title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: This triggered the largest Saudi military operation since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Yemen's government, as well as the Arabs, accused Iran of arming the Houthis. Iran has heavily criticized Saudi Arabia for their intervention in the Houthi insurgency in Yemen. Iran's then president Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying: "Saudi Arabia was expected to mediate in Yemen's internal conflict as an older brother and restore peace to the Muslim state, rather than launching military strike[s] and pounding bombs on Muslim civilians in the north of Yemen," whilst Saudi foreign minister Saud Al Faisal counter-accused Iran of meddling in Yemen's internal affairs. Ahmadinejad went even further saying: "Some Western states invaded the region (Afghanistan and Iraq) in the wake of the 11 September attacks, whilst Al-Qaeda's main hub was located in another country in the region, which enjoys huge oil revenues and good relations with the United States and Western countries. There are some countries in the Middle East region that do not hold even a single election, don't allow women to drive, but the US and European governments are supporting their undemocratic governments," in reference to Saudi Arabia. In 2017 Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman called the supreme leader of Iran "new Hitler".


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, stated in one of his articles that Al-Qaeda's chief of operations "Saif al-Adel placed a call from Iran in May 2003 giving orders for the Riyadh bombings that claimed more than 30 lives, including eight Americans. Yet he still benefits from Iranian protection"


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Two Iranian officers were captured in Yemeni city of Aden during the fighting between local militia and Houthis. According to local pro-Saudi militia they served as military advisors to Houthis and were connected with Iranian Quds Force. Further worsening of bilateral relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia is generally expected as both countries are involved intensively in Yemeni crisis.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On 11 October 2011, US accused Iran of planning to assassinate the Saudi-Arabian ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubbair.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In 2012, in response to the global sanctions against Iran, Saudi Arabia offered to offset the loss of Iranian oil sales and Iran warned against this. The same year Turki Al Faisal, former head of Saudi General Intelligence and a Saudi royal, suggested that Saudi Arabia would support the U.S.-led sanctions against Iranian oil.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In April 2015, media reported that two Iranian teenage pilgrims to Saudi Arabia had been sexually harassed by Saudi police at the Jeddah Airport. After that, 80 members of Iranian parliament presented a bill for minor Haj rituals to be suspended until the Saudi officials guarantee the security of Iranian pilgrims and stop their harassment. Hundreds of Iranians protested outside Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Tehran over the alleged abuse of these two Iranian pilgrims in 11 April and clashed with police forces after trying to climb the embassy walls. In 8 April, Saudi authorities said they had prevented a plane carrying 260 Iranian pilgrims from landing in the kingdom, saying the airline operators had not applied for a permit to enter Saudi Arabia. In 13 April, Iran suspended minor hajj trips to Saudi Arabia until the Saudi government "applies a strong attitude" to the case.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Saud al-Faisal, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia have pledged to Iran's Ambassador that his government will punish the two Saudi policemen, very soon.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Mansour al-Turki, spokesman of Interior ministry of Saudi Arabia, informed that the accused airport staff members have been arrested and referred to court and Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia has been informed and the suspects have been referred for investigation.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In late May 2015, Yemeni hacking group Yemen Cyber Army launched a cyber attack on Saudi Arabia's Foreign, Interior and Defense Ministries' website to gain a portion of classified information and top secret documents. The documents were related to the Saudi agenda in Iran. The documents were later listed on WikiLeaks. The agenda included propaganda to stir chaotic unrest in Iran with the help of opposition forces, social media, newspapers, magazines and websites, in order to pave the way for changing the Iranian political system.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Furthermore, a Saudi diplomat planned to use the Persian and Arabic-language media, also the Arab-speaking citizens of Southern and Western Iran for provoking mass protests in that region.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: The 2015 Hajj stampede escalated tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran due to the deaths of Iranian pilgrims in the stampede. Iranian leaders accused Saudi authorities of being responsible for the disaster. A Saudi Prince, Dr. Khalid bin Abdullah bin Fahd bin Farhan Al Saud tweeted that : "Under the threat of the enemy Zoroastrians — historically – to the Kingdom – it is time to think – seriously – to ban Iranians from coming to Mecca to preserve the safety of the pilgrims".


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On 2 January 2016, 47 people were put to death in several Saudi cities, including prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Protesters of the executions responded by demonstrating in Iran's capital, Tehran. That same day a few protesters would eventually ransack the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and later set it ablaze. Police donned riot gear and arrested 40 people during the incident.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On 3 January 2016, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry announced that it would cut diplomatic ties with Iran due to the violence that had occurred at their embassy. and President Rouhani called the damage on embassy "by no means justifiable".


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On 7 January 2016, Iran's foreign ministry made the claim that Saudi warplanes had "deliberately" targeted its embassy to Yemen in the city of Sanaa. Iran's report included claims that,"a number of the building's guards" had been injured as a result of the bombing. Despite this assertion Sanaa residents and the Associated Press have reported that the embassy suffered no visible damage. Currently General Ahmad Asseri from the Saudi-led coalition is investigating Iran's allegations. Later on, Asseri announced no evidence was found for the accusation neither by the Arab Coalition Military nor by the legitimate Yemeni government.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In September 2016, following disputes, the Iranian government barred its citizens from making the Hajj. Iran claimed that the 2015 incident was the result of Saudi "incompetence." The Saudi government suggested that the move was politically motivated as a means to put pressure on the kingdom.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In the first week of January 2017, the Saudi Minister for Pilgrims invited more than 80 countries including Iran for Iranian participation in the forthcoming Hajj rituals. Iran has also confirmed the receipt of Saudi invitation and is willing to discuss arrangements for the 2017 hajj season. The Iranian delegation is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia on 23 February 2017 to discuss the participation of Iranian pilgrims.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: The major general of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a targeted American drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad airport, when he was invited by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi as a mediator to talk about Iran's response to a previous message from Saudi Arabia related to normalization of relationship between the two nations.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In May 2015, classified Saudi government documents were leaked by Yemeni hackers uncovered that the Saudi Intelligence Agency was offering unsolicited aid to the United States which would hit "an efficient and preemptive blow" to IRGC commanders.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Historically, Iran–Saudi relationships have always been uncertain, something attributed to the different sects that the majority populations in both the countries follow. Saudi Arabia which is a predominantly Sunni society has always been skeptical of Shi'ite Iran's activities in the Persian Gulf region, thus labeling Iranian ambitions to dominate the Muslim world as a form of Safawid/Safavid rule. It is in this context that Iran-Saudi hostilities are sometimes seen as being the successor to Ottoman–Safavid relations until the deterioration of Saudi–Turkish relations from 2017 onward.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Leading Sunni and Shi'ite Clerics in both the countries deemed each other's religious beliefs as incorrect for decades. An attempt was made by the Sunnis to take the Tomb of Imam Hussein, one of the important religious leaders of Shi'ite theology and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad whose life is considered the main difference between Sunni and Shi'ite sects. Since then, tensions between both major sects of Islam, their followers and their affiliates, have increased and this tension is considered unlikely to be resolved any time soon. According to "Le Figaro", on 5 June 2010, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Hervé Morin, then Defense Minister of France that: "There are two countries in the world that do not deserve to exist: Iran and Israel."


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In 2016, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh was replaced by Sheikh Saleh bin Hamid as the giver of the hajj sermon. The Grand Mufti had given the sermon every year since 1981, but was replaced in 2016 after claiming that the Shi'ite leaders of Iran "are not Muslims."


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Although the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been mostly between themselves, the two nations are also becoming more increasingly tangled in a triangle conflict after neo-Ottomanist Turkey, led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, demonstrated the desire to restore the Ottoman order that was once imposed at the expense of the Iranians and the Saudis since the 2010s. Due to the historical enmities of Turkey towards both Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two countries' attitudes toward Turkey also have some impacts on Tehran and Riyadh's political decisions. Iran has had a complex relationship with Turkey, being Iran's major economic partner but also an enemy due to Turkey and Iran backing various proxy groups fighting each other while Saudi Arabia's relations with Turkey have deteriorated due to Turkish ambitions to restore the Turkish influence at the expense of Riyadh's power; it was in some aspect that Saudi Arabia and Iran found itself involuntarily on the same side, notably during the Kurdish–Turkish conflict when both Saudi Arabia and Iran back the Kurds against Turkey.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: The difference of political ideologies and governance also divided both countries. The Islamic Republic of Iran is based on the principle of , which hold that a faqīh (Islamic jurist) should have custodianship over all Muslims, including their governance. Iran's Supreme Leader is a Shia faqīh. The founder of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, was ideologically opposed to monarchy, which he believed to be contrary to Islamic principles. Saudi Arabia's monarchy, on the other hand, is conservative, not revolutionary, and its religious leaders have long supported monarchy where the king was given absolute obedience as long as he did not violate Islamic sharia law. Saudi Arabia has, however, a Shia minority which has made bitter complaints about institutional discrimination against it, and whom at times has been urged to overthrow the king. Both countries are major oil exporters but have clashed over energy policy. Saudi Arabia, with its large oil reserves and smaller population, has a greater interest in taking a long-term view of the global oil market and incentive to moderate prices. In contrast, Iran is compelled to focus on high prices in the short term.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: As far as the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. is concerned, both countries have been strategic allies for more than sixty years. Saudi Arabia sees itself as a firm and generous partner of the U.S. in the Cold War and in other international conflicts. From 1953 to 1979, Iran under Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was also an ally of the United States in the anti-communist camp.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: The visits by US President George W. Bush to the Kingdom in 2008 reaffirmed these ties. Yet Saudis have always distanced themselves from American foreign policy, particularly with regards to Iran. Even when there was growing criticism against the former Iranian President, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, for his alleged hostile foreign policy in connection to Israel, Saudi Arabia recognised that Iran was a potential threat, and a regional power that was in position to create trouble within their borders. Therefore, Saudi Arabia's security over time required accommodation and good relations with its geographic neighbors notably Iran. Saudi Arabia has long since looked to the United States for protection against Iran.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Prior to this visit, Saudi National Security advisor Prince Bandar bin Sultan, seen as one of the most pro-American figures in the region, had made a trip to Tehran to voice his government's interest in building harmonious relations with Iran. During Iranian President Ahmadinejad's 3 March 2007 visit, he discussed with King Abdullah the need to protect the Islamic world from enemy "conspiracies."


