title: Isles of Scilly

text: Since the mid-18th century the Scillonian economy has relied on trade with the mainland and beyond as a means of sustaining its population. Over the years the nature of this trade has varied, due to wider economic and political factors that have seen the rise and fall of industries such as kelp harvesting, pilotage, smuggling, fishing, shipbuilding and, latterly flower farming. In a 1987 study of the Scillonian economy, Neate found that many farms on the islands were struggling to remain profitable due to increasing costs and strong competition from overseas producers, with resulting diversification into tourism. Statistics suggest that agriculture on the islands now represents less than 2% of all employment.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Today, tourism is estimated to account for 85% of the islands' income. The islands have been successful in attracting this investment due to their special environment, favourable summer climate, relaxed culture, efficient co-ordination of tourism providers and good transport links by sea and air to the mainland, uncommon in scale to similar-sized island communities.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The islands' economy is highly dependent on tourism, even by the standards of other island communities. "The concentration [on] a small number of sectors is typical of most similarly sized UK island communities. However, it is the degree of concentration, which is distinctive along with the overall importance of tourism within the economy as a whole and the very limited manufacturing base that stands out".


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Tourism is also a highly seasonal industry owing to its reliance on outdoor recreation, and the lower number of tourists in winter results in a significant constriction of the islands' commercial activities. However, the tourist season benefits from an extended period of business in October when many birdwatchers ("twitchers") arrive.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Because of its position, Scilly is the first landing for many migrant birds, including extreme rarities from North America and Siberia. Scilly is situated far into the Atlantic Ocean, so many American vagrant birds will make first European landfall in the archipelago.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: If an extremely rare bird turns up, the island will see a significant increase in numbers of birdwatchers. This type of birding, chasing after rare birds, is called "twitching".


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The predominance of tourism means that "tourism is by far the main sector throughout each of the individual islands, in terms of employment... [and] this is much greater than other remote and rural areas in the United Kingdom". Tourism accounts for approximately 63% of all employment.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Businesses dependent on tourism, with the exception of a few hotels, tend to be small enterprises typically employing fewer than four people; many of these are family run, suggesting an entrepreneurial culture among the local population. However, much of the work generated by this, with the exception of management, is low skilled and thus poorly paid, especially for those involved in cleaning, catering and retail.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Because of the seasonality of tourism, many jobs on the islands are seasonal and part-time, so work cannot be guaranteed throughout the year. Some islanders take up other temporary jobs 'out of season' to compensate for this. Due to a lack of local casual labour at peak holiday times, many of the larger employers accommodate guest workers.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The islands were not subject to income tax until 1954, and there was no motor vehicle excise duty levied until 1971. The Council Tax is set by the Local Authority in order to meet their budget requirements. The Valuation Office Agency values properties for the purpose of council tax. The amount of council tax you have to pay depends on the band of your property as shown on the graph below. The valuation is based on what the property would have been worth in 1991.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: St Mary's is the only island with a significant road network and the only island with classified roads - the A3110, A3111 and A3112. St Agnes and St Martin's also have public highways adopted by the local authority. In 2005 there were 619 registered vehicles on the island. The island also has taxis and a tour bus. Vehicles on the islands are exempt from annual MOT tests.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Fixed-wing aircraft services, operated by Isles of Scilly Skybus, operate from Land's End, Newquay and Exeter to St Mary's Airport. A scheduled helicopter service has operated from a new Penzance Heliport to both St Mary's Airport and Tresco Heliport since 2020. The helicopter is the only direct flight to the island of Tresco.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: By sea, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company provides a passenger and cargo service from Penzance to St Mary's, which is currently operated by the "Scillonian III" passenger ferry, supported until summer 2017 by the "Gry Maritha" cargo vessel and now by the "Mali Rose". The other islands are linked to St. Mary's by a network of inter-island launches. St Mary's Harbour is the principal harbour of the Isles of Scilly, and is located in Hugh Town.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: A majority of the freehold land of the islands is the property of the Duchy of Cornwall, with a few exceptions, including much of Hugh Town on St Mary's, which was sold to the inhabitants in 1949. The duchy also holds as duchy property, part of the duchy's landholding. All the uninhabited islands, islets and rocks and much of the untenanted land on the inhabited islands is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, which leases these lands from the Duchy for the rent of one daffodil per year.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Limited housing availability is a contentious yet critical issue for the Isles of Scilly, especially as it affects the feasibility of residency on the islands. Few properties are privately owned, with many units being let by the Duchy of Cornwall, the council and a few by housing associations. The management of these subsequently affects the possibility of residency on the islands.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: Housing demand outstrips supply, a problem compounded by restrictions on further development designed to protect the islands' unique environment and prevent the infrastructural carrying capacity from being exceeded. This has pushed up the prices of the few private properties that become available and, significantly for the majority of the islands' populations, it has also affected the rental sector where rates have likewise drastically increased.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: High housing costs pose significant problems for the local population, especially as local incomes (in Cornwall) are only 70% of the national average, whilst house prices are almost £5,000 higher than the national average. This in turn affects the retention of 'key workers' and the younger generation, which consequently affects the viability of schools and other essential community services.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The limited access to housing provokes strong local politics. It is often assumed that tourism is to blame for this, attracting newcomers to the area who can afford to outbid locals for available housing. Many buildings are used for tourist accommodation which reduces the number available for local residents. Second homes are also thought to account for a significant proportion of the housing stock, leaving many buildings empty for much of the year.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: In December 2021, the Council bought a property to ease the housing crisis, which would be converted into 3 affordable homes. The Council also, in January 2022, declared a housing crisis, due to the housing crisis placing the islands in "real danger of putting essential services at risk, such as the hospital and school". The council also highlighted that 15 households would be homeless by March and would face having to move from the Islands.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: According to the 2001 UK census, 97% of the population of the islands are white British, with nearly 93% of the inhabitants born in the islands, in mainland Cornwall or elsewhere in England. Since EU enlargement in 2004, a number of central Europeans have moved to the island, joining the Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans who traditionally made up most of the islands' overseas workers. In 2005, their numbers were estimated at nearly 100 out of a total population of just over 2,000. The Isles have also been referred to as "the land that crime forgot", reflecting lower crime levels than national averages.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: One continuing legacy of the isles' past is gig racing, wherein fast rowing boats ("gigs") with crews of six (or in one case, seven) race between the main islands. Gig racing has been said to derive from the race to collect salvage from shipwrecks on the rocks around Scilly, but the race was actually to deliver a pilot onto incoming vessels, to guide them through the hazardous reefs and shallows. (The boats are correctly termed "pilot gigs"). The World Pilot Gig Championships are held annually over the May Day bank holiday weekend. The event originally involved crews from the Islands and a few crews from mainland Cornwall, but in the intervening years the number of gigs attending has increased, with crews coming from all over the South-West and further afield.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The Isles of Scilly is home to what is reportedly the smallest football league in the world, the Isles of Scilly Football League.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of the Isles of Scilly were the most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 32% of the population participate at least three times a week for 30 minutes or more.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: There is a golf club with a nine-hole course (each with two tees) situated on the island of St Mary's, near Porthloo and Telegraph, which was founded in 1904.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The islands are served by the Halangy Down radio and television transmitter on St Mary's north of Telegraph at . It is a relay of the main transmitter at Redruth (Cornwall) and broadcasts BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and BBC Radio Cornwall and the range of Freeview television and BBC radio channels known as 'Freeview Light'. Radio Scilly, a community radio station, was launched in September 2007. In January 2020, Radio Scilly was rebranded as Islands FM.


title: Isles of Scilly

text: The Isles of Scilly were featured on the TV programme "Seven Natural Wonders" as one of the wonders of South West England. Since 2007 the islands have featured in the BBC series "An Island Parish", following various real-life stories and featuring in particular the newly appointed "Chaplain to the Isles of Scilly". A 12-part series was filmed in 2007 and first broadcast on BBC2 in January 2008. After Reverend David Easton left the islands in 2009, the series continued under the same name but focused elsewhere.


title: Sequel

text: A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same fictional universe as an earlier work, usually chronologically following the events of that work.


title: Sequel

text: In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear repeatedly. Although the difference between more than one sequel and a series is somewhat arbitrary, it is clear that some media franchises have enough sequels to become a series, whether originally planned as such or not.


title: Sequel

text: Sequels are attractive to creators and to publishers because there is less risk involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new and untested characters and settings. Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing.


title: Sequel

text: In film, sequels are very common. There are many name formats for sequels. Sometimes, they either have unrelated titles or have a letter added on the end. More commonly, they have numbers at the end or have added words on the end. It is also common for a sequel to have a variation of the original title or have a subtitle. In the 1930s, many musical sequels had the year included in the title. Sometimes sequels are released with different titles in different countries, because of the perceived brand recognition. There are several ways that subsequent works can be related to the chronology of the original. Various neologisms have been coined to describe them.


title: Sequel

text: The most common approach is for the events of the second work to directly follow the events of the first one, either resolving remaining plot threads or introducing a new conflict to drive the events of the second story. This is often called a direct sequel.


