title: Patna

text: Patna's native language is Magahi or Magadhi a language derived from the ancient Magadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area of Patna south of the Ganges. It is believed to be the language spoken by Gautama Buddha. Patna has a vibrant Bengali culture too with many Bengali stalwarts including the first Chief Minister of post-independence West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray, being born here. The numerous Bengali speaking Patnaites have contributed massively into fine arts, culture, education and history of Bihar in general and Patna in particular. However, Magahi was the official language of the Mauryan court, in which the edicts of Ashoka were composed.


title: Patna

text: The name "Magahi" is directly derived from the name Magadhi Prakrit, and educated speakers of Magahi prefer to call it "Magadhi" rather than "Magahi".


title: Patna

text: Patna has many buildings adorned with Indo-Islamic and Indo-Saracenic architectural motifs. Several well-maintained major buildings from the colonial period have been declared "heritage structures"; others are in various stages of decay. Established in 1917 as the Bihar's first museum, the Patna Museum (पटना संग्रहालय) houses large collections that showcase Indian natural history and Indian art. The Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library and Sinha Library are historic public libraries of Patna.


title: Patna

text: Several theatres are in or near the central part of the city, including the Bhartiya Nritya Kala Mandir, the Rabindra Parishad, Premchand Rangshala and the Kalidas Rangalaya, which is home to the Bihar art theatre. Kalidas Rangalaya also hosts the Patliputra Natya Mahotsav, a dance festival. But in the last two decades, the popularity of commercial theatres in the city has declined.


title: Patna

text: The Patna School of Painting or Patna Qalaam, some times also called Company style, is an offshoot of the well-known Mughal Miniature school of painting, which flourished in Bihar during the early 18th to the mid-20th centuries. The practitioners of this art form were descendants of Hindu artisans of Mughal painting who facing persecution under the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and who found refuge, via Murshidabad, in Patna during the late 18th century. The Patna painters differed from the Mughal painters, whose subjects included only royalty and court scenes, in that they included as subjects bazaar scenes, scenes of Indian daily life, local dignitaries, festivals and ceremonies, and nature scenes. The paintings were executed in watercolours on paper and on mica, but the style was generally of a hybrid and undistinguished quality. It is this school of painting that inspired the formation of the College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, under the leadership of Shri Radha Mohan, which is an important centre of fine arts in Bihar.


title: Patna

text: Some well known dishes of Bihari cuisine include (parathas stuffed with roasted gram flour), "" (a spiced drink with roasted gram flour as main ingredient), (spicy mashed potatoes), fish curry, Bihari kebab, , malpua, dal pitha (Similar to momos), (fox nut) and (a type of snack).


title: Patna

text: Street foods such as samosa, chaat, jalebi, litti chokha, phuchka (a deep-fried crêpe with tamarind sauce), South Indian and Chinese cuisine are favourite among Patnaites. Taj Hotel Patna is under construction at Budh Marg Lodipur.


title: Patna

text: Bihari Women have traditionally worn cotton sari but shalwar kameez and other western attire are gaining acceptance among younger women. Western attire has gained wide acceptance among the urban men, although the traditional dhoti and kurta are seen during festivals. Chhath, also called Dala Chhath, is a major ancient festival in Bihar. It is celebrated twice a year: once in the summer, called the Chaiti Chhath, and once about a week after Deepawali, called the Kartik Chhath. Durga Puja, held in September–October, is Patna's another important festival; it is an occasion for glamorous celebrations. Among the city's other festivals, are Saraswati Puja, Eid, Holi, Christmas, Vishwakarma Puja, Makar Sankranti, Raksha Bandhan and Rath Yatra. Cultural events include the Patna Book Fair, Patna Sahib Mahotsav, the Patna Film Festival, Bihar Diwas, Rajgir Mahotsav, Vaishali Mahotsav and the Sonepur Cattle Fair in neighbouring towns.


title: Patna

text: Patna is home to many tourist attractions and it saw about 2.4 million tourists (including day visitors) in 2005. Tourists visiting the city accounted for 41% of the total number of tourists visiting Bihar although Bodh Gaya was the most popular destination for foreign visitors. The cultural heritage of Bihar is reflected in its many ancient monuments. Kumhrar and Agam Kuan are the sites of the ruins of the Ashokan Pataliputra. Didarganj Yakshi remains as an example of Mauryan art.


