title: Independence Hall

text: Lincoln's funeral train (the "Lincoln Special") left Harrisburg on Saturday, April 22, 1865, at 11:15 am and arrived at Philadelphia at Broad Street Station that afternoon at 4:30 pm. It was carried by hearse past a crowd of 85,000 people and was held in state in the Assembly Room in the east wing of Independence Hall. While there, it was escorted and guarded by a detail of 27 naval and military officers. That evening, a private viewing was arranged for honored guests of the mourners. The next day, (Sunday, April 23, 1865) lines began forming at 5:00 am. Over 300,000 mourners viewed the body – some waiting 5 hours just to see him. The Lincoln Special left Philadelphia's Kensington Station for New York City the next morning (Monday, April 24, 1865) at 4:00 am.


title: Independence Hall

text: The symbolic use of the hall was illustrated on June 17, 1915, where the League to Enforce Peace was formed here with former President William Howard Taft presiding. They proposed an international governing body under which participating nations would commit to "jointly...use...their economic and military forces against any one of their number making war against another" and "to formulate and codify rules of international law".


title: Independence Hall

text: The original steeple was demolished in 1781 due to structural problems. The wings and hyphens were demolished in 1812 and replaced by larger buildings designed by architect Robert Mills and a new, more elaborate steeple designed by William Strickland, constructed in 1828. The north entrance was also rebuilt during this period.


title: Independence Hall

text: From 1802 to 1826–1827, artist Charles Willson Peale housed his museum of natural history specimens (including the skeleton of a mastodon) and portraits of famous Americans, on the second floor of the Old State House and in the Assembly Room.


title: Independence Hall

text: In early 1816, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sold the State House to the City of Philadelphia, with a contract signed by the governor. The deed, however, was not transferred until more than two years later. Philadelphia has owned the State House and its associated buildings and grounds since that time.


title: Independence Hall

text: In 1898, the Mills wings were removed and replaced with replicas of the originals, but the Strickland steeple was left in place.


title: Independence Hall

text: In 1948, the building's interior was restored to its original appearance. Independence National Historical Park was established by the 80th U.S. Congress later that year to preserve historical sites associated with the American Revolution. Independence National Historical Park comprises a landscaped area of four city blocks, as well as outlying sites that include Independence Square, Carpenters' Hall (meeting place of the First Continental Congress), the site of Benjamin Franklin's home, the reconstructed Graff House (where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence), City Tavern (center of Revolutionary War activities), restored period residences, and several early banks. The park also holds the Liberty Bell, Franklin's desk, the Syng inkstand, a portrait gallery, gardens, and libraries. A product of extensive documentary research and archaeology by the federal government, the restoration of Independence Hall and other buildings in the park set standards for other historic preservation and stimulated rejuvenation of old Philadelphia. The site, administered by the National Park Service, is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (joining only three other U.S. man-made monuments still in use, the others being the Statue of Liberty, Pueblo de Taos, and the combined site of the University of Virginia and Monticello).


title: Independence Hall

text: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are now protected in a secure zone with entry at security screening buildings. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, as part of a national effort to safeguard historical monuments by the United States Department of Homeland Security, pedestrian traffic around Independence Square and part of Independence Mall was restricted by temporary bicycle barriers and park rangers. In 2006, the National Park Service proposed installing a seven-foot security fence around Independence Hall and bisecting Independence Square, a plan that met with opposition from Philadelphia city officials, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and Senator Arlen Specter. As of January 2007, the National Park Service plan was revised to eliminate the fence in favor of movable bollards and chains, and also to remove at least some of the temporary barriers to pedestrians and visitors.


title: Independence Hall

text: The 1989 film "A More Perfect Union", which portrays the events of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, was largely filmed in Independence Hall.


title: Independence Hall

text: Because of its symbolic history, Independence Hall has been used in more recent times as a venue for speeches and protests in support of democratic and civil rights movements. On October 26, 1918, Tomáš Masaryk proclaimed the independence of Czechoslovakia on the steps of Independence Hall. National Freedom Day, which commemorates the struggles of African Americans for equality and justice, has been celebrated at Independence Hall since 1942. On Independence Day, July 4, 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave an address there.


title: Independence Hall

text: Annual demonstrations organized by the East Coast Homophile Organizations advocating for gay rights were held in front of Independence Hall each July 4 from 1965 to 1969.


title: Independence Hall

text: Independence Hall is pictured on the back of the U.S. $100 bill, as well as the bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. The Assembly Room is pictured on the reverse of the U.S. two-dollar bill, from the original painting by John Trumbull entitled "Declaration of Independence".


title: Independence Hall

text: Independence Hall served as the model for the Pennsylvania Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Pennsylvania Building at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, and the Pennsylvania Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Dozens of structures replicating or loosely inspired by Independence Hall's iconic design have been built elsewhere in the United States, including a brick-by-brick replica across from Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album "Bringing It All Back Home". The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple compilation albums. It has been translated into other languages, and has been used or referenced in television shows, films, and books.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The song has been performed and recorded by many artists, including the Byrds, Judy Collins, Melanie, Odetta, and Stevie Wonder among others. The Byrds' version was released in April 1965 as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart, as well as being the title track of their debut album, "Mr. Tambourine Man". The Byrds' recording of the song was influential in popularizing the musical subgenres of folk rock and jangle pop, leading many contemporary bands to mimic its fusion of jangly guitars and intellectual lyrics in the wake of the single's success. Dylan himself was partly influenced to record with electric instrumentation after hearing the Byrds' reworking of his song.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: Dylan's song has four verses, of which the Byrds only used the second for their recording. Dylan's and the Byrds' versions have appeared on various lists ranking the greatest songs of all time, including an appearance by both on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 best songs ever. Both versions received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The song has a bright, expansive melody and has become famous for its surrealistic imagery, influenced by artists as diverse as French poet Arthur Rimbaud and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The lyrics call on the title character to play a song and the narrator will follow. Interpretations of the lyrics have included a paean to drugs such as LSD, a call to the singer's muse, a reflection of the audience's demands on the singer, and religious interpretations.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: "Mr. Tambourine Man" was written and composed in early 1964, at the same approximate time as "Chimes of Freedom", which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album "Another Side of Bob Dylan". Dylan began writing and composing "Mr. Tambourine Man" in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between the middle of March and late April of that year after he had returned to New York. Nigel Williamson has suggested in "The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan" that the influence of Mardi Gras can be heard in the swirling and fanciful imagery of the song's lyrics. Journalist Al Aronowitz has stated that Dylan completed the song at his home, but folk singer Judy Collins, who later recorded the song, has stated that Dylan completed the song at her home. Dylan premiered the song the following month at a May 17 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: During the sessions for "Another Side of Bob Dylan", in June 1964, with Tom Wilson producing, Dylan recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man" with Ramblin' Jack Elliott singing harmony. As Elliott was slightly off key, that recording wasn't used. Later that month he recorded a publisher demo of the song at Witmark Music. More than six months passed before Dylan re-recorded the song, again with Wilson in the producer's chair, during the final "Bringing It All Back Home" session on January 15, 1965, the same day that "Gates of Eden", "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" were recorded. It was long thought that the four songs were each recorded in one long take. However, in the biography "Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades", Clinton Heylin relates that the song required six attempts, possibly because of difficulties in working out the playoffs between Dylan's acoustic guitar and Bruce Langhorne's electric lead. Alternate takes released on Dylan's collection also reveal that early takes include drummer Bobby Gregg playing a tambourine-heavy rhythm, but Dylan found this too distracting and opted to continue recording with Langhorne alone. The final take was selected for the album, which was released on March 22, 1965.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In his book "Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia", Oliver Trager describes "Mr. Tambourine Man" as having a bright, expansive melody, with Langhorne's electric guitar accompaniment, which provides a countermelody to the vocals, being the only instrumentation besides Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica. Author Wilfrid Mellers has written that although the song is in the key of D major, it is harmonized as if it were in a Lydian G major, giving the song a tonal ambiguity that enhances the dreamy quality of the melody. Unusually, rather than beginning with the first verse, the song begins with an iteration of the chorus:


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: William Ruhlmann, writing for the AllMusic web site, has suggested the following outline of the song's lyrics: "The time seems to be early morning following a night when the narrator has not slept. Still unable to sleep, though amazed by his weariness, he is available and open to Mr. Tambourine Man's song, and says he will follow him. In the course of four verses studded with internal rhymes, he expounds on this situation, his meaning often heavily embroidered with imagery, though the desire to be freed by the tambourine man's song remains clear."


