title: David Walliams

text: In early 2008 Walliams signed a contract with HarperCollins to publish two children's books. The debut novel, "The Boy in the Dress", illustrated by Quentin Blake, was released worldwide on 1 November 2008. It explores several of the themes of "Little Britain" from Walliams' own life on an emotional level, such as the camp humour of cross-dressing and effeminacy. The story recounts a neglected 12-year-old boy called Dennis' search for a female role model, his friendship with the popular girl in school, and the ways in which relationships develop along gender lines. The story has a strong resonance with Anne Fine's 1989 book "Bill's New Frock". This book was adapted into a film for Christmas 2014.


title: David Walliams

text: In November 2009 came "Mr Stink", again illustrated by Quentin Blake, about a 12-year-old girl who meets a tramp and helps look after him. She keeps him hidden from her family. The book consists of 26 illustrated chapters full of jokes. It is aimed at teenagers and children over 9. It was the last of Walliams books to be illustrated by Quentin Blake. The book was awarded the Children's Award in the inaugural People's Book Prize in 2010, and was made into a 60-minute film, which premiered on BBC One on 23 December 2012.


title: David Walliams

text: On 28 October 2010 Walliams published his third book "Billionaire Boy", illustrated by Tony Ross, telling the story of Joe Spud, the richest 12-year-old in the country. Joe's father is a famous inventor, and his wealth means that Joe has everything he could ever want: his own bowling alley, cinema and a trained orangutan who serves as his butler, but there is just one thing he really needs: a friend. The book included a 'billion pound note' that was used to enter a competition to win a day as a billionaire in London. This was the first of his books to be illustrated by Tony Ross.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams' fourth book, "Gangsta Granny" was released in October 2011 and again illustrated by Tony Ross. It tells the story of Ben who is bored every time he is made to stay at his grandma's house as all she wants to do is to play board games and eat cabbage soup. Ben learns that she was once an international jewel thief and all her life she has wanted to steal the crown jewels. Ben is determined that they do it together. It won a Red House Children's Book Award and was adapted to be a 70-minute film for BBC One and shown on 26 December 2013.


title: David Walliams

text: In September 2012 Walliams released his fifth children's book, "Ratburger", telling the story of a young girl named Zoe whose life is a misery as she has an evil stepmother. It was made into a one-off drama for Sky One.


title: David Walliams

text: "Ratburger" was followed in September 2013 by Walliams' sixth book, "Demon Dentist", relating the tale of a young boy named Alfie with no family except his dad whose world goes upside-down when a new dentist arrives in town. The book won the top prize in the Younger Readers category at the 2015 Red House Children's Book Awards.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams' seventh children's book, "Awful Auntie", was released on 25 September 2014. This was the story of a girl named Stella whose Auntie has moved into her house with her owl, Wagner. It is the first (and currently only) of Walliams' books to not include Raj the newsagent, due to the book being set in the 1930s before Raj was born.


title: David Walliams

text: In September 2015 he released "Grandpa's Great Escape". The story follows a boy called Jack trying to rescue his Grandpa who suffers from Alzheimer's disease from a care home run by an evil matron. The book was adapted for BBC One, with the script written by Walliams and Kevin Cecil, and starring Tom Courtenay as Grandpa. This book, although set in the 1980s like "Awful Auntie" is, sees the return of Raj the newsagent. The same year that "Grandpa's Great Escape" was published, Walliams backed children's fairytales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF, together with Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine, Charlotte Rampling and Paul McKenna.


title: David Walliams

text: "The Midnight Gang" was published in November 2016. "Bad Dad" was published in November 2017. Walliams sold £16.57 million worth of books in 2017. "The Ice Monster" was published in November 2018. Walliams' latest children's novel, "Slime", was published in April 2020.


title: David Walliams

text: Illustrated in colour by Tony Ross, Walliams' three "The World's Worst Children" short story collections, centered around 'five beastly boys and five gruesome girls', were published in May 2016, May 2017 and May 2018, respectively.


title: David Walliams

text: In September 2021 it was announced that one of the stories in "The World's Worst Children" would be removed after podcaster Georgie Ma made a complaint, saying Walliams' book was "normalising jokes on minorities from a young age." The story criticised by Ma earlier in the year is "about a Chinese boy called Brian Wong" who is "never, ever wrong". Ma, who also called out the story for its "casual racism", talked in May with representatives of HarperCollins, who agreed to remove the story in future editions of the book.


title: David Walliams

text: On 26 August 2008 Walliams made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre in Dublin opposite Michael Gambon in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", in front of an audience that included Pinter himself. The production transferred to London later in the year.


title: David Walliams

text: In 2013, he played the part of Bottom in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Noël Coward Theatre opposite Sheridan Smith as Titania.


title: David Walliams

text: In July 2014, Walliams appeared on stage with Monty Python during their live show "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" held at the O Arena, London. He was the special guest in their "Blackmail" sketch.


title: David Walliams

text: In addition to his writing credits for his sketch shows and adaptions of his novels, he co-wrote an animated film titled "Shadows" with filmmaker Edgar Wright for DreamWorks Animation. It was released in 2019.


title: David Walliams

text: In 2018, Walliams also starred in the British Airways Safety video, which was conducted in conjunction with Comic Relief for the airlines in house charity. Walliams most notable occasion in the video is the lifejacket instruction. Since then the video has been reworked with a mixture of the previous version; however, Walliams still appears in the new version.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams co-hosted a segment of the Sport Relief telethon in 2012, co-hosting the 22:00–22:40 slot with Miranda Hart when the show moved over to BBC Two while the BBC News at Ten was aired.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams also co-hosted the 2014 Sport Relief telethon. This time, he hosted the earlier slot between 19:00–22:00 with Gary Lineker and later Davina McCall.


title: David Walliams

text: On 4 July 2006 Walliams swam the English Channel for Sport Relief. It took him 10 hours and 34 minutes to swim the 22-mile (35 km) stretch of sea, equivalent to 700 lengths of an Olympic-size swimming pool. This was wrongly reported as one of the top 50 recorded times for an unaided Channel crossing; in reality Walliams placed 167th at the time of crossing in only the CSA listings, excluding the CSPF listings. He raised over £1 million in donations. Under the supervision of his trainer, he trained for nine months to prepare for the swim. The training had to coincide with Walliams and Lucas's "Little Britain Live" tour, so he daily had to train for several hours before performing on stage in the evening.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams first swam from Lee-on-the-Solent near Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in around two hours and also completed an eight-hour swim off the coast of Croatia before embarking on the cross-Channel attempt. Walliams has insisted that prior to his challenge he had never seriously taken part in any sport. The Bluetones' lead singer Mark Morriss wrote a song, "Fade In/Fade Out", in honour of Walliams' achievement; it can be found on their self-titled album, released on 9 October 2006.


title: David Walliams

text: On 7 March 2008 Walliams, along with James Cracknell, swam the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco, again for Sport Relief. He successfully completed the swim in just over 4½ hours.


title: David Walliams

text: In March 2010 Walliams and a group of celebrities cycled an end-to-end journey through the UK, raising over £1 million for Sport Relief. Walliams suffered a serious fall when tackling the Kirkstone Pass, a thousand-foot climb in the Lake District but was able to complete the ride.


title: David Walliams

text: In March 2011 Walliams undertook "24 Hour Panel People", in which he took part in back-to-back recordings of various panel show formats over the course of 24 hours to raise money for Comic Relief. The recordings were streamed live on the BBC website. He took part in 19 episodes of "classic" TV panel shows.


title: David Walliams

text: From 5 to 12 September 2011 Walliams swam the length of the River Thames () and raised more than £2 million for Sport Relief. Once he had got out of the river Walliams said "I think a bath is the only water I will be seeing for a while." The swim resulted in him getting giardiasis and injuring an intervertebral disc. In late 2013, Walliams had emergency back surgery to alleviate issues caused by the swim.


title: David Walliams

text: In 2009, Walliams dated eighteen-year-old model Lauren Budd. Budd claimed Walliams had approached her agent, Premier Model Management for a date with Budd.


title: David Walliams

text: In 2009, Walliams began dating Dutch model Lara Stone. On 20 January 2010, they got engaged after her parents had given their blessing to the relationship. On 16 May 2010, the couple were married at central London's Claridge's Hotel. On 6 May 2013, Stone gave birth to the couple's child, Alfred.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams and Stone lived in the house with recording studio, formerly owned by Noel Gallagher, known as Supernova Heights in Belsize Park, north London. It was reported on 4 March 2015 that, following five years of marriage, the pair had decided to try a trial separation after "drifting apart". On 9 September 2015, Walliams filed for divorce from Stone, citing "unreasonable behaviour". The couple were granted a decree nisi the next day; the marriage was formally dissolved six weeks after the date of filing.


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams hinted at being pansexual in the book "Inside Little Britain", but said he did not like to be labelled by that word. In an interview with "Radio Times" in 2013, he stated: "I think it's all about falling in love with the person and that is overlooked, really. I hate it when people 'confess' or 'reveal' their sexuality and also things can change for people over the years. So it is about the person but I also think it goes beyond that. You don't just fall in love with someone's body, do you? You fall in love with someone's soul and heart and brain."


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he described his 2006 swim of the English Channel as "some sort of redemption".


