title: HMS Barham (04)

text: She participated in the Battle of Dakar in mid-1940, where she damaged a Vichy French battleship and was slightly damaged in return. "Barham" was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, where she covered multiple Malta convoys. She helped to sink an Italian heavy cruiser and a destroyer during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and was damaged by German aircraft two months later during the evacuation of Crete. "Barham" was sunk off the Egyptian coast the following November by the with the loss of 862 crewmen, approximately two thirds of her crew.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The "Queen Elizabeth"-class ships were designed to form a fast squadron for the fleet that was intended to operate against the leading ships of the opposing battleline. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" had a length overall of , a beam of and a deep draught of . She had a normal displacement of and displaced at deep load. She was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. The turbines were rated at and intended to reach a maximum speed of . During her abbreviated sea trials on 6 July 1916, "Barham" only reached a mean top speed of . The ship had a range of at a cruising speed of . Her crew numbered 1,016 officers and ratings in 1916.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The "Queen Elizabeth" class was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) Mk I guns in four twin-gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. Twelve of the fourteen BL Mk XII guns were mounted in casemates along the broadside of the vessel amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the forecastle deck near the aft funnel and were protected by gun shields. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 20 cwt Mk I guns. The ships were fitted with four submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with rangefinders. One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the spotting top above the tripod mast. Each turret was also fitted with a 15-foot rangefinder. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in July 1917.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The waterline belt of the "Queen Elizabeth" class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was thick over the ships' vitals. The gun turrets were protected by of KC armour and were supported by barbettes thick. The ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from in thickness. The main conning tower was protected by of armour. After the Battle of Jutland, of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. During her early-1930s refit, the platforms were removed from the turrets and a retractable catapult was installed on the roof of 'X' turret, along with a crane to recover a floatplane. This was initially a Fairey IIIF until it was replaced by a Fairey Swordfish in 1938.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" received a series of minor refits during the 1920s. In 1921–1922, rangefinders replaced the smaller ones in 'B' and 'X' turrets. Two years later, her anti-aircraft defences were upgraded when the original three-inch AA guns were replaced with a pair of QF Mk V AA guns between November 1924 and January 1925 and another pair of four-inch AA guns were added from October to November later that year. To control these guns a temporary High-Angle Control Position was mounted above the torpedo-control tower aft. This was replaced by a torpedo rangefinder in early 1928 when the permanent position was installed in the remodelled spotting top.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The ship was extensively refitted between January 1931 and January 1934 at a cost of £424,000. During this refit, the aft superstructure was rebuilt and the torpedo-control tower and its rangefinder were removed, together with the aft set of torpedo tubes. The fore funnel was trunked into the aft funnel to reduce smoke in the spotting top. A High-Angle Control System (HACS) Mk I director were added to the roof of the spotting top and the mainmast was reconstructed as a tripod to support the weight of a second HACS director. A pair of octuple mounts for 2-pounder () Mk VIII "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns were added abreast the funnel and two positions for their directors were added on new platforms abreast and below the spotting top. In addition, a pair of quadruple mounts for Vickers AA machine guns were added abreast the conning tower.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The turret roofs were reinforced to a thickness of and the armour added over the magazines after Jutland was replaced by 4 inches of Krupp non-cemented armour, the first British battleship to receive such. In addition, the rear of the six-inch gun casemates was enclosed by a bulkhead. Underwater protection was improved by the addition of torpedo bulges. They were designed to reduce the effect of torpedo detonations and improve stability at the cost of widening the ship's beam by almost to , and reduced her draught to . This increased her metacentric height to about at deep load, despite the increase in her deep displacement to . When "Barham" conducted her sea trials on 20 November 1933, her speed was reduced to from .


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Later alterations included replacing the single mounts of the AA guns with twin mounts for the QF 4-inch Mark XVI gun, removal of the forward submerged torpedo tubes and the high-angle rangefinder in March–May 1938. In addition the torpedo-control tower aft was replaced by an air-defence position during that same refit. While under repair in December 1939March 1940, a 20-barrel Unrotated projectile (UP) rocket launcher was installed on the roof of 'B' turret and her HACS Mk I directors were replaced with Mk III models. The following year the UP mount was replaced by a pair of quadruple Vickers 0.5-inch machine gun mounts and another pair of eight-barreled "pom-pom" mounts were added abreast her conning tower.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The "Queen Elizabeth" class was ordered as part of the 1912 Naval Programme and the contract for "Barham" was awarded to John Brown & Company. The ship, named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, was laid down at their Clydebank shipyard on 24 February 1913 and launched on 31 December 1914. "Barham" cost a total of £2,470,113. She was completed for trials on 19 August 1915 which took until the end of September to finish under the command of Captain Arthur Craig Waller. The following day, 1 October, Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, commander of the 5th Battle Squadron, hoisted his flag aboard his new flagship.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" joined the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow the next day and participated in a fleet training operation west of Orkney during 2–5 November. During another training exercise in early December, the ship was accidentally rammed by her sister ship on 3 December. After temporary repairs at Scapa, "Barham" was sent to Cromarty Firth for more permanent repairs in the floating dry dock there that lasted until 23 December.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The Grand Fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February 1916; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force to sweep the Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. Another sweep began on 6 March, but had to be abandoned the following day as the weather grew too severe for the escorting destroyers. On the night of 25 March, "Barham" and the rest of the fleet sailed from Scapa Flow to support Beatty's battlecruisers and other light forces raiding the German Zeppelin base at Tondern. By the time the Grand Fleet approached the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already disengaged and a strong gale threatened the light craft, so the fleet was ordered to return to base. On 21 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a demonstration off Horns Reef to distract the Germans while the Russian Navy relaid its defensive minefields in the Baltic Sea. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before proceeding south in response to intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft. The 5th Battle Squadron preceded the rest of the Grand Fleet to reinforce Vice-Admiral David Beatty's battlecruiser fleet, but the British arrived in the area after the Germans had withdrawn. On 2–4 May, the fleet conducted another demonstration off Horns Reef to keep German attention focused on the North Sea. On 21 May, the 5th Battle Squadron was attached to Beatty while his 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was detached for gunnery training and arrived at Rosyth the following day.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 6 light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats, departed the Jade early on the morning of 31 May. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. In response the Admiralty ordered the Grand Fleet, totalling some 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers, to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet. "Barham" slipped her mooring at 22:08 and was followed by the rest of Beatty's ships.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: When dawn broke Beatty ordered his forces into cruising formation with the 5th Battle Squadron trailing his battle cruisers by . At 14:15, Beatty ordered a turn north by east to rendezvous with the Grand Fleet. Shortly before the turn, one of his escorting light cruisers, spotted smoke on the horizon and continued on her course to investigate. Ten minutes later, the ship radioed "Two cruisers, probably hostile, in sight..." They were actually two German destroyers that had stopped to check a Danish merchant ship's papers. At 14:32, Beatty ordered a course change to south-southeast in response to the spot report. "Barham"s signallers were unable to read the signal and her officer of the watch presumed that it was the expected point zigzag to the left of the base course and signalled that course change to the rest of the squadron. After several minutes it became apparent that the squadron was not conforming to Beatty's other ships, but Evan-Thomas refused to change course until clear instructions had been received despite entreaties from the "Barham"s captain. While the exact time when Evan-Thomas ordered his ships to turn to follow Beatty is not known, the consensus is that it was about seven minutes later, which increased his distance from Beatty to nothing less than .