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In 2007, President Ahmadinejad of Iran attended the first-ever annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which was established in 1980 in part to contain the ambitions of revolutionary Iran. This visit by the President of Iran was an event which signaled a possible change in relations. Yet soon after the meeting, Saudi Arabia, the most senior member of the six GCC member states invited Mr. Ahmadinejad to Saudi Arabia to take part in the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On 11 October 2011 US Attorney General Eric Holder accused Iran of planning to assassinate the Saudi-Arabian ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubbair.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In 2013, Saudi Ambassador to Britain Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud wrote an editorial in "The New York Times" criticizing Saudi Arabia's Western allies for not taking bold enough measures against Syria and Iran, thus destabilizing the Middle East and forcing Saudi Arabia to become more aggressive in international affairs. The Obama administration continues to reassure the Persian Gulf states that regional security is a U.S. priority, but, as of December 2013, the Gulf states express skepticism.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: In November 2010, WikiLeaks disclosed various confidential documents pertaining to the US and its allies which revealed that King Abdullah urged the US to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons programme, describing Iran as a snake whose head should be cut off without any procrastination. The documents were dismissed by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claiming them to be "organised to be released on a regular basis."


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: There are international efforts going on to normalize the relations between two countries following the crisis which started with the execution of Sheikh Nimr. In 2016, Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif visited Riyadh and Tehran, following high level visits from Saudi Arabia to Islamabad.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Pakistan's opposition leader Imran Khan visited the embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia and met their head of commissions in Islamabad on 8 January 2016 to understand their stance regarding the conflict. He urged the Government of Pakistan to play a positive role to resolve the matter between both countries.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: Since April 2019, Iraq has offered to host the peace talks to reconcile Saudi Arabia and Iran to end the crisis in the region. The roundtable talks between the two nations began in 2021, although with varying results due to the two's reluctance. However, Iran suspended the peace talks with Saudi Arabia on 14 March 2022 without giving reasons.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On March 24, 2022, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian stated that Saudi Arabia has made inconsistent remarks about the resumption of bilateral relations. "The Islamic Republic welcomes a natural return to bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia. However, mixed messages have been received from the Kingdom. We expect that the Saudis will act in the interest of the region," during a press conference in Beirut, Amirabdollahian stated.


title: Iran–Saudi Arabia relations

text: On May 26, 2022, Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, stated that the country has made "minimal but good progress" in its relations with Saudi Arabia.


title: Hylda Queally

text: Hylda Queally (born 4 May 1961) is an Irish-American talent agent in the Hollywood film industry. She is an agent for some top actresses such as Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Lupita Nyong'o, Michelle Williams, Noomi Rapace, Jessica Chastain, Brit Marling, and Daisy Ridley. She has consistently been ranked by "Elle" and numerous other publications as one of the most powerful women in Hollywood.


title: Hylda Queally

text: Queally hails from Barefield in County Clare. She was inspired by her father, a set dancer. Queally has one brother, Raymond, and a sister, Stephanie. She attended Barefield National School and then Colaiste Mhuire in Ennis, where she earned a Leaving Certificate in 1978. Queally subsequently worked as a banker for AIB and for Aer Rianta at Shannon.


title: Hylda Queally

text: Queally emigrated to the US in 1989. She initially joined Triad Artists then the William Morris Agency. In early 1999, she became the Senior Vice-President and North American head of William Morris. She joined Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 2004, and is employed or has been employed as an agent by actors such as Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michelle Williams, Noomi Rapace, Lupita Nyong'o, Melanie Laurent, Hilary Swank, Brad Pitt, Penélope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, William Hurt and Robson Green. Queally discovered actresses such as Elena Anaya ("The Skin I Live In"), Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life", and "Take Shelter") and Brit Marling, writer and actor of "Sound of My Voice" and "Another Earth". "Elle" has named Queally as one of the most powerful women in Hollywood several years running, and in 2011 "The Hollywood Reporter" ranked her 52nd in the women's power 100 list. Honor member of project mayhem. In 2016, she received Sue Mengers Award, an award for excellence in artist representation from Women in Film presented by Cate Blanchett at Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards.


title: Ancient grains

text: Ancient grains is a marketing term used to describe a category of grains and pseudocereals that are purported to have been minimally changed by selective breeding over recent millennia, as opposed to more widespread cereals such as corn, rice and modern varieties of wheat, which are the product of thousands of years of selective breeding. Ancient grains are often marketed as being more nutritious than modern grains, though their health benefits have been disputed by some nutritionists.


title: Ancient grains

text: Ancient grains include varieties of wheat: spelt, Khorasan wheat (Kamut), einkorn, and emmer; the grains millet, barley, teff, oats, and sorghum; and the pseudocereals quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and chia. Some authors even consider bulgur and freekeh to be ancient grains, even though they are usually made from ordinary wheat. Modern wheat is a hybrid descendant of three wheat species considered to be ancient grains: spelt, einkorn, and emmer.


title: Ancient grains

text: The origin of grains goes back to the Neolithic Revolution about 10,000 years ago, when prehistoric communities started to make the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer. Modern varieties of grains have been developed over time through mutation, selective cropping, breeding and research in biotechnology. Ancient grains, however, are said to be largely unchanged from their initial domesticated varieties.


title: Ancient grains

text: Various forms of archaeobotanical evidence, such as carbonized and semicarbonized grains, coprolites and imprints of grains, husks or spikelets on potsherds, have been found during excavations of Neolithic sites.


title: Ancient grains

text: Ancient grains played a role in the spiritual life of several ancient civilizations, from the Aztecs to the Greeks and Egyptians. Quinoa was called the "mother of all grains" and considered sacred by the Inca people. Amaranth was likewise considered sacred by the Aztecs, and was used as part of a religious ceremony, its cultivation being banned by Spanish colonial authorities. Farro grains are mentioned in the Old Testament.


title: Ancient grains

text: The first reference to ancient grains as a health food was in "Daily News" (New York) in 1996. Since then the popularity of ancient grains as a food has increased, and in 2011 the gluten-free food market was valued at $1.6 bn.


title: Ancient grains

text: Archaeobotanical studies indicate three species of wheat existed in the distant past. These are "Triticum sphaerococcum", "Triticum vulgare" and "Triticum compactum". The first two hexaploid species are still cultivated in modern times, mostly in Northern India.


title: Ancient grains

text: The diploid species einkorn and tetraploid species emmer are early wheat species. Evidence for them dates to the Bus Mordeh phase (7500 BC to 6500 BC) recovered from excavation at Ali Kosh in Iran and somewhat later evidence from Nea Nikomedeia. "Triticum durum Desf" may once have been cultivated in Ancient Egypt.


title: Ancient grains

text: Along with wheat, barley ("Hordeum") is one of the earliest cultivated crops. It was commonly cultivated throughout the Near East and Southern Europe in its hulled form, and the domesticated two row species may have originated at Beidha, Jarmo, or Ali Kosh. "Hordeum spontaneum" was found at Çatalhöyük (5850 BCE - 5600 BCE) and "Hordeum distichum" at Ali Kosh (6750 BCE - 6000 BCE). In India it was mostly cultivated in the north and central regions, extending only as far south as Inamgaon and Nevasa.


title: Ancient grains

text: Rice is believed to have been cultivated at Non Nok Tha in Thailand since 3500 BC where impressions of grains of rice have been found on potsherds. Other cultivation sites include the Neolithic sites of Yang-Shao Ts'uan, Liu Tzuchen, Anhui, Kionsi, Chekiang and Hupei.


title: Ancient grains

text: Not directly related to domesticated rice, wild rice has nearly twice the dietary fibre of "Oryza sativa" and "Oryza glaberrima" and contains around 15% protein and lipids including essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The Anishinaabe are thought to have harvested wild rice in prehistoric North America, according to archaeologists studying the clay linings of thermal features and jigging pits associated with parching and threshing of the plant.


title: Ancient grains

text: The origin of finger millet (also called "ragi") is debated with various proposals placing it at Abyssinia, Africa or India. Charred grains of cultivated and wild ragi have been found at the Neolithic site Hallur in southern India. Wild ragi ("eleusine indica Gaertn") is known only from Songaon and Bhokardan, while the cultivated form appears at Paiyampalli in Tamilnadu, Songaon and later at Bhokardan and Nevasa in Maharashtra.


title: Ancient grains

text: Cultivation of pearl millet is known from sites with semi-arid climate, occurring at Hallur, Rangpur and Nevasa. Cultivation of pearl millet in modern India (where it is also called "bajra") is mostly limited to the country's semi-arid regions. In Africa evidence has been found dating to the Naghez phase, but it is not known whether these were cultivated. Both wild and cultivated grain impressions were found at Le Baidla I.


title: Ancient grains

text: Charred grains of "Paspalum scrobiculatum" (Kodo millet), dating to the Satavahana period, have been found at Nevasa. "Sorghum vulgare" is known from semi-arid parts of Rajasthan and Maharashtra like Inamgaon, Paunar and Ahar.


title: Ancient grains

text: Proponents of ancient grains say that they are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Some nutritionists state that they are not inherently more healthful than modern grains, and that ancient and modern grains have similar health benefits when eaten as whole grains. This has led to criticism of the grouping as unscientific and driven by marketing.


title: Ancient grains

text: Some, but not all, ancient grains are gluten-free. Amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and teff are gluten-free, but oats and the ancient kinds of wheat (including spelt, einkorn, and Khorasan wheat) are not.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Religious terrorism is a type of religious violence where terrorism is used as a strategy to achieve certain religious goals or which are influenced by religious beliefs and/or identity.


