title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated from Thailand and Myanmar by the Andaman Sea. It comprises two island groups, the Andaman Islands (partly) and the Nicobar Islands, separated by the 150 km (100 mile) wide Ten Degree Channel (on the 10°N parallel), with the Andaman islands to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobar islands to the south (or by 179 km; 111 miles). The Andaman Sea lies to the east and the Bay of Bengal to the west. The island chains are thought to be a submerged extension of the Arakan Mountains.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The territory's capital is the city of Port Blair. The total land area of the islands is approximately . The territory is divided into three districts: the Nicobar District with Car Nicobar as its capital, the South Andaman district with Port Blair as its capital, and the North and Middle Andaman district with Mayabunder as its capital.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The islands host the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the only tri-service geographical command of the Indian Armed Forces.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The Andaman Islands are also home to the Sentinelese people, an uncontacted tribe. The Sentinelese are considered to be the only people currently known to not have reached further than a Paleolithic level of technology; however, this is disputed, as evidence of metalwork was found on their island.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The earliest archaeological evidence documents some 2,200 years. However, genetic and cultural studies suggest that the indigenous Andamanese people may have been isolated from other populations during the Middle Paleolithic, which ended 30,000 years ago. Since that time, the Andamanese have diversified into linguistically and culturally distinct territorial groups.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The Nicobar Islands appear to have been populated by people of various backgrounds. By the time of European contact, the indigenous inhabitants had coalesced into the Nicobarese people, speaking an Austroasiatic language, and the Shompen, whose language is of uncertain affiliation. Neither language is related to Andamanese.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Rajendra Chola II (1051–1063 CE), used the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a strategic naval base to launch an expedition against the Srivijaya Empire (Indonesia). The Cholas called the island Ma-Nakkavaram ("great open/naked land"), found in the Thanjavur inscription of 1050 CE. European traveller Marco Polo (12th–13th century) also referred to this island as 'Necuverann' and a corrupted form of the Tamil name Nakkavaram would have led to the modern name Nicobar during the British colonial period.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The islands became a temporary shipping port of the Maratha Empire and its navy in the 17th century. The Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre established a basic naval dominance in the islands and played a role in the annexation of the islands to India.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The history of organised European colonisation on the islands began when settlers from the Danish East India Company arrived in the Nicobar Islands on 12 December 1755. On 1 January 1756, the Nicobar Islands were made a Danish colony, first named New Denmark, and later (December 1756) Frederick's Islands ("Frederiksøerne"). During 1754–1756 they were administrated from Tranquebar (in continental Danish India). The islands were repeatedly abandoned due to outbreaks of malaria between 14 April 1759 and 19 August 1768, from 1787 to 1807/05, 1814 to 1831, 1830 to 1834 and gradually from 1848 for good.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: From 1 June 1778 to 1784, Austria mistakenly assumed that Denmark had abandoned its claims to the Nicobar Islands and attempted to establish a colony on them, renaming them Theresa Islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In 1789, the British set up a naval base and penal colony on Chatham Island next to Great Andaman, where now lies the town of Port Blair. Two years later the colony was moved to Port Cornwallis on Great Andaman, but it was abandoned in 1796 due to disease.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In 1858, the British again established a colony at Port Blair, which proved to be more permanent. The primary purpose was to set up a penal colony for criminal convicts from the Indian subcontinent. The Cellular Jail, which was used to house political prisoners, was constructed on the islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Italy made an attempt at buying the Nicobar Islands from Denmark between 1864 and 1865. The Italian Minister of Agriculture and Commerce Luigi Torelli started a negotiation that looked promising, but failed due to the unexpected end of his office and the second La Marmora Cabinet. The negotiations were interrupted and never brought up again.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Denmark's presence in the territory ended formally on 16 October 1868 when it sold the rights to the Nicobar Islands to Britain, which made them part of British India in 1869.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In 1872, the Andaman and Nicobar islands were united under a single chief commissioner at Port Blair.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: During World War II, the islands were practically under Japanese control, only nominally under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bose visited the islands during the war and renamed them as "Shaheed-Dweep" (Martyr Island) and "Swaraj-dweep" (Self-rule Island).


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: General Loganathan, of the Indian National Army, was made the Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. On 22 February 1944 he along with four INA officers—Major Mansoor Ali Alvi, Sub. Lt. Md. Iqbal, Lt. Suba Singh, and stenographer Srinivasan—arrived at Lambaline Airport in Port Blair. On 21 March 1944, the Headquarters of the Civil Administration was established near the gurdwara at Aberdeen Bazaar. On 2 October 1944, Col. Loganathan handed over the charge to Maj. Alvi and left Port Blair, never to return.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Japanese Vice Admiral Hara Teizo and Major-General Tamenori Sato surrendered the islands to Brigadier J A Salomons, commander of 116th Indian Infantry Brigade, and Chief Administrator Noel K Patterson, Indian Civil Service, on 7 October 1945, in a ceremony performed on the Gymkhana Ground, Port Blair.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: During the independence of both India (1947) and Burma (1948), the departing British announced their intention to retain posession of the island chain, and use them to resettle Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Burmese on these islands, to form their own nation, although this never materialised. The islands, as a possession of the British Indian Empire, claimed as an asset to allocated, by both the Congress Party and Muslim League, during partition negotiations. The Islands were later used to resettle peoples displaced by the partitions of the British Indian Empire, with a substantial number of displaced East Bengali families offered land on the islands, in exchange for clearing forests and establishing agricultual colonies. Responsibility for the administration of the islands was transfered from Viceroy Mountbatten, to President Rajendra Prasad, in 1950, and was declared as a union territory of the India, in 1956.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: India has been developing defence facilities on the islands since the 1980s. The islands now have a key position in India's strategic role in the Bay of Bengal and the Malacca Strait.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: On 26 December 2004, the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were devastated by a high tsunami following an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean. More than 2,000 people died, 4,000 children were orphaned or suffered the loss of one parent, and at least 40,000 people were rendered homeless. More than 46,000 people were injured. The worst affected Nicobar islands were Katchal and Indira Point; the latter subsided and was partially submerged in the ocean. The lighthouse at Indira Point was damaged but has been repaired since. A significant portion of the union territory was submerged and subsequently lost to sea. The territory which measured before the tsunami now stands at .


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: While the locals and tourists on the islands suffered the greatest casualties from the tsunami, most of the aboriginal people survived on account of oral traditions passed down over generations that warned them to evacuate from the large waves that follow earthquakes.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: There are 572 islands in the territory having an area of . Of these 38 are permanently inhabited. The islands extend from 6° to 14° North latitudes and from 92° to 94° East longitudes. The Andamans are separated from the Nicobar group by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some wide. The highest point is located in North Andaman Island (Saddle Peak at ). The Andaman group has 325 islands which cover an area of while the Nicobar group has only 247 islands with an area of .


