title: Rokurokubi

text: In "Kokon Hyaku Monogatari Hyōban" (古今百物語評判, 1686 CE), a book of ghost stories that explains yōkai tales by Yamaoka Genrin, there is a chapter called "How Priest Zetsugan saw Rokurokubi in Higo" (絶岸和尚肥後にて轆轤首を見給ふ事, "Zetsugan Oshō Higo nite Rokurokubi wo Mitamou Koto"). In Higo Province (now Kumamoto Prefecture), the head of an innkeeper's wife leaves her body and floats in the air. It returned to normal the next day, but there was a line around her neck. The author made references to examples from Chinese books and then commented "as these kinds of things were often seen in South-East Asia, not just limited to the creation of the heaven and earth, it is difficult to fathom them with ordinary common sense such as the idea that octopuses do not have eyes and as these things are unheard of in the capital, everything strange is in faraway lands." In the same book, there is a story which tells of a woman in the village of Tawa, Nagao, Ōkawa District, Kagawa Prefecture (now Sanuki) who is a rokurokubi and has a ring-like bruise around her neck.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the "Churyō Manroku" (中陵漫録) is a tale which describes a "Rokurokubi Village" in the recesses of Mount Yoshino where all the residents, even children, wore scarves to cover a line around their necks.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the "Kasshi Yawa" (甲子夜話, c. 1821 CE) by Matsura Seizan is a story which tells of a woman in Hitachi Province who has a terminal illness. A peddler has told her husband that the liver of a white dog will cure her. The husband kills the pet dog and gives his wife the dog's liver as a medicant. The woman is cured but her next-born daughter is a rokurokobi. When the rokurokubi's head detached and flew in the air, the white dog appeared, bit the head and killed the rokurokobi.


title: Rokurokubi

text: Although rokurokubi and nukekubi are usually female, in "Shousai Hikki" (蕉斎筆記), an Edo period tale, there is a nukekubi that is male. A priest is sleeping in his temple when a head appeared and approached his chest. He grabs it and throws it away and it left. In the morning, the manservant asks to take leave and when asked why, the manservant asks, "did a head come visit last night?" The priest answered yes, the manservant then explained that "I have the nukekubi illness and I fear it will interfere with my work too much from now on." The manservant went away to his home in Shimōsa Province where this "illness" was thought to be common.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the essay "Mimibukuro" by Negishi Shizumori, a woman who was rumored to be a rokurokubi is married, but manages to live well since the rumor was nothing more than a rumor. She was not actually a rokurokubi, so she achieved a happy ending, which is unusual for tales about rokurokubi because bad fortune almost always results when the true identity of a rokurokubi is discovered.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the Edo period encyclopedia, "Wakan Sansai Zue" Rokuokubi like creatures from Chinese lore are described. They are written as 飛頭蛮 meaning "flying head barbarians". They use their ears like wings and they eat insects. The ones from China and Japan were believed to be foreigners. The foreigner nukekubi also appears in "Rokurokubi" by Lafcadio Hearn. In his story, the spirits masquerade as a family of woodcutters from the city who kill and eat travelers.


title: Rokurokubi

text: Starting in the Edo period, tales were written about people's necks stretching when they were asleep. Examples of these tales are "Buya Zokuda" (武野俗談), "Kanden Kōhitsu" (閑田耕筆) and "Yasō Kidan" (夜窓鬼談).


title: Rokurokubi

text: It is thought that the idea of an extending neck originated from people misinterpreting visual depictions of nukekubi, the earlier kind of rokurokubi. There was the idea that nukekubi had a string attaching the head to the body and when this string was depicted in visual depictions, people misinterpreted this string as an elongated neck.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the "Kasshi Yawa" (甲子夜話), there is a tale which tells of a female servant with a pale face who is suspected to be a rokurokubi. One night, her master checks on her while she is sleeping and sees something like steam gradually rise from her chest. The steam becomes thick and obscures her head and then suddenly it appears as though her neck has risen up and stretched. Perhaps due to being surprised from seeing her master, the girl stirs, turns over and her neck returned to normal. This servant had a pale face, but otherwise looked completely normal, but despite this, she was fired and in fact has had trouble staying in any job, always being fired shortly after being employed. For the soul to leave the body and create the shape of a neck, as seen in this story and the before mentioned Hokusō Sadan, is sometimes interpreted to be "ectoplasm" in parapsychology.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the late Edo period "yomihon" (illustrated novel), "Rekkoku Kaidan Kikigaki Zōshi" (列国怪談聞書帖) by Jippensha Ikku the author suggests the elongated necks of rokurokubi originate in the spiritual principle, "karma". In Ikku's work, "Kaishin", a monk from Enshū and a woman called Oyotsu elope together. However, when Oyatsu collapsed from an illness, they ran out of money, so he killed her. When Kaishin eventually returned to secular life, he slept with a girl he met at an inn. When they sleep together, the girl's neck stretched and her face becomes that of Oyotsu, who then told him about her resentment. Kaishin felt regretful of his actions and proceeded to tell Oyatsu's father everything. The girl's father then told Kaishin that he has also killed a woman before. He stole her money and with it, he opened his inn. He had a daughter soon after who, due to karma, became a rokurokubi. Kaishin then reentered the priesthood. He built a grave for Oyotsu, said to be the Rokurokubi no Tsuka (Rokurokubi Mound), which told the story to future generations.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In some stories, rokurokubi are not a yōkai, but rather people who have an affliction that affects the body. For example, the Edo period author Ban Kōkei in his work "Kanden Kōhitsu" told a tale of a geisha at the Yoshiwara brothel whose neck would elongate in her sleep. It stated that her neck stretched due to her "heart becoming loose".


title: Rokurokubi

text: Rokurokobi also appear in the oral tradition of Japanese myths. For example, there is a myth about an old highway between the villages of Iwa and Akechi in Gifu Prefecture where it is said that a snake shapeshifted into a rokurokubi. Another example is a myth from the oral tradition of the Koikubo area of Iida, Nagano Prefecture where it is said a rokurokubi appeared in someone's home.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the Bunka period, a kaidan story became popular, where there was a prostitute whose neck would smoothly stretch and would lick the oil of paper lanterns when she slept with guests, showing how rokurokubi were spoken of as things that women would transform into or an illness that they would be afflicted with. In this period, rokurokubi were also popular in freak shows. The "Shohō Kenbunroku" (諸方見聞録) records a freak show in 1810 (Bunka 7) in Edo, now Tokyo where a male rokurokubi with an elongated neck appeared.


title: Rokurokubi

text: Tales of rokurokubi appeared even in the early Meiji period. There was a tale of how a merchant and his wife from Shibaya town, Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture who witnessed their daughter's neck stretch every night. Despite their supplications in Shinto and Buddhism, their daughter did not get better and eventually the whole town learned of it. The couple couldn't bear it anymore, so they left, leaving no clues as to where they went.


title: Rokurokubi

text: The rokurokubi is also a kind of Japanese magic trick using curtains and life-sized dolls without heads. It's reported that a doll without a head wearing a kimono in seiza is put in front of the curtain. There's a rope behind the curtain and a female performer connected to it who shows only her face. As she stands and squats, the fake neck would stretch and contract, as if it were a rokurokubi.


title: Rokurokubi

text: Explanations and pictures about what's behind this trick were written in magazines of the Meiji period (1800s), giving a date for how early these shows first appeared. This was a time period when mystery phenomena were vigorously exposed by the scientifically-minded, so for magic tricks to be revealed is fitting with the zeitgeist.


title: Rokurokubi

text: In the Taishō period, there were businesses arranging rokurokubi to appear in show tents in festivals and fairs at temples and shrines and they were quite popular.


title: Rokurokubi

text: The type of rokurokubi whose necks separate from the rest of the body is said to have derived from stories of the Chinese yōkai, the "hitōban" (飛頭蛮) a yōkai whose head separates from the body and floats about. Like the rokurokobi, the hitoban has a line around its neck. Chinese stories also tell of a yōkai called a "rakutō" (落頭) whose head comes off and floats about while the torso remains at rest on the futon. There is a tale that in the Three Kingdoms period, an Eastern Wu general, Zhu Huan employed a female servant who was a rakutō. It's said that she used its ears like wings. Another tale relates that in the Qin era, there was a clan from the south called "rakutōmin" (落頭民) who could fly around with only their heads.


title: Rokurokubi

text: There are legends of creatures including Palasik, Kuyang, and Leyak from Indonesia, Penanggalan in Malaysia, and Krasue in Thailand. The heads of these creatures would separate from the body and float about with the entrails attached.


title: Rokurokubi

text: The Chonchon is a mythical creature of South America which takes the form of a human head flying around in the air, sucking the life out of people.


title: Rokurokubi

text: The "manananggal" is a creature of Philippines mythology. This female monster is slightly different since its whole body from the waist up detaches and grows giant bat-like wings.


title: Rokurokubi

text: The yōkai researcher, Tada Katsumi states that these stories arrived in Japan in the Muromachi to Azuchi-Momoyama periods, when there was still trade with southern China and Southeast Asia. In the Edo period, when Japan adopted an isolationist policy an original Japanese yōkai, the "rokurokubi" evolved.


title: Lakmé

text: Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille.


title: Lakmé

text: The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in Paris, with stage decorations designed by Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (act 1), Eugène Carpezat and (Joseph-)Antoine Lavastre (act 2), and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 3). Set in British India in the mid-19th century, "Lakmé" is based on Théodore Pavie's story "Les babouches du Brahmane" and the novel "" by Pierre Loti. Gondinet proposed it as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt.


title: Lakmé

text: The opera includes the popular Flower Duet ("Sous le dôme épais") for a soprano and mezzo-soprano, performed in act 1 by Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika. The name "Lakmé" is the French rendition of Sanskrit Lakshmi, the name of the Hindu Goddess of Wealth. The opera's most famous aria is the "Bell Song" ("L'Air des clochettes") in act 2.


