made a cameo appearance on Ronni Ancona's new comedy sketch show, "Ronni Ancona & Co".


title: Bill Oddie

text: Also in 2007, three artists each painted a portrait of Oddie, as part of the BBC programme "Star Portraits with Rolf Harris". One of the artists, Mark Roscoe, later revealed a dislike of Oddie, claiming to have included hidden insults in his work.


title: Bill Oddie

text: He hosted the genealogy-based series "My Famous Family", broadcast on UKTV History in 2007. In 2008, Oddie was a guest on Jamie Oliver's television special "Jamie's Fowl Dinners", talking about free-range chickens.


title: Bill Oddie

text: He also appeared on "Would I Lie To You?" in 2011, where he revealed that he was saved from drowning by Freddy from popular children's series "Rainbow" and "Rod, Jane and Freddy" while on holiday in the Seychelles.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In February 2015, Oddie appeared in "The Keith Lemon Sketch Show" as the narrator of the sketch "Ed Sheeran Watch".


title: Bill Oddie

text: He appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of "Fifteen to One" in August 2015 and the following month he appeared on "Through the Keyhole".


title: Bill Oddie

text: He has appeared three times on the programme "Pointless Celebrities", the most recent appearance being in 2016.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2018, he featured on the programme "The Two Ronnies: In Their Own Words". In 2019, he appeared on the show "".


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie undertook an Australian tour during June 2013 in all of the mainland states capital cities – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – in a series of one-off shows, "An Oldie but a Goodie". A video message from Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden was shown during the performances. Oddie made personal appearances on both "The Project" and "Adam Hills Tonight" TV shows during the tour; he also filmed a guest-programming spot for the ABC-TV's all-night music video show "Rage".


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 1966 Oddie married Jeanne Hart, and from this marriage he has two daughters, one of whom is the actress Kate Hardie. The couple later divorced.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 1983 Oddie married Laura Beaumont-Giles. The couple have worked on a variety of projects for children, including film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and books. They have a daughter, Rosie, born in October 1985, and live in Hampstead, North London. Rosie Oddie is a musician, also using the name Rosie Bones.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie has experienced depression for most of his life before being diagnosed with clinical depression in 2001. In March 2009 he was reportedly admitted to Capio Nightingale psychiatric hospital in Marylebone for treatment. His then agent, David Foster, said: "Bill gets these bouts every two or three years where he gets down for about two weeks and recovers. He sometimes goes into hospital or takes a break or has a change of scenery to recharge his batteries." In January 2010 Oddie spoke to the media, revealing that he had in fact had two separate stays in different hospitals, only being discharged "in time for Christmas". He said that he was dealing with depression and bipolar disorder, describing the period as "probably the worst 12 months of my life". Oddie stated that he was planning to meet BBC executives to discuss his return to television work.


title: Bill Oddie

text: His illness meant that Oddie did not appear in the 2009 and 2010 series of "Springwatch", although he made a guest appearance in the penultimate episode of the latter. He subsequently said he was dismissed from "Springwatch" and that this had caused the depressive illness.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie presented the BBC Radio 4 Appeal programme on 10 August 2014 on behalf of the charity Bipolar UK. He revealed that as a consequence of his bipolar disorder he had attempted suicide during one of his depressive episodes. On the UK TV programme "Who Do You Think You Are?" he attributed his depression and bipolar disorder as an adult to his minimal and painful relationship with his mother.


title: Bill Oddie

text: Oddie supports the Green Party. In October 2014, on the BBC's "Sunday Morning Live", he stated that he wanted a limit on the number of children that British families can have, saying that he was "very often ashamed" to be British, calling them "a terrible race".


title: Bill Oddie

text: In 2002, Oddie became the third person to decline to appear on "This Is Your Life" but changed his mind a few hours later. On 16 October 2003 Oddie was made an OBE for his service to Wildlife Conservation in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. He wore a camouflage shirt and crumpled jacket to receive his medal. In June 2004 Oddie and Johnny Morris were jointly profiled in the first of a three-part BBC Two series "The Way We Went Wild", about television wildlife presenters. In May 2005 he received the British Naturalists' Association's Peter Scott Memorial Award, from BNA president David Bellamy, "in recognition of his great contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation." He is a recipient of the RSPB Medal.


title: Bill Oddie

text: On 30 June 2009 he was proposed for inclusion in the Birmingham Walk of Stars, with the public invited to vote.


title: Bill Oddie

text: In the fictional world of comedy character Alan Partridge, Oddie is an unseen presence in Alan's life, buying him dressing gowns for Christmas and being part of a radicalised RSPB. He has also been referenced, often humorously, by the hosts of "Top Gear".


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The 1990 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1989–90 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The series pitted the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference playoff champion Detroit Pistons against the Western Conference playoff champion Portland Trail Blazers. This was the first NBA Finals since 1979 not to involve either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics, and one of two NBA championships of the 1990s won by a team other than the Chicago Bulls or the Houston Rockets (the other was won by the San Antonio Spurs in 1999).


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons became just the third franchise in NBA history to win back-to-back championships, after the Lakers and Celtics.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Trail Blazers last made the NBA Finals when they won the NBA championship in 1977. In between finals appearances, the Blazers made the playoffs every year except 1982, but most of the time were eliminated in the first or second round. Along the way, Portland built a core that would turn the team into title contenders, adding Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey through the draft while signing or trading for players such as Buck Williams and Kevin Duckworth. The addition of Williams cost Portland once-promising center Sam Bowie, whose career had been curtailed by a series of leg injuries after being drafted second overall in the 1984 NBA draft. Early in the 1988–89 season, the Blazers fired head coach Mike Schuler and replaced him with assistant Rick Adelman, who would go on to win over 1,000 regular season games in 23 NBA seasons.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Entering the 1989–90 season with modest expectations, the Trail Blazers surprised the NBA by posting a 59–23 record, good enough for the third seed in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, they swept the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, defeated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games during the second round, and eliminated the Phoenix Suns in six games in the conference finals.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons won their first NBA championship a year earlier. However, they entered the 1989–90 season without rugged forward Rick Mahorn, who had been selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1989 NBA Expansion Draft and was later traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Despite the loss of Mahorn, the Pistons still managed to post a 59–23 record to lead the Eastern Conference. With Mahorn gone, Defensive Player of the Year winner Dennis Rodman picked up the slack, keeping the Pistons in true "Bad Boys" form all season. On their way to the Finals, Detroit swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, defeated the New York Knicks in five games during the second round, and overcame their archrival Chicago Bulls in seven games in the conference finals.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons became the first team in Finals history to win Games 3 through 5 in the 2–3–2 series format which was used between 1985 and 2013.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: This would be the last series to be played on a Tuesday–Thursday–Sunday rotation until the 2004 series. (Which was, coincidentally, also won by Detroit in 5 games.) From 1991 to 2003, the series were primarily on Wednesday–Friday–Sunday. Game three is the most recent NBA Finals game to tip off earlier than 8:30 p.m. Eastern/5:30 p.m. Pacific time.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Blazers led 90–80 with seven minutes left and looked poised to steal one on the road. But, after a timeout, Isiah Thomas got the Pistons going with a layup and a jumper. Then Joe Dumars completed a three-point play and Aguirre scored on an offensive rebound. In less than three minutes, Detroit had tightened the game to 92–89.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Buck Williams hit a jumper to make the score 94–89, but then Thomas scored seven straight points on two free throws, a three-point shot, and an 18-footer to give the Pistons their first lead. With 1:49 left, Thomas put a final dagger into the Blazers by sticking an open three-pointer for a 99–94 lead. The Pistons went on to win, 105–99.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: This was the first Finals assignment for referee Dick Bavetta, who had been an NBA official since the 1975-76 season. He would go on to set the league record for most games officiated and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: A little under a month after the release of her debut single "Vision of Love", future best selling recording artist Mariah Carey performed a heavily acclaimed rendition of "America the Beautiful".