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The capital of the union territory, Port Blair, is located from Kolkata, from Visakhapatnam and from Chennai. They are grouped with South India. The northernmost point of the Andaman and Nicobars group is away from the mouth of the Hooghly River and from Myanmar Mainland. Indira Point at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E at the southern tip of the southernmost island, Great Nicobar, is the southernmost point of India and lies only from Sumatra island in Indonesia.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The only volcano in India, Barren Island, is located in Andaman and Nicobar. It is an active volcano and had last erupted in 2017. It also has a mud volcano situated in Baratang Island. These mud volcanoes have erupted sporadically, with recent eruptions in 2005 believed to have been associated with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The previous major eruption recorded was on 18 February 2003. The locals call this mud volcano "Jalki". There are other volcanoes in the area. This island's beaches, mangrove creeks, limestone caves, and mud volcanoes are some of the physical features.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In December 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a two-day visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, renamed three of the islands as a tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose. Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island; Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep Island; and Havelock Island as Swaraj Island. The PM made this announcement during a speech at the Netaji Stadium, marking the 75th anniversary of the hoisting of the Indian flag by Bose there.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have a tropical rainforest canopy, made of a mixed flora with elements from Indian, Myanmar, Malaysian and endemic floral strains. So far, about 2,200 varieties of plants have been recorded, out of which 200 are endemic and 1,300 do not occur in mainland India.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The South Andaman forests have a profuse growth of epiphytic vegetation, mostly ferns, and orchids. The Middle Andamans harbours mostly moist deciduous forests. North Andamans is characterised by the wet evergreen type, with plenty of woody climbers. The North Nicobar Islands (including Car Nicobar and Battimalv) are marked by the complete absence of evergreen forests, while such forests form the dominant vegetation in the central and southern islands of the Nicobar group. Grasslands occur only in the Nicobars, and while deciduous forests are common in the Andamans, they are almost absent in the Nicobar. The present forest coverage is claimed to be 86.2% of the total land area.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: This tropical rain forest, despite its isolation from adjacent landmasses, is surprisingly rich with a diversity of animal life.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: About 50 varieties of forest mammals are found to occur in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Some are endemic, including the Andaman wild boar. Rodents are the largest group with 26 species, followed by 14 species of bat. Among the larger mammals there are two endemic varieties of wild boar, "Sus scrofa andamanensis" from Andaman and "Sus scrofa nicobaricus" from Nicobar, which are protected by the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (Sch I). Saltwater crocodile is also found in abundance. The State Animal of Andaman is the dugong, also known as the sea cow, which can be found in Little Andaman. Around 1962 there was an attempt to introduce the leopard, which was unsuccessful because of unsuitable habitat. These were ill-considered moves as exotic introductions can cause havoc to island flora and fauna. Elephants also can be found in forested or mountainous areas of the islands; they were brought over from the mainland to help with timber extraction in 1883.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: About 270 species of birds are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 14 species of which are endemic. The islands' many caves are nesting grounds for the edible-nest swiftlet, whose nests are prized in China for bird's nest soup. The islands also serve as a stopover site for several migratory birds such as Horsfield's bronze cuckoo, Zappey's flycatcher and Javan pond heron.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The territory is home for about 225 species of butterflies and moths. Ten species are endemic to these Islands. Mount Harriet National Park is one of the richest areas of butterfly and moth diversity on Andaman and Nicobar Islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The islands are well known for prized shellfish, especially from the genera "Turbo", "Trochus", "Murex" and "Nautilus". Earliest recorded commercial exploitation began during 1929. Many cottage industries produce a range of decorative shell items. Giant clams, green mussels and oysters support edible shellfishery. The shells of scallops, clams, and cockle are burnt in kilns to produce edible lime.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: There are 96 wildlife sanctuaries, nine national parks and one biosphere reserve in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Census of India, the population of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was 379,944, of which 202,330 (53.25%) were male and 177,614 (46.75%) were female. The sex ratio was 878 females per 1,000 males. Only 10% of the population lived in Nicobar islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: 150 years ago, the original population of the islands – the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese, were estimated to be around 5,000. The population of islands increased massively due to the policies of Govt of India into islands under Jawaharlal Nehru in the late 1960s, that brought settlers from other parts of the country.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: There remain approximately 400–450 indigenous Andamanese in the Andaman islands, the Jarawa and Sentinelese in particular maintaining steadfast independence and refusing most attempts at contact. In the Nicobar Islands, the indigenous people are the Nicobarese, or "Nicobari", living throughout many of the islands, and the Shompen, restricted to the hinterland of Great Nicobar. More than 2,000 people belonging to the Karen tribe live in the Mayabunder tehsil of North Andaman district, almost all of whom are Christians. Despite their tribal origins, the Karen of Andamans have Other Backward Class (OBC) status in the Andamans.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Indigenous to the Nicobar Islands are the five Nicobarese languages, which form part of the Austroasiatic language family and are spoken by about people, or 7.6% of the population of the union territory. The Andaman Islands are home to about a dozen endangered or extinct Andamanese languages, which constitute at least two families that are unrelated to each other or to any other language group.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The majority of the population, however, are speakers of immigrant languages. These include Bengali (the first language of 28.5% of the inhabitants of the union territory), Tamil (15.2%), Telugu (13.2%), Hindi (12.9%), Malayalam (7.2%). Sadri (5.5%), and Kurukh (4%).


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Hindi is the official language of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while English is declared an additional official language for communication purposes.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The majority of people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are Hindus (69.45%), with Christians forming a large minority of 21.7% of the population, according to the 2011 census of India. There is a significant Muslim (8.51%) minority.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In 1874, the British had placed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in one administrative territory headed by a Chief Commissioner as its judicial administrator. On 1 August 1974, the Nicobar islands were hived off into another revenue district with district headquarters at Car Nicobar under a Deputy Commissioner. In 1982, the post of Lieutenant Governor was created who replaced the Chief Commissioner as the head of administration. Subsequently, a "Pradesh council" with Councillors as representatives of the people was constituted to advise the Lieutenant Governor. The Islands sends one representative to Lok Sabha from its Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Lok Sabha constituency).


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: A total of of land is used for agriculture purposes. Paddy, the main food crop, is mostly cultivated in Andaman group of islands, whereas coconut and arecanut are the cash crops of Nicobar group of islands. Field crops, namely, pulses, oilseeds and vegetables are grown, followed by paddy during Rabi season. Different kinds of fruits such as mango, sapota, orange, banana, papaya, pineapple and root crops are grown on hilly land owned by farmers. Spices such as pepper, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon are grown under a multi-tier cropping system. Rubber, red oil, palm, noni and cashew are grown on a limited scale in these islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: There are 1,374 registered small-scale, village and handicraft units. Two units are export-oriented in the line of fish processing activity. Apart from this, there are shells and wood-based handicraft units. There are also four medium-sized industrial units. SSI units are engaged in the production of polythene bags, PVC conduit pipes and fittings, paints and varnishes, fiberglass and mini flour mills, soft drinks, and beverages, etc. Small scale and handicraft units are also engaged in shell crafts, bakery products, rice milling, furniture making, etc.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation has spread its wings in the field of tourism, fisheries, industries, and industrial financing and functions as authorised agents for Alliance Air. The Islands have become a tourist destination, largely due to its beaches and waters.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Tourism to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is increasing due to the popularity of beaches and adventure sports like snorkelling and sea-walking. Plans to develop various islands under NITI (National Institute of Transforming India) Aayog is also in progress. Luxury resorts with participation from the Government are set up to plan in Avis Island, Smith Island and Long Island.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: In Port Blair, the main places to visit are the Cellular Jail, Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, Andaman Water sports complex, Chatham Saw Mill, Mini Zoo, Corbyn's cove, Chidiya Tapu, Wandoor Beach, Forest Museum, Anthropological Museum, Fisheries Museum, Naval Museum (Samudrika), Ross Island and North Bay Island. Viper Island which was earlier visited is now kept closed by the administration. Other places include Havelock island famous for Radhanagar Beach, Neil Island for Scuba diving/snorkeling/sea walking, Cinque Island, Saddle peak, Mt Harriet, and Mud Volcano. Diglipur, located at North Andaman is also getting popular in 2018 and many tourists have started visiting North Andaman as well. The southern group (Nicobar islands) is mostly inaccessible to tourists.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Indian tourists do not require a permit to visit the Andaman Islands, but if they wish to visit any tribal areas they need a special permit from the Deputy Commissioner in Port Blair. Permits are required for foreign nationals. For foreign nationals arriving by air, these are granted upon arrival at Port Blair.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: According to official estimates, the flow of tourists tripled to nearly 430,000 in 2016-17 from 130,000 in 2008–09. The Radha Nagar beach was chosen as Asia's best beach in 2004.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product (GSDP) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands at market prices, estimated by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, with figures in millions of Indian rupees.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Andaman and Nicobar Islands' gross state domestic product for 2004 was estimated at $354 million in current prices.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: With Japanese assistance, Southern Andaman Island will now have a 15-megawatt diesel power plant. This would be the first foreign investment of any kind allowed at this strategically significant island chain. This is believed to be an Indo-Japanese strategic initiative to strengthen civilian infrastructure in the vicinity of the Strait of Malacca – a strategically important choke-point for the Chinese oil supply.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Government of India has proposed the development of Great Nicobar. A terminal, two townships, Solar Power and an strips will be created for logistics and tourism purposes. This will give boost to Nicobar Islands and expected to provide employment. However project is considered as threat to indigenous communities on Nicobar Islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Internet access on the islands used to be limited and unreliable, since all connectivity to the outside world had to go through satellite links. Bharat Broadband Network started work on laying a fibre optic submarine cable running from the five islands to Chennai on 30 December 2018, with completion expected in December 2019. On 10 August 2020, PM Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the Chennai–Andaman undersea Optical fibre cable which enables high-speed broadband connections in the Union Territory. The submarine cable also connects Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island and Rangat. The initial bandwidth of the cable is 400 Gbit/s, roughly 400 times more than what the islands possessed before the fibre link.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: On 10 August 2020, PM Narendra Modi announced plans for the construction of a transshipment port in the Great Nicobar Island at a cost of ₹10,000 crore to provide shippers an alternative to similar ports in the region. The move is aimed at improving the ease of doing business of the country and enhancing maritime logistics.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The only civil airport of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is Veer Savarkar International Airport near Port Blair. It has regular flights to Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Visakhapatnam. From 2016 onwards, night flights were also operated along with the day flights.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Another mode of transport is ship which has routes from Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam. The journey takes approximately three days and two nights.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle refers to the Andaman Islands in his Sherlock Holmes novel "The Sign of the Four".


