title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: In an interview with "The House" magazine in October 2018, Mercer suggested that his values no longer aligned with the current Conservative party leadership and said there would be "absolutely no chance" that he would start as a candidate of the party at this time.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: In the House of Commons he has sat on the Defence Committee, the Defence Sub-Committee (2015–19) and the Health and Social Care Committee (2017–19).


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: On 8 May 2019, Mercer announced that he would no longer support the government's legislative agenda until it ended the system for prosecuting historical allegations against British soldiers, in particular in relation to actions during the British Army's presence in Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the latter third of the twentieth century.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: Mercer has been challenged over his expenses several times. His campaign to get elected as an MP in 2015 was subsequently the subject of a police investigation following allegations that it breached rules on campaign spending. Mercer admitted to police that his account of expenses had been incorrect, but stated that the errors were minor and his spending had not breached legal limits. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge him, and the case was dropped.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: In November 2015, he was criticised by the TaxPayers' Alliance after it was revealed he had purchased five Apple iMac computers on his Commons expenses, rather than 'cheaper equivalents'. Mercer responded that the purchases were appropriate and 'were cheaper than the desktop computers offered to MPs by the House of Commons' official supplier'. He was criticised in May 2016 for claiming £2,500 on expenses for "professional services" on social media management, and in December 2017 the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority opened an investigation to determine whether Mercer had been paid business expenses he should not have been.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: Mercer was an early backer of Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. He said that he believed "Boris is the man of the moment" and was capable of securing a better Brexit deal for the United Kingdom. On 28 July 2019, Mercer was appointed as Minister for Defence People and Veterans in Johnson's government. In the role, Mercer's responsibility includes armed forces personnel and veterans' welfare. Mercer was also tasked by the Prime Minister to focus on ending the legal pursuit of former service personnel, especially those who had served during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: On 27 September 2019, Mercer was accused of having broken the ministerial code for not resigning from his role at a training firm whilst in government. He held a second job as a director of Crucial Academy Ltd, which retrains former military personnel. Shadow Cabinet ministers Tom Watson and Nia Griffith wrote a letter to the Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill asking him to investigate whether Mercer had broken the code through his directorship at the company.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: On 20 April 2021, Mercer was "sacked by text" after offering to resign at the end of Wednesday 21 April, but refusing to go earlier. In a tweet, Mercer said he was "relieved of [his] responsibilities in Government" because of his disagreements with the scope of the proposed Overseas Operations Bill. The bill was designed to protect veterans from vexatious allegations but Human Rights Watch argued that the law's enactment would give immunity to British soldiers from prosecution for war crimes and other serious crimes against humanity. Because the bill only covered operations conducted outside the United Kingdom, Mercer said it was a "red line" for him that British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland would be excluded from the Bill. The bill's key proposals were rejected by the House of Lords. Mercer told Times Radio that he thought the Second Johnson ministry was "the most distrustful, awful environment I've ever worked in".


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: He returned to government after the 2022 British cabinet reshuffle as Minister of State for Veterans' Affairs, attending Cabinet. In July 2022 he was appointed as a member of the Privy Council. He was removed from this position on 6 September 2022 when Liz Truss became prime minister, an act which prompted Mercer's wife to call Truss "an imbecile".


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: Mercer is married to Felicity and they have three children. The family live in a small village on the edge of Bodmin Moor, in Cornwall. For his work in Parliament, Mercer said in 2016 that he stays in a hotel on expenses. When first elected, he slept in East London on his boat several nights a week, stating in "The Daily Telegraph" at the time that it reduced his expenses costs. After local media reported he had started using hotels instead, he said it was due to the weather conditions and that his expenses claims were still lower than the maximum that could be allowed.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: On a summer boat trip in 2016, he rescued fellow Conservative MP Scott Mann who jumped into the water having been "ashamed to admit" he could not swim. In 2018 he won Channel 4's Celebrity Hunted "Stand Up to Cancer", sharing the title with AJ Pritchard. In August 2020, Mercer sustained a head injury while canoeing on the Tamar, which was treated at Launceston medical centre; he subsequently spent three nights in Derriford hospital, following an infection complication requiring surgery.


title: Johnny Mercer (politician)

text: In December 2022, Mercer said that he had received death threats and online abuse from an anonymous person in Plymouth.


title: Abby Martin

text: Abigail Suzanne Martin (born September 6, 1984) is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website "Media Roots" and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which manages Project Censored. Martin appeared in the documentary film "" (2013), and co-directed "" (2013).


title: Abby Martin

text: She hosted "Breaking the Set" on the Russian state-funded network RT America from 2012 to 2015, and then launched "The Empire Files" in that same year as an investigative documentary and interview series on Telesur, later released as a web series. In 2019, she released the film documentary, "The Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom".


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin grew up in Pleasanton, California, where she attended Amador Valley High School, graduating in 2002. She became interested in journalism when her old high school boyfriend enlisted in the military after the September 11 attacks in 2001. "I didn't want him going to war, let alone fighting in one," she recalls. "I began to critically ask 'What is really going on?'" By the time she was a sophomore at San Diego State University, she began questioning what she called the "selling" of the Iraq War by the media. She received an undergraduate degree in political science and minored in Spanish.


title: Abby Martin

text: In 2004, she campaigned for John Kerry's presidential campaign, but became disillusioned with the left-right paradigm, a concept proposing that societies have a tendency to divide themselves into ideological opposites. Martin worked for a time as an investigative journalist for a San Diego-based online news site until moving back to Northern California.


title: Abby Martin

text: In 2008, Martin was active in the 9/11 truth movement, a movement which disputes the consensus regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001. Martin set up her own "truther" group in San Diego, California. That year, Martin said that the attacks of September 11 were "an inside job, and that our government was complicit in what happened". In March 2014, Martin told the Associated Press that she "no longer subscribes" to conspiracy theories regarding the attacks.


title: Abby Martin

text: In 2009, Martin founded the organization Media Roots, a citizen journalism platform for reporting news. As an independent journalist with Media Roots, Martin covered the Occupy Oakland actions during the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. Her documentary video footage of Occupy Oakland protests was used by the family of Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former Marine and Iraq War veteran, in a lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department. Martin's footage was used to argue that the protests were non-violent at the time Olsen was allegedly hit in the head with a police projectile. RT took notice of Martin's work and began using her as a correspondent. In the fall of 2010, she moved to Washington, D.C.


title: Abby Martin

text: From 2012 to 2015, Martin hosted her own show, "Breaking the Set", on RT America. The program described itself as "a show that cuts through the false left/right paradigm set by the establishment and reports the hard facts". The original opening credits depict Martin applying a sledgehammer to a television tuned to CNN.


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin's show promoted conspiracy theories including the claim that water fluoridation was a government plot to poison unwary Americans. Shortly after beginning her show on RT, Martin stated in an interview with Mark Crispin Miller that "the media dismisses things that are too controversial as conspiracy theory".


title: Abby Martin

text: In 2014, Martin gained attention for her criticism of RT's coverage of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Martin closed her show on March 3, 2014 with a minute-long statement condemning the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Glenn Greenwald compared Martin's statement favorably to the unquestioning behavior of the United States media during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Critics of Martin argue that she appeared to be reading from a teleprompter, implying that her remarks were made with the consent of the show's producers. RT issued a statement saying: "Contrary to the popular opinion, RT doesn't beat its journalists into submission, and they are free to express their own opinions, not just in private but on the air." RT added: "[W]e'll be sending her to Crimea to give her an opportunity to make up her own mind from the epicentre of the story." Martin declined the offer, saying "I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made." "The New York Times" wrote that RT notified Martin that what she had said about Ukraine was "not in line with our editorial policy".


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin left RT in February 2015. Speaking for RT, Anna Belkina told "BuzzFeed": "Abby decided that this is the time for her to try something new. We are proud of the great work she has done as the host of "Breaking the Set"."


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin called the charges of foreign control over her and Tulsi Gabbard "neoMcCarthyist hysteria" typical of the New Cold War. She said that the "campaign to malign RT" by "the corporate media" had resulted in a chilling effect over legitimate dissident reporters. She said that she had "complete editorial control" over her RT show, as did other American RT journalists like Chris Hedges and Lee Camp. She had earlier refused RT's offer to send her on a tour of Crimea, saying she didn't want a "vetted PR experience."


title: Abby Martin

text: In September 2015, Martin launched "The Empire Files", an interview and documentary series. She has hosted guests including Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Richard D. Wolff, Ralph Nader and Jill Stein.


title: Abby Martin

text: The show was originally hosted by Telesur English, a media outlet sponsored primarily by the government of Venezuela. Martin told Ben Norton writing for AlterNet: "The show is totally independent of Telesur. We merely sell them the content; they have zero control over anything we do". In 2018, Telesur stopped funding "The Empire Files" due to increasing US sanctions on Venezuela, according to a press release published by Martin's Media Roots website. In August 2018 the show moved to a donation model in order to continue production.


title: Abby Martin

text: The show has since become a web series exclusively, with episodes being uploaded to Martin's website, YouTube and Vimeo. Released in May 2019, her feature film documentary, "The" "Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom", concerns the Gaza–Israel conflict. It was shown in the US, UK and Australia at independent theatres. In May 2021, Martin released the film for free on Youtube.


title: Abby Martin

text: In February 2020, Martin's booking to speak at a conference at Georgia Southern University on Critical Media Literacy was canceled when she refused to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel as required by law in the State of Georgia. Martin, represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a free-speech lawsuit against the State of Georgia. The conference was later canceled.


title: Abby Martin

text: In May 2021, in a federal court hearing in Georgia, District Judge Mark Cohen ruled in Martin's favor when he found that a law created to discourage the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was in violation of the First Amendment. Judge Cohen ruled that Georgia's law "prohibits inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment."


title: Abby Martin

text: "Millennial Magazine" said that Martin was an "unfiltered" media representative for the Millennial generation who reports "stories that deserve public recognition". Journalist Michael C. Moynihan states that "Martin's politics are odious and frequently incoherent" for claiming to lament "lost American freedom" while ignoring the multiple brutalities of the Russian government before its invasion of Crimea and her defense of Hugo Chávez against the charge of tyranny.


title: Abby Martin

text: James Kirchick, in a 2015 article for "The Daily Beast", commented: "Thanks to her paymasters in the Kremlin, she had three years to use the network's airwaves and wildly popular YouTube channel to broadcast paranoid diatribes that would otherwise have languished in anonymity on the Internet fringe." Regarding her work on Venezuela, libertarian journalist and author John Stossel states that Martin "does government-funded propaganda for Telesur".


