title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov began his ballet studies in Riga in 1960, at the age of 12. In 1964, he entered the Vaganova School, in what was then Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Baryshnikov soon won the top prize in the junior division of the Varna International Ballet Competition. He joined the Mariinsky Ballet, then called the Kirov Ballet, in 1967, dancing the "Peasant" pas de deux in "Giselle". Recognizing Baryshnikov's talent, in particular his stage presence and purity of technique, several Soviet choreographers, including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, and Leonid Jakobson, choreographed ballets for him. Baryshnikov made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 virtuosic "Vestris" along with an intensely emotional Albrecht in "Giselle". While he was still in the Soviet Union, "New York Times" critic Clive Barnes called him "the most perfect dancer I have ever seen."


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov's talent was obvious from his youth, but being 5' 5" (165 cm) or 5' 6" (168 cm) tall—shorter than most dancers—he could not tower over a ballerina "en pointe" and was therefore relegated to secondary parts. More frustrating to him, the Soviet dance world hewed closely to 19th-century traditions and deliberately shunned Western choreographers, whose work Baryshnikov glimpsed in occasional tours and films. His main reason for leaving the Soviet Union was to work with these innovators.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On June 29, 1974, in Toronto while on tour with the Bolshoi, Baryshnikov defected, requesting political asylum in Canada. As recalled by John Fraser, a ballet critic from Toronto who helped Baryshnikov to escape, Fraser wrote down phone numbers of people on a small piece of paper and hid it under his wedding ring. At a banquet after one show he managed to distract the KGB officer who followed Baryshnikov as an interpreter and gave Baryshnikov the paper. Soon he joined the National Ballet of Canada for a brief time in a guest role. He also announced that he would not return to the USSR. He later said that Christina Berlin, an American friend, helped engineer his defection during his 1970 tour of London. His first televised performance after coming out of temporary seclusion in Canada was with the National Ballet of Canada in "La Sylphide". He then went to the United States. In December 1975, he and his dance partner Natalia Makarova featured prominently in an episode of the BBC television series "Arena".


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In the first two years after his defection, he danced for no fewer than 13 different choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp. "It doesn't matter if every ballet is a success or not", he told "New York Times" dance critic Anna Kisselgoff in 1976. "The new experience gives me a lot." He cited his fascination with the ways Ailey mixed classical and modern technique and his initial discomfort when Tharp insisted he incorporate eccentric personal gestures in dance.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: From 1974 to 1978, Baryshnikov was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he partnered with Gelsey Kirkland.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In 1978, Baryshnikov abandoned his freelance career to spend 18 months as a principal of the New York City Ballet, run by George Balanchine. "Mr. B", as Balanchine was known, rarely welcomed guest artists and had refused to work with both Nureyev and Makarova. Baryshnikov's decision to devote his full attentions to the New York company stunned the dance world. Balanchine never created a new work for Baryshnikov, but he did coach him in his distinctive style, and Baryshnikov triumphed in such signature roles as "Apollo", "The Prodigal Son", and "Rubies". Jerome Robbins created "Opus 19/The Dreamer" for Baryshnikov and NYCB favorite Patricia McBride.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov performed with the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer for 15 months from 1978 to 1979. On July 8, 1978, he made his debut with George Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's company at Saratoga Springs, appearing as Franz in "Coppélia".


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On October 12, 1979, Baryshnikov danced the role of the Poet in Balanchine's ballet "La Sonnambula" with the City Ballet at the Kennedy Center. This was his last performance with New York City Ballet due to tendinitis and other injuries. His tenure there coincided with a period of ill health for Balanchine that followed an earlier heart attack and culminated in successful heart surgery in June 1979. Baryshnikov left the company to become ABT's artistic director in September 1980, and take time off for his injuries.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov returned to the American Ballet Theatre in September 1980 as an artistic director, a position he held until 1989. He also performed as a dancer with ABT. Baryshnikov has remained fascinated with the new. As he observed, "It doesn't matter how high you lift your leg. The technique is about transparency, simplicity and making an earnest attempt." Baryshnikov also toured with ballet and modern dance companies around the world for 15 months. Several roles were created for him, including in Robbins's "Opus 19: The Dreamer" (1979), Frederick Ashton's "Rhapsody" (1980), and Robbins's "Other Dances", with Natalia Makarova.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov was artistic director of the White Oak Dance Project, a touring company he co-founded with Mark Morris. The White Oak Project was formed to create original work for older dancers. In a run ending just short of his 60th birthday in 2007, he appeared in a production of four short plays by Samuel Beckett directed by JoAnne Akalaitis.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In 2003, Baryshnikov won the Prix Benois de la Danse for lifetime achievement. In 2005, he launched the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. For the duration of the 2006 summer, Baryshnikov went on tour with Hell's Kitchen Dance, which was sponsored by the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Featuring works by Baryshnikov Arts Center residents Azsure Barton and Benjamin Millepied, the company toured the United States and Brazil. He has received three honorary degrees: on May 11, 2006, from New York University; on September 28, 2007, from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University; and on May 23, 2008, from Montclair State University. In late August 2007, Baryshnikov performed Mats Ek's "Place" ("Ställe") with Ana Laguna at Dansens Hus in Stockholm. In 2012, he received the Vilcek Prize in Dance.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov has performed in Israel three times: in 1996, with the White Oak Dance Project at the Roman theater in Caesarea; in 2010, with Ana Laguna; and in 2011, starring in nine performances of "In Paris", a show after a short story by Ivan Bunin, at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv. In a 2011 "Haaretz" interview, he expressed opposition to artistic boycotts of Israel and called the enthusiasm for contemporary dance in Israel astounding.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov made his American television dancing debut in 1976, on the PBS program "In Performance Live from Wolf Trap". The program is distributed on DVD by Kultur Video.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: During the Christmas season of 1977, CBS brought Baryshnikov's ABT production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" to television, with Baryshnikov in the title role, accompanied by ABT performers including Gelsey Kirkland and Alexander Minz. "The Nutcracker" has been presented on TV many times in many different versions, but Baryshnikov's version is one of only two to be nominated for an Emmy Award.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov also performed in two Emmy-winning television specials, one on ABC and one on CBS, in which he danced to music from Broadway and Hollywood, respectively. During the 1970s and 1980s, he appeared many times with the ABT on "Live from Lincoln Center" and "Great Performances". He has also appeared on several telecasts of the Kennedy Center Honors.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov performed in his first film role soon after arriving in New York. He portrayed the character Yuri Kopeikine, a famous, womanizing Russian ballet dancer, in the 1977 film "The Turning Point", for which he received an Oscar nomination. He co-starred with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini in the 1985 film "White Nights", choreographed by Twyla Tharp, and was featured in the 1987 film "Dancers." On television, in the last season of "Sex and the City", he played a Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky, who woos Carrie Bradshaw relentlessly and takes her to Paris. He co-starred in "Company Business" (1991) with Gene Hackman.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: An animated TV series, "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood", appeared on American PBS networks from 1996 to 1998. The cartoons were produced by the Russian animation house Soyuzmultfilm, and redubbed by American actors, including Jim Belushi, Laura San Giacomo, Harvey Fierstein and Kirsten Dunst. Baryshnikov hosted the show, presenting his favorite folktales, including "Beauty and the Beast: A Tale of the Crimson Flower", "The Snow Queen", "The Last Petal" and "The Golden Rooster". The episodes were also released on home video.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On November 2, 2006, Baryshnikov and chef Alice Waters were featured on an episode of the Sundance Channel's original series "Iconoclasts". The two have a long friendship. They discussed their lifestyles, sources of inspiration, and social projects. During the program, Waters visited Baryshnikov's Arts Center in New York City. The Hell's Kitchen Dance tour brought him to Berkeley to visit her restaurant "Chez Panisse." On July 17, 2007, the PBS "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" featured a profile of Baryshnikov and his Arts Center. He appears, uncredited, in the 2014 film "" as Interior Minister Sorokin.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In a continuation of his interest in modern dance, Baryshnikov appeared in a 2015 commercial for the clothing designer Rag & Bone with street dance artist Lil Buck.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov is a performer in avant-garde theater. His breakthrough performance in Broadway was in 1989, when he played Gregor Samsa in "Metamorphosis", an adaption of Franz Kafka's novel. It earned him a Tony nomination.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In 2004, Baryshnikov appeared in "Forbidden Christmas or The Doctor And The Patient" at New York City's Lincoln Center, and in 2007 in "Beckett Shorts" at New York Theatre Workshop. On April 11 to 21, 2012, he starred in "In Paris," a new play directed by Dmitry Krymov. It was presented on the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center's Broad Stage and co-starred Anna Sinyakina. Baryshnikov then appeared in the stage adaptation of Anton Chekhov's "Man in a Case". Of the production, he said:


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On April 21, 2015, "The New York Times" reported that Baryshnikov was scheduled to perform a reading of poet Joseph Brodsky's work in Riga in 2015. The performance was called "Brodsky/Baryshnikov," was in the original Russian, and premiered on October 15, 2015. Its international tour began in Tel Aviv in January 2016 and it was staged in New York City in March 2016. (Baryshnikov met Brodsky in 1974, soon after Soviet authorities had forced Brodsky to leave his home country and he moved to the United States. They remained friends until Brodsky's death in 1996.)