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: The National Award winning Malayalam film "Kaalapani" was set against backdrop of the Port Blair's Cellular Jail. It is one of the films that was extensively shot in the islands.


title: Andaman and Nicobar Islands

text: Most parts of the song "Life Of Ram" got shot in this island which is featured in the 2018 Tamil language film '96.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend, (22 November 1914 – 19 June 1995) was a British Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier and author. He was equerry to King George VI from 1944 to 1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1953. Townsend notably had a romance with Princess Margaret, Elizabeth's younger sister.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend was born in Rangoon, Burma, to doctor's son Lieutenant Colonel Edward Copleston Townsend, of the Indian Army, and his wife, Gladys, daughter of H. Hatt-Cook, of Hartford Hall, Cheshire; his father had married aged 42, 20 years older than his bride. The Townsend family, of Devon, tended to send its sons into the church or the armed forces.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: From 1928 to 1932, Townsend was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, then an all-boys independent school.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend joined the Royal Air Force in 1930 and trained at RAF Cranwell. He was commissioned a pilot officer on 27 July 1935. On graduation, he joined No. 1 Squadron RAF at RAF Tangmere flying the Hawker Fury biplane fighter. In 1936 he was posted to No. 36 Squadron RAF in Singapore, flying the Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bomber. He was promoted to flying officer on 27 January 1937, and returned to Tangmere that year as a member of No. 43 Squadron RAF. Townsend was promoted to flight lieutenant on 27 January 1939.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: The first enemy aircraft to crash on English soil during the Second World War fell victim to fighters from RAF Acklington in Northumberland on 3 February 1940, when three Hurricanes of 'B' flight, No. 43 Squadron, shot down a Luftwaffe Heinkel 111 of 4./KG 26 near Whitby. The pilots were Flight Lieutenant Townsend, Flying Officer "Tiger" Folkes and Sergeant James Hallowes. Two more He 111s were claimed by Townsend, on 22 February and 8 April, and a sixth share on 22 April. Enemy aircraft had been shot down in 1939 by the RAF from over Scotland's Scapa Flow naval base during the Luftwaffe's first raid on Britain. Townsend was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in April 1940:


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: By May 1940, Townsend was one of the most capable squadron leaders of the Battle of Britain, serving throughout the battle as commanding officer of No. 85 Squadron RAF, flying Hawker Hurricanes. On 11 July 1940, Acting Squadron Leader Townsend, flying Hurricane VY-K (P2716) intercepted a Dornier Do 17 of KG 2 and severely damaged the bomber, forcing it to crash land at Arras. Return fire from the Dornier hit the Hurricane coolant system and Townsend was forced to ditch from the English coast, being rescued by HM Trawler "Cape Finisterre". He was mentioned in despatches the same month. On 31 August, during combat with Messerschmitt Bf 110s over Tonbridge, Townsend was shot down and wounded in the left foot by a cannon shell which went through the glycol tank and exploded in the cockpit. He continued to lead the unit on the ground even after this wound resulted in his big toe being amputated, and he returned to operational flying on 21 September. Townsend was promoted to the substantive rank of squadron leader on 1 September 1940. A Bar to his DFC was awarded in early September 1940, for leading his squadron in protecting convoys during July and August 1940, personally shooting down four enemy aircraft and leading his squadron in destroying at least 10 enemy aircraft and damaging many others. Part of his citation reads:


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend oversaw the conversion of No. 85 Squadron to night operations at RAF Hunsdon in Hertfordshire during early 1941. In May 1941, by now an acting wing commander and credited with shooting down at least 11 enemy aircraft, Townsend was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). His citation credited Townsend as an officer who had


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend was promoted to the temporary rank of wing commander on 1 December 1941. He later became commanding officer of RAF Drem in Scotland in April 1942 and commanded No. 611 Squadron RAF, a Spitfire unit. He was later leader of No. 605 Squadron RAF, a night fighter unit, and attended the staff college from October 1942. In January 1943, he was appointed commanding officer of RAF West Malling in Kent. His wartime record was nine aircraft claimed destroyed, and two shared, two 'probables' and four damaged.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: In 1944, Townsend was appointed temporary equerry to King George VI; the officer had been the future king's flight instructor in the 1930s. In the same year, the appointment was made permanent, and he served until 1953 when he became Extra Equerry, an honorary office he held until his death. He ended his wartime service with the temporary rank of wing commander and was promoted to the permanent rank of wing commander on 1 January 1949.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: In August 1950, Townsend was made deputy Master of the Household and was moved to comptroller to the Queen Mother in 1952. He was promoted to group captain on 1 January 1953, and retired from the Royal Household the same year.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend spent much of his later years writing non-fiction books. His books include "Earth My Friend" (about driving/boating around the world alone in the mid-1950s), "Duel of Eagles" (about the Battle of Britain), "The Odds Against Us" (also known as "Duel in the Dark", about fighting Luftwaffe night bombers in 1940–1941), "The Last Emperor" (a biography of King George VI), "The Girl in the White Ship" (about a young refugee from Vietnam in the late 1970s who was the sole survivor of her ship of refugees), "The Postman of Nagasaki" (about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki), and "Time and Chance" (an autobiography). He also wrote many short articles and contributed to other books.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend was one of several military advisors for the film "Battle of Britain" (1969). He also appeared in the PBS video "The Windsors: A Royal Family" (1994).


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: On 17 July 1941, Townsend married (Cecil) Rosemary Pawle (1921–2004). They had two sons, Giles (1942–2015) and Hugo (b. 1945). The family was resident in Adelaide Cottage in the 1940s. The younger son married Yolande, Princess of Ligne, daughter of Antoine, 13th Prince of Ligne and Alix, Princess of Ligne ("née" Princess Alix of Luxembourg). Townsend and Pawle divorced in 1952.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: After the divorce, Townsend and Princess Margaret decided to marry. He had met her in his role as an equerry to her father, King George VI. Divorcees suffered severe disapproval in the social atmosphere of the time and could not remarry in the Church of England if their former spouse was still alive. Their relationship was considered especially controversial because Margaret's sister, Queen Elizabeth II, was the Church's supreme governor.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: When news of the relationship appeared in the press, the government posted Townsend to a position as air attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels. On 31 October 1955, Princess Margaret issued a statement ending the relationship: "I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But, mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others." The BBC interrupted its scheduled radio programme to broadcast the statement.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: In 1959, aged 45, Townsend married 20-year-old Marie-Luce Jamagne, a Belgian national he had met the previous year. They had two daughters and one son. Their younger daughter, Isabelle Townsend, became a Ralph Lauren model in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Isabelle Townsend and her family renovated and lived at "Le Moulin de la Tuilerie" in Gif-sur-Yvette, where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had once lived.


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: Townsend died of stomach cancer in 1995, in Saint-Léger-en-Yvelines, France at the age of 80. "The Independent" wrote in Townsend's obituary that "He developed, too, a perceptible sense of relief that things turned out the way they did", because "for men like Mark Phillips and Princess Margaret's eventual husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones, [marrying into the royal family] turned out to be an almost impossible undertaking".


