title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The pips were used on BBC Radio 1 during "The Chris Moyles Show" at 06:30 just after the news, 09:00 as part of the "Tedious Link" feature, 10:00 (at the end of the show) and often before "Newsbeat". As most stations only air the pips on the hour, "The Chris Moyles Show" was the only show where the pips were broadcast on the half-hour. Chris Moyles continues to use the pips at the beginning of his show on Radio X. The pips were previously used at 19:00 on Saturday evenings at the start of Radio 1's 12-hour simulcast with digital station BBC Radio 1Xtra. On 19 September 2022 on Radio 4, A 10 minute long pip was used at 10:50 before The Queen's


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: State funeral began at 11:00 BST. The pips were also used on Radio 6 Music for a rare occurrence. It took place between 2009 and 2011 on weekdays and the pips were played at 10:00 (end of the breakfast show) and at 19:00 (end of the drive show). On Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday, Radio 4 uses the pips at 10:59:55 to mark the start of the two minutes silence and again at 11:01:55 to mark the end. From 2000 to 2008. BBC Radio 5 live used the pips Weekdays at 06:00


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: Pips were also heard on many BBC Local Radio stations until the introduction of a new presentation package in 2020. A rare quarter-hour Greenwich Time Signal was heard at 05:15 weekdays on Wally Webb's programme on local radio in the east of England until it ended in March 2020, as part of his "synchronised cup of tea" feature.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: In 1999, pip-like sounds were incorporated into the themes written by composer David Lowe to introduce BBC Television News programmes. They are still used today on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC World News and BBC News.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The BBC does not allow the pips to be broadcast except as a time signal. Radio plays and comedies which have fictional news programmes use various methods to avoid playing the full six pips, ranging from simply fading in the pips to a version played on "On the Hour" in which the sound was made into a small tune between the pips. "The News Quiz" also featured a special Christmas pantomime edition where the pips went "missing", and the problem was avoided there by only playing individual pips. The 2012 project "Radio Reunited" used the pips to commemorate 90 years of BBC Radio.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The pips for national radio stations and some local radio stations are timed relative to UTC, from an atomic clock in the basement of Broadcasting House synchronised with the National Physical Laboratory's Time from NPL and GPS. On other stations, the pips are generated locally from a GPS-synchronised clock.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The BBC compensates for the time delay in both broadcasting and receiving equipment, as well as the time for the actual transmission. The pips are timed so that they are accurately received on long wave as far as from the Droitwich AM transmitter, which is the distance to Central London.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: As a pre-IRIG and pre-NTP time transfer and transmission system, the pips have been a great technological success. In modern times, however, time can be transferred to systems with CPUs and operating systems by using BCD or some Unix Time variant.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: Newer digital broadcasting methods have introduced even greater problems for the accuracy of use of the pips. On digital platforms such as DVB, DAB, satellite and the Internet, the pips—although "generated" accurately—are not "heard" by the listener exactly on the hour. The encoding and decoding of the digital signal causes a delay, of usually between 2 and 8 seconds. In the case of satellite broadcasting, the travel time of the signal to and from the satellite adds about another 0.25 seconds.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: and were the idea of the Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Watson Dyson, and the head of the BBC, John Reith. The pips were originally controlled by two mechanical clocks located in the Royal Greenwich Observatory that had electrical contacts attached to their pendula. Two clocks were used in case of a breakdown of one. These sent a signal each second to the BBC, which converted them to the audible oscillatory tone broadcast.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The Royal Greenwich Observatory moved to Herstmonceux Castle in 1957 and the GTS equipment followed a few years later in the form of an electronic clock. Reliability was improved by renting two lines for the service between Herstmonceux and the BBC, with a changeover between the two at Broadcasting House if the main line became disconnected.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The tone sent on the lines was inverted: the signal sent to the BBC was a steady 1 kHz tone when no pip was required, and no tone when a pip should be sounded. This let faults on the line be detected immediately by automated monitoring for loss of audio.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The Greenwich Time Signal was the first sound heard in the handover to the London 2012 Olympics during the Beijing 2008 Olympics closing ceremony.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The pips were also broadcast by the BBC Television Service, but this practice was discontinued by the 1960s.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: To celebrate the 90th birthday of the pips on 5 February 2014, the "Today" programme broadcast a sequence that included a re-working of the Happy Birthday melody using the GTS as its base sound.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: The BBC discourages any other sound being broadcast at the same time as the pips; doing so is commonly known as "crashing the pips". This was most often referred to on Terry Wogan's Radio 2 Breakfast show, although usually only in jest since the actual event happened rarely. Different BBC Radio stations approach this issue differently. Radio 1 and Radio 2 generally take a relaxed approach with the pips, usually playing them over the closing seconds of a song or a jingle "bed" (background music from a jingle), followed by their respective news jingles. Many BBC local radio stations also played the pips over the station's jingle before the 2020 rebrand. BBC Radio 4 is stricter, as it is an almost entirely speech-based network.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: As a contribution to Comic Relief's 2005 Red Nose Day, the BBC developed a "pips" ring-tone which could be downloaded.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: Bill Bailey's BBC Rave includes the BBC News theme, which incorporates a variant of the pips (though not actually broadcast exactly on the hour). The footage can be seen on his DVD "Part Troll".


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: In the late 1980s Radio 1 featured the pips played over a station jingle during Jakki Brambles' early show and Simon Mayo's breakfast show. This was not strictly "crashing the pips" as they were not intended to be used as an accurate time signal.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: At 8 am on 17 September 2008, to the surprise of John Humphrys, the day's main presenter on the "Today" programme, and Johnnie Walker, who was standing in for Terry Wogan on Radio 2, the pips went "adrift" by six seconds, and broadcast seven pips rather than six. This was traced to a problem with the pip generator, which was rectified by switching it off and on again. Part of Humphrys' surprise was probably because of his deliberate avoidance of crashing the pips with the help of an accurate clock in the studio.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: A sudden total failure in the generation of the audio pulses that constitute the pips was experienced on 31 May 2011 and silence was unexpectedly broadcast in place of the 17:00 signal. The problem was traced to the power supply of the equipment which converts the signal from the atomic clocks into an audible signal. Whilst repairs were underway the BBC elected to broadcast a "dignified silence" in place of the pips at 19:00. By 19:45 the same day the power supply was repaired and the 20:00 pips were broadcast as normal.


title: Greenwich Time Signal

text: Many radio broadcasters around the world use the Greenwich Time Signal, or a variant thereof, as a means to mark the start of the hour. The pips are used in both domestic and international commercial and public broadcasting. Many radio stations use six tones similar to those used by the BBC World Service; some shorten it to five, four, or three tones. On some broadcasters the final pip is of a different pitch.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Eamon. The song was co-written by Eamon, Kirk Robinson and Mark Passy. It was released on November 10, 2003, as the lead single from his debut album, "I Don't Want You Back" (2004). The song is notable for the frequency of its expletives.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" topped the charts in many countries, including Australia, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The single appeared in "Billboard" magazine as "F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)". An Italian-language version titled "Solo" () was also released, reaching number two in Italy.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: The success of the single and the controversial nature of its lyrics prompted production of an answer song, "F.U.R.B. (Fuck You Right Back)", by female singer Frankee, who claimed to be Eamon's ex-girlfriend. While Eamon initially said that he selected Frankee to record the song at an audition, he later stated that his only involvement was in clearing the use of the music with the following statement:


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: "I was not involved with 'F.U.R.B.' I have never met Frankee and she is definitely not my girlfriend or ex-girlfriend. The only way I was associated with it was when I was asked for licensing permission by Frankee's representatives, which makes me a writer on her song by copyright law. But I really didn't expect all this to come out of it, they are having fun with it, it's cool but in the end they are paying me for their 15 minutes of fame and I welcome her to my world of Ho-Wop!"