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov has a daughter, Aleksandra "Shura" Baryshnikova (born 1981), from his relationship with actress Jessica Lange. When Baryshnikov and Lange met, he spoke very little English; they communicated in French instead. He eventually learned English by watching television. From 1982 to 1983 he dated Tuesday Weld, Lange's best friend.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Baryshnikov has had a long-term relationship with former ballerina Lisa Rinehart. They had three children together: Peter, Anna (born 1992), and Sofia. He told Larry King in 2002 that he did not "believe in marriage in the conventional way", but he and Rinehart married in 2006.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On July 3, 1986, Baryshnikov became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Asked whether he felt like an American, he said, "I like to think like I'm a man of the world. I feel totally Parisian in Paris. Totally Parisian. I have my place here, a lot of close friends and collaborators here, whom I can really feel like I can talk serious business with them. Human business, not 'business' business. Paris was always the dream of my childhood. We grew up on French art, like all Russians. America, United States, North America—it's a new country. Of course, if somebody would ask me to choose either Paris or New York, I would choose New York. But spiritually, somehow, I love Europe."


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: On April 27, 2017, the Republic of Latvia granted Baryshnikov citizenship for extraordinary merits. The application to the Latvian parliament along with a letter from Baryshnikov in which he expressed his wish to become a Latvian citizen was submitted on December 21, 2016. He wrote that the decision was based on memories of his first 16 years living in Latvia, which provided the basis for the rest of his life. "It was there that my exposure to the arts led me to discover my future destiny as a performer. Riga still serves as a place where I find artistic inspiration", Baryshnikov wrote in the letter to the Latvian parliament.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: In March 2022, together with economist Sergei Guriev and writer Boris Akunin, Baryshnikov announced the formation of the True Russia foundation to support victims of the war in Ukraine. Baryshnikov condemned the Russian invasion and wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin slamming his "world of fear". In his letter, Baryshnikov wrote that people of culture who promoted Russian art made more for Russia than Putin's "not-so-precise weapons". True Russia also aims to become a trilingual art platform. By the end of March, the initiative had raised more than 1.2 million euro.


title: Mikhail Baryshnikov

text: Also appeared in "Prodigal Son", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", and "Other Dances", all "Dance in America", PBS; "Baryshnikov: The Dancer and the Dance", PBS; and "Carmen", on French television.


title: Randy Moss

text: Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and the San Francisco 49ers. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most talented wide receivers of all time, he holds the NFL single-season touchdown reception record (23 in 2007), as well as the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17 in 1998). All-time, Moss ranks second in career touchdown receptions as well as fourth in career receiving yards. Possessing much superior speed, size, and leaping ability over most of his defenders, he often was famously known for securing contested catches in tight coverage by physically overpowering them. The term "mossed", referring to this ability, became a common term in football lexicon.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss played college football for Marshall University, and twice earned All-America honors. A six-time Pro Bowl and four-time first-team All-Pro selection, Moss was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft, where he played for seven years before a trade in 2005 brought him to the Oakland Raiders. In 2007, Moss was traded to the New England Patriots, where he set the single-season record for touchdown receptions and helped lead the Patriots to a record breaking 16–0 regular season. In October 2010, Moss returned to the Vikings in a trade from the Patriots but was waived less than a month later and then claimed by the Tennessee Titans. After sitting out the 2011 season, Moss signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012 before retiring following the season. He played in two Super Bowl games, XLII with the Patriots and XLVII with the 49ers, both losses. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, and is a member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.


title: Randy Moss

text: Post-football, he began working for ESPN as a studio analyst for its "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "Monday Night Countdown" programs.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss was born in Rand, West Virginia. He attended DuPont High School, one of two schools that later consolidated into Riverside High School, where he excelled in football, basketball, baseball, and track. Randy was also on the school's debate team. On the football field, Moss led the DuPont Panthers to back-to-back state championships in 1992 and 1993. He was a star at wide receiver, but also played free safety, returned kickoffs and punts, and was the team's kicker and punter. In 1994, he was honored with the Harrison H. Kennedy Award as the West Virginia Football Player of the Year. "Parade" magazine named him to their annual All-American high school football team in 1995 and in 2009 named him one of the 50 greatest high school football players of all time. At DuPont, he was a teammate of future Chicago Bears linebacker Bobbie Howard.


title: Randy Moss

text: In addition to playing football at DuPont, Moss was twice named West Virginia Player of the Year in basketball (in 1994 when he was co-player of the year and in 1995), where he was a teammate of future NBA player Jason Williams. In his senior season of basketball, Moss averaged 30.2 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.1 steals, 3.8 blocks, and 3.1 assists while shooting 60% from field; he scored a school-record 1,713 career points.


title: Randy Moss

text: As a sophomore in 1992, at the age of 15, Moss joined the track & field team and was the West Virginia state champion in the 100 and 200 meters with times of 10.94 seconds and 21.95 seconds, respectively. This was the only year he competed on the school's track team, but he would later join the Marshall track team and lower his 200 m time to 21.15 seconds. He also played center field for the baseball team.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss's dream was to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but he also considered going to Ohio State, where his half-brother, Eric, had played offensive tackle. Former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz said "Randy Moss was the best high school football player I've ever seen." Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden said "He was as good as Deion Sanders. Deion's my measuring stick for athletic ability, and this kid was just a bigger Deion."


title: Randy Moss

text: After originally signing a letter of intent to play college football with Notre Dame in 1995, Moss took part in a racially charged fight at his high school that left one person hospitalized. On March 23, 1995, Moss had backed a friend in a hallway fight against a white student who had allegedly used racist comments towards Randy's friend. Moss was initially charged with a felony for kicking the student, but it was later reduced to a misdemeanor. On August 1, 1995, Moss pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to 30 days behind bars at the South-Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia. He served 3 days in jail starting that night and would be required to serve the remaining 27 days within the following 18 months, after he completed his freshman year in college. Moss was expelled from DuPont and completed his education at Cabell Alternative School.


title: Randy Moss

text: Notre Dame subsequently denied his enrollment application, but this did not stop another high-profile college football program from giving him a chance. Notre Dame officials suggested he attend Florida State due to the reputation of its coach, Bobby Bowden, for handling troubled players.


title: Randy Moss

text: Because of his signed letter of intent at Notre Dame, the NCAA considered him a transfer student to Florida State, so he had to redshirt the 1995 football season.


title: Randy Moss

text: In 1996, while serving his 30-day jail sentence in a work-release program from 1995, Moss tested positive for marijuana, thus violating his probation, and was dismissed from Florida State. He served an additional 60 days in jail for the probation violation.


title: Randy Moss

text: Ultimately, Moss transferred to Marshall University, about an hour's drive from his home. Because Marshall was then a Division I-AA school, NCAA rules allowed him to transfer there without losing any further eligibility. In 1996, he set the NCAA Division I-AA records for the most games with a touchdown catch in a season (14), most consecutive games with a touchdown catch (13), most touchdown passes caught in a season (28 – tying Jerry Rice's 1984 record), and most receiving yards gained by a freshman in a season (1,709 on 78 catches), a record which still stands. Moss was also the leading kickoff returner in Division I-AA on the season, with 612 total yards and a 34.0-yard average. The 1996 Marshall Thundering Herd went undefeated and won the Division I-AA title, with Moss having four touchdown receptions in the 1996 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game. It was Marshall's last season before moving to Division I-A.


title: Randy Moss

text: At the Southern Conference indoor track championships, Moss ran the 200 meters in 21.15 seconds, missing the conference record by only .02 seconds. Although Moss had not raced competitively for four years, his time was one of the best in the country that year.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the 1997 season, Marshall's first in Division I-A, Moss and Quarterback Chad Pennington were the centerpiece of an explosive offense that led the Thundering Herd to the Mid-American Conference title. Moss caught 26 touchdown passes that season, at the time a Division I-A record, and was a first-team All-American.


title: Randy Moss

text: The first game of the season was at West Virginia University where Marshall lost. The second game of the season saw Moss pick up right where he left off in 1996. Facing Army, Moss caught 5 balls for 186 yards and two touchdowns. One touchdown went for 79 yards in which Pennington lobbed the ball down the left sideline. Moss leaped over an Army defender to snag the ball out of the air at the 40-yard line while the safety crashed into his teammate, knocking both men down. Moss galloped the last 50 yards untouched for the score. The other touchdown reception was his career-long of 90 yards that came on a short screen pass on third down. Moss caught the ball on the right side of the field at his own 8-yard line, ran past 3 defenders in the middle of the field at the 15-yard line, hurdled two defenders coming from both sides of the left hash marks at the 25-yard line, then raced past the last defender at the 50-yard line before finally seeing daylight down the left sideline.


title: Randy Moss

text: A week later, Moss posted his third career 200+ yard receiving game, against Kent State. Two weeks after that was his fourth and final 200+ yard game in college, recording 13 catches for 205 yards and a Marshall single-game record of 5 touchdown receptions against Ball State.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the 1997 Ford Motor City Bowl against Ole Miss, Moss added his 26th touchdown of the season on Marshall's first offensive play from scrimmage. He streaked down the right sideline and caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Pennington to tie the score at 7–7. NCAA rules at the time did not allow for statistics from bowl games to be combined with regular-season stats, so the touchdown did not officially increase his season touchdown record. The two teams traded the lead several times in the fourth quarter before Ole Miss running back Deuce McAllister scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds to play, giving them a 34–31 lead. Trying to pull out a last-second win, Pennington connected with Moss on a 40-yard pass on the final play of the game, but he was stripped of the ball as time expired. Moss finished the game with 6 receptions for 173 yards.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss finished his career at Marshall having scored at least one touchdown in all 28 games that he played. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the season's outstanding receiver regardless of position, and was a finalist for the 1997 Heisman Trophy (finishing fourth in the balloting, behind Ryan Leaf, Peyton Manning, and Charles Woodson, who won the award). A controversial comment was made by Randy Moss in 1997 at a ceremony at Marshall University where he was commenting in regards to the 1970 plane crash that killed most their football team that the crash "was a tragedy, but it really wasn't nothing big". Moss later claimed that the quotes were taken out of context. Nate Ruffin, who is a surviving member of the 1970 Football Team, later met with Randy Moss.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss skipped his junior and senior seasons at Marshall and entered the NFL Draft. He did not attend the NFL Combine, opting instead for an individual workout at Marshall's pro day. After the pro day was complete, Marshall head coach Bob Pruett informed the media that Moss had ran two 40 yard sprints which timed at 4.24 and 4.28 by scouts' hand timers. Moss also posted a vertical leap of 47 inches. Numerous teams had scouts on hand with many noting the work-out was jaw dropping, with one Cowboys scout naming Moss the "most gifted prospect in football history".