title: Peter Townsend (RAF officer)

text: In 2002, a sculpture of Townsend, designed by Guy Portelli, was erected at Townsend Square, part of the Kings Hill development, on the site formerly occupied by the RAF West Malling airfield.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: The Old Man is an American drama thriller television series based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Thomas Perry. It was developed by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine and premiered on FX on June 16, 2022. The first season consists of seven episodes. Following its premiere, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) is a former CIA operative who has been living off-the-grid in Vermont for thirty years. After killing an intruder who breaks into his home, Chase is forced into hiding. While in hiding, Chase rents a room from Zoe McDonald (Amy Brenneman), with whom he is forced to partner while on the run.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Harold Harper (John Lithgow) is called upon to bring in Chase because of their complicated past during the Soviet–Afghan War. Working alongside Harper are his proteges, FBI agent Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat; in fact Chase's daughter Emily) and CIA officer Raymond Waters (E. J. Bonilla), as well as Julian Carson (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a hit-man hired by Harper to kill Chase.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: The series was announced in July 2019, with FX ordering a pilot with Jeff Bridges cast to star. In September, Jon Watts was set to direct the pilot, also serving as an executive producer, with John Lithgow and Amy Brenneman added to the cast. Alia Shawkat joined in October. In November, Bob Iger announced that the show would air on FX on Hulu, and Austin Stowell was added to play a younger version of Bridges' character. In February 2020, Kenneth Mitchell disclosed he had a role in the series. Stowell would be recast in March 2020 with Bill Heck, and Gbenga Akinnagbe, Leem Lubany and E. J. Bonilla were cast in main roles. Navid Negahban and Pej Vahdat were cast in recurring roles in December 2020.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: The series was two-thirds of the way into shooting when production shut down in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in the fall with three episodes remaining to film, but was soon halted when Bridges was diagnosed with lymphoma in October 2020 and left to undergo cancer treatment. The show stayed in production for a short period after Bridges' diagnosis in order to shoot scenes from the remaining episodes that do not feature Bridges' character. In September 2021, Bridges announced his cancer was in remission. Production ultimately resumed in February 2022. On June 27, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: The series premiered on June 16, 2022, on FX in the United States and Canada. It was also premiered on Disney+ (Star) on July 13, 2022, in Australia and New Zealand and Star+ in Latin America.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10, based on 59 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, ""The Old Man" is just as intrepid and spiky—and derivative—as younger action heroes, with Jeff Bridges lending invaluable gravitas to this bone-crunching thriller." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, "The Old Man" was the most watched program across all platforms, during the week of June 24, 2022, as well as during the week of June 29, 2022, and during the week of July 2, 2022. According to the streaming aggregator JustWatch, "The Old Man" was the most streamed television series across all platforms in the United States, between June 1, 2022, and 30, 2022, as well as during the week ending July 3, 2022, and the third during the week ending July 17, 2022.


title: The Old Man (TV series)

text: For their performances in the first season of the series, Bridges and Lithgow received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical/Comedy or Drama Series respectively.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 hit, three top-20 hits, six top-40 hits, 14 Adult Contemporary top-30 singles, five Adult Contemporary number ones, two UK number ones and a People's Choice Award. Through his solo and collaborative work, Garfunkel has earned eight Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1990, he and Simon were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, Garfunkel was ranked 86th in "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose (born Pearlman) and Jacob "Jack" Garfunkel, a traveling salesman. Art was a middle child with two brothers, the older Jules and the younger Jerome. Jacob's parents immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century, and settled in Manhattan. Before his career in sales, Jacob worked as an actor in Dayton, Ohio. Garfunkel is of Romanian-Jewish descent, his paternal grandparents having emigrated from the city of Iași. When he was young, he would often sing in synagogue. His maternal cousin was Lou Pearlman, founder of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: According to the "Across America" DVD, Garfunkel's love of singing originated in the first grade. "When we were lined up in size order, and after everyone else had left, I'd stay behind and enjoy the echo sound of the stairwell tiles and sing 'Unchained Melody' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone', learning to love this goosebumps song from the tender age of five." Later, Garfunkel's father bought him a wire recorder and from then on, Garfunkel spent his afternoons singing, recording, and playing it back, so he could listen for flaws and learn how to improve.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: At his bar mitzvah in 1954, Garfunkel performed as a cantor, singing over four hours of his repertoire for his family. As a young teen, Garfunkel became ill with a lung infection, leading to a love for basketball. He explained in a 1998 interview: "In the summer of '55, I had a lung infection. I couldn't run around, but I loved basketball and there was a hoop nearby. Much of the summer I spent methodically hitting 96, 98 foul shots out of 100. Then 102! I never played on a team after junior high school. Just 3 against 3, half court pick up games in the schoolyard." He met future singing partner Paul Simon in the sixth grade at PS 164, when they were both cast in the elementary school graduation play, "Alice in Wonderland". It has been said by Garfunkel that Simon first became interested in singing after hearing Garfunkel sing a rendition of Nat King Cole's "Too Young" in a school talent show.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Between 1956 and 1962, the two performed together as "Tom & Jerry", a moniker coined by their label Big Records, occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were The Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part vocal harmony. In 1957, Simon & Garfunkel recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name Tom & Jerry. The single reached number 49 on the pop charts. After Tom & Jerry came to a close, Garfunkel would release two singles under the name Artie Garr: "Dream Alone"/"Beat Love" and "Forgive Me"/"Private World" with Warwick and Octavia Records respectively. Both singles would fail to chart.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: After graduating from Forest Hills High School alongside Simon, Garfunkel initially majored in architecture at Columbia University, where he was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and lived in Carman Hall. Garfunkel was a team member in tennis, skiing, fencing, and bowling at the college and also joined the all-male a cappella group on campus, the Columbia Kingsmen. While at Columbia his roommate, Sanford Greenberg, developed glaucoma and went blind. Garfunkel assisted him in his homework by reading his textbooks to Greenberg, who went on to graduate with honors. Greenberg later gave Garfunkel $500 to go and record a demo of "The Sound of Silence". Garfunkel ultimately earned a BA in art history in 1965, followed by an MA in mathematics education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1967. He also completed coursework toward a doctorate in the latter discipline at Teachers College, Columbia University during the peak of Simon & Garfunkel's commercial success; however he later dropped out.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 1963, Garfunkel and Simon (who graduated from Queens College before dropping out of Brooklyn Law School) reformed their duo under their own names as "Simon and Garfunkel". They released their first album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." on Columbia Records in October 1964. It was not a critical or commercial success, and the duo split. The next year, producer Tom Wilson lifted the song "The Sound of Silence" from the record, dubbed an electric backing onto it, and released it as a single that went to number one on the "Billboard" pop charts.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Simon had gone to the United Kingdom in 1965 after the initial failure of "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", to pursue a solo career. He briefly teamed with songwriter Bruce Woodley of The Seekers. After "The Sound of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success, he returned to the US to reunite with Garfunkel. The duo recorded four more influential albums: "Sounds of Silence"; "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme"; "Bookends"; and the hugely successful "Bridge over Troubled Water".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: They contributed to the soundtrack of the 1967 Mike Nichols film "The Graduate" (starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft). While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally considered the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!"