title: Sequel

text: A is a work that follows the continuity of the original work(s), but takes place further along the timeline, often focusing on new characters with the original ones still present in the plot. Legacy sequels are sometimes also direct sequels that ignore previous installments entirely, effectively retconning preceding events. "Superman Returns", "Halloween", "Candyman (2021)", "Cobra Kai", "Blade Runner 2049", the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy, "", "", "Robert the Bruce", "", and the "Jurassic World Trilogy" are examples of legacy sequels.


title: Sequel

text: A is a work set in the same universe, yet has very little, if any, inspiration from its predecessor in terms of its narrative, and can stand on its own without a thorough understanding of the series. "Home Alone 3", "Species - The Awakening", "", "", "", "", "Spirit Untamed", "Big Top Pee-wee", "Cars 3", "", "The Suicide Squad", and "" are examples of standalone sequels.


title: Sequel

text: A spiritual sequel is a work inspired by its predecessor. It shares the same styles, genres and elements as its predecessor, but has no direct connection to it at all. Most spiritual sequels are also set in different universes from their predecessors, and some spiritual sequels aren't even a part of their predecessor's franchise, making them "non-franchise sequels". Examples of spiritual sequels in film include "10 Cloverfield Lane", a spiritual sequel to the film "Cloverfield", and "Mute", a spiritual sequel to the film "Moon". The video game "Deltarune" is also considered a spiritual sequel to "Undertale", a similar video game.


title: Sequel

text: A prequel is an installment that is made following the original product which portrays events occurring chronologically before those of the original work. Although its name is based on the word "sequel", not all prequels are true sequels that are part of a main series. Prequels that not are part of a main series are called "spin-off prequels", while prequels that are part of a main series are called "true prequels". An example of true prequels are the films "Bumblebee" and "" who take place chronologically before the events of the previous "Transformers" films, and are also parts of the "Transformers" main series. Another example of a true prequel would be "Better Call Saul", taking place mainly before "Breaking Bad" but also having some scenes after and during it.


title: Sequel

text: A sequel to the first sequel might be referred to as a "third installment", a , or a second sequel. "The Dark Knight Rises", "", "The Matrix Revolutions", and "" are examples of "third installment" sequels.


title: Sequel

text: Parallels, paraquels, or sidequels are stories that run at the same point in time as the original story. and are paraquels to Half Life.


title: Sequel

text: A spin-off is a work that is not a sequel to any previous works, but is set in the same universe. It is a separate work-on-its-own in the same franchise as the series of other works. Spin-offs are often focused on one or more of the minor characters from the other work or new characters in the same universe as the other work. "The Scorpion King", "Planes", "Minions", "Hobbs & Shaw" and "Lightyear" are examples of spin-off movies while "" and "" are examples of spin-off television series.


title: Sequel

text: A prequel is a work that takes place chronologically before the event of the previous works, like true prequels, but is not part of the main series, but rather a spin-off. An example of spin-off prequels are the films "Minions" and "" who chronologically take place before the events of the previous "Despicable Me" films, but are not parts of the "Despicable Me" main series, but spin-off films.


title: Sequel

text: A crossover is a work where two previous works from different franchises are meeting in the same universe. "Alien vs. Predator", "Freddy vs. Jason", "Boa vs. Python" and "Lake Placid vs. Anaconda" are examples of a crossover film.


title: Sequel

text: A reboot is a start over from a previous work. It could either be a film set in a new universe resembling the old one or it could be a regular spin-off film that starts a new film series. Reboots are usually a part of the same media franchise as the previous work(s), but not always. "Batman Begins", "Casino Royale", "Star Trek", "Børning", "Man of Steel" and "" are examples of reboot films.


title: Sequel

text: In "The Afterlife of a Character", David Brewer describes a reader's desire to "see more", or to know what happens next in the narrative after it has ended.


title: Sequel

text: The origin of the sequel as it is conceived in the 21st century developed from the novella and romance traditions in a slow process that culminated towards the end of the 17th century.


title: Sequel

text: The substantial shift toward a rapidly growing print culture and the rise of the market system by the early 18th-century meant that an author's merit and livelihood became increasingly linked to the number of copies of a work he or she could sell. This shift from a text-based to an author-centered reading culture led to the "professionalization" of the author – that is, the development of a "sense of identity based on a marketable skill and on supplying to a defined public a specialized service it was demanding." In one sense, then, sequels became a means to profit further from previous work that had already obtained some measure of commercial success. As the establishment of a readership became increasingly important to the economic viability of authorship, sequels offered a means to establish a recurring economic outlet.


title: Sequel

text: In addition to serving economic profit, the sequel was also used as a method to strengthen an author's claim to his literary property. With weak copyright laws and unscrupulous booksellers willing to sell whatever they could, in some cases the only way to prove ownership of a text was to produce another like it. Sequels in this sense are rather limited in scope, as the authors are focused on producing "more of the same" to defend their "literary paternity". As is true throughout history, sequels to novels provided an opportunity for authors to interact with a readership. This became especially important in the economy of the 18th century novel, in which authors often maintained readership by drawing readers back with the promise of more of what they liked from the original. With sequels, therefore, came the implicit division of readers by authors into the categories of "desirable" and "undesirable"—that is, those who interpret the text in a way unsanctioned by the author. Only after having achieved a significant reader base would an author feel free to alienate or ignore the "undesirable" readers.


title: Sequel

text: This concept of "undesirable" readers extends to unofficial sequels with the 18th century novel. While in certain historical contexts unofficial sequels were actually the norm (for an example, see Arthurian literature), with the emphasis on the author function that arises in conjunction with the novel many authors began to see these kinds of unauthorized extensions as being in direct conflict with authorial authority. In the matter of "Don Quixote" (an early novel, perhaps better classified as a satirical romance), for example, Cervantes disapproved of Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda's use of his characters in "Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", an unauthorized sequel. In response, Cervantes very firmly kills the protagonist at the end of the Second Part to discourage any more such creative liberties. Another example is Samuel Richardson, an 18th-century author who responded particularly strongly against the appropriation of his material by unauthorized third parties. Richardson was extremely vocal in his disapproval of the way the protagonist of his novel "Pamela" was repeatedly incorporated into unauthorized sequels featuring particularly lewd plots. The most famous of these is Henry Fielding's parody, entitled "Shamela".


title: Sequel

text: In "To Renew Their Former Acquaintance: Print, Gender, and Some Eighteenth Century Sequels", Betty Schellenberg theorizes that whereas for male writers in the 18th century sequels often served as "models of paternity and property", for women writers these models were more likely to be seen as transgressive. Instead, the recurring readership created by sequels let female writers function within the model of "familiar acquaintances reunited to enjoy the mutual pleasures of conversation", and made their writing an "activity within a private, non-economic sphere". Through this created perception women writers were able to break into the economic sphere and "enhance their professional status" through authorship.


title: Sequel

text: Dissociated from the motives of profit and therefore unrestrained by the need for continuity felt by male writers, Schellenberg argues that female-authored sequel fiction tended to have a much broader scope. He says that women writers showed an "innovative freedom" that male writers rejected to "protect their patrimony". For example, Sarah Fielding's "Adventures of David Simple" and its sequels "Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple" and "David Simple, Volume the Last" are extremely innovative and cover almost the entire range of popular narrative styles of the 18th century.


title: Sequel

text: As the cost of developing a triple-A video game has risen, sequels have become increasingly common in the video game industry. Today, new installments of established brands make up much of the new releases from mainstream publishers and provide a reliable source of revenue, smoothing out market volatility. Sequels are often perceived to be safer than original titles because they can draw from the same customer base, and generally keep to the formula that made the previous game successful.


title: Sequel

text: In some cases, the characters or the settings of an original film or video game become so valuable that they develop into a series, lately referred to as a media franchise. Generally, a whole series of sequels is made, along with merchandising. Multiple sequels are often planned well in advance, and actors and directors may sign extended contracts to ensure their participation. This can extend into a series/ franchise's initial production's plot to provide story material to develop for sequels called sequel hooks.


title: Sequel

text: Movie sequels do not always do as well at the box office as the original, but they tend to do better than non-sequels, according to a study in the July 2008 issue of the "Journal of Business Research". The shorter the period between releases, the better the sequel does at the box office. Sequels also show a faster drop in weekly revenues relative to non-sequels.


title: Sequel

text: Sequels are most often produced in the same medium as the previous work (e.g. a film sequel is usually a sequel to another film). Producing sequels to a work in another medium has recently become common, especially when the new medium is less costly or time-consuming to produce.


title: Sequel

text: A sequel to a popular but discontinued television series may be produced in another medium, thereby bypassing whatever factors led to the series' cancellation.


title: Sequel

text: Some highly popular movies and television series have inspired the production of multiple novel sequels, sometimes rivaling or even dwarfing the volume of works in the original medium.


title: Sequel

text: For example, the 1956 novel "The Hundred and One Dalmatians", its 1961 animated adaptation and that film's 1996 live-action remake each have a sequel unrelated to the other sequels: respectively "The Starlight Barking" (1967), "" (2003, direct to video) and "102 Dalmatians" (2000).


title: Sequel

text: Sometimes sequels are produced without the consent of the creator of the original work. These may be dubbed unofficial, informal, unauthorized, or illegitimate sequels. In some cases, the work is in the public domain, and there is no legal obstacle to producing sequels. An example would be books and films serving as sequels to the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which is in the public domain (as opposed to its 1939 film adaptation). In other cases, the original creator or their heirs may assert copyrights, and challenge the creators of the sequels.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. "The Mousetrap" opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then re-opened on 17 May 2021. The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play in the world, with its 28,915th performance having taken place as of November 2022. Attendees at St Martin's Theatre often get their photo taken beside the wooden counter (showing a count of the number of performances) in the theatre foyer. As of 2022 the play has been seen by 10 million people in London.


title: The Mousetrap

text: A "Whodunit", the play has a twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre. There are eight members of the cast, and by 2012 more than 400 actors and actresses had played the roles. Richard Attenborough was the original Detective Sergeant Trotter, and his wife, Sheila Sim, the first Mollie Ralston – owner of Monkswell Manor guesthouse. However since then few of the cast have been headliners, with Stephen Moss in "The Guardian" writing, "the play and its author are the stars".