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin has been criticized for her past support of the 9/11 truth movement. In 2014 "New York Times" columnist Robert Mackey contrasted Martin's critical remarks on the Russian annexation of Crimea with her conviction "that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were part of a government conspiracy." Author and media consultant Chez Pazienza criticized Martin for being a 9/11 Truther.


title: Abby Martin

text: David Cromwell, British media campaigner of and co-editor of "Media Lens", states that Martin is a "superb independent journalist ... who has risked her life to report what the corporate media is not telling you about Venezuela".


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin enjoys painting, photography, and making collages. Her themes include politics, nature, and psychedelia. Her works have been exhibited several times around California. She views art as "an amazing outlet" and a "way to interpret the ugly truths in the world and reflect a better future."


title: Abby Martin

text: Martin is married to her "Empire Files" co-producer, Mike Prysner, an Iraq War veteran. They have one child, born on May 31, 2020.


title: Negrita Jayde

text: Negrita Jayde (July 5, 1958August 28, 2009) was a Canadian female bodybuilding champion, personal trainer, author, actress and businesswoman. She was the longtime partner and fiancée of Gregory Hines at the time of his death in August 2003. Her books include "Supervixen: Secrets for Building a Lean and Sexy Body" (1995).


title: Negrita Jayde

text: Jayde died, aged 51, on August 28, 2009 having been ill with cancer. She is buried next to Hines at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World Darts Council (WDC). Sports promoter Eddie Hearn is the PDC chairman.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The PDC developed and holds several championship competitions, including the annual PDC World Darts Championship, the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open, Premier League, and Grand Slam. It also runs its own world rankings based on players' performances.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In the 1980s, professional darts in Britain lost much of its sponsorship television coverage. From 1989, the only televised event was the annual Embassy World Championship. Some of the players felt that not enough was being done by the governing body, the British Darts Organisation, to encourage new sponsors into the sport and arrange more television coverage than just one event a year.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: As a result, 16 professional players, including every previous BDO world champion who was still active in the game, created their own darts organisation, the World Darts Council (WDC), in January 1992. The players were led by sports promoters Tommy Cox and Dick Allix, both of whom used their own money to fund the fledgling organisation.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: They wanted to appoint a PR consultant to improve the image of the game. The 1993 Embassy World Championship was the last time there was one unified world championship. The WDC players wore their new insignia on their sleeves during the tournament but were told to remove them by the BDO. The WDC players decided that if they were not going to be recognised by the BDO they would no longer play in the Embassy tournament.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The BDO took the step of banning the rebel players from playing in county darts and even threatened to ban any player who participated in exhibition events with WDC players.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The WDC players took the matter to court in a dispute which accrued large and perhaps unaffordable costs during a protracted legal process. The two bodies reached an out-of-court settlement on 30 June 1997 in the form of a Tomlin order.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The BDO recognised the WDC and agreed that all players shall have the freedom of choice as to which open events they wish to play in. The WDC dropped its claim to be a world governing body and renamed itself the Professional Darts Corporation. The PDC accepted and recognized the WDF as the governing body for the sport of darts worldwide, and the BDO the governing body for darts in the UK. The stated purpose of the agreement was to promote the freedom of individual darts players to participate freely in open competition.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Another condition of this Tomlin order is that the top 16 players, and any Home Country players ranked between 17 and 32 in each year's BDO Championship, and the top 16 players in each year's PDC Championship, shall not be permitted to enter the other competition in the immediate following year.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Despite this condition, Raymond van Barneveld switched to the PDC within weeks of reaching the 2006 BDO final, later playing in (and winning) the 2007 PDC World Championship – the Tomlin order should have made him ineligible to play.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: There was further controversy following the 2007 BDO World Championship, when Jelle Klaasen announced that he would be switching to the PDC. As a BDO World Champion, he signed a three-year deal in 2006 to return to the Lakeside event. The BDO threatened to take legal action for breach of contract, but with previous damage and costs incurred by other legal cases it has become less likely that any action will be taken in future with regards to player contracts and the Tomlin Order. 2007 semi-finalist Mervyn King also moved to the PDC, seemingly against the contracted condition that semi-finalists and finalists were bound to appear the next year.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In January 2012, the PDC invited the four semi-finalists of the BDO world championships, after obtaining a written agreement to release any player without penalty. Ted Hankey was the first player to move, as well as several players (who were not guaranteed a pro tour card due to not reaching the BDO semi finals) entering the PDC qualifying school, including Dean Winstanley, Tony West, Steve West, and Stuart Kellett.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Following the breakaway groups first televised event in 1992 (the Lada UK Masters on Anglia Television), satellite broadcaster Sky Sports signed a deal to exclusively cover three PDC tournaments each year. To capitalise on its investment, the channel introduced a number of new techniques to make the coverage more interesting for armchair fans.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Unlike the BDO world championship, which was covered via the general entertainment BBC Two channel, Sky's dedicated sports channel allowed the PDC matches to be covered in their entirety. Over ten hours per day of live darts on Sky Sports is not uncommon. The British Darts Organisation's events were more limited to selected matches and highlights, although in recent years the BBC increased its interactive TV coverage allowing viewers to see many more events live.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Sky television is an advertisement and subscription based channel, and generally after each set a commercial break is taken. Planet Funk's 2000 single "Chase the Sun" is played in the auditorium and it has become a cult track amongst darts fans, who tend to dance along to the tune during the breaks.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Currently Sky Sports broadcasts six tournaments live each year in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. PDC events are also televised in Australia, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Africa and the United States (One World Sports).