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: During the success of both songs in the United Kingdom, BBC Radio 1 host Chris Moyles was heavily critical of them, going as far as to record and broadcast his own spoof version; "We Want You to Leave", claiming that both singles were the product of what amounted to nothing more than a cynical marketing ploy by Eamon and Frankee's record labels.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: Because of the great success of the song in Italy, an Italian version of the song was released. Its title was "Solo" and its lyrics, written by J-Ax, were changed so they did not contain any expression deemed offensive. "Solo" reached number two on the Italian Singles Chart and ended 2004 as the country's 32nd-best-selling hit.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: The song reached number 1 in the Netherlands and even lead to a parody song called "Vakkenvuller" by Dutch singer Hans Goes (using the alias 'Simon'), which was also a big hit.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: The video starts with black and white footage of Eamon and his girlfriend enjoying a trip together, then it cuts to color purporting to be present day outside at Bari's Pizza in Staten Island, New York. Eamon and his girlfriend are sitting across from one another while a different couple at another table kiss each other. Eamon's girlfriend starts to well up with tears in her eyes while Eamon is singing.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: A teardrop comes out of her left eye and drops into a puddle below, causing ripples to appear. The video then cuts to varying scenes of couples on park benches, Eamon in a sound recording booth, and Eamon in a room as he rips a picture to shreds and throws a wine bottle at the camera. Eamon stands with his back to the Brooklyn Bridge, singing. The video cuts back to Bari's Pizza showing the girl continuing to cry, as Eamon angrily throws the pizza on the ground and then gets up and walks away on a path and the girl gets up.


title: Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

text: The video ends with footage of them both kissing in black and white then cutting back to the present with Eamon walking along a pathway and his girlfriend follows him.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: "Sexy Sadie" is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1968 double album "The Beatles" (also known as "the White Album"). The song was written by John Lennon in India and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Lennon wrote the song during the Beatles' stay in India in response to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's alleged sexual advance on actress Mia Farrow. The song has been considered an early example of a diss track.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi", but changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" at George Harrison's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a sexual advance on Mia Farrow, who was attending a course the Maharishi was teaching at his ashram in Rishikesh, India. Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas, also known as "Magic Alex", had been fabricated. Lennon once said of the song: "That was inspired by Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left India. I just called him 'Sexy Sadie' instead of (sings) 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be." He told "Rolling Stone" that when the Maharishi asked why he was leaving, he replied, "Well, if you're so "cosmic", you'll know why."


title: Sexy Sadie

text: After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". According to Harrison's account in the director's cut of the "Beatles Anthology" (1995) documentary, the recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used its name must be changed and persuaded Lennon to retitle it "Sexy Sadie". Derek Taylor remembered Lennon's scratching the wood in the Apple offices. The wood ended up in Maureen Starkey's possession and was ultimately sold to a Beatles collector.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: According to Mark Lewisohn's "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" (1988), an early outtake of "Sexy Sadie" features Lennon demonstrating the song's original working lyrics to the rest of the band: "Maharishi, you little twat/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Oh, you cunt."


title: Sexy Sadie

text: The song's instrumental fadeout was originally 39 seconds longer and featured a breakdown based around the middle eight. This was edited out before mixing.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: In a 1968 "Rolling Stone" interview, Lennon complimented the song "I've Been Good to You" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. The Miracles song begins with the lines "Look what you've done/You made a fool out of someone", echoing "Sexy Sadie"'s "What have you done?/You made a fool of everyone".


title: Sexy Sadie

text: Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of "The Independent" listed "Sexy Sadie" at number six in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He wrote of the song: "To this day 'Sexy Sadie' drips with bittersweet disdain, its moody final minute—inspiring Radiohead's 'Karma Police' and 'Four Out of Five' by Arctic Monkeys—managing to spring hairs on end, however many times you've heard it." Also in 2018, "Time Out London" ranked "Sexy Sadie" at number 14 on its list of the best Beatles songs.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: George Harrison commented years later, "Now, historically, there's the story that something went on that shouldn't have done – but nothing did." In 1992, Harrison gave a benefit concert for the Maharishi-associated Natural Law Party, and later apologised for the way the Maharishi had been treated by saying, "We were very young" and "It's probably in the history books that Maharishi 'tried to attack Mia Farrow' – but it's bullshit, total bullshit." Cynthia Lennon wrote in 2006 that she "hated leaving on a note of discord and mistrust, when we had enjoyed so much kindness from the Maharishi". Asked if he forgave the Beatles, the Maharishi replied, "I could never be upset with angels." McCartney took his daughter, Stella, to visit the Maharishi in the Netherlands in 2007, which renewed their friendship.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: When "Mojo" released "The White Album Recovered" in 2008, part of a continuing series of CDs of Beatles albums covered track-by-track by modern artists, the track was covered by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. The disc also featured a bonus track of the same song performed by Paul Weller.


title: Sexy Sadie

text: The song was also covered by Anderson .Paak on multi-instrumentalist and producer Kush Mody's first album "Creature Comforts" (2014).


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: Matthew Allen Campbell (born November 29, 1979) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at Iowa State University, a position he has held since the 2016 season. Campbell was head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Campbell had been an assistant at Toledo, Bowling Green, and Mount Union. Campbell grew up in Ohio and briefly attended the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to Mount Union, where he played defensive line.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: Campbell was born in Massillon, Ohio. His father Rick coached football at Jackson High School. Matt played football at rival Perry, which won three conference championships while he was on the team. Campbell initially attended the University of Pittsburgh on an athletic scholarship in 1998, but transferred to the University of Mount Union after a year. At Mount Union, Campbell played on the defensive line between 1999 and 2002. At Mount Union, Campbell played for head coach Larry Kehres, whose teams won three Division III championships during Campbell's career. Campbell himself was twice named to the College Football All-America Team and named Ohio Athletic Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: After college, Campbell stayed within Ohio and took a job as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green State University from 2003–2004. While at Bowling Green Scott Pioli, then the director of player personnel for the New England Patriots, offered Campbell an interview for a job at the team, but Campbell declined. Campbell returned to Mount Union for 2005–2006 as offensive coordinator; Mount Union won the Division III championship both years. Campbell then went back to Bowling Green for two years, first as offensive line coach (2007) and then as offensive line coach/run game coordinator (2008). The University of Toledo hired him as the run game coordinator for the 2009 season. This move reunited him with head coach Tim Beckman, defensive coordinator at Bowling Green during Campbell's first stint there.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: Toledo promoted Campbell to offensive coordinator in 2010. Toledo made Campbell the permanent head coach at the end of 2011 when Beckman departed for the University of Illinois. He was 32 years old and the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Two weeks into the job, Toledo defeated Air Force in the Military Bowl. Reportedly Campbell passed on a chance to serve on Urban Meyer's staff at Ohio State University. Campbell coached four full seasons at Toledo: 2012–2015, amassing a record of 35–15. The 2015 team peaked at 20 in the AP Poll, including a victory over Arkansas.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: Iowa State University named Campbell its head coach on November 29, 2015, his 36th birthday, replacing the fired Paul Rhoads. Campbell signed a six-year, $22.5 million extension with the school on November 27, 2017. Campbell was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year twice. In his second year, Campbell led Iowa State to an 8–5 season that included wins against #3 Oklahoma and #4 TCU. Iowa State won their bowl game that year against the Memphis Tigers in the Liberty Bowl. During his third year at Iowa State, he led the Cyclones to a second 8–5 season. This included a 6–3 record in Big 12 play, their most conference wins in history. In 2018, Campbell was reportedly requested for an interview for the New York Jets NFL team, however, he declined the interview.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Campbell led the Cyclones to their best season in decades. The Cyclones finished in first place in the Big 12, their first regular-season first-place finish of any sort in 119 years, it was also the first Togetherness Championship in the schools's history. However, they lost the Big 12 title game to Oklahoma. They were selected for the 2021 Fiesta Bowl, the first major-bowl appearance in school history, and defeated Oregon 34-17. They finished ninth in both major polls, the highest final ranking in school history.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: On February 8, 2021, Iowa State announced a new contract extension for Campbell through the 2028 season. It was reported that Campbell was offered an eight-year, $68.5 million deal by the Detroit Lions for their head coaching position in 2021, but other reports said that the Lions never put an offer on the table.


title: Matt Campbell (American football coach)

text: In the summer of 2022, Campbell served as the Head Coach of the Gilbert 6th grade softball team. The team rallied from a 4-2 third inning deficit to defeat Roland-Story in the championship game.


title: Norse rituals

text: Norse religious worship is the traditional religious rituals practiced by Norse pagans in Scandinavia in pre-Christian times. Norse religion was a folk religion (as opposed to an organized religion), and its main purpose was the survival and regeneration of society. Therefore, the faith was decentralized and tied to the village and the family, although evidence exists of great national religious festivals. The leaders managed the faith on behalf of society; on a local level, the leader would have been the head of the family, and nationwide, the leader was the king. Pre-Christian Scandinavians had no word for religion in a modern sense. The closest counterpart is the word "sidr", meaning custom. This meant that Christianity, during the conversion period, was referred to as "nýr sidr" (the new custom) while paganism was called "forn sidr" (ancient custom). The center of gravity of pre-Christian religion lay in religious practice – sacred acts, rituals and worship of the gods.


title: Norse rituals

text: Norse religion was at no time homogeneous, but was a conglomerate of related customs and beliefs. These could be inherited or borrowed, and although the great geographical distances of Scandinavia led to a variety of cultural differences, people understood each other's customs, poetic traditions and myths. Sacrifice ("blót") played a huge role in most of the rituals that are known about today, and communal feasting on the meat of sacrificed animals, together with the consumption of beer or mead, played a large role in the calendar feasts. In everyday practice, other foodstuffs like grain are likely to have been used instead. The purpose of these sacrifices was to ensure fertility and growth. However, sudden crises or transitions such as births, weddings and burials could also be the reason. In those times there was a clear distinction between private and public faith, and the rituals were thus tied either to the household and the individual or to the structures of society.


title: Norse rituals

text: It is not certain to what extent the known myths correspond to the religious beliefs of Scandinavians in pre-Christian times, nor how people acted towards them in everyday life. The Scandinavians did not leave any written sources on their religious practice, and Christian texts on the subject are marked by misunderstandings and negative bias, since the Christians viewed the Nordic beliefs as superstition and devil worship. Some archaeological evidence has been discovered, but this is hard to interpret in isolation from written material.