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: While there has been speculation that the song is about drugs, particularly with lines such as "take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship" and "the smoke rings of my mind", Dylan has denied the song is about drugs. Though he was smoking marijuana at the time the song was written, Dylan was not introduced to LSD until a few months later. Outside of drug speculation, the song has been interpreted as a call to the singer's spirit or muse, or as a search for transcendence. In particular, biographer John Hinchey has suggested in his book "Like a Complete Unknown" that the singer is praying to his muse for inspiration; Hinchey notes that ironically the song itself is evidence the muse has already provided the sought-after inspiration. The figure of Mr. Tambourine Man has sometimes been interpreted as a symbol for Jesus or the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The song may also reference gospel music themes, with Mr. Tambourine Man being the bringer of religious salvation.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: Dylan has cited the influence of Federico Fellini's movie "La Strada" on the song, while other commentators have found echoes of the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. Author Howard Sounes has identified the lyrics "in the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you" as having been taken from a Lord Buckley recording. Bruce Langhorne, who performs guitar on the track, has been cited by Dylan as the inspiration for the tambourine man image in the song. Langhorne used to play a giant, four-inch-deep "tambourine" (actually a Turkish frame drum), and had brought the instrument to a previous Dylan recording session.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The "Bringing it All Back Home" version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was included on "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" in 1967 and several later Dylan compilation albums, including "Biograph", "Masterpieces", and "The Essential Bob Dylan". The two June 1964 recordings, one with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and the other at Witmark Music, have been released on "" and "", respectively. Outtakes from the January 15, 1965 recording session were released on "" in 2015.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The song has been in Dylan's live concert repertoire since it was written, usually as a solo acoustic song, and live performances have appeared on various concert albums and DVDs. An early performance, perhaps the song's live debut, recorded at London's Royal Festival Hall


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: on May 17, 1964, appeared on "Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections", while another early performance, recorded during a songs workshop at the Newport Folk Festival on July 24, 1964, was included in both Murray Lerner's film "The Other Side of the Mirror" and the DVD release of Martin Scorsese's documentary "No Direction Home". A live performance at New York's Philharmonic Hall dating from October 31, 1964, appeared on "". During his appearance at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, after he was heckled by acoustic folk music fans during his electric set, Dylan returned to play acoustic versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"; this performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was included in "The Other Side of the Mirror".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: A live version from Dylan's famous May 17, 1966, concert in Manchester, England (popularly but mistakenly known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert) was included on "". Dylan's August 31, 1969 performance of the song at the Isle of Wight Festival appeared on "Isle of Wight Live", part of the 4-CD deluxe edition of "". Dylan played the song as part of his evening set at the 1971, Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. That performance was included on "The Concert For Bangladesh" album, although it was excluded from the film of the concert. Another live version, from the Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975, was included on "" and "", while electric band versions from 1978 and 1981 appeared, respectively, on "Bob Dylan at Budokan" and the Deluxe Edition of "".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In November 2016, all Dylan's recorded live performances of the song from 1966 were released in the boxed set "The 1966 Live Recordings", with the May 26, 1966 performance released separately on the album "The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the debut single by the American band the Byrds, and was released on April 12, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was also the title track of the band's debut album, which was released on June 21, 1965. The Byrds' version is abridged and in a different key from Dylan's original.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, with a number of American and British acts imitating the band's hybrid of a rock beat, jangly guitar playing, and poetic or socially conscious lyrics. The single was the "first folk rock smash hit", and gave rise to the term "folk rock" in the U.S music press to describe the band's sound.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: This hybrid had its antecedents in the American folk revival of the early 1960s, the Animals's rock-oriented recording of the folk song "The House of the Rising Sun", the folk influences present in the songwriting of the Beatles, and the twelve-string guitar jangle of the Searchers and the Beatles' George Harrison. However, the success of the Byrds' debut created a template for folk rock that proved successful for many acts during the mid-1960s.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: Most of the members of the Byrds had a background in folk music, since Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby had all worked as folk singers during the early 1960s. They had all spent time, independently of each other, in various folk groups, including the New Christy Minstrels, the Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and Les Baxter's Balladeers.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In early 1964, McGuinn, Clark, and Crosby formed the Jet Set and started developing a fusion of folk-based lyrics and melodies, with arrangements in the style of the Beatles. In August 1964, the band's manager Jim Dickson acquired an acetate disc of "Mr. Tambourine Man" from Dylan's publisher, featuring a performance by Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Although the band members were initially unimpressed with the song, after McGuinn changed the time signature from Dylan's configuration to time, they began rehearsing and demoing it. In an attempt to make it sound more like the Beatles, the band and Dickson elected to give the song a full, electric rock band treatment, effectively creating the musical subgenre of folk rock. To further bolster the group's confidence in the song, Dickson invited Dylan to a band rehearsal at World Pacific Studios to hear their rendition. Dylan was impressed, enthusiastically commenting, "Wow, you can dance to that!" His endorsement erased any lingering doubts the band had about the song.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: During this period, drummer Michael Clarke and bass player Chris Hillman joined, and the band changed their name to the Byrds over Thanksgiving 1964. Band biographer Johnny Rogan has remarked that the two surviving demos of "Mr. Tambourine Man" dating from this period feature an incongruous marching band drum part from Clarke, but overall the arrangement is very close to the later single version.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The master take of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was recorded on January 20, 1965, at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, prior to the release of Dylan's own version. The song's jangling, melodic guitar playing (performed by McGuinn on a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar) was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The group's complex vocal harmony work, as featured on "Mr. Tambourine Man", became another major characteristic of their sound. Due to producer Terry Melcher's initial lack of confidence in the Byrds' musicianship, as a result of them not having gelled musically yet, McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on both "Mr. Tambourine Man" and its B-side, "I Knew I'd Want You". Rather than using band members, Melcher hired the Wrecking Crew, a collection of top L.A. session musicians (listed here), who (with McGuinn on guitar) provided the backing track over which McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark sang. By the time that sessions for their debut album began in March 1965, Melcher was satisfied that the band was competent enough to record its own musical backing. Much of the track's arrangement and final mixdown was modeled after Brian Wilson's production work for the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The Byrds' recording of the song opens with a distinctive, Bach-inspired guitar introduction played by McGuinn and then, like Dylan's version, goes into the song's chorus. Although Dylan's version contains four verses, the Byrds perform only the song's second verse and two repeats of the chorus, followed by a variation on the song's introduction, which then fades out. The Byrds' arrangement of the song had been shortened during the band's rehearsals, at the suggestion of Jim Dickson, in order to accommodate commercial radio stations, which were reluctant to play songs that were over two-and-a-half minutes long. As a result, while Dylan's version is five-and-a-half minutes long, the Byrds' version runs just short of two-and-a-half minutes. The lead vocal on the Byrds' recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was sung by McGuinn, who attempted to modify his singing style to fill what he perceived as a gap in the popular music scene of the day, somewhere between the vocal sound of John Lennon and Bob Dylan. The song also took on a spiritual aspect for McGuinn during the recording sessions, as he told Rogan in 1997: "I was singing to God and I was saying that God was the Tambourine Man and I was saying to him, 'Hey, God, take me for a trip and I'll follow you.' It was a prayer of submission."


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The single reached number 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the first recording of a Dylan song to reach number 1 on any pop music chart. In 2009, the band's bassist Chris Hillman gave Bob Eubanks, a DJ on KRLA and later the host of "The Newlywed Game", credit for originally breaking the song on the radio in L.A. Critic William Ruhlmann has argued that in the wake of "Mr. Tambourine Man", the influence of the Byrds could be heard in recordings by a number of other Los Angeles-based acts, including the Turtles, the Leaves, Barry McGuire, and Sonny & Cher. In addition, author and music historian Richie Unterberger sees the influence of the Byrds in recordings by the Lovin' Spoonful, the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, and Love, while author John Einarson has said that both the Grass Roots and We Five enjoyed commercial success by emulating the Byrds' folk rock sound. Unterberger also feels that, by late 1965, the Beatles were assimilating the sound of the Byrds into their "Rubber Soul" album, most notably on the songs "Nowhere Man" and "If I Needed Someone". Both Unterberger and author Peter Lavezzoli have commented that Dylan himself decided to record with electric instrumentation on his 1965 album "Bringing It All Back Home" in part due to the influence of the Byrds' rock adaptation of "Mr. Tambourine Man".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: As the 1960s came to a close, folk rock changed and evolved away from the jangly template pioneered by the Byrds, but, Unterberger argues, the band's influence could still be heard in the music of Fairport Convention. Since the 1960s, the Byrds' jangly, folk rock sound has continued to influence popular music, with authors such as Chris Smith, Johnny Rogan, and Mark Deming, noting the band's influence on various acts including Big Star, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, R.E.M., the Long Ryders, the Smiths, the Bangles, the Stone Roses, Teenage Fanclub, and the La's.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In addition to appearing on the Byrds' debut album, "Mr. Tambourine Man" is included on several Byrds' compilation and live albums, including "The Byrds Greatest Hits", "Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971", "The Very Best of The Byrds", "The Essential Byrds", "The Byrds Play Dylan", and the live disc of The Byrds' "(Untitled)" album. The Byrds' version of the song appears on compilation albums that include hit songs by multiple artists. Two earlier demo recordings of "Mr. Tambourine Man", dating from the World Pacific rehearsal sessions, can be heard on the Byrds' archival albums "Preflyte", "In the Beginning", and "The Preflyte Sessions".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: "Mr. Tambourine Man" has been performed and recorded by many artists and in different languages over the years, including at least thirteen versions recorded in 1965 alone. The Brothers Four recorded a commercial version before the Byrds, but were unable to release it due to licensing issues. Odetta included her version of the song on her album "Odetta Sings Dylan", released early March 1965. Notable recordings of the song have been made by Judy Collins, Stevie Wonder, the Four Seasons, the Barbarians, and Chad and Jeremy. Other artists who have recorded the song include Glen Campbell (1965), the Beau Brummels (1966), the Lettermen (1966), Kenny Rankin (1967), Melanie (1968), Joni Mitchell (1970), Gene Clark (1984) and Crowded House (1989). William Shatner recorded a spoken word cover of the song for his 1968 album "The Transformed Man".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: A reunited line-up of the Byrds, featuring Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, and David Crosby, performed "Mr. Tambourine Man" with Dylan at a Roy Orbison tribute concert on February 24, 1990. This live performance of the song was included on the 1990 box set "The Byrds". At the October 1992 Bob Dylan 30th anniversary tribute concert at Madison Square Garden, McGuinn performed the song, backed by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench, among others.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: "Mr. Tambourine Man" has been referenced in books and film, including Tom Wolfe's non-fiction novel "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", Stephen King's novel "Carrie", the film "Dangerous Minds", and the documentary film "". The subject of the latter film, journalist Hunter S. Thompson, had "Mr. Tambourine Man" played at his funeral and dedicated his novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" to Dylan and the song. Ann Hui's 1990 film "Song of the Exile" begins with Maggie Cheung riding a bicycle through the streets of London while a street performer plays the song. The 2013 John Craigie song, "I Wrote Mr. Tambourine Man", is about a person that Craigie met in New Orleans who claimed to have written the original lyrics to "Mr. Tambourine Man".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was listed as the number 79 song on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and Dylan's version was ranked number 106. It is one of three songs to place twice, along with "Walk This Way" by both Aerosmith and Run-DMC with Perry and Tyler, and "Blue Suede Shoes" by both Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. The Byrds' version was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998, and Dylan's version was honored with the same award in 2002.


