title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The fire destroyed the main stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. Police worked until 4 am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. Within a few hours of the blaze starting, it was established that 56 people had been killed, many as a result of smoke inhalation, although some of them had survived until reaching hospital.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show "The Big Match". Uncensored coverage of the fire was transmitted minutes after the event on "World of Sport" and the BBC's "Grandstand" after the video cassette was physically driven to Yorkshire Television.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Of the 56 people who died in the fire, 54 were Bradford supporters and two supported Lincoln. They included three who tried to escape through the toilets, 27 who were found by exit K and turnstiles 6 to 9 at the rear centre of the stand, and two elderly people who had died in their seats. Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape. One retired mill worker made his way to the pitch, but was walking about on fire from head to foot. People smothered him to extinguish the flames, but he later died of his injuries in hospital. Half of those who died were either aged under 20 or over 70, and the oldest victim was the club's former chairman, Sam Firth, aged 86. More than 265 supporters were injured.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The fire was described as the worst fire disaster in the history of British football, and the worst football related disaster since 66 spectators died at Ibrox in 1971.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The Bradford Burns Unit was set up by Professor David Sharpe after he received many of the victims following the fire. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. It was during this treatment that Sharpe began to develop the Bradford Sling, which applies even pressure across sensitive areas. The sling is now used internationally in the treatment of burns.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. Mathew Wildman, aged 17 at the time of the fire, commented that "I must have had five different experiments carried out on me with all sorts of new techniques for skin grafts and I had potions injected into me that helped my face repair naturally over time."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: On the 25th anniversary of the fire, the University of Bradford established the United Kingdom's largest academic research centre in skin sciences as an extension to its plastic surgery and burns research unit.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The inquiry into the disaster, chaired by Sir Oliver Popplewell and known as the Popplewell Inquiry, led to the introduction of new legislation to improve safety at the UK's football grounds. Among the main outcomes of the inquiry were the banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, the immediate closure of other wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in other wooden stands.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: At the time of the disaster, many stadiums had perimeter fencing between the stands and the pitch to prevent incidents of football hooliganism – particularly pitch invasions – which were rife during the 1980s. The main stand at Bradford was not surrounded by fencing, and therefore most of the spectators in it could escape onto the pitch – if they had been penned in then the death toll would inevitably have been in the hundreds if not the thousands. However, the turnstiles were locked and none of the stadium staff were present to unlock them, leaving no escape through the normal entrances and exits. Most of the fans who took this escape route were killed or seriously injured. Fans in the next stand (the "Bradford End") pulled down the fence separating them from the pitch.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. The stand had already been condemned, and the demolition teams were due to start work two days later. However, as there was no real precedent, most Bradfordians accepted that the fire was a terrible piece of misfortune. A discarded cigarette and a dilapidated wooden stand, which had survived because the club did not have the money to replace it, and accumulated paper litter, were considered to have conspired to cause the worst disaster in the history of the Football League.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: In July 1985 an inquest was held into the deaths; at the hearings the coroner James Turnbull recommended a death by misadventure outcome, with which the jury agreed. Following the hearing in 1986, a test case was brought against the club by David Britton, a police sergeant serving on the day, and by Susan Fletcher, who lost her husband John, 11-year-old son Andrew, John's brother Peter and his father Edmond in the fire. On 23 February 1987, Sir Joseph Cantley found the club two thirds responsible and the county council (which by this time had been abolished) one third responsible.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Explaining his decision, Sir Joseph Cantley stated: "As I have already stated, the primary duty was on the Club and the functions of the County Council were supervisory and its liability is for negligent breach of a common law duty arising out of the way in which they dealt with or ignored their statutory powers. That duty was not a duty to the Club but a duty to the spectators and other persons in the stand. However, the responsibility of the Club is, in my view, very much the greater and I apportion responsibility between the two defendants as to two-thirds on the first defendant and one-third on the third (sic) defendant."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: West Yorkshire Metropolitan Borough Council was found to have failed in its duty under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. The Health and Safety Executive who were also part of the legal action were found to be non-liable. Criticising Bradford City during the case, Mr. Michael Ogden QC, highlighted that the Club 'gave no or very little thought to fire precautions', despite repeated warnings.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The outcome of the test case resulted in over 154 claims being addressed (110 civilians and 44 police officers) by the injured or bereaved. Speaking at the close of the case, the Judge said "They (the club) were at fault, no one in authority seemed to have appreciated the fire hazard. No one gave it the attention it ought to have received.. .. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Central to the test case were two letters sent to Bradford City's Club Secretary by the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade; the second letter dated 18 July 1984 specifically highlighted in full the improvements needed to be actioned at the ground as well as the fire risk at the main stand. When cross examined by QC Robert Smith, then Chairman Stafford Heginbotham said he knew about the fire risk at the ground.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: During the case, Sir Joseph Cantley stated that: "It is only right that I should say that I think it would be unfair to conclude that Mr Heginbotham, Mr Tordoff, the Board of Directors, or any of them, were intentionally and callously indifferent to the safety of spectators using the stand. They were at fault, but the fault was that no-one in authority seems ever to have properly appreciated the real gravity of this fire hazard and consequently no-one gave it the attention it certainly ought to have received."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The total amount of compensation to the 154 claimants was reported to be as high as £20 million, with the payouts covered by insurance taken out by the club. In 1988, the first compensation payments were made to survivors of the fire, with over 40 people receiving up to £40,000 each. By this date the appeal fund set up for survivors had paid out more than £4m with further payouts expected as the effects of physical and mental injury were determined.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: In 2010, Susan Fletcher's son and survivor of the Bradford City fire (and witness to the Hillsborough disaster), Martin Fletcher, openly criticised the club's hierarchy at the time of the fire and the subsequent investigation. Fletcher said that "The club at the time took no actual responsibility for its actions and nobody has ever really been held accountable for the level of negligence which took place. It was appalling that public money was given to the club while it was still owned by the same shareholders under whose direction the fire had happened. I do not include the people currently running the club, who have always displayed a great, sensitive duty to the memory of those who died."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: After controversial comments made by Sir Oliver Popplewell about the Hillsborough Disaster, Fletcher raised further concerns about the events following the fire saying that "I have many unanswered questions still about the fire in which four of my family died, as does my mother. Popplewell's report was nowhere close to the quality of Lord Justice Taylor's report after Hillsborough, and since reading it as an adult I have always been very disappointed in it and considered it a poor piece of work."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Fletcher subsequently published a book in 2015, "Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire" which revealed a history of fires at businesses owned by the Bradford City chairman Stafford Heginbotham. Eight fires in the 18 years before the Bradford City fire were identified, many catastrophic and leading to large insurance payouts.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The tragedy received immense media attention and drew support from around the world, with those offering their sympathy including Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Messages of condolence were also received from Helmut Kohl, Chedli Klibi and Felipe González.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life." Police Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the area, said many of his officers cried when they saw how badly people had been burned.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The disaster also had a long-lasting effect on the fans. Christopher Hammond, who was 12 on the day, said on the 20th anniversary of the fire: "As a 12-year-old, it was easy to move on – I didn't realise how serious it was until I looked at the press coverage over the next few days. But looking back and seeing how much it really affected my dad makes me realise what we went through." His father Tony went back the following day and said: "I wondered how anybody had got out alive, but I also began to feel guilty that I had got out when so many hadn't." He had to undergo counselling and was unable to go to another game for several years. Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. He was helped out of the stand by other fans and spent a period of time in hospital. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. Everybody in the city was devastated, but there was an amazing number of volunteers. [...] I still have terrible memories of the day, but it is the humanity of those that helped us that I reflect on."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The Bradford Disaster Appeal fund, set up within 48 hours of the disaster, eventually raised over £3.5 million (£ million today). The fundraising events included a reunion of the 1966 World Cup Final Starting XI that began with the original starting teams of both England and West Germany, and was held at Leeds United's stadium, Elland Road, in July 1985 to raise funds for the Appeal fund. England won the re-match 6–4.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Part of the Appeal funds were raised by a recording of "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Carousel" by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who had recorded the 1963 version that led to Liverpool adopting it as their motto and team song), which reached number 1 in the UK Singles chart. The money raised from this record was contributed to fund the internationally renowned burns unit that was established in partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford Royal Infirmary, immediately after the fire, which has also been Bradford City's official charity for well over a decade.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. On the recording are Dene Michael (Black Lace), The Chuckle Brothers, Clive Jackson of Dr & The Medics, Owen Paul, Billy Pearce, Billy Shears, Flint Bedrock, Danny Tetley and Rick Wild of The Overlanders. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: A capacity 6,000 crowd attended a multi-denominational memorial service, held on the pitch in the sunny shadow of the burnt out stand at Valley Parade in July 1985. A giant Christian cross, made up of two large charred wooden members that had once been part of the stand, was constructed in front of the middle of the stand and behind the pitchside speaker's platform. Part of the service was also held in Urdu and Punjabi as a sign of appreciation to the local ethnically Asian Subcontinental community in Manningham, Bradford and around Valley Parade who had opened their homes to Bradford City supporters to provide assistance in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The next day work began on clearing the burnt out shell of the stand, and Justice Popplewell released his findings into the disaster.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Bradford City initially prospered in the Second Division – only missing out on promotion to the First Division in 1988 after failing to beat Ipswich Town at home on the final day of their first full season back at Valley Parade.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. One, now re-situated to that end of the stand where the fire began, is a sculpture donated on the initial re-opening of Valley Parade in December 1986 by Sylvia Graucob, a then Jersey-based former West Yorkshire woman. The other, situated by the main entrance, was donated by the club after its £7.5 million (£ million today) rebuilding of the original main stand in 2002. It has a black marble fascia on which the names and ages of those that died are inscribed in gold, and a black marble platform on which people can leave flowers and mementos. There is a twin memorial sculpture, unveiled on 11 May 1986, which has the names of the dead inscribed on it. They were donated by Bradford's twin city of Hamm, Germany, and are situated in front of Bradford City Hall in both locations.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: After the fire, Bradford City also announced they would thereafter play with a black trim on their shirt sleeves as a permanent memorial to those who had died.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Four police officers, constables David Britton and John Richard Ingham and chief inspectors Charles Frederick Mawson and Terence Michael Slocombe, and two spectators, Richard Gough and David Hustler, were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for their actions. PCs Peter Donald Barrett and David Charles Midgley, along with spectators Michael William Bland and Timothy Peter Leigh received the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. In total, 28 police officers and 22 supporters, who were publicly documented as having saved at least one life, later received police commendations or bravery awards. Together, flanked by undocumented supporters, they managed to clear all but one person who made it to the front of the stand. Club coach Terry Yorath incurred minor injuries while taking part in the rescue.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 2–1 in a friendly. Since then, it has been further re-developed and, today, Valley Parade is a modern 25,136 all-seater stadium, which is virtually unrecognisable from how it was at the time of the disaster, save for the original clubhouse that still stands beside the main stand, and the flank support wall that runs down the Hollywell Ash Lane at the "Bradford End".