title: Randy Moss

text: During the 1998 NFL Draft, Moss, who was projected as a high first-round pick, was taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 21st overall pick after a number of NFL clubs—even those in need of a WR—were concerned with Moss's well-documented legal problems. Before the draft Moss was quoted as saying teams that passed on him "will regret it once they see what kind of a player I am and what kind of guy I really am." The team most often cited for passing on Moss is the Dallas Cowboys. Moss grew up a Cowboys fan and wanted to play for the Cowboys. The Cowboys wanted Moss, but because of many off-field incidents of their own, team owner and GM Jerry Jones did not feel the team could draft Moss. Moss felt that the Cowboys lied to him because they had told him they would draft him. On draft day, Dallas went so far as to have a scout in Charleston, West Virginia, the same town where Moss and his mother were watching the draft. Dallas star receiver Michael Irvin even called to apologize to Moss, because Irvin's own off-field problems were a main reason Moss was not drafted by Dallas. After the draft, Moss made a point of beating the Cowboys any time he faced them, getting his first opportunity to do so in Week 13 of his rookie season. In a game held at Texas Stadium, Moss torched Dallas with a 163-yard, 3-receptions for 3-touchdowns performance.


title: Randy Moss

text: After the draft, Moss signed a 4-year, $4.5 million contract that included an additional $4 million in bonuses and incentives. As part of the deal, he received a $2 million signing bonus. Moss originally wore #18 in training camp (a number he would eventually wear for Oakland) but switched to the more conventional #84 before the regular season began.


title: Randy Moss

text: In 1998, Moss helped the Vikings to become the number 1 rated offense ever at the time, setting the single-season record for scoring (later surpassed by the 2007 New England Patriots, a team that also featured Moss) with 556 points.


title: Randy Moss

text: The Vikings opened the season with a 31–7 rout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Moss's first NFL game would also be his first multi-touchdown game as he recorded 4 receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns. His first NFL reception came on the third play of the game on an 11-yard pass from Brad Johnson. His first touchdown was a 48-yard acrobatic grab over defensive back Floyd Young late in the first quarter, in which Moss juggled the ball 3 times before securing it for the score. He added a 31-yard touchdown reception on the Vikings' first possession of the second quarter to give the Vikings a 21–0 lead.


title: Randy Moss

text: His first "Monday Night Football" game came in Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. He had 5 receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns, including touchdown grabs of 52 yards and 44 yards, and two other receptions of 46 yards and 41 yards. He also had a 75-yard touchdown catch on the Vikings' first possession of the game that was nullified due to an offensive holding penalty.


title: Randy Moss

text: Against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, Moss finished with 3 catches for 163 yards and 3 touchdowns all for 50+ yards as the Vikings beat the Cowboys 46–36. Moss was the first rookie to score 3 touchdowns on Thanksgiving.


title: Randy Moss

text: They finished with a 15–1 record and were poised to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIII. However, the Atlanta Falcons stunned the Vikings by winning the NFC Championship Game 30–27 in overtime.


title: Randy Moss

text: At the end of the 1998 regular season, Moss was named a Pro Bowl starter and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for his rookie-record 17 touchdown receptions and the third-highest receiving yardage (1,313) total.


title: Randy Moss

text: In 1999, Moss had another impressive season, catching 80 passes for 1,413 yards and 11 touchdowns, including a punt return for a touchdown. He went on to record five receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings 27–10 NFC wildcard playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys. Minnesota lost in the divisional round to the St. Louis Rams 49–37, despite Moss catching nine passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Moss was fined $40,000, which was later reduced to $25,000, during that game due to squirting an NFL referee with a water bottle. There was a stipulation that he would have to pay the difference in addition to any other fine if he had another run-in with the league.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss earned his second straight Pro Bowl appearance, and turned in a record-breaking performance. He had 9 receptions for a Pro Bowl record 212 yards and was given the game's Most Valuable Player award.


title: Randy Moss

text: The 2000 season featured second-year quarterback Daunte Culpepper leading the team. Culpepper had been the team's first-round draft pick in 1999; with a pick they received from the Redskins for quarterback Brad Johnson. He had been selected largely due to his extremely strong arm, which the team believed was perfectly suited for Moss's deep routes. The decision proved correct. Culpepper was a rookie sensation, the Vikings started 7–0, and Moss was a leading MVP candidate. For the second time in three seasons, Moss punished the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, including a spectacular 2nd-half touchdown in which Moss caught the ball with his entire body out of bounds, aside from his toes. The play would be the feature shot in NFL commercials for years to come. Moss finished the season with a career-high 1,437 yards and league-leading 15 touchdown catches. In doing so, he became the youngest and fastest player to ever catch over 3,000 yards and 45 touchdowns, earning him his 3rd consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl, and 2nd selection to the All Pro team. The Vikings would make it to the NFC Championship game, only to be blown out 41–0 by the New York Giants.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the offseason, Moss and his agent Danté DiTrapano began negotiating a new contract with the Minnesota Vikings. He was scheduled to earn $3.5 million in 2001. But Moss, who was entering the final year of the rookie contract he signed in 1998, was seeking a long-term deal that would make him the highest-paid player in the NFL. His agent said, "We want to break the tradition of quarterbacks being the highest-paid players." One option the Vikings had would be to apply the franchise tag after the season ended, but sources stated that Moss would request a trade if that happened because it would still be less than what he could command on the open market.


title: Randy Moss

text: Just prior to the start of training camp in July, Vikings owner Red McCombs signed Moss to an 8-year, $75 million contract extension. The extension included a $10 million signing bonus and another $8 million in guarantees.


title: Randy Moss

text: Despite finishing the season with 10 touchdowns and posting at least 1,000 receiving yards for the fourth consecutive season, Moss failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.


title: Randy Moss

text: After replacing Dennis Green on an interim basis to end the 2001 season, Mike Tice was officially named head coach on January 10, 2002. One of the strategies the Vikings' first-year head coach came up with was a formula to get Moss the ball more often. Coach Tice called it the Randy Ratio. It was an effort on the coaches part to throw 40% of the passes to Moss as a way to keep him involved in the offense more than he had been in the 2001 season when he had stretches in games where he was being shut out, and partly to use more game clock by sustaining long drives to give the Vikings defense a chance to rest. An assistant coach would stand on the sidelines during games and track how many times Moss had been thrown to, and then inform Tice of the percentages so that he is always aware of it. In the 2001 season, the Vikings record was 4–1 when Moss had 40% of the passes thrown his direction, and 1–10 in other games.


title: Randy Moss

text: The strategy was a response to the 'Randy Rules,' as Vikings receiver Chris Walsh called them. The Randy Rules, similar to the Jordan Rules, were a defensive strategy that teams employed when facing the Vikings to try and eliminate or reduce Randy's impact on the game, and to prevent Moss from being matched up one-on-one with defenders because of his ability to burn them deep or outjump them in single coverage. Opposing teams would routinely double cover Moss with techniques such as having a cornerback attempt to jam him at the line of scrimmage, having a corner defend underneath with a safety defending against the deep ball, having a zone defense roll to Moss's side of the field, and assigning "spies" to follow Moss everywhere he went.


title: Randy Moss

text: Coach Tice discussed the strategy, explaining that Moss would be running more short and intermediate routes and fewer deep patterns. In training camp, Moss worked specifically on 12 new routes that he had rarely run in his first 4 NFL seasons, such as crossing patterns over the middle of the field and hook routes. Coach Tice said, "When we say Randy Ratio, everybody in the league thinks, 'OK, now they're going to throw the ball down the field to Randy more and more and more.' That's so far from the truth. In fact, we'll probably throw the ball down the field to Randy this year even less."


title: Randy Moss

text: The Randy Ratio did not last very long, as Tice scrapped the idea midway through the 2002 season. Randy Moss said "I didn't really care much about the Randy Ratio when it was brought up. I just wanted to win." While Moss caught a career-high 106 passes, he also had a career-low 7 touchdown receptions, and the Vikings struggled to a 6–10 record. Tice suggested after the season that it was a mistake to inform opponents about his offensive gameplan, but that it was a tool "to motivate [Moss] and say he was the guy."


