title: Aung La Nsang

text: On June 29, 2018, Aung La Nsang defended the ONE Middleweight title for the first time against Ken Hasegawa at in Yangon in what is now considered one of the greatest title fights in ONE Championship history. He defeated Hasegawa by TKO in the fifth round to retain the title.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: On October 26, 2018, he beat Mohammad Karaki by TKO via punches at in Yangon to retain the ONE Middleweight title.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: On March 31, 2019, he defended his title against Ken Hasegawa for a second time at in Tokyo, retaining his ONE Middleweight title via technical knockout.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: After his title defense against Hasegawa, Aung La signed a new ten-fight contract with ONE Championship.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La made his first defense of the ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship against Brandon Vera at on October 13, 2019. During the match, Aung La connected on a spinning back elbow that sent Vera stumbling and followed it through with punches. Aung La defeated Vera by technical knockout in the second round and successfully defended the ONE Light Heavyweight title.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La Nsang was next expected to defend his ONE Middleweight World Championship against Reinier de Ridder, event and date to be determined. However, de Ridder was later pulled from the bout. Aung La will now face former middleweight champion Vitaly Bigdash for a third time at ONE Infinity 1 on April 10, 2020. However, their title fight was canceled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: On September 9, 2020, it was revealed that Aung La would be defending his ONE Middleweight World Championship against Reinier de Ridder once again at on October 30, 2020. On October 30, 2020, Aung La lost to de Ridder by submission in the first round, ending his reign as ONE Middleweight World Champion.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La was expected to defend the ONE Light Heavyweight Championship against Vitaly Bigdash in a trilogy bout at ONE on TNT 4 on April 28, 2021. After Vitaly Bigdash tested positive for COVID-19, Reinier de Ridder took his place. He lost the fight and the belt by unanimous decision.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La faced former ONE Middleweight title contender Leandro Ataides at on July 30, 2021. He won the bout via knockout in the first round.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La faced fellow ONE World Champion and former ONE Middleweight Champion Vitaly Bigdash in a trilogy fight at on February 25, 2022. He lost by unanimous decision.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La was scheduled to face Yushin Okami at ONE on Prime Video 4 on November 19, 2022. However, the bout was postponed to ONE 163 for undisclosed reasons. He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round and during the post-fight interview he pay tribute to his teammate Anthony "Rumble" Johnson who passed away this week.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: In July 2018, Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing issued an official statement of congratulations, claiming the ethnic Kachin fighter embodies the indomitable spirit of Myanmar, the pride of the nation. Aung La was invited to the Ministry of Defence and presented with a cash award as a token of appreciation and recognition by representatives of all three branches of the Myanmar armed forces.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: On February 24, 2018, Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Tatmadaw (army, navy, air force) officials honored to Aung La Nsang. On behalf of the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief, Yangon Command Commander Maj-Gen Thet Pone presented Aung La Nsang with a Myanmar Ks 10 million cash prize, as well as a certificate of honor sent by the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief, at an event held at the Rose Garden Hotel in Yangon.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Since becoming a superstar in his native land via his ONE Championship success, Aung La has committed himself to several charity projects, using his reach and fame to try and help the people of Myanmar. In particular, he has given his backing to educational charities such as "Street School Initiative" and Global Citizen, as well as other causes in his native Kachin state.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: Aung La is a passionate advocate for Myanmar's wildlife and he has been a big supporter of Voices for momos, a campaign against illegal wildlife trade, since its launch in November 2017.


title: Aung La Nsang

text: On 9 November 2018, Aung La was appointed as ambassador of Fighting Wildlife Crime by World Wide Fund for Nature, Myanmar.


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: Take a Look in the Mirror is the sixth studio album by American nu metal band Korn. Released on November 21, 2003 through Epic Records, it is the last Korn studio album to feature their full original lineup, as their original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch left the band in February 2005 until his return in 2013 (with the release of their 2013 album "The Paradigm Shift"). Original drummer David Silveria also left Korn before the end of 2006 after the release of their next album "See You on the Other Side". It was also the last studio album by Korn under the Epic and Immortal labels.


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: The album continued Korn's lowering in sales, debuting at number 19 and peaked at number 9 with first-week record sales of about 179,000, due to the release date of the album being pushed up to a Friday, with fewer sales than if it was released on the standard Tuesday. The track "Did My Time" was previously released as a CD single for the film "" and the track "Right Now" was accompanied by a provocative cartoon video animated by Spike and Mike. The ending track "When Will This End" is followed by a long silence before a live cover of Metallica's "One" starts playing. The album was also released in a "clean" version which utilized backmasking as well as growling in place of profanity. "Take a Look in the Mirror" has sold over 1.2 million copies in the US and over 2 million copies outside of the US according to Nielsen SoundScan as of January 4, 2013 and was certified platinum on December 16, 2003. It has been claimed that the album was rushed, due to the lower than expected sales of "Untouchables" which had left the band in debt. Jonathan Davis has subsequently admitted in interviews that the album was written at somewhat of a rushed pace, due to the lower than expected sales of "Untouchables", and having to write with the time restraint of being on that summer's Ozzfest tour.


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: "Take a Look in the Mirror" marks Korn's attempt to return to a more aggressive sound as featured on their earlier albums, with guitarists Brian "Head" Welch and James "Munky" Shaffer mostly utilizing thick, heavy distortion and the occasional clean tones for contrast. The album features strong elements of nu metal and has the aggressive sounds featured on their early work, as well as a reworked and re-recorded version of the track "Alive", which had previously only been released on the band's first demo, "Neidermayer's Mind". Also of note is the song "Play Me" which features rapper Nas, making "Take a Look in the Mirror" the first Korn album since "Follow the Leader" to feature such a collaboration. Furthermore, Davis plays bagpipes on "Let's Do This Now", marking the return of a tradition that has, to date, only been absent on "Untouchables".


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: Around this period, guitarist Head was heavily addicted to drugs such as meth. He said "2003 is when I started using speed every day. I [also] got hooked on meth and in order to get up and function, even play a show, I had to snort lines, you know. And I told myself, 'I'll do this tour, I'll do this Ozzfest, and I'll do meth the whole time and I'll go home and check into a rehab.' And it scared me, you know, 'cause I was like coming every month I would tell myself, 'I'm gonna stop this tour,' and I wouldn't be able to do it. Like a fear would come over me. I was just trapped." Regarding the issues facing the band during the recording, guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer recalled "We weren't in the best space. The songs weren't flowing and the creativity was a bit muted from these personal dramas each of us had." He also claimed the album was a forced effort.


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: Jonathan Davis said "[This album] is about us as a band, taking a look in the mirror and remembering where we came from, remembering our roots, going back to basics," Davis said. "We reflect and look back why we really got into this band to begin with and why we started it. It's to make aggressive, heavy music. Over the years … we were just experimenting. It always was Korn, but it was different spins on what we were doing. So this time we wanted to make an aggressive, heavy album and just kill it. And that's why we've produced it ourselves. Nobody knows Korn better than ourselves." Davis also stated that he felt a return to basics nu metal album was needed in the music industry of 2003. He said "Nothing coming out is really striking me at all. The whole rock and pop punk scene is just stagnant and boring. Music is not imaginative at the moment. The only record I consider remotely interesting is probably the Outkast album, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below". That's really cool and original."


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: "Take a Look in the Mirror" has received mixed reviews from professional critics but acclaim from fans. Metacritic scores the album 49 based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews", while the user's average score is 8.2/10. AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier states the album is "a little paradoxical, but that's precisely what makes "Take a Look in the Mirror" so interesting, especially for longtime fans" and goes on to say that "because of the emphasis on brevity and variety (and especially quality), the album's over before you know it and you're left feeling hungry for more Korn." On the contrary, "Entertainment Weekly" scored the album a D, saying "Korn remain[s] technically proficient, but "Take a Look in the Mirror" serves only to make the case that the genre has officially screamed itself into caricature." NME gave the album a negative review, criticizing it for being a "self-parody", they wrote "this is an exercise in sterile studio-rock. Meticulously Pro-Tooled, and built almost entirely around bassist Fieldy's relentless, sludgy mid-range, it's an approach that demonstrates little craft and even less actual feeling." In 2005, the album was ranked number 384 in "Rock Hard" magazine's book of "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time".