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Lincoln City suffered two successive relegations, first to the Fourth Division in 1986, and again in 1987, becoming the first team to be automatically relegated from the Football League itself. They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. Although some attributed Lincoln City's sudden demise to the psychological effects of the fire on its players (together with the resignation of successful manager Colin Murphy shortly before the fire), it symbolised the wider crisis that the introduction of new safety legislation brought to Lincoln's Sincil Bank home.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The timber construction of St. Andrew's Stand, Main Stand and the roof of its popular Railway End terrace were immediately condemned as fire hazards, which saw seating capacity briefly cut to nil. Lincoln City's board responded by committing £1,100,000 (£ million today) to their ground's renovation in the year that immediately followed the fire at Valley Parade, and over the following decade made improvements that eventually totalled £3,000,000. After its renovation in 1990 they named the home end of their ground the 'Stacey-West Stand', in honour of Bill Stacey and Jim West, the two Lincoln City supporters who were amongst the 56 to die at Bradford. Each year Lincoln send representatives to the annual memorial service in Bradford city centre and between 2007 and 2009, were managed by Bradford's captain that day, Peter Jackson.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: The two sides met for the first time after the fire in April 1989, when they arranged a benefit match in aid of the Hillsborough disaster, at Valley Parade.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: In 2014, the theatre company Funny You Should Ask (FYSA) premiered their heartfelt tribute to the 56 people who died at the fire. Called 'The 56' the play dramatises actual accounts of the Bradford City Fire with the purpose of the play showing how in times of adversity, the Football Club and the local community came together. Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Parrs Wood Press published "Four Minutes to Hell: The Story of the Bradford City Fire" (2005) by author Paul Firth; the title refers to the estimated time it took for the stand to be completely ablaze from the first flames being spotted. Another book; "56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015)" was written by Martin Fletcher to discuss how the disaster was caused, and follows his loss of his father, brother, uncle and grandfather.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: On 1 May 2010, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fire the football TV show "Football Focus" was hosted from Valley Parade by Dan Walker, the show included interviews with Terry Yorath and John Hendrie.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled "Bradford City – A Year of Healing". The Documentary highlighted the 'poison pen letters' and graffiti targeted at the then club chairman Stafford Heginbotham over accusations that he was in some way personally responsible for the deaths of the 56 people who died at the fire.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Following his own 15 year investigation Into the fire, which killed four of his family members while he escaped, former tax accountant Martin Fletcher released "56: The Story of the Bradford Fire" (2015). Nigel Adams – who worked for 12 years as a fire investigator with a British fire service – was spurred on by the book to join the call for a fresh inquiry, stating that Fletcher's book was "one of the best accounts of a fire, as seen from a victim's point of view, and as a piece of investigative writing, I have ever read". He agreed that the inquiry into Bradford, led by the judge Oliver Popplewell, was inadequate and that there are many unanswered questions. He went on to state:


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: "In 1985 fire investigation in Britain was in its infancy and some would say at that time most fire investigators were not much more than dust-kickers. Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. However, there is a lot in this book that troubles me about the science, or lack of it, used in the testing of the investigators' hypothesis as to the source of the ignition. The book also raises concerns about the speed of the inquiry and the fact that it commenced a few weeks after the fire and lasted for only a few days, whereas other inquiries into similar incidents, pre and post the Bradford fire, have taken years to come to fruition and months to be heard. The fact the inquiry also embraced the investigation into another incident which happened on the same day, a riot in which a young boy died at Birmingham City, makes it seem more frivolous."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Adams also went on to state that "I have read in some newspapers that he is being berated for his campaign to have a new inquiry. I don't see that. There is no malicious vendetta, there is no over-exaggeration, there are no trumped-up facts. It is a simple account laid out for all to see. Fletcher has taken facts and presented them in such a way that it should make it moralistically impossible for this incident not to be looked at again."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online.


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: On 17 April 2015, retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer, in a report by the Bradford "Telegraph and Argus", said the police were aware of an Australian man who admitted to starting the fire. Following the 30th anniversary of the fire, a number of news organisations named this man as Eric Bennett who was visiting his nephew in Bradford from Australia and attended the game on the day. Following this report, Leslie Brownlie, who was the nephew in question, is reported to have said that his uncle never made such an admission of starting the fire. He is quoted as saying: "I don't believe the statement of retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer at all. I don't know where Falconer is getting this cock-and-bull story from… the inaccuracies in this report [documentary] are dumbfounding."


title: Bradford City stadium fire

text: Raymond Falconer's reliability had previously been questioned by Daniel Taylor in "The Guardian" who stated that: "The "Bradford Telegraph and Argus" described him as a 'top detective'. He was actually one of the detectives involved in one of the gravest miscarriages of justices in the country, the murder of Carol Wilkinson in Bradford, where someone was locked up for 20 years for a murder he didn't commit."


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, in the languages which use Arabic alphabet or the alphabets derived from it. It includes Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, and Urdu calligraphy. It is known in Arabic as "khatt Arabi" (), which translates into Arabic line, design, or construction.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Qur'an; chapters and excerpts from the Qur'an are a common and almost universal text upon which Islamic calligraphy is based. Although artistic depictions of people and animals are not explicitly forbidden by the Qur'an, pictures have traditionally been limited in Islamic books in order to avoid idolatry. Although some scholars dispute this, Kufic script was supposedly developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name. The style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and square kufic. In the ancient world, though, artists would often get around this prohibition by using strands of tiny writing to construct lines and images. Calligraphy was a valued art form, even as a moral good. An ancient Arabic proverb illustrates this point by emphatically stating that "Purity of writing is purity of the soul."


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: However, Islamic calligraphy is not limited to strictly religious subjects, objects, or spaces. Like all Islamic art, it encompasses a diverse array of works created in a wide variety of contexts. The prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art is not directly related to its non-figural tradition; rather, it reflects the centrality of the notion of writing and written text in Islam. For instance, the Islamic prophet Muhammad is related to have said: "The first thing God created was the pen."