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Blazers, playing surprisingly well on the road, had control of the game past the third quarter. Behind Bill Laimbeer, however, the Pistons made a comeback in the fourth period. Laimbeer, who had scored only seven points over the first three periods, went wild in the fourth and overtime, making 19 points over the last 17 minutes. For the game, he successfully converted six three-pointers, tying a Finals record set by the Lakers' Michael Cooper in 1987.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons had a 94–91 lead with 49 seconds left after a John Salley tip-in. Five seconds later, Clyde Drexler, who would finish with 33 points, made a free throw. With 23 seconds left, Isiah Thomas missed a potential game-clinching layup. Terry Porter tied the game at 94 with a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, and the game went to overtime when Thomas missed an 18-footer at the buzzer.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: A hook shot by James Edwards and two three-pointers by Laimbeer gave the Pistons a 102–98 lead with 1:30 left in overtime. Porter hit another set of free throws to trim the lead to two; then Drexler tied it at the one-minute mark with a 17-footer.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Portland took the lead at 104–102 when Thomas fouled out with 1:10 left. Laimbeer promptly bailed the Pistons out with 4.1 seconds remaining by hitting a 25-foot three-pointer for a 105–104 lead.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Portland gave the ball to Drexler, who was fouled by Dennis Rodman, playing on a sore ankle, with two seconds left. Drexler made both foul shots to give the Blazers the 106–105 lead. The Pistons quickly passed the ball to Edwards, who tried a shot from the left of the paint, but rookie Clifford Robinson blocked it at the last second. With that, the Blazers won the game and took away the home-court advantage.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Game 2 of the 1990 Finals marked the first time in six years that a Finals game went into overtime, the last being Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons lose their first playoff game in the Palace at Auburn Hills, snapping their 14-game winning streak.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Joe Dumars' father, Joe Dumars II, died of congestive heart failure hours before the tipoff of Game 3. He had had severe diabetes, which resulted in the amputation of both of his legs in 1985. As his father's condition worsened, Dumars realized that the news of his father's death might come before or during an important game. So he asked Debbie, his new wife, not to inform him of any news until after the game had ended. His father had instilled such professionalism in Dumars, and his wife kept his wish.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Two things were stacked against the Pistons. One, they had not won in Portland since October 19, 1974, the second game of Bill Walton's career. Two, they would be without Dennis Rodman, whose ankle had stiffened. But, Vinnie Johnson found his range for the first time, making 9 of 13 shots for 21 points. The consummate professional Dumars was the most potent, however, leading Detroit with 33 points on an array of shots. One such shot was a three-pointer that stifled a Blazer run after they had cut the Piston lead to 68–60 in the third.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Detroit won, 121–106. Dumars' wife then used a courtside phone to inform Joe of his father's death. Dumars decided he would play the next game but declined press interviews.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons were plagued with shooting problems as the Blazers raced off to a 32–22 lead at the end of the first period. But Vinnie Johnson and Joe Dumars took over, leading a 9–0 run that pulled the Pistons to 32–31 with 7:49 left in the half. The Pistons led 51–46 at intermission as the suffocating Detroit defense held the Blazers to 14 second-quarter points.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Isiah Thomas scored 22 points in the third and capped his onslaught with a three-pointer at the 2:15 mark that gave the Pistons an 81–65 lead and seemed to quiet the Portland crowd.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: But, over the next eight minutes, the Blazers suddenly remembered the pressure defense and running game that had gotten them to the NBA Finals. They went on a 28–11 run of their own, and Terry Porter drove for a layup to give them a 93–92 lead with 5:20 left.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The game became a nip-and-tuck affair until Detroit led 106–102 on a jumper by Dumars at 1:16, but the Blazers fought back and had a chance to tie it with 35 seconds left. Buck Williams missed one of two free throws and Portland trailed 106–105.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Four seconds later, in a scramble under the Pistons' basket, Bill Laimbeer drew his sixth foul, disqualifying him for the remainder of the game. Clyde Drexler made both free throws to give Portland the lead, 107–106, with 31.8 seconds left. But Thomas responded by sinking a 22-footer that returned the edge to Detroit 108–107.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: With nine seconds left, Porter attempted to drive on Dumars, but Joe blocked his path. Thomas scooped up the ensuing loose ball and headed the other way. Danny Young quickly fouled him as he let fly a 55-footer that went in. The officials quickly ruled it no good, as the foul occurred before the shot, but Thomas made the free throws for a 110–107 lead with 8.4 seconds showing.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Mark Aguirre then fouled Porter with 6.5 seconds left, and he made both, drawing Portland to 110–109. On the ensuing play, James Edwards got the ball downcourt to a wide-open Gerald Henderson for an easy layup and a 112–109 lead. Portland now had the ball and 1.8 seconds to get a shot.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Blazers whipped the ball upcourt to Young, who promptly knocked down a 35-footer from the right sideline. Immediately players from both benches came onto the floor, the Blazers believing the game was now tied and the Pistons believing otherwise. Veteran referee Earl Strom, calling his final NBA game, huddled the officials amid the din and signaled that the shot was too late. Videotaped replays later confirmed the accuracy of the call. The Blazers were down, three games to one.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: For much of Game 5 it appeared Portland would at least send the series back to Detroit. The Pistons shot poorly starting out, missing seven of their first 11 shots, but still led 26–22 after one quarter. They held the same four-point edge at the half, 46–42, but the Blazers rallied in the third period, and with 10 minutes to play in the game, they led 76–68.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Vinnie Johnson then went on the first of two scoring streaks. "The Microwave" scored all of Detroit's points in a 9–0 run to give his team a 77–76 edge with 6:35 to go. The Blazers stepped up their pressure and again built a 90–83 lead with 2:05 left. But, when Clyde Drexler fouled out, Portland could not score the rest of the way and "The Microwave" heated up again. Johnson scored seven points in Detroit's astounding 9–0 run to close the game and the series. His last shot was a 15-footer from the right sideline with Jerome Kersey draped all over him and 0:00.7 showing on the clock. Terry Porter had a last chance to force a Game 6, but his three clanked off the rim.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: Isiah Thomas was named the Finals MVP. He had scored 33, 23, 21, 32 and 29 points, respectively, in the five games. From three-point range he had made 11 of 16 shots. For the series, he had averaged 27.6 points, 8.0 assists, and 5.2 rebounds, a performance that caused him to unleash his full smile afterward.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: "The NBA on CBS" ended a 17-year run, as the league was moving to NBC after the 1990 NBA Finals. In their goodbye montage, CBS used Marvin Gaye's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. Pat O'Brien (anchor), Lesley Visser (the Pistons' sideline), James Brown (the Trail Blazers' sideline), Dick Stockton (play-by-play) and Hubie Brown (color commentary) called the action for CBS.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: After CBS' run with the NBA ended, Brown moved to Turner Sports to fill the same role. Stockton would not call another NBA game until , when he also joined Turner. Stockton and Brown would occasionally be paired together on TBS and TNT until , when Brown was hired to coach the Memphis Grizzlies.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Pistons would not make a fourth consecutive Finals championship visit in the 1990–91 NBA season. Dealing with an injured Isiah Thomas for 34 games, They went 50–32, but a matured and stronger Chicago Bulls team swept them in four games of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls won the championship that season. Within a few seasons, the Pistons dynasty broke up, with key players, including Thomas, retiring or moving on as free agents to other teams. They would not return to the Finals until 2004. Dennis Rodman, James Edwards and John Salley would win a championship in 1996 with the Bulls.