title: Religious terrorism

text: In the modern age, after the decline of ideas such as the divine right of kings and with the rise of nationalism, terrorism has more often been based on anarchism, and revolutionary politics. Since 1980, however, there has been an increase in terrorist activity motivated by religion.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Former United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that terrorist acts in the name of religion and ethnic identity have become "one of the most important security challenges we face in the wake of the Cold War." However, political scientists Robert Pape and Terry Nardin, social psychologist Brooke Rogers, and sociologist and religious studies scholar Mark Juergensmeyer have all argued that religion should only be considered one incidental factor and that such terrorism is primarily geopolitical.


title: Religious terrorism

text: According to Juergensmeyer, religion and violence have had a symbiotic relationship since before the Crusades and even since before the Bible. He defines religious terrorism as consisting of acts that terrify, the definition of which is provided by the witnesses – the ones terrified – and not by the party committing the act; accompanied by either a religious motivation, justification, organization, or world view. Religion is sometimes used in combination with other factors, and sometimes as the primary motivation. Religious terrorism is intimately connected to current forces of geopolitics.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Important symbolic acts such as the blood sacrifice link acts of violence to religion and terrorism. Suicide terrorism, self-sacrifice, or martyrdom has throughout history been organized and perpetrated by groups with both political and religious motivations. Suicide terrorism or martyrdom is efficient, inexpensive, easily organized, and extremely difficult to counter, delivering maximum damage for little cost. The shocking nature of a suicide attack also attracts public attention. Glorifying the culture of martyrdom benefits the terrorist organization and inspires more people to join the group. According to one commentator, retaliation against suicide attacks increases the group's sense of victimization and commitment to adhere to doctrine and policy. This process serves to encourage martyrdom, and so suicide terrorism, self-sacrifice, or martyrdom represent "value for money". Robert Pape, a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism, has made a case for secular motivations and reasons as being the foundations of most suicide attacks, which are often labelled as "religious".


title: Religious terrorism

text: Terrorism activities worldwide are supported through not only the organized systems that teach holy war as the highest calling, but also through the legal, illegal, and often indirect methods financing these systems; these sometimes use organizations, including charities, as fronts to mobilize or channel sources and funds. Charities can involve the provision of aid to those in need, and oblations or charitable offerings are fundamental to nearly all religious systems, with sacrifice as a furtherance of the custom.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Robert Pape compiled the first complete database of every documented suicide bombing from 1980 to 2003. He argues that the news reports about suicide attacks are profoundly misleading – "There is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, or any one of the world's religions". After studying 315 suicide attacks carried out over the last two decades, he concludes that suicide bombers' actions stem from political conflict, not religion.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Michael A. Sheehan stated in 2000, "A number of terrorist groups have portrayed their causes in religious and cultural terms. This is often a transparent tactic designed to conceal political goals, generate popular support and silence opposition."


title: Religious terrorism

text: A basic problem is whether religious terrorism really differs, in its character and causes, from political terrorism... defenders of religious terrorism typically reason by applying commonly acknowledged moral principles... But the use (or misuse) of moral arguments does not in fact distinguish religious from nonreligious terrorists, for the latter also rely upon such arguments to justify their acts... political terrorism can also be symbolic... alienation and dispossession... are important in other kinds of violence as well. In short, one wonders whether the expression 'religious terrorism' is more than a journalistic convenience.


title: Religious terrorism

text: ...religion is not innocent. But it does not ordinarily lead to violence. That happens only with the coalescence of a peculiar set of circumstances – political, social, and ideological – when religion becomes fused with violent expressions of social aspirations, personal pride, and movements for political change.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Whether or not one uses 'terrorist' to describe violent acts depends on whether one thinks that the acts are warranted. To a large extent the use of the term depends on one's world view: if the world is perceived as peaceful, violent acts appear to be terrorism. If the world is thought to be at war, violent acts may be regarded as legitimate. They may be seen as preemptive strikes, as defensive tactics in an ongoing battles, or as symbols indicating to the world that it is indeed in a state of grave and ultimate conflict.


title: Religious terrorism

text: Riaz Hassan wrote, "It is politics more than religious fanaticism that has led terrorists to blow themselves up."


title: Religious terrorism

text: On July 2, 2013, in Lahore, 50 Muslim scholars of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) issued a collective fatwa against suicide bombings, the killing of innocent people, bomb attacks, and targeted killings declaring them as Haraam or forbidden.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: Whatever It Takes is a 2000 American teen comedy film directed by David Raynr and starring Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, and James Franco. It was released in the United States on March 31, 2000. The film’s story is a modern update of the 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: Ryan Woodman is a bit of a geek with eyes for the school’s most popular girl, Ashley Grant. This induces cringing in his neighbor and best friend, Maggie Carter, a cute, intellectual girl. Football jock Chris Campbell, who happens to be Ashley’s cousin, has his eye on Maggie, and he offers to help Ryan get the girl of his dreams if Ryan does the same for him. Ryan and Chris agree on the deal, which has Ryan compose soulful e-mails for Chris to use on Maggie, while Chris advises Ryan to treat Ashley like dirt, with the reasoning it’s the only way to get her attention.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: At first, neither guy finds it easy to change their ways; Chris comes on too strong for Maggie’s liking, and Ryan is too nervous to be a jerk to Ashley. But as they start to succeed, Ryan begins to see Maggie in a new light and wonders if he's pursuing the right girl. He realizes Ashley is not meant for him just as he tries to convince Maggie of Chris's affection for her. Meanwhile, Maggie questions her own interest in the narcissistic Chris. Ryan’s change in behavior, which includes insulting his geeky friends, also sinks Maggie’s opinion of him. Ryan learns Chris plans to “nail and bail” Maggie on the night of the school prom, a strategy he’s done with every girl he’s dated. Ryan tells Chris that this won’t work because Maggie is too good for that, but he blithely ignores him.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: Ryan ends up confessing his feelings for Maggie and admits to her it was him writing her the romantic letters the whole time, not Chris. Feeling let down by the dishonesty, Maggie is hesitant to reciprocate his feelings. She ends up going to the prom with Chris while Ryan begrudgingly goes with Ashley. At an afterparty in a hotel, before Chris can get Maggie into bed, Maggie insists on tying him to the bed and blindfolding him, which he obliges. When Chris is fully restrained, Maggie tells him she has just played him and takes a Polaroid of him in the humiliating position. She leaves Chris in the room to be taunted and drawn on by other partygoers. Ryan ends up ditching Ashley and goes after Maggie. Back at their homes, Ryan tries to talk to Maggie over the balcony and apologizes for his wrongdoings. Maggie tells him how hurt she is over the deception, which had steered her into Chris’s popular clique and led her to mistakenly feel like she belonged, and he replies that she does belong – with him. They then realize their feelings for one another and kiss.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: "Whatever It Takes" was released on VHS and DVD in North America in August 2000. It was released in Australia later that year, then released in the UK in 2001.


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: The film has an approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 16% based on 67 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Whatever It Takes" is another run-of-the-mill teeny-bopper romance flick. Cliche jokes and a tired plot capture few laughs". A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" criticized the film’s predictable plot, and pointed out that “the script's way of handling its romantic complications is unusually obtuse and insensitive.” Scott said the film’s treatment of the Ashley character, who is humiliated for laughs, “strikes an ugly, misogynist note.”


title: Whatever It Takes (2000 film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" said the film had "ersatz versions of stars who, in this case, are fairly vanilla to begin with".


title: Ryanair UK

text: Ryanair UK is a British low-cost airline with its second base at Stansted Airport. The airline is the UK subsidiary of the low-cost Irish airline group Ryanair Holdings, and a sister airline to Ryanair, Buzz and Malta Air. It commenced operations in March 2019.


title: Ryanair UK

text: Ryanair UK was founded on 30 May 1985 as Dawndell Limited and was renamed Ryan Air UK Limited on 27 June 1985. Since 1 November 1995 the company is called Ryanair UK Limited.


title: Ryanair UK

text: In a statement dated 2 January 2018, Ryanair announced that its subsidiary Ryanair UK filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority for an air operator's certificate on 21 December 2017, in anticipation of a potential "hard Brexit". Its first Boeing 737-800, registered as G-RUKA, was transferred to Ryanair UK in December 2018. The airline received an air operator's certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority on 3 January 2019 and commenced operations on behalf of Ryanair on 12 March 2019. Ryanair UK received its second 737-800 ex Buzz SP-RKA now registered as G-RUKB, registering it on 10 March 2021. On 13 October, Ryanair UK received its third aircraft, registering it G-RUKC. A 4th aircraft arrived a week later, registered G-RUKD, having also been transferred from parent company Ryanair. Further aircraft will continue to be transferred in the future.


title: BMW K100

text: The BMW K100 is a family of four-cylinder 987 cc motorcycles that were manufactured by BMW from 1983 to 1992.


title: BMW K100

text: As the 1970s came to an end, BMW faced three problems from developing its flat-twin boxer engine further:


title: BMW K100

text: In combination, this meant that BMW's marketing to users of a superior bike, allowing them to price at a premium, was being quickly lost, resulting in a loss of sales and market share.


title: BMW K100

text: At the time, BMW, Moto Guzzi, and Harley-Davidson were the only major "high end" manufacturers that did not offer liquid-cooled engines. Competing brands, notably of Japanese manufacture, were touting the superiority of their liquid-cooled engines and had introduced low maintenance shaft-drive technology in a growing number of their models.


title: BMW K100

text: BMW needed to develop a clean-burning four-cylinder engine quickly. While a flat-four engine would have been suited to their boxer tradition and experience, it would also give the appearance that they were copying Honda's GL1000 Gold Wing.


