title: Old 97's

text: Their next two releases on ATO Records were "Graveyard Whistling", their 11th studio album, released February 24, 2017, and "Love the Holidays", an album of mostly original Christmas songs, released November 16, 2018.


title: Old 97's

text: ATO Records released the band's next studio album, aptly named "Twelfth", on August 21, 2020. The twelve tracks were produced by Vance Powell, who produced "Graveyard Whistling". Old 97's noted that the recording sessions in Nashville started on the night of a deadly tornado outbreak and right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.


title: Old 97's

text: The band members portrayed the alien rock band Bzermikitokolok and the Knowheremen in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special", singing the original song "I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)" and their 2018 song "Here It Is Christmastime," the latter with Kevin Bacon singing lead.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: An Unfinished Life is a 2005 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, and based on the Mark Spragg novel of the same name. The film stars Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of a gruff Wyoming rancher (Redford) who must reconcile his relationship with his struggling daughter-in-law (Lopez) and previously-unknown-to-him granddaughter, after they show up unexpectedly at his ranch and ask to stay with him and his disabled best friend and neighbor (Freeman).


title: An Unfinished Life

text: One year ago, a bear stole a calf from Mitch and Einar's ranch. The two friends attempted to save the calf, but the bear viciously attacked Mitch — and because Einar was drunk, he failed to save Mitch from serious injury. The bear escaped into the mountains.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: A year later, Mitch's wounds still cause him constant pain. Einar cares for Mitch daily, giving him morphine injections, food, and friendship. He leans his guilt on emotional crutches, while Mitch struggles to walk with real crutches. The bear is later seen foraging for food in town. Sheriff Crane Curtis captures it and it ends up in the town zoo. About the same time, Einar's long-lost daughter-in-law Jean shows up on his doorstep.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Jean and her young daughter, Griff move in with Einar and Mitch. Einar's son, Griffin, had married Jean years ago. She discovered that she was pregnant with Griff after Griffin died in a car accident, after which the family broke up. Tension exists between Einar and Jean, as both are still grieving for Griffin; tensions build as Einar has always blamed Jean for his son's death.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Since Griffin died, Jean has been in a series of unsuccessful relationships. She moved in with Einar to escape her abusive boyfriend, Gary. Jean starts working at a local coffee shop to earn money to become independent. There she befriends Nina, another waitress. Sheriff Curtis also becomes her friend.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Meanwhile, Gary has tracked Jean down and appears in town. Initially, Einar and the sheriff throw him out of town. Einar asks Jean to tell him how Griffin died. Jean says they flipped a coin to determine who would drive, and she lost. At 3 a.m., the two tired souls had set out on the last leg of a long trip. Jean fell asleep at the wheel. The car flipped six times. Griffin died, but Jean survived. When Einar learns the truth about his son's death, he says they'll have to talk about Jean moving out. Jean says she's through talking. The next morning she takes Griff with her and leaves to stay with Nina, who ends up helping her understand Einar's gruff ways and bitterness.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Griff, who has begun to build a relationship with her grandfather, leaves her mother and goes back to the ranch alone. Einar meets Jean at the diner and invites her to come back and live with him after he and Griff go on a camping trip.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: The "camping trip" is a cover story meant to allow them time to carry out a request from Mitch to set free the bear who mauled him. The plan to get the bear into a transport cage does not go well. Griff accidentally knocks the gearshift lever into neutral while Einar is luring the bear into the cage. The bear gets free, and Einar is injured as he jumps out of the way. Griff drives Einar to the hospital, where he and Jean attempt to reconcile. Back at the ranch, Mitch survives a peaceful confrontation with the bear from his past. It goes into the mountains, where it belongs.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Meanwhile, Gary returns to the area and comes to the ranch the next day to accost Jean. He and Einar have an explosive confrontation that ends in Einar threatening Gary with his rifle, before badly beating him up. Gary, battered and exhausted, leaves on a Trailways bus as it moves through Nebraska.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: In the final scene, Einar affectionately talks with one of his cats, who throughout the whole story he'd coldly ignored. Griff invites Sheriff Curtis for lunch when he drops by to see Jean (previously Griff, knowing of her mother fooling around with Sheriff, had told him not to stay for lunch). All is well as Mitch narrates the last seconds of the story, describing to Einar his dreams of flying above the earth and coming to understand things about life.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: While set in Wyoming, "An Unfinished Life" was actually filmed in the Canadian towns of Ashcroft, Savona, and Kamloops, British Columbia.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: Reviews of the film were mixed. The film holds a 52% approval rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 142 reviews with an average rating of 5.80 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A story of disjointed family members yearning for true emotional depth, "An Unfinished Life" teeters between overtly saccharine sentiments and moments of real intimacy."


title: An Unfinished Life

text: "An Unfinished Life" did not open well; it opened at number 16 in its limited release opening weekend with $1,008,308. In its second weekend, with a wider release, the film opened at number 11 with $2,052,066. Despite its $30 million budget, the film made only $18,618,284 worldwide by the time of its closing.


title: An Unfinished Life

text: The film won the best makeup award from the Canadian Network of Makeup Artists (Jayne Dancose), and it won the Genesis Award as best feature for 2005.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, HPk (; born 15 March 1935) is a Pakistani-born British billionaire businessman and former bus conductor and driver. He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: According to the "Sunday Times Rich List", in 2020 Anwar Pervez's net worth was £3.1 billion (US$3.75 billion); which made him the richest Pakistan-born Briton in the UK. The 2021 list gave his family's assets as £1.364 billion, placing them 125th on the list.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: Mohammed Anwar Pervez was born on 15 March 1935 to a subsistence farming family in Rawalpindi. He did his matriculation in Pakistan. He studied at Forman Christian College. In 1956, he moved to the UK at the age of 21.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: His first job was as a telephone operator in the state-owned telecommunication company PTCL. There he used to work for a month and most of them were spent on anti-malaria medications.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: In 1956, he emigrated to England. There he became a bus conductor and driver in Bradford. He worked seven days a week on double shifts about to a week.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: In 1963 he established his first convenience store, Kashmir, in London's Earls Court for the Muslim community. By the early seventies, he had changed the company's name to Bestway and was operating ten convenience stores in and around West London mostly serving Asians and specialised in Asian food: spices, rice, lentils, and meat.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: In 1976, Pervez opened Bestway’s first wholesale warehouse in Acton, West London. The company has since grown to a multibillion-pound enterprise, and Bestway is the second-largest independent wholesaler in the UK.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: He was married to second wife Sabiha Qasim with whom he had Suleiman Pervez, Dawood Pervez and Farah Pervez. Rizwan Pervez was from his first marriage. Both Rizwan and Dawood are directors of Bestway.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: In 2012, their daughter Farah married Syed Abid Hussain Imam, the son of Pakistani politicians Abida Hussain and Fakhar Imam. She lives in Lahore and is not involved in Bestway.