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In 1989 "Rolling Stone" ranked the Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" as the number 86 single of the prior 25 years. That same year, music critic Dave Marsh listed it as number 207 in his list of the top 1001 singles ever made. In 1999, National Public Radio in the United States listed this version as one of the 300 most important American records of the 20th century. In the UK, music critic Colin Larkin listed the Byrds' version as the number 1 single of all time. Other UK publishers that have listed this song as one of the top songs or singles include "Mojo", "New Musical Express", and "Sounds". Australian music critic Toby Creswell included the song in his book "1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them".


title: Mr. Tambourine Man

text: In a 2005 reader's poll reported in "Mojo", Dylan's version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was listed as the number 4 all-time greatest Bob Dylan song, and a similar poll of artists ranked the song number 14. In 2002, "Uncut" listed it as the number 15 all-time Dylan song.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: Henry Sturgis Morgan Sr. (October 24, 1900 – February 8, 1982) was an American banker, known for being the co-founder of Morgan Stanley and the president and chairman of the Morgan Library & Museum.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: Morgan was born on October 24, 1900, in London, United Kingdom to John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867–1943) and Jane Norton Morgan (née Grew) (d. 1925). His father was the son of John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (1837–1913) and his mother was the daughter of Boston banker and mill owner Henry Sturgis Grew (1833–1910). He was educated at Groton School and graduated from Harvard University in 1923.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: In 1923, the same year he graduated from Harvard, he joined J.P. Morgan & Co. and was a partner from 1928 to 1935. In 1935, he co-founded Morgan Stanley together with Harold Stanley when the Glass–Steagall Act forced the separation on investment banking and commercial banking.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: At the death of his father in 1943, he and his brother, Junius Spencer Morgan III, inherited the estate. Morgan owned a estate, which is located at Eaton's Neck Road, Eatons Neck, New York, United States.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: On June 26, 1923, he married Catherine Frances Lovering Adams (1902–1988), daughter of Frances Lovering and Charles Francis Adams III, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy under Herbert Hoover, and a descendant of U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The couple had five sons:


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: Morgan was trustee, president and chairman of The Morgan Library & Museum, served on the boards of J.P. Morgan & Co., General Electric and Pullman Company, served as trustee of the Groton School and Museum of Modern Art and member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. During World War II, Morgan was a commander in the Naval Reserve and served as an OSS Agent.


title: Henry Sturgis Morgan

text: Like his father, brother and grandfather, he was the Commodore of New York Yacht Club where he served as chairman of its America's Cup Committee. He was also vice president of the International Yacht Racing Union. He was a member of the Bohemian Club, the Council on Foreign Relations, Community Service Society of New York, the Pilgrims Society and the Roxburghe Club.


title: Selena: The Series

text: Selena: The Series (Spanish: "Selena: la serie") is an American biographical drama streaming television series created by Moisés Zamora. It tells the story of Tejano singer Selena's rise to fame and the sacrifices she and her family must make along the way.


title: Selena: The Series

text: The first season was released on Netflix on December 4, 2020. The second and final season premiered on May 4, 2021.


title: Selena: The Series

text: The story of the Tejana singer Selena Quintanilla, from her childhood to her rise to fame, along with the difficult and heartbreaking tough choices she and her family make to hold on to love and music.


title: Selena: The Series

text: On December 11, 2018, "Selena: The Series" was ordered to series by Netflix. The series is produced by Campanario Entertainment with Selena's father (Abraham) and sister (Suzette), from a screenplay by Moisés Zamora for Netflix. It is based on the life of Selena, and is the version authorized by Selena's family, unlike "El secreto de Selena", an unauthorized version by María Celeste Arrarás, which the family publicly condemned. Part one of the series was released on December 4, 2020. The second part of the series premiered on May 4, 2021.


title: Selena: The Series

text: The series stars Christian Serratos as the titular character. "Deadline" later reported that "Other cast members include Noemi Gonzalez ("The Young and the Restless") as Suzette Quintanilla, Selena's sister and best friend, who learns to embrace her role as the first female drummer in Tejano music history. Seidy López ("Training Day") will play Marcella Quintanilla, Selena's mother; and newcomer Madison Taylor Baez will portray a young Selena." Ricardo Chavira and Gabriel Chavarria were to play Selena's father and brother respectively. It was later announced the series would include Julio Macias, Jesse Posey, Hunter Reese, Carlos Alfredo, Jr., Juan Martinez, Daniela Estrada and Paul Rodriguez, Jr. co-starring in the series as the Quintanila family and various other important members of Selena's life. Macias plays Pete Astudillo, with Posey as Chris Perez, Peña as Ricky Vela, and Alfredo as Joe Ojeda. Martinez portrays a young A.B. Quintanilla, Selena's brother, with Estrada as a young Suzette Quintanilla, Selena's sister, and Rodriguez as Roger Garcia, a shy guitarist who was part of the group before Chris Perez became its guitarist. Additionally co-starring Johnny Jay Lee ("") and Fernanda Moya as the young man and woman respectively.


title: Selena: The Series

text: Filming began in early October 2019 in Baja California, Mexico in places such as Rosarito, Tecate and Tijuana. Christian Serratos revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she recently finished filming the show's second season - under the health and safety protocols of COVID-19 in November 2020.


title: Selena: The Series

text: "Selena: The Series Soundtrack" debuted at number 8 on the Latin Pop Albums chart, selling 1,000 album-equivalent units during the week ending December 10, 2020.


title: Selena: The Series

text: For part 1 of the series, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 32% based on 34 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.35/10. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Selena: The Series" affections are obvious, but by not probing deeper into Selena herself it fails to capture the woman behind the legacy, settling for just-another-retelling of the charismatic star's life instead of something more." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on 9 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Selena: The Series

text: For part 2 of the series, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 14% based on 7 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4.42/10.


title: Selena: The Series

text: On January 15, 2021, Netflix announced that the series was watched by 25 million households for the first 28 days after its debut.


title: Nerf

text: Nerf is a toy brand formed by Parker Brothers and currently owned by Hasbro. Most of the toys are a variety of foam-based weaponry, with other Nerf products including balls for sports such as American football, basketball, and baseball. Their best known toys are their dart guns (referred to by Hasbro as "blasters") that shoot ammunition made from "Nerf foam" (partially reticulated polyether type polyurethane foam). Their primary slogan, first introduced in the 1990s, is ""It's Nerf or Nothin'!"". Annual revenues under the Nerf brand are approximately .


title: Nerf

text: Parker Brothers originally developed Nerf, beginning with a polyurethane foam ball. In 1969, Reyn Guyer, a Minnesota-based games inventor, came to the company with a football game that was safe for indoor play, and after studying it carefully, Parker Brothers decided to eliminate everything but the foam ball. In 1970, the Nerf ball was introduced as the "world's first official indoor ball", the name "Nerf" being a slang term for the foam padding used in off-roading. Marketing slogans promised that one can "Throw it indoors; you can't damage lamps or break windows. You can't hurt babies or old people." Some of the first TV commercials for the balls were joint promotions with General Foods' Kool-Aid drink mix, with Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith of the Monkees playing with the balls on a living room soundstage (Kool-Aid sponsored the 1969–70 Saturday morning reruns of the Monkees' 1966–67 TV series). The ball filled a strong consumer need and by the year's end, more than four million Nerf balls had been sold. The ball was followed by a large version called the "Super Nerf Ball". Shortly after, in 1972, a basketball game called "Nerfoop" and the Nerf football (developed by longtime NFL kicker Fred Cox) joined the family, with the latter quickly becoming Nerf's most popular ball.


title: Nerf

text: The company continued to add to the Nerf line until they handed control to Kenner Products, a sister company. In 1987, Kenner was bought by the Tonka Corporation, which itself was purchased by Hasbro in 1991, which then became the owner of Nerf. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Nerf brand served under the subsidiaries OddzOn and Larami before Hasbro took full control of the brand.


title: Nerf

text: Over the years, Nerf has continued to expand the line, adding new looks to existing products, with later lines of Nerf products ranging from sport balls and foam dart blasters to video games and accessories.


title: Nerf

text: In February 2013, Hasbro announced the release of its "Rebelle" line, a sub-line aimed at girls, with its first products released in fall of 2013.


title: Nerf

text: In November 2013, POW! Books published "The Ultimate Nerf Blaster Book". Written by Nathaniel Marunas, the book highlights the history of Nerf and provides details on every N-Strike, Dart Tag, and Vortex blaster produced at the time of the book's release.


title: Nerf

text: In 2015, the Rival line of blasters was first released. The first products released were the Rival Apollo XV-700 and the Rival Zeus MXV-1200. These blasters fire a new type of ammunition, known as "High Impact Rounds", which are small foam balls that can reach a higher velocity than foam darts. The Rival line is targeted towards an older audience, with each product listing the age of 14+ on the box.