title: Patna

text: Takht Sri Patna Sahib is one of the Five Takhts of Sikhism and consecrates the birthplace of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Gobind Singh. There are five other Gurdwaras in Patna which are related to different Sikh Gurus; these are Gurdwara Pahila Bara, Gurdwara Gobind Ghat, Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh,


title: Patna

text: Gurdwara Bal Leela, Gurdwara Handi Sahib. and Prakash Punj. Padri Ki Haveli, High Court, Golghar, Sultan Palace and Secretariat Building are examples of British architecture. Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna where several freedom movement rallies took place. Nealy built Buddha Smriti Park near Patna Junction is also becoming a major tourist attraction.


title: Patna

text: The Patna Planetarium (Indira Gandhi Planetarium) is in Patna's Indira Gandhi Science Complex. It claims to be one of the largest planetariums in Asia and to attract a large number of tourists. The Sanjay Gandhi Jaivik Udyan (Patna Zoo) is at Bailey Road, Raj Bhawan, Rajbanshi Nagar, and includes over 300 mammals, 300 birds and 450 species of reptiles as of January 2019.


title: Patna

text: In 2015, the Bihar government has built a state-of-the-art art landmark museum in Patna at a cost of approximately 530 crores on a site of 13.9 acres at Bailey Road. 5 firms were shortlisted for the architectural design, of which the Japanese firm Maki and Associates was chosen. It is now completed and opened for all. Completed in May 2018, the Sabhyata Dwar was built with a Mauryan-style architecture. It was opened to the general public in December 2018.


title: Patna

text: In 2014, the Bihar government laid the foundation of Samrat Ashok International Convention Centre. It is expected to use more steel than used in raising Eiffel Tower and Indira Gandhi International Airport. Construction of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Science City began in February 2019. The Eco Park is in Jawaharlal Nehru Marg. It has more than 3,000 varieties of plants and includes several theme parks, a restaurant and a boat trip zone.


title: Patna

text: Schools in Patna are either government-run schools or private schools. The schools are affiliated to Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) boards. A number of Bengali medium schools also thrive in Patna. Hindi and English are the primary languages of instruction. A 2012 survey found 1,574 schools: of these, 78% were private unaided schools (most of them at affordable cost), 21% were government schools and 1% were private aided.


title: Patna

text: Under the 10+2+3/4 plan, students complete ten years of schooling and then enroll in schools that have a higher secondary facility and are affiliated to the Bihar State Intermediate Board, the All-India Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the NIOS or the CBSE, where they select one of three streams: arts, commerce, or science. This is followed by either a general degree course in a chosen field of study or a professional degree course, such as law, engineering and medicine.


title: Patna

text: Patna has important government educational institutions like Patna University, Anugrah Narayan College, Chanakya National Law University, Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bakhtiyarpur College of Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Patna, Patna Science College, Patna Women's College, Patna Law College, Bihar Veterinary College, J.D. Women's College, Birla Institute of Technology, Patna, Patna Medical College Hospital, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Nalanda Medical College Hospital, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Patna, National Institute of Fashion Technology Patna, Chandragupta Institute of Management, Development Management Institute, National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, Patliputra University.


title: Patna

text: Patna University was established in 1917 and is the seventh oldest modern university in the Indian Sub-continent. Patna also has a variety of other universities, as well as many primary and secondary schools.


title: Patna

text: Nalanda University (also known as Nalanda International University) is a newly established university in Rajgir, around from Patna. The University, created as a revival of an ancient centre of learning at Nalanda, began its first academic session on 1 September 2014. It will attract students from across the globe.


title: Patna

text: As in the rest of India, cricket is popular in Patna and is played on grounds and in streets throughout the city. There are several sports grounds across the city. The Bihar Cricket Association, which regulates cricket in Bihar, is based in the city. Tournaments, especially those involving cricket, basketball, football, badminton, and table tennis, are regularly organised on an inter-locality or inter-club basis.


