title: Yorkshire

text: The most prominent road in Yorkshire, historically called the Great North Road, is known as the A1. This trunk road passes through the centre of the county and is the prime route from London to Edinburgh. Another important road is the more easterly A19 road which starts in Doncaster and ends just north of Newcastle upon Tyne at Seaton Burn. The M62 motorway crosses the county from east to west from Hull towards Greater Manchester and Merseyside. The M1 carries traffic from London and the south of England to Yorkshire. In 1999, about was added to make it swing east of Leeds and connect to the A1. The East Coast Main Line rail link between London and Scotland runs roughly parallel with the A1 through Yorkshire and the Trans Pennine rail link runs east to west from Hull to Liverpool via Leeds.


title: Yorkshire

text: Before the advent of rail transport, the seaports of Hull and Whitby played an important role in transporting goods. Historically canals were used, including the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which is the longest canal in England. Mainland Europe (the Netherlands and Belgium) can be reached from Hull via regular ferry services from P&O Ferries. Yorkshire also has air transport services from Leeds Bradford Airport. This airport has experienced significant and rapid growth in both terminal size and passenger facilities since 1996, when improvements began, until the present day. From 2005 until 2022, South Yorkshire was served by Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Finningley. Sheffield City Airport opened in 1997 after years of Sheffield having no airport, due to a council decision in the 1960s not to develop one because of the city's good rail links with London and the development of airports in other nearby areas. The newly opened airport never managed to compete with larger airports such as Leeds Bradford Airport and East Midlands Airport and attracted only a few scheduled flights, while the runway was too short to support low cost carriers. The opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport effectively made the airport redundant and it officially closed in April 2008.


title: Yorkshire

text: The average amount of time people spend on public transport in Yorkshire on a weekday is 77 minutes. 26.6% of public transport users travel for more than two hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport is 16 minutes, while 24.9% of passengers wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transport is 7 km, while 10% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.


title: Yorkshire

text: Throughout Yorkshire many castles were built during the Norman-Breton period, particularly after the Harrying of the North. These included Bowes Castle, Pickering Castle, Richmond Castle, Skipton Castle, York Castle and others. Later medieval castles at Helmsley, Middleham and Scarborough were built as a means of defence against the invading Scots. Middleham is notable because Richard III of England spent his childhood there. The remains of these castles, some being English Heritage sites, are popular tourist destinations.


title: Yorkshire

text: There are stately homes in Yorkshire that carry the name "castle" in a similar way to the non-distinctive use of chateau in French. The most notable examples are Allerton Castle and Castle Howard, both linked to the Howard family. Castle Howard and the Earl of Harewood's residence, Harewood House, are included amongst the nine Treasure Houses of England.


title: Yorkshire

text: Large estates with significant buildings were constructed at Brodsworth Hall, Temple Newsam, Wentworth Woodhouse (the largest fronted private home in Europe), and Wentworth Castle. There are properties which are conserved and managed by the National Trust, such as Nunnington Hall, Ormesby Hall, the Rievaulx Terrace & Temples and Studley Royal Park.


title: Yorkshire

text: Buildings built for industry during the Victorian era are found throughout the region; West Yorkshire has various cotton mills, the Leeds Corn Exchange and the Halifax Piece Hall.


title: Yorkshire

text: Religious architecture includes extant cathedrals as well as the ruins of monasteries and abbeys. Many of these prominent buildings suffered from the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII; these include Bolton Abbey, Fountains Abbey, Gisborough Priory, Rievaulx Abbey, St Mary's Abbey and Whitby Abbey among others. Notable religious buildings of historic origin still in use include York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, Beverley Minster, Bradford Cathedral, Rotherham Minster and Ripon Cathedral.


title: Yorkshire

text: The culture of the people of Yorkshire is an accumulated product of a number of different civilisations who have influenced its history, including; the Celts (Brigantes and Parisii), Romans, Angles, Norse Vikings, and Normans amongst others. The western part of the historic North Riding had an additional infusion of Breton culture due to the Honour of Richmond being occupied by Alain Le Roux, grandson of Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany. The people of Yorkshire are immensely proud of their county and local culture, and it is sometimes suggested they identify more strongly with their county than they do with their country. Yorkshire people have their own Yorkshire dialects and accents and are, or rather were, known as Broad Yorkshire or "Tykes", with its roots in Old English and Old Norse.


title: Yorkshire

text: The British Library provides a four minute long voice recording made in 1955, by a "female housekeeper", Miss Madge Dibnahon, on its web site and an example of the a Yorkshire dialect used at that time, in an unstated location. "Much of her speech remains part of the local dialect to this day", according to the Library. Yorkshire is a massive territory and the dialects are not identical in all areas. In fact, the dialect in North Yorkshire and Humberside/East Yorkshire is "quite different [than in West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire] and has a much stronger Scandinavian influence".


title: Yorkshire

text: One report explains the geographic difference in detail:This distinction was first recognised formally at the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries, when linguists drew an isophone diagonally across the county from the northwest to the southeast, separating these two broadly distinguishable ways of speaking. It can be extended westwards through Lancashire to the estuary of the River Lune, and is sometimes called the Humber-Lune Line. Strictly speaking, the dialects spoken south and west of this isophone are Midland dialects, whereas the dialects spoken north and east of it are truly Northern. It is possible that the Midland form moved up into the region with people gravitating towards the manufacturing districts of the West Riding during the Industrial Revolution.


title: Yorkshire

text: Though distinct accents remain, dialects are no longer in everyday use. Some have argued the dialect was a fully fledged language in its own right. The county has also produced a set of Yorkshire colloquialisms, which are in use in the county. Among Yorkshire's traditions is the Long Sword dance. The most famous traditional song of Yorkshire is "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at" ("On Ilkley Moor without a hat"), it is considered the unofficial anthem of the county.


title: Yorkshire

text: Although the first Professor of English Literature at Leeds University, F.W. Moorman, claimed the first extant work of English literature, "Beowulf", was written in Yorkshire, this view does not have common acceptance today. However, when Yorkshire formed the southern part of the kingdom of Northumbria there were several notable poets, scholars and ecclesiastics, including Alcuin, Cædmon and Wilfrid. The most esteemed literary family from the county are the three Brontë sisters, with part of the county around Haworth being nicknamed Brontë Country in their honour. Their novels, written in the mid-19th century, caused a sensation when they were first published, yet were subsequently accepted into the canon of great English literature. Among the most celebrated novels written by the sisters are Anne Brontë's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" and Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights". "Wuthering Heights" was almost a source used to depict life in Yorkshire, illustrating the type of people that reside there in its characters, and emphasising the use of the stormy Yorkshire moors. Nowadays, the parsonage which was their former home is now a museum in their honour. Bram Stoker authored "Dracula" while living in Whitby and it includes several elements of local folklore including the beaching of the Russian ship "Dmitri", which became the basis of Demeter in the book.


title: Yorkshire

text: The novelist tradition in Yorkshire continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, with authors such as J. B. Priestley, Alan Bennett, Stan Barstow, Dame Margaret Drabble, Winifred Holtby ("South Riding, The Crowded Street"), A S Byatt, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Marina Lewycka and Sunjeev Sahota being prominent examples. Taylor Bradford is noted for "A Woman of Substance" which was one of the top-ten best selling novels in history. Another well-known author was children's writer Arthur Ransome, who penned the "Swallows and Amazons" series. James Herriot, the best selling author of over 60 million copies of books about his experiences of some 50 years as a veterinarian in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, the town which he refers to as Darrowby in his books (although born in Sunderland), has been admired for his easy reading style and interesting characters.


title: Yorkshire

text: Poets include Ted Hughes, W. H. Auden, William Empson, Simon Armitage, David Miedzianik and Andrew Marvell.


title: Yorkshire

text: Three well known sculptors emerged in the 20th century; contemporaries Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, and Leeds-raised eco artist Andy Goldsworthy. Some of their works are available for public viewing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. There are several art galleries in Yorkshire featuring extensive collections, such as Ferens Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Millennium Galleries and York Art Gallery. Some of the better known local painters are William Etty and David Hockney; many works by the latter are housed at Salts Mill 1853 Gallery in Saltaire.


title: Yorkshire

text: The traditional cuisine of Yorkshire, in common with the North of England in general, is known for using rich-tasting ingredients, especially with regard to sweet dishes, which were affordable for the majority of people. There are several dishes which originated in Yorkshire or are heavily associated with it. Yorkshire pudding, a savoury batter dish, is by far the best known of Yorkshire foods, and is eaten throughout England. It is commonly served with roast beef and vegetables to form part of the Sunday roast but is traditionally served as a starter dish filled with onion gravy within Yorkshire. Yorkshire pudding is the base for toad in the hole, a dish containing sausage.


title: Yorkshire

text: Other foods associated with the county include Yorkshire curd tart, a curd tart recipe with rosewater; parkin, a sweet ginger cake which is different from standard ginger cakes in that it includes oatmeal and treacle; and Wensleydale cheese, a cheese made with milk from Wensleydale and often eaten as an accompaniment to sweet foods. The beverage ginger beer, flavoured with ginger, came from Yorkshire and has existed since the mid-18th century. Liquorice sweet was first created by George Dunhill from Pontefract, who in the 1760s thought to mix the liquorice plant with sugar. Yorkshire and in particular the city of York played a prominent role in the confectionery industry, with chocolate factories owned by companies such as Rowntree's, Terry's and Thorntons inventing many of Britain's most popular sweets. Another traditional Yorkshire food is pikelets, which are similar to crumpets but much thinner. The Rhubarb Triangle is a location within Yorkshire which supplies most of the rhubarb to locals.


title: Yorkshire

text: In recent years curries have become popular in the county, largely due to the immigration and successful integration of Asian families. There are many famous curry empires with their origins in Yorkshire, including the 850-seater Aakash restaurant in Cleckheaton, which has been described as "the world's largest curry house".


