title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee's own appearance as Frankenstein's monster led to his first appearance as the Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula in the film "Dracula" (1958, known as "Horror of Dracula" in the US). The film saw Lee's "triumphant debut" fix the image of the fanged vampire in popular culture, according to writer Kevin Jackson. "Dracula" has been ranked among the best British films. Lee introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character, with Tim Stanley stating, "Lee's sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud." The film magazine "Empire" ranked Lee's portrayal as Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. CNN listed the performance third in their top 10 British villains, noting his "chilling, sonorous tone." Lee accepted a similar role in an Italian-French horror picture called "Uncle Was a Vampire" (1959). The same year he starred as Kharis in the Hammer Horror film "The Mummy".


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee returned to the role of Dracula in Hammer's "" (1965). Lee's role has no lines, he merely hisses his way through the film. Stories vary as to the reason for this: Lee states he refused to speak the poor dialogue he was given, but screenwriter Jimmy Sangster claims that the script did not contain any lines for the character. This film set the standard for most of the Dracula sequels in the sense that half the film's running time was spent on telling the story of Dracula's resurrection and the character's appearances were brief. Lee went on record to state that he was virtually "blackmailed" by Hammer into starring in the subsequent films; unable or unwilling to pay him his going rate, they would resort to reminding him of how many people he would put out of work if he did not take part:


title: Christopher Lee

text: His roles in the films "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" (1968), "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1969), and "Scars of Dracula" (1970) all gave the Count very little to do. Lee said in an interview in 2005, "all they do is write a story and try and fit the character in somewhere, which is very clear when you see the films. They gave me nothing to do! I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written. Occasionally, I sneaked one in." He starred in two further Dracula films for Hammer in the early 1970s, both of which attempted to bring the character into the modern-day era. These were not commercially successful: "Dracula A.D. 1972" (1972) and "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" (1973). The latter film was tentatively titled "Dracula Is Dead... and Well and Living in London", a parody of the stage and film musical revue "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris", but Lee was not amused. Speaking at a press conference in 1973 to announce the film, Lee said, "I'm doing it under protest. I think it is fatuous. I can think of twenty adjectives – fatuous, pointless, absurd. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. I don't see the point." "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" was the last Dracula film in which Lee played the Dracula role, as he felt he had played the part too many times and that the films had deteriorated in quality.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In all, Lee played Dracula ten times: seven films for Hammer Productions, once for Jesús Franco's "Count Dracula" (1970), uncredited in Jerry Lewis's "One More Time" (1970) and Édouard Molinaro's "Dracula and Son" (1976). Lee portrayed Rasputin in "Rasputin, the Mad Monk" (1966) and Sir Henry Baskerville (to Cushing's Sherlock Holmes) in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959). Lee later played Holmes himself in 1962's "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace", and returned to Holmes films with Billy Wilder's British-made "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970), in which he plays Sherlock's smarter brother, Mycroft. Lee considers this film to be the reason he stopped being typecast: "I've never been typecast since. Sure, I've played plenty of heavies, but as Anthony Hopkins says, "I don't play villains, I play people."" Lee played a leading role in the German film "The Puzzle of the Red Orchid" (1962), speaking German, which he had learned during his education in Switzerland. He auditioned for a part in the film "The Longest Day" (1962), but was turned down because he did not "look like a military man." Some film books incorrectly credit him with a role in the film, something he had to correct for the rest of his life.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee's friend the author Dennis Wheatley was responsible for bringing the occult to him. The company made two films from Wheatley's novels, both starring Lee. "The New York Times" described Lee's performance in the first, "The Devil Rides Out" (1967), as "suave dignity". However, the second film, "To the Devil a Daughter" (1976), was troubled by production difficulties and was disowned by its author. Although financially successful, it was Hammer's last horror film. Critic Leonard Maltin described it as "well-made but lacking punch".


title: Christopher Lee

text: Like Cushing, Lee also appeared in horror films for other companies from 1957 to 1977. These included the Dr. Fu Manchu series of films made between 1965 and 1969 (beginning with "The Face of Fu Manchu") in which he starred as the villain in yellowface make-up; "I, Monster" (1971), an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", with the main characters' names changed to Dr. Charles Marlowe and Mr. Edward Blake; "The Creeping Flesh" (1972); and his personal favourite, which he considered his best film, "The Wicker Man" (1973), in which he played Lord Summerisle. Lee wanted to break free of his image as Dracula and take on more interesting acting roles. He met with screenwriter Anthony Shaffer, and they agreed to work together. Film director Robin Hardy and British Lion head Peter Snell became involved in the project. Shaffer had a series of conversations with Hardy, and the two decided that it would be fun to make a horror film centring on "old religion," in sharp contrast to the popular Hammer films of the day. Shaffer read the David Pinner novel "Ritual", in which a devout Christian policeman is called to investigate what appears to be the ritual murder of a young girl in a rural village, and decided that it would serve well as the source material for the project. Shaffer and Lee paid Pinner £15,000 for the rights to the novel, and Schaffer set to work on the screenplay. However, he soon decided that a direct adaptation would not work well, and began to craft a new story, using only the novel's basic outline. Lee was so keen to get the film made, and the budget was so small, that he gave his services for free. He later called the film the best he had ever made.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee appeared as the on-screen narrator in Jess Franco's "Eugenie" (1970) as a favour to producer Harry Alan Towers, unaware that it was softcore pornography, as the sex scenes were shot separately.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In addition to making films in the United Kingdom, Lee made films in mainland Europe: he appeared in two German films, "Count Dracula" (1970), where he again played the vampire count, and "The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism" (1967). Other films in Europe he made include "Castle of the Living Dead" (1964) and "Horror Express" (1972). Lee was a producer of the horror film "Nothing But the Night" (1972), in which he starred. It was the first and last film he produced, as he did not enjoy the process.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee appeared as the Comte de Rochefort in Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers" (1973). He injured his left knee during filming, something he still felt many years later. After the mid-1970s, Lee eschewed horror roles almost entirely. Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond spy novels and Lee's step-cousin, had offered him the role of the titular antagonist in the first Eon-produced Bond film "Dr. No" (1962). Lee enthusiastically accepted, but by the time Fleming told the producers, they had already chosen Joseph Wiseman for the role. Lee finally got to play a James Bond villain in "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974), in which he was cast as the assassin Francisco Scaramanga. Lee said of his performance, "In Fleming's novel he's just a West Indian thug, but in the film he's charming, elegant, amusing, lethal... I played him like the dark side of Bond."


title: Christopher Lee

text: Because of his filming schedule in Bangkok, film director Ken Russell was unable to sign Lee to play the Specialist in "Tommy" (1975). That role was eventually given to Jack Nicholson. In an AMC documentary on "Halloween" (1978), John Carpenter states that he offered the role of Samuel Loomis to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, before Donald Pleasence took the role. Years later, Lee told Carpenter that the biggest regret of his career was not taking the role of Dr. Loomis.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 1977, Lee left the UK for the US, concerned at being typecast in horror films, as had happened to his close friends Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. His first American appearance was in the disaster film "Airport '77" (1977). In 1978, Lee surprised many people with his willingness to go along with a joke, appearing as guest host on NBC's "Saturday Night Live". Steven Spielberg, who was in the audience for that show, cast him in "1941" (1979). Meanwhile, Lee co-starred with Bette Davis in the Disney film "Return from Witch Mountain" (1978). He turned down the role of Dr. Barry Rumack (finally played by Leslie Nielsen) in the disaster spoof "Airplane!" (1980), a decision he later called "a big mistake."


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee played the mad scientist Dr. Catheter in "" (1990). In a nod to his role as Dracula in Hammer Films, as the Bat Gremlin transforms, Dr. Catheter experiences deja-vu – the audience hears Dracula music. Lee made his last appearances as Sherlock Holmes in the television films "Incident at Victoria Falls" (1991) and "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" (1992).


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee and Peter Cushing appeared together in more than a dozen feature films together for Hammer Films, Amicus Productions, and other companies, as well as in "Hamlet" (1948) and "Moulin Rouge" (1952), albeit in separate scenes. They featured, too, in separate instalments of the "Star Wars" films: Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original film, and Lee decades later as Count Dooku. The last project which united them in person was a documentary, "Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror" (1994), which they jointly narrated, two months before Cushing's death.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee considered his best performance to be in this period, when he played Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic "Jinnah" (1998).


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee had many television roles. These included the role Flay in the BBC television miniseries "Gormenghast" (2000) based on Mervyn Peake's novels. He also appeared as Lucas de Beaumanoir, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, in the BBC/A&E co-production of Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" (1997).


