text: The Presidential Succession Act of 1886 () established succession to include the members of the president's cabinet in the order of the establishment of the various departments, beginning with the secretary of state, and stipulated that any official discharging the powers and duties of the presidency must possess the constitutional qualifications to hold the office. The president pro tempore and speaker were excluded from the new line, and the provision mandating a special presidential election when a double vacancy arose was also dropped.


title: United States presidential line of succession

text: The need for increasing the number of presidential successors was abundantly clear to Congress, for twice within the span of four years it happened that there was no one in the presidential line of succession. In September 1881, when Chester A. Arthur succeeded to the presidency following James A. Garfield's death, there was no vice president, no president pro tempore of the Senate, and no speaker of the House of Representatives. Then, in November 1885, Grover Cleveland faced a similar situation, following the death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, as the Senate and the House had not convened yet to elect new officers.


text: The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (), which was signed into law on July 18, 1947, restored the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate to the line of succession—but in reverse-order from their 1792 positions—and placed them ahead of the members of the Cabinet, positioned, as before, in the order of the establishment of their department.


text: Placing the speaker and the president pro tempore (both elected officials) back in the succession and placing them ahead of cabinet members (all of whom are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate), was Harry S. Truman's idea. Personally conveyed to Congress in June 1945, two months after becoming president upon Franklin D. Roosevelt's death, the proposal reflected Truman's belief that the president should not have the power to appoint to office "the person who would be my immediate successor in the event of my own death or inability to act," and that the presidency should, whenever possible, "be filled by an elective officer."


text: The 1947 act has been modified several times, with changes being made as the face of the federal bureaucracy has changed over the ensuing years. Its most recent change came about in 2006, when the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act added the secretary of homeland security to the presidential line of succession.


text: Although the Presidential Succession Clause in Article II of the Constitution clearly provided for the vice president to take over the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability, left unclear was whether the vice president became president of the United States or simply temporarily acted as president in a case of succession. Some historians, including Edward Corwin and John D. Feerick, have argued that the framers' intention was that the vice president would remain vice president while executing the powers and duties of the presidency until a new president could be elected.


text: The hypothetical debate about whether the office or merely the powers of the office devolve upon a vice president who succeeds to the presidency between elections became an urgent constitutional issue in 1841, when President William Henry Harrison died in office, only days into his term. Vice President John Tyler claimed a constitutional mandate to carry out the full powers and duties of the presidency, asserting he was the president and not merely a temporary acting president, by taking the presidential oath of office.


text: Many around him—including John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and other members of Congress, along with Whig party leaders, and even Tyler's own cabinet—believed that he was only acting as president and did not have the office itself. He was nicknamed "His Accidency" and excoriated as a usurper. Nonetheless, Tyler adhered to his position, even returning, unopened, mail addressed to the "Acting President of the United States" sent by his detractors. Tyler's view ultimately prevailed when the House and Senate voted to accept the title "President", setting a precedent for an orderly transfer of presidential power following a president's death, one that was subsequently written into the Constitution as section 1 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.


text: Even after the precedent regarding presidential succession due to the president's death was set, the part of the Presidential Succession Clause that provided for replacing a disabled president remained unclear. What constituted an "inability"? Who determined the existence of an inability? Did a vice president become president for the rest of the presidential term in the case of an inability; or was the vice president merely "acting as President"? Due to this lack of clarity, later vice presidents were hesitant to assert any role in cases of presidential inability. Two situations are noteworthy:


text: When President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in September 1955, he and Vice President Richard Nixon developed an informal plan authorizing Nixon to assume some administrative duties during Eisenhower's recovery. Although it did not have the force of law, the plan helped to reassure the nation. The agreement also contained a provision whereby Eisenhower could declare his own inability and, if unable to do so, empowered Nixon, with appropriate consultation, to make the decision. Had it been invoked, Nixon would have served as acting president until the president issued a declaration of his recovery. Moved forward as a consequence of President Kennedy's November 1963 assassination, this informal plan evolved into constitutional procedure a decade later through Sections 3 and 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, which resolved the uncertainties surrounding presidential disability.


text: Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term, eight due to the president's death, and one due to the president's resignation from office.


text: Additionally, three vice presidents have temporarily assumed the powers and duties of the presidency as acting president, as authorized by Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment: George H. W. Bush did so once, on July 13, 1985; Dick Cheney did so twice, on June 29, 2002 and again on July 21, 2007; and Kamala Harris did so on November 19, 2021.


text: While several vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency upon the death or resignation of the president, and a number of them have died or resigned, the offices of president and vice president have never been simultaneously vacant; thus no other officer in the presidential line of succession has ever been called upon to act as president. There was potential for such a "double vacancy" when John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, as Vice President Andrew Johnson was also targeted (along with Secretary of State William Seward and possibly General Ulysses S. Grant) as part of Booth's plot to destabilize the Union government. It again became a real possibility three years later, when, with the vice presidency vacant, Johnson as president was impeached by the House of Representatives and faced removal from office if convicted at trial in the Senate. Johnson was acquitted by a one-vote margin.


text: The 25th Amendment's mechanism for filling vice presidential vacancies has reduced the likelihood that the House speaker, Senate president pro tempore, or any cabinet member will need to serve as acting president. In October 1973, the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew made House Speaker Carl Albert first in line to succeed President Richard Nixonbut only briefly, as Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president on December 6, 1973. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned the presidency, making Ford president; Albert was then again next in line, but only for the four months it took for Nelson Rockefeller to be nominated and confirmed as Ford's vice president.


text: Since 1789 there have been eighteen instances of the vice presidency becoming vacant; during those periods, the persons next in line to serve as acting president were:


text: In 2003, the Continuity of Government Commission suggested that the succession law has "at least seven significant issues ... that warrant attention," specifically:


text: In 2009, the Continuity of Government Commission commented on the use of the term "Officer" in the 1947 statute,


text: In 2016–17, the Second Fordham University School of Law Clinic on Presidential Succession developed a series of proposals to "resolve succession issues that have received little attention from scholars and commissions" over the past several decades; its recommendations included:


title: Duran Duran

text: Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.


title: Duran Duran

text: When Duran Duran emerged they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene. Innovators of the music video, Duran Duran were catapulted into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV. The group was a leading band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US in the 1980s. Photographer Denis O'Regan, who captured the band during their 1984 tour, commented "Duran Duran in America was like Beatlemania."


title: Duran Duran

text: The band's first major hit was "Girls on Film" (1981), from their self-titled debut studio album, the popularity of which was enhanced by a controversial music video. A heavily edited form played in rotation on MTV. The band's breakthrough second studio album was "Rio" (1982), which peaked at number six in the US, number two in the United Kingdom, and number one in Australia and Canada. The songs "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" featured cinematic music videos directed by Australian film maker Russel Mulcahy and became two of their biggest hits. "Hungry Like the Wolf" won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 1984. Their follow-up third studio album, "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," became their only UK number one album and featured the US and UK number one single "The Reflex". In 1985, the band topped the US charts with the single "A View to a Kill" from the soundtrack of the James Bond film of the same name.


title: Duran Duran

text: Andy and Roger left the band before the recording of their fourth studio album, "Notorious" (1986), which yielded the top ten title track. The band spent the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s continuing to release albums and singles, to only moderate success. Their comeback studio album, 1993's "Duran Duran" (commonly called "The Wedding Album") featured two top-ten worldwide hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". After John Taylor left in 1997, the band released a number of albums and singles which underperformed on the sales charts. A full reunion of the line-up of Le Bon, Rhodes, and all three Taylors in 2001 led to a number of highly successful concert tours and the 2004 studio album "Astronaut", which reached number 3 in the UK and top 40 in numerous other countries. The album's lead single "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" was an international dance hit, and reached number five in the UK. Andy left again in 2006, and the band have released four additional albums, with the most recent being "Future Past" in 2021.


title: Duran Duran

text: Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They achieved 30 top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart (14 of them top 10) and 21 top 40 singles in the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The band have won numerous awards throughout their career: two Brit Awards including the 2004 award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, two Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a Video Visionary Award from the MTV Europe Music Awards. They were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2022.


title: Duran Duran

text: John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in 1978 in Birmingham, England, with Taylor's art school friend Stephen Duffy. Naming their band after "Dr. Durand Durand", Milo O'Shea's character from the science fiction film "Barbarella" (1968), the three of them (Taylor on guitar and vocals, Rhodes on synthesizer and tapes, Duffy on vocals and bass) played their first gig on 5 April 1979 at the Birmingham Polytechnic. They were then joined by Simon Colley on clarinet and bass. John (then Nigel) Taylor was the guitarist at this point. After a few gigs, including a performance at Barbarella's in Birmingham opening for the band Fashion (with Roger Taylor in the audience) Duffy and Colley left the band in June 1979.


title: Duran Duran

text: Taylor and Rhodes then recruited lead vocalist Andy Wickett (formerly frontman of "TV Eye") and decided that they needed a live drummer. Roger Taylor who had previously been in a few local bands (most recently "The Scent Organs" who also played at Barbarella's) came on board, while John Taylor switched to bass guitar. In September 1979 this incarnation of the band recorded a four-track demo including an early version of "Girls on Film" co-written by Andy Wickett. Soon afterwards Alan Curtis was recruited as lead guitarist. After a few gigs with this line-up Wickett left the band in late 1979.


