title: Daniel Snyder

text: In March 2021, reports surfaced that Snyder may have intentionally under reported ticket sales to the NFL and IRS in order to pay a smaller share into the NFL's Visiting Team Fund, allowing him to keep more of the ticket revenue than he otherwise would. On April 12, 2022, the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission alleging Snyder had been keeping two separate financial ledgers since at least 2012: one that he would submit to the NFL and one that showed the actual numbers, which were much different. Congress also alleged that Snyder would drive up prices by selling cheaper tickets in bulk to third party vendors, causing the remaining tickets to become far more expensive. This would in turn force fans who wanted to attend games at Fedex Field to either join an expensive waiting list or buy expensive tickets.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: According to an ESPN report, multiple unnamed sources allege that Snyder has claimed to have “dirt” on other NFL team owners, and has instructed his lawyers to hire investigators to gather damaging information on them as well as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. This is, however, unverified information provided by unnamed sources.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: Washington DC’s attorney general filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the NFL and the Commanders, including Snyder, in October 2022.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: Snyder owned expansion rights to an Arena Football League team for the Washington, D.C. market before the 2009 demise of the original league. He purchased the rights to the team for $750 million in 1999. The team was going to be called the Washington Warriors and play their games at the Comcast Center in 2003 but the team never started.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In 2005, he bought 12% of the stock of amusement park operator Six Flags through his private equity company RedZone Capital. He later gained control of the board, placing his friend and ESPN executive Mark Shapiro as CEO and himself as chairman. In April 2009, the New York Stock Exchange delisted Six Flags' stock as it had fallen below the minimal market capitalization. In June 2009, Six Flags announced that the company was delaying a $15 million debt payment and two weeks later, Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of the reorganization, 92% of the company ended up in the hands of their lenders with Snyder and Shapiro being removed from their positions.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In July 2006, Red Zebra Broadcasting launched a trio of sports radio stations in Washington, D.C. He purchased other radio stations in the mid-Atlantic region, and broadcast coverage of Washington Redskins games on all of his stations. In 2017 and 2018, Red Zebra sold off all of its radio stations and ceased doing business.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: Also in July 2006, Snyder and other investors signed a deal to provide financing to the production company run by Tom Cruise and his partner, Paula Wagner. This came one week after Paramount Pictures severed its ties with Cruise and Wagner. Snyder is credited as an executive producer for the 2008 movie "Valkyrie", which starred Cruise.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In February 2007, it was announced that Snyder's private equity firm Red Zone Capital Management would purchase Johnny Rockets, the 1950s-themed diner chain. RedZone Capital Management sold the company to Sun Capital Partners in 2013. From 2007 to 2012, Snyder also owned Dick Clark Productions.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In 1994, Snyder married Tanya Ivey, a former fashion model from Atlanta. She is a national spokesperson for breast cancer awareness and was named co-CEO of the Washington Football Team in 2021. They have three children and live in Alexandria, VA. In 2001, Snyder had surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid gland.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: Snyder contributed $1 million to help the victims of the September 11 attacks and donated $600,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. He paid shipping costs for charitable food shipments to aid those affected by the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand. In 2016 following Hurricane Matthew, Snyder dispatched his private plane to provide emergency supplies in the Bahamas and medical supplies to Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In 2000, Snyder founded the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation. Snyder has been a long-time supporter of Youth For Tomorrow, an organization founded by former Redskins head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs. In April 2010, the organization presented Snyder with its Distinguished Leader Award. In 2005, Snyder was inducted as a member of the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Snyder owns a private plane, a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express XRS.


title: Daniel Snyder

text: In 2014, Snyder formed the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation to provide opportunities and resources to aid Tribal communities. The foundation was formed to address the challenges in the daily lives of Native Americans. Snyder has also supported Children's National Hospital, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and other organizations. In May 2014, Snyder and his wife Tanya received the Charles B. Wang International Children's Award from the NCMEC. In March 2022, Snyder donated $300,000 to several humanitarian aid organizations for people affected by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, including "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill". "Tom's Diner", which was originally released as an "a cappella" recording on Vega's second album, "Solitude Standing" (1987), was remixed in 1990 as a dance track by English electronic duo DNA with Vega as featured artist, and it became a Top 10 hit in over five countries. The original "a capella" recording of the song was used as a test during the creation of the MP3 format. The role of her song in the development of the MP3 compression prompted Vega to be given the title of "The Mother of the MP3".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on July 11, 1959, in Santa Monica, California. Her parents divorced soon after her birth. Her mother, Pat Vega (née Schumacher), is a computer systems analyst of German-Swedish heritage. Her father, Richard Peck, is of British origin. Her stepfather, Edgardo Vega Yunqué, also known as Ed Vega, was a writer and teacher from Puerto Rico. When Vega was two and a half, her family moved to New York City. She grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side. She was not aware that Peck was her biological father until she was nine years old. Vega and her father met for the first time in her late 20s, and they remain in contact.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: She attended the High School of Performing Arts, now renamed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where she studied modern dance and graduated in 1977.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: While majoring in English literature at Barnard College, she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village, where she was a regular contributor to Jack Hardy's Monday night songwriters' group at the Cornelia Street Cafe and had some of her first songs published on "Fast Folk" anthology albums. In 1984, she received a major label recording contract, making her one of the first 'Fast Folk' artists to break out on a major label.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega's self-titled debut album was released in 1985 and was well received by critics in the U.S.; it reached platinum status in the United Kingdom. Produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements. A video was released for the album's song "Marlene on the Wall", which went into MTV and VH1's rotations. During this period Vega also wrote lyrics for two songs ("Lightning" and "Freezing") on "Songs from Liquid Days" by composer Philip Glass.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega's song "Left of Center" co-written with Steve Addabbo for the 1986 John Hughes film "Pretty in Pink" reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart in 1986.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Her next effort, "Solitude Standing" (1987), garnered critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in the U.S. It includes the international hit single "Luka", which is written about, and from the point of view of, an abused child—at the time an uncommon subject for a pop hit. While continuing a focus on Vega's acoustic guitar, the music is more strongly pop-oriented and features fuller arrangements. Following the success of the album, in 1989 Vega became the first female artist to headline the Glastonbury Festival. In addition, the performance was notable for Vega performing her set whilst wearing a bulletproof vest, her band having received death threats from an obsessed fan ahead of the festival.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: The acappella "Tom's Diner" from "Solitude Standing" became a hit in 1990, having been remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA. The track was originally a bootleg, until Vega allowed DNA to release it through her record company, and it became her biggest hit.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 1992, she released the album "99.9F°". It consists of a mixture of folk music, dance beats and industrial music. This record was awarded Gold status by the RIAA in recognition of selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S. The single "Blood Makes Noise" from this album peaked at number-one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks. Vega later married the album's producer Mitchell Froom.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Her fifth album, "Nine Objects of Desire", was released in 1996. The music varies between a frugal, simple style and the industrial production of "99.9F°". This album contains "Caramel", featured in the movie "The Truth About Cats & Dogs", and later the trailer for the movie "Closer". A song not included on that album, "Woman on the Tier", was featured on the soundtrack of the movie "Dead Man Walking".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 1997 she took a singing part on the concept album "Heaven and Hell", a musical interpretation of the seven deadly sins by her colleague Joe Jackson, with whom she had already collaborated in 1986 on "Left of Center" from the "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack (with Vega singing and Jackson playing piano).