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee played Saruman in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy. In the commentary, he stated that he had for decades dreamt of playing Gandalf. He conceded that he was now too old, and that his physical limitations prevented him from being considered. The role of Saruman, unlike that of Gandalf, required no horse riding and far less fighting. Lee had met J. R. R. Tolkien once, which made him the only person involved in the film trilogy to have done so. He made a habit of reading the novels at least once a year. In addition, he performed for The Tolkien Ensemble's album "At Dawn in Rivendell" in 2003. Lee's appearance in the final film in the trilogy, "", was cut from the theatrical release, but the scene was reinstated in the extended edition. "The Lord of the Rings" marked the beginning of a major career revival that continued in "" (2002) and "" (2005), in which he played the villainous Count Dooku. He did most of the swordplay himself, though a stunt double was required for the long shots with more vigorous footwork. In 2005 he played Dr. Wonka, father of Willy Wonka, in Tim Burton's film adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2007, Lee collaborated with Tim Burton on "", playing the spirit of Sweeney Todd's victims, called the Gentleman Ghost, alongside Anthony Head, with both singing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," its reprises and the Epilogue. These songs were recorded, but eventually cut since Burton felt that the songs were too theatrical for the film. Lee's appearance was completely cut from the film, but Head still had an uncredited one-line cameo.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In late November 2009, Lee narrated the Science Fiction Festival in Trieste, Italy. Also in 2009, Lee starred in Stephen Poliakoff's British period drama "Glorious 39", Academy Award-nominated director Danis Tanović's war film "Triage", and Duncan Ward's comedy "Boogie Woogie".


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2004, Lee lamented that Hollywood scripts were mainly spin-offs, as people were afraid of taking financial risks, commenting that he was mostly being offered spin-offs of "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars". In 2010, he marked his fourth collaboration with Tim Burton by voicing the Jabberwock in Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic book "Alice in Wonderland", alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. Lee respected Depp as "a fellow survivor", describing him as "inventive and [having] enormous versatility".


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2010, Lee received the Steiger Award (Germany) and, in February 2011, Lee was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2011, he appeared in a Hammer film, "The Resident", for the first time in 35 years. The film was directed by Antti Jokinen, and Lee gave a "superbly sinister" performance alongside Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. While filming scenes for the film in New Mexico in early 2009, Lee injured his back when he tripped over power cables on set. Lee appears as the unnamed "Old Gentleman" who acts as Lachlan's mentor in a flashback. Also in 2011, Lee appeared in the critically acclaimed "Hugo", directed by Martin Scorsese.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee reprised the role of Saruman for the prequel film "". He said he would have liked to have shown Saruman's corruption by Sauron, but was too old to travel to New Zealand, so the production was adjusted to allow him to participate from London.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2012, Lee marked his fifth and final collaboration with Tim Burton, by appearing in Burton's film adaptation of the gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows", in the small role of a New England fishing captain.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In an interview in August 2013, Lee said that he was "saddened" to hear his friend Johnny Depp was considering retiring from acting, observing that he himself had no intention of doing that:


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee narrated the feature-length documentary "", which was released on 25 October 2013. In 2014, he appeared in an episode of the BBC documentary series "Timeshift" called "How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective". Lee and others who had played Sherlock Holmes discussed the character and the various interpretations of him. He appeared in a web exclusive, reading an excerpt from the Sherlock Holmes short story "The Final Problem".


title: Christopher Lee

text: A month before his death, Lee had signed to star with an ensemble cast in the Danish film "The 11th". His final performance was the independent "Angels in Notting Hill" directed by Michael Pakleppa, a comedy about an angel trapped in London who falls in love with a human being. Lee played The Boss/Mr President and the film premiered in the Regent Street Cinema, London on 29 October 2016.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee provided voices for numerous films and video games. He spoke fluent English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German, and was moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian, and Greek. He was the original voice of Thor in the German dubs of the Danish 1986 animated film "Valhalla", and of King Haggard in both the English and German dubs of the 1982 animated adaptation of "The Last Unicorn". He provided all the voices for the English dub of "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" (1953). He voiced Death in the animated versions of Terry Pratchett's "Soul Music" and "Wyrd Sisters", and reprised the role in the Sky1 live action adaptation "The Colour of Magic", taking over from the late Ian Richardson. He provided the voice for the role of Ansem the Wise/DiZ in video games including "Kingdom Hearts II".


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee reprised his role as Saruman in the video game "". He narrated and sang for the Danish musical group The Tolkien Ensemble's 2003 studio album "At Dawn in Rivendell", taking the role of Treebeard, King Théoden and others in the readings or singing of their respective poems or songs. In 2007, he voiced the transcript of "The Children of Húrin" by J. R. R. Tolkien for the audiobook version of the novel. In 2005, Lee provided the voice of Pastor Galswells in "The Corpse Bride", co-directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson. He served as the narrator on "The Nightmare Before Christmas" poem, also written by Tim Burton as well. Lee reprised his role as Count Dooku in the animated film "" (2008). Some thirty years after playing Francisco Scaramanga in "The Man with the Golden Gun", Lee provided the voice of Scaramanga in the video game "". In 2013, Lee voiced The Earl of Earl's Court in the BBC Radio 4 radio play "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Lee recorded special dialogue, in addition to serving as the Narrator, for the "Lego The Hobbit" video game released in April 2014; at 91 years and 316 days old he appears in the "Guinness Book of Records" as the oldest video game narrator.


title: Christopher Lee

text: With his operatic bass voice, Lee sang on "The Wicker Man" soundtrack, performing Paul Giovanni's composition, "The Tinker of Rye." He sang the closing credits song of the 1994 horror film "Funny Man". In 1977, he appeared on Peter Knight and Bob Johnson's (from Steeleye Span) concept album "The King of Elfland's Daughter".


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee's first contact with heavy metal music came by singing a duet with Fabio Lione, lead vocalist of the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire on the single "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" from their album "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret", although he only performs backing vocals on the album version. Later he appeared as a narrator and backing vocalist on the band's four albums "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret", "Triumph or Agony", "The Frozen Tears of Angels", and "From Chaos to Eternity", as well as on the EP "The Cold Embrace of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony", portraying the Wizard King. He worked with Manowar while they were recording a new version of their first album, "Battle Hymns". The original voice was Orson Welles's (long dead at the time of the re-recording).


title: Christopher Lee

text: With the song "Jingle Hell," Lee entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart at No. 22, thus becoming the second oldest living performer to ever enter the music charts, at 91 years and 6 months. After media attention, the song rose to No. 18. as Lee became the oldest person to have a top 20 hit.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee released a third EP of covers in May 2014, called "Metal Knight," to celebrate his 92nd birthday; in addition to a cover of "My Way," it contains "The Toreador March," inspired by the opera "Carmen", and the songs "The Impossible Dream" and "I, Don Quixote" from the Don Quixote musical "Man of La Mancha". Lee was inspired to record the latter songs because, "as far as I am concerned, Don Quixote is the most metal fictional character that I know." His fourth EP and third annual Christmas release came in December 2014, as he put out "Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing," a playful take on "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." He explained: "It's light-hearted, joyful and fun... At my age, the most important thing for me is to keep active by doing things that I truly enjoy. I do not know how long I am going to be around, so every day is a celebration, and I want to share it with my fans."


title: Christopher Lee

text: On the self-titled debut album by Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup consisting of Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, Lee is featured as a narrator in the track "The Last Vampire." Recorded shortly before his death, this marks Lee's final appearance on a musical record. In 2019, Rhapsody of Fire included a posthumous narration on their new album, "The Eighth Mountain", in which Lee narrated the concept story of the band's "Nephilim Empire Saga".


title: Christopher Lee

text: The Carandinis, Lee's maternal ancestors, were given the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. In the late-1950s, Lee was engaged to Countess Henriette Ewa Agnes von Rosen, whom he had met at a nightclub in Stockholm. Her father, Count Fritz von Rosen, proved demanding, getting them to delay the wedding for a year, asking his London-based friends to interview Lee, hiring private detectives to investigate him, and asking Lee to provide him with references, which Lee obtained from Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Boulting, and Joe Jackson. Lee found the meeting of her extended family to be like something from a surrealist Luis Buñuel film, and thought they were "killing me with cream." Finally, Lee had to have the permission of the King of Sweden to marry. Lee had met him some years before while filming "Tales of Hans Anderson", where he received his blessing. However, shortly before the wedding, Lee ended the engagement. He was concerned that his financial insecurity in his chosen profession meant that she "deserved better" than being "pitched into the dishevelled world of an actor." She understood, and they called the wedding off.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee was introduced to Danish painter and former model Birgit "Gitte" Krøncke by a Danish friend in 1960. They were engaged soon after, and married on 17 March 1961. They had a daughter, Christina Erika Carandini Lee (b. 1963). Lee was the uncle of the British actress Harriet Walter. Both Lee and his daughter Christina provided spoken vocals on Rhapsody of Fire's album "From Chaos to Eternity". Lee relocated to Los Angeles in the 1970s after becoming disillusioned with film roles he was being offered in Britain at the time and stated that in Hollywood "I was no longer a "horror star." I was an actor." He subsequently moved back to England and lived with his family in Cadogan Square, London until his death.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee was known for his imposing height: he was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall. On BBC Radio's "Test Match Special" "View from the Boundary" interview with Brian Johnston on 20 June 1987, Lee described himself as 6 ft 4 in tall. Lee and his wife Birgit were listed among the fifty best-dressed over 50s by "The Guardian" in March 2013.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee identified as an Anglo-Catholic Christian. After the Second World War, he was a server at St Stephen's church in South Kensington, London, during T.S. Eliot's period as a parishioner there. Politically, Lee supported the Conservative Party. He described Michael Howard as "the ideal person to lead the party" in 2003, and also supported William Hague and David Cameron.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, informing her family of the death before releasing the news to the press.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Following Lee's death, fans, friends, actors, directors and others involved in the film industry publicly gave their personal tributes. The Prime Minister David Cameron praised Lee as a "titan of the golden age of cinema." He was honoured by the academy at the 88th Academy Awards on 28 February 2016 in the annual in Memoriam section.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee was the subject of the BBC's "This Is Your Life" in 1974, where he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In 1994, for his influence on the horror genre, he received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1997, he was appointed a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John. On 16 June 2001, as part of that year's Queen's Birthday Honours, Lee was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to Drama." He was made a Knight Bachelor "For services to Drama and to Charity" on 13 June as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2009. The French government made him a Commander of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2011.