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 15:30. Two minutes later, Beatty ordered a course change to east-southeast, positioning the British ships to cut off the German's line of retreat, and signalled action stations. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. With this turn, Hipper was falling back on the High Seas Fleet, behind him. Beatty then altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off. This was later characterised as the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east-southeast at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than away. By this time the 5th Battle Squadron was about northwest of Beatty. The Germans opened fire first at 15:48, followed by the British battlecruisers.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: The light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group were the first German ships visible to Evan-Thomas's ships and "Barham" opened fire on them at 15:58 until the cruisers disappeared into their own smoke screen at around 16:05. About three minutes later, the ship opened fire on the battlecruiser at a range of about . A minute later she scored one hit on the German ship's stern before she was ordered to switch targets to the battlecruiser , together with her sister . The shell struck just below the waterline and burst on impact with the belt armour. The impact was right on the joints between several armour plates and drove them inwards and destroyed part of the hull behind them. The damage allowed over of water to flood the stern and nearly knocked out the ship's steering gear. Between them, "Barham" and "Valiant" hit "Moltke" four times from 16:16 to 16:26, but only one of those hits can be attributed to "Valiant". Two of the others detonated upon striking the waterline armour, but failed to penetrate. The impacts drove in the plates and fragments caused much flooding by damaging the surrounding structure. The last shell passed all the way through the ship without detonating; it struck and dislodged a armour plate on the waterline on the other side of the ship that caused also some flooding. "Barham" was herself was struck twice during the "Run to the South": the first was a shell from "von der Tann" that failed to do any damage when it hit the waterline armour and the battlecruiser fired a shell that detonated in the aft superstructure. This sent splinters in every direction and started a small fire, but otherwise did no significant damage.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: At 16:30, the light cruiser , scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet coming north at top speed. Three minutes later, she sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this for another five minutes. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north, towards the Grand Fleet in what came to be known as the "Run to the North". His order only applied to his own forces; the 5th Battle Squadron continued south until after it passed Beatty heading northwestwards at 16:51. Beatty then ordered Evan-Thomas to turn his ships in succession to follow the battlecruisers three minutes later. This meant that they were some closer to the rapidly advancing High Sea Fleet. And now within range of the battleships of the 3rd Squadron which opened fire on the 5th Battle Squadron as they made their turn.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Evan-Thomas continued his turn until his ships were steering due north, which interposed the 5th Battle Squadron between Hipper's battlecruisers, which had reversed course around 16:48 to follow Beatty north, and Beatty's ships. While making the turn, "Barham" was struck by two 30.5-centimetre shells beginning at 16:58, probably from the battlecruiser . The first of these struck the ship's upper deck before detonating upon striking the main deck above the medical store compartment, which was completely burnt out. The detonation blew a hole in the main deck, sent fragments through the middle and lower decks and burned out the casemate for starboard No. 2 six-inch gun. Three minutes later another shell hit the aft superstructure, severing the antenna cables of the main wireless station. One fragment ricocheted off the upper deck and through the side plating on the opposite side of the ship. Either the first or the fourth of these shells destroyed the ship's sickbay, killing the staff and all of its patients, including eight ship's boys. "Barham" returned fire at the battlecruisers at 17:02, together with "Valiant", the two northernmost of Evan-Thomas's ships, and the two of them made three hits on the battlecruiser and "Lützow" between 17:06 and 17:13 while "Barham" was hit twice more by "Derfflinger"; although neither of the hits did any significant damage. In contrast, the hit on "Lützow" flooded a magazine and the hits on "Seydlitz" blew a hole in the side of her bow. Fragments from this hit caused flooding that spread throughout the bow, while the ship's speed caused water to enter directly through the hole in the side. Other fragments from the second hit caused damage that allowed the water to spread even further. These two hits were ultimately responsible for the massive flooding that nearly sank the ship after the battle. The third shell detonated on the face of the starboard wing turret, although some fragments entered the turret and caused minor damage.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Beatty in the meantime had turned further west to open up the range between his battered battlecruisers and the Germans. At 17:45 he turned eastwards to take his position in front of the Grand Fleet and re-engage Hipper's ships. This meant that the 5th Battle Squadron and the light cruisers were the sole targets available for the German ships until after his turn, although the worsening visibility hampered both sides' shooting. "Barham" was not hit during this time and she and "Valiant", later joined by their sister "Warspite", continued to fire at Hipper's 1st Scouting Group until 18:02 when "Valiant" lost sight of the Germans. They hit "Lützow", "Derfflinger" and "Seydlitz" three times each between 17:19 and about 18:05. "Lützow" was only slightly damaged by these hits, which essentially only knocked out the primary and back-up wireless rooms while the shells that hit "Derfflinger" hit the side of the ship's bow, knocking off several armour plates, while fragments opened holes that ultimately allowed roughly of water to enter the bow. One of these hits also started several major fires inside the hull. The hits on "Seydlitz" mostly opened up more holes that facilitated the flooding.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Hipper turned his ships southward around 18:05 to fall back upon Scheer's advancing battleships and then reversed course five minutes later. Evan-Thomas turned northeast at around 18:06 and then made a slow turn to the southeast once he spotted the Grand Fleet. He first spotted the battleship , flagship of the 6th Division of the 1st Battle Squadron and thought she was leading the Grand Fleet as it deployed from cruising formation into line ahead. At 18:17 he realised that "Marlborough" was actually at the rear of the formation and he ordered a turn to the north to bring his squadron into line behind the Grand Fleet. This took some time and his ships had to slow down to to avoid overrunning the 6th Division and blocking its fire. The 5th Battle Squadron concentrated their fire on the German battleships after losing sight of the battlecruisers, with "Barham" opening fire at 18:14. No hits were observed and the ships stopped firing after making their turn north, but "Barham" opened fire for a short time when they fell in line with the Grand Fleet a few minutes later, probably without making any hits.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" fired 337 fifteen-inch shells and 25 six-inch shells during the battle. The number of hits cannot be confirmed, but it is believed that she and "Valiant" made 23 or 24 hits between them, making them two of the most accurate warships in the British fleet. She was hit six times during the battle, five times by 30.5 cm shells and once by a 28.3 cm shell, suffering casualties of 26 killed and 46 wounded.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Following Jutland, "Barham" was under repair until 5 July 1916. On the evening of 18 August, the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered by Room 40 that indicated that the High Seas Fleet, minus II Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. The German objective was to bombard Sunderland on 19 August, based on extensive reconnaissance conducted by Zeppelins and submarines. The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnoughts and 6 battlecruisers while the Germans mustered 18 dreadnoughts and 2 battlecruisers. Throughout the next day, Jellicoe and Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, commander of the High Seas Fleet, received conflicting intelligence; after reaching the location in the North Sea where they expected to encounter the High Seas Fleet, the British turned north in the erroneous belief that they had entered a minefield. Scheer turned south again, then steered south-eastward to pursue a lone British battle squadron sighted by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force of cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. Realising their mistake, the Germans changed course for home. The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet but was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark, and broke off contact. The British and the German fleets returned home; the British lost two cruisers to submarine attacks, and one German dreadnought had been torpedoed. After returning to port, Jellicoe issued an order that prohibited risking the fleet in the southern half of the North Sea due to the overwhelming risk from mines and U-boats unless the odds of defeating the High Seas Fleet in a decisive engagement were favourable.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: She was refitted at Cromarty between February and March 1917 and King George V inspected the ship on 22 June at Invergordon. "Barham" was refitted at Rosyth from 7–23 February 1918 and Waller was relieved by Captain Henry Buller on 18 April. The latter was succeeded by Captain Richard Horne on 1 October. She was present when the High Seas Fleet surrendered for internment on 21 November.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" became flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet in April 1919, and made a port visit to Cherbourg, France that month together with the rest of the squadron. Captain Robin Dalglish relieved Horne on 1 October 1920. She retained her position when the 1st and 2nd Battle Squadrons were merged in May 1921. Dalglish was relieved in his turn by Captain Percy Noble on 18 October 1922. "Barham" participated in the Fleet review on 26 July 1924 at Spithead. A few months later, now under the command of Captain Richard Hill, the ship again retained her position as the 1st Battle Squadron was split in two and the "Queen Elizabeth"s of the new 1st Battle Squadron were transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 1 November 1924. On 14 October 1925, Captain Francis Marten relieved Hill, but he retained command only until 9 March 1926 when Captain Joseph Henley assumed command. Together with her sister , "Barham" was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, in May 1927 during a time of unrest. Now under the command of Captain Hubert Monroe and accompanied by the battleship , she cruised along the coast of West Africa from December 1927 to February 1928. She became a private ship in January of that year and was refitted at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in February–July. Shortly after her return to the Mediterranean, "Barham" again became flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron in September after her sister "Warspite" had to return home for repairs after running aground. Captain James Somerville relieved Monroe on 1 December and he was relieved in his turn on 16 March 1929 by Captain John C. Hamilton. The ship was relieved as flagship by in June and she was ordered to Palestine in August where her crew helped to suppress rioting in Haifa and also operated the Haifa-Jerusalem railroad. The ship was transferred to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet in November 1929, and, together with "Malaya", made a port visit to Trondheim, Norway in mid-1930 where they fired a salute to celebrate the birth of Princess Ragnhild on 9 June.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Between January 1931 and January 1934, "Barham" underwent a major refit. While the other four ships of the "Queen Elizabeth class" were given a second, more extensive refit in the mid-to-late 1930s (which for "Warspite", "Valiant" and amounted to a complete reconstruction with new machinery and superstructures), changes to "Barham" were relatively minor. Now under the command of Captain Richard Scott, "Barham" was assigned to the Home Fleet as the flagship of the 2nd Battle Squadron, and deployed to the West Indies in January–February 1935 for training. The ship participated in the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review for George V on 16 July at Spithead and was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of August. At that time, Captain Norman Wodehouse relieved Scott. She was briefly deployed to Haifa in May 1936 at the beginning of the Arab revolt in Palestine. Shortly afterwards, she was deployed to Gibraltar for several months after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in July.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" served as the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron from November 1936 to May 1937 and participated in the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI on 19 May at Spithead. She became the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet on 9 June until relieved by "Warspite" on 8 February 1938. Captain Henry Horan assumed command on 28 July 1937, although he only remained in command until 22 April 1938 when he was relieved by Captain Algernon Willis. The ship resumed her former role as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron in February 1938 while undergoing a refit at Portsmouth that lasted until May. Willis was relieved by Captain Thomas Walker on 31 January 1939. During a port visit to Corfu in July, the ship was visited by King George II of Greece.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham" remained part of the Mediterranean Fleet at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. She became a private ship on 1 December and departed Alexandria to join the Home Fleet that same day. On 12 December, she accidentally rammed one of her escorts, the destroyer , in thick fog west of the Mull of Kintyre. "Duchess" capsized and sank, with the loss of 124 of her crew.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham", the battlecruiser and the destroyers , , , and were on patrol off the Butt of Lewis to protect against a possible break-out into the Atlantic by German warships when they were spotted by the , commanded by Fritz-Julius Lemp, on 28 December. Lemp fired four torpedoes at the two capital ships, and one struck "Barham" on her port side, adjacent to the shell rooms for 'A' and 'B' turrets. The anti-torpedo bulge was essentially destroyed adjacent to the strike, with four men killed and two wounded. Most of the adjacent compartments flooded and the ship took on a 7 degree list that was countered by transferring fuel oil to starboard. "Barham"s speed was initially reduced to , but it was increased to about an hour and a half later and she was able to proceed under her own power to Birkenhead for repairs by Cammell Laird that lasted until April 1940.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Captain Geoffrey Cooke assumed command on 25 March and the Navy took the opportunity to augment her light anti-aircraft armament and upgrade its directors. "Barham" played no role in the Norwegian Campaign although some of her crew and marines participated. In preparation for Operation Menace, a British naval attack on Dakar, Senegal, prior to a planned landing by the Free French, the ship was detached from the Home Fleet on 28 August and was assigned to Force M, the Royal Navy component of the operation. She departed Scapa Flow that day, escorted by four destroyers, and rendezvoused with the troop convoy en route to Gibraltar where she arrived on 2 September. She later became the flagship of Force M's commander, Vice-Admiral John Cunningham. Reinforced by the battleship and the aircraft carrier from Force H, "Barham" departed Gibraltar for Freetown, Sierra Leone, four days later.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Force M departed Freetown for Dakar on 21 September and had arrived Dakar before dawn two days later. After Free French emissaries were either captured or driven off by the Vichy French, Cunningham ordered his ships to open fire. "Barham"s six-inch guns were the first to do so and fired at the on the surface. They claimed at least one hit and the submarine was finished off by two of the escorting destroyers and the light cruiser . Her main guns targeted the port and the battleship . Hindered by poor visibility, no significant damage was inflicted and "Richelieu" was not hit before the bombardment was called off after 20 minutes.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: After the expiration of an ultimatum to surrender the following morning, the battleships engaged the port's coast-defence guns and "Richelieu" at 09:30. The latter was only struck by a single shell splinter before the Allies broke off the bombardment at 10:07, although she had hit "Barham" once with a shell that blew a hole in diameter in the bulge. The sortied from the harbour at 12:00 to rescue a British pilot in the water, but was engaged at 12:53 by the battleships at a range of . The ship was not hit, but was forced to return to port under the cover of a heavy smoke screen. The British battleships then switched targets to bombard the harbour and "Richelieu". They set several merchant ships on fire, but again failed to hit the latter at a range of before breaking off fire at 13:20. During this time "Barham" was struck by a 24 cm shell that penetrated through the superstructure before exploding with little effect and without causing any casualties. Another shell, probably also 24 cm in size, detonated in the water on the starboard side abreast of the funnels. The resulting shockwave pushed the bulge inwards for a length of and it started to slowly flood.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: After a conference aboard "Barham" later that day, the Allied commanders resolved to continue the attack. On the morning of 25 September, "Richelieu" was the first ship to open fire at 09:04 at a range of . As the British battleships were manoeuvring to take up their positions, the submarine fired a spread of four torpedoes at a range of . "Barham" was able to dodge them, but "Resolution" was struck by one torpedo amidships that caused a heavy list, and she fell out of line. "Barham" opened fire at a range of and hit "Richelieu" with one 15-inch shell at 09:15. The shell devastated a messdeck and dented the armoured deck by a depth of , but caused no casualties. The severe damage to "Resolution" caused Operation Menace to be abandoned and "Barham" had to tow her to Freetown for temporary repairs, before escorting a convoy to Gibraltar where she arrived on 15 October where her own damage was repaired. She was briefly assigned to Force H, before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1940.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: "Barham", two cruisers, and three destroyers also assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet were designated Force F as part of Operation Coat, one of a complex series of fleet movements in the Mediterranean. The battleship and the other ships of Force F were tasked to ferry troops to Malta, before continuing on to Alexandria. "Barham" was loaded with 600 troops, including the men of 12 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, Force F departed Gibraltar on 7 November, escorted by Force H, rendezvoused with the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet three days later and unloaded their cargo at Malta later that day. While sailing eastwards, the aircraft carrier was detached from the main body to attack Taranto on the night of 11/12 November, damaging three Italian battleships. "Barham", now assigned to the 1st BS, and "Malaya" were detached to refuel at Souda Bay, Crete, before sailing for Alexandria, reaching there on 14 November. As part of Operation Collar in late November, "Barham", "Malaya" and the carrier covered the forces rendezvousing with a convoy coming from Gibraltar. En route, "Eagle"s aircraft attacked Tripoli on 26 November. "Barham" became the flagship of the 1st BS in December.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: On 3 January 1941, the ship, together with "Warspite" and "Valiant", bombarded Bardia as a prelude to the Battle of Bardia. On 26 March, the Italian fleet sortied in an attempt to intercept British convoys to Greece. The British had recently broken the Italian codes and sailed after dark on the 27th to intercept the Italians. The following morning, they were spotted by an aircraft from the carrier and the Battle of Cape Matapan began. Multiple air strikes by "Formidable"s Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers damaged the battleship and crippled the heavy cruiser later that evening. Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the Italian fleet, ordered the two other heavy cruisers of the 1st Division to render assistance to "Pola" in the darkness. The Italian ships and the British arrived almost simultaneously at "Pola"s location, but the Italians had almost no clue that the British were nearby. On the other hand, the British knew exactly where the Italians were, thanks to their radar-equipped ships. They opened fire at point-blank range, "Barham" crippling the destroyer and then joining "Warspite" and "Valiant" in crippling .