title: 1990 NBA Finals

text: The Trail Blazers won the Pacific Division title by winning a franchise-record 63 games in 1991, acquiring the league's best record. They were, however, denied a second straight trip to the NBA Finals, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games at the Western Conference Finals. The Blazers returned to the Finals the year after that in 1992, but lost to the Bulls in the championship series, four games to two.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC Light Programme. He was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 at its launch, on 30 September 1967, and has had several stints working for the corporation. He has also worked for Capital London and Classic Gold Digital, and currently BBC Radio 2, BBC Local Radio, and British Forces Broadcasting Service. He has also had a singing career.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 2002 Blackburn was the first winner of the British reality TV series "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 29 January 1943, but in 1946 his family moved to Bournemouth, then in Hampshire, where his youngest sister, Jacqueline, was born. His sister was born suffering from polio and was unable to walk since birth. Blackburn's father, Kenneth Fleming Blackburn, was a GP and his mother, Pauline Cubitt (née Stone), was a nurse. He was educated at Castle Court School in Parkstone, Poole, Dorset. He gained entry to Millfield in Somerset on a sports scholarship and captained the school's cricket team.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: He left before taking any examinations, but gained O-levels following private tuition, and enrolled for an HND course in Business Studies at Bournemouth Technical College.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: After beginning his career as a singer, Blackburn then worked as a DJ for the offshore pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London (1964–1967), before joining the BBC in 1967, initially broadcasting on the BBC Light Programme.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: After a simulcast with BBC Radio 2 hosted by Paul Hollingdale, Blackburn was the first DJ to be heard on BBC Radio 1 when it officially launched at 7 am on 30 September 1967, with his first words on the new station being "And good morning everyone! Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1!" The Move's "Flowers in the Rain" was the first complete record he played. Blackburn recalled in 2014: "My job was to entertain and tell corny jokes, not have opinions or talk politics. If I wanted to wish the Queen a happy birthday, I had to get clearance from above." Throughout his Radio 1 career Blackburn often employed an audio clip of a barking dog, "Arnold", which he had previously used at Radio Caroline and Radio London.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: At first he was associated mainly with mainstream pop, but he later championed soul music. It was largely due to him that "I'm Still Waiting" by Diana Ross, which was initially just an album track, was released as a single in the UK in 1971 and reached number one. He was a regular host of "Top of the Pops" for a decade until 1979 and he appeared with fellow DJ's Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett on the 500th anniversary show where he performed the spoken part of "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" and then danced with singer Lynsey de Paul. In 1968, he fronted his own show, "Time For Blackburn", produced by Southern Television for the ITV network. "The Radio 1 DJs were a massive attraction. We were mobbed everywhere we went", Blackburn told Simon Hattenstone, referring to personal appearances. "It was all a bit mad, but great fun", he told Judith Woods in 2014. We "were built up to be stars in our own right, and as a result we were as famous as the artists we played."


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 1973, when his pantomime performance was interrupted by a power cut, he said the miners should "go back to work". He was admonished by management and taken off-air for two weeks. In an interview for the Radio Academy's "Radio Talk" podcast in 2013, Blackburn said that it is "not advisable" for a broadcaster to reveal their political allegiances. In this interview, he said that he is "not a great lover of the TUC or of unions ... but I keep it to myself now."


title: Tony Blackburn

text: He was in a group called Tony Blackburn and the Rovers which at one point included Al Stewart; they performed in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas. His singing career failed to take off, although three studio albums and fourteen singles were released, of which two, "So Much Love" and "It's Only Love", made the UK Top 40 in 1968 and 1969 respectively. "So much Love" suffered from a shortage of copies because "the pressing plant went on strike, so nobody could get the record", he once recalled. "I don't think the strike was anything to do with the record, though it might have been... quality control or something." As the years progressed he spent less time making his own music and concentrated on radio work, by the end of the 1970s he had stopped singing altogether.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 1972 he released a self-titled album on the RCA label. Two of the tracks were released as singles: "Chop Chop", written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and "House of Cards", written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Green. His version of Doris Troy's "I'll Do Anything" was recorded in 1969 for his second album, "Tony Blackburn", which was released on Polydor label. This version of the Gamble and Huff song was re-discovered by Northern soul fans when it was pressed up as a white label and became a hit on the scene's dancefloors. The single was re-released as a single under the pseudonym Lenny Gamble on Casino Classics in June 1978, with the pseudonym being a portmanteau of songwriters Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble. Blackburn was allegedly furious when Noel Edmonds revealed the alias on air. Nevertheless, Blackburn and Edmonds became close friends. All of Blackburn's singles, including "I'll Do Anything" and "House of Cards" were released in 2012 on a CD compilation album "The Singles Collection 1965–1980" on the Cherry Red label.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In June 1973, he took over Jimmy Young's mid-morning slot when Young moved across to Radio 2, where he introduced "The Golden Hour". The feature was to prove durable, being carried on by Simon Bates, Simon Mayo, and Chris Moyles when they subsequently took over that time slot.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Over several years of the 1970s, Blackburn was a co-presenter on the BBC's summer programme "Seaside Special", alongside other well-known names from BBC Radio, such as Dave Lee Travis and David Hamilton. On 16 August 1975 he appeared singing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", with a lion tamer, in a cage of lions.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In November 1977 he took over the weekday afternoon show and from September 1979 until December 1981 he presented the Sunday Top 40 show on Radio 1.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: At the start of 1980 he took over from Ed Stewart as the presenter of "Junior Choice", broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8am to 10am, while continuing to present the Sunday chart show until the end of 1981. He was succeeded by Tommy Vance. During 1982, BBC Radio 1 dropped the name "Junior Choice" and the show became the "Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show" which Blackburn continued to host until his final show on 23 September 1984.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In addition to his Radio 1 weekend show, he joined BBC Radio London in 1981, where he presented the weekday afternoon show. It was here that he showed his appreciation of soul music. "Soul music is sexy music, raunchy music. I didn't want it to be a niche thing, I wanted to bring it to a mass audience. I wanted cab drivers to listen to it because I think pop soul is fabulous, I do, really", he told Simon Hattenstone.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: From the mid to late 1980s, Blackburn presented the show "Soul Station" on BFBS Radio. One of the jingles was "Tony Blackburn - The Human Dynamo".


