title: Ed McMahon

text: On April 20, 2002, McMahon sued his insurance company for more than $20 million, alleging that he was sickened by toxic mold that spread through his Beverly Hills house after contractors failed to properly clean up water damage from a broken pipe. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, became ill from the mold, as did members of their household staff, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court suit. The McMahons blamed the mold for the death of the family dog, Muffin. Their suit, one of many in recent years over toxic mold, was filed against American Equity Insurance Co., a pair of insurance adjusters, and several environmental cleanup contractors. It sought monetary damages for alleged breach of contract, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.


title: Ed McMahon

text: On March 21, 2003, the long legal battle ended with McMahon being awarded $7.2 million from several companies who were negligent for allowing toxic mold into his home, sickening him and his wife and killing their dog. In March 2007, McMahon was injured in a fall and, in March 2008, it was announced he was recovering from a broken neck and two subsequent surgeries. He later sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors claiming fraud, battery, elder abuse, and emotional distress, and accused them of discharging him with a broken neck after his fall and botching two later neck surgeries.


title: Ed McMahon

text: On February 27, 2009, it was reported that McMahon had been in an undisclosed Los Angeles hospital (later confirmed as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) for almost a month. He was listed in serious condition and was in the intensive care unit. His publicist told reporters that he was admitted for pneumonia at the time, but could not confirm nor deny reports that McMahon had been diagnosed with bone cancer.


title: Ed McMahon

text: McMahon died on June 23, 2009, shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old. His nurse, Julie Koehne, RN, stated he went peacefully. No formal cause of death was given, but McMahon's publicist attributed his death to the many health problems he had suffered over his final months. McMahon had said that he still suffered from his neck injury the past two years.


title: Ed McMahon

text: The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted McMahon into their Hall of Fame in 2010.


title: VF Corporation

text: VF Corporation (formerly Vanity Fair Mills until 1969) is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 13 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor, Active and Work. The company controls 55% of the U.S. backpack market with the JanSport, Eastpak, Timberland, and North Face brands.


title: VF Corporation

text: In October 1899, John Barbey and a group of investors established the company as Reading Glove and Mitten Manufacturing Company (or simply The Reading Glove) in Reading, Pennsylvania. Incorporated on December 4 later that year, they began with $11,000 in a factory that was leased for $60/month.


title: VF Corporation

text: Expanding into silk lingerie in 1913, The Reading Glove was renamed Schuylkill Silk Manufacturing, branding its lingerie line as Vanity Fair. Soon thereafter, the company name changed in turn to Vanity Fair Mills, eventually going public in 1951.


title: VF Corporation

text: In 1969, the H.D. Lee Company (now Lee) was acquired, accompanied by Vanity Fair Mills changing to VF Corporation. By 1982 VF posted profits of $15.5 million on sales of $184 million. Acquiring Blue Bell Inc. for US$762 million in 1986, VF added Wrangler, JanSport, Rustler, Jantzen, and Red Kap to its portfolio, effectively doubling its size and making it the largest publicly-held clothing company. VF would also become one of the two largest jeans makers in the world, making up 25% of the market.


title: VF Corporation

text: In 1998, VF moved its headquarters from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania to Greensboro, North Carolina to be closer to more of its operations. Also in the 1990s, VF would acquire the Bulwark Apparel brand.


title: VF Corporation

text: In the early 2000s, VF's acquisitions included The North Face and Eastpak in 2000; and Kipling (brand), Napapijri, and Vans in 2004. The company sold its 'Vanity Fair Intimates' lingerie business to Fruit of the Loom for US$350 million in cash on 23 January 2007. Later that month, VF acquired Eagle Creek. Also in 2007, VF acquired Majestic Athletic on February 28, followed by a $885-million purchase of 7 for all Mankind and Lucy Activewear on July 26.


title: VF Corporation

text: Eric C. Wiseman became President, CEO, and Chairman in 2008, the same year that VF would acquire Mo Industries Holdings, parent company of sportswear brands Splendid and Ella Moss.


title: VF Corporation

text: In 2011, VF Corporation announced its intention to purchase Timberland for $2.2 billion, a deal that would close in September that year. On 21 December 2012, VF Imagewear was awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to provide uniforms and insignia for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. In February 2013, Imagewear was awarded a $50 million contract to manufacture uniforms for Transportation Security Administration officers.


title: VF Corporation

text: Effective 1 January 2017 Steve Rendle took over CEO and President responsibilities. In 2017, VF acquired Williamson-Dickie’s brands, including Dickies, Workrite, Kodiak, Terra, and Walls. The next year, VF would acquire Icebreaker, complementing its Smartwool brand, as both feature Merino wool in its clothing and accessories. In 2020, VF acquired streetwear brand Supreme for US$2.1 billion.


title: VF Corporation

text: In 2021, VF announced a definitive agreement to sell a portion of its occupational Work segment to a subsidiary of Redwood Capital Investments, LLC. On June 28, 2021, the sale was finalized, and the 11 divested brands became part of a new standalone company, "Workwear Outfitters".


title: VF Corporation

text: In September 2021, it was announced that the former president of emerging brands of VF Corporation Travis Campbell will acquire the Eagle Creek brand. The sale includes all Eagle Creek assets and liabilities. It does not include any Eagle Creek or VF associates.


title: VF Corporation

text: In August 2018, it was announced that VF would be splitting into two separate companies. The jeans and outlet stores would be spun off as Kontoor Brands. VF kept the sports apparel and footwear businesses, and moved its corporate headquarters (and around 800 employees) to Denver, Colorado. An 11-story office building at 1551 Wewatta Street near Denver Union Station would become VF's new corporate headquarters. All brands which until 2018 had maintained separate divisional headquarters (e.g., Jansport) were also consolidated into VF's new Denver headquarters at that point in time.


title: VF Corporation

text: Kontoor Brands Inc. became a separate company with the stock symbol KTB in May 2019. Kontoor includes Lee, Wrangler, Rock & Republic and VF Outlets. The company had 17,000 employees, 600 at the headquarters, at 400 North Elm Street in Greensboro, and merchandising, design, product development and innovation at Revolution Mill. A support center is located on South Elm-Eugene Street. Lee moved to Elm Street from Merriam, Kansas. CEO Scott Baxter said the name Kontoor referred to the "contour" of the body, but the original spelling could not be used.


title: VF Corporation

text: In 1970, it was the suggestion of M.O. Lee, then President of VF Corporation, that established the VF Outlet business. Surplus products from VF sources including Berkshire International and Vanity Fair were sold to the public from a 5,000 square foot factory store, with only a drop cloth separating it from the company's manufacturing facility. In doing so, VF Corporation created a brand-new retail industry, the outlet mall. The first VF Outlet factory store opened in Reading, Pennsylvania. The outlet mall, located in Vanity Fair's old manufacturing mills, was dubbed the official "Outlet Capital of the World." The corporate name was changed from VF Outlet Village to VF Outlet Center in 2008. Today, the VF Outlet Center is owned and operated by VF Outlet, Inc. with over 1,000,000 square feet of retail space and more than 20 stores. The VF Outlet location in Reading, Pennsylvania closed on December 24, 2020.


title: VF Corporation

text: VF Outlet stores offer everyday apparel including brand name jeans, intimate apparel, activewear, swimwear, and more for women, men and children. The company currently operates 79 stores in 31 states nationwide.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite having willingly surrendered to Caesar, he was executed in Rome.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Vercingetorix was the son of Celtillus the Arvernian, leader of the Gallic tribes. Vercingetorix came to power after his formal designation as chieftain of the Arverni at the oppidum Gergovia in 52 BC. He immediately established an alliance with other Gallic tribes, took command, combined all forces and led them in the Celts' most significant revolt against Roman power. He won the Battle of Gergovia against Julius Caesar in which several thousand Romans and their allies were killed and the Roman legions withdrew.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Caesar had been able to exploit Gaulish internal divisions to easily subjugate the country, and Vercingetorix's attempt to unite the Gauls against Roman invasion came too late. At the Battle of Alesia, also in 52 BC, the Romans besieged and defeated his forces; to save as many of his men as possible, he gave himself to the Romans. He was held prisoner for five years. In 46 BC, as part of Caesar's triumph, he was paraded through the streets of Rome and then executed by garroting. Vercingetorix is primarily known through Caesar's (Commentaries on the Gallic War). To this day, he is considered a folk hero in Auvergne, his native region.


title: Vercingetorix

text: The Gaulish name "Vercingetorix" literally means 'great/supreme king/leader of warriors/heroes'. It is a compound of the prefix "ver-" ('over, superior'; cf. Old Irish "for", Old Welsh/Old Breton "guor", Cornish "gor"), attached to "-cingeto-" ('warrior, hero', from a PIE stem meaning 'tread, step, walk'; cf. Old Irish "cinged"), and "-rix" ('king'; cf. Celtiberian "reikis", Old Irish "rí", Old Welsh "ri"). Scholar Maigréad Ní C. Dobbs has proposed to see an Irish cognate of the name in the form "Ferchinged an rí". In his "Life of Caesar", Plutarch renders the name as "Vergentorix" (Ουεργεντοριξ). According to Florus, he was "endowed [...] with a name which seemed to be intended to inspire terror".


title: Vercingetorix

text: Having been appointed governor of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis (modern Provence) in 58 BC, Julius Caesar proceeded to conquer the Gallic tribes beyond over the next few years, maintaining control through a careful divide and rule strategy. He made use of the factionalism among the Gallic elites, favouring certain noblemen over others with political support and Roman luxuries such as wine. Attempts at revolt, such as that of Ambiorix in 54 BC, had secured only local support, but Vercingetorix, whose father, Celtillus, had been put to death by his own countrymen for seeking to rule all of Gaul, managed to unify the Gallic tribes against the Romans and adopted more current styles of warfare.