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Islamic calligraphy developed from two major styles: Kufic and Naskh. There are several variations of each, as well as regionally specific styles. Arabic or Persian calligraphy has also been incorporated into modern art, beginning with the post-colonial period in the Middle East, as well as the more recent style of calligraffiti.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The traditional instrument of the Islamic calligrapher is the kalam, a pen normally made of dried reed or bamboo. The ink is often in colour and chosen so that its intensity can vary greatly, creating dynamism and movement in the letter forms. Some styles are often written using a metallic-tip pen.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Islamic calligraphy can be applied to a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels, carpets, and stone. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing. During the 9th century, an influx of paper from China revolutionized calligraphy. While monasteries in Europe treasured a few dozen volumes, libraries in the Muslim world regularly contained hundreds and even thousands of books.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: For centuries, the art of writing has fulfilled a central iconographic function in Islamic art. Although the academic tradition of Islamic calligraphy began in Baghdad, the centre of the Islamic empire during much of its early history, it eventually spread as far as India and Spain.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Coins were another support for calligraphy. Beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing Byzantine Christian imagery with Islamic phrases inscribed in Arabic. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value. Generally, the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Qur'an.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, began weaving inscriptions onto elaborately patterned silks. So precious were textiles featuring Arabic text that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the Abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer, near Caen in north-western France.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: As Islamic calligraphy is highly venerated, most works follow examples set by well-established calligraphers, with the exception of secular or contemporary works. In the Islamic tradition, calligraphers underwent extensive training in three stages, including the study of their teacher's models, in order to be granted certification.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The Kufic style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, it developed alongside the Naskh script in the 7th century. Although some scholars dispute this, Kufic script was supposedly developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name. The style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and square kufic. Due to its straight and orderly style of lettering, Kufic was frequently used in ornamental stone carving as well as on coins. It was the main script used to copy the Qur'an from the 8th to 10th century and went out of general use in the 12th century when the flowing naskh style become more practical. However, it continued to be used as a decorative element to contrast superseding styles.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: There was no set rules of using the Kufic script; the only common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters. Due to the lack of standardization of early Kufic, the script differs widely between regions, ranging from very square and rigid forms to flowery and decorative ones.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Common varieties include square Kufic, a technique known as "banna'i". Contemporary calligraphy using this style is also popular in modern decorations.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Decorative Kufic inscriptions are often imitated into pseudo-kufics in Middle age and Renaissance Europe. Pseudo-kufics is especially common in Renaissance depictions of people from the Holy Land. The exact reason for the incorporation of pseudo-Kufic is unclear. It seems that Westerners mistakenly associated 13th-14th century Middle Eastern scripts with systems of writing used during the time of Jesus, and thus found it natural to represent early Christians in association with them.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The use of cursive scripts coexisted with Kufic, and historically cursive was commonly used for informal purposes. Naskh first appeared within the first century of the Islamic calendar. Naskh translates to "copying," as it became the standard for transcribing books and manuscripts. The script is the most ubiquitous among other styles, used in the Qur'an, official decrees, and private correspondence. It became the basis of modern Arabic print.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Kufic is commonly believed to predate naskh, but historians have traced the two scripts as coexisting long before their codification by ibn Muqla, as the two served different purposes. Kufi was used primarily in decoration, while Naskh served for everyday scribal use.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Thuluth was developed during the 15th century and slowly refined by Ottoman Calligraphers including Mustafa Râkim, Shaykh Hamdallah, and others, till it became what it is today. Letters in this script have long vertical lines with broad spacing. The name, meaning "one third", may possibly be a reference to the x-height, which is one-third of the 'alif, or to the fact that the pen used to write the vowels and ornaments is one third the width of that used in writing the letters.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Reqa' is a handwriting style similar to thuluth. It first appeared in the 10th century. The shape is simple with short strokes and small flourishes. Yaqut al-Musta'simi was one of the calligraphers who employed this style. The Arab, Ibn al-Bawwab is actually believed to have created this script.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Muhaqqaq is a majestic style used by accomplished calligraphers, and is a variation of thuluth. Along with thuluth, it was considered one of the most beautiful scripts, as well as one of the most difficult to execute. Muhaqqaq was commonly used during the Mamluk era, but its use became largely restricted to short phrases, such as the basmallah, from the 18th century onward.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: With the spread of Islam, the Arabic script was established in a vast geographic area with many regions developing their own unique style. From the 14th century onward, other cursive styles began to develop in Turkey, Persia, and China.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: In the post-colonial era, artists working in North Africa and the Middle East transformed Arabic calligraphy into a modern art movement, known as the "Hurufiyya movement". Artists working in this style use calligraphy as a graphic element within contemporary artwork.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The term, "hurufiyya" is derived from the Arabic term, "harf" for letter. Traditionally, the term was charged with Sufi intellectual and esoteric meaning. It is an explicit reference to a medieval system of teaching involving political theology and lettrism. In this theology, letters were seen as primordial signifiers and manipulators of the cosmos.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Hurufiyya artists blended Western art concepts with an artistic identity and sensibility drawn from their own culture and heritage. These artists integrated Islamic visual traditions, especially calligraphy, and elements of modern art into syncretic contemporary compositions. Although hurufiyyah artists struggled to find their own individual dialogue within the context of nationalism, they also worked towards an aesthetic that transcended national boundaries and represented a broader affiliation with an Islamic identity.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The hurufiyya artistic style as a movement most likely began in North Africa around 1955 with the work of Ibrahim el-Salahi. However, the use of calligraphy in modern artworks appears to have emerged independently in various Islamic states. Artists working in this were often unaware of other hurufiyya artists's works, allowing for different manifestations of the style to emerge in different regions. In Sudan, for instance, artworks include both Islamic calligraphy and West African motifs.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: The hurufiyya art movement was not confined to painters and included artists working in a variety of media. One example is the Jordanian ceramicist, Mahmoud Taha who combined the traditional aesthetics of calligraphy with skilled craftsmanship. Although not affiliated with the hurufiyya movement, the contemporary artist Shirin Neshat integrates Arabic text into her black-and-white photography, creating contrast and duality. In Iraq, the movement was known as "Al Bu'd al Wahad" (or the One Dimension Group)", and in Iran, it was known as the Saqqa-Khaneh movement.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: Western art has influenced Arabic calligraphy in other ways, with forms such as calligraffiti, which is the use of calligraphy in public art to make politico-social messages or to ornament public buildings and spaces. Notable Islamic calligraffiti artists include: Yazan Halwani active in Lebanon, el Seed working in France and Tunisia, and Caiand A1one in Tehran.