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn had a difficult relationship with fellow DJ John Peel, whom he recalled saying: "'People don’t realise how much you’ve done for soul music', and I said: 'I bet you’d never say that publicly', and he said: 'Oh no!'"


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Having left Radio 1 after seventeen years of broadcasting, he took over Radio London's weekday mid-morning show in 1984. He joined Capital London in 1988, and was involved in beginning their Capital Gold London station, presenting programmes such as the Breakfast show, Weekends, Drivetime then the Weekday evening show playing his own choice of music, where he remained until 2002. He hosted similar shows on Jazz FM in Manchester and its successor Smooth, and the Real Radio Network.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 1987, Blackburn made an extended appearance on the second ever edition of "After Dark" on Channel 4. In 1989 Blackburn co-presented the morning TV show "Sky by Day" on Sky One. The show aired weekdays at 11:00 and was broadcast live.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 1992, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel while broadcasting his Capital Gold radio show at the company's studios in London.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 2002, Blackburn was the winner of the first series of the British reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 2004, Blackburn re-joined BBC Radio London, originally taking over a two-hour timeslot on Monday evening from 20:00 to 22:00. Here he would be given free rein on his choice of music. In addition to this he also took over the station's Saturday Lunchtime show, broadcasting from 12:00 to 14:00.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn began presenting the Breakfast show for Bedfordshire-based Classic Gold Digital in late 2003. He was suspended in June 2004 for playing too many Cliff Richard records as the singer was not on the station's playlist. Noel Edmonds, whose company owned a majority shareholding, thought Blackburn would soon return to broadcasting for the station. The suspension was short lived. Blackburn won his dispute with management over the playlist a few days later, and Cliff Richard was added to it. "We should be playing him as much as The Beatles", said the station head. Whilst doing the Breakfast show, he left his Monday evening show on Radio London but continued to present Saturday Lunchtime.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: "I’m still a part of the disco generation," Blackburn told "The Times" in December 2004. "There is no pretence there and it never seems to date. I think disco did much more as a contribution to music than Bob Dylan or Neil Young. People get snobbish about music. Disco never takes itself too seriously."


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In early 2008, Blackburn took over Weekend Breakfast on Smooth Radio, originally broadcasting to London audiences only, but a couple of months later the show was networked across the Smooth Radio network.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: On 6 November 2010, Blackburn replaced Dale Winton as the regular host of BBC Radio 2's "Pick of the Pops" programme. One of his remaining ambitions was to present a programme on Radio 2. "I was 37 when I left Radio 1, and 2 seemed a natural progression. So it's only taken 30 years", Blackburn said in 2010. Blackburn presented the show every Saturday from 13:00 to 15:00. He also presented shows on BBC Radio Berkshire from 22:00 to 01:00 on Fridays and Sundays, and BBC London 94.9 on Sundays from 12:00 to 15:00.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Between 2 July 2016 and June 2017, Blackburn presented a weekly four-hour soul music show, the "Soul and Motown Show", every Saturday from 18:00 to 22:00 on London's DAB station Thames Radio.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: From 2007 to 2020, he presented a weekly three-hour show, "Tony's Blackburn's Playlist" every Sunday from 16:00 to 19:00 on KMFM in Kent. This included a retro chart feature for many years.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn has won two lifetime achievement awards from the Radio Academy, the second of which was to mark his fifty years of broadcasting.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: On 25 February 2016, Blackburn was dismissed by the BBC in an announcement from Lord Hall, the corporation's Director General, stating that the contents of documents from the early 1970s were in conflict with evidence Blackburn had given to Dame Janet Smith's inquiry into Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse at BBC premises. Blackburn said he repeatedly told Smith and the BBC that he had never been interviewed about an alleged incident in the 1970s and that Smith's report made no suggestion that he was guilty of any misconduct whatsoever. Smith found Blackburn's denial that he was interviewed by light entertainment head Bill Cotton and Sir Brian Neill QC unsatisfactory. Neill had been appointed by the BBC to look into unrelated matters concerning "Top of the Pops". Cotton's colleague, Tony Preston, had written a memo at the time concerning the interviews. Neill, the only one of the three men still alive, initially declined to comment, but later said he had interviewed Blackburn and, in 1972, had cleared him of wrongdoing.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn complained that the BBC was dismissing him and damaging his career based on the discrepancy. He said that like Smith's report, a coroner's inquest and a police inquiry had made no suggestion that he was guilty of any misconduct, adding that the report was a "whitewash" and that he had been "scapegoated" for giving his best recollections of events 45 years before. He asked: "Given Dame Janet Smith's concerns of a culture of fear in coming forward at the BBC, what whistle-blower at the BBC would ever come forward when they see the way they have hung me out to dry?" He said he intended to take legal action against the BBC.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Nina Myskow commented on Radio 2: "It should be a sad black day for the BBC because of the revelations about the whole Savile episode, but in fact that's been buried very cleverly by the BBC as usual by sacking Tony Blackburn."


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn continued to present a show on KMFM. A spokesman for the station said, "He is a great asset, a fantastic broadcaster and someone we are proud to work with."