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams performed a 'Hide the Sausage' sketch numerous times during the "Little Britain Live" tour in 2006 and subsequent worldwide tours including "Little Britain in Australia" in 2007 and at charity events. Walliams portrayed a fictional, gay, former children's entertainer and sex offender named Des Kaye who invites volunteers from the audience or celebrity guests to play the game. Recordings of the sketch include footage where Walliams attempts to kiss participants, manhandles them, pulls their trousers and underwear down, and simulates anal sex. Volunteers are seen "grappling to keep their genitals covered." The sketch was criticised by gay rights campaigners and attracted criticism and concern from members of the public.


title: David Walliams

text: Footage from a 2007 BBC documentary titled "Little Britain Down Under" shows Walliams inviting male teenagers, said to be aged sixteen to eighteen, to play 'Hide the Sausage' on stage. Walliams asks the volunteers to confirm their ages and says "Bingo" when one claims they are sixteen years old before adding, "You're a big boy for 16 aren't you - that's what I'll tell the judge."


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams is seen pulling down the trousers and underwear of young men before he appears to kiss their buttocks and simulate anal sex. The volunteers attempt to keep their clothes on.


title: David Walliams

text: During the documentary, Walliams reads a letter he claims was written by a victim of sexual abuse who criticises the Des Kaye character. Elsewhere in the documentary, Walliams says, "I love cruelty, it's my favourite thing in the world."


title: David Walliams

text: In 2006, Walliams performed 'Hide the Sausage' during the "Little Britain Comic Relief Gala" at the Hammersmith Apollo. Participants included comedian David Baddiel and English actor Jeremy Edwards whose genitals were exposed to more than 3,000 people in the live audience. Walliams also 'dry humped' Edwards and laid on top of him. Walliams said on stage, "That was not meant to happen. You were not supposed to see gonad. Arse crack, yes. Gonad, no.' An image of the incident, that includes Edwards' penis, is available to purchase on Getty Images


title: David Walliams

text: Chortle reported that. "tellingly, Edwards - who seemed genuinely embarrassed by the incident – did not appear at the final curtain call."


title: David Walliams

text: On 2 November 2009, Walliams performed the sketch with Mark Ronson at London's O2 Academy Brixton in front of 3,000 people at a charity event for Concert for CARE. Footage from the event shows Ronson trying to stop Walliams from pulling his trousers and underwear down. Ronson's buttocks were exposed. After the event, Walliams was reported to have said, "When I put my mind to it, I have the strength of ten men so there's no stopping me. Mark is a cool, calm character. To put him in that position was out of his comfort zone." Walliams claimed that he offered to buy Ronson a new suit.


title: David Walliams

text: Matt Lucas discussed the 'Hide the Sausage' sketch in his 2017 autobiography titled "Little Me" and claimed that some audience members reacted with violence. Lucas wrote that. "During a game of 'Hide the Sausage', he would almost always wrestle the trousers off some poor lad" adding that, "You could never get away with that today. In fact he didn't always get away with it then. Sometimes David would get a clout for his troubles and I'd see him in the wings afterwards, nursing a sore ear."


title: David Walliams

text: Critics of the sketch included human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who said it, "crosses a red line into the sexual humiliation of young men. Tatchell added:Williams portrayal of a predatory paedophile is not funny. It's sickening and unacceptable. That sketch should not be repeated anywhere. It should be withdrawn from public viewing and filed in a film archive so that future historians have evidence of what passed for 'comedy' only 13 years ago. Some viewers will have interpreted Walliams as playing the trope of gay men as predators and paedophiles. Even though Walliams supports the LGBT+ community, his depiction plays into the hands of those who wrongly equate homosexuality with the exploitation of young people.


title: David Walliams

text: In early November 2017, Walliams caused upset through his dressing as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for Halloween and posting it online. He had shared the photograph on his Twitter account, in costume, wearing a black suit, wig, and artificial prosthetics that appeared to alter his eyelids and hairline. There was an immediate backlash online, many Twitter users branding the outfit "racist" and accusing Walliams of "yellow-face". Others made the point that it was insensitive for Walliams to dress as Kim Jong-un given the North Korean leader's 'appalling' human rights record. Walliams responded to the backlash lightly, constructing a fake text message from Kim Jong-un which he posted to Twitter, reading: "Hi Dave, Loved the Halloween outfit mate! Wet meself laughing. Don't see what all the fuss is about. Kim x. PS Can't wait to read "Bad Dad"."


title: David Walliams

text: In January 2018, Walliams attended a Presidents Club Charitable Trust charity auction as a host, as well as offering the opportunity to name a character in a future book as an auction prize. The 2018 event was his third time hosting, with Walliams additionally offering that he would be "personally presenting the book to your family over afternoon tea". This event was later subject to significant controversy, after undercover reporters reported many of the hostesses were subject to groping and sexual harassment from the all-male attendees. Walliams said he attended the event in a "strictly professional capacity" as host, and "left immediately" after his set ended, stating that he was "absolutely appalled" by the reports. The controversy caused some bookshops to remove his books from sale, with the owner of Chicken and Frog noting "even if he was unaware, when the highly inappropriate suggested names were mentioned for his auction lot, or the plastic surgery to ‘add spice to your wife’, he should have walked away. He did not".


title: David Walliams

text: In June 2020, Netflix, Britbox, NOW TV and BBC iPlayer dropped Walliams and Lucas' "Little Britain" and "Come Fly With Me", over the use of blackface and stereotypes to portray black, disabled, working class, transgender, and gay people. In Little Britain, both Walliams and Lucas use make up to portray different races, with Walliams portraying a black health-spa guest called Desiree Devere. Variety Magazine attributed the widespread removal of the series on streaming platforms to heightened awareness in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests. After the removal, Walliams and Lucas released identical apologies on their Twitter: "[We] have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong & we are very sorry.”


title: David Walliams

text: In July 2020, tweets by author and activist Jack Monroe described Walliams' books as "like Little Britain for kids", with "horrific racism and classism and bodyshaming in a veneer of privileged deniability". HarperCollins issued a response, stating "David Walliams's books have a diverse readership which is reflected in their content".


title: David Walliams

text: In November 2022, it emerged that Walliams had made sexually explicit and derogatory remarks towards some of the contestants on Britain's Got Talent, during a recording at the London Palladium in January 2020. He was recorded as saying of one of them, "She thinks you want to fuck her, but you don’t... I know, she’s just like: ‘Oh, fuck off!’ I was saying, she thinks you want to fuck her, but you don't. It's the last thing on your mind, but she's like: ‘Yep, I bet you do!’ ‘No I don’t!’ I had a bit of a boner, but now it's going, it's now shrivelled up inside my body." In a statement later, he said: "I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain's Got Talent in 2020. These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry."


title: David Walliams

text: Walliams was given a special award in recognition of his sporting efforts for charity. Matt Lucas produced a documentary on the subject, entitled "Little Britain's Big Swim". On 6 November 2006, Walliams won the Pride of Britain Award for "The Most Influential Public Figure" as he raised more than £1.5 million swimming the channel for the Sport Relief charity. Although initially tipped as a contender for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year poll for 2006, Walliams failed to make the final shortlist of 10 contenders. Walliams was given a special award during the ceremony for his achievement. In July 2006, he became Patron of 'Cardiac Risk in the Young'.


title: David Walliams

text: At the 2012 National Television Awards, Walliams won the 'Landmark Achievement Award', for his television career and achievements for Sport Relief. In December 2012 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Ratburger". In December 2013 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Demon Dentist". In December 2014 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Awful Auntie". "Awful Auntie" also won the 2014 Specsavers National Book Awards "Audiobook of the Year".