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The PDC signed a three-year deal with ITV in 2007 with the inaugural Grand Slam of Darts from 2007 and the inaugural Players Championship from 2009. The matches are shown live on ITV4 with highlights on ITV1. With ITV being an advertisement channel like Sky Sports, when commercial breaks are taken after 5 legs as the tournaments that ITV cover do not play in sets. The Fratellis 2006 single "Chelsea Dagger" is played during the breaks on ITV. In 2010, Bravo signed a contract to show the European Championships.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In 2007, Sky Sports decided to extend their coverage of the Premier League Darts to 2010 following the high number of viewers to previous tournaments.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In February 2016, it was announced the BBC would cover the PDC for the first time with a new tournament being formed using the top 8 players on the PDC Order of Merit after the World Matchplay, known as the Champions League of Darts. As a result, the BBC dropped coverage of the BDO World Darts Championship, which they covered from 1978 to 2016 (this was the original World Championship prior to the formation of the PDC). DJ Ötzi's "Hey! Baby" is played during the breaks on the BBC.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Sky Sports introduced more cameras to cover the sport, and many of these innovations have been copied by other broadcasters.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Unique "flight cams" show the trajectory of the dart through the air in slow motion to sometimes surprising results. A tiny camera has also been inserted into the dartboard itself beside the number 16 – one of the most common doubles – that shows the darts being thrown towards the board. Sky Sports have also used a "player cam"; a tiny camera was fitted to Dennis Priestley's shirt to capture his view of the action while playing.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Elsewhere, floating video cameras capture the action of the watching crowds. Spectators become far more animated and vocal than their BDO counterparts, often acting similar to a football crowd, while holding up humorous placards – often featuring corny puns – regarding the players, and chanting or singing various songs related to the players or to the event in general. Some supporters even wear face paint or crazy costumes or they dress up as their favourite player via their trademark attire or customary nickname.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The players' wives have also been a focus for the cameras, as they cheered or screeched on their husbands. In January 2005, Sky One commissioned a programme entitled "Darts Players' Wives", primarily focusing on the wives and their relationships.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In December 2008, Sky started to broadcast darts in High Definition (with the exception of the final Las Vegas Desert Classic in 2009), and in July 2010 (at the World Matchplay), broadcast the Semi Finals and Final in 3D to around 1,000 licensed premises in the UK and Republic of Ireland.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Another frequent cam is a split-screen camera, with the players on the right, and the dartboard on the left. If the first two darts hit the triple 20, the camera will zoom in to the spot before the third dart is thrown.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: John Gwynne has covered all PDC events from the inaugural 1992 competition until his retirement in 2013. Dave Lanning covered all events up until December 2010, when he retired. Contrary to popular belief, long-time BBC darts commentator Sid Waddell did not switch allegiances to Sky until after the 1994 BDO World Championship. He brought his own unique brand of commentary to the game, and was a cult figure amongst darts fans and sport fans alike. He continued to commentate until his death in 2012. The current commentators on Sky include Rod Studd, Stuart Pyke and Adam Smith, retired player Wayne Mardle and former World Champions John Part and Mark Webster. Jeff Stelling was the original presenter of Sky Sports' darts coverage, before Dave Clark took over in 2002. Clark retired in 2020, since when Emma Paton has been the lead presenter. In addition, the 2005 Premier League was fronted by Gary Newbon.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: ITV events were fronted by Matt Smith from 2007 to 2014 but are now hosted by Jacqui Oatley from 2015 who became the first regular female darts host in the UK. Commentary for ITV has been provided by John Rawling, Alan Warriner-Little & Pyke since 2007 with Chris Mason joining the coverage in 2008. Former darts commentators for ITV include Jim Proudfoot, Peter Drury and Steve Beaton. Ned Boulting presents features and interviews and deputises if the presenter is unavailable.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: BBC Sport showed the inaugural PDC Champions League of Darts on BBC One and BBC Two, with 16 hours of coverage over two days presented by BBC Final Score presenter Jason Mohammad alongside PDC professionals Mark Webster, Paul Nicholson and Warriner-Little, commentary by long time BBC darts commentator Vassos Alexander and PDC online reporter and commentator Dan Dawson with reports by Caroline Barker.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Bravo employed James Richardson and Dave Gorman to front its coverage until the channel closed in 2011.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The PDC sought to attract a younger audience of all genders for darts and market the game as a night out rather than just as a sporting event. Through the years, it was not uncommon to see politicians, musicians, football players, boxers and other sporting personalities attending their events. The British Darts Organisation have subsequently sought to emulate most of these innovations.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Players enter matches with their own signature theme music whilst flanked by security men and, until 2017, female valets down to the oche. A "big-time" atmosphere was also created by using smoke machines and pyrotechnics during these sometimes elaborate entrances, similar to those used in boxing or wrestling.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: At the oche, players only drink iced water during matches. Though this was intended to further the game's image, which had been tarnished by players' reputation for consuming large quantities of alcohol. The water is also needed to prevent dehydration: with the many lights and packed crowds, temperatures have been measured at over 38-degree Celsius (100-degree Fahrenheit) during some games.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Inside the venues, action is relayed via giant video screens for the large crowds. The BDO now also has video screens, while maintaining their traditional "light boards" of lightbulbs, showing where each dart lands for the benefit of the crowd.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Eric Bristow, the most successful player in the first few years of the World Championship, had his nickname "The Crafty Cockney" emblazoned on the back of his shirt. Very few dart players had their own nicknames until the Professional Darts Corporation circuit made it almost customary for every player to acquire a nickname. This helps to create a new generation of characters with which its audience could identify.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Sky TV commentator Sid Waddell attempted to christen Phil Taylor "The Crafty Potter" – referring to him being both a protégé of Bristow and originating from the Potteries. However, the tag never caught on and it was not until a later tournament that he came out to the tune "The Power" by Snap! that his nickname was accidentally born.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Jamie Harvey from Scotland became "Bravedart" – a play on words from Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" film. Sky Sports even filmed vignettes where a kilt wearing Jamie had his face painted blue and ran through woods throwing his darts whilst looking menacing.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: As the only player to wear a shirt, tie and waistcoat whilst playing, Rod Harrington's "Prince of Style" tag appeared apt.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Though originally from the BDO circuit, Wayne Mardle is known as "Hawaii Five-O-One" due to his colourful Hawaiian shirts (a play on words on "Hawaii Five-O" and the starting score in a leg of darts).