title: Norse rituals

text: Recent research suggests that great public festivals involving the population of large regions were not as important as the more local feasts in the life of the individual. Though they were written in a later Christian era, the Icelandic sagas are of great significance as sources to everyday religion. Even when the Christian influence is taken into account, they draw an image of a religion closely tied to the cycle of the year and the social hierarchy of society. In Iceland the local secular leader had the title of gothi, which originally meant priest but in the Middle Ages was a term for a local secular leader.


title: Norse rituals

text: Ceremonial communal meals in connection with the blót sacrifice are mentioned in several sources and are thus some of the most described rituals. Masked dancers, music, and singing may have been common parts of these feasts. As in other pre-Christian Germanic societies, but in contrast to the later situation under Christianity, there was no class of priests: anyone could perform sacrifices and other faith acts. However, common cultural norms meant that it was normally the person with the highest status and the greatest authority (the head of the family or the leader of the village) who led the rituals. The sources indicate that sacrifices for fertility, a safe journey, a long life, wealth etc. were a natural and fully integrated part of daily life in Scandinavian society, as in almost all other pre-modern societies across the world.


title: Norse rituals

text: The worship of female powers is likely to have played a greater role than the medieval sources indicate, because those texts were written by men and pay less attention to religious practices in the female sphere. A trace of the importance of goddesses can be found in place-name material that has shown that there are often place names connected to the goddess Freyja near place names connected to the god Freyr. Fertility and divination rituals that women could take part in or lead were also among those which survived the longest after Christianisation.


title: Norse rituals

text: Different types of animals or objects were connected to the worship of different gods; for instance, horses and pigs played a great role in the worship of Freyr. This did not mean that the same animal could not also play a role in the worship of other deities (the horse was also an important part of the Odin faith). One of the most important objects in Norse paganism was the ship. Archaeological sources show that it played a central role in the faith from the petroglyphs and razors of the Bronze Age to the runestones of the Viking Age. Interpretation of the meaning of the ship in connection to the mythological material is only possible for the late period, when it was mainly associated with death and funerals.


title: Norse rituals

text: Several written sources mention statues of heathen gods. They are commonly described as anthropomorphic wooden staves, sometimes with faces carved at the top. Ahmad ibn Fadlan writes about such poles in his description of a Scandinavian sacrifice at the Volga. This account has a suggestion of the mythological connection but it is impossible to decipher it. No such large statues from the Viking Age have been found, only small figures and amulets. This may be because larger statues were deliberately destroyed. After Christianisation, the possession of such figures was banned and severely punished. Many accounts of missionaries have the destruction of heathen idols as their climax, symbolising the triumph of the strong Christian god over the weak, "devilish" native gods. The sagas sometimes mention small figures that can be kept in a purse. Such figures are known from archaeological findings across Scandinavia. They include hammer-shaped jewelry, golden men or figures of gods.


title: Norse rituals

text: Sources from different periods also suggest that chariots were used in fertility rituals across Scandinavia over a very long period. In his "Germania", Tacitus refers to a sacred chariot in the faith of Nerthus. Also the Dejbjerg chariots from the Roman Iron Age, the Oseberg ship from the Viking age and the medieval tale about Gunnar Helming have survived until today. It is possible that this motif can be traced as far back as the processions of the Bronze Age.


title: Norse rituals

text: Although no details are known, it is possible to form an unclear image of some of the rituals and religious practices through interpretation of the sources that have survived. The sources are heterogeneous since the written accounts are from the late heathen period and written in a Christian context. Thus it is also hard to determine whether a ritual was private or public. The only heathen shrine about which there is detailed information is the great temple at Uppsala in modern Sweden, which was described by the German chronicler Adam of Bremen in a time where central Sweden was the last political centre where Norse paganism was practised in public.


title: Norse rituals

text: Remains of so-called multifunctional centres have been discovered in several places in Scandinavia. Near Tissø, archaeologists have unearthed a complex consisting of, among other things, a central mead hall connected to a fenced area with a smaller building. The hall is likely to have been associated with the great festivals and the fenced area to have contained a hörgr. This complex is similar to others found in Scandinavia., such as Borg in Lofoten, Uppsala in Uppland, Uppåkra in Scania, Gudme in Funen and Lejre in Zealand. Since the 1970s, discoveries have significantly expanded knowledge about the public faith. The excavations have shown that large buildings were used for both secular and religious purposes from the 600s and into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. Such structures are likely to have been both religious and political/economic centres. The combination of religious festivals and markets has been common to most cultures through most of history, since a society where travel is difficult and communication limited uses such occasions to get several things done at the same time. Thus the religious festivals were also the time and place for things, markets and the hearing of court cases. The religious festivals have to be seen in the light of these other activities. In some places the same area was used for these festivals from the Roman Iron Age until the Middle Ages, while in other places different locations were used in succession. Excavations of the complex at Tissø have shown that it grew from the 7th century until the 10th century. The most recent findings are from 1020 to 1030, when the great hall seems to have been dismantled.


title: Norse rituals

text: Locally there were several kinds of holy places, usually marked by a boundary in the form of either a permanent stone barrier or a temporary fence of branches. Thus a holy space was created with rules of its own, like a ban on spilling blood on holy soil. The importance of these holy places should be understood in connection to the cosmological ideas people had. It is known that different types of divine forces were tied to different places and that there were different rituals connected to them. In addition to sacred groves, texts mention holy wells and the leaving of offerings at streams, mountains, waterfalls, rocks, and trees; these may have been to the landvættir as well as, or rather than, the gods. There is no mention of worship of the jötnar and it is unknown whether there were places sacred to them.


title: Norse rituals

text: The sources disagree about faiths buildings, so there are varying opinions about their form and nature. However, it seems that for some buildings, sacral use was secondary. The Germanic languages had no words in pre-Christian times that directly corresponded to the Latin "templum", the ancestor of the modern word "temple". Thus it has long been a topic for discussion whether there were buildings exclusively meant for religious purposes in pre-Christian Scandinavia. It is most likely that religious buildings were erected in some places, as the words "hörgr" and "hof" are found in several place-names. Other sources suggests that the ritual acts were not necessarily limited to religious buildings. Whether "temples" were built is likely to have depended on local custom and economic resources. A "hof" or a "hörgr" did not need to be connected to one of the faiths centres.


title: Norse rituals

text: Other forms of the faiths buildings were the "hall" and the "vé". Place names containing the word "sal" (hall) occur in several places and it is possible that this word was used for the multi-functional halls. Earlier scholars often translated "sal" as "barn" or "stable", which has been shown to be inaccurate. Such a hall is more likely to have been a long-house with only one room. This was a prestigious type of building used for feasts and similar social gatherings in the entire Germanic area. In place names the word "sal" is mostly connected to Odin, which shows a connection with political power. Old place names containing the word "sal" may thus mean that a religious hall once stood there. Another word for hall, "höll", was used to describe another kind of sacral building, not meant for habitation but dedicated to special purposes like holding feasts. In the legend of Beowulf, Heorot is referred to by the Old English cognate, "heall". However the word "höll" is not found in place names and is likely to have been borrowed into East Norse from German or English in the late period.


title: Norse rituals

text: The "vé" is another kind of holy place and is also the most unambiguous name used for holy places in Scandinavia. The word comes from the proto-Germanic "*wîha", meaning "holy". Originally this word was used for places in nature but over time religious buildings may have been built.


title: Norse rituals

text: Adam of Bremen's description of the sacrifices and the religious centre in Uppsala is the best known account of pre-Christian rituals in Sweden. There is general agreement that Gamla Uppsala was one of the last strongholds of heathen religion in central Sweden and that the religious centre there was still of great importance when Adam of Bremen wrote his account. Adam describes the temple as being gilded everywhere and containing statues of the three most important gods. The most important was Thor, who was placed in the middle, with Odin at one side and "Fricco" (presumably Freyr) at the other. He tells that Thor reigned in the skies where he ruled rain, wind and thunder, and that he provided good weather for the crops. In his hand he held a sceptre. Odin was the god of war and courage, his name meant "the furious" and he was depicted as a warrior. "Fricco", on the other hand, was the god for peace and physical satisfaction, and was thus depicted with a huge phallus. Each god had his own priests and people sacrificed to the gods whose help they needed: Thor was called upon in times of famine and disease, Odin was called upon to gain victory and "Fricco" was called upon for fertile marriages.


title: Norse rituals

text: According to Adam, the temple at Uppsala was the centre for the national worship of the gods, and every nine years a great festival was held there where the attendance of all inhabitants of the Swedish provinces was required, including Christians. At these festivals men and male animals were sacrificed by hanging. Adam recounts from Christian eyewitness accounts that up to 72 corpses could be hanging in the trees next to the temple during these sacrifices. He uses the Latin term "triclinium", meaning banquet hall, for the central religious building and says that it was used for libations. In Roman culture such a building was not considered a temple proper, but it had a function similar to that of Heorot in the legend of Beowulf. For comparison the Iron Age hall at Berg in Lofoten had benches along three of the walls just like the Roman "triclinium".


