title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: With the loss, the Browns fell to 9–4. The Browns and Ravens combined for nine rushing touchdowns in the game, tying an NFL record.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns traveled to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to take on the New York Giants in a key Week 15 contest on "Sunday Night Football". After both teams had promising drives that ended on a turnover on downs in the opponent's territory, the Giants struck first with a Graham Gano 37-yard field goal. Cleveland responded with two-second quarter touchdowns on Baker Mayfield passes to Austin Hooper and Jarvis Landry to take a 13–3 lead as Browns kicker Cody Parkey missed one of the extra point attempts. The Browns extended their lead to 20–3 on a Nick Chubb touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. The Giants added another Gano field goal to make it 20–6 but could not get any closer.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns returned to East Rutherford to take on the New York Jets. The day prior to the game, much of the Browns' receiving corps, namely Rashard Higgins, KhaDarel Hodge, Jarvis Landry, and Donovan Peoples-Jones, was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, forcing Cleveland to play three receivers with very little experience on the team. The Browns were forced to rely mainly on their running backs and tight ends in the passing game.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: Cleveland took an early 3–0 lead on a Cody Parkey 44-yard field goal. However, New York scored a pair of touchdowns on a Jamison Crowder pass to Braxton Berrios and a Sam Darnold pass to Chris Herndon to take a 13–3 lead into halftime. New York extended its lead to 20–3 on a 30-yard pass from Darnold to Crowder. Cleveland added a pair of touchdowns to come within 20–16 on runs by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. After New York added a Sam Ficken 34-yard field goal to extend their lead to 23–16 with just under 3:00 remaining, the Browns drove to the New York 16-yard line before turning the ball over on downs, effectively ending the game.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: With the loss, the Browns fell to 10–5. They finished 5–3 in away games. The Browns' loss also allowed the Pittsburgh Steelers to clinch the AFC North title. This is the Browns' 28th consecutive season without a division title, the longest active streak in the NFL.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns hosted the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the regular season finale. Cleveland would clinch a playoff berth with a win. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh had already clinched the AFC North division and would rest several starters including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns scored the only points in the first quarter on a Nick Chubb 47-yard touchdown run to take a 7–0 lead. Cody Parkey chipped in a 23-yard field goal to make it 10–0. Matthew Wright then kicked field goals of 29 and 46 yards, to close the Browns' lead to 10–6 at halftime. Wright added another 46-yard field goal early in the third quarter to make it 10–9. The Browns added to their lead on a pair of touchdowns, a Baker Mayfield 2-yard pass to Austin Hooper and a Jarvis Landry 3-yard run, to extend their lead to 24–9 early in the fourth quarter. However the Steelers mounted a comeback as backup quarterback Mason Rudolph connected on touchdown passes to Chase Claypool and JuJu Smith-Schuster to make it 24–22 with 1:22 remaining. However the Steelers could not convert the game-tying two-point conversion nor recover an onside kick. The Browns were able to run out the clock for the win.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: With the win, the Browns finished the season 11–5, their best record since 1994. The Browns clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2002, ending the longest active playoff drought in the NFL. The Browns finished the season 6–2 at home.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: On January 5, head coach Kevin Stefanski, along with tight ends coach Drew Petzing, defensive backs coach Jeff Howard, offensive line coach Bill Callahan, assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters, offensive lineman Joel Bitonio, cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Kevin Johnson, and wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge, tested positive for COVID-19, removing them from coaching and playing in this game. Special Teams Coordinator Mike Priefer served as acting Head Coach.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns got off to a very strong start. On the first play from scrimmage, the Browns' Karl Joseph recovered a Steelers fumble on an errant snap by Maurkice Pouncey in the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Browns an early 7–0 lead. The Browns built their lead to 28–0 by the end of the first quarter on a 40-yard pass from Baker Mayfield to Jarvis Landry and two Kareem Hunt touchdown runs of 11 and 8 yards after a Steelers punt and two Ben Roethlisberger interceptions. The Browns' 28 first quarter points tied an NFL playoff record. The Steelers got on the board in the second quarter on a James Conner 1-yard touchdown run, but the Browns would respond with a Mayfield 7-yard pass to Austin Hooper to make it 35–7. A Chris Boswell field goal at the end of the half made it 35–10.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Steelers got back into the game with a dominant third quarter. The team had two scoring drives, capped off by Ben Roethlisberger touchdown passes to Eric Ebron and JuJu Smith-Schuster, to make it 35–23. However, the Browns added a touchdown on a Mayfield 40-yard screen pass to Nick Chubb to extend their lead to 42–23. Pittsburgh responded with a Roethlisberger 29-yard touchdown pass to Chase Claypool on its next drive, taking just over a minute off the clock, to make it 42–29. Cody Parkey then added two field goals for the Browns, the second one following Rothlisberger's fourth interception of the game, to extend their lead back to three possessions at 48–29. A late touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Claypool made the final score 48–37.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: With the win, the Browns advanced to the Divisional Round. The Browns recorded their first playoff win since 1994 and their first away playoff win since 1969, ending a streak of eight consecutive losses in away playoff games. This win also ended a 17-game losing streak in Pittsburgh that dated back to 2004. Jim Donovan, who called the game for the Cleveland Browns Radio Network, referred to the win as "one of the greatest victories in Cleveland Browns history".


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns traveled to Kansas City for a Divisional Round matchup with the #1 seed and defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City opened the scoring on their opening drive, as Patrick Mahomes completed 4 of 4 passes for 41 yards, including a 26-yard completion to Tyreek Hill, as the team scored on his 1-yard touchdown run to take a 6–0 lead. Cleveland responded with a 12-play, 47-yard scoring drive, featuring a 27-yard pass from Baker Mayfield to David Njoku. However, the Browns were forced to settle for a Cody Parkey 46-yard field goal to make the score 6–3. The Chiefs added a touchdown on a Mahomes 20-yard pass to Travis Kelce to build their lead to 13–3, then 16–3 on a Harrison Butker 50-yard field goal.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: Cleveland responded with drive deep into Kansas City territory, however Rashard Higgins fumbled the ball out of the end zone, resulting in a touchback for Kansas City. As he dived for the goal line, Kansas City safety Daniel Sorensen hit him from the left side, knocking the ball loose. Butker kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive, giving the Chiefs a 19–3 halftime lead.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns cut the Chiefs' lead to 19–10 in the third quarter on a Mayfield 4-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry that was set up by two Nick Chubb runs for 23 and 18 yards earlier in the drive. On the next Chiefs' drive, Mahomes was knocked out of the game with a concussion and backup quarterback Chad Henne came on in relief. The Chiefs kicked a field goal on that drive to extend their lead to 22–10. Cleveland responded with an 18-play, 75-yard drive culminating in a Kareem Hunt touchdown run in his first game against his former team, to make it 22–17. The Chiefs then drove into Browns' territory but Henne threw an interception to safety Karl Joseph in the end zone. Cleveland was forced to punt on its next drive, and Kansas City was able to run out the clock thanks to a 13-yard run by Henne on 3rd and 14, followed by a game-clinching 5-yard pass from Henne to Tyreek Hill.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: With the loss, the Browns' season ended. They failed to advance to the AFC Championship Game, which would have been their first since the 1989 season.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: On December 21, it was announced that G Joel Bitonio, RB Nick Chubb, and DE Myles Garrett were named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster, with Bitonio and Garrett named as starters. This marks the third Pro Bowl selection for Bitonio and the second for Chubb and Garrett.


title: 2020 Cleveland Browns season

text: On January 8, it was announced that OT Jack Conklin and DE Myles Garrett were named to the Associated Press All-Pro first team. G Joel Bitonio and G Wyatt Teller were named to the All-Pro second team. This marks Bitonio's third All-Pro selection, Garrett and Conklin's second, and the first for Teller.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: BlueTriton Brands, Inc. is an American beverage company based in Stamford, Connecticut. A former subsidiary of Nestlé, it was known between 2002 and 2021 as Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. and operated as the North American business unit of Nestlé Waters. It produces and distributes numerous brands of bottled water across North America including Arrowhead Water, Deer Park Spring Water, Ice Mountain, Pure Life, Splash, Ozarka, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In early April 2021, the sale of the company's bottling operations to One Rock Capital Partners LLC and Metropoulos & Co. was concluded.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: The company was founded in 1976 by Perrier as Great Waters of France, Inc. to sell and produce Perrier in the United States. In January 1979, the company opened its first production facility in the United States. From 1976 to 1979 the company was able to increase its sales from three million bottles a year to two billion bottles a year. In 1980, the company bought Calistoga and Poland Spring, the latter of which was nearing bankruptcy at the time. In the following seven years, Perrier increased the sales of Poland Spring from to .


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In 1987, the company acquired Arrowhead Water from Beatrice Foods, giving it 21 percent of the total United States bottled water market and making it the largest producer of bottled water in the country. In October 1993, "Perrier Group of America, Inc.", the parent company of Great Waters of France acquired Deer Park Spring Water from The Clorox Company. In 1994, Great Waters of France, Arrowhead Water, Calistoga, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills merged to form "Great Spring Waters of America, Inc."