title: Duran Duran

text: Wickett was replaced by Roger Taylor's friend and former singer of "The Scent Organs" Jeff Thomas. In early 1980 they became the resident band at the city's Rum Runner nightclub. They were doing jobs at the club, and began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue. Curtis was however unhappy with the Rum Runner club scene and left the band to form Dif Juz with his brother. Soon afterwards Jeff Thomas was ousted from the band after disagreements and repeated arguments and the remaining three members started to look for a new lead vocalist and guitarist.


title: Duran Duran

text: In April 1980, guitarist Andy Taylor came from Newcastle upon Tyne to audition after responding to an advertisement in "Melody Maker". Taylor already had a lot of experience from playing with cover bands for years and although he came from a totally different musical background his versatile playing style was seen as a perfect complement to the band. In May 1980, London vocalist and drama student Simon Le Bon was recommended to the band by an ex-girlfriend who worked at the Rum Runner. The band were immediately impressed by Le Bon and soon completed their first composition with the new line-up, "Sound of Thunder" featuring lyrics by Le Bon. The owners of the club, brothers Paul and Michael Berrow, became the band's management, paying them to work as doormen, disc jockeys (DJs) and barmen when they were not rehearsing, and also formed the Tritec Music company.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 1980 they recorded two demo tapes and performed in clubs around Birmingham and London. Later that same year, when touring as an opening act for Hazel O'Connor, the band attracted critical attention, resulting in a bidding war between the record companies EMI and Phonogram. "A certain patriotism" toward the label of the Beatles led them to sign with EMI in December. A week later, the first article about Duran Duran in a national magazine appeared in "Sounds". The members of Duran Duran had noticed that Betty Page (pen name for Beverley Glick) was writing about a new movement called New Romantic that would fit the band perfectly and invited her to meet them at the Rum Runner.


title: Duran Duran

text: Shortly after signing the recording contract with EMI Duran Duran went to London to record their debut studio album with producer Colin Thurston and initial plans for an independent release of the songs "Planet Earth" and "Is There Anyone Out There?" on the Tritec Music label was scrapped.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band's debut studio album, "Duran Duran", was released on the EMI label in 1981. The first single, "Planet Earth", reached the United Kingdom's top 20 at number 12. A follow-up, "Careless Memories", stalled at Number 37. However, it was their third single, "Girls on Film", that attracted the most attention. The song went to Number 5 in the UK. The video, featuring topless women mud wrestling, pillow fighting and stylised depictions of other sexual fetishes, was made with directing duo Godley & Creme in August. The video was filmed just two weeks after MTV was launched in the United States. The band expected the "Girls on Film" video to be played in the newer nightclubs that had video screens or on pay TV channels like the Playboy Channel. Kevin Godley explained the thinking behind it:


title: Duran Duran

text: We were very explicitly told by Duran Duran's management to make a very sensational and erotic piece that would be for clubs, where it would get shown uncensored just to make people take notice and talk about it.


title: Duran Duran

text: The video was heavily edited for MTV (Music Television). The album peaked in the UK top twenty at number 3. Later in 1981 the band embarked on their first United States club tour followed by more dates in Germany and the UK. This second tour of Britain coincided with a wave of riots sparked by unemployment and racial tension, including those of Moss Side and Toxteth. The band played Birmingham the day after the Handsworth riots. Duran Duran began to achieve worldwide recognition in 1982. In May they released their second studio album, "Rio", which scored four UK Top Twenty singles with "My Own Way", "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Save a Prayer", and the title song "Rio". A headlining tour of Australia, Japan, and the US was followed by a stint supporting Blondie during that band's final American tour. Diana, Princess of Wales declared Duran Duran her favourite band, and the band were dubbed "the Fab Five" by the British press, comparing them to the Beatles whose nickname was the Fab Four.


title: Duran Duran

text: At first, the "Rio" album did not do well in the United States. EMI in the UK had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band, but the New Romantic movement was barely known in the US, and EMI's American subsidiary Capitol Records was at a loss about how to sell them. After "Carnival" (an EP of "Rio" dance remixes) became popular with DJs in the fall, the band arranged to have most of the album remixed by David Kershenbaum. In June 1982, Duran Duran appeared for the first time on American television, performing "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" on "Dancin' on Air", the forerunner to the national hit show "Dance Party USA".


title: Duran Duran

text: Now promoted as a dance album, "Rio" was re-released in the US in November, and began to climb the American charts six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like the Wolf" and several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing the single and album into the US top twenty in early 1983. The ballad "Save a Prayer" also did well. "The band was a natural for music television," noted "Rolling Stone" magazine. "They may be the first rock group to ride in on a video wave." The album ultimately peaked at number 6 in the US and remained on the charts there for 129 weeks. In 2003 "Rio" was listed at number 65 in the "NME" 100 Greatest Albums of All Time list.


title: Duran Duran

text: Duran Duran was among the earliest bands to work on their own remixes. Before the days of digital synthesizer and easy audio sampling, they created multi-layered arrangements of their singles, sometimes recording entirely different extended performances of the songs in the studio. These "night versions" were generally available only on vinyl as b-sides to 45 rpm singles or on 12-inch club singles until the release of the compilation "" in 1998.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band began 1983 by playing the MTV New Year's Eve Rock 'n' Roll Ball with "Hungry Like the Wolf" still climbing the charts in the US, and the American reissue of the "Rio" single to follow in March. To satisfy America's appetite for their music, the band re-released their eponymous first album in the US in the middle of the year with the addition of the new single "Is There Something I Should Know?". Upon its release, this song entered the chart at number 1 in the UK (a rarity then and their first chart-topper in their home country) and reached number 4 on the American charts. During the promotion of this studio album, Rhodes and Le Bon were MTV guest VJs for a show, during which artist and admirer Andy Warhol dropped by to greet them. "Our first gigs in the United States were crazy and culty", Rhodes said later, "But when we came back after 'Hungry' was a hit, it was mayhem. It was Beatlemania. We were doing a signing of the 'Girls on Film' video at a store in Times Square. We couldn't get out of the store. The cops sealed off the streets." Also in 1983, keyboardist Nick Rhodes produced the UK number 1 and US number 5 hit "Too Shy" for English band Kajagoogoo and Andy Taylor became the first member of Duran Duran to get married.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band spent the next year as tax exiles, writing songs at a château in France where "The Tube" with Jools Holland filmed a documentary with the band in May 1983 before they flew to Montserrat and then Sydney to record and mix their third studio album. During the summer, they returned to the UK to perform two concerts, the first on 20 July in front of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Dominion Theatre, and the second, a charity concert at Aston Villa's home ground. The band were under pressure to follow up the success of "Rio" (1982), and the recording process took over six months as different band members went through bouts of perfectionism and insecurity. A newly decadent lifestyle and substance abuse issues for some members added complications. In the documentary film "Extraordinary World", filmed a decade later, Rhodes described the effect on their sound as "barely controlled hysteria, scratching beneath the surface".


title: Duran Duran

text: The new studio album, "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" (1983), included the late 1983 hit "Union of the Snake" (with the soprano saxophone solo by Andy Hamilton). With "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Rio", "Save a Prayer" and "Is There Something I Should Know?", Duran Duran now had five US Top Twenty hits from three different albums in a single year. The band made music headlines by deciding to release the "Union of the Snake" video to MTV a full week before the single was released to radio. They followed up with "New Moon on Monday", which reached Number 9 in the UK. Their next single "The Reflex", taken from "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" and given a significant remix overhaul by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, became their first number one hit in the United States. "The Reflex" was also their second and final UK number one and was successful in numerous other countries around the world.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band embarked on a global tour that continued throughout the first four months of 1984 including their first major stadium dates in America. A film crew led by director Russell Mulcahy followed the band closely, leading to the documentary film "Sing Blue Silver" and the accompanying concert film "Arena". The live album "Arena" was also recorded during the tour and was released with the new studio single "The Wild Boys", which went to number 2 on both sides of the Atlantic. In February 1984, the band appeared on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine and won two Grammy Awards in the brand-new Long Form and Short Form music video categories. Meanwhile, "Save a Prayer" gained momentum in North America, and a special US remix of the song became a single in January 1985. It peaked at No. 16 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in March. A live version of the song was used for the single's B-side, taken from the concert video footage for "Arena" / "As the Lights Go Down".


title: Duran Duran

text: During this period, all of the band members became heartthrobs for many of their young teenage fans. After the tour, Roger Taylor was married in Naples, Italy, and Nick Rhodes wed in London, wearing a pink velvet tuxedo and top hat. At the end of 1984, the group featured on the Band Aid benefit single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" along with other popular British and Irish musical acts. Le Bon sang fourth on the song, after Paul Young, Boy George and George Michael sing their lines.