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Simon & Garfunkel traveled together to England in the fall of 1968. They made a concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC and featured Garfunkel's solo performance of "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her". He received a standing ovation.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: While Garfunkel was not a songwriter, he did write the poem "Canticle" as a re-write of Simon's "Side of A Hill" from his debut album, for "Scarborough Fair/Canticle". He worked as the vocal arranger for the duo, working out by whom the songs would be sung and how each song was produced. He is also credited as having written the arrangement on "The Boxer" and creating "Voices of Old People" (an audio montage) on "Bookends".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Citing personal differences and divergence in career interests, they split following the release of their most critically acclaimed album, "Bridge over Troubled Water", in 1970. Each pursued solo projects after 1970. They occasionally reunited, as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Garfunkel's "Breakaway". Contrary to popular belief, the song is not autobiographical of Simon's early life but of Garfunkel's childhood in Queens. In 1981, they got together again for a concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album "Think Too Much", which was eventually released, by Simon without Garfunkel, as "Hearts and Bones". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 2003, they reunited when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, leading to a US tour: the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series. It was followed by another in 2004, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. The concert drew 600,000 people.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: During a three-year hiatus after Simon & Garfunkel's breakup, Garfunkel starred in two Mike Nichols films, "Catch-22" (1970) and "Carnal Knowledge" (1971). He also spent late 1971 to early 1972 working as a mathematics teacher teaching geometry to high school sophomores at the short-lived Litchfield Academy in Connecticut.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In late 1972, with Simon & Garfunkel having released their "Greatest Hits" album and briefly reuniting to perform a benefit concert for presidential candidate George McGovern, Garfunkel felt ready to return to his musical career. His first album was 1973's "Angel Clare", which contained "All I Know", "I Shall Sing" and "Travelling Boy" as singles. The album was received with mixed reviews, reaching number 5 in the U.S. In 1974, Garfunkel released the hit single "Second Avenue".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: On his next album, 1975's "Breakaway", Garfunkel briefly reunited with Simon for the 1975 hit "My Little Town". The album also included the singles "Break Away" (B-Side: "Disney Girls") and "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song written by Harry Warren), which is noted as Garfunkel's first UK number one.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 1976, Garfunkel recorded both background and duet vocals for several artists, including Stephen Bishop's "Careless" album, James Taylor's "In The Pocket" album and J.D. Souther's "Black Rose" album. From December 1976 to September 1977, Garfunkel worked on his next album.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's next release was the 1977 album "Watermark" (US No. 19, UK No. 26). It failed to make an impression on the public upon release. Its main single, "Crying in My Sleep" ("Mr. Shuck 'N' Jive") (UK No. 25) didn't reach the US Top 40. After a two-month hiatus, it was re-released in January 1978, with Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "(What a) Wonderful World" (B-Side: "Wooden Planes"), reaching number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and seventeen on the pop chart. Paul Simon and mutual friend James Taylor had contributed backing vocals to the song, which was a huge hit on the US A.C. charts. In 1978, Garfunkel toured the U.S. and Canada extensively with noted guitarist Arlen Roth, John Barlow Jarvis on piano, and Leah Kunkel on second vocals.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's last release of the 1970s was the 1979 album "Fate For Breakfast" (US No. 67, UK No. 2). It was his first US flop. The album's first single, "In A Little While (I'll Be on My Way)" (B-Side: "And I Know") (US AC No. 12) failed to break the top forty, as did his second single, "Since I Don't Have You" (B-Side: "When Someone Doesn't Want You") (US No. 53, US AC No. 5, UK No. 38). The album was a huge success in the UK, scoring a number one hit with "Bright Eyes" (B-Side: "Sail on a Rainbow") (US AC No. 29, UK No. 1) (a song written by Mike Batt). A version of "Bright Eyes" also appeared in the movie "Watership Down".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's girlfriend since 1974, Laurie Bird, died by suicide in June 1979 at their Manhattan apartment, three months after the album's release in March. Garfunkel later admitted that the incident left him in a deep depression.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's next album was a low point in his career. The 1981 album, "Scissors Cut" (US No. 113, UK No. 51) (dedicated to Bird), contained three singles, "A Heart in New York" (B-Side: "Is This Love") (US No. 66, US AC No. 10), "Scissors Cut", and "Hang On In". The latter two failed to chart.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Following disappointing sales of "Scissors Cut", Garfunkel reunited with Simon for "The Concert in Central Park" and a world tour. They had significant disagreements during the tour. In 1984, "Stereo Review Magazine" reported that Simon mixed out Garfunkel's voice from a new album. It was initially slated to be a Simon & Garfunkel studio reunion, but was ultimately released as a Simon solo album ("Hearts and Bones"). In 1986, Garfunkel played the part of the butcher on the Mike Batt concept album "The Hunting of the Snark".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel released his first compilation album in 1984, "The Art Garfunkel Album" (UK No. 12), never released in the US, which contained the minor hit "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" (UK No. 77, US AC No. 25).


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel again left the music scene when his father died. In the fall of 1985, he met his future wife, Kathryn "Kim" Cermak; they were married in September 1988. Garfunkel's retirement lasted until his 1988 album, "Lefty" (US, No. 134), which produced three singles, "So Much in Love" (US No. 76, US AC No. 11), "When A Man Loves A Woman", and "This Is The Moment".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's live 1996 concert "Across America" (UK No. 35), recorded at the registry hall on Ellis Island, featured musical guests James Taylor, Garfunkel's wife, Kim, and his son James.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel performed the theme song for the 1991 television series "Brooklyn Bridge" and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for a 1998 episode of the children's educational television series "Arthur", where he was depicted as a singing moose. Garfunkel's performance of Monty Python member Eric Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was used in the end credits of the 1997 film "As Good as It Gets".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his "Everything Waits to Be Noticed" album. Teaming up with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, the album contained several songs which were originally poems written by Garfunkel.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a successful world tour that extended into 2004. That same year, his song "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" from "The Art Garfunkel Album" (1984) (written by Mike Batt) was re-recorded by ex-ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her album "My Colouring Book".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 2006, Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records (revived Atco Records), and his first Rhino/Atco album "Some Enchanted Evening" was released in the United States on January 30, 2007. The album was a dedicated celebration of pop standards of Garfunkel's childhood.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In 2009, Garfunkel appeared as himself on the HBO television show "Flight of the Conchords" episode entitled "Prime Minister".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: On February 13, 2009, Simon and his band re-opened New York's Beacon Theatre, which had been closed for seven months for renovation. As an encore, Simon brought out "my old friend, Art Garfunkel." They sang three songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends".


title: Art Garfunkel

text: On April 2, 2009, the duo announced a tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan for summer 2009. In late October, they participated together in the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists on the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, U2, Metallica, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In January 2010, Garfunkel developed vocal problems following damage to his vocal cords as the result of an incident in which he had briefly choked on a piece of lobster. In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date tour. According to a press release, the set list would focus on their classic catalog as well as songs from each of their solo careers. The first date in the tour was on April 24, a headlining set at the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Due to his vocal cord injury, singing proved difficult for Garfunkel. "I was terrible, and crazy nervous. I leaned on Paul Simon and the affection of the crowd," he told "Rolling Stone" several years later. Several months later on June 10, they performed "Mrs. Robinson" at an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award tribute to director Mike Nichols, in what proved to be their last performance together to date. On June 17, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, previously rescheduled for July 2010, which was postponed indefinitely while Garfunkel attempted to recover from a vocal cord paresis.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In November 2010, Garfunkel said that because of quitting smoking he was recovering from paresis and would be touring in 2011.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: He tried to resume touring in August 2012 just after releasing a 34-song retrospective, "The Singer". Garfunkel scheduled 19 solo shows in the United States and Sweden between August and December 2012. 16 of the shows were canceled. Garfunkel was due to perform at Night of The Proms in Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden, on September 28 and 29, 2012, but canceled at the last minute due to an "unforeseen vocal issue." Speaking about his voice in February 2013, Garfunkel said "It's getting mostly better; I'm pretty much there" and that he was starting to book small shows again. In 2014, he resumed touring, with Tab Laven accompanying him on acoustic guitar, his voice restored.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: On the September 30, 2015, episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", Garfunkel took part in the spoof "Black Simon & Garfunkel" skit with members of The Roots.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: The Simon and Garfunkel song "America" was used by Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: On September 26, 2017, Knopf Doubleday published in hardcover Garfunkel's memoir "What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man". Penguin Random House has published it in softcover and audiobook.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel, an avid reader and bibliophile, has admitted that while growing up the Garfunkel household was not a literary family and that it was not until entering Columbia University in 1959 that he began to "read a million books and became a reader." Thus began his interest in poetry.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's poetic career began in 1981 while on the Simon & Garfunkel 1981–1982 tour in Switzerland. He was riding a motorcycle and began writing a poem describing the countryside. In 1989, "Still Water", Garfunkel's collection of prose poetry, was released to acclaim. Topics included his depression over the loss of his father; Laurie Bird, his companion who committed suicide; his friendship with Paul Simon; and the joy of returning to music.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's website contains a year-by-year listing of every book he has read since 1968. Currently the list contains more than 1,000 books. He has also read the entire Random House Dictionary. Garfunkel has an interest in the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, having read his book "Confessions" at least three times (according to Garfunkel's website, the book was the 1st, 252nd, and 1,000th book he read).


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel pursued an acting career in the early 70s, appearing in two Mike Nichols films: "Catch-22" (1970), in which he played a supporting role as the 19-year-old naive Lieutenant Nately, and "Carnal Knowledge" (1971), a co-starring role in which he played the idealistic character Sandy. His role as Sandy secured him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1972.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: He later appeared in Nicolas Roeg's "Bad Timing" (1980) as Alex Linden, an American psychiatrist who serves as the film's main antagonist. The film received the Toronto Festival of Festivals's highest honor, the People's Choice Award, and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: He appeared in "Good to Go" (1986), directed by Blain Novak, starring as a Washington, D.C., journalist who struggles to clear his name after being framed for rape and murder. Garfunkel then appeared in the medical crime drama "Boxing Helena" (1993), directed by Jennifer Lynch, as Lawrence Augustine.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel's most recent film is "The Rebound" (2010), directed by Bart Freundlich. He played Harry Finklestein, the slightly senile and comic-relief father of the film's main character.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel is a tenor who usually sang the higher parts in Simon & Garfunkel's harmonies. Garfunkel's voice changed almost imperceptibly until his late fifties, when it began to lower after years of smoking. He quit smoking around 2010 to aid his recovery from vocal cord paresis.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel married Linda Marie Grossman (b. 1944), an architect, in Nashville on October 1, 1972, and they divorced in 1975. He has claimed that not only did he not love her, he didn't even like her much.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: He was romantically involved with actress and photographer Laurie Bird from March 1974 until her suicide in 1979.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: In late 1985, Garfunkel met former model Kathryn (Kim) Cermak (b. 1958; Czech spelling "Čermák") while shooting "Good to Go". They married on September 18, 1988, and have two sons: James, born December 15, 1990, and Beau, born October 5, 2005, via a surrogate mother. As of 2021, James Garfunkel is also a singer. He adopted the stage name Art Garfunkel Jr and released a German-language tribute album with Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel senior has undertaken several long walks in his lifetime, writing poetry along the way. In the early 1980s, he walked across Japan in a number of weeks. From 1983 to 1997, Garfunkel walked across the United States, taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Oregon. In May 1998, Garfunkel launched an installment walk across Europe, from a start in Ireland to his final stop in Istanbul in 2015.