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire has a number of breweries including Black Sheep, Copper Dragon, Cropton Brewery, John Smith's, Sam Smith's, Kelham Island Brewery, Theakstons, Timothy Taylor, Wharfedale Brewery, Harrogate Brewery and Leeds Brewery.


title: Yorkshire

text: The beer style most associated with the county is bitter. As elsewhere in the North of England, when served through a handpump, a sparkler is used giving a tighter, more solid head.


title: Yorkshire

text: Brewing has taken place on a large scale since at least the 12th century, for example at the now derelict Fountains Abbey which at its height produced 60 barrels of strong ale every ten days. Most current Yorkshire breweries date from the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire has a heritage of folk music and folk dance including the Long Sword dance. Yorkshire folk song was distinguished by the use of dialect, particularly in the West Riding and exemplified by the song 'On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at', probably written in the late 19th century, using a Kent folk tune (almost certainly borrowed via a Methodist hymnal), seen as an unofficial Yorkshire anthem. Famous folk performers from the county include the Watersons from Hull, who began recording Yorkshire versions of folk songs from 1965; Heather Wood (born 1945) of the Young Tradition; the short-lived electric folk group Mr Fox (1970–72), The Deighton Family; Julie Matthews; Kathryn Roberts; and Kate Rusby. Yorkshire has a flourishing folk music culture, with over forty folk clubs and thirty annual folk music festivals. The 1982 Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Harrogate International Centre. In 2007 the Yorkshire Garland Group was formed to make Yorkshire folk songs accessible online and in schools.


title: Yorkshire

text: In the field of classical music, Yorkshire has produced some major and minor composers, including Frederick Delius, George Dyson, Philip Wilby, Edward Bairstow, William Baines, Kenneth Leighton, Eric Fenby, Haydn Wood, Arthur Wood, Arnold Cooke, Gavin Bryars, John Casken, and in the area of TV, film and radio music, John Barry and Wally Stott. Opera North is based at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. Leeds is also home to the Leeds International Piano Competition. The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival takes place annually in November. Huddersfield Choral Society is one of the UK's most celebrated amateur choirs. The National Centre for Early Music is located in York.


title: Yorkshire

text: The county is home to successful brass bands such as Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Carlton Main Frickley, Hammonds Saltaire, and Yorkshire Imperial.


title: Yorkshire

text: During the 1970s David Bowie, himself of a father from Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, hired three musicians from Hull: Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey; together they recorded "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", an album considered by a magazine article as one of a 100 greatest and most influential of all time. In the following decade, Def Leppard, from Sheffield, achieved worldwide fame, particularly in America. Their 1983 album "Pyromania" and 1987 album "Hysteria" are among the most successful albums of all time. Yorkshire had a very strong post-punk scene which went on to achieve widespread acclaim and success, including: The Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Vardis, Gang of Four, ABC, The Human League, New Model Army, Soft Cell, Chumbawamba, The Wedding Present and The Mission. Pulp from Sheffield had a massive hit in "Common People" during 1995; the song focuses on working-class northern life. In the 21st century, indie rock and post-punk revival bands from the area gained popularity, including the Kaiser Chiefs, The Cribs and the Arctic Monkeys, the last-named holding the record for the fastest-selling debut album in British music history with "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not".


title: Yorkshire

text: Influenced by the local post punk scene, but also by national and international extreme metal acts such as Celtic Frost, Candlemass, and Morbid Angel, Yorkshire-based bands Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride laid the foundations of what would become the Gothic Metal genre in the early to mid-1990s.


title: Yorkshire

text: Among prominent British television shows filmed in (and based on) Yorkshire are the sitcom "Last of the Summer Wine", the drama series "Heartbeat", and the soap opera "Emmerdale." "Last of the Summer Wine" in particular is noted for holding the record of longest-running comedy series in the world, from 1973 until 2010. Other notable television series set in Yorkshire include "Downton Abbey", "All Creatures Great and Small", "The Beiderbecke Trilogy", "Rising Damp", "Open All Hours", "Band Of Gold", "Dalziel and Pascoe", "Fat Friends", "The Syndicate", "No Angels", "Drifters" and "The Royal". During the first three series of the sitcom "The New Statesman", Alan B'Stard represented as MP the fictional constituency of Haltenprice in North Yorkshire. Several noted films are set in Yorkshire, including "Kes", "This Sporting Life", "Room at the Top", "Brassed Off", "Mischief Night", "Rita, Sue and Bob Too", "The Damned United", "Four Lions", "God's Own Country" and "Calendar Girls". "The Full Monty", a comedy film set in Sheffield, won an Academy Award and was voted the second-best British film of all time by Asian News International.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire has remained a popular location for filming in more recent times. For example, much of ITV's highly acclaimed "Victoria" was filmed in the region, at locations such as Harewood House in Leeds and Beverley Minster (with the latter being used to depict Westminster Abbey and St James’ Palace), whilst Channel 5 has programmed numerous Yorkshire-themed documentary series such as "Our Yorkshire Farm" and "The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard" across its schedule.


title: Yorkshire

text: West Yorkshire has particularly benefited from a great deal of production activity. For example, portions of the BBC television series "Happy Valley" and "Last Tango in Halifax" were filmed in the area, in Huddersfield and other cities; in addition to exteriors, some of the studio filming for "Happy Valley" was done at North Light Film Studios at Brookes Mill, Huddersfield. Although set in the fictional town of Denton, popular ITV detective series "A Touch Of Frost" was filmed in Yorkshire, mainly in and around Leeds. The BBC's "Jamaica Inn" and "Remember Me" and the ITV series "Black Work" were also filmed at the studios and in nearby West Yorkshire locations. More recently, many of the exteriors of the BBC series "Jericho" were filmed at the nearby Rockingstone Quarry, and some interior work was done at North Light Film Studios.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire has a long tradition in the field of sports, with participation in cricket, football, rugby league and horse racing being the most established sporting ventures.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county in the domestic first class cricket County Championship; with a total of 33 championship titles (including one shared), 13 more than any other county, Yorkshire is the most decorated county cricket club. Some of the most highly regarded figures in the game were born in the county, amongst them:


title: Yorkshire

text: The four ECB Premier Leagues in the county are: Bradford, North-Yorkshire-&-South-Durham, Yorkshire North and Yorkshire South. The league winners qualify to take part in a yearly Yorkshire Championship, the highest NYSD club based in Yorkshire qualifies if a Durham side wins.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire is officially recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, as Sheffield FC founded in 1857 are certified as the oldest association football club in the world. The world's first inter-club match and local derby was competed in the county, at the world's oldest ground Sandygate Road. The Laws of the Game, used worldwide, were drafted by Ebenezer Cobb Morley from Hull.


title: Yorkshire

text: Huddersfield were the first club to win three consecutive league titles. Leeds United reached the 2001 UEFA Champions League semi-finals and had a dominance period in the 1970s. Sheffield Wednesday who have had similar spells of dominance, such as the early 1990s. Middlesbrough won the 2004 League Cup and reach the 2006 UEFA Cup Final.


title: Yorkshire

text: Noted players from Yorkshire who have influenced the game include World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks and two time European Footballer of the Year award winner Kevin Keegan. Prominent managers include Herbert Chapman, Brian Clough, Bill Nicholson, George Raynor and Don Revie.


title: Yorkshire

text: The Yorkshire football team, controlled by the Yorkshire International Football Association (YIFA), represents Yorkshire in CONIFA matches. The team was founded in 2017, joined CONIFA on 6 January 2018 and plays at various venues throughout Yorkshire.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire has along history of rugby union in the county with Leeds Tykes (formerly Yorkshire Carnegie) featuring in the Aviva Premiership for eight seasons between 2001 and 2011 when they were relegated to the Championship. From 2020 the teams has reverted to its amateur status and plays in National League 1. Rotherham Titans also played in the top tier of English rugby in 2000–01 and 2003–04.