title: Duran Duran

text: Even with Duran Duran on hold, band members were soon anxious to record new music, leading to a supposedly temporary split into two side projects. John Taylor and Andy Taylor wanted to break away from the Duran Duran sound and pursue hard rock material; they collaborated with lead vocalist Robert Palmer and Chic's drummer Tony Thompson to form the rock/funk supergroup the Power Station, which released two Top 10 singles. Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes wanted to further explore Duran Duran's atmospheric aspect and formed Arcadia, who released one studio album ("So Red the Rose") from which the single "Election Day" was released. Contributors to that album included guitarist Masami Tsuchiya, bassist Mark Egan, percussionist David Van Tieghem, drummer Steve Jordan, Sting, Herbie Hancock, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Roger Taylor was a drummer for Arcadia as well as contributing percussion to the Power Station album. Duran Duran were never the same after this break. According to Rhodes, the two side projects "were commercial suicide... But we've always been good at that." The band was still off balance when they regrouped to contribute "A View to a Kill" to the 1985 James Bond movie of the same name. This single was the first Bond theme to go to number 1 on the US charts, and was at the time the joint highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart where it reached number 2. It was the last single the band recorded as the original five-piece for close to twenty years.


title: Duran Duran

text: As a follow-up to the Christmas 1984 Band Aid single, Duran Duran performed in front of 90,000 people (and an estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers) at the Live Aid charity concert at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 13 July 1985 while their Bond song held the top spot on the American charts. It was not intended to be a farewell performance—the band planned only to take a break after four years of non-stop touring and public appearances—but the original five did not play live together again until July 2003. During their Live Aid set, Le Bon inadvertently hit an off-key falsetto note in the chorus of "A View to a Kill", an error that was trumpeted by numerous media outlets as "The Bum Note Heard Round the World" (in contrast to Freddie Mercury's "Note Heard Round the World" at the Wembley Stadium Live Aid show). Le Bon later described the moment as the most embarrassing of his career.


title: Duran Duran

text: After releasing three studio albums and one live album in five years, each accompanied by heavy media promotion and lengthy concert tours, the band lost two of its core members to fatigue and tension in 1986. After Live Aid and Arcadia, drummer Roger Taylor retired to the English countryside, suffering from exhaustion. This was originally announced as a one-year sabbatical, but it soon became clear that he would not be returning to the band. An official press release was issued in April 1986 confirming his departure. In a 2004 interview with LiveDaily, Roger Taylor confirmed his reasons for leaving: "I was burned out. I think I was just exhausted. It was a very intense five years. We didn't stop. It was constant touring, constant writing, recording. We broke internationally, as well—instantly, pretty well. It's a nonstop schedule, really. I had lost myself somewhere."


title: Duran Duran

text: Guitarist Andy Taylor led the remaining members to believe he would return to work on a new Duran Duran studio album, even as he was signing a solo recording contract in Los Angeles with MCA Records, eventually releasing a solo studio album in 1986 called "Thunder". The band resorted to legal measures to get him into the studio but after numerous delays they let him go at last. He played on only a few songs on the next album, including "A Matter of Feeling", whilst the disagreements were being settled.


title: Duran Duran

text: Without a guitarist or a drummer, the three remaining members, Le Bon, Rhodes, and John Taylor had producer (and former Chic guitarist) Nile Rodgers play a few tracks on guitar, and hired Steve Ferrone to play drums while they searched for replacements. Finally in September 1986, Warren Cuccurullo (formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa's band) was hired as a session guitarist. With Le Bon, Rhodes, and Taylor, he recorded the rest of the "Notorious" studio album, which was released in October 1986. The black-and-white documentary film "Three to Get Ready" chronicled the recording of the album, legal tensions, and preparations for the tour.


title: Duran Duran

text: Although the song "Notorious" went to number 2 in the US, number 7 in the UK, the studio album was a relative failure globally with the album peaking in the UK at No. 16 and spending one week in the top 50 album chart and consequently the band found they had lost much of the momentum and hysteria they had left behind in 1985. In the three years between the release of "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" and "Notorious", many of their teenage fans had grown up and the music was funkier, more mature, and less "pop", given the added experience of their work on Arcadia and Power Station and with other musicians. "Skin Trade" and "Meet El Presidente", the two subsequent singles, made the charts but fared poorly compared to the band's earlier successes. Finally in late 1987, Sterling Campbell was hired as a session drummer.


title: Duran Duran

text: Subsequently, Duran Duran struggled to escape the teen idol image and gain respect among critics with more complex music. The new serious image was not accepted at first and their popularity began to wane. "Rolling Stone" said, "In their search for musical maturity, the surviving Durans have lost a good deal of their identity." In contrast the "New York Times" said, "Duran Duran's newfound disillusionment may mark a step toward maturity...they managed to catch a trend on the upswing, perhaps "Notorious" suggests that for late 1980s grit and pessimism is coming into style." Another factor was the band's dismissal of early managers, the Berrow brothers. There was no announcement of the reasons for the decision, but disagreements over money, and the brothers' involvement in Le Bon's yachting adventures (they were co-owners of "Drum") were thought to have played a part. Whatever the reason, Duran Duran switched managers frequently and undertook periods of self-management in the later stages of their career. In addition, EMI fired its president and went through a major corporate restructuring that summer and seemed to have lost interest in promoting the band. According to Nick Rhodes the band needed to break up in order to come back together stronger.


title: Duran Duran

text: The next studio album "Big Thing" (1988) yielded the singles "I Don't Want Your Love" (number 4 in the US), and "All She Wants Is" (the last top ten hit in the UK until 1993). The record was experimental, mixing influences from house music and raves with Duran's atmospheric synth-pop and the creative guitar work of Cuccurullo (now a full band member), as well as more mature lyrics.


title: Duran Duran

text: By the end of 1989 and at the start of the 1990s, the popularity of synth-pop was fading and losing fans to other momentum-gaining music genres at the time, such as hip hop, techno and alternative rock. After touring for the album finished, the band regained a five-man membership as guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and tour drummer Sterling Campbell were made full members of Duran Duran.


title: Duran Duran

text: The compilation album "Decade" was released late in 1989, along with the megamix single "Burning the Ground", which consisted of woven snippets of the band's hits from the previous ten years, created and produced with John Jones, who began working with the band after the release of the band’s fifth studio album "Big Thing" (1988). The single came and went with little fanfare, but the album became another major seller for the band. However, the 1990 release "Liberty" (a retreat from the experimentation of "Big Thing") failed to capitalise on any regained momentum. The album entered the UK album chart in the top ten, but faded away quickly. The singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" and "Serious" were only mildly successful. For the first time, Duran Duran did not tour in support of an album, performing on only a handful of club dates and TV shows. Sterling Campbell left the band early in 1991, going on to work with Soul Asylum and David Bowie. The quartet of Le Bon, Rhodes, Taylor, and Cuccurullo would remain intact for six more years. In December 1991, John Taylor (then 31) married 19-year-old model and actress Amanda de Cadenet, and she gave birth to his daughter in March 1992.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 1993, the band released a second self-titled studio album: this "Duran Duran" album is known as "The Wedding Album" (for Nick Egan's cover art featuring the wedding photos of the band members' parents) to distinguish it from the 1981 release, and was produced and recorded with John Jones. The release of this first "comeback" album was delayed, with then manager at Left Bank, Tommy Manzi, later telling HitQuarters that this was due to industry resistance to the revival of the band, who he said would rather focus on "the next hip band". Listener demand for leaked single "Ordinary World" forced it onto radio playlists months earlier than planned; it reached number 3 on the US chart and number 6 in the UK and won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for song writing.


title: Duran Duran

text: "Come Undone", primarily written by Cuccurullo, with lyrics by Le Bon, made number 7 in the US and number 13 in the UK. Both the band and the record label seemed to be caught by surprise by the album's critical and commercial success (No. 4 in the UK, No. 7 in the US). Bassist John Taylor had been considering leaving the band but changed his mind. The band's largest tour ever, which included stops in the Middle East, the then recently de-embargoed South Africa, and South America, was halted after seven months when Le Bon suffered from strained vocal cords. After six weeks' recuperation, the band performed intermittently for another five months, including appearances in Israel, Thailand, and Indonesia.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 1995, the band released the cover album "Thank You". Songs from "Thank You" included covers of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" (with backing vocals from the original artists). The album also marked the temporary return of former drummer Roger Taylor, who joined the band in studio to play drums on "Watching the Detectives" and "Perfect Day" (as well as a cover of "Jeepster" by T. Rex that did not appear on the album). In a video interview provided with the album's electronic press kit, Reed said he considered Duran Duran's version the best cover ever done of one of his songs, and they received praise from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for their cover of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You".


title: Duran Duran

text: After the promo tour for "Thank You" was completed, John Taylor co-founded the B5 Records label, recorded a solo studio album, founded and toured with the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders, and reunited the Power Station, though the project proceeded without him when he had to withdraw to deal with his divorce from De Cadenet. Finally, after struggling for months to record the next studio album, "Medazzaland", in January 1997, Taylor announced at the DuranCon fan convention that he was leaving the band "for good". His departure reduced the band to two long time members (Le Bon and Rhodes) and Cuccurullo, who decided to continue recording under the name Duran Duran.