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Bob Anderson, now living in Clevedon in Somerset, is known as The Limestone Cowboy, after the limestone hills of Wiltshire where Bob used to live, and the fact that he enjoys Country and Western music. This was once taken even further, with Anderson once walking to the stage accompanied by a horse.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The Professional Darts Corporation has continued to increase its annual UK televised tournaments in recent years: The World Championship, The Premier League, World Cup of Darts, World Grand Prix and World Matchplay are all covered live by Sky Sports. The US Open was shown on Challenge in 2007 and Nuts TV in 2008. Bravo broadcast the European Championships for the first time in 2010, after ITV4 televised the first running in 2008. ITV 4 won back the coverage for the European Championship; they also show live coverage of the World Series of Darts, Players Championship, UK Open and the Masters.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The World Championship is a single-elimination seeded tournament beginning in late December and finishing in early January. It is the biggest of the PDC tournaments and has the largest prize fund of any darts competition. Held at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet between 1994 and 2007, the championship moved to a bigger venue at Alexandra Palace from 2008.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Phil Taylor has dominated this tournament, reaching the final for the first 14 years between 1994 and 2007 and winning fourteen titles, including eight successive titles between 1995 and 2002. The PDC World Champions have also shared eight BDO World Championships between them, with Van Barneveld winning four, Taylor two, and Part and Priestley one each. These are usually added to each player's haul when describing their achievements – hence Taylor is a 16-time champion, van Barneveld 5, Part 3 and Priestley 2.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Held each year in June at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton (2003–2013), and from 2014 in March at Butlins, Minehead, the UK Open is played over three days with 168 players in a single elimination tournament. After each round a draw is held where there is no protection for seeded players. This has earned it the nickname The FA Cup of darts. Phil Taylor is the most successful player in the tournament's history, with five victories.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Crowds exceeding 2,000 in number assemble at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, the longest serving venue in the PDC. Matches are contested over legs rather than sets, presenting the prospect of some surprising results and upsets. Phil Taylor has been the dominant player in this event, winning 16 titles and being undefeated in his first 15 finals.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The World Grand Prix replaced the World Pairs event in 1998. Its original venue was the Casino Rooms in Rochester, Kent until 1999, with one staging in Rosslare in 2000 before moving in 2001 to its current home at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament has been back in England since 2020.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: This tournament has shorter opening rounds and players must commence and finish each leg on a double including the option of the bull, which is a format not used in any other major televised event. Taylor has dominated the event since its inception, with 11 victories.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Introduced in 2007, the Grand Slam was the first tournament staged in the UK to feature players from the two different organisations, the PDC and BDO. Players who had reached the finals of each organisations major tournaments for the previous two years were invited to compete in the Grand Slam. It is held over 9 days during November and shown live on Sky Sports. The first four tournaments were shown live on ITV4, the 2007 Grand Slam of Darts was ITV's first networked darts tournament since pulling the plug on darts coverage in 1988.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Introduced in 2009, this tournament was open to the top 32 players on the Players Championship Order of Merit until 2015. In 2016 the tournament was expanded to 64 players still using the Players Championship Order of Merit. It is broadcast live on ITV4.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The European Championship is a tournament that allows the top players in Europe to compete against the top players in the PDC Order of Merit. In 2016 it changed to the top 32 in the European tour Order of Merit. It started in 2008 and for the first six years had a £200,000 prize fund. It has increased since then. Phil Taylor won the first four editions of the tournament, before Simon Whitlock scooped his first, and so far only, major title in 2012.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The Masters is a non-ranking darts tournament featuring the Top 16 players in the world, from the PDC Order of Merit. The first event was held between 1–3 November 2013 at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since 2015 it has been held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes and been the first tournament after the World Championship.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In 2005, Sky Sports launched the Premier League Darts television programme. For five months, ten of the biggest names from the PDC circuit compete in a league table, with matches held across the country at different venues. Phil Taylor topped the table after the weekly rounds for the first eight instances the Premier League has been staged, going on to win the play-offs six times. Taylor's reign ended when Michael van Gerwen joined the league in 2013 and topped the table after the weekly rounds in each of the seven times since, winning five times. Glen Durrant was the third player to top the table, doing so in his debut year in 2020. Jonny Clayton became the fourth in 2022.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The World Series of Darts is a series of tournaments taking place on various continents. These tournaments are non-ranked. The field of players usually exists out of a number of eight PDC top-players participating on invitation, complemented by another eight national qualifiers. Since 2015, the players earn points over the tour to compete in the World Series of Darts Finals at the end of the year.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: One of three new tournaments for 2010, players from 24 countries compete for a prize fund of £150,000. The qualifiers are drawn from the PDC Order of Merit. Sky Sports screen the tournament, which rivals the WDF World Cup. England and the Netherlands have won the title on four occasions, with the pairing of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis triumphant each time for England, and Raymond van Barneveld being involved in all four Dutch wins. In 2019, Scotland became just the third nation to lift the trophy with a victory over the Republic of Ireland in the final. Wales became the fourth winning nation in 2020, when they whitewashed England in the final, and Australia became the first non-European nation to win the event in 2022.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The second of the new tournaments for 2010 was open to all darts players, from both the BDO and PDC, aged between 18 and 21. The final was televised live on Sky Sports at Alexandra Palace before the final of the World Championship, in later years before the final of the Premier League. The two finalists will also be invited to become PDC ProTour card holders and would receive sponsorship from Rileys Dartzones, the PDC's staging partners in this event. They will also be invited to compete in the Grand Slam of Darts. In 2015 the age limit was changed to under 23.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Dimitri Van den Bergh became the first player to defend his title by beating Martin Schindler in the final 6–3 though he could not retain it for a third time due to his age.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: As part of their ever increasing support of the women's game, the PDC unveiled the Women's World Matchplay, a tournament for the Top 8 ladies on the PDC Women's Series Order of Merit. The tournament was played on the same day as the final of the main World Matchplay.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised tournaments. The prize fund is £75,000 for most tournaments and features up to 32 boards in action on an arena floor, hence their nickname "floor tournament". With shorter matches and the floor set up, a different kind of pressure applies compared to televised events and a different set of results can be produced. For instance, Barrie Bates was the PDC Floor Player of the Year in 2006 with Colin Lloyd and Mick McGowan also nominated – none of whom won a major during the year. The 2020 calendar will feature features 30 Players Championships and 13 European Tour events. The European Tour events are different to the Players Championships and are played on a stage in front of an often sizeable crowd.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada was the setting for the Las Vegas Desert Classic each July from 2002 to 2009. It furthered the PDC's aim to develop a world darts circuit.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The PDC Unicorn Women's World Championship was open to all female darts players from both the BDO and PDC. The 32 qualifiers played down to the last 2 in a floor tournament and the final were televised live on Sky Sports before the final of the World Matchplay. The two finalists were also invited to become PDC ProTour card holders for 2011 and 2012 and would receive sponsorship from Rileys Dartzones, the PDC's staging partners in this event. They were also invited to compete in the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The first PDC Women's World Championship, in 2010, was won by Stacy Bromberg who beat Tricia Wright 6–5. The match was played after the semi-finals of the 2010 World Matchplay in Blackpool. It was first to six legs of which Bromberg was 5–3 down before making a comeback to win 6–5.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The US Open was a tournament introduced in 2007 to replace the World Series of Darts. The World Series ran for just one year in 2006. Phil Taylor won the US Open in 2007 and 2008. The tournament was reduced down to Players Championship status for the 2009 and 2010 editions.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Started in 2008, the Championship League Darts offered the players outside the top 8 in the PDC Order of Merit to compete for the championship. It was also the first tournament to be broadcast only by the internet.This tournament was discontinued after the 2013 edition.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: A new event staged for the first time at the Motorpoint Arena Cardiff in Cardiff on 24–25 September 2016 featured the top 8 players in the PDC Order of Merit. It was the first ever PDC event to be shown live on the BBC.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: There have been two head-to-head matches bringing both respective world champions together in non-affiliated contests.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Billed as the Match of the Century, Phil Taylor beat Raymond van Barneveld 21–10 at Wembley Conference Centre on 7 November 1999, to be unofficially crowned the first ever undisputed World Champion since the 1993 split in darts.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In a further head-to-head on 21 November 2004 at the Circus Tavern, via the first ever darts pay-per-view on Sky Box Office, Phil Taylor again prevailed after his opponent Andy Fordham had to retire during the match due to dehydration.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The immense heat took its toll on the 30-stone (420 lbs/191 kg) Fordham. Phil Taylor was leading the match 5–2 in sets before it was unexpectedly abandoned.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: This event was staged twice in 2005 and 2007. In the 2005 Masters of Darts event four top players from both darts circuits together for the first major tournament confrontation since the two organisations separated.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The players were split into two groups, sharing it with only members of their affiliated organisation. Each player then vied against all players from the opposition, with one point awarded for winning a match. Following conclusion of the format, the winner of each respective group played the runner-up at the semi-final stage.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The Professional Darts Corporation pool consisted of Colin Lloyd, Wayne Mardle, Roland Scholten and Phil Taylor; whilst for the British Darts Organisation it was Tony David, Andy Fordham, Co Stompé and Raymond van Barneveld.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In a rematch of their unfinished 2004 head-to-head clash, Phil Taylor beat Andy Fordham convincingly in the final, 7–1, to be crowned the first Master of Darts. While beating Raymond van Barneveld (BDO World Champion at the time) 4–0 and 5–2 along the way, the undefeated Taylor only lost 5 sets during the entire tournament.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: This event was broadcast to viewers in The Netherlands via RTL 5. Surprisingly, no British broadcaster had agreed television coverage of this unique event. The tournament was not held in 2006, however it returned in February 2007 as a Netherlands versus England encounter with five players from each country. Originally announced with a mixture of PDC and BDO players, the BDO players had all switched to the PDC by the time the event began.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: This tournament began as a BDO event. The tournament ran from 2002 to 2007. PDC players received invitations to play in the 2006 and 2007 editions of the event.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: This tournament began as a BDO event. The tournament ran from 2003 to 2007. PDC players received invitations to play in the 2006 and 2007 editions of the event.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In April 2020, the PDC announced that they would be launching a new tournament starting on 17 April 2020, after most sport had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The home tour would see four players in action each night in a league format, before a knockout stage. The unique feature of this tournament is that player would be playing from their own homes for the first time in a darts tournament.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: In 2005, the PDC introduced a Hall of Fame similar to other sports to recognise individuals with noteworthy contributions to darts.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: The first two inductees were Eric Bristow and John Lowe, great rivals throughout the eighties and early nineties – at least one of these two players managed to reach the World Championship Final each year for the first 14 incarnations of the World Professional Darts Championship, from 1978 to 1991, with three being played against each other.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Hall of Fame inductees are now announced at the PDC Awards Dinner – which was held for the first time on 9 January 2007.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: Seven of these players have successfully defended a title at least once: Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, Rod Harrington, Gerwyn Price and Raymond van Barneveld


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: 13 different players have won events on the World Series of Darts, excluding the Premier event, the World Series of Darts Finals.


title: Professional Darts Corporation

text: An additional 20 players have won a single title. That list is composed of Justin Pipe, Raymond van Barneveld, Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock, John Part, Wes Newton, Steve Beaton, Gary Anderson, Vincent van der Voort, Mervyn King, Robert Thornton, Alan Norris, Max Hopp, Jonny Clayton, Daryl Gurney, Jamie Hughes, Krzysztof Ratajski, Devon Petersen, José de Sousa and Damon Heta.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Andrew Stephen Grove (born András István Gróf; 2 September 193621 March 2016) was a Hungarian-American businessman and engineer who served as the third CEO of Intel Corporation. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary at the age of 20 and moved to the United States, where he finished his education. He was the third employee and eventual third CEO of Intel, transforming the company into the world's largest semiconductor company.


title: Andrew Grove

text: As a result of his work at Intel, along with his books and professional articles, Grove had a considerable influence on electronics manufacturing industries worldwide. He has been called the "guy who drove the growth phase" of Silicon Valley. In 1997, "Time" magazine chose him as "Man of the Year", for being "the person most responsible for the amazing growth in the power and the innovative potential of microchips." One source notes that by his accomplishments at Intel alone, he "merits a place alongside the great business leaders of the 20th century."


title: Andrew Grove

text: In 2000, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease; he became a contributor to several foundations that sponsor research towards a cure. He died at his home on March 21, 2016; the cause of death was not publicly disclosed.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was born as "András István Gróf" to a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Mária and György Gróf. At the age of four he contracted scarlet fever, which was nearly fatal and caused partial hearing loss.


title: Andrew Grove

text: When he was eight, the Nazis occupied Hungary and deported nearly 500,000 Jews to concentration camps, including Auschwitz. To avoid being arrested, Grove and his mother took on false identities and were sheltered by friends. His father, however, was arrested and taken to an Eastern Labor Camp to do forced labor and was reunited with his family only after the war.


title: Andrew Grove

text: During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when he was 20, he left his home and family and escaped across the border into Austria. Penniless and barely able to speak English, in 1957 he eventually made his way to the United States. He later changed his name to the anglicized Andrew S. Grove. Grove summarized his first twenty years of life in Hungary in his memoirs:


title: Andrew Grove

text: Soon after arriving in the United States, in New York's Catskill Resort, in 1957, he met his future wife, Eva Kastan, who was an Austrian refugee. They met while he held a job as a busboy and she was a waitress while studying at Hunter College. One year after they met, in June 1958 they married in New York, Queens, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. They remained married until Grove died. They had two daughters, Karen Grove and Robie Livingstone, and eight grandchildren.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Even though he arrived in the United States with little money, Grove retained a "passion for learning."


title: Andrew Grove

text: He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York in 1960. "The New York Times" stated that "a refugee became a senior in engineering."