title: Lakmé

text: "Lakmé" combines many orientalist aspects that were popular at the time: an exotic location, similar to other French operas of the period, such as Bizet's "Les pêcheurs de perles" and Massenet's "Le roi de Lahore", a fanatical priest, mysterious Hindu rituals, and "the novelty of exotically colonial English people".


title: Lakmé

text: Following its premiere at the Opéra Comique in 1883, "Lakmé" reached its 500th performance there on 23 June 1909 and 1,000th on 13 May 1931. A series of performances took place at the Théâtre Gaîté Lyrique Paris in 1908, with Alice Verlet, David Devriès and Félix Vieuille.


title: Lakmé

text: The Hindus go to perform their rites in a sacred Brahmin temple under the high priest, Nilakantha. Nilakantha's daughter Lakmé, and her servant Mallika, are left behind and go down to the river to gather flowers where they sing together the Flower Duet. As they approach the water at the river bank, Lakmé removes her jewellery and places it on a bench. Two British officers, Frederic and Gérald (Delibes uses Frenchified versions of the then common English names Frederick and Gerald), arrive nearby on a picnic with two British girls and their governess. The British girls see the jewellery and, impressed with it, request sketches of it; Gérald volunteers to stay and make sketches of the jewellery. He spots Lakmé and Mallika returning and hides. Mallika leaves Lakmé for a while; while alone Lakmé sees Gérald and, frightened by the foreigner's incursion, cries out for help. However, simultaneously, she is also intrigued by him and so she sends away those who had responded to her call for help when they come to her aid. Lakmé and Gérald begin to fall in love with each other. Nilakantha returns and learns of the British officer's trespassing, vowing revenge on him for what he assumes to be an affront to Lakmé's honour.


title: Lakmé

text: At a busy bazaar, Nilakantha forces Lakmé to sing (the Bell Song) in order to lure the trespasser into identifying himself. When Gérald steps forward, Lakmé faints, thus giving him away. Nilakantha stabs Gérald, wounding him. Lakmé takes Gérald to a secret hideout in the forest, where she lovingly nurses him back to health.


title: Lakmé

text: While Lakmé fetches sacred water that will confirm the vows of the lovers, Fréderic, Gérald's fellow British officer, appears before Gérald and reminds him of his military duty to his regiment. Gérald sadly accepts that his colleague is correct. After Lakmé returns, she senses the change in Gérald and realises that she has lost him. She dies with honour, rather than live with dishonour, killing herself by eating the poisonous datura leaf.


title: Lakmé

text: In conventional form and pleasant style, but given over to the fashion for exoticism, the delicate orchestration and melodic richness earned Delibes a success with audiences. The passionate elements of the opera are given warm and expressive music, while the score in general is marked by subtle harmonic colours and deft orchestration. Oriental colour is used in prayers, incantations, dances and the scene in the market.


title: Lakmé

text: The act 2 aria "Où va la jeune Hindoue?" (the Bell Song) has long been a favourite recital piece for coloratura sopranos. (Recordings of it in Italian, as "", also exist.)


title: Lakmé

text: In recent years, the Flower Duet in act 1 has become familiar more widely because of its use in advertisements, in particular a British Airways commercial, as well as in films. The duet sung by Lakme and Mallika was adapted for the theme "Aria on air" for the British Airways "face" advertisements of the 1980s by music composers Yanni and Malcolm McLaren.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: The 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season was the 71st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and its 55th in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the climax season of the Warriors’ dynasty, they won their fifth NBA championship, setting the best postseason record in NBA history by going . This Warriors team is widely regarded as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. They entered the season as runners-up in the 2016 NBA Finals, after a record breaking regular-season in 2015–16. With the acquisition of free agent Kevin Durant in the offseason, the Warriors were hailed as a "superteam" by the media and fans, forming a new All-Star "Fantastic Four" of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The Warriors broke over 20 NBA records on their way to equaling their 2014–15 regular-season record of , their second most wins in franchise history.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: In the postseason, Golden State clinched the top seed in the playoffs for the third successive year. The Warriors swept the Portland Trail Blazers 4–0 in the first round, the Utah Jazz 4–0 in the Western Conference semi-finals and the San Antonio Spurs 4–0 in the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors claimed their fifth NBA Championship by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–1 in the NBA Finals, the first time in NBA history two teams have met for a third consecutive year. Golden State became the first team ever to start in the playoffs and their fifteen straight wins were the most consecutive postseason wins in NBA history. They also became the first team in all four major professional sports in America to start 15–0 in the postseason. The Warriors set the best playoff record in NBA history by going 16–1 (.941).


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: Golden State won the Pacific Division title and Western Conference Championship for the third consecutive season. The Warriors became only the second team in NBA history to win 30 road games in back-to-back seasons, joining the 1995–96 and 1996–97 Chicago Bulls. Stephen Curry set numerous three-point NBA records this season; including most three-pointers made in a single game with 13 and most consecutive games (regular-season and postseason combined) with a made three-pointer with 196. Curry also surpassed 300 three-pointers in the regular-season for the second time in NBA history; he finished with 324.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: Draymond Green won the Defensive Player of the Year Award at the NBA Awards, the first time a Warrior has won it. Kevin Durant won the NBA Finals MVP award, the third time a Warrior has won it. The Warriors won the Team of the Year Award at the Espy Awards. Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were all named to the All-Star Game, the first time Golden State have had four All-Stars and just the eighth time in NBA history a single team has had four players in the game. The Warriors were the only team with multiple players named to the All-NBA Team this season, with Curry, Durant and Green all selected. Bob Myers won the Executive of the Year Award, his second win in three years. The Warriors became the fastest team in NBA history to clinch a playoff berth since the playoff format changed in 1984.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: The 2016 NBA Draft was held on June 23, 2016, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Warriors chose center Damian Jones out of Vanderbilt with the 30th pick of the first round. They also acquired the draft rights of swingman Patrick McCaw, the 38th pick of the second round. Warriors forwards Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green and guard Klay Thompson were selected to participate on the 2016 USA Basketball National Team that competed in the 2016 Olympic Games. The Warriors were the only team with three representatives on the Olympic squad. Stephen Curry withdrew from selection due to injury.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: On July 4, seven time All-star forward Kevin Durant announced he was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Warriors. To clear cap space for Durant, the Warriors traded Andrew Bogut to the Dallas Mavericks and didn't match offers for five of their out of contract free agents, losing Harrison Barnes to the Dallas Mavericks, Brandon Rush to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Leandro Barbosa to the Phoenix Suns, Festus Ezeli to the Portland Trail Blazers and Marreese Speights to the Los Angeles Clippers. Golden State added veteran big men Zaza Pachulia and David West to their roster and retained Ian Clark, James Michael McAdoo and Anderson Varejão. The Warriors added Mike Brown as assistant coach on July 6, replacing Luke Walton, who left to take over as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: On August 21, the United States beat Serbia 96–66 at the Rio Summer Olympics to win the Gold medal. Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green joined Chris Mullin (in 1992), as the only Warriors players to capture Olympic Gold medals. Durant led the team by averaging 19.4 points during Team USA's 8–0 run to victory.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: The Warriors lost their opening preseason game against the Toronto Raptors on October 1, they then beat the Clippers, Kings, Nuggets, Lakers (twice) and Trail Blazers, to finish preparation for the season with a 6–1 record. Kevin Durant led the team in scoring, averaging 20.9 points per game, followed by Stephen Curry (19.7) and Klay Thompson (18.0). On October 20, Golden State finalized their 15-man roster, with the addition of free agent center JaVale McGee.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: The Warriors opened the season on October 25, 2016, with a 29-point home loss to the San Antonio Spurs in which Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 35 points. They would respond by winning their next 4 games, including a 26-point victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder at home on November 3. This marked the first and highly anticipated meeting between former teammates Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Durant scored 39 points in the win, the most by any player debuting against his former team.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: After having his streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer come to an end the previous game, Stephen Curry set a new record of 13 three-pointers made in a single game during a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on November 7.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: On January 26, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were all named to the All-Star Game, the first time Golden State have had four All-Stars and just the eighth time in NBA history a single team has had four players in the game. Golden State's Steve Kerr coached the Western Conference team.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: On February 25, with the Warriors winning against the Brooklyn Nets, they secured a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive season, the first team in the league for the second consecutive season, and the fastest in the NBA history, beating out their record the previous season by two days.


title: 2016–17 Golden State Warriors season

text: In the playoffs, the Warriors clinched the top seed in the playoffs for the third successive year. The Warriors swept the Portland Trail Blazers in their first round, 4 games to 0, even when Kevin Durant was out for Games 2 and 3. In the semi-finals round, the Warriors were up against the Utah Jazz for the first time since the 2007 Semi-finals round. In Game 3 of the series, Kevin Durant scored a playoff-high 38 points with the Warriors as he led the Warriors towards a 3–0 record against the Jazz. In Game 4, the Warriors opened up with 39 points in the first quarter as Curry and Thompson combined for 51 points to lead the Warriors to a complete sweep against the Jazz. Green also recorded a triple-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for the Warriors. In the conference finals round, the Warriors faced the Spurs. In Game 1 of the series, the Warriors rallied back from 25 points down as they beat the Spurs, 113-111, to keep the postseason record unbeaten with 9-0. In Game 3, the Warriors defeated the Spurs, 120-108, to take a 3-0 series lead and improved to 11-0 for the postseason, becoming the third team in NBA History to start a postseason with 11-0 record, joining the 1988-89 Lakers and 2000-01 Lakers. The Warriors also swept the Spurs, thanks to Curry's 36 points, to reach their third NBA Finals in a row for the first time in franchise history. They also improved to 12-0 record in the postseason, the best record in NBA History. The Warriors won its fifth NBA Championship by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–1 in the Finals; it was the first time in NBA history two teams have met for a third consecutive year. The Warriors are the first team ever to start 15–0 in the playoffs and their fifteen-game win streak to start the playoffs set the record for most consecutive postseason wins in NBA history. Their 16–1 record is the best playoff record in NBA history, besting the 2000–01 Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford is a large town in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a population of 168,168 in 2011, compared to 303,858 for the entire borough.