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In 2000, the Californian company Big Sur Bottled Water, Inc. was acquired by Great Spring Waters of America. On October 19, 2000, Perrier Group of America acquired the Canadian company Aberfoyle Springs and its two manufacturing plants, one in Ontario and on in British Columbia. From 2002 to 2003, Nestle began transition away from the Aberfoyle brand and towards the Nestlé Pure Life brand.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In April 2002 the company bought Sparkling Spring Water Co., the largest water company in the Chicago metropolitan area. The company owned six facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin and was around for over 100 years at the time of the acquisition. That same month, Great Spring Waters of America was renamed to Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. and the assets of Perrier Group of America. were combined into the new company. At the same time, its parent company, Perrier Vittel, was renamed to Nestlé Waters.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In July 2020, Nestlé Canada announced that it had agreed to sell its Canadian water bottling business to Ice River Springs. The latter would acquire the source and bottling operations in Puslinch, Ontario (Aberfoyle) and in Hope, British Columbia and an untapped well in Erin, Ontario. The sale fell through in September 2020.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: On 16 February 2021, Nestlé announced that it had agreed to sell Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. to One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos & Co. The Perrier, S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna were not included in the agreement. The sale of Nestle Waters North America to One Rock Capital Partners LLC and Metropoulos & Co. was concluded for in early April 2021. On April 7, 2021, the company announced that it had changed its name to "BlueTriton Brands", a reference to the Greek god Triton.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: The company produces water under the brand names Arrowhead Water, Deer Park Spring Water, Ice Mountain, Nestlé Pure Life, Nestlé Splash, Ozarka, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills. The company also formerly produced water under brands like Calistoga. Before being sold by Nestle, the company also bottled water international Nestle brands Perrier, San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In the United States, the various brands are sold in distinct regions of the country. Arrowhead Water is sold in the western United States. Deer Park Spring Water is sold in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Ice Mountain is sold in the midwestern United States. Ozarka is sold in the South Central United States. Poland Spring, founded in 1845, is derived from multiple sources in the state of Maine, including Poland Spring and Garden Spring in Poland, Clear Spring in Hollis, Evergreen Spring in Fryeburg, Spruce Spring in Pierce Pond Township, and White Cedar Spring in Dallas Plantation and it is primarily sold in the northeastern United States. It is the top-selling spring water brand in the United States. Zephyrhills is produced in Zephyrhills, Florida and is sold in the Southeastern United States. is a natural spring water brand that is produced by the various American water brands and is targeted towards children. It is packaged in an 11-ounce bottle, shaped like an orb.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: Nestlé Pure Life is the Canadian part of the company and has been produced by Nestlé Waters North America since 2002. Prior to that, it was known as Aberfoyle Springs and had been produced by the Aberfoyle Springs company since 1993. Nestlé also bottles the Montclair brand in its facilities. Nestlé's Aberfoyle Springs plant currently bottles two different waters: the on-site Aberfoyle spring water, and spring water tankered in from Cedar Valley Spring in Erin, Ontario. In addition, spring water is bottled on-site in Hope, British Columbia. In the United States, Nestlé Pure Life is a purified (filtered) water. Nestlé Waters is currently Canada's largest water bottling company, with two bottling facilities. The larger of the facilities is located in Aberfoyle, Ontario with the second facility located in Hope, British Columbia and warehouses located in Chilliwack, British Columbia and Laval, Quebec.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest producer of bottled water and is frequently criticised for the ethics of its global control of limited water sources. Criticism of Nestlé centres around its limiting of local peoples' access to water resources as well as environmental concerns.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: Ice Mountain has been part of the Great Lakes water use debate in which diversion of the basin's water for export has been controversial. In 2004, a Michigan court ordered pumping of Sanctuary springs to cease. After an appellate court overturned the cease and desist, the company and local groups came to an agreement to pump only per minute, which is comparable to other local beverage operations. Nestlé has run into similar local opposition when trying to locate a new source location near the headwaters of the White River in the upper lower peninsula of Michigan.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: Several towns in Maine have objected to the business practices of Poland Spring and its parent company Nestlé. In some towns, such as Fryeburg, Maine, Poland Spring actually buys a year from another company, the Fryeburg Water Co., and ships it to the Poland Spring bottling plant in Poland Spring. However, Fryeburg Water Co. also sells water to the town of Fryeburg. The town of Fryeburg began to question the amount of water the company was selling to Poland Spring. In 2004, the town's water stopped temporarily because of a pump failure, but Poland Spring's operations were able to continue.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: The group HO for ME wants to create a tax on water drawn for commercial purposes, however, Poland Spring said the tax would force the company into bankruptcy. State congressman Jim Wilfong proposed a 20¢ per tax be allowed to be voted on in a referendum, but the measure was defeated. He also believes that laws should be rearranged to place limits on the amount of groundwater landowners can pump out of their land. The town of Sterling, Massachusetts is attempting to prevent Nestlé from pumping spring water from conservation restricted town land. Nestlé Waters North America has responded to an RFP issued by the Town of Clinton to purchase the Town of Clinton's Wekepeke aquifer water rights located in Sterling.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In Phoenix, Arizona, residents have been organizing against a proposed bottling plant in the city, though details on the city's contract with Nestlé have not been released to the public.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In Canada, much of the water extracted by the company for its Nestlé Pure Life brand has been at a source in the village of Aberfoyle, Ontario in Puslinch, Ontario, located in Wellington County, Ontario and under the jurisdiction of the City of Guelph, Ontario. For some years, a local advocacy group, Wellington Water Watchers has expressed concern about the amount of groundwater being extracted by the company.


title: BlueTriton Brands

text: In June 2003, Poland Spring was sued for false advertising in a class action lawsuit charging that their water that supposedly comes from springs, is in fact heavily treated common ground water. The suit also states, hydro-geologists hired by Nestlé found that another current source for Poland Spring water near the original site stands over a former trash and refuse dump, and below an illegal disposal site where human sewage was sprayed as fertilizer for many years. The suit was settled in September 2003, with the company not admitting to the allegations, but agreeing to pay $10 million in charity donations and discounts over the next 5 years.


title: Hyphy

text: The term hyphy ( ) is Oakland slang meaning "hyperactive". More specifically, it is an adjective describing the hip hop music and the culture associated with the area. The term was first coined by Oakland rapper Keak da Sneak.


title: Hyphy

text: The hyphy culture emerged in the late 1990s in Oakland before rising to prominence throughout the wider Bay Area in the early 2000s. It is distinguished by gritty, pounding rhythms, and has been compared to crunk music. San Jose producer Traxamillion is largely considered the first producer to create hyphy style music, having produced songs such as Keak Da Sneak’s “Super Hyphy”, which established the term hyphy. An individual is said to "get hyphy" when they dance in an overstated, fast-paced and ridiculous manner, or if they get overloud with other people. The phrase ""to get hyphy"" is similar to the southern phrase ""to get crunk"". Those who consider themselves part of the hyphy movement strive for this behavior.


title: Hyphy

text: Although the "Hyphy Movement" briefly saw light in mainstream America, it has been an established subculture in the Bay Area since the early 1990s. Throughout the Bay Area (particularly in East Oakland), there are events regularly hosted called "sideshows", where people perform or watch illegal automobile performances. These performances include activities such as donuts, ghost-riding, an action that has proven fatal on multiple occasions, and street racing, while others dance and "go dumb" around them. The Hyphy Movement's resurgence in early 2006 was cited by prominent Bay Area rapper E-40 as a new opportunity for the Bay Area's unique sound to reach a nationwide audience. Hyphy music was not only popular in The Bay Area, but in Portland, Oregon and Seattle as well.


title: Hyphy

text: For many Bay Area natives, rapper Mac Dre is cited as the individual who spearheaded the general public's interest in Hyphy music after his sudden death in 2004. Mac Dre's Treal TV DVD special represented everything Hyphy, from what goes on at the sideshows to street slang, and common dances like “going dumb” and the “thizzle dance” became popular moves created by Mac Dre. Many artists, such as Drake and DJ Mustard, pay homage to Mac Dre due to his huge influence in their musical career. With the start of Mac Dre's label, Thizz Entertainment, he was able to shine a light on local talent such as E-40 and Andre Nickatina, prominent members of the Bay Area rap scene.


title: Hyphy

text: Jerkin' or Jerk is a street dance and accompanying musical style derived from hyphy originating from and popularized by the Inland Empire-based groups New Boyz and Audio Push, and has origins in the Inland Empire and Los Angeles. Since 2009, jerkin' gained fans along the West Coast and, as of 2009, was gaining popularity in the East Coast.


title: Hyphy

text: In the early to mid-2010s, the genre of hyphy music saw a resurgence in the mainstream as a part of being a stylistic influence to an up tempo and club oriented type of mainstream hip hop known as "ratchet music," which was popularized by various Los Angeles producers, including DJ Mustard. The production style of DJ Mustard is adapted from hyphy music and played a role in bringing West Coast hip hop back to national attention. DJ Mustard has been attached in producing for popular artists' singles, which include: Tyga's, "Rack City," 2 Chainz's "I'm Different," Young Jeezy's "R.I.P.," B.o.B's "HeadBand," YG's "My Nigga" and "Who Do You Love?" (as well as the majority of his 2014 debut album "My Krazy Life"), Ty Dolla Sign's "Paranoid," Kid Ink's "Show Me," Trey Songz's "Na Na," Omarion's "Post to Be," and Big Sean's "I Don't Fuck With You," among others.


title: Hyphy

text: Among the local, more peripheral acts that achieved success outside of the Bay Area include Lil B, a member of the Berkeley rap group The Pack that has built a strong cult following on the Internet; the Richmond-based hip hop collective HBK Gang with individual members Iamsu!, Kehlani, Sage the Gemini, and P-Lo making their marks in the mainstream ; Oakland-born pop rapper G-Eazy, who has gained two Billboard Top-10 hits with "Me, Myself & I" and "No Limit" (the latter featuring ASAP Rocky and Cardi B); and the Vallejo-based quartet SOB x RBE, who found mainstream attention after being featured on the track "Paramedic!" in the Kendrick Lamar- for the 2018 superhero film Black Panther.


title: Hyphy

text: In November 2011, Canadian hip hop artist Drake released the song "The Motto," featuring Young Money labelmate Lil Wayne, as the fourth single for his sophomore album Take Care. The song's instrumental (produced by T-Minus) takes major influence from hyphy music, and was a commercial success in the US—having sold 3,113,000 copies in the US as of April 2013—due to the meteoric popularity of the catchphrase YOLO during that time. It peaked atop both the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and US Rap Songs charts, and was ranked 20 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Year-end Chart. "The Motto" was also nominated for Best Rap Song at the 55th Grammy Awards. A music video was released on February 10, 2012 and features cameos from Bay Area rappers E-40 and Mistah F.A.B. as well as including an introduction from the mother of Mac Dre, Wanda Salvatto. Salvatto has also said, in a 2016 interview with Complex Media, that Drake told her how Mac Dre influenced him when he was 15 years old, and how important that was to him.