title: Anwar Pervez

text: In March 2000, he was awarded Hilal-i-Pakistan by the Pakistani Government for his services to the Pakistani nation.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show "Just a Minute" and hosted the game show "Sale of the Century" during the 1970s and early 1980s.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was born and grew up in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and was educated at St Paul's School, London. He became a full-time actor following the Second World War and began appearing in various theatre, film and television roles, including support to Arthur Haynes as his straight man. He began presenting "Just a Minute" in 1967 and never missed a show until 2018. In addition to his well-known roles on this and "Sale of the Century", he appeared as a guest on other television shows, including "Doctor Who" and "Have I Got News for You".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Christopher Nicholas Parsons was born on 10 October 1923 at 1 Castlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire; he was the middle child of the family, having an older brother and a younger sister. His father, Paul, was a general practitioner whose patients included the family of Margaret Thatcher; claims that he delivered her are apocryphal. His mother, Nell, née Maggs, was a nurse before her marriage.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was born left-handed but was made to write with his right hand. As a child, he had a stutter, which he managed to control as he grew older, and was slow to learn owing to dyslexia. He also suffered from migraines but nevertheless excelled at school.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: After education at Colet Court and St Paul's School in London, Parsons' initial career plan was to become an actor. However, his parents believed that a career in engineering would be better, as he had repaired grandfather clocks as a young man and was creative with his hands. While at school, he was best friends with John Treacher who was to become Commander-in-Chief Fleet. At school, Parsons' nickname was "Shirley" after the then-burgeoning American talent, Shirley Temple.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: After he had left school, his family contacted relatives in Scotland, who arranged a job for him in Clydebank near Glasgow, where he spent five years employed as an engineering apprentice at Drysdales, a maker of marine pumps. Parsons was 16 when his parents sent him from his relatively privileged home in London to the industrially-hardened city of Glasgow. Sixty years later, in 2010, he recorded a nostalgic radio programme, titled "Doon the Watta" (on Youtube) about his time as an apprentice, highlighting his posh middle class-accent amidst the Glasgow working man's dialect. While there, he also spent two six-month periods studying engineering at the University of Glasgow. He never graduated, but finished his apprenticeship and gained sufficient qualifications to become a mechanical engineer. He was offered a posting in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War, but he did not join the service after falling seriously ill with pleurisy. He spent five months in hospital and at one point his survival chances were rated only 50-50.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons started his career while training as an engineering apprentice; he was discovered by Canadian impresario Carroll Levis, and appeared in his radio show.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: At the end of the Second World War, Parsons became a full-time professional actor. He made his stage debut in the West End as Kiwi in "The Hasty Heart" at the Aldwych Theatre in 1945 which ran for over a year, then played the lead in a tour of "Arsenic and Old Lace". He made his film debut in "Master of Bankdam" in 1947 and continued his stage career, with two years in repertory at Bromley, and later, Windsor and Maidstone. In 1952, he became a resident comedian at the Windmill Theatre, performing regular nights of stand-up comedy to packed houses.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared in many supporting roles in British films. In the late 1960s, he portrayed David Courtney in the American sitcom "The Ugliest Girl in Town".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In the 1950s, Parsons provided the non-singing voice of Tex Tucker in the children's TV puppet series "Four Feather Falls", having put himself forward for the job at the suggestion of his first wife, actress and voiceover artiste Denise Bryer, who was in the show. During the late 1960s, he created and presented a satirical programme on BBC Radio 4 called "Listen to This Space", which by the standards of its time was very avant-garde, and he received the Radio Personality of the Year Award for his work on this programme in 1967.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons became known to TV audiences in the 1950s and 1960s as the straight man to comedian Arthur Haynes for ten years; the partnership broke up at Haynes' request. They had a successful season at the London Palladium in 1963, and shortly before the split appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in the United States, although Parsons was not credited. Subsequently, Parsons returned to the stage, before becoming a regular on "The Benny Hill Show" from 1968 to 1971.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: After Haynes died, Parsons appeared as a personality in his own right on television, including in the long-running Anglia Television quiz show "Sale of the Century", broadcast weekly from 1971 to 1983. In 1983 Hill wrote and performed in the sketch "Sale of the Half Century", with himself cast as Parsons.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was the host of the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game "Just a Minute" from its first broadcast on 22 December 1967.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Although there were a number of early episodes when he relinquished the chair and was a panellist, Parsons never missed an episode until 2018, when regular panellist Gyles Brandreth stood in for him for two episodes that were recorded in April and broadcast in June, due to a bout of illness: Parsons was then 94 years old. Brandreth again stood in the following year for two shows recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. "Just a Minute" continued to be transmitted with Parsons as host until his last show on 23 September 2019.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In 1988, Parsons appeared as himself in "The Comic Strip" episode "Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door", alongside Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. The following year, he guest-starred in "Doctor Who", playing Reverend Wainwright in the Seventh Doctor serial "The Curse of Fenric".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons featured in the original London cast of the Stephen Sondheim musical "Into the Woods" at the Phoenix Theatre in 1990 as the Narrator. In 1991 he appeared as the Mayor in the BBC's children's series "Bodger & Badger". This was followed by an appearance in the fourth and final series of the UK TV show "Cluedo" as Reverend Green in 1993.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons took the role of the Narrator in the 21st anniversary revival of the stage musical "The Rocky Horror Show" at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 1994.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In 2005 Parsons was guest presenter on the BBC topical quiz show "Have I Got News for You". He appeared on "Celebrity Mastermind" in 2007. "Just a Minute" transferred to television in 2012 for a ten-part early-evening series to celebrate its 45th anniversary, with Parsons and regular panellist Paul Merton. He appeared opposite ex-wife Denise Bryer in the Big Finish adaptation of the Gerry Anderson series "Terrahawks", playing the ex-husband of Bryer's character, Zelda.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons wrote an autobiography entitled "The Straight Man: My Life in Comedy", which was published in 1994, and he produced a book of memoirs in 2010 called "Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In October 2016, at the age of 92, Parsons presented the BBC documentary "The Incredible Story of Marie Antoinette's Watch", following the story of the Marie Antoinette watch created by Abraham-Louis Breguet, and allowing him to indulge his lifelong fascination with horology.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: He played himself and provided the voice of Dagon, Lord of the Files in "Good Omens", filmed between 2017 and 2018.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: From 2001, he appeared annually at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe presenting his comedy cabaret show "The Happy Hour".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: From 1988 to 1991, he served as Rector of the University of St Andrews. In 2005, he became for a short period honorary Chairman of the International Quizzing Association (IQA), a body that organises the World and European Quizzing Championships. He was a leading member of the Grand Order of Water Rats charity and was King Rat in 2019. He was also a patron of the British Stammering Association and was the president of the charity the Lord's Taverners from 1998 to 1999, a charity that he joined in 1964 and remained a member of until his death. He was an Ambassador for Childline and The Silver Line.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was a supporter of the Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats. He was invited to stand as a Liberal Party candidate for Yeovil in the 1970s, but he turned down the opportunity in order to remain in the entertainment industry. On 17 October 2013, a week after his 90th birthday, he appeared as a guest on the BBC One political discussion show "This Week".


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours for services to drama and broadcasting. He was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for charitable services, especially to children's charities.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Having served as rector of the University of St Andrews from 1988 to 1991, he was awarded an honorary LLD by the university in 1991. He was also awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Leicester in 2016, and an honorary D.Litt by the University of Lincoln in 2014.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: He held the Guinness World Record for the longest after-dinner speech (11 hours) until it was reclaimed by former holder Gyles Brandreth.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: Parsons was married twice. He was first married to actress Denise Bryer in 1954; together they had two children. The couple divorced in 1989. He subsequently married Ann Reynolds in 1995. He was a keen cricket fan, both as a player and supporter, and had a lifelong enthusiasm for clocks.


title: Nicholas Parsons

text: In August 2019 Parsons suffered a fall, on a train to Edinburgh, while travelling to perform his show "The Happy Hour" at the Edinburgh Fringe. On admission to hospital a few days later, he was found to have a stomach ulcer and anaemia, and remained hospitalised in Edinburgh for 10 days, before being moved to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, near his home in Aylesbury. After two more weeks in hospital, he returned home and began a slow recuperation.


title: Soho walk-up

text: A Soho walk-up is a flat in Soho, London, United Kingdom, that is used by a female sex worker for the purposes of prostitution. The flats are located on the upper floors of buildings in Soho's red light district, often above shops, and accessed by a staircase from a door on the street. They form a distinctive way of working that is characteristic of the sex industry in Soho, originating in the 1960s and declining during the 21st century.


title: Soho walk-up

text: The Soho area has been at the heart of London's sex industry since 1778 when the first brothel was opened. Before the Street Offences Act 1959 became law, street prostitutes worked in Piccadilly Circus and the streets and alleys around Soho. By the early 1960s almost every doorway in Soho had red-lit doorbells, or open doors with little postcards just inside advertising "Large Chest for Sale" or "French Lessons Given." The lack of action against these establishments was probably due to the widespread corruption in London's Metropolitan Police. During the mid–2000s several walk-ups on streets leading off Shaftesbury Avenue were bought up and closed or renovated for other uses. By the end of 2014 the gentrification of Soho had reduced the number of flats used for prostitution to around 40, it has since reduced to about a dozen walk-ups. Nevertheless, the area remains a red-light district and prostitution still takes place in walk-ups. The studio flats in which they work are often sign-posted by fluorescent "model" signs at street level.


title: Soho walk-up

text: A "walk-up" is a type of flat that is accessed from a common stairway rather than a lift. The way a potential client accesses a Soho walk-up is generally by walking through an open door at street level and then up a flight of stairs to a second closed door which has a door bell containing a girl's name. The client rings the bell to gain access. From the street level door to the main building there is often a visible hand crafted sign reading "model" to indicate that it is indeed the entrance to one or more walk-ups.


title: Soho walk-up

text: Most buildings used for walk-ups have two or three separate walk-ups in them. The walk-ups generally have a rota system with a different sex worker working every day. Each walk-up normally contains a single sex worker and a maid. The job of the maid is to act as receptionist who can receive potential clients when the sex worker is occupied and either give them somewhere to wait or suggest they return at a later time.


title: Soho walk-up

text: There are a number of online directories that give the locations of the walk-ups and some details of the sex workers that are providing services on particular days.


title: Soho walk-up

text: Unlike a call girl or escort, visits are not by appointment and no booking is made. The potential client simply rings the bell to see if the sex worker is available.


title: Soho walk-up

text: Money is paid directly to the sex worker for the required sexual service. A tip of a few of pounds is normally also offered for the maid.


title: Soho walk-up

text: The legality of a Soho walk-up can be difficult to determine as the law of England and Wales on prostitution is complex. For a house to be a "de jure" brothel it must be used by more than one person to offer sexual services. A Soho walk-up does not resemble a conventional brothel as only one sex worker works in each walk-up at any one time. However, a walk-up may qualify in law as a brothel or part of one if there is more than one walk-up in a building or if the flat is used sequentially by more than one prostitute.


title: Soho walk-up

text: Another complexity is the question of whether soliciting for prostitution takes place in a Soho walk-up. The euphemistic sign at the door is the only communication to the public that sexual services are available there, and clients must by their own initiative walk in through the door. This makes the practice significantly different from street prostitution, which contravenes the Street Offences Act 1959. Nevertheless, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes it illegal for a prostitute to solicit potential customers on the street or in any other public place, and the definition of "public place" used in the Criminal Justice Act 1972 includes premises accessible to the public, making it possible that the law prohibiting soliciting does apply to a Soho walk-up.


title: Soho walk-up

text: In practice, for much of the second half of the 20th century the police did not attempt to close the Soho walk-ups. This "laissez faire" policy in turn made it difficult to enforce the law. A police investigation in 2007 which led to charges of controlling prostitution resulted in a successful defence of "abuse of process". Consequently, prosecuting for sexual offences is often not the approach chosen by police. Instead closure orders on the grounds of drug taking and public nuisance and/or disorder are typically used. Nevertheless, there have been a number of high-profile police raids in Soho based on allegations of sex trafficking and pimping, and these have resulted in the closure of some walk-ups. However, in some cases the closure orders have been overturned in court as it could not be adequately demonstrated that prostitutes were being "controlled". In these cases the courts allowed the walk-ups to reopen.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: Underbelly: The Golden Mile, the third series of Nine Network's crime drama series "Underbelly", originally aired from 11 April to 27 June 2010. It is a thirteen-part series loosely based on real events that stemmed from the mile-long nightclub/red light district in the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross, also known as the "Golden Mile", between 1988 and 1999. It primarily depicts the organized crimes in Kings Cross and the police corruption leading up to the 1995 Wood Royal Commission. It is a prequel to "Underbelly", which was about the Melbourne gangland killings, and a sequel to "". Among the characters presented are John Ibrahim, Kim Hollingsworth, George Freeman, Lenny McPherson and MP John Hatton. Some of the characters, particularly those of the NSW Police, reprise their roles from "A Tale of Two Cities".