title: David Walliams

text: He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to charity and the arts. He was invested with the honour by Princess Anne.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy drama film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Susan Gauthier, Bruce Graham, and the writing team of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. The film stars the voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters, Kirsten Dunst, and Angela Lansbury. Based on the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia, the film follows an eighteen-year-old amnesiac Anastasia "Anya" Romanov who, hoping to find some trace of her deceased family, sides with two con men who wish to pass her off as the Grand Duchess to dowager empress Maria Feodorovna; thus the film shares its plot with Fox's 1956 film, which, in turn, was based on the 1954 play of the same name by Marcelle Maurette. Unlike those treatments, this version adds a magically empowered Grigori Rasputin as the antagonist.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: "Anastasia" was the first 20th Century Fox animated feature to be produced by its own animation division, 20th Century Fox Animation, through its subsidiary Fox Animation Studios. It premiered in New York City on November 14, 1997, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 21. Critics praised the animation, voice performances, and soundtrack, though it attracted criticism from some historians for its fantastical retelling of the Grand Duchess. "Anastasia" grossed $140 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film from Bluth and Fox Animation Studios, as well as one of 20th Century Fox's most profitable animated films. It received nominations for several awards, including for Best Original Song ("Journey to the Past") and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score at the 70th Academy Awards.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: The success of "Anastasia" spawned various adaptations of the film into other media, including a direct-to-video spin-off film, a , books, toys and a stage musical, which premiered in 2016. The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney made fans speculate about Anastasia's potential status in the Disney Princess lineup.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: In 2022, Bluth said that he accepts and trusts Disney's ownership of the film as long as it refrains from "marketing its title character as just another Disney princess".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: In 1916 Petrograd, Russia, at a ball celebrating the Romanov tricentennial, Dowager Empress Marie bestows a music box and a necklace inscribed with the words "Together in Paris" as parting gifts to her youngest granddaughter, eight-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia. The ball is suddenly interrupted by Grigori Rasputin, a sorcerer and former royal advisor exiled for treason, who vows to Tsar Nicholas that his family will be banished with a curse. Consumed by his hatred for the Romanovs, Rasputin sells his soul in exchange for an unholy reliquary, which he uses to spark the Russian Revolution. As revolutionaries besiege the palace, Marie and Anastasia escape through a secret passageway, aided by 10-year-old servant boy Dimitri. Rasputin confronts the two royals outside on the frozen Little Nevka River, only to fall through the ice and drown. The pair reach a moving train, but as Marie climbs aboard, Anastasia falls and hits her head on the platform, subsequently suffering amnesia.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Ten years later, Russia is under communist rule and Marie publicly offers 10 million roubles for the safe return of her granddaughter. Now working as a conman, Dimitri and his partner-in-crime Vlad Vasilovich search for an Anastasia look-alike to bring to Paris so they can collect the reward. Elsewhere, an 18-year-old Anastasia (now called "Anya") leaves the rural orphanage where she grew up and begins a search for her family. Accompanied by a stray puppy she names Pooka, Anya heads to Paris, inspired by the inscription on her necklace, but finds herself unable to leave the Soviet Union without an exit visa. An old woman advises her to see Dimitri at the abandoned palace. There, the two men are impressed by Anya's resemblance to the "real" Anastasia, and decide to take her with them to Paris, unaware of her identity.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Watching the meeting, Rasputin's albino bat minion Bartok notices his master's dormant reliquary suddenly revived by Anya's presence. It drags him down to limbo, where he finds an undead Rasputin confined. Enraged to hear that Anastasia escaped the curse, Rasputin sends his demonic minions from the reliquary to kill her. The demons sabotage the trio's train as they leave Leningrad, and later try to lure Anya into sleepwalking off their ship bound for France. The trio unwittingly foil both attempts, forcing Rasputin and Bartok to travel to the surface to kill Anya personally. During their journey, as Dimitri and Vladimir teach Anya court etiquette and her family's history, Dimitri and Anya begin to fall in love.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: The trio eventually reach Paris and go to see Marie, who has given up the search after meeting numerous impostors. Despite this, Marie's cousin Sophie quizzes Anya to confirm her identity. Though Anya gives every answer taught to her, Dimitri realizes she is the real Anastasia when she vaguely recalls how he helped her escape the palace siege. Sophie, also convinced, arranges a meeting with Marie at the Palais Garnier. There, Dimitri tries to establish an introduction but Marie refuses, believing Anya will be another imposter and having already heard of Dimitri's initial scheme to con her. Anya overhears the conversation and angrily leaves. Dimitri later abducts Marie in her car to force her to see Anya, finally convincing her when he presents the music box Anastasia dropped during their escape. As Marie and Anya converse, Anya regains her memories before the two sing the lullaby the music box plays. Marie recognizes Anya as Anastasia, and the two are joyfully reunited.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Marie offers Dimitri the reward money the next day, recognizing him as the servant boy who saved them, but he declines it and leaves to return to the Soviet Union. At her return celebration, Anya is informed by her grandmother of Dimitri's gesture, leaving her torn between staying or going with him. Anya walks off to the Pont Alexandre III, where Rasputin entraps her while Bartok abandons Rasputin. Dimitri returns to save Anya, but is attacked by a Black Pegasus statue enchanted by Rasputin. In the struggle, Anya gets hold of Rasputin's reliquary and crushes it under her foot, avenging her family as Rasputin's demons turn on and destroy him, thus ending the Romanov curse.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Anya and Dimitri elope, and Anya sends a farewell letter to Marie and Sophie promising to return one day. Meanwhile, Bartok falls in love with a lady bat.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Victoria Clark, Billy Porter, Patrick Quinn, J.K. Simmons, and Lillias White were among the ensemble and character voices.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: In May 1994, the "Los Angeles Times" reported that Don Bluth and Gary Goldman had signed a long-term deal to produce animated features with 20th Century Fox, with the studio channeling more than $100 million in constructing a new animation studio. They selected Phoenix, Arizona, for the location of Fox Animation Studios because the state offered the company about $1 million in job training funds and low-interest loans for the state-of-the-art digital animation equipment. It was staffed with 300 artists and technicians, a third of whom worked with Bluth and Goldman in Dublin, Ireland, for Sullivan Bluth Studios. For their first project, the studio insisted they select one out of a dozen existing properties which they owned where Bluth and Goldman suggested adapting "The King and I" and "My Fair Lady", though Bluth and Goldman felt it would be impossible to improve on Audrey Hepburn's performance and Lerner and Loewe's score. Following several story suggestions, the idea to adapt "Anastasia" (1956) originated from Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Bill Mechanic. They would later adapt story elements from "Pygmalion" with the peasant Anya being molded into a regal woman. The budget was $53 million.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Early into production, Bluth and Goldman began researching the actual events through enlisting former CIA agents stationed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Around this same time, screenwriter Eric Tuchman had written a script. Eventually, Bluth and Goldman decided the history of Anastasia and the Romanov dynasty was too dark for their film. In 1995, Graham and Susan Gauthier reworked Tuchman's script into a light-hearted romantic comedy. When Graham and Gauthier moved onto other projects, the husband-and-wife screenwriting team Bob Tzudiker and Noni White were hired for additional rewrites. Actress Carrie Fisher also made uncredited rewrites of the film, particularly the scene in which Anya leaves the orphanage for Paris.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: For the villains, Bluth also did not take into consideration depicting Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and initially toyed with the idea of a police chief with a vendetta against Anastasia. Instead, they decided to have Grigori Rasputin as the villain with Goldman explaining it was because of "all the different things they did to try to destroy Rasputin and what a horrible man he really was, the more it seemed appetizing to make him the villain". In reality, Rasputin was already dead when the Romanovs were assassinated. In addition to this, Bluth created the idea for Bartok, the albino bat, as a sidekick for Rasputin: "I just thought the villain had to have a comic sidekick, just to let everyone know that it was all right to laugh. A bat seemed a natural friend for Rasputin. Making him a white bat came later – just to make him different". Composers Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens recalled being at Au Bon Pain in New York City where Rasputin and Bartok were pitched, and being dismayed at the decision to go down a historically inaccurate route; they made their stage musical adaption "more sophisticated, more far-reaching, more political" to encompass their original vision.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Bluth stated that Meg Ryan was his first and only choice for the title character. However, Ryan was indecisive about accepting the role due to its dark historical events. To persuade her, the animation team took an audio clip of Annie Reed from "Sleepless in Seattle" and created an animation reel based on it which was screened for her following an invitation to the studio. Ryan later accepted the role; in her words "I was blown away that they did that". Before Ryan was cast, Broadway singer and actress Liz Callaway was brought in to record several demos of the songs hoping to land a job in background vocals, but the demos were liked well enough by songwriters that they were ultimately used in the final film. John Cusack openly admitted after being cast that he couldn't sing; his singing duties were performed by Jonathan Dokuchitz. Goldman had commented that originally, as with the rest of the cast, they were going to have Ryan record her lines separately from the others, with Bluth reading the lines of the other characters to her. However, after Ryan and the directors were finding the method to be too challenging when her character was paired with Dimitri, she and Cusack recorded the dialogue of their characters together, with Goldman noting "it made a huge difference".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Peter O'Toole was considered for the role of Rasputin, but Christopher Lloyd was hired because of his popularity from the "Back to the Future" trilogy. Bartok was initially written for Woody Allen, but the studio was reluctant to hire him following revelations of his relationship with his ex-partner Mia Farrow's adoptive daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Martin Short was also considered, but Hank Azaria won the role ten minutes into his audition.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: The film score was composed, co-orchestrated, and conducted by David Newman, whose father, Alfred Newman, composed the score of the 1956 film of the same name. The songs, of which "Journey to the Past" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, were written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The first song they wrote for the project was "Once Upon a December"; it was written during a heatwave "so [they were] sweating and writing winter imagery". The film's soundtrack was released in CD and audio cassette format on October 28, 1997.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: 20th Century Fox scheduled for "Anastasia" to be released on November 21, 1997, notably a week after the re-release of Disney's "The Little Mermaid". Disney claimed it had long-planned for the re-release to coincide with a consumer products campaign leading into Christmas and the film's home video release in March 1998, as well continue the tradition of re-releasing their animated films within a seven-to-eight year interval. In addition to this, Disney would release several competing family films including "Flubber" on the following weekend, as well as a double feature of "George of the Jungle" and "Hercules". To avoid branding confusion, Disney banned television advertisements for "Anastasia" from being aired on the ABC program "The Wonderful World of Disney".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Commenting on the studios' fierce competition, Disney spokesman John Dreyer brushed off allegations of studio rivalry, claiming: "We always re-release our movies around holiday periods". However, Fox executives refused to believe Dreyer's statement with Bill Mechanic responding that "it's a deliberate attempt to be a bully, to kick sand in our face. They can't be trying to maximize their own business; the amount they're spending on advertising is ridiculous... It's a concentrated effort to keep our film from fulfilling its potential".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: "Anastasia" was accompanied with a marketing campaign at more than $50 million with promotional sponsors from Burger King, Dole Food Company, Hershey, Chesebrough-Ponds, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Shell Oil, and the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Overall, the marketing costs exceeded that of "Independence Day" by more than 35 percent. For merchandising, Fox selected Galoob to license dolls based on Anastasia. Many storybooks adapted from the film were released by Little Golden Books. In August 1997, the SeaWorld theme parks in San Diego and Orlando featured a 40-foot-long, 20-foot-high inflatable playground for children called "Anastasia's Kingdom".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Many people have mistakenly considered Anastasia to be a Disney Princess, and the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney made fans speculate about her status in the Disney Princess lineup. In 2022, Don Bluth said that he accepts and trusts Disney's ownership of the film as long as it refrains from "marketing its title character as just another Disney princess". In December 2022, Disney released its first merchandise based on the film in the form of a mug to honor its 25th anniversary, leading to more talk of the character's potential addition to the Disney Princess lineup.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: On April 28, 1998, and January 1, 1999, "Anastasia" was released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD and sold eight million units. The film was reissued on a two-disc "Family Fun Edition" DVD with the film in its original theatrical 2.35:1 widescreen format on March 16, 2006. The first disc featured an optional audio commentary from directors/writers Bluth and Goldman, and additional bonus material. The second included a making-of documentary, music video and making-of featurette of Aaliyah's "Journey to the Past", and additional bonus content. The film was released on Blu-ray on March 22, 2011; this included "Bartok the Magnificent" in the special features.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: "Anastasia" became available on December 4, 2020, on Disney+, following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox on March 20, 2019. In the US it was removed from Disney+ on March 1, 2022, and transferred to Starz on March 18, 2022; contrary to popular belief, the film's disappearance bears no connection to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (Disney had suspended theatrical releases in Russia such as the then-upcoming "Turning Red", which led to confusion that "Anastasia's" withdrawal was related).


