title: Ahmadu Bello

text: In the 1959 independence elections, Bello led the NPC to win a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Bello's NPC forged an alliance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) to form Nigeria's first indigenous federal government which led to independence from Britain. In forming the 1960 independence federal government of the Nigeria, Bello as president of the NPC, chose to remain Premier of Northern Nigeria and devolved the position of Prime Minister of the Federation to the deputy president of the NPC, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Bello originally embraced the Indirect rule system of colonial Nigeria before gradually embracing reforms. During his period of premiership, his biographer, John Paden described him as a progressive conservative, because he was an agent of change and also of the traditional elites. Bello's leadership characteristics was a blend of religious, traditional and modern values and his obligation in colonial and post-independence Nigeria was performing these different roles in the northern region.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Due to a limited number of qualified graduates from the region, Sir Ahmadu Bello instated the northernisation of the regions public service. Administration in the North was through indirect rule and Western education was not considered very important in many divisions. After the regionalization of the public service, political leaders in the region felt that the number of Northerners in the service was minimal in comparison to their counterparts in the South. Due to political considerations, leaders in the region limited the recruitment of Southerners into the Northern regional service and found ways to push up the ranks of northerners in junior and senior position.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: The leaders retained the services of expatriates, because Northerners regarded expatriates as transients but feared southern domination of the regional civil service. Measures were put in place to train northerners; in 1949, a scholarship board provided grants to almost all Northerners with qualifications to enter universities. In 1957, administration courses were taught at the Institute of Administration in Zaria. Apart from trying to fill positions in the civil service with Northerners, political leaders in the zone also made it a priority to secure Northern representation in senior positions of the Federal service.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Various institutions were created under Bello, including the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC), Bank of the North and Northern Nigeria Investments Ltd (NNIL). NNDC was an holding company with capital sourced from the region's marketing board while NNIL was a partnership between the Commonwealth Development Corporation and NNDC created to assist in the industrial development in Northern Nigeria.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Bello initiated plans to modernise traditional Koranic education in Northern Nigeria. He set up a commission to this effect and gave official recognition to the schools. The commission recommended the introduction of secular subjects in the schools and creation of different classes for pupils.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Bello's final years were characterized by his earlier years. A major priority of his was making sure the region was at par politically and economically with the Western and Eastern regions. This contributed to the decision to replace both Southerners and Europeans in the Northern region's civil services with Northerners, a policy that received criticism from opposition leaders such as Ibrahim Imam.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Prior to the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état, Bello received warnings from the Premier of the Western Region Samuel Akintola, and Brigadier Samuel Ademulegun.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: On 15 January 1966, Bello was assassinated by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu an Igbo Nigerian Army officer in a coup which toppled Nigeria's post-independence government. He was still serving as premier of Northern Nigeria at the time. This was the first coup in the history of Nigeria, which heralded the rise of the military in the country's politics. Also assassinated in the coup was his long time friend Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa alongside many political elites in the north and in the west.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Bello had three wives at the time of his death. Hafsatu, his senior wife, died alongside him. He had three surviving daughters with another wife, Amina (Goggon Kano). His eldest daughter was Inno, followed by Aisha and Lubabatu.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Bello's greatest legacy was the modernization and unification of the diverse people of Northern Nigeria.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: Ahmadu Bello believed that every Nigerian, and all human beings are created equally, that they are endowed by God with rights among which are life, liberty, equal opportunity, blessings and the legitimate pursuit of happiness. Throughout his political career and before, he espoused high morality and intellectual virtues.


title: Ahmadu Bello

text: A number of localities and monuments around the country have been named in Sardauna's honour. They include:


title: Freak the Mighty

text: Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1993, it was followed by the novel "Max the Mighty" in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, developmentally disabled, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed "Freak", who is physically disabled but very intelligent. Kevin is diagnosed with Morquio syndrome.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: The novel was adapted for the screen under the title "The Mighty" by Charles Leavitt; the film was shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Cincinnati, Ohio, and directed by Peter Chelsom, and released in 1998.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: The novel is set in a version of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the beginning of the book, Maxwell Kane is a young boy with low self-esteem. He lives with his grandfather, Grim, and grandmother, Gram. Max thinks of himself as a big butthead. People are afraid of him because he looks like his father, Kenneth "Killer" Kane, a convicted murderer. Max sets the stage for the story by reminiscing about his time in daycare, when he had met a boy named Kevin, or Freak, as their classmates called him. Kevin has Morquio syndrome, wears leg braces and uses crutches, and thinks of himself as a robot and is bullied by many bigger kids due to his short height. However, Max likes Kevin and thinks the crutches and leg braces are neat.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: Many years later, when Max is in middle school, he finds out that Freak and his mother, Gwen (referred to as "The Fair Guinevere") are moving into the house next door. When Max initially approaches Freak, Freak acts with hostility. However, sometime later, Max saves Kevin's toy ornithopter from a tree and they start to become friends. On the Fourth of July, they go to see the fireworks show and are attacked by an older boy, Tony "Blade" D. and his gang but avoid any mental or physical conflict. After the show, Blade chases the two with his gang after Freak calls him a cretin. Despite Max's lack of knowledge and disability, he escapes by acting on Freak's orders, but the two are driven into a muddy millpond, Freak riding on Max's shoulders. Freak gets the attention of a nearby police car, who drives off Blade's gang and takes the boys home. After this incident, Kevin starts riding on Max's shoulders regularly. They begin to call themselves "Freak the Mighty". They go on adventures such as going to the hospital which Freak claims has a secret department called the "Bionics Department" which has had his brain CT scanned to be fitted into a bionic body.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: On one adventure they find a woman's purse in the storm drain. They return it to the woman who is named Loretta Lee. She is the wife of Iggy Lee, leader of the Panheads, a motorcycle gang who "struck fear in everyone, even the cops", as Max puts it. Iggy says that the two of them once knew Max's father. They consider "having some fun" with the boys but don't because they are afraid that Max's father will get parole even though he's serving a life sentence. They also reveal that Kevin's father left once he heard that his son had a birth defect.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: Freak has an emergency at school and is taken to the hospital. Later, Grim reveals to Max that his father has been released from prison on parole. Throughout the story, it has been gradually revealed that Max's father killed his mother by strangling her. Grim and Gram dislike his dad, and are afraid of Max ending up like him. Grim threatens to buy a gun for the family's protection. Max is shocked and scared by the news of his father's parole. On Christmas Eve, Max is woken up by his father, Killer Kane, who has come to take him to train him to be his assistant. After Max is kidnapped by his father, the two walk to Iggy Lee's apartment in the Testaments.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: Killer Kane is even bigger than Max and acts in a very threatening, intimidating manner towards everyone, including his son, whom he keeps tied up on a small chair. Killer Kane swears that he did not murder Max's mother and calls himself "a man of God". On Christmas morning he leaves Max alone, tied up in a room in an old abandoned apartment. Loretta, shocked that Kane would do something like that to his own child, tries to help him escape. Killer Kane catches her and starts to strangle her. He begins but is interrupted by Max. Max tries to get up and rips off the rope to which the old boiler has been attached. Max attempts to stop him and reveals that he witnessed his father kill his mother in the same fashion. Kane lets go of Loretta, letting her lie on the ground breathing like a "broken bird" and gives up on training Max to be his obedient assistant so he tries to murder him by strangling him, the same as what he did to Max's mother, but Freak arrives just in time and saves Max by squirting Kane with a squirt gun in the eye which he claims is filled with sulfuric acid when in fact, as Freak reveals later, it is filled with soap, vinegar, and curry powder. The police are waiting outside, and Killer Kane is taken back to prison and has to serve his original sentence plus ten years. Killer Kane pleads guilty.


title: Freak the Mighty

text: After having a seizure on his birthday, Freak is admitted into the hospital, where he gives Max a blank book, telling him to write the story of Freak the Mighty in it. Max returns to the hospital the next day to find that Freak died because his heart became too big for his body. Dr. Spivak, Kevin's doctor, reveals that Freak knew he was going to have a very short life, but he told Max he was going to get a bionic body because it would give himself hope. The Fair Gwen moves away, with a new man she is in love with, and Max misses Freak's funeral, staying in his room, the "down under" for months. Not even Grim or Gram can get him out, until Grim orders Max to return to school. One day, Max sees Loretta, who tells him "Doing nothing's a drag, kid", so Max writes all of the adventures he and Freak had, in honor of his best friend.


title: Pre-medical

text: Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med coursework, volunteer activities, clinical experience, research, and the application process. Some pre-med programs providing broad preparation are referred to as “pre-professional” and may simultaneously prepare students for entry into a variety of first professional degree or graduate school programs that require similar prerequisites (such as medical, veterinary, or pharmacy schools).


title: Pre-medical

text: At most colleges and universities, students do not have the option of pre-medical academic major or minor. A student on a pre-med track may choose any undergraduate major in any field, so long as certain required courses are completed. Such courses are generally focused in the scientific fields of biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, neuroscience, behavioral sciences and physics, which are necessary to prepare for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and satisfy most medical school prerequisites. It is for this reason students on a pre-med track generally undertake a major associated with one of those fields; however, an increasing number of students with a background in humanities have been applying in recent years, a situation applauded by medical schools. For example, Mount Sinai School of Medicine has created a program specifically for non-science majors. The Humanities and Medicine (HuMed) program admits undergraduates majoring in the humanities or social sciences "without" requiring the MCAT, or science coursework.