title: Nerf

text: In 2021, the Hyper line of blasters was announced. Initial products included the Hyper Rush-40, Hyper Siege-50, and Hyper Mach-100. Hyper rounds are similar in design to Rival rounds, but are smaller and made of a thermoplastic elastomer material that is more rubber-like than the foam used in Rival rounds.


title: Nerf

text: Nerf's most popular product type are Nerf blasters, which are toy plastic guns that shoot foam darts. These darts have different-style tips, including Velcro-tipped in order to stick to Nerf vests (typically shipped with Dart Tag blasters), suction cup darts designed to stick to smooth surfaces, streamlined darts to fit into magazines (referred to as clips by Nerf), some able to whistle in flight, Darts may also have different colors, such as colors that reflect certain sub-lines, camouflage, and glow in the dark. Most Nerf blasters also have rails, known as tactical rails, which can accommodate different attachments, as well as special adapters such barrel and stock adapters. The "N-strike" sub-line was launched in 2004, and is styled more like a real weapon than previous Nerf products. It was updated in 2012 as N-Strike Elite.


title: Nerf

text: Rebelle was predominantly aimed at the female demographic, with similar internal mechanics to the Nerf N-Strike elite line, sporting pink, purple and teal colors.


title: Nerf

text: The Zombie Strike line was launched in 2013, and is geared for fans of Humans vs. Zombies games. All blasters have a distinct zombie apocalypse theme, with newer blasters featuring a DIY aesthetic.


title: Nerf

text: Nerf Rival blasters (branded as RIVAL) fire small foam balls referred to by Nerf as "High Impact Rounds", but usually referred to as “Rival Balls” or "Rival Rounds" by the Nerf community. Nerf Rival blasters are targeted towards an older target market than Nerf's better-known dart blasters.


title: Nerf

text: In 2017, Hasbro released the Nerf Nitro line, which consists of blasters that fire foam cars into obstacles and stunt ramps.


title: Nerf

text: Released in September 2019, Nerf Ultra (branded as ULTRA) blasters fire a new, propriety dart design that is marketed as "THE FARTHEST FLYING DART EVER. Darts can travel up to 120 feet." The new Ultra darts are constructed from a lightweight foam that is notably different from traditional darts in that they are made with closed-cell, rather than open-cell foam. This construction allows for fins to be molded into the rear of the darts. Size-wise, Ultra darts are between N-Strike Elite darts and Mega darts in diameter, but shorter than both in length. They cannot be fired from any previous Nerf line or off-brand compatible blasters, nor can any other lines' darts be fired from Ultra blasters. This design was created in response to the growing number of third-party darts, including exact knockoffs from China, available for N-Strike Elite blasters at a much lower cost than Nerf-brand darts.


title: Nerf

text: Originally owned and marketed by Larami, Super Soaker is a popular line of water guns. Recently, Hasbro has released a line of Nerf-branded Super Soaker blasters.


title: Nerf

text: Lazer Tag, a popular laser tag toy line from the mid-1980s, is also currently part of the Nerf banner. The current generation of Lazer Tag blasters attach to iPhones or iPod Touch units for enhanced playability.


title: Nerf

text: In June 2013, Hasbro and Grammercy Products unveiled Nerf Dog, a line of Nerf-inspired canine retrieving toys made of rubber, nylon, and plastic. Nerf Dog was launched at Walmart stores, and debuted at pet specialty stores in Fall 2013.


title: Nerf

text: The Nerf Dog Tennis Ball Blaster mimics traditional Nerf blaster designs and shoots a ball up to 50 feet in the air. The toy uses special softer balls to reduce the risk of injury.


title: Nerf

text: Nerf has also produced video game accessories for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DSi, DS Lite, 3DS and the Wii. Visionary Media, Inc. released the first-person shooter "Nerf Arena Blast" (or "NAB", sometimes "Arena Blast") in 1999. EA Games, in association with Hasbro, released the 2008 video game "Nerf N-Strike" and its 2009 sequel "Nerf N-Strike Elite". Both games feature the Switch Shot EX-3, which doubles as a functional dart blaster and a Wii Remote accessory. In June 2019, Raw Thrills released the Nerf Arcade game.


title: Nerf

text: GameMill Entertainment published "Nerf Legends", a first-person shooter game released on 19 November 2021 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. In 2021, an online multiplayer first-person shooter titled "Nerf Strike" was developed by The Gang Stockholm and released by Metaverse Team under license from Hasbro on the online platform "Roblox". In August 2022, developers Secret Location under licence from Hasbro released the Virtual reality game multiplayer shooter titled "NERF Ultimate Championships" for the Meta Quest 2 platform.


title: Nerf

text: In 2011, the Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS was awarded "Boy Toy of the Year" and the Nerf Super Soaker Shot Blast won "Outdoor Toy of the Year" at the 11th Annual Toy of the Year Awards, which is held at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.


title: Nerf

text: In 2014, the Nerf Zombie Strike Crossfire Bow won the award for "Best Action Toy" at the 2014 U.K. Toy Fair.


title: Nerf

text: In June 2010, Hasbro sued Buzz Bee Toys and Lanard Toys for patent violation of its Nerf and Super Soaker brands. The lawsuit stated that Buzz Bee and Lanard infringed two U.S. patents for the Nerf N-Strike Disc Shot blaster, while Buzz Bee infringed on a Super Soaker patent. In November of that year, Hasbro won its patent case against Buzz Bee with the latter banned from producing certain water guns.


title: Nerf

text: In April 2012, Hasbro contacted the Australia-based fan blog "Urban Taggers" for leaking information on unreleased Nerf products found on the Chinese marketplace website Taobao. Hasbro allegedly tricked one of the bloggers into disclosing his home address for their lawyers to mail him a cease and desist letter. The incident resulted in fans setting up a campaign on Facebook boycotting Hasbro.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: Tajon Trevor Buchanan (born February 8, 1999) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Belgian First Division A side Club Brugge and the Canada national team.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: Buchanan was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario and is of Jamaican descent. His father passed away when Buchanan was seven years old. He began playing soccer with Brampton Youth SC, when he was eight. Buchanan won the 2014 IMG Cup with the Mississauga Falcons. At age 15, he moved with his best friend and his best friend's father (and his former coach), Chrys Chrysanthou, to Colorado where he joined the USSDA academy Real Colorado.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: Buchanan spent two years playing college soccer at Syracuse University between 2017 and 2018, making 33 appearances, scoring 12 goals, and tallying six assists. After two years with the Orange, Buchanan left early and signed a Generation Adidas contract with Major League Soccer ahead of the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: In summer 2018, Buchanan played for League1 Ontario side Sigma FC, making seven appearances and scoring two goals.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: On January 11, 2019, Buchanan was selected 9th overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by New England Revolution. He made his professional debut on March 9, 2019, as an 81st-minute substitute during a 2–0 loss to Columbus Crew SC. On November 24, 2020, he scored his first MLS Cup playoffs goal, scoring the second and final goal in a 2–0 win over the Philadelphia Union.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: During the 2021 season Buchanan's continued good form for the Revolution earned him a nomination to the MLS squad for the 2021 MLS All-Star Game in August 2021.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: In August 2021, Buchanan signed a 3 and a half year deal with Belgian First Division A champions Club Brugge. Buchanan was loaned back to New England Revolution for the remainder of the 2021 MLS season. He made his debut for Brugge against Sint-Truiden on January 15, 2022. Buchanan scored his first goal for Brugge on April 24 against Antwerp.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: Buchanan was named to the Canadian U-23 provisional roster for the 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship on February 26, 2020. A year later, he was named to the final squad for the rescheduled tournament on March 10, 2021. In Canada's opening match Buchanan scored a brace in a 2–0 victory over El Salvador. He was named the 2020 Canada Soccer Youth International Player of the Year.


title: Tajon Buchanan

text: He accepted an invite for the Canadian senior national team camp for January 2021. Buchanan was called up in June 2021 for the coming World Cup qualification matches against Aruba and Suriname, and subsequently made his senior-team debut against Aruba, setting up two goals in a 7–0 victory. On June 18 Buchanan was named to Canada's 60-man preliminary squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. On July 1 he was called up to the final 23-man squad. He scored his first goal for the senior team on July 29 against Mexico in the semi-final stage of the Gold Cup, netting the equalizer in an eventual 2–1 defeat. Buchanan's play at the tournament was widely praised by the region's media and at the conclusion of the competition he was named as the recipient of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup Best Young Player Award.


title: Alice Pearce

text: Alice Pearce (October 16, 1917 – March 3, 1966) was an American actress. She was brought to Hollywood by Gene Kelly to reprise her Broadway performance in the film version of "On the Town" (1949). Pearce played comedic supporting roles in several films, before being cast as nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz in the television sitcom "Bewitched" in 1964. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series posthumously after the second season of the series. She died from ovarian cancer in 1966.


title: Alice Pearce

text: Pearce was born in New York City, the only child of Margaret Clark and Robert E. Pearce. Her father was a foreign banking specialist, and her family moved to Europe when she was 18 months old. They lived in Brussels, Antwerp, Rome, and Paris. At age nine, she fell off a swing after losing her grip and landed on her chin. This left her with an undeveloped chin. She returned to the United States as a teenager, and boarded at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1940, with a degree in drama.


title: Alice Pearce

text: She began working in nightclubs as a comedian and was cast in the original Broadway production of "On the Town" (1944–1946). Gene Kelly was so impressed by her that she became the only cast member to be included in the film version in 1949. Her comedic performance was well received by critics and public alike, and she was given her own television variety show, "The Alice Pearce Show". More movie roles followed, and she made appearances on Broadway, where she met her husband, director Paul Davis, during a production of "Bells Are Ringing".