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 86% based on 56 reviews and an average rating of 7.11/10. The website's consensus reads: "Beautiful animation, an affable take on Russian history, and strong voice performances make "Anastasia" a winning first film from Fox Animation Studios". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" awarded the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, praising "the quality of the story" and writing the result as entertaining and sometimes exciting. Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave "Anastasia" three stars, calling the lead character "pretty and charming" but criticized the film for a lack of historical accuracy. Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote: "Though originality is not one of its accomplishments, "Anastasia" is generally pleasant, serviceable and eager to please. And any film that echoes the landscape of "Doctor Zhivago" is hard to dislike for too long." Todd McCarthy of "Variety" noted the film was "dazzlingly colorful", but felt that "all the ingredients thrown into the pot don't congeal entirely congenially, and the artistic touch applied doesn't allow the whole to become more than the sum of its various, but invariably familiar, elements." Margaret McGurk, reviewing for "The Cincinnati Enquirer", described the film as "charming" and "entertaining", and calling "Anastasia" as a tasty tale about a fairy-tale princess. Lisa Osbourne of "Boxoffice" called the film "pure family entertainment". Awarding the film three out of five stars, "Empire"s Philip Thomas wrote that despite historical inaccuracies, "Anastasia" manages to be a charming little movie.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Several critics have drawn positive comparisons between "Anastasia" and the Disney films released during the Disney Renaissance, noting similarities in their story and animation styles. Marjorie Baumgarten of "The Austin Chronicle" awarded the film three out of five stars. Likening its quality to that of a Disney animated film, Baumgarten wrote that "Anastasia" "may not beat Disney at its own game, but it sure won't be for lack of trying". Baumgarten continued that "[t]his sumptuous-looking film clearly spared no expense in its visual rendering; its optical flourishes and attention to detail aim for the Disney gold standard and, for the most part, come pretty darn close". "The Phoenix" Jeffrey Gantz jokingly stated: "[I]f imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then the folks at Disney should feel royally complimented by Twentieth Century Fox's new animated feature about Tsar Nicholas II's youngest daughter". Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that Fox has a beautifully animated musical that can challenge Disney's peer, but also said that "Anastasia" has inferior animation style compared to Disney's and lacks its magic.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Critical reception in Russia was also, for the most part, positive despite the artistic liberties that the film took with Russian history. Gemini Films, the Russian distributor of "Anastasia", stressed the fact that the story was "not history", but rather "a fairy tale set against the background of real Russian events" in the film's Russian marketing campaign so that its Russian audience would not view "Anastasia" as a historical film. As a result, many Russians praised the film for its art and storytelling and saw it as not a piece of history but another Western import to be consumed and enjoyed.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Some Russian Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, found "Anastasia" to be an offensive depiction of the Grand Duchess, who was canonized as a new martyr in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Many historians echoed their sentiments, criticizing the film as a sanitized, sugar-coated reworking of the story of the Czar's youngest daughter. While the filmmakers acknowledged the fact that ""Anastasia" uses history only as a starting point", others complained that the film would provide its audience with misleading facts about Russian history, which, according to the author and historian Suzanne Massie, has been falsified for so many years. Similarly, the amateur historian Bob Atchison said that "Anastasia" was akin to someone making a film in which Anne Frank "moves to Orlando and opens a crocodile farm with a guy named Mort".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: Some of Anastasia's contemporary relatives also felt that the film was distasteful, but most Romanovs have come to accept the "repeated exploitation of Anastasia's romantic tale... with equanimity".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: A limited release of "Anastasia" at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on the weekend of November 14, 1997, grossed $120,541. The following weekend, the wide release of "Anastasia" in the United States earned $14.1 million, ranking second behind "". By the end of its theatrical run, "Anastasia" had grossed $58.4 million in the United States and Canada and $81.4 million internationally. The worldwide gross totaled up to about $139.8 million, making it Don Bluth's highest-grossing film to date and beating out his next highest-grossing film, "An American Tail", by about $55 million. This was Don Bluth's first financially successful film since "All Dogs Go to Heaven".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song (for "Journey to the Past"). The R&B singer Aaliyah performed the pop version at the ceremony.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: "Anastasia On Ice" was a licensed adaptation produced by Feld Entertainment's Ice Follies that ran from at least 1998 to 1999.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: In 1999 a direct-to-video spin-off and prequel called "Bartok the Magnificent" was released which focused on the character of Bartok.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: In April 2015, Hartford Stage planned to premiere a new stage production of "Anastasia", with the book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty and directed by Darko Tresnjak. The production ran from May 13 through June 19, 2016.


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: It is an original new musical combining both the 1956 Fox film and the 1997 animated film. According to Tresnjak, the musical features six songs from the animated film and additionally includes 16 new songs. Additionally, there have been some newly rewritten characters including Checkist secret police officer Gleb Vaganov (in the place of Rasputin), and Lily, who has been renamed in the place of Sophie. McNally said: "This is a stage version for a modern theatre audience... The libretto's 'a blend' of old and new... There are characters in the musical that appear in neither the cartoon nor the Ingrid Bergman version".


title: Anastasia (1997 film)