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: In mid-April she escorted the fast transport , together with "Warspite" and "Valiant", from Alexandria to Malta before the battleships bombarded Tripoli on the evening of 20 April. On 612 May, she covered the Alexandria-Malta convoy of Operation Tiger. With her newly arrived sister "Queen Elizabeth", "Barham" escorted "Formidable" as her aircraft attacked the Italian airfield at Scarpanto at dawn on 26 May with some success. While covering the evacuation of Crete the following day, the ship was attacked by Junkers Ju 88 bombers from II./LG (Demonstration Wing) 1 and Heinkel He 111 bombers of II./KG (Bomber Wing) 26. One bomb struck 'Y' turret and started a fire inside the turret that took 20 minutes to quench. A near miss ruptured her portside bulge over an area and caused a 1.5 degree list that was easily corrected by pumping oil. Casualties were five dead and six wounded. She reached Alexandria later that day, but she was too large for the floating dock there and had to be sent elsewhere for repairs. She sailed south through the Suez Canal to Mombasa, Kenya, where her damage was inspected. It proved to be worse than expected and "Barham" had to be repaired at Durban, South Africa, as she was unfit to make the trans-Atlantic crossing for repair in the United States. Repairs were completed six weeks later on 30 July and the ship returned to Alexandria in August where she resumed her role as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: On the afternoon of 24 November 1941, the 1st Battle Squadron, "Barham", "Queen Elizabeth", and "Valiant", with an escort of eight destroyers, departed Alexandria to cover the 7th and 15th Cruiser Squadrons as they hunted for Italian convoys in the Central Mediterranean. The following morning, the , commanded by "Oberleutnant zur See" Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen, detected the faint engine noises of the British ships and moved to intercept. By the afternoon the submarine and the 1st Battle Squadron were on reciprocal courses and Tiesenhausen ordered his boat to battle stations around 16:00. An ASDIC operator aboard one of the leading destroyers, , detected the submarine at 16:18 at an estimated range of , but the contact was disregarded as it subtended an angle between 40 and 60 degrees wide, far larger than a submarine. "U-331" thus passed through the screen and was in a position to fire her torpedoes after the leading ship, "Queen Elizabeth", had passed her by and the second ship, "Barham", was closing rapidly. Tiesenhausen ordered all four bow torpedo tubes fired at a range of at 16:25. Possibly due to her closeness to "Valiant"s bow wave and discharging the torpedoes, the boat's conning tower broached the surface and was fruitlessly engaged by one of the battleship's "pom-pom"s at a range of about . The boat dived out of control after she broached, reaching an indicated depth of , well below her design depth rating of , before she stabilised without any damage. "U-331" was not attacked by the escorting destroyers and reached port on 3 December. Tiesenhausen was not certain of the results of his attack and radioed that he had hit a "Queen Elizabeth"-class battleship with one torpedo.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: There was no time for evasive action, and three of the four torpedoes struck amidships so closely together as to throw up a single massive water column. "Barham" quickly capsized to port and was lying on her side when a massive magazine explosion occurred about four minutes after she was torpedoed and sank her. The Board of Enquiry into the sinking ascribed the final explosion to a fire in the 4-inch magazines outboard of the main 15-inch magazines, which would have then spread to and detonated the contents of the main magazines. Due to the speed at which she sank, 862 officers and ratings were killed, including two who died of their wounds after being rescued. The destroyer rescued 337 survivors, including Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell and the pair who later died of their wounds, while the Australian destroyer reportedly rescued 150 men. Captain Geoffrey Cooke went down with his ship. The sinking was captured on film by a cameraman from Pathé News, aboard "Valiant".


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: To conceal the sinking from the Germans and to protect British morale, the Board of Admiralty censored all news of "Barham"s sinking. After a delay of several weeks the War Office notified the next of kin, but they added a special request for secrecy: the notification letters included a warning not to discuss the loss of the ship with anyone but close relatives, stating it was "most essential that information of the event which led to the loss of your husband's life should not find its way to the enemy until such time as it is announced officially..." Following repeated claims by German radio, the Admiralty officially announced the loss on 27 January 1942 and explained that


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: It was not until the Admiralty admitted that "Barham" had been sunk and described the circumstances that Tiesenhausen knew that he had sunk her. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross that day. The crew are commemorated by a memorial bench, located in Nothe Gardens, Weymouth.


title: HMS Barham (04)

text: Helen Duncan, considered the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act 1735, came to the attention of the authorities after claiming to have contacted the spirit of a sailor of "Barham", at the time when the ship's sinking was being hidden from the general public.


title: Crumb (film)

text: Crumb is a 1995 American documentary film about the noted underground cartoonist R. Crumb and his family (including his two brothers) and his outlook on life. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Lynn O'Donnell, it won widespread acclaim. It was released in the USA on April 28, 1995, having been screened at film festivals (and winning the Documentary Prize at Sundance) that year. Jeffery M. Anderson (later critic for the "San Francisco Examiner") placed the film on his list of the ten greatest films of all time, labeling it "the greatest documentary ever made." The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray on August 10, 2010.