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: In a 2013 interview, guitarist Head cited "Take a Look in the Mirror" as "the worst record we did". In 2015, Jonathan Davis also ranked it as his least favourite album in Korn's discography.


title: Take a Look in the Mirror

text: The album contains a scrapbook of photos from the band's personal collection, titled "SkЯapbook", instead of a front cover booklet, however, some copies do not feature a booklet, instead, it was released with a normal front and inside cover. The limited edition version contains a bonus DVD. The booklet contains various photos of the band in the early days of Korn previous to this release. Photos in the booklet include them in their first recording studio (the indigo ranch), as well as early tours and shows.


title: Borel set

text: In mathematics, a Borel set is any set in a topological space that can be formed from open sets (or, equivalently, from closed sets) through the operations of countable union, countable intersection, and relative complement. Borel sets are named after Émile Borel.


title: Borel set

text: For a topological space "X", the collection of all Borel sets on "X" forms a σ-algebra, known as the Borel algebra or Borel σ-algebra. The Borel algebra on "X" is the smallest σ-algebra containing all open sets (or, equivalently, all closed sets).


title: Borel set

text: Borel sets are important in measure theory, since any measure defined on the open sets of a space, or on the closed sets of a space, must also be defined on all Borel sets of that space. Any measure defined on the Borel sets is called a Borel measure. Borel sets and the associated Borel hierarchy also play a fundamental role in descriptive set theory.


title: Borel set

text: In some contexts, Borel sets are defined to be generated by the compact sets of the topological space, rather than the open sets. The two definitions are equivalent for many well-behaved spaces, including all Hausdorff σ-compact spaces, but can be different in more pathological spaces.


title: Borel set

text: In the case that "X" is a metric space, the Borel algebra in the first sense may be described "generatively" as follows.


title: Borel set

text: Now define by transfinite induction a sequence "G", where "m" is an ordinal number, in the following manner:


title: Borel set

text: The claim is that the Borel algebra is "G", where ω is the first uncountable ordinal number. That is, the Borel algebra can be "generated" from the class of open sets by iterating the operation


title: Borel set

text: To prove this claim, note that any open set in a metric space is the union of an increasing sequence of closed sets. In particular, complementation of sets maps "G" into itself for any limit ordinal "m"; moreover if "m" is an uncountable limit ordinal, "G" is closed under countable unions.


title: Borel set

text: Note that for each Borel set "B", there is some countable ordinal "α" such that "B" can be obtained by iterating the operation over "α". However, as "B" varies over all Borel sets, "α" will vary over all the countable ordinals, and thus the first ordinal at which all the Borel sets are obtained is "ω", the first uncountable ordinal.


title: Borel set

text: An important example, especially in the theory of probability, is the Borel algebra on the set of real numbers. It is the algebra on which the Borel measure is defined. Given a real random variable defined on a probability space, its probability distribution is by definition also a measure on the Borel algebra.


title: Borel set

text: In the construction by transfinite induction, it can be shown that, in each step, the number of sets is, at most, the cardinality of the continuum. So, the total number of Borel sets is less than or equal to


title: Borel set

text: In fact, the cardinality of the collection of Borel sets is equal to that of the continuum (compare to the number of Lebesgue measurable sets that exist, which is strictly larger and equal to formula_9).


title: Borel set

text: Let "X" be a topological space. The Borel space associated to "X" is the pair ("X","B"), where "B" is the σ-algebra of Borel sets of "X".


title: Borel set

text: George Mackey defined a Borel space somewhat differently, writing that it is "a set together with a distinguished σ-field of subsets called its Borel sets." However, modern usage is to call the distinguished sub-algebra the "measurable sets" and such spaces "measurable spaces". The reason for this distinction is that the Borel sets are the σ-algebra generated by "open" sets (of a topological space), whereas Mackey's definition refers to a set equipped with an "arbitrary" σ-algebra. There exist measurable spaces that are not Borel spaces, for any choice of topology on the underlying space.


title: Borel set

text: Measurable spaces form a category in which the morphisms are measurable functions between measurable spaces. A function formula_10 is measurable if it pulls back measurable sets, i.e., for all measurable sets "B" in "Y", the set formula_11 is measurable in "X".


title: Borel set

text: Theorem. Let "X" be a Polish space, that is, a topological space such that there is a metric "d" on "X" that defines the topology of "X" and that makes "X" a complete separable metric space. Then "X" as a Borel space is isomorphic to one of


title: Borel set

text: Considered as Borel spaces, the real line R, the union of R with a countable set, and R are isomorphic.


title: Borel set

text: A standard Borel space is the Borel space associated to a Polish space. A standard Borel space is characterized up to isomorphism by its cardinality, and any uncountable standard Borel space has the cardinality of the continuum.


title: Borel set

text: For subsets of Polish spaces, Borel sets can be characterized as those sets that are the ranges of continuous injective maps defined on Polish spaces. Note however, that the range of a continuous noninjective map may fail to be Borel. See analytic set.


title: Borel set

text: An example of a subset of the reals that is non-Borel, due to Lusin, is described below. In contrast, an example of a non-measurable set cannot be exhibited, though its existence can be proved.


title: Borel set

text: where formula_13 is some integer and all the other numbers formula_14 are "positive" integers. Let formula_15 be the set of all irrational numbers that correspond to sequences formula_16 with the following property: there exists an infinite subsequence formula_17 such that each element is a divisor of the next element. This set formula_15 is not Borel. In fact, it is analytic, and complete in the class of analytic sets. For more details see descriptive set theory and the book by Kechris, especially Exercise (27.2) on page 209, Definition (22.9) on page 169, and Exercise (3.4)(ii) on page 14.


title: Borel set

text: It's important to note, that while formula_15 can be constructed in ZF, it cannot be proven to be non-Borel in ZF alone. In fact, it is consistent with ZF that formula_20 is a countable union of countable sets, so that any subset of formula_20 is a Borel set.


title: Borel set

text: Another non-Borel set is an inverse image formula_22 of an infinite parity function formula_23. However, this is a proof of existence (via the axiom of choice), not an explicit example.


title: Borel set

text: According to Paul Halmos, a subset of a locally compact Hausdorff topological space is called a "Borel set" if it belongs to the smallest σ–ring containing all compact sets.


title: Borel set

text: Norberg and Vervaat redefine the Borel algebra of a topological space formula_24 as the formula_25–algebra generated by its open subsets and its compact saturated subsets. This definition is well-suited for applications in the case where formula_24 is not Hausdorff. It coincides with the usual definition if formula_24 is second countable or if every compact saturated subset is closed (which is the case in particular if formula_24 is Hausdorff).


title: Test Card F

text: Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being broadcast. It was the first to be transmitted in colour in the UK and the first to feature a person, and has become an iconic British image regularly subject to parody.


title: Test Card F

text: The central image on the card shows Carole Hersee playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, Bubbles the Clown, surrounded by various greyscales and colour test signals used to assess the quality of the transmitted picture. It was first broadcast on 2 July 1967 (the day after the first colour pictures appeared to the public on television) on BBC2.


title: Test Card F

text: The card was developed by a BBC engineer, George Hersee (1924–2001), father of the girl in the central image. It was frequently broadcast during daytime downtime on BBC Television until 29 April 1983 and was still seen before the start of programmes until BBC1 began to broadcast 24 hours a day in November 1997, broadcasting BBC News overnight, and on BBC2 until its downtime was replaced entirely by "Pages from Ceefax" in 1998, after which it was only seen during engineering work, and was last seen in this role in 1999. The card was also seen on ITV in the 1970s, occasionally used in conjunction with Test Card G.


title: Test Card F

text: In the digital age, Test Card F and its variants are very infrequently broadcast, as downtime hours in schedules have largely been discontinued. Several variations of TCF have been screened, among them Test Card J (digitally enhanced), Test Card W (widescreen) and its high definition variant, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as Test Card X.


title: Test Card F

text: Up until the UK's digital switchover in 2010–2012, the test card made an appearance during the annual RBS (rebroadcast standby) Test Transmissions and, until 2013, during the BBC HD preview loop, which used Test Card W.


title: Test Card F

text: Virtually all the designs and patterns on the card have some significance. Along the top (see above) are 95% saturation colour-bars in descending order of luminance—white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, blue and black. There are triangles on each of the four sides of the card to check for correct overscanning of the picture. Standard greyscale and frequency response tests are found on the left and right respectively of the central picture. On the updated version known as Test Card J (including widescreen and HD versions), the X on the noughts-and-crosses board is an indicator for aligning the centre of the screen.


title: Test Card F

text: The blocks of colour on the sides would cause the picture to tear horizontally if the sync circuits were not adjusted properly. The closely spaced lines in various parts of the screen allowed focus to be checked from centre to edge; mistuning would also blur the lines. All parts of the greyscale would not be distinct if contrast and brightness (both internal preset settings and user adjustments) were not set correctly. The black bar on a white background revealed ringing and signal reflections. The castellations along the top and bottom also revealed possible setup problems.


title: Test Card F

text: In the centre image, a child was depicted so that wrong skin colour would be obvious and not subject to changing make-up fashions. The juxtaposed garish colours of the clown were such that a common transmission error called chrominance/luminance delay inequality would make the clown's yellow buttons turn white. Use of centre images in test cards were however not a new idea; RTF and ORTF in France used the Marly Horses as the central motif of its monochrome 819-line test card which was used on TF1 between 1953 and 1983, and the first French colour test card featuring a centre image of colourful roses was used on France 2 from 1967 until sometime around the mid-1970s. SVT in Sweden was also later inspired by Test Card F to develop its own colour test card, based on its earlier monochrome test cards, .


title: Test Card F

text: Modern circuitry using large-scale integration is much less susceptible to most of these problems. Some of them are also associated with cathode ray tubes; liquid crystal displays (LCDs), that are not scanned at high speed. The test card was a vital tool in its day, but has become far less important.


title: Test Card F

text: The name of the broadcasting channel usually appeared in the space underneath the letter F—a serif F denoting an original optical version of the test card.


title: Test Card F

text: Originally, Test Card F was a photographic slide made up of two transparencies in perfect registration—one containing the colour information and the other the monochrome background. The card was converted to electronic form in 1984 when electronic storage became possible.


title: Test Card F

text: A sound of some kind is usually transmitted in the background. It is either music, usually a composition commissioned by the station itself or "royalty-free" stock music, or a steady tone. Composers whose music has been used include Roger Roger, Johnny Pearson, Neil Richardson, Frank Chacksfield, Syd Dale, John Cameron, Brian Bennett, Keith Mansfield, and Alan Hawkshaw.


title: Test Card F

text: In recent years, the Test Card is only shown during engineering tests on the BBC and is accompanied by a steady tone of various pitches accompanied by a female talking clock. Test Card music had ceased to be frequently heard with the test card by the end of the 1980s, although it continued to be played over Pages from Ceefax until the termination of that service on 22 October 2012.