title: Pre-medical

text: Typical pre-med students will structure their coursework in their first year in university to accommodate the required courses. After a semester, many pursue extracurricular activities that demonstrate a commitment to medicine. Once junior year arrives, students register for and take the MCAT, the required standardized exam that medical schools use to identify qualified candidates. Once the test is taken, students apply to various schools using the automated American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) system, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS) system, or in some cases, the school's own application system. AMCAS primary applications are verified by AMCAS staff, a process that often takes four to six weeks. The application process consists of a review of academic records, MCAT scores, activities, work experience, and a personal statement. Applicants can expect to hear from schools within a few months, at which point they may receive "secondary applications".


title: Pre-medical

text: Different schools have different policies on sending secondary applications to students; many send secondary applications to all students, others screen applications prior to inviting an applicant to submit a secondary application. These applications are generated by each individual school. They generally contain essay questions that the applicant must answer to demonstrate that the applicant possesses qualities that the schools deem necessary to be a good medical student and physician. Qualified applicants can next expect to receive invitations to interview at schools. Upon completion of an interview and receipt of any additional application materials, the application is considered to be complete, and the student then waits for the school's decision to either accept or reject the student.


title: Pre-medical

text: Some applicants receive admittance to medical school through a "post-baccalaureate" pre-medical program. These programs may be formal, such as the programs offered through Columbia, Johns Hopkins, George Washington, Mayo Clinic with Barrett, The Honors College, Bryn Mawr, Goucher and Scripps, or semi-formal, such as the program offered at Harvard, but often consist of a student informally enrolling in a college to complete science coursework required for admission to medical school prior to sitting for the MCAT. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) maintains a list of all formal and semi-formal post-baccalaureate pre-medical programs in the United States.


title: Pre-medical

text: The AAMC has created a list of required courses that every pre-med student must take. Each school is allowed to place its own further requirements.


title: Pre-medical

text: The pre-medical coursework is offered at many American colleges and universities; however, it is considered to be a "track" that follows a certain curriculum. Most pre-medical students major in the natural and applied sciences, such as agricultural science, biology, chemistry, or physics, though this is not a requirement. Some pre-professional degree programs in agriculture prepare students for direct entry into the workforce in fields in high demand, while also meeting requirements for medical or veterinary schools. The latter curriculum model is meant to enhance employability of graduates awaiting admission or choosing not to attend professional or graduate school.


title: Pre-medical

text: The courses that must be taken to meet the pre-medical requirements from the AAMC are three years, with one being in chemistry, one year of biology, and one year of physics. These course requirements are expected to change since the MR5 Committee, charged with revising the MCAT has created a new set of core competencies for success in medical education and practice. Those core competencies will include a greater emphasis on molecular genetics within the biology curriculum and will include biochemistry. In addition, the 2015 MCAT will test in areas related to multicultural sensitivity and in critical analysis of ethics and philosophy.


title: Pre-medical

text: Many colleges of medicine and undergraduate pre-medical advising offices have yet to formalize pre-medical curricular recommendations. Though it did not address changes in the mathematics, physics, psychosocial or humanities portion of pre-medical education, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) developed a set of pre-medical curricular recommendations. ASBMB advocated that the year of biology includes genetics; that general and organic chemistry be taught with an orientation toward the chemistry of molecules encountered in living things; that one semester of biochemistry be required and two semesters of biochemistry be recommended; and that the laboratory course requirement can be taught in biology, chemistry or biochemistry, so long as research methods and data analysis are emphasized.


title: Pre-medical

text: Pre-medical students may be advised or required to take upper level biology and chemistry electives, such as cellular biology, physical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics. Specific requirements for these courses vary by institution. Schools may also have requirements for non-science classes. Some require a certain number of general humanities credits, while others have specific requirements for courses in English, psychology, or other disciplines.


title: Pre-medical

text: Many pre-medical students volunteer in a health care setting to explore the option of a career in medicine. Past volunteer experience can increase an applicant's chances of acceptance to a medical school. Often volunteer experiences are topics of discussion during medical school interviews. Some students "shadow" a physician, where the student follows a physician, directly observing the doctor as they care for patients.


title: Pre-medical

text: In Australia and the United Kingdom, a number of universities offer a three- or four-year Bachelor of Medical Science, Bachelor of Health Sciences or Biomedical Science degree, which is similar in content and aim to pre-med courses in the US.


title: Seven Sundays (2017 film)

text: Seven Sundays is a 2017 Philippine Family Comedy-drama film directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. It stars Aga Muhlach, Ronaldo Valdez, Cristine Reyes, Dingdong Dantes and Enrique Gil. The film marks Muhlach's return since "Of All The Things" in 2012. The film was produced and released by Star Cinema on October 11, 2017.


title: Seven Sundays (2017 film)

text: Widowed, left by his children who are living their own lives dedicating no time for the family, Manuel Bonifacio (Ronaldo Valdez) is lonely and becoming depressed. One day, he call his children, Allan (Aga Muhlach), Bryan (Dingdong Dantes), Cha (Cristine Reyes) and Dex (Enrique Gil), to reveal that he was diagnosed with cancer and will soon be dying with only seven weeks left to live. Because of the news that hit the family, the Bonifacio siblings reunite and help each other in order to spend their father's remaining days with him.


title: Mary Birdsong

text: Mary Evans Birdsong (born April 18, 1968) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and singer. She has worked in the theater and voiceover work and is a regular cast member on "Reno 911!"


title: Mary Birdsong

text: Birdsong was born in Florida and grew up on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, one of five sisters. She graduated from Southern Regional High School in 1986.


title: Mary Birdsong

text: Birdsong is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she earned a BFA in acting. She made her on-screen debut in the 1996 TV film "Live On Tape". She is best known as Deputy Cherisha Kimball on the comedy series "Reno 911!" (2005-2007, 2020–present) and it's two spin-off movies in 2007 and 2021. She is also known for playing Nancy McDonald in Rob Zombie's "Halloween II" and Kai Mitchell opposite George Clooney in the Alexander Payne film "The Descendants". She appeared alongside Adrien Brody in the stoner comedy "High School" (2010), playing Mrs. Gordon, a high school dean's promiscuous wife. She has also made numerous cameos on film and television, including in the major productions "Made of Honor" and "", and the psychological thriller "Buried". She is a former correspondent on "The Daily Show" and "Crossballs". As a voice actress, she has appeared in animated series such as "Goldie and Bear", "Stroker and Hoop", "Little Bill" (as Dorado's mom in the episode "New Foods"), "", "Tak & the Power of Juju", "T.U.F.F. Puppy" and "Stroker and Hoop", as well as the video game "" and "", and animated film "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe".


title: Mary Birdsong

text: From July 2006 to January 2007, Birdsong performed in the "" comedy musical, alongside Martin Short, Marc Shaiman, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas, and Capathia Jenkins, winning a Theatre World Award for her performance. On January 29, 2008, Birdsong joined the Broadway cast of the musical, "Hairspray". She played the role of Velma Von Tussle, the bigoted, pushy stage mother and television producer. Birdsong left the production on April 6, 2008. She then performed her one-woman show "3 Days in the Tub: A Mama Drama" in Los Angeles at Comedy Central Stage (September 2010) & the Fake Gallery (November 2010), and in New York City at Joe's Pub (January 2011). before going to San Francisco to play Mona Ramsey in ACT's adaptation of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City". She is also known for her Judy Garland impression.


title: Mary Birdsong

text: Together with author Justin Halpern ("Shit My Dad Says") and comic Jen Kober ("American Reunion"), Birdsong performed as a member of the May 2012 cast of "Don't Tell My Mother!", an LA-based comedy showcase.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: "Chapter 9: The Marshal" is the first episode of the second season of the American streaming television series "The Mandalorian". It was written and directed by the series' showrunner Jon Favreau and released on Disney+ on October 30, 2020. The episode stars Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, a lone bounty hunter on the run with "the Child", in search of other Mandalorians to help him return the Child to his people.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: Seeking other Mandalorians to help him reunite the Child with its kind, the Mandalorian approaches gangster Gor Koresh, who attempts to kill him for his beskar armor but fails. Under interrogation, he reveals that a Mandalorian has been seen in the town of Mos Pelgo on Tatooine. Returning to Tatooine, the Mandalorian is reunited with mechanic Peli Motto. Although she thought that Mos Pelgo had been destroyed, her droid R5-D4 shows them an old map.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: The Mandalorian finds Mos Pelgo and confronts the town's marshal, Cobb Vanth, who is wearing dark green Mandalorian armor. Vanth reveals that he is not a Mandalorian but bought the armor from Jawas and then used it to fight off the Mining Collective that overtook the town after the collapse of the Empire. After Vanth and the Mandalorian witness a Krayt Dragon eating the town's livestock, Vanth agrees to give up the armor, if the Mandalorian helps kill the dragon.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: On the way to the dragon's lair, Vanth and the Mandalorian encounter a tribe of Tusken Raiders, who agree to help them kill the dragon. The Mandalorian volunteers the Mos Pelgo townspeople as reinforcements. Vanth and the Mandalorian convince the townsfolk to work with the Tuskens, who agree not to attack the town in exchange for the dragon's carcass.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: Together, the Tuskens and the townsfolk bury explosives in front of the cave, planning to lure the dragon out and detonate them beneath its vulnerable belly. The dragon survives the explosion and spews acid at them, inflicting heavy casualties. The Mandalorian baits the dragon into swallowing him and a bantha loaded with explosives. He escapes from inside the dragon and detonates the explosives, successfully killing it.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: The Tuskens butcher the carcass and recover a valuable pearl. Vanth relinquishes the armor as promised, and the Mandalorian leaves on friendly terms. Meanwhile, a heavily scarred figure watches from afar.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: The episode was written and directed by the series' creator Jon Favreau, marking his directorial debut in the series. Favreau wrote a majority of season one episodes, but could not direct any due to schedule conflicts with "The Lion King" (2019). The character of Cobb Vanth was first featured in the "" novel trilogy, published between 2015 and 2017. Chuck Wendig, the trilogy's author, was unaware of Vanth's appearance in the episode and only became aware after receiving some direct messages and emails which notified him about it.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: The co-starring actors cast for this episode are John Leguizamo as the voice of Gor Koresh, Amy Sedaris returning as Peli Motto, Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth, and Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett. Additional guest starring actors cast for this episode include Isaac C. Singleton Jr. as a Twi'lek doorman, David Choe as a ringside spectator, Miguel A. Lopez and Xavier Jimenez as Tusken Raiders, Leilani Shui as a Jawa, W. Earl Brown as a Weequay proprietor, Dietrich Gray as a villager of Mos Pelgo, Karisma Gideon as Jo, and Dylan Curtis as a boy from Mos Pelgo. Choe also provided the graffiti which appear in the episode. Barry Lowin, Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder are credited as stunt doubles for the Mandalorian. Paul Darnell is credited as stunt double for Cobb Vanth, while Legacy Effects supervisor John Rosengrant is credited as performance artist for Gor Koresh. "The Child" was performed by various puppeteers.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: Ludwig Göransson composed the musical score for the episode. The featured tracks were released on November 20, 2020 in the first volume of the season two soundtrack.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: The majority of the episode is shown in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio, while the krayt dragon fight at the end of the episode was expanded to a 1.78:1(16:9) aspect ratio, similar to IMAX format.