title: Duran Duran

text: Freed from some internal writing conflicts, the band returned to the studio to rewrite and re-record many of the songs on "Medazzaland". (Taylor's work remains on only four tracks.) This album marked a return to the layered experimentation of "Big Thing" (1988), with intricate guitar textures and processed vocals. The track "Out of My Mind" was used as the theme song for the movie "The Saint" (1997), but the only true single to be released in the United States was the quirky "Electric Barbarella", which is one of the first singles ever to be sold online. The music video for this single, featuring a sexy robot purchased and played with by band members, had to be censored before airing on MTV, but there was little of the controversy that had surrounded "Girls on Film". "Barbarella" peaked at No. 52 in the US in October 1997. Although "Medazzaland" was released in the US in October 1997, the album was never released in the UK. "Barbarella" was later released in the UK as a single from the 1998 "Greatest" compilation album and peaked at No. 23 on the UK chart in January 1999. The group played a set at the Princess Diana Tribute Concert on 27 June 1998 by special request of her family.


title: Duran Duran

text: Duran Duran parted ways with Capitol/EMI in 1999, although the label has since used Duran Duran's back catalogue to release several compilations of remixes and rare vinyl-only B-sides. The band then signed what was intended to be a three-album contract with Disney Music Group's Hollywood Records, but it lasted only through the poorly received 2000 studio album "Pop Trash". This slow-paced and heavy album seemed out-of-keeping with earlier band material. Rhodes' intricate production and Cuccurullo's songwriting and experimentation with guitar sounds and time signatures were not enough to hook the public, and the album did not perform well. The dreamy single "Someone Else Not Me" lasted barely two weeks on the radio, although its video was noted as the first to be produced entirely with Flash animation. While supporting "Medazzaland" and "Pop Trash", Duran Duran toured with bassist Wes Wehmiller and drummer Joe Travers.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 2000, Le Bon approached John Taylor with a proposal to reform Duran Duran's classic line-up. They agreed to part company with Cuccurullo after completing the "Pop Trash" tour. Cuccurullo then announced on his website that he was leaving Duran Duran to resume work with his 1980s band Missing Persons. This announcement was confirmed the next day by Duran Duran's website, followed a day later by the news that John, Roger, and Andy Taylor had rejoined. To fulfill contractual obligations, Cuccurullo played three Duran Duran concerts in Japan in June 2001, ending his tenure in the band.


title: Duran Duran

text: Throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003, the band worked on writing new material, initially renting a house in Saint-Tropez where audio engineer Mark Tinley built a recording studio for their first serious writing session. They then returned to London to do some self-financed work with various producers (including old friend Nile Rodgers) and search for a new record deal. It proved difficult to find a record label willing to gamble on the band's comeback, so Duran Duran went on tour to prove the drawing power of the reunited band. The response of the fans and the media exceeded expectations. The band played a handful of 25th-anniversary dates across 2003, starting with two arena dates in Tokyo filled to capacity. Tickets sold out for each show within minutes, and celebrities turned out "en masse" for reunion dates. Amongst these were a number of shows at smaller venues that the band had played on both sides of the pond when they first got together in the early 1980s. In August, the band were booked as presenters at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, only to be surprised with a Lifetime Achievement Award. They also received a Lifetime Achievement award from "Q" magazine in October, and the equivalent Outstanding Contribution award at the BRIT Awards in February 2004.


title: Duran Duran

text: The pace picked up with a sold-out tour of America, Australia and New Zealand. The band played a full concert at a private tailgate party at Super Bowl XXXVIII, their performance of "The Wild Boys" broadcast to millions during the pre-game show. A remix of the new track "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" was released on many TV shows in February while magazines hailed (the modern "Fab Five") Duran Duran as one of the greatest bands of all time. Duran Duran then celebrated their homecoming to the UK with fourteen stadium dates in April 2004, including five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena. The British press, traditionally hostile to the band, accorded the shows some very warm reviews. Duran Duran brought along band Goldfrapp and the Scissor Sisters as alternating opening acts for this tour. The last two shows were filmed, resulting in the concert DVD "Duran Duran: Live from London" which was released in November.


title: Duran Duran

text: Finally, with more than thirty-five songs completed, the band signed a two-album contract with Epic Records in June, and completed the new studio album, now titled "Astronaut". The album was released in October 2004 and entered the UK charts at number 3 and the US charts at number 17. The first single was "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise", which reached number 1 on the "Billboard" US Dance chart in November and peaked at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, Duran Duran's highest chart position since "A View to a Kill" in 1985. A second single, "What Happens Tomorrow", debuted at No. 11 on the UK chart in February. A 5.1 mix of "Astronaut" was created by Jeremy Wheatley for the dual-disc release of "Astronaut". The CD side contains the album as-is and the DVD side contains the 5.1 mix of the album in DVD Audio format along with some DVD footage and videos.


title: Duran Duran

text: After a world tour in early 2005, Duran Duran were presented with the PRS Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the 2005 Ivor Novello Awards. Later that summer, the band headlined the massive Live 8 concert, Rome on 2 July 2005 in the Circus Maximus.


title: Duran Duran

text: In early 2006, Duran Duran covered John Lennon's song "Instant Karma!" for the "Make Some Noise" campaign sponsored by Amnesty International. Their version later appeared on "" as an iTunes exclusive bonus track. They also performed at two high-profile events – the Nobel Prize Awards and the 2006 Winter Olympics. After a couple of weeks of songwriting in Northern California, the band began working with producer Michael Patterson in London, and continued intermittently for the next several months. At one point, they reported having had fifteen tracks nearly complete for a studio album tentatively titled "Reportage", but no further news emerged from the band for months afterward. In September, the band held meetings in New York City with Justin Timberlake and producer Timbaland with an eye to a potential collaboration and were soon reported to have completed three songs with the producer, including a song with Justin Timberlake.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 25 October 2006, Duran Duran parted company with Andy Taylor once again. In an official announcement on their website, the band stated that an "unworkable gulf" had developed between them and Taylor and that "we can no longer effectively function together". It was noted by Andy Taylor in his book "Wild Boy" that tensions had arisen between the group's management and himself, and he was also diagnosed with clinical depression connected with the death of his father. Dom Brown, who had previously toured with the band, again took over guitar duties and has been performing with them since. After Taylor's departure, the band scrapped the "Reportage" album. They wrote and recorded a new studio album titled "Red Carpet Massacre" (2007), which included the Timbaland tracks. Dom Brown is the featured guitarist on the album.


title: Duran Duran

text: In July 2007, the band performed twice at Wembley Stadium. Their first appearance at the stadium was the Concert for Diana which celebrated the life of Princess Diana almost 10 years after her death. The band performed "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise", "Wild Boys" and "Rio". Their second appearance was at Live Earth concert, London. On 25 September, the Timberlake collaboration "Falling Down" was released as a download single on iTunes, and the band announced that they would play nine shows at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway to launch the "Red Carpet Massacre" album. The album launch was later extended to incorporate a show in London on 3 December 2007 and one in Dublin on 5 December 2007.


title: Duran Duran

text: In May 2008, they toured the US leg of their 2008 world tour and were supported by the British band Your Vegas. In June 2008, they played the Louvre in Paris in a fundraising effort that contributed to the restoration of a Louis XV drawing room. Guests dined, privately viewed some of the museum's artworks, then attended a performance by the band in the I.M. Pei-designed Pyramid du Louvre. The group's performance marked a first for the 18th-century museum which had never before allowed a rock concert to occur anywhere within the grounds or buildings and another groundbreaker for Duran Duran.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 2 July 2008, in Paris, Mark Ronson performed a unique live set with Duran Duran for an exclusive, invitation-only performance. Together, they showcased specially re-worked versions of some of Duran Duran's classic hits re-created by Ronson, along with tracks from "Red Carpet Massacre". Simon Le Bon also performed songs from Ronson's latest studio album, "Version" (2007), as one of Ronson's featured guest vocalists. Unlike the band's previous studio album "Astronaut" (2004), "Red Carpet Massacre" sold poorly and received mixed responses from the music press. In 2008, "Rio" was included in the "Classic Albums" series.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band departed from Epic Records in 2009, after releasing just two studio albums. In early 2010, it was revealed that the band would be contributing a cover of "Boys Keep Swinging" to a tribute/charity record for David Bowie called "" from which all profits go to War Child. Other contributing artists included Carla Bruni, Devendra Banhart, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Warpaint. The album was released on 14 September 2010 on Manimal Vinyl Records. A limited edition split 7-inch single with Duran Duran and Carla Bruni was also released on Manimal Vinyl in December 2010.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 21 December 2010, Duran Duran's thirteenth studio album, titled "All You Need Is Now", produced by the Grammy Award-winning Mark Ronson and mixed by Spike Stent, was released exclusively on iTunes and hit the No. 1 spot on download charts in 15 countries (including the UK). The first single from the record, title track "All You Need Is Now", was free to download worldwide on 8 December 2010 exclusively in iTunes. Guitarist and songwriter Dom Brown co-wrote all but two songs on the album.