title: Norse rituals

text: In recent Strahinja, remains of a large building have been found in Uppsala. It was 100m long and was in use from 600 to 800. It was built on an artificial plateau near the burial mounds from the Germanic Iron Age and was presumably a residence connected to the royal power, which was established in the area during that period. Remains of a smaller building have been found below this house and the place is likely to have been in use as a religious centre for very long time. The memory of the hall ("sal") remains in the name "Uppsala". The building was surrounded by a fence which could not have had any defensive function but could have marked the royal or sacral area. Around 900 the great hall burned down, but new graves were placed on the site. The traces of postholes under the medieval church have traditionally been interpreted as the site of the temple, but some scholars now believe the building was a later feast hall and that there was never a "temple" as such, but rather a hall used for banquets and political and legal functions as well as sacrifices. Gamla Uppsala was used for about 2000 years but the size and complexity of the complex was expanded up until the Viking Age, so that Uppsala in the period from 500 to 1000 was the centre of royal power and a location of a sizeable religious organisation.


title: Norse rituals

text: Norse religion did not have any class of priest who worked as full-time religious leaders. Instead there were different kinds of leaders who took care of different religious tasks alongside their secular occupation. From Iceland the terms "goði" (gothi) and "gyðja" are known for "priest" and "priestess" while the terms "vífill" and "lytir" are primarily known from the East Norse area. However the title "gothi" is also known from Danish rune stones. The king or the jarl (earl) had overall responsibility for the public faith in his realm while the head of the household was responsible for leading the private faith.


title: Norse rituals

text: Thus, religious as well as secular power in Norse society was centered on individuals. It was secured through ties of friendship and loyalty and meant that there never were any totally consolidated structures of power. The king could only exercise his power where he or his trusted representatives were personally present. A king thus needed to have homesteads throughout the realm as the physical seat of his government. It is unclear which of them were royal and which of them were owned by local aristocracy, but place names can give an indication. The common Swedish place name "Husaby" or "Huseby" could be an old term for a royal homestead. The same was true for leaders of lesser rank in the hierarchy; they too had to be present for the rituals to work.


title: Norse rituals

text: The most known type of religious leader is the "gothi", as several holders of this title appear in the Icelandic sagas. Because of the limited knowledge about religious leaders there has been a tendency to regard the gothi and his female counterpart, the gyðja, as common titles throughout Scandinavia. However, there is no evidence pointing to that conclusion. In historic times the gothi was a male politician and judge, i.e. a chieftain, but the word has the same etymological origins as the word "god," which is a strong sign that religious functions were connected to the title in pre-historic times. In pre-Christian times the gothi was thus both politician, jurist and religious expert.


title: Norse rituals

text: Other titles of religious leaders were "þulr" (thul), "thegn", "völva" and "seiðmaðr" (seidman). The term "thul" is related to words meaning recitation, speech and singing, so this religious function could have been connected to a sacral, maybe esoteric, knowledge. The thul was also connected to Odin, the god of rulers and kings, and thus poetry and the activities in the banquet halls. It is a possibility that the thul function was connected to the king's halls. Both the "völva" and the "seiðmaðr" were associated with seid.


title: Norse rituals

text: It has been a topic for discussion whether human sacrifice was practised in Scandinavia. There has been great disagreement about why, for instance, two bodies were found in the Oseberg tomb or how to interpret Ibn Fadlan's description of the killing of a female thrall at a funeral among the Scandinavian Rus on the Volga. The many discoveries of bog bodies and the evidence of sacrifices of prisoners of war dating back to the Pre-Roman Iron Age show that ritual killings in one form or another were not uncommon in Northern Europe in the period before the Viking Age. Furthermore, some findings from the Viking Age can be interpreted as evidence of human sacrifice. Sagas occasionally mention human sacrifice at temples, as does Adam of Bremen. Also, the written sources tell that a commander could consecrate the enemy warriors to Odin using his spear. Thus war was ritualised and made sacral and the slain enemies became sacrifices. Violence was a part of daily life in the Viking Age and took on a religious meaning like other activities. It is likely that human sacrifice occurred during the Viking Age but nothing suggests that it was part of common public religious practise. Instead it was only practised in connection with war and in times of crisis.


title: Norse rituals

text: Excavations of the religious centres have shown that public religious practise changed over time. In Southern Scandinavia, the great public sacrificial feasts that had been common during the Roman Iron Age were abandoned. In the 6th century the great sacrifices of weapons were discontinued. Instead there are traces of a faith that was tied more to the abode of a ruler. This change is among other things shown by golden plates and bracteates becoming common. Gold was a precious material and was thus connected to the ruler and his family. The changes are very remarkable and might be a sign that the change of religion in Scandinavia started in an earlier time than was previously believed, and was closely connected to the establishment of kingdoms.


title: Norse rituals

text: The rituals of the private religion mostly paralleled the public. In many cases the line between public and private religion is hard to draw, for instance in the cases of the yearly blót feasts and crisis and life passage rituals. In the private sphere the rituals were led by the head of the household and his wife. It is not known whether thralls took part in the worship and in that case to what extent. The rituals were not limited to seasonal festivals as there were rituals connected to all tasks of daily life. Most rituals only involved one or a few persons, but some involved the entire household or the extended family.


title: Norse rituals

text: These rituals were connected to the change of status and transitions in life a person experiences, such as birth, marriage and death, and followed the same pattern as is known from other rites of passage. Unusually, no Scandinavian sources tell about rituals for the passage from child to adult.


title: Norse rituals

text: Birth was seen as extremely dangerous for mother and newborn. Thus, rites of birth were common in many pre-modern societies. In the Viking Age, people would pray to the goddesses Frigg and Freyja, and sing ritual galdr-songs to protect the mother and the child. Fate played a huge role in Norse culture and was determined at the moment of birth by the Norns. Nine nights after birth, the child had to be recognised by the father of the household. He placed the child on his knee while sitting in the high seat. Water was sprinkled on the child, it was named and thus admitted into the family. There are accounts of guests being invited to bring gifts and wish the child well. Children were often named after deceased ancestors and the names of deities could be a part of the name. People thought certain traits were connected to certain names and that these traits were carried on when the names were re-used by new generations. This was part of ancestor worship. Putting the child on the knee of the father confirmed his or her status as a member of the clan and bestowed the rights connected to this status. The child could no longer be killed, or exposed by the parents, without its being considered murder. Exposing children was a socially accepted way of limiting the population. The belief that deities were present during childbirth suggests that people did not regard the mother and the child as excluded from normal society as was the case in later, Christian, times and apparently there were no ideas about female biological functions being unclean.


title: Norse rituals

text: As it was the core the family, marriage was one of the most important social institution in pagan Scandinavia. A wedding was thus an important transition not only for the couple but also for the families involved. A marriage was a legal contract with implications for, among other things, inheritance and property relations, while the wedding itself was the solemnization of a pact in which the families promised to help each other. Because of this the male head of the family had the final say in these matters. However it is clear from the sagas that the young couple also had a say since a good relationship between the spouses was crucial to the running of a farm. A wedding was a long and collective process subject to many ritual rules and culminating in the wedding feast itself. The procedures had to be followed for the divine powers to sanction the marriage and to avoid a bad marriage afterwards. However accounts in the sagas about the complicated individual emotions connected to a marriage tell us that things did not always work out between the spouses.


title: Norse rituals

text: As a prelude to marriage the family of the groom sent the groom and several delegates to the family of the bride to propose. Here the date of the betrothal was set. This was the first legally binding step between the families, and the occasion was used to negotiate the inheritance and property relations of the couple as well as the dowry ("heimanfylgja") and wedding present ("mundr") from the groom's family. Those were the personal property of the bride. Usually the bride's family were less wealthy than the groom's, but in most cases the difference was not great. Thus the dowry was an investment by the bride's family that made it possible for her to marry into a more powerful family. When an agreement on these matters had been reached, the deal was sealed at a feast. These conditions were reserved for the dominating class of freeholders ("bóndi/bœndr"), as the remaining parts of the population, servants, thralls and freedmen were not free to act in these matters but were totally dependent on their master.


title: Norse rituals

text: The wedding ("brudlaup") was the most important single ritual in the process. It was the first public gathering of the two families and consisted of a feast that lasted for several days. Anything less than three days was considered paltry. The guests witnessed that the process had been followed correctly. The sources tell very little about how a wedding was related to the gods. It is known that the goddess Vár witnessed the couple's vows, that a depiction of Mjolnir could be placed in the lap of the bride asking Thor to bless her, and that Freyr and Freyja were often called upon in matters of love and marriage, but there is no suggestion of a worship ritual. From legal sources we know that leading the couple to the bridal couch was one of the central rituals. On the first night the couple was led to bed by witnesses carrying torches, which marked the difference between legal marital relations and a secret extra-marital relationship.