title: Patna

text: Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, which has a capacity of 25,000, has served as the venue for two one-day international cricket matches and several national sport events. It was home to the Bihar cricket team. Due to negligence and lack of maintenance, the stadium is in a dilapidated state and no international match has been played here since 1996. In 2013, it was announced by the Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar that an international cricket stadium will be constructed at Rajgir.


title: Patna

text: The Patna Golf Club was established on 21 March 1916, and is one of the oldest golf courses in India. It has 18 holes in a historic setting in and around Bailey Road, a course.


title: Patna

text: Patna hosted the first ever woman's Kabaddi world cup. It was held at the Patliputra Sports Complex, Kankarbagh from 1 to 4 March 2012. Hosts India won the World Cup defeating Iran in the finals. Patna also hosts the seven league matches of Pro Kabaddi League with its home team as Patna Pirates at the Patliputra Sports Complex.


title: Patna

text: Other famous sports complexes of Patna are Bihar Military Police's Mithilesh Stadium, East Central Railway zone's indoor stadium at Digha etc.


title: Patna

text: The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a number of notable new publications. A monthly magazine named "Bharat Ratna" was started in Patna in 1901. It was followed by "Ksahtriya Hitaishi", "Aryavarta" from Dinapure, Patna, "Udyoga" and "Chaitanya Chandrika". "Udyog" was edited by Vijyaanand Tripathy, a famous poet of the time and "Chaitanya Chandrika" by Krishna Chaitanya Goswami, a literary figure of that time. The literary activity was not confined to Patna alone but to many districts of Bihar.


title: Patna

text: Magahi Parishad, established in Patna in 1952, pioneered Magadhi journalism in Bihar. It started the monthly journal, "Magadhi", which was later renamed "Bihan".


title: Patna

text: Many national media agencies, including the Press Trust of India and Doordarshan's regional offices, are based in the city. "The Hindu", "The Times of India", "Hindustan Times", "The Economic Times" and "The Telegraph" are the five principal English-language daily newspapers which have Patna editions. "The Pioneer" and "The Indian Express", though not printed in the city, are other English-language daily newspapers available in the city. The city's Hindi newspapers include "Hindustan Dainik", "Dainik Jagran", "Dainik Bhaskar", "Prabhat Khabar", "Aaj" and "Rashtriya Sahara", all of which have editions from Patna. There are also daily Urdu newspapers like Qaumi Tanzeem and Farooqi Tanzeem published in Patna. There is also the Hindi and English mixed newspaper tabloid Inext.


title: Patna

text: Patna has several AM and FM radio stations, including many state-owned channels. The city hosts several radio stations, including the state-owned All India Radio's Vividh Bharati, and FM 105. The All India Radio, Patna (officially Akashvani Patna Kendra) was established in 1948.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Stadium Arcadium is the ninth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a double-album released on May 5, 2006, on Warner Bros. Records. It produced five singles: "Dani California", "Tell Me Baby", "Snow (Hey Oh)", "Desecration Smile" and "Hump de Bump", along with the band's first-ever fan-made music video, for the song "Charlie". In the United States, "Stadium Arcadium" became the band's first number-one album. "Stadium Arcadium" was originally scheduled to be a trilogy of albums each released six months apart, but was eventually condensed into a double album.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: The album was praised for integrating musical styles from several aspects of the band's career. The album gained the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 2007 including an award for Best Rock Album and one for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Winning five out of seven Grammy Awards, it was the most nominations that the band had garnered in their (at the time) 23 year career. "Rolling Stone" has included the album on its list of Best Albums of the 2000s. Kiedis attributed the album's success to less abrasive dynamics within the band, saying that the band's "chemistry, when it comes to writing, is better than ever. There was always a struggle to dominate lyrically. But we are now confident enough in who we are, so everybody feels more comfortable contributing more and more valuable, quality stuff."