title: Duran Duran

text: The expanded physical album, including various format special packages, was released in March 2011, only weeks after the 30th anniversary of the band's first release "Planet Earth". The CD features fourteen tracks, including five tracks not included with the original digital release: "Mediterranea", "Other People's Lives", "Too Bad You're So Beautiful", "Diamond in the Mind", and "Return to Now". The album entered the UK chart at No. 11 and the "Billboard" chart at No. 29.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 25 February 2011, while in Milan, Duran Duran received a Style Icons of the 20th Century Award and a key to the city, presented by the city's mayor Letizia Moratti.


title: Duran Duran

text: In March 2011 the band embarked on a world tour in support of the album. After a warm-up show in London, the tour officially began 16 March 2011 in Austin, Texas. On 23 March, the band performed live at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles as the start of the second season of "". The concert was directed by David Lynch and live-streamed on YouTube. The band was joined onstage by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Beth Ditto of Gossip, and Kelis. On 17 April 2011, Duran Duran performed at the Coachella Music Festival located at Empire Polo Grounds, in Indio, California. In May 2011, Le Bon contracted laryngitis leading to either cancellation or rescheduling of most of the European dates for the "All You Need Is Now" World Tour.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 27 July 2012, Duran Duran headlined the London Summer Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony celebration in Hyde Park. They represented England, along with Snow Patrol for Northern Ireland, Stereophonics for Wales, and Paolo Nutini for Scotland. At the end of August 2012, with one week left of their 18-month world tour, the band were forced to cancel the rest of the North American leg of the tour as Nick Rhodes had become ill with a viral infection.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 4 March 2013, the band returned to the studio to work on their fourteenth studio album, and continued during the week beginning 23 September. They reconvened 13 to 18 December. On 31 December 2013, the band posted a mixtape curated by John Taylor as a New Year's "thank you" to their fans. On 10 February 2014, John Taylor and Roger Taylor worked with the Voce Chamber Choir and London Youth Chamber Choir on vocals for use on some Duran Duran tracks.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 11 September 2015, the studio album "Paper Gods" was released. The single "Pressure Off" was also released the same week, first via Microsoft's Xbox Music. The song subsequently appeared on Google Play Music. The album debuted at number 10 on the "Billboard" 200, the band's highest debut in 22 years. The album also reached number 2 in Italy, number 4 in the Netherlands, and number 5 in the UK.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 2016, the artist MNDR stood in for Nick Rhodes during part of the third leg of the Paper Gods tour in the United States, while he returned to the UK in order to attend to an urgent family matter. Rhodes was quoted as saying, "I will be back as soon as I can but know, in the meantime, that I am leaving both the band and fans in great hands, with the fabulous MNDR." Also, several remixes of their song "Last Night in the City" were released in digital form in that year.


title: Duran Duran

text: In December 2016, the original band members Le Bon, Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor and Roger Taylor lost a case in the British High Court after they attempted to reclaim the U.S. copyright on their first three studio albums from Gloucester Place Music, part of EMI Music Publishing. Rhodes commented, "We signed a publishing agreement as unsuspecting teenagers, over three decades ago, when just starting out and when we knew no better... if left untested, this judgment sets a very bad precedent for all songwriters of our era." In March 2020, Duran Duran signed with the Warner/Chappell Music publisher, covering their post-1986 catalogue.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band spent 2017 touring the American continent and playing a handful of festival dates in Europe and Asia.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 2019, Duran Duran was working on a new studio album with Ronson, Erol Alkan, and Giorgio Moroder handling production duties, and Graham Coxon and Lykke Li being confirmed as collaborators. Nick Rhodes described the content and sound of a possible first single to be "very different for us." Initially planned for release in 2020, the recording of the album was put on hold in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 8 January 2021, a cover of "Five Years" by David Bowie was released for the fifth anniversary of his death.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 13 January 2021, "Rolling Stone" included the album at number 50 on their "54 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021" list. Le Bon said that the album is "quite naked, raw. The grass is slightly sharp and twinkly rather than smooth," and is "groovy (and) modern and very honest. The lyrics are quite something.” On 18 May, the album title was announced as "Future Past".


title: Duran Duran

text: On 19 May, the first single from the album "Invisible" was released along with a music video, and features Coxon as a guitarist and co-writer.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 9 July, the band premiered a second song from the album titled "Give It All Up" on NBC's "Today" show. On 5 August, Duran Duran released the album's second single "More Joy!", featuring further collaboration with Coxon, Erol Alkan and also Japanese rock band Chai. On 12 August, the band appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" performing "Invisible".


title: Duran Duran

text: On 31 August, Duran Duran released the album's third single "Anniversary", followed by the fourth single, "Tonight United", on 24 September.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 14 and 15 September, the band played two sold-out gigs at Birmingham's O Institute. That was the first time they played live since their last live gig in 2019. Along with their hit songs, they performed three tracks from "Future Past"—"Invisible", "Anniversary" and "Tonight United". The band headlined the Isle of Wight festival on 19 September.


title: Duran Duran

text: On 22 October 2021, "Future Past" was released. The album entered the UK Album Chart at number 3, the band's highest peak since 2004's "Astronaut". This also earned the band the distinction of having UK Top 5 albums in each of the five decades they had been releasing music (1980s–2020s).


title: Duran Duran

text: In July 2022, Duran Duran returned to the city of their origin, Birmingham to headline the opening ceremony of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games playing to a capacity Alexander Stadium.


title: Duran Duran

text: In 2022, the band topped the fan vote for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the class of 2022, and in May of that year were announced as one of the seven inductees in the "Performer" category. The ceremony was held on 5 November 2022, where Robert Downey Jr. inducted the band. John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon each attended the induction ceremony and performed "Girls on Film", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Ordinary World" along with longtime touring guitarist Dominic Brown. During the acceptance speech, Simon Le Bon read from a letter written by Andy Taylor, who was absent from the ceremony, that revealed he has been privately fighting stage IV metastic prostate cancer for the past four years and was "massively disappointed" he couldn't attend.


title: Duran Duran

text: Although they began their career as "a group of art school, experimental, post punk rockers," the band's quick rise to stardom, polished good looks and embrace of the teen press almost guaranteed disfavour from music critics. During the 1980s, Duran Duran were considered the quintessential manufactured, throw-away pop group. However, according to the "Sunday Herald", "To describe them, as some have, as the first boy band, misrepresents their appeal. Their weapons were never just their looks, but self-penned songs." As Moby said of the band in his website diary in 2003: "... they were cursed by what we can call the 'Bee Gees' curse, which is: 'write amazing songs, sell tons of records, and consequently incur the wrath or disinterest of the rock obsessed critical establishment.'"


title: Duran Duran

text: Influences on Duran Duran included David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Beatles and the Doors, the electronic music of Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, glam rock and american rock such as T. Rex, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Sparks, British punk and post-punk bands such as the Clash, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie and the Banshees, the disco/funk band Chic and contemporary synth-pop bands such as Japan, as well as the Japanese electro-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Other electronic peers, such as John Foxx's Ultravox, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and the Human League, became fixtures in Rhodes's 1980 DJ sets at the Rum Runner club, and were influential on the fledgling Duran Duran.


title: Duran Duran

text: Several of the band's contemporaries including the Bangles, the Deftones, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Paul Young and even the Monkees, have named themselves fans of the band's music. Le Bon described the group as "the band to dance to when the bomb drops". Successors like Barenaked Ladies, Beck, Jonathan Davis of Korn, the Bravery, Gwen Stefani and Pink have all cited Duran Duran as a key band in their formative years. Singer Justin Timberlake has claimed to being one of their biggest fans. The newest crop of performers to name Duran Duran as influences include Dido, Franz Ferdinand, Panic! at the Disco, Goldfrapp and Brandon Flowers of the Killers, who said, "Nick Rhodes is an absolute hero of mine—their records still sound fresh, which is no mean feat as far as synths are concerned."


title: Duran Duran

text: Nick Rhodes has directly lent his production techniques to Kajagoogoo debut studio album "White Feathers" (1983) and its number one single "Too Shy", and to the Dandy Warhols fourth studio album "Welcome to the Monkey House" (2003). The band's music has been used by several hip hop artists, most notably the Notorious B.I.G., who sampled Duran Duran's 1986 single "Notorious". Numerous bands have covered their music on record and in concert.


title: Duran Duran

text: In video game culture, bassist John Taylor was the model for Dante, the protagonist of the hit PlayStation 2 game "Devil May Cry". Dante mirrors John Taylor's looks with his long rocker hairstyle, clothing, and mannerisms.


title: Duran Duran

text: The MTV cable channel and the band were launched at about the same time, and each had a hand in propelling the other to greater heights. MTV needed showcase videos with charismatic performers. Les Garland, senior executive vice-president at MTV, said "I remember our director of talent and artist relations came running in and said, "You have got to see this video that's come in". Duran Duran were getting zero radio airplay at the time, and MTV wanted to try to break new music. "Hungry Like the Wolf" was the greatest video I'd ever seen". The band's video work was influential in several ways. First, Duran Duran filmed in exotic locales like Sri Lanka and Antigua, creating memorable images that were radically different from the then-common low budget "band-playing-on-a-stage" videos. Second, rather than simply playing their instruments, the band participated in mini-storylines (often taking inspiration from contemporary movies: "Hungry Like the Wolf" riffs on 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Wild Boys" on 1981's "Mad Max 2"), etc. Videos were obviously headed in this direction already, but Duran Duran led the trend with a style, featuring quick editing, arresting graphic design, and surreal-to-nonsensical image inserts, that drew attention from commentators and spawned a wealth of imitators.