title: Crumb (film)

text: Robert Crumb, a pioneer in the underground comix movement of the 1960s, collects 78-rpm blues records from the 1920s and '30s and is moving soon with his wife (fellow comics artist Aline Kominsky-Crumb) and daughter (Sophie) to a house in southern France that he is trading for some of his sketchbooks. He begins a speech at an art school by mentioning the three things he is probably best known for (those being the "Keep on Truckin'" strip from 1968, the "Cheap Thrills" (1968) album cover, and Fritz the Cat), before spending much of the rest of the film detailing his distaste for modern American consumerist culture and his darkly cynical perspective on life. He is seen sketching his surroundings at cafés and on sidewalks, attending an exhibition of his work, and interacting with friends and family.


title: Crumb (film)

text: Viewers learn about Robert's career through interviews with his contemporaries Don Donahue, Spain Rodriguez, Bill Griffith, and Trina Robbins, as well as critics Robert Hughes and Deirdre English, who also discuss the controversy surrounding many of Robert's depictions of women and African-Americans. Robert's ex-wife Dana and ex-girlfriends Kathy Goodell and Dian Hanson provide additional insights into his personality. Much information about Robert's childhood is derived from scenes of him in conversation with his mother Beatrice, older brother Charles, and younger brother Maxon. Robert's two sisters declined to be interviewed for the film, and one of them reportedly responded on both sisters' behalf to Crumb and Zwigoff's offer to appear by demanding Robert pay her thousands of dollars of "reparations" for his "crimes against women", which Crumb bluntly refused to consider and led to him withdrawing the offer to appear in the film at all. Charles, whom Robert acknowledges as his main artistic influence, no longer draws, has never lived on his own, and takes prescription psychiatric medications to help stabilize his mental state (he committed suicide before the film was released). Maxon, who has a seizure disorder he says is triggered by feelings of sexual arousal, lives an ascetic life in a dilapidated hotel, meditating, begging on the street, and occasionally drawing or painting. All three brothers mention the authoritarian behavior of their father and talk about the comic books Charles made them make when they were children.


title: Crumb (film)

text: Robert is shown drawing with Sophie and Jesse, his son with Dana, with whom Robert has become reacquainted after abandoning his family to move to San Francisco when the boy was young. He invites Jesse to visit him in France, but his main concern regarding the move is about how his records will fare. After the moving men cart off his collection, Robert is distracted from his worries just long enough to take a phone call and reject an offer to make an animated film based on his character Mr. Natural.


title: Crumb (film)

text: Robert Crumb initially did not want to make the film, but eventually agreed. There was a rumor, accidentally created by Roger Ebert, that Terry Zwigoff, who was friends with Crumb, made Crumb cooperate by threatening to shoot himself. Ebert later clarified this in an audio commentary he did with Zwigoff in 2006 and a review he wrote in 2005, where he said: "That never happened, but it may be true that Zwigoff’s life was saved because he did make the film."


title: Crumb (film)

text: During the nine years it took to make the documentary, Zwigoff said he was “averaging an income of about $200 a month and living with back pain so intense that I spent three years with a loaded gun on the pillow next to my bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill myself.” He felt the involvement of Maxon and, particularly, Charles was central to the film, which led him to choose "Crumb" as the title.


title: Crumb (film)

text: The film is "presented" by David Lynch, though he had no actual involvement in its making. In the commentary Zwigoff did with Ebert, he says that Lynch did not respond to a request for funds until after the film was already finished, but they agreed to include Lynch's name in the advertising and credits to attract more viewers.


title: Crumb (film)

text: "Crumb" was met with wide acclaim from critics, earning a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 43 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Crumb" is a frank and surreal chronicle of artistic expression and family trauma, offering an unblinking gaze into the mind and work of cartoonist Robert Crumb that will endear as much as it unsettles." Gene Siskel rated it as the best film of the year. Roger Ebert gave it four stars (out of four), writing: ""Crumb" is a film that gives new meaning to the notion of art as therapy." Critic Jeffrey M. Anderson gave it four stars (out of four), calling it "one of the bravest and most honest films I've ever seen", and listing its characteristics as those of "a great documentary". In "The Washington Post", Desson Howe's review was similarly positive. The "San Francisco Chronicle" rated the film as "wild applause", with critic Edward Guthmann calling it "one of the most provocative, haunting documentaries of the last decade." He also noted that Robert Crumb and wife Aline had drawn a "scornful" cartoon about the film in "The New Yorker".


title: Crumb (film)

text: Despite such strong reviews, "Crumb" was not nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (the nominating committee reportedly stopped watching the film after only twenty minutes). The Oscar snub of "Crumb", following the snubbing of the equally acclaimed "Hoop Dreams" the previous year, caused a media furor that caused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to revamp its documentary nomination process. Zwigoff stated in an interview that "the Academy Awards thing had much more to do with the fact that at the time, a lot of the documentary membership was made up of distributors of documentary films. The rules have changed since then. But they would just vote for the films they distributed because it was in their financial interest to do so. I came to learn that later. At the time, I just assumed they were disgusted with the film."


title: Crumb (film)

text: In 2008, "Entertainment Weekly" named "Crumb" the 14th best film of the last 25 years. In 2012, "Slant Magazine" ranked the film #74 on its list of the 100 Best Films of the 1990s, calling it "Arguably the greatest of all nonfiction films." Morgan Spurlock named it to his list of "50 Documentaries to See Before You Die".


title: Crumb (film)

text: Although Zwigoff only filmed Robert Crumb's brothers with their consent, some have questioned whether they were able to provide that consent in a meaningful way.


title: Kris Kristofferson filmography

text: American singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson has been in numerous films, television films, television series and video games. He started acting in the 1970s, appearing in the films "The Last Movie" (1971), "Cisco Pike" (1972), "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973), "Blume in Love" (1973), "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" (1974) and "Vigilante Force" (1976), before starring in the 1976 film "A Star Is Born" as John Norman Howard, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He went on to co-star in "Stagecoach" (1986) and star in films such as "Semi-Tough" (1977), "Convoy" (1978), "Heaven's Gate" (1980), "Flashpoint" (1984), "Big Top Pee-wee" (1988), and "Welcome Home" (1989).


title: Kris Kristofferson filmography

text: In the 1990s, Kristofferson played Gabriel in the 1993 film "Knights" with Lance Henriksen and as Charlie Wade in the 1996 film "Lone Star" with Matthew McConaughey. He was then cast as Abraham Whistler in the 1998 vampire superhero action film "Blade", a role he later reprised in "Blade II" (2002) and "" (2004) and which has been criticised as whitewashing. During that time, he also portrayed Karubi (Daena's father) in "Planet of the Apes" (2001), and Older Billy Coleman "Where the Red Fern Grows" (2003). In 2005, he appeared in "The Jacket" with Adrien Brody, a year later he was in "Fast Food Nation" with Patricia Arquette and lent his voice as the narrator to the 2007 film "I'm Not There". He joined the ensemble cast in the 2009 romantic comedy "He's Just Not That Into You" alongside Jennifer Aniston. He played Reed Haskett in the 2011 film "Dolphin Tale" and again in the sequel, "Dolphin Tale 2" (2014).


title: Kris Kristofferson filmography

text: Kristofferson's television work includes the television films "Freedom Road" (1979), and "Blood & Orchids" (1986); the miniseries "Amerika" (1987) and "Lives of the Saints" (2004); the television series "Dead Man's Gun" (1997–1999); and most recently, playing the role of U.S. President Andrew Jackson in the historical miniseries "Texas Rising" (2015).


title: Last Forever

text: "Last Forever" is the series finale of the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother". The episode serves as the 23rd and 24th episodes of season nine, and the 207th and 208th episodes overall; the episode's two parts are classified as two separate episodes. It aired on March 31, 2014.


title: Last Forever

text: "Last Forever" received a polarized response from fans and TV critics, primarily in regard to the final twist ending, the relationship between Ted and Robin, and the fate of the series' titular mother. Many viewers expressed considerable disdain for the disregard for character development and said the episode rendered the whole season pointless, while some praised it for tying up loose ends; an alternate ending would later be included in the ninth season's home media release.


title: Last Forever

text: In a flashback to September 2005, Ted (Josh Radnor), Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) accept Robin (Cobie Smulders) into their group. Lily, optimistic about Robin's friendship, decrees that Ted and Barney cannot hook up with Robin unless they marry her, and Barney scoffs at the idea.


title: Last Forever

text: In May 2013, Ted discusses his move to Chicago with Marshall and Lily at Barney and Robin's wedding reception. Meanwhile, Barney recognizes the bass player — already introduced in previous episodes as the Mother (Cristin Milioti) — as the woman who advised him to pursue Robin. He approaches Ted with the intent to introduce her to him, but Ted declines the idea. After the group sadly bids Ted farewell, he goes to the Farhampton train station, where an elderly lady (Judith Drake) asks Ted many questions about destiny and spots the Mother standing nearby. Ted insists he cannot talk to her because he's moving. The next night, Marshall and Lily are surprised to see Ted sitting at their table in MacLaren's. He tells them that he met a girl, of whom they approve after finding out that she is the bass player from the wedding.


title: Last Forever

text: In 2015, Ted, now engaged, meets Robin and Barney at MacLaren's to discuss wedding ideas. As Robin goes to buy drinks, Barney admits their marriage is suffering because of Robin's rising career, which requires her to travel frequently. The Mother arrives and tells Ted they have to delay their wedding because she is pregnant.


title: Last Forever

text: In May 2016, Ted and the Mother host a get-together with the rest of the gang. Marshall is miserable at his new job, having been forced to return to being a corporate lawyer. Barney and Robin reveal that after three years of marriage, they have divorced. The mood turns positive when Barney realizes that Marshall and Lily are expecting their third child, but Lily is worried about the group breaking apart. Together they promise they will all be there for the big moments and will remain friends.


title: Last Forever

text: In October 2016, Marshall and Lily decide to move out of their old apartment and put together a final Halloween roof party. Robin is sad to see Ted and the Mother with matching "hanging chad" outfits, alongside Barney who has returned to his womanizing ways. She decides to leave and confesses to Lily that she cannot be in the group any longer as she has outgrown them and still has unresolved feelings for Ted, which devastates Lily.