title: Islamic calligraphy

text: In 2017 the Sultanate of Oman unveiled the "Mushaf Muscat", an interactive calligraphic Quran following supervision and support from the Omani Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, a voting member of the Unicode Consortium.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was advertised with the slogan "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer". Schlitz first became the largest beer producer in the US in 1902 and enjoyed that status at several points during the first half of the 20th century, exchanging the title with Anheuser-Busch multiple times during the 1950s.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The company was founded by August Krug in 1849, but ownership passed to Joseph Schlitz in 1858 when he married Krug's widow. Schlitz was bought by Stroh Brewery Company in 1982 and subsequently sold along with the rest of Stroh's assets to Pabst Brewing Company in 1999. Pabst produced several varieties of Schlitz beers alongside Old Milwaukee.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: On November 13, 2014, Pabst announced that it had completed its sale to Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings, LLC. Blue Ribbon is a partnership between American beer entrepreneur Eugene Kashper and TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco–based private equity firm. Prior reports suggested the price agreed upon was around $700 million.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: In Milwaukee, Joseph Schlitz was hired as a bookkeeper in a tavern brewery owned by August Krug. In 1856, he took over management of the brewery following the death of Krug. In 1858, Schlitz married the widow, Anna Maria Krug, and then changed the name of the brewery to the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. in 1861, Krug's 16-year-old nephew, August Uihlein, began employment at the brewery.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The often circulated story of Schlitz' proposed donation of thousands of barrels of beer to the Chicago population after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 is simply a modern myth, pushed by later marketing campaigns. Schlitz' national expansion was based on new distribution points in Chicago and elsewhere, and the consequent use of the railway. From the late 1880s, Schlitz built dozens of tied houses in Chicago, most with a concrete relief of the company logo embedded in the brickwork; several of these buildings survive today, including the Lake Street Schlitz Tied House at the corner of Lake and Loomis and Schuba's Tavern at the corner of Belmont and Southport. In 1873, Schlitz rejected a purchase offer from Tennessee brewer Bratton and Sons.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: In 1875, Schlitz returned to his homeland on the SS Schiller. While returning home, the ship hit a rock near the Isles of Scilly and sank, killing Schlitz and 334 others. His body was never recovered. Honoring Krug's wishes, Schlitz had it written in his own will that he also wanted the Uihlein brothers to run the brewery when he died. Management was promptly passed to the four Uihlein brothers, August, Henry, Alfred and Edward. When Anna Maria Krug Schlitz died in 1887, the Uihleins acquired complete ownership of the firm, and the Uihlein family continued to run the brewery for over one hundred years. Despite this change, the Uihleins decided to keep the name Schlitz, as Americans had difficulty pronouncing their surname.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The company flourished through much of the 1900s, starting in 1902 when the production of one million barrels of beer surpassed Pabst's claim as the largest brewery in the United States. Schlitz began pioneering numerous advances in the brewing industry, most notably the use of brown glass bottles beginning in 1912. Previously, beer was bottled in clear glass bottles, but this allowed sunlight to spoil the flavor of the beer. The entire industry quickly adopted the brown bottle, and the design is still used to this day. Schlitz's pioneering of the brown bottle was the inspiration for the Schlitz Brown Bottle Restaurant in Milwaukee, which opened in 1938.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: However, their success would meet the first of several major obstacles. In the early 1900s, the temperance movement was gaining traction, and production and consumption of alcohol was eventually outlawed entirely with the passage of Prohibition in the United States in 1920. During Prohibition, Schlitz faced difficulties trying to stay open and keep their workers employed. In 1919, with Prohibition imminent, Joseph E. Uihlein Sr. created a division of Schlitz that would produce milk chocolate, looking to make good use of Wisconsin's large dairy industry. The chocolate was sold under the "Eline" brand (the phonetic pronunciation of Uihlein). However, Eline Chocolate did not have much success, as the Hershey company was dominant in the highly competitive chocolate industry, and Eline candies were often rife with quality control problems. Despite pouring millions into the chocolate division and creating a hard candy and gumball line, the venture was a failure and was abandoned by 1928.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: This forced the company to change its name from Schlitz Brewing Company to the Schlitz Beverage Company and changed its "famous" slogan to "The drink that made Milwaukee famous." Schlitz primarily focused on producing malt extract and non-alcoholic soft drinks called "Schlitz Famo" that they used to keep the brewing equipment operational, as the Uihleins correctly deduced that Prohibition would not be permanent. After Prohibition ended in late 1933, Schlitz again began producing beer and quickly became the world's top-selling brewery in 1934.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: In 1953, Milwaukee brewery workers went on a 76-day strike. The strike greatly impacted Schlitz's production, including all of Milwaukee's other breweries and allowed Anheuser-Busch to surpass Schlitz in the American beer market. The popularity of Schlitz's namesake beer, along with the introduction of value-priced Old Milwaukee, allowed Schlitz to regain the number-one position. Schlitz and Anheuser-Busch continued to compete for the top brewery in America for years. Schlitz remained the number-two brewery in America as late as 1976.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: By 1967, the company's president and chairman was August Uihlein's grandson, Robert Uihlein, Jr. Faced with a desire to meet large volume demands while also cutting the cost of production, the brewing process for Schlitz's flagship Schlitz beer was changed in the early 1970s. The primary changes involved using corn syrup to replace some of the malted barley, adding a silica gel to prevent the product from forming a haze, using high-temperature fermentation instead of the traditional method, and also substituted less-expensive extracts rather than traditional ingredients. Schlitz also experimented with continuous fermentation, even building a new brewery specifically designed to use the process in Baldwinsville, New York. The reformulated product resulted in a beer that not only lost much of the flavor and consistency of the traditional formula, but also spoiled more quickly, rapidly losing public appeal.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: In 1976, concern was growing that the Food and Drug Administration would require all ingredients to be labeled on their bottles and cans. To prevent having to disclose the artificial additive of the silica gel, Uihlein switched to an agent called "Chill-garde" which would be filtered out at the end of production, so would be considered nondisclosable. The agent reacted badly with a foam stabilizer that was used and Schlitz recalled 10 million bottles of beer, costing it $1.4 million. Schlitz was further hurt by the rise of high-volume light beers such as Miller Lite and Bud Light, a direction Schlitz did not aggressively pursue – although James Coburn appeared in commercials for the short-lived "Schlitz Light" in 1976.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: As part of its efforts to reverse the sales decline, Schlitz launched a disastrous 1977 television ad campaign created by Leo Burnett & Co. In each of the ads, an off-screen speaker tries to convince a Schlitz drinker to switch to a rival beer. The Schlitz drinker then talked about how they would never switch and jokingly threatened the person trying to persuade them away from their favorite beer. Despite the tone of the campaign intended to be comedic levity, audiences found the campaign somewhat menacing and the ad industry dubbed it "Drink Schlitz or I'll kill you." Schlitz, unwilling to endure more bad press, pulled the campaign after 10 weeks and fired Burnett.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: By the 1980s, Schlitz had rebounded somewhat, but it had now fallen from the second-most-popular brewery in the country to the fourth, as Miller and Pabst had overtaken it for the first time in decades. The final blow to the company was another crippling strike at the Milwaukee plant in 1981. About 700 production workers went on strike on June 1, 1981. The strike was triggered because there was no replacement contract when the union's contract expired.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The strike lasted for almost four months, and the company quickly abandoned all remaining hope that it could be saved, as all previous attempts were utter failures and the strikes had now crippled the company's production line and finances. The Schlitz management team finally threw in the towel and began negotiating a deal to sell the company and cut their losses. As the Milwaukee plant was the oldest and least efficient of the Schlitz breweries, and unable to afford to keep operating it due to the strike, Schlitz closed the doors to the Milwaukee brewery, thus ending the strike and, ultimately, signaling the end for Schlitz being one of the most popular beer companies in America.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The Baldwinsville brewery was purchased by Anheuser-Busch in 1981 to supplement production of the upcoming Budweiser Light – now Bud Light – release in 1982. Because of the nonstandard brewery design, Baldwinsville is unique and capable of complex production, making it a key player in the 12 domestic Anheuser-Busch plants. In 1982, there were competing bids for ownership of the Schlitz brand. The Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit, Michigan beat out Pabst and Heileman by bidding for 67 percent of Schlitz. By spring of that year, Stroh had purchased the entire company, making Stroh's the third largest brewing enterprise in America. During the takeover, Schlitz fought a fierce battle in the courts trying to remain independent.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: Schlitz finally accepted the takeover when Stroh raised its offer from an initial $16 per share to $17, and the U.S. Justice Department approved the acquisition once Stroh agreed to sell either Schlitz's Memphis or Winston-Salem breweries. The Milwaukee Schlitz Brewhouse stood unused after the sale to Stroh, until it was demolished in 2013. What remained of the historic Schlitz Brewery complex in Milwaukee was transformed with tax increment financing and other government support into a mixed-use development called Schlitz Park.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: The once-strong Schlitz brand was relegated to cheap beer or "bargain brand" status and became increasingly difficult to find in bars and restaurants. Ironically enough, Stroh itself was beginning to struggle from the weight of its business, and had never been able to get out from under the debt it incurred when purchasing Schlitz. In 1999, Pabst Brewing Company gained control of the Schlitz brand with its acquisition of the Stroh Brewery Company.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: During the reformulating period of the early 1970s, the original Schlitz beer formula was lost and never included in any of the subsequent sales of the company. Through research of documents and interviews with former Schlitz brewmasters and taste-testers, Pabst was able to reconstruct the 1960s classic formula. The new Schlitz beer, along with a new television advertising campaign, was officially introduced in 2008. The first markets for relaunching included Chicago, Florida, Boston, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and Schlitz's former headquarters, Milwaukee. The classic 1960s theme was also reflected when 1968 "Playboy" magazine playmate Cynthia Myers became a spokeswoman for Schlitz beer in 2009.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: In 2014, Pabst Brewing Company was purchased by American entrepreneur Eugene Kashper and TSG Consumer Partners. The deal included the Schlitz brand, as well as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, and Colt 45.


title: Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

text: Pabst Brewing Company, now headquartered in Los Angeles, continues to produce Schlitz beer, Old Milwaukee, and four Schlitz malt liquors—Schlitz Red Bull, Schlitz Bull Ice, Schlitz High Gravity, and Schlitz Malt Liquor. Although it has fallen from its former title as one of America's most popular beers, the Schlitz brand is still alive today and remains a sentimental favorite in the Midwest.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: Inside the Actors Studio is an American talk show that airs on Ovation. The series premiered in 1994 on Bravo where it aired for 22 seasons and was hosted by James Lipton from its premiere until 2018. It is taped at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University's New York City campus.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: On April 2, 2019, it was announced that the show would move to Ovation with the 23rd season premiering on October 13, 2019. Along with producing a new season, Ovation acquired the rights to all previous seasons. With the new format, the show now uses a rotating panel of hosts.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: The program began as a televised craft seminar for students of the Actors Studio Drama School, originally a joint venture of the Actors Studio and New School University in 1994, with Paul Newman, a former Actors Studio president, as its first guest, and soon became Bravo's flagship program. At first taped at the New School's Tishman Auditorium in Greenwich Village, New York City, it was shifted subsequently to its present location, Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University's New York City campus. The program is presented as a seminar to students of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: The show deliberately uses a slower pace in the interviews as compared with a typical celebrity interview, thus cameras usually record a couple of hours of conversation, later edited to one or two hours. The result, as a "New York Times" article expressed it, "In Mr. Lipton's guest chair, actors cease being stars for a while and become artists and teachers." Though sometimes, some interviews go longer; Steven Spielberg's 1999 visit, for example, stretched to four hours, and was later shown as two episodes of one hour each. The interviews are guided by Lipton's trademark index-card questions, which sometimes reveal his well-researched knowledge of guests' lives, often startling some. On one such occasion, Billy Crystal told Lipton, "You know you're scary, don't you?" On another occasion, Martin Sheen asked Lipton, "How do you know all this? This is extraordinary." And Sir Anthony Hopkins, upon learning that Lipton knew the exact address where the former had been born and raised in Wales, turned to the audience and remarked, "He's a detective, you know."


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: In May 2005, the contract between the Actors Studio and New School University was not renewed. Beginning with the 12th season, in the fall of 2005, the program was taped at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University's New York City campus. The show featured a new set with a gritty backstage feel, designed by Will Rothfuss for Blair Broadcast Designs, and The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University re-opened in new facilities.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: Since its premiere, "Inside the Actors Studio" has had over 300 guests. The first episode's guest was Paul Newman (Alec Baldwin was the first guest, but his interview was broadcast after Newman's). The guests have included 74 Academy Award winners: eight directors; four screenwriters; 61 actors and actresses; and three composers. For its 200th show, Lipton became the guest subject of the show. He was questioned by Dave Chappelle, whom he picked personally. The show ended with the Pace University provost announcing that the college is sponsoring a scholarship in Chappelle's name to his high school alma mater. Based on the show, James Lipton published a book titled "Inside Inside" in 2007. In September 2018, Lipton declared that he was stepping down from the program after 23 seasons. Starting in 2019, the show is hosted by different celebrities.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: In his review of the program, "The Sunday Times" critic A.A. Gill wrote: "The format is simple and idiotically inspired. The Actors Studio is the New York drama school made famous by Stanislavsky and his method (although the series is now filmed elsewhere). These shows are thinly set-up masterclasses for students. The cleverness is in the vanity it allows the guests, who are the very greatest and most self-regarding performers and creators of theatre and film. People who are too grand to talk to anyone will talk to "Inside the Actors Studio". They believe they're giving something back, offering precious pearls of insight to a new generation. And who doesn't look good passing it on to adoring students? In truth, it's just a chat show on satellite, but the veil of education and posterity is held decorously high, so everybody turns up and talks with a smile."