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: After the culmination of the Stadium Arcadium tour, guitarist John Frusciante left the band in July 2009. It was his last album with the band until the release of "Unlimited Love" in 2022, more than 15 years later.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: After the release of the band's previous album, "By the Way", the Red Hot Chili Peppers embarked on a world tour, from July 2002 to a mid-June 2004 date at London's Hyde Park. The band later appeared at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and at Rock am Ring to tie up their tour in support of "By the Way". The band then settled down to begin recording its next album in September 2004 with producer Rick Rubin, with whom the band had recorded its previous four albums.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: The formation and recording of "Stadium Arcadium" took place at "The Mansion" where the Peppers had recorded their 1991 breakthrough "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Given the house's reputation for being "haunted," guitarist John Frusciante recalled that he felt "there were beings of higher intelligence controlling what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to talk about it or explain it...it was very clear to me that the music was coming from somewhere other than me." However, Kiedis noted that during the recording process of the album "everybody was in a good mood. There was very little tension, very little anxiety, very little weirdness going on and every day we showed up to this funky room in the Valley, and everyone felt more comfortable than ever bringing in their ideas." The band originally wanted to create an "old-fashioned "Meet the Beatles"-like record", and to keep the number of songs down to about 12, to make "a small, digestible piece of art." They ended up writing 28 new songs, with Rubin producing all tracks.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Described as a funk rock and alternative rock album, "Stadium Arcadium" combines many aspects of musical style from throughout the band's career, with many fans and critics welcoming the return of the band's signature funk sound and the use of power chords after their significant absence from "By the Way". John Frusciante said in 2006, "I didn't want to necessarily have songs that were just heavy metal songs the whole way through, but I wanted to have a certain amount of songs that had choruses that were just heavy metal riffs."


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: It was also noted that Frusciante's playing style had changed from his signature 'less is more' style, inspired by punk and new-wave guitarists, to a more flashy approach, not seen extensively in his playing since "Mother's Milk," his first album with the band; drawing influence from guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), Jimi Hendrix and Steve Vai to even hip-hop artists such as Wu-Tang Clan. While he received moderate acclaim before "Stadium Arcadium", this change in style gained him far more recognition than before. Frusciante's approach to guitar on "Stadium Arcadium" was influenced by progressive rock group The Mars Volta and R&B singer Brandy. Of Brandy, Frusciante says "she's doing something different, she's doing so many vocals that there is never a space. Whenever one voice stops, another one does something in its place. There's very little space, and there are so many vocal parts that are breathy, you don't know what you're listening to. There is so much going on, you can't hear her voice with your conscience, you have to hear it with your subconscience. Some of them have a watery sound, then metallic, she really creates a lot of dimension with her voice. I'm impressed with that." Of The Mars Volta, Kiedis states: "John's always had an understated confidence, but he likes being loud now, and part of that came from hanging out with The Mars Volta. Omar Rodríguez-López is such a rocker that John was like, 'It's time I let it all hang out.' Being at the forefront, going for the heavy blistering guitar in your face: John's always been capable of that. But he didn't feel it. Now he feels it." Rodriguez-Lopez appears on the album, performing a guitar solo on the track "Especially in Michigan". Frusciante subsequently appeared on The Mars Volta's next three studio albums and performed a few times live with them as well. Frusciante would also go on to release a joint studio album with Rodriguez-Lopez, "Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & John Frusciante", in May 2010.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Frusciante also began layering his guitar playing, something he had not done before (many layered guitar parts appeared on "Mother's Milk", but this was mostly because of the insistence of the producer, although it was against John's will); he also used a modular synthesizer on many songs after doing so on his 2004 album "Shadows Collide with People". While Frusciante was pleased to have used the modular synthesizer on the album, he admitted that when the band began rehearsing for the tour, it was frustrating because many of the songs sounded empty without it. This meant the band had to rework many of the songs to perform them live.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Unlike "By the Way", where bass player Flea was displeased with what he felt was Frusciante dominating the songwriting, "Stadium Arcadium" saw both Flea and Frusciante on even footing in the writing process.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: According to Kiedis, the album is musically and lyrically influenced by the various relationships the band members were experiencing at the time of its conception. Kiedis states that "love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles – those are real and profound influences on this record. And it's great, because it wasn't just me writing about the fact that I'm in love. It was everybody in the band. We were brimming with energy based on falling in love."