title: Last Forever

text: In 2018, Barney gets ready for another night at MacLaren's, even though Ted and Lily, both being parents, are not intending to stay out late. Marshall arrives and announces he is replacing a retiring judge in Queens, which prompts a celebration. When Barney attempts to score with a young woman, Lily blasts him for fully regressing into his previous self. After Barney defends his behavior by telling her that he will never make it work with anyone except Robin, Lily relents and Barney leaves to enjoy his night.


title: Last Forever

text: In 2019, Ted, the Mother, Marshall and Lily are at Robots Versus Wrestlers. A depressed Barney shows up to say that while he recently completed a "perfect month" using a new Playbook, the last woman is pregnant with his child. Sometime later, Ted runs into Robin, now a famous news reporter, while showing Penny the GNB building he designed. Marshall, Lily, and Ted gather at the birth of Barney's daughter, Ellie. Despite his initial misgivings, Barney is moved to tears.


title: Last Forever

text: In 2020, at Ted and the Mother’s house, Ted re-proposes to the Mother, five years after he first proposed, and says they are getting married the following Thursday. Before the wedding, the gang meets up at MacLaren’s, and Marshall announces he is running for the New York State Supreme Court. Barney sees two young women at the bar and scolds them for dressing inappropriately, which genuinely surprises Lily, who is even more surprised when Robin shows up. While reconciling with the gang, Robin admits to Ted that after initially declining to come, the Mother told her to reconsider. Lily gives a toast praising Ted for all he has been through, and for Ted and the Mother's future.


title: Last Forever

text: Returning the story to May 2013, Ted gets the courage to introduce himself to the bass player, and she invites him underneath her yellow umbrella. The two engage in a conversation where she tells Ted she remembers him on his first day as a professor, and reveals her name is Tracy McConnell. Ted recognizes her umbrella as the one he had left at Cindy's, and the pair realize how they have narrowly missed meeting each other many times in their lives, before laughingly each saying "Hi." Their conversation continues as the train arrives.


title: Last Forever

text: Before revealing how he met the Mother, Future Ted narrates how he never stopped loving her for a second, even when she became terminally ill and died in 2024. In 2030, when Ted finishes his story, his children Penny (Lyndsy Fonseca) and Luke (David Henrie) deduce that it was actually about how he still has feelings for their "Aunt" Robin, and give their blessings to continue his relationship with her. Ted decides to go to her apartment with the blue French horn from their first date, presenting it the same way he had 25 years earlier. Robin, who is revealed to be living alone, seems moved, and they both smile at each other.


title: Last Forever

text: At Ted's and the Mother's wedding, Barney and Robin nod to each other as Future Ted's narration implies they later get back together as he said "Things fall apart, things get back together." Future Ted (Bob Saget) narrates how when he thinks how lucky he is to wake up next to the Mother every morning, he cannot help but be amazed at how "easy" it all really was, recalling his former relationships and expressing incredulity at how allowing Barney and Robin to fall in love led him to, at their wedding, "leave a little early, be in the right place at the right time, and somehow summon the guts to do the stupidest, most impossible thing in the world: Walk up to that beautiful girl standing under the yellow umbrella, and start talking." After Ted meeting the Mother is shown, Future Ted narrates "See? Easy. And that kids, is how I met your mother."


title: Last Forever

text: Before writing the episode, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas decided to watch the series finales of other sitcoms for inspiration. They said that they crafted the last ten minutes of the series right from the start. In February 2014, Bays tweeted that he found a rough draft of the series finale that he first wrote in 2006.


title: Last Forever

text: The scene involving Ted's future children (Lyndsy Fonseca and David Henrie) was secretly shot in 2006 during the production of Season 2. This was primarily done so the teenage characters would not age, since Fonseca and Henrie were adults by the time the final episode aired. The scene was filmed on a set closed to everyone except Bays, Thomas, executive producer/director Pamela Fryman, a camera operator, and Fonseca and Henrie, who signed non-disclosure agreements. Fonseca stated that she had forgotten the details of the scene in the years since its filming, while Henrie said, "I do remember. I "think" I remember. We’ll see." Josh Radnor was also told some parts of the finale from the start, but neither he nor the rest of the cast were informed how the series would end. Radnor, not Bob Saget, plays future Ted when he appears on camera. When asked whether he should have played the role, Saget said that Radnor doing so "felt appropriate to me. It's not "The Matrix" where Ted CGI's into a narrator of his voice that was done as a sweet way to tell his story from almost his conscience from the future of his own life".


title: Last Forever

text: Before the airing of the series finale, debates raged amongst fans concerning the fate of Ted and the Mother, fueled by scenes from "Vesuvius" and other previous episodes that seemed to point to a tragic ending.


title: Last Forever

text: According to tweets from Alyson Hannigan, approximately 18 minutes of the original episode had to be cut to fit the broadcast time. One cut sequence features Lily paying back Marshall regarding a bet on whether Ted and Robin end up together, first referenced in the episode "No Pressure". Other cut scenes feature Robin, wearing her Robin Sparkles jeans jacket over her wedding dress, singing "Let's Go to The Mall" with the Mother's band at the wedding reception, and a "one-second" montage showing Tracy's funeral.


title: Last Forever

text: An alternative cut of the ending appeared on the season nine DVD and the box set. It did not contain any new footage, but is edited in a way that changes the fates of Ted, Tracy and Robin. The voiceover is performed by Saget, rather than Radnor, and is completely different.


title: Last Forever

text: Everything but the Girl's acoustic cover of the Tom Waits song "Downtown Train" was used in the scene where Ted and The Mother meet at the Farhampton train station. Music supervisor Andy Gowan says that Carter Bays "basically put it in the script, and wrote that script with that song in mind"; Gowan described the song as "heartbreakingly beautiful" and captured both the "sweet and romantic" and the "somber, dark part" of the scene.


title: Last Forever

text: "Heaven" by The Walkmen features in the final scene of "Last Forever". Gowan said that "it seemed like it was written for our show". Gowan had suggested the song before, especially for use in the season 8 premiere, and said that when he pitched it for use in the season 9 finale, "[the song] was just the one that resonated with all of us the most".


title: Last Forever

text: "Last Forever" received a polarizing reaction from fans and critics alike, with the majority opinion being negative. Many viewers expressed considerable dissatisfaction regarding the resolution of Ted's story, his relationship to Robin, and the fate of the titular mother. Additionally, the season-long buildup for Barney and Robin's wedding and their divorce 10 minutes into the next episode was criticized. Fans took to social media, such as Tumblr and Twitter, to express their disappointment. Some fans joked that the episode was an early April Fools' joke, because it aired on March 31.


title: Last Forever

text: Some fans of the show called on CBS to commission the creators of the show via a change.org petition to rewrite and reshoot the finale. , the petition had received more than 5,000 signatures. On April 5, 2014, Carter Bays announced on Twitter that an alternative ending, from the same filmed material, would be included on the Season 9 DVD.


title: Last Forever

text: Bill Kuchman of "Popculturology" said that the success of Milioti as the Mother made it hard to write the character away so quickly, saying, "Thanks to the show’s writing staff and Cristin Milioti, "HIMYM" had a huge victory on its hands with The Mother. Asking fans to drop all of that with a simple line about The Mother getting sick and passing away was a very difficult request." Kuchman noted that "[over] the course of this final season, "HIMYM" made us care about Tracy. It made us believe that she and Ted belonged together. It was earned. That's why it was sad to see "HIMYM" just brush Tracy away."


title: Last Forever

text: Donna Bowman of "The A.V. Club" graded the episode a B+, saying, "The hour finale was a strange ride, marvelous in some ways, confounding in others. Endings are difficult, and I don’t think any objective assessment would say they nailed this one." Emily VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club" was more blunt in saying that "Bays and Thomas simply looked like shitty long-term planners, unable to understand that getting the audience so invested in the Barney and Robin coupling or in Tracy as a character would make it all the harder when the series finale abruptly dissolved the former and treated the latter’s death as an aside in the narration. That the show never seemed to suggest Ted mourned her feels like a vital betrayal of his character."


title: Last Forever

text: Alan Sepinwall of "HitFix" cited three reasons why Bays and Thomas should not have stuck with the ending they had originally envisioned at the start: the show's lengthy run forced them to stretch out events like Barney's and Robin's wedding, which would have to be quickly undone in the finale; the chemistry between Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris caused many fans to become deeply invested in Robin and Barney's relationship more than Robin and Ted's; and the casting of Cristin Milioti as the Mother caused fans to become invested in that character as well. Sepinwall stated that "so much of what was terrible here was terrible because Bays and Thomas had a very specific vision for the ending of their show and would not—or, perhaps, after they filmed the kids' reactions, could not—deviate from it. And based on the initial reaction I've seen to the episode, it's going to forever sour the opinion many fans of the show had for it."


title: Last Forever

text: Joyce Eng of "TV Guide" said that she'd prefer Ted not to have ended up with Robin, but "as I consider the romantics that co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are, it's obvious they would bring this long, winding love story full circle back to the person Ted wanted to be with when we met him. And The Mother—excuse us, Tracy—is reunited with her first true love, Max, too." Though the Mother served as a "cheap plot device" to a degree, Eng said that "Ted's time with her also taught him nothing lasts forever, nothing's perfect. And he needs to move on with his life, but that doesn't make his relationship with The Mother any less important. I don't think the Ted of 2005 would've done the same."


title: Last Forever

text: Andrew Meola from "MStars" praised the episode, saying "I couldn't believe that they actually killed the Mother. But I let it sit for a bit, and then I felt something profoundly beautiful come out of this last hour of "How I Met Your Mother"."