title: Yorkshire

text: Many England international players have emerged from Yorkshire including World Cup winners Jason Robinson and Mike Tindall. Other successful players from the region include Rob Andrew, Tim Rodber, Brian Moore, Danny Care, Rory Underwood and Sir Ian McGeechan.


title: Yorkshire

text: The Rugby Football League and with it the sport of rugby league was founded in 1895 at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, after a North-South schism within the Rugby Football Union. The top league is the Super League and the most decorated Yorkshire clubs are Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Bradford Bulls, Hull Kingston Rovers, Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos. In total six Yorkshiremen have been inducted into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame amongst them is Roger Millward, Jonty Parkin and Harold Wagstaff.


title: Yorkshire

text: In the area of boxing "Prince" Naseem Hamed from Sheffield achieved title success and widespread fame, in what the BBC describes as "one of British boxing's most illustrious careers". Along with Leeds-born Nicola Adams who in 2012 became the first female athlete to win a boxing gold medal at the Olympics.


title: Yorkshire

text: A number of athletes from or associated with Yorkshire took part in the 2012 Summer Olympics as members of Team GB; the "Yorkshire Post" stated that Yorkshire's athletes alone secured more gold medals than those of Spain.


title: Yorkshire

text: Notable Yorkshire athletes include Jessica Ennis-Hill and the Brownlee brothers, Jonathan and Alistair. Jessica Ennis-Hill is from Sheffield and won gold at the 2012 Olympics in London and silver at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Triathletes Alastair and Jonny Brownlee have won two golds and a silver and bronze respectively.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire also has an array of racecourses: in North Yorkshire there are Catterick, Redcar, Ripon, Thirsk and York; in the East Riding of Yorkshire there is Beverley; in West Yorkshire there are Pontefract and Wetherby; while in South Yorkshire there is Doncaster.


title: Yorkshire

text: England's oldest horse race, which began in 1519, is run each year at Kiplingcotes near Market Weighton. Continuing this tradition in the field of horse racing, there are currently in the county. Britain's oldest organised fox hunt is the Bilsdale, founded in 1668.


title: Yorkshire

text: The sport of Knurr and Spell was unique to the region, being one of the most popular sports in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries, before a decline in the 20th century to virtual obscurity.


title: Yorkshire

text: Yorkshire is considered to be particularly fond of cycling. In 2014 the County hosted the Grand Depart of the Tour de France. Spectator crowds over the two days were estimated to be of the order of 2.5 million people, making it the highest attended event in the UK. The inaugural Tour de Yorkshire was held from 1–3 May 2015, with start and finishes in Bridlington, Leeds, Scarborough, Selby, Wakefield and York, watched by 1.2 million. Yorkshire hosted the 2019 UCI Road World Championships between 22 and 29 September, which were held in Harrogate. Notable racing cyclists from Yorkshire include Brian Robinson, Lizzie Deignan and Beryl Burton.


title: Yorkshire

text: Field Hockey is a popular game in the county with 58 clubs running 271 organised teams in the historical county. The largest clubs include City of York HC (16 teams), Doncaster HC, Leeds HC and Sheffield Hallam HC (all 14 teams). The most recent team from Yorkshire to have played in the EH Premier League was Sheffield Hallam who finished in 9th place in 2013–14. England and Great Britain's most capped player of all time Barry Middleton hails from the town of Doncaster in the county. Hockey in the county was formerly organised by the Yorkshire Hockey Association but is now run by Yorkshire & North East Hockey who have run leagues and organised representative teams since September 2021.


title: Yorkshire

text: Sheffield is home to the Sheffield Sharks who play in the British Basketball League and, from 2021, Leeds Rhinos have featured in the Netball Superleague.


title: Yorkshire

text: From 1290, Yorkshire was represented by two members of parliament of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England. After the union with Scotland, two members represented the county in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. In 1832 the county benefited from the disfranchisement of Grampound by taking an additional two members. Yorkshire was represented at this time as one single, large, county constituency. Like other counties, there were also some county boroughs within Yorkshire, the oldest of which was the City of York, which had existed since the ancient Montfort's Parliament of 1265. After the Reform Act 1832, Yorkshire's political representation in parliament was drawn from its subdivisions, with members of parliament representing each of the three historic Ridings of Yorkshire; East Riding, North Riding, and West Riding constituencies.


title: Yorkshire

text: For the 1865 general elections and onwards, the West Riding was further divided into Northern, Eastern and Southern parliamentary constituencies, though these only lasted until the major Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. This act saw more localisation of government in the United Kingdom, with the introduction of 26 new parliamentary constituencies within Yorkshire, while the Local Government Act 1888 introduced some reforms for the county boroughs, of which there were eight in Yorkshire by the end of the 19th century.


title: Yorkshire

text: With the Representation of the People Act 1918 there was some reshuffling on a local level for the 1918 general election, revised again during the 1950s. The most controversial reorganisation of local government in Yorkshire was the Local Government Act 1972, put into practice in 1974. Under the act, the Ridings lost their lieutenancies, shrievalties, and administrative counties. County boroughs and their councils were abolished, to be replaced by metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties with vastly changed borders. Although some government officials and Prince Charles have asserted such reform is not meant to alter the ancient boundaries or cultural loyalties, there are pressure groups such as the Yorkshire Ridings Society who want greater recognition for the historic boundaries. In 1996 the East Riding of Yorkshire was reformed as a unitary authority area and together with the adjoining unitary authority of Kingston upon Hull forms a ceremonial county. The Yorkshire and the Humber region of Government Office covers most, but not all of the historic county.


title: Yorkshire

text: A number of claims have been made for the distinctiveness of Yorkshire, as a geographical, cultural and political entity, and these have been used to demand increased political autonomy. In the early twentieth century, F. W. Moorman, the first professor of English Language at Leeds University, claimed Yorkshire was not settled by Angles or Saxons following the end of Roman rule in Britain, but by a different Germanic tribe, the Geats. As a consequence, he claimed, it is possible the first work of English literature, "Beowulf", believed to have been composed by Geats, was written in Yorkshire, and this distinctive ethnic and cultural origin is the root of the unique status of Yorkshire today. One of Moorman's students at Leeds University, Herbert Read, was greatly influenced by Moorman's ideas on Yorkshire identity, and claimed that until recent times Yorkshire was effectively an island, cut off from the rest of England by rivers, fens, moors and mountains. This distancing of Yorkshire from England led Read to question whether Yorkshire people were really English at all. Combined with the suggested ethnic difference from the rest of England, Read quoted Frederic Pearson, who wrote:


title: Yorkshire

text: During the premiership of William Pitt the Younger the hypothetical idea of Yorkshire becoming independent was raised in the British parliament in relation to the question whether Ireland should become part of the United Kingdom. This resulted in an anonymous pamphlet being published in London in 1799 arguing at length that Yorkshire could never be an independent state as it would always be reliant on the rest of the United Kingdom to provide it with essential resources.


title: Yorkshire

text: Although in the devolution debates in the House of Commons of the late 1960s, which paved the way for the 1979 referendums on the creation of a Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly, parallel devolution for Yorkshire was suggested, this was opposed by the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Hamilton, Winifred Ewing. Ewing argued that it was offensive to Scots to argue that an English region had the same status as an 'ancient nation' such as Scotland.


title: Yorkshire

text: The relationship between Yorkshire and Scottish devolution was again made in 1975 by Richard Wainwright, MP for Colne Valley, who claimed in a speech in the House of Commons:


title: Yorkshire

text: In more recent years, in 1998 the Campaign for Yorkshire was established to push for the creation of a Yorkshire regional assembly, sometimes dubbed the Yorkshire Parliament. In its defining statement, the Campaign for Yorkshire made reference to the historical notions that Yorkshire had a distinctive identity:


title: Yorkshire

text: The Campaign for Yorkshire was led by Jane Thomas as Director and Paul Jagger as chairman. Jagger claimed in 1999 that Yorkshire had as much right to a regional parliament or assembly as Scotland and Wales because Yorkshire 'has as clear a sense of identity as Scotland or Wales.' One of those brought into the Campaign for Yorkshire by Jane Thomas was Herbert Read scholar Michael Paraskos, who organised a series of events in 2000 to highlight the distinctiveness of Yorkshire culture. This included a major exhibition of Yorkshire artists. Paraskos also founded a Yorkshire Studies degree course at Hull University. Interviewed by "The Guardian" newspaper, Paraskos linked the start of this course to the contemporary devolution debates in Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, claiming:


title: Yorkshire

text: In March 2013, the Yorkshire Devolution Movement was founded as an active campaign group by Nigel Sollitt, who had administrated the social media group by that name since 2011, Gareth Shanks, a member of the social media group, and Stewart Arnold, former Chair of the Campaign for Yorkshire. In September 2013, the executive committee was joined by Richard Honnoraty and Richard Carter (as an advisor), who had also been involved in the Campaign for Yorkshire. The Movement campaigns for a directly elected parliament for the whole of the traditional county of Yorkshire with powers second to no other devolved administration in the UK.