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play began life as a short radio play written by Agatha Christie as a birthday present for Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. It was broadcast on 30 May 1947 under the name "Three Blind Mice". The story drew from the real-life case of Dennis O'Neill, who died after he and his brother Terence suffered extreme abuse while in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in 1945.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play is based on a short story, itself based on the radio play, but Christie asked that the story not be published as long as it ran as a play in the West End of London. The short story has still not been published within the UK but it has appeared in the US in the 1950 collection "Three Blind Mice and Other Stories".


title: The Mousetrap

text: When she wrote the play, Christie gave the rights to her grandson Mathew Prichard as a birthday present. In the United Kingdom, only one production of the play in addition to the West End production can be performed annually, and under the contract terms of the play, no film adaptation can be produced until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play had to be renamed at the insistence of Emile Littler who had produced a play called "Three Blind Mice" in the West End before the Second World War. The suggestion to call it "The Mousetrap" came from Christie's son-in-law, Anthony Hicks. In Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", "The Mousetrap" is Hamlet's answer to Claudius's inquiry about the name of the play whose prologue and first scene the court has just observed (III, ii). The play is actually "The Murder of Gonzago", but Hamlet answers metaphorically, since "the play's the thing" in which he intends to "catch the conscience of the king." The nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" or its tune is heard a few times during the play.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play's longevity has ensured its popularity with tourists from around the world. In 1997, at the initiative of producer Stephen Waley-Cohen, the theatrical education charity Mousetrap Theatre Projects was launched, helping young people experience London's theatre.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play's storyline is set at "the present", which presumably means England as it was around the time when the play came out in 1952, including postwar continuation of World War II rationing.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Tom Stoppard's 1968 play "The Real Inspector Hound" parodies many elements of "The Mousetrap", including the surprise ending.


title: The Mousetrap

text: As a stage play, "The Mousetrap" had its world premiere at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, on 6 October 1952. It was originally directed by Peter Cotes, elder brother of John and Roy Boulting, the film directors. Its pre-West End tour then took it to the New Theatre Oxford, the Manchester Opera House, the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, the Grand Theatre Leeds and the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, before it began its run in London on 25 November 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre. It ran at this theatre until Saturday, 23 March 1974 when it immediately transferred to the larger St Martin's Theatre, next door, where it reopened on Monday, 25 March thus keeping its "initial run" status. The London run has now exceeded 26,000 performances. The director of the play for many years has been David Turner.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Christie herself did not expect "The Mousetrap" to run for such a long time. In her autobiography, she reports a conversation that she had with Peter Saunders: "Fourteen months I am going to give it", says Saunders. To which Christie replies, "It won't run that long. Eight months perhaps. Yes, I think eight months." When it broke the record for the longest run of a play in the West End in September 1957, Christie received a mildly grudging telegram from fellow playwright Noël Coward: "Much as it pains me I really must congratulate you ..." In 2011 (by which time "The Mousetrap" had been running for almost 59 years), this long-lost document was found by a Cotswold furniture maker who was renovating a bureau purchased by a client from the Christie estate.


title: The Mousetrap

text: By the time of Christie's death in 1976, the play had made more than £3 million. Prichard, who was only 9 when he was given the copyright of the play, set up the Colwinston Charitable Trust in 1995 to use the money from productions of the play. The trust supports charities for the arts, mainly in Wales.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The original West End cast included Richard Attenborough as Detective Sergeant Trotter and his wife Sheila Sim as Mollie Ralston. They took a 10% profit-participation in the production, which was paid for out of their combined weekly salary ("It proved to be the wisest business decision I've ever made ... but foolishly I sold some of my share to open a short-lived Mayfair restaurant called 'The Little Elephant' and later still, disposed of the remainder in order to keep "Gandhi" afloat.")


title: The Mousetrap

text: Since the retirement of Mysie Monte and David Raven, who each made history by remaining in the cast for more than 11 years, in their roles as Mrs Boyle and Major Metcalf, the cast has been changed annually. The change usually occurs around late November around the anniversary of the play's opening, and was the initiative of Sir Peter Saunders, the original producer. There is a tradition of the retiring leading lady and the new leading lady cutting a "Mousetrap cake" together.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play has also made theatrical history by having an original "cast member" survive all the cast changes since its opening night. The late Deryck Guyler can still be heard, via a recording, reading the radio news bulletin in the play to this present day. The set was changed in 1965 and 1999, but one prop survives from the original opening – the clock which sits on the mantelpiece of the fireplace in the main hall.


title: The Mousetrap

text: In May 2001 (during the London production's 49th year, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Christie's death) the cast gave a semi-staged Sunday performance at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea as a guest contribution to the "Agatha Christie Theatre Festival 2001", a twelve-week history-making cycle of all of Agatha Christie's plays presented by Roy Marsden's New Palace Theatre Company.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Performances at the St. Martin's Theatre were halted on 16 March 2020, along with all other West End shows, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. "The Mousetrap" re-opened on 17 May 2021 after 14 months without performances.


title: The Mousetrap

text: A staging at the "Toronto Truck Theatre" in Toronto, Ontario, that opened on 19 August 1977 became Canada's longest running show, before finally closing on 18 January 2004 after a run of twenty-six years and over 9,000 performances.


title: The Mousetrap

text: On 18 November 2012, both the 25,000th performance and the 60th year of the production were marked by a special charity performance which featured Hugh Bonneville, Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters and Miranda Hart. The money raised by the performance went towards Mousetrap Theatre Projects.


title: The Mousetrap

text: During the Diamond Anniversary year of "Mousetrap" a touring production visited regional theatres for the first time in its history, whilst the London run continued uninterrupted.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play has also been presented internationally: in 2013 in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok by the British Theatre Playhouse.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play has been staged in Queensland, Australia several times. In September 2011, it was staged at The Mousetrap Theatre in Redcliffe, the theatre group having been named after Christie's play. From July to August 2019, the Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Society performed the play in their home city. In November 2022, The Mousetrap was performed in Brisbane, the State's capital. In December 2022, after more than 70 years, the first Broadway production of The Mousetrap was announced to be staged in 2023 with an all-American cast.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The murderer's identity is divulged near the end of the play, in a twist ending that is unusual for playing with the very basis of the traditional whodunnit formula, where the cliché is that the detective solves the crime and exposes the remaining plot secrets. By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, to ensure that the end of the play is not spoilt for future audiences.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Christie was always upset by the plots of her works being revealed in reviews. In 2010, her grandson Mathew Prichard, who receives the royalties from the play, said he was "dismayed" to learn from "The Independent" that the ending to "The Mousetrap" had been described in the play's Wikipedia article.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Duncan Leatherdale of BBC News contrasted the play to other works like "Psycho" and "The Sixth Sense", where the plot twist has been revealed and became itself an element of popular culture.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play is set in the Great Hall of Monkswell Manor, Berkshire, in what Christie described as "the present".