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss's fortunes took a better turn on the football field during the 2003 regular season, where he became the second wide receiver in NFL history (behind Jerry Rice in 1995) to play more than 12 games (he played 16) while averaging over 100 yards and one touchdown per contest. He finished with 111 receptions for 1,632 yards and 17 touchdowns. All three numbers either tied or became a new personal best for Moss. The Vikings finished the season 9–7. One of Moss's memorable highlights that year was when he lateraled to Moe Williams for a last-second touchdown during a home game against Denver.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the offseason, he attended the Vikings strength and conditioning program and added five pounds of muscle to his frame.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss started the season strong catching 8 touchdowns in his first 5 games of the season. However, he sustained a hamstring injury to his right leg against New Orleans in Week 6 that hampered him for the next five weeks. He played in Week 7 against Tennessee, but had no receptions in a game for the first time in his career. He also played the following week against the Giants, but again recorded no receptions and was used mainly as a decoy. The injury eventually sidelined him for 3 straight weeks. He returned to the lineup in Week 12 with a touchdown catch against the Jacksonville Jaguars.


title: Randy Moss

text: Even though he finished the season with 13 touchdowns in 13 games, he posted career lows in receptions (49) and receiving yards (767). 2004 was the first season in his career that he failed to reach the 1,000-yard mark.


title: Randy Moss

text: On January 9, 2005, the Minnesota Vikings played division rival Green Bay Packers in an . Moss finished the game with 4 catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns in the 31–17 win. After the second score, Moss trotted to the end zone goalpost and feigned pulling down his pants to moon the Green Bay fans. NFL on Fox announcer Joe Buck called it a "disgusting act.” Moss was fined $10,000 for his actions. Though the Vikings would win the game, they would lose in the next round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles, and Moss would be traded at the end of the season.


title: Randy Moss

text: On March 2, 2005, Moss was traded to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napoleon Harris and the Raiders' first (7th overall, which Minnesota parlayed into wide receiver Troy Williamson) and seventh-round picks in the NFL draft. Adding a player of Moss's caliber generated optimism in Oakland, but the Raiders' poor play continued, while Moss suffered nagging injuries which limited his production. He surpassed the 1,000 mark on the final day of the 2005 season, finishing the year with 1,005 receiving yards on 60 catches. However, Moss only managed 553 yards on 42 balls in 2006.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss was not happy in Oakland, and on November 14, 2006, when he was honored as a kick returner by having an award named after him, he responded to questions about his dropped passes and lackluster effort in several games. Moss said, "Maybe because I'm unhappy and I'm not too much excited about what's going on, so, my concentration and focus level tend to go down sometimes when I'm in a bad mood". Days later, he reiterated his unhappiness with losing games and being a member of the Raiders on his weekly segment with Fox Sports Radio, saying, "I might want to look forward to moving somewhere else next year to have another start and really feel good about going out here and playing football".


title: Randy Moss

text: There were rumors leading up to the 2007 NFL Draft that the Raiders were eager to part ways with Randy Moss through a trade. First-year Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin went so far as to contact their division rival Denver Broncos to "gauge interest", but the Patriots and Green Bay Packers were the two teams most interested in acquiring Moss. Packers QB Brett Favre, who once said, "There is no one in this league who puts fear in people more than Randy Moss," tried to persuade team management to trade for him, but a deal that both sides could agree to did not get done.


title: Randy Moss

text: During the first day of the NFL Draft, the Patriots and Raiders discussed the trade several times before reaching an agreement. Bill Belichick spoke with Moss for the first time about the possibility of joining the Patriots at 2:30 Sunday morning. Moss then boarded a plane and arrived in Boston later that morning on April 29 and was required to pass a team administered physical. Once he was cleared by Patriots officials, the teams completed a trade that sent Randy Moss to New England for a fourth-round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. The Patriots had acquired the draft pick the previous day from the San Francisco 49ers, and the Raiders selected John Bowie.


title: Randy Moss

text: One of the conditions of the trade was that Randy Moss would have to restructure his contract for salary cap reasons. Just hours before the Moss trade was completed, New England quarterback Tom Brady converted $5.28 million of his 2007 base salary into a signing bonus that was spread out over the remaining portion of his contract so that it could free up cap room. This enabled the Patriots to absorb Moss's incoming contract under the salary cap. Moss had two years remaining on his current deal and was scheduled to earn $9.75 million in 2007 and $11.25 million in 2008. Once the Patriots had Moss on their roster, he quickly agreed to a new one-year contract to replace his old one. The new deal gave him a $500,000 signing bonus, a base salary of $2.5 million, and the ability to earn an additional $1.75 million in incentives.


title: Randy Moss

text: "I’m still in awe that I’m a part of this organization," Moss said, clearly thrilled to join a team that could contend for the Super Bowl and to work with Coach Belichick. "I think that he's the kind of coach that can motivate me. He has a proven track record."


title: Randy Moss

text: In the first week of training camp, during an 11-on-11 passing drill, Moss suffered a hamstring injury to his left leg. As a precaution, the injury prevented Moss from participating in any preseason games and he missed much of the rest of camp.


title: Randy Moss

text: His first action in a Patriots uniform came against the New York Jets in Week 1. He quickly quieted critics who claimed that his skills had deteriorated by hauling in nine receptions for 181 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown pass in which he ran past three Jets defenders.


title: Randy Moss

text: On November 4, 2007, James Black, NFL Editor for Yahoo! Sports wrote, "Every week, in addition to out-leaping at least one defender for a touchdown, [Moss] keeps making incredible one-handed grabs that make you mutter, 'How the heck did he come up with that?'" Two weeks later, he caught a career-high four touchdowns against Buffalo, all in the first half.


title: Randy Moss

text: On December 29, the Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38–35, finishing their regular season with a perfect 16–0 record. Moss caught two touchdown passes for a total of 23, breaking the single-season record of 22 touchdown receptions previously set by Jerry Rice (in 12 games in the strike-shortened 1987 season). On the same play, Tom Brady broke Peyton Manning's single-season record set in 2004 with his 50th touchdown pass. Moss recorded 98 catches for 1,493 yards in 2007, the highest yardage total in Patriots franchise history and the third-highest total number of catches, after teammate Wes Welker's 112 catches that same season and Troy Brown's 101 in 2001. He also earned his sixth Pro Bowl selection. His 2007 season featured touchdowns in 13 of 16 games (including eight multi-touchdown games), nine 100-yard games, and six touchdown receptions of 40 or more yards.


title: Randy Moss

text: Despite his record-breaking 2007 season, Moss was relatively quiet in the playoffs, going two consecutive games without a touchdown for the first time all season. However, in Super Bowl XLII, he scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter on a six-yard pass from Tom Brady. The score was not enough for the heavily favored Patriots to end their only undefeated season with a Super Bowl win. Eli Manning drove the Giants down the field, connecting with Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown and an upset over the Patriots. A deep throw from Brady on 3rd & 20 on the Patriots final drive to Moss fell just short and incomplete.


title: Randy Moss

text: On February 28, 2008, Moss became a free agent after the Patriots decided not to place the franchise tag on Moss. Although the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Green Bay Packers were rumored to have interest in Moss, he decided to return to the Patriots, signing a three-year, $27 million deal on March 3, 2008. The contract included a $12 million signing bonus, and a total of $14.1 million guaranteed.


title: Randy Moss

text: The first game of the 2008 season saw Brady suffer a torn ACL in his left knee while attempting a pass to Moss. The play occurred in the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs when safety Bernard Pollard dove at Brady's leg while in his throwing motion. Moss described what he saw on the play by saying "any time you see something like that, that looks foul, it looks dirty, it opens your eyes. So, me personally, it looked dirty." Matt Cassel replaced Brady for the rest of the season.


title: Randy Moss

text: In 2008, Moss hauled in 69 catches for 1,008 yards and 11 touchdowns despite losing quarterback Tom Brady in the first game of the season.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the season opener of 2009, Moss caught a career-high 12 passes for 141 yards in a comeback 25–24 victory over the Bills. In Week 5 against the Denver Broncos, Moss was placed deep in coverage on a Broncos Hail Mary attempt to end the first half, and intercepted Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton. In a snowy Week 6 game against the winless Tennessee Titans, Moss caught three touchdown passes from Tom Brady, two of them in the 2nd quarter as Brady set a record for most touchdown passes in a single quarter with five. This was Moss's 34th multi-touchdown game, and his 8th game with three or more touchdowns.


title: Randy Moss

text: During the Patriots' bye week, Belichick stated that Moss "is the smartest receiver he's ever been around." He compared Moss's ability to see the field and anticipate plays to that of Tom Brady, and to Lawrence Taylor, who Belichick coached with the New York Giants. He said Moss not only knows what he's doing on a play, but what everybody else on the field is doing as well. "That's what makes them special. They just have a sixth, seventh sense", Belichick said. This sentiment was repeated when Moss was inducted into the Hall of Fame, as Belichick went further to say he learned from Moss.


title: Randy Moss

text: In Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins Moss added six catches for 147 yards and 1 touchdown. The touchdown reception was the 140th of his career, which moved him into a tie for second place with Terrell Owens.


title: Randy Moss

text: The following week, in a prime time Sunday night matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Moss had 179 yards and two touchdowns, including a 63-yard touchdown in the 2nd quarter that moved him ahead of Terrell Owens for sole possession of second place in career touchdown receptions. In the same game, he became just the 11th player in NFL history with 900+ receptions and the seventh player to reach 14,000+ career receiving yards.


title: Randy Moss

text: He finished the season with 83 receptions for 1,264 yards and an NFL-high 13 touchdowns. New England would lose the AFC Wild Card playoff to the Baltimore Ravens 33–14.


title: Randy Moss

text: In the week leading up to the Patriots' 2010 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Moss, who was entering the final year of his contract told CBS Sports that he "did not feel wanted" in New England absent a contract extension offer. Moss would go on to catch 5 passes for 59 yards in Week 1. After the game, Moss told reporters that it would be his final season with the Patriots. The "Boston Herald" reported weeks later that Moss requested a trade following the game.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss had two receptions in Week 2 against the New York Jets, including a 34-yard touchdown that he caught one-handed after beating All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis. The following week against the Buffalo Bills, Moss had two more catches, both for touchdowns. His final game in New England came in Week 4 on "Monday Night Football" against the Miami Dolphins; he did not record a catch in the game for the first time in his Patriots career as a touchdown pass attempt off a fake spike bounced off his hands in the end zone.