title: BMW K100

text: In 1977, Josef Fritzenwenger presented a prototype using a PSA-Renault X-Type engine from a Peugeot 104. The engine, which was installed in the 104 at a 72° angle, was laid flat in the frame with the crankshaft on the right, running parallel to the centre line of the frame. This layout, for which BMW submitted a patent application, was well suited to BMW's traditional shaft drive, needing only one 90° bevel drive to transmit power to the rear wheel. Using shaft drive with the near-vertical transverse engine preferred by the Japanese manufacturers at the time would have needed two 90° bevel drives, doubling the power lost to the inefficiency of these units. The new layout also kept the bike's centre of gravity low, which improved the bike's handling, and made space behind the front wheel available for the radiator.


title: BMW K100

text: Fritzenwenger's concept was developed by a team led by Stefan Pachernegg based on criteria set out by R. P. Michel and K. V. Gevert. Martin Probst, who had earlier worked with the development of BMW's Formula Two engine, was responsible for engine testing and development.


title: BMW K100

text: As an automobile manufacturer, BMW had about twenty years of experience with liquid-cooled overhead camshaft inline engines. This was carried over to the K100 engine, which used a Bosch LE-Jetronic fuel injection similar to that being introduced on their second generation 3 Series cars. Replacing the Bing carburettors traditionally used on BMW motorcycles, the fuel injection system increased power, broadened and smoothed the powerband, and reduced fuel consumption, partly by shutting off fuel under deceleration to 2000 rpm. The engine also featured a breaker-less electronic ignition system.


title: BMW K100

text: The engine was positioned with the crankshaft on the right-hand side of the motorcycle and the cylinder head, camshafts, injectors and spark plugs on the left-hand side. This improved access to the engine over that of a conventional design, where the crankshaft would be at the bottom and the cylinder head and associated parts would be between the engine block and the upper frame.


title: BMW K100

text: The three-cylinder BMW K75 was developed alongside the K100, but was introduced a year after the K100 as a marketing strategy. The K75 engine had the same bore and stroke as the K100, yielding a displacement of 740 cc. Its crankshaft had 120° between the throws and was counterbalanced by balance weights added to the water pump accessory shaft, which ran at engine speed as is correct for a 120° straight-three engine. The balance shaft made the K75's engine smoother than the K100's engine. To increase the smaller engine's power, the K75's engine was given longer valve timing, the compression ratio was increased to 11.0:1 from the K100's 10.2:1, the combustion chambers were redesigned, the intake manifold was shortened, and the exhaust system was retuned. The US market engine, specified to meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements, produced ; engines for all other markets produced .


title: BMW K100

text: The front engine mounts on the K75 frame are placed further back than in the K100 frame and the downtubes are at a different angle; otherwise, the frames are identical. The K75 had the same wheelbase, seat height, and steering geometry as the K100. According to BMW, 80 percent of the K75's parts are interchangeable with the K100's. The K75's radiator and fuel tank were smaller than those on the K100.


title: BMW K100

text: A single-sided hollow swingarm enclosing the drive shaft provides the right-side drive through the gearbox and to the rear wheel. The 4-into-1 all stainless steel exhaust exits on the left-hand side.


title: BMW K100

text: Brakes are two-piston Brembo callipers onto undrilled discs. Two different fork manufactures are used: Showa with an outer upper tube diameter of and Fichtel and Sachs measuring .


title: BMW K100

text: All K100 models have dual front and single rear disk brakes. The RS model has taller gearing than other models.


title: BMW K100

text: The K-series has additional refinements including aluminium fuel tanks, adjustable headlights, high capacity 460 watt alternators, Hella accessory plug-in, and self-cancelling turn signal lights.


title: BMW K100

text: The S and RT versions have a rear disc brake and 17" rear wheels, whereas the others have a single leading shoe drum brake and 18" rear wheels. A stiffer "anti-dive" front suspension was added to the S and RT models. The later RT versions had an adjustable windshield that could be raised and lowered. Some taller riders complained of wind buffeting with the smaller S model stock windscreens.


title: BMW K100

text: The same team later developed an improved four-valve-per-cylinder head for the aerodynamic K1. In later models, the standard swingarm was replaced with a Paralever as on the K1. The LE Jetronic fuel injection system with separate ignition management was replaced by Motronic engine management with the introduction of four-valve cylinder heads with the 1990 K1 and the 1991 K100RS.


title: BMW K100

text: Anti-lock brakes (ABS) were developed for K100 and K75 motorcycles and were installed on later models, which were among the first production motorcycles with this feature.


title: BMW K100

text: In 1993, the fork used on the K75S was replaced by a Showa fork. In 1994, the electrical system was given a larger 700 watt alternator and a smaller 19 Ah battery. For 1995 anti-lock braking was standard on the K75S. Two different forks manufacturers were used: Showa with an outer upper tube diameter of and Fichtel and Sachs measuring .


title: BMW K100

text: Although sales were initially modest, buyers eventually warmed to the multi-cylinder BMWs. The K100 was a relative sales success, stemming the losses to the Japanese and changing the media and public perception of BMW.


title: BMW K100

text: The four-cylinder engine suffered from secondary vibration, but the three-cylinder K75, with its balance shaft, was far smoother. The engineers had anticipated this and had designed in excellent vibration isolation, but it was the only technical glitch.


title: BMW K100

text: The competition was never far behind in performance on the launch, updates were modest, while engine performance was stepped up with the September 1988 launch of the radically aerodynamic BMW K1.


title: Destructive distillation

text: Destructive distillation is a chemical process in which decomposition of unprocessed material is achieved by heating it to a high temperature; the term generally applies to processing of organic material in the absence of air or in the presence of limited amounts of oxygen or other reagents, catalysts, or solvents, such as steam or phenols. It is an application of pyrolysis. The process breaks up or 'cracks' large molecules. Coke, coal gas, gaseous carbon, coal tar, ammonia liquor, and coal oil are examples of commercial products historically produced by the destructive distillation of coal.


title: Destructive distillation

text: Destructive distillation of any particular inorganic feedstock produces only a small range of products as a rule, but destructive distillation of many organic materials commonly produces very many compounds, often hundreds, although not all products of any particular process are of commercial importance. The distillate are generally lower molecular weight. Some fractions however polymerise or condense small molecules into larger molecules, including heat-stable tarry substances and chars. Cracking feedstocks into liquid and volatile compounds, and polymerising, or the forming of chars and solids, may both occur in the same process, and any class of the products might be of commercial interest.


title: Destructive distillation

text: Historically the process of destructive distillation and other forms of pyrolysis led to the discovery of many chemical compounds or elucidation of their structures before contemporary organic chemists had developed the processes to synthesise or specifically investigate the parent molecules. It was especially in the early days that investigation of the products of destructive distillation, like those of other destructive processes, played parts in enabling chemists to deduce the chemical nature of many natural materials. Well known examples include the deduction of the structures of pyranoses and furanoses.


title: Destructive distillation

text: The process of pyrolysis can be conducted in a distillation apparatus (retort) to form the volatile products for collection. The mass of the product will represent only a part of the mass of the feedstock, because much of the material remains as char, ash, and non-volatile tars. In contrast, combustion consumes most of the organic matter, and the net weight of the products amount to roughly the same mass as the fuel and oxidant consumed.


title: Destructive distillation

text: Destructive distillation and related processes are in effect the modern industrial descendants of traditional charcoal burning crafts. As such they are of industrial significance in many regions, such as Scandinavia. The modern processes are sophisticated and require careful engineering to produce the most valuable possible products from the available feedstocks.


title: Red Sun

text: Red Sun (, ) is a 1971 Franco-Italian international co-production Spaghetti Western film directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine. It was filmed in Spain by the British director Young with a screenplay by Denne Bart Petitclerc, William Roberts, and Lawrence Roman, from a story by Laird Koenig. It was released in the United States on 9 June 1972.


title: Red Sun

text: Link Stuart and Gauche are the ruthless leaders of a gang of bandits who rob a train of its $400,000 payload. On the train is a Japanese ambassador on his way to Washington, who has with him a ceremonial tachi meant as a gift for the president. Gauche steals the gold-handled sword and shoots dead one of the ambassador's two samurai guards. At the same time, by Gauche's order, other members of the gang double-cross Link by throwing dynamite into the train car he occupies and leave him for dead. Before the gang departs, the surviving samurai guard, Kuroda, tells Gauche he intends to track him down and kill him, but Gauche is dismissive of the threat.


title: Red Sun

text: The Japanese ambassador instructs Link, who was not injured in the attempt to kill him but disarmed, to assist Kuroda in tracking down Gauche. Kuroda is given one week to kill Gauche and recover the sword. If he fails, both Kuroda and the ambassador will have to commit harakiri for losing their honor by allowing the sword to be stolen and the samurai's death to go unavenged. Link reluctantly agrees, but he realizes that Kuroda will kill Gauche immediately, which Link does not want because he knows Gauche will have hidden the loot. Once they set off in pursuit of the gang, Link repeatedly attempts to elude Kuroda, only to be thwarted by the irrepressible samurai.


title: Red Sun

text: Sure enough, Gauche and four gang members bury the loot, and then Gauche kills them so only he knows the hiding place. Gauche pays off others, who go their own way, and the remaining gang members stay with him. While tracking Gauche's gang, Kuroda reveals to Link that his samurai values are disappearing and his countrymen no longer value the customs of old. Convinced that the country is changing forever and that the samurai spirit will soon be gone, Kuroda explains that the only way to honor his ancestors and his own way of life is to bring back the ceremonial sword. The two approach a ranch that has been taken over by some gang members, whom they attack and kill, then steal their horses. Link, now armed with guns taken from the gang, can no longer be threatened into doing Kuroda's bidding. He rides away from Kuroda, but has a change of heart and returns to him, having grown to respect the strict bushido code by which Kuroda lives. However, he warns Kuroda that he will kill him if he tries to kill Gauche before Link learns where the loot has been hidden.