title: Ilford

text: Identified as a metropolitan centre in the London Plan, Ilford's commercial and retail centre is surrounded by extensive residential development. The town is on the transport corridor between London and coastal Essex, with both the A12 and the central railway station linking the regions. In recent years, as a result of increased levels of immigration, Ilford has become one of the most multicultural towns in England.


title: Ilford

text: Historically a small rural settlement in the ancient parish of Barking in the Becontree hundred of the historic county of Essex, its strategic position on the River Roding and the London to Colchester road made it a coaching town. The arrival of the railway in 1839 accelerated its growth, leading to the area becoming a suburb and part of the conurbation of London. It split from the parish of Barking in 1888, and, in the 20th century, Ilford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1926. In 1965, it merged with Wanstead and Woodford, also incorporating parts of neighbouring districts, to form the London Borough of Redbridge, part of Greater London.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford was historically known as Great Ilford to differentiate it from nearby Little Ilford. The name is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Ilefort" and means "ford over the Hyle". "Hyle" is an old name for the River Roding that means "trickling stream". Great and Little Ilford share the place name origin, but the Domesday reference is to the Little Ilford area.


title: Ilford

text: Great and Little Ilford appear to have always been distinct areas separated by the Roding. The place names of Great and Little Ilford both appear to derive from the ford (and river), rather than deriving from the subdivision of a larger Ilford area.


title: Ilford

text: Barking was a huge Manor (landholding), first mentioned in a charter in 735 AD. The Manor covered the areas now known as Barking, Dagenham and Ilford. The Manor was held by the Nunnery of Barking Abbey.


title: Ilford

text: By the late 1100s (the Parishes of England were, with a few exceptions, fixed for around 700 years from the late 12th century onwards) the huge Manor of Barking was served by two Ancient Parishes, Barking (including Ilford) and Dagenham. This reversed the usual situation (for smaller, and even quite large Manors) where a parish would serve one or more manors. As with other manors, the area held by the declined over time, but the parish boundaries based on its former extent remained constant.


title: Ilford

text: The Parish of Barking, in the Becontree hundred of Essex, covered the areas now known as Barking and Ilford. Barking was a large ancient parish of in the Becontree hundred of Essex. It was divided into the wards of Chadwell, Great Ilford, Ripple and Town.


title: Ilford

text: The Barking parish authorities gradually lost responsibility for a variety of functions during the 19th century; from 1836, for the administration of poor relief, Ilford came within the Romford Poor Law Union and in 1840 the Metropolitan Police District was extended to cover the area. In 1875, the Romford rural sanitary district was created, covering a wide area including Ilford.


title: Ilford

text: In 1888, Ilford and the neighbouring ward of Chadwell to east were split from Barking and together formed a separate Ilford civil parish and also a new Urban District Council. In 1890, a local board of health was set up for the parish, replacing the rural sanitary authority, and in 1894 a reform of local government reconstituted it as an urban district. It formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. It was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Ilford in 1926.


title: Ilford

text: The suburban expansion of London caused a significant increase in population and the borough became one of the largest in England not to gain county borough status.


title: Ilford

text: In 1965, the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that of Wanstead and Woodford, the northern extremity of Dagenham and a small part Chigwell Urban District (around Hainault), to form the new London Borough of Redbridge.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford is divided between the UK Parliament constituencies of Ilford North and Ilford South. Ilford North consists of the Redbridge wards of Aldborough, Barkingside, Redbridge, Clayhall, Fairlop, Fullwell, Hainault and Roding. The Member of Parliament (MP) is Wes Streeting of the Labour Party, who succeeded the previous MP Lee Scott of the Conservative Party in the 2015 general election. Ilford South corresponds to the Redbridge wards of Chadwell, Clementswood, Cranbrook, Goodmayes, Loxford, Mayfield, Newbury, Seven Kings, and Valentines. The MP is Sam Tarry of the Labour Party. Ilford forms part of the Havering and Redbridge London Assembly constituency.


title: Ilford

text: The only complete skull of a mammoth discovered in the United Kingdom was unearthed in 1864 close to where Uphall Road is today. The skull can now be seen in the Natural History Museum and a cast of the skull and other prehistoric animal remains can be seen at Redbridge Museum, Central Library, Ilford.


title: Ilford

text: Redevelopment has destroyed much of the evidence for early Ilford, but the oldest evidence for human occupation is the first- and second-century BC Iron Age earthwork known as Uphall Camp. This was situated between the Roding and Ilford Lane and is recorded in 18th-century plans. Roman finds have also been made in the vicinity.


title: Ilford

text: A nearby mound called Lavender Mount existed into the 1960s, when it was removed during building work at Howards chemical works. Excavation has shown that Lavender Mount may have been a 16th-century 'beacon-mound'. Archaeological discoveries are displayed at Redbridge Museum.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford straddled the important road from London to Colchester. The Middlesex and Essex Turnpike Trust controlled and maintained the road from 1721. The River Roding was made navigable for barges as far as Ilford Bridge from 1737. Ilford remained largely rural until its expansion in the 19th century. This brought about brickworks, cement works and coal yards to service the new buildings, largely centred on the River Roding. In 1839, a railway station was opened on the line from Romford to Mile End. The early businesses gave way to new industries, such as paper making and services such as steam laundries and collar making, to provide for the new commuting class created by the railway. A number of major businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymous photographic film and chemicals manufacturer Ilford Photo. This was founded in 1879 by Alfred H. Harman, a photographer from Peckham, who established the business in a house in Cranbrook Road making gelatino-bromide 'dry' plates. The business soon outgrew these premises, and its headquarters moved to a site at Roden Street until 1976 when the factory was closed. Many Ilford Limited products are displayed at Redbridge Museum.


title: Ilford

text: The radio, electronics and telecommunications company Plessey, founded in 1917 in Marylebone, moved to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in 1919 and then to Vicarage Lane where became one of the largest manufacturers in its field. During World War II, the factory was heavily damaged by bombing and the company carried out much of its manufacture, with 2,000 workers servicing a production line, located in the underground railway tunnel between Wanstead and Gants Hill. In 1955 the company employed 15,000 workers, in sites throughout Ilford and neighbouring areas, with an extensive research department.


title: Ilford

text: BAL-AMi Jukeboxes were manufactured at 290–296 High Road, Ilford, during the 1950s, which also served as the headquarters of the Balfour (Marine) Engineering company. The Exchange is the main shopping centre.


title: Ilford

text: By 1653, Ilford was a compact village of 50 houses, mostly sited north and south of the current Broadway and the area was distinctly rural. In 1801 the population of Ilford was 1,724 and by 1841 it had grown to 3,742. It had a population of 41,244 in 1901 and occupied an area of . 2,500 houses of the vast Becontree Estate, built by the London County Council from 1921, were within the boundaries of Ilford; the addition caused a rise in population of 11,600 by 1926. The Central line service of the London Underground to new and former main-line stations in the area began in 1947 and the population of the Municipal Borough of Ilford peaked in 1951 at 184,706, declining to 178,024 in 1961 before being absorbed into Redbridge and Greater London in 1965. At the 2001 Census the combined populations of the Ilford North and Ilford South constituencies was 196,414.


title: Ilford

text: John Logie Baird, who invented the television, moved to Ilford in the mid to late 1920s to work on his new invention. He worked in a workshop on the roof of the Plessey premises in Ley Street, which has long since been demolished to make way for new housing.


title: Ilford

text: In 1922, Ilford became notorious for being the site of the Thompson-Bywaters case, a "cause celebre" in the United Kingdom that later influenced the debate around capital punishment in the UK.


title: Ilford

text: During World War II an Ilford man lost his life when his Royal Air Force training airplane crashed in the United States. Local residents living near the site, in the State of Oklahoma, erected a monument in 2000 honoring the lives of all four RAF fliers who perished. The event was attended by the Lord Mayor of Ilford and his Mace Bearer, to much local acclaim. The residents, who include Choctaw Indians and the Choctaw Nation government, continue honoring the lives of all four on each anniversary of the crashes, which took place in February 1943.


title: Ilford

text: Its proximity to the Olympic Park in Stratford meant that in 2011, Ilford was the fastest-growing tourist destination in Europe due to the London 2012 Summer Olympics.


title: Ilford

text: In 2005, Ilford was ranked sixth in the Retail Footprint ranking for Greater London, behind London's West End, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Bromley and Brent Cross Shopping Centre. It ranked just above Romford and central London's Kensington. As of 2020, Ilford has of total town centre floorspace, the tenth highest in Greater London and noticeably lower compared to Stratford and Romford.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford is bounded in the west by the North Circular Road and the River Roding and is contiguous with Barking to the south, Gants Hill and Barkingside to the north and Seven Kings to the east. The Alders Brook is a tributary of the Roding that marks the boundary between Newham and Redbridge. Climate data for Ilford is taken from the nearest weather station at Greenwich, around south south west of the railway station:


title: Ilford

text: The entire town of Ilford is also made up of its neighbourhoods Aldborough Hatch, Barkingside, Clayhall, Cranbrook, Fairlop, Fullwell Cross, Loxford, Gants Hill, Goodmayes, Newbury Park, Redbridge and Seven Kings. It approximates to 11 electoral wards, and the total population counted 168,168 people in the 2011 census, compared to 303,858 for the borough of Redbridge as a whole.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford North had the fourth-highest Jewish proportion of residents in the 2001 census. The Hindu, Muslim and Sikh population number some 30,000. The large South Asian community in Ilford speak a variety of languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Syloti, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.