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Despite being a native New Yorker, Garfunkel is a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan, having written on his website: "I never followed the crowd. So as a Queens kid, I didn't want to be a Dodger, Yankee, or Giant fan. One day when I was 8 I went to Ebbets Field and saw the Phillies with their red pinstripes, Robin Roberts, Pudinhead Jones. Somehow this was for me. The rest is loyalty. Decades of pain."


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel has said his all-time favorite pop song was The Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere" and his all-time favorite album was "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac. When asked about his musical preferences, he answered, "I have a very sure-footed sense of what I like, and exactly how much I like it. Give me two listenings of a song, and I can tell you exactly how it sits with me... I know my musical taste. I know my ears, I know what I respond to."


title: Art Garfunkel

text: Garfunkel has been arrested twice for the possession of marijuana: once in early 2004 and again in August 2005.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: Jane the Virgin is an American romantic comedy-drama and satirical telenovela developed by Jennie Snyder Urman. The series premiered October 13, 2014, on The CW and concluded on July 31, 2019. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela "Juana la virgen" created by Perla Farías. It stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a devout 23-year-old Latina virgin who becomes pregnant after an accidental artificial insemination by her gynecologist. It parodies common tropes and devices in Latin American telenovelas.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: "Jane the Virgin" received critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and Rodriguez's performance. At the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, "Jane the Virgin" was nominated for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Gina Rodriguez won Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. The show received a Peabody Award in 2014 and was also selected as one of the top 10 television programs of 2014 by the American Film Institute.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: Beginning with the fourth episode of season three, the series's on-screen title card was modified, with "The Virgin" crossed out in favor of a comedic substitution corresponding to each episode. This mirrored the storyline, in which Jane is no longer a virgin.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: Set in Miami, the series details the surprising and dramatic events that take place in the life of Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a hard-working, religious, young, Venezuelan-American woman with a love for writing. Jane's vow to her grandmother to save her virginity until marriage is threatened when a doctor mistakenly artificially inseminates her during a checkup. To make matters worse, the biological father is a married man, a former playboy, and a cancer survivor who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works but was also her former teenage crush. Jane has a tough decision to make as this was the final frozen sample and therefore the last chance for the biological dad, Rafael, to become a father. In addition to adjusting to pregnancy and then her motherhood, Jane is faced with many questions about her professional career future and the daunting prospect of choosing between the father of her baby or her detective boyfriend whom she had been with for two years before the events of the series. As the series evolves, the issues shift as her child grows into a toddler, her writing career moves forward, and her family members likewise develop independent plotlines. Some of these plotlines include issues with immigration status, health concerns, and lessons of self-discovery.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: On June 27, 2013, The CW announced that it was planning to release a new show based on the Venezuelan telenovela "Juana La Virgen". On February 23, 2014, "Entertainment Weekly" announced that Rodriguez would play the title role of Jane Villanueva. On May 8, 2014, during The CW's 2014–2015 upfronts, the series was officially picked up. and on July 18, 2014, an extended trailer was released by The CW. On August 8, 2014, it was announced that "White Collar"s Bridget Regan and Azie Tesfai would join the series as respectively Rose, a former lawyer, and Detective Nadine Hansan, a police detective and rival to Dier's character. On August 10, 2014, TVLine announced that "Melrose Place" and "Emily Owens, M.D." actor Michael Rady would join the series as Lachlan. Filming for season one commenced on July 28, 2014. The show is filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles and the pilot was filmed in Huntington Beach, California. On October 21, 2014, the show was given a full season order. On January 11, 2015, the show was renewed for a second season, set to air during the 2015–16 television season. Its second season premiered on October 12, 2015. On March 11, 2016, the show was renewed for a third season, which premiered on October 17, 2016. On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season that premiered on October 13, 2017. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a fifth and final season, which premiered on March 27, 2019.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: "Jane the Virgin" premiered on The CW on October 13, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season. Unique to the CW, it is the network's only program to feature a Spanish language audio track on the second audio program channel; however, as many CW stations usually do not carry the SAP channel due to a lack of need, this is more limited than the major networks, which are required by the FCC to have a SAP channel for the Descriptive Video Service track, which as a minor network the CW is not required to carry.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: Warner Home Video originally released Season 1 on DVD, but poor sales caused a switch in distribution rights with CBS (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) now releasing every season of "Jane the Virgin" as manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray and DVDs exclusively on Amazon going forward in addition to a manufacture-on-demand reissue of Season 1.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: The first season of "Jane the Virgin" received critical acclaim, Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season of the show a "certified fresh" rating of 100% based on 51 reviews, with a rating average of 7.7 out of 10. The site's consensus states, ""Jane the Virgin" dubious premise has become part of its unlikely charm – along with delightfully diverse writing and a knockout performance by Gina Rodriguez." Metacritic, another review aggregator, gives the show a score of 80 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Jane the Virgin

text: The second season also received critical acclaim, on Metacritic, the season holds an 87 out of 100, based on four reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 100% based on 12 reviews and a rating average of 9.7 out of 10. The site's consensus reads, ""Jane the Virgin" stays true to its over-the-top telenovela roots in season two while layering in more humor and increasingly complex storytelling." Maureen Ryan of "Variety" praised the show, saying that the series "is envisioned, edited and curated with great deftness and economy, and the fact that it is so entertaining and accessible should not preclude it from being at the center of conversations about the best the medium has to offer."


title: Jane the Virgin

text: The show has been acknowledged by the People's Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critics' Choice Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Image Awards and the Television Critics Association as well as honored by the American Film Institute and the George Foster Peabody Awards.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: A tie-in novel, based on the book Jane writes in the show, has been published. The story is a historical romance set in Miami during 1902. In the series, the book's plot is inspired by the love story of Jane and Michael.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: On December 3, 2018, it was announced that The CW was developing a possible spin-off of the series to launch in the 2019–20 television series. The potential series was conceived and written by Jane the Virgin writer and co-executive producer Valentina Garza as "a soapy, telenovela-inspired anthology series in the tradition of [its parent series] where each season was based on a different fictional novel [written by] Jane and narrated by Gina Rodriguez, who would reprise her role in the spin-off. On January 23, 2019, the spin-off, titled "Jane the Novela", was ordered to pilot at The CW. In February 2019, it was announced that Jacqueline Grace Lopez was cast as the main character, Estela. On March 7, 2019, it was announced that Marcia Cross was cast as Renata. On March 15, 2019 Hunter Parrish was cast as Felix, one of two male leads. Remy Hii was cast as the second male lead Luen on March 19, 2019.


title: Jane the Virgin

text: A Korean remake of the series titled as "Woori the Virgin" starring Im Soo-hyang in titular role was released on May 9, 2022 aired by Seoul Broadcasting System.


title: The Art of War

text: The Art of War () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. "The Art of War" remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare and has influenced both Far Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy, politics, sports, lifestyles and beyond.


title: The Art of War

text: The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training for millennia to come.


title: The Art of War

text: The book was translated into French and published in 1772 (re-published in 1782) by the French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title "The Book of War". The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910. Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, and American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. are all cited as having drawn inspiration from the book.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as Sun Tzu (now Romanized "Sunzi") meaning "Master Sun". Sun Tzu was traditionally said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but "The Art of War" earliest parts probably date to at least 100 years later.


title: The Art of War

text: Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian", the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one "Sun Wu" () from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helü of Wu (). This text was traditionally identified with the received "Master Sun's Art of War". The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train even court women in military discipline and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu. This view is still widely held in China.


title: The Art of War

text: The strategist, poet, and warlord Cao Cao in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the "Art of War". Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically. "The Art of War" appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely.