title: Norse rituals

text: Ancestor worship was an element in pre-Christian Scandinavian culture. The ancestors were of great importance for the self-image of the family and people believed that they were still able to influence the life of their descendants from the land of the dead. Contact with them was seen as crucial to the well-being of the family. If they were treated in the ritually correct way, they could give their blessings to the living and secure their happiness and prosperity. Conversely, the dead could haunt the living and bring bad fortune if the rituals were not followed. It is not clear whether the ancestors were seen as divine forces themselves or as connected to other death-related forces like elves.


title: Norse rituals

text: The status of the dead determined the shape of the tomb and the burial mounds were seen as the abode of the dead. They were places of special power which also influenced the objects inside them. The evidence of prehistoric openings in mounds may thus not indicate looting but the local community's efforts to retrieve holy objects from the grave, or to insert offerings. Since the excavation of a mound was a time- and labour-consuming task which could not have happened unnoticed, religious historian Gro Steinsland and others find it unlikely that lootings of graves were common in prehistoric times. There are also several mythological tales and legends about retrieval of objects from burial mounds and an account in Ynglingasaga of offerings to Freyr continuing through openings in his burial mound at Uppsala.


title: Norse rituals

text: The connection between the living and the dead was maintained through rituals connected to the burial place like sacrifice of objects, food and drink. Usually the graves were placed close to the dwelling of the family and the ancestors were regarded as protecting the house and its inhabitants against bad luck and bestowing fertility. Thus ancestor worship was of crucial importance to survival and there are signs that it continued up until modern times in isolated areas. Ancestor worship was also an element in the blót feasts, where memorial toasts to the deceased were part of the ritual. Also elf blót was closely connected to the family.


title: Norse rituals

text: Land wights were unnamed collective entities. They were protective deities for areas of land and there were many religious rules for how to deal with them to avoid conflicts. This was used by Egil Skallagrimson. When he was driven from Norway into exile in Iceland, he erected a nithing pole ("níðstang") to frighten the Norwegian land wights and thus bring bad luck to Norway as revenge for the Norwegian king's treatment of him. According to the saga the cursing pole consisted of a gaping horse's head mounted on top of a pole which he drove into the ground at the beach.


title: Norse rituals

text: In the Viking Age, women are likely to have played the main role in the wight faith. This faith included sacrifices of food and drink on certain locations either near the farm or other places like waterfalls and groves where wights were believed to live. During Christianisation the attention of the missionaries was focused on the named gods; worship of the more anonymous collective groups of deities was allowed to continue for a while, and could have later escaped notice by the Christian authorities. The wights also lived on in folklore as nixies and tomter.


title: Norse rituals

text: Far from all types of Norse pagan rituals are known in detail. Below is an introduction to most known types of rituals.


title: Norse rituals

text: The Blót was an important type of ritual in the public as well as the private faith. The word "blót" is connected to the verb "blóta", which is related to English "bless". In the Viking age the main meaning of the word had become "to sacrifice".


title: Norse rituals

text: In academia Seid was traditionally written about in a degrading fashion and considered magic rather than religion. This is connected to the general disparagement of magic in the Christian medieval sources, such as the sagas. Seid was an element of a larger religious complex and was connected to important mythological tales. Freyja is said to have taught it to Odin. Thus Seid is today considered as an important element of Norse religion. It is hard to determine from the sources what the term meant in the Viking Age but it is known that Seid was used for divination and interpretation of omens for positive as well as destructive purposes.


title: Norse rituals

text: The sources mention runes as powerful symbols connected to Odin, which were used in different ritual circumstances.


title: Norse rituals

text: The sources of knowledge about Norse paganism are varied, but do not include any sacred texts that prescribe rituals or explain them in religious terms. Knowledge about pre-Christian rituals in Scandinavia are composed mainly from fragments and indirect knowledge. For instance the mythological eddas tell almost nothing about the rituals connected to the deities described. While the sagas contain more information on ritual acts, they rarely connect those to the mythology. All these texts were written in Iceland after the Christianisation and it is likely that much knowledge about the rituals had by then, been lost. The mythological tales survived more easily, and the information found in them is probably closer to pagan originals.


title: Norse rituals

text: An example of how sagas have been used as indirect sources for religious practice is Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla". For instance, in the first part of the tale of the Norwegian kings he tells about the rituals Odin instituted when he came to the Scandinavian peoples. This account is likely to describe rituals in the Odin faith. According to Snorri, Odin required that a sacrifice be held for a good year at the beginning of winter, one for rebirth at mid-winter and one for victory in the summer. All dead were to be cremated on a funeral pyre together with all their belongings and all cremated in this way would join him in Valhalla, together with their belongings. The ashes were to be spread either at sea or on the ground. This is similar to other written and archaeological sources on burial customs, which thus substantiate each other. Graves are the most common archaeological evidence of religious acts and they are an important source of knowledge about the ideas about death and cosmology held by the bereaved. This material is very useful in forming a general view of the structural relations and long-time developments in the religion. By comparing it to other archaeological findings and written sources, new perspectives can be formed.


title: Norse rituals

text: Another source is found in toponyms. In recent years, research has shed new light on pagan rituals, among other things, by determining the location of pagan shrines. The name of a location can reveal information about its history. The name of the city Odense, for instance, means Odin's "vé" (shrine), and the name "Thorshøj", which can be found in several places in Norway, means "Thor's hof" (temple). The basis point for the interpretation of placenames is that they were not just practical measures people used to make their way but also constituted a symbolic mapping of the landscape. Thus toponyms can contribute with knowledge about the culture of previous societies for which there are no other sources. Toponyms tell about which deities were connected to the place and worshipped there, and names for holy places can be found, for instance, in the suffixes "-vé", "-sal","-lund", "-hørg" and "-hov" or "-hof". One of the most common terms was "vé", meaning an area that was consecrated and thus outside the sphere of the profane and where special rules applied. The distribution of toponyms in middle Sweden containing the names of the deities Freyr and Freyja may be a trace of a prehistoric sacral kingdom in the Mälaren region associated with the two fertility deities and the idea of a sacred marriage. There are difficulties involved in the use of toponyms, since words often have both a sacral and a non-sacral meaning; for instance the word "hørg" can mean "stone altar" as well as "stony soil".


title: Norse rituals

text: Many images can also be interpreted as depictions of ritual acts. For instance, the bracteates from the Germanic Iron Age can be interpreted as depictions of rituals connected to the belief of Odin, such as seid and magic.


title: Norse rituals

text: However, in principle, material remains can only be used as circumstantial evidence to understanding Norse society and can only contribute concrete knowledge about the time's culture if combined with written sources. For instance, the written sources point to the existence of religious specialists within the public faith. The titles of these specialists have been found on rune stones, thus confirming their position within society.


title: Norse rituals

text: Several tales from the sagas contain remains of pre-Christian rituals. Often the stories are not of a religious nature but include singular incidents that reflect religious life. An example is Snorri's account of how the Christian king of Norway, Haakon the Good, tried to avoid taking part in the pagan feasts. It was traditionally one of the king's duties to lead a blót feast each fall. At this feast, Haakon refused to eat the sacrificed horse meat that was served, and made the sign of the cross over his goblet instead of invoking Odin. After this incident the king lost many of his supporters, and at the feast the following year, he was forced to eat the sacrificial meat and was forbidden to bless his beer with the sign of the cross. This account is often used as evidence of the ruler's role as a religious leader. However, it is an important point that medieval sources have to be understood according to the environment they were written in. For instance Margaret Clunies Ross has pointed out that the descriptions of rituals appearing in the sagas are recycled in a historicised context and may not reflect practice in pre-Christian times. This can be seen by their often being explained in the texts rather than just described. From this she deduces that the readers were not expected to have direct knowledge of pagan rituals. They are also explained in terms of Christian practice; for example a "hlautteinn" used for sprinkling participants in a blót being described as "like an aspergillum".