title: Test Card F

text: Along with his Test Card F co-star Carole Hersee, Bubbles has appeared for an estimated total of 70,000 hours on television, equivalent to nearly eight whole years, which is more than any living person other than Carole (who still owns Bubbles).


title: Test Card F

text: Bubbles's original body colour was blue and white, but the BBC engineers decided that green was also needed within the scene as the other two television primary colours, red and blue, were already shown. A green wrap was made to cover his body and this can be seen in Test Card J and Test Card W, along with more of his body shown in the photograph — revealing the fact that he is actually holding a piece of chalk, which was not previously visible.


title: Test Card F

text: However, the shade of green material chosen was too subtle for the engineers' liking and so Bubbles' body colour in Test Card F was retouched (this can be seen from the edges of his image) to make it more saturated and also to give it a higher luminance value on screen.


title: Test Card F

text: Test Card F was also used in approximately 30 countries outside the UK. Notable overseas users included:


title: Test Card F

text: Test Card J is an updated version of Test Card F, and first appeared in November 1999. It includes the following changes relative to its predecessor:


title: Test Card F

text: Test Card W is an updated 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen version of Test Card F. It first appeared in November 1999 alongside Test Card J, with which it bears some similarities.


title: Test Card F

text: The colour-bars on the top and right of the image are the full 100 percent saturation version, unlike Test Cards F and J which use the 95 percent type. Extra mirrored arrow-heads on the central axis at the sides mark the positions of the middle 4:3 and 14:9 sections of the image.


title: Test Card F

text: A 1080 line variant of Test Card W (sometimes referred to unofficially as Test Card X) was used on the now-defunct BBC HD channel. It could be viewed every two hours as part of the BBC HD preview slot. When viewed, it was enhanced with 5.1 surround sound tests. A BLITS tone is played alongside, which plays test tones at different frequencies from each of the different surround sound speakers, with markers (such as L, R, C, LFE, Ls, Rs) appearing inside some of the grey boxes of the testcard. BBC HD closed in March 2013; therefore Test Card X is no longer broadcast.


title: Test Card F

text: From August 2016 until July 2019, the latest iteration of the widescreen testcard could be seen briefly each morning at 7:00 am on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. At the centre bottom of the test card is an animated grey bar with graduations corresponding to 1/12 of a second. The animation is accompanied by a 'pip' that occurs when the animated bar reaches the centre mark (indicated by a 0), which together can be used to determine whether the digital audio and video signals are synchronised.


title: Test Card F

text: In May 1983, trade test transmissions of the test card ended when Ceefax pages began to be shown during all daytime intervals. This meant that Test Card F was only seen for a few minutes early in the morning.


title: Test Card F

text: 1992 was the last year that Test Card F was seen daily with music; 1995 was the last year it was seen with music, although it was seen until 1999 with just tone output, and Ceefax was broadcast either with tone or music. However, since the closure of Ceefax, the shutdown of analogue television transmissions, and the imposition of budgetary constraints, a new revision of the testcard can be seen daily on BBC Two and BBC Two HD at the end of the "This is BBC Two" transmission. Each morning, as the segment concludes, the testcard is broadcast for approximately one minute.


title: Test Card F

text: Since the late 1990s, Bubbles has only very rarely appeared on television, as Test Card F has been discontinued, and Test Cards J and W are very seldom shown, due to the advent of digital television and 24-hour programming.


title: Test Card F

text: For the fortieth anniversary of Test Card F, there was some renewed interest in Bubbles in the media; in a 2007 interview, Hersee mentioned that she took Bubbles into school with her to prove to her headmaster that she really was the girl in the picture.


title: Test Card F

text: The BBC website previously featured Bubbles next to a blackboard with "404" inscribed on it when a user visited a page that did not exist; however, some time between July 2017 and May 2020, this was replaced with an image of two "clangers" (animated puppets) from the BBC television show "Clangers". Similarly, in 2015 the BBC website's "500" Internal Error page featured a cross-eyed Bubbles appearing in front of a blackboard with a background of fire; however, this has since been replaced with the same error message seen on the 404 page.


title: Test Card F

text: Variations and parodies of Test Card F are common in British broadcasting, Internet sites and games. Some prominent examples include:


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along with Spain) is the most successful nation in the history of the competition, with five Championships won (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2004). Italy has also been twice runner-up of the competition, in 1986 and 2013.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: From 1990 to 2004 the team established near-total dominance of European Under-21 football, winning five of the seven tournaments.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Italy's Under-21s played the first match at the new Wembley Stadium, on 24 March 2007, against England Under-21s. The game resulted in a 3–3 draw, with Giampaolo Pazzini scoring all 3 goals for the Azzurrini.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Prior to the 2008 Olympic games, Italy U-21s went on to win the 2008 Toulon Tournament by beating Chile (1–0) in the final. It was the first time they had won this tournament, previously their best had been runner-up on two occasions.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two-year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, Italy's record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Since 1992 Olympic football changed to a U-23 event, and the European U-21 teams are technically U-23 teams. European national teams qualify for the Olympic football tournament through the UEFA European U-21 Championship.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Players born in 2000 or later are eligible for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Players in bold have been already capped with the senior team.


title: Italy national under-21 football team

text: Following are listed players called up in the previous 12 months that are still eligible to represent the Under-21 team.


title: Boer goat

text: The Boer or Boerbok is a South African breed of meat goat. It was selectively bred in the Eastern Cape from about 1920 for meat qualities and for the ability to survive by grazing on the thorn veldt of that region. It has been exported to many countries, and has been used to improve the meat qualities of other breeds.


title: Boer goat

text: The Boer goat was bred from the indigenous South African goats kept by the Namaqua, San, and Fooku tribes, with some crossing of Indian and European bloodlines being possible. They were selected for meat rather than milk production; due to selective breeding and improvement, the Boer goat has a fast growth rate and excellent carcass qualities, making it one of the most popular breeds of meat goat in the world. Boer goats have a high resistance to disease and adapt well to hot, dry semideserts.


title: Boer goat

text: Boer goats commonly have white bodies and distinctive brown heads. Some Boer goats can be completely brown or white or paint, which means large spots of a different color are on their bodies. Like the Nubian goat, they possess long, pendulous ears. They are noted for being docile, fast-growing, and having high fertility rates. Does are reported to have superior mothering skills as compared to other breeds.


title: Boer goat

text: Boer goats tend to gain weight at about the same rate as their sire, so a buck from a proven fast-growing bloodline will command the highest price, as its offspring tend to also be fast growers. The primary market for slaughter goats is a kid; kids should reach marketable size at weaning age. The kid of a proven fast-growing sire might weigh at 90 days, while the kid of a poor-quality sire might weigh only at 90 days. An average-quality buck will initially be less expensive to purchase, but it can significantly undermine an operation's long-term profitability.


title: Boer goat

text: Due to their versatility on different terrains, Boer goat are frequently used for land maintenance, especially to prevent bush encroachment on rangeland. As typical browsers, the goats are able to suppress re-growth after bush thinning and to browse from plants up to 1.8 meters high, standings on their hind legs.


title: Boer goat

text: Boer goats are polyestrous (they can breed throughout the year), and they reach sexual maturity at five months of age. A typical breeding program is to produce three kid crops every two years, meaning the does are pregnant for five months, nurse their kids for three months, and then are rebred. Multiple births are common, and a 200% kid crop is achievable in managed herds. Usually, first-time does have one kid, but they may have more. After that, they usually have two kids every other breeding. The kids can be brown, black, white, or mixed.


title: Boer goat

text: Common crosses are Boer x Spanish goat, Boer x Angora goat, Boer x Kiko goat, Boer x Nubian goat, Boer x Sirohi, Boer x Osmanabadi, and Boer x Jamnapari goat. An effort to crossbreed with the Malabari goat has been controversial.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle atrophy is the loss of skeletal muscle mass. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy leads to muscle weakness and causes disability.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Disuse causes rapid muscle atrophy and often occurs during injury or illness that requires immobilization of a limb or bed rest. Depending on the duration of disuse and the health of the individual, this may be fully reversed with activity. Malnutrition first causes fat loss but may progress to muscle atrophy in prolonged starvation and can be reversed with nutritional therapy. In contrast, cachexia is a wasting syndrome caused by an underlying disease such as cancer that causes dramatic muscle atrophy and cannot be completely reversed with nutritional therapy. Sarcopenia is age-related muscle atrophy and can be slowed by exercise. Finally, diseases of the muscles such as muscular dystrophy or myopathies can cause atrophy, as well as damage to the nervous system such as in spinal cord injury or stroke. Thus, muscle atrophy is usually a finding (sign or symptom) in a disease rather than being a disease by itself. However, some syndromes of muscular atrophy are classified as disease spectrums or disease entities rather than as clinical syndromes alone, such as the various spinal muscular atrophies.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle atrophy results from an imbalance between protein synthesis and protein degradation, although the mechanisms are incompletely understood and are variable depending on the cause. Muscle loss can be quantified with advanced imaging studies but this is not frequently pursued. Treatment depends on the underlying cause but will often include exercise and adequate nutrition. Anabolic agents may have some efficacy but are not often used due to side effects. There are multiple treatments and supplements under investigation but there are currently limited treatment options in clinical practice. Given the implications of muscle atrophy and limited treatment options, minimizing immobility is critical in injury or illness.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: The hallmark sign of muscle atrophy is loss of lean muscle mass. This change may be difficult to detect due to obesity, changes in fat mass or edema. Changes in weight, limb or waist circumference are not reliable indicators of muscle mass changes.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: The predominant symptom is increased weakness which may result in difficulty or inability in performing physical tasks depending on what muscles are affected. Atrophy of the core or leg muscles may cause difficulty standing from a seated position, walking or climbing stairs and can cause increased falls. Atrophy of the throat muscles may cause difficulty swallowing and diaphragm atrophy can cause difficulty breathing. Muscle atrophy can be asymptomatic and may go undetected until a significant amount of muscle is lost.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Skeletal muscle serves as a storage site for amino acids that can be used for energy production when demands are high or supplies are low. If metabolic demands remain greater than protein synthesis, muscle mass is lost. Many diseases and conditions can lead to this imbalance, either through the disease itself or disease associated appetite-changes. Causes of muscle atrophy, include immobility, aging, malnutrition, certain systemic diseases (cancer, congestive heart failure; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; AIDS, liver disease, etc.), deinnervation, intrinsic muscle disease or medications (such as glucocorticoids).