title: Ilford

text: According to the 2001 census, the parliamentary constituencies of Ilford North and Ilford South consisted of the following demographs:


title: Ilford

text: At the 2011 census, the Clementswood ward's population with a BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) background was 84.2%, one of the highest in Greater London. Most of Ilford's other wards have figures above 70%. The lowest BAME ward in Ilford was Fairlop, 34.9%.


title: Ilford

text: House prices in Ilford are generally far lower compared to the average in Greater London. The median house price in 2014 in Ilford's Loxford ward was £193,000, which was the sixth lowest out of the 628 wards of Greater London.


title: Ilford

text: In most wards, a majority of houses are owned by the households. The exceptions are in Clementswood, Loxford, and Valentines.


title: Ilford

text: The table below shows housing type data for Ilford's wards at the 2011 census (but altered to match new ward boundaries in 2015).


title: Ilford

text: The male life expectancy was 76.4 years in Loxford, and 84.5 years in Barkingside. The female expectancy was highest in Barkingside, 87.5 years, and lowest in Loxford, 81.7 years.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line. It is served by Elizabeth line trains between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, with direct connections to destinations such as Stratford, Romford and Brentwood.


title: Ilford

text: In future the Elizabeth Line will connect Ilford with direct services to stations in the West End, Paddington and west London.


title: Ilford

text: The station was the scene of two fatal rail crashes in 1915 and 1944. A traction maintenance depot and Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) depot is situated in Ilford, housing some Greater Anglia and London Overground units.


title: Ilford

text: London Underground's Central line sits to the north of Ilford, with Redbridge, Gants Hill, Newbury Park, Barkingside and Fairlop nearby. The stations are on the Hainault loop branch of the Central line, with direct connections to Stratford, the City, the West End and West London.


title: Ilford

text: Routes include 25 (to City Thameslink), 86, 128, 147, 139, 145, 150, 169, 366, 425 and W19. Night buses N25 and N86 additionally serve the town overnight.


title: Ilford

text: East London Transit route EL1 begins in Ilford. It links up with routes EL2 and EL3 at Barking, with onward connections to Chadwell Heath, Becontree and Dagenham.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford is a primary route destination in east London, and main roads link the town to key destinations throughout the capital and the East of England.


title: Ilford

text: The A118 runs east-west through Ilford, linking the town with Stratford and the A11 westbound, and Romford eastbound. The A123 runs north-south through the town, with direct connections to Gants Hill and Chigwell northbound, and Barking southbound.


title: Ilford

text: The A406 North Circular Road links the town directly with north and west London destinations, such as Wood Green and Brent Cross. It carries traffic northbound to the M11 for Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Southbound, the route runs to Beckton, the Woolwich Ferry, and the A13 for Isle of Dogs, Dagenham and Tilbury.


title: Ilford

text: North of Ilford, the A12 links the town directly to the M25, Chelmsford and Ipswich. Southbound traffic runs past Stratford, through the Blackwall Tunnel and onto the A2 for Dartford and destinations in Kent.


title: Ilford

text: There is an intermittent cycle lane between Stratford, Ilford, Romford and Harold Wood along the A118. The lane is part of the former London Cycle Network, as signposted route number 12.


title: Ilford

text: At Stratford, Cycle Superhighway 2 begins and runs through Mile End and Whitechapel to the City. The route is mostly segregated from other road traffic.


title: Ilford

text: Cycleway 16 passes to the north of Ilford, providing a direct cycle connection between the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Stratford and Barkingside.


title: Ilford

text: The Roding Valley Way is a shared-use route running alongside the River Roding. It begins in Ilford and runs unbroken to Roding Valley tube station near Buckhurst Hill, Essex.


title: Ilford

text: Valentines Mansion was built in 1696 and was used as council offices until 1994. It gives its name to Valentines Park, the largest green space in the borough. Pioneer Point is two buildings, Pioneer Point North is 105 m tall with 33 floors and Pioneer Point South is 82 m tall with 25 floors. Raphael House is 99m, Lynton House is 93m tall and was completed in 1969.


title: Ilford

text: St Mary's Church is the original parish church, but for much of the 20th century St Clement's Church was the main Anglican church until it was demolished in 1977. St Alban's Church is a redbrick Neo-Gothic building on Albert Road. Ilford Hospital Chapel is the oldest building in Redbridge, dating back to c1140. St Luke's Church is occupied by the Mar Thoma Syrian Church.


title: Ilford

text: Loxford School in Loxford has over 3000 students from 11 to 18, Seven Kings School is half that size. Palmer Catholic Academy is a Catholic secondary school and Ursuline Academy Ilford is a Catholic school for girls. Cranbrook School was an independent school that closed in 2016. Uphall Primary School is in Loxford near the North Circular.


title: Ilford

text: The poets Kathleen Raine (1908–2003) and Denise Levertov (1923–1997) were both born and spent their early years in Ilford. Levertov's Russian father, born a Hassidic Jew but converted to Christianity as a student, settled in Ilford as an Anglican minister. There is a tablet memorialising Levertov's father in Ilford's Hospital Chapel. Whilst Levertov wrote lyrically about Ilford, and in particular Valentines Park, in later life, Raine described it as a "suburban Hades".


title: Ilford

text: The Kenneth More Theatre was officially opened in January 1975. It places emphasis on serving the local community, and stages a mix of professional and amateur productions. Its programme is varied, and runs throughout the year with productions generally changing on a weekly basis. It is well known within the local area for its annual pantomime, which normally runs from mid-December to mid-January.


title: Ilford

text: St. Alban's Singers is a mixed voice choir for men and women based in St. Alban's Church in Albert Road, Ilford. The choir meets to rehearse at the church each Tuesday evening during term-time and aims to give three concerts per year.


title: Ilford

text: An unspecified venue in Ilford was used for a cricket match in August 1737 between Essex and London. It is the earliest known organised match definitely played in Essex.


title: Ilford

text: Ilford Cricket Club plays home games at Valentines Park. This ground was opened in 1897. It was used regularly by Essex County Cricket Club, but inadequate maintenance meant that the county stopped playing there after 2001.


title: Ilford

text: Two Non-League football clubs play at the Cricklefield Stadium, Ilford F.C. of the Essex Senior League and Barkingside F.C. of the Eastern Counties League Division One South. Waltham Forest F.C. (now Walthamstow F.C.) played at the Cricklefield from 2008 to 2013.


title: Ilford

text: South Park is one of the largest open spaces in the London Borough of Redbridge and has been awarded Green Flag status. The Redbridge Parks Police patrolled the parks until they were disbanded in 2011.


title: Floodplain

text: A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge. The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods.


title: Floodplain

text: Because the regular flooding of floodplains can deposit nutrients and water, floodplains frequently have high soil fertility; some important agricultural regions, such as the Mississippi river basin and the Nile, rely heavily on the flood plains. Agricultural regions as well as urban areas have developed near or on floodplains to take advantage of the rich soil and fresh water. However, the risk of flooding has led to increasing efforts to control flooding.


title: Floodplain

text: Wherever the river meanders, the flowing water erodes the river bank on the outside of the meander, while sediments are simultaneously deposited in a point bar on the inside of the meander. This is described as "lateral accretion", since the deposition builds the point bar laterally into the river channel. Erosion on the outside of the meander usually closely balances deposition on the inside of the meander, so that the channel shifts in the direction of the meander without changing significantly in width. The point bar is built up to a level very close to that of the river banks. Significant net erosion of sediments occurs only when the meander cuts into higher ground. The overall effect is that, as the river meanders, it creates a level flood plain composed mostly of point bar deposits. The rate at which the channel shifts varies greatly, with reported rates ranging from too slow to measure to as much as per year for the Kosi River of India.


title: Floodplain

text: Overbank flow takes place when the river is flooded with more water than can be accommodated by the river channel. Flow over the banks of the river deposits a thin veneer of sediments on the floodplain that is coarsest and thickest close to the channel. This is described as "vertical accretion", since the deposits build the floodplain upwards. In undisturbed river systems, overbank flow is a frequent occurrence, typically occurring every one to two years regardless of climate or topography. Sedimentation rates for a three-day flood of the Meuse and Rhine Rivers in 1993 found average sedimentation rates in the floodplain of between 0.57 and 1.0 kg/m. Higher rates were found on the levees (4 kg/m or more) and on low-lying areas (1.6 kg/m).


title: Floodplain

text: Sedimentation from overbank flow is concentrated on natural levees, crevasse splays, and in wetlands and shallow lakes of flood basins. Natural levees are ridges along river banks that form from rapid deposition from overbank flow. Most of the suspended sand is deposited on the levees, leaving the silt and clay sediments to be deposited as floodplain muds further from the river. Levees are typically build up enough to be relatively well-drained compared with nearby wetlands, and levees in non-arid climates are often heavily vegetated.


title: Floodplain

text: Crevasses are formed by breakout events from the main river channel. The river bank fails and floodwaters scour a channel. Sediments from the crevasse spread out as delta-shaped deposits with numerous distributary channels. Crevasse formation is most common in sections of rivers where the river bed is accumulating sediments (aggrading).


title: Floodplain

text: Repeated flooding eventually builds up an alluvial ridge, whose natural levees and abandoned meander loops may stand well above most of the floodplain. The alluvial ridge is topped by a channel belt, formed by successive generations of channel migration and meander cutoff. At much longer intervals, the river may completely abandon the channel belt and begin building a new channel belt at another position on the floodplain. This process is called avulsion, and takes place at intervals of 10–1000 years. Historical avulsions leading to catastrophic flooding include the 1855 Yellow River flood and the 2008 Kosi River flood.


title: Floodplain

text: Floodplains can form around rivers of any kind or size. Even relatively straight stretches of river are found to be capable of producing floodplains. Mid-channel bars in braided rivers migrate downstream through processes resembling those in point bars of meandering rivers and can build up a floodplain.