title: Randy Moss

text: Two days after the Patriots' game against Miami, Moss was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, in exchange for the Vikings' third-round selection (later used to select quarterback Ryan Mallett) in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Patriots also sent a 2012 seventh-round selection to the Vikings as part of the trade.


title: Randy Moss

text: On November 1, less than four weeks after being traded to Minnesota, Vikings head coach Brad Childress told Vikings players in a team meeting that Moss was going to be waived by the team, one day after he criticized Childress and teammates in a press conference following the Vikings' loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Just before the press conference, Moss reportedly told team owner Zygi Wilf that Childress was unfit to coach in the NFL and should be fired. Wilf reportedly considered firing Childress and keeping Moss, but Moss was officially waived the next day, November 2. Childress was eventually fired on November 22.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss was claimed off waivers by the Tennessee Titans, the only team to submit a claim, on November 3, 2010. Moss played eight games with the Titans, starting four. He made six catches for 80 yards and no touchdowns.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss finished the 2010 season with career lows in receptions (28) and receiving yards (393). The Titans stated that they did not plan to re-sign Moss for the 2011 season, and he became a free agent.


title: Randy Moss

text: On August 1, 2011, Moss's agent, Joel Segal, announced Moss's decision to retire from professional football.


title: Randy Moss

text: On February 13, 2012, his 35th birthday, Moss announced that he was coming out of retirement and was ready to play again. In a live video chat with his fans via Ustream, Moss stated, "I wanna play football. Your boy is going to come back here and play some football, so I'm really excited. I had some things I had to adjust in my life."


title: Randy Moss

text: On March 12, 2012, Moss signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers for undisclosed financial terms after a workout with the team's head coach Jim Harbaugh. On September 9, 2012, Moss caught his 154th touchdown reception, and subsequently passed Terrell Owens for sole possession of 2nd on the all-time receiving touchdown list. After Alex Smith suffered a concussion against the St. Louis Rams in week 10, Colin Kaepernick took over as the team's quarterback, and Moss had at least two receptions in each of the remaining five games of the regular season. He finished the season with 28 catches for 434 yards and three touchdowns. Since the retirement of Terrell Owens at the end of 2010, he had been the NFL's active leader in receiving yards. Moss would eventually go on to play in Super Bowl XLVII, where he had two receptions for 41 yards in a 34–31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss has participated in, founded, and financed many charitable endeavors since joining the NFL, particularly aimed at helping children. Many times when talking about his charity work, he has said he just looks forward to "seeing smiles." He has donated clothing and food to needy families, given away free backpacks to Boston area school-children, and hosted autograph signings. He has also bussed children to amusement parks, NBA games, and even NFL games in which he has played.


title: Randy Moss

text: On June 29, 2005, he hosted the Randy Moss Celebrity Charity Invitational Bass Tournament. The tournament was a one-day event that paired celebrities and corporate sponsors with pro fishermen to raise money for the Smile Network, which is a foundation that provides financial assistance to children with treatable mouth problems, such as cleft palate. The tournaments motto is "fish for a smile."


title: Randy Moss

text: In 2008, Moss formed the Links for Learning foundation, which was established to help children in his home state of West Virginia, and to build learning centers for the most needy student populations. In June, he and his former high school teammate Jason Williams hosted the foundations first annual charity golf tournament at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Hurricane, West Virginia. In March 2009, Moss's foundation made a donation that enabled the Women and Children's Hospital of Charleston, West Virginia to purchase a Starlight Children's Foundation 'Fun Center' for their patients. The 'Fun Center' is a portable bedside entertainment system equipped with a TV, DVD player, and 22 Nintendo Wii games.


title: Randy Moss

text: On April 29, 2008, Moss announced the formation of Randy Moss Motorsports, an auto racing team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In July 2008, Moss announced that he had bought a 50 percent share in Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, with the team's No. 46 entry switching to No. 81. The team was reportedly shut down in 2012.


title: Randy Moss

text: Upon his release from the 49ers, Moss was hired as an analyst for Fox Sports 1's "Fox Football Daily" show. Moss was hired as an associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Victory Christian Center High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, in June 2014, where his son was attending high school and playing football.


title: Randy Moss

text: In July 2016, Moss joined ESPN as an analyst, appearing on "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "Monday Night Countdown". He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2019, Moss was named to the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss's parents are Maxine Moss and Randy Pratt. Moss has little contact with his father. He has a sister named Lutisia and had a brother Eric, who had a short stint in the NFL as an offensive tackle with the Minnesota Vikings. Moss has five children: Lexi Adkins, Sydney, Senali, Thaddeus, and Montigo. Moss is also a Christian, attested by his NFL Hall of Fame Speech.


title: Randy Moss

text: On September 24, 2002, in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, Moss was driving and was preparing to make an illegal turn. A traffic control officer, noticing what he was about to do, stood in front of his vehicle and ordered him to stop. Eyewitness accounts of the event differ at this point, but Moss did not comply with the officer's order, and she was bumped by his vehicle and fell to the ground. Moss was arrested, and a search of his vehicle revealed a joint amounting to less than a gram of marijuana in his ashtray. Initially charged with felony Suspicion of Assault with a Deadly Weapon and a misdemeanor marijuana possession, Moss spent the night in jail and was released the following morning. Moss pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor traffic violation and was ordered to pay a $1,200 fine and perform 40 hours of community service. While the criminal charges were thus disposed of, the civil lawsuit filed by the traffic control officer brought a substantial penalty fine "in the low to mid six figures". Moss claimed that the joint was not his, and that he had let friends use his car prior to the accident.


title: Randy Moss

text: In April 1996, Moss smoked a joint just prior to turning himself in to jail. He was scheduled to finish the remainder of his 30-day sentence for misdemeanor battery while in high school. During his first week in jail, Moss was given a drug test that came back positive. He was placed in solitary confinement for a week and had 60 days attached to his 27-day sentence. Coach Bobby Bowden revoked his scholarship and Moss was dismissed from Florida State University for the failed drug test.


title: Randy Moss

text: Moss tested positive in 2001 for marijuana under the NFL's substance abuse program and was subject to additional random drug screening for two years. A first time violation of the NFL's drug policy can result in up to 10 tests per month. Moss did not fail an NFL drug test again, and was rotated out of the program after two years.


title: Randy Moss

text: In August 2005, during an interview with Bryant Gumbel, Moss admitted that he has smoked marijuana during his NFL career "every blue moon." When asked whether he still used marijuana currently, Moss replied "I might. I might have fun. And, you know, hopefully ... I won't get into any trouble by the NFL by saying that, you know. I have had fun throughout my years and, you know, predominantly in the offseason." The interview drew criticism from the league office, and his agent tried to spin it that his words were taken out of context. In response, Moss said "That was really me talking in the past tense of way back in the beginning of my career and my childhood – especially in high school and college."


title: Randy Moss

text: On January 15, 2008, Orlando-based radio station WDBO reported that Moss "had" been hit with a temporary injunction for protection against dating violence. According to the affidavit, Moss committed a battery upon Rachelle Washington, causing serious injury, and then refused to allow her to seek medical attention. The affidavit out of Broward County reveals Moss cannot come within 500 feet of the victim and cannot use or possess firearms.


title: Randy Moss

text: The next day, in a locker room press conference, Moss claimed the woman was simply looking for money "over an accident," because her lawyer came to his lawyer, threatening a lawsuit, and asking for money to settle before she went public to the media. Moss stated he had known Washington for about 11 years. He also stated in his defense that he has never assaulted a woman in his entire life, and asked that the media and fans "find out the facts" before "rush[ing] to judgment." Moreover, Moss's lawyer, in an e-mail to the "Boston Globe" accused the woman's lawyer of "blatant threats and attempts to extort money" from Moss. On March 3, 2008, Rachelle Washington filed papers with the Broward County Circuit Court clerk's office requesting that the restraining order be dissolved and the case closed. No criminal charges were ever filed in the incident.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Martin John Bryant (born 7 May 1967) is a convicted Australian mass shooter who murdered 35 people and injured 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre, one of the world's deadliest shooting sprees, in Port Arthur, Tasmania, between 28 and 29 April 1996. He is serving 35 life sentences, plus 1,652 years, all without the possibility of parole, at Risdon Prison in Hobart.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Martin Bryant was born on 7 May 1967 at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the first son of Maurice and Carleen Bryant. Although the family home was in Lenah Valley, Bryant spent some of his childhood at their beach home in Carnarvon Bay. In a 2011 interview, his mother recalled that while Bryant was very young, she would often find his toys broken and that he was an "annoying" and "different" child. A psychologist's view was that Bryant would never be capable of holding down a job as he would aggravate people to such an extent that he would always be in trouble.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Locals recall abnormal behaviour by Bryant, such as pulling the snorkel from another boy while diving and cutting down trees on a neighbour's property. He was described by teachers as being distant from reality and unemotional. At school, Bryant was a disruptive and sometimes violent child who suffered severe bullying by other children. After he was suspended from New Town Primary School in 1977, psychological assessments noted that he tortured animals. Bryant returned to school the following year with improved behaviour; however, he persisted in teasing younger children. He was transferred to a special education unit at New Town High School in 1980, where he deteriorated both academically and behaviourally throughout his remaining school years.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Descriptions of Bryant's behaviour as an adolescent show that he continued to be disturbed and outlined the possibility of an intellectual disability. When leaving school in 1983, he was assessed for a disability pension by a psychiatrist who wrote: "Cannot read or write. Does a bit of gardening and watches TV ... Only his parents' efforts prevent further deterioration. Could be schizophrenic and parents face a bleak future with him." Bryant received a disability pension, though he also worked as a handyman and gardener. In an examination after the massacre, forensic psychiatrist Ian Joblin found Bryant to be borderline mentally disabled with an I.Q. of 66, equivalent to an 11-year-old.