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Disuse is a common cause of muscle atrophy and can be local (due to injury or casting) or general (bed-rest). The rate of muscle atrophy from disuse (10-42 days) is approximately 0.5–0.6% of total muscle mass per day although there is considerable variation between people. The elderly are the most vulnerable to dramatic muscle loss with immobility. Much of the established research has investigated prolonged disuse (>10 days), in which the muscle is compromised primarily by declines in muscle protein synthesis rates rather than changes in muscle protein breakdown. There is evidence to suggest that there may be more active protein breakdown during short term immobility (<10 days).


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Certain diseases can cause a complex muscle wasting syndrome known as cachexia. It is commonly seen in cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease and AIDS although it is associated with many disease processes, usually with a significant inflammatory component. Cachexia causes ongoing muscle loss that is not entirely reversed with nutritional therapy. The pathophysiology is incompletely understood but inflammatory cytokines are considered to play a central role. In contrast to weight loss from inadequate caloric intake, cachexia causes predominantly muscle loss instead of fat loss and it is not as responsive to nutritional intervention. Cachexia can significantly compromise quality of life and functional status and is associated with poor outcomes.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass, quality, and strength associated with aging. This involves muscle atrophy, reduction in number of muscle fibers and a shift towards "slow twitch" or type I skeletal muscle fibers over "fast twitch" or type II fibers. The rate of muscle loss is dependent on exercise level, co-morbidities, nutrition and other factors. There are many proposed mechanisms of sarcopenia and is considered to be the result of changes in muscle synthesis signalling pathways and gradual failure in the satellite cells which help to regenerate skeletal muscle fibers, but is incompletely understood.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Sarcopenia can lead to reduction in functional status and cause significant disability but is a distinct condition from cachexia although they may co-exist. In 2016 an ICD code for sarcopenia was released, contributing to its acceptance as a disease entity.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or myositis such as inclusion body myositis can cause muscle atrophy.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Damage to neurons in the brain or spinal cord can cause prominent muscle atrophy. This can be localized muscle atrophy and weakness or paralysis such as in stroke or spinal cord injury. More widespread damage such as in traumatic brain injury or cerebral palsy can cause generalized muscle atrophy.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Injuries or diseases of peripheral nerves supplying specific muscles can also cause muscle atrophy. This is seen in nerve injury due to trauma or surgical complication, nerve entrapment, or inherited diseases such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Some medications are known to cause muscle atrophy, usually due to direct effect on muscles. This includes glucocorticoids causing glucocorticoid myopathy or medications toxic to muscle such as doxorubicin.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Disorders of the endocrine system such as Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism are known to cause muscle atrophy.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle atrophy occurs due to an imbalance between the normal balance between protein synthesis and protein degradation. This involves complex cell signalling that is incompletely understood and muscle atrophy is likely the result of multiple contributing mechanisms.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Mitochondrial function is crucial to skeletal muscle health and detrimental changes at the level of the mitochondria may contribute to muscle atrophy. A decline in mitochondrial density as well as quality is consistently seen in muscle atrophy due to disuse.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: The ATP-dependent ubiquitin/proteasome pathway is one mechanism by which proteins are degraded in muscle. This involves specific proteins being tagged for destruction by a small peptide called ubiquitin which allows recognition by the proteasome to degrade the protein.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Screening for muscle atrophy is limited by a lack of established diagnostic criteria, although many have been proposed. Diagnostic criteria for other conditions such as sarcopenia or cachexia can be used. These syndromes can also be identified with screening questionnaires.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle mass and changes can be quantified on imaging studies such as CT scans or Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Biomarkers such as urine urea can be used to roughly estimate muscle loss during circumstances of rapid muscle loss. Other biomarkers are currently under investigation but are not used in clinical practice.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Muscle atrophy can be delayed, prevented and sometimes reversed with treatment. Treatment approaches include impacting the signaling pathways that induce muscle hypertrophy or slow muscle breakdown as well as optimizing nutritional status.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Physical activity provides a significant anabolic muscle stimulus and is a crucial component to slowing or reversing muscle atrophy. It is still unknown regarding the ideal exercise "dosing." Resistance exercise has been shown to be beneficial in reducing muscle atrophy in older adults. In patients who cannot exercise due to physical limitations such as paraplegia, functional electrical stimulation can be used to externally stimulate the muscles.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Adequate calories and protein is crucial to prevent muscle atrophy. Protein needs may vary dramatically depending on metabolic factors and disease state, so high-protein supplementation may be beneficial. Supplementation of protein or branched-chain amino acids, especially leucine, can provide a stimulus for muscle synthesis and inhibit protein breakdown and has been studied for muscle atrophy for sarcopenia and cachexia. β-Hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB), a metabolite of leucine which is sold as a dietary supplement, has demonstrated efficacy in preventing the loss of muscle mass in several muscle wasting conditions in humans, particularly sarcopenia. Based upon a meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials that was published in 2015, HMB supplementation has efficacy as a treatment for preserving lean muscle mass in older adults. More research is needed to determine the precise effects of HMB on muscle strength and function in various populations.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: In severe cases of muscular atrophy, the use of an anabolic steroid such as methandrostenolone may be administered to patients as a potential treatment although use is limited by side effects. A novel class of drugs, called selective androgen receptor modulators, is being investigated with promising results. They would have fewer side effects, while still promoting muscle and bone tissue growth and regeneration. These effects have yet to be confirmed in larger clinical trials.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Outcomes of muscle atrophy depend on the underlying cause and the health of the patient. Immobility or bed rest in populations predisposed to muscle atrophy, such as the elderly or those with disease states that commonly cause cachexia, can cause dramatic muscle atrophy and impact on functional outcomes. In the elderly, this often leads to decreased biological reserve and increased vulnerability to stressors known as the "frailty syndrome." Loss of lean body mass is also associated with increased risk of infection, decreased immunity, and poor wound healing. The weakness that accompanies muscle atrophy leads to higher risk of falls, fractures, physical disability, need for institutional care, reduced quality of life, increased mortality, and increased healthcare costs.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Inactivity and starvation in mammals lead to atrophy of skeletal muscle, accompanied by a smaller number and size of the muscle cells as well as lower protein content. In humans, prolonged periods of immobilization, as in the cases of bed rest or astronauts flying in space, are known to result in muscle weakening and atrophy. Such consequences are also noted in small hibernating mammals like the golden-mantled ground squirrels and brown bats.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: Bears are an exception to this rule; species in the family Ursidae are famous for their ability to survive unfavorable environmental conditions of low temperatures and limited nutrition availability during winter by means of hibernation. During that time, bears go through a series of physiological, morphological, and behavioral changes. Their ability to maintain skeletal muscle number and size during disuse is of significant importance.


title: Muscle atrophy

text: During hibernation, bears spend 4-7 months of inactivity and anorexia without undergoing muscle atrophy and protein loss. A few known factors contribute to the sustaining of muscle tissue. During the summer, bears take advantage of the nutrition availability and accumulate muscle protein. The protein balance at time of dormancy is also maintained by lower levels of protein breakdown during the winter. At times of immobility, muscle wasting in bears is also suppressed by a proteolytic inhibitor that is released in circulation. Another factor that contributes to the sustaining of muscle strength in hibernating bears is the occurrence of periodic voluntary contractions and involuntary contractions from shivering during torpor. The three to four daily episodes of muscle activity are responsible for the maintenance of muscle strength and responsiveness in bears during hibernation.


title: Short stature

text: Short stature refers to a height of a human which is below typical. Whether a person is considered short depends on the context. Because of the lack of preciseness, there is often disagreement about the degree of shortness that should be called "short". Dwarfism is the condition of being very short, often caused by a medical condition.


title: Short stature

text: In a medical context, short stature is typically defined as an adult height that is more than two standard deviations below a population’s mean for age and gender, which corresponds to the shortest 2.3% of individuals in that population. The median or typical adult height in developed countries is about for men and for women.


title: Short stature

text: Shortness in children and young adults nearly always results from below-average growth in childhood, while shortness in older adults usually results from loss of height due to kyphosis of the spine or collapsed vertebrae from osteoporosis. The most common causes of short stature in childhood are constitutional growth delay or familial short stature.


title: Short stature

text: From a medical perspective, severe shortness can be a variation of normal, resulting from the interplay of multiple familial genes. It can also be due to one or more of many abnormal conditions, such as chronic (prolonged) growth hormone or thyroid hormone deficiency, malnutrition, disease of a major organ system, mistreatment, treatment with certain drugs, chromosomal deletions. Human growth hormone (HGH) deficiency may occur at any time during infancy or childhood, with the most obvious sign being a noticeable slowing of growth. The deficiency may be genetic. Among children without growth hormone deficiency, short stature may be caused by Turner syndrome or Noonan syndrome, chronic kidney disease, being small for gestational age at birth, Prader–Willi syndrome, Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome, or other conditions. Genetic skeletal dysplasias also known as osteochondrodysplasia usually manifest in short-limbed disproportionate short stature.