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: The series premiered on the Nine Network on 11 April 2010 at 8.30 pm, with the double episode premiere attracting an average of 2.23 million viewers nationally, in the mainland capitals. The series also premiered on TV3 in New Zealand on Wednesday 5 May 2010 at 8:30 pm.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: The series begins in 1988, a year after the events of the previous series. An intelligent but rebellious Lebanese high school boy named John Ibrahim joins his friends in Kings Cross with plans and dreams of making a fortune. Throughout the series the plot shows how John began his entrepreneurship by working for underworld figures like George Freeman and Lenny McPherson, who at the time were the ultimate kings of the Cross. The series also shows the corruption within NSW Police ranks stationed in Kings Cross, particularly Trevor Haken, Jim Egan and Dennis Kelly, who reprise their roles from Season 2 and Graham "Chook" Fowler, Eddie "Parrot" Gould and Neville "Scully" Scullion.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: George Freeman dies from an asthma attack, leaving the Cross up for grabs by anyone with power on the street. A young woman named Kim Hollingsworth appears and the series explains Kim's story from being an ordinary working girl to a high-end stripper/prostitute. In the center of the series, social justice crusader and NSW MP John Hatton initiates the Wood Royal Commission to investigate corrupt police officers. Police detective Trevor Haken becomes an informant during the Commission, helping the government expose corrupt officers in Kings Cross, while his family life is torn apart. The other detectives are caught and Jim Egan commits suicide. In Kings Cross, John Ibrahim has become a notable businessman after acquisition of most entertainment complexes in the area and being acquitted of a manslaughter charge. The dominance of traditional players in the Cross like Bill and Louis is now under threat from the arrival of a stable of new characters, including drug dealer Benny Kassab and his violent and impulsive enforcer Danny "DK" Karam.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: Kim Hollingsworth decides to apply for the police academy after growing sick of her life as a sex worker. She is approached by the Royal Commission task force and becomes an undercover agent but her application for the police workforce is rejected after her previous employment history is revealed and the Royal Commission abandons her after it has used her. She decides to sue the NSW Police and wins the lawsuit, though she never receives any compensation. Near the end of the series, Dennis Kelly applies to become Police Commissioner but is forced to withdraw after his corrupted past is exposed. Since the Royal Commission, the Golden Mile has plunged into chaos and violence with turf wars breaking out. A special task force called Strike Force Lancer is set up to investigate organized crimes in Kings Cross. After Kassab's arrest, Danny Karam has formed a gang called "DK's Boys" in attempt to take over the Cross but his gang members, led by the loose cannon Michael Kanaan, plot his murder and attempt to take control; their violence escalates with kneecappings of rivals to an eventual shooting of civilians. Task Force Lance eventually pin down Kanaan and arrest his gang. The series ends showing that Kim is living a quiet life life in rural New South Wales, while peace has finally been restored to Kings Cross. The police and bikies said to John that they will always watch his back, making him remain as the undisputed king of the Cross.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: In March 2010, former King's Cross policewoman Wendy Hatfield lodged an application in the New South Wales Supreme Court, asking to view five episodes of the series featuring a character supposedly based on her, Wendy Jones, to see if she had been defamed. Her concern was that the series, which was based on a book of the same name she believed that defamed her, would also defame her by implying she had a sexual relationship with John Ibrahim. However, her request was denied, with a judge ruling she would only have grounds to lodge defamation proceedings after the fact.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: On 25 May 2010, Hatfield lodged a defamation lawsuit with the NSW Supreme Court against the Nine Network, TCN Nine Network Sydney and the producers, Screentime. She believed that she was defamed in episode 6, "Women in Uniform", arguing that the depiction of the character of Wendy Jones, which is allegedly based on her, engaged in an affair with Ibrahim had defamed her and caused her "to be bought into hatred, ridicule and contempt" and "gravely injured her character". The case was to be heard on 22 June.


title: Underbelly: The Golden Mile

text: On 21 December 2010 Hatfield succeeded in a defamation suit against the publishers of "Underbelly: The Golden Mile", the tie-in book to the series, being awarded $59,000 in damages.


title: Mosquitofish

text: The western Mosquitofish ("Gambusia affinis") is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, "Gambusia", or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the eastern mosquitofish ("Gambusia holbrooki") is also referred to by these names.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish are small in comparison to many other freshwater fish, with females reaching a maximum length of and males a maximum length of . The female can be distinguished from the male by her larger size and a gravid spot at the posterior of her abdomen. The name "Mosquitofish" was given because the fish eats mosquito larvae, and has been used more than any other fishes for the biological control of mosquitoes. Gambusia typically eat zooplankton, beetles, mayflies, caddisflies, mites, and other invertebrates; mosquito larvae make up only a small portion of their diet.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish were introduced directly into ecosystems in many parts of the world as a biocontrol to lower mosquito populations which in turn negatively affected many other species in each distinct bioregion. Mosquitofish in Australia are classified as a noxious pest and may have exacerbated the mosquito problem in many areas by outcompeting native invertebrate predators of mosquito larvae. Several counties in California distribute mosquitofish at no charge to residents with human-made fish ponds and pools as part of their mosquito abatement programs. The fish are made available to residents only and are intended to be used solely on their own property, not introduced into natural habitat. On 24 February 2014, Chennai Corporation in India introduced western mosquitofish in 660 ponds to control the mosquito population in freshwater bodies.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Fertilization is internal; the male secretes milt into the genital aperture of the female through his gonopodium. Within 16 to 28 days after mating, the female gives birth to about 60 young. The males reach sexual maturity within 43 to 62 days. The females, if born early in the reproductive season, reach sexual maturity within 21 to 28 days; females born later in the season reach sexual maturity the next season, in six to seven months.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish are small and of a dull grey coloring, with a large abdomen, and have rounded dorsal and caudal fins and an upturned mouth. Sexual dimorphism is seen; mature females reach a maximum overall length of , while males reach only . Sexual dimorphism is also seen in the physiological structures of the body. The anal fins on adult females resemble the dorsal fins, while the anal fins of adult males are pointed. This pointed fin, referred to as a gonopodium, is used to deposit milt inside the female. Adult female mosquitofish can be identified by a gravid spot they possess on the posterior of their abdomens. Other species considered similar to "G. affinis" include "Poecilia latipinna", "Poecilia reticulata", and "Xiphophorus maculatus"; they are commonly misidentified as mosquitofish.


title: Mosquitofish

text: The mosquitofish is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The genus name "Gambusia" is derived from the Cuban Spanish term "gambusino", meaning "useless". The common name, mosquitofish, is derived from their use for biological control of mosquitoes, which itself was based on early observations that, in certain circumstances, they can reduce mosquito abundances. Classification of the western mosquitofish has been difficult due to their similarity to the eastern mosquitofish, and according to ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System), "G. holbrooki" (eastern mosquitofish) may be an invalid taxonomic name, and could be considered a subspecies of "G. affinis".