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: "Chapter 9: The Marshal" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode received an approval rating of 95% based on reviews from 82 critics, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With surprising twists, delightful turns, and tons of turbo-loaded action, "The Marshal" is a spectacular return for "The Mandalorian" that doesn't skimp on the Baby Yoda."


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: Nick Allen of "RogerEbert.com" praised the krayt dragon action sequence and Ludwig Göransson's score. Dan Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" was concerned that season 2 of the show might become bloated or spoiled in some way by its success, but concluded, "The result was, for a little show, easily its biggest and perhaps most purely entertaining episode to date."


title: Chapter 9: The Marshal

text: Ben Lindbergh of "The Ringer" criticized the episode's similarity to previous episodes and stated that the episode "resembled a blend of the mostly monster-of-the-week episodes in the middle of last season, which didn’t shed a lot of light on the overarching plot."


Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (25 October 1832 – 18 December 1909) was the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. He was the first owner of the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in Saint Petersburg.


title: Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

text: On 16 August 1857, he married Princess Cecilie of Baden (1839–1891), daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Sophie of Sweden. Cecily adopted the name Olga Fedorovna, and had the following children with him:


text: He served 20 years (1862–1882) as the Governor General of Caucasia, being seated in Tbilisi, the town which most of his children remembered as the home of their childhood. In the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), he was nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Russian troops in the Caucasus and was appointed Field Marshal General in April 1878.


text: In the course of his life, four members of his family ruled as Emperors of Russia: his father, Nicholas I; his brother, Alexander II; his nephew, Alexander III; as well as his grand-nephew, Nicholas II, whose second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, the Grand Duke was godfather to.


text: He died in Cannes, France, on 18 December 1909. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Paul I of Russia.


title: Landry's

text: Landry's, Inc., is an American, privately owned, multi-brand dining, hospitality, entertainment and gaming corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas. Landry's, Inc. owns and operates more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and entertainment destinations in 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The company also owns and operates numerous international locations.


title: Landry's

text: Landry's, Inc., is owned entirely by President & CEO Tilman Fertitta, an original partner in the company's first Landry's Seafood, which opened in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, in 1980. A year later, Fertitta bought Willie G's, a seafood restaurant in Houston. In 1986, Fertitta gained controlling interests in both restaurants. He became CEO and took the company public in 1993, with a valuation of $30 million.


title: Landry's

text: Under Fertitta, the company expanded. In 2010, already the majority shareholder, Fertitta acquired all outstanding shares of company stock, gaining sole control and ownership. By 2011, the company's value had risen to more than $1.7 billion.


title: Landry's

text: Throughout the 1990s, Landry's, Inc., expanded, developing and acquiring restaurant, entertainment, hospitality, and gaming businesses. In 1994, Landry's, Inc., acquired Joe's Crab Shack. In 2006, Landry's, Inc. sold Joe's Crab Shack, which had grown to more than 120 locations, to J.H. Whitney & Company. During the decade, the company acquired a number of other restaurants, including The Crab House and Cadillac Bar.


title: Landry's

text: Landry's, Inc., expanded its hospitality and entertainment divisions in 1996, acquiring the San Luis Resort, a 32-acre beachfront resort on Galveston Island's historic Seawall Boulevard and built on top of the former Fort Crockett. In 2004, Landry's, Inc. partnered with the City of Galveston to open a 140,000 square foot convention center, the Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort. In 2003, the company acquired the adjacent Holiday Inn Resort Galveston – On the Beach. In 2004, the adjacent Hilton Galveston Island Resort was acquired. In total, the San Luis Resort includes 700 guest rooms, 10 restaurants, and 200,000 square feet of event space.


title: Landry's

text: The company's hospitality division also includes The Westin Houston Downtown in Downtown Houston and the Boardwalk Inn on the Kemah Boardwalk. In 1998, the company developed the 35-acre Kemah Boardwalk, with a hotel, a marina, more than 10 restaurants, and dozens of midway games, amusement rides, and attractions.


title: Landry's

text: After 2000, Landry's, Inc., continued to grow. In 2000, the company acquired Rainforest Cafe, a collection of jungle-inspired restaurants and retail villages. In 2002, the company acquired three national seafood restaurants: Saltgrass Steak House, Chart House, and Muer Restaurants.


title: Landry's

text: In 2003, the company opened the Downtown Aquarium, a 20-acre entertainment complex in Houston with an aquarium, a restaurant built around a 150,000-gallon, floor-to-ceiling centerpiece aquarium, a bar, banquet facilities, amusement rides, and midway games. A train carries guests into a tunnel running through a 250,000-gallon shark tank. Other Aquarium restaurants have since opened in Denver, Nashville, and on the Kemah Boardwalk in Texas.


title: Landry's

text: In 2005, the company acquired Golden Nugget Hotel & Casinos, with locations in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. Landry's, Inc., has since opened three additional locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Biloxi, Mississippi and Lake Charles, Louisiana.


title: Landry's

text: On October 14, 2008, T-Rex Cafe a dinosaur themed restaurant chain at Disney Springs formerly known as Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida location was also opened to the public and the Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kansas location was opened in 2006 and which was closed on August 13, 2017, replaced by Michael Kors and it is themed after "The Rite of Spring" segment by Igor Stravinsky in the 1940 Walt Disney's animated film "Fantasia" (1940).


title: Landry's

text: In 2010, Landry's, Inc., acquired three new restaurants: Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a collection of seafood restaurants themed on the movie "Forrest Gump", The company also acquired Claim Jumper, a national chain of family restaurants. The Oceanaire, a national collection of seafood restaurants, is known for flying in fresh fish daily.


title: Landry's

text: In 2011, Landry's bought two more restaurants – McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks and Morton's The Steakhouse. In 2012, the company expanded its entertainment division, with the opening of the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier.


title: Landry's

text: In 2013, Landry's acquired Mastro's restaurants. The company has developed and acquired a collection of restaurants called Landry's Signature Group, which include Vic & Anthony's, Grotto, Brenner's Steakhouse, Brenner's on the Bayou, La Griglia, and Willie G's Seafood & Steaks. In 2016, Landry's acquired the BR Guest restaurant brand.


title: Landry's

text: In August 2017, Landry's re-acquired Joe's Crab Shack restaurants from Ignite Restaurant Group, who had filed for bankruptcy protection on June 6, 2017. Landry's had sold Joe's to Ignite's predecessor in 2006. The Ignite group's Brick House Tavern and Tap restaurants were also included in the deal.


title: Landry's

text: In September 2019, Landry's bought Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited Inc, adding Skates on the Bay, Portland City Grill, Manzana Grill, Palisade, Cutters Crabhouse, Stanford's, Henry's Tavern, Kincaid's, Palomino Restaurant & Bar, and Portland Seafood Company to its portfolio.


title: Landry's

text: Also in September 2019, Landry's acquired Del Frisco's Grille and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak Houses for around $650 million.


title: Landry's

text: Landry's, Inc. will assume ownership of a 60% stake in the online casino platform, Golden Nugget Online Casino as part of the deal to go public.


title: Landry's

text: Landry's, Inc. owns aquariums in Houston, Denver, Nashville, and Kemah, Texas. All aquariums contain restaurants branded in Landry's Aquarium subsidiary.