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove attended and graduated with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963.


title: Andrew Grove

text: After completing his Ph.D. in 1963, Grove worked at Fairchild Semiconductor as a researcher, and by 1967 had become its assistant director of development. His work there made him familiar with the early development of integrated circuits, which would lead to the "microcomputer revolution" in the 1970s. In 1967, he wrote a college textbook on the subject, "Physics and Technology of Semiconductor Devices."


title: Andrew Grove

text: In 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore co-founded Intel, after they and Grove left Fairchild Semiconductor. Grove joined on the day of its incorporation, although he was not a founder. Fellow Hungarian émigré Leslie L. Vadász was Intel's fourth employee. Grove worked initially as the company's director of engineering, and helped get its early manufacturing operations started. In 1983, he wrote a book, "High Output Management," in which he described many of his methods and manufacturing concepts.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Initially, Intel primarily manufactured static memory chips for mainframe computers, but in the early/mid-1970s Intel introduced one of the earliest digital watches, an electronic calculator, and also the world's first general-purpose microprocessor, the 4-bit 4004. By 1974 Intel had developed the 8-bit 8008 and quickly thereafter, in 1975, the 8080 processor, which would become the core of the Altair, the world's first so-called PC (personal computer) which began the PC revolution. Soon came the 8086 16-bit microprocessor and a cost-reduced version, the 8088, which IBM chose for its IBM PC which brought personal computers to the masses. In 1985, Intel produced the 32-bit 80386 microprocessor which began a long line of increasingly powerful microprocessors including the 80486, the Pentium, and a plethora of supporting integrated circuits and computers built with them. All under Grove's leadership.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Even though Intel had invented most of the types of memory in use at the time including EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), by 1985, with less demand for their memory chips due to the challenges created by Japanese "dumping" of memory chips at below-cost prices, Grove was forced to make radical changes. As a result, he chose to discontinue producing DRAMs and focus instead on manufacturing microprocessors. Grove, along with Intel's sales manager to IBM, Earl Whetstone, played a key role in negotiating with IBM to use only Intel microprocessors in all their new personal computers.


title: Andrew Grove

text: The company's revenue increased from $2,672 in its first year to $20.8 billion in 1997. Grove was appointed Intel's president in 1979, CEO in 1987, and then chairman of the board in 1997. In May 1998 Grove relinquished the post of CEO to Craig Barrett, as Grove had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years earlier, though he remained chairman until November 2004. Since then Grove remained at Intel as a senior advisor, and has also been a lecturer at Stanford University. He reflected back upon Intel's growth through the years:


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove is credited with having transformed Intel from a manufacturer of memory chips into the world's dominant producer of microprocessors for PC, servers, and general-purpose computing. During his tenure as CEO, Grove oversaw a 4,500% increase in Intel's market capitalization from $4 billion to $197 billion, making it the world's 7th largest company, with 64,000 employees. Most of the company's profits were reinvested in research and development, along with building new facilities, in order to produce improved and faster microprocessors.


title: Andrew Grove

text: As director of operations, manufacturing became Grove's primary focus and his management style relied heavily on his management concepts. As the company expanded and he was appointed chairman, he became more involved in strategic decision-making, including establishing markets for new products, coordinating manufacturing processes and developing new partnerships with smaller companies.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove helped create the Intel Architecture Laboratory (IAL) in Oregon to ensure that software was developed in time to take advantage of their new microprocessors. Grove stated that "you are making decisions about what the information technology world will want five years into the future ..." He created a culture within Intel that allowed innovation to flourish. As CEO, he wanted his managers to always encourage experimentation and prepare for changes, making a case for the value of paranoia in business. He became known for his guiding motto: "Only the paranoid survive," and wrote a management book with the same title.


title: Andrew Grove

text: According to Grove, "Business success contains the seeds of its own destruction," explaining that "Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive." As a result, he urges senior executives to allow people to test new techniques, new products, new sales channels, and new customers, to be ready for unexpected shifts in business or technology. Grove biographer Jeremy Byman observes that Grove "was the one person at Intel who refused to let the company rest on its laurels." Grove explains his reasoning:


title: Andrew Grove

text: Intel Senior Vice President Ron Whittier notes that Grove preferred to keep open channels of communication between employees, and encouraged people to speak their minds: "People here aren't afraid to speak up and debate with Andy." They termed this style "constructive confrontation." According to Grove's successor at Intel, Craig Barrett, "It's give and take, and anyone in the company can yell at him. He's not above it." Grove insisted that people be demanding on one another, which fostered an atmosphere of "ruthless intelligence." About that philosophy, writes business author Ken Goldstein, "you bought into it or got your walking papers."


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove's office was an cubicle like the other employees, as he disliked separate "mahogany-paneled corner offices." He states, "I've been living in cubicles since 1978 — and it hasn't hurt a whole lot." Preferring this egalitarian atmosphere, this made his work area accessible to anyone who walked by. There were no reserved parking spaces, and Grove parked wherever there was a space. This atmosphere at work was partly a reflection of his personal life. Some who have known him, such as venture capitalist Arthur Rock, has stated that "he has no airs." Grove has lived modestly without expensive cars or an airplane.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was noted for making sure that important details were never missed, with one of his favorite sayings being, "The devil is in the details." Intel Vice President Dennis Carter states that "Andy is very disciplined, precise, and detail oriented ... But at the same time, he has an element of intuition and creativity that is fundamental to Intel's innovation." According to "Industry Week" magazine, Grove feared that the "brilliance that sparked the creation of Intel" during its early years, "might come to nothing if somebody didn't pay attention to details." Carter recalls that Grove would even correct his spelling errors:


title: Andrew Grove

text: One of the earliest investors in Google, John Doerr, called Andy Grove the "Father of OKRs" in Doerr's 2018 book, "Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs." An acronym for Objectives and Key Results, it became central to Google's culture as a "management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization." The objective is the clearly defined goal, while the key results were the specific benchmarks to ensure achievement of that goal were "measurable and verifiable."


title: Andrew Grove

text: In 1975, Doerr wrote of attending a course within Intel taught by Andy Grove, where he was introduced to the theory of OKRs. Grove explained his simple but effective perspective on management: "The key result has to be measurable. But at the end you can look, and without any arguments: Did I do that or did I not do it? Yes? No? Simple. No judgments in it."


title: Andrew Grove

text: Larry Page, co-founder of Google, credited OKRs within the foreword to Doerr's book: "OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They've helped make our crazily bold mission of 'organizing the world's information' perhaps even achievable. They've kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most."


title: Andrew Grove

text: While Grove naturally supported helping technology startups, he also felt that America was wrong in thinking that those new companies would increase employment. "Startups are a wonderful thing," he wrote in a 2010 article for "Bloomberg", "but they cannot by themselves increase tech employment." Although many of those startups and entrepreneurs would achieve tremendous success and wealth, said Grove, he was more concerned with the overall negative effect on America: "What kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work—and masses of unemployed?"


title: Andrew Grove

text: He felt that employment growth depended on those companies' ability or willingness to scale up within the U.S. According to Grove, Silicon Valley's "innovation machine" over the last few decades has not been adding many jobs, although American tech companies have instead been adding jobs in Asia "like mad." He noted that while American investments in startups have increased dramatically, those investments have in fact resulted in fewer jobs: "Simply put," he wrote, "the U.S. has become wildly inefficient at creating American tech jobs." He therefore worked to keep Intel's manufacturing in the U.S., with the company having 90,000 employees in 2010. He explained the causes and effects of many business's growth plans:


title: Andrew Grove

text: To remedy the problem, he strongly believed that "job creation" should become America's number 1 objective, much as it is in Asian nations. Among the methods he felt were worth considering was the imposition of a tax on imported products, with the funds received then made available to help American companies scale their operations in the U.S. However, he also accepted the fact that his ideas would be controversial: "If what I'm suggesting sounds protectionist, so be it." Or that those protectionist steps could lead to conflicts with our trade partners: "If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars—fight to win." He added:


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was also in the minority of high-tech leaders when he advocated taxing internet sales made to other states: "I don't think electronic commerce needs federal or state subsidies in terms of tax advantages," he told a Congressional committee in 2000. At the same hearing, he also expressed his opinion about internet privacy, stating that "personal data is a form of property and it's inevitable that governments will regulate property rights." He said that it would be better if the federal government established its own uniform privacy standards rather than have states create a patchwork of different laws.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was also a noted author and scientist. His first book on semiconductors, "Physics and Technology of Semiconductor Devices" (1967), has been used by leading universities. Another book he wrote on business operation methods, "High Output Management" (1983). He also wrote over 40 technical papers and held several patents on semiconductor devices.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove wrote "Only the Paranoid Survive" (1996), a business book, whose core message is that a company in pursuit of a stronger competitive advantage never rests.


title: Andrew Grove

text: He also taught graduate computer physics courses at the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.


title: Andrew Grove

text: In 2005, Grove made the largest donation that the City College of New York (CUNY) has ever received. His grant of $26 million transformed the CCNY School of Engineering into the Grove School of Engineering.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was also instrumental, as a key fundraiser, in establishing the University of California, San Francisco's Mission Bay Campus, the largest ongoing biomedical construction project in the world. Chancellor Sam Hawgood said that Grove's "generous and tireless support of UCSF has transformed our university and helped accelerate our research into breakthrough treatments and better patient care."


title: Andrew Grove

text: Among the research facilities which he helped fund were the UCSF Prostate Cancer Center, the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He also promoted general surgery initiatives and supported various obstetrics and gynecology research programs.


title: Andrew Grove

text: Grove was a longtime member of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), along with being one of its overseers and a member of its board of directors. He was also the founding supporter of the IRC's Pathways to Citizenship program. In 2010, the IRC honored him as one of ten distinguished refugees. In an interview in "Esquire" magazine in 2000, Grove encouraged the United States to be "vigilant as a nation to have tolerance for difference, a tolerance for new people." He pointed out that immigration and immigrants are what made America what it is.