text: The Hartford production featured Christy Altomare as Anastasia / Anya, Derek Klena as Dimitri, Mary Beth Peil as The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Manoel Felciano as Gleb Vaganov, John Bolton as Vladimir, Caroline O'Connor as Lily, and Nicole Scimeca as Young Anastasia. The musical transferred to Broadway with much of the original Hartford cast, opening on April 24, 2017, at the Broadhurst Theater to mixed reviews.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The 2028 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, also known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28) is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to July 30, 2028, in and around Los Angeles, California, United States.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Los Angeles had originally bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. However, after multiple withdrawals that left only Los Angeles and Paris in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidates, with Los Angeles preferred as the 2028 host. Los Angeles was formally awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017. They will mark the fifth Summer Olympics, and ninth Olympics overall, to be hosted by the United States. Having previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles will become the third three-time host city after London and Paris, and the first North American city ever to do so. This will be the first of two consecutive Summer Games to be held in an English-speaking country; the 2032 Summer Olympics are scheduled for Brisbane, Australia.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The IOC has provisionally removed boxing, modern pentathlon, and weightlifting from the program of 28 "core" Olympic events, and has proposed to add skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing — which were all included in the programs of the 2020 and 2024 Games as new events. The organizing committee can additionally introduce new sports specifically for these Games as part of the IOC's 2020 agenda. Baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse, flag football, and other sports are on the shortlist.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: On September 16, 2015, the International Olympic Committee announced the candidature process and the five candidate cities for the 2024 Games: Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rome. Budapest, Hamburg, and Rome eventually withdrew, leaving only Los Angeles and Paris. A similar situation had already occurred during the bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics when Krakow, Lviv, Oslo, and Stockholm withdrew, resulting in a two-way decision between Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, with Beijing ultimately declared the winner. On April 3, 2017, at the IOC convention in Denmark, Olympic officials met with bid committees from Los Angeles and Paris to discuss the possibility of naming two winners in the competition to host the 2024 Summer Games.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: After these withdrawals, the IOC Executive Board met in Lausanne, Switzerland, on June 9, 2017, to discuss the 2024 and 2028 bid processes. The IOC formally proposed electing the 2024 and 2028 host cities at the same time in 2017, a proposal that an Extraordinary IOC Session approved on July 11, 2017, in Lausanne. The IOC set up a process where the Los Angeles and Paris 2024 bid committees and the IOC, held meetings in July 2017 to decide which city would host in each of the two years.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Following the decision to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously, Paris was understood to be preferred for the 2024 Games. On July 31, 2017, the IOC announced Los Angeles as the sole candidate for 2028, with $1.8 billion of additional funding from the IOC, allowing Paris to be confirmed as the host for 2024. On August 11, 2017, Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve the bid. On September 11, 2017, Los Angeles received formal approval from the IOC's evaluation commission. On September 13, 2017, Los Angeles was formally awarded the 2028 Games following a unanimous vote by the IOC. The IOC praised the LA bid for using a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities and for relying entirely on corporate funding.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: On October 16, 2017, Los Angeles 2028 received official support from the state of California. On August 29, 2018, Olympic officials arrived for a two-day visit that included meetings with local organizers and a tour of the city's newest venues. On October 9, 2018, a group called NOlympics LA released a poll results stating that 45% of respondents from Los Angeles County and 47% from across California oppose bringing the 2028 Summer Games to Los Angeles. However, LMU and "LA Times" polls suggest that more than 88% of Angelenos are in favor of the city's hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: While most host cities have between six and seven years to prepare for the Olympic Games, Los Angeles will get an additional four, giving the city eleven years. The Los Angeles bid relied on a majority of existing venues; other venues that are already under construction or were planned regardless of the Games. Banc of California Stadium, which opened in 2018 as the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC, will host football (soccer) and several events in athletics. SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020 as the home of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, will host the main opening ceremony, football, and archery.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum underwent a major renovation and restoration program from 2017 to 2019. A new press box, loge boxes, and club seats were installed. This reduced stadium capacity from 93,607 to 78,467. As the athletics venue, future renovations include the re-installation of an athletics track.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Los Angeles Clippers are building a new basketball arena in Inglewood near SoFi Stadium, called Intuit Dome, which began construction in September 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2024. Team owner Steve Ballmer stated during its groundbreaking that he hoped that it could be included in the Games.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Crypto.com Arena will undergo renovations which will be completed by 2024, four years prior to when the arena hosts the Olympic basketball competition.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Twenty-eight by '28 initiative is an effort set forth by Mayor Eric Garcetti that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority complete 28 transit infrastructure projects before the start of the Games. Most of these projects were already in the planning stages during the bid, but will receive accelerated priority, while several minor new projects were programmed with the initiative.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The K Line opened to revenue service on October 7, 2022 after multiple delays from a planned opening in 2019. It links the Crenshaw District, Inglewood and Westchester. The K Line will also connect to a people mover being constructed since early 2018 to link Los Angeles International Airport with the Aviation/96th Street station, with opening anticipated in 2023. The Inglewood Transit Connector is another people mover planned to provide transportation between the K line and the Olympic venues in Inglewood.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: While various infrastructure improvements were planned regardless of the outcome of the Los Angeles Olympic bid, the extension of the Metro D Line will be expedited to serve the Olympics. Three phases were created to extend the line. The first phase will extend the D Line from the Wilshire/Western station to the new Wilshire/La Cienega station. This phase will be completed by 2023. The second phase will extend the D Line to Century City by 2025, while the third and final phase will extend the line to the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in Westwood with a completion date set for 2026. The third phase will also include a station adjoining the UCLA campus, connecting Olympic village and Pauley Pavilion with venues in downtown Los Angeles. Currently phase one, two and three broke ground and are under construction. Construction began in 2019 and remains on schedule.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Regional Connector in downtown Los Angeles will be complete in 2022. The project will connect the Metro E Line, which already links venues in Downtown Santa Monica to venues at Exposition Park and in downtown Los Angeles, to the Metro L Line. This will allow for direct rail service between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles. The Regional Connector will also link the Metro A Line with the Metro L Line, connecting the Long Beach area and San Gabriel Valley via downtown.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: These infrastructure improvements, among others, are being funded by "Measure R", a temporary half-cent sales tax increase, and "Measure M", a continuation of Measure R's tax increase plus an additional permanent half-cent sales tax increase, both tax measures applicable to Los Angeles County. Measure R was approved by voters in November 2008 and Measure M was approved by voters in November 2016.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: In April 2019, the estimated cost of the Games was assessed as being approximately $6.88 billion with all the money coming from the private sector, although the Los Angeles city council and state of California legislators have agreed to serve as a "financial backstop." The organizers adjusted the budget for inflation after LA, which originally bid for the 2024 Games, agreed to wait four more years.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The City of Los Angeles is the lead public guarantor, committing to spend up to $250 million to cover shortfalls. In 2016, the California legislature took action so that the Governor is empowered to negotiate the next $250 million in public backup, but only after the city backup money has been used first. LA 2024 also agreed to purchase a wide range of insurance policies, including natural disaster, terrorism, event cancellation, as well as reduced ticket sales. The games are expected to generate as much as they cost, with $2.5 billion coming in through sponsorships and nearly $2 billion earned through ticket sales. Average ticket prices for the games will range between $13 and $457 (in 2016 dollars).


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The federal government will designate the Olympics a National Special Security Event (NSSE) in which the US Secret Service heads a single chain of command. The US federal government will also cover the cost of security, with an agreement signed by the LA organizing committee and Department of Homeland Security in February 2020, but it will not be involved in the Games' funding, covering only the aforementioned security costs.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Under present IOC policy, venues with corporate naming rights will not be allowed to use their sponsored name during the Olympics.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: There will be four "sports parks" throughout the city to host events at existing, temporary, and planned venues, as well as venues already under construction. The most prominent of the four locations will be the Downtown Sports Park, which will host events at various venues in Downtown Los Angeles. The Downtown Sports Park will host events including swimming, diving, football, badminton, road cycling, fencing, taekwondo and basketball at Los Angeles City Hall and Grand Park, the Los Angeles Convention Center, Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the campus of the University of Southern California. In addition to sporting events, the Downtown Sports Park will also host the Main Press Center, Media Village, and Olympic Family Hotels, and serve as the venue for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Additional sports parks include the Valley Sports Park, South Bay Sports Park, and the Long Beach Sports Park.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Valley Sports Park host events at temporary venues in the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Center in the San Fernando Valley.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The South Bay Sports Park will be located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: The Long Beach Sports Park will host events along the Long Beach waterfront in Long Beach, California.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: According to the initial bid book for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympics, football venues are to be situated within Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and other main cities of California. The organizing committee's responsibility is to choose from four to six venues to host the tournament. According to the official website of the local organizing committee, eight venues are under consideration, all within California.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Under current IOC policies, the program of the Summer Olympics consists of 28 "core" sports that persist between Games, with other 3 to 6 slots able to be filled with backing of the IOC and organizing committee in order to improve local interest, provided that the total number of participants does not exceed 10,500 athletes.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: On December 9, 2021, the IOC stated that boxing, modern pentathlon, and weightlifting had been removed from the "initial" program for the 2028 Summer Olympics, and would only be included if their respective governing bodies resolve issues raised by the IOC by 2023. In particular, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has faced ongoing governance issues (which resulted in boxing at the 2020 Summer Olympics being overseen by an external task force), the International Weightlifting Federation has faced issues with doping and governance (resulting in weightlifting being considered "provisional" for the 2024 Summer Olympics), while the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) must also finalize and seek approval for their proposed replacement of show jumping in the modern pentathlon. The UIPM tested obstacle course racing at an event in late-June 2022.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Additionally, the IOC executive board has proposed that skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing be promoted to the core program of the 2028 Summer Olympics; the three sports successfully debuted as optional sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and are expected to return in the same capacity in 2024.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: In August 2022, it was announced that nine sports had made the shortlist for inclusion in the Games, with presentations expected to be made later that month. The sports are:


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: There is no limit as to the number of sports the IOC can add, but the organizing committee is not obligated to include these sports, and the IOC has set an athlete quota at 10,500 athletes.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: In January 2017, it was reported that the bid committee had proposed holding the opening and closing ceremonies at both SoFi Stadium and the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, in an acknowledgement of its role in the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. The plans called the final leg of the torch relay to be ceremonially launched from the Coliseum, a simulcast of the opening ceremony proper at SoFi Stadium for those in attendance, and the ceremonial re-lighting of the historic Olympic cauldron at the stadium once the cauldron is lit in Inglewood. The closing ceremony would be held in reverse, with opening segments at SoFi Stadium, and the official protocol held at the Coliseum. The proposal is unprecedented and would mark the first time two major venues are featured in the opening and closing ceremonies. The final plan is pending per IOC approval.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: On September 1, 2020, the LA organizing committee unveiled the emblem for the 2028 Summer Olympics, featuring the characters "LA" and "28" in a stacked layout. The "A" in "LA" is designed to be interchangeable, with variations created in collaboration with athletes, artists, designers, celebrities, and other figures (such as musician Billie Eilish, Indian-Canadian comedian Lilly Singh, and actress Reese Witherspoon). There is also a variation derived from the "Stars in Motion" emblem of the 1984 Summer Olympics.