title: Christopher Lee

text: Lee was named 2005's 'most marketable star in the world' in a "USA Today" newspaper poll, after three of the films he appeared in grossed US$640 million. In 2010, he was identified as the IMDb member with the greatest closeness centrality, implying he was the best-connected person in the business.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2008, Lee in his role as Count Dracula featured on a commemorative UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail to mark 50 years since the release of "Dracula" (1958) by Hammer Films. In 2010, Lee received the Spirit of Hammer award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, for his contribution to the metal genre. In 2011, Lee was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship; he received a BFI Fellowship in 2013.


title: Christopher Lee

text: In 2011, accompanied by his wife Birgit, and on the 164th anniversary of the birth of Bram Stoker, Lee was honoured with a tribute by University College Dublin, and described his honorary life membership of the UCD Law Society as "in some ways as special as the Oscars." He was awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal by the Trinity College Philosophical Society, of which Stoker had been president, and a copy of "Collected Ghost Stories of MR James" by Trinity College's School of English.


title: Chris Martin

text: Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to University College London, where he formed the band with classmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion. They found worldwide fame with the release of the song "Yellow" in 2000, receiving acclaim for albums such as "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (2002), "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" (2008) and others. He won seven Grammy Awards and nine Brit Awards as part of the band. They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide as of 2021, making them the most successful group of the 21st century. Martin appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the United Kingdom.


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin was born on 2 March 1977 in Exeter, Devon, England, and is the oldest of five children. His father, Anthony John Martin, of Whitestone House, Exeter, is a retired chartered accountant, and his mother, Alison Martin, who is from Zimbabwe, is a music teacher. His family's caravan and motorhome sales business, Martin's of Exeter, was founded in 1929 by his grandfather John Besley Martin, CBE (a High Sheriff-also Mayor in 1968 of Exeter). It was sold by his father to a former employee in 1999. William Willett, the man who campaigned for and made daylight saving time a recognised practice, was Martin's great-great-grandfather. Martin's paternal aunt Elisabeth Jane (daughter of John Besley Martin) married Hon. Julian George Winston Sandys, son of Conservative politician Duncan Sandys by his wife Diana Churchill, daughter of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Conservative politician David Martin is his paternal uncle.


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin was educated at the pre-preparatory Hylton School and the preparatory Exeter Cathedral School, where he found his passion for music. After Exeter Cathedral School, Martin boarded at Sherborne School in Dorset, where he met future Coldplay manager Phil Harvey. Martin continued his studies at University College London (UCL), staying at Ramsay Hall, where he graduated with first-class honours in Greek and Latin. At UCL, Martin met his future Coldplay bandmates Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion.


title: Chris Martin

text: While studying at University College London, Martin met Jonny Buckland and the two decided to form a band, with Martin as lead singer and Buckland as lead guitarist. They were joined by Guy Berryman as bass player and Will Champion as drummer. In 1996, they formed a band originally known as Pectoralz. The name was later changed to Starfish, until they were offered the name Coldplay by another band who did not want the name any more.


title: Chris Martin

text: Since the release of their debut album "Parachutes" in 2000, the band have achieved internationally recognised fame and success. Their song "Yellow", from "Parachutes", entered the charts at Number 4 and carried Coldplay to their aforementioned fame. To date, they have released nine studio albums in total including "Parachutes," "A Rush of Blood to the Head", "X&Y", "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends", "Mylo Xyloto", "Ghost Stories", "A Head Full of Dreams", "Everyday Life", and "Music of the Spheres". They also released several EPs, including "Safety" and "The Blue Room".


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin has written songs for a variety of acts including Embrace ("Gravity") and Jamelia ("See It in a Boy's Eyes", co-written with Coldplay producer Rik Simpson). Martin has also collaborated with Ron Sexsmith, Faultline, the Streets, and Ian McCulloch. He also sang a part of the vocals for the Band Aid 20 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of 2004. In 2005, Martin collaborated with Nelly Furtado on the track "All Good Things (Come to an End)", for her 2006 album, "Loose". The two were once rumoured to be a couple, after they both performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Nelly Furtado joked about it, saying, "Yeah, he's my boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet".


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin's fascination with hip hop was shown in mid-2006 when he collaborated with rapper Jay-Z for the rapper's comeback album, "Kingdom Come", after the two met earlier in the year. Martin put some chords together for a song known as "Beach Chair" and sent them to Jay-Z who enlisted the help of hip-hop producer Dr. Dre to mix it. Coldplay producer Rik Simpson conceived and performed the drum beats. The song was performed on 27 September 2006 by the two during Jay-Z's European tour at Royal Albert Hall. Martin has also worked on a solo collaboration with Kanye West, with whom he shared an impromptu jam session during a 2006 concert at Abbey Road Studios. He performed the chorus of "Homecoming", from Kanye West's album "Graduation".


title: Chris Martin

text: In 2015, Martin collaborated with DJ Avicii to work on two new tracks for his album "Stories". Their first collaboration was officially named "Heaven". Martin wrote the lyrics, Avicii did the production, and Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost was the vocalist. He also provided the vocals for Avicii's True Believer, also in "Stories". In February 2017, Martin performed "A Different Corner" at the 2017 Brit Awards in tribute to George Michael.


title: Chris Martin

text: A song he co-wrote called "Homesick" appears on Dua Lipa's self-titled debut album, which was released in June 2017. In 2019, Martin was featured on Avicii's posthumous album "Tim." The song "Heaven" features vocals by Martin and was written by Avicii and Martin prior to Avicii's death.


title: Chris Martin

text: On 12 December 2012, Martin performed three songs, including "Losing My Religion" with Michael Stipe, as a part of the "12 12 12 Concert" which was held as a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief. On 15 November 2014, Martin joined charity group Band Aid 30, performing alongside British and Irish pop acts on the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in Western Africa — this was the second time Martin has contributed to a Band Aid recording having performed in the 2004 version. Martin became the creative director of the newly established Global Citizen Festival in 2015, a role he plans to fulfil for 15 years.


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin and Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland made cameo appearances in the film "Shaun of the Dead" as supporters of the fictional charity ZombAid, with Martin having a second cameo in the film as a zombie. In 2006, Martin had a cameo role in the second series, episode four, of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant comedy "Extras". He also appears singing in the closing credits of the 2009 Sacha Baron Cohen film "Brüno", with Bono, Sting, Slash, Snoop Dogg, and Elton John.


title: Chris Martin

text: In March 2015, Martin attended the televised launch of music streaming service Tidal via a video link, and revealed himself, along with other notable artists, as a shareholder in the company. In June 2015, Martin performed "Til Kingdom Come" at the funeral Mass of Beau Biden, son of United States Vice-President Joe Biden, after learning that Biden was a fan of his. In August 2017, Martin performed a live solo piano rendition of "Crawling" by Linkin Park. The performance was a tribute to Linkin Park's lead singer Chester Bennington, who died by suicide the previous month.


title: Chris Martin

text: A major influence on Martin and Coldplay was the Scottish rock band Travis, with Martin crediting the band for the creation of his own band. The Irish rock band U2 is another important influence on Martin both musically and politically. Martin wrote for "Rolling Stone" "Magazine"'s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" on the band, saying: "I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalogue I know by heart. The first song on "The Unforgettable Fire", "A Sort of Homecoming", I know backward and forward—it's so rousing, brilliant, and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby." Martin and Coldplay were also greatly influenced by the English rock band Radiohead. Speaking to "Rolling Stone Magazine", Martin said of Radiohead: "Sometimes I feel like they cleared a path with a machete, and we came afterward and put up a strip mall... I would still give my left ball to write anything as good as "OK Computer"."Martin is very vocal about his love for Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. In 2005, he stated in an interview: "I found myself in Amsterdam the other day and I put A-ha's first record on. I just remembered how much I loved it. It's incredible songwriting. Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've been trying to steal from and what we listened to as we were growing up — the first band I ever loved was A-ha." Martin has also performed live together with Magne Furuholmen of A-ha, introducing him as "the best keyboard player in the world". In November 2011, he stated that "back when we didn't have any hits of our own we used to play a-ha songs."