title: Lucie Jones

text: Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of "The X Factor UK" in 2009, where she finished eighth. She represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Never Give Up on You", finishing with 111 points in 15th place.


title: Lucie Jones

text: Jones was born in Pentyrch, a small village outside Cardiff. In 2007, she attended the World Scout Jamboree as a Scout, and was the main performer singing "Jambo", the theme song of the jamboree. Lucie was also a part of Cardiff's own Scout and Guide Gang Show. In 2017, she married fellow X Factor contestant Ethan Boroian.


title: Lucie Jones

text: Jones auditioned for series 6 of "The X Factor UK" with the song "I Will Always Love You". She advanced to the live shows, and was mentored by Dannii Minogue. Jones was eliminated in week five, during the final showdown against John & Edward after the result went to deadlock with Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell voting to eliminate Jones while Minogue and Cheryl Cole voted to send home John & Edward. After her elimination, 1,113 viewers complained about Cowell sending the result to deadlock rather than sending home John & Edward in a majority vote.


title: Lucie Jones

text: After being eliminated from "The X Factor", Jones was signed to Select Model Management, and began a modelling career. In May 2010, Jones was signed by Cameron Mackintosh to play Cosette in the West End production of "Les Misérables". In September 2010, she was revealed to be the face of Wonderbra's Full Effects campaign. In 2010, she appeared in "The Sarah Jane Adventures" episode, "Lost in Time: Part Two". Jones played the role of Meat in the 2013 arena tour of "We Will Rock You". Jones also played the role of Victoria in the musical "American Psycho" at the Almeida Theatre in December 2013.


title: Lucie Jones

text: In February 2015, Jones appeared as Melody Carver in ITV's "Midsomer Murders", in the episode "The Ballad of Midsomer County". In April 2015, Jones played the role of Emma in the showcase performance of "Like Me", at The Waterloo East Theatre. In March 2015, she was cast as Molly in the Chinese tour of "Ghost the Musical". In April 2016, she played the lead role of Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" at the Curve. In 2016, she was cast as Maureen Johnson in the UK tour of "Rent". Jones appeared in a summer run as Holly in the UK Tour of "The Wedding Singer" from 20 June to 19 July 2017. Between September 2017 and June 2018 she reprised her role as Elle Woods in a UK tour of "Legally Blonde".


title: Lucie Jones

text: Jones made her debut as Jenna in "Waitress" on 17 June 2019, taking over from Katharine McPhee. For 2 weeks from 13 January 2020, she was briefly replaced by Desi Oakley (who had played Jenna in the US tour) due to an illness that also affected her two understudies. From 27 January to 21 March 2020, the role was to be played by Sara Bareilles for an 8-week run, with Jones stepping back into the role until the show closed on 4 July 2020. However, on 14 March 2020, the show closed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones reprised the role of Jenna on 4 September 2021 for the rescheduled UK & Ireland tour (originally set to start November 2020).


title: Lucie Jones

text: In Summer 2021, Jones took on the role of Fantine in the West End production of "Les Misérables", ending on 29 August 2021 so that she could resume her role as Jenna in Waitress for the 2021/2022 UK Tour, starting on 4 September 2021.


title: Lucie Jones

text: Lucie Jones will be doing a four date tour with The Fulltone Orchestra in April and May 2023 https://fto.org.uk/lucie/


title: Lucie Jones

text: In January 2017, Jones competed in "Eurovision: You Decide", the United Kingdom's national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Her song, "Never Give Up on You", was co-written by Eurovision Song Contest 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest. On 27 January 2017, Jones won the televised show, and was confirmed to be representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, in Kyiv.


title: Lucie Jones

text: Jones's performance was shown in excerpt at the first semi-final of the Eurovision and, following this, betting odds went on to surge. At the Grand Final Jones performed eighteenth in the running order and then, in the second half of the final, went on to score 111 points through combined voting from the jury vote and the popular vote. Jones also managed to score 12 points from the Australia professional Jury. An article in the "International Business Times" stated that she blamed Brexit for the "disappointing" result though Jones said in a televised interview with the BBC that she had noticed no effect from Brexit in the attitude towards her from fellow contestants and fans of the show.


title: Goanna

text: A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus "Varanus" found in Australia and Southeast Asia.


title: Goanna

text: Around 70 species of "Varanus" are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles ranges greatly in size and fills several ecological niches.


title: Goanna

text: Being predatory lizards, goannas are often quite large, or at least bulky, with sharp teeth and claws. The largest is the perentie ("V. giganteus"), which can grow over in length. Not all goannas are so large; pygmy goannas may be smaller than the arm of an adult human. The smallest of these, the short-tailed monitor ("V. brevicauda"), reaches only in length. They survive on smaller prey, such as insects and mice.


title: Goanna

text: Goannas combine predatory and scavenging behaviours. They prey on any animal they can catch that is small enough to eat whole. They have been blamed by farmers for the death of sheep, though most likely erroneously, as goannas are also eaters of carrion and are attracted to rotting meat.


title: Goanna

text: Most goannas are dark-coloured, with greys, browns, blacks, and greens featuring prominently; however, white is also common. Many desert-dwelling species also feature yellow-red tones. Camouflage ranges from bands and stripes to splotches, speckles, and circles, and can change as the creature matures, with juveniles sometimes being brighter than adults.


title: Goanna

text: Like most lizards, goannas lay eggs. Most lay eggs in a nest or burrow, but some species lay their eggs inside termite mounds. This offers protection and incubation; additionally, the termites may provide a meal for the young as they hatch. Unlike some other species of lizards, goannas do not have the ability to regrow limbs or tails.


title: Goanna

text: The name goanna derived from iguana, since early European bush settlers in Australia likened goannas to the South American lizards. Over time, the initial vowel sound was dropped. A similar explanation is used to link possums to the American opossum.


title: Goanna

text: Another possibility is that the name might have derived from the South African term for a monitor lizard, "leguaan", as the Cape of Good Hope was a popular refresher stop for immigrant ships to Australia from Britain. Ironically, the term "leguaan" is also from Spanish 'le iguana'.


title: Goanna

text: The following are found in Australia. For the most part, in common names, "goanna" and "monitor" are interchangeable.


title: Goanna

text: Goannas are found throughout most of Australia, except for Tasmania, and manage to persist in a variety of environments. Most species are known to climb trees or outcrops; several primarily arboreal species are known. The lace monitor ("V. varius") is probably the best-known among these, but is not the most common. The lace monitor is the second-largest of all goannas, reaching lengths up to . Other more common tree goannas, such as the Timor tree monitor ("V. timorensis") and mournful tree monitor ("V. tristis",) do not grow to quite such lengths, typically a maximum of 61 cm, nose-to-tail.


title: Goanna

text: Other goannas are adapted to swampy coastal environments, such as the mangrove goanna ("V. semiremex"). Further still, Mertens' water monitor (water goanna – "V. mertensi"), found in lagoons and rivers across northern Australia, is streamlined for swimming, using its tail as a paddle. Most other goannas are good swimmers, but tend not to voluntarily venture into water.


title: Goanna

text: The diets of goannas vary greatly depending on the species and the habitat. Prey can include all manner of small animals: insects, smaller lizards, snakes, mammals, birds, and eggs.


title: Goanna

text: Meals are often eaten whole, thus the size of their meals may depend on the size of the animals. Many of the small species feed mostly on insects, with some being small lizard experts. Many of the medium to large species feed on whatever prey they can catch. This includes eggs, fish ("V. mertensi"), birds, snails, smaller lizards, snakes, marsupials, and other small mammals, such as rodents. The giant perentie has been observed killing a young kangaroo, and then biting out chunks of flesh like a dog.


title: Goanna

text: All species are carrion eaters, so feed on the carcasses of dead animals, including livestock and other large creatures. The smell of rotting meat also attracts these lizards.


title: Goanna

text: Like most native fauna, goannas are rather wary of human intrusions into their habitat, and most likely run away (into the scrub, up a tree, or into the water, depending on the species). A goanna is a rather swift mover, and when pressed, sprints short distances on its hind legs.


title: Goanna

text: Goannas also rear up when threatened, either chased or cornered, and also inflate flaps of skin around their throats and emit harsh hissing noises.


title: Goanna

text: Some goannas lose their initial fear of humans, especially when food is involved (or has been previously involved). The wildlife authority recommends not feeding animals while in their territory. An attack can cause serious injury in exceptional cases, but most authorities doubt that a goanna will direct an intentional attack at a human unless the human has attempted to attack it (or grasp at it) first. Indigenous Australians who hunt goannas for food consider the perentie to be a high-risk (but tasty) quarry.


title: Goanna

text: Debate is growing as to whether goannas are venomous. The incessant bleeding caused by goanna bites had been thought to be the result of bacterial infection, but a 2005 study suggested monitor lizards (including goannas) are venomous and have oral toxin-producing glands.


title: Goanna

text: The goanna's hefty tail can be dangerous when swung, much like a crocodile's tail; small children and dogs have been knocked down by such attacks. Often, victims in goanna attacks are bystanders, watching the person antagonising the goanna. Alarmed goannas can mistake standing humans for trees and attempt to climb them to safety, which is painful and can be distressing for both human and goanna.