title: Landry's

text: On September 19, 2016, a consortium of parties, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), sent Landry's a notice of an intended lawsuit against it under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit notice concerned the alleged treatment and habitat conditions of four white tigers exhibited at the Downtown Aquarium, Houston. The ALDF complained that the four tigers, which are federally protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, “are kept in deplorable conditions” at the Aquarium. According to a press release provided by the ALDF:"For the last 12 years, Landry’s has deprived these four tigers [...] of any access to sunlight, fresh air, or natural surfaces. These species-inappropriate living conditions violate the ESA [...]. At no point do the tigers have the opportunity to run, jump, or engage in the full range of their natural behaviors. "The dungeon-like conditions that the tigers are forced to endure at Houston’s Downtown Aquarium harm their physical health and psychological wellbeing and deny them much that is natural and important to a tiger," says renowned big cat veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad. "It is cruel to confine complex, roaming carnivores such as tigers to a tiny, dark, artificial, unenriched enclosure where they never see any daylight, much less bask in sunshine, and are at risk for serious long term, debilitating injuries from being forced to live on slippery, unyielding concrete their entire lives." […] "By forcing these tigers to live in what amounts to a concrete dungeon, Landry’s has profited financially, but caused the tigers serious mental and physical harm ... Retiring the tigers to a sanctuary will guarantee that the tigers may spend the rest of their lives in the species-appropriate conditions that they need and deserve.” Before the expiration of the 60-day notice period, Landry's sued the ALDF and its co-parties to the original lawsuit notice for defamation, business disparagement, tortious interference with prospective business relations, and abuse of process. In response, the ALDF filed a motion for the dismissal of the defamation lawsuit, citing Texas’ Anti-SLAPP law, which allows judges to dismiss meritless lawsuits filed against those who speak out about a “matter of public concern.”


title: Landry's

text: On February 22, 2017, Harris County District Judge Steven Kirkland dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Landry's and further ordered Landry's to pay $450,000 in penalties and an additional $174,000 in legal fees to deter the company from filing such lawsuits in the future. The decision to dismiss the defamation lawsuit by Landry's was affirmed on October 18, 2018, by the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas, although the penalties sanctioned on Landry's were reduced.


title: Dōtonbori

text: One of the area's most prominent features, a billboard for confectionery company Glico displaying the image of a runner crossing a finishing line, is seen as an icon of Osaka within Japan.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Dōtonbori traces its history back to 1612, when the administrator of local canals, Nariyasu Dōton, began construction of the canal on the southern edge of Osaka. Nariyasu Dōton was joined by Yasui Jihē, Yasui Kuhē, and Hirano Tōjirō. Construction was interrupted: Yasui Jihē died after an illness and Nariyasu Dōton died during the Siege of Osaka in summer 1615, having fought on the losing side of Toyotomi Hideyori. Yasui Kuhē and Hirano Tōjirō continued construction and the canal was completed by September 1615. The new lord of Osaka Castle, Tadaki Matsudaira, named the canal and avenue beside it Dōtonbori ("bori" from "hori", meaning "canal"), even though Nariyasu Dōton had been on the losing side during the siege.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Over time, the story changed to credit the canal to a fictional local entrepreneur, Yasui Dōton. According to the revised story, Yasui Dōton began expanding the tiny Umezu River at his own expense in 1612, hoping to increase commerce in the region by connecting the two branches of the Yokobori River with a canal running east–west. He also died during the Siege of Osaka and his cousin finished the canal in 1615. The popularity of the revised story resulted in a stone monument erected for Yasui Dōton in 1915 at the north end of Nipponbashi. In the 1965 Dōtonbori Trial (道頓堀裁判) disputing the ownership rights of the canal, it was determined that Yasui Dōton was a fictional character, based on Yasui family records dating back to the 1600s.


title: Dōtonbori

text: The character of Dōtonbori became defined in 1621 when the Tokugawa Shogunate instituted urban planning and designated Dōtonbori as the entertainment district of Osaka. Yasui Kuhē is credited with luring playhouses and performance tents to the district, and the theatre owners rewarded the Yasui family by reserving a box for each performance. By 1662, the avenue boasted six Kabuki theatres and five Bunraku theatres, as well as the unique Takeda Karakuri mechanical puppet theatre. Many restaurants and cafes were built to cater to the flood of tourists and entertainment-seekers pouring nightly into Dōtonbori.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Over the years, declining interest in traditional forms of entertainment led to the closing of most of Dōtonbori's original attractions. Its five remaining theatres were bombed and destroyed during World War II.


title: Dōtonbori

text: A redevelopment project was started in the 1960s to improve water quality in the canal. Land on the north and south banks was reclaimed to raise the river walls, and to partially fund the project, half the reclaimed land was sold to the owners of the land next to the canal. The other half was designated as a greenbelt parkway. The Dōtonbori Trial began when the descendants of Yasui Kuhē, one of the two people who had completed the canal in 1615, filed suit against the city and prefectural governments over ownership rights to the land along the canal.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Further development of the land bordering the canal began in 2001, and the between Tazaemonbashi and Ebisubashi was opened to the public in 2004. Prior to that time, development along the canal primarily focused on the streets parallel to it (Dōtonbori Street on the south bank, and Sōemonchō Street on the north bank), and very few storefronts faced the canal itself.


title: Dōtonbori

text: is a Japanese word meaning "to ruin oneself [go bankrupt] by extravagant spending on food" or, more pithily, "eat until you drop". It is sometimes romanised as "cuidaore", and is part of a larger proverb: , reflecting local priorities (and artistry) in the clothing and food of Kyoto and Osaka, respectively.


title: Dōtonbori

text: The phrase is associated with Dōtonbori, and is often used in tourist guides and advertisements. It can be seen in the names of several locations in Dōtonbori, such as the mascot Kuidaore Taro and the defunct restaurant Cui-daore.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Some foods associated specifically with Osaka and kuidaore include okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and kitsune udon.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Osaka is a major destination for tourists, both domestic and international. The Dotonbori district is a popular area for visitors to the city and boasts a number of well known restaurants offering a range of traditional and modern Japanese dishes.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Motor vehicles cross the canal by way of either Dōtonboribashi (part of Midosuji Avenue) at the west end or Nipponbashi (part of Sakaisuji Avenue) at the east end of the main Dōtonbori district. In between are several footbridges connecting the Namba and Shinsaibashi shopping districts to Dōtonbori, such as Tazaemonbashi and Aiaibashi.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Ebisubashi is just east of the Glico Man billboard. Originally constructed to provide access to the nearby Ebisu Shrine, the bridge is the location of a legendary curse on Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. More practically, the bridge provides a link between the Shinsaibashi-suji and Ebisubashi-suji shopping districts.


title: Dōtonbori

text: Due to the familiarity of the Glico Man, Ebisubashi makes for a convenient gathering point, hence its nicknames, "nanpa-bashi", mostly used by foreigners, and "hikkake-bashi" ("the pulling bridge"), mostly used by native Japanese.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Dominique Anglade (born January 31, 1974) is a business woman and a Canadian politician who served as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition of Quebec from May 11, 2020 to December 1, 2022. She has served as a member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 2015 to 2022, representing Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne. She is the first woman to lead the Quebec Liberal Party, the first black woman to lead a provincial party in Canada (at the federal level, Vivian Barbot was interim leader of the Bloc Québécois in 2011), and the first person of Haitian descent to be a cabinet minister in Canada. She is the daughter of the academic Georges Anglade. She was also the first woman CEO of Montréal International.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade was born in Montreal to Georges and Mireille Neptune Anglade. Georges Anglade was a founder of the Université du Québec and a longtime geography professor there, as well as a special advisor to Haitian presidents Jean-Bertrand Aristide and René Préval. Mireille Neptune Anglade completed a PhD in economics and worked for NATO monitoring women's rights in Haiti.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade holds an MBA from HEC Montréal and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Before she entered politics, Anglade worked for the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Montreal.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade was formerly associated with the Coalition Avenir Québec. She ran as the CAQ candidate in Fabre in the 2012 election, losing to Liberal Gilles Ouimet. She served as the president of the CAQ from 2012 to 2013. She left that position to become CEO of Montreal International.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: In 2015, Anglade joined the Quebec Liberal Party, and stood as their candidate in a by-election for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne. She explained her political shift by citing objections to the CAQ's positions on ethnic identity and immigration. She was elected on November 9.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade served in the cabinet of Philippe Couillard as the Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade from 2016 to 2018. This made Anglade the first person of Haitian descent to exercise a ministerial function in Canada and the second woman in Canada. In 2017, Anglade was named Deputy Premier of Quebec, holding that office until the Liberal government's defeat in the 2018 election.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: On June 27, 2019, following the departure of Philippe Couillard as party leader, Anglade announced her candidacy for the 2020 Quebec Liberal Party leadership election. She ran on a platform of returning the party to the Quebec nationalism within a framework of federalism associated with previous leaders Robert Bourassa and Jean Lesage. She also emphasized expanding the support base of the PLQ beyond Montreal, since the 2018 defeat of the Liberal Party was largely attributed to an overwhelming rejection by voters who lived outside of Montreal. To that end, she campaigned on a Charter of Regions that made dozens of specific commitments to communities across the province.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade was named party leader on May 11, 2020, after her opponent, Alexandre Cusson (), dropped out of the race. This made her the first woman to lead the Quebec Liberal Party, and the first black woman to lead a provincial party in Quebec.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade has served on the Board of Directors of several organisations including the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, the United Way of Canada, and the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine.


title: Dominique Anglade

text: Anglade's mother, father, uncle, and cousin were killed in the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. Following the earthquake, Anglade co-founded the organisation Kanpe (which is Haitian Creole for "stand up"), a charity to assist rural Haitians with rebuilding after the disaster.