title: Floodplain

text: The quantity of sediments in a floodplain greatly exceed the river load of sediments. Thus, floodplains are an important storage site for sediments during their transport from where they are generated to their ultimate depositional environment.


title: Floodplain

text: When the rate at which the river is cutting downwards becomes great enough that overbank flows become infrequent, the river is said to have abandoned its floodplain, and portions of the abandoned floodplain may be preserved as fluvial terraces.


title: Floodplain

text: Floodplains support diverse and productive ecosystems. They are characterized by considerable variability in space and time, which in turn produces some of the most species-rich of ecosystems. From the ecological perspective, the most distinctive aspect of floodplains is the "flood pulse" associated with annual floods, and so the floodplain ecosystem is defined as the part of the river valley that is regularly flooded and dried.


title: Floodplain

text: Floods bring in detrital material rich in nutrients, and release nutrients from dry soil as it is flooded. The decomposition of terrestrial plants submerged by the floodwaters adds to the nutrient supply. The flooded littoral zone of the river (the zone closest to the river bank) provides an ideal environment for many aquatic species, so the spawning season for fish often coincides with the onset of flooding. Fish must grow quickly during the flood to survive the subsequent drop in water level. As the floodwaters recede, the littoral experiences blooms of microorganisms, while the banks of the river dry out and terrestrial plants germinate to stabilize the bank.


title: Floodplain

text: The biota of floodplains have high annual growth and mortality rates, which is advantageous for the rapid colonization of large areas of the floodplain. This allows them to take advantage of shifting floodplain geometry. For example, floodplain trees are fast-growing and tolerant of root disturbance. Opportunists (such as birds) are attracted to the rich food supply provided by the flood pulse.


title: Floodplain

text: Floodplain ecosystems have distinct biozones. In Europe, as one moves away from the river, the successive plant communities are bank vegetation (usually annuals); sedge and reeds; willow shrubs; willow-poplar forest; oak-ash forest; and broadleaf forest. Human disturbance creates wet meadows that replace much of the original ecosystem. The biozones reflect a soil moisture and oxygen gradient that in turn corresponds to a flooding frequency gradient. The primeval floodplain forests of Europe were dominated by oak (60%) elm (20%) and hornbeam (13%), but human disturbance has shifted the makeup towards ash (49%) with maple increasing to 14% and oak decreasing to 25%.


title: Floodplain

text: Semiarid floodplains have a much lower diversity of species, which are adapted to alternating drought and flood. Extreme drying can destroy the ability of the floodplain ecosystem to shift to a healthy wet phase when flooded.


title: Floodplain

text: Floodplain forests constituted 1% of the landscape of Europe in the 1800s. Much of this has been cleared by human activity, though floodplain forests have been impacted less than other kinds of forests. This makes them important refugia for biodiversity. Human destruction of floodplain ecosystems is largely a result of flood control, hydroelectric development (such as reservoirs), and conversion of floodplains to agriculture use. Transportation and waste disposal also have detrimental effects. The result is the fragmentation of these ecosystems, resulting in loss of populations and diversity and endangering the remaining fragments of the ecosystem. Flood control creates a sharper boundary between water and land than in undisturbed floodplains, reducing physical diversity. Floodplain forests protect waterways from erosion and pollution and reduce the impact of floodwaters.


title: Floodplain

text: The disturbance by humans of temperate floodplain ecosystems frustrates attempts to understand their natural behavior. Tropical rivers are less impacted by humans and provide models for temperate floodplain ecosystems, which are thought to share many of their ecological attributes.


title: Floodplain

text: Excluding famines and epidemics, some of the worst natural disasters in history (measured by fatalities) have been river floods, particularly in the Yellow River in China – see list of deadliest floods. The worst of these, and the worst natural disaster (excluding famine and epidemics) were the 1931 China floods, estimated to have killed millions. This had been preceded by the 1887 Yellow River flood, which killed around one million people, and is the second-worst natural disaster in history.


title: Floodplain

text: The extent of floodplain inundation depends in part on the flood magnitude, defined by the return period.


title: Floodplain

text: In the United States the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP offers insurance to properties located within a flood prone area, as defined by the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), which depicts various flood risks for a community. The FIRM typically focuses on delineation of the 100-year flood inundation area, also known within the NFIP as the Special Flood Hazard Area.


title: Floodplain

text: Where a detailed study of a waterway has been done, the 100-year floodplain will also include the floodway, the critical portion of the floodplain which includes the stream channel and any adjacent areas that must be kept free of encroachments that might block flood flows or restrict storage of flood waters. Another commonly encountered term is the Special Flood Hazard Area, which is any area subject to inundation by the 100-year flood. A problem is that any alteration of the watershed upstream of the point in question can potentially affect the ability of the watershed to handle water, and thus potentially affects the levels of the periodic floods. A large shopping center and parking lot, for example, may raise the levels of the 5-year, 100-year, and other floods, but the maps are rarely adjusted, and are frequently rendered obsolete by subsequent development.


title: Floodplain

text: In order for flood-prone property to qualify for government-subsidized insurance, a local community must adopt an ordinance that protects the floodway and requires that new residential structures built in Special Flood Hazard Areas be elevated to at least the level of the 100-year flood. Commercial structures can be elevated or flood proofed to or above this level. In some areas without detailed study information, structures may be required to be elevated to at least two feet above the surrounding grade. Many State and local governments have, in addition, adopted floodplain construction regulations which are more restrictive than those mandated by the NFIP. The US government also sponsors flood hazard mitigation efforts to reduce flood impacts. California's Hazard Mitigation Program is one funding source for mitigation projects. A number of whole towns such as English, Indiana, have been completely relocated to remove them from the floodplain. Other smaller-scale mitigation efforts include acquiring and demolishing flood-prone buildings or flood-proofing them.


title: Floodplain

text: In some floodplains, such as the Inner Niger Delta of Mali, annual flooding events are a natural part of the local ecology and rural economy, allowing for the raising of crops through recessional agriculture. However, in Bangladesh, which occupies the Ganges Delta, the advantages provided by the richness of the alluvial soil of the floodplain are severely offset by frequent floods brought on by cyclones and annual monsoon rains. These extreme weather events cause severe economic disruption and loss of human life in the densely-populated region.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Billy Louis Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker and captains club Sheffield United.


title: Billy Sharp

text: He has also played for Rushden & Diamonds, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Doncaster Rovers and Leeds United. On 1 January 2019, Sharp scored his 220th goal and became the leading English born goalscorer in English professional football during the 21st century so far, overtaking the record set by Rickie Lambert. On 8 February 2019, Sharp scored his 100th goal in all competitions for Sheffield United when he scored his second goal in a 3–3 draw against Aston Villa.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Three days after the death of his newborn son in 2011, Sharp played and scored the opener in the game, and five days later he was lauded by the Ipswich Town fans following his goal against them. He and his wife set up The Luey Jacob Sharp Foundation in aid of gastroschisis research and to support other people affected by this condition.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Sharp played for Middlewood Rovers Junior Football Club as a young player. He began his career with the youth teams of Rotherham United and Sheffield United, before making his first-team debut for Sheffield United during the 2004–05 season. He joined Rushden and Diamonds on loan in January 2005, scoring 9 goals in 16 games for the club, before moving to Scunthorpe United in 2005.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp joined Scunthorpe on a permanent deal in 2005 for a £100,000 fee. During the 2005–06 season, Sharp was noted for his partnership with striker Andy Keogh, on loan from Leeds United. Keogh and Sharp became part of the most potent strike-force in League One, scoring 38 goals between them, Sharp scoring 23 goals, with Keogh netting 15 of them.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp netted 30 times in the league in the 2006–07 season guiding his team to promotion into the Championship. This was the highest total in the 4 leagues of England. He scored a header in the televised defeat to Aston Villa, which only served to enhance his reputation across the nation. In all, he scored 56 goals in 95 games for Scunthorpe during his two seasons at Glanford Park.


title: Billy Sharp

text: With his goalscoring feats in the 2006–07 season, there was predictable interest from other clubs in Sharp, and a number of clubs made bids for the striker as the season ended.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Ultimately, Sharp rejoined Sheffield United on 4 July 2007 for a fee of around £2 million, a deal that also saw Sheffield United's Jonathan Forte transferred to Scunthorpe.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp made his full Sheffield United first team debut in the opening game of the 2007–08 season, a 2–2 draw with Colchester United. He scored his first competitive goals for the club in September, scoring two against Morecambe in a 5–0 third round League Cup victory but had to wait until March to score his first league goal, in a 2–1 win at home against Coventry City. After finally breaking his duck he went on to score three more times before the end of the season.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp started the 2008–09 season brightly, scoring a perfect hat-trick (header, right foot, left foot) in the Blades' first home game, against Queens Park Rangers. He scored the equaliser in a 1–1 home draw to Coventry a few weeks later, but that proved to be his last league goal of the season. Sharp did score twice more in the FA Cup including a goal against Hull City during a fifth-round replay. During the same game, Sharp was incorrectly booked for diving by referee Peter Walton who later apologised for his mistake. With the club rebuilding the team following their failure to gain promotion, Sharp was placed on the transfer list in July 2009.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp signed a season-long loan with Championship club Doncaster Rovers on 1 September 2009. He was given the number 5 for the season, an unusual choice for a striker. He made his debut on 12 September against Reading, he scored his first goal just two games later against former club, Scunthorpe United. With ten goals in seventeen games, meant interest came in from a number of clubs, and Sheffield United would allow the striker to move away during the January transfer market, with both Doncaster Rovers and fellow Championship club Barnsley reported to be looking to sign the striker. Near the end of the season, a knee injury stopped Sharp's season but however he still managed to finish with 15 goals in 33 league games.