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In October 2016, it was reported that Blackburn would again be working for the BBC, presenting an hour-long programme on BBC Radio 2 on Friday evenings, and additionally returning to BBC Local Radio. He returned to BBC Radio 2 on New Year's Eve 2016, and to BBC Local Radio on both New Year's Day and 6 January 2017, opening with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".


title: Tony Blackburn

text: Blackburn now presents "Sounds of the 60s" on Radio 2, having taken over on 4 March 2017 from Brian Matthew, who hosted it for 27 years. The show is now broadcast live on Saturday mornings between 06:00 and 08:00, and he now also presents his Golden Hour music programme on Sunday nights.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: On 30 September 2017, Blackburn recreated his first Radio 1 breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, playing the songs from vinyl, and he later joined Nick Grimshaw, and guests Mike Read, Simon Mayo and Sara Cox for a special show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launches of Radio 1 and Radio 2.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 2020, Blackburn teamed up with Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson to present a new series of podcasts entitled "Ricky and Tony's Pop Detectives". The shows centre around Blackburn and Wilson trying to unravel long-held myths and rumours about pop stars' lives and their music. The first episode centred around whether Debbie Harry had really been in a car with serial killer Ted Bundy, as she had previously claimed. The series was released to positive reviews and a further series was released in the summer of 2020.


title: Tony Blackburn

text: In 1972 Blackburn married actress Tessa Wyatt. The couple had a son, Simon, who was born on 8 April 1973, but they divorced in November 1977 after separating the previous year. In June 1992 he married his second wife, Debbie, a theatrical agent, with whom he has a daughter, Victoria, who was born in 1997. He has two grandsons.


title: QBittorrent

text: qBittorrent is a cross-platform free and open-source BitTorrent client written in native C++. It relies on Boost, Qt 6 toolkit and the libtorrent-rasterbar library (for the torrent back-end), with an optional search engine written in Python.


title: QBittorrent

text: qBittorrent was originally developed in March 2006 by Christophe Dumez, from the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM).


title: QBittorrent

text: It is currently developed by contributors worldwide and is funded through donations, led by Sledgehammer999 from Greece, who became project maintainer in June 2013.


title: QBittorrent

text: qBittorrent is cross-platform, available on many operating systems, including: FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, OS/2 (including ArcaOS and eComStation), Windows.


title: QBittorrent

text: , SourceForge statistics indicate that the most popular qBittorrent version of all supported platforms, 81% of downloads were for Windows computers.


title: QBittorrent

text: , FossHub statistics indicate qBittorrent as the second most downloaded software with over 75 million downloads.


title: QBittorrent

text: Packages for different Linux distributions are available, though most are provided through official channels via various distributions.


title: QBittorrent

text: qBittorrent Enhanced is a fork of qBittorrent intended for blocking leeching clients such as Xunlei. It is hosted on GitHub.


title: QBittorrent

text: In 2012, Ghacks suggested qBittorrent as a great alternative to μTorrent, for those put off by its controversial adware and bundleware changes.


title: Virtual assistant

text: An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) or intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on commands or questions. The term "chatbot" is sometimes used to refer to virtual assistants generally or specifically accessed by online chat. In some cases, online chat programs are exclusively for entertainment purposes. Some virtual assistants are able to interpret human speech and respond via synthesized voices. Users can ask their assistants questions, control home automation devices and media playback via voice, and manage other basic tasks such as email, to-do lists, and calendars with verbal commands. A similar concept, however with differences, lays under the dialogue systems.


title: Virtual assistant

text: As of 2017, the capabilities and usage of virtual assistants are expanding rapidly, with new products entering the market and a strong emphasis on both email and voice user interfaces. Apple and Google have large installed bases of users on smartphones. Microsoft has a large installed base of Windows-based personal computers, smartphones and smart speakers. Amazon has a large install base for smart speakers. Conversica has over 100 million engagements via its email and SMS interface intelligent virtual assistants for business.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Now the Virtual Assistant does not refer only to a machine but a person whose primary job is to help his employer to do a specific online job virtually. Most of time this person is residing in another part of the world.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Radio Rex was the first voice activated toy released in 1922. It was a wooden toy in the shape of a dog that would come out of its house when its name is called.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In 1952, Bell Labs presented "Audrey", the Automatic Digit Recognition machine. It occupied a six- foot-high relay rack, consumed substantial power, had streams of cables and exhibited the myriad maintenance problems associated with complex vacuum-tube circuitry. It could recognize the fundamental units of speech, phonemes. It was limited to accurate recognition of digits spoken by designated talkers. It could therefore be used for voice dialing, but in most cases push-button dialing was cheaper and faster, rather than speaking the consecutive digits.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Another early tool which was enabled to perform digital speech recognition was the IBM Shoebox voice-activated calculator, presented to the general public during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair after its initial market launch in 1961. This early computer, developed almost 20 years before the introduction of the first IBM Personal Computer in 1981, was able to recognize 16 spoken words and the digits 0 to 9.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The first natural language processing computer program or the chatbot ELIZA was developed by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s. It was created to "demonstrate that the communication between man and machine was superficial". ELIZA used pattern matching and substitution methodology into scripted responses to simulate conversation, which gave an illusion of understanding on the part of the program.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Weizenbaum's own secretary reportedly asked Weizenbaum to leave the room so that she and ELIZA could have a real conversation. Weizenbaum was surprised by this, later writing: "I had not realized ... that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.


title: Virtual assistant

text: This gave name to the ELIZA effect, the tendency to unconsciously assume computer behaviors are analogous to human behaviors; that is, anthropomorphisation, a phenomenon present in human interactions with virtual assistants.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The next milestone in the development of voice recognition technology was achieved in the 1970s at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with substantial support of the United States Department of Defense and its DARPA agency, funded five years of a Speech Understanding Research program, aiming to reach a minimum vocabulary of 1,000 words. Companies and academia including IBM, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Stanford Research Institute took part in the program.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The result was "Harpy", it mastered about 1000 words, the vocabulary of a three-year-old and it could understand sentences. It could process speech that followed pre-programmed vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar structures to determine which sequences of words made sense together, and thus reducing speech recognition errors.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In 1986 Tangora was an upgrade of the Shoebox, it was a voice recognizing typewriter. Named after the world's fastest typist at the time, it had a vocabulary of 20,000 words and used prediction to decide the most likely result based on what was said in the past. IBM's approach was based on a hidden Markov model, which adds statistics to digital signal processing techniques. The method makes it possible to predict the most likely phonemes to follow a given phoneme. Still each speaker had to individually train the typewriter to recognize his or her voice, and pause between each word.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In the 1990s, digital speech recognition technology became a feature of the personal computer with IBM, Philips and Lernout & Hauspie fighting for customers. Much later the market launch of the first smartphone IBM Simon in 1994 laid the foundation for smart virtual assistants as we know them today.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In 1997, Dragon's Naturally Speaking software could recognize and transcribe natural human speech without pauses between each word into a document at a rate of 100 words per minute. A version of Naturally Speaking is still available for download and it is still used today, for instance, by many doctors in the US and the UK to document their medical records.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In 2001 Colloquis publicly launched SmarterChild, on platforms like AIM and MSN Messenger. While entirely text-based SmarterChild was able to play games, check the weather, look up facts, and converse with users to an extent.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The first modern digital virtual assistant installed on a smartphone was Siri, which was introduced as a feature of the iPhone 4S on 4 October 2011. Apple Inc. developed Siri following the 2010 acquisition of Siri Inc., a spin-off of SRI International, which is a research institute financed by DARPA and the United States Department of Defense. Its aim was to aid in tasks such as sending a text message, making phone calls, checking the weather or setting up an alarm. Over time, it has developed to provide restaurant recommendations, search the internet, and provide driving directions.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In April 2017 Amazon released a service for building conversational interfaces for any type of virtual assistant or interface.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Some virtual assistants are accessible via multiple methods, such as Google Assistant via chat on the Google Allo and Google Messages app and via voice on Google Home smart speakers.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Virtual assistants use natural language processing (NLP) to match user text or voice input to executable commands. Many continually learn using artificial intelligence techniques including machine learning and ambient intelligence. Some of these assistants like Google Assistant (which contains Google Lens) and Samsung Bixby also have the added ability to do image processing to recognize objects in the image to help the users get better results from the clicked images.