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin is also a fan of English rock bands Oasis and Muse, Irish pop group Westlife, English-Irish girl group Girls Aloud, English pop group Take That, and Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. In 2014, Martin inducted Peter Gabriel into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career, and performed live with him.


title: Chris Martin

text: Coldplay performed R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming" with Michael Stipe during their Austin City Limits performance in 2005, as a part of the Twisted Logic Tour. Martin went on to call "Nightswimming" "the greatest song ever written". He has called Richard Ashcroft, formerly of the Verve, "the best singer in the world". He also admires the lyrics of Morrissey. Martin was quoted as calling Coldplay's song "Shiver" a rip-off Jeff Buckley influenced by Buckley's song "Grace". In 2008, Coldplay released an alternate music video for "Viva la Vida", directed by Anton Corbijn as a tribute to Corbijn's 1990 video for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence". It shows Martin dressed as a king, as Dave Gahan was in the original video. The band stated: "This is our attempt at a video cover version, made out of love for Depeche Mode and the genius of Anton Corbijn".


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin has been particularly outspoken on issues of fair trade and has campaigned for Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. He travelled to Ghana and Haiti to meet farmers and view the effects of unfair trade practices. When performing he usually has variations of "Make Trade Fair", "MTF" or an equal sign written on the back of his left hand and the letters "MTF" can be seen emblazoned on his piano.


title: Chris Martin

text: He was a vocal critic of US President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. During the Teenage Cancer Trust show at London's Royal Albert Hall on 24 March 2003, he encouraged the sell-out crowd to "sing against war". He was a strong supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, most notably during his acceptance speech for the 2004 Grammy Awards Record of the Year, accepting for "Clocks". He supported Obama for president in 2008, giving a shout-out at the end of a performance of "Yellow" on 25 October 2008 episode of "Saturday Night Live".


title: Chris Martin

text: On 1 April 2006, "The Guardian" reported that Martin was backing the British Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and had written a new theme song for the party titled "Talk to David". This was later revealed to be an April Fool's joke. While touring Australia in March 2009, Martin and the rest of Coldplay were the opening act at the Sound Relief benefit concert at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, for the victims of bushfires and floods in Victoria and Queensland. Martin appeared in a video for the "Robin Hood Tax" campaign, which proposes a tax on stock trades in the United States. This tax is aimed at levelling the field between the 1% and 99%. In June 2016, Martin supported Vote Remain in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. In 2020, he endorsed the American "defund the police" movement.


title: Chris Martin

text: According to an article released by "The Times" in May 2022, Martin has an estimated net worth of £132 million. In a 2012 interview with the "Daily Mirror", Martin revealed that he had been suffering from tinnitus since his early adult years, although he said that he had noticed the symptoms even as a teenager "while listening to loud music". As a result, Martin wears specially filtered earplugs or customised in-ear monitors while performing and has encouraged his bandmates to do the same as a preventive measure. Similarly, he has encouraged his children to wear hearing protection at concerts. Martin has also become an advocate for hearing loss awareness, having partnered with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. PETA named Martin the World's Sexiest Vegetarian in 2005. However, he began eating meat again after his separation from Gwyneth Paltrow.


title: Chris Martin

text: Martin is a supporter of Exeter City. He is also ambidextrous.In February 2020, a cassette tape was discovered by a former fellow pupil of Martin's. It contained a three-minute instrumental piece entitled "Electric Thunder", which was composed by Martin, aged 12, at Exeter Cathedral School. Martin played keyboards on the track accompanying other pupils performing in a group called Grandisson Ensemble. The cassette was expected to sell for £600 at auction.


title: Chris Martin

text: According to one source, Martin previously had a relationship with live events producer Lily Sobhani around the "Parachutes" album release. He and American actress Gwyneth Paltrow married on 5 December 2003 in a quiet ceremony in the presence of their friends and family. Their daughter Apple was born in May 2004 in London. Martin and the band released a song called "I am your baby's daddy" under the name "the Nappies" in anticipation of her birth. Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" was also inspired by Martin's experience and awe at becoming a father, being the lead single for the band's "X&Y" album.


title: Chris Martin

text: Simon Pegg and Martin's bandmate Jonny Buckland are his daughter's godfathers, and Martin is godfather to Pegg's daughter. His second child, Moses, was born in April 2006 in New York City. The name was inspired by a song of the same name that he wrote for Paltrow. In March 2014, Martin and Paltrow announced their separation as a "conscious uncoupling" after ten years of marriage. Paltrow filed for divorce in April 2015 and it was finalised on 14 July 2016.


title: Chris Martin

text: From August 2015 to August 2017, he was in an on-and-off relationship with actress Annabelle Wallis. Since October 2017, Martin has been in a relationship with American actress Dakota Johnson.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 72nd running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsport, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty-two Grands Prix, and held around the world. Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: At season's end in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing-Honda won the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career. Verstappen became the first ever driver from the Netherlands, the first Honda-powered driver since Ayrton Senna in 1991, the first Red Bull driver since Sebastian Vettel in 2013 and the first non-Mercedes driver in the turbo-hybrid era to win the World Championship.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Honda became the second engine supplier in the turbo-hybrid era to power a championship winning car, after Mercedes. Four-time defending and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished runner up. Mercedes retained the Constructors' Championship for the eighth consecutive season.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The season ended with a controversial finish, with the two title rivals for the drivers' crown entering the last race of the season with equal points. Verstappen sealed the title after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a last-lap restart pass on Hamilton following a contentious conclusion of a safety car period. Mercedes initially protested the results, and later decided not to appeal after their protest was denied. The incident led to key structural changes to race control, including the removal of Michael Masi from his role as race director and the implementation of a virtual race control room, who assist the race director. Unlapping procedures behind the safety car were to be reassessed and presented by the F1 Sporting Advisory Committee prior to the start of the 2022 World Championship season. On 10 March 2022 the FIA World Motor Sport Council report on the events of the final race of the season was announced, and that the "Race Director called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations", however also noted that the "results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the FIA Formula One World Championship are valid, final and cannot now be changed".


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: This was the first season since 2008 where the champion driver was not from the team that took the constructors' title. The season was also the final season in the sport for 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The following constructors and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2021 World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. Each team was required to enter at least two drivers, one for each of the two mandatory cars.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Across the season, five drivers drove as a test or third driver in free practice sessions. Callum Ilott and Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo Racing at two and three Grands Prix respectively, while Roy Nissany and Jack Aitken drove for Williams at three Grands Prix and at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, respectively. Zhou Guanyu drove for Alpine at the Austrian Grand Prix.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: McLaren announced that they would change from using Renault power units to ones built by Mercedes, resuming the McLaren-Mercedes partnership that ran between and . Racing Point became known as Aston Martin. The name change was brought about by the team's part owner Lawrence Stroll investing in the Aston Martin marque. Renault became known as Alpine, taking on the name of Renault's sportscar brand.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Four-time World Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel left Ferrari at the end of the Championship after racing with the team for six seasons. Vettel's seat was taken by Carlos Sainz Jr., who had left McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo moved from Renault to McLaren, where he replaced Sainz. Ricciardo was replaced by double World Champion Fernando Alonso, who drove in Alpine's first season, having last raced in for McLaren.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Vettel moved to Aston Martin, where he replaced Sergio Pérez. Pérez, who had previously signed a contract to drive for Aston Martin's predecessor, Racing Point, until 2022, moved to Red Bull Racing where he replaced Alexander Albon, who was Red Bull Racing's reserve and test driver for the 2021 season. Pérez became the first driver since Mark Webber in to join the team without being previously a Red Bull Junior Team member.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who had raced for Haas since and respectively, left the team at the end of 2020. 2020 Formula 2 Champion Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, took one of the seats at the team while the other was filled by Nikita Mazepin, who finished fifth in the Formula 2 Championship.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Yuki Tsunoda, who finished third in 2020 Formula 2 Championship, graduated to Formula One with Scuderia AlphaTauri, replacing Daniil Kvyat, who moved to Alpine as their reserve driver. Tsunoda became the first Japanese Formula One driver since Kamui Kobayashi in .