title: Goanna

text: Goannas have a prominent place in the culture of indigenous Australians. This includes totemic relationships, anthropomorphic representations in dreamtime stories, and as a food source. Representations of goannas are common in indigenous artwork, not just as food, but also as a symbolic spiritual motif. Smaller goannas and the mighty perentie are often considered two different animals when appearing in aboriginal works, as in the story "How the Goanna and Perentie Got Their Colours".


title: Goanna

text: European settlers perpetuated several old wives' tales about goanna habits and abilities; some of these have persisted in modern folklore among campers and bushmen. This includes the above-mentioned exaggeration of goannas dragging off sheep from shepherds' flocks in the night. This might even be exaggerated into child-snatching, rivalling drop bears (attack koalas) as a tourist scarer, but probably more convincing due to the reptiles' carnivorous nature and fearsome appearance.


title: Goanna

text: A common tale was that the bite of a goanna was infused with a powerful, incurable venom. Every year after the bite (or every seven years), the wound would flare up again. For many years, herpetologists generally believed goannas were nonvenomous, and lingering illness from their bites was due solely to infection and septicaemia as a result of their saliva being rife with bacteria from carrion and other food sources. However, in 2005, researchers at the University of Melbourne announced that oral venom glands had been found in both goannas and iguanas.


title: Goanna

text: Because the goanna regularly eats snakes (which may involve a fierce struggle), including venomous species, they are often said to be immune to snake venom. However, no evidence found suggests an actual venom immunity. Other stories say that the lizard eats a legendary plant, or drinks from a healing spring, which neutralises the venom. (This idea is immortalised in Banjo Paterson's humorous poem "Johnson's Antidote".)


title: Goanna

text: Goanna fat or oil has been anecdotally imbued with mystical healing properties (possibly in connection with their supposed venom immunity). Aboriginal people traditionally used goanna oil as an important bush medicine, and it also became a common medicine among Caucasians shortly after British settlement in Australia. Said to be a cure-all, and possessing amazing powers of penetration (passing through metal as if it were not there), it was sold among early settlers like snake oil in the Old West of North America.


title: Goanna

text: A goanna features as the heroic figure Mr Lizard in the Australian author May Gibbs’ children's books "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie". A bronze statue of the goanna Mr Lizard has been placed outside the State Library of Victoria.


title: Goanna

text: The villain in the Disney film "The Rescuers Down Under", Percival C. McLeach, has a pet goanna named Joanna.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Chinese clothing includes both the traditional hanfu and modern variations of indigenous Chinese dress as recorded by the artifacts and some traditional arts of Chinese culture. Chinese clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions, as well as through foreign influences. Chinese clothing showcases the traditional fashion sensibilities of Chinese culture traditions and forms one of the major cultural facets of Chinese civilization.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Traditional Han clothing has a recorded history of more than three millennia until the end of the Ming Dynasty. Most Chinese men wore Chinese black cotton shoes, but wealthy higher-class people would wear tough black leather shoes for formal occasions. Very rich and wealthy men would wear very bright, beautiful silk shoes, sometimes with leather on the inside. Women would wear silk shoes, with certain wealthy women practicing foot binding wearing coated Lotus shoes as a status symbol until in the early 20th century.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Chinese civil or military officials used a variety of codes to show their rank and position. The most recognized is the Mandarin square or rank badge. Another way to show social standing and civil rank was the use of colorful hat knobs fixed on the top of their hats. The specific hat knob on one's hat determined one's rank, as there were twelve types of hat knobs representing the nine distinctive ranks of the civil or military position. Variations existed for Ming Dynasty official headwear. In the Qing Dynasty different patterns of robes represented different ranks.


title: Chinese clothing

text: The rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty in many ways represented a new era in Chinese clothing, with certain styles required to be worn by all noblemen and officials. Eventually, these styles also became widespread among the commoners. Manchu official headwear differed from the Ming version, but the Qing continued to use the Mandarin square.


title: Chinese clothing

text: The abolition of imperial China in 1912 had an immediate effect on dress and customs. The largely Han Chinese population immediately cut off their queues they had been forced to grow in submission to the overthrown Qing dynasty. Sun Yat-sen popularised a new style of men's wear, featuring jacket and trousers instead of the robes worn previously. Adapted from Japanese student wear, this style of dress became known as the Zhongshan suit (Zhongshan being one of Sun Yat-sen's given names in Chinese).


title: Chinese clothing

text: For women, a transformation of the traditional qipao resulted in a slender form-fitting dress with a high cut. This new "cheongsam" contrasted sharply with the traditional qipao but has largely replaced it in modern fashion. In the early republican period, the traditional dudou underbodice was largely abandoned in favor of western-style corsets and bras.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Early in the People's Republic, Mao Zedong inspired Chinese fashion with his own variant of the Zhongshan suit, which would be known to the west as Mao suit. Meanwhile, Sun Yat-sen's widow, Soong Ching-ling, popularized the cheongsam as the standard female dress. At the same time, clothing viewed as backwards and unmodern by both the Chinese as well as Westerners, was forbidden.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Around the Destruction of the "Four Olds" period in 1964, almost anything seen as part of Traditional Chinese culture would lead to problems with the Communist Red Guards. Items that attracted dangerous attention if caught in the public included jeans, high heels, Western-style coats, ties, jewelry, cheongsams, and long hair. These items were regarded as symbols of bourgeois lifestyle, which represented wealth. Citizens had to avoid them or suffer serious consequences such as torture or beatings by the guards. A number of these items were thrown into the streets to embarrass the citizens.


title: Chinese clothing

text: Hong Kong clothing brand Shanghai Tang's design concept is inspired by historical Chinese clothing. It set out to rejuvenate Chinese fashion of the 1920s and 30s, in bright colors and with a modern twist. Other Chinese luxury brands include NE Tiger, Guo Pei, and Laurence Xu.


title: Chinese clothing

text: In the year 2000, dudou-inspired blouses appeared in the summer collections of Versace and Miu Miu, leading to its adoption within China as a revealing form of outerwear.


title: Chinese clothing

text: For the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens tournament, sportswear brand Kukri Sports teamed up with Hong Kong lifestyle retail store G.O.D. to produce merchandising, which included traditional Chinese jackets and Cheongsam-inspired ladies polo shirts.


title: Chinese clothing

text: In recent years, renewed interest in traditional Chinese culture has led to a movement in China advocating for the revival of hanfu. As more and more Chinese people like and attach importance to hanfu, Hanfu no longer only appears in Chinese drama as in the past.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Postcholecystectomy syndrome (PCS) describes the presence of abdominal symptoms after a cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal).


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Symptoms occur in about 5 to 40 percent of patients who undergo cholecystectomy, and can be transient, persistent or lifelong. The chronic condition is diagnosed in approximately 10% of postcholecystectomy cases.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: The pain associated with postcholecystectomy syndrome is usually ascribed to either sphincter of Oddi dysfunction or to post-surgical adhesions. A recent 2008 study shows that postcholecystectomy syndrome can be caused by biliary microlithiasis. Approximately 50% of cases are due to biliary causes such as remaining stone, biliary injury, dysmotility and choledococyst. The remaining 50% are due to non-biliary causes. This is because upper abdominal pain and gallstones are both common but are not always related.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Non-biliary causes of PCS may be caused by a functional gastrointestinal disorder, such as functional dyspepsia.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Chronic diarrhea in postcholecystectomy syndrome is a type of bile acid diarrhea (type 3). This can be treated with a bile acid sequestrant like cholestyramine, colestipol or colesevelam, which may be better tolerated.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Some individuals may benefit from diet modification, such as a reduced fat diet, following cholecystectomy. The liver produces bile and the gallbladder acts as reservoir. From the gallbladder, bile enters the intestine in individual portions. In the absence of a gallbladder, bile enters the intestine constantly, but in small quantities. Thus, it may be insufficient for the digestion of fatty foods. Postcholecystectomy syndrome treatment depends on the identified violations that led to it. Typically, the patient is recommended a dietary restriction table with fatty foods, enzyme preparations, antispasmodics, and sometimes cholagogue.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: If the pain is caused by biliary microlithiasis, oral ursodeoxycholic acid can alleviate the condition.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: Functional dyspepsia is subdivided into Epigastric Distress Syndrome (EPS) and Post-Prandial Distress Syndrome (PDS). Treatment for EPS and PDS can both include proton pump inhibitors and dopamine antagonists. Tricyclic antidepressants have also been proven effective for nausea, vomiting, early satiety, impaired motility and other related symptoms.


title: Postcholecystectomy syndrome

text: When investigation reveals no abnormalities within the abdominal cavity, the attending physician may consider Anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES) as a possible cause. ACNES may present with pseudovisceral symptoms, including nausea, bloating, diarrhea and early satiety.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American former firefighter, novelist, and convicted arsonist and mass murderer. Orr was a fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. He was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder. In the 1980s and 1990s, Los Angeles was plagued by a series of fires that cost millions of dollars in damages and claimed four lives. Orr was found to be the cause of most of those fires. During his arson spree, Orr had several nicknames "The Pillow Pyro" due to the location of the fires inside shops., the "Frito Bandito", and the "coin-tosser."