title: The Mousetrap

text: Act I opens with the murder of a woman named Maureen Lyon, played out in sound only. The action then moves to Monkswell Manor, recently converted to a guesthouse and run by a young couple, Mollie and Giles Ralston. While waiting for the guests to arrive, Mollie listens to a radio report about the Lyon murder, which notes that police are looking for a man in a dark overcoat, observed near the scene.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Their four guests arrive. Christopher Wren is an unkempt, flighty young man. Giles reacts strongly to Wren with instant dislike and Mollie with instinctual trust. Mrs Boyle and Major Metcalf then arrive together in a taxi from the station. Mrs Boyle complains about many things; Metcalf is an amiable ex-military man. Miss Casewell, a mannish young woman, is the last of the booked guests to arrive, before an unexpected fifth party appears. Identifying himself in a foreign accent as Mr Paravicini, he tells the Ralstons his car has overturned in a snowdrift. He remarks that the snow has blocked the roads and that the denizens of the house are trapped. Uneasy about Paravicini's manner, Mollie nevertheless places him in the last remaining room.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The next afternoon the guest house proves to be snowed in, and the residents are restless. Mollie answers the telephone to Superintendent Hogben of the Berkshire Police. Hogben tells her that he is dispatching Sergeant Trotter to the guest house, and that the Ralstons must listen carefully to what Trotter has to tell them. The Ralstons wonder what they could have done to garner police attention.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Trotter appears at the door on a pair of skis and Major Metcalf discovers that the phone has stopped working.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Trotter explains he has been sent in regard to the murder of Maureen Lyon. In a story loosely based on the real Dennis O'Neill case, the dead woman and her husband had mistreated their three foster children, resulting in the death of the youngest. Both adults were imprisoned for their actions; the husband died in gaol, while the wife served her sentence and had been released, only to be found strangled. Police suspect the elder boy of the abused children, who would now be twenty-two, of being the killer.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Trotter reveals that a notebook found at the murder scene contained the address of Monkswell Manor and the words "Three Blind Mice". A note reading "This is the First" was pinned to the woman's body. The police have sent Trotter to find out how the Ralstons' guesthouse is connected to the murder and whether the residents are in danger. Both Giles and Mollie deny a connection to the case, though Mollie is ill at ease answering Trotter's questions and quickly excuses herself. Trotter asks each of the guests to explain why they are at Monkswell Manor and any connection they have to the foster children. All five guests deny any personal knowledge of the case.


title: The Mousetrap

text: While Trotter and Giles tour the house, Major Metcalf confronts Mrs Boyle, revealing that she was one of the magistrates who had assigned the children to the foster parents. Mrs Boyle acknowledges this but denies that she has any responsibility for what eventually happened to the children there.


title: The Mousetrap

text: As the evening wears on, Giles and Mollie become suspicious of each other while the guests snipe at one another. Sergeant Trotter traces the phone wire to find out if it has been cut. Mrs Boyle wanders back into the now-empty room and listens to the radio. The opening notes of "Three Blind Mice" are heard whistled by an unknown party and Mrs Boyle responds without alarm, speaking to the person only she can see. Suddenly, the lights go out and a scuffle is heard. Moments later, Mollie walks into the room and turns on the lights, only to find Mrs Boyle dead on the floor.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Ten minutes after Mollie finds Mrs Boyle dead of strangulation, Sergeant Trotter takes charge of the household. All the remaining residents are gathered in one room as he attempts to sort out the events of the evening. A shaken Mollie Ralston cannot provide him with any useful clues; the only thing she is sure she observed was the radio blaring. Frustrated, Trotter points out that their lives continue to be in danger; a third murder could very well happen, given the notes left with Maureen Lyon. He insists that everyone tell him where they were when Mrs Boyle was murdered. As each person recounts his or her whereabouts, Trotter takes them to account for inconsistencies or weaknesses in their stories. Finally, he declares that everyone in the house had the opportunity to commit the murder, since each of them was alone at the time. Giles counters that while seven people in the house lack alibis, only one fits the description of the man the police suspect to be the murderer: Christopher Wren. Wren insists that it is all a frame-up, and Trotter acknowledges that he lacks any evidence pointing to Wren in particular.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Mollie later pulls Trotter aside; Trotter says that while the police suspect the elder boy to be the killer, the dead boy also had relatives and loved ones who might be interested in revenge: the children's father, an army sergeant, for example; or the dead boy's sister, who would now be a young woman. Trotter notes that Metcalf or Paravicini could be the father, Miss Casewell or Mollie could be the sister, and Giles could be the elder boy. Mollie, aghast, objects to the notion that either she or Giles could be a murderer, but Trotter forces her to admit that they know little about each other's pasts.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Mollie soon finds herself in conversation with Christopher Wren, who confesses that he is actually an army deserter hiding from his past under a false name. Mollie acknowledges that she, too, is running away from her past. Despite the trust Christopher and Mollie are forming, he and Giles each suspect the other and nearly come to blows over Mollie. The situation is only defused by the arrival of Paravicini, who tells the company that Trotter's skis are missing.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Trotter again calls an assembly of the household, declaring that he now intends to check the alibis everyone provided to him after Mrs Boyle's murder. They will re-enact the murder, with each member of the household acting out another's alibi. Trotter's hope is that while most of the alibis will be verified, one will be proved impossible. Each person is to go to his or her assigned position and stay there until summoned back by Trotter. The household obediently disperses, leaving Trotter alone onstage.


title: The Mousetrap

text: After the role-players scatter, Trotter sits for a moment before calling for Mollie. He tells her that she has risked extreme danger by not identifying herself to him; he now knows that she was once the schoolteacher of the doomed Corrigan children. She failed to answer a letter the younger boy sent her at the time, begging to be rescued from the farm. Mollie protests that she had been seriously ill when the letter arrived and was unable to even read it until well after the boy was dead. To this day, she says, she is haunted by her failure to help the children out of their circumstances.


title: The Mousetrap

text: Trotter takes a gun out of his pocket and points it at Mollie, telling her that she had only assumed him to be a policeman based on the telephone call. He had in fact impersonated Hogben, then cut the telephone wires himself upon arriving at the house. Trotter is actually Georgie, the elder Corrigan brother, and he intends to take his revenge on Mollie. Falling back into the demeanour of a wounded child who never grew up, he drops his gun and begins to strangle Mollie, but is stopped by the sudden appearance of Miss Casewell. She calls him by name and reveals that she is his long-lost sister Kathy, come to take him somewhere safe. Major Metcalf, who accompanied Miss Casewell into the room, summons Giles and tells the frightened innkeepers that he had known all along that Trotter was not a policeman – because Metcalf himself is one, having arranged to take the place of the real Metcalf after discovering the "Three Blind Mice" notebook on Maureen Lyon.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play made little stir in the review pages of the British press when it opened. "The Manchester Guardian" commented that it was "a middling piece" with "less in it than meets the eye ... Coincidence is stretched unreasonably." The critic commented that the characters were "built entirely of clichés". The reviewer in "The Times" was more favourably disposed to the characters, calling them "nicely assorted, individually labelled and readily identified", and found the plot "elaborately skilful." In "The Daily Express", John Barber praised "the atmosphere of shuddering suspense" but thought some of the characters "too obvious by half". In "The Illustrated London News", J. C. Trewin commented that those who failed to spot the killer would probably call the plot "preposterous and over-burdened", but those who succeeded might be more kindly disposed.


title: The Mousetrap

text: The play was published as a paperback by Samuel French Ltd as "French's Acting Edition No. 153" in 1954 and is still in print. It was first published in hardback in "The Mousetrap and Other Plays" by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1978 ().


title: The Mousetrap

text: In 1959, it was announced that Edward Small, who had produced "Witness for the Prosecution" for the screen, was to make a film version of the play in co-production with Victor Saville for United Artists. Tyrone Power and Maria Schell were named as leads. However, no film version resulted. In 1960, the Bengali author Premendra Mitra directed a film "Chupi Chupi Aashey", based on the radio play and short story. In 1990, Russian film director Samson Samsonov directed a film titled "Мышеловка" ("Myshelovka", English: "The Mousetrap") at Mosfilm. The script by Vladimir Basov is based on Christie's play.


title: The Mousetrap

text: In 2022, the story of a British-American film "See How They Run" was set in St Martin's Theatre and concerned in-story actors of "The Mousetrap", following murders of personnel involved in the production of and linked to the play.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd. (formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Anting, Shanghai. Founded in 1955, it is currently the largest of the "Big Four" state-owned car manufacturers of China, namely: SAIC Motor, FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and Changan Automobile, with car sales of 5.37 million, 3.50 million, 3.28 million and 2.30 million in 2021 respectively.


title: SAIC Motor

text: The company produces and sells vehicles under its own branding, such as Feifan, IM, Maxus, MG, Roewe, Baojun (under SGMW), Wuling (under SGMW), as well as under foreign-branded joint ventures such as SAIC-Volkswagen (Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi) and SAIC-General Motors (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac). In 2021, domestic-branded cars took 52% of sales. It also produces electric vehicles under some of the previously listed brandings, including dedicated EV brands such as Feifan and IM.


title: SAIC Motor

text: It is currently a Fortune Global 100 company, ranked 60 on the list. Including SGMW, it is also the third largest plug-in electric vehicle (BEV and PHEV) company and second largest BEV company in the world, with 10.5% and 13% global market share respectively in 2021, selling under brand names such as Wuling, Baojun, Maxus, MG, Roewe and Feifan.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC traces its origins to the early years of the Chinese automobile industry in the 1940s, and SAIC was one of the few carmakers in Mao's China, making the Shanghai SH760. Currently, it participates in the oldest surviving sino-foreign car making joint venture, with Volkswagen, and in addition has had a joint venture with General Motors since 1998. SAIC products sell under a variety of brand names, including those of its joint venture partners. Two notable brands owned by SAIC itself are MG, a historic British car marque, and Roewe.