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Kiedis recalled that the band "wanted to [release all 38 songs] on three separate discs that [would] be released in installments...something about those songs made us really like each one. However, by the time we planned to release the third installment in two years, we’ll be writing new music." This was the impetus for the band to pare those songs down to 28, a process Kiedis described as "heartwrenching." Nine of the unused songs have been released as B-sides. He explained the reasoning behind the decision to name the album "Stadium Arcadium" by saying that it had more "variety and verve compared to its predecessors [and] we each have things we do best and it’s all in there. Everybody played their part and expressed their creativity to the max."


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: To date, 37 of the 38 songs recorded have been released. During pre-album interviews, many of the songs were known by alternate/working titles: "Early Eighties" ("Strip My Mind"), "Forty Detectives" and "Ghost Dance 2000" ("Hump de Bump"), "Wu-Tang" ("Dani California"), "Funkadelicish to Me" ("She's Only 18"), "Fela Funk" ("We Believe") and "Public Enemy" ("Storm in a Teacup").


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: "Stadium Arcadium" sold 442,000 copies in the United States in its first week and debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 making it the band's first number one debut in their career. In its second week, the album remained at number one on the "Billboard" 200, selling 157,000 copies (down 65 percent). In Canada, the double album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 64,000 copies in its first week.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: "Dani California" spent fourteen weeks at number one on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart and is one of three songs in the history of the chart to debut at number one.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: "Stadium Arcadium" received generally favorable reviews. "Rolling Stone" critic Brian Hiatt deemed it the band's best album to date and noted Kiedis' growth as a singer and songwriter: "the guy [Kiedis] who once yelped, 'I want to party on your pussy!' whisper-sings a gentler, though not unrelated, proposition: 'All I want is for you to be happy/And take this moment to make you my family.' The delicate 'Hard to Concentrate' is the most vulnerable Peppers tune ever—a full-on marriage proposal from Anthony Kiedis, with Flea's muted bass and John Frusciante's layered guitars slow-dancing over Afrobeat hand drums." The magazine later ranked it as the second-best album released in 2006, behind "Modern Times" by Bob Dylan. "Q" magazine said it was one of the year's best albums, while Andrew Perry of "The Observer" stated it was "relentless, purposeful, as moreish as McDonald's... mainstream America in excelsis." Josh Kun of "Los Angeles Times" wrote that "they've never sounded this good as musicians. The use of analog tape lends a raw, organic touch to the whole album and the Chili Peppers come off more assured and confident than they ever did back when they made a career out of bragging." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic was more reserved in his praise, finding the album overproduced and self-indulgent despite the presence of "something pretty great and lean buried beneath the excess". "Pitchfork" critic Rob Mitchum wrote that the album "is split between slightly askew mid-tempo pop and regrettable relapses into funk and muso noodling".


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: A problem often pointed out by audiophiles is Vlado Meller's mastering for the CD release. It can be regarded as a product of the loudness war, with heavy use of dynamic range compression, and suffering of frequent clipping. The vinyl was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: In May 2006 the Chili Peppers announced that they would be touring Europe in May through July, followed by 26 dates in the US and Canada from August to November. Josh Klinghoffer, friend of John Frusciante, and multi-instrumentalist joined the band on tour in 2007 (Klinghoffer would replace Frusciante two years later as the band's lead guitarist until 2019, after which Frusciante rejoined the band). "Rolling Stone" named it "Most Anticipated Summer Tour" in an online poll. The Mars Volta were the opening act. The band also headlined the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: Artist Storm Thorgerson, known for providing seminal album artwork for numerous bands including Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Audioslave, The Mars Volta, and Muse, was asked to create the cover art for "Stadium Arcadium". Thorgerson provided at least three possible covers for the album, however, his ideas were ultimately rejected and a simple cover featuring yellow "Superman" lettering and a blue background with planets was used instead.