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 1999, Avon Books published Vega's book "The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega", a volume of poems, lyrics, essays and journalistic pieces.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In September 2001, Vega released a new album entitled "Songs in Red and Gray". Three songs deal with Vega's divorce from her first husband, Mitchell Froom.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: At the memorial concert for her brother Tim Vega in December 2002, Vega began her role as the subject of the direct-cinema documentary, "Some Journey", directed by Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films. The documentary has not been completed.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 2003, the 21-song greatest hits compilation was released. (The UK version of "Retrospective" included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing 12 songs). In the same year she was invited by Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist Bill Frisell to play at the "Century of Song" concerts at the famed "Ruhrtriennale" in Germany.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 2003, she hosted the American Public Media radio series "American Mavericks", about 20th century American composers, which received the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: On August 3, 2006, Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in the Internet-based virtual world, "Second Life". The event was hosted by John Hockenberry of public radio's "The Infinite Mind".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: On September 17, 2006, she performed in Central Park, as part of a benefit concert for the Save Darfur Coalition. During the concert she highlighted her support for Amnesty International, of which she has been a member since 1988.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In early October 2006, Vega participated in the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, the oldest festival of documentary films in Europe, in which she appeared as a main guest. She was invited there as the subject of the documentary film by director Christopher Seufert, that had a test screening at the festival. At the end of the festival she performed her classic songs and added one brand new piece called "New York Is a Woman".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega is also interviewed in the book "Everything Is Just a Bet" which was published in Czech in October 2006. The book contains 12 interview transcriptions from the talk show called "Stage Talks" that regularly runs in the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre) in Prague. Vega introduced the book to the audience of the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre), and together with some other Czech celebrities gave a signing session.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: She signed a new recording contract with Blue Note Records in the spring of 2006, and released "Beauty & Crime" on July 17, 2007. The album, produced by Jimmy Hogarth, won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Her contract was not renewed and she was released in June 2008.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 2007, Vega followed the lead of numerous other mainstream artists and released her track "Pornographer's Dream" as podsafe. The song spent two weeks at number-one during 2007 and finished as the No. 11 hit of the year on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. In 2015, Vega joined The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In 2008, fire at a Universal Music Group vault in Los Angeles County resulted in the loss or damage of some Vega recordings.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: A partial cover version of her song "Tom's Diner" was used to introduce the 2010 British movie "4.3.2.1", with its lyrics largely rewritten to echo the plot. This musical hybrid was released as "Keep Moving". Vega participated in the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration "Dark Night of the Soul". She wrote both melody and lyrics for her song, which is titled "The Man Who Played God", inspired by a biography of Pablo Picasso. Vega sang lead vocals on the song "Now I Am an Arsonist" with singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton on his 2011 album, "Artificial Heart".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega has re-recorded her back-catalogue, both for artistic and commercial (and control) reasons, in the "Close-up" series. Vol. 1 ("Love Songs") and Vol. 2 ("People & Places") appeared in 2010 while Vol. 3 ("States of Being") was released in July 2011 followed by Vol. 4 ("Songs of Family") in September 2012. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of the "Close-Up" albums included previously unrecorded material; Volumes 2 and 3 each included one new collaboratively written song, while Volume 4 included three songs that Vega had written years earlier, but had not previously gotten around to recording. In all, Vega's "Close-Up" series features 60 re-recorded songs and five new compositions, representing about three-quarters of her lifetime songwriting output.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: While performing live, Vega and long-term collaborator Gerry Leonard began to introduce a number of new songs into the setlist, including the live favorite "I Never Wear White". Over the course of a year, the songs were completed and recorded in a live-studio setting with the help of a number of guests. Produced by Leonard, "Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles" was released in February 2014. It was her first album of new material in seven years and became Vega's first studio album to reach the UK Top 40 since 1992, peaking at No. 37.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: At the age of nine she began to write poetry. She was encouraged to do so by her stepfather. It took her three years to write her first song, "Brother Mine", which was finished at the age of 14. It was first published on "Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family", along with her other early song, "The Silver Lady".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega has not learned to read musical notes; she sees the melody as a shape and chords as colors. She focuses on lyrics and melodic ideas; for advanced features – like intros or bridges – she relies on other artists with whom she works. Most of her albums, except the first one, were made in such cooperation.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega finishes 80% of the songs she starts writing. She got the melody of Tom's Diner while walking down Broadway in New York. She was thinking of French new-wave films.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: The most important artistic influences on her work come from Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Some other important artists for her are Paul Simon and Laura Nyro.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega and Duncan Sheik wrote a play "Carson McCullers Talks About Love", about the life of the writer Carson McCullers. In the play directed by Kay Matschullat, which premiered in 2011, Vega alternates between monologue and songs. Vega and Sheik were nominated for Outstanding Music in a Play for the 57th annual Drama Desk awards.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: The album "", based on this play, was released in 2016. Vega considers it to be a third version, because it's rewritten, and she made the first version in college.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: In early 2020, Vega played the role of "Band Leader" in an off-Broadway musical based on the 1969 movie "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", directed by Scott Elliott and produced at The New Group in New York City. She replaced Sheik, who wrote the show's music and co-wrote the lyrics with Amanda Green. In his review for "The New York Times", critic Ben Brantley called the "brandy-voiced" Vega "a delightful, smoothly sardonic presence.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega established her own recording label after the 2008 economic crisis. From that point, she stopped working for Blue Note Records and started thinking about re-recording her back catalog with new arrangements and gaining control over her works (which she eventually did with the "Close-Up Series").


title: Suzanne Vega

text: The name "Amanuensis Productions" was meant as a private joke about "servant" (amanuensis) owning the "masters" (recording masters), also a pun at A&M still legally owning her previous master tapes.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Running the label proved to be harder than she expected. In 2015, it barely "broke even", but new licenses were coming for "Tom's Diner".


title: Suzanne Vega

text: On March 17, 1995, Vega married Mitchell Froom, a musician and a record producer (who played on and produced "99.9F°" and "Nine Objects of Desire"). They have a daughter, Ruby Froom (born July 8, 1994). The band Soul Coughing's "Ruby Vroom" album was named for her, with Vega's approval. Vega and Froom separated and divorced in 1998.


title: Suzanne Vega

text: On February 11, 2006, Vega married Paul Mills, a lawyer and poet, "22 years after he first proposed to her."


title: Suzanne Vega

text: Vega practices Nichiren Buddhism and is a member of the American branch of the worldwide Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Eighth Grade is a 2018 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Bo Burnham. It stars Elsie Fisher as Kayla, a middle school teenager who struggles with anxiety but strives to gain social acceptance from her peers during their final week of eighth grade. To cope, she publishes video blogs as a self-styled motivational advice-giver, though spends much of her time obsessing over social media. This frustrates Kayla's otherwise supportive father (Josh Hamilton), whom she alienates despite his wish to be present in her life as her sole parent.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The film is Burnham's feature-length debut as a writer and director. He began the screenplay in 2014 to reflect on his own anxiety and panic attacks during his career as a comedian. Deciding to convey his experience through Kayla, he also wanted to explore how her generation copes with mental illness, grows up with the presence of social media, navigates sexuality and consent, relates to their parents and develops their sense of self. Burnham aimed for realism, casting actual eighth graders—including lead actress Fisher—who informed his script and directing. For research, he watched vlogs from teenagers on YouTube, where he also discovered Fisher. Independently financed with a $2 million budget, production took place in 2017, in the suburban town of Suffern, New York.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: "Eighth Grade" premiered on January 19, 2018 at Sundance Film Festival. It was later given wide theatrical release in the United States on July 13, 2018 by A24. Instead of appealing the Motion Picture Association of America's R (Restricted) rating of the film, A24 and Burnham arranged free all-ages theatrical screenings in every state to let their young intended audience see it.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial success. Burnham's writing, direction and Fisher's performance drew the most praise from critics, while domestic box office sales topped $13.5 million. The filmmakers won many awards and nominations, with Burnham winning both Writers Guild and Directors Guild of America Awards, and Fisher nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress and winning the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor. At year's end, the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute each chose "Eighth Grade" as one of the top-ten films of 2018, with the former naming Burnham's film as the year's Best Directorial Debut.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Kayla Day is an eighth grader in her final week at Miles Grove Middle School, a public school in a small New York town. She posts motivational vlogs on YouTube about confidence and self-image that receive few to no views. Nervous and struggling to make friends at school, she is voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Meanwhile, her single father Mark struggles to connect with her and break her reliance on social media.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Kayla is invited to popular classmate Kennedy's pool party by Kennedy's mother. At the party, she has a panic attack in the bathroom but eventually goes outside to swim, where she meets Kennedy's nerdy cousin Gabe. After trying to leave the party early, she has an awkward encounter with her crush Aiden, who suggests that she rejoin the party. She overcomes her fear and volunteers to sing karaoke.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Hearing that Aiden broke up with his last girlfriend because she refused to send him nude photos of herself, Kayla tells Aiden that she has a folder of dirty photos of herself on her phone, a lie which piques his interest. He asks if she gives blowjobs; unsure of what to say, she says she does, but she later looks up oral sex instructions on YouTube and is disgusted by what she finds.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Kayla attends a high school shadow program, where she meets a friendly senior named Olivia who shows her around the school. Olivia gives Kayla her number and later invites her to the mall with some friends. They have a good time, but a mortified Kayla spots her father spying from afar and orders him to leave. Olivia's friend Riley gives Kayla a ride home from the mall and initiates an awkward game of truth or dare in which he asks about her sexual experience, takes off his shirt, and asks her to remove hers. She refuses and he backs off, angrily claiming he was just trying to help her gain some experience. Kayla breaks down at home and is comforted by Mark.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Kayla makes a video announcing that she intends to stop making videos, as she is not the person she pretends to be and feels unfit to give advice. She opens a time capsule she created for herself in sixth grade. She watches a video in which her past self asks questions about her current friends and love life. She asks Mark to help her burn the time capsule and asks if she makes him sad. He says that she fills him with pride and he could never be sad about her, prompting her to hug him tightly.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: At graduation, Kayla rebukes Kennedy for ignoring her and acting indifferent toward Kayla's attempts to be nice. She later has dinner at Gabe's house and they enjoy their time together. Kayla makes a new time capsule that she and Mark bury in the backyard, and she leaves a video message for her future high school self which encourages her to persevere through tough times.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The film explores anxiety. Professor Julianna W. Miner, writing in 2018 about "Eighth Grade", reflects that 22% of teenagers were struggling with depression and anxiety, and teenage girls were dying by suicide at higher rates in 2015 than they were in the previous 40 years. The anxiety depicted is typical in middle school, but according to reporter Valerie Strauss, also reflects life in 2018 where people of all ages see a "cacophony of indifference and downright meanness". The words "um" and "like" in the screenplay also reflect "the process of struggling", rather than the characters' lack of intelligence.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that "Eighth Grade" was a trailblazer in examining youth who never knew a world without the Internet, touching on sexting as well. CBS News also commented that besides "the usual teen angst and acne", "Eighth Grade" depicts how Kayla spends a great deal of time online and engaging in text messaging. This reflects general trends in "iGen" (post-millennials), where 94% of youth have used smartphones by age 14. A 2018 U.S. poll found 45% of teenagers reported "almost constantly" online. 24% called its effects "mostly negative", while 45% characterized it as "neither negative nor positive".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: According to Elsie Fisher, "for Kayla, social media is almost religious". Burnham explained, "social media has made me think differently as a person. It's made me more anxious, I think". Professor Jean Twenge also connected an increase in Internet usage to a decline in juvenile mental health. Gleiberman called the depiction an examination of "overwhelming — and, I would argue, unprecedented — woe that teenagers today can feel". Author Robert Barker contrasted "Eighth Grade" to earlier coming-of-age films such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) and "Mean Girls" (2004). Rather than work through cliques, Barker wrote, Kayla and others are on "a digital war of all against all, preening, pretending, and pontificating as much to themselves as to an anonymous audience". Barker also saw the sexting between characters as representing their obliviousness to lost innocence. NPR interpreted the impact of the Internet during maturation as "one of the key subjects of "Eighth Grade"", commenting on how many people may not remember the age fondly, but social media has added complications. Even so, NPR stated Kayla is still able to grow despite great challenges.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: According to critic Kyle Buchanan, "The biggest mystery to ... [Kayla] is the opposite sex", considering her interest in Aiden and taking online lessons about fellatio. However, journalist Chris O'Falt suggested Kayla is not truly ready for sex, but simply is "pressured to barter [her] sexuality for social acceptance". "Time" mentioned Kayla's claim to Aiden that she has nude selfies as being among the "classic middle-school indignities" depicted in "Eighth Grade".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham also criticized American sex education for not exploring sexual consent, as reflected in the "truth or dare" scene. Although Kayla is shown in a sex education class earlier in the film, she does not know how to react when Riley sexually coerces her, and apologizes to him for rejecting his advances. Film critics connected the scene with the Me Too movement, though it was written before the movement began. At festival screenings, moviegoers were visibly uncomfortable and yelled during the scene.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The story also explores Kayla's relationship with her father, Mark, a member of Generation X, from whom she is breaking away, exhibiting typical behavior for her age. His attempts to communicate with her are frustrated by her fixation with her smartphone. However, journalist Sonia Rao judged Mark to be "the only constant presence in her life"; Mark is devoted to Kayla and later tells her he is proud of her.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: As a touring comedian, Bo Burnham suffered from panic attacks related to his performances since 2013. While his main intention was to write a story about anxiety, he chose the setting of eighth grade because of his perspective that "anxiety makes me feel like a terrified thirteen-year-old." He also reflected on his notion that eighth grade is a crucial year for forming self-awareness:


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham was also inspired by observing a girl in a mall taking selfies while alone; he believed she was concerned about her appearance. Given his career started with producing YouTube videos, he also wanted to explore the life of a character whose videos have very small audiences. Work on the screenplay began in March 2014. Kayla was not the sole protagonist in an initial draft of the screenplay, but Burnham decided to focus on her because her voice felt the most true of the characters. He decided his protagonist would be female after watching YouTube, saying, "the boys talk about "Minecraft" and the girls talk about their souls ... probably half because girls are just actually maturing more quickly and half because culture asks way deeper questions of young women earlier than men". He also liked the idea of a female protagonist to avoid "projecting" his personal memories of eighth grade as a male. The film's working title was "The Coolest Girl in the World".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: To write dialogue representing Generation Z, Burnham watched YouTube. Burnham's personal views on the differences between Generation Z and its predecessors inspired a scene where the character Trevor theorizes access to social media at an early age molded the generation's minds. Kayla and Mark's relationship is based on Burnham's relationship with his mother. Burnham viewed a teenager's relationship with their parent as a stage where "You want independence, and you also want affirmation".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, and A24 would go on to produce the movie with a budget of $2 million. A24 executive Nicolette Aizenberg remarked "Eighth Grade" was "personal" to her. Burnham spent years seeking financing, confident he was marketable with his success as a comedian. Although he had not directed a feature before, Burnham was adamant to be allowed to direct, and spent eight months before principal photography reading books such as Sidney Lumet's "Making Movies".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Fifty teenagers auditioned for the role of Kayla. Burnham discovered Elsie Fisher on YouTube and had her audition three times. Fisher, then 13, said she had struggled to find a part realistically depicting a teenager before auditioning for "Eighth Grade". Burnham cast Fisher because, "She was the only one who felt like a shy kid pretending to be confident – everyone else felt like a confident kid pretending to be shy". Fisher said one reason she was apprehensive at the first audition was that she was a fan of Burnham's comedy. She was drawn to the part because Kayla's speech mannerisms are similar to hers. She had graduated eighth grade one week before the production began. Upon reviewing the screenplay, Fisher's father shouted and swore reading the "truth or dare" scene, but made sure his daughter was comfortable with the material.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham considered Josh Hamilton to have a "dad vibe". Daniel Zolghadri was cast as Riley. Because of the "truth or dare" scene, many young actors who auditioned played the part as sinister, but Burnham coached Zolghadri to be "the opposite of creepy". Emily Robinson and Imani Lewis were teenagers when cast and both said they found the depiction of anxiety relatable. Jake Ryan, who played Gabe, remarked that in the screenplay Gabe "was supposed to be off-centered", and not knowing the meaning of this phrase, played himself.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Actual teachers and students at Suffern Middle School in New York were used as extras, with principal Brian Fox saying five to ten students were cast. During the audition process for the real-life eighth graders, one student claimed having eczema was her "special talent" and another auditioned by "eating a bell pepper like an apple." Burnham accepted this as a qualification. Band teacher Dave Yarrington said Burnham cast him because he "liked my look".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The film was shot in Suffern, New York in summer 2017, over 27 days, with shooting at Suffern Middle School in July. For the mall scenes, exterior shots were taken at Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York, while interior scenes were shot at the nearby The Galleria at White Plains.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham chose not to obscure the natural look of Fisher's skin, who wore some make-up but whose acne was left visible. Kayla's use of the phrase "Gucci!" to sign-off her video blogs came from Fisher's habit of ending conversations this way, which was also imitated by Burnham and others on set. Fisher's other habits of slouching and rubbing her arm were also incorporated into her character. The filmmakers adopted Fisher's advice that "no one uses Facebook anymore" in regards to teenagers, and it was substituted in the film with Instagram. Beyond minor changes, improvisation was rarely employed.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: To depict texting, Burnham rejected using visual effects to show messages as on-screen bubbles, as in "House of Cards". He opted for a "practical" portrayal, filming the phones themselves. Kayla's video blogs were shot with an actual MacBook Pro. Because the actual Internet was depicted, production designer Sam Lisenco and prop designer Erica Severson created many false Instagram and Twitter accounts. The filmmakers primarily used Red Digital Cinema cameras and wide lenses, with Burnham favoring the use of camera zooming.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The "truth or dare" scene was shot with only eight crew members along with Fisher and Zolghadri. Fisher had the screenplay on her lap to read when her character was looking down. She explained, "We just wanted to take a sensitive approach and just be honest about this, and portray a type of toxic event that can happen." Due to Fisher being underage when shooting the banana scene, it was similarly shot with minimal crew present.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham and editor Jennifer Lilly did not complete post-production until three days before the film's premiere at Sundance in January 2018. Fisher singing in "Masha and the Bear" at age 11 was used in the film.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Scottish electronic composer and solo musician Anna Meredith wrote and recorded the film's score in her London studio. Deliberately avoiding a "cute" score, Burnham turned to electronic music because "Kayla's experience feels so intense to her," and chose Meredith since her style was unlike "a lot of electronic music […] very cold and masculine." As her first film score, Meredith described the process as a "challenge," emphasizing that as a composer, "you don't just present the music you want. You try to do what the film needs."