title: SAIC Motor

text: Although it has a long history, originating from an automobile assembly factory established in Shanghai sometime around World War II, SAIC, unlike domestic rivals FAW Group and Dongfeng Motors, has only recently attained a position of prominence in the Chinese vehicle industry. A small company in the 1970s, SAIC owes its rise to more than an increase in domestic demand for passenger vehicles. A cooperative agreement made with Volkswagen in 1984 followed by the formal establishment of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co Ltd in March 1985 allowed it to produce competitive cars with foreign technology. Early success at SAIC may also be a result of guidance provided by local Shanghai authorities; at one time SAIC was simply an extension of the Shanghai Municipal government. For these two reasons and more, SAIC grew swiftly. In the 11 years leading to 1996, annual production capacity increased ten-fold to 300,000 units/year, and the company established itself as one of the leading Chinese automakers.


title: SAIC Motor

text: During this period, SAIC effectively built an entire modern automotive component supply chain in Shanghai from scratch, and the number and quality of locally produced auto parts rose significantly. Cars that were previously assembled in China from knock-down kits provisioned by Volkswagen became products built from parts produced in Shanghai, and between 1990 and 1996 the city more than doubled its contribution to the national output of automotive components. In 1987, the only local parts used in one car, the Volkswagen Santana, were tires, radio, and antenna, but by 1998 over 90% of the components used in its manufacture were locally sourced. A goal set by the Shanghai Municipal government, creation of a local parts industry is an example of the influence that the local government has had on the development of SAIC.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In June 1997, SAIC formed a second major joint venture, Shanghai General Motors Co Ltd, with General Motors. The new joint venture began operations in 1998, and helped to drive a doubling in SAIC's vehicle production between 2000 and 2004. Initially partnering with foreign automakers, creating joint ventures with component suppliers, such as the American Visteon, may now help underpin SAIC success.


title: SAIC Motor

text: At the start of the 2000s, SAIC made several acquisitions in Korea. In 2002 it participated in GM's purchase of Korean automaker Daewoo, acquiring a 10% stake in the newly formed GM Daewoo company for US$59.7 million, and in 2004 it also assumed control of an ailing South Korean automaker, SsangYong Motor, paying US$500 million for 48.9% ownership of the company. Around this time SAIC created a new holding company for its subsidiaries employed in passenger car production, Shanghai Automotive Group.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In the middle of the decade, SAIC attempted to acquire the British automaker MG Rover, but in 2005 was outbid by another Chinese automaker, Nanjing Automobile. SAIC did manage to obtain some MG Rover technology that was incorporated into a new line of luxury sedans sold under the Roewe marque, and it subsequently purchased the winning bidder.


title: SAIC Motor

text: While the company saw sales success in the late 2000s, with 2.72 million vehicles sold in 2009, its 2004 purchase of an ownership stake in a Korean SUV-maker, Ssangyong, soured. In January 2009, after an additional US$45 million was provided to it by SAIC, SsangYong Motor Company was placed into receivership in Korea. Courts might have mandated SAIC reduce its ownership, and by 2010 a 51.33% share of the Korean company had become a 10% one. The 2009 Ssangyong failure also saw riot police quell protesting Ssangyong workers who staged a 77-day-long sit in. SAIC may have benefitted from exposure to some technology from Mercedes that Ssangyong controlled during this time.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In 2010, SAIC produced 3.58 million units, the largest output of any China-based automaker that year.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In June 2010, Magneti Marelli and Shanghai Automobile Gear Works (SAGW) officially launched a new joint venture plant in the Jiading district near Shanghai, China. SAGW, the main Chinese manufacturer of transmissions for the automotive sector, is a subsidiary of SAIC Motor.


title: SAIC Motor

text: On 13 April 2011, vehicle assembly resumed at the MG Motor UK Longbridge plant as the first MG 6 to be produced in the United Kingdom came off the production line, but ended in 2016 when SAIC moved production to China. it retained a technical subsidiary SAIC Motor UK on site until 2019.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In 2011, SAIC produced 3.97 million vehicles, the largest output of any China-based automaker that year.


title: SAIC Motor

text: In June 2012, SAIC's United States-based subsidiary Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp USA, Inc. opened a new North American Operations Center in Birmingham, Michigan. The opening ceremony was attended by Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, and senior executives from General Motors and SAIC Motor. The 30,000-square-foot, three-story facility will house nearly 100 staff and focus on sourcing components.


title: SAIC Motor

text: The present-day SAIC is the product of numerous mergers and corporate re-structurings. "Shanghai Internal Combustion Engine Components Company" was founded in December 1955. In March 1958, "Shanghai Internal Combustion Engine Components Company" and "Shanghai Powertrain Equipment Manufacturing Company" were merged into "Shanghai Powertrain Machinery Manufacturing Company". In January 1960, "Shanghai Powertrain Machinery Manufacturing Company" was renamed "Shanghai Agricultural Machinery Manufacturing Company". In April 1969, "Shanghai Agricultural Machinery Manufacturing Company" was renamed "Shanghai Tractor Industry Company". "Shanghai Automobile & Tractor Company" was established in July 1984. In March 1990, "Shanghai Automobile & Tractor Company" was renamed "Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation". "Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (Group)" was founded in September 1995.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC sells vehicles under a variety of brands. Brand names that are exclusive to SAIC include Maxus, MG, Roewe, and Yuejin. Products produced by SAIC joint venture companies are sold under marques including Baojun, Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Iveco, Škoda, Volkswagen, Audi, and Wuling.


title: SAIC Motor

text: Maxus was formed in 2011 following the acquisition of LDV Group by SAIC in 2010, and produces MPVs, pickup trucks, and SUVs for both domestic sale and global export.


title: SAIC Motor

text: MG Motor designs, develops and markets cars sold under the MG marque while vehicle manufacturing takes place at its factories in China and Thailand. MG Motor is the largest importer of Chinese made cars into the United Kingdom.


title: SAIC Motor

text: Rising Auto (Feifan, 非凡), formerly R Brand, is an offshoot of SAIC's Roewe brand dedicated to new energy vehicles and intelligent vehicles.


title: SAIC Motor

text: Roewe was introduced by SAIC in 2006. It is sold in most export markets outside China under the MG Motor marque.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC participates in cooperative efforts with foreign automakers that see the products of large international companies such as General Motors and Volkswagen made and sold in China.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC launched a premium auto brand “IM” (dubbed “Zhiji Motor” in Chinese) jointly developed with Shanghai's Pudong New Area government and Alibaba on January 13, 2021. During the brand launch, two concept vehicles under the IM brand were unveiled at the same time including an all-electric D-segment sedan and an all-electric crossover SUV. According to SAIC Motor, “IM” stands for Intelligence in Motion.


title: SAIC Motor

text: A joint venture between SAIC and Volkswagen Group. It was founded in 1984 and produces cars under the Volkswagen, Skoda, and Audi brands.


title: SAIC Motor

text: This joint venture between SAIC and General Motors manufactures and sells Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac brand automobiles in Mainland China.


title: SAIC Motor

text: A joint venture between SAIC, General Motors, and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co Ltd. Based in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in southwestern China, it makes commercial and consumer vehicles sold in China under the Wuling and Baojun brands.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SGMW has recently found great success as an electric vehicle manufacturer — as of 2021, the venture's Wuling Hongguang Mini EV city car is the best-selling electric car in China by volume.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC Iveco Hongyan was established in January 2003 as Chongqing Hongyan and traces its origins back to a Chinese manufacturer established in 1965. The company is focused on producing Iveco-based heavy trucks which are mostly marketed under the Hongyan marque.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC produces MG Motors vehicles through this joint venture with Charoen Pokphand for their Thailand subsidiary.


title: SAIC Motor

text: Established with Austrian technology provider TTTech in 2018 for Intelligent and Autonomous Driving solutions.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC has numerous production facilities in China, including sites in: Chongqing, Liuzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Yantai. It also had an assembly plant in the United Kingdom, the Longbridge plant, It also has a plant in Chonburi, Thailand, Halol, India and one in Lahore, Pakistan.