title: Collusion

text: Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to attain objectives forbidden by law; for example, by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage. It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities.


title: Collusion

text: It can involve "unions, wage fixing, kickbacks, or misrepresenting the independence of the relationship between the colluding parties". In legal terms, all acts effected by collusion are considered void.


title: Collusion

text: In the study of economics and market competition, collusion takes place within an industry when rival companies cooperate for their mutual benefit. Conspiracy usually involves an agreement between two or more sellers to take action to suppress competition between sellers in the market. Because competition among sellers can provide consumers with low prices, conspiracy agreements increase the price consumers pay for the goods. Because of this harm to consumers, it is against antitrust laws to fix prices by agreement between producers, so participants must keep it a secret. Collusion often takes place within an oligopoly market structure, where there are few firms and agreements that have significant impacts on the entire market or industry. To differentiate from a cartel, collusive agreements between parties may not be explicit; however, the implications of cartels and collusion are the same.


title: Collusion

text: Under competition law, there is an important distinction between direct and covert collusion. Direct collusion generally refers to a group of companies communicating directly with each other, usually to coordinate and/or monitor their actions, to cooperate through pricing, market allocation, sales quotas, etc. By contrast, tacit collusion is where companies coordinate and monitor their behavior without this direct communication. This is generally not considered illegal, so companies guilty of tacit conspiracy should face no penalties, even though their actions would have a similar economic impact as explicit conspiracy. Collusion is the result of less competition through mutual understanding, where competitors can independently set prices and market share. A core principle of antitrust policy is that companies must not communicate with each other. Even if conversations between multiple companies are illegal but not enforceable, the incentives to comply with collusive agreements are the same with and without communication. It is against competition law for companies to have explicit conversations in private. If evidence of conversations is accidentally left behind, it will become the most critical and conclusive evidence in antitrust litigation. Even without communication, businesses can coordinate prices by observation, but from a legal standpoint, this tacit handling leaves no evidence. Most companies cooperate through invisible collusion, so whether companies communicate is absolutely at the core of antitrust policy.


title: Collusion

text: Collusion which is covert is known as tacit collusion, and is considered legal. Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations explains that since the masters (business owners) are fewer in numbers, it is easier to collude to serve common interests among those involved, such as maintaining low wages, whilst it is difficult for the labor to coordinate to protect their own interests due to their vast numbers. Hence, business owners have a bigger advantage over the working class. Nevertheless, according to Adam Smith, the public rarely hear about coordination and collaborations that occur between business owners as it takes place in informal settings. Some forms of explicit collusion are not considered impactful enough on an individual basis to be considered illegal, such as that which occurred by the social media group WallStreetBets in the GameStop short squeeze.


title: Collusion

text: Suppose there are n firms in this market. At the collusive price, the firms are symmetric, so they divide the profits equally between the whole industry, represented as π(Pc)/n.If and only if the profit of choosing deviate is greater than that of sticking to collude, i.e


title: Collusion

text: As the number of firms in the market increases, so does the factor of the minimum discount required for collusion to succeed.


title: Collusion

text: According to neoclassical price-determination theory and game theory, the independence of suppliers forces prices to their minimum, increasing efficiency and decreasing the price-determining ability of each individual firm. However if all firms collude to increase prices, loss of sales will be minimized, as consumers lack alternative choices at lower prices and must decide between what is available. This benefits the colluding firms, as they generate more sales, at the cost of efficiency to society. However, depending on the assumptions made in the theoretical model on the information available to all firms, there are some outcomes, based on Cooperative Game Theory, where collusion may have higher efficiency than if firms did not collude.


title: Collusion

text: One variation of this traditional theory is the theory of kinked demand. Firms face a kinked demand curve if, when one firm decreases its price, other firms are expected to follow suit in order to maintain sales. When one firm increases its price, its rivals are unlikely to follow, as they would lose the sales gains that they would otherwise receive by holding prices at the previous level. Kinked demand potentially fosters supra-competitive prices because any one firm would receive a reduced benefit from cutting price, as opposed to the benefits accruing under neoclassical theory and certain game-theoretic models such as Bertrand competition.


title: Collusion

text: Collusion may also occur in auction markets, where independent firms coordinate their bids (bid rigging).


title: Collusion

text: Actions that generate sufficient returns in the future are important to every company, and the probability of continued interaction and the company discount factor must be high enough. The sustainability of cooperation between companies also depends on the threat of punishment, which is also a matter of credibility. Firms that deviate from cooperative pricing will use MMC in each market. MMC increases the loss of deviation, and incremental loss is more important than incremental gain when the firm's objective function is concave. Therefore, the purpose of MMC is to strengthen corporate compliance or inhibit deviant collusion.


title: Collusion

text: The principle of collusion: firms give up deviation gains in the short term in exchange for continued collusion in the future.


title: Collusion

text: Scholars in economics and management have tried to identify factors explaining why some firms are more or less likely to be involved in collusion. Some have noted the role of the regulatory environment and the existence of leniency programs.


title: Collusion

text: Collusion is illegal in the United States, Canada and most of the EU due to antitrust laws, but implicit collusion in the form of price leadership and tacit understandings still takes place. Several examples of collusion in the United States include:


title: Collusion

text: Collusion is when multiple companies reach an agreement to increase prices and profitability, at the expense of consumers. So the government is trying to prevent this from happening, such as the following policies:


title: David Meunier

text: Meunier was born in Woodburn, Oregon. He played football in high school, and a teammate convinced him to try out for a school production of "Guys and Dolls". He was cast as Nathan Detroit and the experience got him hooked on acting. He later moved to California to attend college. He also attended school in France.


title: David Meunier

text: Meunier portrayed Johnny Crowder on the television series "Justified", and has had roles in series such as "Revolution" and "Jericho". He appeared in the 2014 film adaptation of the 1980s television series "The Equalizer". He also appeared as Lieutenant Greitzer in "".


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside since 1974.


title: Whitley Bay

text: It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around east of Newcastle upon Tyne. Two notable landmarks are the Spanish City (a domed building on the seafront) and St. Mary's Lighthouse, the latter on a small island near the town.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley was first mentioned around 1100 when King Henry I conferred it with other possessions on the Priory of Tynemouth being referred to in ancient documents and maps before that date as Witelei, Wyteley, Hwyteleg, Witelithe, Wheteley, Wytheleye, Whitlaw, Whitlathe and Whitlag. Whitley is also referred to in the charters of King Henry II, King Richard I and King John, confirming to the priors their possessions and liberties.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley was connected with the Crusades when Pope Nicholas IV granted to Edward I the first-fruits and tenths of all ecclesiastical possessions for six years to defray the expenses of an expedition to the Holy Land. A valuation was made of the spiritual and temporal goods of the Priory on 26 March 1292, when the yearly rents from Whitley were returned as 20 shillings, and the tithes as 9 marks.


title: Whitley Bay

text: About the beginning of the 14th century, the manor of Whitley was held from the Prior of Tynemouth by a singular feudal service called the Conveyes which seems to have originated from John de Whitley. Richard de Emeldon, eighteen times Mayor of Newcastle and seven times its representative in Parliament, was the Lord of the Manor of Whitley in 1333.


title: Whitley Bay

text: On 9 April 1345, Edward III granted Gilbert de Whitley a licence to crenellate his manor house at Whitley. To crenellate a house was to place battlements on it. Before this could be done, the sanction of the Crown was often sought. Although battlements were often largely symbolic, in this instance it is probably an indication of the degree of insecurity felt even this far south during the Edwardian wars with Scotland. The licence and crenellations were an indication of status. Only 2% of the small tower houses of the sort Gilbert built had licences. The 'sanction' of the crown was a sought-after bonus, but not a requirement.


title: Whitley Bay

text: After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Whitley was held under the Crown for a time. By a grant of Edward VI dated 8 December 1551, it came into the hands of Dudley, Earl of Warwick who was created Duke of Northumberland. It remained in the Percy family until 1632 after which time the area appeared to be let at a yearly rental to various holders until it came into the possession of the Duke of Somerset on his marriage in 1682 with Elizabeth, the heiress of Joscelyn, the 11th Earl of Northumberland. Whitley subsequently passed by inheritance to her granddaughter Elizabeth Seymour who had married Sir Hugh Smithson, a Yorkshire baronet, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland. Whitley has since been retained by descendants and the present Duke of Northumberland is the Lord of the Manor and principal landowner.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Monkseaton, which forms the greater part of the north west of the district, is also very old and its industries were common with those of Whitley being chiefly coalmining and limestone quarrying.


title: Whitley Bay

text: From the late 19th century and into the 20th century, the adverse effects of the decline of local coal mining and dependent industries in the area were ameliorated by the emergence of Whitley as a seaside holiday resort. The opening of the North Tyne Loop railway line in 1882, connecting the coastal villages to Newcastle, benefited the tourism industry. The line, now followed by the present Metro system, included a new railway station in the centre of the town, and another at Monkseaton. Both stations remain in use as Metro stations. Whitley Bay remains a popular holiday resort, with a caravan park operated by Parkdean Resorts for both holidaymakers and holiday home owners.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The parish church is St. Paul's Church. It was provided by the Duke of Northumberland when the parish of Tynemouth was divided in 1860 and it was consecrated in 1864.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The Whitley and Monkseaton Local Board was established in 1873. The district of the Local Board became the Urban District of Whitley and Monkseaton.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The town was known as Whitley until the 1890s, by which time confusion with Whitby, in North Yorkshire, regularly caused mail to be misdirected. The final straw came in September 1901 when a former resident died in Edinburgh and his body was to be buried in St Paul's churchyard, Whitley. Unfortunately, the body was mistakenly transported to Whitby, thereby delaying the funeral. When the council asked residents for suggestions of a new name, the most popular choice was Whitley Bay. Though since known officially as Whitley Bay, many residents still refer to the town as 'Whitley'.