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: During the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Kimi Räikkönen tested positive for coronavirus. He was replaced at Alfa Romeo Racing by reserve driver Robert Kubica, who last raced at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, driving for Williams. Räikkönen was also replaced by Kubica at the subsequent Italian Grand Prix.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The 2021 calendar consisted of twenty-two events, which were subject to the permissive COVID-19 regulations set by local governments and the Formula One Group.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Liberty Media, the sport's commercial rights holders, announced that there would be scope for the 2021 calendar to expand beyond the planned twenty-two races of the 2020 calendar. The sporting regulations were amended to allow for a maximum of twenty-five Grands Prix per year.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Further changes to the calendar are planned following the disruption to the 2020 championship brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic:


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Liberty Media was also reported to have come to an agreement in principle with race organisers to host a second race in the United States. Plans to hold the race at a circuit in Miami Gardens were unveiled. A second proposal to move the former Brazilian Grand Prix from São Paulo to a new circuit in Rio de Janeiro was also suspended.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The original calendar that was approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council included the Chinese Grand Prix, which was due to take place on 11 April. However, the event was postponed and later cancelled, due to travel restrictions. The at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, which was originally intended to be a one-off Grand Prix in 2020, was retained in its place. Additionally, the Australian Grand Prix, which had been due to take place on 21 March as the inaugural Grand Prix of the championship, was postponed to 21 November. On 6 July 2021, the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix was revised to be a cancellation for a second consecutive year, due to low vaccination rates and travel restrictions in place in Victoria. The dates for the São Paulo, Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix were changed to accommodate this.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: On 28 April 2021, the Canadian Grand Prix was cancelled for a second consecutive year and was replaced by the Turkish Grand Prix, originally intended to make a one-off return in 2020. On 14 May 2021, the Turkish Grand Prix was postponed due to the British government imposing a ten-day hotel quarantine on travellers from Turkey into the United Kingdom. As a result, the French Grand Prix was moved forward a week and the Styrian Grand Prix, which was originally intended to be a one-off race in 2020, was added to the calendar in its place. On 4 June 2021, the Singapore Grand Prix, which was originally due to take place on 3 October, was cancelled due to ongoing safety and logistic concerns and was replaced by the re-joined Turkish Grand Prix.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: On 18 August 2021, the Japanese Grand Prix was cancelled for a second consecutive year. The race calendar was revised again on 28 August 2021, consisting of twenty-two Grands Prix, with the Turkish, Mexico City and São Paulo Grands Prix moved a week later, the round in which the cancelled Australian Grand Prix was due to take place left empty in order to replace it, and the confirmation that the Japanese Grand Prix would not be replaced. On 30 September 2021 the new Qatar Grand Prix was announced in place of the cancelled Australian Grand Prix.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The 2021 championship was originally due to introduce significant changes to the regulations, including the sport's governance, car designs and the sporting rules but these were delayed in March 2020 in response to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These rule changes were instead introduced in .