title: Martin Bryant

text: While awaiting trial, Bryant was examined by court-appointed psychiatrist Ian Sale, who was of the opinion that Bryant "could be regarded as having shown a mixture of conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity and a condition known as Asperger syndrome". Psychiatrist Paul Mullen, hired at the request of Bryant's legal counsel, found that Bryant was socially and intellectually impaired. Furthermore, finding that he did not display signs of schizophrenia or a mood disorder, Mullen concluded, "Though Mr. Bryant was clearly a distressed and disturbed young man, he was not mentally ill."


title: Martin Bryant

text: In early 1987, when Bryant was 19, he met 54 year-old Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, heiress to a share in the Tattersall's lottery fortune, while looking for new customers for his lawnmowing service. Harvey, who lived with her mother Hilza, befriended Bryant, who became a regular visitor to her neglected mansion in New Town and assisted with tasks such as feeding the fourteen dogs living inside the house and the forty cats living inside her garage. In June 1990, an anonymous person reported Harvey to the health authorities and medics found both Harvey and her mother in need of urgent hospital treatment. With Helen suffering from infected ulcers and Hilza with an untreated broken hip, Hilza Harvey was moved into a nursing home and died several weeks later at the age of 79.


title: Martin Bryant

text: A cleanup order was placed on the decaying mansion and Bryant's father took long-service leave to assist in cleaning the interior. The local RSPCA unit had to confiscate many animals living in the house. Following the mandatory cleanup Harvey now invited Bryant to live with her in the mansion and they began spending extravagant amounts of money, which included the purchase of more than thirty new cars in less than three years. The odd pair of friends began to spend most days shopping, usually after having lunch in a local restaurant. Around this time, Bryant was reassessed for his pension and a note was attached to the paperwork: "Father protects him from any occasion which might upset him as he continually threatens violence ... Martin tells me he would like to go around shooting people. It would be unsafe to allow Martin out of his parents' control".


title: Martin Bryant

text: In 1991, as a result of no longer being allowed to have animals at the house, Harvey and Bryant moved together onto a farm called Taurusville that she had purchased in Copping, a small township. Neighbours recalled that Bryant always carried an air gun and often fired it at tourists as they stopped to buy apples at a stall on the highway and that late at night he would roam through the surrounding properties firing the gun at dogs when they barked at him. They avoided him "at all costs" despite his attempts to befriend them.


title: Martin Bryant

text: On 20 October 1992, Harvey was killed when her car veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit an oncoming car directly. Bryant was inside the vehicle at the time of the accident and was hospitalised for seven months with severe neck and back injuries. He was briefly investigated by police for the role he played in the accident, as Bryant had a known habit of lunging for the steering wheel and Harvey had already had three accidents as a result. She often told people that this was the reason she never drove faster than 60 kilometres an hour (37 mph). Bryant was named the sole beneficiary of Harvey's will and came into possession of assets totaling more than AU$550,000. As Bryant had only the "vaguest notions" of financial matters, his mother subsequently applied for and was granted a guardianship order, placing Bryant's assets under the management of Public Trustees. The order was based on evidence of Bryant's diminished intellectual capacity.


title: Martin Bryant

text: After Harvey's death, Bryant's father Maurice looked after the Copping farm. Bryant returned to the family home to convalesce after leaving hospital. Maurice had been prescribed antidepressants and had discreetly transferred his joint bank account and utilities into his wife's name. Two months later, on 14 August 1993, a visitor looking for Maurice at the Copping property found a note saying "call the police" pinned to the door and found several thousand dollars in his car. The rates officer at the time found no reason to suspect criminal intent and sent council members and police to quell the stresses put forward by letters sent to the local council chambers. Police searched the property for Maurice without success. Divers were called in to search the four dams on the property, and on 16 August, his body was found in the dam closest to the farmhouse, with a diving weight belt around his neck. Police described the death as "unnatural" and it was ruled a suicide. Bryant inherited the proceeds of his father's superannuation fund, valued at AU$250,000.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant later sold the Copping farm for AU$143,000 and kept the New Town mansion. While living at Copping, the white overalls he habitually wore were replaced with clothing more in line with Harvey's financial status. Now that he was alone, Bryant's dress became more bizarre; he often wore a grey linen suit, cravat, lizard-skin shoes, and a Panama hat while carrying a briefcase during the day, telling anyone who would listen that he had a well-paying career. He often wore an electric-blue suit with flared trousers and a ruffled shirt to the restaurant he frequented. The restaurant owner recalled: "It was horrible. Everyone was laughing at him, even the customers. I really felt suddenly quite sorry for him. I realised this guy didn't really have any friends."


title: Martin Bryant

text: With both his father and friend Harvey dead, Bryant became increasingly lonely. From 1993 to late 1995, he visited various overseas countries fourteen times and a summary of his domestic airline travel filled three pages. Bryant had felt lonely traveling as he did back home in Tasmania. He enjoyed the flights, as he could speak to the people sitting adjacent to him who had no choice but to be polite. He later took great joy in describing some of the more successful conversations he had with fellow passengers.


title: Martin Bryant

text: In late 1995, Bryant became suicidal after deciding he had "had enough". He stated, "I just felt more people were against me. When I tried to be friendly toward them, they just walked away." Although he had previously been little more than a social drinker, Bryant's alcohol consumption increased and, although he had not consumed any alcohol on the day of the Port Arthur massacre, had especially escalated in the six months prior to that day. His average daily consumption was estimated at half a bottle of Sambuca and a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream, supplemented with port wine and other sweet alcoholic drinks. According to Bryant, he thought the plan for Port Arthur might have first occurred to him four to twelve weeks before the event.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant has provided conflicting and confused accounts of what led him to kill 35 people at the Port Arthur site on 28 April 1996. It could have been his desire for attention, as he allegedly told a next-door neighbour, "I'll do something that will make everyone remember me." Bryant's defence psychiatrist Paul Mullen, former chief of forensic psychiatry at Monash University, said, "He followed Dunblane. His planning started with Dunblane. Before that he was thinking about suicide, but Dunblane and the early portrayal of the killer, Thomas Hamilton, changed everything."


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant's first victims, David and Noelene (Sally) Martin, owned the bed and breakfast guest house called 'Seascape'. The Martins had bought the bed and breakfast that Bryant's father had wanted to buy, and his father had complained to him on numerous occasions of the damage done to Bryant's family because of that purchase. Bryant apparently believed the Martins had bought the property to hurt his family out of spite and blamed the Martins for the depression that led to his father's suicide. He fatally shot the Martins in the guest house before travelling to the Port Arthur site.


title: Martin Bryant

text: At Port Arthur, Bryant entered the Broad Arrow Café on the grounds of the historic site, carrying a large blue duffel bag. Once he finished eating, Bryant moved toward the back of the café and set a video camera on a vacant table. He took out a Colt AR-15 SP1 Carbine (semi-automatic rifle) and, firing from the hip, began shooting patrons and staff. Within fifteen seconds, he had fired seventeen shots, killing twelve people and wounding ten. Bryant then walked to the other side of the shop and fired twelve more times, killing another eight people while wounding two. He then changed magazines before fleeing, shooting at people in the car park and from his yellow Volvo 244 car as he drove away; four were killed and an additional six were injured.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant drove 300 metres down the road, to where a woman and her two children were walking. He stopped and fired two shots, killing the woman and the child she was carrying. The older child fled, but Bryant followed her and killed her with a single shot. He then stole a gold BMW by killing all four of its occupants. A short distance down the road, he stopped beside a couple in a white Toyota and, drawing his weapon, ordered the male occupant into the boot of the BMW. After shutting the boot, he fired two shots into the windscreen of the Toyota, killing the female driver.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant returned to the guest house, set the stolen car alight and took his hostage inside where he had left the Martins' corpses. The police soon arrived and tried to negotiate with Bryant for many hours before the battery in the phone he was using ran out, ending communication. Bryant's only demand was to be transported in an army helicopter to an airport. During the negotiations, Bryant killed his hostage. The next morning, eighteen hours later, he set fire to the guest house and attempted to escape in the confusion. Suffering burns to his back and buttocks, Bryant was captured and taken to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he was treated and kept under heavy guard.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Bryant was judged competent to stand trial, which was scheduled to begin on 7 November 1996. He initially pleaded not guilty but was persuaded by his court-appointed lawyer, John Avery, to plead guilty to all charges. Two weeks later, Hobart Supreme Court Judge William Cox gave Bryant 35 life sentences, plus 1,652 years in prison, without the possibility of parole, all of which is to be served concurrently; this life sentence being applied is "for the term of [his] natural life."