title: Whitley Bay

text: On 1 January 1944, the Whitley and Monkseaton Urban District became the Whitley Bay Urban District and on 5 March 1954 it was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation as the Borough of Whitley Bay. The charter was presented by The Princess Royal at a ceremony in the town on 14 April 1954.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The Local Government Act 1972 abolished the borough, with Hartley in the north of the borough becoming a part of Blyth Valley district in Northumberland, and the majority of the town including Whitley Bay and Monkseaton forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside in the Tyne and Wear area. The town is in the constituency of Tynemouth.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay is around 10 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is bounded by the coastline of the North Sea to the east. Tynemouth is 3 miles south.


title: Whitley Bay

text: St Mary's Island, a tidal island at the northern tip of the town, is the site of a lighthouse, one of the town's landmarks. Coal seams are exposed in the cliffs next to the beach just North of St Mary's Island and it is possible to pick up coal from the beach at low tide. The coal seams in the cliffs extend all the way to Seaton Sluice.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The Tyne and Wear Metro yellow line runs through the town with , , and stations serving the town. A Metro journey to Newcastle city centre takes around 25 minutes, via South Gosforth or Wallsend.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The main bus operators in the town are Go North East and Arriva Northumbria. Until the late 1990s, Arriva owned and operated a bus station and depot in the town. This closed in 1998, and the Park View Shopping centre sits on the site of both this, and the old Post office building.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The local weekly newspaper, "The News Guardian", is published by Johnston Press and printed on the presses of the "Sunderland Echo" in nearby Sunderland. The alternative free weekly paper is the "Chronicle Extra", formerly known as the "Herald and Post".


title: Whitley Bay

text: There are two high schools in the town, Whitley Bay High School and Monkseaton High School. The town is one of the few remaining in the UK that operates on a three-tier system, with first, middle and high schools.


title: Whitley Bay

text: On 20 February 2007, North Tyneside Council announced plans to regenerate the Spanish City and Whitley Bay. At the core of the plan was the redevelopment of the Spanish City site with its iconic dome, completed in 1912. For many years it was home to a theme park with rides and attractions, until falling into decay following the closure of the theme park in 2000. The Spanish City was reopened in July 2018.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Recent civic improvements include, a skatepark opened in the Panama Dip in 2008, a children's play park on Whitley Park in 2007, refurbishment of the swimming pool and the Playhouse both re-opened in 2009. A new library (behind the main street in the town centre) with a tourist information office, and joint service centre on the site of York Road was completed in 2013.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay F.C. play at the town's Hillheads Park, adjacent to the ice rink. The Hillheads stadium in the west of the town and holds approximately 4,500 spectators with 250 seats in the main stand. Now playing in the Northern League Division One, the club won the FA Vase (amateur FA Cup) in 2002, beating Tiptree United at Villa Park, Birmingham.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay reached the FA Vase final again in May 2009, when the club beat Glossop North End 2–0 at the new Wembley Stadium. They retained the trophy the following year by beating Wroxham 6–1 at Wembley in the final of the 2009–10 FA Vase. In May 2011 they made it an unprecedented three in a row, and four wins in total this time beating Coalville Town 3–2.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay Ice Rink is home of Whitley Warriors Ice Hockey Club. The team enjoyed success together with local rivals Durham Wasps at a national level during the 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Whitley Bay Rockcliff RFC play at the Lovaine Avenue ground in Hillheads. Founded in 1887 as Rockcliff RFC, and still generally known as "Rockcliff", they were originally based on the seafront in the Rockcliff area of the town, prior to moving along the seafront to the site later occupied by the Spanish City. In 1907 they moved to the present site in Lovaine Avenue. The years immediately after formation and up to the First World War were the most successful in the club's history, when they were one of the strongest sides in England, beating the world-famous Barbarians in 1892, and producing a number of international players including E.W "Little Billy" Taylor, who captained England in the 1890s. The introduction of the league structures in the late 1980s saw the club climb into the north east leagues in the early 1990s. The club now plays in the Durham and Northumberland Division 2.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The Rockcliff ground was the home of the short-lived Dirt Track or Speedway venture in the spring of 1929. The first venue on Tyneside, it was not as popular as the sister track at Gosforth Stadium which opened early summer and was closed after only two months, when the operator Tyneside Speedways Ltd went into liquidation.


title: Whitley Bay

text: In the 1960s, the BBC television series "Come Dancing" included regional finals broadcast from the Empress Ballroom, Whitley Bay.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Scenes in the early 1990s BBC detective series "Spender" were filmed in the town and one episode was primarily set at the Whitley Bay Ice Rink. The 2006 BBC sitcom "Thin Ice" was also filmed in the town and at the ice rink.


title: Whitley Bay

text: Several episodes of ITV's Vera were filmed in the town, including The Rendezvous Cafe and the sea front.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The 2000 film "Purely Belter" included scenes filmed at the bingo hall adjacent to the Spanish City Dome. Some of the external shots show what remained of the theme park at that time. The town also features in 2013 film "The Cullercoats Fishlass," produced by local company ACT 2 CAM, in which Charles Elderton tries to persuade the Spanish City owners to let his troupe perform there, despite the Sunday licensing laws.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The Whitley Bay Municipal Orchestra, conducted by Percival Goffin, was regularly broadcast on radio by the BBC in the 1930s, from the Winter Gardens, Whitley Bay. In 1968, BBC Radio 4's "Morning Service", was broadcast from St Paul's Church. In 1992, the Radio 1 Roadshow was broadcast from The Links in the town and in 2001, the Radio 1 Dance Party also came from The Links.


title: Whitley Bay

text: The video for Tina Cousins's single "Pray" was filmed at St Mary's Lighthouse, the Spanish City, along the sea front and in an alley behind Whitley Bay Baptist Church. The Spanish City is also referenced in the Dire Straits song "Tunnel of Love". Journey South recorded scenes for the video of their single "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" on the seafront and at the Rendezvous Cafe.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Royal Marriages Act 1772 (12 Geo 3 c. 11) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British royal family could contract a valid marriage, in order to guard against marriages that could diminish the status of the royal house. The right of veto vested in the sovereign by this Act provoked severe adverse criticism at the time of its passage.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: It was repealed as a result of the 2011 Perth Agreement, which came into force on 26 March 2015. Under the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, the first six people in the line of succession need permission to marry if they and their descendants are to remain in the line of succession.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Act said that no descendant of King George II, male or female, other than the issue of princesses who had married or might thereafter marry "into foreign families", could marry without the consent of the reigning monarch, "signified under the great seal and declared in council". That consent was to be set out in the licence and in the register of the marriage, and entered in the books of the Privy Council. Any marriage contracted without the consent of the monarch was to be null and void.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: However, any member of the royal family over the age of 25 who had been refused the sovereign's consent could marry one year after giving notice to the Privy Council of an intention so to marry, unless both houses of Parliament expressly declared their disapproval. There was, however, no instance in which the sovereign's consent in Council was formally refused, though there was one where it was sought but the request ignored and others where it was not sought because it was likely to be refused.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Act further made it a crime to perform or participate in an illegal marriage of any member of the royal family. This provision was repealed by the Criminal Law Act 1967.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Act was proposed by George III as a direct result of the marriage of his brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, who in 1771 had married the commoner Anne Horton, the daughter of Simon Luttrell and the widow of Christopher Horton. Royal Assent was given to the Act on 1 April 1772, and it was only on 13 September following that the King learned that another brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, had in 1766 secretly married Maria, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole and the widow of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave. Both alliances were considered highly unsuitable by the King, who "saw himself as having been forced to marry for purely dynastic reasons".