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: While most of the show is a one-on-one interview conducted by the host (Lipton in the first 22 seasons, rotating hosts since season 23), this is followed by the host submitting a questionnaire to the guest. The questionnaire concept was originated by French television personality Bernard Pivot on his show "Apostrophes", after the Proust Questionnaire. The 10 questions Lipton asks are:


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: The show has been good-naturedly lampooned for Lipton's paused and somewhat clipped delivery on "Saturday Night Live", in which Will Ferrell portrayed Lipton interviewing himself as an annoyed guest. He was also spoofed on "The Simpsons", where character Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger) shoots his interviewer and a dying Lipton croaks, "It's a pleasure to eat your lead, good sir." In another episode of "The Simpsons", in which Homer donates a kidney, he single-mindedly rushes his family home so he can watch the "Inside The Actors Studio" interview of F. Murray Abraham. Ferrell, with his "Old School" co-stars Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson and director Todd Phillips, again portrayed a satirical version of Lipton in a skit called "Inside the Actors Studio Spoof", which can be seen as part of the DVD release special features for the film. Ferrell appears as himself and answers questions poking fun at some of his less successful films, such as "A Night at the Roxbury", in what is obviously a comedic take on Lipton's reverential approach to his interviewees. Comedian Will Sasso portrayed Lipton on "Mad TV" and David Cross parodied him as Cyrus on "Mr Show". Weird Al Yankovic's song "Couch Potato" describes "James Lipton discussing the oeuvre of Mr. Rob Schneider." among other things on TV. In the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episode "Werewolf," Mike Nelson hits his head and thinks he is James Lipton.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: Guest list for the show sorted alphabetically by last name. For a full list, see List of "Inside the Actors Studio" episodes.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: [B]y the time I started the show -- although he was a member of the Actor's Studio and had been trained by Stella Adler as I was; we knew each other, and we used to talk on the phone for hours at a time -- but by that time he was already reclusive. I couldn't get him out of the house and neither could anyone else.


title: Inside the Actors Studio

text: Selected episodes of the show have been released by Shout! Factory. Three DVDs containing a single episode each feature Robin Williams, Johnny Depp, Dave Chappelle and Barbra Streisand. Two compilation sets were also released. "Leading Men" features Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, and Russell Crowe. "Icons" features Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Barbra Streisand.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. The moniker "Keb Mo" was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: From early on, Keb' Mo's parents, who were from Louisiana and Texas, instilled him with a great appreciation for the blues and gospel music. By adolescence, he was an accomplished guitarist.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' started his musical career playing the steel drums in a calypso band. He moved on to play in a variety of blues and backup bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He first started recording in the early 1970s with Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach through an R&B group. Creach hired him when Moore was 21 years old and Moore appeared on four of Creach's albums: "Filthy!", "Playing My Fiddle for You", "I'm the Fiddle Man" and "Rock Father". Keb' Mo's first gold record was received for a song, "Git Fiddler", which he co-wrote with Creach on Jefferson Starship's "Red Octopus". "Red Octopus" hit number one on the Billboard 200 in 1975.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore was also a staff writer for A&M Records and arranged demos for Almo – Irving music. Keb' Mo's debut, "Rainmaker", was released on Chocolate City Records, a subsidiary of Casablanca Records, in 1980. He was further immersed in the blues with his long stint in the Whodunit Band, headed by Bobby "Blue" Bland producer Monk Higgins. Moore jammed with Albert Collins and Big Joe Turner and emerged as an inheritor of a guarded tradition and as a genuine original.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' has appeared on stage (1990–1993) in several versions of the musical Spunk, by George C. Wolfe, an adaptation of three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston. His character, Guitar Man, learned while he was an understudy to "Chick Streetman", played all the actual music in the play while performing. The character of Guitar Man is the foundation for his stage persona.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 1994, Keb' Mo' released his self-titled album, "Keb' Mo'", which featured two Robert Johnson classics, "Come On In My Kitchen" and "Kind Hearted Woman Blues". In the Martin Scorsese miniseries "The Blues", Keb' Mo' states that he was greatly influenced by Johnson. Keb' was the runner-up for Best New Blues Artist at The Long Beach Blues Festival, where he was spotted by Steve LaVere, who owns the publishing for the entire Robert Johnson song catalogue (1992–93).


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 1996, he released "Just Like You", his second album, which featured 12 songs full of Delta rhythms. He won his first Grammy Award for this album, which featured guest appearances from Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: On June 10, 1997, Moore performed on the television program "Sessions at West 54th". He joined musicians Laval Belle on drums, Reggie McBride playing bass and Joellen Friedkin on keyboards to perform 14 songs, some from each of his albums. Blues pianist Dr. John also made a guest appearance. This session (known as "") was shown on television but was not released as a DVD until late 2000.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 1998, Moore was involved in the multi-artist project "Begegnungen (Encounters)" by German rock musician Peter Maffay. They performed together a new version of Mo's "Am I Wrong" on the album and some more songs in the 30 concerts at the arena tour later the same year, documented on the live album "Begenungen Live", released in early 1999. A further guest of Maffay at the "Begegnungen" album and tour was Sonny Landreth and many more artists from around the world.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: "Slow Down", his next album, was released in 1998 and featured twelve songs. It earned him a second Grammy Award. The album begins with the song "Muddy Water", a tribute to Muddy Waters. It also features a song entitled "Rainmaker", which had been released previously on his first album, eighteen years prior.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: His fourth album, "The Door", was released in 2000. The same year, Keb' Mo' released "Big Wide Grin", a children's album featuring many songs from Moore's own childhood, along with some newer children's songs and some by Moore himself. In 2001, he appeared on Sesame Street with Kermit the Frog, Grover, Elmo, and other muppets performing the song "Everybody Be Yo'self". The album includes an original arrangement of "America the Beautiful", which he performed years later on the 2006 series finale of "The West Wing", "Tomorrow", in which he appears as himself to perform the song at the inauguration of President Matt Santos.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2003, Martin Scorsese collaborated with many blues musicians including Keb' Mo' to put together a series of films entitled "The Blues". Following its release, several albums were released in accordance, some were compilations, some new collaborations and Keb' Mo' released an album in the series featuring a handful of existing recordings from Keb' Mo' to The Door.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: On February 10, 2004, he released "Keep It Simple" which earned him a third Grammy Award, again in the contemporary blues genre. Later that year, he released his sixth studio album, "Peace... Back by Popular Demand".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore released "Suitcase", on June 13, 2006. His touring band following the release included Reggie McBride on bass, Les Falconer III on drums, Jeff Paris on keyboards, and Clayton Gibb on guitar.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: At the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival, Keb' Mo' performed an acoustic set with Stefan Grossman and an electric set with Vince Gill, Albert Lee, James Burton, Earl Klugh and Sheryl Crow. He joined the finale with most of the day's performers.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' performed at a White House event titled "In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues" on February 21, 2012. On February 24, 2012, many of the same performers, including Keb' Mo, Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy, Warren Haynes, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, paid tribute to Hubert Sumlin at the "Howlin' For Hubert" memorial concert at the Apollo Theater in New York City.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: On the first night of the 2013 Crossroads Guitar Festival, Keb' Mo' performed a set with Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Blake Mills and Matt "Guitar" Murphy. Keb' Mo' later performed two songs with emcee Dan Aykroyd. On the second night of the festival, Keb' Mo' performed with Taj Mahal.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In early 2014, he was nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Americana Album ("BLUESAmericana"), Best American Roots Performance ("The Old Me Better") and Best Engineered Album Non-Classical ("BLUESAmericana"). In May, he appeared alongside Metallica at MusicCare' 10th Annual MAP Fund Benefit Concert at Nokia honoring Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Greenberg. In October 2014 he honored the Everly Brothers, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 19th annual Music Masters Series, and in November he honored Mavis Staples alongside Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, Taj Mahal and Grace Potter, at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre for celebration of Staples' life and career in honor of her 75th birthday. Also in late 2014 he was featured on a Jackson Browne tribute album, "".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2015, his album "BLUESAmericana" won the 'Contemporary Blues Album' category at the Blues Music Awards.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: He has been supportive of charity Playing For Change since its inception and recently appeared in a video with Keith Richards' singing Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up". He appeared on two tracks from the "Playing For Change: Songs Around The World" that was released on June 17. The album had over 180 musicians from 31 countries, including Keith Richards, Sara Bareilles, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, and Taj Mahal. He donates 5% of "BLUESAmericana" to the charity.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In late 2015, he performed at a special concert hosted by Barack Obama called "A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House". It was shot and filmed in the East Room of the White House. Other performers included Smokey Robinson, James Taylor, Buddy Guy, Queen Latifah, Usher, Trombone Shorty, MC Lyte, Audra McDonald, Esperanza Spalding, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Carol Burnett. It commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of Lyndon B. Johnson's National Foundation on the Arts through the Humanities Act.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' released a live album, "Keb' Mo' Live – That Hot Pink Blues Album" on April 15, on Kind of Blue Music/RED Distribution.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' partnered up with Taj Mahal to release a joint album, "TajMo", on May 5, 2017. The album has guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Sheila E., and Lizz Wright, and has six original compositions and five covers, from artists and bands like John Mayer and The Who. The album won the 2018 Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In June 2019, Keb' Mo' released a studio album, "Oklahoma", with guest contributions from Rosanne Cash, Jaci Velasquez, Robert Randolph, and Taj Mahal, with a duet with Robbie Brooks Moore (his wife).