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: Organizing committee chairman Casey Wasserman explained that the multitude of variations was intended to "showcase our community's collective creativity and celebrate the diversity that makes us strong", as the city "defies a singular identity". Chief marketing officer Amy Gleeson stated that the emblem was designed to "foster a deeper connection with the audience who will be in their 20s and 30s when the games happen."


title: 2028 Summer Olympics

text: In the United States, the Games will be broadcast by NBCUniversal, as part of long-term agreements with the IOC through 2032. The Universal Studios Lot is planned to be the site of the International Broadcast Centre for the Games. In addition, NBCUniversal and the organizing committee will coordinate numerous sponsorship sales for the Games, and parent company Comcast will be promoted as a "founding partner" of Los Angeles 2028 as part of a renewed sponsorship agreement with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: La Brea is an American science fiction drama television series that premiered on NBC on September 28, 2021. The series, produced by Keshet Studios and Universal Television, is created and executive produced by David Appelbaum. The series received mixed reviews from critics. In November 2021, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 27, 2022.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: In the early 2020s, a massive sinkhole opens in the middle of Los Angeles at the site of the La Brea Tar Pits and Wilshire Boulevard. Hundreds of people, vehicles and buildings (including the distinctive Petersen Automotive Museum) are pulled into its depths. The survivors find themselves trapped in a mysterious and dangerous primeval land where they must band together to survive. The show follows one family (father, mother, son, and daughter) who are separated by the events and attempting to reunite. The father has visions providing glimpses of when and where his wife and son are. The sinkhole and the sudden appearance of "Teratornis" has attracted the attention of the United States Department of Homeland Security who are studying a similar event in the Mojave Desert. As the series progresses, the investigators realize that the sinkholes provide a temporary portal to the same location in 10,000 B.C. Meanwhile, the survivors struggle to find a way back through the portal before it closes up.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: Season two revealed that the sinkholes were caused by the Lazarus Project run by people from 2076 who are working to find a way to deal with their time period's depleted resources as well as researching how to master de-extinction.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: On January 15, 2020, "La Brea" was given a pilot order by NBC. The pilot was directed by Thor Freudenthal and written by David Appelbaum who was expected to executive produce alongside Avi Nir, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, Ken Woodruff and Rachel Kaplan. The production companies involved with the series are Keshet Studios and Universal Television. On January 12, 2021, NBC gave production a series order. The series is created by Appelbaum. On November 12, 2021, NBC renewed the series for a 14-episode second season.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: In February 2020, Michael Raymond-James, Karina Logue, Zyra Gorecki, Caleb Ruminer, Angel Parker, Catherine Dent, Veronica St. Clair, Jag Bal, and Chiké Okonkwo were cast as series regulars while Natalie Zea was cast as the lead role. In March 2020, Jon Seda and Rita Angel Taylor joined the main cast. On March 4, 2021, Eoin Macken and Jack Martin were cast to replace Raymond-James and Ruminer, respectively and Lily Santiago joined the main cast. In addition, the surname of the family has been changed to Harris. On March 22, 2021, Nicholas Gonzalez and Rohan Mirchandaney joined the cast as series regulars. In April 2021, Josh McKenzie was cast as a series regular while Ione Skye was cast in a recurring role and Chloe De Los Santos was cast to replace Taylor. On May 12, 2022, Tonantzin Carmelo and Michelle Vergara Moore were promoted to series regulars for the second season.<ref name="Carmelo/Moore Series Regulars"></ref> On July 15, 2022, Jonno Roberts joined the cast in a recurring role for the second season. On September 22, 2022, Martin Sensmeier was cast in a recurring capacity for the second season.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: The series began filming in Melbourne, Australia on May 3, 2021, and wrapped up in September 2021. The main photography of the series was shot in regional Victoria. The recordings for the first season were completed in September. The effects-heavy production spent $71 million in Australia, more than $60 million of it in Victoria. It is the most expensive TV production in Victoria since Steven Spielberg's HBO series "The Pacific" completed in 2009. The second season was scheduled to film in Victoria, Australia in the spring of 2022.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: In the USA, the series premiered on September 28, 2021 on NBC. The second season premiered on September 27, 2022 on NBC. In Canada, the series aired on CTV. In Australia, it will also air on 9Now. In Germany, "La Brea" premiered on Sky One on April 24, 2022. In Italy - "La Brea" premiered on Italia 1 on June 8, 2022. In the UK, the first episode of "La Brea" aired on Channel 5 on August 1, 2022 to promote the series, with the entire first series being added to Paramount+ on the same day. In Ireland, the first series was added in full to Paramount+ on August 1, 2022.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 29% approval rating with an average rating of 4.5/10, based on 21 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "There may be method to its madness, but "La Brea" simply doesn't commit to its insane premise hard enough to shake out a show worth watching—at least not yet." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In reviewing the series pilot, the television critic for "The Globe and Mail" wrote "The series is so wretchedly bad, it is gripping in its awfulness" while the reviewer for "SCIFI.radio" wrote that "La Brea is everything I hate in network television science fiction" and mentions the many scientific improbabilities in the first episode such as the "statistically unlikely number of survivors" from falling after exiting a time portal suspended hundreds of feet in the primeval sky that should have killed everyone. In contrast, the reviewer for "The Guardian" like the series for being "gloriously, brazenly bad" while giving the series one out of five stars when the series debut in 2022 in the UK.


title: La Brea (TV series)

text: The series was one of 94 out of the 200 most-popular scripted television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2021 to 2022. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. The city has a syncretic tradition of Muslim artisanship that underpins its religious tourism. Located in the middle-Ganges valley in the southeastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi lies on the left bank of the river. It is to the southeast of India's capital New Delhi and to the east of the state capital, Lucknow. It lies downstream of Allahabad (officially Prayagraj), where the confluence with the Yamuna river is another major Hindu pilgrimage site.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi is one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities. Kashi, its ancient name, was associated with a kingdom of the same name of 2,500 years ago. The Lion capital of Ashoka at nearby Sarnath has been interpreted to be a commemoration of the Buddha's first sermon there in the fifth century BCE. In the 8th century, Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi. Since ancient times, the city has been an important centre of Hindu devotion, pilgrimage, mysticism and poetry contributing to its cultural importance. Tulsidas wrote his Awadhi language epic, the "Ramcharitmanas", a Bhakti movement reworking of the Sanskrit Ramayana, in Varanasi. Several other major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir and Ravidas.


title: Varanasi

text: In the 16th century, Rajput nobles in the service of the courts and armies of the Mughal emperor Akbar, sponsored the building or further enhancement of the major Shiva temple in the city; they also built other temples, all displaying an empire-wide architectural style. Under the Treaty of Faizabad, the East India Company acquired Benares in 1775, the city later successively becoming a part of the Benares Division in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, the North-Western Provinces, and the United Provinces, and after India's independence of Uttar Pradesh.


title: Varanasi

text: Silk weaving, carpets and crafts and tourism employ a significant number of the local population, as do the Banaras Locomotive Works and Bharat Heavy Electricals. Varanasi is a cultural centre of northern India that has been closely associated with the Ganges. Hindus believe that dying here and being cremated along the Ganges river banks allows the cycle of rebirth to be broken and salvation to become possible. The city is known worldwide for its many ghats, steps leading down the steep river bank to the water, where pilgrims perform rituals. Of particular note are the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the Panchganga Ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat, and the Harishchandra Ghat, the last two being where Hindus cremate their dead. The Hindu genealogy registers at Varanasi are kept here. Among the notable temples in Varanasi are Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Shiva, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, and the Durga Temple.


title: Varanasi

text: The city has long been an educational and musical centre: many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians live or have lived in the city, and it was the place where the Benares gharana form of Hindustani classical music was developed. In the 20th-century the Hindi-Urdu writer Premchand and the shehnai player Bismillah Khan were associated with the city. India's oldest Sanskrit college, the Benares Sanskrit College, was founded during East India Company rule in 1791. Later education in Benares was greatly influenced by the rise of Indian nationalism in the late 19th-century. Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu College in 1898. In 1916, she and Madan Mohan Malviya founded the Banaras Hindu University, India's first modern residential university. Kashi Vidyapith was established in 1921, a response to Mahatma Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement.


title: Varanasi

text: Traditional etymology links "Varanasi" to the names of two Ganges tributaries forming the city's borders: Varuna, still flowing in northern Varanasi, and Assi, today a small stream in the southern part of the city, near Assi Ghat. The old city is located on the north shores of the Ganges, bounded by Varuna and Assi.


title: Varanasi

text: In the "Mahabharata" the city is referred to as Kāśī (काशी: Kashi) from the Sanskrit verbal root "kaś-" "to shine", making Varanasi known as "City of Light", the ""luminous city as an eminent seat of learning"". The name was also used by pilgrims dating from Buddha's days.


title: Varanasi

text: Hindu religious texts use many epithets in Sanskrit to refer to Varanasi, such as "Kāśikā" (), "Avimukta" (), "Ānandakānana" (), "Rudravāsa" (), and "Mahāshmashāna" ().


title: Varanasi

text: According to Hindu mythology, Varanasi was founded by Shiva, one of three principal deities along with Brahma and Vishnu. During a fight between Brahma and Shiva, one of Brahma's five heads was torn off by Shiva. Since Brahma was a Brahmin, Shiva had committed Brāhmanahatya by killing him and as a result, the slain head of Brahma stuck to his hand. He tried to remove the head, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, after wandering around the world for eons, he came to the city of Varanasi in this state, and the hanging head of Brahma dropped from Shiva's hand and disappeared in the ground. Varanasi is therefore considered an extremely holy site.


title: Varanasi

text: The Pandavas, the protagonists of the Hindu epic "Mahabharata", are said to have visited the city in search of Shiva to atone for their sin of fratricide and Brāhmanahatya that they had committed during the climactic Kurukshetra War. It is regarded as one of seven holy cities ("Sapta Puri") which can provide Moksha; Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kashi, Kanchi, Avanti, and Dvārakā are the seven cities known as the givers of liberation. The princesses Ambika and Ambalika of Kashi were wed to the Hastinapur ruler Vichitravirya, and they later gave birth to Pandu and Dhritarashtra. Bhima, a son of Pandu, married a Kashi princess Valandhara and their union resulted in the birth of Sarvaga, who later ruled Kashi. Dhritarasthra's eldest son Duryodhana also married a Kashi princess Bhanumati, who later bore him a son Lakshman Kumara and a daughter Lakshmanaa.


title: Varanasi

text: The Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta text of Buddhism puts forth an idea stating that Varanasi will one day become the fabled kingdom of Ketumati in the time of Maitreya.


title: Varanasi

text: Excavations in 2014 led to the discovery of artefacts dating back to 800 BCE. Further excavations at Aktha and Ramnagar, two sites in the vicinity of the city, unearthed artefacts dating back to 1800 BCE, supporting the view that the area was inhabited by this time.