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The championship introduced a budget cap, with teams limited to spending a maximum of $145 million per year. Teams were required to use more commercially available materials and to submit their annual expenditure. Some teams argued to further reduce the budget cap to $100 million, citing concerns that the long-term financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the future of as many as four teams. Formula One managing director Ross Brawn stated that the sport's intention is to reduce the budget cap further in the coming years.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The value of the budget cap was set for twenty-one races; each additional race increased the budget cap by $1 million, and vice versa: each race removed from the scheduled twenty-one race calendar deducted the budget cap by $1 million. However, the budget cap did not include marketing budget, drivers' salaries, and the salaries of the team's top three executives. In addition, under a later agreement among the teams regarding the introduction of sprint qualifying races, each team received an additional $500,000 for the three sprint qualifying races on top of the current budget cap, and further flexibility on budget cap in case the cars got damaged during the sprint qualifying races. There were also additional restrictions dictating how prize money can be spent. The cap only applied to expenditure related to car performance, which remained in place until 2026. In the event that a team broke the financial regulations, the team can be penalised. It was originally planned a range of punishments for exceeding their annual budget, which include being deducted championship points, having reduced testing time, a race ban, or—for the most severe cases—disqualification from the championship. However, Toto Wolff later revealed that the intended sporting penalties such as points deductions and reduced testing for budget cap breaches would not be handed out, having been voted down by three teams including Red Bull and Ferrari.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Teams were limited in what components could be modified for the 2021 season, with this requirement introduced to ease financial pressures on teams brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The teams were allowed to apply for special dispensation to make changes, most notably in the case of McLaren, who were given permission to modify their car to accommodate the switch from Renault to Mercedes engines. This prompted the FIA to introduce a token system whereby teams were given a series of tokens which could be exchanged for the introduction of specific component upgrades.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Some aerodynamic rule changes were enacted by the FIA. The floor of the cars were 'clipped' in order to reduce downforce for 2021. In 2020, the floor was permitted to run in a straight line from an area adjacent to the cockpit back to a point ahead of the rear tyre. However, from 2021 that point ahead of the tyre was moved inboard, making the floor edge a diagonal line when viewed from above. This change is expected to reduce downforce levels by 5%. Further, some slots on the edge of the floor were removed, brake duct winglets were narrowed by and diffuser fences were narrowed by . These three changes have reduced downforce levels by a further 5%, meaning the 2021 regulations have seen a total 10% reduction in downforce. However, the teams increased downforce by 4–5% over the winter, so the overall downforce reduction was approximately 5%.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: The "dual-axis steering" (DAS) system developed by Mercedes in 2020 was banned, starting from 2021. The DAS system allowed the driver to adjust the toe of the front wheels to optimise mechanical grip by pulling or pushing on the steering wheel. The FIA introduced newly revised wing load tests mid-season at the French Grand Prix to clamp down on potentially excessively flexing rear wings. This comes after Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team had claimed, at the Spanish Grand Prix, that the rear wing of the Red Bull RB16B flexed significantly at high speed and load, allowing greater top speeds. Under 2021 Formula One regulations wings must be immobile and rigidly attached to the bodywork.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: From the Belgian Grand Prix onwards a new technical directive was enforced surrounding pit stop equipment after concerns teams were flouting the article 12.8.4 of Formula One technical regulations that state that pit equipment may only be filled with compressed air or nitrogen and that sensors on this equipment must 'act passively' to achieve quicker pit stop times and potentially meaning cars could be released in an unsafe condition. To help enforce this new tolerance parameters will be introduced of 0.15 seconds from when the tyres have been fitted and tightened to the dropping of the jack and 0.2 seconds from the dropping of the jack to a car being released by the pit crew. The change was originally supposed to come in for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but was postponed. In a further clarification the FIA will have the means of ensuring the new tolerance limits are adhered to by using an intelligent wheel gun.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: It was originally proposed that teams would be required to allow a driver who had competed in fewer than two to replace one of their race drivers in a Friday practice session over the course of the season. Whilst these rules were intended to give a chance to more non-Formula One drivers to test a Formula One car, the wording of this rule meant that teams satisfy the requirement if one of their regular drivers was in their rookie season. Such rules were instead implemented for the 2022 season.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Following the Mercedes tyre error during the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, where George Russell was given front tyres allocated to Valtteri Bottas during a pit stop, the FIA had adjusted the rules on tyre usage; drivers using mixed compound sets or using sets allocated to another driver on their cars were permitted to complete two laps before the driver must pit to correct the error before facing a penalty. Under the previous rules, drivers could be disqualified as soon as such error had occurred. The race time limit for red-flagged races was also be reduced from four hours to three hours. From the 2021 United States Grand Prix, lap times set under double waved yellow flags were automatically deleted.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: For the 2021 season, the schedule of a race weekend was revised. Under the pre-existing regulations, a race weekend spanned four days, with the Thursday before the race being reserved for media and promotional events and scrutineering; however, under the new regulations all of Thursday's events were moved to the Friday morning, with the times between activities on that day being reduced. Cars were under "parc fermé" conditions following the end of free practice three instead of qualifying, further restricting teams and drivers from making major changes to setups ahead of the race. The length of the two Friday practice sessions were cut from 90 minutes (as had been the case since the season) to 60 minutes. The 2021 W Series for female drivers was added to the list of support racing series alongside Formula 2, Formula 3, and Porsche Supercup. The 2021 W Series season started at the Red Bull Ring, where it was a support event for the Styrian Grand Prix in late June. It ended in late October at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Formula 2 and Formula 3 supported Formula One on alternate weekends, rather than the same ones as a cost saving measure.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: There were a trial of sprint qualifying at the British, Italian, and São Paulo Grands Prix. Qualifying for these sprints took place on Friday afternoon in place of the normal second practice session and the sprints ran over the least number of laps to exceed , approximately one third of a normal race distance. The result of the sprint race determined the starting grid for the main race. Three points were awarded to the winner of the sprint race, two points to the runner-up, and one point to the third-placed finisher; sprint races are set to be expanded for the season. The British Grand Prix timetable for 16–18 July revealed that there would be no running for Formula One cars until 14:30 local time on Friday with the normal Qualifying starting at 18:00. Normally, the second Practice Session would have been at around 14:00, with no running in the evening. A second practice session is due to start at 12:00 on Saturday, before the Sprint Qualifying at 16:30. The main race is due to start at 15:00 on Sunday. At events with Sprint Qualifying, the "parc fermé" was now brought forward to Friday after normal Qualifying, which saw drivers only allowed to use the softest available tyre with the usual requirement for the top 10 to start on the tyres they used for their best lap in Q2 removed for events including Sprint Qualifying in their schedule. There is also no requirement to make a pit stop during Sprint Qualifying, and all 20 drivers at events where Sprint Qualifying takes place were given free tyre choice ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix. Teams were given a $500,000 overall grant by the FIA to cover the cost of the scheduled three sprint races.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Winter testing switched from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló to the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, with three days of running beginning on 12 March. Formula One declined an offer from Bahrain to provide COVID-19 vaccines for all personnel attending pre-season testing and the season's opening Grand Prix. However, several teams and drivers opted to accept the Bahrain government's offer.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Max Verstappen took pole position on the opening round in Bahrain. On the formation lap, Sergio Pérez stalled at the last turn and was relegated to start in the pit lane, leaving his 11th place spot vacant. On the first lap, Nikita Mazepin spun at turn 3, crashing into the barrier and calling out the safety car. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly collided with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren the lap after the safety car ended, while Mick Schumacher spun off behind the pack. Lewis Hamilton got past Verstappen on lap 40, but on lap 53 Verstappen overtook Hamilton at turn 4, before being ordered to give the place back because he exceeded track limits. In the end, Hamilton won from Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium. Lando Norris came fourth and Pérez, after starting from last, recovered to fifth.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton took pole from Pérez and Verstappen. Verstappen went into the lead at turn 1 on lap 1, after it started raining on race day. Mazepin and Nicholas Latifi crashed at the exit of turn 13, bringing out the safety car. Under the safety car, Schumacher lost control of his car and spun into the pit exit, losing his front wing. On lap 31, at turn 7, Hamilton made a mistake, hitting the wall and damaging his front wing. After approximately a minute in the gravel, he rejoined. The moment he did, his teammate Bottas and George Russell had a crash at over on the start-finish straight, bringing out the red flag. After the race restarted, Norris overtook Charles Leclerc for second, but the former was overtaken by Hamilton, resulting in a podium of Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Bottas took pole at the . He kept his lead from Hamilton and Verstappen. On lap 2, Kimi Räikkönen made contact with his teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, and was forced into retirement, while Giovinazzi could continue. Hamilton eventually overtook Bottas and won with Verstappen in second and Bottas in third. Pérez and Norris came fourth and fifth, respectively. Verstappen took the fastest lap on the last lap but was soon deleted, due to track limits, meaning Bottas was given the fastest lap point.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton took his 100th pole position in Spain. On lap 1, Verstappen overtook him at the first turn. Five laps later, Yuki Tsunoda pulled over at the reprofiled turn 10, marking his first Formula One retirement. Hamilton took the lead after Verstappen pitted on lap 23, but Verstappen took it back on lap 28. However, a slow stop and a decision to stay out until lap 59 let Hamilton into the lead until the checkered flag, Verstappen ended up second with Bottas in third place from Leclerc and Pérez.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Leclerc took pole at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing in the final minutes. The crash caused a driveshaft failure, meaning he was unable to start the race. Verstappen started at the front and led from Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jr. On lap 30, Bottas was forced into retirement after his front-right tyre would not come off during a routine pitstop. Verstappen took the victory, as well as the championship lead for the first time in his career; Red Bull came away from this race with a one-point lead in the Constructors' Championship. Behind Verstappen, Sainz took his first podium for Ferrari, and Norris took his second podium of the season in third place.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Leclerc took pole again in Azerbaijan, this time he was able to start the race. He led for one lap before Hamilton got past on lap 2 at turn 1. Hamilton was held up in his pitstop to allow Gasly to pass him in the pitlane, handing Verstappen the net race lead. On lap 30, Lance Stroll crashed out due to a tyre failure and brought out the safety car. With Verstappen comfortably leading with six laps to go, he suffered a tyre failure, causing him to crash on the pit straight, bringing out the safety car and then the red flag on lap 46 and 48, respectively. The race was restarted with two laps of racing left. Hamilton went up the inside of Pérez at the restart, but forgot to adjust his brake bias and missed the corner. Pérez won for the second time in his career and took his first win for Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin's first podium in Formula One, while Gasly took his third career podium.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: In France, Verstappen got his second pole of the season, only to go wide at the first turn and lose the lead to Hamilton in the first lap. After regaining first with an undercut in his first pit stop, Verstappen found himself under heavy pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Verstappen relinquished his lead to pit a second time, one of two drivers to do so, returning to the track 18 seconds behind Hamilton. The speed advantage allowed him to make up the lost time, overtaking Bottas on lap 44 and Hamilton on the penultimate lap, for his third win of the year and his thirteenth win overall. Hamilton, now 12 points behind in the Drivers' Championship, did secure second, and with an overtake on lap 49, Pérez managed to take third place, pushing Bottas to fourth. It was the first race of the season where the race winner also took pole position and the fastest lap, and the first race of the season with no retirements. Red Bull extended their lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship to 37 points after the race.