title: The Art of War

text: Beginning around the 12th century, some Chinese scholars began to doubt the historical existence of Sun Tzu, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic "The Commentary of Zuo" ("Zuo Zhuan"), which mentions most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period. The name "Sun Wu" () does not appear in any text prior to the "Records of the Grand Historian", and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" ( ), while "Wu" is the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" ( ), which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu. In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer Liang Qichao theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant Sun Bin, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote. Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of euhemerism.


title: The Art of War

text: In 1972, the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in two Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of Linyi in Shandong Province. Among the many bamboo slip writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118  BC, respectively were two separate texts, one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier "The Art of War" by Sunzi. The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name". This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one. The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern "The Art of War", and their text matches very closely. It is now generally accepted that the earlier "The Art of War" was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is divided into 13 chapters (or ); the collection is referred to as being one ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle").


title: The Art of War

text: Across East Asia, "The Art of War" was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations.


title: The Art of War

text: During the Sengoku period (), the Japanese Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied "The Art of War". The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as the wind, silent as a forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain.


title: The Art of War

text: The translator Samuel B. Griffith offers a chapter on "Sun Tzu and Mao Tse-Tung" where "The Art of War" is cited as influencing Mao's "On Guerrilla Warfare", "On the Protracted War" and "Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War", and includes Mao's quote: "We must not belittle the saying in the book of Sun Wu Tzu, the great military expert of ancient China, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'"


title: The Art of War

text: During the Vietnam War, some Vietcong officers extensively studied "The Art of War" and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory. General Võ Nguyên Giáp successfully implemented tactics described in "The Art of War" during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ending major French involvement in Indochina and leading to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. General Võ, later the main PVA military commander in the Vietnam War, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas. America's defeat there, more than any other event, brought Sun Tzu to the attention of leaders of U.S. military theory.


title: The Art of War

text: The Department of the Army in the United States, through its Command and General Staff College, lists "The Art of War" as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is listed on the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is used as instructional material at the US Military Academy at West Point, in the course Military Strategy (470), and it is also recommended reading for Officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Some notable military leaders have stated the following about Sun Tzu and "The Art of War":


title: The Art of War

text: According to some authors, the strategy of deception from "The Art of War" was studied and widely used by the KGB: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness". The book is widely cited by KGB officers in charge of disinformation operations in Vladimir Volkoff's novel "Le Montage".


title: The Art of War

text: Finnish Field Marshal Mannerheim and general Aksel Airo were avid readers of "Art of War"; Airo kept the book on his bedside table in his quarters.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" has been applied to many fields outside of the military. Much of the text is about how to outsmart one's opponent without actually having to engage in physical battle. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is mentioned as an influence in the earliest known Chinese collection of stories about fraud (mostly in the realm of commerce), Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (, , ), which dates to the late Ming dynasty.


title: The Art of War

text: Many business books have applied the lessons taken from the book to office politics and corporate business strategy. Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. The book is also popular among Western business circles citing its utilitarian values regarding management practices. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" has been the subject of legal books and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics and trial strategy.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" has also been applied in sports. National Football League coach Bill Belichick, record holder of the most Super Bowl wins in history, has stated on multiple occasions his admiration for "The Art of War". Brazilian association football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari actively used "The Art of War" for Brazil's successful 2002 World Cup campaign. During the tournament Scolari put passages of "The Art of War" underneath his players' doors at night.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is often quoted while developing tactics and/or strategy in esports. "Play To Win" by David Sirlin analyses applications of the ideas from "The Art of War" in modern esports. "The Art of War" was released in 2014 as an e-book companion alongside the Art of War DLC for Europa Universalis IV, a PC strategy game by Paradox Development Studios, with a foreword by Thomas Johansson.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" and Sun Tzu have been referenced and quoted in many movies and television shows, including In the 1987 movie "Wall Street", Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) frequently references it The 20th "James Bond" film, "Die Another Day" (2002) also references "The Art of War" as the spiritual guide shared by Colonel Moon and his father. and in "The Sopranos". In season 3, episode 8 ("He Is Risen"), Dr. Melfi suggests to Tony Soprano that he read the book. and


title: The Art of War

text: the "" first-season episode "The Last Outpost", William Riker quotes "The Art of War" to Captain Picard, who expressed pleasure that Sun Tzu was still taught at Starfleet Academy. Later in the episode, a survivor from a long-dead nonhuman empire noted common aspects between his own people's wisdom and "The Art of War" with regard to knowing when and when not to fight.


title: The Art of War

text: "The Art of War" is a 2000 action spy film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Wesley Snipes, Michael Biehn, Anne Archer and Donald Sutherland.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Folklore (stylized in all lowercase) is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album, released on July 24, 2020, via Republic Records. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Swift cancelled the concert tour for her seventh studio album "Lover" (2019). During quarantine, she conceived "Folklore" as "a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness", and worked with producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually, recording her vocals at an inbuilt studio in her Los Angeles residence, while Dessner and Antonoff operated from Hudson Valley and New York City, respectively.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Departing from the mainly upbeat pop production of its predecessors, "Folklore" consists of mellow ballads driven by neo-classical instruments, pursuing indie folk, alternative rock, and electroacoustic styles. Influenced by loneliness during quarantine, Swift explores themes of escapism, empathy, nostalgia and romanticism in the album, using a set of characters, fictional narratives, and story arcs, in contrast to the autobiographical tone of her previous projects. The title was inspired by the lasting legacy of folk songs, whereas its visual aesthetic reflects cottagecore.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Upon release, "Folklore" broke the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act. Three of its tracks reached the top 10 of the record charts in eight countries, namely "Cardigan", "The 1" and "Exile", the first of which is the album's lead single and marked Swift's sixth number-one song on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. "Folklore" topped the charts in various countries and is certified platinum in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was Swift's seventh number-one album on the US "Billboard" 200, where it reigned atop for eight weeks and became the best-selling album of 2020.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: "Folklore" received widespread critical acclaim, centering on its emotional weight, poetic lyricism, and relaxed pace. Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift's artistry. The album was featured on numerous 2020 year-end rankings, often referred to as the quintessential lockdown record. It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making Swift the first woman in history to win the honor three times, following her wins for "Fearless" (2008) and "1989" (2014). She discussed "Folklore" and performed it live in the Disney+ concert documentary "", premiering on November 25, 2020, and released "Folklore" sequel record, "Evermore" (2020), two weeks later. Several music artists cite "Folklore" as a source of inspiration.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: In April 2020, Taylor Swift was set to embark on Lover Fest, her sixth concert tour in support of her seventh studio album "Lover" (2019), which was cancelled following the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 23, 2020, nine photos were uploaded to Swift's Instagram account, all without captions, forming a black and white image of the singer standing alone in a forest. Subsequently, she made another post across all her social media accounts, announcing that her eighth studio album would be released at midnight; Swift stated: "Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen. And that thing is my 8th studio album, "Folklore"". She confirmed the image as the album's cover artwork and revealed the track list. "The Wall Street Journal" opined that the surprise announcement "caught fans and the music business off-guard". "Billboard" stated that it "blindsided the pop music world", arriving as "exciting news" during lockdown. "Folklore" was released eleven months after "Lover"—the fastest turnaround for a Swift studio album at the time, beating the one year and nine months gap between "Reputation" (2017) and "Lover". In another post, Swift announced that the music video for the track "Cardigan" would release at the same time as the album.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: During the YouTube premiere countdown to the "Cardigan" music video, Swift hinted that the album lyrics contained many of her signature Easter eggs: "One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the videos. I created character arcs and recurring themes that map out who is singing about who... For example, there's a collection of three songs I refer to as the Teenage Love Triangle. These three songs explore a love triangle from all three people's perspectives at different times in their lives". She referred to the album as "wistful and full of escapism. Sad, beautiful, tragic. Like a photo album full of imagery, and all the stories behind that imagery", described "Cardigan" as a song that explores "lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently in our memories," and pointed-out the self-written track, "My Tears Ricochet", as the first song she wrote for the album. "Uproxx" narrated, "on Thursday night, that hand-drawn 'T' and 'S' could be seen up and down the timeline. Music fans and critics across genres unveiled hot takes, quoted lyrics like Myspace teens writing on the back of textbooks or crafting the perfect AIM away message, and debated "Folklore"'s place in the unimpeachable Taylor Swift canon."


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Swift did not expect to create an album in early 2020. After the cancellation of Lover Fest, Swift quarantined herself, during which she watched numerous films, such as "Rear Window" (1954), "L.A. Confidential" (1997), "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006), "Jane Eyre" (2011), "Marriage Story" (2019), and "The Last Dance" (2020), and read more books than she ever did, books that "dealt with times past, a world that doesn't exist anymore", such as "Rebecca" (1938) by Daphne du Maurier. The fictions inspired Swift to venture beyond her usual autobiographical style of songwriting, and experiment with different narrative standpoints. In isolation during the lockdown, she let her imagination "run wild", ensuing in a set of imageries and visuals that consequently became "Folklore".