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Act rendered void any marriage wherever contracted or solemnised in contravention of it. A member of the royal family who contracted a marriage that violated the Act did "not" thereby lose his or her place in the line of succession, but the offspring of such a union were made illegitimate by the voiding of the marriage and thus lost any right to succeed.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Act applied to Catholics, even though they are ineligible to succeed to the throne. It did not apply to descendants of Sophia of Hanover who are not also descendants of George II, even though they are still eligible to succeed to the throne.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: It had been claimed that the marriage of Prince Augustus had been legal in Ireland and Hanover, but the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords ruled (in the Sussex Peerage Case, 9 July 1844) that the Act incapacitated the descendants of George II from contracting a legal marriage without the consent of the Crown, either within the British dominions or elsewhere.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: All European monarchies, and many non-European realms, have laws or traditions requiring prior approval of the monarch for members of the reigning dynasty to marry. But Britain's was unusual because it was never modified between its original enactment and its repeal 243 years later, so that its ambit grew rather wide, affecting not only British royal family, but more distant relatives of the monarch.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: In the 1950s, Charles d'Olivier Farran, Lecturer in Constitutional Law at Liverpool University, theorised that the Act could no longer apply to anyone living, because all the members of the immediate royal family were descended from British princesses who had married into foreign families. The loophole is due to the Act's wording, whereby if a person is, through one line, a descendant of George II subject to the Act's restriction, but is "also", separately through another line, a descendant of a British princess married into a foreign family, the exemption for the latter reads as if it trumps the former.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: Many of George II's descendants in female lines have married back into the British royal family. In particular, Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the House of Windsor descend (through Queen Alexandra) from two daughters of George II – (Mary, Landgravine of Hesse and Louise, Queen of Denmark) – who married foreign rulers (respectively Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and King Frederick V of Denmark), and through Queen Mary from a third (Anne, Princess of Orange, consort of William IV, Prince of Orange). Queen Mary herself was a product of such a marriage; her parents were Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of George III and Francis, Duke of Teck, a minor German prince of the House of Württemberg. Moreover, King Charles III, his issue, siblings, and their issue descend from yet another such marriage, that of Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria, to Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, through their great-grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: This so-called "Farran exemption" met with wide publicity, but arguments against it were put forward by Clive Parry, Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, and Farran's interpretation has since been ignored. Consent to marriages in the royal family (including the distantly related House of Hanover) continued to be sought and granted as if none of the agnatic descendants of George II were also his cognatic descendants.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: Parry argued that the "Farran exemption" theory was complicated by the fact that all the Protestant descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, ancestress of the United Kingdom's monarchs since 1714, had been entitled to British citizenship under the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705 (if born prior to 1949, when the act was repealed). Thus, some marriages of British princesses to continental monarchs and princes were not, in law, marriages to foreigners. For example, the 1947 marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, by birth a Greek and Danish prince but descended from the Electress Sophia, was a marriage to a British subject even if he had not been previously naturalised in Britain. This would also mean theoretically, for example, that the present royal family of Norway was bound by the Act, for the marriage of Princess Maud, a daughter of King Edward VII, to the future King Haakon VII of Norway, was a marriage to a "British subject", since Haakon descended from the Electress Sophia.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: In 1936 the statute His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 specifically excluded Edward VIII from the provisions of this Act upon his abdication, allowing him to marry the divorcée, Wallis Simpson. The wording of the statute also excluded any issue of the marriage both from being subject to the Act, and from the succession to the throne; no marriages or succession rights were ultimately affected by this language, as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had no children.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: In October 2011 David Cameron wrote to the leaders of the other Commonwealth realms proposing that the act be limited to the first six people in line to the throne. The leaders approved the proposed change at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Perth, Western Australia.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The legislation in a number of Commonwealth realms repeals the Royal Marriages Act 1772 in its entirety. It was, in the United Kingdom, replaced by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which stipulates a requirement for the first six people in the line of succession to obtain the sovereign's consent before marrying in order to remain eligible. Article 3(5) of the new act also provides that, except for succession purposes, any marriage that would have been void under the original act "is to be treated as never having been void" if it did not involve any of the first six people in the line of succession at the time of the marriage; royal consent was never sought or denied; "in all the circumstances it was reasonable for the person concerned not to have been aware at the time of the marriage that the Act applied to it"; and no one has acted on the basis that the marriage is void. New Zealand's Royal Succession Act 2013 repealed the Royal Marriages Act and provided for royal consent for the first six people in the line of succession to be granted by the monarch in right of the United Kingdom.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: The Regency Act 1830, which provided for a regency in the event that Queen Victoria inherited the throne before she was eighteen, made it illegal for her to marry without the regent's consent. Her spouse and anyone involved in arranging or conducting the marriage without such consent would be guilty of high treason. This was more serious than the offence created by the Act of 1772, which was equivalent to praemunire. However, the Act never came into force, as Victoria had already turned 18 a few weeks before becoming queen.


title: Royal Marriages Act 1772

text: Consents under the Act were entered in the Books of the Privy Council but have not been published. In 1857 it became customary to publish them in the "London Gazette" and notices appear of consents given in Council at Courts held on the following dates. Not all consents were there and gaps in the list have been filled by reference to the Warrants for Royal Marriages in the Home Office papers (series HO 124) in The National Archives:


title: Stuart Beattie

text: Stuart Beattie (born 4 August 1971) is an Australian filmmaker. His screenplay for "Collateral" (2004) earned him nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay and Saturn Award for Best Writing.


title: Stuart Beattie

text: Beattie was born in Melbourne and raised in Sydney. He attended Knox Grammar School in Sydney, where his mother, Sandra, was a languages teacher; and later Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.


title: Roger Bowen

text: Roger Wendell Bowen (May 25, 1932 – February 16, 1996) was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film "M*A*S*H", a low budget film that would go on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest box office grossing comedies of all time. To this day, "M*A*S*H" ranks 9th, with a modern-day adjusted box office gross of more than $460,000,000. "M*A*S*H" would eventually be named among AFI‘s 100 greatest American movies of all time.


title: Roger Bowen

text: Bowen considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an actor. He wrote eleven novels (including "Just Like a Movie") as well as sketches for Broadway and television. He was also one of the co-founders of Chicago's comedy and acting troupe The Second City.


title: Roger Bowen

text: A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Bowen majored in English at Brown University, then attended graduate school at the University of Chicago. While writing theater reviews for "The Chicago Maroon", he was asked to pen material for an improvisational troupe that included Alan Arkin and Mike Nichols. The troupe, Compass Players, evolved into The Second City. Bowen spent most of the 1960s playing "preppie" types on a number of TV & radio commercials. His first film role was 1968's "Petulia", but his big movie break came in 1970 when he landed the role of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in Robert Altman's film "M*A*S*H". Bowen had in fact served in the U.S. Army in Korea, albeit after the Korean War had ended. (After serving in Japan as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps (441st CIC Detachment – Bepu Field Office) from 1957–58, Bowen was sent to the 308th CIC Detachment in Seoul, South Korea in 1958.)


title: Roger Bowen

text: After "M*A*S*H", Bowen returned to television and gained a fan following as Hamilton Majors Jr., the pleasantly snooty and supportive Ivy League boss of Herschel Bernardi on the TV sitcom "Arnie" (1970–72). He then joined the cast of "The Brian Keith Show", and returned to TV commercials and smaller movie roles. In 1976, Bowen appeared in the TV parody film "Tunnel Vision", doing a convincing Henry Kissinger impersonation that he was often asked to perform at parties around Hollywood. (The film featured a galaxy of comic stars including Chevy Chase, John Candy, Howard Hesseman and Joe Flaherty, but Bowen received top billing as the others were still relatively unknown at the time.) Bowen also played minor roles in such films as "Heaven Can Wait" (1978), "The Main Event" (1979) and "Zapped!" (1982).


title: Roger Bowen

text: Bowen was a tournament chess player who participated in several events in the 1970s.In the early 1980s, Bowen enjoyed another round of weekly TV work with recurring roles on "House Calls" (starring former "M*A*S*H" sitcom alumnus Wayne Rogers), "At Ease", and "Maggie Briggs". He made his final credited film appearance in the 1991 comedy "What About Bob?" starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss.


title: Roger Bowen

text: Bowen died of a heart attack at the age of 63 while on vacation in Marathon, Florida. His death came one day after that of McLean Stevenson, who played Colonel Blake for the first three seasons of the "M*A*S*H" television series.


title: Generation Kill

text: Generation Kill is a 2004 book written by "Rolling Stone" journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His account of life with the Marines was originally published as a three-part series in "Rolling Stone" in the fall of 2003. "The Killer Elite", the first of these articles, went on to win a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting in 2004.


title: Generation Kill

text: Wright spent two months with the battalion, having persuaded a commander that he could cope with such an assignment. The Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion were initially hostile and suspicious but soon warmed to Wright and treated him as one of their own. He gained their respect through his refusal to quit in the face of combat. Often riding in the lead vehicle, a lightly armored Humvee, Wright was in real danger for much of the time, and at one point carried a weapon, although he did so reluctantly.


title: Generation Kill

text: Wright encounters members of the battalion from all ranks, but the "main players" can be narrowed down to just six from Bravo Company: Sergeant Brad Colbert, Lance Corporal Harold James Trombley, Sergeant Rudy "Fruity" Reyes, First Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick, Sergeant Antonio Espera, and Corporal Josh Ray Person.


title: Generation Kill

text: Sergeant Antonio J. Espera claimed he was forced to leave the battalion, and Staff Sergeant Eric Kocher claimed he was disciplined for statements attributed to him in Wright's reporting. Kocher worked as an adviser on the adaptation of Wright's book into a miniseries and stated that Wright earned credibility because he stayed with the Marines for "every firefight."


title: Generation Kill

text: Despite initial doubts, Marine commanders later encouraged the officers of 1st Reconnaissance to read the book and the articles to get an insight into the reality of war.


title: Generation Kill

text: Wright stated that he felt more fear of combat before he was in it, but as soon as he was being shot at, he focused on survival. He also revealed that prior to becoming a war correspondent he had quit drinking, and as a result, he found there was something "almost nice" about war because it replicated the "emotional chaos of being a heavy drinker".


title: Generation Kill

text: Wright also has stated he is "haunted" by the deaths of civilians he witnessed during the invasion of Iraq, because the "real rule of war is that the people who suffer the most are civilians". He believes the troops who fight the wars are more attuned to the moral consequences of their actions than the American public whom he accuses of being "alienated from the people who fight their wars for them".


title: Generation Kill

text: Major Shoup, an augment Forward Air Controller in the battalion, posted a commentary on the book in which he contrasts the events he witnessed with Wright's descriptions of them. Shoup also states that Wright based his account on one group of enlisted Marines' version of events without including the perspective of others.