title: Varanasi

text: During the time of Gautama Buddha, Varanasi was part of the Kingdom of Kashi. The celebrated Chinese traveller Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsiang, who visited the city around 635 CE, attested that the city was a centre of religious and artistic activities, and that it extended for about along the western bank of the Ganges. When Xuanzang, visited Varanasi in the 7th century, he named it "Polonise" (婆羅痆斯) and wrote that the city had some 30 temples with about 30 monks. The city's religious importance continued to grow in the 8th century, when Adi Shankara established the worship of Shiva as an official sect of Varanasi.


title: Varanasi

text: Chandradeva, founder of the Gahadavala dynasty made Banaras a second capital in 1090. In 1194 CE, the Ghurid conqueror Muizzuddin Muhammad Ghuri defeated the forces of Jayachandra in a battle near Jamuna and afterwards ravaged the city of Varnasi incourse of which many temples were destroyed.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi remained a centre of activity for intellectuals and theologians during the Middle Ages, which further contributed to its reputation as a cultural centre of religion and education. Several major figures of the Bhakti movement were born in Varanasi, including Kabir who was born here in 1389, and Ravidas, a 15th-century socio-religious reformer, mystic, poet, traveller, and spiritual figure, who was born and lived in the city and employed in the tannery industry.


title: Varanasi

text: Numerous eminent scholars and preachers visited the city from across India and South Asia. Guru Nanak visited Varanasi for Maha Shivaratri in 1507, a trip that played a large role in the founding of Sikhism.


title: Varanasi

text: In 1567 or thereabouts, the Mughal emperor Jallaludin Muhammad Akbar sacked the city of Varanasi on his march from Allahabad. However, later the Kachwaha rulers of Amber (Mughal vassals) most notably under Raja Man Singh rebuilt various temples and Ghats in the city.


title: Varanasi

text: The Raja of Pune established the Annapurna Mandir, and the Akbari Bridge was also completed during this period. The earliest tourists began arriving in the city during the 16th century. In 1665, the French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier described the architectural beauty of the Vindu Madhava temple on the side of the Ganges. The road infrastructure was also improved during this period. It was extended from Kolkata to Peshawar by Emperor Sher Shah Suri; later during the British Raj it came to be known as the famous Grand Trunk Road. In 1656, Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of many temples and the building of mosques, causing the city to experience a temporary setback. However, after Aurangzeb's death, most of India was ruled by a confederacy of pro-Hindu kings. Much of modern Varanasi was built during this time, especially during the 18th century by the Maratha and Bhumihar Brahmin rulers. The kings governing Varanasi continued to wield power and importance through much of the British Raj period, including the Maharaja of Benares, or simply called by the people of Benaras as Kashi Naresh.


title: Varanasi

text: The Kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, the kingdom started in this way and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947, during the reign of Vibhuti Narayan Singh. In the 18th century, Muhammad Shah ordered the construction of an observatory on the Ganges, attached to Man Mandir Ghat, designed to discover imperfections in the calendar in order to revise existing astronomical tables. Tourism in the city began to flourish in the 18th century. As the Mughal suzerainty weakened, the Benares zamindari estate became Banaras State, thus Balwant Singh of the Narayan dynasty regained control of the territories and declared himself Maharaja of Benares in 1740. The strong clan organisation on which they rested, brought success to the lesser known Hindu princes. There were as many as 100,000 men backing the power of the Benares rajas in what later became the districts of Benares, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh. This proved a decisive advantage when the dynasty faced a rival and the nominal suzerain, the Nawab of Oudh, in the 1750s and the 1760s.


title: Varanasi

text: An exhausting guerrilla war, waged by the Benares ruler against the Oudh camp, using his troops, forced the Nawab to withdraw his main force. The region eventually ceded by the Nawab of Oudh to the Benares State a subordinate of the East India Company in 1775, who recognised Benares as a family dominion.


title: Varanasi

text: In 1791, under the rule of the British resident Jonathan Duncan founded a Sanskrit College in Varanasi. In 1867, the establishment of the Varanasi Municipal Board led to significant improvements in the city's infrastructure and basic amenities of health services, drinking water supply and sanitation.


title: Varanasi

text: Rev. M. A. Sherring in his book "The Sacred City of Hindus: An account of Benaras in ancient and modern times" published in 1868 refers to a census conducted by James Prinsep and put the total number of temples in the city to be around 1000 during 1830s. He writes


title: Varanasi

text: Author Mark Twain wrote in 1897 of Varanasi, Benares became a princely state in 1911., with Ramnagar as its capital, but with no jurisdiction over the city proper. The religious head, Kashi Naresh, has had his headquarters at the Ramnagar Fort since the 18th century, also a repository of the history of the kings of Varanasi, which is situated to the east of Varanasi, across the Ganges. The Kashi Naresh is deeply revered by the local people and the chief cultural patron; some devout inhabitants consider him to be the incarnation of Shiva.


title: Varanasi

text: Annie Besant founded the Central Hindu College, which later became a foundation for the creation of Banaras Hindu University in 1916. Besant founded the college because she wanted "to bring men of all religions together under the ideal of brotherhood in order to promote Indian cultural values and to remove ill-will among different sections of the Indian population."


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi was ceded to the Union of India in 1947, becoming part of Uttar Pradesh after Indian independence.


title: Varanasi

text: Narendra Modi has represented Varanasi in the Parliament of India since 2014. Varanasi has been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Modi inaugurated the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project, which aimed to enhance the city's spiritual vibrancy by connecting many ghats to the temple of Kasi Vishwanath, in December 2021.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi is located at an elevation of in the centre of the Ganges valley of North India, in the Eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, along the left crescent-shaped bank of the Ganges, averaging between and above the river. The city is the headquarters of Varanasi district. By road, Varanasi is located south-east of New Delhi, south-east of Lucknow, east of Allahabad, and south of Jaunpur. The "Varanasi Urban Agglomeration" – an agglomeration of seven urban sub-units – covers an area of . Neighbourhoods of the city include Adampura, Anandbagh, Bachchhaon, Bangali Tola, Bhelpura, Bulanala, Chaitganj, Chaukaghat, Chowk, Dhupchandi, Dumraon, Gandhinagar, Gautam Nagar, Giri Nagar, Gopal Vihar, Guru Nanak Nagar, Jaitpura, Kail Garh, Khanna, Kotwali, Lanka Manduadih, Luxa, Maheshpur, Mahmoorganj, Maulvibagh, Nagwar, Naipokhari, Shivala, Siddhagiribagh, and Sigra.


title: Varanasi

text: Located in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of North India, the land is very fertile because low-level floods in the Ganges continually replenish the soil. Varanasi is situated between the Ganges confluences with two rivers: the Varuna and the Assi stream. The distance between the two confluences is around , and serves as a sacred journeying route for Hindus, which culminates with a visit to a Sakshi Vinayak Temple.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cwa") with large variations between summer and winter temperatures. The dry summer starts in April and lasts until June, followed by the monsoon season from July to October. The temperature ranges between in the summers. Winters in Varanasi see very large diurnal variations, with warm days and downright cold nights. Cold waves from the Himalayan region cause temperatures to dip across the city in the winter from December to February and temperatures below are not uncommon. The average annual rainfall is . Fog is common in the winters, while hot dry winds, called loo, blow in the summers. In recent years, the water level of the Ganges has decreased significantly; upstream dams, unregulated water extraction, and dwindling glacial sources due to global warming may be to blame.


title: Varanasi

text: According to provisional data from the 2011 census, the Varanasi urban agglomeration had a population of 1,435,113, with 761,060 men and 674,053 women. The Varanasi municipal corporation and CB had a combined population of 1,212,610 of which 642,882 were males and 569,728 in 2011. The population in the age group of 0 to 6 years was 137,111.


title: Varanasi

text: The population of the Varanasi urban agglomeration in 2001 was 1,371,749 with a ratio of 879 females every 1,000 males. However, the area under Varanasi Nagar Nigam has a population of 1,100,748 with a ratio of 883 females for every 1,000 males. The literacy rate in the urban agglomeration is 77% while that in the municipal corporation area is 78%. Approximately 138,000 people in the municipal area live in slums.


title: Varanasi

text: Hinduism is predominantly followed in Varanasi with Islam being the largest minority. Nearly 70% of the population follows Hinduism. The city also agglomerate different religions such as Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. The city is also a centre for Buddhist pilgrimage. At Sarnath, Buddha gave his first teaching after attaining enlightenment. Hence, agglomerating Buddhist population in the region.


title: Varanasi

text: In the sacred geography of India Varanasi is known as the "microcosm of India". In addition to its 3,300 Hindu religious places, Varanasi has 12 churches, three Jain mandirs, nine Buddhist shrines, three Gurdwaras (Sikh shrines), and 1,388 Muslim holy places.