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' played the Glastonbury Festival in June 2019 followed by UK and European dates in July 2019.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' won the Grammy Award for "Best Americana Album" in 2020 for "Oklahoma". He was one of the headliners at the 2020 Mahindra Blues Festival in Mumbai, India.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 1997, Keb' Mo' portrayed the character Isaac, the Angel of Music, in the episode "Inherit the Wind" and again in 1999 in "Then Sings My Soul" of the television series "Touched by an Angel". He performed "Hand It Over" from his 1996 release "Just Like You" in the 1997 episode and again in the 2002 episode "Remembering Me: Part 2". He also appeared as J. D. Winslow in the 2001 episode "Shallow Water", where he performed his song "God Trying to Get Your Attention" from his album "Slow Down".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2019 Ke' Mo' featured as a guest artist on the PBS concert series "Bluegrass Underground" (now re-branded as "The Caverns Sessions").


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2004, he participated in the politically motivated Vote for Change tour alongside Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, with whom he originally recorded the title track from the album "Just Like You".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' is part of the No Nukes group which was against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007, the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Keb' Mo' uses several types of guitars, including electric guitars, acoustic guitars and resonator guitars. He has a preference for red guitars, as he says on his website: "I have a history with red guitars. My first electric was a red guitar." He mostly plays on a red custom Fender Stratocaster that features two single-coil pickups, and one humbucker and is much modified from a regular Stratocaster model. On stage, he prefers a red Hamer guitar with Gibson P-100 pickups. Two of his electric guitars were lost in the 2010 Nashville flood: an Epiphone Sheraton and a Danelectro Selectomatic.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: He owns a variety of acoustic and resonator guitars, including a Gibson artist model, a guitar made for him by James Goodall, a National Style N, a National Resorocket, and a Gibson ES-335-shaped resonator guitar with a P-90 pickup that he purchased in a Nashville club and had repaired.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 1998, Moore appeared on the album "Begegnungen" (the German word for "Encounters") by Peter Maffay, one of the most successful rockstars in Germany and Mid-Europe (16 Number 1 albums in the German album charts). This record is a duet album with artists from every continent. Moore and Maffay make a new version of "Am I wrong".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2001, Moore performed "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on the tribute album "Timeless: Hank Williams Tribute". Moore is also credited as producer on the Best Country Album, Grammy Award winner for 2001.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2002, Moore contributed "Sonnet 35" to the compilation album, "When Love Speaks" (EMI Classics), which features famous actors and musicians interpreting Shakespearean sonnets and play excerpts. Two years later, he appeared on "Amy Grant: Greatest Hits 1986–2004" in a duet entitled "Come Be with Me", which became a modest success on pop radio.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2005, Moore appeared on Buddy Guy's version of "Ain't No Sunshine", along with Moore composed one of the theme songs featured on the show, "Martha Stewart Living". That same year, he appeared on Eric Clapton's album "Back Home".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2006, Moore co-wrote the song, "I Hope", with the Dixie Chicks for their album, "Taking the Long Way".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2006, Moore collaborated with New Orleans blues group The Subdudes, producing their most critically noteworthy album "Behind the Levee", penning one cut, "Social Aid and Pleasure Club", and providing backing tracks for several other songs on the album.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2006, Moore appeared on the final episode of West Wing, performing "America the Beautiful" at the presidential inauguration.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore also provided vocals to Marcus Miller's 2007 album, "Free" on the track entitled "Milky Way" and again on Miller's 2008 album entitled, "Marcus".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2008, he also appeared on Otis Taylor's album "Recapturing the Banjo", contributing vocals and banjo on several songs.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore appeared on the June 7, 2008 broadcast of Garrison Keillor's radio program "A Prairie Home Companion". He performed two songs with Bonnie Raitt: "No Getting Over You" and "There Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'". The show was archived on the "A Prairie Home Companion" website.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2009, Moore co-wrote a song with Peach titled "It Meant Nothing". The song is yet to be released as an official audio recording, however, Peach does perform it and video recordings of live performances exist online.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore covered Lowen & Navarro's "If You Loved Me Like That" on "". The proceeds of the album benefited The Eric Lowen Trust, ALS Association Greater Los Angeles, and Augie's Quest.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore sings the opening theme ("I See Love", which he co-wrote with Josh Kelley) to the CBS sitcom "Mike & Molly".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: Moore produced and co-wrote the song "Diggin' in the Deep Blue Sea" on the 2011 David Bromberg album "Use Me". He also plays electric guitar on the track.


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2013, Moore appears on B.J. Thomas' "The Living Room Sessions", in a duet with Thomas on the single "Most of All".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2017, he covered "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good" for the Don Williams tribute album "Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams".


title: Keb' Mo'

text: In 2017, he appeared in “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Higher Ground” (Hallmark Mystery Movie series) as the character Gabe, and performed several songs. His music was also in the following movies in the series, scheduled to appear again in Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar on July 15, 2018.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Kushi () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by S. J. Suryah and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film featured Vijay and Jyothika in the prominent roles, while Vijayakumar, Shilpa Shetty, Mumtaj, Vivek and Nizhalgal Ravi and others in the supporting roles. The film's cinematography was done by Jeeva, while music was composed by Deva. The film was released on 19 May 2000. Kushi was remade in Telugu as "Kushi," in Hindi as "Khushi", and in Kannada as "Eno Onthara". Jyothika went on to win the Filmfare Best Actress Award in Tamil and Cinema Express Award for Best Sensational Actress at the Cinema Express Awards, for her performance.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: The movie begins with the birth of the protagonists, Shiva and Jennifer "Jenny" aka Selvi, in Calcutta and Kuttralam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu respectively. During the course of their childhood, they encounter each other a couple a times, though both don't know each other. When Shiva turns 21, he decides to pursue his higher studies in Canada, much to the disappointment of his mother, who is worried about him and wants him to stay in Calcutta. But while on the way to the airport, he meets with an accident and fractures his leg, forcing him to give up his dreams of studying abroad. At the same time, Jenny wants to pursue her post-graduation, but this is opposed by her father Pandiyan, who wants her to get married. But when Jenny's marriage gets cancelled as the groom runs away on the night before the wedding to elope with his lover, Pandiyan agrees to Jenny pursuing higher studies, on the condition that she gets married once she completes her education.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Shiva and Jenny both enroll in Madras Christian College, but in different classes. They meet each other at a temple and soon become close friends. Shiva's friend Babu is in love with Jenny's friend Shanthi. They both work together to unite their friends. But one day, Jenny catches Shiva staring at her waist while she is studying. A heated argument ensues, following which both Shiva and Jenny end their friendship.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Shiva and Jenny try to avoid each other, but can't as Shanthi's father Ambareesh, a powerful and influential industrialist and politician, has found out about his daughter's relationship with Babu, and goes to great lengths to avoid the couple from meeting each other. Shiva and Jenny are forced to work together to help Babu and Shanthi meet each other, despite Ambareesh's opposition. When Shiva is caught trying to sneak Babu into Shanthi's house, Ambareesh sends his men to attack Shiva. When one of the men attempt to stab Shiva, Jenny attempts to save Shiva, but in the process she cuts her hand and loses consciousness due to heavy bleeding. Shiva gets Jenny admitted in hospital, where she soon recovers. It is at this stage that both Shiva and Jenny realise they are in love with each other, but refuse to admit it. Shiva pretends to accept the sexual overtures of the college bombshell Anita, just to make Jenny jealous.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Meanwhile, Ambareesh tries to get Shanthi forcibly married to someone else. Shiva finds out and sneaks Shanthi out of the wedding hall, thus stopping the wedding. Shanthi and Babu get married at a register office with the support of Shiva and Jenny. Before leaving for their honeymoon, Babu and Shanthi advise them to sort out their relationship. When both Shiva and Jenny complete their post-graduation and leave for their respective hometowns, they attempt to contact each other by phone to declare their love, but fail. Shiva rushes to the Chennai Egmore railway station (where Jenny is to board a train to Tirunelveli), while at the same time, Jenny goes to the Chennai Central railway station (where Shiva is to board a train to Calcutta). They miss each other, but they write a letter declaring their love for each other and hand it over to their co-passengers on the train which they are respectively going to board. Jenny reaches her village the following morning in a sad mood, but soon is in for a surprise; she is to marry none other than Shiva that day. Shiva had read Jenny's letter and then informed Pandiyan about their relationship, who agreed to get them married. The movie ends with Shiva and Jenny happily hugging and kissing each other.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: After watching the premiere show of "Vaali", Rathnam offered S. J. Suryah an opportunity to direct his next venture with Vijay and Jyothika being signed on soon after. Jyothika was cast as the female lead after S. J. Suryah's "Vaali". Vijay began shooting for the film during the same time he was shooting Fazil's "Kannukkul Nilavu" and revealed how hard it had been to shift between the two characters he was portraying.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Early reports indicated that the film would portray an illicit relationship where a young widowed mother (Mumtaz) would lust for the lover (Vijay) of her own daughter (Jyothika). The producer rubbished the rumors claiming that the film would be a romantic comedy.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: The producers initially readied themselves to release the film on April 14, 2000 but pushed dates back to accommodate the release of bigger budget ventures such as Mani Ratnam's "Alaipayuthey" and Rajiv Menon's "Kandukondain Kandukondain". The film eventually released on 19 May 2000.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: "Rediff.com" felt that "overall, the light, airy romance of "Kushi" works just right for the holiday season, with an appeal calculated for the teen and family audiences", praising the director's story-telling. Entertainment portal "Bizhat.com" gave the film a below average review and claimed that the film "does not justify the title in any way nor does it come anywhere near his first" and that it "is interesting in the beginning, but monotonous after a time as the narration gets stuck in a groove". "Ananda Vikatan" rated the film 40 out of 100.