title: Billy Sharp

text: During the summer transfer window, Sheffield United rejected an initial bid of what was thought to be £1 million from Doncaster on 20 May, but they hadn't given up hope of signing the striker. On 29 June, Sharp rejected a move to relegated Premier League side Burnley, despite the £1 million being accepted by United. Sharp finally signed for Doncaster Rovers on 7 July 2010 for £1.15 million, beating their record fee of £300,000 for Matt Mills from Manchester City. Sharp signed a three-year contract, which kept him at Keepmoat Stadium till the summer of 2013.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp made his second debut on 7 August, scoring in his first game back against Preston North End. Sharp also managed to score against another of his former clubs, Sheffield United in a 2–0 victory for Rovers, but was forced off in the first half with a hamstring problem. It was later confirmed that he would be out for at least six weeks. In his return, against Leicester City, Sharp managed to score a six-minute opener at the Walkers Stadium. On 3 March 2011, Sharp told BBC Radio that he would need a hernia operation but would try to hold it till the end of the season so that he could reach a 20-goal milestone. Despite failing to reach this milestone, bids still came in for Sharp in the summer window, Doncaster rejected two bids, £2.3 million from Ipswich Town. Shortly after Southampton put a bid in for £3.25 million which Sharp himself rejected.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 2 November 2011, three days following the death of his two-day-old son Luey Jacob, Sharp netted a volley to open the scoring against Middlesbrough in the 14th minute. He celebrated by taking off his jersey, unveiling an undershirt that read "THAT'S FOR YOU SON" and was not awarded the usual yellow card by referee Darren Deadman for his emotional celebration. Doncaster lost the game to Middlesbrough 3–1. Sharp scored another goal on 7 November in his side's 3–2 win against Ipswich Town at Portman Road. The home fans even had a standing ovation and applauded Sharp as he celebrated his goal, with the player later stating that the gesture brought a smile to him. On 3 January 2012, Barnsley fans were accused of making vile chants about the death of Sharp's son as Doncaster beat Barnsley 2–0, though Barnsley director Don Rowing said it was untrue, and attributed it to rumourmongers on Twitter.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Doncaster agreed an undisclosed fee with Championship rivals Leicester City for Sharp on 7 January, after rejecting a bid days before from an unnamed club. Despite agreeing this fee, Doncaster offered Sharp a new deal which was said to be the most lucrative deal in their history. Following a goalless draw with Cardiff City, Rovers boss Dean Saunders said that Sharp had rejected the move to Leicester.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 30 January 2012, Sharp signed for Southampton on a -year deal for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £1.8m. Sharp scored his first goal for Southampton on his home debut in a 2–0 win over Burnley on 11 February 2012. He then scored twice in a 2–0 victory over former club Doncaster Rovers on 24 March. On 7 April he played in his first South Coast derby, and scored twice as Southampton drew 2–2 with Portsmouth at St Mary's Stadium. He scored his first two away goals for the club in a 3–1 victory at Peterborough United on 17 April. He finished the season with 19 goals, after deflecting a shot from Adam Lallana against Coventry City, helping Southampton secure their return to the Premier League as runners-up.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 31 August 2012, Sharp joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the 2012–13 season. He made his Nottingham Forest debut as a substitute on 1 September 2012 against Charlton Athletic at the City Ground. His first goal for Forest came on 20 October 2012 in a 3–1 win over Cardiff City. In total he scored 11 goals in 40 games whilst at Nottingham Forest, finishing the season as the club's top scorer.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 26 September 2013, Sharp joined Reading on an emergency loan deal, linking up with former manager Nigel Adkins. Sharp scored his first goal for Reading on 3 December 2013 in their 1–0 home victory over Charlton Athletic. Sharp returned to Southampton on 2 January following the completion of his loan, he'd scored twice in ten games for the club.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 22 January 2014, Sharp re-joined his former club Doncaster Rovers on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season. On his debut at Blackpool on 25 January, he scored in the 85th minute to earn the visitors a point. On 8 February, Sharp was sent off in the match at Brighton for a foul on Gordon Greer. A month later, Sharp returned from suspension and scored against Huddersfield Town. Sharp was unable to help keep Doncaster in the division as they were relegated to League One.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 13 August 2014, Sharp returned to Yorkshire and joined Leeds United on a two-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Southampton was reported as £600,000.


title: Billy Sharp

text: He made his debut on 16 August, scoring a late winner on debut in a 1–0 victory over Middlesbrough to earn Dave Hockaday his first victory as Leeds Head Coach. On 20 December, Sharp scored his 2nd goal for Leeds in a 1–1 draw against his former club Nottingham Forest. Sharp scored a 90th-minute winner Leeds in a 2–1 win over West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town on 31 January 2015. On 28 February 2015, Sharp scored for Leeds in a 3–2 defeat against Watford.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 23 July 2015, after he was dropped from their pre-season friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt, Leeds United sent Sharp home from their summer training camp in Austria in anticipation of a transfer back to Sheffield United.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 25 July 2015, Sharp completed a return to Sheffield United for an undisclosed fee. In the 2015–16 season, Sharp averaged more than one goal every two matches for United, scoring 21 goals in 39 games.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Following Chris Wilder's arrival as the new Blades manager on 12 May 2016, Sharp was appointed club captain. Sharp scored his 50th career goal for Sheffield United on 26 December 2016 in a 2–0 home victory over Oldham Athletic.


title: Billy Sharp

text: In April 2017, in United's 3–0 victory at MK Dons, Sharp scored twice to take his career goals tally to 201. In the summer of 2017, Sharp penned a new two-year contract at his boyhood club, having skippered them to promotion back to the Championship.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 1 January 2019, Sharp scored his 220th goal and became the leading goalscorer in English league football during the 21st century overtaking the record set by Rickie Lambert. A further contract extension was automatically triggered on 12 January, after playing his 23rd game of the season, keeping him at the club until 2020. On 8 February 2019, Sharp scored his 100th goal in all competitions for Sheffield United when he scored his second goal in a 3–3 draw against Aston Villa. In March 2019, he was selected to the 2018–19 Championship Team of the Season. On 28 April, Sharp saw United promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 2007.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 10 August 2019, Sharp marked Sheffield United's return to the Premier League with an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw at AFC Bournemouth, his first goal in the English top flight.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 10 June 2020, Sharp signed a new two year contract keeping him at the club until the summer of 2022.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 12 January 2021, Sharp scored his 100th league goal for Sheffield United via a penalty in a 1–0 home league win over Newcastle United. This result earned the Blades' their first league victory of the season and their first league win since July 2020.


title: Billy Sharp

text: On 17 May 2022, Sheffield United were knocked out of the 2022 Championship play-off semi-final by Nottingham Forest. During a pitch invasion by Forest supporters at the end of the match, Sharp who had not played in the game was standing at the side of the pitch and was headbutted and knocked to the ground. He required stitches in a wound. A man was later arrested for the attack. The following day, a 30 year-old man was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and going on to the playing area at a football match. On 19 May he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Nottingham Magistrates' Court and was jailed for 24 weeks. He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to Sharp, and £128 in court costs and was given a two-year football banning order. Following the assault, in just 4 days Nottingham Forest fans raised over £15,000 to a Just Giving fundraiser to show their condemnation at the attack and register support for their former player. Following contact with Sharp's representative, Martin House Children's Hospice was nominated as the charity to receive the funds.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Sharp's son, Luey Jacob, died from gastroschisis when he was just two days old in October 2011. Sharp gained great respect in the football world as he continued playing immediately following the tragedy. He scored a goal against Middlesbrough just two days after the death, and then five days later scoring at Ipswich. Notable tributes included: the Middlesbrough manager, Tony Mowbray, said he was delighted Sharp had scored and called the goal against his club "A goal from heaven"; the Ipswich fans applauded him on scoring against them and chanted Luey's name; the Sheffield United fans gave applause for him in the 24th minute (Sharp's club number at United was 24) in an away game at Stevenage; Derby County players wore black armbands in their game against Cardiff City.


title: Billy Sharp

text: Along with his partner Jade Fair, Sharp set up The Luey Jacob Sharp Foundation, a charity with the aim of raising money for research into gastroschisis and a support network for families affected by the condition.


title: The New Pornographers

text: The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released eight studio albums to critical acclaim for their use of multiple vocalists and elements of power pop incorporated into their music.


title: The New Pornographers

text: The New Pornographers' name was chosen by Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it after watching a Japanese film called "The Pornographers". The band has released eight albums to date: "Mass Romantic" (2000), "Electric Version" (2003), "Twin Cinema" (2005), "Challengers" (2007), "Together" (2010), "Brill Bruisers" (2014), "Whiteout Conditions" (2017), and "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights" (2019). A live album recorded on their 2006 tour is available only at concerts and on the band's website. In 2005, the band was the subject of Reginald Harkema's documentary film "Better Off in Bed".


title: The New Pornographers

text: The New Pornographers' first four albums each placed in the top 40 on "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers' album or a solo album from one of the band's members ranked in the top 40 on the list each year. In 2007, "Blender" magazine ranked the New Pornographers' first album, "Mass Romantic", the 24th best indie album of all time. In 2009, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked the band's second studio album, "Electric Version", No. 79 in the "100 Best Albums of the Decade".


title: The New Pornographers

text: All of the New Pornographers' original members were prominent within the Vancouver music scene prior to forming the band. Kathryn Calder, who is also Newman's niece, joined the band in 2005 largely as a live replacement for Neko Case, whose solo career often left her unavailable to perform with the band. Calder's first lead vocals for the band were on 2007's "Challengers", singing the lead on "Failsafe" and sharing the lead with Newman on "Adventures in Solitude".


title: The New Pornographers

text: In 2009, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the Destroyer song "Hey, Snow White" to the AIDS benefit album "Dark Was the Night", produced by the Red Hot Organization. The band released their fifth album, "Together", on May 4, 2010, on Matador Records. The album includes collaborations from St. Vincent, Beirut's Zach Condon, and Okkervil River's Will Sheff.