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Max Verstappen took his third season pole at the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring. On the first lap, three cars collided at the third turn, forcing Pierre Gasly out of the race. Verstappen won from Lewis Hamilton, meaning Verstappen extended his title lead to 18 points. Valtteri Bottas came third, taking his first podium since Spain. Verstappen took pole at the Austrian Grand Prix, the last race of the first triple header. On the first lap, Esteban Ocon retired with broken suspension. Lando Norris received a penalty after being judged to have forced Sergio Pérez off track. Pérez later received two penalties for doing the same to Charles Leclerc. Verstappen won the race from Bottas and Norris. Hamilton finished fourth, after picking up damage to the underside of his car, meaning that Verstappen was able to extend his championship lead to 32 points.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton was fastest in qualifying to start in first place for the first ever sprint in the British Grand Prix. In the sprint, Verstappen made a better start than Hamilton and overtook him before the first corner, leading every lap and winning the sprint with Hamilton second and Bottas third, thus Verstappen started on pole for the Grand Prix itself. On lap five of the sprint, Pérez spun, dropping him to the back of the field, and later retiring, forcing him to start from the pits for the race. On the first lap of the Grand Prix, Verstappen and Hamilton collided at approximately at Copse corner. Hamilton made contact with Verstappen's right rear wheel, causing the tyre to come off and Verstappen travelled into the barrier, causing the race to be stopped temporarily. Hamilton was penalised for the contact with a ten-second penalty, which he served during his pit stop. Leclerc led most of the Grand Prix, but finished second after Hamilton overtook Norris, Bottas, and Leclerc in the late stages to win the race. Hamilton reduced his gap to Verstappen from 33 points to eight points.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton was again fastest in qualifying to take pole in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Rainy conditions at the start of the race led to Bottas misjudging his braking and sliding into the back of Norris; this escalated into multiple collisions which eventually eliminated five drivers: Bottas, Norris (who only retired on lap 3), Pérez, Lance Stroll and Leclerc. Due to the large amount of debris on the track, the race was red-flagged; at this stage, Hamilton led from Ocon and Sebastian Vettel, with championship leader Verstappen, having acquired damage on the opening lap, in 13th. Hamilton was the only driver who did not choose to pit for slick tyres at the end of the formation lap, leaving him the only driver on the grid for the restart; this saw him drop to last when he pitted on the next lap. In the pits, Kimi Räikkönen was released into Nikita Mazepin’s path, putting Mazepin out of the race. The newly promoted Ocon held his lead until the end to take his first Formula 1 victory, finishing ahead of Vettel, and Hamilton, who had battled his way back up the classification, and Carlos Sainz Jr. Vettel was later disqualified for a fuel sample issue, promoting Hamilton to second and Sainz to third. Hamilton's recovery drive saw him retake the championship lead over Verstappen by eight points, while Mercedes also regained their advantage over Red Bull in the Constructors' standings by twelve points. Meanwhile, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell were classified seventh and eighth, taking Williams's first points since 2019.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Verstappen took pole from Russell and Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix in a wet qualifying session. The race was heavily affected by rain, which initially saw the start delayed by 25 minutes. After two formation laps behind the safety car, the race start was suspended and red-flagged due to poor conditions and lack of visibility. A nearly three-hour delay followed before the race was resumed. After a further three laps, the race was red-flagged again. It was not restarted, becoming the shortest race in Formula 1 history and the sixth to award half-points as less than 75% of the race was completed. Verstappen won by default, with Russell in second and Hamilton in third place. It was Russell's first podium in Formula 1. As a result, Hamilton's lead in the championship was cut to three points from Verstappen.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Verstappen would again take pole at the first Dutch Grand Prix to take place since 1985 at Zandvoort. He held his lead from Hamilton to take the win at his home race, taking over the lead of the championship by three points. Bottas came third, overtaking Norris, who finished tenth, in the standings for third place. Bottas won sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, but was forced to start from the back of the grid after exceeding the quota of one on his power units' components. Verstappen started at the front with the McLarens second and third. Daniel Ricciardo took the lead on lap 1. A slow stop for Verstappen meant that he ended up alongside Hamilton after the latter made his pitstop. Hamilton and Verstappen collided, ending their races prematurely. Ricciardo led to the end to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. His teammate Norris finished behind him to secure the team's first 1–2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the first 1–2 finish of the season. After a penalty applied to Pérez, Bottas came third from the back of the grid. After the race, Verstappen was judged by the stewards to have been predominantly at fault for the collision with Hamilton. As a result, he was given a 3-place grid-penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Verstappen was required to start from the back at the Russian Grand Prix for exceeding his quota of a number of his power unit components. Norris took his first career pole position, from Sainz (his best qualifying result), and Russell. The running order changed substantially as heavy rain began to fall in the closing laps. Hamilton took his 100th Formula One victory as well as the championship lead, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying in Turkey, but was dropped down the grid because of a penalty due to a power unit component change. Valtteri Bottas was promoted to pole position and won the race, his first of 2021. He was followed by Max Verstappen, who re-took the championship lead, and Sergio Pérez, who took his first podium since France. Verstappen continued his momentum in the United States Grand Prix, taking pole position. Despite Hamilton taking the lead in turn 1, Verstappen was able to win the race with Hamilton in second place, in front of Pérez. The result increased Verstappen's lead to 12 points as Hamilton collected an extra Championship point by setting the fastest lap. Bottas took pole in Mexico City, but was spun around at the first corner by Daniel Ricciardo. Another incident behind involving Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher took both drivers out of the race, calling out the safety car. Verstappen took his second win in a row, increasing his lead from Hamilton in second, and Pérez took the final spot on the podium in his home race.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton was fastest in qualifying in Brazil, but was disqualified the following day for a technical infringement. Bottas won the qualifying sprint, giving him pole position for the Grand Prix. By finishing second in the sprint, Verstappen increased his championship lead over Hamilton by two points, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished third, increased Ferrari's championship lead over McLaren. Hamilton finished fifth in the sprint from last on the grid, but a five-place grid drop due to taking a new engine relegated him to tenth on the grid for the Grand Prix. On race day, both Verstappen and Pérez were able to overtake Bottas on the first lap. Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Sainz were involved in a separate incident, with Norris getting a puncture. On lap 48, Hamilton caught up to Verstappen and attempted an overtake, but failed and resulted in both of them going off track. Hamilton tried again on lap 59 and got past. He won the race from Verstappen, decreasing Verstappen's championship lead from 21 points to 14 points, while Bottas completed the podium.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton took pole position in Qatar, while a penalty for failing to respect double waived yellow flags during qualifying forced Verstappen to start from seventh. Hamilton took the win, leading every lap of the race. Verstappen quickly recovered to second place but was unable to threaten Hamilton's race lead despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race. Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to finish third, less than three seconds ahead Peréz in fourth, it was Alonso's first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. Bottas and Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after they and multiple others suffered punctures on track. The result reduced Verstappen's lead in the Driver's Championship to eight points while Mercedes's lead in the Constructors' Championship was reduced to five points.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Hamilton took pole position again in the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of Bottas and Verstappen, who crashed at the last corner of his final qualifying lap. The race played host to several incidents which saw the retirements of Schumacher, Pérez, George Russell, Nikita Mazepin, and Sebastian Vettel, with Hamilton, Verstappen, Tsunoda, and Kimi Räikkönen also being involved in collisions during the race. Hamilton won the race from Verstappen, while Bottas overtook Esteban Ocon at the final corner to take third place. The results left Hamilton and Verstappen on equal points in the Drivers' Championship going into the final round in Abu Dhabi, while Mercedes extended their lead in the Constructors Championship to 28 points.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Verstappen took the pole position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Hamilton and Norris. During the race, Hamilton had a better start and took the lead into the first turn. At turn six Verstappen attempted to pass, forcing Hamilton to evade by going off the track. Emerging from the corner still in the lead, Hamilton was instructed to give up the advantage he had gained. The pair settled in their positions until the first round of pit stops, with Hamilton gradually extending his lead. He later lost much of his advantage when Pérez, Verstappen's teammate with Red Bull, and who had yet to make a pit stop, made it difficult for Hamilton to pass him, though Verstappen was unable to capitalise. Later, a virtual safety car period allowed Verstappen to change his tyres without losing track position, which was an attempt to catch Hamilton with fresher tyres. With seven laps remaining, the safety car was brought out for a crash involving Latifi, and Red Bull used the opportunity to give Verstappen a fresh set of soft tyres, while Hamilton, still on his now-quite-old hard compound tyres, was not pitted. Race director Michael Masi took the decision to allow only the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves before restarting the race with only one lap remaining. Upon the restart, Verstappen quickly passed Hamilton and held him off for the remainder of the lap to win the race and the championship.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Mercedes lodged two separate protests against the race's result. Both protests were dismissed, and Mercedes announced their intention to appeal the dismissal of the protest regarding the handling of the restart following the safety car period.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: A statement from the FIA acknowledged the controversy, and that it was "tarnishing the image of the championship and the due celebration". The statement was made after a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which was scheduled for 15 December 2021, and was described as "extending an olive branch to Mercedes". On 16 December 2021, Mercedes announced that it had withdrawn its challenge to the race result. In addition, Hamilton boycotted the end of season FIA prize-giving ceremony, held on 16 December 2021, and at the time there were questions whether he would continue in F1. Hamilton was investigated for breaching the Sporting Regulations which state the top three drivers in the championship must attend the FIA Gala. Newly elected FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem stating in the immediate championship aftermath that there would be "no forgiveness" for Hamilton's failure to attend the event.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Following an FIA investigation and inquiry, Masi was removed from his role as race director, being replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, with Herbie Blash appointed as a permanent senior advisor alongside Wittich and Freitas.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: On 10 March 2022 the FIA World Motor Sport Council report on the events of the final race of the season was announced, and that the "Race Director called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations", however also noted that the "results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the FIA Formula One World Championship are valid, final and cannot now be changed". Hamilton himself revealed that he had been fined for failing to the attend the FIA Prize Giving Gala asking for the governing body to donate the proceeds to underprivileged children who want to get involved in motorsport.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: In October 2022, the FIA published their review of the teams' budgets for 2021. Red Bull Racing had committed a minor financial breach (defined as less than 5% over budget) of , which would be when adjusted for tax. Additionally, both Aston Martin and Red Bull were found to have made procedural breaches. Red Bull were punished with a and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel testing time for period of one year, while Aston Martin were fined . Opinion on the outcome amongst F1 team personnel was divided, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner "begrudgingly" accepting what he deemed to be a "draconian" punishment, stating that the loss of wind tunnel time could cost them between 0.25 and 0.5 seconds a lap in performance. Alpine's Otmar Szafnauer and Mercedes' Toto Wolff felt the FIA's decision was fair, with the latter stating that the "reputational damage" incurred by Red Bull would be enough to deter teams from breaching the cost cap in future. McLaren's Andreas Seidl, was less satisfied, saying that "the penalty doesn't fit the breach" and hoping for "stricter" penalties for future circumventions of the rules.