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish are diet generalists, but they are considered "larvivorous" because they consume the larvae of mosquitoes and other aquatic insects. Their diet consists of zooplankton, small insects and insect larvae, and detritus material. Mosquitofish feed on mosquito larvae at all stages of life, if mosquito larvae are available in the environment. Adult females can consume up to hundreds of mosquito larvae in one day. Maximum consumption rate in a day by one mosquitofish has been observed to be from 42%–167% of its own body weight. However, they can suffer mortality if fed only mosquito larvae, and survivors of this diet shows poor growth and maturation. As generalists, mosquitofish have also shown cannibalistic behavior on the young of their own species.


title: Mosquitofish

text: The native range of the mosquitofish is from southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, throughout the Mississippi River and its tributary waters, to as far south as the Gulf Coast in the northeastern parts of Mexico. They are found most abundantly in shallow water protected from larger fish.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish can survive relatively inhospitable environments, and are resilient to low oxygen concentrations, high salt concentrations (up to twice that of sea water), and temperatures up to for short periods. Because of their notable adaptability to harsh conditions and their global introduction into many habitats for mosquito control, they have been described as the most widespread freshwater fish in the world. Some of their natural predators include the bass, catfish and bluegill.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish were intentionally introduced in many areas with large mosquito populations to decrease the population of mosquitoes by eating the mosquito larvae. However, retrospectively, many introductions could be considered ill-advised; in most cases native fishes supplied control of mosquito populations, and introducing mosquitofish has been harmful to indigenous aquatic life. Mosquitofish introduction outside of their native range can also be harmful to ecosystems. Mosquitofish can consume or injure other small fish or otherwise harm them through competition. The ecological impacts of mosquitofish are partly dictated by their sex ratio, which can vary dramatically across their introduced range. Mosquitofish in Australia are considered noxious pests where they pose a threat to native fish and frog populations and little evidence indicates they have controlled mosquito populations or mosquito-borne diseases. They have been dubbed by scientists as "one of the most problematic animals on the planet".


title: Mosquitofish

text: However, from the 1920s to the 1950s, mosquitofish were considered by some to be a significant factor in eradicating malaria in South America, southern Russia, and Ukraine. Mosquitofish bred by Joice Loch were distributed through Greece, Serbia and the Middle east. On the coast of the Black Sea in Russia, the mosquitofish is commemorated for eradicating malaria by a monument in Sochi.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish are still employed for biological control of mosquitoes in some places. In 2008, in some parts of California and in Clark County, Nevada, mosquitofish were bred in aquariums so people could stock stagnant pools of water with the mosquitofish to reduce the number of West Nile virus cases.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Reproduction of the mosquitofish starts with the male arranging the rays of the gonopodium (modified anal fin) into a slight tube. The male mosquitofish uses this tubular fin to secrete milt into the female's genital aperture in the process of internal fertilization. The female's genital aperture is located just behind the anal fin and is an opening for the milt to fertilize the ova within the ovary. Mosquitofish are within the infraclass Teleostei and as all teleosts, mosquitofish lack a uterus, so production of oocytes and gestation occur within the ovary of a female mosquitofish. Inside the female, sperm from multiple males can be stored to later fertilize ova. Based on laboratory experiments, female mosquitofish become vitellogenic when springtime temperatures reach , and then the oocytes mature when the average temperature reaches about . Then late in the summer when the photoperiod is less than 12.5 hours long, the next clutch of oocytes develops. In one reproductive season, a female may fertilize, with stored milt, two to six broods of embryos, with the size of the brood decreasing as the season progresses. Reproduction rates are highly dependent on temperature and ration level. As temperature increases from 20 to 30 °C, mean age at first reproduction decreases from 191 to 56 days, and brood size and mass of offspring increase significantly. Interbrood interval estimates at 25 and 30 °C are 23 and 19 days, respectively.


title: Mosquitofish

text: Mosquitofish have a 16- to 28-day gestation period. They are lecithotrophic, which means during gestation, nutrients are provided to the embryos by a yolk sac. If the gestation period is shorter, each newborn will at birth still have a yolk sac connected through a slit located on the ventral side of the body wall. Brood size of females depends on the size of the given female; larger females are more capable of a larger brood quantity than smaller females. Many females have a brood quantity of up to or more than 60 young. Mosquitofish are viviparous, which means after the gestation of a brood, the female will have live birth. In most cases, the newborn brood will have an equal male to female sex ratio.


title: Mosquitofish

text: After birth, newborn mosquitofish are about in length. As juveniles, they grow at a rate of about per day, but growth is highly temperature-dependent. Growth rates of juvenile mosquitofish reach their peak when the water temperature is within a range of , depending on resource availability. As temperatures rise above or dip below this range, growth rates decrease. Consistent temperatures at or above are typically lethal, while growth stops when temperatures are at or below . For male mosquitofish, sexual maturity is reached in about 43 to 62 days, but maturation age is also dependent on temperature and resources. Female mosquitofish reach sexual maturity in about 21 to 28 days if born early within the reproductive season. The lifespan of a mosquitofish averages less than a year and the maximum is about 1.5 years. However, mosquitofish kept as pets can live much longer, with owners reporting lifespans of over three years. Male mosquitofish lifespans are considerably shorter than females.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: His Majesty's principal secretaries of state, better known as secretaries of state, are senior ministers of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. Secretaries of state head most major government departments and make up the majority of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. There are currently 16 secretaries of state. They are all also currently members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons, although it is possible for them to be members of the House of Lords.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: Under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, a maximum of 21 secretaries of state can receive a salary.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: Legislation generally refers simply to "the secretary of state" without further elaboration. By virtue of the Interpretation Act 1978, this phrase means "one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State". Despite there only being one secretary of state in law, in practice, each secretary of state will perforce stay within their own portfolio.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: The origin of the office lays in the office of the king's private secretary. However, by the Tudor period, the office's purview had become more onerous.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: In 1539 or 1540, Henry VIII appointed two people to the office. After the Stuart Restoration, the practice of appointing two secretaries of state resumed. A formal division, in the form of the offices of the secretary of state for the Northern Department and the secretary of state for the Southern Department, was made in 1689, though the office was first divided into the Northern and Southern Department purviews in 1660.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: In 1782, the responsibilities of these offices were changed, so that one would be responsible for foreign affairs and one for domestic affairs, thus establishing the embryonic offices of foreign secretary and home secretary. Over time, the number of secretaries of states grew, so that there were five in 1900 and 14 by 1996. There are currently 16 secretaries of state.


title: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

text: The secretaries of state that have been used for the matters of health, education, work, business, energy, environment, transport and the regions are shown in the graphic below. It shows how portfolios of responsibilities have been broadly passed down from one secretary of state position to the position(s) directly below it. However, it is impossible for such a graphic to be completely accurate; it cannot show smaller changes, or gains or losses of responsibilities within a position due to changes of responsibilities for the UK Government (for example, due to devolution or Brexit). It is not to scale. In the gaps, and before the first of these secretaries of state, relevant responsibilities were taken on by ministers not titled 'Secretary of State'.


title: Maria Cole

text: Maria Cole ( Hawkins; August 1, 1922 – July 10, 2012) was an American jazz singer and the wife of singer Nat King Cole; mother of the singer Natalie Cole.


title: Maria Cole

text: Cole was born in Boston and was the niece of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Her father Mingo Hawkins was a letter carrier. Her mother Carol died while giving birth to her sister.


title: Maria Cole

text: In 1943 she married Spurgeon Ellington, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black unit of the Army Air Corps in World War II. He died during a training flight.


title: Maria Cole

text: On March 28, 1948 (Easter Sunday), Maria married Nat King Cole. The Coles were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. They had five children: Natalie (1950–2015), who had a successful career as a singer; an adopted daughter, Carole (1944–2009, the daughter of Maria's sister), who died of lung cancer at the age of 64; an adopted son, Nat Kelly Cole (1959–1995), who died at the age of 36; and twin daughters, Casey and Timolin (born September 26, 1961), whose birth was announced in the "Milestones" column of Time magazine on October 6, 1961.


title: Maria Cole

text: Maria supported Nat during his final illness and stayed with him until his death. Five years after the death of Nat King Cole, Maria Cole bought a house in Tyringham, Massachusetts, known as South House, where she raised her five children, including singer Natalie Cole.


title: Maria Cole

text: She was a jazz singer who worked with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, under the name Marie Ellington. She met Nat "King" Cole while they were both singing at the Zanzibar club.


title: Maria Cole

text: Cole died in a nursing home in Boca Raton, Florida on July 10, 2012, at the age of 89, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.


title: Flavor of Love (season 1)

text: The first season of the VH1 reality television series "Flavor of Love" brings female contestants into the mansion of Flavor Flav to compete for his love. It aired weekly from January 1, 2006 to April 2, 2006, with a total of ten episodes. This show brought to fame one of the most controversial contestants in reality TV history, Tiffany Pollard, known on the show as "New York".


title: Flavor of Love (season 1)

text: New York accuses Hottie of stealing her jacket because she had stated that she was so competitive that she might cut up someone's clothes to win. Hottie rebuffs New York, saying New York is just jealous, because Hottie believes she looks like Beyoncé. New York mockingly tells her she looks more like Luther Vandross. New York's exact words from the unrated DVD to Beyoncé was " Beyonce, sweetie, I'm so sorry that an ugly ass bitch like this would even say that, oh my god." Serious showed her breasts to Hottie and says that if Hottie's "double D's" don't look like hers, it shouldn't matter. New York and Pumkin then begin confronting Hottie. Hottie tells Pumkin, "you need to learn how to read." Pumkin comes back at Hottie with, "I can read you, fat fucking bitch that's all I need to read." New York tells Hottie if something in the house goes missing that she would always come to Hottie, because Hottie has a history of stealing, and due to a few comments Hottie made about being so competitive that she would "cut clothes, steal things, etc."


title: Flavor of Love (season 1)

text: Neither New York nor Hottie is happy when Flav gives them both clocks. Serious does not receive a clock because Red Oyster informs Flav that she believes that she is only here to further her modeling career. Peaches is also eliminated as well.


