title: Browser game

text: Post-2010, browser games written in other formats besides Flash remain popular, such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly. The .io domain, which was first used in 2015 by "Agar.io", has become a popular domain attached to browser games, because of its short length, the ease of acquiring the domain, and the association with programming because "io" can also stand for input/output. Subsequently, these game developers have found ways to monetize their work by creating versions for mobile devices or other platforms which they can sell.


title: Browser game

text: Many Flash games in the late 1990s and early 2000s received attention through the use of shock comedy or real-world events, like McDonald's Videogame, a satire of McDonald's' business practices, or Darfur is Dying, about the War in Darfur, Sudan. In 2017, Julie Muncy writing for "Wired" said, "Flash games lent themselves to the exaggerated and cartoonish, a style that eventually evolved into an affection-at least amongst its best creators-for beautiful grotesquerie. Like much of the younger gaming internet, Flash games defined boundaries simply to cross them; the best titles straddled a weird line between innocence and cruelty, full of gorgeous gore and enthralling body horror".


title: Browser game

text: Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp created a game called "Pico's School" based on the Columbine shootings, where the player must take down a goth school shooter. There are a few other controversies involving browser games and real-world events, such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting reenactment "V-Tech Rampage", and NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre targeting the game "Kindergarten Killers" after the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: Domenico De Sole (born 1944) is an Italian businessman, chairman of Tom Ford International, current director of Acamar Partners, former chairman of Sotheby's, and former president and CEO of Gucci Group.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: Domenico De Sole was born in Rome, Italy in 1944, the son of a Royal Italian Army General. He graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1970 with a law degree, and then received a scholarship for Harvard Law School, where he received an LLM degree in 1972.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: De Sole worked for leading U.S. law firms before becoming a partner at the Washington DC firm Patton, Boggs & Blow, specializing in tax law. One of his clients in the early 1980s was Gucci, where he helped with corporate restructuring, and Rodolfo Gucci, a son of the founder Guccio Gucci, enticed De Sole to join in 1984 as CEO of Gucci America.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: De Sole was president and CEO of Gucci Group from 1994 to 2004. During his tenure De Sole guided the brand from near bankruptcy to a luxury conglomerate that included Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Sergio Rossi. De Sole has been chairman of Tom Ford International since the company was founded in 2005.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: In March 2015, De Sole became chairman of the international auction house Sotheby's, working alongside president and CEO, Tad Smith, whose appointment was announced on the same day. De Sole stepped down November 2019 following the sale of the company.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: De Sole serves on the Boards of Pirelli and Ermenegildo Zegna. He has previously served as a director of Gap Inc., Telecom Italia, Bausch & Lomb, Delta Airlines, Newell Brands and Procter & Gamble.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: De Sole and his wife Eleanore Leavitt De Sole live on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Eleanore De Sole has served on the boards of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia, and the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: They have two daughters. Laura De Sole, Vice President, La Mer Global Product Marketing at The Estée Lauder Companies, married Benjamin Baccash in 2013. Eleanore Richards "Rickie" De Sole, Executive Fashion Director Vogue.com, married Derek Webster in 2012.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: In 2016, the De Soles sued the Knoedler gallery, New York, for selling them a fake Mark Rothko painting.


title: Domenico De Sole

text: In the 2021 film "House of Gucci", directed by Ridley Scott, De Sole was portrayed by actor Jack Huston.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: Forrest Gump is a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The title character retells adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships, to thinking about his childhood love, as he bumbles his way through American history, with everything from the Vietnam War to college football becoming part of the story.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: Gump is portrayed as viewing the world simply and truthfully. He does not know what he wants to do in life, but despite his low IQ, he is made out to be full of wisdom. He says that he "can think things pretty good", but when he tries "sayin or writin them, it kinda come out like Jello". His mathematical abilities as an idiot savant and feats of strength lead him into all kinds of adventures.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: The novel was adapted as a film of the same name and was released in 1994 by Paramount Pictures. Forrest was played by Tom Hanks and the movie won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and numerous other awards. Most recently, the film was adapted into a Bollywood movie, Laal Singh Chaddha, starring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: Forrest Gump, named after Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest, narrates the story of his life. The author uses misspellings and grammatical errors to indicate the character's Southern accent, education, and cognitive disabilities. While living in Mobile, Alabama, Forrest meets Jenny Curran in first grade and walks her home. They become the best of friends.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: By the time Forrest is sixteen years old, he is 6' 6" (1.98 m), 242 pounds (110 kg), and plays high school football. Miss Henderson, with whom Forrest is infatuated, gives him reading lessons. He reads Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and two other books that he does not remember. While he enjoys the books, he does not do well on tests.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: He gains popularity as a football player, making the All State team. When Forrest is called to the principal's office, he meets noted university coach Bear Bryant, who asks if he'd considered playing college football. After high school, Forrest takes a test at a local army recruitment center, and is told he is "Temporarily Deferred."


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: Forrest and Jenny meet again at the University of Alabama and play together in a folk music band at the student union, covering songs by such singers as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary. After one semester, Forrest flunks out of the university. He and his friend Bubba are drafted into the Army, but Bubba dies in the Vietnam War. Forrest is wounded and meets Lieutenant Dan, who has lost his legs, in the infirmary. Dan tells Forrest the he feels Forrest is destined for something great.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: While recuperating, Forrest develops a talent for ping pong, eventually playing in a tournament in China and inadvertently saving the life of Mao Tse-tung and meeting President Lyndon Johnson. He reconnects with Jenny and is arrested and institutionalized after a peace demonstration. When the doctors realize he has a talent for doing math in his head, he is recruited to be an astronaut for NASA. When 'Sue,' a male orangutan on the flight, wrecks the ship, they crash land in New Guinea and end up captives of a tribe of cannibals, whose chief teaches Forrest to play chess. After returning to the US, Forrest meets President Richard Nixon and runs into Dan, who is now homeless. They travel to Indianapolis to look for Jenny, and find her working in a tire plant. Forrest begins working as a professional wrestler, fighting under the moniker 'The Dunce.' When Dan hatches a plan to rip off Forrest's manager, Jenny leaves in disgust. Forrest, who dreams of starting a shrimp business like his friend Bubba wanted to, decides to head for Louisiana. Before he can go he meets a chess champion who realizes his talents and enters him into a competition. This doesn't pan out, nor does working alongside Raquel Welch in a remake of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon".


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: Forrest and Sue eventually make it to Bubba's hometown, and with advice from Bubba's father, start a shrimping operation. This becomes so successful that he becomes a millionaire and manages to hire most of the people he'd previously encountered in his life to work for him. He is roped into running for the U.S. Senate, but is forced to drop out when the media uncovers his checkered past. Eventually he and Sue move to Savannah, Georgia, where Forrest performs as a one man band. He finds Dan again, and runs into Jenny, who has a son, whom she reveals to be Forrest's. Forrest decides not to be a presence in his son's life, as Jenny is now married. He, Sue, and Dan move to New Orleans.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: In a 1986 book review by "Kirkus Reviews", the anonymous reviewer described the book as a "stumbling, droopy-drawered attempt at a picaresque novel". The conclusion was "A heavy-handed, one-joke sort of novel which is, finally, a cheat". "Publishers Weekly" recognized the "on-target humor here", but said that the author "has written better books than this".


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: The novel initially sold an estimated 30,000 copies. After the 1994 film adaptation was released, starring Tom Hanks, the novel sold over a million copies.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: The novel was adapted as a feature-length film of the same name by Paramount Pictures, starring Tom Hanks, and was released in 1994. It won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Hanks, in addition to numerous awards by various other film groups.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: The screenplay differs from the book in some elements. It does not identify Forrest as a person with savant syndrome. It sanitizes his sex life and reduces profanity as expressed by Forrest in the book. According to author Winston Groom, the movie "took some of the rough edges off" Forrest. He had envisioned the character being played by actor John Goodman. In addition, the movie does not include Gump's time with NASA nor other careers such as boxing. It dropped his time with the cannibals and the ape named Sue. The movie uses special effects and historic footage to have the characters appear to interact with historical figures.


title: Forrest Gump (novel)

text: In 2019 an Indian film, "Laal Singh Chaddha", starring Aamir Khan, was announced as another adaptation of "Forrest Gump". Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its release was delayed to Christmas 2021, then again to late summer 2022 "Laal Singh Chaddha" released on 11 August 2022.


title: Corn starch

text: Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or soups, and to make corn syrup and other sugars. Corn starch is versatile, easily modified, and finds many uses in industry such as adhesives, in paper products, as an anti-sticking agent, and textile manufacturing. It has medical uses as well, such as to supply glucose for people with glycogen storage disease.


title: Corn starch

text: Like many products in dust form, it can be hazardous in large quantities due to its flammability—see dust explosion. When mixed with a fluid, corn starch can rearrange itself into a non-Newtonian fluid. For example, adding water transforms corn starch into a material commonly known as oobleck while adding oil transforms corn starch into an electrorheological (ER) fluid. The concept can be explained through the mixture termed "cornflour slime".


title: Corn starch

text: A method to produce pure culinary starch from maize was patented by John Polson of Brown & Polson, in Paisley, Scotland in 1854. This was sold as "Patented Corn Flour". Brown & Polson were muslin manufacturers who had been producing laundry starch for the Paisley shawl industry and would become the largest starch producers in the UK.


title: Corn starch

text: Although mostly used for cooking and as a household item, corn starch is used for many purposes in several industries, ranging from its use as a chemical additive for certain products, to medical therapy for certain illnesses.


title: Corn starch

text: Corn starch is used as a thickening agent in liquid-based foods (e.g., soup, sauces, gravies, custard), usually by mixing it with a lower-temperature liquid to form a paste or slurry. It is sometimes preferred over flour alone because it forms a translucent, rather than opaque mixture. As the starch is heated over , the molecular chains unravel, allowing them to collide with other starch chains to form a mesh, thickening the liquid (Starch gelatinization). However, continued boiling breaks up the molecules and thins the liquid.


title: Corn starch

text: Cornstarch is usually included as an anticaking agent in powdered sugar (icing or confectioner's sugar).


title: Corn starch

text: Food producers reduce production costs by adding varying amounts of corn starch to foods, for example to cheese and yogurt.


title: Corn starch

text: Chicken nuggets with a thin outer layer of corn starch allows increased oil absorption and crispness after the latter stages of frying.


title: Corn starch

text: Baby powder may include corn starch among its ingredients. Corn starch can be used to manufacture bioplastics and may be used in the manufacture of airbags.


title: Corn starch

text: Adhesive can be made from corn starch, traditionally one of the adhesives that may be used to make paste papers. It dries with a slight sheen compared to wheat starch. It may also be used as an adhesive in book and paper conservation.


title: Corn starch

text: Corn starch is the preferred anti-stick agent on medical products made from natural latex, including condoms, diaphragms, and medical gloves.


title: Corn starch

text: Corn starch has properties enabling supply of glucose to maintain blood sugar levels for people with glycogen storage disease. Corn starch can be used starting at age 6–12 months allowing glucose fluctuations to be deterred.


title: Corn starch

text: The corn is steeped for 30 to 48 hours, which ferments it slightly. The germ is separated from the endosperm and those two components are ground separately (still soaked). Next the starch is removed from each by washing. The starch is separated from the corn steep liquor, the cereal germ, the fibers and the corn gluten mostly in hydrocyclones and centrifuges, and then dried. (The residue from every stage is used in animal feed and to make corn oil or other applications.) This process is called wet milling. Finally, the starch may be modified for specific purposes.


title: Corn starch

text: Like many other powders, corn starch is susceptible to dust explosions. It is believed that overheating of a corn starch-based powder on 27 June 2015, initiated the Formosa Fun Coast explosion in Taiwan, despite warnings on the packaging indicating that the material is flammable.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Noblezada made her Broadway debut as Kim in a revival of "Miss Saigon", a performance for which she received a nomination for a 2017 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, becoming one of the youngest nominees in the category, at age 21. She played the role of Ayla in the musical "Vanara" in a London workshop presentation on May 11th, 2018. She originated the lead role of Eurydice in "Hadestown" on Broadway, a performance for which she received her second nomination for a 2019 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, as well as winning the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Noblezada also played the title character of Rose in the 2020 film "Yellow Rose", starring alongside Lea Salonga, who originated the role of Kim in "Miss Saigon".


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Eva Maria Noblezada was born on March 18, 1996, in San Diego, California. Her father, Jon, has Filipino ancestry while her mother, Angie, is of Mexican descent. Noblezada's paternal grandparents are from Maguindanao and Iloilo. She and her family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she attended the Northwest School of the Arts until she was 17. Her aunt is Annette Calud, who played Celina on "Sesame Street" and Kim in "Miss Saigon" on Broadway.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: On July 1, 2013, Noblezada became one of five finalists for the 2013 National High School Musical Theatre Awards Her performance of the song "With You" from "Ghost" during the awards ceremony at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City was noted by casting director Tara Rubin, who arranged an audition for Noblezada, then 17, before producer Cameron Mackintosh for the forthcoming West End revival of "Miss Saigon". Noblezada was cast in the lead role of Kim.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: In the spring of 2014, Noblezada left the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte to star in "Miss Saigon" in London. For her performance as Kim, Noblezada won the 2015 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. She performed "I'd Give My Life for You" at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards ceremony.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Following the limited run of "Miss Saigon" in London, Noblezada assumed the role of Éponine in the West End production of "Les Misérables" in April 2016.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: On May 2, 2016, Noblezada made her Carnegie Hall debut, celebrating Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, performing "The Movie in My Mind" with Lea Salonga and The New York Pops.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Noblezada reprised her performance as Kim in the first Broadway revival of "Miss Saigon", which opened at the Broadway Theatre on March 23, 2017, for a limited run through January 14, 2018. For her performance, Noblezada was nominated for the 2017 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: In November 2018, Noblezada opened in the lead role of Eurydice in the Royal National Theatre's production of the musical "Hadestown". She continued in the role of Eurydice when the production transferred to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre in April 2019. She received her second Tony Award nomination for her role and won the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Favorite Leading Actress in a Musical.


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Noblezada made her film debut in the Diane Paragas film "Yellow Rose" (2019) as the title character, Rose. She starred alongside Lea Salonga, who originated the role of Kim in "Miss Saigon". The film was released by Sony Pictures Stage 6 on October 9, 2020. In 2022, she starred in the film Easter Sunday, featuring an all-Filipino cast. In 2022, Blogtalk with MJ Racadio named er one of the "75 Most Influential Filipino-Americans".


title: Eva Noblezada

text: Noblezada has been vocal about her personal struggles with anxiety, depression, bulimia, and body dysmorphic disorder.


title: Calico Jack

text: John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham was active towards the end (1718–1720) of the "Golden Age of Piracy". He is most remembered for having two female crew members: Mary Read and his lover, Anne Bonny.


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham deposed Charles Vane from his position as captain of the sloop "Ranger", then cruised the Leeward Islands, Jamaica Channel and Windward Passage. He accepted the King's Pardon in 1719 and moved to New Providence, where he met Anne Bonny, who was married to James Bonny at the time. He returned to piracy in 1720 by stealing a British sloop and Anne joined him. Their new crew included Mary Read, who was disguised as a man at the time. After a short run, Rackham was captured by Jonathan Barnet, an English privateer, in 1720, put on trial by Sir Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica, and hanged in November of that year in Port Royal, Jamaica.


title: Calico Jack

text: Little is known of Rackham's upbringing or early life, except that he was English and born around 1682. The first record of him is as quartermaster on Charles Vane's brigantine "Ranger" in 1718, operating out of New Providence island in the Bahamas, which was a notorious base for pirates known as the "Pirates' republic". Vane and his crew robbed several ships outside New York City, then encountered a large French man-of-war. The ship was at least twice as large as Vane's brigantine, and it immediately pursued them. Vane commanded a retreat from battle, claiming caution as his reason. Jack Rackham quickly spoke up and contested the decision, suggesting that they fight the man-of-war because it would have plenty of riches. In addition, he argued, if they captured the ship, it would place a much larger ship at their disposal. Of the approximately ninety-one men on the ship, only fifteen supported Vane in his decision. Vane declared that the captain's decision is considered final and despite the overwhelming support for Rackham's cry to fight they fled the man-of-war.


title: Calico Jack

text: On 24 November 1718, Rackham called a vote in which the men branded Vane a coward and removed him from the captaincy, making Calico Jack the next captain. Rackham gave Vane and his fifteen supporters the other ship in the fleet, along with a decent supply of ammunition and goods.


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham made a career of plundering small vessels close to shore once he became captain. He and his crew captured the "Kingston", a small Jamaican vessel, and made it their flagship. They made several conquests in the West Indies, taking a couple of large ships off Bermuda.


title: Calico Jack

text: In 1719, Rackham sailed into Nassau in the Bahamas, taking advantage of a general amnesty for pirates to obtain a royal pardon and commission from Governor Woodes Rogers. Rogers had been sent to the Bahamas to address the problem of pirates in the Caribbean who had started to attack and steal from British ships.


title: Calico Jack

text: In December, he captured the merchant ship "Kingston". The "Kingston" had a rich cargo, and promised to be a big score for Rackham and his crew. Unfortunately for him, the "Kingston" had been taken within sight of Port Royal, where outraged merchants outfitted bounty hunters to go after him. They caught up with him in February 1719, while his ship and the "Kingston" were anchored at Isla de los Pinos off Cuba. Rackham and most of his men were on shore at the time, escaping capture by hiding in the woods, but their ship and rich trophy were taken away.


title: Calico Jack

text: Captain Charles Johnson describes how Rackham stole a sloop in his seminal 1724 book "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates". Rackham and his men were at a town in Cuba refitting their small sloop when a Spanish warship charged with patrolling the Cuban coast entered the harbour, along with a small English sloop which they had captured. The Spanish warship saw the pirates but could not get at them at low tide, so they anchored in the harbour entrance to wait for morning. That night, Rackham and his men rowed over to the captured English sloop and overpowered the Spanish guards there. As dawn broke, the warship began blasting Rackham's old ship, now empty, as Rackham and his men silently sailed past in their new prize.


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham and his men made their way back to Nassau, where they appeared before Governor Rogers and asked for the royal pardon, claiming that Vane had forced them to become pirates. Rogers hated Vane and chose to believe them, granting them the pardon and allowing them to stay. Their time as honest men, however, did not last long.


title: Calico Jack

text: While in port, Rackham began an affair with Anne Bonny, wife of sailor James Bonny, who was employed by Governor Rogers. James Bonny learned about the relationship and brought Anne to Governor Rogers, who ordered her whipped on charges of adultery. Rackham offered to buy Anne in a "divorce by purchase", because he loved her, but her husband sternly refused. This caused Anne to flee Nassau and run away with Rackham. The pair (with a new crew) escaped to sea together, voiding Rackham's pardon, by stealing a sloop belonging to John Ham. They sailed the Caribbean for two months, taking over other pirate ships. Rackham would often invite the crew of ships that he attacked to join his own. Anne became pregnant and went home to Cuba to have the child.


title: Calico Jack

text: In September 1720, Bahamian Governor Woodes Rogers issued a proclamation declaring Rackham and his crew pirates—although it was not published until October 1720. After publication of the warrant, pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet and former pirate Jean Bonadvis started in pursuit of Rackham, who was cruising near Jamaica capturing numerous small fishing vessels and terrorizing fishermen along the northern Jamaican coastline.


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham and his crew had been sailing west, towards Negril. On or around October 31, 1720 Rackham's sloop was laid at anchor and fired a gun which caught the attention of Jean Bonadvis' sloop. Bonadvis reported this to Barnet who sailed to investigate the sloop. At 10 PM Barnet called out to the sloop and inquired who they were. The reply was "John Rackham from Cuba" and Barnet immediately ordered him to strike his colors. Someone (Barnet testified that because of it being so dark he could not identify who) replied that they would not surrender and fired a swivel gun at Barnet's sloop. Barnet ordered a broadside which destroyed the boom on Rackham's ship and his crew called for quarter.


title: Calico Jack

text: Barnet had the men put ashore at Davis's Cove near Lucea, Jamaica, where Major Richard James, a militia officer, placed them under arrest. Rackham and his crew were brought to Spanish Town, Jamaica, in November 1720, where they were tried and convicted of piracy and sentenced to be hanged.


title: Calico Jack

text: Rackham was executed in Port Royal on 18 November 1720, his body then gibbeted on display on a very small islet at a main entrance to Port Royal now known as Rackham's Cay.


title: Calico Jack

text: Anne Bonny and Mary Read both claimed to be pregnant at their trials, ten days after Rackham's execution, and so were given a temporary stay, and imprisoned at Fort Charles until the claim was proven. Read died in her cell in April 1721, most likely of fever related to childbirth. There is no historical record of Bonny's release or of her execution.


title: Calico Jack

text: George Fetherston (Master), Richard Corner (Quarter-Master), John Davis, and John Howell were executed along with Jack Rackham in Port Royal. Patrick Carty, Thomas Earl, James Dobbin and Noah Harwood were executed the next day in Kingston.


title: Calico Jack

text: The day after Rackham's trial, former crew members John "Old Dad the Cooper" Fenwick (alias "Fenis") and Thomas Bourn (alias Brown) were separately tried and convicted for mutinies committed in mid-June 1720 off Hispaniola.


title: Calico Jack

text: Nine men who had been caught drinking with Rackham's crew (John Eaton, Edward Warner, Thomas Baker, Thomas Quick, John Cole, Benjamin Palmer, Walter Rouse, John Hanson, and John Howard) were tried and convicted on 24 January 1721. On 17 February John Eaton, Thomas Quick and Thomas Baker were executed at Gallows Point, at Port Royal, and the next day John Cole, John Howard and Benjamin Palmer, were executed at Kingston. The fate of the remaining three (Edward Warner, Walter Rouse and John Hanson) is unknown.


title: Calico Jack

text: The flag commonly associated with Rackham depicts a white skull above crossed swords on a black background, and Rackham is sometimes credited with inventing or designing the Jolly Roger design. At trial, however, no witness described Rackham ever using such a flag, only noting that his sloop flew "a white pendant" (pennon). The skull-and-crossed-swords design likely dates to the early 20th century, and attaching it to Calico Jack can be traced to a 1959 book by Hans Leip.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no government funding. It can seat 5,272.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres have appeared on its stage. It is the venue for the BBC Proms concerts, which have been held there every summer since 1941. It is host to more than 390 shows in the main auditorium annually, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestral accompaniment, sports, awards ceremonies, school and community events, and charity performances and banquets. A further 400 events are held each year in the non-auditorium spaces. Over its 151 year history the hall has hosted people from various fields, including meetings by Suffragettes, speeches from Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein, fights by Lennox Lewis, exhibition bouts by Muhammad Ali, and concerts from regular performers at the venue such as Eric Clapton and Shirley Bassey.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The hall was originally supposed to have been called the "Central Hall of Arts and Sciences", but the name was changed to the "Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences" by Queen Victoria upon laying the Hall's foundation stone in 1867, in memory of her husband, Prince Albert, who had died six years earlier. It forms the practical part of a memorial to the Prince Consort; the decorative part is the Albert Memorial directly to the north in Kensington Gardens, now separated from the Hall by Kensington Gore.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1851 the Great Exhibition, organised by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, was held in Hyde Park, London. The Exhibition was a success and led Prince Albert to propose the creation of a group of permanent facilities for the public benefit, which came to be known as Albertopolis. The Exhibition's Royal Commission bought Gore House, but it was slow to act, and in 1861 Prince Albert died without having seen his ideas come to fruition. However, a memorial was proposed for Hyde Park, with a Great Hall opposite.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The proposal was approved, and the site was purchased with some of the profits from the Exhibition. The Hall was designed by civil engineers Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by Lucas Brothers. The designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the South Kensington Museum. The recently opened "Cirque d'Hiver" in Paris was seen in the contemporary press as the design to outdo. The Hall was constructed mainly of Fareham Red brick, with terra cotta block decoration made by Gibbs and Canning Limited of Tamworth.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The dome (designed by Rowland Mason Ordish) was made of wrought iron and glazed. There was a trial assembly of the dome's iron framework in Manchester; then it was taken apart again and transported to London by horse and cart. When the time came for the supporting structure to be removed from the dome after reassembly "in situ", only volunteers remained on site in case the structure collapsed. It did drop – but only by . The Hall was scheduled to be completed by Christmas Day 1870, and the Queen visited a few weeks beforehand to inspect.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The official opening ceremony of the Hall was on 29 March 1871. This had originally been scheduled for 1 May, the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the Great Exhibition, but was brought forward at the request of Queen Victoria. A welcoming speech was given by Edward, the Prince of Wales because the Queen was too overcome to speak; "her only recorded comment on the Hall was that it reminded her of the British constitution".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In the concert that followed, the Hall's acoustic problems immediately became apparent. Engineers first tried to remove the strong echo by suspending a canvas awning below the dome. This helped and also sheltered concert-goers from the sun, but the problem was not solved: it used to be jokingly said the Hall was "the only place where a British composer could be sure of hearing his work twice".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In July 1871, French organist Camille Saint-Saëns performed "Church Scene" from "Faust" by Charles Gounod; "The Orchestra" described his performance as "an exceptional and distinguished performer ... the effect was most marvellous."


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Initially lit by gas, the Hall contained a special system by which thousands of gas jets were lit within ten seconds. Though it was demonstrated as early as 1873 in the Hall, full electric lighting was not installed until 1888. During an early trial when a partial installation was made, one disgruntled patron wrote to "The Times", declaring it to be "a very ghastly and unpleasant innovation".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In May 1877, Richard Wagner himself conducted the first half of each of the eight concerts which made up the Grand Wagner Festival. After his turn with the baton, he handed it over to conductor Hans Richter and sat in a large armchair on the corner of the stage for the rest of each concert. Wagner's wife Cosima, the daughter of Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer Franz Liszt, was among the audience.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Wine Society was founded at the Hall on 4 August 1874, after large quantities of cask wine were found in the cellars. A series of lunches were held to publicise the wines, and General Henry Scott proposed a co-operative company to buy and sell wines.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1906 Elsie Fogerty founded the Central School of Speech and Drama at the Hall, using its West Theatre, now the Elgar Room, as the school's theatre. The school moved to Swiss Cottage in north London in 1957. Whilst the school was based at the Royal Albert Hall, students who graduated from its classes included Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Harold Pinter, Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1911 Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff performed as a part of the London Ballad Concert. The recital included his 'Prelude in C-sharp minor' and 'Elegie in E-flat minor' (both from "Morceaux de Fantaisie").


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1933 German physicist Albert Einstein led the 'Einstein Meeting' at the hall for the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, a British charity.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1936, the Hall was the scene of a giant rally celebrating the British Empire on the occasion of the centenary of Joseph Chamberlain's birth. In October 1942, the Hall suffered minor damage during World War II bombing, but in general was left mostly untouched as German pilots used the distinctive structure as a landmark.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1949 the canvas awning was removed and replaced with fluted aluminium panels below the glass roof, in a new attempt to cure the echo; but the acoustics were not properly tackled until 1969 when large fibreglass acoustic diffusing discs (commonly referred to as "mushrooms" or "flying saucers") were installed below the ceiling. In 1968, the Hall hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 and from 1969 to 1988 the Miss World contest was staged in the venue. In 1995, Greek keyboardist Yanni performed a concert there for his World Tour; the concert was recorded under the name of Live at Royal Albert Hall.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In the 1970s (1970–76) the hall hosted the Rothmans International Tennis Tournament, an indoor tournament which from 1973 was part of the World Championship Tennis circuit.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: From 1996 until 2004, the Hall underwent a programme of renovation and development supported by a £20 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £20m from Arts Council England to enable it to meet the demands of the next century of events and performances. Thirty "discreet projects" were designed and supervised by the architecture and engineering firm BDP without disrupting events. These projects included improved ventilation to the auditorium, more bars and restaurants, improved seating, better technical facilities, and improved backstage areas. Internally, the Circle seating was rebuilt during June 1996 to provide more legroom, better access, and improved sightlines.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The largest project of the ongoing renovation and development was the building of a new south porch – door 12, accommodating a first-floor restaurant, new ground floor box office and subterranean loading bay. Although the exterior of the building was largely unchanged, the south steps leading down to Prince Consort Road were demolished to allow construction of underground vehicle access and a loading bay with accommodation for three HGVs carrying all the equipment brought by shows. The steps were then reconstructed around a new south porch, named The Meitar Foyer after a significant donation from Mr & Mrs Meitar. The porch was built on a similar scale and style to the three pre-existing porches at Door 3, 6 and 9: these works were undertaken by Taylor Woodrow Construction. On 4 June 2004, the project received the Europa Nostra Award for remarkable achievement.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The East (Door 3) and West (Door 9) porches were glazed and new bars opened along with ramps to improve disabled access. The Stalls were rebuilt in a four-week period in 2000 using steel supports allowing more space underneath for two new bars; 1,534 unique pivoting seats were laid – with an addition of 180 prime seats. The Choirs were rebuilt at the same time. The whole building was redecorated in a style that reinforces its Victorian identity. of new carpets were laid in the rooms, stairs, and corridors – specially woven with a border that follows the oval curve of the building.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Between 2002 and 2004, there was a major rebuilding of the great organ (known as the Voice of Jupiter), built by "Father" Henry Willis in 1871 and rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 1924 and 1933. The rebuilding was performed by Mander Organs, and it is now the second-largest pipe organ in the British Isles with 9,999 pipes in 147 stops. The largest is the Grand Organ in Liverpool Cathedral which has 10,268 pipes.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: During the first half of 2011, changes were made to the backstage areas to relocate and increase the size of crew catering areas under the South Steps away from the stage and create additional dressing rooms nearer to the stage.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: From January to May 2013, the Box Office area at Door 12 underwent further modernisation to include a new Café Bar on the ground floor, a new Box Office with shop counters and additional toilets. The design and construction were carried out by contractor 8Build. Upon opening it was renamed 'The Zvi and Ofra Meitar Porch and Foyer.' owing to a large donation from the couple.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In Autumn 2013, work began on replacing the Victorian steam heating system over three years and improving and cooling across the building. This work followed the summer Proms season during which temperatures were unusually high.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 2017 work began on a two-story basement extension for use as backstage and archival space to the south-west quadrant of the building. The project is nicknamed the "Great Excavation", in reference to the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was planned to be complete for the Halls 150th anniversary in 2021.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 2018 a Walk of Fame was unveiled at the Hall, with the first eleven recipients of a star including the Suffragettes (who held meetings at the Hall), Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein (both of whom delivered speeches here), Muhammad Ali (who had exhibition events at a venue he dubbed a 'helluva hall'), and Eric Clapton (who has played the venue over 200 times), among others, who were viewed as "key players" in the building's history.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions meant the Hall was closed for the first time since the Second World War. During winter 2020 it reopened for three socially distanced performances but was later closed for a second period.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall, a Grade I listed building, is an ellipse in plan, with its external major and minor axes of 272 and 236 feet (83 and 72 meters), and its internal minor and major axis of . The great glass and wrought-iron dome roofing the Hall is high. The Hall was originally designed with a capacity for 8,000 people and has accommodated as many as 12,000 (although present-day safety restrictions mean the maximum permitted capacity is now 5,272 including standing in the Gallery).


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Around the outside of the building is 800-foot–long terracotta mosaic frieze, depicting "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences", in reference to the Hall's dedication. Proceeding anti-clockwise from the north side the sixteen subjects of the frieze are:


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Above the frieze is an inscription in terracotta letters that combine historical fact and Biblical quotations:


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Below the Arena floor there is room for two 4000 gallon water tanks, which are used for shows that flood the arena like "Madame Butterfly".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall has been affectionately titled "The Nation's Village Hall". The first concert was Arthur Sullivan's cantata "On Shore and Sea", performed on 1 May 1871.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Many events are promoted by the Hall, whilst since the early 1970s promoter Raymond Gubbay has brought a range of events to the Hall including opera, ballet and classical music. Some events include classical and rock concerts, conferences, banquets, ballroom dancing, poetry recitals, educational talks, motor shows, ballet, opera, film screenings and circus shows. It has hosted many sporting events, including boxing, squash, table tennis, basketball, wrestling including the first sumo wrestling tournament to be held in London as well as UFC 38 (the first UFC event to be held in the UK), tennis, and even a marathon.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The hall first hosted boxing in 1918, when it hosted a tournament between British and American servicemen. There was a colour bar in place at the Hall, preventing black boxers from fighting there, between 1923 and 1932. Greats of British boxing such as Frank Bruno, Prince Naseem Hamed, Henry Cooper and Lennox Lewis have all appeared at the venue. The hall's storied boxing history was halted in 1999 when it lost its licence to hold boxing and wrestling matches after complaints from residents about noise levels. In 2011, after a legal battle, the licence to host boxing and wrestling events was restored and boxing events resumed in 2012. In 2019 Nicola Adams won the WBO Flyweight title which was the first fight for a world title at the venue since Marco Antonio Barrera took on Paul Lloyd in 1999.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: On 6 April 1968, the Hall hosted the Eurovision Song Contest which was broadcast in colour for the first time. The first Miss World contest broadcast in colour was also staged at the venue in 1969 and remained at the Hall every year until 1989. Renowned Indian artist MS Subbulakshmi performed here in the year 1982.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: One notable event was a Pink Floyd concert held 26 June 1969, the night they were banned from ever playing at the Hall again after shooting cannons, nailing things to the stage, and having a man in a gorilla suit roam the audience. At one point, Rick Wright went to the pipe organ and began to play "The End of the Beginning", the final part of "Saucerful of Secrets", joined by the brass section of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (led by the conductor, Norman Smith) and the ladies of the Ealing Central Amateur Choir. A portion of the pipe organ recording is included on Pink Floyd's album "The Endless River". In 2006, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour performed at the Hall for the first time since Pink Floyd's 1969 ban. He performed at the Hall as part of his On an Island Tour. The shows were filmed and used for the live video release, "Remember That Night" (2007). Rock band The Killers recorded their first live album, Live from the Royal Albert Hall in July 2009.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Between 1996 and 2008, the Hall hosted the annual National Television Awards all of which were hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Benefit concerts include the 1997 "Music for Montserrat" concert, arranged and produced by George Martin, an event which featured artists such as Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler, Sting, Elton John, Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney, and 2012 Sunflower Jam charity concert with Queen guitarist Brian May performing alongside bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, drummer Ian Paice of Deep Purple, and vocalists Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, and Alice Cooper.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: On 2 October 2011, the Hall staged the 25th-anniversary performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera", which was broadcast live to cinemas across the world and filmed for DVD. Lloyd Webber, the original London cast including Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, and four previous actors of the titular character, among others, were in attendance – Brightman and the previous Phantoms (aside from Crawford) performed an encore.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: On 22 September 2011, Adele performed a one-night-only concert as part of her tour. The concert was filmed for DVD and screened at cinemas in 26 cities around the world. Her performance debuted at number one in the United States with 96,000 copies sold, the highest one-week tally for a music DVD in four years. After one week, it became the best-selling music DVD of 2011. As of 28 November 2012, it had surpassed sales of one million copies in the United States and sales of three million copies worldwide and makes the first music DVD to surpass sales of one million in the USA since Eagles' "Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne" in 2005 (Garth Brooks' "The Ultimate Hits" sold one million copies in 2007, but was a CD/DVD combination). The live version of "Set Fire to the Rain" taken from her performance won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: On 24 September 2012, Classic FM celebrated the 20th anniversary of their launch with a concert at the Hall. The program featured live performances of works by Handel, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Parry, Vaughan Williams, Tchaikovsky and Karl Jenkins who conducted his piece "The Benedictus" from "The Armed Man" in person.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: On 19 November 2012, the Hall hosted the 100th-anniversary performance of the Royal Variety Performance, attended by the HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Duke of Edinburgh, with boy-band One Direction among the performers.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: At a press conference held at the Hall in October 2016, Phil Collins announced his return to live performing with his Not Dead Yet Tour, which began in June 2017. The tour included five nights at the Hall which sold out in fifteen seconds.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Also in 2017, the Hall hosted the 70th British Academy Film Awards, often referred to as the BAFTAs, for the first time in 20 years, replacing the Royal Opera House at which the event had been held since 2008.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 2018, WWE held its second United Kingdom Championship Tournament on 18 and 19 June. In the same year, the world premiere of PlayStation in Concert was organised at the Hall and it featured PlayStation game music from the 1990s up until then. It was arranged by Jim Fowler and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In November 2020, One Direction member Niall Horan performed a one off live-streamed show in an empty Hall (during the COVID-19 pandemic) to raise money for charity.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 2022, Venezuelan comedian José Rafael Guzmán became the first Spanish-speaking comedian to perform at the concert hall.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Royal Choral Society is the longest-running regular performance at the Hall, having given its first performance as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society on 8 May 1872. From 1876, it established the annual Good Friday performance of Handel's "Messiah".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The BBC Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, known as "The Proms", is a popular annual eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts and other events at the Hall. In 1942, following the destruction of the Queen's Hall in an air raid, the Hall was chosen as the new venue for the proms. In 1944 with increased danger to the Hall, part of the proms were held in the Bedford Corn Exchange. Following the end of World War II the proms continued in the Hall and have done so annually every summer since. The event was founded in 1895, and now each season consists of over 70 concerts, in addition to a series of events at other venues across the United Kingdom on the last night. In 2009, the total number of concerts reached 100 for the first time. Jiří Bělohlávek described The Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival" of all such events in the world of classical music festivals.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Proms (short for promenade concerts) is a term which arose from the original practice of the audience promenading, or strolling, in some areas during the concert. Proms concert-goers, particularly those who stand, are sometimes described as "Promenaders", but are most commonly referred to as "Prommers".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Tennis was first played at the Hall in March 1970, and the ATP Champions Tour Masters was played annually every December from 1997 to 2021 before changing venues in 2022.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: "Classical Spectacular", a Raymond Gubbay production, has been performing at the Hall since 1988. It combines popular classical music, lights and special effects.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Cirque du Soleil has performed annually, with a show being staged every January since 2003. Cirque has had to adapt many of their touring shows to perform at the venue, modifying the set, usually built for arenas or big top tents instead. The following shows have played the RAH: Saltimbanco (1996, 1997 and 2003), Alegría (1998, 1999, 2006 and 2007), Dralion (2004 and 2005), Varekai (2008 and 2010), Quidam (2009 and 2014), Totem (2011, 2012 and 2019), Koozå (2013 and 2015), Amaluna (2016 and 2017), and most recently Luzia (2020). Amaluna's visit in 2016 marked Cirque's '20 years of Cirque at the Royal Albert Hall' celebration. Cirque's insect-themed show, OVO 2018.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Since 2000, the Classic Brit Awards has been hosted annually in May at the Hall. It is organised by the British Phonographic Industry.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: For 60 years the Institute of Directors' Annual Convention has been synonymous with the Hall, although in 2011 and 2012 it was held at indigO2.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Since 1998 the English National Ballet has had several specially staged arena summer seasons in partnership with the Hall and Raymond Gubbay. These include "Strictly Gershwin", June 2008 and 2011, "Swan Lake", June 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013, "Romeo & Juliet (Deane)", June 2001 and 2005, and "The Sleeping Beauty", April – June 2000.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall has a long association with The Salvation Army, hosting over 400 events since 1895. It continues to host the Salvation Army's annual Christmas concert, featuring celebrity guests and Salvation Army musicians, including the International Staff Songsters and International Staff Band.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Starting in the year 2000 the Teenage Cancer Trust has held annual charity concerts (with the exception of 2001). They started as a one-off event but have expanded over the years to a week or more of evenings events. Roger Daltrey of the Who has been intimately involved with the planning of the events.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall is used annually by the neighbouring Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art for graduation ceremonies. For several years the University of London and Kingston University also held its graduation ceremonies at the Hall.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The venue has screened several films since the early silent days. It was the only London venue to show William Fox's "The Queen of Sheba" in the 1920s.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall has hosted many premières, including the UK première of Fritz Lang's "Die Nibelungen", "101 Dalmatians" on 4 December 1996, the European première of Spandau Ballet's "Soul Boys of the Western World" and four James Bond royal world premières; "Die Another Day" on 18 November 2002 (attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip), "Skyfall" on 23 October 2012 (attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall), "Spectre" on 26 October 2015 (attended by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge) and "No Time to Die" on 28 September 2021 (attended by Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine).


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall held its first 3D world première of "Titanic 3D", on 27 March 2012, with James Cameron and Kate Winslet in attendance. Since 2009, the Hall has also curated regular seasons of English-language film-and-live-orchestra screenings, including "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Gladiator", "Star Trek", "Star Trek Into Darkness", "Interstellar," "The Matrix", "West Side Story", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Back to the Future", "Jaws", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and the world première of "Titanic Live in Concert". The only non-English-language movie to have been screened at the Hall is "" (an Indian movie in Telugu and Tamil, but premiered Hindi dubbed version).


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, one of the most prestigious prizes in the annual brass band contesting calendar, holds the Final of the Championship section at the Royal Albert Hall each October


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: There are regular free art exhibitions in the ground floor Amphi corridor, which can be viewed when attending events or on dedicated viewing dates.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Visitors can take a guided tour of the Hall on most days. The most common is the one-hour Grand Tour which includes most front-of-house areas, the auditorium, the Gallery and the Royal Retiring Room. Other tours include Story of the Proms, Behind the Scenes, Inside Out and School tours.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Children's events include Storytelling and Music Sessions for ages four and under. These take place in the Door 9 Porch and Albert's Band sessions in the Elgar Room during school holidays.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: "Live Music in Verdi" takes place in the Italian restaurant on a Friday night featuring different artists each week.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: "Late Night Jazz" events in the Elgar Room, generally on a Thursday night, feature cabaret-style seating and a relaxed atmosphere with drinks available.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: "Classical Coffee Mornings" are held on Sundays in the Elgar Room with musicians from the Royal College of Music accompanied with drinks and pastries.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Eric Clapton is a regular performer at the Hall. Since 1964, Clapton has performed at the Hall over 200 times, and has stated that performing at the venue is like "playing in my front room". In December 1964, Clapton made his first appearance at the Hall with the Yardbirds. It was also the venue for his band Cream's farewell concerts in 1968 and reunion shows in 2005. He also instigated the Concert for George, which was held at the Hall on 29 November 2002 to pay tribute to Clapton's lifelong friend, former Beatle George Harrison. Clapton passed 200 shows at the Hall in 2015.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Shirley Bassey is one of the Hall's most prolific female headline performers having appeared 45 times at the venue since 1971. In 2001, she sang "Happy Birthday" for the Duke of Edinburgh's 80th birthday concert. In 2007, she sang at Fashion Rocks in aid of the Prince's Trust. On 30 March 2011, she sang at a gala celebrating the 80th birthday of Mikhail Gorbachev. In May 2011, she performed at the Classic Brit Awards, singing "Goldfinger" in tribute to the recently deceased composer John Barry. On 20 June 2011, she returned and sang "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Goldfinger", accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as the climax to the memorial concert for Barry.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: James Last appeared 90 times at the Hall between 1973 and 2015, making him the most frequent non–British performer to have played the venue.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The hall's education and outreach programme engages with more than 200,000 people a year. It includes workshops for local teenagers led by musicians such as Foals, Jake Bugg, Emeli Sandé, Nicola Benedetti, Alison Balsom and First Aid Kit, innovative science and maths lessons, visits to local residential homes from the venue's in-house group, Albert's Band, under the 'Songbook' banner, and the Friendship Matinee: an orchestral concert for community groups, with £5 admission.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The Hall is managed day to day by the chief executive Craig Hassall and six senior executives. They are accountable to the Council of the corporation, which is the Trustee body of the charity. The council is composed of the annually elected president, currently Ian McCulloch, 18 elected Members (either corporate or individual seat owners) and five Appointed Members, one each from Imperial College London, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, British Museum of Natural History and the Royal College of Music.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: A large mural by Peter Blake, titled "Appearing at the Royal Albert Hall", is displayed in the Hall's Café Bar. Unveiled in April 2014, it shows more than 400 famous figures who have appeared on the stage.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In 1955, English film director Alfred Hitchcock filmed the climax of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" at the Hall. The 15-minute sequence featured James Stewart, Doris Day and composer Bernard Herrmann, and was filmed partly in the Queen's Box. Hitchcock was a long-time patron of the Hall and had already set the finale of his 1927 film "The Ring" at the venue, as well as his first version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934), starring Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Other notable films shot at the Hall include "Major Barbara", "Love Story", "The Seventh Veil", "The Ipcress File", "A Touch of Class", "Shine," and "Spice World".


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In the song "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles, the Albert Hall is mentioned. The verse goes as follows:


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In the song "Shame" by Robbie Williams and Take That's Gary Barlow, Barlow mentions the Hall in his verse:


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: Fittingly, the Albert Hall was the venue for Williams' first public reunion with his former band Take That, after a 14-year hiatus from the band.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: In some variants of "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball", Hitler's second testicle is mentioned as being in the Hall.


title: Royal Albert Hall

text: The nearest London Underground stations are Gloucester Road, High Street Kensington, Knightsbridge and South Kensington.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Cocktail is a 1988 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Roger Donaldson from a screenplay by Heywood Gould, based on Gould's book of the same name. The film tells the story of a young New York City business student, Brian Flanagan, who takes up bartending in order to make ends meet. The film stars Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, and Elisabeth Shue.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Released on July 29, 1988, by Buena Vista Pictures (under its adult film label Touchstone Pictures), "Cocktail" features an original music score composed by J. Peter Robinson. Despite earning overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, and winning the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture, the film was a huge box office success, grossing more than $170 million worldwide against a budget of $20 million.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Cocky Brian Flanagan, just finished with his stint in the army, heads back to NYC and is eager to land a high-powered job in the business world. When he fails, he settles for work as a bartender while attending business school during the day.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Doug Coughlin, an older and experienced bartender, takes Brian under his wing and teaches him how to flair. They become friends, with Doug giving Brian the idea for a nationwide chain of bars called Cocktails and Dreams. Brian drops out of business school and they become popular bartenders at a trendy nightclub.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Eventually, their flairing act catches the eye of Coral, a wealthy photographer and she and Brian begin dating. Doug bets Brian that the relationship won't last and, unbeknownst to Brian, tricks Coral into sleeping with him. After Coral breaks up with Brian, he has a nasty fight with Doug in front of a full bar and dissolves their partnership.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Two years later, Brian is working at a beachside bar in Jamaica, hoping to save enough money for his own bar. He meets beautiful artist Jordan Mooney and they begin a passionate relationship. Out of the blue, Doug shows up, now married to the wealthy, flirtatious and much younger Kerry, and bets Brian that he can't attract Bonnie, a wealthy older woman. Brian accepts his challenge and wins Bonnie over. Jordan is devastated when she spots Brian and Bonnie drunkenly walking to Bonnie's hotel room. The next morning, Brian regrets the fling and seeks out Jordan, only to find she has left for the United States.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Brian returns to New York with Bonnie, hoping she will get him the corporate job he wants, but soon feels marginalized and resents her lifestyle. While attending an art exhibit, Brian has an altercation with the artist in front of Bonnie's friends, leading them to break up.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Brian tries to reconcile with Jordan, but she angrily refuses. When calmer, she reveals she is pregnant with his child and does not want him in her life because she does not want to be hurt again. After he tries again to talk to Jordan, a neighbor tells him she has moved into her parents’ upscale Park Avenue apartment. Jordan's father, Richard, tries to pay Brian off, but he refuses. Jordan explains that she hid her wealth because she wanted him to love her for who she was. To illustrate how little he cares about her money, he tears up her father's check and leaves.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Brian finds Doug on his new yacht and thinks he has finally achieved the financial success they both wanted. However, Doug tells him that when his business began to fail, he invested all of Kerry's money in commodities and lost her entire wealth.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: When Brian takes Kerry to her apartment, she says she is bored with marriage and tries to seduce him, but he rebuffs her. He goes back to Doug's boat and finds him dead from suicide. Doug mailed in Brian’s suicide note and told him that his life was a fraud.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Distraught, but determined to win Jordan over, Brian tries to visit her, but is stopped by security who has been told by Jordan's father not to admit him. He fights his way up to the apartment, tells her of Doug's death and says he doesn't want to make the same mistake by being too proud to ask for help. He says his Uncle Pat has given him a loan to start his own bar and confidently predicts that he will be successful.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: When Jordan still hesitates, Brian declares his love for her, that he wants to marry her and take care of her and their child. She agrees to take him back, but Richard interferes, leading to a fight where a security guard assaults Jordan. As they leave, Richard tells them they are on their own and Brian answers that he prefers it that way.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Brian and Jordan marry and he finally lives out his dream, opening his own bar, Flanagan's Cocktails and Dreams, with hopes of starting franchises across the country. At the grand opening, Jordan whispers that she is pregnant with twins. In his happiness and much to his Uncle's chagrin, he proclaims that drinks are “on the house” and the bar is open.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: The film was based on Heywood Gould's semi-autobiographical novel published in 1984. Gould had worked as a bartender in New York from 1969 to 1981 to support his writing career. Gould said he "met a lot of interesting people behind the bar and very rarely was it someone who started out wanting to be a bartender. They all had ambitions, some smoldering and some completely forgotten or suppressed."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Gould says the lead character "is a composite of a lot of people I met, including myself in those days. I was in my late 30s, and I was drinking pretty good, and I was starting to feel like I was missing the boat. The character in the book is an older guy who has been around and starting to feel that he's pretty washed-up."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Universal bought the film rights and Gould wrote the script, changing it from his novel. He says the studio put the project in turnaround "because I wasn't making the character likable enough." Disney picked up the project "and I went through the same process with them. I would fight them at every turn, and there was a huge battle over making the lead younger, which I eventually did."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Gould later admitted that the people who wanted him to make changes "were correct. They wanted movie characters. Characters who were upbeat and who were going to have a happy ending and a possible future in their lives. That's what you want for a big commercial Hollywood movie. So I tried to walk that thin line between giving them what they wanted and not completely betraying the whole arena of saloons in general."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: "There were a lot of bartenders around like Tom Cruise, younger guys who came on and were doing this for a while—and then 10 years later, still doing it," said Gould. "It wasn't as if I was betraying the character. It was a matter of making the character more idealistic, more hopeful—he's got his life ahead of him. He turns on the charm, without the cynical bitter edge of the older guys."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Bryan Brown later said the original script "was one of the very best screenplays I had ever read. Very dark... about the cult of celebrity and everything about it... Tom Cruise is a very sweet man, he was then and still is. But when Tom came in, the movie had to change. The studio made the changes to protect the star and it became a much slighter movie because of it."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Gould says the tricks involving throwing bottles was not in the book, but something he showed Cruise and Bryan Brown. They used it and it became a prominent feature of the film.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Kelly Lynch later said the film "was actually a really complicated story about the '80s and power and money, and it was really re-edited where they completely lost my character's backstory—her low self-esteem, who her father was, why she was this person that she was—but it was obviously a really successful movie, if not as good as it could've been." She claimed Disney reshot "about a third of the film... and turned it into flipping the bottles and this and that... But we had a really great time. And Tom was so much fun, just a ball to work with, both on and off camera."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: "Cocktail" earned $78.2 million at the North American box office, and $93.3 million international to a total of $171.5 million worldwide, almost nine times its $20 million budget, and ranking as the eighth highest-grossing film of 1988 worldwide.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Despite its box office success, "Cocktail" received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 9% of 45 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "There are no surprises in "Cocktail", a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise's talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep's banal fantasy." On Metacritic, the film has a 12 out of 100 score based on 14 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" gave a negative review, calling it "an upscale, utterly brainless variation on those efficient old B-movies of the 1930s and 40s about the lives, loves and skills of coal miners, sand hogs, and telephone linemen, among others." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" was also critical, explaining that "the more you think about what really happens in "Cocktail", the more you realize how empty and fabricated it really is."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: "I was not happy with the final product," said Gould. "It got so savaged by the critics ... I was accused of betraying my own work, which is stupid. So I was pretty devastated. I literally couldn't get out of bed for a day. The good thing about that experience is that it toughened me up."


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: The official soundtrack single, The Beach Boys' "Kokomo", was commercially successful and topped the charts in America, Australia and Japan. The song was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe.


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: "Cocktail" won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay while Cruise was nominated as Worst Actor and Donaldson as Worst Director. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie Movie Guide" as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made". The film was also nominated for Worst Picture at the 1988 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to "Caddyshack II".


title: Cocktail (1988 film)

text: Additionally, Cruise's other film in 1988 was his co-starring role in the Best Picture-winning film "Rain Man", alongside Dustin Hoffman. In doing so, he became the first (and as of 2020, only) actor to star in a Worst Picture Razzie winner and Best Picture Oscar winner in the same year.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; ; ; ; ; ; ) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is also commonly identified as "Nathanael" or "Nathaniel", who appears in the Gospel of John when introduced to Jesus by Philip (who also became an apostle; John 1:43–51), although some modern commentators reject the identification of Nathanael with Bartholomew.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The name "Bartholomew" (, transliterated "Bartholomaios") comes from the "bar-Tolmay" "son of Talmai" or "son of the furrows". Bartholomew is listed among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and also appears as one of the witnesses of the Ascension of Jesus. On each occasion, however, he is named in the company of Philip. He is not mentioned by the name "Bartholomew" in the Gospel of John, nor are there any early "acta", the earliest being written by a pseudepigraphical writer, Pseudo-Abdias, who assumed the identity of Abdias of Babylon and to whom is attributed the Saint-Thierry ("Reims", Bibl. mun., ms 142) and Pseudo-Abdias manuscripts.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: In the East, where Bartholomew's evangelical labors were expended, he was identified as Nathanael, in works by Ebedjesu bar Berika, the 14th century Nestorian metropolitan of Soba, and Elias, the bishop of Damascus. Nathanael is mentioned only in the Gospel of John. In the Synoptic Gospels, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together, but no Nathanael is ever mentioned. In John's gospel, however, Philip and Nathanael are similarly mentioned together. Giuseppe Simone Assemani specifically remarks, "the Chaldeans confound Bartholomew with Nathaniel". Some Biblical scholars reject this identification, however.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Eusebius of Caesarea's "Ecclesiastical History" (5:10) states that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Tradition records him as serving as a missionary in Mesopotamia and Parthia, as well as Lycaonia and Ethiopia in other accounts.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Popular traditions say that Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India and then went to Greater Armenia.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Two ancient testimonies exist about the mission of Saint Bartholomew in India. These are of Eusebius of Caesarea (early 4th century) and of Saint Jerome (late 4th century). Both of these refer to this tradition while speaking of the reported visit of Saint Pantaenus to India in the 2nd century. The studies of Fr A.C. Perumalil SJ and Moraes hold that the Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region which may have been known as the ancient city Kalyan, was the field of Saint Bartholomew's missionary activities. Previously the consensus among scholars was against the apostolate of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India. The majority of the scholars are skeptical about the mission of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in India. Stallings (1703), Neander (1853), Hunter (1886), Rae (1892), Zaleski (1915) are the authors who supported the Apostolate of Saint Bartholomew in India. Scholars such as Sollerius (1669), Carpentier (1822), Harnack (1903), Medlycott (1905), Mingana (1926), Thurston (1933), Attwater (1935), etc. do not support this hypothesis. The main argument is that the India that Eusebius and Jerome refer to should be identified as Ethiopia or Arabia Felix.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Along with his fellow apostle Jude "Thaddeus", Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus, both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to tradition, he is the 2nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church .


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Christian tradition has three stories about Bartholomew's death: "One speaks of his being kidnapped, beaten unconscious, and cast into the sea to drown. Another account states that he was crucified upside down, and another says that he was skinned alive and beheaded in Albac or Albanopolis, near Baku, Azerbaijan or Başkale, Turkey."


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The most prominent tradition has it that Apostle Bartholomew was executed in Albanopolis in Armenia. According to popular hagiography, the apostle was flayed alive and beheaded. According to other accounts, he was crucified upside down (head downward) like St. Peter. He is said to have been martyred for having converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. Enraged by the monarch's conversion, and fearing a Roman backlash, King Polymius's brother, Prince Astyages, ordered Bartholomew's torture and execution, which Bartholomew endured. However, there are no records of any Armenian king of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia with the name "Polymius". Current scholarship indicates that Bartholomew is more likely to have died in Kalyan in India, where there was an official named "Polymius".


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The 13th-century Saint Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in Vaspurakan, Greater Armenia (now in southeastern Turkey).


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Saint Bartholomew Church (Baku) was built in 1892 at the expense of donations from the local Christian population on the site where the Apostle Bartholomew was believed to have been killed. It is believed that in this area near the Maiden Tower, the apostle Bartholomew was crucified and killed by pagans around 71 AD. The church continued to operate until 1936, then it was demolished as a part of the Soviet campaign against religion.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: According to the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Bartholomew's martyrdom is commemorated on the first day of the Coptic calendar (i.e., the first day of the month of Thout), which currently falls on 11 September (corresponding to 29 August in the Julian calendar). Eastern Christianity honours him on June 11 and the Catholic Church honours him on 24 August.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Bartholomew the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival on 24 August. The Armenian Apostolic Church honours Saint Bartholomew and Saint Thaddeus as its patron saints.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The Catholic Church of Azerbaijan and Russian Orthodox Eparchy of Baku and Azerbaijan honour Saint Bartholomew as the Patron Saint of Azerbaijan and regard him as the bringer of Christianity to the region of Caucasian Albania, modern-day Azerbaijan. The feast day of the Apostle is solemnly celebrated therein on 24 August by the Christian laity and the Church officials alike.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The 6th-century writer Theodorus Lector averred that in about 507, the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus gave the body of Bartholomew to the city of Daras, in Mesopotamia, which he had recently refounded. The existence of relics at Lipari, a small island off the coast of Sicily, in the part of Italy controlled from Constantinople, was explained by Gregory of Tours by his body having miraculously washed up there. A large piece of his skin and many bones that were kept in the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Lipari, were translated to Benevento in 838, where they are still kept now in the Basilica San Bartolomeo. A portion of the relics was given in 983 by Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, to Rome, where it is conserved at San Bartolomeo all'Isola, which was founded on the temple of Asclepius, an important Roman medical centre. This association with medicine in course of time caused Bartholomew's name to become associated with medicine and hospitals. Some of Bartholomew's alleged skull was transferred to the Frankfurt Cathedral, while an arm was venerated in Canterbury Cathedral.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: In 2003, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople brought some of the remains of St. Bartholomew to Baku as a gift to Azerbaijani Christians, and these remains are now kept in the Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Of the many miracles claimed to have been performed by Bartholomew before and after his death, two are known by the townsfolk of the small Italian island of Lipari.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The people of Lipari celebrated his feast day annually. The tradition of the people was to take the solid silver and gold statue from inside the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew and carry it through the town. On one occasion, when taking the statue down the hill towards the town, it suddenly became very heavy and had to be set down. When the men carrying the statue regained their strength, they lifted it a second time. After another few seconds, it got even heavier. They set it down and attempted once more to pick it up. They managed to lift it but had to put it down one last time. Within seconds, walls further downhill collapsed. If the statue had been able to be lifted, all the townspeople would have been killed.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: During World War II, the fascist regime looked for ways to finance their activities. The order was given to take the silver statue of Saint Bartholomew and melt it down. The statue was weighed, and it was found to be only a few grams. It was returned to its place in the Cathedral of Lipari. In reality, the statue is made from many kilograms of silver and it is considered a miracle that it was not melted down.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: In artistic depictions, Bartholomew is most commonly depicted holding his flayed skin and the knife with which he was skinned.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: St. Bartholomew is the most prominent flayed Christian martyr; During the 16th century, images of the flaying of Bartholomew were so popular that it came to signify the saint in works of art. Consequently, Saint Bartholomew is most often represented being skinned alive. Symbols associated with the saint include knives and his own skin, which Bartholomew holds or drapes around his body. Similarly, the ancient herald of Bartholomew is known by "flaying knives with silver blades and gold handles, on a red field." As in Michelangelo’s "Last Judgement", the saint is often depicted with both the knife and his skin. Representations of Bartholomew with a chained demon are common in Spanish painting.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Saint Bartholomew is often depicted in lavish medieval manuscripts. Manuscripts, which are literally made from flayed and manipulated skin, hold a strong visual and cognitive association with the saint during the medieval period and can also be seen as depicting book production. Florentine artist Pacino di Bonaguida, depicts his martyrdom in a complex and striking composition in his Laudario of Sant’Agnese, a book of Italian Hymns produced for the Compagnia di Sant’Agnese c. 1340. In the five scene, narrative based image three torturers flay Bartholomew's legs and arms as he is immobilised and chained to a gate. On the right, the saint wears his own flesh tied around his neck while he kneels in prayer before a rock, his severed head fallen to the ground. Another example includes the "Flaying of St. Bartholomew" in the Luttrell Psalter c.1325–1340. Bartholomew is depicted on a surgical table, surrounded by tormentors while he is flayed with golden knives.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Due to the nature of his martyrdom, Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners, plasterers, tailors, leatherworkers, bookbinders, farmers, housepainters, butchers, and glove makers. In works of art the saint has been depicted being skinned by tanners, as in Guido da Siena's reliquary shutters with the "Martyrdoms of St. Francis, St. Claire, St. Bartholomew, and St. Catherine of Alexandria". Popular in Florence and other areas in Tuscany, the saint also came to be associated with salt, oil, and cheese merchants.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Although Bartholomew's death is commonly depicted in artworks of a religious nature, his story has also been used to represent anatomical depictions of the human body devoid of flesh. An example of this can be seen in Marco d'Agrate's "St Bartholomew Flayed" (1562) where Bartholomew is depicted wrapped in his own skin with every muscle, vein and tendon clearly visible, acting as a clear description of the muscles and structure of the human body.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: "The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew" (1634) by Jusepe de Ribera depicts Bartholomew's final moments before being flayed alive. The viewer is meant to empathize with Bartholomew, whose body seemingly bursts through the surface of the canvas, and whose outstretched arms embrace a mystical light that illuminates his flesh. His piercing eyes, open mouth, and petitioning left hand bespeak an intense communion with the divine; yet this same hand draws our attention to the instruments of his torture, symbolically positioned in the shape of a cross. Transfixed by Bartholomew's active faith, the executioner seems to have stopped short in his actions, and his furrowed brow and partially illuminated face suggest a moment of doubt, with the possibility of conversion. The representation of Bartholomew's demise in the National Gallery painting differs significantly from all other depictions by Ribera. By limiting the number of participants to the main protagonists of the story—the saint, his executioner, one of the priests who condemned him, and one of the soldiers who captured him—and presenting them halflength and filling the picture space, the artist rejected an active, movemented composition for one of intense psychological drama. The cusping along all four edges shows that the painting has not been cut down: Ribera intended the composition to be just such a tight, restricted presentation, with the figures cut off and pressed together.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The idea of using the story of Bartholomew being skinned alive to create an artwork depicting an anatomical study of a human is still common amongst contemporary artists with Gunther Von Hagens's "The Skin Man" (2002) and Damien Hirst's "Exquisite Pain" (2006). Within Gunther Von Hagens's body of work called "Body Worlds" a figure reminiscent of Bartholomew holds up his skin. This figure is depicted in actual human tissues (made possible by Hagens's plastination process) to educate the public about the inner workings of the human body and to show the effects of healthy and unhealthy lifestyles. In "Exquisite Pain" 2006, Damien Hirst depicts St Bartholomew with a high level of anatomical detail with his flayed skin draped over his right arm, a scalpel in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. The inclusion of scissors was inspired by Tim Burton's film "Edward Scissorhands" (1990).


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: Bartholomew plays a part in Francis Bacon's Utopian tale "New Atlantis", about a mythical isolated land, Bensalem, populated by a people dedicated to reason and natural philosophy. Some twenty years after the ascension of Christ the people of Bensalem found an ark floating off their shore. The ark contained a letter as well as the books of the Old and New Testaments. The letter was from Bartholomew the Apostle and declared that an angel told him to set the ark and its contents afloat. Thus the scientists of Bensalem received the revelation of the Word of God.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The festival in August has been a traditional occasion for markets and fairs, such as the Bartholomew Fair which was held in Smithfield, London, from the Middle Ages, and which served as the scene for Ben Jonson's 1614 homonymous comedy.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: St Bartholomew's Street Fair is held in Crewkerne, Somerset, annually at the start of September. The fair dates back to Saxon times and the major traders' market was recorded in the Domesday Book. St Bartholomew's Street Fair, Crewkerne is reputed to have been granted its charter in the time of Henry III (1207–1272). The earliest surviving court record was made in 1280, which can be found in the British Library.


title: Bartholomew the Apostle

text: The Qur’anic account of the disciples of Jesus does not include their names, numbers, or any detailed accounts of their lives. Muslim exegesis, however, more or less agrees with the New Testament list and holds that the disciples included Peter, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Andrew, James, Jude, James the Less, John and Simon the Zealot.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: A Good Day to Die Hard is a 2013 American action thriller film and the fifth and final installment in the "Die Hard" film series. The film was directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane in his final film in the franchise due to Willis retiring from acting in 2022. The main plot finds McClane travelling to Russia to get his estranged son, Jack, an undercover CIA agent, out of prison. He is soon caught in the crossfire of a global terrorist plot. Alongside Willis, the film also stars Jai Courtney, Cole Hauser, Yulia Snigir and Sebastian Koch.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Talks of a fifth "Die Hard" film began before the release of the fourth installment, "Live Free or Die Hard", with Willis affirming that the latter would not be the last in the series, but pre-production did not start until September 2011, when John Moore was officially announced as the director. Filming began in April 2012, primarily in Budapest, Hungary.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: "A Good Day to Die Hard" premiered in London on January 31, 2013, coinciding with the unveiling of a "Die Hard" mural at the Fox Lot, and was released the United States on February 13, 2013. It is the only "Die Hard" film to use Dolby Atmos Surround Mixing and the only one to also be released in IMAX theaters. "A Good Day to Die Hard" was a box office success but received overwhelmingly negative reviews for its implausible action sequences, cinematography, direction, weak and clichéd script, running time, and lack of characterization, although the special effects and Willis' performance were praised. It is the first film produced by TSG Entertainment, since distributor 20th Century Fox's departure from Dune Entertainment upon the completion of their distribution contract at the end of 2012.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: In Moscow, Viktor Chagarin, a high-ranking, corrupt Russian official, plans to incriminate former billionaire and government whistleblower Yuri Komarov in a rigged trial unless he hands over a secret file believed to contain evidence incriminating Chagarin. Separately, Jack McClane, arrested after an assassination attempt, negotiates for a shorter sentence by offering to testify against Komarov.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Jack's father, NYPD detective John McClane, who has not been in touch with his son for several years, has learned he is in trouble. He flies to Russia to help. As John arrives and approaches the courthouse where Komarov is on trial, a bomb explosion, orchestrated by Chagarin's henchman Alik, occurs in the courthouse, and Jack breaks free with Komarov. Seeing his son, John confronts him, but their dispute is cut short as Alik and his men chase them in an MRAP through Moscow. John, Jack, and Komarov manage to escape.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Hiding in a safe house, John finds out that Jack is a CIA agent and has been on an undercover operation for the past three years. Jack's partner, Mike Collins, demands the file's location from Komarov so the CIA can bring Chagarin down. He eventually agrees on the condition that he and his daughter are given safe passage out of Russia. Collins is eventually shot and killed while the McClanes and Komarov come under heavy gunfire from Chagarin's men, but they escape and make their way to a hotel in the city to get the safe deposit box key containing the file. There they meet up with Komarov's daughter, Irina, as earlier planned. John grows suspicious of her shifty behavior, and is proven correct when Alik and his men burst in and tie John and Jack up, taking Komarov hostage; Irina confesses to informing on them for the "millions of dollars" to be gained. Jack manages to break free of his ties and the two manage to kill most of the guards present. Alik and Irina, with Komarov still their hostage, return in a Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter and try to kill them, but they escape again.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: That night, they steal a car full of weapons, driving to Pripyat, Ukraine, where the safe deposit box with the file is located, only to find that Komarov, Irina, and Alik are already there. In a twist, the file is revealed never to have existed: the safe deposit box with the supposed file is, in fact, a secret passage to a radioactive Chernobyl-era vault containing €1 billion worth of weapons-grade uranium. Once inside, Komarov kills Alik and calls Chagarin to gloat and listen as the latter is killed by one of Komarov's men.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: At this point, John and Jack enter the vault, discover Komarov's true plot, and capture him, but Irina and some henchmen come to her father's aid. As they attempt to escape, Jack follows Komarov, while John goes after Irina, who is escaping in a Mil Mi-26 helicopter; he sneaks into the rear compartment. Irina tries to protect her father by firing the helicopter's guns at Jack, but John is able to bring the helicopter off balance by driving a truck, still shackled by a chain, out of the cargo section via the open rear ramp. Komarov taunts Jack by saying he will get to watch his father die, prompting Jack to hurl him off the rooftop and into the path of the spinning helicopter blades, killing him. John is promptly thrown off the truck and into the building right before the truck's chain snaps.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: As Jack and John reunite inside the building, Irina tries to avenge her father by ramming the helicopter, now out of ammunition, into the building in a suicide attack. John and Jack survive by leaping off the building into a large pool of water as the helicopter crashes and explodes, killing Irina. In the end, the McClanes return home and reunite with Lucy.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Production was formally announced in 2010, with "" and "The A-Team" writer Skip Woods confirmed as the film's screenwriter. Noam Murro was originally attached to direct the film but left production to direct the "300" prequel, "". John Moore was subsequently drafted in to replace him.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: The film was originally titled "Die Hard 24/7". The media speculated that the film would be a crossover between the "Die Hard" and "24" series, with Kiefer Sutherland to reprise his role as Jack Bauer alongside John McClane. The film's title was later revealed to be "A Good Day to Die Hard"—with no further mention of any involvement from the "24" series—with a release date of February 14, 2013.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: When casting the role of Jack McClane, the studios considered several actors, including Liam Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, and James Badge Dale, before ultimately settling on Australian actor Jai Courtney. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also appeared in the film, reprising her role as McClane's daughter Lucy. However all her scenes were cut from the Extended release.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Sebastian Koch played the film's primary antagonist, Yuri Komarov, while Yulia Snigir and Cole Hauser featured as secondary characters Irina and Collins. The cast was completed by actors Amaury Nolasco as a friend of McClane, Pasha D. Lychnikoff as a taxi driver, and Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Ivan Kamaras in smaller roles.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Production began in Hungary in April 2012, with the capital Budapest standing in for Moscow. A military shooting range near Hajmáskér was used for shooting live ammunition, while vehicular stunts were shot at the Hungaroring, a Formula One racing circuit in Mogyoród.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: In July 2012, a fire broke out on the set while shooting an aerial stunt, though no one was injured and shooting resumed after a short delay.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: In creating the film's visual style, Moore wanted the camera work to be almost entirely handheld, using three 4 Perforation 35mm Arri cameras equipped with long lenses to capture tight close-ups, for Moore explained, "McClane is in a strange world, with little or no initial control over his environment. He's unable to anticipate things as he normally might. He's caught off guard, and we want the camera to mimic that surprise and confusion." Moore also chose to create as many of the film's effects on camera as possible, only using visual effects to enhance elements or paint in backgrounds.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: A specially censored version was prepared for theatrical release in the United Kingdom, which was cut for language and violence in order to attain a 12A at the request of the distributors. The U.S. version is rated R and is uncut. The film's audio was mixed in Dolby Atmos surround sound. In February 2013, director Moore began work on a director's cut, which was later released on Blu-ray.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Bruce Willis returned as John McClane, and has expressed a desire to shoot "A Good Day to Die Hard" and a sixth installment in the series before retiring the character. However, in March 2022 Willis retired from acting, due to being diagnosed with aphasia, making this the last film in the series.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: Marco Beltrami, who had composed the soundtrack for the previous film, "Live Free or Die Hard", returned to score "A Good Day to Die Hard". Beltrami again incorporates Michael Kamen's material from the first three films into his score. Beltrami only had six weeks in which to write the music, and new scenes were still being shot as the music was being recorded. In the end, he wrote around 120 minutes of music, with 80 of those minutes making it into the final film. The soundtrack album was released on February 14, 2013 digitally and in retailers by Sony Classical. Five orchestrators were involved: Pete Anthony, Jon Kull, Dana Niu, Rossana Galante, Andrew Kinny. The orchestra was conducted by Pete Anthony.


title: A Good Day to Die Hard

text: The score was programmed by Buck Sanders, with additional music composed by Marcus Trumpp and Brandon Roberts.