title: Short stature

text: Short stature can also be caused by the bone plates fusing at an earlier age than normal, therefore stunting growth. Normally, the bone age is the same as the biological age but for some people, it is older. For many people with advanced bone ages, they hit a growth spurt early on which propels them to average height but stop growing at an earlier age. However, in some cases, people who are naturally shorter combined with their advanced bone age, end up being even shorter than the height they normally would have been because of their stunted growth.


title: Short stature

text: Genetics. When a child’s parents and grandparents are short, the child may also be short; this is known as familial short stature. Also, the target height is merely an estimate and some children simply don't grow as tall as expected.


title: Short stature

text: Genetic conditions. Several genetic syndromes can lead to short stature, including Prader-Willi syndrome, Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome.


title: Short stature

text: Chronic diseases. Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland, located in the middle of the brain. Therefore, chronic medical problems that affect the pituitary gland may also affect growth. For example, radiation to the brain can affect pituitary function, so pediatric cancer or its treatment can lead to short stature. Gastrointestinal diseases that impair nutrition, such as inflammatory bowel disease and celiac can affect growth, can also be a cause. Many other conditions can also delay the growth rate, including hypothyroidism, heart disease, kidney disease, immunological disease and several other endocrine disorders.


title: Short stature

text: Growth hormone deficiency. Some children simply don't produce enough growth hormone, including those born with a poorly developed pituitary gland.


title: Short stature

text: Malnutrition. This is caused by an inadequate food supply, an eating disorder, or an underlying condition or treatment that affects appetite, lack of nourishment is a common cause of growth delay.


title: Short stature

text: Psychosocial stress.exposure to violence because of war or famine or just being in a home environment that’s not very nurturing, children can also experience a psychosocial stress that keeps them from growing properly,” Dr. Patel says. “That can be reversed just by removing them from the stressful environment.”


title: Short stature

text: Chronic illnesses, malnutrition, endocrine, metabolic disorders or chromosomal anomalies are characterized by proportionate short stature.


title: Short stature

text: On the other hand, most genetic skeletal dysplasias are known for short stature that may be proportionate or disproportionate. Disproportionate short stature can be further subdivided as specified by the body segments affected by shortening, namely limbs versus trunk:


title: Short stature

text: Short-limb short stature can be further subcategorised in accordance with limb segment affected by shortening. These subcategories of limb shortening include, rhizomelic (humerus and femur), mesomelic (radius, ulna, tibia and fibula) and acromelic (hands and feet). Anthropometric measurements provide are very beneficial tools to the diagnostic process of genetic skeletal dysplasias. The anthropometric measurements include height, sitting height, arm span, upper/ lower-body segment ratio, sitting height/height ratio, and arm span/height ratio for age. They also aid in the differential diagnosis of skeletal dysplasia subtypes.


title: Short stature

text: The decision to treat is based on a belief that the child will be disabled by being extremely short as an adult, so that the risks of treatment (including sudden death) will outweigh the risks of not treating the symptom of short stature. Although short children commonly report being teased about their height, most adults who are very short are not physically or psychologically disabled by their height. However, there is some evidence to suggest that there is an inverse linear relationship with height and with risk of suicide.


title: Short stature

text: Treatment is expensive and requires many years of injections with human growth hormones. The result depends on the cause, but is typically an increase in final height of about taller than predicted. Thus, treatment takes a child who is expected to be much shorter than a typical adult and produces an adult who is still obviously shorter than average. For example, several years of successful treatment in a girl who is predicted to be as an adult may result in her being instead.


title: Short stature

text: Increasing final height in children with short stature may be beneficial and could enhance health-related quality of life outcomes, barring troublesome side effects and excessive cost of treatments.


title: Short stature

text: The cost of treatment depends on the amount of growth hormone given, which in turn depends on the child's weight and age. One year's worth of drugs normally costs about US$20,000 for a small child and over $50,000 for a teenager. These drugs are normally taken for five or more years.


title: Short stature

text: From a social perspective shortness can be a problem independently of the cause. In many societies there are advantages associated with taller stature and disadvantages associated with shorter stature, and vice versa.


title: Short stature

text: Pharmaceutical companies Genentech and Eli Lilly, makers of human growth hormone, have worked to medicalize short stature by convincing the public that short stature is a disease rather than a natural variation in human height. Limiting sales of the hormone to children diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, rather than being short for any reason, limited their sales market. Expanding it to all children whose height was below the third percentile would create 90,000 new customers and US$10 billion in revenue. In the early 1990s, they paid two US charities, the Human Growth Foundation and the MAGIC Foundation, to measure the height of thousands of American children in schools and public places, and to send letters urging medical consultations for children whose height was deemed low. Parents and schools were not told that the charities were being paid by the drug companies to do this.


title: Short stature

text: Paired with a campaign to advertise the hormone to physicians, the campaign was successful, and tens of thousands of children began receiving HGH. About half of them do not have growth hormone deficiency, and consequently benefited very little, if at all, from the hormone injections. Criticism of the universal screening program eventually resulted in its end.


title: Short stature

text: During World War I in Britain, the minimum height for soldiers was . Thus thousands of men under this height were denied the opportunity to fight in the war. As a result of pressure to allow them entry, special "Bantam Battalions" were created composed of men who were to . By the end of the war there were 29 Bantam Battalions of about 1,000 men each. Officers were of normal size.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE (23 December 1946 – 22 April 2011) was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms, including "Only Fools and Horses", "Citizen Smith" and "Just Good Friends".


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: John Sullivan was born at 35 Zennor Road, Balham, London, on 23 December 1946. His Irish-born father was John Patrick Sullivan, (17 March 1908 – September 1993), a plumber, and his mother was Hilda Clara May, née Parker (23 December 1907 – December 1992), a cleaner.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: From working-class South London, Sullivan worked in a variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing sketches for "The Two Ronnies", which led to writing the sitcom "Citizen Smith" (1977–1980). However, it was the sitcom "Only Fools and Horses" (1981–2003) that he is best known for. Other sitcoms include "Dear John", "Just Good Friends", "Sitting Pretty", "Roger Roger", and "The Green Green Grass". In addition, he wrote the comedy drama serial "Over Here" and the drama series "Micawber" for ITV, and co-wrote the comedy "Heartburn Hotel". His work won him a number of comedy awards, including the BAFTA for best sitcom on three occasions, and he was made an OBE in 2005. His last work was "Rock & Chips", a comedy drama prequel to "Only Fools and Horses". The final episode of Sullivan's last comedy series aired six days after his death from pneumonia on 22 April 2011.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: To remember Sullivan's work, the BBC broadcast "A Touch of Glass", the episode of "Only Fools and Horses" in which the Trotters drop a chandelier while cleaning it for an upper-class family. They also showed "Top 40 "Only Fools and Horses" Moments". The episode, "A Touch of Glass", was voted number 2, losing to when Del Boy (David Jason) falls through an open bar in "Yuppy Love".


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Sullivan was from a working-class background, and grew up in Balham, South London. His father, John Sr., was a plumber and his mother, Hilda, occasionally worked as a charwoman. It was in Balham where he observed the sort of market trader that would later appear in "Only Fools and Horses". Both of his parents were Irish. He failed his eleven-plus and attended Telferscot Secondary Modern School, where he had an inspirational English teacher named Jim Trowers, who sparked an interest in reading the novels of Charles Dickens and discovered his talent for writing stories. Sullivan left the school at Christmas 1961 with no qualifications. He did, however, attend evening classes in German and English, and read Teach Yourself books after leaving school. His first paid employment was as a messenger boy for Reuters. He then worked in the second-hand car trade, in a brewery, as a window cleaner and as a carpet layer in the House of Commons.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: During this time, Sullivan continued to submit scripts to the BBC. Sullivan admired Steptoe and Son, Till Death us do Part and Phil Silvers' US show, Bilko, and "anything by Neil Simon" before in November 1974 getting a job in the BBC props department. He was warned not to pester or approach the stars of the corporation. He eventually approached television producer Dennis Main Wilson with a script about a young Marxist. This led to a pilot for "Comedy Special" in 1977 which, following a positive reaction, was commissioned for a full series, "Citizen Smith" (1977–80). "Citizen Smith" ran for four series, after which Sullivan was asked to submit another idea. An initial idea for a comedy set in the world of football was rejected, so he proposed an alternative idea for a sitcom centring on a cockney market trader in working-class, modern-day London called "Readies".


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Through Ray Butt, a BBC producer and director whom Sullivan had met and befriended when they were working on "Citizen Smith", a draft script was shown to the Corporation's Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies. Davies commissioned Sullivan to write a full series under an alternative title "Only Fools and Horses", which had also been the name of a "Citizen Smith" episode. Sullivan believed the key factor in it being accepted was the success of ITV's new drama "Minder", a series with a similar premise and also set in 1980’s London.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Much of Sullivan's material for "Only Fools and Horses" scripts came from his real-life experiences; falling through a raised bar flap, the chandelier falling, his father's poker sessions, his niece working in the police force, and his grandfather falling down holes to claim money. It is arguable that the poverty of the Trotter family, and their eventual rise to wealth, is based on Sullivan's background. He grew up in a poor household and noted in an interview that he and his friends seemingly had no opportunities after leaving school apart from becoming, as Sullivan put it, "factory fodder". The success of "Only Fools and Horses" made him very rich.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: With the success of "Only Fools...", at the suggestion of his wife he decided to write a romantic comedy series featuring a strong female lead character. His source of inspiration was a letter in a magazine read to him by his wife, written by a woman who had been jilted by her fiancé on the day of her wedding. "Just Good Friends" ran for three series and a feature-length special between 1983 and 1986. Other sitcoms included "Dear John" (1986–1987) and "Sitting Pretty" (1992–1993). Later in his career, he moved towards writing comedy drama series such as "Over Here" (1996), "Roger Roger" (1996) and "Micawber" (2001). His last work, "Rock and Chips" (2010), was the second spin-off of "Only Fools...".