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham used "Orinoco Flow" by Irish musician Enya for a montage scene of Kayla browsing social media. He wanted to use the song to convey that the social media experience was "religious" and "spiritual" for Kayla, and wrote a letter to Enya for her personal permission to use the song, which she granted.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The film premiered in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, and was subsequently screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival in April. "Eighth Grade" also screened at the Seattle International Film Festival at its closing weekend in June 2018.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: A24 gave "Eighth Grade" its limited release on July 13, before moving it to wide release August 3. The Motion Picture Association of America gave "Eighth Grade" an R rating for profanity and content about fellatio. Burnham had the option to edit the film to secure a more permissive PG-13 but chose not to do so, commenting, "It didn't feel like our responsibility to portray a reality that was appropriate for kids, but rather portray the reality that the kids are actually living in". Critics decried the MPAA's decision for denying teenage viewers a film with positive messages. MPAA representative Chris Ortman stated A24 never appealed the R rating, though having the right to do so. Burnham regretted the rating because it excluded middle school-aged youth. To get around the rating, A24 arranged one free, unrated screening in each U.S. state on August 8. Burnham approved of Canada's 14A rating. "Eighth Grade" began screening in Canadian cities on August 3.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: In September 2018, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired international distribution rights to the film. Lionsgate prepared the DVD and Blu-ray release in Region 1 with a director's commentary and deleted scenes, for distribution beginning October 9. The film was released in Belgium and the Netherlands in February 2019. United Kingdom and Irish releases occurred on April 26, 2019.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: "Eighth Grade"s opening weekend in four theaters beginning July 13 saw a gross of $252,284, an average of $63,071 per screen. It surpassed Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs" ($60,011) for the best per-screen average of 2018, and was in-turn surpassed by "Free Solo" ($75,201) at the end of September. "Eighth Grade" expanded to 33 theaters in its second weekend, grossing $794,370, and then made $1.3 million from 158 theaters in its third weekend. The film began its wide release on August 3 at 1,084 theaters, and earned $6.6 million by August 6.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: By August 16 the film earned $10.5 million, the sixth-highest grossing independent domestic film of the summer. By September 26 it had grossed $13.5 million in North America. it has grossed $14.3 million worldwide.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""Eighth Grade" takes a look at its titular time period that offers a rare and resounding ring of truth while heralding breakthroughs for writer-director Bo Burnham and captivating star Elsie Fisher." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Richard Roeper judged the film "sweet and intelligent" and credited Fisher for "an authentic and utterly natural performance". Ty Burr also cited Fisher for a performance showing "supreme awkwardness and not a shred of vanity" and Josh Hamilton for playing his part with "an empathetic cringe". "The New York Times" Manohla Dargis cited Josh Hamilton as "note-perfect". Ann Hornaday of "The Washington Post" highlighted Fisher for "a raw, radiantly generous performance". "Variety"s Peter Debruge judged the film "achingly honest" but clichéd in having Kayla infatuated with one boy (played by Luke Prael) and ignoring a better love interest (played by Jake Ryan) until the later acts.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Peter Travers hailed "Eighth Grade" as "special and unique" for its "empathy", writing it is neutral on the Internet's effects on society but Kayla is addicted to electronics. For "The New Yorker", Naomi Fry credited "Eighth Grade" with "queasy verisimilitude" and exploring the impact of social media on the lives of teenagers. "Forbes" contributor Dani Di Placido wrote the depiction of electronics was better than in most films, showing they were "powerful communicative tools that can isolate us, or bring us together, depending on how we choose to use them". Considering how Burnham first achieved notoriety on the Internet, "Chicago Tribune" critic Michael Phillips wrote Burnham was familiar with "the agitating seductions of our online lives".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: In the "Los Angeles Times", Justin Chang evaluated "Eighth Grade" as "sharp, sensitive and enormously affecting". "Entertainment Weekly" gave it an A, with Chris Nashawaty praising Burnham for capturing Kayla's anxiety and hopes, depicted "in all of their miraculous, cringeworthy, universal beauty". "The A.V. Club" named the scenes between Fisher and Hamilton to be among the "funniest, most poignant" scenes. "SF Gate" critic Peter Hartlaub wrote the comedy is combined with "pure social and sexual horror". Benjamin Lee commented on the score in "The Guardian", writing the use of electronic music was unexpected but "effective".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Media outlets also referenced actress Molly Ringwald's approval. Ringwald tweeted "I just saw ["Eighth Grade"] and thought it was the best film about adolescence I've seen in a long time. Maybe ever". Ringwald contrasted the depiction of consent in "Eighth Grade" to that in John Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" (1985), which she starred in, concluding Burnham's film was more updated. "Eighth Grade" has been favorably compared with Hughes' filmography generally.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Adam Chitwood wrote a mixed review on Collider.com, calling it "a rough draft" that needed editing to convey its points. Richard Brody in "The New Yorker" wrote the film was let down by "sentiment, stereotypes, and good intentions", and despite Fisher's performance, "Kayla remains merely a collection of traits". The "Missoula Independent"s Molly Laich compared the realism to being "drilled at the dentist".


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: The film was entered into competition for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. It had four nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Film, winning Best First Screenplay. Fisher received her first Golden Globe nomination for the film, but the film was not nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy despite reporter Kyle Buchanan considering it to be A24's best candidate for the category.


title: Eighth Grade (film)

text: Burnham and Fisher each won Breakthrough awards at the Gotham Awards. "Eighth Grade" additionally won two National Board of Review Awards, including being named in the ; the American Film Institute also included it in its annual top 10. The film was nominated for three Satellite Awards, including Best Independent Film, and three Critics' Choice Awards, winning Best Young Performer for Fisher. Additionally, Burnham won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding First-Time Feature and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.


title: Brahmanandam

text: Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956), known mononymously as Brahmanandam, is an Indian actor, comedian, impersonator, and voice actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is particularly known for his comic performances. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most screen credits for a living actor, appearing in over 1000 films to date. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Acharya Nagarjuna University. In 2009, he was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, for his contribution to Art. Brahmanandam is one of the highest-paid comic actors in India.


title: Brahmanandam

text: After completing his Master of Arts degree, Brahmanandam worked as a Telugu lecturer in Attili of West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Simultaneously, he also worked in theatre and as a mimicry artist. He made his television debut in 1985 with DD Telugu's "Pakapakalu" which received appreciation from the audience"." After watching his performance in the show, director Jandhyala cast him in the film "Aha Naa Pellanta!" (1987), which became his breakthrough role. In a career spanning over 35 years, he has garnered six state Nandi Awards, one Filmfare Award South, and six CineMAA Awards.


title: Brahmanandam

text: Brahmanandam was born on 1 February 1956 in Sattenapalle, Andhra Pradesh. His parents are Nagalingachari and Lakshmi Narsamma. His father was a carpenter and Brahmanandam was one of eight children. He completed his Master of Arts degree and joined as a Telugu lecturer in Attili of West Godavari district.


title: Brahmanandam

text: While working as a lecturer, Brahmanandam also worked in theatre and as a mimicry artist. Novelist and playwright introduced him to NCV Sashidhar of Doordarshan (DD). Soon after, he made his television debut in 1985 with DD Telugu's "Pakapakalu." His performance in the show received good response from the audience. After watching his performance in the show, director Jandhyala cast him in the film "Aha Naa-Pellanta!" (1987), which became a breakthrough role for him. The same year he appeared in the successful films "Pasivadi Pranam" and "Swayam Krushi". The first film he acted in was "Sri Tatavataram", second film was "Satyagraham," and the third film was "Aha Naa Pellanta!". "Sri Tatavataram" released later in 1988.


title: Brahmanandam

text: The following years he appeared in several Telugu films, of which, his performance in the films "Vivaha Bhojanambu" (1988), "Choopulu Kalisina Shubhavela" (1988), "Bandhuvulostunnaru Jagratha" (1989), "Muddula Mavayya" (1989), "Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari" (1990), "Bobbili Raja" (1990) and "Bamma Maata Bangaru Baata" (1990) was well praised.


title: Brahmanandam

text: Beginning from 1991, Brahmanandam has appeared in variety of comedic roles and a few intense roles. In 1991, he starred in major films such as "Kshana Kshanam" (1991) and "Rowdy Alludu" (1991)"." "The Times of India" considered the films "Chitram Bhalare Vichitram" (1991), "Jamba Lakidi Pamba" (1992), and "Yamaleela" (1994) as the films that one can never get bored of. Brahmanandam has appeared in each of these, with him being considered as one of the main reasons for these films to be successful. In 1992, he has played the lead role in "Babai Hotel" for the first time.


title: Brahmanandam

text: He won his first major awardNandi Award for Best Male Comedian for his performance as Khan Dada in the film "Money" (1993). Following the success of the film, a sequel to it, "Money Money" (1994) was also produced, in which Brahmanandam reprised his role. Griddaluru Gopalrao of "Zamin Ryot" in his review of the film "Hello Brother" (1994) praised Brahmanandam's role and his performance. His further successful films of the following years include "Alluda Majaka" (1995), "Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu" (1996), "Bombay Priyudu" (1996), "Anaganaga Oka Roju" (1997), "Muddula Mogudu" (1997), "Bavagaru Bagunnara?" (1998), "Aavida Maa Aavide" (1998), "Thammudu" (1999), "Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi" (2000), "Jayam Manade Raa" (2000), "Kalisundam Raa" (2000), and "Ammo! Okato Tareekhu" (2000).


title: Brahmanandam

text: At a felicitation ceremony in January 2008, he listed the following films as his top 11 films "Aha Naa Pellanta!" (1987), "Vivaha Bhojanambu" (1988), "Chitram Bhalare Vichitram" (1991), "Pattukondi Chuddam" (1997), "Money" (1993), "Anaganaga Oka Roju" (1997), "Anna" (1994), "Amma" (1991), "Bavagaru Bagunnara?" (1998), "Manmadhudu" (2002), "Dhee" (2007).


title: Brahmanandam

text: Brahmanandam married Lakshmi and has two sons, Raja Gautham and Siddharth. Gautham is also an actor who starred in films such as "Pallakilo Pellikoothuru" (2004), and "Manu" (2018). Gautham is married and has a son born in 2017. In January 2019, Brahmanandam underwent a successful heart bypass surgery at Asian Heart Institute (AHI) in Mumbai.


title: Brahmanandam

text: Apart from acting, Brahmanandam is also an amateur sculptor and a sketch artist. He also reads the philosophical writings of Swami Vivekananda and Jiddu Krishnamurthi in his free time.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: Wu-Tang: An American Saga is an American biographical drama streaming television series created by The RZA and Alex Tse, which premiered on September 4, 2019, on Hulu. The show portrays a fictionalized account of the formation of the Wu-Tang Clan. In January 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 8, 2021. In November 2021, the series was renewed for a third and final season which is set to premiere on February 15, 2023.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" is set in New York City during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s. It follows the Wu-Tang Clan's formation, a vision of Bobby Diggs aka The RZA (Sanders), and rise amid the dangers and excesses that came with the epidemic. Seeking his own way out, Diggs turns to rap in order to carve a path to fame going against his older brother Divine (Martinez), who favored the drug trade as the means to giving their family a better life. The story depicts how it all came together for the clan as Diggs unites a dozen young black men who are torn between music and crime. The group battles against the forces that hold them down and these include their own occasional impulse to give up the fight.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: On October 11, 2018, it was announced that Hulu had given the production a series order consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by RZA and Alex Tse, both of whom were expected to write for the series and executive produce alongside Brian Grazer, Merrin Dungey, and Method Man. Consulting producers were set to consist of Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, and GZA as well as the estate of Ol' Dirty Bastard. Production companies were slated to include Imagine Television. On January 17, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 8, 2021, with a three-episode release.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: On November 4, 2021, Hulu renewed the series for a third and final season. On December 14, 2022, it was announced that the third and final season will premiere on February 15, 2023.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: Principal photography for the series commenced in February 2019 in New York City, New York. Filming took place on locations in East Orange, Elmwood Park, Kearny, Newark, Paterson, Plainfield, and Secaucus in New Jersey.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: According to Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" was the 10th most in-demand United States streaming series, during the week of September 11, 2021 to September 17, 2021.