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Birth of the Dragon is a 2016 American martial arts action film directed by George Nolfi and written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele. The film stars Philip Ng, Xia Yu, and Billy Magnussen. The film is a fictional account on the supposedly true story revolving around the young martial artist Bruce Lee, who challenged kung fu master Wong Jack-man in 1965 in San Francisco. Principal photography began in Vancouver, Canada on November 17, 2015. It was selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released on August 25, 2017, by Blumhouse Tilt and WWE Studios.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: In 1964, a young Bruce Lee owns and operates a San Francisco Kung Fu Academy, specializing in the Chinese martial art Wing Chun. Lee provides advice, roles as extras, and defends them from Chinatown gangs. One student, Steve McKee, spars with Lee while fighting in anger, causing Lee to counter and embarrass him. McKee and Vinnie Wei work for Wei's mother's laundry business, where they learn Wong Jack-man is observing the American kung fu scene. While carrying out a delivery to the China Gate restaurant, McKee falls for an employee, Xiulan, who is forbidden to communicate with outsiders. McKee sneaks into the restaurant to gives Xiulan an English grammar book so that she can develop her language skills, as well as teach her roommates basic English.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: McKee acquaints himself with Man, who is working as a dishwasher. Lee worries about Man's presence, thinking he would be punished for teaching whites kung fu and asks McKee to set up a meeting. At the Long Beach International Karate Championships, Lee performs a karate exhibition against his kung fu and debuts his famous one-inch punch. Among those in attendance, Lee points out Man in the audience. Man commends Lee's skill and technique but notices that Lee is his own limitation. Lee challenges him to a fight as Man leaves in peace. McKee learns that Man is in America to perform penance working as a dishwasher because of a near-fatal kick, the Mon Shan. Realizing that teaching McKee would help liberate himself, Man takes McKee as his student. Meeting up with Lee, who tells him that he would begin filming "The Green Hornet", McKee reveals his intention to end his time at Lee's academy. The relationship between McKee and Man captures the attention of Auntie Blossom, a gangster who owns the China Gate. She says that if McKee gets both martial artists to fight, she will release Xiulan. Man appears at Lee's academy and accepts his challenge. Despite Auntie Blossom's conditions, Xiulan refuses to leave without her roommates, who are all under the control of Wing Lo. Lee reluctantly agrees to fight under Man's conditions: only 12 witnesses at an empty warehouse, and the winner is revealed in the newspaper the next day.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Auntie Blossom, McKee, and a few other spectators bear witness to the private match. Lee's aggressive style of Wing Chun gains him the upper hand, drawing first blood. Man's traditional style of Shaolin is fluid, countering Lee, enraging him. They engage until reaching the top of an unfinished staircase, which Man uses to show Lee the limitation of his style. Man leaps down to the floor with grace, and Lee follows suit as a symbol of exceeding his own limits. They continue to fight until Man is knocked down and attempts the Mon Shan, which Lee prepares to parry. They stop and show their mutual respect with a bow, ending the fight. With no winner formally announced and $15 million ($ million today) in bets still in the balance, Auntie Blossom keeps the girls until one concedes.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Lee contemplates his style, knowing he could have been killed during the fight. McKee demands Man declare himself the victor to Auntie Blossom; however, Man says he won the fight by virtue of showing Lee a new path after exceeding his limitation. Wei notifies Lee that McKee has grown desperate to release Xiulan from captivity and has been beaten by gangsters. Lee teams up with Man to help their mutual student. Lee, Man, and McKee confront Auntie Blossom and her boss, Wing Lo. Man concedes, declaring Lee to be the winner. However, Lee only accepts on the condition that Lo frees all captive girls in Chinatown. Lo's nephew attempts to shoot Lee with a shotgun, but Lee swiftly performs the Mon Shan, knocking him out. While visiting McKee at the hospital, Lee reveals his desire to develop a new, more fluid and expressive style. McKee and Xiulan bid farewell to Man before boarding his ship back to China. Man firmly believes that Lee is the right person to show kung fu to the world.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: In a closing disclaimer, Lee had altered his fighting style. In July 1969, he introduced Jeet Kune Do, the forerunner of mixed martial arts.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: On February 19, 2013, it was announced that a biopic titled "Birth of the Dragon" about young martial artist Bruce Lee was in development, writing Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele. QED International and Groundswell Productions would finance and produce the film along with their Bill Block and Michael London, respectively. While Wilkinson and Rivele would also produce the film. On May 30, 2014, George Nolfi was announced to be the director of the film, and Janice Williams was also attached as producer. In June 2015, there was a casting call for the role of Lee, in search for a 20 to 30 years old martial arts expert. Mike Moh was under consideration for the titular role. On November 16, 2015, the film's cast was announced and it included Billy Magnussen as a martial arts student, Steve McKee, fashioned on Steve McQueen; Philip Ng as Bruce Lee; Xia Yu as Wong Jack-man; Jingjing Qu as McKee's love interest, Xiulan; and Jin Xing as the brutal crime boss, Auntie Blossom. Chinese company Kylin Films came on board to finance the film, while QED left the project, Groundswell would still produce the film. London would be the producer along with Janice Williams, Wilkinson, Rivele, and Kylin's James H. Pang, while Leo Shi Young, David Nicksay, and Nolfi would executive produce, and Helen Y. Zhong, Jaeson Ma, and Joel Viertel would co-produce the film. Corey Yuen came on board to design the film's action sequences, which is set in 1965 in and around Oakland and San Francisco, about the actual fight between Shaolin Master Jack Man and the young Lee.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Filming was previously scheduled to begin at the North Shore Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 28, 2015. Principal photography on the film began on November 17, 2015, in the Metro Vancouver area. Filming would last through January 24, 2016.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: In North America, "Birth of the Dragon" was released on August 25, 2017, alongside "All Saints" and "Leap!", and was projected to gross around $3 million from 1,618 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.1 million on its first day and $2.7 million over the weekend, finishing 8th at the box office. The film's low opening was attributed to Hurricane Harvey hitting Texas and surrounding areas causing theaters to close, the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor on Saturday, and a negative response from critics and fans.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100, based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Scout Tafoya, reviewer for Roger Ebert, gave the movie zero stars, writing, "How, this far into the 21st century, does a film like this get made? One that shunts Bruce Lee to the status of secondary character in a lazy and boringly familiar star-crossed romance? There are entire books and countless articles about the Wong Jack-man & Bruce Lee fight, and this film invents things wholesale to pad its running time? Why? Who could possibly be expected to care about fictitious Steve McKee and his quest to save an equally fictitious love interest from a likely even more fictitious crime boss?" Andrew Parker, reviewer for "The Globe and Mail", also gave the film a negative review, saying: "In reality, it's about a struggling white actor begging both martial-arts notables to help him free a girl he's sweet on from Chinese mob-controlled sex slavery."


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: The film has drawn accusations of "whitewashing" from fans and critics, who said that the Bruce Lee film unfairly focused on a fictional male white character, Steve McKee, who is presented as Lee's friend. This also drew criticism to the film's advertisement of being based on "a true story" as the main character is not real.


title: Birth of the Dragon

text: Shannon Lee, the daughter of Bruce Lee, distanced herself from the film, saying that the film, like others about her father, "lack a complete understanding of his philosophies and artistry. They haven't captured the essence of his beliefs in martial arts or storytelling." She went on to claim that one has to "generate your own material" to avoid misrepresentation.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: "The Boyfriend" (also known as "The New Friend") is an hour long episode of the sitcom "Seinfeld". It makes up the 34th and 35th episodes of the show, and 17th and 18th episodes of the show's third season. It first aired on February 12, 1992.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: Jerry meets an idol of his—former New York Mets baseball player Keith Hernandez (appearing as himself)—and wants to make a good impression. Meanwhile, George is out of time on his unemployment and he works harder than ever on his scheme to get a 13-week extension. He tells the unemployment office that he was close to a job with Vandelay Industries, a company made up by George that makes latex products and whose main office's phone number is Jerry's apartment. He asks Jerry to answer each phone call as "Vandelay Industries," which he does with his own alias, "Kal Varnsen." Upon finding out Jerry has befriended Keith, Kramer and Newman accuse Keith of spitting on them after a past Mets game by the players parking lot at Shea Stadium; however, Jerry supports a "second-spitter theory" in which Keith is not involved. George is busted by his unemployment officer after an out-of-the-loop Kramer answers Jerry's phone and tells her the number is for an apartment. Keith asks Jerry about Elaine's relationship status, then makes a date with her, breaking a date he previously made with Jerry.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: George tries to curb losing his benefits by taking the officer's daughter (Carol Ann Susi) out for a date. She dumps George by the end of the second date after she realizes he has no prospects, which causes him to express to Jerry his desire to date a tall woman. Jerry becomes jealous that Keith is spending more of his time dating Elaine. Elaine ends the relationship because he smokes. When Keith asks Jerry to help him move his furniture, Jerry considers this too large a favor given how little time they've known each other and ends their friendship. Right then, Kramer and Newman confront Keith about the "spitting incident". Keith tells them the real spitter was Mets relief pitcher Roger McDowell. Kramer and Newman remember they had taunted McDowell throughout the game and the pair apologize to Keith, and offer to help move his furniture. George rushes in with one last desperate attempt to win over his unemployment officer by getting Keith to meet her, but he is too late. As he mopes, a tall woman appears with his wallet, which he had dropped on the sidewalk outside, causing George to give a happy smile.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: The "spitting incident" depicted in the story is a parody of the 1991 film "JFK". Jerry presents the "magic loogie theory", a reference to the "magic bullet theory" featured in the film. The recount of the incident in the episode resembles the Zapruder film in "JFK", as it uses the same color and photography effects. The episode features Wayne Knight (as Newman), who appeared in "JFK" in the same position as the scene it depicts. Originally, the script was written where the actual spitter was going to be Darryl Strawberry, but due to Strawberry having legal issues at the time of production, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld believed that it wouldn't look good for Strawberry's image to be portrayed as spitting on fans, so Roger McDowell, a friend of Keith Hernandez, was written in Strawberry's place.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: An alternative ending was filmed where the tall woman gives George his wallet, and George thanks her then shows her the door. When she asks George if he wants anything else, George, after a pause, shakes his head "No" and closes the door on her. When Jerry looks at him in disbelief, George shrugs, "Not my type," causing Jerry to roll his eyes in exasperation.