title: Martin Bryant

text: For the first eight months of his imprisonment, Bryant was held in a purpose-built special suicide-prevention cell in almost complete solitary confinement. He remained in protective custody for his own safety until 13 November 2006, when he was moved into Hobart's Wilfred Lopes Centre, a secure mental health unit run by the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. The 35 bed unit for inmates with serious mental illness is staffed with doctors, nurses and other support workers. Inmates are not locked down and can come and go from their cells. Exterior security at the facility is provided by a three-wall perimeter patrolled by private contract guards. On 25 March 2007, Bryant attempted to end his life by slashing his wrist with a razor blade. On 27 March, he cut his throat with another razor blade and was hospitalised briefly.


title: Martin Bryant

text: Newspaper coverage immediately after the Port Arthur massacre raised serious questions about journalistic practices, and criticism was directed toward Australian media. Photographs of Bryant published in "The Australian" had his eyes digitally manipulated with the effect of making him appear deranged and "glaring". Despite criticism, the manipulated photographs continued to be used in media reporting a decade later. There were also questions as to how the photos had been obtained.


title: Martin Bryant

text: The Tasmanian director of public prosecutions warned the media that the coverage compromised Bryant's right to a fair trial and writs were issued against "The Australian", the Hobart "Mercury" (which used Bryant's picture under the headline "This is the man"), "The Age" and the ABC. The chairman of the Australian Press Council at the time, David Flint, argued that because Australian newspapers regularly ignored contempt-of-court provisions, this showed that the law, not the newspapers, needed change. Flint suggested that such a change in the law would not necessarily lead to trial by media. Australian newspapers also came under critical scrutiny of their accounts of Bryant and how the kind of identity responsible for his and other similar kinds of killing might be understood.


title: Martin Bryant

text: As a response to the spree killing, Australian state and territory governments placed extensive restrictions on all firearms, including semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, repeating shotguns (holding more than five shots) and high-capacity rifle magazines. In addition to this, limitations were also put into place on low-capacity repeating shotguns and rim-fire semi-automatic rifles. Though this resulted in stirring controversy, opposition to the new laws was overcome by media reporting of the massacre and mounting public opinion in the wake of the shootings (see Gun laws in Australia for more information on the 1996 legislation).


title: Martin Bryant

text: In March 2012, Sydney artist Rodney Pople controversially won the AU$35,000 Glover Prize for his landscape painting depicting Port Arthur with Bryant in the foreground holding a firearm.


title: Martin Bryant

text: In 2019, Bryant's massacre was referenced in the lyrics of the song, The Boys Are Killing Me on Pond's Tasmania album.


title: Martin Bryant

text: The 2021 film "Nitram", directed by Justin Kurzel, is based on Bryant's life, with Caleb Landry Jones in the role of Bryant. Jones won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.


title: Creed Bratton

text: Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider, February 8, 1943) is an American actor, singer and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom "The Office", which earned him five nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.


title: Creed Bratton

text: Bratton was born William Charles Schneider in Los Angeles, and grew up in Coarsegold, California, a small town near Yosemite National Park.


title: Creed Bratton

text: Bratton adopted his new name while on a global excursion as a traveling musician. He traveled through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He played guitar at a large folk festival in Israel, appearing with his group the Young Californians. Fellow American and guitarist Warren Entner witnessed Bratton's performance and asked to give him a call when he got back to the United States. In 1966, they formed a partnership and recruited the remaining members needed for their group, the 13th Floor. Bratton played lead guitar, Rick Coonce played drums, Entner played rhythm guitar and Kenny Fukomoto played bass. The Young Californians recorded a demo and sent it to Dunhill, a new record company headed by Lou Adler.


title: Creed Bratton

text: Producers/songwriters P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri heard the demo and liked it. They needed new band members for a folk-rock group that they had created in 1965. The 13th Floor lost their bass player to the draft during this time, and quickly recruited Rob Grill, changing the band's name to the "Grass Roots" for prior name recognition. The group went straight to the Top 10 with the song "Let's Live for Today" in 1967 and toured the United States. Iconic hit songs such as "Midnight Confessions" cemented the group's standing as major contributors to the rock-music scene.


title: Creed Bratton

text: The Grass Roots had top songwriters offering their best songs to them and wrote many songs themselves. For their major songs, music on the recordings was played by the LA studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Bratton co-wrote the songs "Beatin' Round the Bush", "No Exit" and "Hot Bright Lights", and self-composed "Dinner for Eight" and "House of Stone". He sang lead vocals on "This Precious Time" and "Dinner for Eight". Bratton played with the group on its albums "Let's Live for Today", "Feelings", "Golden Grass" (a compilation) and "Lovin' Things". Three of the albums charted, and "Golden Grass" received a gold record certification. He took part in ten of the group's singles, eight of which charted; "Midnight Confessions" received a gold record certification.


title: Creed Bratton

text: The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday, June 11, 1967, during the "Summer of Love" as their top-ten hit "Let's Live for Today" was hitting the airwaves. Though the music festival occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival, it was not filmed as was the latter festival (see List of electronic music festivals). On Sunday, October 27, 1968, the group played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December as the top-ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was becoming popular.


title: Creed Bratton

text: In April 1969, Bratton became frustrated by Dunhill's refusal to allow the band to write its own songs and play the instruments on its records (although the members did play alone at concerts). After a disastrous appearance at the Fillmore West in April 1969, Bratton was asked to leave the band.


title: Creed Bratton

text: In 2001 and 2002, Bratton released three albums showcasing his solo recordings since the 1960s with the assistance of Peter White. In 2007, he presented an induction award to the Wrecking Crew at the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2008, he released another album of new music with producer Jon Tiven. In 2010, Bratton released an album titled "Bounce Back" with producer Dave Way. In 2011, Bratton released an album of greatest hits from his first three solo albums, titled "Demo". In 2010 and 2012, Bratton performed live at the SXSW festival. In 2013, Bratton released an original work in three acts as an audio biography titled "Tell Me About It". Songs ranged from those recently written to pieces that he had written decades before. Bratton states that he listens to much jazz and classical music.


title: Creed Bratton

text: On January 18, 2014, Bratton joined his friend Zachary Scot Johnson for a duet for the 500th consecutive day of the thesongadayproject on YouTube.


title: Creed Bratton

text: Bratton began to pursue an acting career in 1979. He has appeared in films such as "Mask" and "Heart Like a Wheel". He was a cast member, playing a fictional version of himself, on NBC's Emmy and SAG award-winning "The Office". In the episode "Booze Cruise", he speaks about his time with the Grass Roots on a deleted scene. In the episode "money" from season 4, he says "he never goes bankrupt" as all his debt "is always transfered to William Charles Schneider", actor's birth name, while holding on camera an allegedly fake passport. In the series finale, his character is revealed to have been in the Grass Roots as well as committing many crimes. This episode also features Bratton performing his song "All the Faces".


title: Creed Bratton

text: In 2008, he appeared in a short film with Kyle Gass titled "Just One Of The Gynos", which won an award for best short film at the 2008 Malibu International Film Festival. He appeared in the feature film "Labor Pains" in 2009. His recent film projects are "The Ghastly Love of Johnny X", written, produced and directed by Paul Bunnell; "I Am Ben", written, produced and directed by Mathew Brady and Gaelan Connell; and "Terri" produced by David Guy Levy. "Terri" was selected by the Sundance Film Festival 2011 to appear in the US dramatic competition. It was one of only 16 films selected from 1,102 submissions to the US dramatic category. In 2012, he appeared as special guest star in "Staged" with Brandon Olive who appeared with him in "Just One Of The Gynos". In 2013, he starred in "Saving Lincoln," a biography set during the American Civil War.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died in 1376, leaving Richard as heir apparent to his grandfather, King Edward III; upon the latter's death, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne.


title: Richard II of England

text: During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of regency councils, influenced by Richard's uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. England then faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War. A major challenge of the reign was the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, and the young king played a central part in the successful suppression of this crisis. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War. A firm believer in the royal prerogative, Richard restrained the power of the aristocracy and relied on a private retinue for military protection instead. In contrast to his grandfather, Richard cultivated a refined atmosphere centred on art and culture at court, in which the king was an elevated figure.


title: Richard II of England

text: The king's dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, he took his revenge on the Appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled. The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny". In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the king disinherited Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, who had previously been exiled. Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Meeting little resistance, he deposed Richard and had himself crowned king. Richard is thought to have been starved to death in captivity, although questions remain regarding his final fate.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard's posthumous reputation has been shaped to a large extent by William Shakespeare, whose play "Richard II" portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition as responsible for the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. While probably not insane, as many historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed, he may have had a personality disorder, particularly manifesting itself towards the end of his reign. Most authorities agree that his policies were not unrealistic or even entirely unprecedented, but that the way in which he carried them out was unacceptable to the political establishment, leading to his downfall.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard of Bordeaux was the younger son of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Edward, eldest son of Edward III and heir apparent to the throne of England, had distinguished himself as a military commander in the early phases of the Hundred Years' War, particularly in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. After further military adventures, however, he contracted dysentery in Spain in 1370. He never fully recovered and had to return to England the next year.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Bordeaux, in the English principality of Aquitaine, on 6 January 1367. According to contemporary sources, three kings, "the King of Castile, the King of Navarre and the King of Portugal", were present at his birth. This anecdote, and the fact that his birth fell on the feast of Epiphany, was later used in the religious imagery of the Wilton Diptych, where Richard is one of three kings paying homage to the Virgin and Child.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard's elder brother, Edward of Angoulême, died near his sixth birthday in 1371. The Prince of Wales finally succumbed to his long illness in June 1376. The Commons in the English Parliament genuinely feared that Richard's uncle, John of Gaunt, would usurp the throne. For this reason, Richard was quickly invested with the princedom of Wales and his father's other titles.