title: Varanasi

text: At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 83.87% of the population of Varansi Municipal Corporation and Cantonment Board spoke Hindi, 9.03% Urdu, 4.81% Bhojpuri, and 0.92% Bengali as their first language.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi division which consists of four districts, and is headed by the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi, who is an IAS officer of high seniority, the Commissioner is the head of local government institutions (including Municipal Corporations) in the division, is in charge of infrastructure development in his division, and is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the division. The District Magistrate of Varanasi reports to the Divisional Commissioner. The current Commissioner is Deepak Agarwal.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi district administration is headed by the District Magistrate of Varanasi, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections held in the city. The DM is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the city, hence the SSP of Varanasi also reports to the DM of Varanasi. The DM is assisted by a Chief Development Officer (CDO), four Additional District Magistrates (ADM) (Finance/Revenue, City, Protocol, Executive), one Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), one City Magistrate (CM), and four Additional City Magistrates (ACM). The district has three tehsils, each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The current DM is Kaushal Raj Sharma.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi district comes under the Varanasi Police Zone and Varanasi Police Range, Varanasi Zone is headed by an Additional Director General ranked IPS officer, and the Varanasi Range is headed Inspector General ranked IPS officer. The current ADG, Varanasi Zone is Biswajit Mahapatra, and IG, Varanasi Range is Vijay Singh Meena.


title: Varanasi

text: The district police upto the date of 24 March 2021 was headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), who is an IPS officer, and is assisted by six Superintendents of Police (SP)/Additional Superintendents of Police (Addl. SP) (City, Rural Area, Crime, Traffic, Protocol and Protocol), who are either IPS officers or PPS officers. Each of the several police circles is headed by a Circle Officer (CO) in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The last SSP was Amit Pathak.


title: Varanasi

text: On 25 March 2021 the Government of Uttar Pradesh passed an order to divide the Varanasi police into Varanasi City Police and Rural Police. Since then City Police is headed by the Commissioner of Police (CP), who is an IPS officer of ADGP rank, and is assisted by two Additional Commissioners of Police (Addl. CP) who is of DIG rank, and two Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) who are of SP rank. And Rural Police is headed by SP rank.


title: Varanasi

text: The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by the Varanasi Development Authority (VDA), which comes under the Housing Department of Uttar Pradesh government. The divisional commissioner of Varanasi acts as the "ex-officio" chairman of the VDA, whereas the vice-chairman, a government-appointed Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority. The current vice-chairman of the Varanasi Development Authority is Pulkit Khare.


title: Varanasi

text: The Varanasi Municipal Corporation oversees civic activities in the city; the head of the corporation is the mayor, and the executive and administration of the corporation is the responsibility of the municipal commissioner, who is appointed by the government of Uttar Pradesh and is either an IAS officer or Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer of high seniority. The current mayor of Varanasi is Mridula Jaiswal, and the municipal commissioner is Nitin Bansal.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi is represented in the Lok Sabha by the current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi who won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and subsequently in 2019 by a huge margin.


title: Varanasi

text: Hospitals in the city include the Sir Sunderlal Hospital, a teaching hospital in the Banaras Hindu University, Heritage Hospital, Marwari Hospital, Pitambari Hospital, Mata Anand Mai Hospital, Rajkiya Hospital, Ram Krishna Mission Hospital, Shiv Prasad Gupta Hospital, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital (managed by the state government), and Varanasi Hospital and Medical Research Centre. The urban parts of the Varanasi district had an infant mortality rate of 70 per 1,000 live births in 2010–2011.


title: Varanasi

text: The Railway Cancer Hospital is now being run by the Tata Memorial Centre after intervention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who represents Varanasi.


title: Varanasi

text: Sushruta, an ancient Indian physician known as the primary author of the treatise "Sushruta Samhita", the Sanskrit text of surgery, lived in Varanasi and practised medicine and surgery sometime during the 5th century BCE. Since 1922, Ayurveda has been a subject of training in the Banaras Hindu University, and in 1927 a separate Ayurvedic College was established. There are many ayurvedic centres in Varanasi providing treatments such as Panchakarma as well as other treatments.


title: Varanasi

text: Because of the high population density of Varanasi and the increasing number of tourists, the Uttar Pradesh government and international non-governmental organisations and institutions have expressed grave concern for the pollution and pressures on infrastructure in the city, mainly the sewage, sanitation, and drainage components. Pollution of the Ganges is a particular source of worry because of the religious significance of the river, the dependence of people on it as a source of drinking water, and its prominence as a symbol of Varanasi and the city itself. The sewage problem is exacerbated by the role of the Ganges in bathing and in river traffic, which is very difficult to control. Because of the sewage, people using local untreated water have higher risk of contracting a range of water-borne stomach diseases.


title: Varanasi

text: Parts of Varanasi are contaminated with industrial chemicals including toxic heavy metal. Studies of wastewater from Varanasi's sewage treatment plants identify that water's contamination with metals and the reuse of this water for irrigation as a way that the toxic metals come to be in the plants that people grow for food. One studied example is "palak", a popular leafy vegetable which takes up heavy metal when it is in the soil, and which people then eat. Some of the polluting sludge contains minerals which are fertiliser, which could make polluted water attractive to use. Pesticides used in local farming are persistent enough to be spread through the water, to sewer treatment, then back to the farms as wastewater.


title: Varanasi

text: Varanasi's water supply and sewage system is maintained by Jal Nigam, a subsidiary of Varanasi Nagar Nigam. Power supply is by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited. The city produces about per day of sewage and per day of solid waste. The solid wastes are disposed in one landfill site.


title: Varanasi

text: According to the 2006 City Development Plan for Varanasi, approximately 29% of Varanasi's population is employed. Approximately 40% are employed in manufacturing, 26% work in trade and commerce, 19% work in other services, 8% work in transport and communication, 4% work in agriculture, 2% work in construction, and 2% are marginal workers (working for less than half of the year).


title: Varanasi

text: Among manufacturing workers, 51% work in spinning and weaving, 15% work in metal, 6% work in printing and publishing, 5% work in electrical machinery, and the rest work in a wide variety of industry sectors. Varanasi's manufacturing industry is not well developed and is dominated by small-scale industries and household production.


title: Varanasi

text: Silk weaving is the dominant industry in Varanasi. Muslims are the influential community in this industry with nearly half a million of them working as weavers, dyers, sari finishers, and salespersons. Weaving is typically done within the household, and most weavers are Momin Ansari Muslims. Varanasi is known throughout India for its production of very fine silk and Banarasi saris, brocades with gold and silver thread work, which are often used for weddings and special occasions. The production of silk often uses bonded child labour, though perhaps not at a higher rate than elsewhere in India. The silk weaving industry has recently been threatened by the rise of power looms and computer-generated designs and by competition from Chinese silk imports. Trade Facilitation Centre is a modern and integrated facility to support the handloom and handicraft sector in Varanasi; providing trade enhancement and facilitation to both domestic & international buyers. Hence, carrying forward the rich traditions of handlooms and handicrafts.


title: Varanasi

text: In the metal manufacturing sector, Banaras Locomotive Works is a major employer. Bharat Heavy Electricals, a large power equipment manufacturer, also operates a heavy equipment maintenance plant. Other major commodities manufactured and traded in Varanasi include hand-knotted Mirzapur carpets, rugs, dhurries, brassware, copperware, wooden and clay toys, handicrafts, gold jewellery, and musical instruments. Important agricultural products include betel leaves (for paan), langra mangoes and khoa (solidified milk).


title: Varanasi

text: Tourism is Varanasi's second most important industry. Domestic tourist most commonly visit for religious purposes while foreign tourist visit for ghats along River Ganges and Sarnath. Most domestic tourists are from Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, while the majority of foreign tourists are from Sri Lanka and Japan. The peak tourist season falls between October and March. In total, there are around 12,000 beds available in the city, of which about one half are in inexpensive budget hotels and one third in . Overall, Varanasi's tourist infrastructure is not well developed.


title: Varanasi

text: In 2017, InterContinental Hotels Group made an agreement with the JHV group to set up Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains in Varanasi.


title: Varanasi

text: The prominent malls and multiplexes in Varanasi are JHV Mall in the Cantonment area, IP Mall in Sigra, IP Vijaya Mall in Bhelupur, Vinayak Plaza in Maldhaiya and PDR Mall in Luxa. The city has several banks, including the Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and State Bank of India.


title: Varanasi

text: Apart from the 19 archaeological sites identified by the Archaeological Survey of India, some of the prominent places of interest are the Aghor Peeth, the Alamgir Mosque, the Ashoka Pillar, the Bharat Kala Bhavan (Art Museum), the Bharat Mata Mandir, the Central University for Tibetan Studies, the Dhanvantari Temple, the Durga Temple, the Jantar Mantar, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, the Shri Vishwanath Temple on the BHU campus, the Ramnagar Fort, the Riverfront Ghats, the Tulsi Manas Temple.


title: Varanasi

text: The Jantar Mantar observatory, constructed in 1737, is located above the ghats along the Ganges, and is adjacent to the Manmandir and Dasaswamedh Ghats and near the palace of Jai Singh II of Jaipur. While less equipped than the observatories at Jaipur and Delhi, the Jantar Mantar has a unique equatorial sundial which is functional and allows measurements to be monitored and recorded by one person.


title: Varanasi

text: The Ramnagar Fort, located near the Ganges on its eastern bank and opposite the Tulsi Ghat, was built in the 18th century by Kashi Naresh Raja Balwant Singh with cream-coloured "chunar" sandstone. The fort is a typical example of the Mughal architecture with carved balconies, open courtyards, and scenic pavilions. At present, the fort is in disrepair. The fort and its museum are the repository of the history of the kings of Benares. Cited as an "eccentric" museum, it contains a rare collection of American vintage cars, bejewelled sedan chairs, an impressive weaponry hall, and a rare astrological clock. In addition, manuscripts, especially religious writings, are housed in the Saraswati Bhawan which is a part of a museum within the fort. Many books illustrated in the Mughal miniature style are also part of the collections. Because of its scenic location on the banks of the Ganges, it is frequently used as an outdoor shooting location for films.