title: The Boyfriend (Seinfeld)

text: On June 23, 2010, Jerry Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game at Citi Field against the Detroit Tigers on SportsNet New York, reuniting him with Hernandez, now an analyst for SNY. During that time, he revealed that if Hernandez had turned them down they would have asked Gary Carter to take his place.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams Realty (commonly referred to as Keller Williams) is an American technology and international real estate franchise with headquarters in Austin, Texas. It claimed to be the largest real estate franchise in number of agents and sales volume for 2018 and 2019. It is operated by a holding company named KWx which was formed in 2020.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Founded in 1983 by Gary Keller and Joe Williams, it grew from a single office in Austin to approximately 940+ offices with over 180,000 associates worldwide as of May 2018. It is an Inc. 5000 company and has been recognized as one of the highest rated real estate companies by numerous publications, including "Entrepreneur" and "Forbes". In 2018, it was listed as one of the "happiest companies to work for" by Career Bliss. Keller Williams topped Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies in the real estate and urban development category for 2019.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams was founded in 1983 by Gary Keller and Joe Williams. It started out as a single office based in Austin, Texas, selling local residential real estate in the Austin area. After two years in business, Keller Williams became the largest single office residential real estate firm in Austin with 72 licensed agents. In the mid-1980s, the company suffered from the United States housing bubble and began to offer profit sharing to existing and potential associates in order to retain agents and help get through the recession. Within a year, the company grew to 130 agents and began to climb back as the top real estate broker in Austin.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: In the early 1990s, Keller Williams expanded outside of the state of Texas, opening up its business model to franchising beginning in 1991. It opened an office in Oklahoma in 1993, marking the firm's first office to be located outside of its home state. The Oklahoma office was later recognized as the most successful single real estate office in that state. Keller Williams expanded at a rapid rate throughout the United States, much of which was attributed to its commission split for agents. In 1997 the company was recognized by being on the "Franchise Gold 100" list by Success Magazine. As it moved into the next century, Keller Williams became the 6th largest real estate agency in the U.S. An example of its rapid expansion came in the state of Florida where in 2004 it was attributed as the largest real estate office in Polk County with 114 agents. That same year, it was attributed as the fastest growing real estate office in the entire state with 45 market centers, bringing its total nationwide agent count to over 30,000.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams continued expanding and in 2007, the company launched "Luxury Homes by Keller Williams", a division within the company that brokers luxury only real estate. In 2008, it launched "KW Commercial", a division providing commercial real estate associates with specialized technology, marketing tools, and resources. The division is known for allowing agents to keep more commission splits. It also allowed profit sharing similar to residential agents. As of 2012, the division boasted of more than 1,000 brokers nationally.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: By the end of the decade in 2010, Keller Williams had 77,672 real estate agents in the United States. It surpassed Century 21 as the second largest real estate agency in the U.S., two years after taking over the third spot from RE/MAX International. Between 2005 and 2011, the company saw a 40 percent increase in the number of offices in North America. Keller Williams went international in 2012, launching "Keller Williams Worldwide" as a subdivision to manage its international franchising. It awarded its first overseas franchise in Vietnam in 2012. The same year, franchising of the company was made available in Indonesia and Southern Africa, and in 2013 expanded to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: At the end of April 2014, Keller Williams reached 100,575 agents worldwide. This was due to an 18 percent increase in agents during 2013. As of 2014, it is the largest real estate franchise by agent count in North America and the only privately held global residential real estate brokerage. In 2014, the company also announced the opening of a region in Dubai. The first Dubai franchise was awarded to a leadership group affiliated with IFA Hotels & Resorts which is considered the largest foreign investor on the Palm Jumeirah.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams topped $67.1 billion in sales volume in 2016, up 22 percent from the previous year. The company began to position itself as a technology company in 2017. In 2017 it launched KW Labs, a division of the company process devoted to the building and testing of technology created by the company alongside its agents. This was in addition to KW Keller Cloud. It also introduced "Kelle," an artificial intelligence app which has been referred to as Siri but for real estate used as a virtual assistant, and an agent-to-agent referral tools platform called "Referrals." Keller Williams claims it is the number one franchise in the United States by sales volume in 2017, ranking number one in agents and units sold in 2017.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams continued expansion into South America in 2018, opening franchises in Argentina, adding to already existing locations in Colombia, Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama. It also expanded to Cambodia as well as Belgium and Luxembourg. Gary Keller replaced John Davis as CEO of the company in 2019, adding to his already title of Chairman of the company. The same year the company expanded into Morocco.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams formed KWx in 2020, a holding company to oversee its portfolio of companies. It named Carl Liebert as the new CEO of the group with Gary Keller becoming the executive chairman. Josh Team also left Keller Williams with Marc King being promoted to role of president.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams operates a charitable arm known as "KW Cares" which is a nonprofit organization set up to assist both local communities as well as associates of the company and their families deal with hardships and emergencies. Examples of giving include providing assistance to help fight serious illness or recover from a life altering accident. The organization also donates to various other nonprofits including the Ryan's Well Foundation, Homes For Our Troops, and the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Beginning in 2009, Keller Williams began organizing a one-day yearly event where all associates spend a day away from the office donating their time to their local communities. Known among the associates as RED Day (Renew, Energize, and Donate), all Keller Williams offices close for the day to take part in the event. Since its inception, associates have been involved with projects that include rebuilding homes, hosting blood drives, giving to local food shelters, and refurbishing local parks.


title: Keller Williams Realty

text: Keller Williams has received numerous awards since its inception. In addition to being an Inc. 5000 company, it has been recognized by Inc. as a "Top 100 Real Estate Company", placed on the magazine's honor role as a five-time "Inc. 5000 Honoree", and receiving an Inc. "Hire Power Award". Further recognition has come from Entrepreneur where it has been featured in the magazine's "Best of the Best" franchise list as well as inclusion in their "Franchise 500" rankings. The company was recognized as the number one training company by Training Magazine in 2017; and, inducted into the publication's Training Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2018, it was listed as one of the "happiest companies to work for" by Career Bliss as reported by Forbes.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: India–United Kingdom relations, also known as Indian–British relations or Indo–British relations, are the international relations between India and the United Kingdom. India has a high commission in London and two consulates-general in Birmingham and Edinburgh. The United Kingdom has a high commission in New Delhi and five deputy high commissions in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Nations.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The United Kingdom has an Indian population of over 1.5 million. Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron described Indian–British relations as the "New Special Relationship" in 2010.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: On 25 October 2022, Rishi Sunak was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, becoming the first British Asian and the first of Indian descent to hold that position.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Archaeological evidences from Iron age Poole Harbour, Dorset indicate that Durotriges had trading relations extending from Britain to India.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Anglo Saxon Chronicles for 883 AD make reference to King Alfred of Wessex sending alms to St Thomas shrine in India.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Trade was established between Tudor England and Mughal India in 1600 when Elizabeth I granted the newly formed East India Company a royal charter by sending precious gifts to the Mughal court of Emperor Akbar the Great. During the time of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, India was a leading manufacturer, with a 25 percent share of the world's GDP. By the time the British left the country its share of global GDP was near 4%. During the 18th century, the East India Company began to gain greater influence in India. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 led to the conquest of Bengal while by 1857, following various treaties and wars with Indian kingdoms (such as the Anglo-Mysore Wars with Tipu Sultan, the Anglo-Maratha Wars and both the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars), the East India Company controlled most of the Indian subcontinent. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, where Indian sepoys rebelled against their British officers, the East India Company was dissolved the following year. The assets of the British East India Company became so huge that the British government decided to step in. India served as the main base for the British Empire's expansion across Asia and would remain the empire's most important colony and main source of income as well as soldiers until independence. Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1876. From a small trading outpost, India became the jewel in the British crown.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In 1858, the British Government seized control of the territories and treaty arrangements of the former East India Company. In 1876, the area, which included modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, became "the Indian Empire" (often known historically as the "British Raj") with British Monarch Queen Victoria proclaimed as "Empress of India" (a title held by her successors until 1947). The British Indian Army was established and assisted Britain in many wars, including the Anglo-Afghan Wars, the Anglo-Gurkha Wars, the Anglo-Burmese Wars, the First and Second Opium Wars, and both World Wars.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The Indian independence movement gained traction following the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Opposition to British rule increased, where ideology of satyagraha or non-violence was taken to a height by Gandhiji while on another hand, 'self defense' or armed revolution embraced by Nationalists like by Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, eventually led to the dissolution of British Raj and Independence of India on 15 August 1947. However, the end of the Raj also resulted the Partition of India that resulted in two new entities, Dominion of Pakistan (which included the province of East Bengal that would later achieve independence as Bangladesh) and the Dominion of India.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Independence came in 1947 with the Partition of India into the dominions of India and Pakistan, within the Commonwealth of Nations. King George VI, who as British Monarch had been "Emperor of India", abandoned this title in 1947, and served as India's ceremonial head of state as 'King of India' (in much the same way, he also served as 'King of Pakistan'). In 1950 India became a republic and the link with the British crown was severed.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: India decided to remain in the Commonwealth of Nations after becoming a Republic. Both Britain and India have since pursued quite divergent diplomatic paths.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In particular, India became a major force within the Non-Aligned Movement, which initially sought to avoid taking sides during the Cold War. This contrasted with Britain's position as a founding member of NATO, and key ally of the United States.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: India is the second largest foreign investor in the UK. While UK ranks 18th as a trading partner of India and third after Mauritius and Singapore as an investor in India. There are many bilateral trade agreements between the two nations designed to strengthen ties. For example, in 2005, the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was inaugurated in New Delhi aimed at boosting two-way bilateral investments.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The growth of India's multinational companies contributed greatly to UK's business and economy. As of 2019, Indian companies in the UK generated over 48 billion pounds. Also, they have employed more than 105,000 people in the UK. Tata Group alone employed over 63,760 people in the UK. This kind of phenomenon, where non-Western countries impact the West, has been commented on by sociologist Anthony Giddens as "reverse colonialism".