title: Alice Pearce

text: During the 1953–1954 television season, Pearce was seen regularly on ABC's "Jamie", which starred Brandon deWilde. In 1964, Pearce was originally approached to play the part of Grandmama in the ABC television comedy series "The Addams Family". She turned down the part, which went to veteran actress Blossom Rock. In 1964, Pearce joined the cast of "Bewitched" as the nagging and nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz. Pearce's scenes were almost entirely reactions to the witchcraft she had witnessed at the house across the street. Her hysterical accusations against Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, and the disbelief of her husband Abner (George Tobias), provided a common thread through many of the series' early episodes. She played the role until her death in 1966, and was replaced by Sandra Gould. Pearce was posthumously awarded an Emmy Award for this role. Her husband accepted the award on her behalf.


title: Alice Pearce

text: Pearce was married twice. Her 1948 marriage to composer John Rox lasted until his death in 1957. In 1964, she married stage manager Paul Davis, with whom she remained until her death. Pearce had no children.


title: Alice Pearce

text: Pearce was diagnosed with terminal cancer before "Bewitched" began. She kept her illness a secret, although her rapid weight loss was quite evident during the second season of the sitcom. She died from ovarian cancer toward the end of the second year of "Bewitched" at the age of 48. The last episode Pearce appeared in was titled "Prodigy." It was completed many months before Pearce died, but it aired after her death as the last episode of Season #2. Pearce was cremated and her ashes were scattered at sea.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Wu-Tang Forever is the second studio album of American hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, released June 3, 1997, on Loud/RCA Records in the United States. Pressed as a double album, it was released after a long run of successful solo projects from various members of the group, and serves as the follow-up to their debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)". "Forever" features several guest appearances from Wu-Tang affiliates Cappadonna, Streetlife, 4th Disciple, True Master, and Tekitha. The original run of compact discs featured an "Enhanced CD" which allowed users to walk around the "Wu Mansion" and access additional content.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: While the group's previous album is known for its minimalistic production style, producer RZA had been expanding the musical backdrop of each solo Wu-Tang album since then. Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", in particular, was praised for its cinematic feel. RZA earned accolades for his new dense style of production, incorporating strings, heavy synthesizers, and the kung-fu samples of old. The production of the record also pioneered RZA's technique of chopping up and speeding up soul samples so that it becomes unusually high-pitched; this style of production would later become influential on producers such as Just Blaze and Kanye West. "Wu-Tang Forever" marked the first group album in which RZA assigned some of the album's production to Wu-Tang protégés True Master and 4th Disciple, as well as Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: The lyrics differed in many ways from those of "36 Chambers", with many verses written in stream-of-consciousness style, while being influenced by the teachings of the Five-Percent Nation. The group showed mature depth, speaking on the pitfalls of life's vices ("A Better Tomorrow") and the harsh realities of inner city life. "Impossible", for instance, touches on the less-than-glamorous realities of the same violence that the group often raps about.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: The Clan took advantage of the double-disc format, allowing each of the nine members a significant number of appearances, including four solo tracks. Several have been recognized as particularly strong performances.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Inspectah Deck raised his stock in the public eye with "The Source"s Hip-Hop Quotable for his performance on "Triumph". This verse is considered one of the greatest in hip-hop. Despite being one of the last members to release a solo album, Deck's contributions throughout "Wu-Tang Forever" led to him being a sought-after collaborator for other artists; he would appear on subsequent tracks with Gang Starr, Pete Rock and Big Pun, among others.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Ghostface Killah continued his rise to fame with a verse in "Impossible", hailed by RZA in the "Wu-Tang Manual" as "the greatest Wu-Tang verse ever written". It was also featured in "The Source"'s Hip-Hop Quotable. "Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours" has also been noted as one of Ghostface’s more memorable verses on the album, notable for the way in which the verse cuts off, first popularizing the feel that he could "go on forever". Ghostface Killah would follow his work on "Forever" with "Supreme Clientele", which is generally regarded as a classic.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: "The sum of our parts is worth all the organizing," said Method Man. "It's like the Power Rangers where they come together to form that Megazord shit. Them guys are lethal but, when they come together, it's even more incredible. This album will destroy every hip-hop record made in the past ten years."


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Upon its release, "Wu-Tang Forever" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised RZA's production work and the group members' lyricism. Matt Diehl from "Entertainment Weekly" commented, ""Forever" continues the group's artistic grand slam. Like their forebears in Public Enemy, Wu-Tang are musical revolutionaries, unafraid to bring the noise along with their trunk of funk. The RZA allows a few outside producers behind the board this time, but it's his gritty samples and numbing beats that get the party moving." Sasha Frere-Jones from "Spin" called it an album "for hip-hop junkies, rhyme followers who want to hear their favorite sword-swallowers drop unusually good styles over unusually good beats." Comparing some of the album's production to that of Wu-Tang member GZA's "Liquid Swords" (also produced by RZA), Neil Strauss from "The New York Times" wrote a favorable review of the album and stated ""Wu-Tang Forever" is a smooth, clean set of 25 songs and two speeches, with only a few throwaways on the second CD. The Wu-Tang Clan offers something for every kind of rap fan. More important, after a four-year wait, on "Wu-Tang Forever" the Clan retains its mantle as rap's standard bearers." "Melody Maker" gave "Wu-Tang Forever" a favorable review as well, stating "It had to be this big. It didn't have to be this good ... Every single track is a detonation of every single pop rule you thought sacrosanct ..."Forever" is one of the greatest hip hop LPs of all time." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from "AllMusic" stated:


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Describing the album's lyrics as "hauntingly descriptive tales of ghetto hustlers and victims," "Rolling Stone"s Nathan Brackett stated "The whole of "Wu-Tang Forever" crackles with a shootout-at-midnight electricity that more than justifies the double-disc indulgence, while the back-and-forth wordfire of Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, etc. confirms the Clan's singular zing at the mic, and their ghetto-wise might as storytellers." Cheo Hodari Coker from the "Los Angeles Times" commented, "The Clan's beats push the limit between cutting-edge hip-hop and industrial feedback, with jugular-clutching rhymes following their own melodic dictates and insular messages running the gamut from ancient maxims of the art of war to spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding from the Islamic Five Percent Nation." Steve Jones from "USA Today" wrote, "Hip-hop's most anticipated album crackles with the nine-member clan's unique hard-core rhymes and beats. On this two-disc, 112-minute set, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The RZA avoids overproduction, using the beats to propel the lyrics, and keeps the music free of clichéd R&B loops." Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" gave the album a two-star honorable mention rating and called the Wu-Tang Clan "the five per cent nation of Oscar aspirations". In 2018, the BBC included it in their list of "the acclaimed albums that nobody listens to any more."


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: "Wu-Tang Forever" was ranked as one of the best albums of the year by several notable publications, such as "Spin", "The Village Voice", "NME" and "Melody Maker". Popular Belgium magazine "HUMO", and popular German magazine "Spex" both ranked it number six on their albums of the year lists. In 1999, "Ego Trip" ranked "Wu-Tang Forever" number three on their Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980–98 list. In their March 2005 issue, "Hip Hop Connection" ranked the album number 57 on their 100 Greatest Rap Albums 1995–2005 list. Also in 2005, "Blow Up" magazine from Italy included "Wu-Tang Forever" in their 600 Essential Albums list. It also earned the group a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Wu-Tang Forever

text: Despite limited radio/TV airplay, and the nearly-six minute lead single "Triumph" which features no chorus, "Wu-Tang Forever" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with 612,000 copies sold in its first week. The album was certified 4× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 15, 1997 (each disc in the double album counted as separate unit for certification purpose), and has sold over 2 million copies in the United States. It is the group's highest selling album to date.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing was historically in the county of Middlesex. Until the urban expansion of London in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, it was a rural village. Improvement in communications with London, culminating with the opening of the railway station in 1838, shifted the local economy to market garden supply and eventually to suburban development. By 1902 Ealing had become known as the "Queen of the Suburbs" due to its greenery, and because it was halfway between city and country.


title: Ealing

text: As part of the growth of London in the 20th century, Ealing significantly expanded and increased in population. It became a municipal borough in 1901 and part of Greater London in 1965. It is now a significant commercial and retail centre with a developed night-time economy. Ealing has the characteristics of both leafy suburban and inner-city development. The Pitshanger neighbourhood and some others retain the lower density, greenery and architecture of suburban villages. Ealing's town centre is often referred to as "Ealing Broadway", the name of both a railway interchange and a shopping centre.


title: Ealing

text: Most of Ealing, including the commercial district, South Ealing, Ealing Common, Montpelier, Pitshanger and most of Hanger Hill fall under the W5 postcode. Areas to the north-west of the town centre such as Argyle Road and West Ealing fall under W13 instead. West Twyford north-east of the town centre, near Hanger Hill, falls under the NW10 postcode area. The population of Ealing (including Northfields) was 85,014 at the 2011 census.


title: Ealing

text: The Saxon name for Ealing was recorded as "Gillingas", which probably originates from the Gylling næs in Jutland. The suffix "-ingas" is the Latinized version of "inge," an ethnonym for the Ingaevones. The name has changed over the centuries and has been known as 'Illing', 1130 AD; 'Gilling', 1243 AD; and 'Ylling', 1254 AD, until 'Ealing' became the standard spelling in the 19th century. Attributions to a personal name "Gilla" are examples of non-historical founding myths.