title: Duran Duran

text: Duran Duran were among the first bands to have their videos shot with a professional movie camera on 35mm film, rather than on videotape, making them look superior to many of the quickly shot videos which had been MTV staples until then. MTV provided Duran Duran with access to American radio markets that were unfriendly to British music, new wave music, or "anything with synthesisers". Because MTV was not available everywhere in the United States at first, it was easy to see a pattern: where MTV went, listener demand for Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Def Leppard and other European bands with interesting videos went through the roof. The band's sun-drenched videos for "Rio", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer", and the surreal "Is There Something I Should Know?" were filmed by future movie director Russell Mulcahy, who made eleven videos for the band. Duran Duran have always sought out innovative directors and techniques, even in their later years when MTV gave them little airplay. In addition to Mulcahy, they have had videos filmed by influential photographers Dean Chamberlain and Ellen von Unwerth, Chinese director Chen Kaige, documentary filmmaker Julien Temple, and the Polish Brothers, among others. According to Nick Rhodes, "Video is to us like stereo was to Pink Floyd."


title: Duran Duran

text: In 1984, Duran Duran introduced video technology into their live stadium shows by being among the first acts to provide video screens above the stage. They have recorded concerts using IMAX and 360-degree panoramic "immersive video" cameras, with 10.2 channel audio. In 2000, they experimented with augmented reality technology, which allowed three-dimensional computer-generated images to appear on stage with the band. They appeared on several century-end video countdowns: The MTV "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" featured "Hungry Like the Wolf" at No. 11 and "Girls on Film" at No. 68, and the "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" listed "Hungry" at No. 31 and "Rio" at No. 60. MTV named "Hungry" the 15th of their most played videos of all time.


title: Duran Duran

text: The band has released several video compilations, starting with the self-titled "video album" "Duran Duran" (1983), for which they won a Grammy Award, up to the 2004 two-disc DVD release "Greatest", which included alternative versions of several popular videos as Easter eggs. In addition to "Greatest", the documentary "Sing Blue Silver", and the concert film "Arena" (both from 1984) were released on DVD in 2004. "Live from London", a concert video from one of their sold-out 2004 reunion shows at Wembley Arena, was released in the fall of 2005.


title: Duran Duran

text: Other video collections, concert films, and documentaries remain available only on videotape, and Duran Duran have not yet released a collection which includes all their videos. The band has said that a huge amount of unreleased concert and documentary footage has been filmed over the years, which they hope can be edited and released in some form in the near future. The video for "Falling Down" was released in October 2007. The Nick Egan-directed video for the lead single and title track from "All You Need Is Now" was premiered via Yahoo Music on 20 December 2010. The second video from "All You Need Is Now", "Girl Panic", was released on 8 November 2011. It features some of the world's most famous supermodels, such as Yasmin Le Bon, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigová and Helena Christensen, playing the band. The video was directed by Jonas Akerlund, and during the filming, an editorial was made for "Harper's Bazaar" magazine.


title: Duran Duran

text: From the beginning of their career, all the members had a keen sense of visual style. They worked with stylist Perry Haines and fashion designers such as Kahn & Bell and Antony Price to build a sharp and elegant image, soon outgrowing the ruffles and sashes of the pirate-flavoured early New Romantic look that had been popularised by Adam Ant during 1980–81. They have continued to present fashion as part of their package throughout their career. In the 1990s they worked with Vivienne Westwood and in the 2000s with Giorgio Armani. The band retained creative control of their visual presentation having worked closely with graphic designer Malcolm Garrett and many others over the years to create album covers, tour programs and other materials.


title: Duran Duran

text: Teen and music magazines in the UK latched onto their good looks quickly, and the USA soon followed. It was a rare month in the early 1980s when there was not at least one picture of the band members in teen magazines such as "Smash Hits" or "Tiger Beat". John Taylor once remarked that the band was "like a box of Quality Street [chocolates]; everyone is someone's favourite" Duran Duran later came to regret this early pin-up exposure, but at the time it helped attract national attention. In an interview with Rock Fever Superstars Magazine in early 1988, John Taylor stated:


title: Duran Duran

text: We used to be a very chi-chi name to drop in '79, but then the Fab Five hype started and something went wrong. Something went really wrong. That wasn't what I wanted. [...] Not that I didn't like being screamed at. At one point I really did".


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Originally known as "Buckingham House", the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century it was enlarged by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East Front, which contains the well-known balcony on which the royal family traditionally appears to greet crowds. A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during the Second World War; the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London. The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: In the Middle Ages, the site of the future palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also called Eia). The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace. Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners included Edward the Confessor and Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: In 1531, Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James, which became St James's Palace, from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier. Various owners leased it from royal landlords, and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland. Needing money, James VI and I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a mulberry garden for the production of silk. (This is at the north-west corner of today's palace.) Clement Walker in "Anarchia Anglicana" (1649) refers to "new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's"; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Possibly the first house erected within the site was that of Sir William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was Lord Goring, who from 1633 extended Blake's house, which came to be known as Goring House, and developed much of today's garden, then known as Goring Great Garden. He did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document "failed to pass the Great Seal before Charles I fled London, which it needed to do for legal execution". It was this critical omission that would help the British royal family regain the freehold under George III. When the improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington was able to purchase the lease of Goring House and he was occupying it when it burned down in 1674, following which he constructed Arlington House on the site—the location of the southern wing of today's palace—the next year. In 1698, John Sheffield acquired the lease. He later became the first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. Buckingham House was built for Sheffield in 1703 to the design of William Winde. The style chosen was of a large, three-floored central block with two smaller flanking service wings. It was eventually sold by Buckingham's illegitimate son, Sir Charles Sheffield, in 1761 to George III for £21,000. Sheffield's leasehold on the mulberry garden site, the freehold of which was still owned by the royal family, was due to expire in 1774.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Under the new royal ownership, the building was originally intended as a private retreat for Queen Charlotte, and was accordingly known as The Queen's House. Remodelling of the structure began in 1762. In 1775, an Act of Parliament settled the property on Queen Charlotte, in exchange for her rights to nearby Somerset House, and 14 of her 15 children were born there. Some furnishings were transferred from Carlton House and others had been bought in France after the French Revolution of 1789. While St James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence, the name "Buckingham-palace" was used from at least 1791. After his accession to the throne in 1820, George IV continued the renovation intending to create a small, comfortable home. However, in 1826, while the work was in progress, the King decided to modify the house into a palace with the help of his architect John Nash. The external façade was designed, keeping in mind the French neoclassical influence preferred by George IV. The cost of the renovations grew dramatically, and by 1829 the extravagance of Nash's designs resulted in his removal as the architect. On the death of George IV in 1830, his younger brother William IV hired Edward Blore to finish the work. William never moved into the palace. After the Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1834, he offered to convert Buckingham Palace into a new Houses of Parliament, but his offer was declined.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Buckingham Palace became the principal royal residence in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria, who was the first monarch to reside there; her predecessor William IV had died before its completion. While the state rooms were a riot of gilt and colour, the necessities of the new palace were somewhat less luxurious. It was reported the chimneys smoked so much that the fires had to be allowed to die down, and consequently the palace was often cold. Ventilation was so bad that the interior smelled, and when it was decided to install gas lamps, there was a serious worry about the build-up of gas on the lower floors. It was also said that the staff were lax and lazy and the palace was dirty. Following the Queen's marriage in 1840, her husband, Prince Albert, concerned himself with a reorganisation of the household offices and staff, and with addressing the design faults of the palace. By the end of 1840, all the problems had been rectified. However, the builders were to return within a decade.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: By 1847, the couple had found the palace too small for court life and their growing family and a new wing, designed by Edward Blore, was built by Thomas Cubitt, enclosing the central quadrangle. The large East Front, facing The Mall, is today the "public face" of Buckingham Palace and contains the balcony from which the royal family acknowledge the crowds on momentous occasions and after the annual Trooping the Colour. The ballroom wing and a further suite of state rooms were also built in this period, designed by Nash's student Sir James Pennethorne. Before Prince Albert's death, the palace was frequently the scene of musical entertainments, and the most celebrated contemporary musicians entertained at Buckingham Palace. The composer Felix Mendelssohn is known to have played there on three occasions. Johann Strauss II and his orchestra played there when in England. Under Victoria, Buckingham Palace was frequently the scene of lavish costume balls, in addition to the usual royal ceremonies, investitures and presentations.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Widowed in 1861, the grief-stricken Queen withdrew from public life and left Buckingham Palace to live at Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle and Osborne House. For many years the palace was seldom used, even neglected. In 1864, a note was found pinned to the fence of Buckingham Palace, saying: "These commanding premises to be let or sold, in consequence of the late occupant's declining business." Eventually, public opinion persuaded the Queen to return to London, though even then she preferred to live elsewhere whenever possible. Court functions were still held at Windsor Castle, presided over by the sombre Queen habitually dressed in mourning black, while Buckingham Palace remained shuttered for most of the year.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: In 1901, the new king, Edward VII, began redecorating the palace. The King and his wife, Queen Alexandra, had always been at the forefront of London high society, and their friends, known as "the Marlborough House Set", were considered to be the most eminent and fashionable of the age. Buckingham Palace—the Ballroom, Grand Entrance, Marble Hall, Grand Staircase, vestibules and galleries were redecorated in the Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme they retain today—once again became a setting for entertaining on a majestic scale but leaving some to feel Edward's heavy redecorations were at odds with Nash's original work.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The last major building work took place during the reign of George V when, in 1913, Sir Aston Webb redesigned Blore's 1850 East Front to resemble in part Giacomo Leoni's Lyme Park in Cheshire. This new refaced principal façade (of Portland stone) was designed to be the backdrop to the Victoria Memorial, a large memorial statue of Queen Victoria created by sculptor Sir Thomas Brock, erected outside the main gates on a surround constructed by architect Sir Aston Webb. George V, who had succeeded Edward VII in 1910, had a more serious personality than his father; greater emphasis was now placed on official entertainment and royal duties than on lavish parties. He arranged a series of command performances featuring jazz musicians such as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1919; the first jazz performance for a head of state), Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong (1932), which earned the palace a nomination in 2009 for a (Kind of) Blue Plaque by the Brecon Jazz Festival as one of the venues making the greatest contribution to jazz music in the United Kingdom.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: During the First World War, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, the palace escaped unscathed. Its more valuable contents were evacuated to Windsor, but the royal family remained in residence. The King imposed rationing at the palace, much to the dismay of his guests and household. To the King's later regret, David Lloyd George persuaded him to go further and ostentatiously lock the wine cellars and refrain from alcohol, to set a good example to the supposedly inebriated working class. The workers continued to imbibe, and the King was left unhappy at his enforced abstinence.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: George V's wife, Queen Mary, was a connoisseur of the arts and took a keen interest in the Royal Collection of furniture and art, both restoring and adding to it. Queen Mary also had many new fixtures and fittings installed, such as the pair of marble Empire-style chimneypieces by Benjamin Vulliamy, dating from 1810, which the Queen had installed in the ground floor Bow Room, the huge low room at the centre of the garden façade. Queen Mary was also responsible for the decoration of the Blue Drawing Room. This room, long, previously known as the South Drawing Room, has a ceiling designed by Nash, coffered with huge gilt console brackets. In 1938, the northwest pavilion, designed by Nash as a conservatory, was converted into a swimming pool.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: During the Second World War, which broke out in 1939, the palace was bombed nine times. The most serious and publicised incident destroyed the palace chapel in 1940. This event was shown in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom to show the common suffering of the rich and poor. One bomb fell in the palace quadrangle while George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the future Queen Mother) were in the palace, and many windows were blown in and the chapel destroyed. Wartime coverage of such incidents was severely restricted, however. The King and Queen were filmed inspecting their bombed home; it was at this time the Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face". The royal family were seen as sharing their subjects' hardship, as "The Sunday Graphic" reported:


title: Buckingham Palace

text: On 15 September 1940, known as Battle of Britain Day, an RAF pilot, Ray Holmes of No. 504 Squadron RAF rammed a German Dornier Do 17 bomber he believed was going to bomb the Palace. Holmes had run out of ammunition and made the quick decision to ram it. Holmes bailed out and the aircraft crashed into the forecourt of London Victoria station. The bomber's engine was later exhibited at the Imperial War Museum in London. The British pilot became a King's Messenger after the war and died at the age of 90 in 2005. On VE Day—8 May 1945—the palace was the centre of British celebrations. The King, the Queen, Princess Elizabeth (the future queen) and Princess Margaret appeared on the balcony, with the palace's blacked-out windows behind them, to cheers from a vast crowd in The Mall. The damaged Palace was carefully restored after the war by John Mowlem & Co.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Many of the palace's contents are part of the Royal Collection, held in trust by King Charles III; they can, on occasion, be viewed by the public at the Queen's Gallery, near the Royal Mews. The purpose-built gallery opened in 1962 and displays a changing selection of items from the collection. It occupies the site of the chapel that was destroyed in the Second World War. The palace was designated a Grade I listed building in 1970. Its state rooms have been open to the public during August and September and on some dates throughout the year since 1993. The money raised in entry fees was originally put towards the rebuilding of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire devastated many of its staterooms. In the year to 31 March 2017, 580,000 people visited the palace, and 154,000 visited the gallery.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The palace used to racially segregate staff. In 1968, Charles Tryon, 2nd Baron Tryon, acting as treasurer to Queen Elizabeth II, sought to exempt Buckingham Palace from full application of the Race Relations Act 1968. He stated that the palace did not hire people of colour for clerical jobs, only as domestic servants. He arranged with Civil servants for an exemption that meant that complaints of racism against the royal household would be sent directly to the Home Secretary and kept out of the legal system.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The palace, like Windsor Castle, is owned by the reigning monarch in right of the Crown. Occupied royal palaces are not part of the Crown Estate, nor are they the monarch's personal property, unlike Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. The Government of the United Kingdom is responsible for maintaining the palace in exchange for the profits made by the Crown Estate. In 2015, the State Dining Room was closed for a year and a half because its ceiling had become potentially dangerous. A 10-year schedule of maintenance work, including new plumbing, wiring, boilers and radiators, and the installation of solar panels on the roof, has been estimated to cost £369 million and was approved by the prime minister in November 2016. It will be funded by a temporary increase in the Sovereign Grant paid from the income of the Crown Estate and is intended to extend the building's working life by at least 50 years. In 2017, the House of Commons backed funding for the project by 464 votes to 56.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Buckingham Palace is a symbol and home of the British monarchy, an art gallery and a tourist attraction. Behind the gilded railings and gates that were completed by the Bromsgrove Guild in 1911, lies Webb's famous façade, which was described in a book published by the Royal Collection Trust as looking "like everybody's idea of a palace". It has not only been a weekday home of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip but is also the London residence of the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. The palace also houses their offices, as well as those of the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra, and is the workplace of more than 800 people. Charles III lives at Clarence House while restoration work continues, although he conducts official business at Buckingham Palace, including weekly meetings with the Prime Minister. Every year, some 50,000 invited guests are entertained at garden parties, receptions, audiences and banquets. Three garden parties are held in the summer, usually in July. The forecourt of Buckingham Palace is used for the Changing of the Guard, a major ceremony and tourist attraction (daily from April to July; every other day in other months).