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: "Only Fools and Horses" won the BAFTA award for best comedy series in 1986, 1989 and 1997, as well as the RTS best comedy award in 1997, best sitcom at the 1990 British Comedy Awards, and two Television and Radio Industries Club Awards for comedy programme of the year in 1984 and 1997. Sullivan won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain comedy award for the 1996 "Only Fools and Horses" Christmas trilogy and another from the Heritage Foundation in 2001.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: In the 2005 New Year Honours, Sullivan was appointed an OBE for services to drama. On 2 September 2008, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Goldsmiths, University of London.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: On 22 July 2012 a blue plaque was unveiled by David Jason at Teddington Studios, Middlesex, England, to celebrate Sullivan's contribution to British comedy. Nicholas Lyndhurst and John Challis also attended among other cast members.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Sullivan died on 22 April 2011, in a Surrey hospital, after having viral pneumonia for six weeks. He was 64. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson paid tribute, saying: "John had a unique gift for turning everyday life and characters we all know into unforgettable comedy."


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Gareth Gwenlan, a producer of "Only Fools and Horses" and a close friend of Sullivan, paid tribute to the writer: "The sudden death of John Sullivan has deprived the world of television comedy of its greatest exponent. John was a writer of immense talent and he leaves behind him an extraordinary body of work which has entertained tens of millions of viewers and will continue to do so for many decades to come." Sullivan is survived by his wife Sharon, whom he married on 23 February 1974, two sons Dan and Jim, a daughter, Amy and three grandchildren.


title: John Sullivan (writer)

text: Sullivan wrote (and in two cases sang) the theme tunes for "Only Fools and Horses", "Just Good Friends", "Dear John" and "The Green Green Grass".


title: Amstelveen

text: Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area.


title: Amstelveen

text: The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages of Bovenkerk and Nes aan de Amstel. In addition, as well as Downtown Amstelveen (Dutch: "Amstelveen stadshart"), the following neighbourhoods have been recently built: Westwijk, Bankras-Kostverloren, Groenelaan, Waardhuizen, Middenhoven, Randwijk, Elsrijk and Keizer Karelpark. The name comes from the Amstel, a local river (as does the name Amsterdam) and , meaning fen, peat, or moor. Amstelveen houses the international headquarters of Dutch national airline KLM (although it is slated to leave for Schiphol in 2024) and KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms. The Cobra Museum is also located in Amstelveen.


title: Amstelveen

text: During the French occupation between 1810 and 1814, Amstelveen was the capital of a canton in the French department Zuyderzée, and until 1964 the municipality of Amstelveen was called Nieuwer-Amstel. It is technically a large "dorp" (village), because it was never walled. The symbol adopted for Amstelveen was not based on the Amsterdam symbol of three crosses, with one additional cross for distinction, but rather Amsterdam has one cross fewer, to indicate Amstelveen's and Ouder-Amstel's seniority. The Thijssepark (in full the Dr Jac. P. Thijssepark), was the first "heempark" in the Netherlands, and is one of sixteen "heemparks" or "heemgroen" in Amstelveen. Designed by landscape architect C. P. Broerse, following the ideas of the great Dutch naturalist and conservationist Jac. P. Thijsse, it was developed between 1940 and 1972 and covers an area of 5 hectares (about 12 acres), and is situated just south of the Amsterdamse Bos. Amstelveen was chosen as an unlikely host of a match in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, for which the Netherlands had not qualified. South Africa played Kenya in the match. Former Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende started his political career as member of the council for Amstelveen. As a result of the vicinity of Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport), and its links to Amsterdam, Amstelveen has grown and become a cosmopolitan mix of many cultures.


title: Amstelveen

text: In the early 20th century Amstelveen was a small rural village. The turf industry had collapsed, so the village had lost its revenues from it. The village was somewhat isolated, because it had no major railway or waterway. The main source of income was livestock farming, with some arable, but horticulture and floriculture were already emerging.


title: Amstelveen

text: In 1852 the Haarlemmermeer polder was reclaimed and the "Fort at the Schiphol" was created as a defense for Amsterdam. Forts were in those days more often named after rivers. "Fort at the Schiphol" was a ditch separating Aalsmeer and Amstelveen, and named after a piece of land from Amstelveen. Fort Schiphol became a military airport in 1916. Four years later Schiphol became a civilian airport. Schiphol Fort was demolished in 1934 to build a provincial road (Mayor Van Sonweg) from Amstelveen to Schiphol, with a swing bridge over the circular canal of the Haarlemmermeer. The development of Schiphol Airport attracted many people, many of whom settled in Amstelveen. The headquarters of KLM was established there. Amstelveen once was the fastest growing city in the Netherlands and has now grown to 91,691 inhabitants (2020).


title: Amstelveen

text: After World War II Amstelveen caught a portion of Amsterdam's housing shortage, and was also a member of the municipality of Schiphol. Amsterdam's plan was to introduce Amstelveen as a metropolitan area, with its urban and green areas. Amstelveen remained an independent and self-conscious municipality and adopted a policy that reflected many attractive new residential areas. Amstelveen's landscaping and added art attracted much international attention.


title: Amstelveen

text: In 1993, Amstelveen was in the news for its Krokettenmotie, debated in the municipal council after a motion proposal by Jan Peter Balkenende. In 2004 Amstelveen was voted the most attractive city in the Netherlands in which to live. Currently Amstelveen is in the top three on the national list of best cities to live in. The Amstelveen city centre also received the number one award for the Netherlands' best shopping centre in 2013, 2014 and 2015.


title: Amstelveen

text: In 2018 the St. Urbanus Church ("Sint-Urbanuskerk") in Bovenkerk caught fire. The tower remained standing but the rest of the church suffered severe damage.


title: Amstelveen

text: The city's close proximity to Schiphol Airport makes it a prime location for people working in the aviation industry.


title: Amstelveen

text: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as well as the commercial organisation for the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have their head offices in Amstelveen (), although it is slated to leave in 2024. Air France-KLM is represented by the KLM head office.


title: Amstelveen

text: In addition, Amstelveen houses the international headquarters of Big Four accounting firm KPMG. Large international corporations such as Canon Inc. and Hewlett-Packard also have corporate offices in Amstelveen.


title: Amstelveen

text: Amstelveen is served by two tram lines running south from Amsterdam Zuid station. Tram line 5 runs south via Amsterdam Zuid to Stadshart (city centre) in Amstelveen. Tram line 25 runs between Amsterdam Zuid station and Westwijk. Both tram lines serve stops between Amsterdam Zuid and Oranjebaan. Tram line 25 replaced a portion of Metro line 51 that used to run between Amsterdam Zuid station and Westwijk.


title: Amstelveen

text: Amstelveen has a point-to-point bus connection to other villages and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as well as a local network. There is also an extensive bus system.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The Voice – Norges beste stemme (Norwegian for "The Voice – Norway's best Voice") is a Norwegian reality singing competition and local version of The Voice first broadcast as The Voice of Holland. It started on 27 January 2012 and the final aired on 25 May 2012 on TV2.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: One of the important premises of the show is the quality of the singing talent. Four coaches, themselves popular performing artists, train the talents in their group and occasionally perform with them. Talents are selected in blind auditions, where the coaches cannot see, but only hear the auditioner.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and live performance shows. Four judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance (about two minutes) to decide if he or she wants that singer on his or her team; if two or more judges want the same singer (as happens frequently), the singer has the final choice of coach.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: Each team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of four individual "battles" into the first live round. Within that first live round, the surviving four acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with public votes determining one of two acts from each team that will advance to the final eight, while the coach chooses which of the remaining three acts comprises the other performer remaining on the team.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: In the final phase, the remaining contestants (Final 24) compete against each other in live broadcasts. The television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50 in deciding who moves on to the final 4 phase. With one team member remaining for each coach, the (final 4) contestants compete against each other in the finale with the outcome decided solely by public vote.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The coaches for the debut seasons are singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, pop star Hanne Sørvaag, Madcon member Yosef Wolde-Mariam and former A-ha member Magne Furuholmen. Øyvind Mund is hosting the programme while Maria Bodøgaard shares hosting duties as the social media correspondent. Martin Halla from Team Magne Furuholmen won the competition.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: Due to the success of the inaugural season, a second season was announced for 2013. Sondre Lerche is the only judge returning from the inaugural 2012 season. All other three judges Hanne Sørvaag, Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Magne Furuholmen was replaced by singer and songwriter Espen Lind, singer and former Aqua member Lene Nystrøm and rapper and music producer Tommy Tee. Knut Marius from team Lene Nystrøm won the season.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The third season premiered in March 2015 with returning coaches Sondre Lerche, Espen Lind as well as Hanne Sørvaag and Yosef Wolde-Mariam who both returned after a one-season hiatus. The hosts remained unchanged. Yvonne Nordvik, mentored by Espen Lind, won the competition.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The fourth season began in August 2017 with returning coach Yosef Wolde-Mariam and three new coaches Lene Marlin, Morten Harket and Martin Danielle. Starting from this season, voting will be individual-based instead of team-based like last seasons. Thomas Løseth from Team Lene won the competition on 9 December 2017. This was the first season where a coach (Danielle) was not represented in the finale and accordingly a coach (Marlin) advanced with two artists into the finale.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The fifth season of the show began in January 2019 with the same panelists as last season. Maria Engås Halsne from Team Morten won the competition on 31 May 2019. This was the first season where only two coaches (Marlin and Harket) were represented in the finale. This was also the first season where the top two finalists represented the same coach (Harket).