title: Yorkshire

text: Two Combined Authorities, which serve to devolve certain powers, have been established in Yorkshire, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and the Sheffield Combined Authority, in South Yorkshire. A mayoralty has been established in the Sheffield City Region, and elections for the Mayor of West Yorkshire are due to take place in 2021. An alternative proposal was also made for a cross-Yorkshire Authority, dubbed "One Yorkshire", which was supported by 18 of the 20 Yorkshire councils, with Sheffield and Rotherham both preferring the South Yorkshire alternative. The government rejected the devolution deal, and alongside the two existing authorities, further proposals have been made in North Yorkshire and the East Riding, although some support for the whole Yorkshire deal has continued.


title: Yorkshire

text: In 2014, Richard Carter, Stewart Arnold and Richard Honnoraty, founded Yorkshire First, a political party campaigning for the creation of a Yorkshire parliament by 2050 based on the Scottish Parliament. It was later renamed the Yorkshire Party. A Social democratic party, it has parish, town, district and county councillors, and stood in 28 constituencies in the 2019 general election. Yorkshire Party candidates have also run for the position of directly elected mayors in Doncaster in 2017 (receiving 3,235 votes, 5.04%) and the Sheffield City Region in 2018 (receiving 22,318 votes, 8.6).


title: Yorkshire

text: When the territory of Yorkshire began to take shape as a result of the invasion of the Danish vikings, they instituted a monarchy based at the settlement of Jórvík, York. The reign of the Viking kings came to an end with the last king Eric Bloodaxe dying in battle in 954 after the invasion and conquest by the Kingdom of England from the south. Jórvík was the last of the independent kingdoms to be taken to form part of the Kingdom of England and thus the local monarchal title became defunct.


title: Yorkshire

text: Though the monarchal title became defunct, it was succeeded by the creation of the Earl of York title of nobility by king of England Edgar the Peaceful in 960. (The earldom covered the general area of Yorkshire and is sometimes referred to as the "Earl of Yorkshire".) The title passed through the hands of various nobles, decided upon by the king of England. The last man to hold the title was William le Gros, however the earldom was abolished by Henry II as a result of a troubled period known as "The Anarchy".


title: Yorkshire

text: The peerage was recreated by Edward III in 1385, this time in the form of the prestigious title of Duke of York which he gave to his son Edmund of Langley. Edmund founded the House of York; later the title was merged with that of the King of England. Much of the modern-day symbolism of Yorkshire, such as the White Rose of York, is derived from the Yorkists, giving the house a special affinity within the culture of Yorkshire. Especially celebrated is the Yorkist king Richard III who spent much of his life at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire. Since that time the title has passed through the hands of many, being merged with the crown and then recreated several times. The title of Duke of York is given to the second son of the British monarch.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of "The Rush Limbaugh Show", which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations from 1988 until his death in 2021.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh became one of the most prominent conservative voices in the United States during the 1990s and hosted a national television show from 1992 to 1996. He was among the most highly paid figures in American radio history; in 2018 "Forbes" listed his earnings at $84.5 million. In December 2019, "Talkers Magazine" estimated that Limbaugh's show attracted a cumulative weekly audience of 15.5 million listeners to become the most-listened-to radio show in the United States. Limbaugh also wrote seven books; his first two, "The Way Things Ought to Be" (1992) and "See, I Told You So" (1993), made "The New York Times" Best Seller list.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh garnered controversy from his statements on race, LGBT matters, feminism, sexual consent, and climate change. Despite being a polarizing figure, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. During the 2020 State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to parents Rush Hudson Limbaugh II and Mildred Carolyn () Limbaugh. He and his younger brother David were born into the prominent political Limbaugh family; his father was a lawyer and a United States fighter pilot who served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His mother was from Searcy, Arkansas. The name "Rush" was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of a family member, Edna Rush.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was partly of German ancestry. The family includes many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother; his uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr., was a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. His cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., is a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush. Limbaugh's grandfather, Rush Limbaugh Sr., was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives in the 1930s, and longtime president of the Missouri Historical Society.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1969 Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School, where he played football and was a Boys State delegate. At age 16 he worked his first radio job at KGMO, a local radio station. He used the airname Rusty Sharpe having found "Sharpe" in a telephone book. Limbaugh later cited Chicago DJ Larry Lujack as a major influence on him, saying Lujack was "the only person I ever copied." In deference to his parents' desire that he attend college, he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University but dropped out after two semesters. According to his mother, "he flunked everything [...] he just didn't seem interested in anything except radio." Biographer Zev Chafets asserts that Limbaugh's life was in large part dedicated to gaining his father's respect.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In February 1971, after dropping out of college, the 20-year-old Limbaugh accepted an offer to DJ at WIXZ, a Top 40 station in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He adopted the airname "Bachelor Jeff" Christie and worked afternoons before moving to morning drive. The station's general manager compared Limbaugh's style at this time to "early Imus". In 1973, after eighteen months at WIXZ, Limbaugh was fired from the station due to "personality conflict" with the program director. He then started a nighttime position at KQV in Pittsburgh, succeeding Jim Quinn. In late 1974, Limbaugh was dismissed after new management put pressure on the program director to fire him. Limbaugh recalled the general manager telling him that he would never land success as an air personality and suggested a career in radio sales. After rejecting his only offer at the time, a position in Neenah, Wisconsin, Limbaugh returned to living with his parents in Cape Girardeau. During this time, he became a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1975, Limbaugh began an afternoon show at the Top 40 station KUDL in Kansas City, Missouri. He soon became the host of a public affairs talk program that aired on weekend mornings which allowed him to develop his style and present more controversial ideas. In 1977, he was let go from the station but remained in Kansas City to start an evening show at KFIX. The stint was short-lived, however, and disagreements with management led to his dismissal weeks later. By this time, Limbaugh had become disillusioned with radio and felt pressure to pursue a different career. He looked back on himself as "a moderate failure [...] as a deejay". In 1979, he accepted a part-time role in group sales for the Kansas City Royals baseball team which developed into a full-time position as director of group sales and special events. He worked from the Royals Stadium. There he developed a friendship with then-Royals star third baseman and future Hall of Famer George Brett. The two men remained close friends. Limbaugh said that business trips to Europe and Asia during this time developed his conservative views as he considered countries in those geographic areas to have lower standards of living than the United States.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In November 1983, Limbaugh returned to radio at KMBZ (AM) in Kansas City for a year. He decided to drop his on-air moniker and broadcast under his real name. He was fired from the station, but weeks later he landed a spot on KFBK in Sacramento, California, replacing Morton Downey Jr. The show launched on October 14, 1984. Limbaugh began to express his political opinions in 1985 when he mocked the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, which he considered along with the general anti-war movement to be "inherently anti-US, yet was reported as substantive and morally correct by a willing and sympathetic media". The FCC's repeal of the fairness doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—on August 5, 1987, meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a "Wall Street Journal" editorial, "Ronald Reagan tore down this wall [the fairness doctrine] in 1987 ... and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1988, former ABC Radio Network executive Ed McLaughlin offered Limbaugh the nationally syndicated 12pm–2pm slot at ABC Radio Network to replace Owen Spann. Since many local radio stations of the time were hesitant to carry nationally syndicated programming during the daytime, he also secured Limbaugh a separate 10am–12pm show at WABC-AM in New York City to satisfy the provision of his contract requiring employment in a Top 5 market to leave KMBZ.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh began his new show at WABC-AM on July 4, 1988, with the first episode focusing on the Iran Air Flight 655 shootdown the previous day. His national program debuted on 50 stations the next month on August 1, and by three months later had expanded to 100 stations. He debuted just weeks after the Democratic National Convention, and just weeks before the Republican National Convention. Limbaugh's radio home in New York City was the talk-formatted WABC (AM), and this remained his flagship station for many years, even after Limbaugh moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, from where he broadcast his show. Limbaugh's show moved on January 1, 2014, to WABC's cross-town rival WOR (AM), its final New York outlet.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: By 1990, Limbaugh had been on his "Rush to Excellence Tour", a series of personal appearances in cities nationwide, for two years. For the 45 shows he completed that year alone, he was estimated to make around $360,000.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In December 1990, journalist Lewis Grossberger wrote in "The New York Times Magazine" that Limbaugh had "more listeners than any other talk show host" and described Limbaugh's style as "bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian". Limbaugh's rising profile coincided with the Gulf War, and his support for the war effort and his relentless ridicule of peace activists. The program was moved to stations with larger audiences, eventually being broadcast on over 650 radio stations nationwide.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: By the 1992 United States presidential election, Limbaugh had established himself as an influential political commentator. During the Republican Party presidential primaries, Limbaugh expressed a preference for Pat Buchanan over the incumbent George H. W. Bush, which Buchanan himself attributed to his early success in the primaries. Bush's campaign subsequently worked to court Limbaugh, culminating with an invitation to stay overnight at the White House's Lincoln Bedroom. Limbaugh was also given a seat at the president's box in the Houston Astrodome during the 1992 Republican National Convention, and both President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle appeared on Limbaugh's program.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In November 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States. Limbaugh satirized the policies of Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, as well as those of the Democratic Party in general. Following the Republican Revolution, in which the party regained control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections after several decades, the freshman Republican class awarded Limbaugh an honorary membership in their caucus, crediting him with having had a role in their success.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1995, Limbaugh started selling a line of neckties under the brand No Boundaries Collection, designed by his then-wife Marta without themes, ties to politics, or ties to issues. Limbaugh complained about coverage of the line, which he said underrated the ties' radicalness, and said media descriptions were emblematic of their general inaccuracy. Sold in nearly 1,500 retail outlets by 1996, the brand sold more than $5,000,000 worth in the first year. The New York Times described the designs: "Much like their promulgator, Mr. Limbaugh's four dozen or so styles seem designed to evoke maximum sensory outrage. Like Rainbow Black, whose interweaving rainbow strands and blue raindrops play around an Ionic column, atop which a cranberry-red pomegranate tree sprouts from an urn. Or Triangle Red, with colliding stacks of black-and-yellow triangles and disjointed horizontal black stripes on a background of speckled salmon." In 2000, Limbaugh rented the email list collected from the No Boundaries website to Rudy Giuliani's senate campaign. The business dissolved along with his marriage to Marta but in 2020 the ties were still being sold by TieGal, Inc. for $29 each.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh had publicized personal difficulties in the 2000s. In late 2001, he acknowledged that he had become almost completely deaf, although he continued his show. He was able to regain much of his hearing with the help of a cochlear implant in 2001.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2003, Limbaugh had a brief stint as a professional football commentator with ESPN. He resigned a few weeks into the 2003 NFL season after making comments about the press coverage for quarterback Donovan McNabb that caused controversy and accusations of racism on the part of Limbaugh. His comment about McNabb was:


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: The sportswriter Peter King construed the comment as "boneheaded". The sports analyst Allen Barra wrote Limbaugh's viewpoint was shared by "many football fans and analysts" and "it is... absurd to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2003, Limbaugh stated that he was addicted to pain medication, and sought treatment. In April 2006, Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities, on a warrant issued by the Palm Beach County state attorney's office, and was arrested "on a single charge of prescription fraud". His record was later expunged.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2013, news reports indicated that Cumulus Media, some of whose stations carried Limbaugh's program in certain major markets, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., and Detroit, was considering dropping his show when its contract with Limbaugh expired at the end of that year, reportedly because the company believed that its advertising revenues had been hurt by listener reaction to controversial Limbaugh comments. Limbaugh himself said that the reports were overblown and that it was a matter of routine dollars-and-cents negotiations between Cumulus and his network syndication partner, Premiere Networks, a unit of Clear Channel Communications. Ultimately, the parties reached agreement on a new contract, with Limbaugh's show moving from its long-time flagship outlet in New York, the Cumulus-owned WABC, to the latter's cross-town rival, the Clear Channel-owned WOR, starting January 1, 2014, but remaining on the Cumulus-owned stations it was being carried on in other markets.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In January 2021, Limbaugh called the GameStop short squeeze "the most fascinating thing" to happen in a long time and said that "the elites are bent out of shape that a bunch of average, ordinary users have figured out how to make themselves billionaires".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh's radio show aired for three hours each weekday beginning at noon Eastern Time on both AM and FM radio. The program was also broadcast worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Network.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM in the 1970s because of the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity (AM stations in the United States would not get the opportunity to broadcast in stereo sound until August 2, 1982). Limbaugh's show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, on the AM radio band. Limbaugh's popularity paved the way for other conservative talk radio programming to become commonplace on AM radio. The show increased its audience in the 1990s to the extent that even some FM stations picked it up. about half of Limbaugh's affiliate stations were on the FM dial.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh used props, songs, and photos to introduce his monologues on various topics. On his radio show, news about homeless people was often preceded by the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In March 2006, WBAL in Baltimore became the first major market radio station in the country to drop Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio program. In 2007, "TALKERS Magazine" again named him No.1 in its "Heavy Hundred" most important talk show hosts.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh frequently mentioned the EIB (Excellence In Broadcasting) Network, trademarked in 1990. In the beginning, his show was co-owned and first syndicated by Edward F. McLaughlin, former president of ABC, who founded EFM Media in 1988, with Limbaugh's show as his first product. In 1997, McLaughlin sold EFM to Jacor Communications, which was ultimately bought up by Clear Channel Communications. Limbaugh owned a majority of the show, which is syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: According to a 2001 article in "U.S. News & World Report", Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year. In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million. A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that Limbaugh was the most trusted news personality in the nation, garnering 12.5 percent of poll responses.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh signed a $400-million, eight-year contract in 2008 with what was then Clear Channel Communications, making him the highest-paid broadcaster on terrestrial radio. On August 2, 2016, Limbaugh signed a four-year extension of the 2008 contract. At the announcement of the extension, Premiere Radio Networks and iHeartMedia announced that his show experienced audience growth with 18% growth in adults 25–54, 27% growth with 25–54 women, and ad revenue growth of 20% year over year.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2018, Limbaugh was the world's second (behind Howard Stern) highest-paid radio host, reportedly earning $84.5 million. On January 5, 2020, Limbaugh renewed his contract again. Though media reports said it was "a long-term" renewal, (with no length specified), according to Donald Trump it was a four-year deal.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In May, Premiere Networks announced that on June 21, 2021, The Limbaugh Show radio timeslot will be taken over by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton in hundreds of markets.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh had a syndicated half-hour television show from 1992 through 1996, produced by Roger Ailes. The show discussed many of the topics on his radio show, and was taped in front of an audience. In the months after its debut on September 12, 1992, it was the third highest rated late-night television show after "Nightline" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Limbaugh said he loved doing his radio show, but not a TV show.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh's first television hosting experience came March 30, 1990, as a guest host on Pat Sajak's CBS late-night talk show, "The Pat Sajak Show". ACT UP activists in the audience heckled Limbaugh repeatedly; ultimately the entire studio audience was cleared. In 2001, Sajak said the incident was "legendary around CBS".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On December 17, 1993, Limbaugh appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman". Limbaugh also guest-starred (as himself) on a 1994 episode of "Hearts Afire". He appeared in the 1995 Billy Crystal film "Forget Paris", and in 1998 on an episode of "The Drew Carey Show".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2007, Limbaugh made cameo appearances on Fox News Channel's short-lived "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" in a series of parodies portraying him as the future President of the United States. In the parodies, his vice president was fellow conservative pundit Ann Coulter. That year, he also made a cameo in the "Family Guy" episode "Blue Harvest", a parody of "Star Wars" in which Limbaugh can be heard on the radio claiming that the "liberal galactic media" were lying about climate change on the planet Hoth, and that Lando Calrissian's administrative position on Cloud City was a result of affirmative action. His later appearances on "Family Guy" were in the 2010 episode "Excellence in Broadcasting", and 2011's "Episode VI: It's a Trap!", a parody of "Return of the Jedi".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In his first "New York Times" best seller, Limbaugh described himself as conservative, and was critical of broadcasters in many media outlets for claiming to be objective. He called for the adoption of core conservative philosophies in order to ensure the survival of the Republican Party. Limbaugh criticized the media and political activist movements such as feminism, environmentalism, and animal rights for allegedly serving as outlets for "anticapitalism, secular humanism, and socialism." Limbaugh, a proponent of American exceptionalism, often criticized politicians he believed reject this notion seeing them as unpatriotic or anti-American.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was known for making controversial race-related statements with regard to African Americans. He once opined that all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resembled Jesse Jackson, and another time that "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons." While employed as what he describes as an "insult-radio" DJ, he used a derogatory racial stereotype to characterize a black caller he could not understand, telling the caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back", although he expressed guilt over this when recounting it. In March 2010, Limbaugh used the similarity of recently resigned Rep. Eric Massa's surname to the slavery-era African American pronunciation of "master" to make a pun on the possibility that Gov. David Paterson, New York's first African American governor, would pick Massa's replacement: "Let's assume you're right [caller]. So, David Paterson will become the massa who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa's place. So, for the first time in his life, Paterson's gonna be a massa. Interesting, interesting."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh asserted in 2008 that African Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are "left behind" socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate the United States because of the welfare state.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh argued that liberal politicians have encouraged immigration from Latin America but have discouraged their assimilation to deliberately create racial inequality to manipulate as a voter base, and that their continued admission will cause a collapse of representative democracy and rule of law in the United States. He criticized the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 for this reason.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: He said of the genocide of Native Americans, "Holocaust 90 million Indians? Only 4 million left? They all have casinos, what’s to complain about?"