title: Stadium Arcadium

text: The inside artwork of the album featured a band portrait, another band portrait recreating the classic cover of the "Odds & Sods" by the Who as well as images of the band floating and on fire.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: HMS "Vanguard" was a British fast battleship built during the Second World War and commissioned after the war ended. She was the largest and fastest of the Royal Navy's battleships, the only ship of her class and the last battleship to be built.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The RN anticipated being outnumbered by the combined German and Japanese battleships in the early 1940s, and had therefore started building the s. However, the time-consuming construction of the triple- turrets for the "Lion" class would delay their completion until 1943 at the earliest. The British had enough guns and turrets in storage to allow one ship of a modified "Lion"-class design with four twin-15-inch turrets to be completed faster than the "Lion"-class vessels that had already been laid down. Work on "Vanguard" was started and stopped several times during the war, and her design was revised several times during her construction to reflect war experience. These stoppages and changes prevented her from being completed before the end of the war.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard"s first task after completing her sea trial at the end of 1946 was, early the next year, to convey King George VI and his family on the first Royal Tour of South Africa by a reigning monarch. While refitting after her return, she was selected for another Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1948. This was cancelled due to King George's declining health and "Vanguard" briefly became flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1949. After her return home in mid-1949, she became flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. Throughout her career, the battleship usually served as the flagship of any unit to which she was assigned. During the early 1950s, "Vanguard" was involved in a number of training exercises with NATO forces. In 1953 she participated in Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Review. While she was refitting in 1955, the Admiralty announced that the ship was going to be put into reserve upon completion of the work. "Vanguard" was sold for scrap and was broken up beginning in 1960.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: By early 1939 it was clear that the first two s could not be delivered before 1943 at the earliest and that further battleship construction would be necessary to match the German and Japanese battleships already under construction. The main constraint on the construction of any new battleships was the limited available capacity and the time required to build large-calibre guns and their gun turrets. Using four existing twin 15-inch mountings offered the possibility of bypassing this bottleneck and allowed the construction of a single fast battleship more quickly than building more "Lion"-class ships. The turrets were originally built for the battlecruisers and during the First World War, and were removed during the conversions of these ships to aircraft carriers in the 1920s. To save time, the "Lion" design was modified to accommodate the four turrets, and preliminary design work began in July 1939. The square or transom stern was retained as it was estimated to improve speed at full power by . This made "Vanguard" the only British battleship built with a transom stern, as the "Lion"s were never finished.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: Design work was suspended on 11 September 1939, after the start of the Second World War, but resumed in February 1940 after the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, expressed an interest in the ship. The design was modified to increase protection against shell splinters on the unprotected sides of the ship's hull, the armour of the secondary armament was increased to resist semi-armour-piercing bombs, and the splinter belt's thickness fore and aft of the main armour belt was reduced by in compensation. A small conning tower was added aft, and four Unrotated Projectile mounts were added to supplement the six octuple-barrel 2-pounder anti-aircraft mounts already planned.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: More pressing commitments forced the preliminary design work to be suspended again in June; when it resumed in October the design was modified again in light of recent war experience. Greater fuel capacity was added and the armour protection improved, but these changes deepened the design's draught to beyond the limit of the Suez Canal. The thickness of the main belt was reduced by to save weight, but the primary method chosen to reduce the draught was to increase the beam by . This exceeded the width of the docks at Rosyth and Plymouth, which severely limited the number of docks that could handle the ship, but the changes were approved by the Board of Admiralty on 17 April 1941. The ship had already been ordered on 14 March under the 1940 Emergency War Programme, although the drawings were not turned over to John Brown & Company until ten days later.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard"s design was revised again, while the ship was under construction in 1942, to reflect lessons learned from the loss of the battleship and operations with the other battleships. The longitudinal distance between the inboard and outboard propellers was increased from to reduce the chance of a single torpedo wrecking both propeller shafts on one side and watertight access trunks were added to all spaces below the deep waterline to prevent the progressive flooding through open watertight doors and hatches that had happened to "Prince of Wales". This change and the relocation of some of the ammunition handling rooms from the lower deck to the middle deck seriously delayed the ship's completion. The design requirement that the guns of 'A' turret be capable of firing straight ahead at 0° of elevation was sacrificed to allow her freeboard forward to be increased, and her bow was reshaped to make it less prone to shipping water and throwing sea spray in head seas. The ship's fuel supply was increased from to to prevent the fuel shortage problems suffered by and during their pursuit of the . The Unrotated Projectile mounts were deleted from the design and the light anti-aircraft armament was increased to a total of 76 two-pounders in one quadruple, and nine octuple mounts and 24 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon were also added in 12 twin mounts. Space for these was made available by removing the two floatplanes, the catapult and their associated facilities.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: A proposal was made in 1942 to convert "Vanguard" to an aircraft carrier. The Director of Naval Construction stated that doing so along the lines of the would present no major difficulties but would require six months to redesign the ship. The proposal was formally rejected on 17 July.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard" had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of at deep load. She displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship was significantly larger than her predecessors of the class, almost longer and displaced about more than the older ships at deep load. "Vanguard" was overweight by some , which magnified the difference. The ship had a complete double bottom deep and she was divided into 27 main compartments by watertight bulkheads.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The "King George V"-class ships had been built with almost no sheer to the main deck forwards to allow 'A' turret to fire straight forward at zero elevation, resulting in those ships being wet forward. "Vanguard" was redesigned as a result of this experience, significant sheer and flare being added to the bow. The ship's seaworthiness was well regarded, and the ship was able to keep an even keel in rough seas. At full load "Vanguard" had a metacentric height of .