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The sixth season of the show premiered on 8 January 2021 with returning coach Yosef Wolde-Mariam, comeback coach Espen Lind, with 2 new coaches Ina Wroldsen and Matoma. Erlend Gunstveit, a 1-chair turn from Team Matoma, won the competition on 31 May 2021.


title: The Voice – Norges beste stemme

text: The seventh season of the show had its premiere on 7 January 2022 with the same coaches as last season, Espen Lind, Yosef Wolde-Mariam, Ina Wroldsen and Matoma. This was the third season where a coach (Wroldsen) managed to bring two acts into the finale. Wolde-Mariam was not represented in the finale for the second season, the first being in season 5. Jørgen Dahl Moe from Team Ina won the competition on 27 May 2022.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Laundry Files is a series of novels by British writer Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humour. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pseudonym taken for security purposes), a one-time I.T. consultant turned occult field agent. Howard is recruited to work for the Q-Division of SOE, otherwise known as "the Laundry", the British government agency which deals with occult threats. "Magic" is described as being a branch of applied computation (mathematics), therefore computers and equations are just as useful, and perhaps more potent, than classic spellbooks, pentagrams, and sigils for the purpose of influencing ancient powers and opening gates to other dimensions. These occult struggles happen largely out of view of the public, as the Laundry seeks to keep the methods for contacting such powers under wraps. There are also elements of dry humour and satirisation of bureaucracy.


title: The Laundry Files

text: While the stories are partially inspired by the Cthulhu mythos universe created by H. P. Lovecraft and others, they are not set in Lovecraft's universe. In Stross's world, the greatest magicians are the scientists who closely study the phenomena; it features a secret history of historical thinkers who also dabbled in or stumbled upon occult uses of their work.


title: The Laundry Files

text: "The Concrete Jungle" and "Equoid" both won the Hugo Award for Best Novella, and "Overtime" was a nominee for best novelette. The series as a whole was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2019.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Atrocity Archives is the first collection of Laundry stories by British author Charles Stross. It is set in 2002–3 and was published in 2006. It includes the short novel The Atrocity Archive (originally serialised in "Spectrum SF" in Spectrum SF, #7 November 2001) and The Concrete Jungle, which won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novella.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The protagonist of both stories is computer expert Bob Howard, who re-discovers certain mathematical equations that contact other worlds. The Laundry detects the disturbance and swoops in to give him a mandatory job offer. ("I thought I was just generating weird new fractals; they knew I was dangerously close to landscaping Wolverhampton with alien nightmares.") From his position in the Laundry, a secret British occult intelligence organisation, Howard is allowed to learn something of the secret history of the world, as well as the various modern counter-measures the Laundry has adopted to deal with these threats. Despite the nature of the work, the Laundry is an efficient and low-key modern organization; more cubicle-jockeying than stately mansion towers and hidden volcano lairs, in other words. A tag-line used for the books by publisher Ace Books was "Saving the world is Bob Howard's job. There are a surprising number of meetings involved."


title: The Laundry Files

text: In "The Atrocity Archive", Howard is given work as a field agent in finding and protecting Irish Professor of Logic Dominique "Mo" O'Brien, as her work – dangerously close to the point of bending reality – has triggered the Laundry's person-of-interest checks. There, Howard must contend with the Black Chamber, which in this setting was never actually disbanded, but merely went underground as the US government's equivalent of the Laundry. Howard and Mo eventually head to Amsterdam and deal with Middle Eastern terrorists also on the hunt for Mo's work. They also research the Atrocity Archive, a classified record of German efforts in World War II. In this universe, the Thule Society, a pagan and occult group formed during the defeat of Germany in World War I, actually achieved results; they were absorbed by the Ahnenerbe, which became the occult branch of the SS, and who used German mathematician David Hilbert's research (unwillingly) to attempt to gain an edge for the Nazis. The Wannsee Conference was thus an attempt to harness the occult via mass human sacrifice in the Holocaust, but it ultimately failed after Allied interference. Mo is captured by the terrorists and sent via wormhole to an alternate universe where the Nazis "did" succeed – although not in a manner they'd have preferred. In this alternate universe, the Nazis summoned a frost giant out of Germanic/Norse legend, which was actually an elder being that fed on heat and who proceeded to destroy Earth. Bob and a team of SAS agents open their own gate, infiltrate the frozen universe, rescue Mo, and leave a nuclear bomb to 'sanitise' the scene. Bob belatedly realises that the nuclear bomb is a counterproductive trap; the frost giant intends to use its power to propel it into their reality, which has far more heat to eat. Bob manages to stop the device from exploding before escaping back to his original universe.


title: The Laundry Files

text: In "The Concrete Jungle", Bob Howard is called in for an emergency: there are too many Concrete Cows in Milton Keynes. Howard reads classified files on the presumed cause: gorgonism, which has been banned by treaty for military use, and has been researched by various scientists over time – Lavoisier, Geiger, and Rutherford. Alarmingly, the government has built a network to artificially emulate gorgons in FPGAs, then planned a network of cameras that could be hooked into this emulation – the CCTV network of anti-crime cameras deployed across Britain in the late 90s and early 2000s. This network was intended as a defense if the Old Ones were to rise and attack; however, someone has subverted a CCTV camera to stone a cow, then deposited it with the other concrete cows. As unauthorised use of the CCTV-basilisk network could hold the entire nation at hostage, this is an incredible risk. In an unrelated event, Howard is informed that he is being negligent about preparing for a meeting about a Business Software Alliance audit for the Laundry's software; Howard strongly opposes the audit, as the BSA invariably installs "spyware" to snoop for unauthorised installations.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Howard, with the assistance of Detective Inspector Josephine Sullivan of Milton Keynes, investigates the incident, which soon expands to the murder of humans as well as cows. They attempt to track who could possibly have had access to the gorgon-emulation software and installed it. Meanwhile, a ransom note is received demanding the software be uninstalled. Their investigation eventually leads them to the developers of the software, who are mostly dead from their own cameras, and an agent named "McLuhan" ("the medium is the message"). Howard discovers that the whole incident was inter-department wrangling gone wrong; a rival manager had been seeking to show that Angleton (Howard's manager) was incompetent and letting his own secret programs leak, and her minions had covered their tracks more bloodily than necessary. The "BSA audit" had been an excuse to install the gorgon-software into the Laundry's own internal cameras while Angleton was distracted. Howard and Sullivan infiltrate the Laundry to pull its Internet connection, while Angleton attends the meeting where he might be deposed. Howard comes upstairs to find Angleton victorious; it seems that his rival did not understand who Angleton "truly" reported to in the matrix management of the Laundry before launching her attempt to have him dismissed. His position as head of Counter-Possession Unit was actually secondary to his position as Private Secretary, and that position's manager went all the way to the top.


title: The Laundry Files

text: "Publishers Weekly" was somewhat mixed in their review saying "though the characters all tend to sound the same, and Stross resorts to lengthy summary explanations to dispel confusion, the world he creates is wonderful fun." "The Washington Post" called it "a bizarre yet effective yoking of the spy and horror genres."


title: The Laundry Files

text: Stross states that his inspiration for the spy in these novels is closer to the out-of-place bureaucrats of Len Deighton than to the James Bond model. He also mentions that when he began writing the series in 1999, he chose as villains "an obscure but fanatical and unpleasant gang who might, conceivably, be planning an atrocity on American soil"; but that by the time the novel was to be published in late 2001, Al-Qaeda was no longer obscure, so he chose a different group to use in the novella.


title: The Laundry Files

text: In the afterword to the Science Fiction Book Club 2-in-1 edition of "The Atrocity Archives" and "The Jennifer Morgue", Stross notes that friends warned him against reading the novel "Declare" while he was working on "The Atrocity Archives" due to the strong parallels between the two works. Stross also mentioned the similarities between the novel and the "Delta Green" role-playing game, similarities referenced in the short story "Pimpf" included with "The Jennifer Morgue"; "Delta Green" is also about elite government conspiracies working against villains who attempt to wield power derived from the Mythos, as well as rival conspiracies.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Jennifer Morgue is the second collection of Laundry stories by British author Charles Stross. It is set in 2005 and published in 2006. It contains the title novel "The Jennifer Morgue", the short story "Pimpf", and an essay titled "The Golden Age of Spying". The collection is a sequel to the stories published in "The Atrocity Archives". Billington, the billionaire antagonist of the book, intends to repeat a 1975 CIA attempt to raise a sunken Soviet submarine in order to access the Jennifer Morgue, an occult device that allows communication with the dead, in spite of the hazard of awakening the Great Old Ones. Bob Howard thwarts this attempt with the added help of "Mo" O'Brien and an American counter-occult agent.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Where 2004's "The Atrocity Archives" is written in the idiom of Len Deighton, "The Jennifer Morgue" is a pastiche of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and refers to the real-life Project Azorian (incorrectly named by the press as Project Jennifer); Stross also uses footnotes and narrative causality, two literary devices common in the novels of Terry Pratchett. Stross plays with expectations by having Ramona, one of H. P. Lovecraft's "Deep Ones", known as "Blue Hades" in Laundry speak, serve as the "bad" Bond girl, but Billington's identification of Bob with 007 proves to be wrong. Bob plays the "good" Bond girl's role until Mo intervenes as the real 007 character.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Fuller Memorandum is the third novel in the "Laundry" series of novels. It is set in 2008 and published in 2010. As in the previous novels, the protagonist is Bob Howard, an agent for the intelligence agency known as the Laundry.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Where "The Atrocity Archives" was written in the idiom of Len Deighton and "The Jennifer Morgue" was a pastiche of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, "The Fuller Memorandum" is a homage of sorts to Anthony Price's "Dr David Audley/Colonel Jack Butler" series of spy thrillers, and features two minor characters named Roskill and Panin, names which appeared as recurring characters in Price's series. The title is derived from General J. F. C. Fuller, military theorist, right-wing intellectual occultist, and an associate of Aleister Crowley, and also a reference to the film The Quiller Memorandum (Stross has noted that his original intention was to pastiche Adam Hall's Quiller novels, but that he changed the plan part way through the writing).