title: Generation Kill

text: Wright replied to this blog post citing his own extensive interview with Shoup that directly contradicts Shoup's later version of events. Wright also cites interviews he conducted with other Marines in the unit that differ from Shoup's account, noting that Shoup's direct superior, Major Eckloff, claimed to have single-handedly killed at least 17 insurgents with a shotgun fired from his truck. Wright states that he reduced that number to 1-2 after other sources contradicted Eckloff. Wright states that his book had to take into consideration interviews from a wide variety of Marines in the battalion, including officers, and could not advance the perspective of just one person.


title: Generation Kill

text: "Hella Nation" is a collection of other writings by Wright that includes his reporting on U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division fighting in Afghanistan and a controversial story about a documentary film shot in Iraq by a drug-addled Hollywood producer.


title: Generation Kill

text: "American Desperado" is a non-fiction book Wright co-wrote with Jon Roberts, about the drug wars. Roberts was featured in the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys".


title: Generation Kill

text: Then-lieutenant Nathaniel Fick's memoir, "", describes some of the same battles in Iraq as described in "Generation Kill", but from his own perspective.


title: Generation Kill

text: The cable television channel HBO has produced a mini-series based on the book. Filmed in South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique, the series aired in July 2008 and spans seven 68-minute episodes, starting with the Marine Recon team crossing the berm into Iraq during the opening stage of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The show was directed by Susanna White for 4 episodes and Simon Cellan Jones for 3 episodes. The writers of the mini-series were Ed Burns, David Simon, and Evan Wright. The DVD release includes four bonus features, including a "Making of 'Generation Kill"' and a video diary. It was produced by David Simon, Ed Burns, Nina K. Noble, George Faber and Charles Pattinson. It starred Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Jon Huertas and Lee Tergesen. Rudy Reyes plays himself in the miniseries adaptation, driving the third Humvee.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: "Singin' in the Rain" is a song with lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown. Introduced by Doris Eaton Travis in "The Hollywood Music Box Revue", then months later by Cliff Edwards and the Brox Sisters in "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", the song was subsequently recorded by many contemporary artists.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: The musical film of the same name, "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), was "suggested by" the song. The performance by Gene Kelly dancing through puddles in a rainstorm garnered the song the third spot on the American Film Institute ranking of 100 Years...100 Songs.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: The song has an unusual form: the 32-bar chorus, rather than being preceded by a verse and containing an internal bridge as was becoming standard at the time, opens the song and then is followed by a 24-bar verse that has the feeling of a bridge before the chorus repeats.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra recorded the song possibly as early as 1928 but perhaps 1929. The song was recorded by Annette Hanshaw (reissued on the 1999 CD "Annette Hanshaw, Volume 6, 1929"). It is performed on film by a nightclub band as dance music and sung in a Chinese dialect in "The Ship from Shanghai" (1930), by Jimmy Durante in "Speak Easily" (1932), by Judy Garland in "Little Nellie Kelly" (1940), and as background music at the beginning of MGM's "The Divorcee" (1930) starring Norma Shearer.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: "Singin' in the Rain" was remixed in 2005 by Mint Royale. It was released as a single in August 2005 after being featured in an advert for the VW Golf GTI, peaking at No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: Three years later in 2008, due to the exposure of the song via the performance of then-unknown dancer George Sampson on the reality TV series "Britain's Got Talent", the track went to No. 1 on the iTunes Top 100 in the UK in 2008. It re-entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 28 on June 1, 2008, and climbed to No. 1 the next week, selling 45,987 copies, knocking Rihanna's "Take a Bow" down to the Number 2 spot.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: A 1978 disco version of "Singin' in the Rain" by the French pop singer Sheila B. Devotion made No. 3 in the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles and the Netherlands Top 100, No. 4 on the Nationale Hitparade, No. 11 on the German and UK Singles Chart, No. 2 on the Swedish Singles Chart, and No. 30 on the Hot Dance Club Songs.


title: Singin' in the Rain (song)

text: In 1982, Dutch pop singer Taco released a version of it as his second single from "After Eight", which peaked at No. 49 in Germany, No. 46 in Canada and No. 98 in the UK.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail banking and commercial banking, trust, stockbrokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates 1,952 automated teller machines and 1,454 branches in 16 states in the Southern and Midwestern United States.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Regions is ranked 434th on the Fortune 500 and is component headquartered in Alabama. Regions is also on the list of largest banks in the United States.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Regions is the largest deposit holder in Alabama and Tennessee. It is also one of the largest deposit holders in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: The company sponsors Regions Field, a Minor League Baseball stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Tradition golf tournament. It sponsored the Regions Charity Classic, a golf tournament held in 2009 and 2010.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: The company has a partnership with Operation HOPE, Inc., to provide free financial education to underserved community. In 2019, the company expanded its Workday, Inc., system in partnership with EnterpriseAlumni to engage and enable ex-employees to extend their corporate social responsibility initiatives.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Regions Financial Corporation, formerly known as First Alabama Bancshares, was founded on July 13, 1971 with the merger of three Alabama banks: First National Bank of Montgomery, Alabama (opened 1871), Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham, Alabama (opened 1928), and First National Bank of Huntsville, Alabama (opened 1856). The headquarters of First National Bank of Huntsville was a historic building built in 1835. It served as a hospital for Union soldiers during the American Civil War, and once held a rifle owned by Frank James as collateral for bail money when he was incarcerated across the street in the Madison County Jail.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Until their formal merger in March 1985, under revised banking regulations, the banks continued to operate independently.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In 1986, changes in the Interstate Banking Bill allowed bank holding companies to purchase bank branches outside the state in which they were chartered. First Alabama Bancshares expanded its operations first into Florida, continuing into Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. In 1994, to reflect its growth into a regional company, First Alabama Bancshares changed its name to Regions Financial Corporation and the name of its banking subsidiary to Regions Bank.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: Regions added banking branches in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The name "Regions" was purchased from First Commercial Corporation, the Arkansas Bank that Regions subsequently purchased in 1998.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In 2001, Regions acquired Morgan Keegan & Company for $789 million. In January 2012, Regions sold Morgan Keegan to Raymond James for $930 million. The trust department was retained by Regions and now operates as Regions Trust.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: On January 24, 2004, Regions merged with Memphis, Tennessee–based Union Planters Bank in a $5.9 billion transaction. Jackson W. Moore, the former CEO of Union Planters, became CEO of the merged company. He suffered a stroke after the merger closed, but was still able to assume his new post upon recovery. After the merger, Regions adopted Union Planters' former logo of a young cotton plant and used it until the AmSouth conversion. The merger significantly increased Regions' footprint in Tennessee; Union Planters had been the largest Tennessee-based bank.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In 2006, Regions acquired AmSouth Bancorporation, another Birmingham-based bank, in a $10 billion transaction. While Regions was the surviving company, the merged entity adopted AmSouth's corporate structure.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In 2008, Regions Bank received a $3.5 billion loan as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. On April 4, 2012, Regions repaid the $3.5 billion loan.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: On August 29, 2008, as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia was placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Regions Bank assumed its operations.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In February 2009, FirstBank Financial Services of McDonough, Georgia, was also placed into receivership by the FDIC and Regions Bank assumed its operations.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In June 2021 Regions announced they would acquire home improvement lender EnerBank USA for $960 million. EnerBank USA is currently a subsidiary of CMS Energy.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In 2011, Regions paid $200 million to settle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over mispricing risky mortgage-backed bonds in its conservative mutual funds in its Morgan Keegan subsidiary.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: In April 2015, Regions was fined $7.5 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for charging consumers with inappropriate or illegal overdraft fees. Regions did not obtain affirmative opt-ins from charging overdraft fees on ATM and point of sale transactions. The CFPB also found that Regions misrepresented overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees related to the bank's short-term loan program.


title: Regions Financial Corporation

text: On September 28, 2022, the CFPB again ordered Regions Bank to pay $50 million into the CFPB’s victims relief fund and to refund at least $141 million to customers harmed by its illegal surprise overdraft fees. From August 2018 through July 2021, Regions charged customers surprise overdraft fees on certain ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases. The bank charged overdraft fees even after telling consumers they had sufficient funds at the time of the transactions. The CFPB also found that Regions leadership knew about and could have discontinued its surprise overdraft fee practices years earlier, but they chose to wait while Regions pursued changes that would generate new fee revenue to make up for ending the illegal fees.


title: Sarimanok

text: The Sarimanok (Pronunciation: sá·ri·ma·nók), also known as papanok in its feminine form, is a legendary bird of the Maranao people, who originate from Mindanao, an island in the Philippines, and part of Philippine mythology. It comes from the words "sari" and "manok". "Sari" means "assorted" or "various", while "manok" originally meant "bird" as evidenced by early Spanish colonial sources, but came to mean only "chicken", which is how it is understood today (i.e. the creature is a "bird/chicken of assorted colors").


title: Sarimanok

text: The Sarimanok is the legendary bird that has become an ubiquitous symbol of Maranao art. It is depicted as a fowl with colorful wings and feathered tail, holding a fish on its beak or talons. The head is profusely decorated with scroll, leaf, and spiral motifs. It is said to be a symbol of good fortune.


title: Sarimanok

text: The Sarimanok is derived from a totem bird of the Maranao people, called "Itotoro". According to the Maranao people, the "Itotoro" is a medium to the spirit world via its unseen twin spirit bird called "Inikadowa".