title: The New Pornographers

text: In 2012, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the song "Think About Me" for the Fleetwood Mac tribute CD called "Just Tell Me That You Want Me" released by Hear Music. The band's sixth album, "Brill Bruisers", was released on August 26, 2014. The album was their highest charting to date in the United States, peaking at #13 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: The New Pornographers

text: On January 26, 2017, the New Pornographers announced their seventh album, "Whiteout Conditions," would be released on April 7. The album was preceded by the single "High Ticket Attractions". The album is the first to feature drummer Joe Seiders as a full-time member after replacing drummer Kurt Dahle in mid-2014. It is also the first New Pornographers album to not feature Dan Bejar. Newman, however, went on the record to note that Bejar's absence did not mean he had left the band entirely; telling Stereogum:


title: The New Pornographers

text: On November 29, 2018, A.C. Newman announced via Twitter that he had begun work on a future New Pornographers album. On August 2, 2019, the band announced via Twitter that it would release its new album, "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights", on September 27, and released its first single from the album, "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile". In a press release for the album, Dan Bejar is described as a "former (and possibly future) member" of the band. The new press photos for the band include vocalist/violinist Simi Stone, officially inducting her into the band after being an auxiliary touring member since 2015.


title: The New Pornographers

text: In July 2021, the band announced a North American tour where they would play "Mass Romantic" and "Twin Cinema" in full across simultaneous nights, as well as a reissue of "Mass Romantic" on vinyl. This announcement also confirmed the return of Bejar to the band, as well as the departure of both Thurier and Stone.


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: Chelah Horsdal (born June 19, 1973) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her regular roles in the television series "Hell on Wheels", "When Calls the Heart", and "The Man in the High Castle", recurring roles on "Stargate SG-1", "Level Up", "Arrow", and "", and for her roles in the films "" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: Horsdal was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She says she "was born to hippie parents while surrounded by friends and family on the 'farm' Headacres."


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: She is the daughter of mother Lindsay and folksinger father Valdy. She grew up with her mother in Kitsilano and attended Bayview Elementary followed by Lord Byng Secondary. She began modelling in locally shot TV shows and commercials at 18, and then lived in the Caribbean for a year.


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: Horsdal began her acting career in 2002. She has since appeared in more than 75 commercials as well as in films and on television. She has played lead and supporting roles on "Hell On Wheels", "The Man In The High Castle", "When Calls The Heart", "Candiland", "Patterson's Wager", "Three Weeks, Three Kids", "On Strike For Christmas", "Marley & Me; The Puppy Years", and Lifetime's "The Client List". She had lead roles in "Lying To Be Perfect" and "Mrs. Miracle".


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: Additional credits include leads on the feature "Burning Mussolini", Nickelodeon's "Gym Teacher: The Movie", co-starring Christopher Meloni and Amy Sedaris, "Flirting With Forty" with Heather Locklear and the FOX TV pilot "The Virgin of Akron, Ohio". Supporting leads include "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" for 20th Century Fox and "Possession" alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as "Elegy" with Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" with John Lithgow and James Franco.


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: Her performances in the short films "Dark Room" (2006) and "The Hostage" (2010) both earned Leo nominations for Best Performance. Recurring roles include "Battlestar Galactica", "Exes & Ohs", "The L Word", "Stargate: SG1", "Saved", "DaVinci's Inquest", "Whistler", "Blackstone", "Clue" and Cartoon Network's "Level Up".


title: Chelah Horsdal

text: "The Hostage", for which Horsdal was nominated for Best Actress at the 2011 Leos, co-starred and was produced by Tahmoh Penikett and Aleks Paunovic. Horsdal was nominated for four more Leo Awards for her guest starring turn on "Arctic Air" (2013), for "Hell On Wheels" and "When Calls The Heart", and for "Patterson's Wager".


title: Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

text: Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".


title: Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

text: Based on the Puck of English mythology and the púca of Celtic mythology, Puck is a mischievous fairy, sprite, or jester. He is the first of the main fairy characters to appear, and he significantly influences events in the play. He delights in pranks such as replacing Bottom's head with that of an ass.


title: Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

text: Puck serves the fairy king Oberon. Oberon is angry with Titania, the fairy queen, because she will not let him have a particular "little changeling boy" (2.1.120). Oberon sends Puck to fetch a particular flower, whereof the juice "on sleeping eyelids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote / Upon the next live creature that it sees" (2.1.170-72). Puck is told to apply some of it to the "disdainful youth" (2.1.261) in "Athenian garments" (2.1.264), but Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and applies it to Lysander. Oberon applies some of the juice to Titania, and Titania is waked by a singing Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has changed to that of an ass. Later, Puck is ordered to rectify his mistake with Lysander and Demetrius, and he creates a black fog through which he separates the "testy rivals" (3.2.358), imitating their voices until they are asleep. Puck has the final lines of the play:


title: Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

text: The original texts of Shakespeare's plays do not have cast-lists, and are not always consistent with characters' names. Puck's case is particularly awkward. Both the Quarto and the First Folio call the character "Robin Goodfellow" on the first entrance, but "Puck" later in the same scene, and they remain inconsistent. The Arden Shakespeare calls the character "Puck", and emends all stage directions (but not actual dialogue) that refer to the character as "Robin" or "Robin Goodfellow".


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures is an American CGI-animated preschool television series that was broadcast on Disney Junior. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series is the successor to "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". Originally airing as Mickey and the Roadster Racers for its first two seasons, it debuted in the United States on January 15, 2017.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: The series was renewed for a second season on March 15, 2017. The second season premiered on April 13, 2018. The show’s third season was renewed one year later, which led to the series being renamed as "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures"; the first episode under the new title was originally broadcast on October 14, 2019.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: This was Russi Taylor's final television series role before she died on July 26, 2019. The series was also the first series not to feature Donald's regular voice actor Tony Anselmo due to him being busy providing the voice for the character in other Disney projects.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: The show was followed by a new series, "Mickey Mouse Funhouse" premiered on August 20, 2021, on Disney Junior. In 2021, two holiday specials were released: a Halloween special, "Mickey's Tale of Two Witches", on October 7, 2021, in addition to a Christmas special, "Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas", on December 2, 2021.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures" is about the Sensational Six (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Pluto) as they race around their town of Hot Dog Hills, and around the world (Pluto doesn't race in any way). Unlike the previous series, this show contains two 11-minute stories as opposed to "Clubhouse"s full-length 22-minute stories. In the first half, Billy Beagle commentates on Mickey and his friends' races whether the race is in Hot Dog Hills or somewhere else around the world.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: In the second half, Minnie and Daisy work as the Happy Helpers alongside Cuckoo Loca (from "Minnie's Bow-Toons") where they help out different residents of Hot Dog Hills. Minnie and Daisy use the Turnstyler located in the office and the Happy Helper Van to assume the clothes associated with their jobs that they are hired to help out on.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: In Season 2, the Roadster Racers get their roadsters modified by Ludwig Von Drake so that they can perform Supercharged moves. In Season 2, the theme song (and a segment of the introduction) is also slightly altered near the end for the Supercharged part.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: In Season 3, Mickey builds a mixed-up motor lab that mixes up and transforms cars. It starts to use the classic "Hot Dog" song originally written and performed by They Might Be Giants for "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". This new version of the song is placed between the two segments of each episode and at the end of the final segment.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: Two hour-long specials aired at the end of the series. In the Halloween special, Mickey's Tale of Two Witches, Mickey tells Pluto the story about two witches-in-training, Minnie the Wonderful and Daisy Doozy. In Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas, Mickey and the gang get separated after shopping for Christmas gifts, and they have to get back to Hot Dog Hills to celebrate Christmas together.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: In addition to regular episodes, two hour-long specials were produced. Mickey's Tale of Two Witches aired on October 7, 2021, and Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas aired on December 2, 2021.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: The first season of "Mickey and the Roadster Racers" debuted on Disney Junior in the United States on January 15, 2017. The series also aired on Disney Junior in Canada on January 24, Disney Junior in Australia on March 17, Disney Junior in Asia on March 24, Disney Junior in the UK and Ireland on April 19, Disney Junior in South Africa on April 22 and Disney Channel in India on May 15.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: The first release, entitled "Mickey and the Roadster Racers" was released on DVD on March 7, 2017. "Minnie's Happy Helpers" was released on July 25, 2017, with the release themed around the Minnie and Daisy subplots. "Disney Junior Holiday" was released on October 23, 2018. "Minnie Bow Be Mine" was released on February 5, 2019. The show was re-released on Disney's streaming service, Disney+ and in select countries under Disney+ Hotstar.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: Note: In the Disney+ reprint, in the Season 1 episode, "Ye Olde Royal Heist", the scene where Lord Pete bumps Donald's Roadster into the River Thames was cut for unknown reasons.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: Charles Curtis of "USA Today" ranked the television series 9th in their "20 best shows for kids right now" list, asserting, "Whether it's "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", "Mickey and the Roadster Racers" or "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures", they're all good." Emily Ashby of "Common Sense Media" rated the series a 3 out of 5 stars, and complimented the presence of positive messages and role models, citing sustaining friendships and forgiveness, while saying the series manages to be entertaining.


title: Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures

text: "Chip 'n Dale's Nutty Tales" is a spin-off series which premiered on November 13, 2017. It aired in the daytime Disney Junior programming block for younger audiences. The plot revolves around Chip and Dale venturing and helping their friends in Hot Dog Hills. They interact with various characters from "Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures".