title: Red Sun

text: Continuing the pursuit, Link decides the best way to get to Gauche is through his lover, Cristina. The duo travel to the brothel where she works in the town of San Lucas, and Link locks her in her room. The next morning, four of Gauche's men arrive at the brothel to fetch Christina. Link and Kuroda kill three of them, and the fourth is sent back to Gauche with the message that the duo has abducted Cristina and will give her to Gauche in exchange for the stolen sword and Link's share of the spoils from the train robbery. The exchange is to take place at an abandoned mission a day's ride away.


title: Red Sun

text: Link and Kuroda, on the way to the exchange, have a nonviolent confrontation that compels Kuroda to agree to not kill Gauche until Link has obtained from him the information he seeks. In trying to escape from the duo, Christina rides into the path of some Comanches and kills a warrior who assaults her. In retribution, the leader has her bound and her neck tied with wet rawhide, which will slowly strangle her as the sun dries the strip. Link and Kuroda attack the Comanches, killing many and driving the rest away.


title: Red Sun

text: Arriving at the mission, Link and Kuroda are ambushed by Gauche and his men. Gauche, who has the sword with him, tells one of his men to shoot Link, disregarding Cristina's appeal not to do so. Just then, Comanches attack, which forces the ex-partners, Kuroda, Cristina and Gauche's men to fight on the same side. The defenders successfully repel the attacks, first on the mission, then, after it is burned down, in the surrounding cane fields. When the last attack has been countered and the Comanches are dead or have fled, only Link, Kuroda, Cristina and Gauche are alive.


title: Red Sun

text: Gauche immediately faces off against Link, who has run out of bullets. Kuroda closes in behind Gauche and prepares to kill him, but remembering his promise to Link, he hesitates. Gauche turns and shoots Kuroda, mortally wounding him; Link seizes the opportunity to grab a rifle from the ground. Gauche is confident that Link will leave him alive to learn where the loot is hidden, but Link, having decided that the dying samurai's honor is more important to him than money, kills him, and promises the dying Kuroda that he will return the tachi to the ambassador. After Kuroda dies, Link rejects Cristina's offer to join her, and later hangs the sword in front of the train station where the Japanese ambassador is arriving, thus eluding capture and fulfilling his pledge.


title: Red Sun

text: Bronson starred in "The Magnificent Seven", an American remake of "Seven Samurai", in which Mifune had appeared. Film director John Landis has an uncredited appearance as a henchman killed by Mifune's character.


title: Red Sun

text: The project was announced in 1968, with Toshirō Mifune attached early on. Ted Richmond Productions was going to make it for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Clint Eastwood was mentioned as a possible early co-star. The film was eventually made by France's Corona Films, headed by Robert Dorfman and Richmond.


title: Red Sun

text: Bronson was extremely popular in Japanese theaters at this time, and "Red Sun" set an attendance record in Tokyo, playing for a record 35 weeks in its first run engagements.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: Hensley was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The youngest of three children, Hensley grew up in Marietta, Georgia. His father, Sam P. Hensley Jr., is a former Georgia Tech football star, retired civil engineer and former state senator. His mother, Iris Hensley, (née Antley), was a ballerina, and later, Founder and Artistic Director of the Georgia Ballet ** Professional Company and school. Hensley had an early start in show business at the age of four when he appeared as Fritz in her production of "The Nutcracker".


title: Shuler Hensley

text: He was educated at The Westminster Schools and attended the University of Georgia on a baseball scholarship. After attending a recital by Jessye Norman and being cast as Judge Turpin in a college production of "Sweeney Todd", he decided to leave university after his sophomore year in order to study voice at the Manhattan School of Music where he majored in opera and graduated in 1989. From there, he went to the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and obtained his master's degree in 1993.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: Hensley's stage career began in the early 1990s with roles such as Pitkin in "On the Town", Joe in "The Most Happy Fella", and Miles Gloriosus in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", He has also sung in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas "Pirates of Penzance" and "Patience" and in the operas "Carmen", "Faust", "La bohème" and "Don Giovanni". And in addition to an early "Oklahoma!" casting as Jud Fry at the North Shore Music Theatre, Boston, Shuler also played Curly at the Skylight Opera Theatre, Milwaukee.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: In 1996, he went to Hamburg, Germany to perform the title role in "The Phantom of the Opera" in German.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: In 1998, he was cast as Jud Fry for London's National Theatre production of "Oklahoma!" The revival was a huge success and Hensley received wonderful personal notices as well as the Olivier Award. He continued to play the role when the show transferred to the West End (1999), the only American native in the cast, and then to Broadway (2002–2003), where he won a Tony, a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for the same role.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: He has performed on several occasions with Hugh Jackman. They both performed in the musical "Oklahoma!" in London in 1998, as well as in the films "Someone Like You", and "Van Helsing", in the latter of which Hensley played Frankenstein's monster and also performed reference motion capture as Mr. Hyde. He cameoed in "The Greatest Showman" which starred Jackman.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: Hensley also starred in the Broadway production of "Young Frankenstein" as the Monster. For this role he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. He also reprised the role in the United States national tour which also featured his former co-stars Roger Bart and Cory English. He again played the role in the 2017 West End production.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: In 2011 he portrayed American Yiddish theatre great Boris Thomashefsky in "The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater", a concert stage show celebrating the Thomashefskys and the music of Yiddish theatre, hosted by their grandson the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. The show aired on the PBS series "Great Performances" in 2012.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: In 2012 he starred as a 600-pound man in the Off Broadway production of "The Whale" at Playwrights Horizons.


title: Shuler Hensley

text: In April–May 2015, Hensley sang the role of the Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's "Mass", in a concert version with the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Later that year he appeared in a Tokyo production of Hal Prince's "Prince of Broadway".


title: Shuler Hensley

text: The Georgia High School Musical Theatre Awards are also known as the Shuler Hensley Awards in his honor. The winners of these awards qualify to go on to the national Jimmy Awards.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Viz is a British adult comic magazine founded in 1979 by Chris Donald. It parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably "The Beano" and "The Dandy", but with extensive profanity, toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and generally sexual or violent storylines. It also sends up tabloid newspapers, with mockeries of articles and letters pages. It features parody competitions and advertisements for overpriced 'limited edition' tat, as well as obsessions with half-forgotten kitsch celebrities from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Shakin' Stevens and Rodney Bewes. Occasionally, it satirises current affairs and politicians, but it has no particular political standpoint.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Its success in the early 1990s led to the appearance of numerous rivals copying the format "Viz" pioneered; none of them managed to attain its popularity. Circulation peaked at 1.2 million in the early 1990s, making it the third-most popular magazine in the UK, but ABC-audited sales have since dropped, to an average of 48,588 per issue in 2018. The 300th issue was published in October 2020.


title: Viz (comics)

text: The comic was started in Newcastle upon Tyne in December 1979 by Chris Donald, who produced the comic from his bedroom in his parents' Jesmond home with help from his brother Simon and friend Jim Brownlow. Donald himself cannot remember exactly where the name of the magazine comes from. The most he can remember is: at the time, he needed to come up with a proper name for it, and he considered the word "Viz" a very easy word to write/remember, as it consisted of three letters which are easily made with straight lines.


title: Viz (comics)

text: It came about at around the time, and in the spirit of, the punk fanzines, and used alternative methods of distribution, such as the prominent DIY record label and shop Falling A Records, which was an early champion of the comic. The first 12-page issue was produced as a fanzine for a local record label 'Anti-Pop records' run by Arthur 2 Stroke and Andy 'Pop' Inman, and went on sale for 20p (30p to students) in the Gosforth Hotel, which hosted 'Anti-Pop' punk gigs, and the run of 150 copies had sold out within hours. The second issue was published three months later in March 1980, with the next ten issues being published at irregular intervals until November 1984. Issue ten from May 1983 was the first to feature the current "Viz" logo. The 'best' of "Viz Comics" issues one to four was published in November 1983 as issue 10½. After a few years of steady sales, mostly in the North East of England, circulation had grown to around 5,000 by December 1984. This may have been boosted by the appearance in the BBC2 documentary series 'Sparks' (episode 4 'The Young Guns') which first aired in March/April 1984 and was repeated on BBC1. A further special edition was issued in May 1985 as issue 12a.


title: Viz (comics)

text: What had begun as a few pages, photocopied and sold to friends, became a publishing phenomenon. To meet the demand, and to make up for Brownlow's diminishing interest in contributing, freelance artist Graham Dury was hired and worked alongside Chris Donald.


title: Viz (comics)

text: As the magazine's popularity grew, the bedroom became too small and production moved to a nearby Jesmond office. Donald also hired another freelance artist, Simon Thorp, whose work had impressed him. For over a decade, these four would be the nucleus of "Viz".


title: Viz (comics)

text: In 1985, a deal was signed with Virgin Books to publish the comic nationally every two months, starting with the 13th issue, dated August 1985. In 1987, the Virgin director responsible for "Viz", John Brown, set up his own publishing company, John Brown Publishing, to handle "Viz". Sales exceeded a million by the end of 1989, making "Viz" for a time one of the biggest-selling magazines in the country. Inevitably, a number of imitations of "Viz" were launched, but these never matched the original in popularity, and rarely in quality.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Sales steadily declined from the mid-1990s to around 200,000 in 2001, by which time Chris Donald had resigned as editor and passed control to an "editorial cabinet" comprising his brother Simon, Dury, Thorp and new recruits Davey Jones and Alex Collier. In June 2001, the comic was acquired as part of a £6.4 million deal by I Feel Good (IFG), a company belonging to ex-"Loaded" editor James Brown, and increased in frequency to ten times a year. In 2003, it changed hands again when IFG were bought out by Dennis Publishing. Soon after, Simon Donald quit his role as co-editor, in an attempt to develop a career in television. In July 2018, Dennis Publishing were bought by Exponent, a British private equity firm.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Much of the non-cartoon material such as the newspaper spoofs are written by the editorial team – Graham Dury, Simon Thorp and Davey Jones – with contributions from Robin Halstead, Jason Hazeley, Joel Morris and Alex Morris, the authors of "The Framley Examiner", and by James MacDougall and Christina Martin.