title: Flavor of Love (season 1)

text: The complete first season came out on DVD on August 29, 2006. It is a 3-Disc Unrated edition with extra features including the reunion and the Vh1.com V-Spot extras.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Blindspotting is an American comedy-drama television series, and a spin-off sequel of the 2018 film of the same name. It is created and executive produced by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, writers, producers and lead stars of the original film, and focuses on the supporting character of Ashley, played again by Jasmine Cephas Jones, who also acts as producer. Keith Calder, a producer on the original film, is also an executive producer, with Casal also acting as showrunner. It premiered on June 13, 2021 on Starz. In October 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Set six months after the events of the film, the series follows Ashley after Miles, her boyfriend and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, forcing her to move in with Miles' mother. It co-stars Jaylen Barron, Candace Nicholas-Lippman, Benjamin Earl Turner, and Atticus Woodward. Casal appears as a guest, reprising his role as Miles.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Six months after the events in the film of the same name, Miles, Ashley's partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, and the situation leaves her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she and her son Sean are forced to move in with Miles' mother and half-sister.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: In September 2020, it was announced Starz had ordered a spin-off series based upon "Blindspotting" by Carlos López Estrada, with Jasmine Cephas Jones set to


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: star and produce, with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal serving as executive producers and writers on the series. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Lionsgate Television, Snoot Entertainment, and Barnyard Projects. In December 2020, Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward, Jaylen Barron, Candace Nicholas-Lippman and Helen Hunt joined the cast in starring roles, with Rafael Casal and Justin Chu Cary set to appear in recurring capacity.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Principal photography for the series began in December 2020. Production for the first season took place in March 2021 in West Oakland, Oakland, California.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Diggs does not reprise his film role as Collin in the first season beyond a voice cameo in the finale, despite co-creating the show. Casal hoped to include Collin during the planning stages but Diggs wished for the season to focus on Ashley, though he ultimately came to regret not making an appearance. Diggs and Casal have both expressed interest in bringing back Collin for a potential second season.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: On October 14, 2021, Starz renewed the series for a second season. On April 14, 2022, LeVar Burton, Katlynn Simone Smith, Tamera Tomakili, and Tim Chantarangsu were cast in recurring roles while E-40, P-Lo and Too $hort are set to guest star for the second season. Production for the series' sophomore season wrapped on April 28, 2022.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: Blindspotting creators Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs had recruited fellow schoolmate Ambrose Akinmusire and Blindspotting (film) composer Michael Yezerski to compose the score for the television series. Akinmusire and Yezerski have created score to accompany Spoken Word, Verse, Dance, and various other types of scenes demonstrated throughout the series. In a Variety article between the two musicians, they describe the experience as "a very rare opportunity for the score to just become the driving language of a piece of dramatic television content."


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: The series had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021. It premiered on Starz on June 13, 2021.


title: Blindspotting (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 100% based on 25 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The rare adaptation that exceeds its source material, "Blindspotting" deftly takes on complicated social constructs with comedic flair, crafting a show that's as funny as it is poignant while giving its incredible ensemble—led by the captivating Jasmine Cephas Jones—plenty of room to shine." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: Paisa Vasool () is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film, produced by V. Anand Prasad under Bhavya Creations banner and directed by Puri Jagannadh. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shriya Saran, Musskan Sethi and has music composed by Anup Rubens. The film marks Nandamuri Balakrishna's 101st film on the big screen, and he has for the first time singing a special song in this film with his own voice. The film received an average response from critics and grossed against a production budget of .


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: Bob Marley, a mafia don operating from Portugal, controls Hyderabad remotely using his agents. Unable to bear his atrocities, India's premier intelligence agency RAW Chief looks for a self-proclaimed criminal through a local IPS officer named ACP Kiranmayi. She finds a gangster named Theda Singh, who had just then been released from Tihar Jail.


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: Meanwhile, Singh becomes a neighbor to a beautiful girl named Harika, who is in search of her missing sister Sarika, last seen in Portugal. Harika complains about this to the authorities, leading to her safety being threatened by Bob Marley's associates in Hyderabad. Theda Singh always protects her from them, so she starts falling for him. Suddenly, the RAW authorities and Policemen are in shock when they realize that Theda Singh is not what he appears to be, he had recently landed from Portugal. Harika also learns that Sarika was murdered in Portugal and that the killer is none other than Singh.


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: The Indian Police Authority arrests Singh. In the interrogation, he reveals the flashback. Theda Singh, a cab driver in Portugal, was no less than a rogue who participated in petty smuggling activities. He once met Sarika as a passenger, who was a journalist and had been doing a sting operation on Bob Marley. Both of them fell in love. Bob Marley learned of Sarika's operation which would have divulged secrets of many Indian politicians and professionals, so they try to kill her. Theda Singh arrives in time to save her. This is where the real suspense is revealed, that Theda Singh is in fact, a RAW officer named Balakrishna Nandamuri and he has been granted the license to kill, having been tasked to kill Bob Marley. In that attack, Sarika is grievously injured. When Balakrishna was trying to get a shot at Bob Marley, higher authorities command him to leave him and reluctantly complies. Unfortunately, Sarika died in his lap, due to a gunshot from Bob; before dying, she asks Bala to take care of her family. Depressed and hurt, filled with hatred for his department, he creates an image that he has died due to an injury in the crossfire.


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: Back in the present, the RAW Chief realizing Theda Singh's true identity starts from his office to meet him and identify him in person. But he is attacked by assassins since he is the only person knowing the true identity of Balakrishna. Upon consultation by the Police, RAW Authorities reveal that to find the truth, the only way is to conduct a re-interview of Balakrishna, which he completes and rejoins duty. Meanwhile, the RAW chief recovers and orders Balakrishna to kill Bob Marley. But, to his surprise, Balakrishna reveals that he already killed him on the next day of Sarika's death. But the Indian politicians and gangsters on Marley's payroll created an image that he is alive, to continue their illegal activities. And he eliminates them too. At last, he goes to the next mission.


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: In February 2017, director Puri Jagannath announced on Twitter that he would be directing Nandamuri Balakrishna's 101st film in his next directorial venture to be bankrolled by Bhavya Creations. The muhurtham shot took place on 9 March 2017 in Hyderabad amidst much fanfare. S. S. Rajamouli, Boyapati Srinu, Krish and other dignitaries attended the muhurat ceremony. While Rajamouli gave the clap, Boyapati directed the first shot. The first look of the movie along with the title was launched on 9 June 2017 on the eve of Balakrishna's birthday. On 27 August 2017, as a part of the film promotion Puri Jagannadh released a track called "Jai Balayya" composed by Sandeep Chowta and sung by Sujay Harthi. N.T.Rama Rao's old song "Kanti Choopu Cheptondi" from the movie "Jeevitha Chakram" was remixed in the film.


title: Paisa Vasool (2017 film)

text: Siddhartha of Mirchi9 wrote about the movie ""Paisa Vasool is a very ordinary movie story wise. The film looks like a combination of past Puri Jagannadh films with best bits taken from each of them."" He also added that ""Overall, the movie is just an average fare if one is a fan of the star (Balakrishna), for others, it is nothing unmissable.""


title: You Can't See Me

text: You Can't See Me is the debut studio album by WWE's wrestler John Cena and his cousin, Tha Trademarc. It was released on May 10, 2005, by WWE Music Group and Columbia Records. The album features guest appearances from Esoteric and Bumpy Knuckles, who are featured on several songs throughout the album. The album production was handled by James McEwan and Todd Spadafore, with the duo serving as the executive producers on the album. The album's cover art is based on Cena's customized WWE Championship belt, while the title comes from his popular catchphrase coined on WWE television.


title: You Can't See Me

text: "You Can't See Me" debuted at number 15 on the "Billboard" 200 charts, with over 143,000 copies sold in the first week of its release. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at number 103 on the UK Albums Chart, and has since become a certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling 1,346,000 units, as of October 8, 2010.


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films "Highlander" (1986), "The Church" (1989), "" (1999), and the "Doctor Who" episodes "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" (2007) as well as his long-running role as Ric Griffin in the BBC One medical drama "Holby City" (2001–2020). Quarshie played the role of Ric for 19 years and was the longest-serving cast member in "Holby City", until he confirmed his departure in October 2020. The character departed in Episode 1034 (Episode 26) of Series 22, which aired on 10 November 2020.


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: A member of the Euro-African community of Ghana, Quarshie is of mixed Ghanaian, English and Dutch ancestry. He was born in Accra, Ghana, to Emma Wilhelmina (née Phillips; 1917–2004) and Richard Quarshie (1913–2006). His mother was of chiefly ancestry; her relatives currently serve as the chiefs of the Ghanaian village of Abii.


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: Hugh emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of three. He was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset and Dean Close School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (during which time he played the role of Othello at the Tuckwell Theatre), before reading PPE at Christ Church, Oxford.


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: Quarshie had considered becoming a journalist before taking up acting. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has appeared in many stage productions and television programmes, including the serial "Behaving Badly" with Judi Dench. He is well known for playing the roles of Sunda Kastagir in "Highlander", Captain Panaka in "", and Ric Griffin on the television series "Holby City". He attended the "Star Wars" fan event ""Star Wars" Celebration" in 1999. He portrayed Lieutenant Obutu in "Wing Commander".


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: He appeared in the 2007 two-part "Doctor Who" episode "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" as Solomon, the leader of the shanty town Hooverville. He headed the cast of Michele Soavi's "The Church" (1989) as Father Gus, and played Aaron the Moor in the BBC Television Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus".