title: Virtual assistant

text: To activate a virtual assistant using the voice, a wake word might be used. This is a word or groups of words such as "Hey Siri", "OK Google" or "Hey Google", "Alexa", and "Hey Microsoft". As virtual assistants become more popular, there are increasing legal risks involved.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Virtual assistants may be integrated into many types of platforms or, like Amazon Alexa, across several of them:


title: Virtual assistant

text: Conversational commerce is e-commerce via various means of messaging, including via voice assistants but also live chat on e-commerce Web sites, live chat on messaging applications such as WeChat, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp and chatbots on messaging applications or Web sites.


title: Virtual assistant

text: A virtual assistant can work with customer support team of a business to provide 24x7 support to customers. It provides quick responses, which enhances a customer's experience.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Amazon enables Alexa "Skills" and Google "Actions", essentially applications that run on the assistant platforms.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Virtual assistants have a variety of privacy concerns associated with them. Features such as activation by voice pose a threat, as such features requires the device to always be listening. Modes of privacy such as the virtual security button have been proposed to create a multilayer authentication for virtual assistants.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The privacy policy of Google Assistant states that it does not store the audio data without the user's permission, but may store the conversation transcripts to personalise its experience. Personalisation can be turned off in settings. If a user wants Google Assistant to store audio data, they can go to Voice & Audio Activity (VAA) and turn on this feature. Audio files are sent to the cloud and used by Google to improve the performance of Google Assistant, but only if the VAA feature is turned on.


title: Virtual assistant

text: The privacy policy of Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, states that it only listens to conversations when its wake word (like Alexa, Amazon, Echo) is used. It starts recording the conversation after the call of a wake word, and stops recording after 8 seconds of silence. It sends the recorded conversation to the cloud. It is possible to delete the recording from the cloud by visiting ‘Alexa Privacy’ in ‘Alexa’.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Apple states that it does not record audio to improve Siri. Instead, it uses transcripts. Transcript data is only sent if it is deemed important for analysis. Users can opt out anytime if they don't want Siri to send the transcripts in the cloud.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In 2019 Antonio A. Casilli, a French sociologist, criticized artificial intelligence and virtual assistants in particular in the following way:


title: Virtual assistant

text: At a first level the fact that the consumer provides free data for the training and improvement of the virtual assistant, often without knowing it, is ethically disturbing.


title: Virtual assistant

text: But at a second level, it might be even more ethically disturbing to know how these AIs are trained with this data.


title: Virtual assistant

text: This artificial intelligence is trained via neural networks, which require a huge amount of labelled data. However, this data needs to be labelled through a human process, which explains the rise of microwork in the last decade. That is, remotely using some people worldwide doing some repetitive and very simple tasks for a few cents, such as listening to virtual assistant speech data, and writing down what was said. Microwork has been criticized for the job insecurity it causes, and for the total lack of regulation: The average salary was 1,38 dollar/hour in 2010, and it provides neither healthcare nor retirement benefits, sick pay, minimum wage. Hence, virtual assistants and their designers are controversial for spurring job insecurity, and the AIs they propose are still human in the way that they would be impossible without the microwork of millions of human workers.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Privacy concerns are raised by the fact that voice commands are available to the providers of virtual assistants in unencrypted form, and can thus be shared with third parties and be processed in an unauthorized or unexpected manner. Additionally to the linguistic content of recorded speech, a user's manner of expression and voice characteristics can implicitly contain information about his or her biometric identity, personality traits, body shape, physical and mental health condition, sex, gender, moods and emotions, socioeconomic status and geographical origin.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In previous generations of text chat-based virtual assistants, the assistant was often represented by an avatar (a.k.a. "interactive online character" or "automated character") — this was known as an embodied agent.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Digital experiences enabled by virtual assistants are considered to be among the major recent technological advances and most promising consumer trends. Experts claim that digital experiences will achieve a status-weight comparable to ‘real’ experiences, if not become more sought-after and prized. The trend is verified by a high number of frequent users and the substantial growth of worldwide user numbers of virtual digital assistants. In mid-2017, the number of frequent users of digital virtual assistants is estimated to be around 1 bn worldwide. In addition, it can be observed that virtual digital assistant technology is no longer restricted to smartphone applications, but present across many industry sectors (incl. automotive, telecommunications, retail, healthcare and education).


title: Virtual assistant

text: In response to the significant R&D expenses of firms across all sectors and an increasing implementation of mobile devices, the market for speech recognition technology is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 34.9% globally over the period of 2016 to 2024 and thereby surpass a global market size of US$7.5 billion by 2024. According to an Ovum study, the "native digital assistant installed base" is projected to exceed the world's population by 2021, with 7.5 billion active voice AI–capable devices. According to Ovum, by that time "Google Assistant will dominate the voice AI–capable device market with 23.3% market share, followed by Samsung's Bixby (14.5%), Apple's Siri (13.1%), Amazon's Alexa (3.9%), and Microsoft's Cortana (2.3%)."


title: Virtual assistant

text: Taking into consideration the regional distribution of market leaders, North American companies (e.g. Nuance Communications, IBM, eGain) are expected to dominate the industry over the next years, due to the significant impact of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and enterprise mobility business models. Furthermore, the increasing demand for smartphone-assisted platforms are expected to further boost the North American intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) industry growth. Despite its smaller size in comparison to the North American market, the intelligent virtual assistant industry from the Asia-Pacific region, with its main players located in India and China is predicted to grow at an annual growth rate of 40% (above global average) over the 2016–2024 period.