title: Vercingetorix

text: The revolt that Vercingetorix came to lead began in early 52 BC while Caesar was raising troops in Cisalpine Gaul. Believing that Caesar would be distracted by the turmoil in Rome following the death of Publius Clodius Pulcher, the Carnutes, under Cotuatus and Conetodunus, made the first move, slaughtering the Romans who had settled in their territory.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Vercingetorix, a young nobleman of the Arvernian city of Gergovia, roused his dependents to join the revolt, but he and his followers were expelled by Vercingetorix's uncle Gobanitio and the rest of the nobles because they thought that opposing Caesar was too great a risk. Undeterred, Vercingetorix raised an army of the poor, took Gergovia, and was hailed as king.


title: Vercingetorix

text: He made alliances with other tribes, and in doing so he united Gaul under the pretense of escaping Roman rule. After having been unanimously given supreme command of their armies, he imposed his authority through harsh discipline and the taking of hostages. Leadership and unification on this level was unprecedented in Gaul and would not happen again for decades.


title: Vercingetorix

text: He adopted a policy of retreating to natural fortifications, and undertook an early example of a scorched earth strategy by burning towns to prevent the Roman legions from living off the land.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Vercingetorix scorched much of the land marching north with his army from Gergovia in an attempt to deprive Caesar of the resources and safe haven of the towns and villages along Caesar's march south.


title: Vercingetorix

text: However, the capital of the Bituriges, Avaricum (near modern-day Bourges), a Gallic settlement directly in Caesar's path, was spared. Due to the town's strong protests, naturally defensible terrain, and apparently strong man-made reinforcing defenses, Vercingetorix decided against razing and burning it. Leaving the town to its fate, Vercingetorix camped well outside of Avaricum and focused on conducting harassing engagements of the advancing Roman units led by Caesar and his chief lieutenant Titus Labienus. Upon reaching Avaricum, however, the Romans laid siege and eventually captured the capital.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Afterwards, in a reprisal for 25 days of hunger and of laboring over the siegeworks required to breach Avaricum's defenses, the Romans slaughtered nearly the entire population, some 40,000 people, leaving only about 800 alive.


title: Vercingetorix

text: The next major battle was at Gergovia, capital city of the Arverni. During the battle, Vercingetorix and his warriors crushed Caesar's legions and allies, inflicting heavy losses. Vercingetorix then decided to follow Caesar but suffered heavy losses (as did the Romans and their allies) during a cavalry battle and he retreated and moved to another stronghold, Alesia.


title: Vercingetorix

text: In the Battle of Alesia in September 52 BC, Caesar built a fortification around the city to besiege it. However, Vercingetorix had summoned his Gallic allies to attack the besieging Romans. These forces included an army of Arverni led by Vercingetorix's cousin Vercassivellaunos and an army of 10,000 Lemovices led by Sedullos.


title: Vercingetorix

text: With the Roman circumvallation surrounded by the rest of Gaul, Caesar built another outward-facing fortification (a contravallation) against the expected relief armies, resulting in a doughnut-shaped fortification. The Gallic relief came in insufficient numbers: estimates range from 80,000 to 250,000 soldiers. Vercingetorix, the tactical leader, was cut off from them on the inside, and without his guidance the attacks were initially unsuccessful. However, the attacks did reveal a weak point in the fortifications and the combined forces on the inside and the outside almost made a breakthrough. Only when Caesar personally led the last reserves into battle did he finally manage to prevail. This was a decisive battle in the creation of the Roman Empire.


title: Vercingetorix

text: According to Plutarch, "Caes". 27.8-10, Vercingetorix surrendered in a dramatic fashion, riding his beautifully adorned horse out of Alesia and around Caesar's camp before dismounting in front of Caesar, stripping himself of his armor and sitting down at his opponent's feet, where he remained motionless until he was taken away. Caesar provides a first-hand contradiction of this account, "De Bell. Gal". 7.89, describing Vercingetorix's surrender much more modestly.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Vercingetorix was imprisoned in the Tullianum in Rome for almost six years before being publicly displayed in the first of Caesar's four triumphs in 46 BC. He was ceremonially strangled at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus after the triumph. A plaque in the Tullianum indicates that he was beheaded in 49 BC.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Napoleon III erected a Vercingétorix monument in 1865, created by the sculptor Aimé Millet, on the supposed site of Alesia. The architect for the memorial was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The statue still stands. The inscription on the base, written by Viollet-le-Duc, which copied the famous statement of Julius Caesar, reads (in French):


title: Vercingetorix

text: Many other monumental statues of Vercingetorix were erected in France during the 19th century, including one by Frédéric Bartholdi on the Place de Jaude in Clermont-Ferrand.


title: Vercingetorix

text: Asteroid 52963 Vercingetorix, discovered by the OCA–DLR Asteroid Survey, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 2018 ().


title: Lada

text: Lada (, ), marketed as LADA) is a brand of cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ (originally VAZ), a Russian state-owned company. From January 2021 until May 2022, Lada was integrated with then sister brand Dacia into Renault's Lada-Dacia business unit.


title: Lada

text: The first cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ were produced with technical assistance from Fiat and marketed under the Zhiguli designation. The Lada brand appeared in 1973, initially being overseas-focused before becoming AvtoVAZ's main brand for all markets in the 1990s. Renault took control of the brand in 2016. Technical assistance from the French company started in 2008, after it acquired a minority AvtoVAZ stake. Lada was re-acquired by the Russian government in 2022.


title: Lada

text: Outside of the Eastern Bloc, Ladas were aimed squarely at the budget end of the market, where they were often as little as half the price of contemporary Western vehicles of the period. Lada vehicles are positioned as affordable and offering good value for money.


title: Lada

text: Automaker AvtoVAZ was formed from a collaboration between Fiat and the Soviet Vneshtorg (Department of Foreign Trade), and is based in the city of Tolyatti on the Volga River. Both sides discussed the proposal in Moscow, where Gianni Agnelli, the owner and nephew of the founder of Fiat, and Vittorio Valletta, the president of the company, had arrived from Italy. The first preliminary agreement was signed on 1 July 1965. On 4 May 1966, the Soviet minister of the automotive industry Alexander Tarasov and Vittorio Valletta put their signatures on a protocol on the scientific and technical cooperation between Fiat and the Soviet ministry. Eventually, a general agreement between the two sides was signed in Moscow on 15 August 1966.


title: Lada

text: The company began producing the VAZ-2101 in 1970, which was a more rugged version of the Fiat 124 sedan. The car was given heavier steel body panels and strengthened components, which improved reliability on bumpy roads and in the harsh winters of the Soviet Union.


title: Lada

text: The first cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ with technical assistance from Fiat were marketed under the Zhiguli designation, allegedly chosen after it was suggested by designer, A. M. Cherny. When the cars began to be exported on foreign markets, the Zhiguli designation was found to be inappropriate, as it was hard to pronounce for non-Russian speakers, and it was said to resemble the word "gigolo" too closely. Lada become the brand for export markets. Due to the scarcity of auto-repair shops in the Soviet Union, Ladas were designed to be easily maintained by their owners. The rugged Lada was popular in Europe, Canada, and South America for customers looking for more affordable alternatives to local brands, and sales of the new cars were extremely successful, reaching as far as New Zealand. In the West, their construction was frequently described as cheap, and that inspired jokes at the car's expense; nonetheless, Lada "gained a reputation as a maker of solid, unpretentious, and reliable cars for motorists who wanted to drive on a budget." The Lada brand appeared in 1973, and it has since become the main brand for AvtoVAZ vehicles.


title: Lada

text: Since the original Fiat engine did not have any space for modernization, it was replaced with a new overhead camshaft engine. The car was equipped with rugged drum brakes, as the latter proved to be more reliable on poor roads. More reliable and up-to-date front and rear suspension with increased ground clearance, a modernized transmission, and recessed door handles were also fitted. The work on the new car was conducted by joint groups of NAMI and Fiat engineers, who worked together in Turin and Tolyatti. By the spring of 1970, AvtoVAZ had formed its own team of designers and engineers and worked independently.


title: Lada

text: After having built several prototypes and experimental vehicles, AvtoVAZ designers launched the first car entirely of their design, the VAZ-2121 Niva, in 1977.


title: Lada

text: The 110-series sedan was introduced in 1995, two years after its original 1993 deadline. Development costs for the car were estimated at $2 billion. The 2111 station wagon followed in 1998 and the 2112 hatchback completed the range in 2001. A five-door version of the Niva, the VAZ-2131, was introduced in 1995. However, by 1997, Lada was forced to withdraw from most Western European markets due to tightening emission and safety legislation. Also, the rapid rise of Pacific Rim marques such as Hyundai, Kia, and Proton in the 1990s began to take over the budget sector of the market, in which Lada had survived since the 1970s, which also contributed to the marque's eventual demise in the West.


title: Lada

text: The VAZ-2120 Nadezhda, a minivan based on the Lada Niva, was introduced in 1998. In the second half of the 1990s, efforts were made to improve build quality, but in 1999, nearly 50,000 instances occurred of cars being assembled with missing parts.


title: Lada

text: The introduction of the new Kalina B-segment lineup to the market occurred in 2005. AutoVAZ built a new, modern plant for this model, hoping to sell some 200,000 cars annually. The Kalina had been originally designed in the early 1990s, and its launch was repeatedly delayed, exemplifying the company's difficulty in bringing products to market in time. In March 2007, Lada launched the Priora, a restyled and modernised 110-series model.


title: Lada

text: In March 2008, Renault purchased a minority 25% stake in AvtoVAZ in a US$1 billion deal, with Rostec retaining the remaining 75%. Sales of the Granta, a subcompact car developed in collaboration with Renault, started in December 2011. The Largus, another vehicle with Renault technology, was launched in the Russian market by the middle of July 2012. In August 2012, the XRAY concept car was launched at the Moscow International Automobile Salon. The XRAY was designed by then-chief designer Steve Mattin, formerly of Volvo and Mercedes-Benz. The second generation of the Lada Kalina, basically a facelifted first generation, was also revealed at the 2012 Moscow International Motor Show. The Kalina is also produced as the more powerful version named Lada Kalina Sport. Production of the Vesta, based on a new B\C platform developed by AvtoVAZ in cooperation with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, started on 25 September 2015, at Lada Izhevsk manufacturing site. For the first time in Lada history, only a year had passed between the concept car and the start of production. The XRAY, based on a Dacia platform, was the first compact city crossover in the company's history. Sales started on 14 February 2016.


title: Lada

text: In 2016, after various acquisitions, Renault became the parent company of AvtoVAZ and took control of Lada. In January 2021, after a company revamp, Renault said it would integrate Lada and sister brand Dacia into a Lada-Dacia business unit. In May 2022, Renault sold its controlling stake to


title: Lada

text: a state-owned entity, NAMI. "Business Insider" reported that as a result of international sanctions imposed following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lada was forced to produce vehicles with no airbags.


title: Lada

text: The first official logo for AvtoVAZ was introduced in 1970. It was used by all its products irrespective of under which name they were marketed. This logo consisted of an upright, shield-like badge with a stylized Viking boat inside. In the mid-1990s, the company introduced a new logo, this time with a horizontal ellipse-like layout, still keeping the boat inside it. The logo design was maintained while being updated in 2002 and 2015.


title: Lada

text: In 2004, AvtoVAZ officially ended the use of multiple designations for the Russian market, unifying from then on, all its products under the Lada brand. It also established the use of the Latin script in that market to write both the Lada name and its model nameplates on cars, as well as marketing and documentation material.


title: Lada

text: In 2022, production of all recent models ceased. AvtoVaz was only able to produce old models such as the Lada Niva and a simplified version of the Lada Granta.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles and the Age of Conifers, is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian reptiles, like the dinosaurs; an abundance of conifers and ferns; a hot greenhouse climate; and the tectonic break-up of Pangaea. The Mesozoic is the middle of the three eras since complex life evolved: the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic.


title: Mesozoic

text: The era began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest well-documented mass extinction in Earth's history, and ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, another mass extinction whose victims included the non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs. The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic, climatic, and evolutionary activity. The era witnessed the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea into separate landmasses that would move into their current positions during the next era. The climate of the Mesozoic was varied, alternating between warming and cooling periods. Overall, however, the Earth was hotter than it is today. Dinosaurs first appeared in the Mid-Triassic, and became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates in the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic, occupying this position for about 150 or 135 million years until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous. Archaic birds appeared in the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs, then true toothless birds appeared in the Cretaceous. The first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic, but would remain small—less than 15 kg (33 lb)—until the Cenozoic. The flowering plants appeared in the early Cretaceous Period and would rapidly diversify throughout the end of the era, replacing conifers and other gymnosperms as the dominant group of plants.


title: Mesozoic

text: The phrase "Age of Reptiles" was introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as "Iguanodon", "Megalosaurus", "Plesiosaurus", and "Pterodactylus".


title: Mesozoic

text: The current name was proposed in 1840 by the British geologist John Phillips (1800–1874). "Mesozoic" literally means 'middle life', deriving from the Greek prefix ( 'between') and ( 'animal, living being'). In this way, the Mesozoic is comparable to the Cenozoic () and Paleozoic ('old life') Eras as well as the Proterozoic ('earlier life') Eon.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Mesozoic Era was originally described as the "secondary" era, following the "primary" (Paleozoic), and preceding the Tertiary.


title: Mesozoic

text: Following the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic extended roughly 186 million years, from when the Cenozoic Era began. This time frame is separated into three geologic periods. From oldest to youngest:


title: Mesozoic

text: The lower boundary of the Mesozoic is set by the Permian–Triassic extinction event, during which it has been estimated that up to 90-96% of marine species became extinct although those approximations have been brought into question with some paleontologists estimating the actual numbers as low as 81%. It is also known as the "Great Dying" because it is considered the largest mass extinction in the Earth's history. The upper boundary of the Mesozoic is set at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (or K–Pg extinction event), which may have been caused by an asteroid impactor that created Chicxulub Crater on the Yucatán Peninsula. Towards the Late Cretaceous, large volcanic eruptions are also believed to have contributed to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Approximately 50% of all genera became extinct, including all of the non-avian dinosaurs.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Triassic ranges roughly from 252 million to 201 million years ago, preceding the Jurassic Period. The period is bracketed between the Permian–Triassic extinction event and the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, two of the "big five", and it is divided into three major epochs: Early, Middle, and Late Triassic.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Early Triassic, about 252 to 247 million years ago, was dominated by deserts in the interior of the Pangaea supercontinent. The Earth had just witnessed a massive die-off in which 95% of all life became extinct, and the most common vertebrate life on land were "Lystrosaurus", labyrinthodonts, and "Euparkeria" along with many other creatures that managed to survive the Permian extinction. Temnospondyls reached peak diversity during the early Triassic.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Middle Triassic, from 247 to 237 million years ago, featured the beginnings of the breakup of Pangaea and the opening of the Tethys Ocean. Ecosystems had recovered from the Permian extinction. Algae, sponge, corals, and crustaceans all had recovered, and new aquatic reptiles evolved, such as ichthyosaurs and nothosaurs. On land, pine forests flourished, as did groups of insects like mosquitoes and fruit flies. Reptiles began to get bigger and bigger, and the first crocodilians and dinosaurs evolved, which sparked competition with the large amphibians that had previously ruled the freshwater world, respectively mammal-like reptiles on land.


title: Mesozoic

text: Following the bloom of the Middle Triassic, the Late Triassic, from 237 to 201 million years ago, featured frequent heat spells and moderate precipitation (10–20 inches per year). The recent warming led to a boom of dinosaurian evolution on land as those one began to separate from each other (Nyasasaurus from 243 to 210 million years ago, approximately 235–30 ma, some of them separated into Sauropodomorphs, Theropods and Herrerasaurids), as well as the first pterosaurs. During the Late Triassic, some advanced cynodonts gave rise to the first Mammaliaformes. All this climatic change, however, resulted in a large die-out known as the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, in which many archosaurs (excluding pterosaurs, dinosaurs and crocodylomorphs), most synapsids, and almost all large amphibians became extinct, as well as 34% of marine life, in the Earth's fourth mass extinction event. The cause is debatable; flood basalt eruptions at the Central Atlantic magmatic province is cited as one possible cause.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Jurassic ranges from 200 million years to 145 million years ago and features three major epochs: The Early Jurassic, the Middle Jurassic, and the Late Jurassic.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Early Jurassic spans from 200 to 175 million years ago. The climate was tropical and much more humid than the Triassic, as a result of the large seas appearing between the land masses. In the oceans, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and ammonites were abundant. On land, dinosaurs and other archosaurs staked their claim as the dominant race, with theropods such as "Dilophosaurus" at the top of the food chain. The first true crocodiles evolved, pushing the large amphibians to near extinction. All-in-all, archosaurs rose to rule the world. Meanwhile, the first true mammals evolved, remaining relatively small but spreading widely; the Jurassic "Castorocauda", for example, had adaptations for swimming, digging and catching fish. "Fruitafossor", from the late Jurassic Period about 150 million years ago, was about the size of a chipmunk, and its teeth, forelimbs and back suggest that it dug open the nests of social insects (probably termites, as ants had not yet appeared) ; "Volaticotherium" was able to glide for short distances, like modern flying squirrels. The first multituberculates like "Rugosodon" evolved.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Middle Jurassic spans from 175 to 163 million years ago. During this epoch, dinosaurs flourished as huge herds of sauropods, such as "Brachiosaurus" and "Diplodocus", filled the fern prairies, chased by many new predators such as "Allosaurus". Conifer forests made up a large portion of the forests. In the oceans, plesiosaurs were quite common, and ichthyosaurs flourished. This epoch was the peak of the reptiles.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Late Jurassic spans from 163 to 145 million years ago. During this epoch, the first avialans, like "Archaeopteryx", evolved from small coelurosaurian dinosaurs. The increase in sea levels opened up the Atlantic seaway, which has grown continually larger until today. The further separation of the continents gave opportunity for the diversification of new dinosaurs.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Cretaceous is the longest period of the Mesozoic, but has only two epochs: Early and Late Cretaceous.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Early Cretaceous spans from 145 to 100 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous saw the expansion of seaways and a decline in diversity of sauropods, stegosaurs, and other high-browsing groups, with sauropods particularly scarce in North America. Seasons came back into effect and the poles got seasonally colder, but some dinosaurs still inhabited the polar forests year round, such as "Leaellynasaura" and "Muttaburrasaurus". The poles were too cold for crocodiles, and became the last stronghold for large amphibians like "Koolasuchus". Pterosaurs got larger as genera like "Tapejara" and "Ornithocheirus" evolved. Mammals continued to expand their range: eutriconodonts produced fairly large, wolverine-like predators like "Repenomamus" and "Gobiconodon", early therians began to expand into metatherians and eutherians, and cimolodont multituberculates went on to become common in the fossil record.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Late Cretaceous spans from 100 to 66 million years ago. The Late Cretaceous featured a cooling trend that would continue in the Cenozoic Era. Eventually, tropics were restricted to the equator and areas beyond the tropic lines experienced extreme seasonal changes in weather. Dinosaurs still thrived, as new taxa such as "Tyrannosaurus", "Ankylosaurus", "Triceratops" and hadrosaurs dominated the food web. In the oceans, mosasaurs ruled, filling the role of the ichthyosaurs, which, after declining, had disappeared in the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event. Though pliosaurs had gone extinct in the same event, long-necked plesiosaurs such as "Elasmosaurus" continued to thrive. Flowering plants, possibly appearing as far back as the Triassic, became truly dominant for the first time. Pterosaurs in the Late Cretaceous declined for poorly understood reasons, though this might be due to tendencies of the fossil record, as their diversity seems to be much higher than previously thought. Birds became increasingly common and diversified into a variety of enantiornithe and ornithurine forms. Though mostly small, marine hesperornithes became relatively large and flightless, adapted to life in the open sea. Metatherians and primitive eutherian also became common and even produced large and specialised genera like "Didelphodon" and "Schowalteria". Still, the dominant mammals were multituberculates, cimolodonts in the north and gondwanatheres in the south. At the end of the Cretaceous, the Deccan traps and other volcanic eruptions were poisoning the atmosphere. As this continued, it is thought that a large meteor smashed into earth 66 million years ago, creating the Chicxulub Crater in an event known as the K-Pg Extinction (formerly K-T), the fifth and most recent mass extinction event, in which 75% of life became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs.


title: Mesozoic

text: Compared to the vigorous convergent plate mountain-building of the late Paleozoic, Mesozoic tectonic deformation was comparatively mild. The sole major Mesozoic orogeny occurred in what is now the Arctic, creating the Innuitian orogeny, the Brooks Range, the Verkhoyansk and Cherskiy Ranges in Siberia, and the Khingan Mountains in Manchuria.


title: Mesozoic

text: This orogeny was related to the opening of the Arctic Ocean and suturing of the North China and Siberian cratons to Asia. In contrast, the era featured the dramatic rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea, which gradually split into a northern continent, Laurasia, and a southern continent, Gondwana. This created the passive continental margin that characterizes most of the Atlantic coastline (such as along the U.S. East Coast) today.


title: Mesozoic

text: By the end of the era, the continents had rifted into nearly their present forms, though not their present positions. Laurasia became North America and Eurasia, while Gondwana split into South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent, which collided with the Asian plate during the Cenozoic, giving rise to the Himalayas.


title: Mesozoic

text: The Triassic was generally dry, a trend that began in the late Carboniferous, and highly seasonal, especially in the interior of Pangaea. Low sea levels may have also exacerbated temperature extremes. With its high specific heat capacity, water acts as a temperature-stabilizing heat reservoir, and land areas near large bodies of water—especially oceans—experience less variation in temperature. Because much of Pangaea's land was distant from its shores, temperatures fluctuated greatly, and the interior probably included expansive deserts. Abundant red beds and evaporites such as halite support these conclusions, but some evidence suggests the generally dry climate of was punctuated by episodes of increased rainfall. The most important humid episodes were the Carnian Pluvial Event and one in the Rhaetian, a few million years before the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event.


title: Mesozoic

text: Sea levels began to rise during the Jurassic, probably caused by an increase in seafloor spreading. The formation of new crust beneath the surface displaced ocean waters by as much as above today's sea level, flooding coastal areas. Furthermore, Pangaea began to rift into smaller divisions, creating new shoreline around the Tethys Ocean. Temperatures continued to increase, then began to stabilize. Humidity also increased with the proximity of water, and deserts retreated.


title: Mesozoic

text: The climate of the Cretaceous is less certain and more widely disputed. Probably, higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to have almost eliminated the north–south temperature gradient: temperatures were about the same across the planet, and about 10°C higher than today. The circulation of oxygen to the deep ocean may also have been disrupted, preventing the decomposition of large volumes of organic matter, which was eventually deposited as "black shale".


title: Mesozoic

text: Different studies have come to different conclusions about the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere during different parts of the Mesozoic, with some concluding oxygen levels were lower than the current level (about 21%) throughout the Mesozoic, some concluding they were lower in the Triassic and part of the Jurassic but higher in the Cretaceous, and some concluding they were higher throughout most or all of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.


title: Mesozoic

text: The dominant land plant species of the time were gymnosperms, which are vascular, cone-bearing, non-flowering plants such as conifers that produce seeds without a coating. This contrasts with the earth's current flora, in which the dominant land plants in terms of number of species are angiosperms. The earliest members of the genus "Ginkgo" first appeared during the Middle Jurassic. This genus is represented today by a single species, "Ginkgo biloba". The extant genus "Sequoia" is believed to have evolved in the Mesozoic. Bennettitales, an extinct group of gymnosperms with foliage superficially resembling that of cycads gained a global distribution during the Late Triassic, and represented one of the most common groups of Mesozoic seed plants.


title: Mesozoic

text: Flowering plants radiated during the early Cretaceous, first in the tropics, but the even temperature gradient allowed them to spread toward the poles throughout the period. By the end of the Cretaceous, angiosperms dominated tree floras in many areas, although some evidence suggests that biomass was still dominated by cycads and ferns until after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Some plant species had distributions that were markedly different from succeeding periods; for example, the Schizeales, a fern order, were skewed to the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic, but are now better represented in the Southern Hemisphere.


title: Mesozoic

text: The extinction of nearly all animal species at the end of the Permian Period allowed for the radiation of many new lifeforms. In particular, the extinction of the large herbivorous pareiasaurs and carnivorous gorgonopsians left those ecological niches empty. Some were filled by the surviving cynodonts and dicynodonts, the latter of which subsequently became extinct.


title: Mesozoic

text: Recent research indicates that it took much longer for the reestablishment of complex ecosystems with high biodiversity, complex food webs, and specialized animals in a variety of niches, beginning in the mid-Triassic 4 million to 6 million years after the extinction, and not fully proliferated until 30 million years after the extinction. Animal life was then dominated by various archosaurs: dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and aquatic reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs.


title: Mesozoic

text: The climatic changes of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous favored further adaptive radiation. The Jurassic was the height of archosaur diversity, and the first birds and eutherian mammals also appeared. Some have argued that insects diversified in symbiosis with angiosperms, because insect anatomy, especially the mouth parts, seems particularly well-suited for flowering plants. However, all major insect mouth parts preceded angiosperms, and insect diversification actually slowed when they arrived, so their anatomy originally must have been suited for some other purpose.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The Avengers is a British espionage television series, created in 1961, that ran for 161 episodes until 1969. It initially focused on David Keel (Ian Hendry), aided by John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Hendry left after the first series; Steed then became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), and Tara King (Linda Thorson). Dresses and suits for the series were made by Pierre Cardin.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series ran from 1961 until 1969, screening as one-hour episodes for its entire run. The pilot episode, "Hot Snow", aired on 7 January 1961. The final episode, "Bizarre", aired on 21 April 1969 in the United States, and on 17 May 1969 in the United Kingdom.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: "The Avengers" was produced by ABC Weekend TV, a contractor within the ITV network. After a merger with Rediffusion London in July 1968, ABC Weekend became Thames Television, which continued production of the series, subcontracted to ABC Television Films. By 1969, "The Avengers" was shown in more than 90 countries. ITV produced a sequel series, "The New Avengers" (1976–1977), with Patrick Macnee returning as John Steed, and two new partners. In 2004 and 2007, "The Avengers" was ranked No. 17 and No. 20 on "TV Guide"s Top Cult Shows Ever.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: "The Avengers" was marked by different eras as co-stars came and went. The only constant was John Steed, played by Patrick Macnee.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: ABC Weekend TV produced a single series of "Police Surgeon", in which Ian Hendry played police surgeon Geoffrey Brent, from September through December 1960. While "Police Surgeon" did not last long, viewers praised Hendry, and ABC Television cast him in its new series "The Avengers", which replaced "Police Surgeon" in January 1961.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: "The Avengers" began with the episode "Hot Snow", in which medical doctor David H Keel (Hendry) investigates the murder of his fiancée, office receptionist Peggy, by a drug ring. A stranger named John Steed who was also investigating the ring appears, and together Keel and Steed set out to avenge Peggy's death in the first two episodes. Steed asks Keel to partner with him, as needed, to solve crimes. Hendry was considered the star of the new series, receiving top billing over Macnee, and Steed did not appear in two of the series' episodes.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: As the first series of "The Avengers" progressed, Steed's importance increased, and he carried the final episode solo. While Steed and Keel used wit while discussing crimes and dangers, the series also depicted the interplay—and often tension—between Keel's idealism and Steed's professionalism. As seen in one of the three surviving episodes from the first series, "The Frighteners", Steed also had informants among the general population to aid his investigations, similar to the "Baker Street Irregulars" of Sherlock Holmes.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The other regular in the first series was Carol Wilson (Ingrid Hafner), the nurse and receptionist who replaced the slain Peggy. Carol assisted Keel and Steed in cases, and in at least one episode ("Girl on the Trapeze") was very much in the thick of the action, but without being part of Steed's inner circle. Hafner had played opposite Hendry as a nurse in one episode of "Police Surgeon". The role of Carol Wilson was initially offered to Jan Watson, who turned it down for another film.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series was shot on 405-line videotape using a multicamera setup. There was little provision for editing and virtually no location footage was shot (although the first shot of the first episode consisted of location footage). As was standard practice at the time, videotapes of early episodes of "The Avengers" were reused. At present, only three complete Series 1 episodes are known to exist and are held in archives as 16-mm film telerecordings: "Girl on the Trapeze" (which does not feature Steed), "The Frighteners" and "Tunnel of Fear". Additionally, the first 15 minutes of the first episode, "Hot Snow", also exist as a telerecording; the extant footage ends at the conclusion of the first act, prior to the introduction of John Steed.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The missing television episodes are currently being recreated for audio by Big Finish Productions under the title of "The Avengers - The Lost Episodes" and star Julian Wadham as Steed, Anthony Howell as Dr Keel and Lucy Briggs-Owen as Carol Wilson.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Production of the first series was cut short by a strike. By the time production could begin on the second series, Hendry had quit to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to star and Steed became the focus of the series, initially working with a rotation of three different partners. Dr Martin King (Jon Rollason), a thinly disguised recreation of the Keel character, saw action in only three episodes, which were produced from scripts written for the first series. King was intended to be a transitional character between Keel and Steed's two new female partners, but while the Dr King episodes were shot first, they were shown out of production order in the middle of the season. The character was thereafter quickly and quietly dropped.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Nightclub singer Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) appeared in six episodes. She was a complete "amateur", meaning that she did not have any professional crime-fighting skills as did the two doctors. She was excited to be participating in a spy adventure alongside secret agent Steed (although some episodes—"The Removal Men", "The Decapod"—indicate she is not always enthusiastic). Nonetheless, she appears to be attracted to him, and their relationship is somewhat similar to that later portrayed between Steed and Tara King. Her episodes featured musical interludes showcasing her singing performances. The character of Venus underwent some revision during her run, adopting more youthful demeanour and dress.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The first episode broadcast in the second series had introduced the partner who would change the show into the format for which it is most remembered. Honor Blackman played Dr Cathy Gale, a self-assured, quick-witted anthropologist who was skilled in judo and had a passion for leather clothes. Widowed during the Mau Mau rebellion years in Kenya, she was the "talented amateur" who saw her aid to Steed's cases as a service to her nation. She was said to have been born on 5 October 1930 at midnight, and was reared in Africa. Gale was in her early-to-mid 30s during her tenure, in contrast to female characters in similar series who tended to be younger.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Gale was unlike any female character seen before on British TV, and became a household name. Reportedly, part of her charm was because her earliest appearances were episodes in which dialogue written for Keel was simply transferred to her. Series scriptwriter Dennis Spooner described about this detail: "there's the famous story of how Honor Blackman played Ian Hendry's part, which is why they stuck her in leather and such—it was so much cheaper than changing the lines!" In "Conspiracy of Silence", she holds her own in a vociferous tactical disagreement with her partner.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Venus Smith did not return for the third series, and Cathy Gale became Steed's only regular partner. The series established a level of sexual tension between Steed and Gale, but the writers were not allowed to go beyond flirting and innuendo. Despite this, the relationship between Steed and Gale was progressive for 1962–63. In "The Golden Eggs", it is revealed that Gale lived in Steed's flat; according to Steed, her rent was to keep the refrigerator well-stocked and to cook for him (she appears to do neither). However, this was said to be a temporary arrangement while Gale looked for a new home, and Steed was sleeping at a hotel.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: During the first series, there were hints Steed worked for a branch of British Intelligence, and this was expanded in the second series. Steed initially received orders from different superiors, including someone referred to as "Charles", and "One-Ten" (Douglas Muir). By the third series, the delivery of Steed's orders was not depicted on screen or explained. The secret organisation to which Steed belongs is shown in "The Nutshell", and it is Gale's first visit to their headquarters.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Small references to Steed's background were occasionally made. In the Series 3 episode "Death of a Batman" it was said that Steed was with I Corps in the Second World War, and in Munich in 1945. In the Series 4 episode "The Hour That Never Was", Steed attends a reunion of his RAF squadron. Since the ties he wears are either cavalry or old school, it is apparent that he has attended a number of leading public schools.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A theatrical film version of the series was in its initial planning stages by late 1963, after Series 3 was completed. An early story proposal paired Steed and Gale with a male and female duo of American agents, to make the movie appeal to the American market. Before the project could gain momentum, Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in "Goldfinger", requiring her to leave the series.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: During the Gale era, Steed was transformed from a rugged trenchcoat-wearing agent into the stereotypical English gentleman, complete with Savile Row suit, bowler hat and umbrella, with clothes later designed by Pierre Cardin. (Steed had first donned bowler and carried his distinctive umbrella during the first series, as "The Frighteners" depicts.) The bowler and umbrella were soon revealed to be full of tricks, including a sword hidden within the umbrella handle and a steel plate concealed in the hat. These items were referred to in the French, German and Polish titles of the series, "Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir" ("Bowler hat and leather boots"), "Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone" ("With Umbrella, Charm and Bowler Hat") and "Rewolwer i melonik" ("A Revolver and a Bowler Hat"), respectively. With his impeccable manners, old-world sophistication and vintage car, Steed came to represent the traditional Englishman of an earlier era.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: By contrast, Steed's partners were youthful, forward-looking and always attired in the latest mod fashions. Gale's innovative leather outfits suited her many athletic fight scenes. Honor Blackman became a star in Britain with her black leather outfits and boots (nicknamed "kinky boots") and her judo-based fighting style. Macnee and Blackman even released a novelty song called "Kinky Boots". Blackman also carried a pistol in "Killer Whale". Some of the clothes seen in "The Avengers" were designed at the studio of John Sutcliffe, who published the "AtomAge" fetish magazine.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Series scriptwriter Dennis Spooner said that the series would frequently feature Steed visiting busy public places such as the main airport in London without anyone else present in the scene: "'Can't you afford extras?', they'd ask. Well, it wasn't like that. It's just that Steed had to be alone to be accepted. Put him in a crowd and he sticks out like a sore thumb! Let's face it, with normal people he's "weird". The trick to making him acceptable is never to show him in a normal world, just fighting villains who are odder than he is!"


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The show was sold to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1965, and "The Avengers" became one of the first British series to be aired on prime-time US television. The US ABC network paid the then-unheard-of sum of $2 million for the first 26 episodes. The average budget for each episode was reportedly £56,000, which was high for the British industry. The fourth series aired in the US from March to the beginning of September 1966. Each episode still finished with the logo of ABC Weekend TV.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The US deal meant that the producers could afford to start shooting the series on 35mm film, with production transferring from ABC's television studios in Teddington to the Associated British film studios in Elstree. The use of film, rather than the videotape of the earlier episodes, was essential, because British 405-line video was technically incompatible with the US NTSC videotape format. Filmed productions were standard on US prime-time television at the time. "The Avengers" continued to be produced in black and white.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The transfer to film meant that episodes would be shot using the single-camera setup, giving the production greater flexibility. The use of film production and the single-camera production style allowed more sophisticated visuals and camera angles, and more outdoor location shots, all of which greatly improved the look of the series. As was standard on British television filmed production through the 1960s, all location work on Series 4 was shot mute, with the soundtrack created in post-production. Dialogue scenes were filmed in the studio, leading to some jumps between location and studio footage.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: New female partner Mrs Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) debuted in October 1965. The name of the character derived from a comment by writers, during development, that they wanted a character with "man appeal". In an early attempt to incorporate this concept into the character's name, she was called "Samantha Peel", shortened to the awkward "Mantha Peel". Eventually, the writers began referring to the idea by the verbal shorthand "M. Appeal", which gave rise to the character's ultimate name. Emma Peel, whose husband went missing while flying over the Amazon, retained the self-assuredness of Gale, combined with superior fighting skills, intelligence and a contemporary fashion sense.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: After more than 60 actresses had been auditioned, the first choice to play the role was Elizabeth Shepherd. However, after filming one and a half episodes (the pilot, "The Town of No Return", and part of "The Murder Market"), Shepherd was released. Her on-screen personality was deemed less interesting than that of Blackman's Gale, and it was decided that she was not right for the role. Another 20 actresses were auditioned before the show's casting director, Dodo Watts, suggested that producers Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell check out a televised drama featuring the relatively unknown Rigg. (She had earlier guested in an episode of "The Sentimental Agent" that Clemens had written.) Rigg's screen test with Macnee showed that the two immediately worked well together.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A prologue was added to the beginning of all the fourth-series episodes for the American broadcasts. This was to clarify some initial confusion audiences had regarding the characters and their mission. In the opener, a waiter holding a champagne bottle falls dead onto a human-sized chessboard, a dagger protruding from a target on his back. Steed and Mrs Peel (dressed in her trademark leather catsuit) walk up to the body as the voice-over explains: "Extraordinary crimes against the people, and the state, have to be avenged by agents extraordinary. Two such people are John Steed, top professional, and his partner Emma Peel, talented amateur. Otherwise known as The Avengers". During this voice-over, Steed pours two drinks from the wine bottle and Mrs Peel replaces her gun in her boot. They clink glasses and depart together as the screen fades to black and the opening titles begin.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In contrast to the Gale episodes, there is a lighter, comic touch in Steed's and Peel's interactions with each other and their reactions to other characters and situations. Earlier series had a harder tone, with the Gale era including some quite serious espionage dramas. This almost completely disappeared as Steed and Peel visibly enjoy topping each other's witticisms. The layer of conflict with Gale—who on occasion openly resented being used by Steed, often without her permission—is absent from Steed's interaction with Peel. Also, the sexual tension between Steed and Gale is quite different from the tension between Steed and Peel. In both cases, the exact relationship between the partners is left ambiguous, although they seemed to have "carte blanche" to visit each other's homes whenever they please, and it is not uncommon for scenes to suggest that Steed had spent the night at Gale's or Peel's home, or vice versa. Although nothing "improper" is displayed, the close chemistry between Steed and Peel constantly suggests intimacy between the two.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Science fiction and fantasy elements (a style later known as Spy-Fi) also began to emerge in storylines. The duo encounters killer robots ("The Cybernauts"), telepaths ("Too Many Christmas Trees") and giant alien carnivorous plants ("The Man-Eater of Surrey Green").


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In her fourth episode, "Death at Bargain Prices", Mrs Peel takes an undercover job at a department store. Her uniform for promoting space-age toys is an elaborate leather catsuit plus silver boots, sash and welder's gloves. The suit (minus the silver accessories) became her signature outfit, which she wore primarily for fight scenes in early episodes and in the titles. Some episodes contain a fetishistic undercurrent. In "A Touch of Brimstone", Mrs.Peel dresses in a dominatrix outfit of corset, laced boots and spiked collar to become the "Queen of Sin".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Peel's avant-garde fashions, featuring bold accents and high-contrast geometric patterns, emphasise her youthful, contemporary personality. For the 1965 season, some of her most memorable outfits were designed by John Bates, including graphic black-and-white Op art mini-coats and accessories, and a silver ensemble comprising a bra bodice, low-slung trousers and jacket. She represents the modern England of the Sixties – just as Steed, with his vintage style and mannerisms, personifies Edwardian-era nostalgia. According to Macee in his book "The Avengers and Me", Rigg disliked wearing leather and insisted on a new line of fabric athletic wear for the fifth series. Alun Hughes, who had designed clothing for Rigg's personal wardrobe, was suggested by the actress to design Emma Peel's "softer" new wardrobe. Pierre Cardin was brought in to design a new wardrobe for Macnee. In the US, "TV Guide" ran a four-page photo spread on Rigg's new "Emmapeeler" outfits (10–16 June 1967). Eight tight-fitting jumpsuits were created, in a variety of bright colours and made of the stretch fabric crimplene.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: After one filmed series (of 26 episodes) in black and white, "The Avengers" began filming in colour for the fifth series in 1966. It was three years before Britain's ITV network began full colour broadcasting. The first 16 episodes of this series were broadcast concurrently in the US, in colour, and the UK, in black and white, from January to May 1967. Eight further episodes were broadcast in the UK beginning in late September, while these episodes were withheld in the US until early 1968, where they would be immediately succeeded by the first batch of episodes featuring Rigg's replacement, Linda Thorson. The American prologue of the fourth series was modified for the colour episodes. The show opened with the caption "The Avengers in Color" (required by the US ABC for colour series at that time), followed by Steed unwrapping the foil from a champagne bottle and Peel shooting the cork away. Unlike the "chessboard" opening of the previous series, this new prologue had no narrative voice-over, and the scene was also included in UK broadcasts of the series. At the end of the closing credits, all previous series had ended with the ABC Weekend TV logo, but the fifth and sixth series — now made by ABC's sister company A.B.C. Television Films — instead featured an animation where the letters "ABC" were revealed to stand for "Associated British Corporation", a name apparently invented for ABC shows exported to the US to avoid confusion with the US ABC network. (The legal name of ABC Weekend TV was originally "Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd", later shortened to "A.B.C. Television Ltd".)


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The first 16 episodes of the fifth series begin with Peel receiving a call-to-duty message from Steed: "Mrs Peel, we're needed". Peel would be conducting her normal activities when she unexpectedly received a message on a calling card or within a delivered gift, at which point Steed suddenly appeared (usually in her apartment).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series also introduced a comic tagline caption to the episode title, using the format of "Steed [does this], Emma [does that]". For example, "The Joker" had the opening caption: "Steed trumps an ace, Emma plays a lone hand". "The Joker" was to a large extent a rewrite of "Don't Look Behind You", a black-and-white Cathy Gale episode. Three other colour Emma Peel episodes were rewrites of Cathy Gale episodes.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The "Mrs Peel, we're needed" scenes and the alternate taglines were dropped after the first 16 episodes, after a break in production, for financial reasons. They were deemed by the UK networks as disposable if "The Avengers" was to return to ITV screens (Dave Rogers' book "The Avengers Anew" lists a set for every Steed/Peel episode except "The Forget-Me-Knot").


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Stories were increasingly characterised by a futuristic, science-fiction bent, with mad scientists and their creations wreaking havoc. The duo dealt with being shrunk to doll size ("Mission... Highly Improbable"), pet cats being electrically altered to become ferocious and lethal "miniature tigers" ("The Hidden Tiger"), killer automata ("Return of The Cybernauts"), mind-transferring machines ("Who's Who???") and invisible foes ("The See-Through Man").


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series parodied its American contemporaries with episodes such as "The Girl From AUNTIE", "Mission... Highly Improbable" and "The Winged Avenger" (spoofing "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "" and "Batman", respectively). The show still carried the basic format: Steed and his associate were charged with solving the problem in the space of a 50-minute episode, thus preserving the safety of 1960s Britain.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Humour was evident in the names and acronyms of the organisations. For example, in "The Living Dead", two rival groups examine reported ghost sightings: FOG (Friends of Ghosts) and SMOG (Scientific Measurement of Ghosts). "The Hidden Tiger" features the Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief and Recuperation of Cats—PURRR—led by characters named Cheshire, Manx and Angora.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series also occasionally adopted a metafictional tone, coming close to breaking the fourth wall. In the Series 5 episode "Something Nasty in the Nursery", Peel directly references the series' storytelling convention of having potentially helpful sources of information killed off just before she or Steed arrive. This then occurs a few minutes later. In the tag scene for the same episode, Steed and Peel tell viewers—indirectly—to tune in next week.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Rigg's stunt double was stuntwoman Cyd Child, though stuntman Peter Elliot doubled for Rigg in a stunt dive in "The Bird Who Knew Too Much".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Rigg was initially unhappy with the way she was treated by the show's producers. During her first series, she learned that she was being paid less than the cameraman. She demanded a raise to put her more on a par with her co-star, or she would leave the show. The producers gave in, thanks to the show's great popularity in the US. At the end of the fifth series in 1967, Rigg left to pursue other projects. This included following Honor Blackman to play a leading role in a James Bond film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", as James Bond's wife Tracy Bond.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: On 25 October 2015, to mark 50 years of Emma Peel, the BFI (British Film Institute) screened an episode of "The Avengers" followed by an onstage interview with Rigg, during which she discussed her reasons for leaving the show and Patrick Macnee's reaction to her departure.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: When Rigg left the series in October 1967, the British network executives decided that the current series formula, despite resulting in popular success, could not be pursued further. Thus, they decided that a "return to realism" was appropriate for the sixth series (1968–69). Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell were replaced by John Bryce, producer of most of the Cathy Gale-era episodes.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Bryce had a difficult situation to handle. He had to find a replacement for Rigg and shoot the first seven episodes of the new series, which were supposed to be shipped to the US together with the last eight Emma Peel colour episodes. Bryce signed his then-girlfriend, 20-year-old newcomer Linda Thorson, as the new female co-star and chose the name Tara King for her character. Thorson played the role with more innocence in mind and at heart, and unlike the previous partnerships with Cathy and Emma, the writers allowed subtle hints of romance to blossom between Steed and King. King also differed from Steed's previous partners in that she was a fully fledged (albeit initially inexperienced) agent working for Steed's organisation; his previous partners had all been (in the words of the prologue used for American broadcasts of the first Rigg series) talented amateurs. Bryce wanted Tara to be blonde, so Thorson's brown hair was bleached. However, the process badly damaged Thorson's hair, so she had to wear wigs for the first third of her episodes, until her own hair grew back. Her natural brown hair was not seen until the episode "All Done with Mirrors".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Production of the first seven episodes of the sixth series began, but the financial problems and internal difficulties undermined Bryce's effort. He only managed to complete three episodes: "Invitation to a Killing" (a 90-minute episode introducing Tara King), "The Great, Great Britain Crime" (some of its original footage was reused in the 1969 episode "Homicide and Old Lace") and "Invasion of the Earthmen" (which survived relatively intact except for the scenes in which Tara wears a brown wig).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: After a rough cut screening of these episodes to studio executives, Bryce was fired and Clemens and Fennell were summoned back. At their return, a fourth episode called "The Murderous Connection" was in its second day of production. After revising the script, it was renamed as "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues" and production resumed. Production of the episode "Split!", a leftover script from the Emma Peel colour series, proceeded. Two completely new episodes were also shot: "Get-A-Way", and "Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Clemens and Fennell decided to film a new episode to introduce Tara King. This, the third episode filmed for the sixth series, was titled "The Forget-Me-Knot" and bade farewell to Emma Peel and introduced her successor, a trained but inexperienced agent named Tara King. It would be broadcast as the first episode of the sixth series. Tara debuts in dynamic style: when Steed is called to Headquarters, he is attacked and knocked down by trainee agent King, who mistakes him for her training partner.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: No farewell scenes for Emma Peel had been shot when Rigg left the series. She was recalled for "The Forget-Me-Knot", through which Emma acts as Steed's partner as usual. Rigg also filmed a farewell scene for Emma that appeared as the tag scene of the episode. It was explained that Emma's husband, Peter Peel, was found alive and rescued, and she left the British secret service to be with him. Emma visits Steed to say goodbye, and while leaving she passes Tara on the stairway giving the advice that "he likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise". Steed looks out of the window as a departing Emma enters the Bentley driven by Peter, who from a distance seems to resemble Steed (and was played by Steed's regular stunt double, with bowler hat and umbrella).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Bryce's original episode introducing Tara, "Invitation to a Killing", was revised as a regular 60-minute episode named "Have Guns Will Haggle". These episodes, together with "Invasion of the Earthmen" and the last eight Peel colour episodes, were shipped to the US in February 1968.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: For this series the government official who gave Steed his orders was depicted on screen. Mother, introduced in "The Forget-Me-Knot", is a man in a wheelchair. The role was taken by Patrick Newell, who had played different roles in two earlier episodes, most recently in Series 5. Mother's headquarters would shift from place to place, including one episode in which his complete office was on the top level of a double-decker bus. Several James Bond films of the 1970s would make use of a similar gimmick for Bond's briefings.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Added later as a regular was Mother's mute Amazonian assistant, Rhonda, played by uncredited actress Rhonda Parker. There was one appearance by an agency official code-named "Father", a blind older woman played by Iris Russell. (Russell had appeared in the series several times previously in other roles.) In one episode, "Killer", Steed is paired with Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney (Jennifer Croxton) while King is on holiday.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Scriptwriter Dennis Spooner later reflected: "When I wrote 'Look (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers', that was definitely the last series. They were going to make no more, so in that series we went right over the top; we went "really" weird, because they knew there weren't going to be any more".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Spooner said the series "worked because it became a parody on itself, almost. You can only do that so long." He attributes the overall success of the show to its light approach: "We spoofed everything, we took "Mission: Impossible", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "High Noon", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Birds"... we took them all. The film buffs used to love it. There were always lines in it that people knew what we were talking about".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The revised series continued to be broadcast in the US. The episodes with Linda Thorson as King proved to be highly rated in Europe and the UK. However, in the US, the ABC network chose to air it opposite the number-one show in the country at the time, "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In". Steed and King could not compete, and the show was cancelled in the US. Without this vital commercial backing, production could not continue in Britain either, and the series ended in May 1969. The final scene of the final episode ("Bizarre") has Steed and King, champagne glasses in hand, accidentally launching themselves into orbit aboard a rocket, as Mother breaks the fourth wall and says to the audience "They'll be back!", before adding in shock "They're unchaperoned up there!"


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The 1961 series featured a jazz-influenced theme by John Dankworth. Library music was used sparsely as a soundtrack, sometimes with variations based on the main theme. Dankworth's theme music was reworked for the third series. Dankworth's first theme was recorded on the Columbia label, on a 45rpm single, and a new recording, similar to the reworked television theme was issued on Fontana in 1963. A very faithful cover version was released by Johnny Gregory.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: When Rigg joined the series in 1965, the opening credits of the series were redesigned and new theme music by Laurie Johnson was introduced. This was based on a previously released title on LP, called "The Shake" (which capitalised on "The Shake" dance craze of the '60s). For the colour series (1967), a percussion section was added to accompany the new teaser sequence at the start of each episode. Johnson re-scored the theme when Linda Thorson joined the series, adding a counter-melody on trumpet, based on the leitmotif for Tara King from the final Rigg episode "The Forget-Me-Knot". The new theme debuted in the closing titles of the episode "The Forget-Me-Knot", which introduced Thorson. It was altogether more dynamic, and included a much more frenetic percussion section, for the revised teaser sequence. Importantly, the filmed episodes contained specially composed scores by Johnson. To accompany Steed's request "Mrs Peel – we're needed!", he composed a brief 'sting', and there was also a special theme for 'Emma'. For the 'Thorson' series, a characteristic piece was composed to accompany the tag scene, at the end of each episode. Many of the most memorable cues from the Rigg/Thorson series, including the opening, and closing titles themes, and the 'Tag Scene' were released commercially on CD in 2009.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Owing to a professional commitment to score for the film "Hot Millions" (starring Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith), Johnson requested assistance from his keyboard player, Howard Blake, who scored some of the episodes of the final season, as well as additional music for other episodes which Johnson did not have time to complete. These were composed in a style remarkably similar to Johnson's. In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the series, these almost-complete scores by Blake−including Johnson's themes for the main and end titles—were issued on a double-CD set. Of the original Johnson theme, countless cover versions have been released on vinyl and CD, and the opening motif was retained on the series "The New Avengers".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Johnson subsequently collaborated with Clemens on other projects, including the theme for "The New Avengers".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The cars used in the series became almost as famous as the actors. From the 4th series on, Steed's signature cars were six vintage, green 1926–1928 Bentley racing or town cars, including Blower Bentleys and Bentley Speed Sixes (although, uniquely, in "The Thirteenth Hole" he drives a Vauxhall 30-98). In the final series, he drove two yellow Rolls Royces – a 1923 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and a 1927 Rolls Royce New Phantom. Peel drove Lotus Elan convertibles (a white 1964 and a powder blue 1966), which, like her clothes, emphasised her independence and vitality. During the first Peel series (Series 4), each episode ended with a short, humorous scene of the duo leaving the scene of their most recent adventure in some unusual vehicle. Mother occasionally appeared in a silver Rolls-Royce. Tara King drove an AC 428 and a Lotus Europa. Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney drove an MGC Roadster.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Sydney Newman, who would later go on to spearhead the creation of "Doctor Who" for the BBC, never received screen credit as the creator of "The Avengers". In his memoir, "The Avengers and Me", Patrick Macnee interviewed Newman about this. Newman explained that he never sought on-screen credit on the series because during his previous tenure at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, such credits were not given, and he never thought to get one for "The Avengers".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The production team changed during the series' long run, particularly between the third and fourth series, but the influence of Brian Clemens was felt throughout. He wrote the second episode and became the series' most prolific scriptwriter. Succeeding producers Leonard White and John Bryce, Julian Wintle became the producer of the 4th series with Brian Clemens credited as associate producer and Albert Fennell credited as "In charge of production". For series 5, made by A.B.C. Television Films (which was created during the run-up to ABC Weekend TV and Associated-Rediffusion forming Thames TV) Clemens and Fennell became co-producers, with Wintle as executive producer. For series 6, after its initial producer John Bryce left, Clemens and Fennell returned as co-producers; early episodes also credit Julian Wintle as consultant to the series and Philip Levene as story consultant.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Ray Austin became the fight arranger for series 4 and 5, introducing kung fu to the series. Ray Austin had been training with Chee Soo and they worked techniques from Feng Shou Kung fu and T'ai Chi into the fight scenes and credit sequences. Ray Austin, Diana Rigg and Chee Soo were later awarded a Guinness world record as the first people to show kung fu on television. Later he became a prolific television director. Joe Dunne took over for series 6.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Six series of "The Avengers" were made between 1961 and 1969. There was an enforced break in filming and transmission towards the end of series five due to financial problems. Television researcher Andrew Pixley and authors Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping in their book "The Avengers Dossier: The Unauthorised and Unofficial Guide" consider the last eight episodes produced after the break as constituting a short series six, and therefore count seven series in total. Within the internal production of "The Avengers" the last eight episodes were considered to be a continuation of series five.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Although telerecordings of the second and third series were seen in Canada as early as 1963, the first two series of "The Avengers" were not broadcast on television in the United States. ABC purchased the rights to broadcast seasons 4 and 5 in the United States in 1965. The sale of "The Avengers" to United States television prompted a change in production style from the 405-line British multi-camera stand to the single-camera shooting method, originated on 35mm film.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The series' stunt man and stunt arranger Ray Austin expressed the opinion that the show's violence ultimately harmed its popular success in the United States. There "The Avengers" was given a late timeslot due to its violence: "They did that with the first "Avengers" here [in the U.S.], with Diana Rigg. They put us on at 11:30 pm on CBS , because it was too violent". Austin goes on to explain that US television follows a "different code". Austin said that on "The Avengers" "we were determined to do the show our way, the English way, and no one was going to stop us! And, indeed, no one did stop us. We never, never got to prime time. And it was our own faults, because we would not comply to the Midwest. That's where the money comes from in this country, nowhere else. Forget Los Angeles, forget New York—you have to aim for the Midwest. If the Midwest watches your show, you've made it". In fact the first and second series of Emma Peel episodes mainly aired at 10:00 pm on ABC. The final Rigg episodes and all the Linda Thorson episodes mainly ran at 7:30 pm, also on ABC.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: American censors objected to some content, in particular the episode "A Touch of Brimstone", which featured a modern-day version of the Hellfire Club and climaxed with Emma being dressed in a skimpy corset costume with spiked collar and high-heeled boots to become the Queen of Sin, and being attacked with a whip by guest star Peter Wyngarde. The American broadcast network refused to air it. In total five episodes from the first Emma Peel series were not initially broadcast by ABC. These were: "A Surfeit of HO", "Silent Dust" (which featured Emma being attacked with a horsewhip), "Quick-Quick Slow Death", "A Touch of Brimstone" and "Honey for the Prince" (in which Emma performed the dance of the seven veils), although they were seen in later syndicated repeats.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Earlier Cathy Gale and Venus Smith episodes had aired in Canada before the arrival of Mrs. Peel. US audiences saw the 1962–1964 Gale and Smith episodes of the series for the first time in the early 1990s when they were broadcast on the A&E Network. No Keel episode of the series was ever repeatedly broadcast outside Britain, contributing to the fact nearly all first-series episodes are now lost, and even in the UK only one surviving episode, "The Frighteners", was rebroadcast (as part of a run of classic episodes on Channel 4 in early 1993, otherwise mostly consisting of Gale episodes).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Only three complete episodes from the show's first series, plus a portion of another episode, are known to exist, as 16mm film telerecordings. These are "The Frighteners" (an extract of which is playing on a television in the film "Quadrophenia"), "Girl on the Trapeze", which was found in the UCLA Film and Television Archive via an internet search of their on-line database, and "Tunnel of Fear", which was found in 2016. Additionally, part of the show's first episode was also found in the United States. The footage is of the episode's first 21 minutes, up to the first commercial break.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: All series 2 and series 3 episodes survive as 16mm telerecordings. These have been released to DVD, as have all of the Emma Peel and Tara King episodes, which were shot on film. The two earlier-found surviving complete Keel episodes, plus the remnant of the first episode, have also been released in the UK and US, but are not currently available in the US. None of the original videotapes of series 1, 2 and 3 survive.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, A&E TV Home Entertainment (under license from Canal+ Image International) released the remaining surviving series on Region 1 DVD in North America, with newly remastered picture and sound quality.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The sustained popularity of the Tara King episodes in France led to a 1975 French television advertisement for Laurent-Perrier champagne, in which Thorson and Macnee reprised their roles. The advertisement's success spurred financing interest in France for new episodes of "The Avengers".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The result was a new series, "The New Avengers". Patrick Macnee reprised the role of Steed, with two new partners, Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt) and Purdey (Joanna Lumley). It aired on ITV in the UK in 1976–1977, CTV in Canada, CBS in the United States (in 1978–79) and TF1 in France (series 1 in 1976–1977 and series 2 in 1979). The final four episodes were almost completely produced by Canadian interests and were filmed there. In some markets they carried the title "The New Avengers in Canada".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Although Macnee was the only actor from the original series to reprise his role, archival footage of Diana Rigg allowed Emma Peel to make a cameo appearance in a second-season episode "K is for Kill: The Tiger Awakes", while Macnee's first co-star, Ian Hendry, made a guest appearance as a different character in the episode "To Catch a Rat".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A number of original novels based on the series were published in the 1960s. The first by Douglas Enefer, published by Consul Books, was the only 60s novel to feature Cathy Gale. Panther Books published four novels written by John Garforth featuring Emma Peel in the United Kingdom in 1967; Berkley Medallion Books reprinted these in the United States. After Panther stopped publishing "Avengers" novels in the UK, Berkley Medallion continued publishing original novels of their own: one featuring Peel and four featuring Tara King for the US market only; three by Keith Laumer in 1968; and two by Norman Daniels 1968/69. Berkley Medallion later re-printed all nine novels with new covers that featured photos of both Rigg and Thorson, regardless of which "Avengers" girl appeared in the novel. The two novels published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1965/66 were co-written by Patrick Macnee, making him one of the first actors to write licensed spin-off fiction of their own shows. The Macnee novels, "Deadline" and "Dead Duck", were reprinted in the UK by Titan Books in standard paperback in 1994 and in France by Huitieme Art (1995 & 1996). They were also published in the US for the first time by TV Books in 1998. Titan reissued the books in trade paperback format (with the same covers) to coincide with the release of the 1998 feature film.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The 1990 novel "Too Many Targets" by John Peel featured all of Steed's partners (David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King) with the exception of Venus Smith and Dr Martin King.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A short story by Peter Leslie entitled "What's a Ghoul Like You Doing in a Place Like This?" appeared in "The Television Crimebusters Omnibus", a hardback anthology edited by Peter Haining, first published by Orion in 1994 (this Steed and Tara story first appeared in the 1969 UK Avengers annual, from Atlas publications). Both of the Macnee/Leslie UK paperback titles were translated and published in Portugal in 1967 as "Os Vingadores: O Dia Depois De Amanha" ("Deadline") and "Os Vingadores: O Pato Morto" ("Dead Duck") by Deaga. All four UK John Garforth Panther book paperbacks were translated and published by Roman in France (1967), a paperback omnibus edition was published in 1998 by Fleuve Noir. Three of the Garforth paperbacks were also translated and published by Heyne in Germany (1967/68) ("Heil Harris!" was not translated for obvious reasons) and a German hardback omnibus edition of the three titles was published by Lichtenberg (1968), reprinted in paperback by Heyne in 1998. All four titles were also translated and published in the Netherlands by Bruna (1967) and in Chile by Zig-Zag (1968).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The first UK Avengers comic strips, featuring Steed and Cathy Gale, first appeared in regional TV listings magazines "Look Westward" and "The Viewer" from 14 September 1963 to 9 May 1964 (and later in 1964, re-printed in the "Manchester Evening News"). This run consisted of four serials.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Steed and Mrs Peel comic strips began in Polystyle Publications' "TV Comic" in issue #720, dated 2 October 1965, beginning after the TV debut of Emma Peel, and ran until issue #771, dated 24 September 1966 – this run consisted of 10 serials plus one 4-page one-off in "TV Comic Holiday Special" (June 1966). At that point the rights were sold to publishers D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, where the next version of the strip appeared in issue #199, dated 10 December 1966, of "Diana" the popular paper for girls. Its run ended in issue #224, dated 2 June 1967, with art by Emilio Frejo and Juan Gonzalez Alacrojo – this run consisted of 8 serials.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Earlier, "The Growing Up of Emma Peel" comic strip had appeared in "June and Schoolfriend" comic from issue #52, dated 29 January 1966, to issue #63, dated 16 April 1966. This had featured the adventures of 14-year-old Emma Knight and was run concurrent with the "TV Comic" strip and consisted of 11 instalments.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The Avengers returned to "TV Comic" issue #877, dated 5 October 1968, just after Tara King debuted on TV, the Tara & Steed strip continued until issue #1077, dated 5 August 1972. This run consisted of 28 serials plus a 4-page one-off in "TV Comic Holiday Special 1972". Also in 1966 Thorpe & Porter published a 68-page Avengers comic featuring Steed & Peel, with original art by Mick Anglo and Mick Austin — this consisted of four 16-page stories.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A few "Avengers"-related comic books have been published in the USA. They are not named "The Avengers" because the rights to the names "Avengers" and "New Avengers" are held by Marvel Comics for use with their Avengers comics depicting a team of superheroes called "The Avengers". Gold Key Comics published one issue of "John Steed Emma Peel" in 1968 (subtitled "The Avengers" on the Indicia page), which included two newly coloured and reformatted "The Avengers" strips from "TV Comic".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A 3-issue limited entitled "Steed and Mrs. Peel" appeared in 1990–1992 under the Acme Press/Eclipse Comics imprint; it featured a three-part story, "The Golden Game" in issues #1–3, by Grant Morrison and a two-part story, in issues #2 & #3, "A Deadly Rainbow" by Anne Caulfield; both strips had art by Ian Gibson. Boom! Studios reprinted this series in six issues in early 2012, and later published a new ongoing series written by Mark Waid and Caleb Monroe which lasted 12 issues. Boom! subsequently announced a six-issue follow-up series, "Steed and Mrs. Peel: We're Needed", which was launched in the summer of 2014. Despite issue #1 showing "1 of 6", only 3 issues were produced ("2 of 3" and "3 of 3" showing on the other issues, with the cover for issue #3 being the one originally planned for issue #4 which was planned to be the start of another 3-issue story).