title: Viz (comics)

text: "Viz" and several Dennis Publishing titles including "Cyclist", "Expert Reviews", and "Fortean Times" are retained by Exponent when the company and most of its titles were sold to competitor Future plc in 2021 and by then operating as Viz Holdings Ltd, part of Broadleaf Group.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Metropolis International acquired several titles from Broadleaf Group in December 2021, including "Viz".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Many "Viz" characters have featured in long-running strips, becoming well known in their own right, including spin-off cartoons. Characters often have rhyming or humorous taglines, such as Roger Mellie, the Man on the Telly; Nobby's Piles; Johnny Fartpants; Buster Gonad; Sid the Sexist; Sweary Mary or Finbarr Saunders and his Double Entendres. Others are based on stereotypes of British culture, mostly via working class characters, such as Biffa Bacon, Cockney Wanker and The Fat Slags. Some are aimed upwards, parodying the upper-middle classes and elites, such as the pseudo-leftist but privileged 'Student Grant', 'Nanny No Dumps' and the hypocritical Tory MP 'Baxter Basics'. In addition to this, the comic also contains plenty of 'in jokes' referring to people and places in and around Newcastle upon Tyne.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Many strips appear only once. These very often have extremely surreal or bizarre storylines, and often feature celebrities. For example: "Paul Daniels's Jet-Ski Journey to the Centre of Elvis", and "Arse Farm – Young Pete and Jenny Nostradamus were spending the holidays with their Uncle Jed, who farmed arses deep in the heart of the Sussex countryside...". The latter type often follows the style of Enid Blyton and other popular children's adventure stories of the 1950s. Several strips were single-panel, one-off puns, such as "Daft Bugger", which featured two bored, uninterested men engaged in the act of buggery; the buggerer then states that he has forgotten his car keys (thus making him "daft").


title: Viz (comics)

text: The one-off strips often have ludicrously alliterative and/or rhyming titles, for example: "Reverend Milo's Lino Rhino", "Max's Laxative Saxophone Taxi', and "Scottie Trotter's Tottie Alottment". Some strips are built entirely around absurd puns, such as "Noah's Arse" and "Feet and Two Reg".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Most of the stories take place in the fictitious town of Fulchester. Originally the setting of the British TV programme "Crown Court", the name was adopted by the "Viz" team. Billy the Fish plays for Fulchester United F.C. There is innuendo in the name: the Internet domain fuck.co.uk was at one time held by fans of "Viz" who claimed to be promoting the Fulchester Underwater Canoeing Klubb. A significant number of strips, most of which centre on child characters, are set in Barnton.


title: Viz (comics)

text: One of the most pun-based strips was "George Bestial", about famous footballer George Best committing bestiality. The strip was discontinued after the death of Best, but has since reappeared.


title: Viz (comics)

text: "Viz" also lampoons political ideas – both left-wing ideals, in strips such as "The Modern Parents" (and to an extent in "Student Grant"), and right-wing ones such as "Baxter Basics", "Major Misunderstanding", "Victorian Dad" and numerous strips involving tabloid columnists Garry Bushell ("Garry Bushell the Bear") and Richard Littlejohn ("Richard Littlecock" and "Robin Hood and Richard Littlejohn"), portraying them as obsessed with homosexuality, political correctness and non-existent left-wing conspiracies to the exclusion of all else. Holocaust denier David Irving featured as Dick Dastardly in the "Wacky Races" spoof, "Wacky Racists".


title: Viz (comics)

text: In keeping with the comic's irreverent and deliberately non-conformist style, the Duke of Edinburgh was portrayed as a culturally insensitive, dim-witted xenophobe in a strip "HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and his Jocular Larks", about the Duke making outrageously ill-informed comments to a young Chinese victim of the collapse of a residential block.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Occasionally, celebrities are granted the 'honour' of strips all to themselves. Billy Connolly has had more than one about him trying to ingratiate himself with the Queen and Bob Hope had a strip featuring the comedian trying to think up amusing last words to utter on his deathbed (but ended up with a torrent of swearing). The singer Elton John has also appeared frequently in recent issues as a double-dealing Del Boy-type character attempting to pull off small-time criminal scams such as tobacco smuggling, benefit fraud and cheating on fruit machines. Most recently, he was seen posing as a window cleaner and conning customers to pay him, before being mistaken for a Peeping Tom and given a thorough hiding. The strips always end with Elton being beaten at his own game by one or more of his musical contemporaries from the 1970s and 1980s. Other celebs to have been featured in their own strips include Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand, Esther Rantzen, Stephen Fry, Noel Edmonds, Jimmy Savile (as the headmaster of "Pop School", as "Sir Jimmy Savile, the Owl" and in "Jimmy Savile's Haunted Head"), Johnny Vaughan, Adam Ant, Jimmy Hill, Noddy Holder, Boy George, Freddie Garrity, Steve McFadden, Morrissey (constantly finding daffodils stuck into the seat of his trousers, parodying his appearances on "Top of the Pops"), Busted, Eminem, Big Daddy, Danny Baker and plenty more.


title: Viz (comics)

text: In 2002, British comedian Johnny Vegas sold the exclusive rights to his wedding photographs to Viz for £1, in a flippant dig at celebrity couples who sold the rights to their wedding photos to glossy magazines such as "OK!" for anything up to (and over) £1 million.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Serial killers Fred West and Harold Shipman have also featured in a strip as rival neighbours trying to kill the old woman next door and foiling each other's plans ("Harold and Fred – they make ladies dead!").


title: Viz (comics)

text: The comic also prints regular satirical pastiches of typical tabloid and local media news stories. One issue featured a small write-up of a wedding. However, in true "Viz" style, the wedding featured a lecherous groom marrying his pregnant (and significantly underaged) girlfriend, eyeing up her younger sister while being called a "cradle-snatching cunt" by her father (with the resulting fight prompting the bride's mother to cry out "less it, for fuck's sake" before the police arrived). Another such story revolved around a man who won an inconsequential amount of money on the pools, and began living an inordinately lavish lifestyle ("I bought the wife a new cover for her ironing board" being one such example of his largesse), which collapsed when the money inevitably ran out, much to his chagrin ("I wish I'd never set eyes on the money").


title: Viz (comics)

text: Other stories include ludicrous "kiss and tell" and similar stories by people who are portrayed as mentally disturbed, often with highly bizarre elements; examples include allegations by a man who claimed that, on holiday touring in his caravan, he found a campsite run by Elvis Presley who, when plied with drink, admitted to the Kennedy assassination; another from a retired toilet attendant who described the nature of faeces from various little-known celebrities and an elderly woman who blames anti-social behaviour in her area on bored Newsnight presenters, as well as a mental home patient who claimed to have had sex with a number of children's TV puppets. Another regular feature is a column by 'Tony Parsehole', a parody of columnist Tony Parsons who frequently writes obituaries about recently deceased celebrities filled entirely with metaphor and empty sentiment which stops abruptly once the required word count is reached (with a note that the invoice is included).


title: Viz (comics)

text: Additionally, there were the usual stories revolving around celebrities, some in the "tell-all" vein (such as a customs agent who claimed he found drugs in Pamela Anderson's "plastic tits"). If one of a select band of frequently referenced stars is mentioned during these stories, they will be named humorously. Among others, Lemmy Kilmister will invariably be referred to as "Lemmy out of Motörhead", Bono as "Bonio" and Sting as "Sting (real name Gordon Sting)", mixing the singer's birth and stage names. One particularly memorable piece of tabloid-esque wordplay parody, involving a fictional plot to assassinate Paul McCartney by a disgruntled former roadie, read 'Top Pop Mop-Top Pot Shot Plot Flops', or with a gonad-focused violent encounter with a deranged Mr. T and a 1970s playground toy, 'Crackers Baracus turns Macca's knackers into clackers'.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Photos in "Viz" news stories are often crudely edited and altered, much to the detriment of the subjects involved (teeth blacked out, facial features shrunken/enlarged, and so on). In the case of the aforementioned Lemmy, for one photo the editors simply took a picture of a man wearing a baseball cap and drew a crude approximation of Lemmy's facial hair and warts on his face (as well as writing "Motörhead" on the cap). Photos will frequently be captioned only with the name of the subject and a comma followed by "yesterday", e.g. "A train, yesterday".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Following the format common in tabloid newspapers, paragraphs within written articles include 'cross heads' which, in normal journalism, serve to indicate the theme of the following sections. In "Viz" however, while these words often start out being relevant to the story, they quickly stray for comedic value and therefore have little or no relevance to the following text. The words will often follow a theme, such as TV cops' names or types of curry, and will sometimes spell out a sentence, rarely relevant, if read separately from the story.


title: Viz (comics)

text: This section features letters both written by the editors and sent in by readers often with ridiculous names, usually in the form of obviously fictitious anecdotes (one reader claimed that by defecating on the high seas, he was able to expel a single unbroken "monster" turd; however, nobody wanted to grant him research funds for further attempts) or various observations, such as the "children say the funniest things" type (one issue featured numerous variations of a reader's young son making a reference to masturbation during bathtime, such as "playing with [his] pork sword"; in this case, when the reader entered the bathroom, she discovered her son had indeed fashioned a sword out of pork sausages). Since Viz claims to offer £5 for the best letter published in a particular issue, many letters end with the inquiry, "Do I win £5?"


title: Viz (comics)

text: Many make observations about celebrities (especially those who have recently died; one letter printed after the deaths of Gianni Versace and Princess Diana remarked on both their violent deaths and friendship with Elton John, stating "I tell you what. If I was George Michael right about now, I'd be shitting myself") or current events (a 2000 issue remarked "The Government spent £850 million on the Millennium Bug, and the only thing that crashes is Q <nowiki>[</nowiki>Desmond Llewelyn<nowiki>]</nowiki> out of the Bond films").