title: Last Forever

text: Saim Cheeda from "Screen Rant" was critical of the episode, citing the low points to be the reversal of character development, Robin and Barney's divorce, and the Mother's death. His assessment was that "Fans weren’t given any moment to grieve, which undermined the impact of her passing". Cheeda singled out Ted using the Mother's death as a framing device to be "lame", stating that viewers "being forced to believe that Ted would use his wife’s death to justify chasing after “Aunt” Robin" was the main reason why the finale was disappointing.


title: Last Forever

text: In the years succeeding its airing, it continued to be singled out as one of television's worst series finales, e.g., topping "USA Today"s list of "Worst Series Finales of All Time".


title: Last Forever

text: In an interview with David Letterman, Neil Patrick Harris declared himself a fan of the way the finale ended the series:


title: Last Forever

text: Some people just hated it, and I think that that's a compliment to the show in a weird way because it means that they have grown up with these characters and feel like they wanted it to go a certain way, though I think it's great. But our show really did cross the line between funny funny and really serious, and that was kind of the balance that this show had. And as the show grew up, and as we grew up in the show, it ended in a more adult way and I think it was a nice, reflective, kind of sad, but happy ending to a long, long story.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi (, ) is a Hindu goddess. She is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and an aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered to be the Tantric form of Saraswati, the goddess of music and learning. Matangi governs speech, music, knowledge and the arts. Her worship is prescribed to acquire supernatural powers, especially gaining control over enemies, attracting people to oneself, acquiring mastery over the arts and gaining supreme knowledge.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is often associated with pollution, inauspiciousness and the periphery of Hindu society, which is embodied in her most popular form, known as Uchchhishta-Chandalini or Uchchhishta-Matangini. She is described as an outcaste (Chandalini) and offered left-over or partially eaten food ("Uchchhishta") with unwashed hands or food after eating, both of which are considered to be impure in classical Hinduism.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is represented as emerald green in colour. While Uchchhishta-Matangini carries a noose, sword, goad, and club, her other well-known form, Raja-Matangi, plays the veena and is often pictured with a parrot.


title: Matangi

text: The "Dhyana mantra" (a mantra that details the form of the deity on which a devotee should meditate) of the "Brhat Tantrasara" describes Uchchhishta-Matangini, one of the most popular forms of the goddess. Matangi is seated on a corpse and wears red garments, red jewellery and a garland of gunja seeds. The goddess is described as a young, sixteen-year-old maiden with fully developed breasts. She carries a skull bowl and a sword in her two hands, and is offered leftovers.


title: Matangi

text: The "Dhyana mantra"s in the "Purashcharyarnava" and the "Tantrasara" describe Matangi as blue in colour. The crescent moon adorns her forehead. She has three eyes and a smiling face. She wears jewellery and is seated on a jewelled throne. In her four arms, she carries a noose, a sword, a goad, and a club. Her waist is slim and her breasts well-developed.


title: Matangi

text: The "Dhyana Mantra" of Raja-Matangi from the "Purashcharyarnava" describes Matangi as green in colour with the crescent moon upon her forehead. She has long hair, a smiling expression and intoxicated eyes, and wears a garland of kadamba flowers and various ornaments. She perspires a little around the face, which renders her even more beautiful. Below her navel are three horizontal folds of skin and a thin vertical line of fine hair. Seated on an altar and flanked by two parrots, she represents the 64 arts. The "Saradatilaka", adds to this description that Raja-Matangi plays the veena, wears conch-shell earrings and flower garlands, and has flower paintings adorning her forehead. She is also depicted wearing a garland of white lotus (here lotus signifies multi-colored world creation), similar to the iconography of goddess Saraswati, with whom she is associated with.


title: Matangi

text: According to Kalidasa's "Shyamaladandakam", Matangi plays a ruby-studded veena and speaks sweetly. The "Dhyana Mantra" describes her to be four-armed, with a dark emerald complexion, full breasts anointed with red kumkum powder, and a crescent moon on her forehead. She carries a noose, a goad, a sugarcane bow and flower arrows, which the goddess Tripura Sundari is often described to hold. She is also described to love the parrot and is embodied in the nectar of song.


title: Matangi

text: The green complexion is associated with deep knowledge and is also the colour of Budha, the presiding deity of the planet Mercury who governs intelligence. Matangi is often depicted with a parrot in her hands, representing speech. The veena symbolizes her association with music.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is often named as the ninth Mahavidya. A list contained within the prose of the "Mundamala" equates Vishnu's ten avatars with the ten Mahavidyas. The Buddha is equated to Matangi. A similar list in the "Guhyatiguhya-Tantra" omits Matangi altogether, however the scholar Sircar interprets the goddess Durga – equated to the avatar Kalki in the list – as an allusion to Matangi.


title: Matangi

text: In a story from the Shakta "Maha-Bhagavata Purana", which narrates the creation of all the Mahavidyas, Sati, the daughter of Daksha and wife of the god Shiva, feels insulted that she and Shiva are not invited to Daksha's yagna ("fire sacrifice") and insists on going there, despite Shiva's protests. After futile attempts to convince Shiva, the enraged Sati transforms into the Mahavidyas, including Matangi. The Mahavidyas then surround Shiva from the ten cardinal directions; Matangi stands in the northwest. Another similar legend replaces Sati with Kali (the chief Mahavidya) as the wife of Shiva and the origin of Matangi and the other Mahavidyas. The Devi Bhagavata Purana describes Matangi and her fellow Mahavidyas as war-companions and forms of the goddess Shakambhari.


title: Matangi

text: The "Shaktisamgama-tantra" narrates the birth of Uchchhishta-Matangini. Once, the god Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi visited Shiva and his wife Parvati (a reincarnation of Sati) and gave them a banquet of fine foods. While eating, the deities dropped some food on the ground, from which arose a beautiful maiden, a manifestation of Goddess Saraswati, who asked their left-overs. The four deities granted her their left-overs as prasad, food made sacred by having been first consumed by the deity. This can be interpreted as the Uchchhishta of the deity, although due to its negative connotation the word "Uchchhishta" is never explicitly used in connection to prasad. Shiva decreed that those who repeat her mantra and worship her will have their material desires satisfied and gain control over foes, declaring her the giver of boons. From that day, the maiden was known as Uchchhishta-Matangini.


title: Matangi

text: The "Pranotasani Tantra" (18th Century) and "Naradpancharatra" narrates that once Parvati longed to go back to her maternal house for some days and asked Shiva's permission to do so. The reluctant Shiva agreed on the condition that if she did not return in a few days, he would come to fetch her. Parvati agreed and went to her father Himalaya's place, where she stayed for many days. The lovesick Shiva went to Himavan's abode disguised as an ornament seller and sold shell ornaments to Parvati. In order to test her fidelity, the disguised Shiva asked for sex in return. The disgusted Parvati was about to curse the ornament-seller when she realizes by her yogic powers that it was none other than Shiva. She agrees to grant sexual favours but at the appropriate time. In the evening, Parvati returns to Shiva's abode disguised as a Chandala huntress. She is dressed in red and had a lean figure and large breasts and performs a seductive dance to lure him. She told Shiva that she had come to do penance. Shiva replied that he is the one gives fruit to all penance and took her hand and kissed her. Further, they made love when Shiva himself changed into a Chandala and recognized the Chandala woman as his wife. After the love-making, Parvati asked Shiva to grant her wish that her form as a Chandalini (the Chandala female form in which Shiva made love to her) might last forever as Uchchhishta-Chandalini and that her worship in this form precede his for his worship to be considered fruitful. This tale is also found in many Bengali "Mangalkavya"s. In these texts, however, Parvati is not explicitly identified with Matangi.


title: Matangi

text: The "Svatantra-tantra" mentions that Matanga practised austerities for thousands of years to gain the power to subdue all beings. Finally, goddess Tripura Sundari appeared and from eyes emitted rays that produced goddess Kali, who had greenish complexion and was known as Raja-Matangini. With her help, Matanga fulfilled his desire. "Matanga Tantra" and many other texts including the "Shyamaladandakam" describe Matangi as the daughter of the sage Matanga.