title: Hyphy

text: In March 2022 a music documentary about the Hyphy movement We Were Hyphy, by Bay Area documentary filmmaker, Laurence Madrigal, was released. It featured many of the well-known artists of the Hyphy movement, including Keak da Sneak, Mistah F.A.B and Rick Rock. It also featured contemporaneous musicians, including G-Eazy, Kamaiyah and P-Lo.


title: Hyphy

text: DJ Mustard's popularity around the same time began another movement that stemmed from the Bay Area, known as R&Bass. Coined by producer J Maine, this movement has gained widespread popularity, specifically on the Internet. R&Bass blends hyphy music with contemporary R&B, thus garnering crossover appeal. Artists like Jonn Hart, Rayven Justice, and producers like Christopher Dotson embrace the R&Bass style. As well, through this movement, there have been numerous collaborations with various hyphy artists, including E-40.


title: Hyphy

text: As a result of the recognizably and commonality between many of DJ Mustard's chart-topping singles, a number of artists who employ production similar to his have been criticized for unoriginality and sometimes plagiarism, with some of the biggest offenders of this style rip-off including the 2014 chart-topping Iggy Azalea single, "Fancy" and "Classic Man," the 2015 debut single by rapper Jidenna which samples "Fancy". However, the popularity of Mustard's style started to gain influence outside of hip hop. In 2012, electronic dance music (EDM), which incorporated elements of southern trap music, began gaining popularity and brought wider attention to the derivative forms of trap, including hyphy, as well as Jamaican Dancehall music. This so-called "EDM Trap" genre saw the use of techno, dub, and house sounds combined with the Roland TR-808 drum samples and vocal samples typical of trap.


title: Hyphy

text: In December 2013, French producer DJ Snake and American rapper Lil Jon released the single "Turn Down for What", which became both a commercial hit charting in several countries and a viral hit throughout 2014. The composition of the song borrows elements from crunk and hyphy songs, and "Rolling Stone" voted "Turn Down For What" as the second best song of 2014, saying that, "The year's nutsiest party jam was also the perfect protest banger for a generation fed up with everything. DJ Snake brings the synapse-rattling EDM and Southern trap music; Lil Jon brings the dragon-fire holler for a hilarious, glorious, glowstick-punk fuck you."


title: Hyphy

text: The success of "Turn Down for What" set the standard for Trap EDM and even Pop music in the mid-2010s, which kept the influence and legacy of hyphy music alive. Among those songs include the DJ Snake and Major Lazer collaboration "Lean On," the Skrillex-produced Justin Bieber single "Sorry," and the chart-topping 2016 song "Closer" by American DJ duo The Chainsmokers.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is a British-Italian classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She works with orchestras in Europe and America as well as with Alexei Grynyuk, her regular pianist. Since 2012 she has played the Gariel Stradivarius violin. She became the first woman and first Scottish person to lead the Edinburgh International Festival when she was made Festival Director on 1 October 2022.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Benedetti was born in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, Scotland, to an Italian father and an Italian-Scottish mother. She started to play the violin at the age of four with lessons from Brenda Smith. At eight, she became the leader of the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. By the age of nine, she had already passed the eight grades of musical examinations while attending the independent Wellington School, Ayr, and, in September 1997, began to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School for young musicians under Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya in rural Surrey, England.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: At the end of her first year (1998), she played solo in the school's annual concert at Wigmore Hall, and performed in London and Paris as a soloist in Bach's "Double Violin Concerto" with Alina Ibragimova. She played in a memorial concert at Westminster Abbey celebrating the life and work of Yehudi Menuhin.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Nicola has an older sister, Stephanie, who is also a violinist and a member of the pop group Clean Bandit.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In 1999, Benedetti performed for the anniversary celebrations at Holyrood Palace with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Subsequent performances followed with the City of London Sinfonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, etc.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In August 2002, she won the UK's Brilliant Prodigy Competition, broadcast by Carlton Television. She left the Menuhin School shortly after and, at the age of 15, began studying privately with Maciej Rakowski, the former leader of the English Chamber Orchestra.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In spring 2003, Benedetti, invited as a soloist by the London Symphony Orchestra, participated in the recording of the DVD titled "Barbie of Swan Lake" at Abbey Road Studios. In October 2003, as the extra feature on this DVD, "Playing With Passion" was filmed and released by Mattel. BBC Scotland, using this DVD, created a documentary on Benedetti, which was broadcast on television in the UK in March 2004.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In May 2004, at the age of 16, Benedetti won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, performing Karol Szymanowski's "First Violin Concerto" in the final at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. As a result of gaining the award, she came first in the music section of the Top Scot award in December 2005. Despite winning the competition, "The Times" reported that Benedetti was snubbed by Jack McConnell, the then First Minister of Scotland, who thought that there was insufficient public interest to merit a personal message of congratulations. Following a public and political outcry, McConnell bowed to the pressure and telephoned Benedetti to acknowledge her success.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In September 2012, she performed at the Last Night of the Proms, playing "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch. That same year, Benedetti was lent the 1717 "Gariel" Stradivarius by London banker and London Symphony Orchestra Board member Jonathan Moulds.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Apart from solo performances, Benedetti performs in a trio with the German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and the British-Ukrainian pianist Alexei Grynyuk.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Nicola was chosen as the subject for the winner of the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2021, Calum Stevenson, and this portrait now hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Benedetti was awarded honorary doctorates from Glasgow Caledonian University in November 2007 and from Heriot-Watt University in 2010, and honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh in November 2011. She was awarded an honorary degree from the University of York in August 2020.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year's Honours "For services to Music and to charity", and was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2017. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In May 2017, she was presented with the Queen's Medal for Music, the youngest of the twelve people to receive the award since it was established in 2005.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours, "For services to Music". In 2019 she was also given the annual Royal Medal award by the Royal Society of Edinburgh for improving the lives of deprived Scottish children through Sistema Scotland and the Big Noise Orchestras.


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: In 2020, she won the Grammy for best classical instrumental solo for "Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite".


title: Nicola Benedetti

text: Nicola was in a relationship with German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, whom she met at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music. Although that relationship has ended, they continue to perform together and are good friends.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: 1920: The Evil Returns is a 2012 Indian horror film written by Vikram Bhatt and directed by Bhushan Patel. The film is a quasi-sequel to a 2008 film "1920", second of the 1920 (film series), and stars Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai, Vidya Malvade and Sharad Kelkar in the lead roles. The movie is third in a series of quasi-sequels released under the Bhatt Banner including "Raaz – The Mystery Continues", "Murder 2", "Jism 2", "Jannat 2" and "Raaz 3D" each of which had nothing to do with their respective prequels, but somehow fell in the same genre following a similar story. The trailer was released on 28 September 2012. The film released on 2 November 2012 to mixed reception and fared better at the opening Box Office weekend (122.7 million Net.) as compared to any other releases that week except "Skyfall" (270 million Net.). U Dinesh Kumar, Professor at IIM Bangalore and his team worked with Ami Shah of IntelliAssist, the company that carried out the social media marketing for the film, and assessed Internet activities and campaigns with the case study later published by Harvard Business Publishing.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: In 1920, Jaidev Verma is a famous poet who lives the life of a loner as he is unable to meet the love of his life, Smriti. They got to know each other through an exchange of letters and slowly fall in love. One day, Jaidev receives a letter informing him that Smriti had died by an accident. Now his sister Karuna is the only support system that keeps him motivated. One day Jaidev finds an unconscious girl near a lake and brings her home. After gaining consciousness, she is unable to remember anything from her past life except Jaidev's poems. Karuna becomes skeptical of her presence in the house and gets even more so when the keeper of the cemetery warns them of an evil spirit inside her.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: Jaidev is insistent on keeping her at home since he feels a connection with her. He names her Sangeeta. Sangeeta feels frightening phenomena, vomiting iron nails and seeing ghosts in her room. On their way to see a doctor, Sangeeta gets completely possessed by the ghost. To save her, the only person Jaidev can turn to is the cemetery keeper. Slowly Jaidev gets to know that Sangeeta is actually his lost love Smriti. He goes to Smriti's old address to find out the truth. He discovers that Karuna had come there before, asking about Smriti. Jaidev returns home and finds Karuna's body hanging in the forest with suicide notes around it. From Karuna's letters, he learns that his best friend Amar, who envied Jaidev's success, exploited Karuna to obtain revenge on him. When Amar discovered that Jaidev loved Smriti, he went to Smriti, posing as Jaidev, and took her to his residence in Shimla to exploit her, but in the process, Amar was killed. It is his spirit that is now possessing Smriti.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: The cemetery keeper warns Jaidev that the spirit is very vengeful and has to be deceitfully taken to the same place it all happened — Amar's residence in Shimla. Once Smriti touches Amar's corpse, Amar's spirit will have to leave Smriti's body and return to his own body; the corpse can be set on fire then, releasing Amar's spirit from the karmic cycle of life and death. Whilst doing this, Smriti must not know where she is being taken, else the spirit will also know. So Smriti is made unconscious and completely enveloped in a sacred cloth. They reach the designated place, but the cemetery keeper trips and the sacred cloth moves away from Smriti's face, awakening the spirit. The possessed Smriti kills all but Jaidev.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: Jaidev is badly injured in the battle against the spirit. The spirit in Smriti's body burns Amar's corpse, thus forever remaining in her body. Jaidev helplessly pleads with the spirit to kill him, since there is no meaning in letting him live if the spirit will take Smriti from him. Amar's spirit refuses, saying that this is exactly what he wanted: for Jaidev to suffer. Jaidev cuts a rope attached to a loft in ceiling; a corpse falls from there, landing on Smriti, and making contact with her touch. It is revealed in a flashback that Jaidev and the group had hidden the real corpse of Amar in the ceiling as precaution. The corpse comes alive as Amar is forced to return to his original body. Enraged, Amar's corpse tries to kill Smriti, but Jaidev saves her and sets Amar's corpse on fire, thus releasing Amar's spirit from the karmic cycle of life and death. In the end, Jaidev marries Smriti and they live happily with each other.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: The music for the film was composed by Chirantan Bhatt and the lyrics written by Shakeel Azmi, Junaid Wasi & Manoj Yadav. The music got positive reviews from critics.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: Renuka Vyavahare of Times of India gave it 3 stars. "1920 gives you the creeps...watch it." said ToI. Rediff Movies said "1920 Evil Returns is yet another needless horror film. It's cold and bland." and gave it 1 star. Roshni Devi of Koimoi gave it 2 stars. "Watch it only if you're desperate for some uninspiring horror. Give it a rest otherwise." wrote Roshni Devi. Social Movie Rating site MOZVO gave it a rating of 2.3 putting it in 'Below Average' category. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 2.5 stars.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: "1920 – Evil Returns" had a decent opening weekend where it collected around nett. The film had a good first week and collected nett. It had collected around nett in its second week taking its total to nett. It finished at in the domestic market.