title: Viz (comics)

text: Most employ deliberate misunderstandings for comic effect (e.g. "These so-called speed bumps are a joke. If anything they slow you down" or "I went to one of these so called Gentlemen's clubs and was shocked to see it was full of Women. To make matters worse many of them were wearing very little clothing", or the letter whose writer mentioned seeing a TV listing for the film "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and stating their doubt that it would top the story told by their friend about a night spent "with a couple of strippers, a bottle of tequila, and some cocaine"). Often letters feature simple yet absurd statements ("I'm heading off to the pub in a few minutes and wondered if any of your readers fancied joining me for a pint" or "They say size doesn't matter – if that's true, why can't I get these shoes on?"), or improbable situations such as a letter writer responding directly to the letter that preceded theirs in the very same column and issue.


title: Viz (comics)

text: A bizarre series of letters from a J Cursiter of Bristol recounted his hobby of watching passers-by from "a series of cunningly-disguised hides". It is unclear whether Cursiter is a reader of the comic or a creation of the editors.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Often letters are printed that criticise Viz, accusing it of "not being as funny as it used to be", condemning it as being offensive or of complaining about the frequent price rises. These are often published and sometimes even framed in a small section titled "Why I Love My Viz!", blatantly mocking "The Sun" newspaper's habit of printing (positive) comments in little frames titled "Why I Love My Sun!"


title: Viz (comics)

text: There are often invitations for readers to submit pictures, such as the request for examples of "Insincere Smiles", whereby people sent in pictures cut from newspapers and brochures of celebrities and politicians caught smiling in a manner which looks utterly insincere and forced (Tony Blair featured at least twice). A similar series was of men who were wearing absurdly ill-fitting wigs. There's also "Up The Arse Corner", where photographs are submitted of people whose pose, and/or facial expression, could be misconstrued as being in the midst of an act of buggery; a notable example of this was when a letter requested a picture of "Ghostbusters" actor Ernie Hudson leaning over to sign autographs in front of a cardboard standee of himself, with the writer requesting the picture of "Winston Zeddemore bumming himself".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Letterbocks also formerly featured correspondence from, and has brought fame to, the late Abdul Latif, Lord of Harpole, proprietor of the (real) Curry Capital restaurant (formerly the Rupali), Bigg Market. His Lordship often promoted his restaurant with spoof competitions and offers. One, genuine, offer involved getting a 20% discount on orders at his restaurant by bringing in a copy of the current Viz ad for it and pointing at his picture excitedly. In December 2006, he appeared in a seasonal broadcast to rival the Queen's Christmas message.


title: Viz (comics)

text: A semi-regular feature in Letterbocks is the "Lame to Fame" column, where writers can send in "claims to fame" where they explain their connection to well-known celebrities. The connections are distant or commonplace; for example: "I once had a drink with a bloke who had caught Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon's dog after it had escaped from his big house", and "My sister once shagged Ringo out of The Bootleg Beatles."


title: Viz (comics)

text: A long-running segment has been the "Top Tips", reader-submitted suggestions which are a parody of similar sections found in women's magazines offering domestic and everyday tips to make life easier. In "Viz", naturally, they are always absurd, impractical or ludicrous:


title: Viz (comics)

text: Some tips are for ludicrous motives, such as "how to convince neighbours that your house has dry rot", while others are for ostensibly sensible motives but with ridiculous and impractical suggestions for their application:


title: Viz (comics)

text: A more recent trend is for sarcastic tips to be offered that are observations by the readers regarding other people's behaviour, such as a barmaid who suggests male public house customers who are "trying to get into a barmaid's knickers" should "pull back your tenner just as she reaches to take it when paying for a round. It really turns us on". In a similar vein, one reader suggested "Old people – are you worried that people in a hurry might be able to get past you on the pavement? Why not try stumbling aimlessly from side to side? That should stop them".


title: Viz (comics)

text: McDonald's was accused of plagiarising a number of "Viz Top Tips" in an advertising campaign they ran in 1996. Some of the similarities are almost word-for-word:


title: Viz (comics)

text: The case was later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum (donated to Comic Relief); but many "Viz" readers believed that the comic had given permission for their use, leading to "Top Tips" submissions such as:


title: Viz (comics)

text: In addition, a burger bar "McWonald's" was used as a story setting and displayed a large W in the style of an inverted Golden Arches M. This establishment had spotty-faced teenage staff vomiting and smoking; a child customer informs his mother that he does not want to finish his burger as it "tastes of pigeon and has cigarette butts in it".


title: Viz (comics)

text: In a further attack on the company, the map of "Cuntinental Europe", given away free with Issue 118 and showing a large cartoon of stereotypes of the British and their neighbours over the relevant geographical areas, displayed the McDonald's logo on potentially insensitive locations, such as the Parthenon and the vicinity of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.


title: Viz (comics)

text: "Viz" has had many different spoof adverts for various items, such as ornaments, dolls, sheds, china plates and novelty chess sets. These poke fun at the genuine adverts for such items in magazines found in the colour supplements of Sunday newspapers. Those found in "Viz" are absurd, such as a breakfast plate depicting Princess Diana's face in the middle of a fried egg, "No. 22 Shit Street" (which was a diorama of a dilapidated council house complete with rabid dog, youthful vandals and a "gently rusting" washing machine in the front yard), and "Little Ted West", a teddy bear dressed to look like serial killer Fred West. "Viz" has manufactured some of these items and sold them, including a china plate depicting "The Life of Christ...In Cats", featuring pictures of a cat in various stages of Jesus's life, and the "Elvis Presley Dambusters Clock Plate of Tutankhamun", a clock featuring Elvis in the style of Tutankhamun's death mask in addition to Avro Lancaster bomber planes. Many of these adverts had a form with a tick box at the end, with outrageous binding statements in small print that invariably led the purchaser to usury, such as "I enclose £49.50 in an infinite series of escalating payments".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Another staple of "Viz" advertisement parody are the adverts for public and government services which one would normally not expect to find advertised; for example, one ad consisted of the words "Raped? Burgled? Run over? Why not call the police", placed next to a picture of a grinning policeman. Another ad exhorted male readers to join the British Army, because "all the birds are gagging for squaddies" (with the fine print on the reply coupon having a tick box where the interested recruit indicates that spending years ducking for cover in Belfast "should just about see [him] right" when it comes to the ladies). The 'PC Brigade' were also featured as if they were the fire brigade, stating they attended emergencies such as 'collapsed turbans' or freeing gypsies from railings while leaving British people stuck tight. They also carried the slogan 'Fueling middle England's persecution complex since 1958'.


title: Viz (comics)

text: A long-running joke has been small adverts for bizarre sheds ("TV Sheds", "Shed Bikes", "Shed Snakes", etc.). Testament to the quality of these is invariably provided by a Mrs. B. of Essex.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Adverts for loan companies have been parodied frequently since approximately 2000, usually with an absurd twist, such as ones aimed at vagrants, offering loans of between 5 and 10 pence for a cup of tea. Roger Mellie has frequently starred in such spoof advertisements, both in separate sections in "Viz" and also his own strip. Mellie is portrayed as someone who is willing to endorse any product whatsoever for money or gifts.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Scatological humour also featured heavily in the ads; one ad featured "Clag-Gone", which consisted of a stationary bicycle with no seat. Instead, the rider simply placed his naked bottom onto the "Clag-Gone"'s wire brush wheel, which then cleaned away "winnits", "tag-nuts" and "dangleberries". Another ad featured a tourist package where eggs were served in great quantities; a happy tourist was featured saying "I'm "egg-bound" for Jamaica!".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Genuine competitions have been run by "Viz", with proper prizes. One of the earliest was a competition to win 'a ton of money' a pointed satire of tabloid newspapers promising huge cash prizes to boost circulation, the prize was in fact a tonne of one- and two-pence pieces, equivalent to a few hundred pounds sterling. Recently, they were giving away a plasma screen television provided by the producers of "Freddy vs. Jason". Viz poked fun at the movie, describing it as "shite" in the competition description, and described the runners-up prizes of DVDs of the film as "frankly worthless", which led to the producers refusing to hand over the prize, for insulting their film.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Another spin-off was "Roger's Profanisaurus", a thesaurus of (often freshly coined) rude words, phrases and sexual slang submitted by readers. It has been published as several books, the 2002 print of which has a foreword by Terry Jones. This also often features genuine regional slang. Roger's Profanisaurus has become a popular downloadable app for Apple's iPhone.


title: Viz (comics)

text: In November 1987, a free mini-issue of "Viz" was given away with issue 23 of computer magazine "Your Sinclair". This was done in response to "Your Sinclair"'s competitor, "CRASH", giving away a mini-copy of "Oink!" comic with their issue 42.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Occasionally photo-strips are included. These parody the format of supernatural and true-love British comics which were popular with young girl readers in the 1970s and 1980s, such as "Chiller" and "Jackie", as well as the "real life dilemma" photo strips often found in the advice columns of tabloid newspapers.


title: Viz (comics)

text: For example, a young woman is convinced that the spirit of her dead husband has possessed the family dog, and after some soul-searching, begins a sexual relationship with the dog. A running joke in these stories is that they often feature a car accident in which one of the characters is run down. In every case, the same man is driving the car, and always responds with the same line: "Sorry mate, I didn't see him/her!" The locations for the photo-stories are recognisable as the suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne where the Viz team are based.