title: Matangi

text: Another tale is associated with the temple dedicated to Kauri-bai—an aspect of Matangi—who appeared in the low caste area of Varanasi. Kauri-bai is Shiva's sister who was obsessed with the Brahmin ways and purity and abhorred Shiva's heterodox practices like dwelling in cremation grounds, partaking of intoxicants and being in the company of ghosts and goblins. While Shiva simply ignored Kauri-bai's words at first, after his marriage his wife Parvati could not bear Kauri-bai's abusive words toward her husband and cursed Kauri-bai to be reborn in and spend her entire life within an "untouchable" area of Varanasi which Kauri-bai considered polluted. Consequently, Kauri-bai was indeed reborn in the low-caste area of Varanasi and felt very unhappy. She pleaded her brother Shiva—the Lord of Varanasi—who granted her the boon that no pilgrimage to Varanasi would be deemed complete without her worship.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is often associated with pollution, especially left-over or partially eaten food (Uchchhishta or "Ucçhishṭa", उच्छिष्ट) considered impure in Hinduism. She is often offered such polluted left-over food and is in one legend described to be born from it. Matangi is herself described as the leftover or residue, symbolizing the Divine Self that is left over after all things perish. As the patron of left-over food offerings, she embodies inauspiciousness and the forbidden transgression of social norms.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is often described as an outcaste and impure. Her association with pollution mainly streams from her relation to outcaste communities, considered to be polluted in ancient Hindu society. These social groups deal in occupations deemed inauspicious and polluted like the collection of waste, meat-processing and working in cremation grounds. In a Nepali context, such groups are collectively called Matangi, who collect waste—including human waste—and other inauspicious things, and often live outside villages. Thus she is associated with death, pollution, inauspiciousness and the periphery of ancient Hindu society. She represents equality as she is worshipped by both upper and lower caste people.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is also associated with forests and tribal peoples, who lie outside conventional Hindu society. Her thousand-name hymn from the "Nanayavarta-tantra" mentions lines that describe her as dwelling in, walking in, knowing and relishing the forest.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi represents the power of the spoken word ("Vaikhari") as an expression of thoughts and the mind. She also relates to the power of listening and grasping speech and converting it back to knowledge and thought. Besides spoken word, she also governs all other expressions of inner thought and knowledge, like art, music, and dance. Matangi presides over the middle part of speech ("Madhyama"), where ideas are translated into the spoken word and in her highest role, represents "Para-Vaikhari"—the Supreme Word manifested through speech and that encompasses knowledge of the scriptures. She is described as the goddess of learning and speech, and the bestower of knowledge and talent. She is also called "Mantrini", the mistress of the sacred mantras. She also represents the word of a guru, who serves as a spiritual guide. Matangi is described as dwelling in the Throat chakra—the origin of speech—and on the tip of the tongue. She is also associated with a channel called Saraswati from the third eye to the tip of the tongue. According to David Frawley, her description as impure refers to the nature of the spoken word, which labels things and stereotypes them, thereby hindering actual contact with the soul of things. The goddess is described as one who helps a person to use words in the right way and to go beyond it to seek the soul and inner knowledge, which lie outside the demarcated boundaries of tradition.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is regarded as a Tantric form of Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and the arts of mainstream Hinduism, with whom she shares many traits. Both embody music and are depicted playing the veena. They are also both said to be the "Nada" (sound or energy) that flows through the Nadi channels in the body through which life force flows. Both are related to rain clouds, thunder and rivers. Though both govern learning and speech, Saraswati represents the orthodox knowledge of the Brahmins while Matangi—the wild and ecstatic outcast—embodies the "extraordinary" beyond the boundaries of mainstream society, especially inner knowledge. Matangi is also associated with Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of knowledge and obstacle removal. Both are related to the elephant and learning. Matangi is also regarded as his mother. Matangi is also described as a minister of the Mahavidya goddess Tripura Sundari or Rajarajeshvari, the Queen of Queens.


title: Matangi

text: Besides the Mahavidya Bagalamukhi, Matangi is the other Mahavidya, whose worship is primarily prescribed to acquire supernatural powers. A hymn in the "Maha-Bhagavata Purana" asks her grace to control one's foes, while the "Tantrasara" says that recitation of her mantra, meditation on her form and her ritual worship gives one to the power to control people and make them attracted to oneself. "Tantric sadhaka"s are regarded to have transcended the pollution by offering her left-over or partially eaten food ("Uchchhishta") and thus overcome their ego. Worship of Matangi is described to allow her devotee to face the forbidden and transcend pollution, leading him to salvation or allowing him to gain supernatural powers for worldly goals. The "Purashcharyarnava" describes pleasing the goddess would result in her answering all the devotee's queries by whispering in her ear.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi is often worshipped with the mantra syllable "Aim", which is associated with Saraswati and is the seed-syllable of knowledge, learning, and teaching. A longer mantra is also used:


title: Matangi

text: Her mantra may be repeated ten thousand times, repeated one thousand times while offering flowers and ghee in a fire sacrifice, or repeated one hundred times while offering water ("Arghya") or while offering food to Brahmin priests. Her yantra (sacred geometric diagram), whether physically constructed or mentally envisioned, is used in worship along with the mantra. Offering certain items to a fire sacrifice—particularly those performed at cremation grounds, riverbanks, forests, or crossroads—while repeating the mantra is said to fulfill specific goals. An offering of Bael leaves is said to result in kingship; salt gives the power to control; turmeric gives the power to paralyze; neem twigs bring wealth; and an offering of sandalwood, camphor, and saffron together or a salt and honey mixture grants the power to attract people. A rice-flour bread prepared while repeating her mantra is said to give the power to attract women. It is likewise said that it is possible to make a person one's slave by feeding him or her the ashes of a crow whose stomach was stuffed with a conch and burnt in a cremation ground while repeating the goddess' mantra.


title: Matangi

text: Leftover or partially eaten food ("Uchchhishta") is recommended to be offered to Matangi with the devotee in the polluted "Uchchhishta" state, that is, having eaten but not washed, with the remains of food in the mouth and hands. An offering of leftovers to Hindu deities or being in the polluted "Uchchhishta" state is a taboo in mainstream Hinduism. Another taboo that is broken in Matangi worship is the offering to the goddess of a cloth stained with menstrual blood to gain the ability to attract a mate. Menstrual blood is considered polluted in almost all Hindu scriptures and menstruating women are kept away from Hindu worship and temples. The outcaste Matangi community of Nepal collect polluted substances and items related to death and bad luck such as sacrificial animal heads and clothes of the deceased, and offers them at special stones kept at crossroads called "chwasa"s, where the Matangi "consumes" them as an offering, thereby getting rid of the pollution. The "Tantrasara" also advises offerings to Matangi of meat, fish, cooked rice, milk and incense at crossroads or cremations grounds in the dead of the night to overpower enemies and gain poetic talent. Oblations of "Uchchhishta", cat meat and goat meat to the goddess are said to help achieve Supreme knowledge. A text proclaims Matangi's worship becomes fruitful only if the devotee reveres women as goddesses and refrains from criticizing them.


title: Matangi

text: No fasts or rituals to purify oneself before worship—typical of Hindu worship—are prescribed for Matangi worship. Anyone can use any mantra for worship, even though he is not initiated or considered unfit for worshipping any other deity. A thousand-name hymn from the "Nanayavarta-tantra" and a hundred-name hymn from the "Rudrayamala" are dedicated to the goddess. The recitation of the Sanskrit alphabet, the chanting of mantras, the loud reading of the scriptures, and performance of music and dance are also described as constituting acts of her worship.


title: Matangi

text: Matangi along with the other Mahavidyas finds place in the Kamakhya Temple complex, the most important Shaktipeeth for Tantra worship. While other Mahavidyas are worshipped in individual temples, Matangi and Kamala find place in the main Kamakhya shrine along with Kamakhya, in the form of a 'yoni'.


title: Matangi

text: Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai is also considered as none other than Raja Matangi. Here, She is seen as two-handed and standing, holding a parrot.


title: Matangi

text: The Modh community of Gujarat worship Matangi as Modheshwari, patron deity of the Modh community. Here, Matangi is seen in a Durga-like form sitting over a lion.


title: Matangi

text: Other than the above, Rajrappa Chhinnamasta shrine also has a temple dedicated to Matangi and the other Mahavidyas. There are several temples in South India where Matangi is venerated as Shyamala or Mantrini, the Prime minister of Goddess Lalita in Srikula tradition.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: The Subaru BRAT an acronym for “Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter”, was a light-duty, four-wheel drive coupé utility, version of the Subaru Leone originally introduced in 1977. The BRAT was developed directly from the company's four-wheel drive station wagon model and was first introduced as a 1978 model – following the concept of coupe utilities such as the Chevrolet El Camino and the Ford Ranchero. The BRAT is also known as a Brumby, MV Pickup or Shifter depending on where it was sold. The vehicle was sold from 1978 until 1994.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: Developed in Japan in 1977 at the request of the President of Subaru of America, the BRAT was introduced to match the demand for small trucks in North America, in order to compete against other manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda. Unlike trucks from other manufacturers, all BRATs had four-wheel drive, as they were developed from the existing Leone station wagon. When the Leone was redesigned in 1979 for the 1980 model year, the BRAT continued with the original Gen I body until 1982.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: Although the BRAT could fairly be called a truck, the plastic seats in the cargo bed allowed Subaru to classify the BRAT as a passenger car. North American and Canadian BRAT models featured carpeting, in addition to a welded-in, rear-facing jump seats in the cargo area. The seats were a tariff-avoidance ploy, serving actually to circumvent a tariff known as the Chicken tax, as the plastic seats in the cargo bed allowed Subaru to classify the BRAT as a passenger car, rather than as a light truck. This significantly reduced the costs of importing BRATS to North America, as passenger cars were charged a 2.5% import tariff, while light trucks were charged a substantially higher 25% import tariff. They were discontinued after the 1986 model year.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: All BRAT's had four-wheel drive and the Subaru EA engine. Early models received the 1.6 litre EA-71, whereas 1981 and later models received a 1.8 litre EA-81 engine. The 1983 and 1984 models could be purchased with an optional turbocharged engine. Manual transmissions were standard on all models, and an automatic transmission was available on turbocharged BRAT's. The 1980 and earlier models had a single-range transfer case, while 1981 and later GL models had a dual-range transfer case (DL's still had single range), and all turbocharged models were equipped with a 3 speed automatic transmission with a single-range, push-button, four-wheel drive.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: The BRAT was restyled in 1981 and the jump seats were discontinued after the 1985 model year. The BRAT was re-introduced with a rise in popularity of small trucks being sold in the United States, primarily from Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda. Production continued into 1994 but ceased to be imported to North America in 1987. It was also known as the Brumby in Australia and New Zealand and the MV Pickup / Shifter in the UK. Imports to Europe, Australia (from 1978), and New Zealand continued until February 1994. The BRAT was not sold in Japan and was manufactured for export markets.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: Early 80's saw the introduction of a second Gen Targa-Top version. It also had other features, such as: ; a spring-loaded hidden door, for a side step into the cargo bed; and a spare tire mounted under the hood.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: In Australia there were specialty features : Ag-quip / packages with graphics, Roo bar, sump guard & rear step bar. Wagon wheels were also optional.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: It was an export-only model, never being officially sold in Japan. Due to this, the BRAT became a popular grey import vehicle in Japan.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: Subaru never considered marketing the BRAT in their home market, due to a truncating demand of pickup trucks that had been occurring since the late 1970s. The declining demand came as a result of Japanese customers shifting to station wagons at that time.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: In 1987, exports to North America ceased, but exports to Europe, Australia, Latin America, and New Zealand continued until 1994.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: President Ronald Reagan owned a 1978 BRAT until 1998, which he kept at his ranch near Santa Barbara, California. The vehicle has since been restored and returned to the ranch, which is now owned by the Young America's Foundation.