title: 1920: Evil Returns

text: The reasonable success of "1920 – Evil Returns" prompted producer Vikram Bhatt to plan another sequel. "I will be making another sequel to 1920. We are working on the script right now. It is too early to talk about it as we are developing the concept for it", Vikram said in an interview. It was also revealed that the film would not be in 3D. The sequel to the movie was later named as "1920 London, and" released on 6 May 2016.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Ogmore. The River Ewenny also flows through the town. The population was 49,597 in 2021.


title: Bridgend

text: Historically a part of Glamorgan, Bridgend has greatly expanded in size since the early 1980s – the 2001 census recorded a population of 39,429 for the town and the 2011 census reported that the Bridgend Local Authority had a population of 139,200 – up from 128,700 in 2001. This 8.2% increase was the largest increase in Wales except for Cardiff. The town is undergoing a redevelopment project, with the town centre mainly pedestrianised and ongoing works including Brackla Street Centre redevelopment to Bridgend Shopping Centre, Rhiw Car Park redevelopment, ongoing public realm improvements and the upgrade of the Bridgend Life Centre and demolition of Sunnyside offices to accommodate a large retirement complex.


title: Bridgend

text: Several prehistoric burial mounds have been found in the vicinity of Bridgend, suggesting that the area was settled before Roman times. The A48 between Bridgend and Cowbridge has a portion, known locally as "Crack Hill", a Roman road and the 'Golden Mile' where it is believed Roman soldiers were lined up to be paid. The Vale of Glamorgan would have been a natural low-level route west to the Roman fort and harbour at Neath ("Nidum") from settlements in the east like Cardiff and Caerleon ("Isca").


title: Bridgend

text: In the decades after the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, the Normans looked westwards to create new seats for lords loyal to William the Conqueror. Groups of Norman barons arrived in Wales, and in the south and east created what would later become the Welsh Marches, while the north and west remained largely unconquered.


title: Bridgend

text: At Coity, the local Welsh chieftain Morgan Gam already had a stronghold. Sometime in the 11th century, Norman Lord Payn de Turberville approached Morgan to turn over control of Coity Castle to Turberville. Morgan Gam agreed, on condition that Turberville either fought Morgan for the land, or took Gam's daughter Sybil's hand in marriage. Turberville married Sybil and became Lord of Coity, and rebuilt the castle.


title: Bridgend

text: Newcastle Castle (on Newcastle Hill, overlooking the town centre, 1106) and Ogmore Castle (1116) were built by Robert Fitzhamon and William de Londres, respectively. About north-east of Ogmore Castle, Maurice de Londres founded the fortified Benedictine Ewenny Priory in 1141.


title: Bridgend

text: These three castles provided a "defensive triangle" for the area – a quadrilateral if Ewenny Priory is included.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend developed at a ford on the River Ogmore, which was on the main route between east and west Wales. Just north of the town is the confluence of three rivers, the Ogmore, the Llynfi, and the Garw. South of Bridgend, the River Ewenny merges with the River Ogmore and flows into the Bristol Channel. In the 15th century, a stone bridge was built as a permanent connection between the two sides of the Ogmore (and was later rebuilt). Originally, this bridge had four arches, but in the 18th century, a massive flood washed two of them away. The rest of the bridge still stands and remains a focal point of the town: aesthetic restoration took place in 2006.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend grew rapidly into an agricultural town. It became an important market town, a status it retained until the late 20th century.


title: Bridgend

text: The discovery of coal in the South Wales Valleys north of Bridgend had a massive impact on the town. The first coal mining operations opened north of Bridgend in the 17th century; the Llynfi Valley was the first to be industrialised. Bridgend itself never had coal deposits and remained a market town for some time, but the valleys of the three rivers grew into an important part of the South Wales coalfields. Ironworks and brickworks (notably at Tondu) were also established in the same period by John Bedford, although the ironworks faltered after his death and ceased operating entirely in 1836.


title: Bridgend

text: The Great Western Railway arrived and Bridgend was at the junction between the main London to Fishguard line and the branch to the three valleys. Frequent coal trains took coal down the valleys; and when the Vale of Glamorgan railway opened, coal could be sent directly to port at Barry or via other branch lines to Porthcawl.


title: Bridgend

text: Several quarries opened in and around Bridgend town centre; some remnants of these can still be seen today near Brackla. An engine works was opened in the town and a larger farmers' market also opened in the town centre, where it remained until the 1970s.


title: Bridgend

text: In 1801, the population of what is now Bridgend County was around 6000. By the beginning of the 20th century this had risen to 61,000. By this time Bridgend was a bustling market town with prosperous valleys to the north, a thriving community and good links to other towns and cities.


title: Bridgend

text: In the Second World War, Bridgend had a prisoner of war (POW) camp at Island Farm and a large munitions factory (ROF Bridgend – known as the "Admiralty") at Waterton, as well as a large underground munitions storage base at Brackla (known as the 8Xs). This was an overspill of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.


title: Bridgend

text: At its peak, the arsenal had 40,000 workers, many of them women. Large numbers of them were transported by bus from the Rhondda and the valleys.


title: Bridgend

text: The factory complex had three sites in Bridgend, all linked together by a large network of railways. Many reminders of the factory sites remain to this day – Brackla Ordnance Site.


title: Bridgend

text: In March 1945, 87 POWs from Island Farm escaped through a tunnel, but all were recaptured. While Bridgend was as important during the war as any other part of Wales, and although it was photographed by the Luftwaffe, it was never blitzed, although the area immediately around Bridgend did suffer bombing raids.


title: Bridgend

text: The admiralty ceased full-scale production in December 1945 after five years. Two of the munitions-storage magazines in the Brackla ROF site were converted to a regional government headquarters during the Cold War as part of the UK continuity of government plans. It is now in the hands of a private company.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend remained a solid market town after the war. In 1948, Newbridge Fields (a short distance from the town centre) hosted the 1948 National Eisteddfod.


title: Bridgend

text: In 1960, the River Ogmore burst its banks and flooded the town centre. Subsequent floods and extreme weather led the Welsh Water Authority to develop concrete flood defence walls along the banks of the River Ogmore in the town centre. The town centre has not been flooded since. During this time, Bridgend was chosen to become the headquarters for South Wales Police. This action was ideal as geographically, Bridgend stands equidistantly between Swansea to the west and Cardiff to the east.


title: Bridgend

text: The Beeching cuts of the 1960s had the loss of passenger rail links in the Vale of Glamorgan and to the northern valleys. The Vale of Glamorgan link to Barry via Rhoose was reinstated in June 2005.


title: Bridgend

text: In the 1970s, Bridgend began to see the catalyst of arguably its biggest growth period. The "missing section" of the M4 motorway was constructed around the town, plans were afoot to change the Waterton Admiralty into an industrial estate, and the water supply was improved including new sewage treatment works near Ogmore. Two major multinational corporations, the Ford Motor Company and Sony, set up factories in or on the outskirts of the new Bridgend Industrial Estate (former Waterton Arsenal).


title: Bridgend

text: The development of the Brackla Housing Estate in the 1980s, housing developments at Broadlands to the south-west of the town centre and the continuing expansion of Brackla to the north-east have caused Bridgend's population to swell dramatically. Due to this, traffic congestion and a lack of parking facilities within the town have become important issues in the area. In 1997, a new link road/bypass was built to link the town centre directly to the M4 motorway, as well as redirect traffic around the town centre.


title: Bridgend

text: A new Securicor-operated prison (HM Parc Prison) was built near Coity in the late 1990s. The prison opened in November 1997.


title: Bridgend

text: Objective 1 investment in regeneration and public realm improvements has led to the pedestrianisation of the town centre and the restoration of some buildings. Some local traders have argued that this has damaged trade due to a lack of access by taxis and the disabled. Car parking provision and pricing have also been a concern to retailers with calls for free or reduced-price parking to increase town centre visits.


title: Bridgend

text: To counteract the dominance of Tesco in the area, Asda were granted planning permission for a new superstore near the town centre. The store was opened on 31 March 2008 by the local MP, and players from Bridgend Ravens. Over 1500 customers were thought to have walked through the new doors to take a look around the new store.


title: Bridgend

text: In 2004, an award-winning new bus station was constructed and traffic movements around the town centre were altered. Local committees, together with the council, started to use the pedestrianisation of the town centre to its advantage, culminating in several fairs including Continental Markets, Celtic Festivals, a small Mardi-Gras, and seasonal markets and events. Bridgend Council estimated in 2009 that these events have brought 900,000 visitors to the town and generated around £53 million for the local economy.


title: Bridgend

text: About £2.5 million of European funding was used to create a "riverside café culture" by constructing a walkway along the River Ogmore, which was completed in March 2009.


title: Bridgend

text: Construction on a 1500-home sustainable "village" at Parc Derwen near Coity began in 2011. The scheme was a collaboration between several house-builders and public bodies including the National Assembly, and was planned with strict guidelines regarding architecture and the environment. Concerns exist from Coity in particular that this development may impact on their village's identity.


title: Bridgend

text: Studies were carried out by the local council with a view to improving retail provision in the town centre. Attracting bigger high-street chains to the town, such as Marks & Spencer, Next, and Debenhams is seen as key to this.


title: Bridgend

text: At Elder Yard, a derelict Grade II-listed building in the heart of the town centre is due to be converted to a restaurant and provide the impetus for other improvements there, including a public courtyard and extra retail and leisure provision.


title: Bridgend

text: As of December 2019, the local Member of Parliament is Jamie Wallis (Welsh Conservative), the Member of the Senedd for Bridgend is Sarah Murphy (Labour) along with the regional members for the South Wales West region: Luke Fletcher (Plaid Cymru), Thomas Giffard (Conservative), Altaf Hussain (Conservative) and Sioned Williams (Plaid Cymru).