title: Wu-Tang: An American Saga

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 74% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While not quite as impressive as its legendary subject matter, "An American Saga" is a beautifully rendered and raw exploration of the "Wu-Tang" journey." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Robert Taylor (born Spangler Arlington Brugh; August 5, 1911 – June 8, 1969) was an American film and television actor and singer who was one of the most popular leading men of cinema.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor began his career in films in 1934 when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He won his first leading role the following year in "Magnificent Obsession". His popularity increased during the late 1930s and 1940s with appearances in "Camille" (1936), "A Yank at Oxford" (1938), "Waterloo Bridge" (1940), and "Bataan" (1943). During World War II, he served in the United States Naval Air Forces, where he worked as a flight instructor and appeared in instructional films. From 1959 to 1962, he starred in the television series "The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor". In 1966, he assumed hosting duties from his friend Ronald Reagan on the series "Death Valley Days".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor was married to actress Barbara Stanwyck from 1939 to 1952. He married actress Ursula Thiess in 1954, and they had two children. A chain smoker, Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of 57.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor was born Spangler Arlington Brugh on August 5, 1911, in Filley, Nebraska, the only child of Ruth Adaline (née Stanhope) and Spangler Andrew Brugh, a farmer turned doctor. During his early life, the family moved several times, living in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Kirksville, Missouri; and Fremont, Nebraska. By September 1917, the Brughs had moved to Beatrice, Nebraska, where they remained for 16 years.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: As a teenager, Taylor was a track and field star and played the cello in his high school orchestra. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. While at Doane, he took cello lessons from Professor Herbert E. Gray, whom he admired and idolized. After Professor Gray announced he was accepting a new position at Pomona College in Claremont, California, Taylor moved to California and enrolled at Pomona. He joined the campus theater company and was eventually spotted by an MGM talent scout in 1932 after a production of "Journey's End".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: He signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with an initial salary of $35 per week, which rose to $2500 by 1936. The studio changed his name to Robert Taylor. He made his film debut in the 1934 comedy "Handy Andy", starring Will Rogers (on loan to Fox Studios).


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: His first leading role came by accident. In 1934 Taylor was on the MGM payroll as "the test boy," a male juvenile who would be filmed opposite various young ingenues in screen tests. In late 1934, when MGM began production of its new short-subject series "Crime Does Not Pay" with the dramatic short "Buried Loot", the actor who had been cast fell ill and could not appear. The director sent for the test boy to substitute for the missing actor. Taylor's dramatic performance, as an embezzler who deliberately disfigures himself to avoid detection, was so memorable that Taylor immediately was signed for feature films.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In 1935, Irene Dunne requested him for her leading man in "Magnificent Obsession". This was followed by "Camille" with Greta Garbo.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Throughout the late 1930s, Taylor appeared in films of varying genres including the musicals "Broadway Melody of 1936" and "Broadway Melody of 1938", and the British comedy "A Yank at Oxford" with Vivien Leigh. Throughout 1940 and 1941 he argued in favor of American entry into World War II, and was sharply critical of the isolationist movement. During this time he said he was "100% pro-British". In 1940, he reteamed with Leigh in Mervyn LeRoy's drama "Waterloo Bridge".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: After being given the nickname "The Man with the Perfect Profile", Taylor began breaking away from his perfect leading man image and began appearing in darker roles beginning in 1941. That year he played the title role in "Billy the Kid", followed by the same the next year in the film noir "Johnny Eager" with Lana Turner. After playing a tough sergeant in "Bataan" in 1943, Taylor contributed to the war effort by becoming a flying instructor in the U.S. Naval Air Corps. During this time, he also starred in instructional films and narrated the 1944 documentary "The Fighting Lady".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: After the war he appeared in a series of edgy roles, including the neo-noir "Undercurrent" (1946) and drama "High Wall" (1947). In 1949 he co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor in the suspense "Conspirator", which Hedda Hopper described as "another one of Taylor's pro-British films". Taylor responded to this by saying "And it won't be the last!" However, both Hopper and Taylor were members of the anticommunist organization the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, as were Taylor's friends John Wayne, Walt Disney and Gary Cooper. For this reason Hopper always spoke favorably of Taylor, despite him disagreeing with her over what she saw as his "Anglophilia" and what he saw as her "Anglophobia". In 1950, Taylor landed the role of General Marcus Vinicius in "Quo Vadis" with Deborah Kerr. The epic film was a hit, grossing US$11 million in its first run. The following year, he starred in the film version of Walter Scott's classic "Ivanhoe", followed by 1953's "Knights of the Round Table" and "The Adventures of Quentin Durward", all filmed in England. Of the three only "Ivanhoe" was a critical and financial success. Taylor also filmed "Valley of the Kings" in Egypt in 1954.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: By the mid-1950s, Taylor began to concentrate on westerns, his preferred genre. He starred in a comedy western "Many Rivers to Cross" in 1955 co-starring Eleanor Parker. In 1958, he shared the lead with Richard Widmark in the edgy John Sturges western "The Law and Jake Wade". Also in 1958, he left MGM and formed Robert Taylor Productions, and the following year, he starred in the television series "The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor" (1959–1962). Following the end of the series in 1962, Taylor continued to appear in films and television shows, including "A House Is Not a Home" and two episodes of "Hondo".


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Robert Taylor received the 1953 World Film Favorite – Male, award at the Golden Globes (tied with Alan Ladd).


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In 1964, Taylor co-starred with his former wife Barbara Stanwyck in William Castle's psychological horror film "The Night Walker". In 1965, after filming "Johnny Tiger" in Florida, Taylor took over the role of narrator in the television series "Death Valley Days" when Ronald Reagan left to pursue a career in politics. Taylor would remain with the series until his death in 1969.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor traveled to Europe to film "Savage Pampas" (1966), "The Glass Sphinx" (1967) and "The Day the Hot Line Got Hot" (1968).


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: After dating her for three years, Taylor married Barbara Stanwyck on May 14, 1939, in San Diego, California. Zeppo Marx's wife, Marion, was Stanwyck's matron of honor. Stanwyck's surrogate father—he was her sister Millie's husband—and personal assistant, vaudevillian Buck Mack, was Taylor's best man. Stanwyck divorced Taylor in February 1951. During the marriage, Stanwyck's adopted son from her previous marriage to Frank Fay, Anthony "Tony" Dion, lived with them. After the divorce, Stanwyck retained custody of the child.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor met German actress Ursula Thiess in 1952. They married in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on May 23, 1954. They had two children, a son, Terrance, (1955) and a daughter, Tessa, (1959). Taylor was stepfather to Thiess' two children from her previous marriage, Manuela and Michael Thiess. On May 26, 1969, shortly before Taylor's death from lung cancer, Ursula Thiess found the body of her son, Michael, in a West Los Angeles motel room. He died from a drug overdose. One month before his death, Michael had been released from a mental hospital. In 1964, he spent a year in a reformatory for attempting to poison his father with insecticide.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In February 1944, Taylor helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. In October 1947, Taylor was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities regarding Communism in Hollywood. He did this reluctantly, regarding the hearings as a "circus" and refusing to appear unless subpoenaed. In his testimony concerning the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), delivered on October 22, 1947, Taylor stated: "It seems to me that at meetings, especially meetings of the general membership of the Guild, there was always a certain group of actors and actresses whose every action would indicate to me that, if they are not Communists, they are working awfully hard to be Communists." Two people already under investigation by the FBI, Karen Morley and Howard Da Silva, were mentioned as troublemakers at SAG meetings. Taylor alleged that at meetings of the SAG, Da Silva "always had something to say at the wrong time." Da Silva was blacklisted on Broadway and New York radio, and Morley never worked again after her name surfaced at the hearings. Taylor went on to declare that he would refuse to work with anyone who was suspected of being a Communist: "I'm afraid it would have to be him or me because life is too short to be around people who annoy me as much as these fellow-travelers and Communists do". Taylor also labeled screenwriter Lester Cole "reputedly a Communist", adding "I would not know personally". After the hearings, Taylor's films were banned in Communist Hungary and in Czechoslovakia, and Communists called for a boycott of his films in France. In 1951 Robert Taylor remarked "I speak out against communism now for the same reason I spoke out against Nazism a decade ago, because I am pro-freedom and pro-decency." Taylor helped narrate the anticommunist public service documentary The Hoaxters which compares the threat of international communism in the 1950s to the threat of nazism in the 30s and 40s.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election and Ronald Reagan in the 1966 California gubernatorial election.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In 1952, Taylor starred in the film "Above and Beyond", a biopic of Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets. The two men met and found that they had much in common. Both had considered studying medicine, and were avid skeet-shooters and fliers. Taylor learned to fly in the mid-1930s, and served as a United States Navy flying instructor during World War II. His private aircraft was a Twin Beech called "Missy" (his then-wife Stanwyck's nickname) which he used on hunting and fishing trips and to fly to locations for filming.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor owned a 34-room house situated on located in Mandeville Canyon in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Dubbed the Robert Taylor Ranch, the property was sold to KROQ-FM owner Ken Roberts in the 1970s. Roberts remodeled the home and put it back on the market in 1990 for $45 million. He later reduced the price to $35 million, but the ranch failed to attract a buyer. In 2010, the ranch was seized by New Stream Capital, a hedge fund, after Roberts failed to repay a high interest loan he had taken from them.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In November 2012, the Robert Taylor Ranch was put up for auction by the trust that owned it. It was purchased for $12 million by a Chicago buyer in December 2012.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: In October 1968, Taylor underwent surgery to remove a portion of his right lung after doctors suspected that he had contracted coccidioidomycosis (known as "valley fever"). During the surgery, doctors discovered that he had lung cancer. Taylor, who had smoked three packs of cigarettes a day since he was a boy, quit smoking shortly before undergoing surgery. During the final months of his life, he was hospitalized seven times due to infections and complications related to the disease. He died of lung cancer on June 8, 1969, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: Taylor's funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. Long-time friend Ronald Reagan (who was then the governor of California) eulogized Taylor. Among the mourners were Robert Stack, Van Heflin, Eva Marie Saint, Walter Pidgeon, Keenan Wynn, Mickey Rooney, George Murphy, Audrey Totter and Taylor's ex-wife Barbara Stanwyck.