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: At a dinner on 15 August 2017, held to mark 70 years of India's independence, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "We in the UK are the beneficiaries of reverse colonialism." Johnson said the Jaguar car made in Castle Bromwich and exported back to India "in ever growing numbers" incarnated the "commercial role reversal" between India and the UK.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The British government has chosen India as one of its most influential trade partners because it is one of the "fastest growing economies in the world." In 2013, Cameron formed the biggest trade delegation by accommodating more than 100 representatives that varied from multinational corporations, medium-to-small-sized corporations, and universities to India. Compared to the 2010 trade mission, the UK and India negotiated to double the trade volume by 2015. Following the trade delegation, total UK goods and services exports to India increased by 14% from January to September 2013. Between 6 and 8 November 2016, then British PM Theresa May visited India for a bilateral trip. The key topic of discussions would be May's plan for post-Brexit relations with India. Discussion on a possible free-trade agreement is also in the agenda. According to a MEA (Ministry of External Affairs, India) spokesperson, there is "substantial scope for further strengthening bilateral cooperation across a range of sectors, including science & technology, finance, trade & investment, and defense & security."


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Following a meeting between Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond at the 9th UK-India economic and financial dialogue, Jaitley announced that the two countries had agreed to discuss a bilateral free trade agreement. However, Jaitley stated that a formal dialogue on the agreement would only begin post-Brexit.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In September 2017 the High Commission of India in the UK, with the support of the UK India Business Council, announced the Access India programme, a unique scheme set up to help many more UK SMEs export to India. Whilst many large UK companies have a presence in India, small and medium-sized British companies do not. India hopes that the Access to India programme will not only encourage British SMEs to export to India but also inspire them to manufacture in India fulfilling the aims of the Make in India initiative.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: From 2004 to 2009, the number of Indian students studying in the UK doubled from 10,000 to over 20,000. By 2009, India was one of the top ten countries sending students to study in the UK. Because the number of students grew, the British government and the Indian government agreed to cooperate.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: During the 2010 UK-India Summit, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and India came into agreement to support education by implementing the India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). In this summit, Cameron stated that "Education is an area where India and the UK could pool some of the advantages for mutual benefit." He continued by stating that a higher quality of education would lead to providing opportunities for all, thus encouraging economic growth and overcoming poverty for India. However, after its implementation, the number of Indian students studying in the UK did not increase as expected by both governments.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In 2010, the then Home Secretary Theresa May announced a stricter immigration law. This included tighter rules for international students. Students were forced to return to their homeland after earning their degree. Since the immigration law, there has been a rapid decrease of 25% in the number of first year students from India during the year 2012–2013.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Theresa May's action has been criticised by people such as historian Edward Acton. Acton stated that this action is "butchering" the Anglo-Indian friendship because it is "treating university students as immigrants." The continuous drop in the number of international students, including Indians, has become controversial. Business leaders such as Sir James Dyson have commented that forcing international students to move back to their homeland can be detrimental to the British economy in the long term.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In March 2015, Phillip Hammond stated during an interview with DD News that Theresa May's policy has been cancelled. Starting from 2015, Indian students are able to stay in the UK for six months after their graduation.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Boris Johnson told "Times of India" in 2017 that "the number of Indian students in the UK continues to rise. Our most recent figures show a 10% increase in Indian students gaining visas – and 91% of these applications are successful. We want the brightest and best Indian students to attend our great universities; there is no limit to the number of genuine Indian students who can study in Britain," he said in the interview.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Politically, relations between India and the UK occur mostly through the multilateral organisations of which both are members, such as the Commonwealth of Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Asian Development Bank.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Three Presidents of India have paid state visits to the United Kingdom: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in June 1963, Ramaswamy Venkataraman in October 1990, and Pratibha Patil in 2009.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom paid state visits to India in November 1963, April 1990, and in October 1997.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: After becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Cameron was actively involved in enhancing the Indian-British relationship on various dimensions, such as "business, energy security, climate change, education, research, security and defense, and international relations." His effort could be seen in his political visits in India on 18–20 February 2013 and on 14 November 2013. Following his visit, other politicians such as Former UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne visited India to accomplish a trade mission in July 2014. During their visit, Osborne announced that a statue of Gandhi would be erected in London's Parliament Square to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. Upon unveiling the statue on 14 March 2015, Cameron stated that "Our ties with India have remained close throughout history and continue to go from strength to strength – through mutual respect as equals, through cooperation, trade, and of course through the one-and-a-half million Indian diasporas living in Britain today who bring our two nations closer, to the benefit of both." He further commented that the statue will "enrich the firm bond of friendship between the world's oldest democracy and its largest."


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In terms of political forces behind economic development, Western powers look to India as a case study contrasting democracy-led growth and state-guided growth, the latter of which has been the modus operandi for China.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UK from 12 to 16 November 2015. During the visit, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to address the British Parliament. "The Times of India" reported that agents from Mossad and MI5 were protecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was heading to the 2015 G-20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey. The paper reported that the agents had been called in to provide additional cover to Modi's security detail, composed of India's Special Protection Group and secret agents from RAW and IB, in wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Prime Minister Theresa May visited India on 6 November 2016 in her first bilateral visit to a non-European country since becoming Prime Minister. Explaining the decision, May said, "It [the visit] matters now more than ever. India is the fastest-growing major economy." May had previously referred to India as a "key strategic partner" in the aftermath of Britain voting to leave the European Union. She was accompanied by Trade Secretary Liam Fox and a delegation of 33 business leaders aiming to boost trade and investment between India and the United Kingdom.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: At a dinner held to mark 70 years of Indian independence and 70 years of the Indian Journalists' Association on 15 August 2017, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "We in the UK are the beneficiaries of reverse colonialism." He gave as an example the Jaguar car made in Castle Bromwich and exported back to India, as well as the Hawk jets which are made by BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Of the Jaguar, he said the car incarnated "the commercial role reversal" between India and the UK.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: At the same dinner the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that the UK was working "ever more closely" with India to bring peace and stability to the Asia Pacific region, that the UK was increasingly co-operating in intelligence sharing with India and had no hesitation in sharing advanced technologies with India.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: In 2017 "Times of India" reported Boris Johnson as saying that in the first half of the year Britain gave nearly 500,000 visas to Indians – an eight per cent rise on the previous year. "Britain issues more visas to Indians than any other country in the world, apart from China." Mr Johnson said.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Following a resolution passed by the Labour Party, which attempted to internationalise the Kashmir issue in September 2019, the Indian High Commission in London decided to boycott the party and its events, whilst attending events organised by the Conservative Party-affiliated "Conservative Friends of India". The Labour Party was historically the party of choice for many British Indians, but has lost support to the Conservatives in recent elections.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted the invitation to India's Republic Day in 2021, however, he later cancelled his itinerary due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: According to a 2014 BBC World Service poll, 43% of Indian people view the United Kingdom's influence as positive and 27% view as negative. Similarly, 45% of Britons viewed India positively and 46% negatively.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: Queen hosted the official launch of the UK India Year of Culture on 27 February 2017 at Buckingham Palace with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley representing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The British Council worked with the Palace and British-Indian start-up Studio Carrom to project a peacock, India's national bird, onto the facade of Buckingham Palace.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The programme for the year was announced by UK Minister of State for Digital and Culture Rt Hon Matt Hancock, Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom HE Mr Sinha and British Council Deputy Chair Rt Hon Baroness Prashar CBE PC, at the British Film Institute on 28 February 2017. The programme includes an exhibition from the British Museum and The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, the first exhibition on Indian innovation at the UK's Science Museum, London, and the restoration of 1928 Indian movie, Shiraz, by the British Film Institute with a new score by British-Indian musician Anoushka Shankar.


title: India–United Kingdom relations

text: The British Council inaugurated the Year of Culture in India on 6 April 2017 projecting elements of the Buckingham Palace Studio Carrom peacock onto the British Council's Delhi building and launching an interactive music app Mix the City Delhi.