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: Quarshie has also narrated for television. His work includes the 2006 documentary "Mega Falls of Iguacu" (about the Iguaçu Falls), the 2009 adaptation of "Small Island", and the 2010 BBC Wildlife series "".


title: Hugh Quarshie

text: In September 2010, Quarshie featured in an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?", in which he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins. The episode revealed that Quarshie was part of his country's old mixed race elite as one of his ancestors, Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, was a Dutch official on the Gold Coast. This also made him a distant relative of Dutch actor Antonie Kamerling.


title: Ponytail

text: A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that point. It gets its name from its resemblance to the tail of a pony.


title: Ponytail

text: Ponytails are most commonly gathered at the middle of the back of the head or the base of the neck but may also be worn at the side of the head (sometimes considered formal), or on the very top of the head. If the hair is divided so that it hangs in two sections, they are called "ponytails", "twintails", "pigtails", or "bunches" if left loose and "pigtails", "plaits" or "braids" if plaited.


title: Ponytail

text: The ponytail can be traced back to Ancient Greece, from records of images depicting women with ponytails in ancient Greek artefacts and artworks, such as the frescoes painted millennia ago in Cretes (2000–1500 BC). Hence, it is likely that the ponytail hairstyle emerged in Ancient Greece before spreading to different cultures and regions, for Egyptian and Roman art also depict women wearing hair in a style that we now call the ponytail.


title: Ponytail

text: In European and Western culture, it was unusual for women (as opposed to girls) to wear their hair in public in a ponytail until the mid-20th century.


title: Ponytail

text: The expansion in the ponytail hairstyle was in large part due to the arrival of the first Barbie doll by Mattel, which popularized the hairstyle, and movie stars like Sandra Dee who wore it in movies such as "Gidget".


title: Ponytail

text: Today, both women and girls commonly wear their hair in ponytails in informal and office settings or when exercising; they are likely to choose more elaborate styles (such as braids and those involving accessories) for formal occasions. The ponytail is popular with school-aged girls, partly because flowing hair is often associated with youth and because of its simplicity; a young girl is likely to be able to redo her own hair after a sports class, for example. A ponytail can also be a fashion statement; sometimes meaning athletic, other times a low ponytail sends signals of a chic personality.


title: Ponytail

text: It is not uncommon to require long hair to be tied up for safety reasons in an environment like wood shops, laboratories, sporting activities, hospitals etc., even where hair nets are not mandatory. The ponytail, particularly a low ponytail, is often the most practical way to secure the hair.


title: Ponytail

text: In Europe in the second half of the 18th century, most men wore their hair long and tied back with a ribbon into what we would now describe as a ponytail, although it was sometimes gathered into a silk bag rather than allowed to hang freely. At that time, it was commonly known as "queue", the French word for "tail". The queue lost favor amongst civilians, but continued as the mandatory hairstyle for men in all European armies until the early 19th century. The British Army was the first to dispense with it, and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars most armies had changed their regulations to make short hair compulsory.


title: Ponytail

text: In Asia, the queue was a specifically male hairstyle worn by the Manchu people from central Manchuria and later imposed on the Han Chinese during the Qing dynasty. From 1645 until 1910, Chinese men wore this waist-length pigtail. The queue was utilised as a symbol of dominance over the Han Chinese by the Manchu people. Being a Manchu hairstyle, it was imposed on the Han Chinese to force them into submission. The queue hairstyle involves shaving the rest of the hair on the front and sides of the head, leaving a meagre portion that is tightly tied into a braid. With this hairstyle, the Han Chinese could not grow their hair naturally and freely to style them as they normally did in their own culture, and were hence denied their cultural right to grow their hair comfortably, experiencing suppression and limited agency in the rule of the Qing. Any Han Chinese man who did not wear the queue was executed by beheading. This rule of law was upheld with the exception of monks, who attended monasteries and shaved their entire heads. For this reason alone, many Han Chinese left their homes for monasteries to protect their freedom from this symbol of domination. Otherwise, those who opposed the queue were perceived as threats to Qing culture and power and were purged. Ironically, many of the officials who contributed to the enforcement of this law were Han Chinese who defected to the Qing.


title: Ponytail

text: The queue ended in 1910 after revolutions against the law through queue-cutting demonstrations, law revisions to make it more lax, and further queue-cutting demonstrations by Chinese influenced by Western democracy, all of which pressured reform of China's law. Not long after, the Qing dynasty ended in 1911 or 1912.


title: Ponytail

text: Apart from origins in China, men in the Edo period (1683–1868) of Japan also wore short ponytails. Sumo wrestlers of Japan also wore their hair in a ponytail that is then styled in a fan shape. This hairstyle involving the ponytail continues in the culture of sumo wrestlers today.


title: Ponytail

text: In the 1970s, many men wore their hair long and in ponytails. This look was popularized by 1970s-era rock musicians.


title: Ponytail

text: In the late 1980s, a short ponytail was seen as an impudent, edgy look for men who wanted to individualize, but keep their hair flat and functional (see mullet). Steven Seagal's ponytail in "Marked for Death" is an example. (Also see "Man bun").


title: Ponytail

text: Scientists in the UK have formulated a mathematical model that predicts the shape of a ponytail given the length and random curvature (or curliness) of a sample of individual hairs. The Ponytail Shape Equation provides an understanding of how a ponytail is swelled by the outward pressure which arises from interactions between the component hairs.


title: Ponytail

text: The researchers developed a general continuum theory for a bundle of hairs, treating each hair as an elastic filament with random intrinsic curvature. From this they created a differential equation for the shape of the bundle relating the elasticity, gravity, and orientational disorder and extracted a simple equation of state to relate the swelling pressure to the measured random curvatures of individual hairs. The equation itself is a fourth order non linear differential equation.


title: Ponytail

text: The Rapunzel number is a ratio used in this equation to calculate the effects of gravity on hair relative to its length.


title: Ponytail

text: This number determines whether a ponytail looks like a fan or whether it arcs over and becomes nearly vertical at the bottom. A short ponytail of springy hair with a low Rapunzel number, fans outward. A long ponytail with a high Rapunzel number, hangs down, as the pull of gravity overwhelms the springiness.


title: Ponytail

text: It is now also known why jogger's ponytails swing side to side. An up and down motion is too unstable: a ponytail cannot sway forward and backward because the jogger's head is in the way. Any slight jostling causes the up and down movement to become a side to side sway.


title: Ponytail

text: The Rapunzel number is important for the computer graphics and animation industry, as it helps animators resolve challenges relating to the realistic digital representation of hair and hair movement.


title: Ponytail

text: It is common for those who wear tight ponytails to experience traction alopecia, a form of hair loss. It has been proven that traction alopecia is highly associated with hair-pulling hairstyles, including the ponytail, and that hairstyles involving less tension are not associated with this condition. Sometimes it can cause a headache.


title: Ponytail

text: Additionally, people who wear ponytails may experience extracranial headaches due to tension from prolonged tying of the hairs together in a bundle, pulling at the skin of the head. The pain that results is also because the ponytail pulls at the nerves in the scalp around the face, resulting in light to serious headaches or migraines.


title: Ponytail

text: Loosening the ponytail may relieve pain and the headache, though the extent of this varies for different individuals.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester ( ) is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, to the south. The civil parish includes the experimental community of Poundbury and the suburb of Fordington.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. The Romans established a garrison there after defeating the Durotriges tribe, calling the settlement that grew up nearby Durnovaria; they built an aqueduct to supply water and an amphitheatre on an ancient British earthwork. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance, but during the medieval period became an important commercial and political centre. It was the site of the "Bloody Assizes" presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, and later the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In the 2011 census, the population of Dorchester was 19,060, with further people coming from surrounding areas to work in the town which has six industrial estates. The Brewery Square redevelopment project is taking place in phases, with other development projects planned. The town has a land-based college, Kingston Maurward College, The Thomas Hardye School, three middle schools and thirteen first schools. The Dorset County Hospital offers an accident and emergency service, and the town is served by two railway stations. Through vehicular traffic is routed round the town by means of a bypass. The town has a football club and a rugby union club, several museums and the biannual Dorchester Festival. It is twinned with three towns in Europe. As well as having many listed buildings, a number of notable people have been associated with the town. It was for many years the home and inspiration of the author Thomas Hardy, whose novel "The Mayor of Casterbridge" uses a fictionalised version of Dorchester as its setting.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester's roots stem back to prehistoric times. The earliest settlements were about southwest of the modern town centre in the vicinity of Maiden Castle, a large Iron Age hill fort that was one of the most powerful settlements in pre-Roman Britain. Different tribes lived there from 4000 BC. The Durotriges were likely to have been there when the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The Romans defeated the local tribes by 70 AD and established a garrison that became the town the Romans named Durnovaria, a Brythonic name incorporating "durn", "fist", loosely interpreted as 'place with fist-sized pebbles'. It appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe who inhabited the area.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Durnovaria was recorded in the 4th-century Antonine Itinerary and became a market centre for the surrounding countryside, an important road junction and staging post, and subsequently one of the twin capitals of the Celtic Durotriges tribe.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The remains of the Roman walls that surrounded the town can still be seen. The majority have been replaced by pathways that form a square inside modern Dorchester known as 'The Walks'. A small segment of the original wall remains near the Top 'o Town roundabout.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Other Roman remains include part of the town walls and the foundations of a town house near the county hall. Modern building works within the walls have unearthed Roman finds; in 1936 a cache of 22,000 3rd-century Roman coins was discovered in South Street.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Other Roman finds include silver and copper coins known as "Dorn pennies", a gold ring, a bronze figure of the Roman god Mercury and large areas of tessellated pavement.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The County Museum contains many Roman artefacts. The Romans built an aqueduct to supply the town with water. It was rediscovered in 1900 as the remains of a channel cut into the chalk and contouring round the hills. The source is believed to be the River Frome at Notton, about upstream from Dorchester. Near the town centre is Maumbury Rings, an ancient British henge earthwork converted by the Romans for use as an amphitheatre, and to the north west is Poundbury Hill, another pre-Roman fortification.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Little evidence exists to suggest continued occupation after the withdrawal of the Roman administration from Britain. The name Durnovaria survived into Old Welsh as Durngueir, recorded by Asser in the 9th century.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The area remained in British hands until the mid-7th century and there was continuity of use of the Roman cemetery at nearby Poundbury. Dorchester has been suggested as the centre of a sub-kingdom of Dumnonia or other regional power base.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: One of the first raids of the Viking era may have taken place near Dorchester around 790. According to a chronicler, the King's reeve assembled a few men and sped to meet them thinking that they were merchants from another country. When he arrived at their location, he admonished them and instructed that they should be brought to the royal town. The Vikings then slaughtered him and his men.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: By 864, the area around Durnovaria was dominated by the Saxons who referred to themselves as "Dorsaetas", 'People of the Dor' – Durnovaria. The original local name would have been Dorn-gweir giving the Old English Dornwary. The town became known as Dornwaraceaster or Dornwaracester, combining the original name "Dor/Dorn" from the Latin and Celtic languages with "cester", an Old English word for a Roman station. This name evolved over time to Dorncester/Dornceaster and Dorchester.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: At the time of the Norman conquest, Dorchester was not a place of great significance; the Normans did build a castle but it has not survived. A priory was also founded, in 1364, though this also has since disappeared. In the later medieval period the town prospered; it became a thriving commercial and political centre for south Dorset, with a textile trading and manufacturing industry which continued until the 17th century. In the time of Edward III (1312–1377), the town was governed by bailiffs and burgesses, with the number of burgesses increasing to fifteen by the reign of James I (1566–1625).