title: Mark Richt

text: Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, for three. His teams won two Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, five SEC division titles, and one Atlantic Coast Conference division title. He was a two-time SEC Coach of the Year (2002, 2005), the 2017 ACC Coach of the Year, and the winner of the national 2017 Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt played college football as a quarterback at Miami. As an assistant coach, he spent 14 years at Florida State University, where he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Bobby Bowden, and a year as offensive coordinator at East Carolina University.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt was raised in a blue-collar family, the second oldest of five children. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Lou and Helen Richt. Lou worked as a tool-and-die maker for Western Electric. In 1967, the Richt family moved to Boulder, Colorado when Lou got a new job. In 1973, Lou was transferred to South Florida where Mark would graduate from high school.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt became a star athlete at Boca Raton High and was called “All Turnpike’’ because of the various awards he received around the state of Florida. As a high school quarterback, he was recruited by the University of Miami, Florida State University, and Brown University. He chose to attend the University of Miami, an hour south from his family.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt played at the University of Miami from 1978 to 1982. Under coach Howard Schnellenberger, Richt was backup to future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. In later years at Miami, he played behind Bernie Kosar and Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde. He was mentored by quarterbacks coach Earl Morrall. Despite limited playing time, Richt still amassed nearly 1,500 passing yards. The 1981 Miami Hurricanes team finished 9–2, ranked 8th in the country, while the 1980 team finished 9–3, ranked 18th in the country. Richt received interest from multiple NFL teams and briefly spent time with the Denver Broncos behind John Elway.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt began his coaching career after being offered a job by Bobby Bowden as a graduate assistant for the Florida State Seminoles. Bowden had recruited Richt as a high school quarterback.


title: Mark Richt

text: At the age of 29, Richt was hired as the offensive coordinator at East Carolina University. Richt was hired by Bill Lewis, who had previously been defensive coordinator at Georgia. Lewis hired Richt from Florida State in part to help with recruiting.


title: Mark Richt

text: After one year at East Carolina, Bowden brought Richt back to Florida State to serve as the Seminoles' quarterbacks coach. Richt was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1994 upon the departure of Brad Scott. Under Richt, Florida State had one of college football's most explosive offenses. In his seven years as offensive coordinator, the Seminoles ranked in the nation’s top five scoring offenses for five seasons, they were top twelve in total offense for five seasons, and top twelve in passing offense for five seasons. Richt coached two Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks: Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke. Richt coached a total of six FSU quarterbacks to the NFL, including Ward, Weinke, Brad Johnson (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Danny Kanell (New York Giants), Danny McManus (Kansas City Chiefs) and Peter Tom Willis (Chicago Bears). During this period, FSU won seven consecutive ACC titles and two national championships (1993 and 1999).


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt was hired as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs before the 2001 season, replacing Jim Donnan. Richt's teams won two Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships (2002 and 2005), six SEC Eastern Division titles (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2012), and nine bowl games. The 2002 season marked Georgia's first conference championship since 1982, and Georgia's first-ever outright SEC East Division championship and SEC Championship Game appearance since the league began divisional play and the championship game in 1992.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt's teams represented the SEC in three Bowl Championship Series bowl games (all in the Sugar Bowl), with a record of 2–1, and finished in the top ten of the final AP Poll seven times (2002–2005, 2007, 2012, 2014). Additionally, his 2008 team finished in the top ten of the coaches' poll but not the AP Poll.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt finished his career at Georgia with 145 wins and 51 losses, making him the second-winningest coach in Georgia history (after Vince Dooley's 201). He left with the highest winning percentage of any coach with more than 29 games at the school.


title: Mark Richt

text: The 2015 Georgia Bulldogs football team were the favorites to win the SEC Eastern Division. The Bulldogs started the season 4–0 with SEC wins over Vanderbilt by a score of 31–14 and South Carolina by a score of 52–20. On October 3, eventual national champion Alabama came to Athens and defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 38–10. Georgia then had two additional conference losses to Florida and Tennessee. Georgia finished the regular season 9–3 after a four-game winning streak, including road wins over Auburn by a score of 20–13 and Georgia Tech by a score of 13–7.


title: Mark Richt

text: After leaving Georgia, Richt was named the head coach of the Hurricanes of the University of Miami, his alma mater. Richt made the announcement on December 4, 2015. Instead of saying he was leaving his home in Georgia, he said he was coming home: “My wife and I can tell you this: This is our home. We love it." "I have no intention of doing anything but finishing my coaching career at Miami." Richt graduated from high school in Palm Beach County, an hour north of campus.


title: Mark Richt

text: Fans embraced Richt's arrival in strong numbers. Before the opener of his first season, the Hurricanes surpassed 40,000 season ticket sales, the highest number since they started playing at Hard Rock Stadium in 2008. The Hurricane Club (UM Athletics's booster club) also sprung to a record level of members and donations.


title: Mark Richt

text: Howard Schnellenberger called Richt's signing “a marriage made in heaven." Miami Heisman alumni Vinny Testaverde, noted "I know he's going to be a great role model for my boy, for our kids, he's going to be a great person and a great teacher...And that's what these kids need." “I was shocked that Georgia let him go. But their loss is Miami’s gain." Testaverde's son Vincent is a backup quarterback on the team.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt served as the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes for the 2016 to 2018 seasons and called all offensive plays. He worked closely with quarterbacks at practice, alongside his oldest son and quarterbacks coach, Jon Richt. In his second year as head coach, he helped Miami win its first ACC Coastal title. Richt was named ACC Coach of the Year for this achievement.


title: Mark Richt

text: Shortly after joining Miami, Richt began spearheading a campaign to raise money for a new indoor practice facility. In May 2016, he told University of Miami boosters in Chicago he was donating $1 million of his own money towards the campaign, "I'm not just giving lip service to (making Miami great), that I truly believe it and I'm willing to invest my life in a lot of ways and our resources, too."


title: Mark Richt

text: Four months later, athletic director Blake James announced the new $34 million practice facility would be slated to open in 2018. The practice facility includes an 80,000 square-foot indoor practice field as well as a 20,000 square-foot football operations center. The operations center will house coaches' offices on a mezzanine level, team meeting rooms, position meeting rooms and a recruiting suite, and have a direct connection to the Hurricanes weight room and locker room.


title: Mark Richt

text: Upon the facility opening, Richt told ESPN “I didn’t come here just because it was my alma mater. I came here because you can win. If you do things right and get the support you need, you can win. It’s been proven. The players have always been here. You just have to make sure you get the right ones, and a lot of the other things they used to ding us on, our facilities and things like that, they’re not going to be able to do that anymore with this brand-new building and the improvements to Hard Rock Stadium.”


title: Mark Richt

text: Each Thursday during football season, Richt visited with local youth football teams. He has stated that he wanted to visit the teams at all the parks in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County. Richt also developed a partnership with the American Youth Football League to instruct youth coaches and players via regional clinics. The partnership further provided AYFL's coaches with a customized concussion protocol (in collaboration with UHealth Sports Medicine) that assists coaches with overall safety.


title: Mark Richt

text: Tolbert Bain, a starter on the national champion 1987 team worked regularly with South Florida Youth leagues and helped Richt to develop the outreach. Richt told ESPN, "I'd do this either way, but in my view, it's also building for UM's future. I plan to finish my coaching career at Miami."


title: Mark Richt

text: In Spring 2017, the team led all Division I FBS Football teams with the most community service hours.


title: Mark Richt

text: In July 2016, Richt and his wife Katharyn announced that they will be launching ‘The U Network’. “The U Network is going to be designed to help guys find work when their playing days are over whether it’s right after college or after their pro days. My wife is going to be the person kind of facilitating everything—all of the paperwork and all of the things it will take to connect people with events and connecting players with employers. It’s also going to be about reunion and connection, but the main goal is finding work for these guys and I’m talking about the guys who truly want work. We’re not just going to give somebody something. They’ve got to do their part, but sometimes all they need is a little bit of help of guidance, connection, and networking.”


title: Mark Richt

text: "(Coach) Richt is asking players to commit three, four or five years, the most important years of their lives to him and this program," said Don Bailey Jr., Richt's former teammate. "In turn, he's committing to them to make sure their professional life is forever secure after football. I think it's the ultimate payback."


title: Mark Richt

text: Despite joining the program with less than eight weeks before signing day, ESPN praised Richt for managing to recruit the 18th best class in the country. During this period, Richt was limited to three weeks of NCAA-allotted face time with recruits. Within two years, Richt had assembled the #2 recruiting class in the nation and had more committed players (18) than any FBS program before the early signing day period.


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt strongly opposes oversigning, a practice popular in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) that often results in older or hurt players losing their football scholarships. He believes that when a team offers a scholarship, it is a four-year commitment from the university. University of Miami athletes receive lifetime scholarships, allowing players who elect to leave before their graduation to return and complete their diploma.


title: Mark Richt

text: In 2018, Richt told ESPN that due to the nature of trust in recruiting, he feels that it is unethical to pursue other jobs since the head coach is offering a long term commitment to his players: "I never once have tried to leverage another job for more money. I don’t think that’s right. The day we took the job, my mentality has always been, ‘If you’re the head coach, too many lives depend on you.’ If I just say on a whim, ‘You know, I think I’d rather go here,’ well, all these recruits you said something to, all these coaches you said something to, what about them? Every time you hire a coach, you’re taking the coach, his wife and his kids on an adventure. They’re trusting you and believing in you enough to become a staff member. I don’t want to just walk into a room and say, ‘Hey, guys, thanks for helping me get to where I really want to be.’ It’s the same thing with these kids. They’ve had enough disappointment, enough men leave their lives. You’re trying to build trust, and then you bolt on them because of money or because of whatever? I’ve just never been able to get past that part of it.”


title: Mark Richt

text: Richt hosted "Paradise Camp", a summer football camp at UM for high school players. Prospects with offers and commitments were encouraged to attend. The camp was branded to highlight the benefits of playing and living in Miami's "paradise". The camp was open to individuals entering grades 9th -12th, prep students, junior college students, & 4 year college transfers. Miami charged the absolute allowable minimum for its on-campus camps. Richt regularly brought in UM NFL alumni as coaches: