title: Oobi (TV series)

text: "Oobi" was filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York. The show's set pieces were built on tall wooden poles, positioned to be level with the puppeteers' hands when they raised their arms. This kept the actors' heads out of the camera frame and allowed them to walk normally while performing, making their puppets' movements as smooth as possible. Television monitors were placed below the sets so that the puppeteers could watch their motions and position their characters according to each scene. The actors wore hands-free headsets that recorded their dialogue, making them able to perform and voice their characters at the same time. They sometimes dubbed over their lines in post-production, specifically for the song sequences in episodes like "Theater!", which required them to record different takes to match their voices to the music tracks.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: Many of the show's sets were made to evoke the look of old-fashioned home environments. To simulate natural window light in the studio, the crew of "Oobi" placed shades with foliage patterns over their studio lights; this gave the appearance of sunlight passing through trees. Green screens were used for the sky of the outdoor sets and for the windows of Oobi's house.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: Every week during production, the puppeteers visited a local manicurist to get their fingernails touched up. Most of the male puppeteers, such as Tim Lagasse, also had to shave their arms regularly if they played younger characters; Josh Selig said in a 2004 interview that Lagasse had to shave often so that Oobi would not "look like a hairy kid." Tyler Bunch was told specifically not to shave because his natural arm hair gave Grampu the appearance of an elderly, hairy grandfather.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: When Cheryl Blaylock was offered the role of Frieda the Foot, she had to revisit puppeteer training techniques to learn to use her foot as a puppet. She recounted in a 2012 interview: "I had to actually go back to Puppetry 101 to train my foot to lip sync. Oh yes, I was determined to do some kind of toe wiggle that could be convincing." For episodes with Frieda, the crew had to construct a new set that allowed Blaylock to raise her foot alongside the hand puppets. To do this, they assembled a ramp-like stage with a chair connected to it, resting on its side. Blaylock was able to lie down in the chair and rest her leg on the ramp, making her foot appear to be standing at the same height as Oobi.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In May 2012, the Iranian cable channel IRIB TV2 produced its own adaptation of the show, called "". None of the original crew members were involved. Amir Soltan Ahmadi and , two of Iran's foremost puppeteers, directed and starred in the program. In an interview with the newspaper "Jaam-e Jam", Estakhr said that she watched episodes of "Oobi" in English and wanted to make a tailored version for an Iranian audience. Like the original show, it features brother and sister hand puppets who live with their grandfather, but the cast was expanded to include two parents. The three adult characters wore Arab garments.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: 78 eight-minute episodes were made. They aired from September 22 to December 20, 2012. In July 2013, "Oobi: Dasdasi" was sold to broadcasters in five countries: Kuwait, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. IRIB TV2 aired the show in Iran and NHK aired a subtitled version in Japan. IRIB's Art News Agency hosts full episodes of "Oobi: Dasdasi" on its website.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: 48 shorts and 52 long-form episodes were made across three seasons. Each short is 1–2 minutes long, while the long-form episodes are 10–13 minutes each. The long-form episodes were usually aired in pairs to fill half-hour timeslots.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In the United States, "Oobi" was mostly shown on Noggin. In April 2002, the first season of shorts was also shown during commercial breaks on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. Four episodes of the second season were simulcast on both Noggin and Nickelodeon on April 7, 2003.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: The show was on Noggin's on-demand service from 2004 to 2009. In 2005, "Oobi" episodes were posted online to Nick Jr. Video, a broadband video channel. Later that year, the show was aired as part of "Cox Family Fun Night," a weekly event featuring Nickelodeon shows that was broadcast every Sunday on Cox systems. Throughout 2005, select General Motors cars had TVs preloaded with Nickelodeon shows, including "Oobi". Reruns of "Oobi" were shown on the Nick Jr. channel from September 28, 2009 until March 18, 2013. From May 2015 to March 2020, the show was available on the Noggin streaming app. The show has been available on Amazon Video since June 2018. In January 2021, the series was added to Paramount+ (which was called CBS All Access at the time).


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: By the end of its run in 2005, "Oobi" was aired in over 23 international markets. In Canada, TVOntario aired the first season of shorts. It carried the show from September 1, 2003 to September 2, 2006. On December 5, 2004, the series started airing on AFN Prime, a channel operated by the U.S. Armed Forces that is available worldwide. It was shown on the channel every Sunday until April 3, 2005. The Australian channel ABC Kids ran premieres of the show from February 8 to March 15, 2005, with reruns until February 2, 2007. Nickelodeon Philippines aired "Oobi" from 2011 to 2012. The show was also shown in Tonga. "Oobi" has been one of Nickelodeon Pakistan's flagship series since 2009; as of 2022, it continues to air on the channel once a day.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: The show has been dubbed in different languages. From 2005 to 2006, an Icelandic-dubbed version of "Oobi" aired on Stöð 2. In China, a Mandarin Chinese dub aired on HaHa Nick from May 1 to August 5, 2005. In Israel, a Hebrew dub was made with Gilad Kleter and Yoram Yosefsberg as the voices of Oobi and Grampu. It aired on Nickelodeon Israel and BabyTV from 2008 to 2013. In France and Wallonia, a French dub aired on Nickelodeon France and Nickelodeon Junior from 2005 to 2012. In June 2010, the episode "Make Music!" was featured in Nickelodeon France's Fête de la Musique event. A Polish dub called "Rączusie" aired on Nickelodeon Poland from July 19, 2009 to February 28, 2010. Nickelodeon Arabia, which broadcasts to the Middle East and North Africa, aired an Arabic dub from 2009 to 2011. "Oobi" was not part of Nickelodeon Asia's main lineup, but the channel's website featured games of the show until 2016.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: "Oobi" had high ratings for the Noggin channel. In 2004, Noggin reported that three shows—"Oobi", "Miffy and Friends", and "Connie the Cow"—increased the channel's daily viewership by 55 percent over the year before. The average number of viewers watching "Oobi" increased by 43 percent during the same time. Noggin also reported that "Oobi" had grown in ratings in each quarter of 2004: +8% from first to second, +22% from second to third, and +10% from third to fourth. The steady increase in ratings was reported by Multichannel News author Mike Reynolds, who attributed Noggin's popularity to its "breakout original series "Oobi"." The show's growing audience led Noggin to order a third season. The premiere of the "Uma Preschool!" episode on September 6, 2004, posted a 2.35 Nielsen rating among the preschool age group, becoming the highest-rated premiere of a Noggin show to that date. In December 2004, Noggin published a press release with the subtitle: ""Noggin's Oobi Delivers Highest Rated Original Premiere In Network's History.""


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: The puppeteers' performances and the show's style have been praised by critics. Common Sense Media reviewer Andrea Graham gave the show a five-star review, writing that "when it comes to preschool programming, "Oobi" really breaks the mold, succeeding in its simplicity." Jeanne Spreier of the "Dallas Morning News" called "Oobi" "the most imaginative and interesting preschooler program to debut in years," describing its characters as "amazingly expressive hands that show anger, fear, happiness, even age and youth." The Coalition for Quality Children's Media wrote positively of "Oobi", complimenting its concept, and calling it "thoroughly enjoyable" and "extremely well received." Diana Dawson of the "Herald-Journal" liked the show's old-fashioned look, stating that "in a world that too often forgets the innocent joy of playing kick-the-can and catching fireflies, there's something incredibly endearing about the bare-handed puppetry." DVD Talk's Holly Ordway called "Oobi" "a clever way to encourage kids to be imaginative." Jaime Egan of Families.com commended the show's messages of inclusion and diversity, calling them "invaluable" and highlighting Frieda and Kako as stand-out characters. Ryan Ball of "Animation Magazine" called the show "an offbeat new entry" to Noggin's lineup, adding that "the fact that all the characters are played by hands just adds to the quirkiness." In 2010, Babble.com listed "Oobi" second on their list of top twelve television series for young children. In 2018, writer Jon Weisman named "Oobi" one of the best kids' shows of the 2000s, calling it "low-key charming" and praising the theme song.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: Some critics have commended the show for its widespread appeal. In an interview with "The New York Times", Tom Ascheim said that "the show's quirky appeal extended far beyond Noggin's target audience. 'The simplicity is really understandable by my two-year-old, but my ten-year-old really giggles at "Oobi". Andrew Dalton of "The Stir" said that he was a fan of the show himself, adding that "Oobi" is "just happy to be simple and gleeful, and that actually makes it more appealing to sit and watch as a grown-up." "The San Diego Union-Tribune"s Jane Clifford felt that it could be enjoyed by viewers of all ages, remarking that "if as a kid you ever drew eyes or a mouth on your hand and then 'talked' to a friend, you'll relate to this show." The "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette" named "Oobi" the best cable premiere of April 2003, reporting: "I've seen every blessed minute of each general-audience premiere; they are good. But another new show outreaches the rest: "Oobi"." In a 2018 interview, Noel MacNeal recounted, "Some of our biggest fans became [college] kids coming back from parties, who were just like really stoned, and would just sit and watch "Oobi"."


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In spring 2001, "Oobi" won a Parents' Choice Gold Award. Later in the same year, the show had two nominations from the Coalition for Quality Children's Media, winning one of them. In 2004, the show won a second Parents' Choice Award, and a nomination in the "Up to 6 Fiction" category at the . In 2007, Common Sense Media named the show on its annual list of "Best Bets for Young Kids." In June 2009, Josh Selig won an Innovation Award from the Television Academy for his work on the show. In 2014, Prix Jeunesse named "Oobi" in its category "The Greatest Impact Programmes of the Last 50 Years."


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: "Oobi" has made an impression on celebrities. Actress Uma Thurman, who shares her first name with the character Uma, revealed to Stephanie D'Abruzzo (who plays Uma) that she was familiar with the show and its characters in 2004. In 2007, the author John Green (best known for writing "The Fault in Our Stars") featured Oobi in an episode of his video series "Vlogbrothers". Using his own hand, John Green pretended to be Oobi as he demonstrated how to write a book proposal. Also in 2007, two clips from the "Oobi" episodes "Showtime!" and "Uma Bathroom!" were shown on Joel McHale's talk show "The Soup" during the segment "What the Kids Are Watching", where McHale took scenes from children's shows out of context.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: During its run, the show developed a cult following of puppet fans and amateur filmmakers who created their own "Oobi" puppets. In 2003, the "Boston Herald" said that "Oobi" was "already very popular" with "those of the Muppet generation." In the same article, Tom Ascheim stated that Oobi "gets fan mail," and he guessed that the show was catching on because viewers could easily make their own "Oobi" puppets with their hands. In 2004, "The Melbourne Age" reported that "the show - the work of various "Sesame Street alumni" - is developing a strong cult following; the real Uma [Thurman] is said to be a fan of hand Uma." An online shop of unofficial "Oobi" puppets and accessories, called OobiEyes.com, was operated from 2006 to 2013. OobiEyes.com held an advertising campaign with YouTube in 2008, which inspired a community of early YouTubers to make videos with their own "Oobi"-style puppets.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In November 2006, indie rock band The Format released a music video for their song "Dog Problems" which was inspired by "Oobi". It featured hand puppets in the style of the show. In 2009, an advertising contest called the Cannes Young Lions Competition included an Oxfam commercial based on "Oobi". Titled "Let Your Hands Do the Talking," it starred spoofs of celebrities portrayed as hand puppets and given "Oo"-themed names like Oobi and Uma. In January 2014, the condom company Durex made a commercial that starred a parody version of Oobi named Elizabeth. In an interview with "La República", the commercial's director said, "Elizabeth is a parody of the television character Oobi, who is also a funny talking hand."


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In July 2016, Disney XD made a one-off television pilot called "Right Hand Guy", which starred a pre-teen whose right hand becomes a puppet and befriends him. The creator, Dan Lagana, took inspiration from "Oobi" while developing the pilot. Lagana showed the "Oobi" episode "Babysitter!" to the actors so that they would be familiar with the hand movements.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: The show has been mentioned in books. In his autobiography "Alternadad", comedian Neal Pollack talks about "Oobi" and names Grampu his favorite character. He writes that "Oobi" "featured a hilarious character called Grampu ... he made funny faces when he had to eat the awful food the kids cooked for him, and he also flirted with Oobi's piano teacher." It is a plot point in Laura Lynn's novel "Ariel's Office", where the narrator's daughter watches Noggin and is "transfixed" by Oobi. It is described as a "Noggin show that use[s] Señor Wences-style human hand puppets" in Dade Hayes's novel "Anytime Playdate", which studies the preschool TV business. The filmmaker Robert Rodriguez also talks about "Oobi" in his book "The 1950s' Most Wanted". Lisa Guernsey describes "Oobi" in her 2012 book "Screen Time", which reports on how electronic media affects children.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: Clips from "Oobi" were included as special features on ten Nick Jr. DVDs sold in 2003 and 2004. The first was "Blue's Clues: Shapes and Colors!", which featured the "Dance!" short. The last was "Oswald: On-the-Go Oswald", which featured a clip from the "Dance Class!" episode. Some of these videos have been repackaged and sold in DVD packs as recently as 2015.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: "Oobi" has also been featured in TV-related magazines. The August 2004 issue of "Nick Jr. Magazine" had a craft section about how to make "Oobi" hand puppets. In August 2004 and April 2005, "TV Guide" ran interviews with Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Josh Selig about the show. The show is mentioned in the September 2004 issue of "Big Apple Parent". The October 2004 issue of "Playthings" includes another interview with Josh Selig with pictures from behind the scenes of "Oobi". "Kidscreen" included news about the show in July 2005 and in June 2007.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: In 2001, Noggin's website added a page called "Oobi Online," which had a series of flash games starring Oobi. Noggin staff described the page as a place "where kids can match shapes with bubbles, colors with snacks, compose music, and draw and dance with Oobi." A few of the games were inspired by episodes of the show, while other games had their own unique stories. From 2004 to 2006, Noggin.com also hosted printables of Oobi. Four of the games were imported to NickJr.com in 2009.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: From 2001 to 2007, Noggin held live events to promote the show. The first was an "Oobi" tour at the 2001 North American Trade Show in Minnesota. The tour featured a replica of the set for Oobi's house. The second event was Club Noggin, a monthly event held at GGP Malls across America in 2004. At Club Noggin, visitors could get "Oobi" puppet eyes and make crafts based on the show. The third event was the Noggin Auction, an online charity auction hosted on Noggin.com in November 2006. Viewers could bid on props from different Noggin shows, including hats and towels with Oobi on them. The last event was "Oobi Arts and Crafts," held at the Nick Hotel in Florida in November 2007. At these sessions, hotel guests were given plastic puppet eyes like Oobi's.


title: Oobi (TV series)

text: Episodes of the show were also screened at a few promotions and festivals. In 2001 and 2002, the show was part of the Kids First Film Festival, an annual event held across the United States. From 2002 to 2004, the Jillian's restaurant chain held "Noggin Play Days" where it screened "Oobi" shorts. In August 2009, three episodes of "Oobi" were screened by Multikino, a chain of movie theaters across Poland. They were shown as part of a promotion called "Mornings with Nick," which advertised new shows on Nickelodeon's Polish channel.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Lake Wobegon is a fictional town created by Garrison Keillor as the setting of the recurring segment "News from Lake Wobegon" for the radio program "A Prairie Home Companion" broadcast from St Paul, Minnesota. The fictional town serves as the setting for many of Keillor's stories and novels, gaining an international audience with "Lake Wobegon Days" in 1985. Described as a small rural town in central Minnesota, the events and adventures of the townspeople provided Keillor with a wealth of humorous and often touching stories.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor has said that people often ask him if it is a real town, and when he replied that it was not, they seemed disappointed because "people want stories to be true". So he began to say it was in "central Minnesota, near Stearns County, up around Holdingford, not far from St. Rosa and Albany and Freeport, northwest of St. Cloud", which he says is "sort of the truth, I guess."


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor has said the town's name comes from an old Native American word meaning "the place where we waited all day in the rain [for you]." Keillor explains, ""Wobegon" sounded Indian to me and Minnesota is full of Indian names. They mask the ethnic heritage of the town, which I wanted to do, since it was half Norwegian, half German." The English word "woebegone" means "affected with woe."


title: Lake Wobegon

text: The fictional settlement Lake Wobegon resembles many small farm towns in the Upper Midwest, especially western Minnesota, North Dakota, and to some extent, northern Iowa, Wisconsin, eastern South Dakota and northeastern Montana. These are rural, sparsely populated areas that were settled only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, largely by homesteading immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. One of these, Holdingford, Minnesota, which Keillor said is "most Wobegonic", is on Stearns County's Lake Wobegon Regional Trail and advertises itself as the "Gateway to Lake Wobegon", even hosting a "Lake Wobegon Cafe."


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor formed most of his ideas for Lake Wobegon while working at public radio station KSJR on the campus of St. John's University in Collegeville, basing it on Avon, where he lived, and other local towns such as Albany, Freeport, Cold Spring, Richmond, Rockville, St. Joseph, St. Stephen, St. Wendell and Holdingford. Stearns County was predominantly German and Catholic in the 1970s, and the second-most Catholic county in the US (second only to New Orleans). To balance the religious and ethnic demography of Stearns County with the rest of Minnesota, Keillor "imported" Lutheran and Scandinavian elements into the town, making it more recognizable and therefore more interesting to the rest of the state.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Lake Wobegon is portrayed as the seat of Mist County, Minnesota, a tiny county near Minnesota's geographic center that supposedly does not appear on maps because of the "incompetence of surveyors who mapped out the state in the 19th century": the surveyors worked inward from the state's boundaries, and when they reached Lake Wobegon, had no room left for it on the map. The town's slogan is "Gateway to Central Minnesota." Holdingford now has the same slogan.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Lake Wobegon is occasionally said to be near St. Olaf, Minnesota, another fictional town referred to in "The Golden Girls" television series. (There is actually a St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.) The town's school and amateur sports teams compete against the Uff-das of Upsala, a real town in southwest Morrison County, which is close to Holdingford. The town residents drink Wendy's Beer, brewed in St. Wendel, a real town in northeast Stearns County. The nearest good-sized town referred to in Keillor's monologues is St. Cloud. Lake Wobegon is sometimes compared favorably to a rival fictional town called Millet; a real town called Rice lies 20 miles north of St. Cloud.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Although Lake Wobegon does not exist, Microsoft Virtual Earth now returns a location northeast of St. Cloud when it is entered into its search engine. The programs distributed at live performances of "A Prairie Home Companion" in 2005 had a map showing Lake Wobegon about two miles north of Holdingford, northwest of St. Cloud.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor often refers to a cafe in downtown Lake Wobegon called the "Chatterbox Cafe". There was a real cafe and gas station in Olivia by that name, but it is now closed and abandoned, with nothing remaining to identify it but one sign. Olivia is in north-central Renville County.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: The Minnesota Rails and Trails project began creating the Lake Wobegon Trail in 1998. It now stretches from Waite Park, Minnesota just west of St. Cloud, to Freeport, Minnesota, where it forks; one trail heads northwest to Osakis, Minnesota, the other northeast to Holdingford, Minnesota and Bowlus, Minnesota, and on across the Mississippi River. Keillor participated in the trail opening ceremonies and said that Holdingford was the most "Wobegonic" town in his mind. The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon takes place every year in May on the trail. Runners leave from Holdingford and run to St. Joseph, Minnesota.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor chronicles a number of bizarre incidents in the fictional town's early history, akin to the events in Black River Falls in "Wisconsin Death Trip".


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor identifies the original founders of what became Lake Wobegon as New England Unitarian missionaries, at least one of whom came to convert the Native American Ojibwe Indians through interpretive dance. A college was founded at what was then called New Albion, but the project was abandoned after a severe winter and numerous attacks by bears. The project had only one survivor, a very practical woman who married a French Canadian fur trapper who fed her in exchange for her help with the chores. This pragmatic couple were the founders of the current settlement.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: New Albion's founders decided to settle at Lake Wobegon because they had gotten lost and did not know how to get back to where they had last been. To celebrate this, the colony's motto was "Ubi Quid Ubi" (Latin: "We're Here!...Where are we?"). Later the motto in the Lake Wobegon incorporated town seal is described as "Sumus Quod Sumus" (Latin: "We Are What We Are").


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Most of the population are descendants of German immigrants, who are mostly members of the Catholic parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, and descendants of Norwegian and Swedish immigrants, who attend Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church. Keillor's family were members of the Sanctified Brethren.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: The 800 residents (1950 Census: 728) are proud of the "Statue of the Unknown Norwegian" (so called because the model left before the sculptor could get his name). Lake Wobegon is in competition with its fictional rival, St. Olaf, for having the most descendants of the same common ancestor. Lake Wobegon became a secret dumping ground of nuclear waste during the 1950s.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: The fictional town is the home of the Whippets baseball team, tuna hotdish, snow, Norwegian bachelor farmers, ice fishing, tongues frozen to cold metal objects, and lutefisk—fish treated with lye which, after being reconstituted, is reminiscent of "the afterbirth of a dog or the world's largest chunk of phlegm." But it is also the home of the Mist County Fair, old-fashioned show yards with flowers "like Las Vegas showgirls", sweet corn, a magnificent grain elevator, and the pleasant lake itself.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: The Lake Wobegon effect, a natural human tendency to overestimate one's capabilities, was named in honor of the fictional town. The characterization that "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average" has been used to describe a real and pervasive human tendency to overestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others. To support the view that people in general need to believe that they are above average (the Lake Wobegon effect) one author points out that in a survey of high school students, only 2% of the students reported that they were below average in leadership ability. The authors of a study suggest that what they consider the “Lake Wobegon effect” can in some cases negatively affect doctors' treatment advice when, in planning treatment, doctors portray the patients as “above average”.


title: Lake Wobegon

text: Keillor himself has offered a contrarian opinion on the use of the term, observing that the effect does not actually apply in Lake Wobegon itself. In response to a listener query on the Prairie Home website, he pointed out that, in keeping with their Scandinavian heritage, Wobegonians prefer to downplay, rather than overestimate, their capabilities or achievements.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: The Dodge Neon SRT-4 is a sport compact car manufactured by Dodge from 2003 to 2005. A turbocharged variant of the Neon, the car was developed by DaimlerChrysler's in house PVO (Performance Vehicle Operations) tuner group. PVO was officially renamed SRT (Street and Racing Technology) in 2004. The "4" in the SRT-4's name denotes the number of cylinders of the engine. ACR (American Club Racing) and Commemorative Edition models were later introduced as well.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 1998, Tom Gale, (then Executive Vice President of Chrysler Product Development and Design), attended the 1998 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. Gale noted a list of performance features he saw on the sport compact cars at the show, and wanted to integrate those features into Chrysler's compact production car, the Dodge Neon. Gale was the design chief of the original Dodge Viper concept vehicle, and recognized an opportunity to build a sport compact that would appeal to the younger auto generation who grew up on tuner cars, who may prefer a new car with the same performance appeal right off the showroom floor.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: A group of young Dodge and Chrysler talent was assembled to put together a vehicle to meet Gale's request, with all of the team members sharing first-hand knowledge and familiarity of the existing Dodge Neon. They created a concept car, the 2000 Neon SRT, in just 4 months, with a 2.0 L 16-valve four-cylinder topped with a 45-cubic-inch Eaton supercharger, which produced and of torque at the flywheel on of boost. (Sport Compact Car magazine tested the car in the Feb. 2001 issue and dynoed and torque at the wheels.)


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: The group put more than 1000 miles on the test track with the vehicle in under two weeks. In November 1999, the car was shown at the SEMA show with a glowing response. The vehicle was then shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2000, center stage on a turntable. The team continued to work on the car, to try to bring it to the level of production vehicle, creating a second car using more production-oriented parts in an effort to lower the costs necessary to justify production. They even parked the second car in Gale's parking spot in order to get it noticed. Regardless, in fall of 2000, the executive committee rejected the production car proposal. The team put together a list of reasons why the car was not approved, and worked through the list item by item to find solutions to every issue presented. After three more versions of the car, the company's Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE) team took over the project. The executive committee once again considered the vehicle in the spring of 2001, and this time gave the go ahead for the project.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In January 2002, SVE became known as Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO). The PVO group was responsible for developing the concept car into a production car. A turbocharged 2.4 liter inline-4 gasoline engine (A853 engine) was used. This engine was nearly identical to the 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser (A855 engine), except the SRT-4 did not have the unique intake manifold required to fit the engine into the PT Cruiser engine bay. The car was then given a New Venture Gear T-850 five-speed manual transmission (based on the unit from the European turbodiesel minivans), equal-length half shafts, and a high capacity Sachs performance clutch. The suspension had stiffer springs, SRT-tuned Tokico struts (with travel reduced to provide clearance for the larger wheels), and larger front and rear sway bars were added. A unique steering gear, PT Cruiser steering knuckles, and an updated K member were also incorporated. Front brakes used 11.0 in (280 mm) vented disc brakes with extra thick rotors to prevent warping, and 10.6 in (270 mm) non-vented disc brakes in the rear, with single piston calipers (57mm front, 36mm rear).


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: 17 x 6 inch cast aluminum wheels were used, with an offset of 43mm, along with 205/50/17 Michelin Pilot Sport performance tires. The wheels were designed with a unique spoke pattern to allow for improved airflow to the brakes, and were similar to that of the TSW VX1 wheels used on the original 2000 Neon SRT. Unique side skirts, rear fascia, and a large rear wing (spoiler) were used to upgrade the exterior look of the vehicle. The cooling ducts (front nostrils) were added to the pre-production car in late 2002 on the front fascia to help reduce temperatures in the engine bay of the vehicle.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: On the interior, the standard agate-colored front seats were modeled after the Dodge Viper SRT-10 seats, and featured enhanced lumbar and lateral side bolsters to stabilize occupants during performance driving. In 2004, base Neon side airbag seats were added as an option. A faux carbon fiber steering wheel and shift boot were used, along with a satin silver “cue ball” type shift knob and silver aluminum floor pedals. Unique gauge designs in the SRT-4 (which were exclusive to the SRT lineup) featured special silver faces with satin silver ring accents, and the SRT-4 logo on the facing. The same satin metal trim was also featured on the instrument panel center stack, climate control knobs and on the door handles. A silver (white in early 2003 models) Auto-Meter brand turbo boost/vacuum gauge was set to the right of the instrument cluster. Like all other Neon models, the SRT-4 had power front windows, and manual rear windows, a costs saving feature. Overall, the vehicle's entire powertrain (engine and transmission), suspension, braking system, exhaust, wheels, and tires were upgraded from that of the base model Neon, along with the interior upgrades. The production model was produced in Belvidere, Illinois, with 84% US content.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2003, the Dodge Neon SRT-4 went on sale to the public. At the time, the car was the second fastest stock production vehicle in the Chrysler/Dodge lineup, second only to the Viper. In 2004, PVO changed their name to Street & Racing Technology (SRT), Chrysler's high-performance automotive group. The 2004 model was updated with more power and torque, and included a torque-sensing Quaife limited-slip differential, larger fuel injectors, new engine management software, BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2 three season ultra-high-performance tires, and paint/trim changes. Dodge removed the “Neon” designation from the vehicle in 2004, marketing the car simply as the “SRT-4”. In 2005, an American Club Racer (ACR) package and limited edition numbered Commemorative version of the SRT-4 were also offered.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: Initially, Dodge expected to sell a conservative number of only 2,500 units per year. However, during the three year production run (2003 through 2005), more than 25,000 Neon SRT-4s were produced. With the discontinuation of the PL platform after model year 2005, the SRT-4 ceased production. In 2008 Dodge introduced the Caliber SRT-4 as a replacement.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: The SRT-4 used the same basic engine block as the naturally aspirated 2003+ 2.4L, and was different from the years previous used in the naturally aspirated Chrysler 2.4L mid-size cars such as the PT Cruiser and four-door Stratus. The SRT4 engine had many improvements, including: stronger crank case webbing, a thicker deck with 11 mm head bolts (vs 10 mm), an oil drain back for the turbo, a cast aluminum structural oil pan, a higher capacity oil pump, a crankshaft of higher hardness steel, improved machining of bearing journals, oil squirters (to cool underside of pistons), eutectic aluminum alloy pistons made specially by Mahle, and forged connecting rods with cracked caps and 9 mm bolts. The cylinder head was also different for turbo engines, from naturally aspirated. The turbo version (PT Cruiser GT Turbo and SRT-4) included: larger diameter valves and seats, exhaust valves made of Inconel, improved cooling and larger oil drain back passages, different camshafts. The PT Cruiser Turbo engine package differs from the SRT-4 because the intake manifold, turbocharger plumbing and intercooler are different. The SRT-4 intercooler was a front-mounted cast aluminum 8-row unit produced by Valeo, unique in its efficiency and computer designed end tanks for air flow.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: The turbocharger was a reverse rotation Mitsubishi TD04LR-15Gk with a turbine inlet. Tight packaging forced some creative thinking on the turbocharger. The TD04 compressor has a compressor bypass valve built right into the compressor housing. The exhaust manifold and turbine housing were cast in one piece by Mitsubishi from high-nickel Ni-Resist steel. The one-piece design improved flow, reduced size and reduced thermal mass for quicker cat light-off. The turbine discharge was also part of the manifold/turbine housing casting, and it looped back around and hit the manifold again on its way to the catalytic converter. Where they met, there was a wastegate valve; keeping the wastegate valve away from the turbine housing improved flow where it mattered most. Maximum boost in stock form was around . Piston velocities and valve-train components force a rev limit of 6240 rpm although MOPAR upped the ante with their Stage 2 and 3 kits which have a rev limit of 6500 rpm.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: The exhaust system for the vehicle consists of steel tubing, which is run first through the catalytic converter, then through two resonators. The exhaust then splits into two separate sections of piping, exiting through two stainless steel tips at the rear of the vehicle. The exhaust system is unique in that there is no muffler, instead relying on the turbocharger and resonators to reduce the exhaust volume. The end result is a very distinctive and audible exhaust note.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2005, Dodge released an SRT-4 Commemorative Edition. This model (along with the Commemorative Edition versions of the Viper SRT-10 and Ram SRT-10) was created to celebrate the SRT vehicles.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2003, Dodge engineers built a special SRT-4 Extreme LightWeight for the 2003 SEMA show. It was designed to showcase the factory upgrade parts available for the SRT-4 from Mopar. The vehicle featured lightweight, carbon fiber body pieces (produced in-house), a polycarbonate rear window, and the front window glass removed for weight reduction. The interior was stripped completely, with only the stock dash remaining. A single Recaro racing seat, a harness, and a roll cage were installed for safety. The car featured the first stage 3R Mopar engine performance kit and stage 3R coilovers. Overall, the weight of the vehicle was reduced by to wet, and was dyno'd at 360 hp (270 kW) and 383 lb•ft (519 N•m) (at the wheels) by "Sport Compact Car" magazine. On drag slicks, it ran an 11.83-second pass at 123 mph (198 km/h) in 70 °F (21 °C) weather. This one-off SRT-4 was used for media events and testing of the Mopar development parts, and was destroyed as an asset reduction move in 2009.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2003, Cory O'Brien and Erich Heuschele drove an SRT-4 to a 1st in class and 8th overall finish in the Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In SCCA ProRally racing, the SRT-4 (and more recently the ACR version) has dominated the Group 5 (2WD) class since 2003. In just its first year competing, the Dodge ended the stranglehold that the FWD DSMs and Volkswagens had on the class. With three competing the following year, the SRT-4 won every 2004 series race and end-of-season award. The SRT-4 has won every Group 5 and 2-Wheel-Drive class championship in US ProRally and Sno Drift since 2003, and its unprecedented dominance in 2004 helped Dodge earn its first US ProRally Manufacturers Championship in 28 years.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2005, Jeff Lepper drove the SRT-4 to its first ever national road racing win in the NASA US Touring Car Championship at California Speedway in Fontana.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2005, Dale Seeley, Kolin Aspergren, and Jamin Cummings drove an SRT-4 to a 1st in class and 8th overall finish in the Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2006, the Dodge SRT-4 officially became the world's fastest production 4-cylinder car, averaging at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in a car driven by Jorgen Moller. The vehicle was tuned by Dave Harris and Phil Hurst for Racedeck Racing.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: Multiple SRT-4s were raced in the SCCA SPEED World Challenge – Touring Car Series, and in 2006 – their second year of competition – had become one of the more successful platforms in the series. Robb Holland, of 3R Racing, became the first Pro driver to put the SRT-4 on the podium with his 3rd-place finish at Road America in August 2006. This was Dodge's first podium and first manufacturer's points in World Challenge Touring Car competition. Holland would finish the season with 3 top 10 finishes and two top 5 qualifying efforts in the SRT-4.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2007, Doug Wind, Devin Clancy, and Ken Brewer drove an SRT-4 to a 1st in class and 5th overall finish in the Tire Rack Cannonball One Lap of America.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2007, George Biskup drove an SRT-4 Neon to several SCCA T-2 National wins, and set the Track Qualifying Record at Road America. His lap time of 2:33.922 remained the record for several years. Earlier in 2005, Biskup won the first SCCA National race he entered at Gingerman Raceway. Due to snowy conditions, the race was run under yellow and finishing positions were as qualified, Biskup's SRT-4 was on the pole with the fastest qualifying time.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2007, Curt Simmons won the U.S. Touring Car Championship in an SRT-4 and Dodge won the season manufacturers points championship by 29 points over Honda behind the strength of several SRT-4's.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2007, Stan Wilson won the Speed World Challenge Touring Car Rookie Driver of the Year and the Sunoco Hard Charger of the Year awards driving the Sorted Performance Dodge SRT-4. This was Dodge's first title in Speed World Challenge Touring Car.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2008, Curt Simmons attempts to defend his USTCC series championship, winning on June 29, 2008 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.


title: Dodge Neon SRT-4

text: In 2012, Russ Deane set a new world land speed record for four-cylinder production cars (SRT-4) of more than . He surpassed the previous record of 224 mph for a Class F/PS vehicle. Deane and his Hinckley Automotive race team were participating in Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. His race team included Jim Hinckley, Dave Harris (chief), Craig Ohlson, "Camel" Joe George, Troy Cheney, Stuart Gosswein, and Jim Hinckley Jr.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Christopher James Hardman (26 August 1990 – 23 March 2015), known by the stage name Lil' Chris, was a British singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality from Lowestoft, England. He came to prominence in 2006 after appearing on the Channel 4 series "Rock School", which saw KISS vocalist and bassist Gene Simmons make a rock band at Lil' Chris' school. Later that year he released the single "Checkin' It Out", which charted at number 3, and a self-titled album. In 2008 he hosted his own series, "Everybody Loves Lil' Chris". Hardman died by suicide in March 2015 at his home in Lowestoft after struggling with his mental health.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Hardman was born in Lowestoft, the son of Ian Hardman, a slaughterhouse worker, and Karen Elizabeth Hardman (née Clarke), a supermarket worker. He had an older sister, Hannah, and a younger brother, Nathan.


title: Lil' Chris

text: He gained the nickname 'Lil' Chris' because his height was 4'11" at age 15. He was the shortest boy in his year at Kirkley High School.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Hardman rose to prominence in January 2006 at the age of 15 after appearing in series two of Channel 4's "Rock School". The show saw Gene Simmons (from the band KISS) try to form a rock band out of a class of children attending Kirkley High School (now East Point Academy). In the series, Hardman was immediately seen as a contender for the band after revealing that he could sing, play guitar, drum and write songs. Eventually Hardman was selected as frontman and lead singer in the line-up for the group (now named "Hoax UK" after the slogan on Hardman's cap). In the final episode the group went on to open for Judas Priest, Rob Zombie and Anthrax at a concert in Long Beach, California.


title: Lil' Chris

text: A week after the performance, Hardman was contacted by record producers Ray Hedges and Nigel Butler, who appeared in "Rock School" to help the class with songwriting. Hardman went on to sign a record contract with RCA Records and released his debut single "Checkin' It Out" in September 2006 which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. After performing a cover of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, Hardman then released his debut album "Lil' Chris" in December 2006. On 14 October 2006 he appeared in the Big Gig at Wembley Arena before 20,000 Girl Guides. He continued to promote and release singles from his album throughout 2007, as well as performing as a supporting act for McFly on their 24 date "Up Close and Personal" tour throughout the United Kingdom. Hardman also took part in BBC Three's "Celebrity Scissorhands" and made guest appearances in episodes of CBBC's "SMart" and "TMi". He also appeared on the "Weakest Link" in 2007 but refused to sing in front of Anne Robinson when asked by the hostess. He was voted off in round 5.


title: Lil' Chris

text: More television work followed in 2008, including appearances on "Hider in the House", "Dani's House" and "Never Mind the Buzzcocks". Hardman also compered the 4Music stage of the T4 on the Beach music festival in July 2008. In October and November 2008 (after a successful pilot earlier in the year) he hosted "Everybody Loves Lil' Chris" on the T4 strand of Channel 4 on Saturday mornings. The show was a mixture of celebrity interviews, live music performances and various 'challenges' that he undertook. The airing of the show coincided with the release of Hardman's second album "What's It All About" in October 2008. He also supported Alphabeat on their "Wolfbaggin"' tour, throughout the UK.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Throughout 2009, Hardman made celebrity appearances as a DJ, visiting various venues around the UK. These included Zanzibar Club in Leicester in May 2009, and Tramps Nightclub in Worcester in August 2009. In October 2009 Hardman made a guest appearance on the BBC1 game show "Hole in the Wall", and also featured in an episode of the second series of the CBBC comedy show "Sorry, I've Got No Head". During December 2009 to January 2010, he presented the making of "Remo Skilla's" music video, "Stoosh", which was posted on YouTube.


title: Lil' Chris

text: From 18 June to 14 July 2012, Hardman starred in "" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in the role of Francis Weir. The musical transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End from October 2012 to January 2013, with understudy Ashley Luke Lloyd playing the role of Francis Weir for the majority of the London run due to the indisposition of Hardman. After "Loserville" closed Hardman briefly worked for Anglian Home Improvements, selling their products door to door in Lowestoft. In October 2013, he announced via Twitter that he was working on a new album, his first since 2008. Hardman issued a new single for Christmas 2013 called "Christmas Number One (#FeedEmYellowSnow)" with Lloyd Wilkinson, and set off on a Christmas tour with Tom Mann and Giles Potter, from 2013's "The X Factor". The tour was called The Lil' Chris-tmas tour. On 3 December 2013, the Official Chart Company listed "Christmas Number One (#FeedEmYellowSnow)" as a contender for the Christmas Number One spot on 22 December 2013, but the single failed to chart.


title: Lil' Chris

text: In 2014 Hardman launched MAML, his own alternative clothing label incorporating his own designs. The range was available for several months online and from a store in Hardman's home town of Lowestoft. He continued to write new material with producer Guy Barnes, which he hoped would be released in the summer of 2014, but by this time Hardman had no management or record label or distribution in place, so it was planned to release his summer anthem 'Louder' with other songs on an EP in 2015.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Hardman had depression alongside other mental health issues. In April 2014 he tweeted: "I hope to one day create a way out of depression that doesn't mean taking your own life. The Cure." In October 2014 he tweeted, "Depression really sucks. Learning how to notice it can save lives and your own feelings at times. Take time to understand it, for everybody."


title: Lil' Chris

text: On 3 March 2015, Hardman tweeted, "Thinking about quitting music forever...there has to come a time eventually when I have to face reality. I'm just not good enough." The inquest into his death held at Bury St Edmunds in 2016 was told that he missed the limelight when his career stalled. Hardman died on 23 March 2015 at his Lowestoft home at the age of 24. His friend found him not breathing and called 999. Paramedics were called to his home, but they were unable to revive him and they declared him dead at the scene. Suffolk Police said they were not treating the death as suspicious. Tributes were given by people such as boxer Anthony Ogogo, who had attended the same school, and Gene Simmons. On 29 April 2015, it was reported that the cause of death was suicide by hanging.


title: Lil' Chris

text: "Chris was a huge personality who will be missed by everyone who knew him. He was a hugely creative person who used this side of his personality to make others smile, to cheer people up, and to make others feel better. If he wasn’t bringing joy through music he was telling jokes or pulling pranks. He was the sunshine on a rainy day, and could make friends the minute he walked into a room, making everyone smile with his gorgeous, cheeky face.


title: Lil' Chris

text: A real people person, he would always take the time to stop and talk, no matter who or when, and we are proud that he was so well thought of by all who knew him. So many commented on what a lovely, well brought up person he was, so polite and kind and a pleasure to know.


title: Lil' Chris

text: Chris had struggled with mental health issues and depression in recent years. He was committed to helping others find better ways of overcoming this illness and publicly said he wished to find a cure. Despite this, his concern was always his family and his friends, whose happiness was his priority."


title: Lil' Chris

text: Hardman's memorial service was held in Gorleston, near his home town of Lowestoft, on 8 April 2015, and was a private event for family and friends only; this short service consisted of speeches without hymns. Later that day a private funeral was held in Lowestoft. Those attending, who included James Bourne from Busted, were asked to wear green, which was Chris' favourite colour. Following the funeral, family and friends released green balloons at the Claremont Pier in Lowestoft.


title: Ethics of care

text: The ethics of care (alternatively care ethics or EoC) is a normative ethical theory that holds that moral action centers on interpersonal relationships and care or benevolence as a virtue. EoC is one of a cluster of normative ethical theories that were developed by feminists and environmentalists in the second half of the twentieth century. While consequentialist and deontological ethical theories emphasize generalizable standards and impartiality, ethics of care emphasize the importance of response to the individual. The distinction between the general and the individual is reflected in their different moral questions: "what is just?" versus "how to respond?". Carol Gilligan, who is considered the originator of the ethics of care, criticized the application of generalized standards as "morally problematic, since it breeds moral blindness or indifference".


title: Ethics of care

text: The originator of the ethics of care (EoC) was Carol Gilligan, an American ethicist and psychologist. Gilligan was a student of developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. Gilligan developed EoC in contrast to her mentor's theory of stages of moral development. She held that measuring progress by Kohlberg's model resulted in boys being found to be more morally mature than girls, and this held for adult men and women as well (although when education is controlled for there are no gender differences). Gilligan further argued that Kohlberg's model was not an objective scale of moral development. Gilligan considered it as a masculine perspective on morality, founded on justice and abstract duties or obligations. Dana Ward has stated, in a paper that appears never to have been formally published for critical peer review, that the scale is psychometrically sound.


title: Ethics of care

text: Gilligan's "In a Different Voice" offered the perspective that men and women have tendencies to view morality in different terms. Her theory claimed women tended to emphasize empathy and compassion over the notions of morality that are privileged in Kohlberg's scale.


title: Ethics of care

text: Subsequent research suggests that the discrepancy in being oriented towards care-based or justice-based ethical approaches may be based on gender differences, or on differences in actual current life situations of the genders.


title: Ethics of care

text: Care ethics contrasts with more well-known ethical models, such as consequentialist theories (e.g. utilitarianism) and deontological theories (e.g. Kantian ethics), in that it seeks to incorporate traditionally feminized virtues and values which, proponents of care ethics contend, are absent in such traditional models of ethics. One of these values is the placement of caring and relationship over that of logic and reason. In care ethics reason and logic are subservient to natural care, that is care that is done out of inclination, which is contrary to deontology where actions taken out of inclination are unethical.


title: Ethics of care

text: Drawing on this critique of utilitarianism and deontology, the American philosopher of social science Jason Josephson Storm has categorized the ethics of care as a type of virtue ethics. Specifically, Storm sees close parallels between the ethics of care and traditional Buddhist virtue ethics, especially the prioritization of compassion by Śāntideva and others.


title: Ethics of care

text: While some feminists have criticized care-based ethics for reinforcing traditional stereotypes of a "good woman", others have embraced parts of this paradigm under the theoretical concept of care-focused feminism.


title: Ethics of care

text: Care-focused feminism, alternatively called "gender feminism", is a branch of feminist thought informed primarily by ethics of care as developed by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings. This body of theory is critical of how caring is socially engendered, being assigned to women and consequently devalued. "Care-focused feminists regard women's capacity for care as a human strength" which can and should be taught to and expected of men as well as women. Noddings proposes that ethical caring has the potential to be a more concrete evaluative model of moral dilemma, than an ethic of justice. Noddings' care-focused feminism requires practical application of relational ethics, predicated on an ethic of care.


title: Ethics of care

text: Ethics of care is also a basis for care-focused feminist theorizing on maternal ethics. These theories recognize caring as an ethically relevant issue. Critical of how society engenders caring labor, theorists Sara Ruddick, Virginia Held, and Eva Feder Kittay suggest caring should be performed and care givers valued in both public and private spheres. This proposed paradigm shift in ethics encourages the view that an ethic of caring be the social responsibility of both men and women.


title: Ethics of care

text: Joan Tronto argues that the definition of the term "ethic of care" is ambiguous due in part to the lack of a central role it plays in moral theory. She argues that considering moral philosophy is engaged with human goodness, then care would appear to assume a significant role in this type of philosophy. However, this is not the case and Tronto further stresses the association between care and "naturalness". The latter term refers to the socially and culturally constructed gender roles where care is mainly assumed to be the role of the woman. As such, care loses the power to take a central role in moral theory.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: Travelling Without Moving is the third studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 28 August 1996 in Japan, then on 9 September 1996 in the United Kingdom under Sony Soho Square. Front-man Jay Kay intended for the album to have a more universal style, revolving around "cars, life and love". Critics have generally praised the album for being more focused and refined than the band's previous work while others panned its lyrics and found the album too derivative. Kay also faced backlash from press for his use of sports cars in this period despite his environmental beliefs.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: The album was Jamiroquai's American breakthrough. It marked the band's first entry in the US "Billboard" 200 chart at number 24. In the UK, it peaked at number two. Its singles "Virtual Insanity", "Cosmic Girl" and "Alright" entered the top-ten in the UK singles chart. In the US, "Alright" entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 78, while "Cosmic Girl" and "High Times" were in the top-ten in the Dance Club Songs charts. The music video for "Virtual Insanity" contributed to the album's success. "Travelling Without Moving" sold over 8 million copies worldwide, holding the "Guinness World Records" as the best-selling funk album in history. The album was reissued in 2013 in remastered form with bonus material.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: After experiencing a stressful period while recording "The Return of the Space Cowboy", Kay sought to make the next album more focused and universal. He also did not want to remain as a semi-underground act "that stuck to its little niche and sold one and a half million albums every time. I wanted to breakout and be something bigger, more international." Speaking of the album's general mood, Kay said: "[With "Emergency on Planet Earth"], people weren't cheering in the streets or anything, and ["The Return of the Space Cowboy"] was quite sad. With ["Travelling Without Moving"], I decided it was important to show people we could enjoy ourselves. That's why it's cars, life and love". Kay booked the band into the residential studio Great Linford Manor so that they could work at their own pace.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: The first song composed for the album was "Virtual Insanity". It was recorded as a rough demo and was not fully realised until the album's final recording stage. The song has a piano opening with "buoyant keyboards and soaring strings." Its lyrics are about the prevalence of technology and the replication and simulation of life. The second track "Cosmic Girl" is a disco song with "spacey" lyrics, based on rhythmic "looped beats" "to give it an off-center, otherworldly" sound. For the next track "Use The Force" the group channels "that real vintage football vibe", filled with horns, wah-wah guitar and a rippling barrage of Latin percussion". The fourth track "Everyday" is described "as seductive as any Maxwell ballad" and has "over aching strings and a come-hither bass line". The fifth song, "Alright", was described as an "easy-going disco-funk" track.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: "High Times", a song with "razor-edged funky guitars", references Kay's drug use during the recording of "The Return of the Space Cowboy": "'High Times' was admitting the truth of the matter, of where I'd been and how lucky I was to be coming out of the other side." This is followed by the reggae track, "Drifting Along". The tracks "Didjerema" and "Didjital Vibrations" are instrumental tracks containing ambient didgeridoo. The title track is next on the album and samples Kay's purple Lamborghini in the intro. It features a "driving groove" and after two minutes, it "transitions into a bassline-paced, heavy workout". The album ends with the dance track, "You Are My Love", and the soul ballad, "Spend A Lifetime".


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: "Travelling Without Moving" was first released on 28 August 1996 in Japan, then on 9 September 1996 in the United Kingdom on Sony Soho Square. Released on the Work record label in January 1997, it was the band's first US "Billboard 200" entry, where it reached number 24 and it sold 1,400,000 shipments. The album peaked at number 2 in the UK chart and sold 1,219,197 copies. In Japan, it reached number 6, and in the year end charts there, it ranked number 87 in 1996 and number 58 in 1997. It peaked at number 2 in the French SNEP Album charts and number 6 in the year end chart in 1996. In Switzerland, it reached number 3 in the Swiss Albums Charts, and number 37 in the year end chart in 1996. It ranked number 9 in the German Media Control Albums Chart, and It ranked at number 69 in 1996 and number 38 in 1997 in the German year end charts. In the Netherlands, in peaked at 16 in the album chart, and number 48 in the year end chart in 1997. In the Australian ARIA Albums chart, it ranked at 6 and in 1997 47 at the end of the year. The album was certified platinum in these countries, except in Germany where it was certified gold. It was also triple Platinum in Europe by the IFPI denoting sales of 3,000,000 copies. The album overall sold 8,000,000 copies worldwide. In 2013, "Travelling Without Moving" was one of the first three albums to be re-issued on the band's 20th anniversary campaign, also containing a bonus disc of remixes, demos, live performances and b-sides.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: "Do U Know Where You're Coming From" was the first single to be released on 20 May 1996, where it peaked at number 12 in the UK. It is a drum and bass song by M-Beat which features vocals by Kay. The second single "Virtual Insanity" was released on 19 August 1996, reached number 3 in the single and number 1 the R&B charts in the UK. Its Jonathan Glazer directed music video played heavily on MTV, which depicted Kay "perform[ing] in a room where the floors, walls and furniture all moved simultaneously."


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: "Cosmic Girl" was released as its third single on 20 November 1996, reaching number 6 in the UK and number 7 in the US Dance Club Songs charts. Its music video features a Ferrari F355 Berlinetta, a red Ferrari F40 and a purple Lamborghini Diablo SE30 "on mountain roads and across a desert." "Alright" was issued on 28 April 1997, ranking number 6 in the UK and number 78 in their only "Billboard" Hot 100" appearance. "High Times" was the final single, released on 1 December 1997, and peaked at number 9 the US Dance Club charts.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: After the album was released, Kay received backlash from the press for his interest in sports cars, because it contradicted his environmental beliefs on "Emergency on Planet Earth". The album's visual concept revolved around sports cars, with the Ferrari logo being recreated within band's Buffalo Man logo. "Paper" magazine also pointed out this contradiction with the music video for "Alright", "when Kay rolls up in his purple Lamborghini to party on the dance floor with a bevy of bodacious babes, concerns about seals, whales, rain forests and the revolution are checked at the door." He said that he was hesitant to release the album as he expected the backlash, but added "Just because I love to drive a fast car, that doesn't mean I believe in chopping trees down. It doesn't mean I think they should build more roads for my car". Keyboardist Toby Smith also said "We all want to be an ecologically conscious band, but we like cars[…] We're hypocrites like the rest of the world. But then again, you can only drive one car at a time.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: Critics have generally praised "Travelling Without Moving" for its focused and refined sound, as it deepened the acid-jazz and soul styles that were informed from their first two albums. Linton Chiswick of "Q" magazine said that this resulted in "a fat, squishy disco feel." Parry Gettelman also wrote that Kay had "evolved into quite a writer." "The Source" also gave the album 4 out of 5: ""Travelling" is essentially about the metaphysics of having a good time… Jamiroquai have a thousand musical tricks up their sleeves; edgy horns laced with jazz intricacies, energetic bass lines and disco rhythms, and a wider variety of tempos than usual in British funk." Tom Moon remarked that: "There are no digital samples on "Traveling Without Moving." In fact, just about every sound comes from a vintage analog instrument."


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: Stephen Thompson of "The A.V. Club" said that the album "sounds an awful lot like its predecessor", but concluded: "It's a tribute to Jamiroquai that more of the same still sounds pretty damned good." A "Music Week" reviewer wrote: "Jamiroquai still wear their influences firmly on their sleeve but this is their most accomplished and satisfying offering yet." Matt Diehl of "Entertainment Weekly" writes, "when it comes to Stevie Wonder, frontman Jason Kay still gets imitation confused with homage." In a 2004 discography review by Ben Sisario, "Travelling Without Moving" is the only Jamiroquai album rated slightly higher than others, with Sisario singling out "Virtual Insanity" and "Cosmic Girl" for being radio-friendly, but criticising the album's use of the didgeridoo. David Bennun of "Muzik" considered it "tepid funk" in an unfavorable review. The album's lyrics have also been criticised, with Matt Diehl writing they "ultimately strip away the soul."


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: For their single, "Virtual Insanity", the music video for it won Video of the Year and Breakthrough Video at the Video Music Awards, and Alternative/Modern Rock Clip of the Year and the Maximum Vision at the "Billboard" Music Awards. The song also earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Duo Or Group and the album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. "Travelling Without Moving" has won three best album awards at the MOBO and Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1997, and at the Hungarian Music Awards in 1998. Fnac listed the album in its 2008 list The 1000 Best Albums of All Time, in no order. "Pause & Play" ranked the album at number 11 in The 90s Top 100 Essential Albums in 1999. "Studio Brussel" included it in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2015. "Vibe" called "Travelling Without Moving" "the most infectious dance record since the 70’s disco revolution", and ranked it at number 42 in its 2013 list The 50 Greatest Albums Since '93.


title: Travelling Without Moving

text: The high album sales of "Travelling Without Moving" earned the band a "Guinness World Record" for the best-selling funk album in history. Paul Sexton of "Billboard" magazine credits this period of Jamiroquai as their American breakthrough: "Long a European success story for the Sony S2 label, the group once accused of being a mere Stevie Wonder soundalike has grown into its own style and added a substantial American audience in the process." However, the band were unable replicate their success in America since then. The music video of "Virtual Insanity" was described as "one of the most famous music videos ever", making them "icons of the music-video format", according to Spencer Kornhaber from "The Atlantic". The song also led to the climax of "1970s soul and funk that early acid jazz artists had initiated", according to writer Kennith Prouty. The Lamborghini Diablo SE30 was also considered a "Nineties icon" in part of the "Cosmic Girl" music video, according to "The Daily Telegraph".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Mastermind is a British television quiz show for the BBC, currently presented by Clive Myrie. Its creator, Bill Wright, drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II. The show features an intimidating setting and challenging questions. Four (and in later contests five or six) contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: "Mastermind"s theme music is "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The show was recorded, with original presenter Magnus Magnusson, on location at UK universities. Later, it was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before moving to dock10 studios in 2011. The show relocated to Belfast for the 2019–2020 series.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: For the first round, each contestant in turn is given a set length of time, usually two minutes (one minute and a half in semi-finals), to answer questions on a specialised subject which they have chosen. The contestant scores one point for each correct answer and may pass as often as desired. If the contestant responds incorrectly, the questioner gives the correct answer before continuing to the next question; answers to passed questions are read out only after time has expired. In early series, the score and time were kept by Mary Craig who sat next to Magnusson.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: If time runs out while a question is being read, the questioner will finish it and give the contestant a few seconds to answer. This has led to the programme's catchphrase, "I've started so I'll finish." If a question has been read out in full when time expires, but the contestants have not yet given an answer, they are allowed a few seconds to do so. The contestant's score is displayed on screen; beginning with the 2016–17 series, the border around the score gradually turns blue (black in the 2019–20 series) during the final 10 seconds.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: During the second round, each contestant in turn answers a series of general knowledge questions. The rules from the first round apply, except that the time limit is extended (usually two and a half minutes since 2010, or two minutes in semi-finals and until 2010). Originally, the contestants played in the same order as in the first round; currently, they play in ascending order by first-round score.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The winner is the contestant with the highest total score after two rounds. Ties are broken in favour of the contestant with the fewest total passes. If contestants have the same score and number of passes, a five-question tiebreaker is played. Each of the tied contestants answers the same set of questions individually, with the others exiting the studio so that they cannot hear the results. The contestant who gives the most correct answers is the winner.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The winners advance to the next round, for which they must choose a different specialised subject. In the early years of the programme, finalists were allowed to reuse their first round subjects in the grand final. However, from 1992 onwards, the finalists are required to choose a third subject. The winner of the final of the BBC version is declared "Mastermind" for that year and is the only contestant to receive a prize, in the form of a cut glass engraved bowl. During Magnus Magnusson's tenure as presenter, the trophy was specially manufactured by Caithness Glass. A special guest would always be invited to present the trophy to the winner, with the exception of the final edition in 1997, in which Magnusson presented it himself. Every trophy used by the main series has been made by Scottish artist Denis Mann.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: "Mastermind" (1972 to 1997) presented by Magnus Magnusson aired on television channel BBC1. It was originally broadcast late on a Sunday night and was not expected to receive a huge audience. In 1973 it was moved to a prime-time slot as an emergency replacement for a Leslie Phillips sitcom, "Casanova '73", which had been moved to a later time following complaints about its risqué content. The quiz subsequently became one of the most-watched shows on British television. Magnusson's catchphrase "I've started so I'll finish" was also the title of his history of the show. The original series was filmed in academic or ecclesiastical buildings. The last programme of the original series was filmed at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Discovery Channel's Mastermind (2001) was hosted by Clive Anderson. The commercials shortened the amount of time available for answering questions and lasted just one series. This was also the first to go 'interactive'. By using the red button viewers could play the general knowledge section throughout the series. These questions had been written specifically to afford both standard and multiple-choice format in presentation. There was a one-off competition between the four highest scoring viewers.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 2003, the current BBC Two version premiered, hosted by John Humphrys. Whereas the original series had kept talk to a minimum (asking contestants only their name, occupation and specialist subject), the new run had at first included some conversational elements with contestants, at the start of the General Knowledge round (normally about the contestant's specialist subject). But these have been dropped since the 2011 series. Instead there is now a brief monologue from the winner at the end of each episode about how pleased they are to have won. There is no discussion with the other contestants. It is also distinguished from the original BBC TV series because many more of the specialist subjects come from popular culture. This probably reflects cultural changes in the British middle classes in recent years. Unlike the original version, this version is studio-based. It is now made in MediaCity in Salford. Although, due to asbestos being found at Granada's Manchester studios parts of the 2006 series were filmed at Yorkshire Television's Leeds studios).


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In February 2021, Humphrys announced that after 18 years at the helm of the show, he would leave the show. On 22 March 2021, it was announced that Clive Myrie would take over as host. Myrie made his debut on 23 August 2021.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In the United States, the game show "2 Minute Drill" on sports network ESPN had its roots in "Mastermind". Contestants faced questions fired at them by a panel of four sports and entertainment celebrities for two minutes; like "Mastermind", there were two rounds of questions, but the first round had each panellist's questions representing a different sports category pertaining to their area of expertise, and the second round had no categories and the contestant could not control who asked the questions; they were fired at random. The contestant with the highest score after two rounds would win a cash prize, and would have a chance to double those winnings by correctly answering the untimed "Question of Great Significance," as host Kenny Mayne called it, from a speciality category chosen by the winner (usually a particular athlete or sports team from the past). In each series, winners advanced in a bracket-style playoff format, with cash prizes increasing from $5,000 in the first round to $50,000 (doubling to $10,000–$100,000 by answering the final question) in the final round. Prizes such as trips to the Super Bowl or ESPY Awards were also given, known as "ESPN Experiences". The show had three series over a 15-month period, from September 2000 to December 2001. Like "Mastermind", "2 Minute Drill" featured a leather chair, dramatic lighting and sound effects. Willy Gibson of Columbus, Ohio, was the grand champion of the first two series; he was defeated in the second round of the third and final series.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The highest overall "Mastermind" score is 41 points, set by Kevin Ashman in 1995, his specialist subject being "The Life of Martin Luther King Jr." Ashman went on to become six times IQA world champion. In addition he holds the record for the highest ever score on "Brain of Britain" and has been a member of the "Eggheads" since that series debut.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In August 2010 during an edition of "Mastermind Champion of Champions", the 2010 series champion, Jesse Honey, scored 23 out of 23 on "Flags of the World" in the specialist subject round, an all-time record. He finished as runner-up with a combined score of 36 points, losing out to Pat Gibson by having two more passes. Honey's score was equalled by Iwan Thomas, who scored a record 23 (in two-and-a-half minutes) in the general knowledge round in 2010.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: On "Junior Mastermind" in February 2007, an 11-year-old schoolboy called Callum scored 19 points on his specialist subject, cricketer Andrew Flintoff. However, he did not win, being beaten by one point after achieving a final score of 32.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The current record for the lowest score in the specialist subject round is jointly held by Simon Curtis, Steve Ferry, Nancy Lam and Amy Tapper, all of whom only scored 1 point when answering questions on the life and films of Jim Carrey, the Thirty Years' War, Rod Stewart and the films of Adam Sandler respectively.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The current record for the overall lowest score is 2 points, set on 5 November 2022 in a Celebrity edition by Gogglebox’s Amy Tapper, scoring 2 points overall, 1 on her specialist subject of the films of Adam Sandler and another in the general knowledge round.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: However, parasport athlete Kadeena Cox - who scored 3 points on 21 December 2016 in a Celebrity edition - scored all 3 points on her specialist subject of Arsenal F.C and she is currently the only ever contestant to score no points in a round.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Prior to these, the record for the overall lowest score was 5 points, set on 29 January 2010 by software analyst Kajen Thuraaisingham, scoring 4 points for his specialist subject of the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Previous to this, the lowest attained score had been 7 points which was first set by Colin Kidd in 2005. His specialist subject was "The World Chess Championships". The score was equalled in November 2009 by gas fitter Michael Burton; he only scored 2 for his specialist subject, Angels.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: "Mastermind Champion of Champions" was televised Monday to Friday at 7:30 pm on BBC Two in the first full week of August 2010. It featured the winners of previous series of "Mastermind".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Contestants sit in a black leather chair, lit by a solitary spotlight in an otherwise dark studio. The inspiration for this was the interrogations faced by the show's creator, Bill Wright, as a prisoner of war in World War II. The original black chair was given to Magnus Magnusson as a souvenir when he retired from the show, and is now owned by his daughter Sally Magnusson who inherited it following her father's death in 2007. On one occasion the original black chair was stolen by a group of students during the BBC crew's evening meal break, and held to ransom to raise money for charity. This prank delayed the recording of two programmes. The BBC subsequently commissioned a duplicate chair which was kept locked in the scenery truck at every recording to thwart similar ransom demands. The duplicate chair was never used on air, except in the title sequence, which was recorded in London while the main chair was on the road. Its current whereabouts are unknown.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The programme has been the target for many television spoofs, including a "Two Ronnies" sketch written by David Renwick (a less polished version had previously appeared in the Radio 4 series "The Burkiss Way") in 1980, featuring Ronnie Barker as Magnus Magnusson and Ronnie Corbett as a contestant named Charlie Smithers, whose specialist subject was "answering the question before last". A different sketch featured "Monty Python" alumni Michael Palin as Magnusson and Terry Gilliam as a contestant whose speciality was "questions to which the answer is "two"."


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 1974, Morecambe and Wise performed a sketch based on "Mastermind", which featured Magnusson and the black chair. The format was different, however, with Wise, then Morecambe, being asked 10 questions each.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 1975 The Goodies featured "Mastermind" in the episode "Frankenfido" when a dog (Bill Oddie in a suit) appeared on the show and managed to correctly answer questions asked of it as they all had answers that could be represented by growls, such as 'bark' and 'ruff'.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In the late 1970s, Noel Edmonds' radio Sunday lunchtime show featured a send-up called "Musty Mind" where a phone-in contestant would be asked ludicrous questions on a parody of a serious subject, such as the "Toad Racing" or, on another occasion, "The Cultural and Social History of Rockall" – Rockall being a bald lump of uninhabited rock in the eastern Atlantic.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The 2003-onwards version has been spoofed by the "Dead Ringers" team, with Jon Culshaw playing John Humphrys. In one send-up, which appeared on the television edition of "Dead Ringers", the contestant offered to answer questions on Mary Queen of Scots, but when an answer was given, John Humphrys was shown saying "Yes, but you sexed that answer up". The sketch was a reference to the controversy caused by the aftermath of the Iraq War. One episode included "Mastermind: The Opera".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Another spoof was featured in Armando Iannucci's "", where a contestant's specialist subject was "The television series "Thunderbirds" and Lady Penelope's Cockney chauffeur".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Also in 2004, Johnny Vaughan's BBC Three show "Live at Johnny's" featured a version called "Mastermind Rejects"—the premise being that the specialist subjects were too ludicrously obscure even for "Mastermind". In the final show of the series, Magnus Magnusson took over as the quizmaster—it was the last time he would utter the catchphrase "I've started so I'll finish" on any form of "Mastermind". The specialist subject was "The History of the Home Video Recorder, 1972 to 1984".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: On their 2005 Christmas Special, comedy duo French & Saunders parodied the show with Jennifer Saunders playing Abigail Wilson, a pensioner whose special subject is ceramic teapots. She passes on all but one question, which she answers incorrectly.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 2005, the show was spoofed on BBC Radio 4's "The Now Show" where the specialist subject was "Britishness", relating to the proposed test immigrants may have to take, to prove they can fit in with British society.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: Benny Hill parodied "Mastermind" on "The Benny Hill Show" on at least two occasions. In one of the parodies the show was called "Masterbrane". In each, Benny played the role of Magnusson while Jackie Wright played the hapless contestant.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: "Spitting Image" used the "Mastermind" format in a sketch where a Magnus Magnusson puppet asked questions of a Jeffrey Archer puppet whose specialist subject was himself. The twist was that Archer's puppet, being incapable of answering questions about himself without exaggeration or evasion, ends the round with zero points.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The BBC's satirical current affairs quiz show "Have I Got News for You" has parodied the show several times, by turning the lights down – except for spotlights above select chairs – and playing the theme tune, before subjecting at least one of the panel to some rigorous questioning. The first occasion was on the 1995 video special, when only regular captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton were asked questions; Hislop on "The Life and Lies of Jeffrey Archer", and Merton on "Absurd Newspaper Stories Between 1990 and 1995". The second occasion was in 1998, when Magnus Magnusson appeared as a guest. All four panellists were asked questions on this occasion.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In his early routines Bill Bailey would often parody the "Mastermind" music, finding it very sinister. He would then play the music on keyboard with an over-the-top hellish sounding climax. In the last episode of "Is It Bill Bailey?" he followed on from this performance with a sketch where he was a contestant on Mastermind, and it was implied that his specialist subject was the microwave cooking instructions on supermarket ready meals. As the camera panned out it became evident that the chair itself was on a platter, slowly turning in a giant microwave oven.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The Channel 4 Prank programme "Balls of Steel" parodied "Mastermind" with its sketch "The Alex Zane Cleverness Game", in which experts were quizzed on their specialist subjects (included were "The Life of Anne Frank", "Eurovision Song Contest Winners", and "Hercule Poirot"). Unbeknown to the experts, the show was a hoax, and incorrect answers were included to frustrate them whenever they supplied the correct answer.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: The BBC Three comedy show "Snuff Box" had the two main characters Rich Fulcher and Matt Berry both appear on "Mastermind". Berry chose his specialist subject as Alton Towers and only scored 3 points before a blackout, in which he apparently shoots the host after being told to sit down. Fulcher chooses 'Anglo-Saxon architecture', though displays no knowledge of the subject and makes up answers such as 'Toto from The Wizard Of Oz' and 'Elvis', and scoring no points.


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 2011, "The Chris Moyles Show" on BBC Radio 1 parodied the show with a feature called 'Disastermind'. Using the back-up chair from the "Mastermind" studio, each team member chose a specialist subject, only to have them swapped before being questioned in the chair on their randomly selected subject and general knowledge. The specialist subjects were The World of "Glee"; UK Dialling Codes; U2; Husky Dogs and "Back to the Future".


title: Mastermind (British game show)

text: In 2013, "Mastermind" featured on the ITV show "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway", as part of an Ant Vs Dec segment where Ant and Dec had to answer questions based around a school challenge they took part in. Ant won.


title: Attorney at law

text: Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the United States. In Canada, it is used only in Quebec as the English term for "avocat". The term has its roots in the verb "to attorn", meaning to transfer one's rights and obligations to another.


title: Attorney at law

text: The term was previously used in England and Wales and Ireland for lawyers who practised in the common law courts. They were officers of the courts and were under judicial supervision. Attorneys did not generally actually appear as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still usually is) for barristers. Solicitors, those lawyers who practised in the courts of equity, were considered to be more respectable than attorneys and by the mid-19th century many attorneys were calling themselves solicitors.


title: Attorney at law

text: The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 in England and Wales and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 in Ireland redesignated all attorneys as solicitors. The term persists in legal usage in the United Kingdom solely in the instance of patent attorneys, who are legal professionals having sat professional qualifications and are expert in acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice. They may, or may not, be additionally either solicitors or barristers, or have come to the practice through a technical expert route (e.g. following a PhD and period of practice in a scientific or engineering field).


title: Attorney at law

text: In the now three separate jurisdictions of England and Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, references in any enactment to attorneys, with the exception of patent attorneys, must be construed as references to solicitors.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government (, ) is the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government consists of the Scottish Ministers, which is used to describe their collective legal functions. The Scottish Government is accountable to the Scottish Parliament, which was also created by the Scotland Act 1998 with the first minister appointed by the monarch following a proposal by the Parliament. The responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament fall over matters that are not reserved in law to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.


title: Scottish Government

text: Ministers are appointed by the first minister with the approval of the Scottish Parliament and the monarch from among the members of the Parliament. The Scotland Act 1998 makes provision for ministers and junior ministers, referred to by the current administration as Cabinet secretaries and ministers, in addition to two law officers: the lord advocate and the solicitor general for Scotland. Collectively the Scottish Ministers and the Civil Service staff that support the Scottish Government are formally referred to as the Scottish Administration.


title: Scottish Government

text: In 1885, many domestic policy functions relating to Scotland were brought into the responsibility of the Scottish Office, a department of the Government of the United Kingdom which was headed by a Secretary for Scotland, later the Secretary of State for Scotland.


title: Scottish Government

text: Following the 1997 referendum on devolution, many of the functions of the Secretary of State for Scotland were transferred to the Scottish Ministers, accountable to a devolved Scottish Parliament.


title: Scottish Government

text: The first Scottish Executive was formed by First Minister Donald Dewar as a coalition between the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. During this period, ministerial appointees were divided into ministers and deputy ministers. The Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition continued under subsequent First Ministers Henry McLeish and Jack McConnell. Following the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, Alex Salmond headed a Scottish National Party administration until his resignation in 2014 and the appointment of his former Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.


title: Scottish Government

text: Since 2007, the Scottish Executive has used the name Scottish Government. The change of name was later recognised in law by the Scotland Act 2012. In 2001, former First Minister Henry McLeish had proposed such a change, but experienced some opposition.


title: Scottish Government

text: At the same time that the Scottish Government began to use its new name, a new emblem was adopted. It replaced the use of a version of the Royal Arms with the Flag of Scotland.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government is led by the First Minister of Scotland and consists of additional Scottish Ministers and the law officers.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Parliament nominates one of its members to be appointed as First Minister by the King. The First Minister appoints additional Ministers to a variety of ministerial portfolios. More senior ministers, known as Cabinet Secretaries, collectively form a cabinet with the First Minister. The Scottish law officers, the Lord Advocate and Solicitor, can be appointed without being a member of the Scottish Parliament, however, they are subject to the Parliament's approval and scrutiny. Law officers are also appointed by the King on the recommendation of the first minister.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Cabinet collectively takes responsibility for policy coordination within the Scottish Government. It is supported by the Cabinet Secretariat, based at St Andrew's House. While the Scottish Parliament is in session, Cabinet meets weekly. Normally meetings are held on Tuesday afternoons in Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister. Members of the Scottish Cabinet receive blue despatch boxes for their use while in office.


title: Scottish Government

text: Junior Scottish Ministers, who take the title of Minister, are also appointed to the Scottish Government. Each junior minister has oversight by a particular Cabinet Secretary.


title: Scottish Government

text: The responsibilities of the Scottish Ministers broadly follow those of the Scottish Parliament provided for in the Scotland Act 1998 and subsequent UK legislation. Where pre-devolution legislation of the UK Parliament provided that certain functions could be performed by UK Government ministers, these functions were transferred to the Scottish Ministers if they were within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.


title: Scottish Government

text: The 1998 Act also provided for orders to be made allowing Scottish Ministers to exercise powers of UK Government ministers in areas that remain reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Equally the Act allows for the Scottish Ministers to transfer functions to the UK Government ministers, or for particular "agency arrangements". This executive devolution means that the powers of the Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament are not identical.


title: Scottish Government

text: The most prominent reserved matters that remain under the exclusive control of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are:


title: Scottish Government

text: The members of the government have substantial influence over legislation in Scotland, putting forward the majority of bills that are successful in becoming Acts of the Scottish Parliament.


title: Scottish Government

text: In addition to the Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Government is supported by a number of officials drawn from the UK Civil Service. They are collectively referred to as the Scottish Administration in the Scotland Act 1998. According to 2012 reports, there are 16,000 civil servants working in core Scottish Government directorates and agencies.


title: Scottish Government

text: The civil service is a matter reserved to the British parliament at Westminster (rather than devolved to Holyrood): Scottish Government civil servants work within the rules and customs of His Majesty's Civil Service, but serve the devolved administration rather than British government.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Permanent Secretary is the Scottish Government's most senior civil servant. They lead the administration's strategic board as well as directly support the First Minister and cabinet and is the accountable officer with responsibility to ensure that the government's money and resources are used effectively and properly. The current permanent secretary is John-Paul Marks, who succeeded Leslie Evans in January 2022.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Permanent Secretary is a member of the UK Civil Service, and therefore takes part in the UK-wide Permanent Secretaries Management Group under the Cabinet Secretary who performs a number of similar functions in relation to the UK Government. The Scottish Government's Permanent Secretary is responsible to the Scottish Ministers in terms of policy.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government is divided into 49 directorates which execute government policy in specified areas. Unlike in the British government, senior ministers do not lead government departments and have no direct role in the operation of the directorates.


title: Scottish Government

text: The directorates are grouped together into seven "Directorates General", each run by a senior civil servant who is titled a "Director-General". As of May 2021, there are seven Directorates General:


title: Scottish Government

text: Supporting these directorates are a variety of other corporate service teams and professional groups.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service serves as an independent prosecution service in Scotland, and is a ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is headed by the Lord Advocate, who is responsible for prosecution, along with the procurators fiscal, under Scots law.


title: Scottish Government

text: The strategic board is composed of the permanent secretary, the seven directors-general, two chief advisers (scientific and economic) and four non-executive directors. The board is responsible for providing support to the government through the permanent secretary, and is the executive of the Scottish civil service.


title: Scottish Government

text: To deliver its work, there are 9 executive agencies established by ministers as part of government departments, or as departments in their own right, to carry out a discrete area of work. These include, for example, the Scottish Prison Service and Transport Scotland. Executive agencies are staffed by civil servants.


title: Scottish Government

text: There are two non-ministerial departments that form part of the Scottish administration, and therefore the devolved administration, but answer directly to the Scottish Parliament rather than to ministers: these are the General Register Office for Scotland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government is also responsible for a large number of non-departmental public bodies. These include executive NDPBs (e.g. Scottish Enterprise); advisory NDPBs (e.g. the Scottish Law Commission); tribunals (e.g. the Children's Panel and Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland); and nationalised industries (e.g. Scottish Water). These are staffed by public servants, rather than civil servants.


title: Scottish Government

text: The Scottish Government is also responsible for some other public bodies that are not classed as non-departmental public bodies, such as NHS Boards, Visiting Committees for Scottish Penal Establishments or HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland.


title: Scottish Government

text: The headquarters building of the Scottish Government is St Andrew's House, which is located on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. Some other government directorates are based at Victoria Quay and Saughton House in Edinburgh, and Atlantic Quay in Glasgow. The head offices of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Lord Advocate's Chambers are at Chambers Street in central Edinburgh.


title: Scottish Government

text: There are numerous other Edinburgh properties occupied by the Scottish Government. Both the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Scottish Human Rights Commission are based in the old Governor's House on the site of the former Calton Gaol, next door to St. Andrew's House on Regent Road. Other offices are scattered around central Edinburgh, including Bute House on Charlotte Square, the official residence of the first minister.