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend County Borough Council is led by the Welsh Labour Party, which has been running a majority administration since the May 2022 local elections, where the Labour party gained ten seats to finish on 27 out of a possible 51 seats. At those elections Independents won 21 seats, Plaid Cymru 2 and the Conservatives 1. A few weeks after the elections Labour lost the ward of Bridgend Central in a by-election to an independent candidate reducing the Labour group to 26 and increasing the independent group to 22.


title: Bridgend

text: After the 2012 election, the council was made up of 39 Labour councillors, 10 Independents, 3 Liberal Democrats, 1 Conservative and 1 Plaid Cymru. The Youth Mayor of Bridgend County Borough as of 2017 is Niamh Gwilym, and the Deputy Youth Mayor is Leigh Williams.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend was an electoral ward to Glamorgan County Council from 1889 to 1974, electing the Earl of Dunraven as its first representative. Since 1995 the town has been covered by three wards to Bridgend County Borough Council, Morfa, Oldcastle and Newcastle, which each elect two councillors.


title: Bridgend

text: At the Town Council level, Bridgend is represented by nineteen town councillors on Bridgend Town Council, elected from the three town wards of Morfa, Oldcastle and Newcastle.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend's travel to work area has expanded since 1991 and the 2001-based area now incorporates the western part of the Vale of Glamorgan.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend recovered quickly from the decline of traditional industries, particularly coal-mining due to other alternative forms of employment. Wages are generally higher here than in other parts of the South Wales valleys. There are large industrial estates at Bridgend and Waterton (formerly Waterton Admiralty) which host a number of small-scale and multi-national companies, mainly manufacturing.


title: Bridgend

text: Ford's engine plant near Waterton used to employ around 2,000 workers and was one of the area's largest employers, working on range of low carbon "EcoBoost" engines. The plant won praise from Peter Mandelson in January 2009 who described it as "a top-of-the-class, world-beating engine production plant." Ford invested £315million in the Bridgend plant between 2004 and 2009. The Ford plant closed in September 2020.


title: Bridgend

text: IT Consultancy Group CGI have an office in Bridgend, and Lidl has also set up its Welsh headquarters and distribution site at Waterton. Zoobiotic, a company specialising in maggot therapy, has its facility near Bridgend town centre. Also, since 1983, famous dart board producer Winmau has based its global headquarters in Bridgend.


title: Bridgend

text: Others include Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Staedtler, engineering consultancy Skanska, aeronautic maintenance and project management company TES Aviation and home accessories manufacturer Dekor plc. The Semiconductor Photomask Company, Photronics Inc, has had a manufacturing operation for the last 20 years at the Ewenny Science Park.


title: Bridgend

text: However, there have been significant economic blows to Bridgend including Sony's closure of the Bridgend plant and downsizing of the Pencoed plant. The plant is still Sony's biggest in the UK despite this. Other manufacturers to have pulled out of the area include Wrigley Company and Dairy Farmers of Britain which went into receivership in June 2009.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend has a lack of high-wage service jobs; however the retail sector in particular provides a large proportion of employment in the town and borough. In 2008, there were 13,100 people in Bridgend County working in construction and manufacturing, while 42,900 were working in the service sector.


title: Bridgend

text: Sub-regional GVA for the Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot NUTS3 region stood at £12,402 per capita in 2006 ($23,191 at June 2006 values). This figure represents 65% of the UK GVA per capita, 87% of Welsh GVA per capita (£14,226) and 103% of West Wales & The Valleys GVA per capita (£12,071).


title: Bridgend

text: Gross disposable income for Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot in 2006 stood at £3,338 million or £12,379 per head. This was 88% of UK per head figure (£14,053) and slightly above the Welsh per head figure (£12,366).


title: Bridgend

text: In 2008, the average full-time gross weekly earnings in Swansea, Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot was £484.20 (£531.70 for men, £426.10 for women). This was 97% of the Welsh average (£498.10).


title: Bridgend

text: In the first half of 2009, unemployment in Bridgend County Borough stood at 8.9% and economic inactivity stood at 21.4%.


title: Bridgend

text: The percentage of workless households in December 2008 stood at 20.6% compared to the UK average of 16% and the Welsh average of 18.8%.


title: Bridgend

text: In the town centre the main retail shopping areas are the Rhiw Shopping Centre (containing Bridgend Market), Adare Street, Caroline Street, Derwen Road, Nolton Street, Queen Street, Dunraven Place, Market Street and Cheapside (home of the Brackla Street Centre and Asda store). These are near the bus and railway stations and pay and display car parks.


title: Bridgend

text: There are out-of-town shopping areas at Waterton, near the A473, on Cowbridge Road and at The Derwen, Junction 36 of the M4, home to the Bridgend Designer Outlet.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend railway station has regular services to Cardiff Central, Bristol Parkway and London Paddington to the east; Port Talbot Parkway, Neath, Swansea and the West Wales Line to the west; and Maesteg to the north. There are also services to Manchester Piccadilly. Bridgend is the western terminus of the Vale of Glamorgan Line which reopened to passenger traffic in 2005.


title: Bridgend

text: Wildmill railway station, about north of Bridgend railway station, serves the estates of Wildmill, Pendre and Litchard and is on the Bridgend-Maesteg branch line. A park and ride station at Brackla, about south-east of Bridgend railway station is planned and is due to be constructed once capacity improvements have been made to the South Wales Main Line. Services to a new railway station in Llanharan began in December 2007.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend bus station has services to urban and rural areas in South Wales. Most services are operated by First Cymru under the "Bridgend & County" livery.


title: Bridgend

text: An east–west cycle route has been constructed from Brackla through to Broadlands and into Cefn Glas. Bridgend is on the National Cycle Route and there are off-road spurs from the Celtic Trail to the town centre and a community route in the Ogmore Valley. Glyncorrwg and the Afan Valley about north of Bridgend near Maesteg is famed for its mountain bike trails, considered amongst the best in Europe.


title: Bridgend

text: For scheduled and chartered air travel, Bridgend is served by Cardiff International Airport, to which there are direct rail and bus services.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend town has three comprehensive schools: Archbishop McGrath Catholic Comprehensive, Brynteg Comprehensive School and Bryntirion Comprehensive School. Brynteg generally serves the area east of the River Ogmore, while Bryntirion serves the areas west of the river. Brynteg is renowned for its rugby alumni, including J.P.R. Williams, Rob Howley, Gavin Henson, Mike Hall and Dafydd James; many talented athletes at other local schools join Brynteg to play for the school in the Welsh School Rugby Union leagues. The school has produced several Welsh rugby union internationals, and prominent athletes in other sports have also attended, including top female cyclist Nicole Cooke. Bryntirion has also produced its fair share of sporting talent, notably Gareth Llewellyn and triathlete Marc Jenkins. Archbishop McGrath School covers the whole of the county, and moved to a new campus at Brackla in 2011.


title: Bridgend

text: At least nine primary, junior schools, and infant schools are in the town, though several of the junior and infant schools have merged to form single primary schools in recent years.


title: Bridgend

text: Also, two special-educational needs schools are there: Heronsbridge School which is linked with Brynteg Comprehensive School and at the back of Bridgend College. It is for students of primary and secondary school ages with severe learning disabilities. Another school, Ysgol Bryn Castell, offers education for Key Stage 1–4 students with moderate to severe learning disabilities; it is linked with Bryntirion Comprehensive School and has opened up a satellite unit at Cynffig Comprehensive School, a few miles west of Bridgend.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend College is the town's further education and higher education provider; it primarily offers vocational courses and GCSEs. It attracts school-leavers from as far as Swansea and Cardiff. It offers a range of higher-education courses such as Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Higher National Certificate, and Higher National Diploma in various subjects and master's programmes at its Queens Road campus on Bridgend Industrial Estate. These are mainly franchised from the University of South Wales. The Pencoed Campus has a focus on sport, animal care, and horticulture, and Maesteg Campus offers more community-based programmes.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend College has its own residence for students aged 16+ with learning difficulties and physical disabilities who come to the college from all over Wales.


title: Bridgend

text: Since the closure and redevelopment of Bridgend General Hospital in the 1990s, acute-care and accident and emergency services have been provided by the Princess of Wales Hospital. GP's surgeries are scattered throughout the town, as are dentists. There is also a large psychiatric hospital, Glanrhyd Hospital, near Pen-y-fai.


title: Bridgend

text: In December 2008, Bridgend Council introduced its first alcohol-free zone, restricting the consumption of alcohol to pubs, clubs, and other licensed premises in the town centre to help address alcohol-related issues. CCTV is in operation throughout the town centre, and usually police have a presence of some form. Since July 2007, the streets of Bridgend are also patrolled on Friday and Saturday evenings by Street Pastors, an inter-denominational church response to urban problems, engaging with people on the streets.


title: Bridgend

text: Funeral for a Friend and Jayce Lewis have both received mainstream and commercial recognition, while rock/metal act Bullet for My Valentine contributed to the meteoric uprising in the mid-2000s metal music industry. Along with Those Damn Crows, they have all received national and international chart success. Several smaller venues in and around the town centre, including The New Angel Inn, The Railway Inn, Barracudas and Sapphires, host a number of open-mic nights. Bryan Adams played to a 15,000 crowd at Brewery Field stadium in the town in 2006. The Recreation Centre has hosted acts such as Fall Out Boy and Bring Me the Horizon.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1948. Bridgend County hosted the Urdd Gobaith Cymru National Eisteddfod in 2017.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend has its own commercial radio station: 106.3 Bridge FM, and is the location of Internet-based radio station Celtica radio. The main local newspaper is "The Glamorgan Gazette", although a free newspaper, "The Recorder", has increased its circulation in recent times. "Around Town" magazine is the free local lifestyle magazine for Bridgend.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend Ravens (formally Bridgend RFC) are a semi-professional rugby union which formed in 1878 and play in the Welsh Premier Division. They play their home matches at the Brewery Field, which has been their home on and off since 1920. The club have been Welsh champions five times and have won the WRU Challenge Cup on two occasions, whilst also winning the WRU Division One West league in 2011 and numerous sevens competitions over the course of their existence. They have also played against international teams, New Zealand won on their visit in 1978, but Bridgend have beaten Italy, Western Samoa and Australia. The club has also hosted international matches at women and age grade.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend Athletic RFC was reformed in 1972, after the Bridgend Youth team members in that year wanted to form a senior team so they didn't have to go their separate ways into senior rugby, hence the formation of the club which had previously existed up to 1939. The club become full members of the Welsh Rugby Union in 1983. The club were promoted from Division 5 Central in 2001, were WRU Division Four East Champions in 2002, were then promoted from Division 3 to WRU Division Two West in 2003 through the league organisation and were promoted to Division 1 in 2004. They have suffered relegation from that league once, but bounced back in 2009, winning WRU Division Two West. They play in WRU Division One West.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend Sports Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Bridgend. Formed in 1938 by Victor Blick, the team survived the cessation of club rugby in Wales between 1939 and 1945, during the Second World War. There have been in existence at least two other clubs in Bridgend throughout the club's history providing local competition. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and play in the WRU Division Four South East. They won the Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy on three successive years between 1979 and 1981, and were champions of WRU Division Five South Central in 2010.


title: Bridgend

text: The Celtic Warriors, formed in 2003, are a defunct regional rugby union team that was mainly based at the Brewery Field in Bridgend. When regional rugby was enforced by the Welsh Rugby Union, Bridgend RFC and Pontypridd RFC, who were both professional clubs at the time, merged to create the Celtic Warriors as one of the five new regional rugby teams in Wales. However, they were dissolved after one season due to financial problems that had plagued the club. Pontypridd RFC had sold their share of the region early on due to their own financial difficulties, with the remaining share which had been owned by Bridgend RFC, being sold off to the Welsh Rugby Union at the end of the season. This led to the winding up of the Celtic Warriors region by the WRU, as there was not enough money to keep the region afloat. There were high points for the region: 10,000 turned up to watch them face European champions-in-waiting London Wasps and even beat the Wasps 9–14 at Adam's Park a week earlier. The team finished 4th out of 12 in the Celtic League in their only season of existence.


title: Bridgend

text: The Ospreys were formed in 2003 after the merger of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC, which took place after the Welsh Rugby Union forced through regional rugby as the top level of Welsh rugby. Bridgend became part of this region following the demise of the Celtic Warriors. Although the Ospreys play their home matches at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, since 2010 they have played their home Anglo-Welsh Cup home games at the Brewery Field, which is normally two games a season.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend had two football teams, Bridgend Town A.F.C., and a Bridgend suburb side Bryntirion Athletic F.C. that played in the Welsh Football League First Division. Bridgend Town AFC from 2009 played at The Brewery Field (The Football Club purchased The Brewery Field in 2009) as the club sold its ground at Coychurch Road ground due to works in conjunction with the new Asda store.


title: Bridgend

text: In 2013, the two clubs joined to form Pen-y-Bont F.C. who, following promotion in 2019, play in the Cymru Premier, the top level of Welsh football. They are currently managed by Rhys Griffiths. Schools football in Bridgend is governed by the Bridgend Schools FA.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend's geographical position means South Wales rivals Cardiff City and Swansea City pick up support from the town.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend was home to Super League rugby league team the Crusaders, who were based at the Brewery Field, home of rugby union club, Bridgend RFC. This side was considered by a few to be a replacement for the Celtic Warriors rugby union side after their controversial disbanding in 2004 but also built up a loyal following in their own right. The Crusaders' application for a Super League licence was granted by the Rugby Football League on 22 July 2008. The decision elevated the club from National League One to compete in Super League XIV from 2009.


title: Bridgend

text: For the 2010 Super League season, Crusaders initially announced they would play at Newport's Rodney Parade ground for two seasons. However, in the run up to the new season the Celtic Crusaders franchise was sold by owner Leighton Samuel to Wrexham Football Club parent company, Wrexham Village Ltd and the side moved to Wrexham, playing home fixtures at The Racecourse Ground.


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend's second rugby league side is the Bridgend Blue Bulls, one of the UK's most successful amateur clubs having won two UK national amateur titles in four years and Welsh Champions five years in succession. The Bulls played at Coychurch Road but following the announcement about the setting up of the Celtic Crusaders they were invited to play at the Brewery Field by the owner Leighton Samuel. One year on they were refused permission to continue playing at the Brewery Field in the middle of the season. They were then aided by Porthcawl RFC and staged the remaining 2006 home games at the Porthcawl ground. Subsequently, Porthcawl RFC have become their regular home and have even staged an amateur rugby league international there during 2008 (Wales v Ireland).


title: Bridgend

text: Bridgend has local cricket clubs including Bridgend Town CC and Great Western CC, a men's and women's hockey club, golf courses, and tennis and bowls facilities at the local club, the Bridgend Lawn Tennis and Bowls Association.


title: IStock

text: iStock is an online royalty free, international micro stock photography provider based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The firm offers millions of photos, illustrations, clip art, videos and audio tracks. Artists, designers and photographers worldwide contribute their work to iStock collections in return for royalties. Nearly half a million new photos, illustrations, videos and audio files, are added each month.


title: IStock

text: The company was founded by Bruce Livingstone in May 2000, as iStockphoto, a free stock imagery website supported by Livingstone's web development firm, Evolvs Media. iStock pioneered the crowd-sourced stock industry and became the original source for user-generated stock photos, vectors and illustrations, and video clips. It began charging money in 2001 and quickly became profitable.


title: IStock

text: On February 9, 2006, the firm was acquired by Getty Images for $50 million USD. Livingstone promised that the site would continue "functioning independently with the benefits of Getty Images, yet, very importantly for them and us, autonomy."


title: IStock

text: On September 18, 2006, the site experienced the first benefits of the new ownership: a Controlled vocabulary keyword taxonomy borrowed from Getty Images.


title: IStock

text: As of March 31, 2007, iStockpro closed. iStockpro was a more expensive version of iStockphoto that was never as popular as iStockphoto, and became redundant after the acquisition by Getty Images.


title: IStock

text: On April 1, 2008 Getty Images disclosed, as part of its agreement to be sold to a private equity firm, that iStockphoto's revenue in 2007 was $71.9 million USD of which $20.9 million (29%) was paid to contributors.


title: IStock

text: Founder and CEO Livingstone left iStockphoto in 2009. He went on to co-found competitor Stocksy United in 2013.


title: IStock

text: In 2013, iStockphoto was rebranded as iStock by Getty Images, removing the word 'photo' to convey that the company offers stock media other than just photography, such as vector illustrations, audio, and video.


title: IStock

text: In 2020, iStock began offering weekly complimentary stock photos from its exclusive Signature collection, as well as monthly free illustrations and video clips.


title: IStock

text: iStock works with over 300,000 contributors globally, thousands of which are exclusive and create content solely for the platform. Contributing photographers apply by uploading 3-6 sample images, illustrations, or videos to the Contributor by Getty Images app, which is available on App Store and Google Play. The content is reviewed and if successful, applicants are invited to become either a Getty Images or iStock contributor.


title: IStock

text: Contributors receive royalties each time their content is licensed. Royalty rates start at 15% for photos and 20% for illustrations and videos, with exclusive contributors earning between 25% and 45%.


title: IStock

text: In an address to its community entitled "2008: A Year in Review and a Look Ahead″, the firm's CEO mentioned that the company was paying out ‘almost’ $1.1 million per week in royalty payments to contributors.


title: IStock

text: Each approved image is added to the searchable online database, where it can be found by purchasers. Content is also grouped by collections and searchable via filters such as age, ethnicity and visual dimensions. Files can be downloaded immediately, and used for personal, business or commercial purposes. iStock offers subscription plans to suit varying needs and budgets or offers the opportunity to purchase credit packs for any asset, from any collection.


title: IStock

text: The basic license agreement prohibits some uses, such as logo or trademarks or adult materials, etc. Print runs over 500,000 requires an extended license. Extended licenses are available for purchase to cover needs not met by the basic license agreement.


title: IStock

text: Each license file comes with a $10,000 legal guarantee, protecting users against copyright infringement. It's also possible to purchase an additional Extended Legal Guarantee to increase coverage to $250,000.


title: IStock

text: iStock offers two types of collections, Signature and Essential. The Signature collection offers high-quality visuals, exclusive to iStock and The Essential collection offers more affordable non-exclusive visuals.


title: IStock

text: Visuals are grouped by hand-curated sets for ease of search and can be edited using the iStock Editor tool.


title: IStock

text: The 2011 film "The Roommate" obtained photos from iStockPhoto for its promotional material. One of the photos used as its backdrop was the Christy Administration Building from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. The college administration voiced concern that permission to use the photograph of the building was not properly obtained and is investigating the legality of its use. As of February 8, 2011, no lawsuits have been filed but discussions continue to take place.


title: IStock

text: On July 31, 2006 iStockphoto announced the development of a new branch, iStockvideo, to sell stock video clips in a variety of formats from web-size, through NTSC and PAL up to HDV and HD sizes.