title: Richard II of England

text: On 21 June 1377, Richard's grandfather King Edward III, who was for some years frail and decrepit, died after a 50-year reign. This resulted in the 10-year-old Richard succeeding to the throne. He was crowned on 16 July at Westminster Abbey. Again, fears of John of Gaunt's ambitions influenced political decisions, and a regency led by the king's uncles was avoided. Instead, the king was nominally to exercise kingship with the help of a series of "continual councils", from which Gaunt was excluded.


title: Richard II of England

text: Gaunt, together with his younger brother Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, still held great informal influence over the business of government, but the king's councillors and friends, particularly Sir Simon de Burley and Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, increasingly gained control of royal affairs.


title: Richard II of England

text: In a matter of three years, these councillors earned the mistrust of the Commons to the point that the councils were discontinued in 1380. Contributing to discontent was an increasingly heavy burden of taxation levied through three poll taxes between 1377 and 1381 that were spent on unsuccessful military expeditions on the continent. By 1381, there was a deep-felt resentment against the governing classes in the lower levels of English society.


title: Richard II of England

text: Whereas the poll tax of 1381 was the spark of the Peasants' Revolt, the root of the conflict lay in tensions between peasants and landowners precipitated by the economic and demographic consequences of the Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of the plague. The rebellion started in Kent and Essex in late May, and on 12 June, bands of peasants gathered at Blackheath near London under the leaders Wat Tyler, John Ball, and Jack Straw. John of Gaunt's Savoy Palace was burnt down. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, who was also Lord Chancellor, and Lord High Treasurer Robert Hales were both killed by the rebels, who were demanding the complete abolition of serfdom. The king, sheltered within the Tower of London with his councillors, agreed that the Crown did not have the forces to disperse the rebels and that the only feasible option was to negotiate.


title: Richard II of England

text: It is unclear how much Richard, who was still only fourteen years old, was involved in these deliberations, although historians have suggested that he was among the proponents of negotiations. The king set out by the River Thames on 13 June, but the large number of people thronging the banks at Greenwich made it impossible for him to land, forcing him to return to the Tower. The next day, Friday, 14 June, he set out by horse and met the rebels at Mile End. He agreed to the rebels' demands, but this move only emboldened them; they continued their looting and killings. Richard met Wat Tyler again the next day at Smithfield and reiterated that the demands would be met, but the rebel leader was not convinced of the king's sincerity. The king's men grew restive, an altercation broke out, and William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, pulled Tyler down from his horse and killed him. The situation became tense once the rebels realised what had happened, but the king acted with calm resolve and, saying "I am your captain, follow me!", he led the mob away from the scene. Walworth meanwhile gathered a force to surround the peasant army, but the king granted clemency and allowed the rebels to disperse and return to their homes.


title: Richard II of England

text: The king soon revoked the charters of freedom and pardon that he had granted, and as disturbances continued in other parts of the country, he personally went into Essex to suppress the rebellion. On 28 June at Billericay, he defeated the last rebels in a small skirmish and effectively ended the Peasants' Revolt. Despite his young age, Richard had shown great courage and determination in his handling of the rebellion. It is likely, though, that the events impressed upon him the dangers of disobedience and threats to royal authority, and helped shape the absolutist attitudes to kingship that would later prove fatal to his reign.


title: Richard II of England

text: It is only with the Peasants' Revolt that Richard starts to emerge clearly in the annals. One of his first significant acts after the rebellion was to marry Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, on 20 January 1382. It had diplomatic significance; in the division of Europe caused by the Western Schism, Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire were seen as potential allies against France in the ongoing Hundred Years' War. Nonetheless, the marriage was not popular in England. Despite great sums of money awarded to the Empire, the political alliance never resulted in any military victories. Furthermore, the marriage was childless. Anne died from plague in 1394, greatly mourned by her husband.


title: Richard II of England

text: Michael de la Pole had been instrumental in the marriage negotiations; he had the king's confidence and gradually became more involved at court and in government as Richard came of age. De la Pole came from an upstart merchant family. When Richard made him chancellor in 1383, and created him Earl of Suffolk two years later, this antagonised the more established nobility. Another member of the close circle around the king was Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who in this period emerged as the king's favourite. Richard's close friendship to de Vere was also disagreeable to the political establishment. This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham suggested the relationship between the king and de Vere was of a homosexual nature, due to a resentment Walsingham had toward the king.


title: Richard II of England

text: Tensions came to a head over the approach to the war in France. While the court party preferred negotiations, Gaunt and Buckingham urged a large-scale campaign to protect English possessions. Instead, a so-called crusade led by Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, was dispatched, which failed miserably. Faced with this setback on the continent, Richard turned his attention instead towards France's ally, the Kingdom of Scotland. In 1385, the king himself led a punitive expedition to the north, but the effort came to nothing, and the army had to return without ever engaging the Scots in battle. Meanwhile, only an uprising in Ghent prevented a French invasion of southern England. The relationship between Richard and his uncle John of Gaunt deteriorated further with military failure, and Gaunt left England to pursue his claim to the throne of Castile in 1386 amid rumours of a plot against his person. With Gaunt gone, the unofficial leadership of the growing dissent against the king and his courtiers passed to Buckinghamwho had by now been created Duke of Gloucesterand Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel.


title: Richard II of England

text: The threat of a French invasion did not subside, but instead grew stronger into 1386. At the parliament of October that year, Michael de la Polein his capacity of chancellorrequested taxation of an unprecedented level for the defence of the realm. Rather than consenting, the parliament responded by refusing to consider any request until the chancellor was removed. The parliament (later known as the Wonderful Parliament) was presumably working with the support of Gloucester and Arundel. The king famously responded that he would not dismiss as much as a scullion from his kitchen at parliament's request. Only when threatened with deposition was Richard forced to give in and let de la Pole go. A commission was set up to review and control royal finances for a year.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard was deeply perturbed by this affront to his royal prerogative, and from February to November 1387 went on a "gyration" (tour) of the country to muster support for his cause. By installing de Vere as Justice of Chester, he began the work of creating a loyal military power base in Cheshire. He also secured a legal ruling from Chief Justice Robert Tresilian that parliament's conduct had been unlawful and treasonable.


title: Richard II of England

text: On his return to London, the king was confronted by Gloucester, Arundel and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, who brought an appeal of treason against de la Pole, de Vere, Tresilian, and two other loyalists: the mayor of London, Nicholas Brembre, and Alexander Neville, the Archbishop of York. Richard stalled the negotiations to gain time, as he was expecting de Vere to arrive from Cheshire with military reinforcements. The three peers then joined forces with Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, and Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottinghamthe group known to history as the Lords Appellant. On 20 December 1387 they intercepted de Vere at Radcot Bridge, where he and his forces were routed and he was obliged to flee the country.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard now had no choice but to comply with the appellants' demands; Brembre and Tresilian were condemned and executed, while de Vere and de la Polewho had by now also left the countrywere sentenced to death "in absentia" at the Merciless Parliament in February 1388. The proceedings went further, and a number of Richard's chamber knights were also executed, among these Burley. The appellants had now succeeded completely in breaking up the circle of favourites around the king.


title: Richard II of England

text: Richard gradually re-established royal authority in the months after the deliberations of the Merciless Parliament. The aggressive foreign policy of the Lords Appellant failed when their efforts to build a wide, anti-French coalition came to nothing, and the north of England fell victim to a Scottish incursion. Richard was now over twenty-one years old and could with confidence claim the right to govern in his own name. Furthermore, John of Gaunt returned to England in 1389 and settled his differences with the king, after which the old statesman acted as a moderating influence on English politics. Richard assumed full control of the government on 3 May 1389, claiming that the difficulties of the past years had been due solely to bad councillors. He outlined a foreign policy that reversed the actions of the appellants by seeking peace and reconciliation with France, and promised to lessen the burden of taxation on the people significantly. Richard ruled peacefully for the next eight years, having reconciled with his former adversaries. Still, later events would show that he had not forgotten the indignities he perceived. In particular, the execution of his former teacher Sir Simon de Burley was an insult not easily forgotten.


title: Richard II of England

text: With national stability secured, Richard began negotiating a permanent peace with France. A proposal put forward in 1393 would have greatly expanded the territory of Aquitaine possessed by the English Crown. However, the plan failed because it included a requirement that the English king pay homage to the King of Francea condition that proved unacceptable to the English public. Instead, in 1396, a truce was agreed to, which was to last 28 years. As part of the truce, Richard agreed to marry Isabella, daughter of Charles VI of France, when she came of age. There were some misgivings about the betrothal, in particular because the princess was then only six years old, and thus would not be able to produce an heir to the throne of England for many years.


title: Richard II of England

text: Although Richard sought peace with France, he took a different approach to the situation in Ireland. The English lordships in Ireland were in danger of being overrun by the Gaelic Irish kingdoms, and the Anglo-Irish lords were pleading for the king to intervene. In the autumn of 1394, Richard left for Ireland, where he remained until May 1395. His army of more than 8,000 men was the largest force brought to the island during the late Middle Ages. The invasion was a success, and a number of Irish chieftains submitted to English overlordship. It was one of the most successful achievements of Richard's reign, and strengthened his support at home, although the consolidation of the English position in Ireland proved to be short-lived.


title: Richard II of England

text: The period that historians refer to as the "tyranny" of Richard II began towards the end of the 1390s. The king had Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick arrested in July 1397. The timing of these arrests and Richard's motivation are not entirely clear. Although one chronicle suggested that a plot was being planned against the king, there is no evidence that this was the case. It is more likely that Richard had simply come to feel strong enough to safely retaliate against these three men for their role in events of 1386–88 and eliminate them as threats to his power.