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In the UK, where hardback annuals are traditionally produced for sale at Christmas, The Avengers first appeared in "TV Crimebusters Annual" (1962) and featured a 7-page comic strip with Dr David Keel titled "The Drug Pedlar". Atlas Publications produced three "The Avengers" hardback Annuals for 1967, 1968 and 1969, which also featured original Avengers comic strips featuring Steed, Emma Peel, and Tara King, as well as text stories.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: The "TV Comic" Avengers strips and the 1966 Avengers comic and a few comic strips from the Annuals have been translated and published in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Chile.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A stage adaptation was produced in Britain in 1971, written by TV series veterans Brian Clemens and Terence Feely, and directed by Leslie Phillips. It starred Simon Oates as Steed, Sue Lloyd as new partner Hannah Wild, and Kate O'Mara as villainess Madame Gerda. All three had guest roles in the original series.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A character named Hana Wilde (played by Charlotte Rampling) had essentially acted as Steed's partner in series five's "The Superlative Seven", an episode in which Emma Peel appears only briefly. According to John Peel in his overview of "The Superlative Seven", Charlotte Rampling was rumoured to be grooming up to replace Diana Rigg in this story, but nothing ever came of that".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: A radio series was transmitted between 6 December 1971 and 28 December 1973 on Springbok Radio, the English-language service of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC); it was recorded at Sonovision Studios in Johannesburg, produced by Dave Gooden, the original TV scripts were adapted and directed by Tony Jay, for the first six months and Dennis Folbigge for the remainder. South Africa did not have national television until 1976. The episodes were adapted from both Emma Peel and Tara King episodes (with Tara changed to Emma Peel throughout). The Avengers were played by two British expatriate actors, Donald Monat as Steed and Diane Appleby as Mrs Peel, with Hugh Rouse as the tongue-in-cheek narrator. The stories were adapted into five-episode serials under Tony Jay and six- and seven-episode serials under Dennis Folbigge, of approximately 15 minutes each (including adverts) and stripped across the week, Monday-Friday, on Springbok Radio.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Currently only 19 complete serials survive, all from reel-to-reel off-air recordings made by John Wright in 1972. Also, the first three episodes of a remake of "Escape in Time" currently exist. Episodes 1 and 2 are copies from the original Sonovision tapes, and episode 3 is from an off-air recording, on audio cassette, made by Barbara Peterson; the rest of this serial is still missing. These episodes are also known to have been transmitted in New York on station WBAI on 99.5 FM, from 1977 to the early 1990s, and are currently being transmitted on Miami station WRGP on early Monday mornings.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Copies from the original off-air recordings have been restored by Alan and Alys Hayes, and can be heard at their "The Avengers Declassified" website and its sister website "Avengers on the Radio".


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Many more serials were broadcast during its two-year run on South African radio; it is thought 83 serials were made and transmitted, but no other episodes are known to exist at present.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: Plans for a feature-length adaptation based upon the series circulated during the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s, with Mel Gibson at one point being considered a front-runner for the role of Steed. Ultimately, the 1998 film, starring Uma Thurman as Emma Peel and Ralph Fiennes as John Steed, with Sean Connery as the villain, received extremely negative reviews from critics and fans, and is a notorious commercial failure.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In June 2013, Big Finish Productions signed a license with StudioCanal to produce full-cast audio productions of 12 lost first season episodes. The main cast includes Julian Wadham as Steed, Anthony Howell as Dr David Keel, and Lucy Briggs-Owen as Carol Wilson. The stories are adapted for audio by John Dorney.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In January 2014, Volume One, containing the first four stories, ("Hot Snow", "Brought to Book", "Square Root of Evil" and "One for the Mortuary") was released. Volume Two, containing the next four stories, ("Ashes of Roses", "Please Don't Feed the Animals", "The Radioactive Man" and "Dance with Death") was released in July 2014. Volume Three, containing the next four stories, was released in January 2015.


title: The Avengers (TV series)

text: In March 2014, Big Finish extended the audio recreation programme to include all 26 season one episodes, including the then-two extant stories. A total of seven boxed sets were released.


title: Nathan Jones (wrestler)

text: Nathan Jones (born 21 August 1969) is an Australian actor, powerlifting champion, strongman and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE.


title: Nathan Jones (wrestler)

text: He held the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once in World Wrestling All-Stars, and aligned himself with The Undertaker in World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown brand.