title: SAIC Motor

text: SAIC operated a large research and development centre in the United Kingdom, the SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre, which as of 2012 employed around 275 engineers and 25 designers. The UK Technical Centre was the principal site worldwide for the development of MG cars, also playing a major role in the development of Roewe products. However in June 2019, SAIC Motor closed the UK Technical Centre making over 300 engineers redundant in the process.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces (CDS) is the professional head and permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces. The Chief of Defence Staff is the highest-ranking uniformed officer on active duty in the Indian military and chief military adviser to the Minister of Defence. The Chief also heads the Department of Military Affairs. The CDS is assisted by a vice-chief, the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, took office on 1 January 2020. The position was created with the aim of improving coordination, tri-service effectiveness and overall integration of the combat capabilities of the Indian armed forces. At the time of the creation of the post, no analogous position existed.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: Setting the stage for appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the government amended Service Rules of the Army, Navy and Air Force, allowing retired Service Chiefs and three-star officers eligible for consideration for the country’s top military post.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: However, with an age limit that the retired officer should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment, retired Service chiefs are largely ruled out, especially so for the present consideration.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: “The Central Government may, if considered necessary, in public interest, appoint as CDS, an officer who is serving as Lieutenant General or General or an officer who has retired in the rank of Lieutenant General or General but has not attained the age of 62 on the date of appointment,” the amendment in the Service Rules of the Army says in the gazette dated 6 June 2022. Similar amendment was made in the service rules of Navy and Air Force as well.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: On 28 Sep 2022, the Government decided to appoint Lt General Anil Chauhan (Retired) PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall also function as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Military Affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The post of the Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee (Chairman-CoSC) was created in 1947 as a precursor to the post of CDS, responsible for advice to the Defence Minister on all military matters. The senior-most of the three service chiefs would be appointed Chairman CoSC.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The need for a Chief of Defence Staff was felt as early as 1960s following wars with Pakistan and China. Over the years the creation of such as post was raised. However, officially, it was only following the Kargil Review Committee's recommendation in 1999 that the Group of Ministers (GoM) officially proposed the creation of the post of CDS in 2001. Following committees, including the Naresh Chandra task force in 2012 and the Lieutenant General D. B. Shekatkar Committee in 2016, also proposed their own versions of a CDS. The process of consulting all parties involved began in 2006. In 2017, the Cabinet Committee on Security started the process of making the final decision related to the creation of a post for the CDS.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The matter had opposition over the years on various fronts. After the war of 1971, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal, had threatened to quit if the post of CDS was created. In 2001 the government was on the brink of making the then Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral, Sushil Kumar, the CDS. A date had been fixed including other formalities. However, due to turf wars, among other reasons, the idea was scrapped.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The official decision to create the position was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech on 15 August 2019 at the Red Fort, in New Delhi. Following the announcement, a committee was announced on 23 August 2019 under the National Security Advisor, consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, the Defence Secretary and the Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee (C-COSC) among others, to make final the powers of the CDS. The committee was to submit its report within six weeks. By November 2019, the committee had largely completed its tasks. On 24 December, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) formally established the post of Chief of Defence Staff.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: The first Chief of Defence Staff was General Bipin Rawat who took office on 1 January 2020. On 15 December 2021, following the death of General Rawat, General Manoj Mukund Naravane was appointed Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, pending the appointment of a new CDS. This decision was made, as there was no clear order of succession for the CDS.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: At the time of creation of the post in December 2019, and as the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, the CDS would implement integration and jointness of the three services, assign inter-services prioritisation to capital acquisition proposals, command the tri-service agencies, head the Department of Military Affairs and be a member of overall defence planning among other responsibilities.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: Among the first reforms proposed by the firsts CDS was the creation of an Air Defence Command. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDS emphasised the need to minimise costly defence imports, give a chance to domestic production even with only 70% of the general staff qualitative requirements, and not 'misrepresent operational requirements'. In February 2020, the CDS announced the creation of joint military commands and theatre commands, Integrated Theatre Commands; and that the process of theaterisation will be complete in a number of years. Each command will have units from Army, Navy and Air-force working in synergy with each other. In September 2021, the CDS aired views on a prospective rocket or missile force.


title: Chief of Defence Staff (India)

text: While the Chief of Defence Staff wears the appropriately coloured uniform of their parent service, the gold-wreathed tri-service emblem of the Indian Armed Forces (the Naval anchor, crossed Army swords and Air Force eagle, all surmounted by the national emblem of India) is used in place of service insignia and unit emblems. The wreathed tri-service emblem is also substituted for service cap badges, uniform button and belt badge service insignia, shoulder flashes and the shoulder rank badges of a four-star officer with the four-star gorget patches similar to that used by a service chief. While the car pennant is that of the officer's parent service, the tri-service emblem is substituted for the rank stars.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In 2009, "Time" magazine rated Malmsteen as number 9 among the 11 greatest electric guitar players of all time.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Malmsteen was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck in Stockholm, Sweden, the third child of a musical family. At age 10, Malmsteen created his first band, Track on Earth, consisting of himself and a friend from school playing the drums. At age 12, he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, then slightly changed it to Malmsteen and altered his third given name Yngve to "Yngwie". As a teenager he was heavily influenced by classical music, particularly 19th century Italian virtuoso violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini as well as Johann Sebastian Bach. During this time, he also discovered his most important guitar influence, Ritchie Blackmore. Malmsteen has stated that Jimi Hendrix had no musical impact on him and did not contribute to his style. However watching the TV news reports on 18 September 1970 of Hendrix's death, which included footage of Hendrix smashing and burning his guitar at the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967, made Malmsteen think, "This is really cool."


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In early 1982, Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing from the 1978 demo titled Powerhouse, brought Malmsteen to the United States. He played briefly with the band Steeler on its 1983 self-titled album. He then appeared with Graham Bonnet in the band Alcatrazz, playing on its 1983 debut "No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll" and the 1984 live album "Live Sentence". Bonnet and Malmsteen clashed about who was the frontman and had a fight during a show. Malmsteen was fired on the spot from Alcatrazz and replaced by Steve Vai. Vai had one day to learn the songs for the ongoing tour. In 1984, Malmsteen released his first solo album "Rising Force", which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums and keyboard player Jens Johansson. His album was meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it ended up featuring vocals by Jeff Scott Soto and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of "Rising Force".


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: "Rising Force" won the "Guitar Player"'s award for Best Rock Album and was nominated for a Grammy Award for 'Best Rock Instrumental', reaching no. 60 on the "Billboard" album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released "Marching Out" (1985). Then he recruited Jens Johansson's brother Anders to play drums and bassist Marcel Jacob to record and tour with the band. Jacob left in the middle of a tour and was replaced by Wally Voss. Malmsteen's third album, "Trilogy", featuring the vocals of Mark Boals (and Malmsteen on both guitar and bass), was released in 1986. Boals left the band in the middle of the tour and was replaced by the former singer Jeff Scott Soto. The tour was cancelled after Malmsteen was involved in a serious car accident, smashing his V12 Jaguar E-Type into a tree, which put him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During this time, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer. New line-up changes for the next album with former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined the band, along with session bassist Bob Daisley, who was hired to record some bass parts and help with the lyrics. In April 1988, he released his fourth album "Odyssey". "Odyssey" was his most successful album, in part due to the success of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in the Soviet Union during the Odyssey tour were recorded and released in 1989 as a fifth album "". The classic Rising Force line-up with Malmsteen and the Johansson brothers was dissolved in 1989 when both Anders and Jens left. That year later, Jens joined Dio replacing keyboardist Claude Schnell.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Malmsteen's neoclassical style of metal became popular among hordes of guitarists during the mid-1980s, with contemporaries such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Tony MacAlpine, and Vinnie Moore becoming prominent. In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature Fender Stratocaster guitar was released, making him and Eric Clapton the first artists to be honored by Fender.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In the early 1990s, Malmsteen released two albums, "Eclipse" (1990) and "Fire & Ice" (1992), with the singer Göran Edman, followed by "The Seventh Sign" (1994) and "Magnum Opus" (1995) with former Loudness singer Mike Vescera. Despite his early and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and shredding had gone out of fashion in the US.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Around 1993, Malmsteen's future mother-in-law – who opposed his engagement to her daughter – had him arrested for allegedly holding her daughter hostage with a gun. The charges were later dropped. Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon and maintained a devoted following with fans in Europe and Japan and to a lesser extent in the US.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In the mid 1990s, Malmsteen released the albums "Inspiration" (1996) featuring three of his former singers Soto, Boals and Turner, "Facing the Animal" (1997) featuring Mats Levén on vocals and Cozy Powell on drums, followed by a live record "Double Live!" (1998) and another studio recording "Alchemy" (1999) featuring once again Mark Boals on vocals.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In 1996, Malmsteen joined forces with former band members Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacob on the "Human Clay" album where he played lead guitar on the track "Jealousy". In the same year, Yngwie recorded guitar solos for two different Deep Purple tribute albums, "Smoke on the Water" and "Black Night – Deep Purple Tribute According to New York" on the last one using the alias "Lars Y. Loudamp" to avoid contractual conflicts. He also guested with Saxon on the song Denim And Leather on their live album "The Eagle Has Landed – Part II" (released in 1997). Later that year, Yngwie recorded the tracks "Enigma suite" and "All opposable thumbs" with his former band members Jens Johansson and Anders Johansson on their album "Johansson/Sonic Winter".


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In 2000, he signed a contract with the US record label Spitfire and released his 1990s catalog on the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, "Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra", recorded with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: After the release of "War to End All Wars" in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White, whose vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup, a tour showcasing guitar performances. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's albums "Black Utopia" (2003), and "Blood of the Snake" (2006) where Malmsteen plays on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and Zakk Wylde. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In 2005 "Unleash the Fury" was released through Spitfire Records. As stated in an issue of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after an infamous 'airline incident', which occurred on a flight to Japan during a 1988 tour. He was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, until he fell asleep and was roused by a woman pouring a jug of iced water on him. Enraged, he shouted, "You've released the fucking fury!" The audio from this incident was caught on tape by a fellow band member. Malmsteen says that the name of the album refers to both the energy of the album and the incident. The release of "Unleash the Fury" was followed by a DVD release of "Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra in E Flat Minor, Op. 1 – With The New Japan Philharmonic Live". The DVD chronicles Malmsteen's first time playing in front of a live audience with an orchestra, an experience that he describes as "fun but also extremely scary".