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: James Fallows described Limbaugh's economic ideology as "a doctrinaire version of supply-side economics" and noted that he frequently cited "The Wall Street Journal" in his radio shows and books. Limbaugh has called for fewer taxes, including progressive taxes targeted towards the wealthy, and argued the wealthy were being taxed excessively because they continued to pay the majority of taxes in the United States. Limbaugh further claimed that reductions in marginal tax rates would reduce poverty and inequality by removing obstacles towards economic growth, and that reducing marginal tax rates on the wealthy would increase tax revenue by increasing production. Limbaugh credited Reagan's tax cuts for ending the early 1980s recession, and blamed the early 1990s recession and rising rates of inequality on the American middle-class being "taxed at a confiscatory rate."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh expressed anti-LGBT views and viewed homosexual sexual practices as unhygienic. He made serophobic statements about HIV/AIDS victims in the 1980s and 1990s, and called the virus "Rock Hudson's disease" and "the only federally-protected virus". For a time, Dionne Warwick's song "I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people with HIV/AIDS on his radio show. These later became "condom updates," preceded by The 5th Dimension's song "Up, Up and Away". Limbaugh defended President Reagan's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and falsely claimed that AIDS did not "spread to the heterosexual community" in the United States. When Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991, Limbaugh played a snippet of "Another One Bites the Dust". In the early 1990s, Limbaugh ran a recurring segment, "AIDS Update," which mocked the deaths of gay individuals from HIV/AIDS. During the segment, he would play songs like Dionne Warwick's "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Johnny Lee's "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places"; the Los Angeles Times reported that Limbaugh said, "Gays deserved their fate." Limbaugh later called the segment "the single most regretful thing I have ever done."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2013, Limbaugh commented on same-sex marriage by saying, "This issue is lost. I don't care what the Supreme Court does. This is inevitable. And it's inevitable because we lost the language on this. As far as I'm concerned, once we started talking about gay marriage, traditional marriage, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, hetero marriage, we lost. It was over." In February 2020, Limbaugh predicted that Pete Buttigieg would not be able to win the 2020 presidential election because of his homosexuality.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh dismissed the concept of consent in sexual relations. He viewed consent as "the magic key to the left". In 2014, Limbaugh criticized a policy at Ohio State University encouraging students to obtain verbal consent, saying "How many of you guys ... have learned that 'no' means 'yes' if you know how to spot it?" The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee used these statements to advocate a boycott of Limbaugh's show and advertisers, asserting that the statements were tantamount to an endorsement of sexual assault. Limbaugh denied this, and his spokesman Brian Glicklick and lawyer Patricia Glaser threatened a defamation lawsuit against the DCCC. According to spokesperson Emily Bittner, the DCCC did not receive any correspondence from Limbaugh or his attorney.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh had been an outspoken critic of what he saw as leniency towards criminal drug use in the United States. On his television show on October 5, 1995, Limbaugh stated, "too many whites are getting away with drug use" and illegal drug trafficking. Limbaugh proposed that the racial disparity in drug enforcement could be fixed if authorities increased detection efforts, conviction rates and jail time for whites involved in illegal drugs. He defended mandatory-minimum sentencing as an effective tool against the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. Limbaugh accused advocates of legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States of hypocrisy due to their advocacy of tobacco control and backlash against electronic cigarettes, and compared the advocates for its legalization in Colorado to Big Tobacco. Limbaugh's past comments on drug users were highlighted by numerous media outlets after his own stint in a drug rehabilitation facility in 2003.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was opposed to environmentalism and climate science. He rejected the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, claiming the scientific evidence did not support them. Limbaugh argued against the scientific consensus on climate change claiming it was "just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition" and argued that projections of climate change were the product of ideologically motivated computer simulations without the proper support of empirical data, a claim which has been widely debunked. Limbaugh used the term "environmentalist wacko" both when referring to left-leaning environmental advocates, and when referring to more mainstream climate scientists and other environmental scientists and advocates with whom he disagreed. Limbaugh opposed pollution credits, including a carbon cap-and-trade system, as a way to disproportionately benefit major American investment banks, particularly Goldman Sachs, and claimed that it would destroy the American national economy.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh wrote that "there are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492"; however forest cover is approximately 75% of what it was in 1630.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was critical of feminism, which he viewed as advancing only liberals and not women in general. In a newspaper column he stated that it "was established so that unattractive ugly broads could have easy access to the mainstream of society." He has criticized Democratic congressmen calling for more women in Congress as hypocritical due to their opposition to female Republican candidates. He has also regularly used the term "feminazi", described by "The New York Times" in 1994 as one of his "favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights". According to Limbaugh in 1992, for certain feminists, the "most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur." He also used the term referring to the half-million-large 2017 Women's March as the "Deranged Feminazi March". He credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: For two weeks in 1989, on his Sacramento radio show, Limbaugh performed "caller abortions" where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a scream. He would then deny that he had "hung up" on the caller, which he had promised not to do. Limbaugh claims that he used this gag to illustrate "the tragedy of abortion" as well as to highlight the question of whether abortion constitutes murder.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was supportive of the Iraq War, and first suggested bombing Ba'athist Iraq in 2002 in revenge for the September 11 attacks. Even after no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were found, he supported theories that they had existed. On the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, Limbaugh said, "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation ... And we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time." Speaking at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference, Limbaugh accused Democratic congressional leaders such as Harry Reid of deliberately undermining the war effort.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: During the 2019–21 Persian Gulf crisis, Limbaugh praised the 2020 Baghdad International Airport drone strike that resulted in the death of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's commander Major General Qasem Soleimani, and accused opponents of the strike of supporting Iran over the United States. On January 6, 2020, during an interview with President Donald Trump on his show, Limbaugh commended him for the strike.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1993, Limbaugh supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), joking in response to claims that it would lead to a transfer of unskilled labor to Mexico that this would leave the United States with only better jobs. During a 1993 televised debate against H. Ross Perot over NAFTA, Vice President Al Gore complimented Limbaugh as one of the "distinguished Americans" who pushed NAFTA forward in spite of the intense animosity between Limbaugh and the administration of President Bill Clinton. He later became more critical of NAFTA and trade agreements in general, claiming that they had reduced national sovereignty by "subordinating" America to "world tribunals, like the World Trade Organization and the International Criminal Court and this kind of thing." He also claimed that promises to stem mass migration by invigorating the Latin American economy had failed. He supported a renegotiation of NAFTA and the eventual United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh defended the Trump tariffs and the China–United States trade war as a legitimate response to predatory Chinese trade practices and its Communist command economy.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Rush Limbaugh strongly opposed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election, and spread false claims that Obama was a non-citizen not born in the United States. Limbaugh predicted that Obama would be unable to win the election. On January 16, 2009, Limbaugh commented on the then-upcoming Obama presidency, "I hope he fails." Limbaugh later said that he wanted to see Obama's policies fail, not the man himself. Limbaugh frequently referred to the Obama administration or presidency as regime or as the "Obama regime", or even junta. Speaking of Obama, Limbaugh said, "He's my president, he's a human being, and his ideas and policies are what count for me." Limbaugh later discouraged efforts to impeach Barack Obama as politically unrealistic.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh accused Obama of using his race to prevent criticism of his policies, and said he was successful in his first year in office only because conservative members of the 111th Congress feared accusations of racism. Limbaugh featured a recurring skit in which his colleague James Golden, who described himself as an "African-American-in-good-standing-and-certified-black-enough-to-criticize-Obama guy", appeared in a cameo as the "Official EIB Obama Criticizer".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh blamed Obama's foreign policy, including the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, for allowing the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Limbaugh also claimed that the 2012 Benghazi attack occurred due to a secret arms trafficking operation to the Syrian opposition authorized by Obama and coordinated by Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, speculating that the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak would reveal evidence of it. Limbaugh also criticized the Russian reset, viewing Vladimir Putin's rule in the Russian Federation as a thinly-veiled continuation of the Soviet Union and Marxism–Leninism. He was also critical of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, including of Obama's decision to ratify it as an executive agreement, and claimed that it was used as a pretext for surveillance against Obama's political opponents. Limbaugh argued that side agreements of the JCPOA limited transparency and would obligate the United States to militarily defend Iran against an Israeli offensive, including a preemptive strike to prevent nuclear weapons development.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: During the West African Ebola virus epidemic, Limbaugh blamed Obama for allowing the spread of the disease to the United States in 2014, claiming that he should have stopped air travel to West Africa. He claimed that both the media and the government, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deliberately downplayed its symptoms, expressing skepticism over the scientific consensus that the disease could be spread only through contact with bodily fluids and was not aerosol transmissible. When David Quammen criticized the idea of ending air travel to West Africa by pointing out that Liberia was founded due to slavery in the United States on "Anderson Cooper 360°", Limbaugh suggested in response that the Obama administration was deliberately allowing Ebola to be transmitted to the United States due to its guilt over slavery, stating "People at the highest levels of our government say 'Why, why shouldn't we get it? Why should only those three nations in Africa get it? We're no better than they are.' And they have this attitude, 'Well, if they have it in Africa, by God, we deserve to get it, because they're in Africa because of us and because of slavery.'"