title: Robert Taylor (American actor)

text: For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Robert Taylor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.


title: War in Heaven

text: In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the Book of Revelation describes a war in heaven between angels led by the Archangel Michael against those led by "the dragon", identified as the devil or Satan, who will be defeated and thrown down to the earth. Revelation's war in Heaven is related to the idea of fallen angels, and possible parallels have been proposed in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.


title: War in Heaven

text: The Christian tradition has stories about angelic beings cast down from heaven by God, often presenting the punishment as inflicted in particular on Satan. As a result of linking this motif with the cited passage of the Book of Revelation, the casting of Satan down from heaven, which other versions of the motif present as an action of God himself, has become attributed to the archangel Michael at the conclusion of a war between two groups of angels, of whom (because of the mention of the dragon's tail casting a third of the stars of heaven to the earth) one third are supposed to have been on the side of Satan, in spite of the fact that the casting down of the stars () is recounted as occurring before the start of the "war in heaven" ().


title: War in Heaven

text: Commentators have attributed Satan's rebellion to a number of motives, all of which stem from his great pride. These motives include:


title: War in Heaven

text: Satan and his angels rebelled against God in heaven, and proudly presumed to try their strength with his. And when God, by his almighty power, overcame the strength of Satan, and sent him like lightning from heaven to hell with all his army; Satan still hoped to get the victory by subtlety[.]


title: War in Heaven

text: In the "Catholic Encyclopedia" (1911) article "St. Michael the Archangel", Frederick Holweck wrote: "St. John speaks of the great conflict at the end of time, which reflects also the battle in heaven at the beginning of time." He added that Michael's name "was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers".


title: War in Heaven

text: Several modern Bible-commentators view the "war in heaven" in Revelation 12:7–13 as an eschatological vision of the end of time or as a reference to spiritual warfare within the church, rather than (as in Milton's "Paradise Lost") "the story of the origin of Satan/Lucifer as an angel who rebelled against God in primeval times." Some commentators have seen the "war in heaven" as "not literal" but symbolic of events on earth.


title: War in Heaven

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teaches that Revelation 12 concerns an actual event in the pre-mortal existence of man. The Book of Moses, included in the LDS standard works canon, references the war in heaven and Satan's origin as a fallen angel of light. The concept of a war in heaven at the end of time became an addendum to the story of Satan's fall at the genesis of time—a narrative which included Satan and a third of all of heaven's angels. Evidence for this interpretation comes from the phrase "the devil and his angels"; this specific phrasing became paramount to the reinforcement of the notion that people associated angels with the devil preceding the writing of Revelation.


title: War in Heaven

text: The LDS Church believes that the war in heaven started in the premortal existence when Heavenly Father (Elohim) created the Plan of salvation to enable humanity to become like him. Jesus Christ as per the plan was the Savior and those who followed the plan would come to Earth to experience mortality and progress toward eternal life. Lucifer, another spirit son of God, rebelled against the plan's reliance on agency and proposed an altered plan that negated agency. Thus he became Satan, and he and his followers were cast out of heaven. This denied them participating in God's plan, the privileges of receiving a physical body, and experiencing mortality.


title: War in Heaven

text: In Seventh-day Adventist theology, the Great Controversy theme refers to the cosmic battle between Jesus Christ and Satan, also played out on earth. One of the 28 fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists states:


title: War in Heaven

text: Parallels are drawn to the passage in that mentions the "son of the morning" who had "fallen from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". In verse 12 of this passage, the Hebrew word that referred to the morning star was translated into Latin as "lucifer". With the application to the Devil of the morning-star story, "Lucifer" was then popularly applied to him as a proper name. The term "lucifer", the Latin name (literally "Light-Bearer" or "Light-Bringer") for the morning star (the planet Venus in its morning appearances), is often given to the Devil in popular stories. The brilliancy of the morning star—which appears brighter than all other stars, but is not seen during the night proper—may have given rise to myths such as the Babylonian story of Ethana and Zu, who was led by his pride to strive for the highest seat among the star-gods on the northern mountain of the gods (an image present also in ), but was hurled down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympus. Stars were then regarded as living celestial beings.


title: War in Heaven

text: The "Jewish Encyclopedia" states that the myth concerning the morning star was transferred to Satan by the first century before the Common Era, citing in support of this view the "Life of Adam and Eve" and the Slavonic Book of Enoch 29:4, 31:4, where Satan-Sataniel is described as having been one of the archangels. Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high", Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his angels, and since then he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss. According to Jewish thought, the passage in "Isaiah" was used to prophesy the fate of the King of Babylon, who is described as aiming to rival God.


title: War in Heaven

text: Some scholars discern the concept of a war in heaven in certain Dead Sea Scrolls: namely, the "War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness" (also known as the War Scroll; 1QM and 4Q491–497), Song 5 of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q402), and the Melchizedek document (11Q13).


title: War in Heaven

text: In the War Scroll, according to Menahem Mansoor, the angels of light, who are identified with Michael, the prince of light, will fight in heaven against the angels of darkness, who are identified with Belial, while the Sons of Light fight the Sons of Darkness on earth, and during the last of the seven battles described in the scroll will come and help the Sons of Light win the final victory.


title: War in Heaven

text: James R. Davila speaks of Song 5 of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice as describing "an eschatological war in heaven similar to that found in 11Q13 and to traditions about the archangel Michael in the War Rule and the book of Revelation". He suggests that Melchizedek, who is mentioned both in the Melchizedek document and the fifth song of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, may be a divine warrior who is involved in the conflict with the archangel Michael in the futurist sense.


title: War in Heaven

text: That the Melchizedek document (11Q13) concerns a war in heaven is denied by Fred L. Horton, who remarks that "there is no hint in the extant portion of the 11Q Melchizedek of a revolt of heavenly beings against the heavenly council, and the only dissenting spirit is the traditional Belial"; the view of Davila, however, is that the document originally was about an eschatological war in heaven, with Melchizedek as angelic high priest and military redeemer.


title: War in Heaven

text: The motif of the fall of Satan and his angels can be found in Christian angelology and Christian art, and the concept of fallen angels (who, for rebelling against God, were downgraded and condemned to being earthbound) is widespread.


title: War in Heaven

text: Anatole France in the 1914 novel "" adapted the Christian references to make a parable about revolts and revolutionary movements.


title: War in Heaven

text: In Milton's "Paradise Lost" (1674), the angel Lucifer leads a rebellion against God before the Fall of Man. A third of the angels, including pagan angels such as Moloch and Belial, are hurled by God from Heaven.


title: War in Heaven

text: The subject of the War in Heaven has been depicted by many noted artists, both in paintings and in sculptures, including works by Pieter Paul Rubens, Guido Reni and Jacob Epstein.


title: War in Heaven

text: A choral antiphon for the feast of Michaelmas, "Factum est Silentium", paraphrases the events described in and :


title: War in Heaven

text: "Audita est vox millia millium dicentium: Salus, honor et virtus omnipotenti Deo.Millia millium minestrabant ei et decies centena millia assistebant ei.Alleluia."


title: War in Heaven

text: "The voice of a thousand thousand was heard saying:Salvation, honour and power be to almighty God.A thousand thousand ministered to him and ten hundreds of thousands stood before him.Alleluia."