title: Subaru BRAT

text: There have been several private enterprises that have used the BRAT / Brumby / MV Pickup in Motorsport events :


title: Subaru BRAT

text: Along with its most famous owner, here are some instances of the BRAT used in Film / TV & other media :


title: Subaru BRAT

text: There was however a concept for a Subaru Suiren and later Subaru released a similar vehicle called the Baja.


title: Gävle goat

text: The Gävle Goat (, ) is a traditional Christmas display erected annually at Slottstorget (Castle Square) in central Gävle, Sweden. It is a giant version of a traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure made of straw. It is erected each year by local community groups at the beginning of Advent over a period of two days. It has been the subject of repeated arson attacks, and, despite security measures and a nearby fire station, the goat has been burned to the ground most years since its first appearance in 1966. , 38 out of 56 goats have been destroyed or damaged in some way. Burning or destroying the goat in some way is illegal, and the Svea Court of Appeal has stated that the offence should normally carry a 3-month prison sentence; in 2018, it sentenced a 27-year-old man to a suspended sentence and day fines for aggravated property damage for burning the goat.


title: Gävle goat

text: Since 1986, two separate Yule Goats have been built in Gävle: the Gävle Goat by the Southern Merchants and the Yule Goat built by the Natural Science Club of the School of Vasa.


title: Gävle goat

text: The Gävle Goat is erected every year on the first day of Advent, which according to Western Christian tradition is in late November or early December, depending on the calendar year. In 1966, an advertising consultant, Stig Gavlén (1927–2018), came up with the idea of making a giant version of the traditional Swedish Yule Goat and placing it in the square. The design of the first goat was assigned to the then chief of the Gävle fire department, Gavlén's brother Jörgen Gavlén. The construction of the goat was carried out by the fire department, and they erected the goat each year from 1966 to 1970 and from 1986 to 2002. The first goat was financed by Harry Ström. On 1 December 1966, a tall, long, 3-tonne goat was erected in the square. On New Year's Eve, the goat was burnt down, and the perpetrator was found and convicted of vandalism. The goat was insured, and Ström got all of his money back.


title: Gävle goat

text: A group of businessmen known as the Southern Merchants () financed the building of the goat in subsequent years. In 1971, the Southern Merchants stopped building the goats. The Natural Science Club () of the School of Vasa () began building the structure. Their goat was around . Due to the positive reaction their Yule Goat received that year, they built another one the following year and from then on. The Southern Merchants began building their own goats again in 1986.


title: Gävle goat

text: The cost for the 1966 goat was 10,000 Swedish kronor (SEK) (). The price tag for constructing the goat in 2005 was around SEK 100,000. The city pays one-third of the cost while the Southern Merchants pay the remaining sum. Since 2003 the construction of the goat has been undertaken by a group of unemployed people known as ALU workers.


title: Gävle goat

text: The display has become notable for being a recurring target for vandalism by arson, and has been destroyed many times since the first goat was erected in 1966. Because the fire station is close to the location of the goat, most of the time the fire can be extinguished before the wooden skeleton is severely damaged. If the goat is burned down before 13 December, the feast day of Saint Lucia, the goat is rebuilt. The skeleton is then treated and repaired, and the goat reconstructed over it, using straw which the Goat Committee has pre-ordered. As of 2005, four people have been caught or convicted for vandalizing the goat. In 2001, the goat was burned down by a 51-year-old American visitor from Cleveland, Ohio, who spent 18 days in jail and was subsequently convicted and ordered to pay SEK 100,000 ($US; ) in damages. The court confiscated his cigarette lighter with the argument that he clearly was not able to handle it. He stated in court that he was no "goat burner", and believed that he was taking part in a completely legal goat-burning tradition. After he was released from jail he returned to the US without paying his fine.


title: Gävle goat

text: In 1996, the Southern Merchants introduced camera surveillance to monitor the goat 24 hours a day. On 27 November 2004 the Gävle Goat's homepage was hacked, and one of the two official webcams changed. One year, while security guards were posted around the goat in order to prevent further vandalism, the temperature dropped far below zero. As the guards ducked into a nearby restaurant to escape the cold, the vandals struck.


title: Gävle goat

text: During the weekend of 3–4 December 2005, a series of attacks on public Yule Goats across Sweden were carried out; the Gävle Goat was burnt on 3 December. The Visby goat on Gotland burned down, the Yule Goat in Söderköping, Östergötland was torched, and there was an attack on a goat located in Lycksele, Västerbotten.


title: Gävle goat

text: The Christmas season of 2006 marked the 40th anniversary of the Gävle Goat, and, on Sunday 3 December, the city held a large celebration in honor of the goat. The Goat Committee fireproofed the goat with "Fiber ProTector Fireproof", a fireproofing substance that is used in airplanes. In earlier years when the goat had been fireproofed, the dew had made the liquid drip off the goat. To prevent this from happening in 2006, "Fireproof ProTechtor Solvent Base" was applied to the goat. Despite their efforts, the goat has been damaged or destroyed a total of 38 times. On 27 November 2016 an arsonist equipped with petrol burned it down just hours after its inauguration. After a few flame-free years under 24-hour security, the goat was again burned on 17 December 2021.


title: Gävle goat

text: Since 1986 there have been two Yule Goats built in Gävle: the Gävle Goat by the Southern Merchants and the Yule Goat built by the Natural Science Club of the School of Vasa. Until 1985 the Southern Merchants held the world record for the largest Yule Goat, but over the years the Natural Science Club's goat increased in size, and in 1985 their Yule Goat made it into the "Guinness Book of Records" with an official height of . The creator of the original 1966 goat, Stig Gavlén, thought that the Natural Science Club's goat had unfairly won the title of the largest Yule Goat because the goat was not as attractive as the Southern Merchants' goat and the neck was excessively long. The next year there was a Goat war: the Southern Merchants understood the publicity value, and erected a huge goat, the Natural Science Club erected a smaller one in protest. The Southern Merchants had intended that their huge goat would reclaim the world record, but the measurement of the goat showed it fell short. Over the following seven years there were no further attempts on the world record, but there was some hostility between the Natural Science Club and the Southern Merchants, evidenced by the fact that the Natural Science Club put up a sign near their goat wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone, except the Southern Merchants.


title: Gävle goat

text: In 1993 the Southern Merchants again announced that they were going to attempt the world record. The goat stood when completed. The Natural Science Club's Yule Goat that year measured , which earned them another place in the "Guinness Book of Records".


title: Laz people

text: The Laz people, or Lazi ( "Lazi"; , "lazi"; or ჭანი, "ch'ani"; ), are an indigenous ethnic group who mainly live in Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They traditionally speak the Laz language which is a member of the Kartvelian language family but has experienced a rapid language shift to Turkish. From the 103,900 ethnic Laz in Turkey, only around 20,000 speak Laz and the language is classified as threatened (6b) in Turkey and shifting (7) in Georgia on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.


title: Laz people

text: The ancestors of the Laz people are cited by many classical authors from Scylax to Procopius and Agathias, but the word Lazi in Latin language () themselves are firstly cited by Pliny around the 2nd century BC.


title: Laz people

text: Minorsky argued in 1913 that the Laz living in Turkey and Georgia have developed different understandings of what it means to be Laz as their identity in Georgia has largely merged with a Georgian identity with the meaning of "Laz" being seen as merely a regional category.


title: Laz people

text: Today, most of those living in Turkey do not consider themselves Turkish, but uphold their Laz identity as a separate one.


title: Laz people

text: In a stereotyping manner, non-Laz often use the term "Laz" for groups that are mostly not ethnic Laz:


title: Laz people

text: The Lazuri-speaking ancestors of the modern Laz originally hailed from the northeast, from the southern part of Abkhazia, and settled in the present homeland of the Laz in antiquity.


title: Laz people

text: Modern theories suggest that the Colchian tribes are direct ancestors of the Laz-Mingrelians, they constituted the dominant ethnic and cultural presence in the south-eastern Black Sea region in antiquity, and hence played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of the modern Georgians.


title: Laz people

text: In the thirteenth century BC, the Kingdom of Colchis was formed as a result of the increasing consolidation of the tribes inhabiting the region, which covered modern western Georgia and Turkey's north-eastern provinces of Trabzon, Rize and Artvin. Colchis was an important region in Black Sea trade – rich with gold, wax, hemp, and honey. In the eighth century, several Greek trading colonies were established along the shores of the Black Sea, one of them being Trebizond () founded by Milesian traders from Sinope in 756 BC. Trebizond's trade partners included the Proto-Laz tribes of Mossynoeci.


title: Laz people

text: By the sixth century BC, the tribes living in the southern Colchis (Macrones, Mossynoeci, Marres etc.) were incorporated into the nineteenth satrapy of Persia. The Achaemenid Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great, however following the Alexander's death a number of separate kingdoms were established in Anatolia, including Pontus, in the corner of the southern Black Sea, ruled by the Persian nobleman Mithridates I. Culturally, the kingdom was Hellenized, with Greek as the official language. Mithridates VI conquered the Colchis, and gave it to his son Mithridates of Colchis.


title: Laz people

text: As a result of the Roman campaigns between 88 and 63 BC, led by the generals Pompey and Lucullus, the kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory, including Colchis, was incorporated into the Roman Empire. The former southern provinces of Colchis were reorganized into the Roman province of Pontus Polemoniacus, while the northern Cholchis became the Roman province of Lazicum. Roman control remained likewise only nominal over the tribes of the interior.