title: Ealing

text: Archaeology evinces parts of Ealing have been lived in by neanderthal humans – the Lower Palaeolithic Age. The typical stone tool type of neanderthals, the Mousterian, is not found in south-east England, but Levallois type may be consistent with the hand axes found. These primitive hunters span a period of at least 300,000 years in Britain. Of the Iron Age, Milne lists six Carthaginian and pre-Roman bronze coins from Middlesex: Ashford and Ealing (Carthage coins); Edmonton (Seleucid (2), Rhegium, Bithynia coins). These are not so significant as for similar and more plentiful finds from Dorset, and Milne suggests that some represent parts of imported bronze scrap.


title: Ealing

text: The Church of St. Mary's, the parish church's priest for centuries fell to be appointed by the Bishop of London, earliest known to be so in , when he gave the great tithes to Canon Henry for keeping St. Paul's cathedral school. The church required frequent repair in the 1650s and was so ruinous in about 1675 that services were held elsewhere for several years. Worshippers moved to a wooden tabernacle in 1726 and the steeple fell in 1729, destroying the church, before its rebuilding. In the 12th century Ealing was amid a fields- and villages-punctuated forest covering most of the county from the southwest to the north of the City of London.


title: Ealing

text: The earliest surviving English census is that for Ealing in January 1599. This list was a tally of all 85 households in Ealing village giving the names of the inhabitants, together with their ages, relationships and occupations. It survives in manuscript form at The National Archives ("piece E 163/24/35"), and was transcribed and printed by K J Allison for Ealing Historical Society in 1961.


title: Ealing

text: Settlements were scattered throughout the parish. Many of them were along what is now called St. Mary's Road, near to the church in the centre of the parish. There were also houses at Little Ealing, Ealing Dean, Haven Green, Drayton Green and Castlebar Hill.


title: Ealing

text: The parish of Ealing was far from wholly divided among manors, such as those of Ealing, Gunnersbury and Pitshanger. These when used for crops were mostly wheat, but also barley and rye, with considerable pasture for cows, draught animals, sheep and recorded poultry keeping. There were five free tenements on Ealing manor in 1423: Absdons in the north, Baldswells at Drayton, Abyndons and Denys at Ealing village, and Sergeaunts at Old Brentford. It is likely that there had once been 32 copyhold tenements, including at least 19 virgates of 20 rateable acres and 9 half virgates. When created the copyhold land amounted to not more than , a total increased before 1423 by land at Castlebar Hill.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing had an orchard in 1540 and others in 1577–8 and 1584. Numbers increased, as were orchards often taken out of open fields, by 1616 in Crowchmans field, in 1680–1 in Popes field, and in 1738 in Little North field. Some lay as far north as the centre of the parish. River Long field and adjoining closes at West Ealing contained 1,008 fruit trees in 1767, including 850 apple trees, 63 plum, and 63 cherry.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing demesne in 1318 had a windmill, which was rebuilt in 1363–4. This was destroyed in or before 1409 and may have been repaired by 1431, when it was again broken.


title: Ealing

text: Great Ealing School was founded in 1698 by the Church of St Mary's. This became the "finest private school in England" and had many famous pupils in the 19th century such as William S. Gilbert, composer and impresario, and Cardinal Newman – since 2019 recognised as a saint. As the zone became built-up, the school declined and closed in April 1908.


title: Ealing

text: The earliest maps of just the parish of Ealing survive from the 18th century; John Speed and others having made maps of Middlesex, more than two centuries before.


title: Ealing

text: At Ealing a fair was held on the green in 1822, when William Cobbett chronicled he was diverted by crowds of Cockneys headed there. The fair, of unknown origin, was held from 24 to 26 June until suppressed in 1880.


title: Ealing

text: The manor included Old Brentford and its extensive Thames fisheries, and in 1423 tenants of Ealing manor rented three fisheries in the Thames. In 1257 the king ordered the Bishop whoever it may be from time to time (sede vacante) to provide 8,000-10,000 lampreys and other fish for owning the manor, impliedly per year, which shows the extent of the local catch.


title: Ealing

text: With the exception of driving animals into London on foot, the transport of heavy goods tended be restricted to those times when the non-metalled roads were passable due to dry weather. However, with the passing of the Toll Road Act, this highway was gravelled and so the old Oxford Road became an increasingly busy and important thoroughfare running from east to west through the centre of the parish. This road was later renamed as Uxbridge Road. The well-to-do of London began to see Ealing as a place to escape from the smoke and smells. In 1800 the architect John Soane bought Payton Place and renamed it Pitzhanger Manor, not to live but just for somewhere green and pleasant, where he could entertain his friends and guests. Soon after (1801) the Duke of Kent bought a house at Castlebar. Soon, more affluent Londoners followed but with the intention of taking up a permanent residence which was conveniently close to London. The only British prime minister to be assassinated, Spencer Perceval, made his home at Elm House. Up until that point, Ealing was mostly made up of open countryside and fields where, as in previous centuries, the main occupation was farming.


title: Ealing

text: As London grew in size, more food and materials went in and more finished goods came out. Since dray horses can only haul loads a few miles per day, frequent overnight stops were needed. To satisfy this demand a large number of inns were situated along the Uxbridge Road, where horses could be changed and travellers refresh themselves, prompting its favour by highwaymen. Stops in Ealing included The Feathers, The Bell, The Green Man and The Old Hats.


title: Ealing

text: At one point in history there were two pubs called the Old Hat(s) either side of one of the many toll gates on the Uxbridge Road in West Ealing. Following the removal of the toll gate the more Westernmost pub was renamed The Halfway House.


title: Ealing

text: As London developed, the area became predominantly market gardens which required a greater proportion of workers as it was more labour-intensive. In the 1850s, with improved travel (the Great Western Railway and two branches of the Grand Union Canal), villages began to grow into towns and merged into unbroken residential areas. At this time Ealing began to be called the "Queen of the Suburbs".


title: Ealing

text: Mount Castle Tower, an Elizabethan structure which stood at the top of Hanger Hill, was used as a tea-stop in the 19th century. It was demolished to make way for Fox's Reservoir in 1881. This reservoir, with a capacity of , was erected north of Hill Crest Road, Hanger Hill, in 1888 and a neighbouring reservoir for was constructed c. 1889. This supply of good water helped to make Ealing more attractive than ever.


title: Ealing

text: Mount Castle Tower was also known as Hanger Hill Tower, and as such it was a vital viewing point for the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790), which linked the Royal Greenwich Observatory with the Paris Observatory via a chain of trigonometric readings. This survey was led in England by General William Roy. Hanger Hill Tower was its northernmost observation point, and from it sightings were made to places such as St Ann's Hill in Chertsey, Banstead, Upper Norwood, and the Greenwich Observatory itself.


title: Ealing

text: The most important changes to Ealing occurred in the 19th century. The building of the Great Western Railway in the 1830s, part of which passed through the centre of Ealing, led to the opening of a railway station on the Broadway in 1879, originally called Haven Green. In the next few decades, much of Ealing was rebuilt, predominantly semi-detached housing designed for the rising middle-class. Gas mains were laid and an electricity generating station was built. Better transport links, including horse buses as well as trains, enabled people to more easily travel to work in London. All this, whilst living in what was still considered to be the countryside. Although much of the countryside was rapidly disappearing during this period of rapid expansion, parts of it were preserved as public parks, such as Lammas Park and Ealing Common. Pitzhanger Manor and the extensive grounds on which it stands, was sold to the council in 1901 by Sir Spencer Walpole, which had been bought by his father the Rt. Hon. Spencer Horatio Walpole and thus became Walpole Park.


title: Ealing

text: During the Victorian period, Ealing became a town. This meant that good, well-metalled roads had to be built, and schools and public buildings erected. To protect public health, the newly created Board of Health for Ealing commissioned London's first modern drainage and sewage systems here. Just as importantly, drinking fountains providing wholesome and safe water were erected by public prescription. Ealing Broadway became a major shopping centre. The man responsible for much of all this was Charles Jones, Borough Surveyor from 1863 to 1913. He directed the planting of the horse chestnut trees on Ealing Common and designed Ealing Town Hall, both the present one and the older structure which is now a bank (on the Mall). He even oversaw the purchase of the Walpole estate grounds and its conversion into a leisure garden for the general public to enjoy and promenade around on Sundays.


title: Ealing

text: In 1901, Ealing Urban District was incorporated as a municipal borough, Walpole Park was opened and the first electric trams ran along the Uxbridge Road. As part of its permit to operate, the electric tram company was required to incorporate the latest in modern street lighting into its overhead catenary supply, along the Ealing section of the Uxbridge Road. A municipally-built generating station near Clayponds Avenue supplied power to more street lighting that ran northwards, up and along Mount Park Road and the surrounding streets.


title: Ealing

text: It was of this area centred around Mount Park Road that Nikolaus Pevsner remarks as "”epitomising Ealing's reputation as 'Queen of the Suburbs'..”" In a very short time, Ealing had become a modern and fashionable country town, free of the grime, soot and smells of industrialised London, and yet only minutes away from it by modern transport. The Borough Surveyor, Charles Jones, first re-used the term in the preface of his book "Ealing from Village to Corporate Town" of 1902, already used for Surbiton and Richmond, stressing his view that it was already recognised as of having such an identity. The fairly ornate, many-roomed houses set in "sylvan beauty and floriculture" (civic trees and gardens) stood out to Jones. Mount Park Road and side roads keep much of the original character. Some neighbourhoods have resisted conversions into bed-sits, unlike many of the other original London suburbs.


title: Ealing

text: In the 1900s and 1910s, the Brentham Garden Suburb was built. During the interwar period several garden estates, said to be one of the best examples of classic suburbia in mock Tudor style, were built near Hanger Lane. Hanger Hill Garden Village adjoining is likewise a conservation area. In the 1930s Ealing Village's mid-rise, green-setting apartment blocks were built, today Grade II (initial, mainstream) category-listed and having gated grounds.