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: As a fleet flagship, her complement was 115 officers and 1,860 men in 1947. Air conditioning was provided for many of the ship's control spaces, and asbestos insulation was provided on exposed areas of the ship's sides, decks and bulkheads. Steam heating was provided for her armament, instruments, look-out positions and other equipment to make "Vanguard" suitable for operations in the Arctic. An Action Information Centre was fitted below the main armour deck with facilities to track aircraft and ships around "Vanguard".


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: To save design time, the four-shaft unit machinery from the "Lion"-class battleship was duplicated with alternating boiler and engine rooms. "Vanguard" had four sets of single-reduction geared Parsons steam turbines housed in separate engine rooms. Each set consisted of one high-pressure and one low-pressure turbine, driving a propeller in diameter. The turbines were powered by eight Admiralty 3-drum boilers in four boiler rooms at a working pressure of and temperature of . The engines were designed to produce a total of and a speed of , but achieved more than during the ship's sea trials in July 1946, when she reached a speed of . After trials, the three-bladed propellers on the inboard shafts were replaced by five-bladed propellers, to reduce vibrations of the inboard propeller shafts but this was a failure.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard" was designed to carry 4,850 long tons of fuel oil and of diesel fuel. With a clean bottom she could steam at a speed of for . The ship had four turbogenerators and four diesel generators that supplied electricity via the common ring main at 220 volts. Their total output of was the largest of any British battleship.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The ship's main armament consisted of eight 42-calibre BL 15-inch Mk I guns in four twin hydraulically powered gun turrets, 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' from bow to stern. The guns were loaded at +5°; when the turrets were modernised to the Mk I(N) RP12 design, their maximum elevation was increased from 20° to +30°. They fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of , for a maximum normal range of . The guns could use supercharges, which gave a maximum range of with the same shells. Their rate of fire was two rounds per minute. "Vanguard" carried 100 shells per gun.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The old 15-inch turrets had been designed when the customary practice was to place the magazine above the shell room, and it was not cost-effective to modify the ammunition hoists to accommodate the opposite arrangement, which had been adopted after the Battle of Jutland demonstrated the dangers of exposing the magazines to long-range gunfire. The ship was provided with a powder-handling room above the shell room to mimic the arrangement that the turrets' hoists were designed to handle, and another set of hoists moved the propellant charges from the magazines to the powder-handling room. The charges were stowed in cases to reduce their exposure to fire.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The secondary armament consisted of sixteen 50-calibre QF 5.25-inch Mk I* dual-purpose guns in eight twin gun mounts. They had a maximum depression of −5° and a maximum elevation of 70°. They fired an high-explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of . The improved RP10 spec 5.25 turrets on "Vanguard" were claimed to be fully automatic, with a power-rammed breech and automatic tracking and elevation under radar control enabling a rate of fire of about 18 rounds per minute. At maximum elevation, the guns had a maximum range of . 391 rounds were provided for each gun.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: Short-range air defence was provided by 73 Bofors 40 mm AA guns in a variety of mountings. "Vanguard" had ten sextuple-barrel power-operated mounts concentrated in the superstructure and stern, a twin-barrel mount on 'B' turret and 11 power-operated single mounts on the upper deck and rear superstructure. All mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to +90°. The gun fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of to a distance of . The guns' rate of fire was approximately 120 rounds per minute. Space was not available to stow the standard allowance of 1,564 rounds per gun, and "Vanguard" carried only 1,269 rounds per gun. Two of the single guns on the quarterdeck were removed in 1949, and five others during a major refit in 1954. All of her multiple Bofors mounts were removed at this same time.