title: Virtual assistant

text: Virtual assistants should not be only seen as a gadget for individuals, as they could have a real economic utility for enterprises. As an example, a virtual assistant can take the role of an always available assistant with an encyclopedic knowledge. And which can organize meetings, check inventories, verify informations. Virtual assistants are all the more important that their integration in small and middle-sized enterprises often consists in an easy first step through the more global adaptation and use of Internet of Things (IoT). Indeed, IoT technologies are first perceived by small and medium-sized enterprises as technologies of critical importance, but too complicated, risky or costly to be used.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In May 2018, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, published a paper that showed audio commands undetectable for the human ear could be directly embedded into music or spoken text, thereby manipulating virtual assistants into performing certain actions without the user taking note of it. The researchers made small changes to audio files, which cancelled out the sound patterns that speech recognition systems are meant to detect. These were replaced with sounds that would be interpreted differently by the system and command it to dial phone numbers, open websites or even transfer money. The possibility of this has been known since 2016, and affects devices from Apple, Amazon and Google.


title: Virtual assistant

text: In addition to unintentional actions and voice recording, another security and privacy risk associated with intelligent virtual assistants is malicious voice commands: An attacker who impersonates a user and issues malicious voice commands to, for example, unlock a smart door to gain unauthorized entry to a home or garage or order items online without the user's knowledge. Although some IVAs provide a voice-training feature to prevent such impersonation, it can be difficult for the system to distinguish between similar voices. Thus, a malicious person who is able to access an IVA-enabled device might be able to fool the system into thinking that they are the real owner and carry out criminal or mischievous acts.


title: Cold turkey

text: "Cold turkey" refers to the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience, as opposed to gradually easing the process through reduction over time or by using replacement medication.


title: Cold turkey

text: Sudden withdrawal from drugs such as alcohol, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates can be extremely dangerous, leading to potentially fatal seizures. For long-term alcoholics, going cold turkey can cause life-threatening delirium tremens, rendering this an inappropriate method for breaking an alcohol addiction.


title: Cold turkey

text: In the case of opioid withdrawal, going "cold turkey" is extremely unpleasant but less dangerous. Life-threatening issues are unlikely unless one has a pre-existing medical condition.


title: Cold turkey

text: Smoking cessation methods advanced by J. Wayne McFarland and Elman J. Folkenburg (an M.D. and a pastor who wrote their Five Day Plan ca. 1959), Joel Spitzer and John R. Polito (smoking cessation educators) and Allen Carr (who founded Easyway during the early 1980s) are cold turkey plans.


title: Cold turkey

text: The very one of first adaptation of the phrase "cold turkey" to its current meaning is a matter of some debate and ambiguity.


title: Cold turkey

text: Scholars of 19th-century British periodicals have pointed to the UK satirical magazine "Judy" as the true catalyst of "cold turkey"'s evolution in meaning. The journal's issue of January 3, 1877, featured the fictional diary of one John Humes, Esquire. The diary's transcript on the day in question details Mr Humes' exploits over his Christmas holiday. Throughout, Humes demonstrates a humbug attitude, complaining to every shopkeeper and acquaintance about the irony of the words "merry" and "jolly" being attached to the season. Most significantly, Hume is invited to stay at his cousin Clara's as a part of her household's celebrations. Hume, the miser to the core, is shocked that Clara serves him slices of (literal) cold turkey with his pudding and other side dishes on the evening of his arrival. A poor substitute for the roasted and dressed kind of turkey is the continually played-up implication in the comedy piece. The dissatisfied barrister stays several days nonetheless, and with each passing day, he is more and more shocked that the cold turkey finds its way onto his plate again. Finally, Hume arrives home, utterly disgusted at having been treated so badly. He calls for his estate lawyer and chops Clara completely out of his will and testament.


title: Cold turkey

text: The hypothesis posited by researchers is that word quickly spread from London to the rest of Britain, and finally the U.S., about Hume's having given Clara "the cold turkey treatment," as in excluding and excommunicating someone (taking Clara out of his will) in order to exact revenge for the person's ongoing ill-treatment of oneself (the repeated serving of the cold turkey).


title: Cold turkey

text: The next known earliest print appearance of "cold turkey" in its exclusionary sense dates to 1910, in Canadian poet Robert W. Service's "The Trail of '98: A Northland Romance": "Once I used to gamble an' drink the limit. One morning I got up from the card-table after sitting there thirty-six hours. I'd lost five thousand dollars. I knew they'd handed me out 'cold turkey'..."


title: Cold turkey

text: Another possible origin relates to the American phrase "talk turkey", meaning "to speak bluntly with little preparation". The phrase "taking cold turkey" has also been reported during the 1920s as slang for pleading guilty.


title: Cold turkey

text: The term is also attributed to piloerection or "goose bumps" that occurs with abrupt withdrawal from opioids, which resembles the skin of a plucked refrigerated turkey. However, the term was used in other contexts before being used to describe withdrawal. The similar term "kick the habit" alludes to the muscle spasms that occur in addition to goosebumps in some cases.


title: Cold turkey

text: Another early printed use, this one in the media to refer to drug withdrawal occurred in the "Daily Colonist" in British Columbia in 1921:


title: Jennifer Todd

text: Jennifer Todd (born October 3, 1969) is an American film and television producer. She has a first look film deal at MGM Studios and is partnered with Thomas Kail in an exclusive television deal with 20th Television. She co-produced the 89th and 90th Academy Awards with Michael De Luca. She was nominated for an Emmy for producing both shows.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: She previously served as President of Pearl Street Films, the production company of actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: Todd was born in Los Angeles, California. Her credits include the three "Austin Powers" films, "Boiler Room", "Prime", "Must Love Dogs", and "Memento", for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for producing. Jennifer has produced alongside her sister, Suzanne Todd, also a producer. She produces the Showtime series "City on a Hill" starring Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge which aired its second season in 2021. She also produced "The Way Back" for WB starring Ben Affleck that was released 2020.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: Todd also produced "Across the Universe", starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess and directed by Julie Taymor, as well as "The Accidental Husband", directed by Griffin Dunne, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. She produced (with Richard D. Zanuck) the 2010 film "Alice in Wonderland", starring Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: Todd is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2018 she was elected to the Board of Governors as a Governor for the Producers Branch.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: "If These Walls Could Talk 2", cast and creators awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of excellence and innovation in a creative work that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: "Memento", nominated for two Academy Awards in 2002; won three Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature.


title: Jennifer Todd

text: "Across the Universe", nominated for a 2008 Academy Award (Best Costume Design); nominated for a Golden Globe (Best Picture, Musical/Comedy)


title: Risk aversion

text: In economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer outcomes with low uncertainty to those outcomes with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more certain outcome. Risk aversion explains the inclination to agree to a situation with a more predictable, but possibly lower payoff, rather than another situation with a highly unpredictable, but possibly higher payoff. For example, a risk-averse investor might choose to put their money into a bank account with a low but guaranteed interest rate, rather than into a stock that may have high expected returns, but also involves a chance of losing value.