title: Ealing

text: With the amalgamation of the surrounding municipal boroughs in 1965, Ealing Town Hall became the administrative centre for the new London Borough of Ealing. Today, this also includes its offices at Perceval House just next to it. Later in 1984, the Ealing Broadway Centre was completed which includes a shopping centre and a town square.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is in the heart of west London. A relatively narrow section of the A406 North Circular Road, London bisects the east of it. The nascent M4 motorway also runs almost adjacent to the south.


title: Ealing

text: It is less than 2 miles from the Tideway (London's upper estuary of the Thames) at the local apex of Kew Bridge that links to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Ealing has parks and open spaces, such as Ealing Common, Walpole, Lammas, Cleveland, Hanger Hill, Montpelier, and Pitshanger Parks. The last of these is flowed through by the Brent.


title: Ealing

text: The largest ethnic group in the 2011 census for the Ealing Broadway ward was White British, at 45%. The second largest was Other White, at 21%. The most spoken foreign language was Polish, followed by French and Japanese. The nearby Hanger Hill ward has the city's largest Japanese community.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is served by Ealing Broadway station on the Great Western Main Line and the London Underground in London fare zone 3. It is also served by five other tube stations at North Ealing, South Ealing, Hanger Lane, Northfields, Park Royal and Ealing Common. The Piccadilly line operates at Park Royal, North Ealing, Ealing Common, South Ealing and Northfields; the Central line at Ealing Broadway and Hanger Lane; and the District line at Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common. The stations at Ealing Broadway and West Ealing are served by National Rail operators Great Western Railway and TfL Rail.


title: Ealing

text: Early in the 21st century Transport for London (TFL) planned to reintroduce an electric tram line along the Uxbridge Road (the West London Tram scheme), but this was abandoned in August 2007 in the face of fierce local opposition. Ealing Broadway and West Ealing stations became part of the Elizabeth line in 2022. A total of 18 buses (including night buses) serve Ealing Broadway.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing has a developed night-time economy backed by numerous pubs and restaurants on The Mall, The Broadway and New Broadway (forming part of the greater Uxbridge Road).


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is best known for its film studios, which are the oldest in the world and are known especially for the Ealing comedies, including "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "Passport to Pimlico", "The Ladykillers" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". The studios were taken over by the BBC in 1955, with one consequence being that Ealing locations appeared in television programmes including "Doctor Who" (notably within an iconic 1970 sequence in which deadly shop mannequins menaced local residents) to "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Most recently, these studios have again been used for making films, including "Notting Hill" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". "St Trinian's", a remake of the classic film, was produced by Ealing Studios; some locations in Ealing can be seen in this film.


title: Ealing

text: Most recently, Ealing Studios was the set for the famous Downton Abbey historical television series, of which the below stairs and servant's hall were filmed there. On 16 March 2015, the workplace received a visit from the Duchess of Cambridge to observe current productions, as well as meet the cast and crew of the series stated.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing now lacks any cinema houses; the Ealing Empire cinema has now been closed since 2008. However, renovation began on the New Broadway street cinema in late 2012. Work is underway as of Spring 2021 for 'Filmworks', an Art Deco apartment-and-cinema block featuring a Picturehouse cinema. Local group Pitshanger Pictures shows classic movies in St Barnabas Millennium Hall on Pitshanger Lane.


title: Ealing

text: Regarded by many as Ealing's premier architectural work, St Peter's Church, Ealing is on Mount Park Road north of central Ealing. The ancient parish church of Ealing is St Mary's, in St Mary's Road. Standing near Charlbury Grove, Ealing Abbey was founded by a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks in 1897. Twinned with the convent of St. Augustine's Priory, the large abbey is an example of a traditional, working monastery. There are over fifteen churches in the suburb of Ealing, including Our Lady Mother of the Church, a Polish Roman Catholic church in the Mall, near Ealing Broadway. There are two well-established synagogues, the Ealing United Synagogue (Orthodox), which celebrated its centenary in November 2019, and the Ealing Liberal Synagogue, which was founded in 1943. In surrounding suburbs, there are two mosques in Acton, one in West Ealing, and two in Southall. There are large Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities in Southall.


title: Ealing

text: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones famously first met Brian Jones in 1962 at the Ealing Jazz Club, opposite Ealing Broadway station. Other artists who performed at the club include Rod Stewart and Manfred Mann. The Jazz Club is now a nightclub called the "Red Room".


title: Ealing

text: The Beatles alighted at West Ealing station (the old building) in March 1964 to complete the filming of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ at Edgehill Road in West Ealing.


title: Ealing

text: Dusty Springfield lived in Kent Gardens, West Ealing as a teenager and attended St. Anne's Convent school in Little Ealing Lane.


title: Ealing

text: Brand New Heavies core members (drummer Jan Kincaid, guitarist Simon Bartholomew and bassist Andrew Levy) all hail from Ealing, where they formed the group in 1985.


title: Ealing

text: An August 2013 article in the "Huffington Post" claimed that Ealing could claim to be the home of rock music because of the catalyst effect of the Ealing Club on British musicians.


title: Ealing

text: Two members of the punk band Zatopeks grew up in Ealing, and the group frequently makes nostalgic or ironic references to the borough in its lyrics.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is home to Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club. Due to the nearby football teams, Brentford Football Club and Queens Park Rangers, Ealing lacked its own football team. However, since late 2008 Ealing Town Football Club has been registered with the Football Association and competes. Other football clubs such Old Actonians youth FC, Pitshanger youth FC and Non-League football club Hanwell Town F.C. play in local leagues.


title: Ealing

text: Gaelic Games have a prominent role in the Irish community in Ealing with successful clubs such as St. Joseph's GAA and Tir Chonaill GAA in neighbouring Perivale and Greenford.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing has a local running club: Ealing, Southall & Middlesex AC, founded in 1920. It counted double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes among its several club records to her name. members.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is home to a cricket club, Ealing Cricket Club, whose home ground is the Ealing Cricket Club Ground and which has been a leading club in London for a number of years.


title: Ealing

text: ESC D3 Triathlon Club is also based in Ealing. D3 Triathletes compete in triathlons both locally and internationally across all distances and formats including Olympic Distance and Ironman. Though an independent club it is supported by the Ealing Swimming Club based at Gurnell Leisure Centre.


title: Ealing

text: Ealing is the host to several annual festivals. The first festival to be regularly staged was the Jazz Festival which is held in Walpole Park. An annual Beer Festival was then started and organised by the Campaign for Real Ale and originally held in the Ealing Town Hall. Due to its popularity, it had outgrown the space available at the Town Hall after a few years, so it too then transferred to the park, where they now have room to offer over 200 real ales. Each cask is supplied with individual cooling jackets to maintain the beer at exactly the right temperature. This event is run by keen volunteers. The success of these events encouraged the local council to license a broader range of festivals.


title: Ealing

text: After English, the most common languages are (in 2017) Polish (8%), Punjabi (8%), Somali (7%), Arabic (6%), Urdu (5%), and Tamil (4%). The biggest increase over the 5 years to April 2017 was Polish and tapering off – 4,363 Polish-speaking children in 2017 was 41 more than in 2016.


title: Ealing

text: Westside 89.6FM is a community station mainly for the borough from studios based in neighbouring Hanwell. Blast Radio is the student station for the University of West London based at Ealing Studios who broadcast across the area on (RSL) in May. A digital local newspaper exists for the borough.


title: Ealing

text: EALING.NEWS is an independent community news website covering all of Ealing’s seven towns and soft-launched in July 2022.


title: Ealing

text: Ho Chi Minh reportedly worked as either a chef or dish washer (reports vary) at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is organized, and it is led by the secretary of the Army, who has statutory authority under 10 United States Code § 7013 to conduct its affairs and to prescribe regulations for its government, subject to the limits of the law, and the directions of the secretary of defense and the president.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The secretary of the army is a civilian official appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The highest-ranking military officer in the department is the chief of staff of the Army, who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other senior officials of the department are the under secretary of the Army (principal deputy to the secretary) and the vice chief of staff of the Army (principal deputy to the chief of staff.)


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The "Department of War" was originally formed in 1789 as an Executive Department of the United States and was split by the National Security Act of 1947 into the Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947. By amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 in 1949, the department of the Army was transformed to its present-day status.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The Department of the Army is a Military Department within the United States Department of Defense. The department is headed by the secretary of the army, who by statute must be a civilian, appointed by the president with the confirmation by the United States Senate. The secretary of the Army is responsible for and has the authority to conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Army, subject to the authority, direction and control of the secretary of defense. The Department of the Army is divided between its headquarters at the seat of government and the field organizations of the Army.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: By direction of the secretary of defense, the secretary of the Army assigns Army forces, apart from those units performing duties enumerated in 10 United States Code § 7013 (i.e., organize, train & equip) or unless otherwise directed to the operational command of the commanders of the Combatant Commands. Only the secretary of defense (and the president) has the authority to approve transfer of forces to and from Combatant Commands by 10 United States Code § 162.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: "Headquarters, Department of the Army" is the corporate office of the department which exercises directive and supervisory functions and consists of two separate staffs: the "Office of the Secretary of the Army" (10 United States Code § 7014), the mainly civilian staff; and the "Army Staff" (10 United States Code § 7031, & 10 United States Code § 7032), the mainly military staff. The Office of the Secretary and the Army Staff are organized along similar lines, with civilians and military officers both overseeing similar program areas.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The Office of the Secretary is led by the secretary of the Army, assisted by the under secretary of the Army and the administrative assistant to the secretary of the Army, who is the senior civilian career official of the department. The Office of the Secretary of the Army, also known as the "Army Secretariat", is divided into multiple branches with functional responsibilities, the six most important of which are headed by one of the five assistant secretaries of the Army or the general counsel of the Army, each of whom are civilians appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: The Army Staff is led by the chief of staff of the Army, a four-star general who is the highest-ranking officer in the Army and the Army member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chief of staff is assisted in managing the Army Staff by the vice chief of staff of the United States Army, a four-star general and second highest-ranking officer in the Army. The Army Staff is divided into several directorates, each headed by a three-star general; a deputy chief of staff (DCS G–1 (personnel), G–2 (intelligence), G–3 (operations), G–4 (logistics), G-5 (planning), G-6 (network), G-7 (training), G-8 (finance), and G-9 (installations) respectively). the DCS G-3/5/7 is a single office for operations, plans, and training.