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The front of the palace measures across, by deep, by high and contains over of floorspace. There are 775 rooms, including 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 52 principal bedrooms and 19 state rooms. It also has a post office, cinema, swimming pool, doctor's surgery and jeweller's workshop. The Royal family occupy a small suite of private rooms in the north wing.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The principal rooms are contained on the first-floor "piano nobile" behind the west-facing garden façade at the rear of the palace. The centre of this ornate suite of state rooms is the Music Room, its large bow the dominant feature of the façade. Flanking the Music Room are the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms. At the centre of the suite, serving as a corridor to link the state rooms, is the Picture Gallery, which is top-lit and long. The Gallery is hung with numerous works including some by Rembrandt, van Dyck, Rubens and Vermeer; other rooms leading from the Picture Gallery are the Throne Room and the Green Drawing Room. The Green Drawing Room serves as a huge anteroom to the Throne Room, and is part of the ceremonial route to the throne from the Guard Room at the top of the Grand Staircase. The Guard Room contains white marble statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, in Roman costume, set in a tribune lined with tapestries. These very formal rooms are used only for ceremonial and official entertaining but are open to the public every summer.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Directly underneath the state apartments are the less grand semi-state apartments. Opening from the Marble Hall, these rooms are used for less formal entertaining, such as luncheon parties and private audiences. At the centre of this floor is the Bow Room, through which thousands of guests pass annually to the monarch's garden parties. When paying a state visit to Britain, foreign heads of state are usually entertained by the monarch at Buckingham Palace. They are allocated an extensive suite of rooms known as the Belgian Suite, situated at the foot of the Minister's Staircase, on the ground floor of the west-facing Garden Wing. Some of the rooms are named and decorated for particular visitors, such as the 1844 Room, decorated in that year for the state visit of Nicholas I of Russia, and the 1855 Room, in honour of the visit of Napoleon III of France. The former is a sitting room that also serves as an audience room and is often used for personal investitures. Narrow corridors link the rooms of the suite, one of them is given extra height and perspective by saucer domes designed by Nash in the style of Soane. A second corridor in the suite has Gothic-influenced cross-over vaulting. The suite was named after Leopold I of Belgium, uncle of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1936, the suite briefly became the private apartments of the palace when Edward VIII occupied them. The original early-19th-century interior designs, many of which still survive, included widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Between 1847 and 1850, when Blore was building the new east wing, the Brighton Pavilion was once again plundered of its fittings. As a result, many of the rooms in the new wing have a distinctly oriental atmosphere. The red and blue Chinese Luncheon Room is made up of parts of the Brighton Banqueting and Music Rooms with a large oriental chimneypiece designed by Robert Jones and sculpted by Richard Westmacott. It was formerly in the Music Room at the Brighton Pavilion. The ornate clock, known as the Kylin Clock, was made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China, in the second half of the 18th century; it has a later movement by Benjamin Vulliamy circa 1820. The Yellow Drawing Room has wallpaper supplied in 1817 for the Brighton Saloon, and a chimneypiece which is a European vision of how the Chinese chimney piece may appear. It has nodding mandarins in niches and fearsome winged dragons, designed by Robert Jones.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: At the centre of this wing is the famous balcony with the Centre Room behind its glass doors. This is a Chinese-style saloon enhanced by Queen Mary, who, working with the designer Sir Charles Allom, created a more "binding" Chinese theme in the late 1920s, although the lacquer doors were brought from Brighton in 1873. Running the length of the "piano nobile" of the east wing is the Great Gallery, modestly known as the Principal Corridor, which runs the length of the eastern side of the quadrangle. It has mirrored doors and mirrored cross walls reflecting porcelain pagodas and other oriental furniture from Brighton. The Chinese Luncheon Room and Yellow Drawing Room are situated at each end of this gallery, with the Centre Room in between.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Investitures, which include the conferring of knighthoods by dubbing with a sword, and other awards take place in the palace's Ballroom, built in 1854. At long, wide and high, it is the largest room in the palace. It has replaced the throne room in importance and use. During investitures, the King stands on the throne dais beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as a "shamiana" or a baldachin, that was used at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. A military band plays in the musicians' gallery as award recipients approach the King and receive their honours, watched by their families and friends.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: State banquets also take place in the Ballroom; these formal dinners are held on the first evening of a state visit by a foreign head of state. On these occasions, for up to 170 guests in formal "white tie and decorations", including tiaras, the dining table is laid with the Grand Service, a collection of silver-gilt plate made in 1811 for the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The largest and most formal reception at Buckingham Palace takes place every November when the King entertains members of the diplomatic corps. On this grand occasion, all the state rooms are in use, as the royal family proceed through them, beginning at the great north doors of the Picture Gallery. As Nash had envisaged, all the large, double-mirrored doors stand open, reflecting the numerous crystal chandeliers and sconces, creating a deliberate optical illusion of space and light.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Smaller ceremonies such as the reception of new ambassadors take place in the "1844 Room". Here too, the King holds small lunch parties, and often meetings of the Privy Council. Larger lunch parties often take place in the curved and domed Music Room or the State Dining Room. Since the bombing of the palace chapel in World War II, royal christenings have sometimes taken place in the Music Room. Queen Elizabeth II's first three children were all baptised there. On all formal occasions, the ceremonies are attended by the Yeomen of the Guard, in their historic uniforms, and other officers of the court such as the Lord Chamberlain.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Formerly, men not wearing military uniform wore knee breeches of 18th-century design. Women's evening dress included trains and tiaras or feathers in their hair (often both). The dress code governing formal court uniform and dress has progressively relaxed. After the First World War, when Queen Mary wished to follow fashion by raising her skirts a few inches from the ground, she requested a lady-in-waiting to shorten her own skirt first to gauge the King's reaction. King George V disapproved, so the Queen kept her hemline unfashionably low. Following his accession in 1936, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth allowed the hemline of daytime skirts to rise. Today, there is no official dress code. Most men invited to Buckingham Palace in the daytime choose to wear service uniform or lounge suits; a minority wear morning coats, and in the evening, depending on the formality of the occasion, black tie or white tie.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Débutantes were aristocratic young ladies making their first entrée into society through a presentation to the monarch at court. These occasions, known as "coming out", took place at the palace from the reign of Edward VII. The débutantes entered—wearing full court dress, with three ostrich feathers in their hair—curtsied, performed a backwards walk and a further curtsey, while manoeuvring a dress train of prescribed length. The ceremony, known as an evening court, corresponded to the "court drawing rooms" of Victoria's reign. After World War II, the ceremony was replaced by less formal afternoon receptions, omitting the requirement of court evening dress. In 1958, Queen Elizabeth II abolished the presentation parties for débutantes, replacing them with Garden Parties, for up to 8,000 invitees in the Garden. They are the largest functions of the year.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: At the rear of the palace is the large and park-like garden, which together with its lake is the largest private garden in London. There, Queen Elizabeth II hosted her annual garden parties each summer and also held large functions to celebrate royal milestones, such as jubilees. It covers and includes a helicopter landing area, a lake and a tennis court.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: Adjacent to the palace is the Royal Mews, also designed by Nash, where the royal carriages, including the Gold State Coach, are housed. This rococo gilt coach, designed by Sir William Chambers in 1760, has painted panels by G. B. Cipriani. It was first used for the State Opening of Parliament by George III in 1762 and has been used by the monarch for every coronation since George IV. It was last used for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Also housed in the mews are the coach horses used at royal ceremonial processions.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The Mall, a ceremonial approach route to the palace, was designed by Sir Aston Webb and completed in 1911 as part of a grand memorial to Queen Victoria. It extends from Admiralty Arch, across St James's Park to the Victoria Memorial. This route is used by the cavalcades and motorcades of visiting heads of state, and by the royal family on state occasions—such as the annual Trooping the Colour.


title: Buckingham Palace

text: The boy Jones was an intruder who gained entry to the palace on three occasions between 1838 and 1841. At least 12 people have managed to gain unauthorised entry into the palace or its grounds since 1914, including Michael Fagan, who broke into the palace twice in 1982 and entered Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom on the second occasion. At the time, news media reported that he had a long conversation with her while she waited for security officers to arrive, but in a 2012 interview with "The Independent", Fagan said she ran out of the room, and no conversation took place. It was only in 2007 that trespassing on the palace grounds became a specific criminal offence.


title: Zootopia

text: Zootopia (titled Zootropolis in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action-comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, co-directed by Jared Bush (in his feature directorial debut), and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Bush and Phil Johnston, and a story by Howard, Moore, Bush, Johnston, Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, and Jennifer Lee.


title: Zootopia

text: The film stars the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Shakira. Taking place in the titular city where anthropomorphic mammals coexist, it tells a story of an unlikely partnership between a rabbit police officer and a red fox con artist as they uncover a criminal conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.


title: Zootopia

text: "Zootopia" premiered at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 13, 2016, and went into general theatrical release in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats in the United States on March 4. "Zootopia" received positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, animation, voice acting, subject matter, and Michael Giacchino's musical score. The film opened to record-breaking box offices in several countries, and earned a worldwide gross of over $1billion, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The film earned numerous accolades; it was named one of the top ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute, and received Best Animated Feature at the 89th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. A television spin-off series, "Zootopia+", premiered on Disney+ on November 9, 2022.


title: Zootopia

text: In a world populated by anthropomorphic mammals, Judy Hopps, a rabbit from a rural town called Bunnyburrow, fulfills her childhood dream of becoming a police officer in the urban city of Zootopia. Despite being the academy valedictorian, Judy is assigned to parking duty by Chief Bogo, who fails to recognize her talent. On her first day on the job, Judy is hustled by a con artist fox duo, Nick Wilde and Finnick. Later, a small-time crook and bootleg film seller Duke Weaselton steals a bag of crocus bulbs known as "Midnicampum holicithias". Judy abandons her post to arrest Weaselton, and is reprimanded by Bogo. Mrs. Otterton unexpectedly barges into Bogo's office pleading for someone to find her husband Emmitt, one of fourteen missing mammals. Judy volunteers and the city's assistant mayor, a sheep named Dawn Bellwether, praises the assignment. Bogo has no choice but to agree but secretly orders Judy to resign if she fails after forty-eight hours.


title: Zootopia

text: Having ascertained that Nick was the last to see Emmitt, Judy blackmails him into helping her by covertly recording his confession to tax evasion on her carrot pen. They track Emmitt's belongings to a limousine owned by crime boss Mr. Big, an arctic shrew whom Nick has a history with. He reveals that Emmitt suddenly went "savage", attacking Mr. Big's chauffeur Manchas. The two visit Manchas, a black jaguar, and he says Emmitt yelled about "Night Howlers" before the attack. Manchas then turns savage and chases the pair. Judy traps Manchas and calls the ZPD for help, however, Manchas vanishes before they arrive. Bogo demands Judy resign, but Nick confronts Bogo, reminding him that she still has ten hours remaining. While leaving the scene, Nick reveals to Judy that he became a con artist because, as a child, he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, but was bullied and rejected simply for being a fox.


title: Zootopia

text: At City Hall, Bellwether offers Judy and Nick access to Zootopia's traffic cameras. They discover Manchas was taken by timberwolves, whom Judy surmises is the "Night Howlers". Following the wolves, the duo locates Emmitt, Manchas, and the rest of the missing animals, all "savage" predators, imprisoned at a local asylum. Zootopia's mayor, Leodore Lionheart, ordered their capture and is trying to ascertain the cause of their feral behavior. Lionheart and the asylum staff are soon arrested for false imprisonment and Bellwether becomes the new mayor. Judy, praised for solving the case, asks Nick to join the ZPD as her partner. However, he angrily rejects her offer and abandons her after Judy claims that predatory biology is behind the mysterious "savageness" epidemic. Judy's comments, broadcast on television, incite fear and discrimination against predators throughout Zootopia.