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In the 17th and 18th centuries Dorchester suffered several serious fires: in 1613, caused by a tallow chandler's cauldron getting too hot and setting alight; in 1622, started by a maltster; in 1725, begun in a brewhouse; and in 1775, caused by a soap boiler. The 1613 fire was the most devastating, resulting in the destruction of 300 houses and two churches (All Saints and Holy Trinity).


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Only a few of the town's early buildings have survived to the present day, including Judge Jeffreys' lodgings and a Tudor almshouse. Among the replacement Georgian buildings are many, such as the Shire Hall, which are built in Portland stone. The municipal buildings, which incorporate the former corn exchange and the former town hall, were erected in 1848 on the site of an earlier town hall, which was built in 1791 and had a marketplace underneath.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In the 17th century the town was at the centre of Puritan emigration to America, and the local rector, John White, organised the settlement of Dorchester, Massachusetts. The first colonisation attempted was at Cape Ann, where fishermen who would rejoin the fishing fleet when the vessels returned the next year, tried to be self-sufficient. The land was unsuitable, the colony failed and was moved to what is now Salem. In 1628, the enterprise received a Royal Charter and the Massachusetts Bay Company was formed with three hundred colonists arriving in America that year and more the following year. For his efforts on behalf of Puritan dissenters, White has been called the unheralded founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Some observers have attributed the oversight to the fact that White, unlike John Winthrop, never went to America.)


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 1642, just before the English Civil War, Hugh Green, a Catholic chaplain was executed here. After his execution, Puritans played football with his head. The town was heavily defended against the Royalists in the civil war and Dorset was known as "the southern capital of coat-turning", as the county gentry found it expedient to change allegiance and to swap the sides they supported on several occasions. In 1643, the town was attacked by 2,000 troops under Robert Dormer, 1st Earl of Carnarvon. Its defences proved inadequate and it quickly surrendered but was spared the plunder and punishment it might otherwise have received. It remained under Royalist control for some time, but was eventually recaptured by the Puritans.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 1685 the Duke of Monmouth failed in his invasion attempt, the Monmouth Rebellion, and almost 300 of his men were condemned to death or transportation in the "Bloody Assizes" presided over by Judge Jeffreys in the Oak Room of the Antelope Hotel in Dorchester.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 1833, the Tolpuddle Martyrs founded the "Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers". Trade unions were legal but because the members swore an oath of allegiance, they were arrested and tried in the Shire Hall. Beneath the courtroom are cells where the prisoners were held while awaiting trial. Dorchester Prison was constructed in the town during the 19th century and was used for holding convicted and remanded inmates from the local courts until it closed in December 2013. Plans have since been made to erect 189 dwellings and a museum on the site.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester remained a compact town within the boundaries of the old town walls until the latter part of the 19th century because all land immediately adjacent to the west, south and east was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The land composed the Manor of Fordington. The developments that had encroached onto it were Marabout Barracks, to the north of Bridport Road, in 1794, Dorchester Union Workhouse, to the north of Damer's Road, in 1835, the Southampton and Dorchester Railway and its station east of Weymouth Avenue, in 1847, the Great Western Railway and its station to the south of Damer's Road, in 1857, the waterworks, to the north of Bridport Road, in 1854, a cemetery, to the west of the new railway and east of Weymouth Avenue, in 1856, and a Dorset County Constabulary police station in 1860, west of the Southampton railway, east of Weymouth Avenue and north of Maumbury Rings.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The Duchy land was farmed under the open field system until 1874 when it was enclosed – or consolidated – into three large farms by the landowners and residents. The enclosures were followed by a series of key developments for the town: the enclosing of Poundbury hillfort for public enjoyment in 1876, the 'Fair Field' (new site for the market, off Weymouth Avenue) in 1877, the Recreation Ground (also off Weymouth Avenue) opening in 1880, and the Eldridge Pope Brewery of 1881, adjacent to the railway line to Southampton. Salisbury Field was retained for public use in 1892 and land was purchased in 1895 for the formal Borough Gardens, between West Walks and Cornwall Road. The clock and bandstand were added in 1898.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of the Depot Barracks in 1881. The High West Street drill hall was created, by converting a private house, around the same time.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Land was developed for housing outside the walls including the Cornwall Estate, between the Borough Gardens and the Great Western Railway from 1876 and the Prince of Wales Estate from 1880. Land for the Victoria Park Estate was bought in 1896 and building began in 1897, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. The lime trees in Queen's Avenue were planted in February 1897.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Poundbury is the western extension of the town, constructed since 1993 according to urban village principles on Duchy of Cornwall land owned by Prince Charles. Being developed over 25 years in four phases, it will eventually have 2,500 dwellings and a population of about 6,000. Prince Charles was involved with the development's design.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester became Dorset's first Official Transition Initiative in 2008 as part of the Transition Towns concept. Transition Town Dorchester is a community response to the challenges and opportunities of peak oil and climate change.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: From 1295 to 1868, Dorchester was a parliamentary constituency. This was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, after which Dorchester was placed in the new Dorset South constituency and in 1918 it was transferred to Dorset West, where it has remained ever since. Dorchester is represented by two tiers of government. Dorchester Town Council and Dorset Council, both of which are based within the town. The Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset was Oliver Letwin from 1997 to 2019. Since the 2019 general election, the local MP has been Conservative Chris Loder.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The town's coat of arms depicts the old castle that used to stand on the site of the former prison. The royal purple background represents Dorchester's status as part of the monarch's private estate, a position held since before the Domesday Book was published. The shield is divided into quarters, two depicting lions and two fleur-de-lis. These are copied from the shields of the troops from Dorset who took part in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The fleur-de-lis have a scattered arrangement which shows that permission for the armorial bearings was given before 1405, after which date the rights were varied by King Henry VI. The inscription 'Sigillum Bailivorum Dorcestre' translates as 'Seal of the Bailiffs of Dorchester'. The mayor has a similar seal of office, but this has the inscription "Dorcestriensis Sig: Maioris".