title: IStock

text: The iStockalypse was founded in 2005, as an official multi-day iStock photography event offering premium training. It is held several times a year for contributing artists and photographers.


title: IStock

text: Since the first event in Las Vegas, iStock has visited Seattle, Boston, Ljubljana, Prague, Austin, Barcelona, Marseilles, Buenos Aires, Malta, Berlin, Calgary, Istanbul, Cannes, Tokyo, London, Milan, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and Paris. In March 2015 the event was organized in Dubai to get authentic, local shots of the city and its people.


title: IStock

text: iStock is part of the wider Getty Images Inc. Grants program and, as of 2020, has supported the photojournalism and photography communities, including emerging photographers, with over $1.7 million in financial grants.


title: IStock

text: In 2020, iStock awarded three grants of US$10,000, $7,000 and $3,000, to three young creatives as part of its latest Creative Bursary, “Definition Future.” In the wake of COVID-19 and the countless challenges creatives continued to face, the bursary provided  financial support and mentorship, offering the three emerging creatives the financial freedom to explore what complexities the future may hold through the lens of creative visual storytelling.


title: IStock

text: In 2015, the film Unfinished Business, starring Vince Vaughn, used images from iStock as part of their PR campaign. Images of the actors were superimposed onto stock photos of office workers which were available for the public to download. The campaign generated significant social media and press attention.


title: Joe Ball

text: Joseph Douglas Ball (January 7, 1896 – September 24, 1938) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer, sometimes referred to as the "Alligator Man", the "Butcher of Elmendorf" and the "Bluebeard of South Texas". He is known to have killed two and is said to have killed as many as 20 women in the 1930s. His existence was long believed to be apocryphal, but he is a familiar figure in Texas folklore.


title: Joe Ball

text: Ball was the great-great-grandson of John Hart Crenshaw, a notorious illegal slave trader, kidnapper, and illegal slave breeder in Gallatin County, Illinois. After serving on the frontlines in Europe during World War I, Ball started his career as a bootlegger, providing illegal liquor to those who could pay for it. After the end of Prohibition, he opened a saloon called the Sociable Inn in Elmendorf, Texas. He built a pond that contained six alligators because he misunderstood the term "corpus delicti", believing that a murder conviction without a body would be impossible. He charged people to view them, especially during feeding time; the food consisted mostly of live cats and dogs.


title: Joe Ball

text: After a while, women in the area were reported missing, including barmaids, former girlfriends, and his wife. When two Bexar County deputy sheriffs went to question him in 1938, Ball pulled a handgun from his cash register and killed himself with a bullet through the heart (as noted on his death certificate by the coroner, but some sources report that he shot himself in the head).


title: Joe Ball

text: A handyman who conspired with Ball, Clifford Wheeler, admitted to helping Ball dispose of the bodies of two of the women he had killed. Wheeler led them to the remains of Hazel Brown and Minnie Gotthard.


title: Joe Ball

text: Few written sources from the era could verify Ball's crimes. Newspaper editor Michael Hall investigated the story in depth in 2002 and wrote on his findings for "Texas Monthly".


title: Joe Ball

text: The film "Eaten Alive" by Tobe Hooper was inspired by Ball. The film features a man named Judd, a serial killer who runs a hotel and disposes of his victims' bodies by feeding them to a Nile crocodile.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Matthew Thomas Ritchie (born 10 September 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Newcastle United. Ritchie represented the Scotland national team from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Newcastle United in 2016, he played for Portsmouth, Swindon Town and Bournemouth.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Born and raised in England, Ritchie qualified to play for Scotland through his Scottish father. He made his senior international debut on 25 March 2015, in a friendly match against Northern Ireland.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Ritchie had been involved in Portsmouth's academy since he turned 13, previously playing football locally in Gosport, starting at the age of six. After signing his first professional contract with the club, and a positive 2008–09 pre-season campaign, including a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory over hometown club Gosport Borough, after the match, Ritchie said scoring a hat-trick was 'unreal'.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: He went on loan to Swindon Town in 2010 but due to Portsmouth's mounting injury list, he was recalled in March and was named on the bench for their 2–0 Premier League loss at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur after making four appearances for Swindon. On 14 April, he made his League debut for Portsmouth in the game against Wigan Athletic. He played 79 minutes but was then substituted for Frédéric Piquionne. After the match, Ritchie admits making his Portsmouth debut was a dream come true. At the end of the season, with Portsmouth's relegation from the Premier League confirmed, he signed a new two-year deal.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: For the 2010–11 season, Ritchie was handed the number 5 shirt and was selected in Portsmouth's starting XI for their first match of the season at Coventry City. However, he soon found himself out of the Portsmouth line-up and, with the club having disbanded its reserve team, manager Steve Cotterill agreed to loan out the player for fitness reasons.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Ritchie played reserve and academy football at Pompey until late September and continued to impress until he was taken on a one-month loan deal by League Two club Dagenham & Redbridge. He made his Football League debut against Rotherham United on 27 September 2008, coming on as a late substitute. Ritchie scored on his first competitive start for the "Daggers" in a 2–0 win over Rochdale. He scored again in his next match, a 2–0 win over Barnet.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Ritchie also made clear his wishes to extend the loan deal until the end of the season. Dagenham announced on 30 December that the player would remain with the club until the end of the current season. His impressive performances saw him rewarded with a new two-year deal at Portsmouth, and their Young Player of the Season Award.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 28 July 2009, it was reported that Notts County, were in talks with Portsmouth over a six-figure fee for his services, believed to be £100,000. On 1 September 2009, Ritchie signed on loan until 31 December, although County wanted to extend his loan deal.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: After Danny Wilson failed to secure Ritchie's services on a permanent deal during the transfer window, it was announced on 11 February 2010 that Swindon Town had signed the midfielder on loan for the remainder of the season. He made his debut on 23 February against Stockport County after coming on for Danny Ward after 25 minutes.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: After making a brief appearance for Pompey on 4 October, Ritchie was loaned again to Swindon Town, on a one-month deal. Two weeks later the deal was extended to two months.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 7 January 2011, Swindon Town signed Ritchie on a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He added to his tally with goals against Bournemouth in a 3–2 loss, a 4–1 loss to Southampton, a 1–1 draw with Hartlepool United and a 2–1 loss against Notts County. Despite Swindon Town being relegated to League Two, Ritchie was named the Robins' Player of the Season.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Under manager Paolo Di Canio in League Two, he retained his first team place in the starting eleven and scoring form with ten goals that season. During the season, Ritchie was linked with League One clubs, with the likes of Bournemouth interested in signing the player. After Bournemouth's bid for him was rejected, manager Di Canio said that he was worth about £2 million.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: In March, he won the Football League Two Player of the Year for 2012. With teammate Paul Caddis he was named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Ahead of a new season in League One, Swindon turned down a £900,000 offer from a League One club for Ritchie, insisting he would be sold for £2.5 million. Shortly afterwards he signed a new contract, keeping him at the club until 2014.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 30 January 2013, Ritchie signed for Bournemouth on a three-and-a-half-year deal for £400,000. After leaving Swindon Town, he said that he was surprised to leave the club and that he had left with a "heavy heart". However, Di Canio claimed that the club sold Ritchie behind his back.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: He made his debut on 2 February in a 3–0 win over Milton Keynes Dons. Ritchie scored his first goal for his new team on 23 March in a 4–1 win over Bury. That win was the first of an eight match run of successive wins, including a brace for Ritchie in a 3–1 victory over Notts County, that culminated in clinching promotion to the Championship.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: He was a key performer for Bournemouth during the 2014–15 season. His form helped the side to top the Championship and won him international recognition with Scotland. By April, he had scored 11 goals and provided 13 assists for his team. Ritchie's form saw him voted the Football League's best player in a poll by "FourFourTwo" magazine.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 19 September 2015, he scored his first ever goal in the Premier League, coming on for Bournemouth in a 2–0 home win against Sunderland. On 25 October 2015, Ritchie scored his team's only goal of the game after just one minute, in Bournemouth's 5–1 drubbing by Tottenham Hotspur.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 1 July 2016, Ritchie signed a five-year contract with newly relegated Newcastle United, becoming the third signing under manager Rafael Benítez. He made his debut for the club in a 1–0 loss to Fulham, playing the full 90 minutes. His first goal, a penalty, came two matches later in a 4–1 win over Reading. From then on, Ritchie would become the club's designated penalty taker and had a 100% success rate in all competitions, converting from the spot five times. He was involved in two penalty related incidents over the course of the season. On 25 October, he refused to hand the ball to Aleksandar Mitrović, tucking it under his shirt, before scoring the third goal in a 6–0 win over Preston North End. On 5 April 2017, against Burton Albion, Ritchie scored a penalty, but it was not awarded due to encroachment by Dwight Gayle. However, referee Keith Stroud awarded a direct free kick to Burton, rather than allowing Ritchie to retake the penalty. Ultimately, it did not matter as he scored the winner anyway, to keep Newcastle in the promotion hunt. Ritchie's season was ended by suspension, when he argued with a match official after a home draw with Leeds United. Ritchie scored sixteen goals in all competitions, with only Gayle having netted more than the Scotsman.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 26 August, Ritchie assisted Ciaran Clark for the second goal of the match, as Newcastle got their first win of the season, beating West Ham United 3–0. He was then credited with the assists for the goals scored by Jamaal Lascelles and Christian Atsu in wins over Swansea City and Stoke City. On 28 November, he assisted both Newcastle goals from set-pieces in a 2–2 draw with West Bromwich Albion. In the second half of the season, Ritchie scored three times, all in home wins over Manchester United, Southampton and Arsenal.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: On 11 August 2018, Ritchie set up Joselu for the equaliser, in a 2–1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur. He was taken off in the second half, much to his disapproval; his emotional outburst on the bench was captured on television cameras.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: In 2019–20, Ritchie celebrated goals by assertively kicking the corner flag. On 18 January 2020, while celebrating Isaac Hayden's match winning injury time goal against Chelsea, Ritchie, following tradition, kicked a corner flag and the flag landed into a fans groin.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: Under FIFA eligibility rules, Ritchie was eligible for the national teams of England, where he was born and raised, and Scotland, his father's native land. On 16 March 2015, he was called up to the Scotland national football team for a friendly against Northern Ireland and a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar. Ritchie made his debut against Northern Ireland on 25 March at Hampden Park, and took the 85th-minute corner which set up Christophe Berra's header for the only goal of the game. On 5 June he scored his first international goal, a 20-yard strike which was the only goal of a friendly victory over Qatar at Easter Road in Edinburgh. His second goal came in a European Championship qualifier against Poland at Hampden Park on 8 October 2015, for which he won "Goal of the Year" award from the Scottish FA.