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: "The Hindu" featured the film as runner-up in their list of top Tamil films in 2000, placing it behind Vikraman's "Vanathai Pola".


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: Jyothika went on to win the Best Actress Award Category, at several Award functions for her performance in the film. Deva won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director in 2000 for his work in the film along with his work in "Uyirile Kalanthathu" and "Sandhitha Velai".


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: In 2001, A. M. Rathnam re-signed Surya to direct the Telugu version of the film, also titled "Kushi". The film starring Pawan Kalyan and Bhumika Chawla also similarly won positive reviews and commercial success. Surya also directed the Hindi version of the film in 2003 as "Khushi" for producer Boney Kapoor, with Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor starring. The success of the lead pair's chemistry prompted Vijay and Jyothika to team up again in 2003 for "Thirumalai", while the director and actor briefly reunited for a project titled "Puli" in 2005, before Vijay opted out. In an interview prior to the release of "Anbe Aaruyire" (2005), Surya revealed that the film was "like a sequel to Kushi".


title: Kushi (2000 film)

text: The soundtrack of the film was composed by Deva, while Vairamuthu penned the lyrics for the songs. "Mottu Ondru" was based on "Why You Wanna Trip on Me" by Michael Jackson, and "Oh Vennila" is based on the Portuguese song "Canção do Mar" sung by Dulce Pontes for "Primal Fear" (1996). The songs "Macarena Macarena", "Megam Karukuthu", and "Oru Ponnu Onnu" were reused as "Macarina Macarina", "Megham Karigenu", and "Oka Konte Pillane" in the Telugu film Naaga (2003), which also had the music composed by Deva.


title: Sukanya (actress)

text: Sukanya is an Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, actress, music composer and voice actor. She has acted in Tamil films in addition to some Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films.


title: Sukanya (actress)