title: 2021 Formula One World Championship

text: Points are awarded to the top ten classified drivers, the driver who set the fastest lap during the Grand Prix, but only if one of the top ten, and the top three of the sprint qualifying. In the case of a tie on points a countback system is used where the driver with the most first places is ranked higher. If the number of first places is identical then the number of second places is considered, and so on. If this procedure fails to produce a result, the FIA will nominate the winner according to such criteria as it thinks fit. The points are awarded for every race using the following system:


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 American epic biographical black comedy crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter, based on the 2007 memoir of the same name by Jordan Belfort. It recounts Belfort's perspective on his career as a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm, Stratton Oakmont, engaged in rampant corruption and fraud on Wall Street, which ultimately led to his downfall. Leonardo DiCaprio, who was also a producer of the film, stars as Belfort, with Jonah Hill as his business partner and friend, Donnie Azoff, Margot Robbie as his wife, Naomi Lapaglia, and Kyle Chandler as FBI agent Patrick Denham, who tries to take Belfort down.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Rights for Belfort's memoir were secured in 2007 by DiCaprio and Warner Bros. and with Scorsese set to direct, but content restrictions stalled production. The project was later greenlit under an independent production house Red Granite Pictures. Filming took place in late 2012 in New York City and was shot mostly on film stock.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The film premiered in New York City on December 17, 2013, and was released in the United States on December 25, 2013, by Paramount Pictures, and was the first major American film to be released exclusively through digital distribution. It was a major commercial success, grossing $406 million worldwide during its theatrical run, becoming Scorsese's highest-grossing film. The film was controversial for its morally ambiguous depiction of events and lack of sympathy for victims, as well as explicit sexual content, extreme profanity, depiction of hard drug use, and the use of animals during production. It set a Guinness World Record for the most instances of swearing in a film. The film's financing became implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal, leading to Red Granite Pictures being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The film received positive reviews from critics (along with some moral censure) and appeared in several 'best of the year' lists. It was nominated for several awards, including five at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (for DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (for Hill). DiCaprio won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, where the film was also nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 1987, Jordan Belfort lands a job as a Wall Street stockbroker for L.F. Rothschild, employed under Mark Hanna. He is quickly enticed into the drug-fueled stockbroker culture and Hanna's belief that a broker's only goal is to make money for himself. Jordan loses his job following Black Monday, the largest one-day stock market drop in history, and takes a job at a boiler room brokerage firm on Long Island that specializes in penny stocks. Jordan makes a small fortune thanks to his aggressive pitching style and the high commissions.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Jordan befriends his neighbor Donnie Azoff, and the two found their own company. They recruit several of Jordan's friends, whom Jordan trains in the art of the "hard sell." Jordan's tactics and salesmanship largely contribute to the success of his pump and dump scheme, which involves inflating the price of a stock by issuing misleading, positive statements in order to sell it at an artificially augmented price. When the scheme's perpetrators sell their overvalued securities, the price drops immensely, and those who were conned into buying at the inflated price are left with stock that is suddenly worth much less than what they paid. To cloak this, Jordan gives the firm the respectable-sounding name Stratton Oakmont in 1989.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: After an exposé in "Forbes", hundreds of ambitious young financiers flock to his company. Jordan becomes immensely successful and slides into a decadent lifestyle of prostitutes and drugs. He has an affair with a woman named Naomi Lapaglia; when his wife finds out, Jordan divorces her and marries Naomi in 1991. Meanwhile, the SEC and the FBI begin investigating Stratton Oakmont.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 1993, Jordan illegally makes $22 million in three hours after securing the IPO of Steve Madden. This brings him and his firm further to the attention of the FBI. To hide his money, Jordan opens a Swiss bank account with corrupt banker Jean-Jacques Saurel in the name of Naomi's Aunt Emma, who is a British subject and thus outside the immediate reach of American authorities. He uses the wife and in-laws of his friend Brad Bodnick, who have European passports, to smuggle the cash into Switzerland.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Donnie and Brad get into a public brawl during a money exchange which results in Brad being arrested, but Donnie escapes. Jordan learns from his private investigator that the FBI is wiretapping his phones. Fearing for his son, Jordan's father advises him to leave Stratton Oakmont and lie low while Jordan's lawyer negotiates a deal to keep him out of prison. Jordan, however, cannot bear to quit and talks himself into staying in the middle of his farewell speech.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 1996, Jordan, Donnie, and their wives are on a yacht trip to Italy when they learn that Aunt Emma has died. Jordan proceeds to Switzerland to forge her name and save the account. To bypass border controls, he orders his yacht captain to sail to Monaco, but the ship capsizes in a storm. After their rescue, the plane sent to take them to Geneva is destroyed when a seagull flies into the engine; Jordan takes this as a sign from God to address his worsening drug addiction and attempts to sober up.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 1998, the FBI arrests Jordan because Saurel (detained for an unrelated offense) has informed the FBI about Jordan. Since the evidence against him is overwhelming, Jordan agrees to gather evidence on his colleagues in exchange for leniency. Naomi tells Jordan she is divorcing him and wants full custody of their daughter and infant son. In a cocaine-fueled rage, Jordan hits Naomi and tries to drive away with his daughter but crashes his car in the driveway.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Later, Jordan wears a wire to work but slips a note to Donnie, warning him. The FBI discovers this, arrests Jordan, and raids and shuts down Stratton Oakmont. Despite breaching his deal, Jordan receives a reduced sentence of 36 months in a minimum security prison for his testimony and is released in 2000 after serving 22 months. After his release, Jordan makes a living hosting seminars on sales techniques.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. won a bidding war for the rights to Jordan Belfort's memoir "The Wolf of Wall Street", with Belfort making $1 million off the deal. Having worked on writing the film's script, Martin Scorsese was considered to direct the film but abandoned the project to work on "Shutter Island" (2010). He describes having "wasted five months of [his] life" without getting a green light on production dates by the Warner Bros. studio. In 2010, Warner Bros. had offered the directorial role to Ridley Scott, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the male lead, but the studio eventually abandoned the project.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In 2012, a green light was given by the independent company Red Granite Pictures, imposing no content restrictions. Scorsese, knowing there would be no limits to the content he would produce, came back on board, resulting in an R rating. Red Granite Pictures also asked Paramount Pictures to distribute the film; Paramount Pictures agreed to distribute the film in North America and Japan, but passed on the rest of the international market. The rights to internationally distribute the film were acquired by Universal Pictures.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: According to Jordan Belfort, Random House asked him to tone down or excise the depictions of debauchery in some passages of his memoir before publication, especially those relating to his bachelor party, which featured acts of zoophilia, rampant use of drugs and nitrous oxide, and a particularly "disturbing" act that he recounted on Logan Paul's podcast; neither the published version of the memoir nor the film contains references to this.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: In the film, most of the real-life characters' names have been changed from Belfort's original memoir. Donnie Azoff is based on Danny Porush. The name was changed after Porush threatened to sue the filmmakers. Porush maintains that much of the film was fictional and that Donnie Azoff was not in fact an accurate depiction of him. Former Donna Karan Jeanswear CEO Elliot Lavigne does not appear explicitly in the film, but an incident recounted in the book, in which Belfort gives Lavigne mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save him from choking to death, is similar to a scene in the film involving Donnie. The FBI agent known as Patrick Denham is the stand-in for real-life Gregory Coleman, and lawyer Manny Riskin is based on Ira Sorkin. Belfort's first wife Denise Lombardo is renamed Teresa Petrillo, while second wife Nadine Caridi became Naomi Lapaglia on-screen. In contrast, Mark Hanna's name remains the same as the LF Rothschild stockbroker who, like Belfort, was convicted of fraud and served time in prison. Belfort's parents Max and Leah Belfort's names remained the same for the film. The role of Aunt Emma was initially offered to Julie Andrews, who refused it as she was recovering from an ankle injury, and she was replaced by Joanna Lumley. In January 2014, Jonah Hill revealed in an interview with Howard Stern that he had made only $60,000 on the film (the lowest possible SAG-AFTRA rate for his amount of work), while his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio (who also produced) received $10 million.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Filming began on August 8, 2012, in New York City. Jonah Hill announced on Twitter that his first day of shooting was September 4, 2012. Filming also took place in Closter, New Jersey, and Harrison, New York. Vitamin D powder was used as the fake substance for cocaine in the film; Jonah Hill was hospitalized with bronchitis due to snorting large quantities over the course of filming.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who has received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Film Editing, stated that the film would be shot digitally instead of on film. Scorsese had been a proponent of shooting on film, but decided to shoot "Hugo" digitally because it was being photographed in 3D. Despite being filmed in 2D, "The Wolf of Wall Street" was originally planned to be shot digitally. Schoonmaker expressed her disappointment with the decision: "It would appear that we've lost the battle. I think Marty just feels it's unfortunately over, and there's been no bigger champion of film than him." After extensive comparison tests during pre-production, eventually the majority of the film was shot on film stock, while scenes that used green screen effects or low light were shot with the digital Arri Alexa camera system. The film contains 400–450 VFX shots.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The film set a Guinness World Record for the most instances of swearing in a motion picture. It uses the word "fuck" 506 times and also includes 3 uses of "cunt", 2 uses of "twat", 1 use of "fuckface", and 4 uses of "prick", averaging 2.81 times per minute. The previous record holders were Scorsese's 1995 gangster film "Casino", which had 422 uses of the word, including in the voice-over narration, and the 1997 British film "Nil by Mouth", in which the word was used 428 times. The record has since been topped by "", which says the word 935 times.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The film's distributor in the United Arab Emirates cut some 45 minutes off the runtime to delete explicit scenes of swearing, religious profanity, drug use, and sex and "muted" dialogue containing expletives. "The National" reported that filmgoers in the UAE believed the film should not have been shown rather than being edited so heavily.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: "The Wolf of Wall Street" premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 17, 2013, followed by a wide release on December 25, 2013. The film's original release date of November 15 was pushed back after cuts were made to reduce the runtime. On October 22, 2013, it was reported that the film was set for release that Christmas. On October 29, Paramount officially confirmed that the film would release on Christmas Day, with a running time of 165 minutes. This runtime was changed to 180 minutes on November 25. It was officially rated R by the Motion Picture Association for "sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and for some violence". In the UK, the film received an 18 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification for "very strong language, strong sex [and] hard drug use".


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The film is banned in Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, and Zimbabwe because of its scenes depicting sex, drugs, and excessive use of profanity, and additional scenes have been cut in the versions playing in India. In Singapore, after cuts were made to an orgy scene as well as some religiously profane or denigrating language, the film was passed R21.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: The release of "The Wolf of Wall Street" marked a shift in cinema history when Paramount became the first major studio to distribute movies to theaters exclusively in a digital format, eliminating 35mm film entirely. "" was the last Paramount production to include a 35mm film version, while "The Wolf of Wall Street" was the first major movie distributed entirely digitally.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: "The Wolf of Wall Street" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 25, 2014. On January 27, 2014, it was revealed that a four-hour director's cut would be attached to the home release. It was later revealed by Paramount Pictures and Red Granite Pictures that the home release would feature only the theatrical release.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: "The Wolf of Wall Street" grossed $116.9 million in North America and $289 million internationally, for a total gross of $406 million, making it Scorsese's highest-grossing film worldwide. In North America, the film opened at number five in its first weekend, with $19.4 million in 3,387 theaters, behind "", "Frozen", "", and "American Hustle". In Australia, it is the highest grossing R-rated film, earning $12.96 million.


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "The Wolf of Wall Street" holds an approval rating of 80% based on 289 reviews and an average rating of 7.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Funny, self-referential, and irreverent to a fault, "The Wolf of Wall Street" finds Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at their most infectiously dynamic." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 47 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)

text: Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" magazine named "The Wolf of Wall Street" as the third best film of 2013, behind "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity" at numbers one and two, respectively. Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said "it is the best and most enjoyable American film to be released this year." Richard Brody of "The New Yorker" described the film as "Olympian", saying that if it was Scorsese's last film it "would rank among the most harshly awe-inspiring farewells of the cinema." "The Chicago Sun-Times"'s Richard Roeper gave the film a "B+" score, saying the film was "good, not great Scorsese".