title: War in Heaven

text: The antiphon has been set as a choral motet by a number of composers including Felice Anerio, Richard Dering, Melchior Franck, Alessandro Grandi and Costanzo Porta. A hymn written by the German poet and hymnodist Friedrich Spee in 1621, """" ("Invincible strong hero"), also makes reference to the Archangel Michael overcoming the dragon. Bach's cantata Es erhub sich ein Streit, BWV 19 is on this subject.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The Beer–Lambert law, also known as Beer's law, the Lambert–Beer law, or the Beer–Lambert–Bouguer law relates the attenuation of light to the properties of the material through which the light is travelling. The law is commonly applied to chemical analysis measurements and used in understanding attenuation in physical optics, for photons, neutrons, or rarefied gases. In mathematical physics, this law arises as a solution of the BGK equation.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The law was discovered by Pierre Bouguer before 1729, while looking at red wine, during a brief vacation in Alentejo, Portugal. It is often attributed to Johann Heinrich Lambert, who cited Bouguer's "Essai d'optique sur la gradation de la lumière" (Claude Jombert, Paris, 1729) – and even quoted from it – in his "Photometria" in 1760. Lambert's law stated that the loss of light intensity when it propagates in a medium is directly proportional to intensity and path length. Much later, the German scientist August Beer discovered another attenuation relation in 1852. Beer's law stated that the transmittance of a solution remains constant if the product of concentration and path length stays constant. The modern derivation of the Beer–Lambert law combines the two laws and correlates the absorbance, which is the negative decadic logarithm of the transmittance, to both the concentrations of the attenuating species and the thickness of the material sample. The first modern formulation was given possibly by Robert Luther and Andreas Nikolopulos in 1913.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: A common and practical expression of the Beer–Lambert law relates the optical attenuation of a physical material containing a single attenuating species of uniform concentration to the optical path length through the sample and absorptivity of the species. This expression is:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: A more general form of the Beer–Lambert law states that, for formula_6 attenuating species in the material sample,


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: In the above equations, the transmittance formula_19 of material sample is related to its optical depth formula_20 and to its absorbance "A" by the following definition


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Cases of "non-uniform" attenuation occur in atmospheric science applications and radiation shielding theory for instance.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The law tends to break down at very high concentrations, especially if the material is highly scattering. Absorbance within range of 0.2 to 0.5 is ideal to maintain linearity in the Beer–Lambart law. If the radiation is especially intense, nonlinear optical processes can also cause variances. The main reason, however, is that the concentration dependence is in general non-linear and Beer's law is valid only under certain conditions as shown by derivation below. For strong oscillators and at high concentrations the deviations are stronger. If the molecules are closer to each other interactions can set in. These interactions can be roughly divided into physical and chemical interactions. Physical interaction do not alter the polarizability of the molecules as long as the interaction is not so strong that light and molecular quantum state intermix (strong coupling), but cause the attenuation cross sections to be non-additive via electromagnetic coupling. Chemical interactions in contrast change the polarizability and thus absorption.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The Beer–Lambert law can be expressed in terms of attenuation coefficient, but in this case is better called Lambert's law since amount concentration, from Beer's law, is hidden inside the attenuation coefficient. The (Napierian) attenuation coefficient formula_30 and the decadic attenuation coefficient formula_31 of a material sample are related to its number densities and amount concentrations as


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: respectively, by definition of attenuation cross section and molar attenuation coefficient. Then the Beer–Lambert law becomes


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: In many cases, the attenuation coefficient does not vary with formula_40, in which case one does not have to perform an integral and can express the law as:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: where the attenuation is usually an addition of absorption coefficient formula_42 (creation of electron-hole pairs) or scattering (for example Rayleigh scattering if the scattering centers are much smaller than the incident wavelength). Also note that for some systems we can put formula_43 (1 over inelastic mean free path) in place of


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Assume that a beam of light enters a material sample. Define "z" as an axis parallel to the direction of the beam. Divide the material sample into thin slices, perpendicular to the beam of light, with thickness d"z" sufficiently small that one particle in a slice cannot obscure another particle in the same slice when viewed along the "z" direction. The radiant flux of the light that emerges from a slice is reduced, compared to that of the light that entered, by , where "μ" is the (Napierian) attenuation coefficient, which yields the following first-order linear ODE:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The attenuation is caused by the photons that did not make it to the other side of the slice because of scattering or absorption. The solution to this differential equation is obtained by multiplying the integrating factor


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Integrating both sides and solving for Φ for a material of real thickness "ℓ", with the incident radiant flux upon the slice and the transmitted radiant flux gives


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Since the decadic attenuation coefficient "μ" is related to the (Napierian) attenuation coefficient by , one also have


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: To describe the attenuation coefficient in a way independent of the number densities "n" of the "N" attenuating species of the material sample, one introduces the attenuation cross section . "σ" has the dimension of an area; it expresses the likelihood of interaction between the particles of the beam and the particles of the specie "i" in the material sample:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: One can also use the molar attenuation coefficients , where N is the Avogadro constant, to describe the attenuation coefficient in a way independent of the amount concentrations of the attenuating species of the material sample:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Under certain conditions the Beer–Lambert law fails to maintain a linear relationship between attenuation and concentration of analyte. These deviations are classified into three categories:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: There are at least six conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for the Beer–Lambert law to be valid. These are:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The Beer–Lambert law can be applied to the analysis of a mixture by spectrophotometry, without the need for extensive pre-processing of the sample. An example is the determination of bilirubin in blood plasma samples. The spectrum of pure bilirubin is known, so the molar attenuation coefficient "ε" is known. Measurements of decadic attenuation coefficient "μ" are made at one wavelength "λ" that is nearly unique for bilirubin and at a second wavelength in order to correct for possible interferences. The amount concentration "c" is then given by


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: For a more complicated example, consider a mixture in solution containing two species at amount concentrations "c" and "c". The decadic attenuation coefficient at any wavelength "λ" is, given by


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: Therefore, measurements at two wavelengths yields two equations in two unknowns and will suffice to determine the amount concentrations "c" and "c" as long as the molar attenuation coefficient of the two components, "ε" and "ε" are known at both wavelengths. This two system equation can be solved using Cramer's rule. In practice it is better to use linear least squares to determine the two amount concentrations from measurements made at more than two wavelengths. Mixtures containing more than two components can be analyzed in the same way, using a minimum of "N" wavelengths for a mixture containing "N" components.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: The law is used widely in infra-red spectroscopy and near-infrared spectroscopy for analysis of polymer degradation and oxidation (also in biological tissue) as well as to measure the concentration of various compounds in different food samples. The carbonyl group attenuation at about 6 micrometres can be detected quite easily, and degree of oxidation of the polymer calculated.


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: This law is also applied to describe the attenuation of solar or stellar radiation as it travels through the atmosphere. In this case, there is scattering of radiation as well as absorption. The optical depth for a slant path is , where "τ" refers to a vertical path, "m" is called the relative airmass, and for a plane-parallel atmosphere it is determined as where "θ" is the zenith angle corresponding to the given path. The Beer–Lambert law for the atmosphere is usually written


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: where each "τ" is the optical depth whose subscript identifies the source of the absorption or scattering it describes:


title: Beer–Lambert law

text: "m" is the "optical mass" or "airmass factor", a term approximately equal (for small and moderate values of "θ") to 1/cos "θ", where "θ" is the observed object's zenith angle (the angle measured from the direction perpendicular to the Earth's surface at the observation site). This equation can be used to retrieve "τ", the aerosol optical thickness, which is necessary for the correction of satellite images and also important in accounting for the role of aerosols in climate.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company Amstrad. In 2007, he sold his remaining interest in the company in a deal to BSkyB for £125m.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Sugar was the chairman and part-owner of Tottenham Hotspur from 1991 to 2001, selling his remaining stake in the club in 2007 as well, for £25m. He is also known for being the host and "Boss" for the BBC reality competition series "The Apprentice", which has been broadcast every year, with the exception of 2020, since 2005. He also assumed the role for "The Celebrity Apprentice Australia" for Australia's Nine Network in 2021.


title: Alan Sugar

text: According to the "Sunday Times" Rich List, Sugar became a billionaire in 2015. In 2021, his fortune was estimated at £1.21bn, ranking him as the 138th-richest person in the UK.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Sugar was born on 24 March 1947 in Hackney, East London, into a Jewish family. His father, Nathan, was a tailor in the garment industry of the East End. His maternal grandparents were born in Russia, and his paternal grandfather was born in Poland. Sugar's paternal grandmother, Sarah Sugar, was born in London to Polish parents.


title: Alan Sugar

text: When Sugar was young, his family lived in a council flat. Because of his profuse, curly hair, he was nicknamed "Mop head," a name that he still goes by in the present day. He attended Northwold Primary School and then Brooke House Secondary School in Upper Clapton, Hackney, and made extra money by working at a greengrocers. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked briefly for the civil service as a statistician at the Ministry of Education.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In 1968, aged 21, Sugar set up Amstrad with £100 of Post Office savings. He started off selling radio aerials for cars and other electrical goods out of a van which he had bought for £50 and insured for £8.