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of "Guitar Hero II". Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album "Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy". The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled "Perpetual Flame" and was released on 4 October. On 25 November 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil", all from this latter album) released as downloadable content for the video games "Rock Band Rock Band 2 and later Rock Band 3".


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In 2008, Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". On 10 March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force released "Angels of Love", an all-instrumental album, which featured acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads. In August 2009, "Time" magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. Malmsteen recently released another album compilation entitled "High Impact" on 8 December 2009.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: On 23 November 2010, "Relentless" was released, the second album to feature Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals. The US version featured a remake of "Arpeggios From Hell" as a bonus track. Yngwie appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on 3 February 2011 to promote his album. On 6 August 2011, Malmsteen made another appearance in the United States, playing a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. Although rarely seen in his native country of Sweden, Malmsteen played one gig there in 2012. On 7 July, he ended the Getaway Rock Festival in Gävle, which he was headlining with Nightwish and Manowar. On 5 December 2012, Malmsteen released the album "Spellbound". 2013 saw the release of Yngwie's official autobiography "Relentless".


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: On 12 June 2014, Malmsteen kicked off his "Guitar Gods 2014 Tour" at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania alongside ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Bumblefoot and guitarist Gary Hoey. In February 2015, it was announced that Malmsteen was in the studio working on a new album. In April and May 2016, Malmsteen was one of five guitarists featured on the Generation Axe tour.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In 2018, it was announced that Malmsteen had signed with Mascot Records, with a new studio album expected the following year. In 2019, Malmsteen released "Blue Lightning", featuring blues rock songs – mainly covers – with Malmsteen's virtuoso playing. As Malmsteen was quoted:


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: On 8 May 2021, Yngwie Malmsteen was reported to have launched the "Parabellum" album and video for the "Paganini-referencing" track "Wolves at the Door". Since COVID-19 restrictions prevented touring, Malmsteen had more time to record the album, and was "clearly delighted with the results."


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Malmsteen was married to Swedish singer Erika Norberg (1991-1992) and was subsequently married to Amber Dawn Landin (1993-1998). Since 1999 he has been married to April Malmsteen, with whom he has a son named Antonio, after Antonio Vivaldi. The family now resides in Miami Shores, Florida.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: A Ferrari enthusiast, Malmsteen owned a black 1983 308 GTS for 24 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: In a 2005 issue of "Guitar Player" magazine, Malmsteen discussed his often-ridiculed behaviour, saying that, "I've probably made more mistakes than anybody. But I don't dwell on them. I don't expect people to understand me, because I'm pretty complex, and I think outside the box with everything I do. I've always taken the untraveled path. Obviously, people have their opinions, but I can't get too wrapped up in that, because I know what I can do and I know what kind of person I am. And I have no control over what anybody says about me. Back in Sweden, I'm 'Mr Personality' in the tabloids, but obviously I can't take that seriously. I know in my heart that if I do the absolute best I can do, maybe ten years from now people may turn around and say 'he wasn't that bad'."


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Malmsteen has been a longtime user of Fender Stratocasters with DiMarzio HS3 single-coil pickups "for playing at blistering volume with no hum or screechiness". His most famous Stratocaster is his 1972 blonde Stratocaster, nicknamed "The Duck" because of its yellow finish and the Donald Duck stickers on the headstock. An alternative nickname for this guitar is "Play Loud" due to a sticker that Anders Johansson put on the upper horn of the guitar in Rockshire studios in 1984. Fender made 100 replica copies of this guitar and marketed it as the "Play Loud Guitar". He also has a Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster since 1986. It comes in a Vintage White finish with a maple neck, either a maple or rosewood fretboard with scalloped frets and, from 2010, Seymour Duncan STK-S10 YJM "Fury" Model pickups. There is also a signature YJM100 Marshall amplifier, based on the "1959" amplifier range.


title: Yngwie Malmsteen

text: Besides Stratocasters, Malmsteen has played and appeared in ads for non-Fender guitars (like Aria Pro II and Schecter in the early 1980s) and played non-Strat-shaped guitars (like Gibson Flying Vs), early in his career. Today, for acoustic and nylon string guitars, Malmsteen uses his signature Ovation YM68s.


title: Olmecs

text: The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures.


title: Olmecs

text: The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking.


title: Olmecs

text: The name 'Olmec' comes from the Nahuatl word for the Olmecs: "Ōlmēcatl" (singular) or "Ōlmēcah" (plural). This word is composed of the two words "ōlli" , meaning "natural rubber", and "mēcatl" , meaning "people", so the word means "rubber people". Rubber was an important part of the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame.


title: Olmecs

text: The Olmec heartland is the area in the Gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in Soconusco, Veracruz. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, and volcanoes. The Sierra de los Tuxtlas rises sharply in the north, along the Gulf of Mexico's Bay of Campeche. Here, the Olmec constructed permanent city-temple complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros. In this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization emerged and reigned from  BCE.


title: Olmecs

text: The beginnings of Olmec civilization have traditionally been placed between 1400 BCE and 1200 BCE. Past finds of Olmec remains ritually deposited at the shrine El Manatí near the triple archaeological sites known collectively as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán moved this back to "at least" 1600–1500 BCE. It seems that the Olmec had their roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco, which began between 5100 BCE and 4600 BCE. These shared the same basic food crops and technologies of the later Olmec civilization.


title: Olmecs

text: What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, where distinctive Olmec features occurred around 1400 BCE. The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos river basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization: the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys and Mesopotamia. This highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class. The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic and sophisticated luxury artifacts that define Olmec culture. Many of these luxury artifacts were made from materials such as jade, obsidian, and magnetite, which came from distant locations and suggest that early Olmec elites had access to an extensive trading network in Mesoamerica. The source of the most valued jade was the Motagua River valley in eastern Guatemala, and Olmec obsidian has been traced to sources in the Guatemala highlands, such as El Chayal and San Martín Jilotepeque, or in Puebla, distances ranging from 200 to 400 km (120–250 miles) away, respectively.


title: Olmecs

text: The state of Guerrero, and in particular its early Mezcala culture, seem to have played an important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area. In particular, the relevant objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BCE. The city of Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero is also relevant in this regard.


title: Olmecs

text: The first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred c. 950s BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers, with certain important rivers changing course.


title: Olmecs

text: In any case, following the decline of San Lorenzo, La Venta became the most prominent Olmec center, lasting from 900 BCE until its abandonment around 400 BCE. La Venta sustained the Olmec cultural traditions with spectacular displays of power and wealth. The Great Pyramid was the largest Mesoamerican structure of its time. Even today, after 2500 years of erosion, it rises above the naturally flat landscape. Buried deep within La Venta lay opulent, labor-intensive "offerings" – 1000 tons of smooth serpentine blocks, large mosaic pavements, and at least 48 separate votive offerings of polished jade celts, pottery, figurines, and hematite mirrors.


title: Olmecs

text: Scholars have yet to determine the cause of the eventual extinction of the Olmec culture. Between 400 and 350 BCE, the population in the eastern half of the Olmec heartland dropped precipitously, and the area was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century. According to archaeologists, this depopulation was probably the result of "very serious environmental changes that rendered the region unsuited for large groups of farmers", in particular changes to the riverine environment that the Olmec depended upon for agriculture, hunting and gathering, and transportation. These changes may have been triggered by tectonic upheavals or subsidence, or the siltation of rivers due to agricultural practices.


title: Olmecs

text: One theory for the considerable population drop during the Terminal Formative period is suggested by Santley and colleagues (Santley et al. 1997), who propose the relocation of settlements due to volcanism, instead of extinction. Volcanic eruptions during the Early, Late and Terminal Formative periods would have blanketed the lands and forced the Olmec to move their settlements.


title: Olmecs

text: Whatever the cause, within a few hundred years of the abandonment of the last Olmec cities, successor cultures became firmly established. The Tres Zapotes site, on the western edge of the Olmec heartland, continued to be occupied well past 400 BCE, but without the hallmarks of the Olmec culture. This post-Olmec culture, often labeled the Epi-Olmec, has features similar to those found at Izapa, some to the southeast.


title: Olmecs

text: The Olmec culture was first defined as an art style, and this continues to be the hallmark of the culture. Wrought in a large number of media – jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone among others – much Olmec art, such as "The Wrestler", is naturalistic. Other art expresses fantastic anthropomorphic creatures, often highly stylized, using an iconography reflective of a religious meaning. Common motifs include downturned mouths and a cleft head, both of which are seen in representations of werejaguars. In addition to making human and human-like subjects, Olmec artisans were adept at animal portrayals.


title: Olmecs

text: While Olmec figurines are found abundantly in sites throughout the Formative Period, the stone monuments such as the colossal heads are the most recognizable feature of Olmec culture. These monuments can be divided into four classes:


title: Olmecs

text: The most recognized aspect of the Olmec civilization are the enormous helmeted heads. As no known pre-Columbian text explains them, these impressive monuments have been the subject of much speculation. Once theorized to be ballplayers, it is now generally accepted that these heads are portraits of rulers, perhaps dressed as ballplayers. Infused with individuality, no two heads are alike and the helmet-like headdresses are adorned with distinctive elements, suggesting personal or group symbols. Some have also speculated that Mesoamerican people believed that the soul, along with all of one's experiences and emotions, was contained inside the head.