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: There are four electoral wards in Dorchester (North, South, East and West) showing a combined population of 19,060. The town has been growing steadily with 11,620 residents in 1951, 13,740 in 1971 and 15,100 in 1991.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 2011, Dorchester was one of more than 20 towns across the country to apply for city status to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, although in March 2012 it was revealed that Dorchester's bid had been unsuccessful.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester town centre is sited about above sea-level on gently sloping ground beside the south bank of the River Frome. Measured directly, it is about north of Weymouth, SSE of Yeovil in Somerset, and west of Poole. The town's built-up area extends south, west and southeast of the town centre; to the north and northeast growth is restricted by the floodplain and watermeadows of the river.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The land immediately south and west of the town is part of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is traversed by the South Dorset Ridgeway, part of the South West Coast Path. There are over five hundred ancient monuments along the chalk hills that form the ridgeway, including barrows, stone circles and hillforts; many archaeological finds from the area are on view at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The geology of the town comprises bedrock formed in the Coniacian, Santonian and Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch, overlain in places by more recent Quaternary drift deposits. The bedrock is chalk of various formations. The drift deposits comprise a cap of clay-with-flints on the western edge of the town around Poundbury, alluvium in the river's floodplain, and several narrow ribbons of poorly stratified head deposits, found particularly around the town's northeastern and southwestern boundaries but also elsewhere.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 2012 there were 17,500 people working in Dorchester, 51% of whom were working full-time. 57% of jobs were in public administration, education and health, 18% were in professional and market services (including finance and ICT), 17% were in distribution, accommodation and food, 4% were in production and 2% in construction. The unemployment rate in July 2014 was 0.9% of residents aged 16–64.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester has six industrial estates: The Grove Trading Estate (7.1 ha or 18 acres), Poundbury Trading Estate (5 ha or 12 acres), Marabout Barracks (2 ha or 4.9 acres), Great Western Centre (1.4 ha or 3.5 acres), Railway Triangle (1.4 ha or 3.5 acres) and Casterbridge Industrial Estate (1.1 ha or 2.7 acres). The estates mostly house light industrial units, wholesalers and the service sector. Significant employers for residents in the town include AEA Technology, BAeSEMA Ltd, Dorset County Council, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Goulds Ltd, Henry Ling Ltd, Kingston Maurward College, Tesco, and Winterbourne Hospital.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In 2008 the Dorchester BID, a business improvement district, was set up to promote the town and improve the trading environment for town centre businesses. Local traders were overwhelmingly in favour of the decision, with 84% voting in favour at the February 2008 ballot. The BID is funded by a levy on the businesses in the town. The BID lasts initially for five years, and between 2013 and 2018 the projects being undertaken include business support, security projects, town promotion, the provision of green spaces and making the town more visually attractive. In June 2018 the Dorchester BID was successful in being voted in for a second term.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The catchment population for major food retail outlets in Dorchester is 38,500 (2001 estimate) and extends eight miles west, north and east of the town, and two miles south. The Brewery Square redevelopment project now includes retail outlets, residential units, bars, restaurants, hotel and cultural facilities. The regeneration of Dorchester South railway station will make it the UK's first solar powered railway station. The Charles Street development has had a first phase completed that includes a library and adult education centre for Dorset County Council, and offices for Dorset Council. Future phases are planned to include 23 shops, an underground car park, hotel and affordable housing. The second phase has attracted funding of £4 million from the former West Dorset District Council and includes new Marks & Spencer and Waitrose stores.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In the 2011 census Dorchester civil parish had 8,996 dwellings, 8,449 households and a population of 19,060, with 48.35% of residents being male and 51.65% being female. 17% of residents were under the age of 16 (compared to 18.9% for England as a whole), and 22.4% of residents were age 65 or older (compared to 16.4% for England as a whole).


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Novelist and poet Thomas Hardy based the fictional town of Casterbridge on Dorchester, and his novel "The Mayor of Casterbridge" is set there. Hardy's childhood home is to the east of the town, and his town house, Max Gate, is owned by the National Trust and open to the public. Hardy is buried in Westminster Abbey, but his heart was removed and buried in Stinsford.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: William Barnes, the West Country dialect poet, was Rector of Winterborne Came, a hamlet near Dorchester, for 24 years until his death in 1886, and ran a school in the town. There is a statue of Hardy and one of Barnes in the town centre; Barnes outside St. Peter's Church, and Hardy's beside the Top o' Town crossroads.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: John Cowper Powys's novel "Maiden Castle" (1936) is set in Dorchester and Powys intended it to be "a Rival of the "Mayor of Casterbridge". Powys had lived in Dorchester as a child, between May 1880 and Christmas 1885, when his father was a curate there. Then, after returning from America in June 1934, he had lived at 38 High East Street, Dorchester, from October 1934 until July 1935, when he moved to Wales. The building is commemorated with a plaque erected by the Dorchester Heritage Committee, but giving the date of his residence as 1936.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester Arts, based in a former school building, runs a seasonal programme of music, dance and theatre events, participatory arts projects for socially excluded groups and the biannual Dorchester Festival. Dorchester Arts is an Arts Council 'National Portfolio organisation'. Dorchester Arts has been resident at the corn exchange since 2015.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester museums include the Roman Town House, the Dinosaur Museum, the Terracotta Warriors Museum, the Dorset Teddy Bear Museum, the Keep Military Museum, Dorset County Museum. and the Tutankhamun Exhibition. All of these museums took part in the "Museums at Night" event in May 2011 in which museums across the UK opened after hours. The Shire Hall which contains the court where the Tolpuddle Martyrs were held and tried opened as a museum in 2018. The Durnovaria Silver Band is based in Fordington Methodist Church Hall.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Within Dorchester parish there are 293 structures that are listed by Historic England for their historic or architectural interest, including five that are listed Grade I and sixteen that are Grade II*. The Grade I structures are the Church of St George on Fordington High Street, the Church of St Peter on High West Street, Max Gate on Syward Road, the Roman town house on Northernhay, and Shire Hall on High West Street.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The Church of St George has a late-11th-century south door that has a Caen stone tympanum with a realistic carved representation of St George surrounded by soldiers, said to depict the miracle of his appearance at the Battle of Antioch. The south aisle and the north part of the porch date from the 12th century. The Church of St Peter mostly dates from 1420–21, with a 12th-century south doorway reset into it. There are many notable monuments, including two 14th-century effigies and a 14th-century tomb chest. Thomas Hardy contributed to the addition of the vestry and chancel in 1856-7.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Max Gate was designed by Thomas Hardy in the Queen Anne style, and was his home until his death in 1928. It was built in 1885. The remains of the Roman house north of county hall date from the early 4th century, with later 4th-century enlargements. It has a hypocaust heating system and mosaic pavements. It is the only visible Roman town house in Britain. The current Shire Hall building was designed by Thomas Hardwick and built in Portland stone ashlar in 1797. It replaced a previous structure that had fallen into disrepair.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: A tablet commemorates the sentencing of the Tolpuddle Martyrs here in 1834. The building housed the Crown Court until 1955; Thomas Hardy was a magistrate here and his experience provided inspiration for his writing. The building has changed little since the 19th century, and in 2014 planning permission was granted to transform it into a heritage centre and tourist attraction, to open in 2017.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester has thirteen first schools, three middle schools: St Osmund's Church of England Middle School, St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown and Dorchester Middle School and an upper school; The Thomas Hardye School which was founded in 1569 and endowed by Thomas Hardye, a merchant in 1579. It was expanded and reopened in 1888. In 2011 had 2,283 pupils on the roll. The author Thomas Hardy, a distant relative, was a school governor here from 1909 until shortly before his death. The nineteen schools in the Dorchester area form the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP). There is also a private school, Sunninghill Prep School,


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Kingston Maurward College is a land-based studies college on the outskirts of the town. It offers full-time and part-time courses, apprenticeships and university-level courses in a wide range of subjects including agriculture, horticulture, conservation, construction, countryside and wildlife management.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The town's hospital is Dorset County Hospital on Williams Avenue. It offers a twenty-four-hour accident and emergency treatment with services being provided by Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester Town F.C., the town's football team currently play in the Southern League Premier Division. Harry Redknapp and former England players Graham Roberts and Martin Chivers represented 'The Magpies' in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The club is based on Weymouth Avenue in the south of the town after moving from its old ground also on Weymouth Avenue. The club moved to the purpose-built 5,000 capacity Avenue Stadium on Duchy of Cornwall land in the early 1990s.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester RFC is an amateur rugby union team who currently play in the Dorset & Wilts South 1 League. Dorchester Cricket Club play in the Dorset Premier League, being last crowned champions in 2009.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: A leisure centre and swimming pool on Coburg Road replaced the Thomas Hardye School Leisure Centre in 2012, at a cost of more than £8 million.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: In May 2009, a skatepark was opened at the junction of Maumbury Road and Weymouth Avenue in Dorchester after 12 years of planning and construction.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The town has two railway stations: Dorchester South is on the South West Main Line to Bournemouth, Southampton and London Waterloo, and is operated by South Western Railway. Dorchester West, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is on the Heart of Wessex Line, operated by Great Western Railway and connects with Yeovil, Bath, Bristol and Gloucester. As part of the regeneration at the Brewery Site in the town centre, Dorchester South railway station will become the first solar powered railway station in the UK.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Mowlem completed a bypass road to the south and west of the town in 1988, diverting through traffic using the A35 and A37 roads away from the town centre.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Buses are operated by First Hampshire & Dorset, Damory Coaches and South West Coaches. National Express and Megabus also serve the town.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorchester was served by two local radio stations: Wessex FM, and BBC Radio Solent. Wessex FM closed in August 2020 and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio, which broadcasts older music across a wider catchment area.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Dorset County Hospital has its own station named 'Ridgeway Radio' which has been on the air for fifty years. Local television news coverage is by "BBC South Today" in Southampton, "ITV Meridian" in Whiteley, "BBC Spotlight" in Plymouth and "ITV West Country" in Bristol. Dorchester's regular print media comprises the Dorset Echo.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Many homes in Dorchester have access to fibre broadband services provided by private companies. The town is part of the second phase of Superfast Dorset, a project to increase fibre broadband availability within the county, which has been completed.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: The town's schools are twinned with schools in Europe, Africa and Asia. The Thomas Hardye School has partnerships with schools in Tanzania, Dehradun and Bayeux.


title: Dorchester, Dorset

text: Sir Frederick Treves received the Freedom of the Town of Dorchester in July 1902, and Thomas Hardy on 15 November 1910.


title: Ridesharing company

text: A ridesharing company (also known as a transportation network company, ride-hailing service; the vehicles are called app-taxis or e-taxis) is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxicabs, cannot legally be hailed from the street.


title: Ridesharing company

text: The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they have been banned and are considered to be illegal taxicab operations. Regulations can include requirements for driver background checks, fares, caps on the number of drivers in an area, insurance, licensing, and minimum wage.