title: Risk aversion

text: A person is given the choice between two scenarios: one with a guaranteed payoff, and one with a risky payoff with same average value. In the former scenario, the person receives $50. In the uncertain scenario, a coin is flipped to decide whether the person receives $100 or nothing. The expected payoff for both scenarios is $50, meaning that an individual who was insensitive to risk would not care whether they took the guaranteed payment or the gamble. However, individuals may have different risk attitudes.


title: Risk aversion

text: The average payoff of the gamble, known as its expected value, is $50. The smallest dollar amount that an individual would be indifferent to spending on a gamble or guarantee is called the certainty equivalent, which is also used as a measure of risk aversion. An individual that is risk averse has a certainty equivalent that is smaller than the prediction of uncertain gains. The risk premium is the difference between the expected value and the certainty equivalent. For risk-averse individuals, risk premium is positive, for risk-neutral persons it is zero, and for risk-loving individuals their risk premium is negative.


title: Risk aversion

text: In expected utility theory, an agent has a utility function "u"("c") where "c" represents the value that he might receive in money or goods (in the above example "c" could be $0 or $40 or $100).


title: Risk aversion

text: The utility function "u"("c") is defined only up to positive affine transformation – in other words, a constant could be added to the value of "u"("c") for all "c", and/or "u"("c") could be multiplied by a positive constant factor, without affecting the conclusions.


title: Risk aversion

text: An agent possesses risk aversion if and only if the utility function is concave. For instance "u"(0) could be 0, "u"(100) might be 10, "u"(40) might be 5, and for comparison "u"(50) might be 6.


title: Risk aversion

text: The expected utility of the above bet (with a 50% chance of receiving 100 and a 50% chance of receiving 0) is


title: Risk aversion

text: and if the person has the utility function with "u"(0)=0, "u"(40)=5, and "u"(100)=10 then the expected utility of the bet equals 5, which is the same as the known utility of the amount 40. Hence the certainty equivalent is 40.


title: Risk aversion

text: or 25% (where $50 is the expected value of the risky bet: (formula_3). This risk premium means that the person would be willing to sacrifice as much as $10 in expected value in order to achieve perfect certainty about how much money will be received. In other words, the person would be indifferent between the bet and a guarantee of $40, and would prefer anything over $40 to the bet.


title: Risk aversion

text: In the case of a wealthier individual, the risk of losing $100 would be less significant, and for such small amounts his utility function would be likely to be almost linear. For instance, if u(0) = 0 and u(100) = 10, then u(40) might be 4.02 and u(50) might be 5.01.


title: Risk aversion

text: The utility function for perceived gains has two key properties: an upward slope, and concavity. (i) The upward slope implies that the person feels that more is better: a larger amount received yields greater utility, and for risky bets the person would prefer a bet which is first-order stochastically dominant over an alternative bet (that is, if the probability mass of the second bet is pushed to the right to form the first bet, then the first bet is preferred). (ii) The concavity of the utility function implies that the person is risk averse: a sure amount would always be preferred over a risky bet having the same expected value; moreover, for risky bets the person would prefer a bet which is a mean-preserving contraction of an alternative bet (that is, if some of the probability mass of the first bet is spread out without altering the mean to form the second bet, then the first bet is preferred).


title: Risk aversion

text: There are various measures of the risk aversion expressed by those given utility function. Several functional forms often used for utility functions are represented by these measures.


title: Risk aversion

text: The higher the curvature of formula_4, the higher the risk aversion. However, since expected utility functions are not uniquely defined (are defined only up to affine transformations), a measure that stays constant with respect to these transformations is needed rather than just the second derivative of formula_4. One such measure is the Arrow–Pratt measure of absolute risk aversion (ARA), after the economists Kenneth Arrow and John W. Pratt, also known as the coefficient of absolute risk aversion, defined as


title: Risk aversion

text: where formula_7 and formula_8 denote the first and second derivatives with respect to formula_9 of formula_4. For example, if formula_11 so formula_12 and formula_13 then formula_14 Note how formula_15 does not depend on formula_16 and formula_17 so affine transformations of formula_4 do not change it.


title: Risk aversion

text: The solution to this differential equation (omitting additive and multiplicative constant terms, which do not affect the behavior implied by the utility function) is:


title: Risk aversion

text: Note that when formula_25, this is CARA, as formula_26, and when formula_27, this is CRRA (see below), as formula_28.


title: Risk aversion

text: and this can hold only if formula_31. Therefore, DARA implies that the utility function is positively skewed; that is, formula_31. Analogously, IARA can be derived with the opposite directions of inequalities, which permits but does not require a negatively skewed utility function (formula_33). An example of a DARA utility function is formula_34, with formula_35, while formula_36 formula_37, with formula_38 would represent a quadratic utility function exhibiting IARA.


title: Risk aversion

text: The Arrow–Pratt measure of relative risk aversion (RRA) or coefficient of relative risk aversion is defined as


title: Risk aversion

text: Unlike ARA whose units are in $, RRA is a dimension-less quantity, which allows it to be applied universally. Like for absolute risk aversion, the corresponding terms "constant relative risk aversion" (CRRA) and "decreasing/increasing relative risk aversion" (DRRA/IRRA) are used. This measure has the advantage that it is still a valid measure of risk aversion, even if the utility function changes from risk averse to risk loving as "c" varies, i.e. utility is not strictly convex/concave over all "c". A constant RRA implies a decreasing ARA, but the reverse is not always true. As a specific example of constant relative risk aversion, the utility function formula_41 implies RRA = 1.


title: Risk aversion

text: In intertemporal choice problems, the elasticity of intertemporal substitution often cannot be disentangled from the coefficient of relative risk aversion. The isoelastic utility function


title: Risk aversion

text: exhibits constant relative risk aversion with formula_43 and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution formula_44. When formula_45 using l'Hôpital's rule shows that this simplifies to the case of "log utility," "u"("c") = log "c", and the income effect and substitution effect on saving exactly offset.


title: Risk aversion

text: The most straightforward implications of increasing or decreasing absolute or relative risk aversion, and the ones that motivate a focus on these concepts, occur in the context of forming a portfolio with one risky asset and one risk-free asset. If the person experiences an increase in wealth, he/she will choose to increase (or keep unchanged, or decrease) the "number of dollars" of the risky asset held in the portfolio if "absolute" risk aversion is decreasing (or constant, or increasing). Thus economists avoid using utility functions such as the quadratic, which exhibit increasing absolute risk aversion, because they have an unrealistic behavioral implication.


title: Risk aversion

text: Similarly, if the person experiences an increase in wealth, he/she will choose to increase (or keep unchanged, or decrease) the "fraction" of the portfolio held in the risky asset if "relative" risk aversion is decreasing (or constant, or increasing).


title: Risk aversion

text: In one model in monetary economics, an increase in relative risk aversion increases the impact of households' money holdings on the overall economy. In other words, the more the relative risk aversion increases, the more money demand shocks will impact the economy.