title: Olmecs

text: The heads range in size from the Rancho La Cobata head, at high, to the pair at Tres Zapotes, at . Scholars calculate that the largest heads weigh between .


title: Olmecs

text: The heads were carved from single blocks or boulders of volcanic basalt, found in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. The Tres Zapotes heads, for example, were sculpted from basalt found at the summit of Cerro el Vigía, at the western end of the Tuxtlas. The San Lorenzo and La Venta heads, on the other hand, were probably carved from the basalt of Cerro Cintepec, on the southeastern side, perhaps at the nearby Llano del Jicaro workshop, and dragged or floated to their final destination dozens of miles away. It has been estimated that moving a colossal head required the efforts of 1,500 people for three to four months.


title: Olmecs

text: Some of the heads, and many other monuments, have been variously mutilated, buried and disinterred, reset in new locations and/or reburied. Some monuments, and at least two heads, were recycled or recarved, but it is not known whether this was simply due to the scarcity of stone or whether these actions had ritual or other connotations. Scholars believe that some mutilation had significance beyond mere destruction, but some scholars still do not rule out internal conflicts or, less likely, invasion as a factor.


title: Olmecs

text: The flat-faced, thick-lipped heads have caused some debate due to their resemblance to some African facial characteristics. Based on this comparison, some writers have said that the Olmecs were Africans who had emigrated to the New World. But the vast majority of archaeologists and other Mesoamerican scholars reject claims of pre-Columbian contacts with Africa. Explanations for the facial features of the colossal heads include the possibility that the heads were carved in this manner due to the shallow space allowed on the basalt boulders. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and thick lips, the eyes of the heads often show the epicanthic fold, and that all these characteristics can still be found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. For instance, in the 1940s, the artist/art historian Miguel Covarrubias published a series of photos of Olmec artworks and of the faces of modern Mexican Indians with very similar facial characteristics. The African origin hypothesis assumes that Olmec carving was intended to be a representation of the inhabitants, an assumption that is hard to justify given the full corpus of representation in Olmec carving.


title: Olmecs

text: Ivan Van Sertima claimed that the seven braids on the Tres Zapotes head was an Ethiopian hair style, but he offered no evidence it was a contemporary style. The Egyptologist Frank J. Yurco has said that the Olmec braids do not resemble contemporary Egyptian or Nubian braids.


title: Olmecs

text: Richard Diehl wrote "There can be no doubt that the heads depict the American Indian physical type still seen on the streets of Soteapan, Acayucan, and other towns in the region."


title: Olmecs

text: Another type of artifact is much smaller; hardstone carvings in jade of a face in a mask form. Jade is a particularly precious material, and it was used as a mark of rank by the ruling classes. By 1500 BCE early Olmec sculptors mastered the human form. This can be determined by wooden Olmec sculptures discovered in the swampy bogs of El Manati. Before radiocarbon dating could tell the exact age of Olmec pieces, archaeologists and art historians noticed the unique "Olmec-style" in a variety of artifacts.


title: Olmecs

text: Curators and scholars refer to "Olmec-style" face masks but, to date, no example has been recovered in an archaeologically controlled Olmec context. They have been recovered from sites of other cultures, including one deliberately deposited in the ceremonial altepetl (precinct) of Tenochtitlan in what is now Mexico City. The mask would presumably have been about 2000 years old when the Aztecs buried it, suggesting such masks were valued and collected as were Roman antiquities in Europe. The 'Olmec-style' refers to the combination of deep-set eyes, nostrils, and strong, slightly asymmetrical mouth. The "Olmec-style" also very distinctly combines facial features of both humans and jaguars. Olmec arts are strongly tied to the Olmec religion, which prominently featured jaguars. The Olmec people believed that in the distant past a race of werejaguars was made between the union of a jaguar and a woman. One werejaguar quality that can be found is the sharp cleft in the forehead of many supernatural beings in Olmec art. This sharp cleft is associated with the natural indented head of jaguars.


title: Olmecs

text: The Kunz axes (also known as "votive axes") are figures that represent werejaguars and were apparently used for rituals. In most cases, the head is half the total volume of the figure. All Kunz axes have flat noses and an open mouth. The name "Kunz" comes from George Frederick Kunz, an American mineralogist, who described a figure in 1890.


title: Olmecs

text: Olmec-style artifacts, designs, figurines, monuments and iconography have been found in the archaeological records of sites hundreds of kilometres outside the Olmec heartland. These sites include:


title: Olmecs

text: Tlatilco and Tlapacoya, major centers of the Tlatilco culture in the Valley of Mexico, where artifacts include hollow baby-face motif figurines and Olmec designs on ceramics.


title: Olmecs

text: Chalcatzingo, in Valley of Morelos, central Mexico, which features Olmec-style monumental art and rock art with Olmec-style figures.


title: Olmecs

text: Also, in 2007, archaeologists unearthed Zazacatla, an Olmec-influenced city in Morelos. Located about south of Mexico City, Zazacatla covered about between 800 and 500 BCE.


title: Olmecs

text: Teopantecuanitlan, in Guerrero, which features Olmec-style monumental art as well as city plans with distinctive Olmec features.


title: Olmecs

text: In Guatemala, sites showing probable Olmec influence include San Bartolo, Takalik Abaj and La Democracia.


title: Olmecs

text: Many theories have been advanced to account for the occurrence of Olmec influence far outside the heartland, including long-range trade by Olmec merchants, Olmec colonization of other regions, Olmec artisans travelling to other cities, conscious imitation of Olmec artistic styles by developing towns – some even suggest the prospect of Olmec military domination or that the Olmec iconography was actually developed outside the heartland.


title: Olmecs

text: The generally accepted, but by no means unanimous, interpretation is that the Olmec-style artifacts, in all sizes, became associated with elite status and were adopted by non-Olmec Formative Period chieftains in an effort to bolster their status.


title: Olmecs

text: In addition to their influence with contemporaneous Mesoamerican cultures, as the first civilization in Mesoamerica, the Olmecs are credited, or speculatively credited, with many "firsts", including the bloodletting and perhaps human sacrifice, writing and epigraphy, and the invention of popcorn, zero and the Mesoamerican calendar, and the Mesoamerican ballgame, as well as perhaps the compass. Some researchers, including artist and art historian Miguel Covarrubias, even postulate that the Olmecs formulated the forerunners of many of the later Mesoamerican deities.


title: Olmecs

text: Although the archaeological record does not include explicit representation of Olmec bloodletting, researchers have found other evidence that the Olmec ritually practiced it. For example, numerous natural and ceramic stingray spikes and maguey thorns have been found at Olmec sites, and certain artifacts have been identified as bloodletters.


title: Olmecs

text: The argument that the Olmec instituted human sacrifice is significantly more speculative. No Olmec or Olmec-influenced sacrificial artifacts have yet been discovered; no Olmec or Olmec-influenced artwork unambiguously shows sacrificial victims (as do the "danzante" figures of Monte Albán) or scenes of human sacrifice (such as can be seen in from El Tajín).


title: Olmecs

text: At El Manatí, disarticulated skulls and femurs, as well as the complete skeletons of newborns or fetuses, have been discovered amidst the other offerings, leading to speculation concerning infant sacrifice. Scholars have not determined how the infants met their deaths. Some authors have associated infant sacrifice with Olmec ritual art showing limp werejaguar babies, most famously in La Venta's Altar 5 (on the right) or Las Limas figure. Any definitive answer requires further findings.


title: Olmecs

text: The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system. Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date from 650 BCE and 900 BCE respectively, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing found so far, which dates from about 500 BCE.


title: Olmecs

text: The 2002 find at the San Andrés site shows a bird, speech scrolls, and glyphs that are similar to the later Maya script. Known as the Cascajal Block, and dated between 1100 BCE and 900 BCE, the 2006 find from a site near San Lorenzo shows a set of 62 symbols, 28 of which are unique, carved on a serpentine block. A large number of prominent archaeologists have hailed this find as the "earliest pre-Columbian writing". Others are skeptical because of the stone's singularity, the fact that it had been removed from any archaeological context, and because it bears no apparent resemblance to any other Mesoamerican writing system.


title: Olmecs

text: There are also well-documented later hieroglyphs known as the Isthmian script, and while there are some who believe that the Isthmian may represent a transitional script between an earlier Olmec writing system and the Maya script, the matter remains unsettled.


title: Olmecs

text: The Long Count calendar used by many subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, as well as the concept of zero, may have been devised by the Olmecs. Because the six artifacts with the earliest Long Count calendar dates were all discovered outside the immediate Maya homeland, it is likely that this calendar predated the Maya and was possibly the invention of the Olmecs. Indeed, three of these six artifacts were found within the Olmec heartland. But an argument against an Olmec origin is the fact that the Olmec civilization had ended by the 4th century BCE, several centuries before the earliest known Long Count date artifact.