title: United States Department of the Army

text: A key official within the Army Staff is the director of the Army Staff, who is a three-star general. The director is responsible for integrating and synchronizing the work of the Office of the Secretary and the Army Staff so that they meet the goals and priorities of the secretary of the Army. Other key figures within the Army Staff are the sergeant major of the Army, the United States Army judge advocate general, the chief of the Army Reserve, the United States Army provost marshal general, and the United States Army surgeon general. The chief of the National Guard Bureau was previously considered part of the Army Staff, but has been elevated to four-star rank and membership in the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the director of the Army National Guard and the director of the Air National Guard (both three-star positions) report to the chief, National Guard Bureau for strategy and policy, but receive funding and Service-specific guidance from their respective services, as they have different legal authorities.


title: Linda Bassett

text: Linda Bassett (born 4 February 1950) is an English actress. Her television credits include Victoria Wood's "dinnerladies" (1999), "Lark Rise to Candleford" (2008–11), "Grandma's House" (2010–12) and "Call the Midwife" (2015–present).


title: Linda Bassett

text: She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the 1999 film "East Is East" and for the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for the 2013 revival of the play "Roots" at the Donmar Warehouse.


title: Linda Bassett

text: Bassett was born in Pluckley, Kent, England, to a typist mother and a police officer father. Her roles include the award-winning part of Ella Khan in the 1999 British comedy film "East is East". Other roles include Mrs. Jennings in the three-part BBC adaptation "Sense and Sensibility", Queenie Turrill in "Lark Rise to Candleford", Doll in the film "Cass".


title: Linda Bassett

text: In film, she first gained notice when she was cast as Gertrude Stein opposite Linda Hunt as Alice B. Toklas in "Waiting for the Moon" in 1987. She also appeared as Julia Roberts' mother in "Mary Reilly" in 1996, Mrs. Brenner, the prison official in the 2008 film "The Reader" and as Cora in "Calendar Girls" (March).


title: Linda Bassett

text: More recently she played Grandma in the BBC Two comedy "Grandma's House". Since 2015, she has portrayed Nurse Phyllis Crane on the BBC One drama series "Call the Midwife".


title: Linda Bassett

text: Bassett's career began in the theatre. She initially worked as an usher at the Old Vic whilst a schoolgirl, before enrolling at The University of Leeds. Her first professional work was in community and educational theatre in the 1970s.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Pooja Batra Shah (born 27 October) is an Indian-American actress and model who primarily works in Hindi films. She was crowned Femina Miss India International in 1993.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra was born on 27 October to Ravi Batra, an army colonel and Neelam Batra, a Miss India (1971) participant. She lived in Ludhiana with her extended family while she was young. While in school, she was an athlete and competed in the 200 and 400-meter dash. She is related to Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal.


title: Pooja Batra

text: She graduated in Economics from Fergusson College, Pune and holds an MBA in marketing from Symbiosis, Pune. She has two brothers. She participated at the Miss International in 1993.


title: Pooja Batra

text: At a young age, she started modelling as a part-time job. She was best known for her Liril soap commercial. She was the first Indian face to launch and be a spokesperson for Head and Shoulders in India. She has participated in over 250 modeling events and ad campaigns. She shot to fame when she was crowned Miss India International in 1993. She went on to become one of the top models in India. She walked the ramp for over 250 fashion shows in India and overseas. She is an ambassador for Parag Sarees.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra turned down many offers to complete her education before signing a contract with the Virasat Film Studio. The first film she signed was "Virasat" in 1997 followed by another hit movie "Bhai". She went on to work in over 20 films including "Haseena Maan Jayegi", "Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya" and "Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye". One of her films, "", a historical epic, was shown at the Cannes film festival in 2004. She is a life member of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television, Noida.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra has also appeared in South Indian films, including three Malayalam films and two Tamil films, including a cameo in the 1995 film "Aasai".


title: Pooja Batra

text: She appeared at the 2009 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, where she reunited with her "Virasat" costar, Anil Kapoor.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra was married to orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Sonu S. Ahluwalia in Los Angeles, California from 2002 to 2010. In January 2011 she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra revealed her relationship with actor Nawab Shah in June 2019. They got married on 4 July 2019 in Delhi according to Arya Samaj traditions.


title: Pooja Batra

text: Batra has volunteered time and money to charitable causes including AIDS (Mukti Foundation), homeless children, the Bombay Police Department and injured soldiers in the Kashmir war.


title: Pooja Batra

text: She did pro bono work in the film "My Little Devil" ("Bas Yari Rakho"), subtitled in Hindi, English, and French, to raise funds for the poor children in India. The film was co-produced by NFDC-La Fete (Canada) and directed by Gopi Desai. It was screened at the 24th Annual Montreal World Film Festival, 2000; Chicago International Children's Film Festival, 2000; 10th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival of World Cinema, 2001; and the Indian Film Festival in Malaysia, 2005.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company publicity. It was used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces and also the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps, which called it R5C. The C-46 served in a similar role to its Douglas-built counterpart, the C-47 Skytrain, but it was not as extensively produced as the latter.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: After World War II, a few surplus C-46 aircraft were briefly used in their original role as passenger airliners but the glut of surplus C-47s dominated the marketplace and the C-46 was soon relegated to cargo duty. The type continued in U.S. Air Force service in a secondary role until 1968. The C-46 continues in operation as a rugged cargo transport for arctic and remote locations with its service life extended into the 21st century.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: The prototype for what would become the C-46, the Curtiss CW-20, was designed in 1937 by George A. Page Jr., the chief aircraft designer at Curtiss-Wright. The CW-20 was a private venture intended to compete with the four-engined Douglas DC-4 and Boeing 307 Stratoliner by the introduction of a new standard in pressurized airliners. The CW-20 had a patented fuselage conventionally referred to as a "figure-eight" (or "double-bubble"), which enabled it to better withstand the pressure differential at high altitudes. The sides of the fuselage creased at the level of the floor that separated the two portions and shared in the stress of each, rather than supporting itself. The main spar of the wing could pass through the bottom section, which was mainly intended for cargo, without intruding on the passenger upper compartment. A decision to use a twin-engine design instead of a four-engines was considered viable if sufficiently powerful engines were available, allowing for lower operating costs and a less complex structure.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: Engineering work involved a three-year commitment from the company and incorporated an extensive amount of wind tunnel testing at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The resultant design was a large, aerodynamically "sleek" airliner, incorporating the cockpit in a streamlined glazed "dome". The engines featured a unique nacelle tunnel cowl where air was induced and expelled through the bottom of the cowl, reducing turbulent airflow and induced drag across the upper wing surface. After a mock-up was constructed in 1938, Curtiss-Wright exhibited the innovative project as a display in the 1939 New York World's Fair.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: The company approached many airlines to obtain their requirements for an advanced airliner. No firm orders resulted, although 25 letters of intent were received, sufficient to begin production. The design of a 24–34 passenger airliner proceeded to prototype stage as the CW-20 at the St. Louis, Missouri facility with the initial configuration featuring twin vertical tail surfaces. Powered by two R-2600-C14-BA2 Wright Twin Cyclones, the prototype, registered "NX-19436" flew for the first time on 26 March 1940 with test pilot Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen at the controls. After testing, modifications, including the fitting of a large single tail to improve stability at low speeds were made.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: The first prototype was purchased by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) to serve as a master for the series and was named C-55. After military evaluation, the sole example was returned to Curtiss-Wright and subsequently re-sold to the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). During testing, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold became interested in the potential of the airliner as a military cargo transport and on 13 September 1940, ordered 46 modified CW-20As as the "C-46-CU Commando"; the last 21 aircraft in this order were delivered as Model CW-20Bs, called C-46A-1-CU. None of the C-46s purchased by the U.S. military were pressurized and the first 30 delivered to the AAF were sent back to the factory for 53 immediate modifications. The design was then modified to the C-46A, receiving enlarged cargo doors, a strengthened load floor and a convertible cabin that speeded changes in carrying freight and troops. The C-46 was introduced to the public at a ceremony in May 1942, attended by its designer, George A. Page Jr.


title: Curtiss C-46 Commando

text: A total of 200 C-46As in two batches were ordered in 1940, although only two were actually delivered by December 7, 1941. An important change was made; more powerful 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 "Double Wasp" engines replaced the Twin Cyclones. By November 1943, 721 modifications had been made to production models, although many were minor, such as fuel system changes and fewer cabin windows were also adopted. Subsequent military contracts for the C-46A extended the production run to 1,454 examples, 40 of which were destined for the U.S. Marine Corps, to be called R5C-1. The military model was fitted with double cargo doors, a strengthened floor and a hydraulically operated cargo handling winch; 40 folding seats were the sole passenger accommodation for what was essentially a cargo hauler. Two C-46 were delivered from Higgins Industries Michoud Factory Field in 1942.