title: Alan Sugar

text: The name of the company was formed from his initials: Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It began as a general importer/exporter and wholesale; by 1970 the first manufacturing venture was underway. He achieved lower production prices by using injection moulding plastics for hi-fi turntable covers, severely undercutting competitors who used vacuum-forming processes. Manufacturing capacity was expanded to include the production of audio amplifiers and tuners.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In 1980, Amstrad was listed on the London Stock Exchange and during the 1980s Amstrad doubled its profit and market value every year. By 1984, recognising the opportunity of the home computer era, Amstrad launched an 8-bit machine, the Amstrad CPC 464. Although the CPC range were attractive machines, with CP/M-capability and a good BASIC interpreter, it had to compete with its arch-rivals, the more graphically complex Commodore 64 and the popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum, not to mention the highly sophisticated BBC Micro. Despite this, three million units were sold worldwide with a long production life of eight years. It inspired an East German version with Z80 clone processors. In 1985, Sugar had another major breakthrough with the launch of the Amstrad PCW 8256 word processor which retailed at over £300, but was still considerably cheaper than rival machines (such as the Apple Macintosh Plus, which retailed at $2599). In 1986 Amstrad bought the rights to the Sinclair computer product line and produced two more ZX Spectrum models in a similar style to their CPC machines. It also developed the PC1512, a PC compatible computer, which became quite popular in Europe and was the first in a line of Amstrad PCs.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In 1988, Stewart Alsop II called Sugar and Jack Tramiel "the world's two leading business-as-war entrepreneurs". The 1990s proved a difficult time for the company. The launch of a range of business PCs was marred by unreliable hard disks (supplied by Seagate), causing high levels of customer dissatisfaction and damaging Amstrad's reputation in the personal computer market, from which it never recovered. Subsequently, Seagate was ordered to pay Amstrad $153 million in damages for lost revenue. This was later reduced by $22 million in an out of court settlement. In the early 1990s, Amstrad began to focus on portable computers rather than desktop computers. Also, in 1990, Amstrad entered the gaming market with the Amstrad GX4000, but it was a commercial failure, largely because there was only a poor selection of games available. Additionally, it was immediately superseded by the Japanese consoles: Mega Drive and Super NES, which both had a much more comprehensive selection of games. In 1993, Amstrad released the PenPad, a PDA, and bought into Betacom and Viglen in order to focus more on telecommunications rather than computers. Amstrad released the first of its combined telephony and e-mail devices, called the "e-m@iler", followed by the "e-m@ilerplus" in 2002, neither of which sold in great volume.


title: Alan Sugar

text: On 31 July 2007, it was announced that broadcaster BSkyB had agreed to buy Amstrad for about £125m. At the time of the takeover, Sugar commented that he wished to play a part in the business, saying: "I turn 60 this year and I have had 40 years of hustling in the business, but now I have to start thinking about my team of loyal staff, many of whom have been with me for many years." On 2 July 2008 it was announced that Sugar was standing down from Amstrad as chairman, to focus on his other business interests.


title: Alan Sugar

text: After a take-over battle with Robert Maxwell, Sugar teamed up with Terry Venables and bought Tottenham Hotspur football club in June 1991. Although Sugar's initial investment helped ease the financial troubles the club was suffering at the time, his treatment of Tottenham as a business venture and not a footballing one made him an unpopular figure among the Spurs fans. In Sugar's nine years as chairman, Tottenham Hotspur did not finish in the top six in the league and won just one trophy, the 1999 Football League Cup.


title: Alan Sugar

text: After Venables was sacked by Sugar, Venables appealed to the high courts for reinstatement. A legal battle for the club took place over the summer, which Sugar won (see "Re Tottenham Hotspur plc" [1994] 1 BCLC 655). The decision to sack Venables angered many of Tottenham fans, and Sugar later said, "I felt as though I'd killed Bambi."


title: Alan Sugar

text: In 1992, he was the only representative of the then big five (Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham) who voted in favour of Sky's bid for Premier League television rights. The other four voted in favour of ITV's bid, as it had promised to show big fives games more often. At the time of the vote, Sugar's company Amstrad was developing satellite dishes for Sky, though Sugar had declared this prior to the vote. During negotiations, Sugar called Sky CEO Sam Chisholm and angrily ordered him to "blow [ITV] out of the water" with a much higher bid.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In 1994, Sugar financed the transfers of three stars of the 1994 World Cup: Ilie Dumitrescu, Gica Popescu, and most notably Jürgen Klinsmann, who had an excellent first season in English football, being named Footballer of the Year. Because Spurs had not qualified for the UEFA Cup, Klinsmann decided to invoke an opt-out clause in his contract and left for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1995. Sugar appeared on television holding the last shirt Klinsmann wore for Spurs and said he wouldn't wash his car with it. He referred to foreigners coming into the Premier League at high wages as "Carlos Kickaballs". Klinsmann retaliated by calling Sugar "a man without honour", and said:


title: Alan Sugar

text: "He only ever talks about money. He never talks about the game. I would say there is a big question mark over whether Sugar's heart is in the club and in football. The big question is what he likes more, the business or the football?" Klinsmann re-signed for Tottenham on loan in December 1997.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In October 1998, former Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham released his autobiography, in which he attacked Sugar as the reason he left Tottenham in 1997. Sheringham said Sugar had accused him of feigning injury during a long spell on the sidelines during the 1993/1994 season. He wrote that Sugar had refused to give him the five-year contract he wanted, as he had not believed Sheringham would still get into the Tottenham team when he was 36. Sheringham returned to Tottenham after his spell at Manchester United and continued to start for the first team until he was released in the summer of 2003, at age 37. Sheringham said that Sugar lacked ambition and was hypocritical. As an example, Sugar asked him for recommendations of players; when Sheringham suggested England midfielder Paul Ince, Sugar refused because he did not want to spend £4 million on a player who would soon be 30. After Sheringham left Spurs, Sugar approved the signing of Les Ferdinand, aged 31, for a club record £6 million, on higher wages than Sheringham had wanted.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Sugar appointed seven managers in his time at Spurs. The first was Peter Shreeves, followed by the dual management team of Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence, former Spurs midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles, and up and coming young manager Gerry Francis. In 1997, Sugar surprised the footballing world by appointing the relatively unknown Swiss manager Christian Gross. Gross lasted 9 months as Spurs finished in 14th place in 1998, and began the next season with just 3 points from their opening three games. Sugar next appointed George Graham, a former player and manager of bitter rivals Arsenal. Despite his earning Tottenham's first trophy in 8 years, the Spurs fans never warmed to Graham, partly because of his Arsenal connections. They disliked the negative, defensive style of football which he had Spurs playing; fans claimed it was not the "Tottenham way".


title: Alan Sugar

text: In February 2001, after speculation and confirmation on 11 December 2000, Sugar sold his majority stake at Tottenham to leisure group ENIC, selling 27% of the club for £22 million. In June 2007, Sugar sold his 12% remaining shares to ENIC for £25 million, ending his 16-year association with the club. He has described his time at Tottenham as "a waste of my life". Sugar later donated £3 million from the proceeds of the sale of his interests in Tottenham Hotspur to the refurbishment of the Hackney Empire in his native East End of London.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Sugar became the star of the BBC reality show "The Apprentice", which has had one series broadcast each year from 2005, in the same role as Donald Trump in the US version. Sugar fires at least one candidate each week until only one candidate is left. Until 2010, the winner was then employed in his company and since 2011 wins a partnership with Sugar, including his investment of £250,000 to establish their own business.


title: Alan Sugar

text: As a condition for appearing in the third series, Sugar placed a requirement that the show be more business-oriented rather than just entertainment and that he should be portrayed in a less harsh light, to counter his somewhat belligerent reputation. He also expressed a desire that the calibre of the candidates should be higher than those who had appeared in the second series (who had come across as manifestly lacklustre) and that the motives of the candidates for participating are scrutinised more carefully, given that certain of the candidates in previous series had used their successful experience in the show as a springboard to advance their own careers (as occurred with Michelle Dewberry, the winner of the second series, who left Amstrad's employment only 8 months after taking up the job). In September 2013, Sugar lost his Employment tribunal counter-claim against Stella English, the 2010 winner of The Apprentice.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Sugar has criticised the US version of "The Apprentice" because "they've made the fatal error of trying to change things just for the sake of it and it backfired."


title: Alan Sugar

text: In September 2020, it was announced that Sugar will be the new CEO on "The Celebrity Apprentice Australia" on Australia's Nine Network, replacing former CEO Mark Bouris.


title: Alan Sugar

text: "Young Apprentice" (Junior Apprentice in series 1) was a British reality television programme spin-off in which a group of twelve young people, aged 16 and 17, competed to win a £25,000 prize from Sugar. The six-part series began on BBC One and BBC HD on Wednesday, 12 May 2010, and concluded on Thursday, 10 June of the same year. It featured Nick Hewer and Karren Brady as Sugar's advisors. Karren Brady made her debut on Junior Apprentice; it aired before she appeared on the adult version. The programme concluded with Sugar awarding the prize fund to 17-year-old Arjun Rajyagor. Tim Ankers finished in second place.


title: Alan Sugar

text: The second series started in October 2011, and featured eight episodes and twelve contestants. The series was won by Zara Brownless, with James McCullough as runner-up.


title: Alan Sugar

text: Originally proposed in March 2008 and confirmed in June 2009, Junior Apprentice received mostly positive reviews from critics. Sugar's role under Gordon Brown's government sparked a debate over the BBC's political impartiality regulations in the run-up to the UK 2010 election, resulting in both Junior Apprentice and the sixth regular edition of The Apprentice being delayed.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In May 2008, Sugar made an appearance on "An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle" to pay tribute to Jeremy Beadle as they were close friends and both appeared on a celebrity special of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" in 2005.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In January 2009, Fiona Bruce presented a BBC Two documentary entitled "The Real Sir Alan". Also in 2009, Sugar appeared in television advertisements for investment bank NS&I and The Learning and Skills Council talking about apprenticeships.


title: Alan Sugar

text: In May 2011, Sugar presented "Lord Sugar Tackles Football", a documentary looking into the financial woes of English football.