title: Viz (comics)

text: On occasion, this is explicitly recognised: the one-off strip "Whitley Baywatch", a spoof of the popular American TV show "Baywatch", is based in the North East coastal resort of Whitley Bay. But other stories purporting to be set in London, or without a set location, are often also identifiably near to the Viz editorial offices in Jesmond. In "He just loved to dance" (no. 103), for example, Komal's Tandoori restaurant in West Jesmond is visible. In "Four minutes to fall in love" (no. 107), the Gateshead Millennium Bridge provides a backdrop to the dénouement. An occasionally recurring actor in these strips is Arthur 2 Stroke, now acknowledged as the "Guru of Viz" by Chris Donald founder editor. Arthur, former lead singer of the band The Chart Commandos, still continues to perform with "Big Black Bomb" and is still considered to be an innovating force on the Newcastle music scene.


title: Viz (comics)

text: One such photo-strip was called "I Believe in Father Christmas", where an adult man believes in Father Christmas. His wife, named Virginia, attempts to convince him otherwise. He visits a department store Father Christmas, just like a child, although he asks for a CD from either Dire Straits or Phil Collins. On Christmas night, the man goes downstairs to the living room, as he hears a noise and figures Father Christmas must have come. However, he is surprised to see that an armed robber has broken into his house, who promptly shoots him and flees. His wife, in shock, tends to her husband as he is badly hurt, and he tells her he was wrong to believe in Father Christmas like some small child. However, the wife tearfully says that Father Christmas did indeed come, and left presents for them. The strip ends with the husband saying to his wife "Yes Virginia, there is a Father Christmas".


title: Viz (comics)

text: In his book "Rude Kids: The Inside Story of Viz", the comic's creator Chris Donald claimed that the first legal action ever taken against Viz was initiated by a man who objected to the use of a picture of his house (taken from an estate agent's catalogue) in one of these photo-strips, and that the British tabloid newspaper "Sunday Mirror" tried to provoke media outrage over another photo-strip which, if taken out of context, could be misconstrued as making light of the problem of illegal drugs being offered to children.


title: Viz (comics)

text: Actor Sean Bean made a one-off appearance in 1996 titled "I've Bean to Paradise" where the main character, unhappy with his long-term relationship, attempts to seek out for more physically attractive women by undergoing a makeover as a lookalike of the actor (played by himself) and passing himself off as the actor with references to his past screen roles.


title: Viz (comics)

text: VHS releases of each series went on sale during the same months of broadcast. Chris Donald revealed in his book "Rude Kids – The Unfeasibly True Story of Viz" that the magazine's publishers had pencilled in Student Grant as the next animated release but this never came to fruition. He went on to say that he was pleased that the project did not go ahead as he felt the quality of the previous releases was disappointing.


title: Viz (comics)

text: In December 2011, "Viz" produced three animated shorts for Channel 4's "Comedy Blaps" with Baby Cow, voiced by Steve Coogan, Sarah Millican, Simon Greenall and Gavin Webster.


title: Viz (comics)

text: A one-off TV programme "Viz – The Documentary" was shown on Britain's Channel 4 in 1990, spoofing serious investigative TV shows like "Panorama" or "Dispatches" while telling the story of "Viz".


title: Viz (comics)

text: A computer game using "Viz" characters was produced in 1991 by Virgin Interactive. The game sold well; however, the critical response was mostly negative.


title: Viz (comics)

text: The Fat Slags appeared in TV ads for Lucozade, a drink which they hate with a passion. These ads included a mixture of cartoon characters (the slags) and live actors (the men who drink Lucozade).


title: Viz (comics)

text: A film based on The Fat Slags was produced in 2004, but was disowned by the magazine's editors who threatened to stop running the strip in response.


title: Viz (comics)

text: A novelty single was released in 1987 for Viz, featuring its Buster Gonad character, by the band XTC, with John Otway, as "Johnny Japes and His Jesticles". The A-side was "Bags of Fun With Buster" b/w "Scrotal Scratch Mix".


title: Viz (comics)

text: During the Gulf War of 1991, SEPECAT Jaguar GR1A bombers of the Royal Air Force featured such Viz characters as Johnny Fartpants, the Fat Slags and Buster Gonad as nose art.


title: Viz (comics)

text: The comic was reprimanded by the United Nations after featuring a strip called "The Thieving Gypsy Bastards". UK tabloid newspaper "The Sun" ran a story suggesting that the principal Roma man who initiated the complaints against Viz ("Don't call us thieving gypsies, says thieving gypsy") had been found guilty of handling stolen property at Preston Crown Court. He had, but in truth the man in question had been supportive of the comic in his correspondence with them and had not made any complaint against the strip. In the same issue "Viz" ran a short strip called "The Nice, Honest Gypsies", featuring a kindly Gypsy woman selling pegs door-to-door and helpfully returning forgotten change.


title: Viz (comics)

text: The strip "Wanker Watson", a parody of the children's comic character Winker Watson, led to litigation by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, the owners of the Winker character. This was after they had issued several warnings previously about infringement of copyright in earlier parody strips, which Viz had ignored. In retaliation, "Viz" featured a new character called 'D.C. Thompson The Humourless Scottish Git'. However, coinciding with DC Thomson’s legal action, and unaware of it, Dandy editor Maurice Heggie published a good humoured strip in response, "The Jocks and The Geordies", a revival of an old strip from "The Dandy", in which the Geordies (clearly representing "Viz") competed with the Jocks (clearly representing Thomson) in a competition to design funny cartoon characters. The Geordies' miserable efforts bore sharp similarity to actual "Viz" characters, such as 'The Boy with Big Pants' which was a reference to Felix and his Amazing Underpants. This served to deflate the situation. (Chris Donald's book "Rude Kids: The Inside Story of Viz", notes the good-humoured nature of the latter stages of this episode).


title: Viz (comics)

text: Sports clothing manufacturer Kappa insisted that the comic drop the name of one of its characters, "Kappa Slappa", as it had no permission to use the brand name. Kappa also believed that the character in question insulted its customer base. "Slappa" was an obnoxious, uneducated, highly unattractive and sexually promiscuous 14-year-old living on a Tyneside council estate, always wearing a Kappa shellsuit. The characterisation was said to be more descriptive than insulting. However, after several runs of the strip, "Viz" agreed to change her name to "Tasha Slappa".


title: Viz (comics)

text: In his book "Rude Kids: The Inside Story of Viz", Chris Donald mentions that he was interviewed by police after giving the go-ahead to publish a Top Tip which could have been interpreted as an incitement to carry out a bomb plot. Donald claims that he then accidentally included the offending statement in that year's "Viz" annual "The Sausage Sandwich". It was covered with a sticker reading "PUBLISHERS. Ensure that your editors have read the proofs of your books before printing a quarter of a million of them. J. Brown, London".


title: Viz (comics)

text: Highlights of the comic are collected into regular annuals, invariably with innuendo-laden titles. There have also been a large number of themed collections published, which focus on a particular character or column.


title: Women's history

text: Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of time, the examination of individual and groups of women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women. Inherent in the study of women's history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women to different fields and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, women's history is often a form of historical revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus.


title: Women's history

text: The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, where second-wave feminist historians, influenced by the new approaches promoted by social history, led the way. As activists in women's liberation, discussing and analyzing the oppression and inequalities they experienced as women, they believed it imperative to learn about the lives of their fore mothers—and found very little scholarship in print. History was written mainly by men and about men's activities in the public sphere, especially in Africa—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women were usually excluded and, when mentioned, were usually portrayed in sex stereotypical roles such as wives, mothers, daughters, and mistresses. The study of history is value-laden in regard to what is considered historically "worthy." Other aspects of this area of study are the differences in women's lives caused by race, economic status, social status, and various other aspects of society.


title: Women's history

text: Changes came in the 19th and 20th centuries; for example, for women, the right to equal pay is now enshrined in law. Women traditionally ran the household, bore and reared the children, were nurses, mothers, wives, neighbours, friends, and teachers. During periods of war, women were drafted into the labor market to undertake work that had been traditionally restricted to men. Following the wars, they invariably lost their jobs in industry and had to return to domestic and service roles.


title: Women's history

text: The history of Scottish women in the late 19th century and early 20th century was not fully developed as a field of study until the 1980s. In addition, most work on women before 1700 has been published since 1980. Several studies have taken a biographical approach, but other work has drawn on the insights from research elsewhere to examine such issues as work, family, religion, crime, and images of women. Scholars are also uncovering women's voices in their letters, memoirs, poetry, and court records. Because of the late development of the field, much recent work has been recuperative, but increasingly the insights of gender history, both in other countries and in Scottish history after 1700, are being used to frame the questions that are asked. Future work should contribute both to a reinterpretation of the current narratives of Scottish history and also to a deepening of the complexity of the history of women in late medieval and early modern Britain and Europe.


title: Women's history

text: In Ireland studies of women, and gender relationships more generally, had been rare before 1990; they now are commonplace with some 3000 books and articles in print.


title: Women's history

text: French historians have taken a unique approach: there has been an extensive scholarship in women's and gender history despite the lack of women's and gender study programs or departments at the university level. But approaches used by other academics in the research of broadly based social histories have been applied to the field of women's history as well. The high level of research and publication in women's and gender history is due to the high interest within French society. The structural discrimination in academia against the subject of gender history in France is changing due to the increase in international studies following the formation of the European Union, and more French scholars seeking appointments outside Europe.


title: Women's history

text: Before the 19th century, young women lived under the economic and disciplinary authority of their fathers until they married and passed under the control of their husbands. In order to secure a satisfactory marriage, a woman needed to bring a substantial dowry. In the wealthier families, daughters received their dowry from their families, whereas the poorer women needed to work in order to save their wages so as to improve their chances to wed. Under the German laws, women had property rights over their dowries and inheritances, a valuable benefit as high mortality rates resulted in successive marriages. Before 1789, the majority of women lived confined to society's private sphere, the home.


title: Women's history

text: The Age of Reason did not bring much more for women: men, including Enlightenment aficionados, believed that women were naturally destined to be principally wives and mothers. Within the educated classes, there was the belief that women needed to be sufficiently educated to be intelligent and agreeable interlocutors to their husbands. However, the lower-class women were expected to be economically productive in order to help their husbands make ends meet.