text: She started her acting career in 1991. She was one the lead Tamil actresses from 1991 to 1998. She travels widely giving dance performances. She has also composed two devotional albums namely Azhagu and Thirupathi Thirukudai Thiruvizha.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) that has been sold by Vauxhall since 1980. It is currently produced at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: For its first two generations, the nameplate was applied to right-hand drive versions of the Opel Kadett for use in the UK. Since 1991, Opel has used the Astra nameplate on its B/C-platform. General Motors' Saturn division in the United States also offered a Belgian-built version of the Astra as a captive import from late 2007 until Saturn was discontinued following GM's 2010 bankruptcy.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Astra name originated with the Vauxhall-badged version of the first front-wheel drive Opel Kadett, which had been launched in 1979 as the Opel Kadett D. This model, which went on sale in March 1980, replaced the Vauxhall Viva in the UK. The last rear-wheel drive Kadett had also formed the basis of the Vauxhall Chevette, which remained in production until 1984. The Astra was Vauxhall's first model to have front wheel drive. Initially, Vauxhall had worked on restyled versions of the Kadett D which would have featured the company's trademark "droopsnoot", as well as a conventional three-box saloon version that would have directly replaced the Viva, however budget constraints meant that General Motors cancelled their development, and the Astra was released differing only from its Opel sister car in badging and trim - setting the precedent for all Vauxhall models from that point on. Confusingly, in the British market both the Kadett and the Astra were sold through separate marketing operations, with overlapping lineups that competed directly with each other - Vauxhall had tried to mitigate against the overlap by initially only offering the Astra in a limited number of trim, engine and body combinations compared to the Opel Kadett; although this was due to the fact that until 1981, both cars were sourced solely from Opel's Bochum plant - with UK production at Ellesmere Port not starting until 16 November 1981.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: By 1982 this anomaly had been sorted out as GM had begun to merge the previously separate Vauxhall and Opel dealer networks and the Opel Kadett lineup was limited to the well-equipped five-door Berlina (1.3S or 1.6S) and the sporty 1.6 SR, leaving most of the market to the Vauxhall Astra-badged cars. As the consolidation of Opel and Vauxhall dealerships was completed, the Opel badged versions were eventually phased out entirely.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Production began at Opel's West German plant at Bochum in August 1979, with British deliveries of the Opel Kadett commencing in November 1979, four months before the Vauxhall-badged versions were launched. Whilst the previous generation Kadett C had been discontinued, it effectively lived on in the form of its Vauxhall sister - the Chevette - which remained on sale partly to keep the Ellesmere Port plant in operation until Astra production started, and also to give an alternative option for conservative customers who remained suspicious of front wheel drive.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The overhead-camshaft engine (not 1200) was a huge leap forward from the earlier generation of small engines used in Vauxhall and Opel cars in terms of power, economy and refinement. It was initially available in 1300 and 1600 forms, and later an 1800 fuel-injected version was added, used in the Mk 1 Astra GTE model, introduced in 1983. This version of the Astra was an alternative to the Ford Escort XR3, Volkswagen Golf GTI and Fiat Strada 105TC.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The car featured a new unified engine for Vauxhall/Opel, featuring an all-aluminium head, overhead camshaft and hydraulic valve lifters, and it quickly became popular with buyers. A 1200 cc version which used the older Opel OHV engine was also available.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: There were three body styles for the first generation Astra: hatchback, saloon, and estate, all available with two or four side doors. The saloons were styled exactly like the hatchbacks, except for a different rear window above a boot lid; from the side they looked almost indistinguishable from the hatchback, with no protruding notch at the rear. The saloon version was replaced by the Belmont saloon based on the Astra MK2 in early 1986.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The white 1800 GTE was the first UK car to be 'colour-coded' with body trim that matched the base colour of the car, this included wheel arch extensions, front side and rear lower skirts, mirror covers, bumpers and even the alloy wheels were painted white. The black, silver and red versions of the GTE also had colour-coding but had the more conventional black bumpers and silver painted alloy wheels.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: There was also a van version which was badged as the Bedford Astra – the Bedford brand at that time being used for GM's commercial vehicles in Britain and a few continental European markets. Unlike the previous Opel T-Car, no Coupé was offered.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Sales of this first Astra were strong, and gave Vauxhall a much-needed boost in the small family car sector after several years of declining sales with the Viva HC. It soon overtook the Austin Allegro as Britain's second most popular small family car, although it was still a long way behind the Ford Escort in terms of sales success.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The original Astra was awarded "What Car?"'s: 'Car of the Year' for 1980. However, it was pipped to the European Car of the Year award by the Lancia Delta.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Small Engine sizes with round lights on the Bonnet while Large Engine sizes would have square lights on the Bonnet.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Mark 2 Astra was launched on 17 October 1984. It used the same range of engines and running gear as the Mark 1, but with a completely restyled body with better aerodynamics. It was voted 1985 European Car of the Year.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Long-lived, the Mark 2 was available in estate, hatchback, saloon and cabriolet versions. The saloon was launched in January 1986 and sold as the Vauxhall Belmont; this trend to brand saloon models independently of hatchbacks was also used by other manufacturers of the period, with examples including the Ford Orion and the Volkswagen Jetta. However, this strategy was mostly unsuccessful, as this was Vauxhall's only attempt at badging its hatchback-based saloon as a separate model, and Ford rebadged its Orion range as Escorts in September 1993.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In 1987 a special one off "design exercise" based on a 1986 1.8 GTE was built by the Ellesmere Port factory to celebrate its 25th (Silver) Anniversary. The Astra GTE "Quicksilver" was first shown at the British International Motor show in 1987 and displayed in the Ellesmere Port showroom throughout the plant's "Silver Anniversary" year. In 1990, Vauxhall began exporting Astras badged as Opel Kadetts to other European countries from the Ellesmere Port plant.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Bertone built 6,764 cabriolets from 1987 to 1993. These came as 1.6 (with ) and 2-litre () GTEs, the latter available with powered roof and electric windows. These cars are praised for their shake-free shells and their looks.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Mark 2 Astra sold well in the UK, and although it was never able to outsell the Ford Escort, it came closer than any other similar-sized car to achieving this.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In 2005, a survey found the two most stolen cars in Britain to be the Vauxhall Belmont and the Vauxhall Astra Mark 2, with more than 1 in 13 Belmonts stolen.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Soon after the Mark 2 Astra was launched, they introduced the GTE using a 1.8-litre engine lifted from the Mark 1 GTE, but this was quickly dropped in favour of a 2.0 litre unit due to poorer than expected performance. All GTE models featured an all electronic dash with digital speedometer. Analogue instruments were an optional extra, but were very rarely selected over the digital dash. In 1988 Vauxhall's twin-camshaft version of the engine, the C20XE known as the "red top" (due to the red spark plug cover), was fitted to the GTE and instantly created a stir with the motoring press because of its performance. When this engine was originally released in Europe and the UK it developed and 150 ft lbs of torque in standard form. A few years later the GTE 16v, now subject to stricter emissions regulations, was fitted with a catalytic converter and a new exhaust manifold, which robbed the engine of 6 bhp, and 5 ft lbs of torque, and added .5 of a second to the 0–60 mph time, raising it from 7.0 seconds to 7.5 seconds. In 1990 the "leather edition" limited-edition was launched, and an allocation of around 250 examples sold only through London dealerships. This special edition came with Bordeaux paint work, and crossed spoke alloy wheels. It was also known as the "London Edition" and featured in a single sheet brochure printed in April 1990. Between the brochure being printed, and the time they hit the road the "Leather Edition" acquired some extra dealer fit decals to help them stand out further from the standard 16 valve GTE. These decals comprise a small three colour flash on the tail gate next to the GTE badge, and the same colours under the bumper strips on the sides near the rear arch. A silver strip was also added adjacent to this. The colours used were that of the GM racing teams, and once fitted these cars also became known as the "Champion" Edition. They came with Recaro seats and door cards clad in Connolly Leather.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Released in 1991, the Mark 3 model was essentially an evolution of the Mark 2, rather than a complete redesign.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: While Vauxhall had retained the Astra name, this generation was the first to be called Astra by Opel (succeeding the Kadett E), and the first to also be sold by Holden. It was offered as a three or five-door hatchback, a saloon, and an estate. A cabriolet was also offered, designed and built by Bertone.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Astra was sold as a Holden first in New Zealand in 1995, and then in Australia in 1996. The first models were imported from the UK, then later from Belgium. The Holden Astra nameplate had originally been placed on a rebadged Nissan Pulsar, first sold in Australia in 1984.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Astra F consisted of two main revisions and was revised in 1994, with the launch of Opel's new Ecotec engine. For a short period, a submodel which consisted of parts from both revisions was produced. The submodel used all the new Ecotec running gear, but many parts from the previous revision were used in order to use up leftover parts. Other main changes included mildly-altered exterior styling – featuring Vauxhall's new corporate 'V' front grille first seen on the 1994 Omega, a smoked grey trim panel available on all cars on the rear tailgate to smooth over the protruding rear lamp clusters, and availability of new specification models.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The top Vauxhall Astra model was the 3-door only GSi, powered by either the same 2.0 engine found in the Mk2, or a new 1.8 16v petrol injected model with . It also featured sports bodykit and interior. The GSi ceased production in 1994 but was reintroduced in 1997, with the engine being replaced with a lower-powered but more modern 'Ecotec' version (2.0 16v with 134 bhp) the bodykit was slightly altered on these models – a longer rear spoiler with integrated brake light, fluted side skirts, a bonnet without vents, and removal of the GSi16v badging from the bumper and tailgate (replaced by the later chrome effect Vauxhall Astra 2.0 16v badging). The second phase GSi's had air conditioning (and no sunroof) available as an option.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In common with other car manufacturers, the early 1990s saw Vauxhall featuring safety as a selling point, and beginning to incorporate many new safety features into cheaper family cars that were previously only found on expensive luxury saloons. The Mark 3 Astra was one of the first such cars, being introduced ahead of the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Mondeo, two other cars with a similar new-found focus on safety. So, the Mark 3 saw the introduction of twin side impact bars, a toughened safety cage, a safely-designed steering wheel (with collapsible columns) and 'body-lock' mechanical front seat-belt pre-tensioners. After the first face-lift full-size drivers air bags became optional or standard (depending on the model). Crash tests by consumers association (as featured by BBC's Watchdog show in 1992) and also by ADAC and Auto Express showed that the Mark 3 Astra protected better in crashes than most rivals of its time.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In later Sport and GSi models (from 1995 onwards), Lotus Sprung Suspension was used to give a better ride. The Sport models essentially replaced the GSi cars in 1994/1995 due to a drop in sales caused by insurance prices rising sharply.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Pacific special edition was a model that featured a complete Irmscher body styling package with 15" Cesaro wheels from the Mark 3 Cavalier.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Released in 1998, the MK4 addressed many of the criticisms of the MK3 in the UK with greatly improved ride and handling. The growing emphasis on safety was also reflected in greater body rigidity, resulting in a Euro NCAP 4 star crash test rating, considered excellent for its time.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In the UK the MK4 Astra was available with a range of 16v Ecotec engines as well some 8v units. The 8v unit was refined during the model's life however, with the Z16SE offering good all round performance compared with its higher insurance 16v equivalent. In addition to the standard hatchback, the MK4 also had a popular choice of the coupé and convertible, both released in 2000. Although it was replaced in 2004 by the MK5, variants of the model continued for a while afterwards, 5-door hatchbacks were sold until mid-2005 with a reduced range, while the coupe, convertible and Astravan models continued into 2006. This was available in four petrol engine types:


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Astra Mark V or H was first launched in early 2004 as a five-door hatchback, which by the end of the year was joined by a five-door estate and a sporty three-door hatchback called the Sport Hatch in the UK. The Sport Hatch had the option of a "panoramic windscreen" (unique for a production car at the time of its launch) which extended the windscreen into the roof area.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The main variants were Life, Club, Design, SXi, SRi, Elite, and the flagship VXR (Sport Hatch only), which had 240 bhp. However, special edition models included Active, Energy, Breeze and VXR Nurburgring. The latter was only available in white with a distinctive black (and white) chequered stripe across the bonnet, roof & tailgate.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Petrol Models included 1.4 90 bhp, 1.6 105 bhp or 115 bhp, 1.8 140 bhp, 1.6 Turbo and 2.0 litre Turbo (VXR).


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Diesel Models included 1.3 90 bhp, 1.7 with either 80 or 100 bhp and 1.9 with either 120 or 150 bhp.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: From 2006 the TwinTop 2-door coupé convertible was available in the Vauxhall Astra range, having already been a variant on the Tigra.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The five-door Astra was replaced in late 2009 (although various models were still available throughout 2010), while the three-door Sport Hatch wasn't replaced until late 2011.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: This was the last Astra to include an Astravan variant, production ceased in 2013 and was effectively replaced by the Fiat Doblo-based Combo van.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Vauxhall Astra Mark 6 was officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and has been available to purchase since late 2009. The principal manufacturing plant for the latest Astra (though not for its Zafira sibling) is at Ellesmere Port enabling the manufacturer to benefit from sterling depreciation with this model. Design has been a major consideration in the development of new Vauxhall Astra and the car is heavily influenced by the Vauxhall Insignia.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: Despite being more expensive than the Astra H, the Astra J has been a strong sales success in the UK, where it was the best- selling car in June 2010 with well over 10,000 sales – outselling its crucial rival the Ford Focus by nearly 50%. This, however, was at a time when production of the Mk2 Focus was being scaled back prior to the launch of a new MK3 model in early 2011.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The Estate version of the Astra, the 'Sports Tourer', debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show and went on sale shortly afterwards, with a starting price of £16,575 for the ES version, then Exclusiv, SRI and SE versions, with the SE costing from £20,345.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: In BBC2's "Top Gear", the Astra Mark 6 in the Tech Line trim, was used as their fourth "Reasonably Priced Car".


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: A totally new design, the car is 200 kg lighter than its predecessor. It features a newly developed 1 litre 3 cylinder petrol engine.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: A special feature is the "OnStar" system, which allows you to call for assistance with an inbuilt dial.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The eighth generation Astra, which is derived from the Opel Astra L, was unveiled on 13 July 2021 and it went on sale on 12 November 2021. The vehicle is based on the third-generation of the EMP2 platform which made its wheelbase grow by . It will be offered as a hybrid for the first time and will unveil a 180-horsepower engine. The 225 horsepower version, taken from the Peugeot 508 and Peugeot 3008, will also be available on the GT version.


title: Vauxhall Astra

text: The MK1 Astra was a strong seller in the United Kingdom, and quickly established itself as Britain's second most popular small family car, but was never able to match the sales success of the Ford Escort.