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh claimed that the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were God's response to the Affordable Care Act being passed.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was consistently supportive of the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, although he endorsed Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and took issue with Trump's treatment of Cruz. Limbaugh later criticized Cruz's hesitance to endorse Trump after his nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention, comparing it to Ted Kennedy's lukewarm support of Jimmy Carter at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. After the election he became supportive of deep-state conspiracy theories, claiming that the United States had entered a "Cold Civil War" in which the Democratic Party was attempting to illegitimately overturn the election results and that it was part of a trend of Democrats contesting elections beginning with the 2000 Florida election recount intended to eventually eliminate free elections in the United States.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In December 2018, Limbaugh criticized Trump for preparing to accept a continuing resolution that would fund the government through February 8, 2019, but included no funding for a border wall on the Mexico–United States border, a campaign promise repeatedly emphasized by Trump. Trump would subsequently make a surprise telephone call to Limbaugh announcing his intent to veto the bill, a decision that would lead to the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown. Limbaugh would go on to support the shutdown, stating, "We have a president keeping promises left and right. And isn't it interesting to see how trivial Washington thinks that is?" After Trump declared the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States and the 116th Congress failed in its attempt to override it, Limbaugh called on him to completely close the border with Mexico.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was dismissive of controversies over links between Trump associates and Russian officials. He claimed that the FBI investigations of Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, as well as the subsequent Special Counsel investigation directed by Robert Mueller, were orchestrated by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to undermine the legitimacy of Trump's presidency, constituting an illegal coup d'état. Limbaugh claimed that George Papadopoulos was entrapped by the FBI, which he claimed Joseph Mifsud was an informant for, through Stefan Halper as part of an "insurance policy" against Trump's election by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Limbaugh advocated a full presidential pardon for all suspects indicted or convicted by the investigation. After the release of the Mueller report, he disputed its conclusion that WikiLeaks obtained the Democratic National Committee's emails from the Russian government and its depiction of Donald Trump Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting. He claimed that allegations of obstruction of justice were leveled at Trump due to the Report's conclusion that Trump did not directly collude with Russian officials, and that Trump's intent to fire Mueller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions was legitimate.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh supported the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity as well as Trump's claims that he lost the popular vote due to voter impersonation by illegal immigrants.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: After the House of Representatives commenced a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump due to the scandal over a 2019 telephone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pressuring the Ukrainian government to prosecute 2020 Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden shortly after a freeze of military aid, Limbaugh argued that the two events were unrelated since Trump had made a decision to withhold military funds a month in advance. He additionally claimed that Trump's desire for the Ukrainian government to prosecute Biden was legally justified by a 1999 mutual legal assistance treaty with Ukraine and "was following the law to the letter when it comes to unearthing the long-standing corruption that has swirled in Ukraine and allegedly involves powerful Democrats like Joe Biden."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh claimed that the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts were perpetuated as a false flag operation to draw public attention away from Central American migrant caravans. He reiterated these claims two weeks after the arrest of the primary suspect Cesar Sayoc, a registered Republican.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On his show, Limbaugh said that the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019 may have been a false-flag operation. Limbaugh described "an ongoing theory" that the shooter was actually "a leftist" trying to smear the right. Despite providing no source or evidence, Limbaugh continued: "you can't immediately discount this. The left is this insane, they are this crazy."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Comedian Al Franken, who later became a Senator, wrote a satirical 1996 book ("Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations") in which he accused Limbaugh of distorting facts to serve his own political biases.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Of Limbaugh's controversial statements and allegations they have investigated, "Politifact" has rated 84% as ranging from "Mostly False" to "Pants On Fire" (signifying false statements that cannot be reasonably assessed as merely errors), with 5% of Limbaugh's contested statements rising to the level of "Mostly True" and 0% rated "True". These debunked allegations by Limbaugh include suggestions that the existence of gorillas disproves the theory of evolution, that Ted Kennedy sent a letter to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov seeking to undercut President Reagan, that a recent lack of hurricanes disproves climate change, and that President Obama wanted to mandate circumcision.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh has been criticized for inaccuracies by the Environmental Defense Fund. A defense fund report authored by Princeton University endowed geoscience professor Michael Oppenheimer and professor of biology David Wilcove lists 14 significant scientific facts that, the authors allege, Limbaugh misrepresented in his book "The Way Things Ought to Be". The authors conclude that "Rush Limbaugh ... allows his political bias to distort the truth about a whole range of important scientific issues."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was heavily criticized for mocking Hu Jintao, then the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and paramount leader of the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese language during an episode. After proceeding to label Hu as a "Chicom dictator", Limbaugh mocked the Chinese language, primarily using words like ching chong.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On October 14, 2011, Limbaugh questioned the U.S. Armed Forces initiative against Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), based on the assumption that they were Christians. "They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them." Upon learning about the accusations leveled against Kony, which included kidnapping whole schools of young children for use as child soldiers, Limbaugh stated that he would research the group.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2010, after the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Limbaugh speculated on his show that eco-terrorists deliberately destroyed the oil well to justify President Obama's deepwater drilling moratorium.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: After the white supremacist Unite the Right rally, in which a counter-protestor was murdered in the Charlottesville car attack, Limbaugh claimed that the violence had been provoked by Black Lives Matter activists, Antifa, and Robert Creamer. He also claimed without evidence that the police response had been deliberately restrained by Terry McAuliffe as a botched attempt to start a presidential bid in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and that it was part of a campaign by "international financiers" such as George Soros to start a Second American Civil War to remove its status as a global superpower.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: During the Clinton administration, while taping his television program, Limbaugh referred to media coverage of Socks, the Clintons' cat. He then stated, "But did you know there is also a White House dog?" and presented a picture of Chelsea Clinton who was 13 years old at the time.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In October 2006, Limbaugh said Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, had exaggerated the effects of his disability in a political TV advertisement advocating for funding of stem cell research. Limbaugh said that Fox in the ad had been "shameless" in "moving all around and shaking", and that Fox had not taken "his medication or he's acting, one of the two". Fox said "the irony of it is I was too medicated", adding that there was no way to predict how his symptoms would manifest. Limbaugh said he would apologize to Fox "bigly, hugely... if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act." In 2012, Fox said Limbaugh in 2006 had acted on "bullying instincts" when "he said I faked it. I didn't fake it.", and said Limbaugh's goal was to have him marginalized and shut down for his stem cell stance.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2007, Media Matters reported that Limbaugh had categorized Iraq War veterans opposed to the war as "the phony soldiers". Limbaugh later said that he was speaking of Jesse MacBeth, a soldier who falsely claimed to have been decorated for valor but, in fact, had never seen combat. Limbaugh said Media Matters was trying to smear him with out-of-context and selectively edited comments. After Limbaugh published what he claimed was the entire transcript of phony soldiers discussion, Media Matters said that over a minute and 30 seconds of the transcript was omitted without "notation or ellipsis to indicate that there is, in fact, a break in the transcript." Limbaugh said during the minute and a half gap Media Matters had pointed out, he was waiting for relevant ABC News copy on the topic, and the transcript and audio edits were "for space and relevance reasons, not to hide anything." Senator Harry Reid and 41 Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, signed a letter asking the CEO of Clear Channel to denounce Limbaugh. Instead, the executive gave the letter to Limbaugh to auction. It raised $2.1 million, at the time an eBay record for an auction item for charity. Limbaugh said he would match the donation and give it to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: The NFL team moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and Limbaugh wanted to be a partial owner, but in October 2009, the group that planned to buy the Rams, dropped him. Limbaugh blamed Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, among others, for his bid failure.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On February 29, 2012, Limbaugh, while talking about contraceptive mandates, included remarks about law student Sandra Fluke as a "slut" and "prostitute". Limbaugh was commenting on Fluke's speech the previous week to House Democrats in support of mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh made numerous similar statements over the next two days, leading to the loss of 45 to "more than 100" local and national sponsors and Limbaugh's apology on his show for some of his comments. Susan MacMillan Emry co-organized a public relations campaign called Rock the Slut Vote as a response to Limbaugh's remarks.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Limbaugh asserted that the virus was the common cold. Limbaugh said on his radio show on February 24, 2020, "I'm dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks," alleging it was being "weaponized" to bring down Trump. Limbaugh's statement was called "wildly irresponsible" by "The Washington Post".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: From 1990 until his death, Limbaugh held an annual fundraising telethon called the "EIB Cure-a-Thon" for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In 2006, the EIB Cure-a-Thon conducted its 16th annual telethon, raising $1.7 million, totaling over $15 million since the first cure-a-thon. According to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual reports, Limbaugh personally contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 from 2000 to 2005 and in 2007, and Limbaugh said that he contributed around $250,000 in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The Society's 2006 annual report placed him in the $500,000 to $999,999 category. Limbaugh donated $320,000 during the 2007 Cure-a-Thon, which the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reported had raised $3.1 million. On his radio program April 18, 2008, Limbaugh pledged $400,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after being challenged by two listeners to increase his initial pledge of $300,000.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh conducted an annual drive to help the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation collect contributions to provide scholarships for children of Marines and law enforcement officers and agents who have died in the line of duty. The foundation was the beneficiary of a record $2.1 million eBay auction in October 2007 after Limbaugh listed for sale a letter critical of him signed by 41 Democratic senators; he pledged to match the selling price.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: With the founding of his and his wife's company Two if by Tea, they pledged to donate at least $100,000 to the MC–LEF beginning in June 2011.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In July 2019, Nike announced a special Fourth of July edition of their Air Max1 Quick Strike sneaker that featured the thirteen-star Betsy Ross flag. The company withdrew the sneaker after their spokesman Colin Kaepernick raised concerns that the symbol represented an era of black enslavement. In response Limbaugh's radio program introduced a t-shirt imprinted "Stand up for Betsy Ross" with sale proceeds to benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. , the sales have earned over US$5 million for the foundation.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, "The Way Things Ought to Be", followed by "See, I Told You So", the following year. Both titles were number one on "The New York Times" Best Seller list for 24 weeks. His first book was dictated by himself, and transcribed and edited by "Wall Street Journal" writer John Fund.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2013, Limbaugh authored his first children's book, entitled "Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans". He received the Author of the Year Award from the Children's Book Council for this work. Limbaugh's second children's book was released the following year, entitled "Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans". This book was nominated as an author-of-the year finalist for the annual Children's and Teen Choice Book Awards. Limbaugh's third children's book was released later this same year, written with his wife Kathryn and entitled "Rush Revere and the American Revolution". The Limbaughs dedicated this to the U.S. military and their families.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was married four times and divorced three times. He did not have any children. He was first married at the age of 26 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. The couple married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau on September 24, 1977. McNeely filed for divorce in March 1980, citing "incompatibility". They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. They divorced in 1990, and she remarried the following year.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On May 27, 1994, Limbaugh married Marta Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old aerobics instructor whom he met on the online service CompuServe in 1990. They married at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who officiated. The couple separated on June 11, 2004. Limbaugh announced his divorce on the air. It was finalized in December 2004. In September 2004, Limbaugh became romantically involved with then-CNN news anchor Daryn Kagan; the relationship ended in February 2006.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh lived in Palm Beach from 1996 until his death in 2021. A friend recalls that Limbaugh "fell in love with Palm Beach... after visiting her over Memorial Day weekend in 1995." Unlike New York, Florida does not tax income, the stated reason Limbaugh moved his residence and established his "Southern Command".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: He dated Kathryn Rogers, a party planner from Florida, for three years; the couple married on June 5, 2010. At the wedding reception following the ceremony, Elton John entertained the wedding guests for a reported $1 million fee; however, Limbaugh himself denied that the $1 million figure was accurate on his September 7, 2010, radio show.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Through a holding company, KARHL Holdings (KARHL meaning "Kathryn and Rush Hudson Limbaugh"), Limbaugh launched a line of bottled iced tea beverages called "Two if by Tea", a play on the line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride", "one if by land, two if by sea". Limbaugh put production of the tea on hold. His website states, "Due to rising manufacturing and shipping costs, we did not feel it was right to pass this on to our customers." KARHL Holdings features a Rush Revere website where children can send notes to Liberty, the time-traveling, talking horse.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On October 3, 2003, the "National Enquirer" reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation. He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10, 2003, that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast. Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard." On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested that the court set aside Limbaugh's doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians. Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh. On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On April 28, 2006, a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail. After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors explained that the charges were brought after they discovered he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. In 2009, after three years of prolonged discussion regarding a settlement, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation, completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician, submitted to random drug testing, and gave up his right to own a firearm for eighteen months. Limbaugh agreed to the settlement, though he continued to maintain his innocence of doctor shopping and asserted that the state's offer resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that "Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name. After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M's. He also stated that "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh described himself as being "100 percent, totally deaf". In 2001, he announced that he had lost most of his ability to hear: "I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deaf and it's happened in three months." He said that the condition was not genetic. On December 19, 2001, doctors at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles were able to successfully restore a measure of his hearing through cochlear implant surgery. Limbaugh received a Clarion CII Bionic Ear.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: When questioned whether Limbaugh's sudden hearing loss was caused by his addiction to opioids, his cochlear implant doctor, otolaryngologist Jennifer Derebery, said that it was possible, but that there is no way to know for sure without performing tests that would destroy Limbaugh's hearing completely. "We don't know why some people, but apparently not most, who take large doses may lose their hearing."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 2005, Limbaugh was forced to undergo "tuning" due to an "eye twitch", an apparent side-effect of cochlear implants.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On December 30, 2009, while vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii, Limbaugh was admitted to Queen's Medical Center with intense chest pains. His doctors attributed the pain to angina pectoris.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On April 8, 2014, on his radio program, Limbaugh announced his decision to 'go bilateral'. "I'm going to get an implant on the right side", he said. After bilateral tuning, there was a 100% improvement. "Coming from total deafness, it is miraculous! How can you not believe in God?", Limbaugh said in his national daily broadcast.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh, a cigar and former cigarette smoker, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer on January 20, 2020, after first experiencing shortness of breath on January 12. He had previously downplayed the link between smoking and cancer deaths, arguing that it "takes 50 years to kill people, if it does." He announced his diagnosis during his radio show on February 3. He advised he would miss airtime to undergo treatment, and that he would try to continue the program "as normally and competently" as he could. On October 20, 2020, Limbaugh announced that treatment had been ineffectual at containing the cancer, that his diagnosis was terminal, and that he had been given a time frame on when he should expect to die. In his final broadcast of 2020, he said "I wasn't expected to make it to October, and then to November, and then to December. And yet, here I am, and today, got some problems, but I'm feeling pretty good today."