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Some of the imageries the singer developed include: "An exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn't his own, wondering how it all went so terribly, terribly wrong. An embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession. A seventeen-year-old standing on a porch, learning to apologize. Lovestruck kids wandering up and down the evergreen High Line. My grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942. A misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out". Swift "poured all of [her] whims, dreams, fears, and musings" into the songs, and reached out to her "musical heroes" to collaborate with. She initially planned to release "Folklore" in early 2021, but it "ended up being done" sooner, and released in July 2020 without giving it second thoughts. She approached the album's creation without subjecting herself to any rules, and explained that she "used to put all these parameters on [herself], like, "How will this song sound in a stadium? How will this song sound on radio?" If you take away all the parameters, what do you make? And I guess the answer is "Folklore"."


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Swift's songwriting drifted towards escapism and romanticism for "Folklore". She enlisted two producers to achieve her desired sound—her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who worked with her on "1989" (2014), "Reputation", and "Lover", and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner, guitarist of American indie rock band the National. Due to COVID-19 concerns, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner quarantined remotely, separate from each other, creating "Folklore" by continually exchanging digital files of instrumentals and vocals. The album ensued from a DIY process, mixed and engineered by personnel scattered across the US.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Swift had previously met the National on a "Saturday Night Live" episode in 2014, and attended one of their concerts in 2019, where she talked to Dessner and his twin brother Bryce. She asked Aaron Dessner about his songwriting technique, because it is her "favorite thing to ask people who I'm a fan of", and he replied his band members live in different parts of the world, and that he would make instrumental tracks and send them to the lead singer, Matt Berninger, who would write the lyrics—this ignited Swift's idea to create music in quarantine.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Due to the pandemic, all recording studios were closed, so Swift built a home studio at her Los Angeles residence, named Kitty Committee, with help from engineer Laura Sisk. Antonoff, with whom Swift worked on five songs from the album, operated from New York City while Sisk recorded Swift's vocals in Los Angeles. "My Tears Ricochet" was the first song written for "Folklore". Swift wrote it about her ties with Scott Borchetta, founder of her old record label, coming to an abrupt end. Antonoff compared the writing process of "Mirrorball" and "August" to that of "Out of the Woods" (2016). Swift wrote "Mirrorball" following the cancellation of Lover Fest, as an ode to fans who find solace in her music and concerts. She wrote "August" about a fictitious mistress, and "This Is Me Trying" based on multiple narratives, such as dealing with addiction, and her own mental health in 2016–2017 when she felt she was "worth absolutely nothing."


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: In late April, Swift approached Dessner to co-write some songs remotely. He worked on eleven of the album's 16 tracks over the next few months. Dessner "thought it would take a while for song ideas to come" and "had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely", but was surprised that "a few hours after sharing music, my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written song—the momentum never really stopped." Swift and Dessner "were pretty much in touch daily for three or four months by text and phone calls." He would mail her folders of instrumentals, and she would write the "entire top line"—melody and lyrics, and "he wouldn't know what the song would be about, what it was going to be called, where [she] was going to put the chorus." The first song the duo wrote was "Cardigan", which is based on one of Dessner's sketches called "Maple". "Cardigan" was followed by "Seven" and "Peace". Upon hearing the composition of "Peace", Swift felt an "immediate sense of serenity" that roused the feeling of being peaceful, but felt it would be "too on-the-nose" to sing about finding peace; she instead wrote about complex "conflicted" feelings contrasting the track's calming sound, and recorded it in one vocal take.A few weeks later, when Swift and Dessner had written "six or seven" songs, she explained him her concept of "Folklore". She told him about the work she had done earlier with Antonoff, concluding that both of her works resonate as an album. Swift and Dessner also wrote "The Last Great American Dynasty", "Mad Woman", and "Epiphany", the first of which has an array of electric guitars inspired by Radiohead's 2007 surprise album "In Rainbows". The lyrics document American socialite Rebekah Harkness, whom Swift had been wanting to write about ever since she bought the Holiday House in 2013. Dessner composed the piano melody for "Mad Woman" with his earlier work on "Cardigan" and "Seven" in mind. On "Epiphany", he slowed down and reversed the sounds of different instruments to create a "giant stack of harmony", and added piano for a cinematic trope. Swift wrote the song based on the experiences of her veteran grandfather, and healthcare workers in the pandemic.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Swift wrote two songs, "Exile" and "Betty", with her boyfriend, English actor Joe Alwyn. She developed "Exile" as a duet, and Dessner recorded a draft of her singing both the male and female parts. Swift and Dessner ran through candidates for the male partner, and Swift liked the voice of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who is one half of the American indie rock band Big Red Machine along with Dessner. Dessner sent the song to Vernon, who liked the song, added his own lyrics and sang his part. "Betty" is the only song on the album produced by both Dessner and Antonoff; Swift was influenced by Bob Dylan's "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963) and "John Wesley Harding" (1967) for its composition. Alwyn used the pseudonym William Bowery for his credits. Upon the album's release, mainstream media and fans pointed out Bowery's lack of online presence, and presumed the use of a pseudonym for Alwyn. Swift later confirmed that Bowery is indeed Alwyn, and that he penned the chorus of "Betty", and the piano line and first verse in "Exile". The last two songs written were "The 1" and "Hoax", the first and last songs on the album respectively; Swift wrote both in a span of few hours. Speaking about his collaboration with her, Dessner commented "there's a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you'll love and take comfort in as much as I do."


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: In a November 2020 "Rolling Stone" interview with Paul McCartney, Swift stated she began using words in the album's lyrics that she always wanted to use, not worrying about whether it would suit radio. She used "bigger, flowerier, prettier" words such as "epiphany", "elegies" and "divorcée", just because they "sound beautiful". Swift disclosed that she maintains lists of such words, and recalled using one such, "kaleidoscope", in "Welcome to New York" (2014). In a December 2020 "Entertainment Weekly" interview, Swift said the lyrics, melodies, and production of "Folklore" are the way she wanted them, without subjecting to others' expectations.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: "Folklore" was written and recorded in secrecy. Swift, her boyfriend, family, management team, Antonoff, and Dessner were aware of the album's creation; she did not disclose the news or play the album to her friends like she did with her previous works. Near the end of "Folklore"'s recording process, Dessner reached out to his regular collaborators, including the National bandmates, to provide instrumentation remotely. Bryce orchestrated several songs, while Bryan Devendorf performed the drums in "Seven". Dessner kept Swift's involvement confidential from his family and colleagues until announcement. While filming the "Cardigan" music video, Swift wore an earpiece and lip-synced to the song to prevent it from leaking. Dessner stated that Swift's label, Republic Records, was unaware of the album until hours before its launch.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: The standard edition of "Folklore" is about an hour and three minutes long, consisting of 16 tracks, while the deluxe edition adds a bonus song, "The Lakes", as the seventeenth track. Bon Iver is featured on "Exile", the fourth track. "Folklore" was written and produced by Swift, Dessner, Antonoff, and Alwyn, with additional writing credit to Vernon, the lead vocalist of Bon Iver, on "Exile". It is Swift's first album to carry an explicit content label.


title: Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

text: Critics mostly categorize "Folklore" as an alternative, indie folk, and electro-folk album departing from the pop maximalism and synth-driven sound of Swift's previous works. It also incorporates indie rock, electronica, dream pop, country, and folk rock elements. "NME" Hannah Mylrea wrote the album "dives headfirst into the world of folk, alternative rock and indie", while the same magazine's Gary Ryan classified it as indietronica and chamber pop. Kaelen Bell of "Exclaim!" said "Folklore" is a laid-back pop record, "Variety" Chris Willman and "Pitchfork" Jillian Mapes specified it as chamber pop, Michael Sumsion of "PopMatters" described it as a blend of chamber-pop and alt-folk, and Raisa Bruner of "Time" deemed it "alternative pop-folk". Music journalist Amanda Petrusich, reviewing for "The New Yorker", felt "Folklore" is a "genre-less" record that drifts toward atmospheric pop rather than folk. In disagreement, "The New York Times" critic Jon Caramanica called it an atmospheric rock album abandoning pop. Spencer Kornhaber of "The Atlantic" said the album "swims through intricate classical and folk instrumentation" held together by electronic music.