title: The Laundry Files

text: The plot of the book revolves around an eponymous document which describes a supernatural entity, the Eater of Souls. The document and Howard's boss James Angleton go missing, and Howard must locate them. Angleton turns out to be involved in a struggle with cultist double agents inside the Laundry loyal to Nyarlathotep, who capture Howard and plan to bind the Eater of Souls into Howard's body in order to advance their goals. This fails because the Eater of Souls was already bound into Angleton's body decades ago by the predecessors of the Laundry; it has "gone native", aligning itself with the Laundry's goals and British values. Howard uses magic to raise the dead, using them to overcome the cultists.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Apocalypse Codex is the fourth novel in the "Laundry" series. It is set in 2010 and published in 2012. In this novel, the protagonist Bob Howard, an agent for the intelligence agency known as the Laundry, is tasked with investigating American Televangelist Raymond Schiller, who seeks to gain influence in Britain. Bob finds out that Schiller, who preaches a quiverfull prosperity gospel, is serving a supremely dangerous supernatural entity and trying to bring about the end of the world. The book introduces new allies for Bob: Persephone Hazard, a freelancing witch and secret agent, and Peter Wilson, a vicar and expert in biblical apocrypha.


title: The Laundry Files

text: According to Stross, while the first three books in the series were written in the style of Len Deighton, Ian Fleming and Anthony Price, respectively, the fourth installment is written in the style of a Peter O'Donnell ("Modesty Blaise") novel. For future installments, Stross feels that "the series has acquired an identity and feel of its own", and does not intend to continue the pastiche motif.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Rhesus Chart is the fifth novel in the "Laundry" series. It is set in spring 2013 and published in 2014. The novels follow the protagonist Bob Howard, an agent for the intelligence agency known as the Laundry.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Rhesus Chart plot describes an investigation into what appears to be vampire activity, despite the fact that people are almost suspiciously resistant to the idea that vampires could exist or be involved, which complicates the investigation. It transpires that elder vampires have been subtly mind controlling Laundry staff to convince them that vampires do not exist. A group of recently created vampires join the Laundry, and the two elder vampires in the book are destroyed, at the cost of the life of James Angleton, Howard's boss.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Annihilation Score is the sixth novel in the "Laundry" series. It is set in summer/autumn 2013 and published in 2015. The protagonist is Dr. Dominique "Mo" O'Brien, the wife of Bob Howard, the protagonist of previous books in the series and also an agent for the intelligence agency known as the Laundry.


title: The Laundry Files

text: As the world lurches toward the potentially apocalyptic forces that will probably bring about CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (the Laundry's codeword for an inevitable worldwide awakening of Lovecraftian horrors, "the stars coming right"), regular humans have started developing superpowers. Mo is promoted to management, tasked to create an inter-agency department to coordinate between The Laundry and the police; two of the Laundry personnel assigned to her team are Ramona (from "The Jennifer Morgue") and Mhari ("The Rhesus Chart"), women who have history with her estranged husband Bob Howard. She is also the holder of the powerful magical Erich Zahn bone violin that she calls Lecter. Lecter is increasingly asserting its power, including induced dreams that relate to The King in Yellow. She is unwillingly compelled to act in a police plot to control the minds of the British public in the interests of law and order, which it becomes clear will backfire, releasing the King in Yellow; she overcomes it with the help of her staff, destroying Lecter in the process.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Nightmare Stacks is the seventh novel in the "Laundry" series. It is set in March–April 2014 and published in 2016. The protagonist is Alex Schwartz, a vampire (or "PHANG" in Laundry terminology) working for the Laundry, who was introduced in "The Rhesus Chart".


title: The Laundry Files

text: On a parallel-universe Earth, a species called Elves or "alfar" have evolved to be expert magic users. They have visited Earth in the past, from which comes a great deal of folklore. Civil war has left the Elves' home world uninhabitable and they plan to magically invade the Earth and make it their new home. To scout ahead, they send Agent First of Spies and Liars, the eldest living daughter of the Elven King, who takes over the human identity of a student named Cassie. The Elves invade Leeds and threaten the British heartland with their powerful magic, but they are defenseless against non-magical human weapons and are defeated in a fashion which leaves Cassie inheriting the absolute rulership of the elves present. Cassie immediately surrenders to the British military, declares the Elves to be refugees who cannot go home for fear of their lives, and requests asylum under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Delirium Brief is the eighth book in the Laundry Files series. It is set in May–June 2014 and was released on 11 July 2017. "The Delirium Brief" is set about a month after "The Nightmare Stacks". Unlike Books 6 and 7, the narrative viewpoint shifts back to Bob Howard. After the invasion of the Elves in which thousands of people perished, the existence of the Laundry has become public knowledge, and the agency faces a new threat, this time not supernatural but political; the Prime Minister uses the Laundry as a scapegoat and dissolves it, to be replaced with a public–private partnership. The mastermind behind this plan turns out to be an old antagonist from "The Apocalypse Codex", Raymond Schiller, still trying to bring about the end of the world. The rump of the Laundry executes a coup in cooperation with the surviving cultists from "The Fuller Memorandum", bringing Britain under the rule of Nyarlathotep as a lesser evil.


title: The Laundry Files

text: "The Delirium Brief" is published by Tor. According to Stross, the book was somewhat delayed due to the Brexit referendum, as the pro-Brexit result required a large rewrite to reconcile the politics portrayed in the book with the real-world developments.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The Labyrinth Index is the ninth book in the Laundry Files series. It is set in Winter 2014/early 2015 and was released on 30 October 2018. Mhari Murphy is the protagonist. She has been elevated to the House of Lords (taking the title "Baroness Karnstein") and serves under the new Prime Minister following the Laundry-engineered overthrow of the Government described in the previous book. The new Prime Minister Fabian Everyman (an alias of Nyarlathotep) sends Mhari to the United States on a mission to discover what has happened to the now-missing President and who is running America in his stead.


title: The Laundry Files

text: There she finds that the Black Chamber has made the citizenry forget the very existence of the President and have taken over the US Government. The Black Chamber's plan, echoing the Laundry's UK plan in the previous book, is to install a Lovecraftian entity (Cthulhu in this case) as the head of the US Executive and thus survive and fight the crisis caused by CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN, which is well underway at this point.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Mhari and her team try to evade the deputy director (nicknamed DeeDee) and her agents, and despite fatalities manage to free the President to broadcast a reminder of his existence to the populace. Mhari and the survivors of her team then return to the UK, leaving the President behind as he struggles, and eventually fails, to reassert his authority. But the struggle occupies US forces and so buys time for the United Kingdom, which was of course the Prime Minister's plan in the first place. Mhari keeps her job and is congratulated, and the novel ends with her contemplating her future with her fiancé in the new nightmarish world unfolding before them.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Dead Lies Dreaming was marketed as the tenth book in the Laundry Files series but does not concern itself with the titular agency or its members apart from an occasional cameo. More accurately, it is the start of a separate trilogy set in the same world the author refers to as "Tales of the New Management". It is set in December 2016 and was released on 27 October 2020. This novel is clearly based on the story of 'Peter Pan', and suggests that the author is back in a pastiche role again.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Quantum of Nightmares is the second book in the "Tales of the New Management" trilogy, continuing the story of the main characters from "Dead Lies Dreaming". It is set in December 2016 and was released on 11 January 2022. The plot references elements of Mary Poppins (book series) and Sweeney Todd.


title: The Laundry Files

text: Escape from Yokai Land (originally titled Escape from Puroland) is a novella in the Laundry Files series. It is set in March/April 2014 and was released on 1 March 2022. The story takes place at the same time as "The Nightmare Stacks" and just before "The Delirium Brief". The protagonist is Bob Howard, an intelligence agent for the Laundry. It is intended to explain why he wasn't in the UK during the events of "The Nightmare Stacks".


title: The Laundry Files

text: Following the death of his boss Angleton in "The Rhesus Chart", Laundry agent Bob Howard is promoted to replace him and has to take over Angleton's ongoing projects. One of those projects is overseeing the wards that lock down magical sites outside the United Kingdom. Consequently, Bob has to travel to Tokyo on an overseas liaison mission with the Miyamoto Group in Japan, partnering with Dr. Yoko Suzuki. The Miyamoto Group is the Japanese equivalent of the Laundry and Dr. Suzuki is part of the Groups's Department of Apocryphal Organisms.


title: The Laundry Files

text: The nominal purpose of Bob's mission is to police minor versions of Yōkai: a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japan now growing more active as CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN progresses. But it becomes apparent that the real reason he’s been brought to Japan is to confront an existential threat in the form of a hellmouth located beneath the Puroland theme park and a terrifying version of the Princess Kitty cartoon character.