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh made his last radio broadcast on Feb. 2, 2021. He died on February 17, at the age of 70. According to his wife, Kathryn Rogers Limbaugh, his death was attributed to complications of his lung cancer. Governor Ron DeSantis directed flags in the state of Florida be lowered to half-staff on the date of his interment. Limbaugh was interred at the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was widely recognized as one of the leading voices of the conservative movement in the United States, beginning in the 1990s. Former president Ronald Reagan thanked him in a 1992 letter, giving him credit "for all you're doing to promote Republican and conservative principles... [and] you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country." In 1994, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives made Limbaugh an honorary member.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: From 1994, Limbaugh served as the inspiration for the character of Birch Barlow, a conservative radio talk show host on "The Simpsons".


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: In 1995, Limbaugh was profiled on the PBS series "Frontline" in a one-hour documentary called "Rush Limbaugh's America". Limbaugh refused to be interviewed, but his mother, brother, and many Republican supporters took part, as well as critics and opponents.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: By the 1990s, Limbaugh had become known for his love of cigars, saying, "I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life." During his syndicated television program from 1992 to 1996, he also became known for wearing distinctive neckties. In response to viewer interest, Limbaugh launched a series of ties designed primarily by his then-wife Marta.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Limbaugh was awarded the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters five times: 1992, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2014. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998. By 2001, he inked a  million contract for eight years, which was renewed in 2008 for another eight years at $400 million. By 2017, Limbaugh was the second-highest-paid radio host in the United States, earning an annual salary of $84 million, second only to Howard Stern. In 2002, "Talkers Magazine" ranked him as the greatest-ever radio talk show host; in 2017, he was the most-listened-to radio host in the United States, with 14 million listeners. Limbaugh is given much of the credit for having revived AM radio at a time when most people had switched to FM.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: Conservative magazine "Human Events" announced Limbaugh as their 2007 Man of the Year. Later that same year, Barbara Walters featured Limbaugh as one of the most fascinating people of the year in a special that aired on December 4, 2008.


title: Rush Limbaugh

text: On February 28, 2009, following his self-described "first address to the nation" lasting 90 minutes, carried live on CNN and Fox News and recorded for C-SPAN, Limbaugh received CPAC's "Defender of the Constitution Award", a document signed by Benjamin Franklin, given to someone "who has stood up for the First Amendment ... Rush Limbaugh is for America, exactly what Benjamin Franklin did for the Founding Fathers ... the only way we will be successful is if we listen to Rush Limbaugh", reads the citation.