title: Matt Ritchie

text: After being involved consistently for Scotland until the end of 2016, Ritchie withdrew from several subsequent squads due to injuries – either unable to play at all, precautions over recurrence or having to rest during international breaks to improve his condition – appearing just once in 2017 and once in 2018. In November 2018, he requested not to be considered for selection for the 'foreseeable future' for reasons not disclosed by Scotland manager Alex McLeish.


title: 2010s in music

text: By the mid-2010s, the hushed style of vocal delivery commonly used in indie music garnered widespread popularity among pop artists, used often by Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey, Lorde and Birdy. "The Guardian" dubbed this style as "whisperpop", characterized by subdued vocals, muted notes and breathy intensity.


title: 2010s in music

text: Traditional instruments, such as the mandolin, dulcimer, ukulele, bongos, and accordion, were used more often, especially by indie rock musicians and singer-songwriters, including Mumford and Sons, Vance Joy, Phillip Phillips, and The Lumineers, along with country players, such as Chris Stapleton and Zac Brown Band.


title: 2010s in music

text: Adult contemporary music had been successful on the charts. Pop acts like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Adele, P!nk, Shawn Mendes, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, had achieved a No. 1 single during the decade. Artists like Sara Bareilles, Jason Mraz, Michael Bublé, Charlie Puth, Colbie Caillat, Christina Perri, CeeLo Green, and Shawn Mendes all incorporated soul, pop rock, and folk into their music.


title: 2010s in music

text: Throughout the 2010s, hip hop music grew as a genre. In 2017, with the increase in streaming services influence over the Billboard Hot 100 rap music became the most popular genre in the US in its 4th decade of growth, surpassing Rock and Pop music. Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Future, Chance the Rapper, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, J. Cole, Gucci Mane, Migos, Young Thug, Lil B, Tyler, The Creator, ASAP Rocky, 21 Savage, Cardi B, Big Sean, Lil Uzi Vert, XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD all rose to prominence in this decade. In the decade movements like Trap music, Cloud rap, Drill music, and Emo hip hop became mainstream. The 2010s are also notable for the increasing prominence of rap producers; examples being Young Chop, Lex Luger, Sonny Digital, DJ Mustard, Metro Boomin, Southside, DJ Khaled and Pi'erre Bourne .


title: 2010s in music

text: Progressive and experimental rock have started to become widespread, mainly in the second half of the decade. Artists, such as Nothing More, Highly Suspect, Twelve Foot Ninja, Dead Letter Circus, and Marmozets, and DIY ethic bands, including Bad Omens, Sylar, Æges, and Silver Snakes, have enjoyed success through concerts and streaming services.


title: 2010s in music

text: EDM had become more mainstream due to the releases of Britney Spears' "Blackout" and Kanye West's "Stronger"; some 2010s successes include David Guetta, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, Swedish House Mafia, Headhunterz, Wildstylez, Da Tweekaz, Clean Bandit, Major Lazer, DVBBS, Avicii, Alesso, Owl City, The Chainsmokers, Calvin Harris, DJ Snake, Diplo, ShockOne, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Blasterjaxx, Martin Garrix, Marshmello, Alan Walker and Zedd. The prominence of novel EDM genres in the pop sphere like Future Bass and Trap (EDM) resulted in newer styles and innovations within the dance-pop sound, though house genres like Future House, Tropical house, and Electro House remained the most common regardless. The latter was especially popular in the early part of the decade continuing from late 2000s. Reggaetón and Dancehall were other major influences for many dance-pop hits.


title: 2010s in music

text: The genres of Europop and Eurodance have also achieved notable commercial success, evidenced by Swedish producer Max Martin's ubiquity in the decade's most successful pop albums. Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" (2010) drew heavily from this style and became the first album by a female artist in history to release five number one U.S. singles. Europop and electronica were used more extensively in the early 2010s as a result of the success of disk jockeys, like David Guetta and Calvin Harris, also influencing the work of female solo acts like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Robyn, and Kesha. Some of the best-selling songs of the decade, including "Only Girl (In the World)" and "S&M" by Rihanna, were strongly influenced by Eurodance. In 2012, a large number of songs by American instrumentalists featured quintessential Eurodance elements, especially synthesizer and strong beats during the chorus mixed with rapping or vocals for verses. Flo Rida, Pitbull, LMFAO, and The Black Eyed Peas were popular hip-house acts from the early half of the 2010s.


title: 2010s in music

text: Teen pop had made a significant comeback throughout the decade, with the likes of Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Like their predecessors, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake, who rose to fame in the late 90s and early 2000s, most of these stars were exclusively associated or with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon at the genesis of careers. An exception is Canadian artist Justin Bieber who rose to fame through YouTube and social media. Throughout the 2010s, they have expanded control over their careers and come of age with their music to varying degrees of success, and many teen pop musicians outside the former companies have continued to launch promising careers throughout the 2010s.


title: 2010s in music

text: Throughout the 2010s, different movements in music and the music industry have been formed because of the rise of social media such as YouTube, TikTok, and SoundCloud. Some new, sometimes unique, genres of music have been introduced such as lofi hip hop, vaporwave, and bedroom pop. Vaporwave music is one of the first genres of music that had an "aesthetic", which was influenced heavily by elements from the 1980s and 1990s. Bedroom pop emerged in the mid to late 2010s on platforms such as YouTube with amateur artists rising to fame making pop music from their bedroom using inexpensive music creation equipment and software such as GarageBand. A distinct feature of bedroom pop is that the lyrics are written completely by the artists, without editors cleaning them up, which is rare in mainstream pop. Some of these genres' elements influenced more mainstream pop music by the latter end of the 2010s, continuing into the 2020s.


title: 2010s in music

text: Since 2011, boy bands and girl groups have returned to mainstream popularity for the first time after the early 2000s, with the most popular examples being British-Irish boy band One Direction and American boy band Big Time Rush. A new generation of successful girl groups was ushered in by acts such as Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. In addition to this, K-Pop groups, benefiting from high visibility on social media and video sharing sites like YouTube, began to capitalize on their viral power and monetize overseas markets by conducting sold-out tours in Western markets during the mid-2010s. Korean acts such as Big Bang, Exo, and BTS sold out US tours with little to no promotion or support from mainstream media sources like TV & Radio Airplay.


title: 2010s in music

text: In Latin America, Latin pop had remained the main subgenre. Tropical, reggaeton, moombahton, soca have also been popular genres while pop rock continues to be successful. In December 2016, "Billboard" magazine named Enrique Iglesias the 14th most successful and top male dance club artist of all time. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee becomes the highest-certified song of all-time in the United States after receiving a 13× platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for units of over 13 million sales plus track-equivalent streams.


title: 2010s in music

text: Soundtracks from films have topped the charts this decade as well, with number 1 singles from Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams, along with top 10 entries by The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding, and others.


title: 2010s in music

text: Dubstep and drumstep became widespread subgenres in the early 2010s on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, especially in its native United Kingdom. There, other electronic subgenres, like grime, footwork and trap, have also been growing in popularity. Drumstep had continued its success while hardstyle had become mainstream in Australia and United States due to the success of music festivals, such as The Sound of Q-dance and Defqon 1. Grime experienced a resurgence beginning in 2014, initiated by the success of Meridian Dan's "German Whip" featuring Big H and Jme.


title: 2010s in music

text: In Asia, popular music continued to be influenced by Western pop music. As with the past several decades, C-pop, J-pop and K-pop had continued to be successful in the Far East. In J-pop, image songs and the influence of anime on widespread music have grown since the late 2000s. K-pop's popularity continued to increase around the world throughout the decade and found wider recognition in Western markets. Media entertainment brand, Billboard, responsible for tabulating the "Billboard" Hot 100 and 200, inaugurated its own K-Pop chart and column presented weekly, on its Billboard.com site. The Billboard K-Town column, launched in 2013, continues to report on K-pop music; artists, concerts, chart information and news events. In 2015, the US iTunes store added a K-Pop genre category. Major streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify both added K-pop categories to their repertoire to cater demand. In 2018, some K-pop artists from the Republic of Korea like Red Velvet even made a performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In India, Indian pop, rock, and filmi have continued to be mainstream. In the United Arab Emirates, Arabic pop, Arabic hip hop, rock and metal have continued in popularity.


title: 2010s in music

text: Artists like Ed Sheeran, Adele, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, Jessie J, and Emeli Sandé from the U.K. started to become highly successful and gained popularity from crossover hits in the U.S. Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", and "Perfect" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", and "Set Fire to the Rain" all reached the No.1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 in this decade. Taio Cruz had also garnered successful hits. "Dynamite" and "Break Your Heart" were successful singles with the latter reaching the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100.


title: 2010s in music

text: Pop music had remained significantly popular due to dance-pop, electropop and synth-pop in this decade. Artists like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Adele and Lady Gaga were very popular and chart-topping pop songs this decade include Kesha's "", Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me", Bruno Mars's "Just the Way You Are", Perry's "Firework", Gaga's "Born This Way", Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", Rihanna's "We Found Love", Swift's "Shake It Off", Bieber's "Sorry", Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", Grande's "Thank U, Next", Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy", and Gomez's "Lose You to Love Me".