title: John Leonard Orr

text: His "modus operandi" was to set fires using an incendiary timing device, usually comprising a lit cigarette with three matches wrapped in ruled yellow writing paper and secured by a rubber band, in stores while they were open and populated. He would also set small fires often in the grassy hills, in order to draw firefighters, leaving fires set in more congested areas unattended.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: Orr was born on April 26, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. He was one of three boys. His parents divorced when he was young. Following high school, Orr joined the US Air Force; in 1967, he shipped out for basic training, later transferring to Air Force firefighting school. He was stationed in Spain (where he went on to marry his high school girlfriend); in 1970, he was transferred to Montana. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in April 1971. In reflecting on his time in the military, Orr later said he did not like his commanding officers. Orr returned to Los Angeles, where he applied to 2 police departments and 2 fire departments; while waiting to hear back, his wife gave birth to his daughter. Orr and his first wife divorced not long after. He was then invited to test for the LAPD. Orr passed all the tests except for those based on mental health, prompting the Police Department to send him a letter saying he was unsuitable. Orr was then accepted to test for the Los Angeles Fire Department; he went through the fire academy but struggled with both the written and physical test and was rejected. Desperate to be a firefighter, he applied to the Glendale Fire Department (at the time the Glendale FD was at the bottom in Los Angeles County for pay); he was accepted in 1974. Orr studied fire science at a local college and worked at a 7-Eleven and as store security at Sears part time. John earned a carry permit, applying and becoming an arson investigator and attaining the rank of captain.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: On October 10, 1984, in South Pasadena, California, a major fire broke out at an Ole's Home Center hardware store located in a shopping plaza. The store was completely destroyed by the fire, and four people were killed: a two-year-old child, the child's 50-year-old grandmother, a 26-year-old mother of two, and a 17-year-old employee. On the following day, arson investigators from around southern California converged on the destroyed store, and declared the cause to be an electrical fire. However, Orr, as an arson investigator, insisted that the cause was arson.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: Investigations later showed that the fire started in highly flammable polyurethane products, which caught fire very quickly, causing the fire to flashover very rapidly. After his arrest in 1991 and subsequent conviction of arson for a series of other fires not related to the 1984 Ole's fire, Orr was charged with arson after forensic re-evaluation of the case, circumstantial evidence and a highly detailed description of a similar fire in his novel "Points of Origin" that bore several striking similarities with the real-life 1984 fire. Among those who covered the trial was award-winning journalist Frank Girardot, who would later collaborate with Orr's daughter Lori on a book about the case. Orr was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1998.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: In January 1987, a convention for arson investigators from California was held in the city of Fresno. During and after the convention, several suspicious fires were set in Bakersfield. This, combined with the recovery of a single unmatched fingerprint left on a piece of notebook paper as part of a time-delay incendiary device, led Captain Marvin G. Casey of the Bakersfield Fire Department (BFD) to suspect that an arson investigator from the Los Angeles area was responsible for these arsons.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: During March 1989, another series of arsons were committed along the California coast in close conjunction with a conference of arson investigators in Pacific Grove, California. By comparing the list of attendees from the Fresno conference with the list of attendees at the Pacific Grove conference, Casey was able to create a short list of ten suspects. Orr was on Casey's short list, but everyone on this short list was cleared of suspicion when their fingerprints were compared with the fingerprint that Casey had recovered from the piece of notebook paper found at one of the arson crime scenes.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: In late 1990 and early 1991, another series of arson fires broke out in southern California, this time in and around the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As a result, a large task force, nicknamed the "Pillow Pyro Task Force" (a reference to the arson fires set in pillows) was formed to apprehend the arsonist. On March 29, 1991, Tom Campuzanno of the Los Angeles Arson Task Force circulated a flier at a meeting of the Fire Investigators Regional Strike Team (FIRST), an organization formed by a group of smaller cities in and around Los Angeles County that did not have their own staff of arson investigators. The flier described the "modus operandi" of the suspected serial arsonist in the Los Angeles area. Scott Baker of the California State Fire Marshal's Office was at that meeting and told Campuzanno about the series of arsons investigated by Casey and about Casey's suspicions that the perpetrator was an arson investigator from the Los Angeles area. Consequently, Campuzanno and two of his colleagues met with Casey, obtained a copy of the fingerprint that Casey had recovered, and this time matched it to Orr on April 17, 1991, with the help of improved fingerprint technology. By cross-referencing the print with a database of all past applicants for law enforcement posts in Los Angeles County, they discovered that the print was an exact match to Orr's left ring finger.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: Orr was then investigated and watched for several months. In May 1991, leaving a fire conference in San Luis Obispo, California, he discovered a tracking device hidden by authorities in his vehicle. Orr rushed to a nearby police explosives range, thinking it was a bomb; the police were alerted by FIRST, and Orr was told that the device was a hoax. Orr was apparently never aware of a tracking device installed in his city vehicle that November. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment and, after Orr was present at a suspicious fire, he was arrested on December 4.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: On July 31, 1992, a federal jury in Fresno convicted Orr of three counts of arson, while acquitting him on two other counts. Federal Judge Oliver Wanger sentenced Orr to 30 years in prison. However, Orr maintains his innocence, notwithstanding his subsequent guilty plea on March 24, 1993, to three more counts of arson in Los Angeles after reaching a plea agreement that saw him paroled from federal prison in 2002. He took the plea deal when it became apparent that he could not afford to mount a defense and stood little chance at trial.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: On November 21, 1994, state prosecutors in Los Angeles indicted Orr on four counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and 21 counts of arson for a string of fires stretching from 1984 to 1990. The lead prosecutor on the case, Mike Cabral, opted to seek the death penalty in order to ensure that Orr would spend the rest of his life in prison. He made an off-the-record offer to Orr: if Orr accepted a sentence of life without parole and confessed all of his acts of arson in open court dating to his youth, Cabral would take the death penalty off the table. Orr turned the offer down out of hand.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: On June 25, 1998, a jury in a California state court convicted Orr on all four murder charges and all but one of the arson counts. That arson count, for setting a fire in the Warner Bros. backlot, was subsequently dismissed at the request of the prosecution. When asked to sentence Orr to the death penalty, the same jury split eight to four in favor. The presiding judge sentenced Orr to four concurrent terms of life without parole for murder, plus an additional 21 years in prison for arson. The state sentence ran consecutively with his federal sentence for arson.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: On March 15, 2000, a California appeals court vacated nine years of his state sentence, finding that the burning of homes in the College Hills blaze had only been incidental to his objective of starting a brush fire. It left the remainder of the sentence untouched, all but assuring that Orr will die in prison. Orr began his state sentence upon his release from federal custody in 2002. Orr is currently serving his life sentence at California State Prison, Centinela. His name does not appear in the California Department of Corrections inmate database, suggesting that he is being held under an alias.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: Some arson investigators and an FBI criminal profiler have deemed Orr to be possibly one of the worst American serial arsonists of the 20th century. Federal ATF agent Mike Matassa believes that Orr set nearly 2,000 fires between 1984 and 1991. Furthermore, arson investigators determined that after Orr was arrested, the number of brush fires in the nearby foothill areas decreased by more than 90 percent.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: Orr's daughter Lori, who later became a motivational speaker, testified on behalf of the defense at the trial and her testimony prevented him from receiving the death penalty. After maintaining her father's innocence for years, she eventually came to believe he was guilty and broke off all contact with him.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: The story has been chronicled by bestselling true crime author Frank Girardot, who co-wrote a biography of Orr in collaboration with Orr's daughter, Lori Kovach, entitled "Burned". Orr's story was earlier chronicled by bestselling true crime author Joseph Wambaugh in his book "Fire Lover". "Burned" features several court documents, fresh interviews with Orr and never-before-revealed evidence. On several occasions, film and television have also presented the story of Orr's arson activities and eventual arrest and criminal conviction. An episode of the PBS science series "Nova" titled "Hunt for the Serial Arsonist" (aired November 14, 1995) chronicled his story. In addition, the investigation that led to Orr's arrest and conviction was recounted on the episode "Diary of a Serial Arsonist" of the A&E Network's true crime series "Cold Case Files" and also on an episode of Casefile True Crime Podcast. Most notably, a film titled "Point of Origin", starring Ray Liotta as John Orr, was released by HBO in 2002. The film's title is a reference to Orr's novel, which tells the story of a fireman who is also a serial arsonist. Arson investigators believe the book chronicles real acts of arson due to similarities with fires they believe Orr had set. Orr states the novel is a work of fiction and has no relation to any actual events. In an interview, defending his manuscript, Orr expressly stated: "The character of Aaron Stiles was a composite of arsonists I arrested." In 2004, he was profiled in the "Forensic Files" episode "Point of Origin", the same title used in the HBO film.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: In 2019, his story was recounted on Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Secrets" in the episode "The Fire Inside", and Oxygen's "A Lie To Die For" in the episode "The Heat Of Deceit."


title: John Leonard Orr

text: In 2021, an episode about him titled "Firestarter: A Wall of Flames" aired on HLNs "Very Scary People". He also was mentioned in the 12th episode of the second season of "".


title: John Leonard Orr

text: In July 2021, truth.media released the true crime podcast "Firebug", hosted by filmmaker Kary Antholis and chronicling the investigation into the fires through interviews and excerpts from Orr's manuscript.


title: John Leonard Orr

text: As part of Hamilton College's prison writing initiative, The American Prison Writing Archive, Orr was able to publish several autobiographical accounts of his experiences as a prisoner in the American prison complex.