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard" was unique among British battleships in having remote power control (RPC) for her main, secondary and tertiary guns along with the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk X for surface fire control of the main armament. There were two director control towers (DCT) for the 15-inch guns, each carrying a "double cheese" Type 274 fire-control radar for range finding and spotting the fall of shot. Each DCT could control all four turrets, 'B' turret could control 'A' and 'X' turrets, and 'X' turret could control 'Y' turret. There were four American Mark 37 DCTs for the 5.25-inch guns, each carrying the twin domes of Type 275 gunnery radar. Each Mark VI sextuple 40 mm Bofors mounting was provided with a separate CRBF ("close range blind fire") director fitted with a Type 262 radar, although the ship never mounted her complete outfit of those directors. The STAAG Mk II 40 mm Bofors mounting carried its own Type 262 on the mounting itself. Other radar sets carried were Type 960 air and surface search, Type 293 target indication and Type 277 radar height finding.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: When the 15-inch gun turrets were modernised, their rangefinders were replaced by ones in all turrets except 'A', and they were fitted for RPC in azimuth only. The turrets were also provided with de-humidifying equipment and insulation to improve their habitability.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The ship's armour scheme was based on that of the "King George V" class with a thinner waterline belt and additional splinter protection. Originally the belt armour was equal to that of the older ships, but it had to be reduced to offset weight increases when the design was modified to reflect wartime experience. The waterline main belt was composed of Krupp cemented armour (KCA) thick but increased to abreast the magazines. It was high and tapered to a thickness of at the bottom edge of the belt. Fore and aft of the transverse bulkheads that closed off the central citadel, the belt continued almost to the ends of the ship. Forward it tapered to a thickness of and a height of , and aft to the same thickness but a height of . At the aft end of the steering gear compartment was a transverse bulkhead. After the Battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941, non-cemented armour bulkheads were added on the sides of the magazines, to protect them from splinters from any hits from plunging shells that might have penetrated the ship's side beneath her belt.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: When the gun turrets from the First World War-era battlecruisers were modernised, their KCA faceplates were replaced by new ones 13 inches thick, and their roofs were replaced by non-cemented armour plates. Their sides remained in thickness. The barbettes for the 15-inch guns were 13 inches thick on the sides but tapered to closer to the centreline of the ship. The side and roof armour of the 5.25-inch turrets was thick. Their ammunition hoists were protected by armour thick.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: Intended to resist the impact of a armour-piercing bomb dropped from a height of , "Vanguard"s deck protection was identical to that of the "King George V" class, six-inch non-cemented armour over the magazines that reduced to over the machinery spaces. The armour continued forward and aft of the citadel at the lower-deck level. Forward it tapered in steps from five inches down to 2.5 inches near the bow. Aft, it protected the steering gear and propeller shafts with 4.5 inches of armour before tapering to a thickness of 2.5 inches near the stern. Unlike the Germans, French and Americans, the British no longer believed that heavy armour for the conning tower served any real purpose given that the chance of hitting it was very small; "Vanguard"s conning tower was therefore protected with of armour on the face and 2.5 inches on the sides and rear. The secondary conning tower aft had of armour on its sides.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard"s underwater protection was enhanced when she was redesigned in 1942 to reflect the lessons learned when "Prince of Wales" was sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers. It still consisted of a three-layer system of voids and liquid-filled compartments meant to absorb the energy of an underwater explosion. It was bounded on the inside by the torpedo bulkhead. Her enlarged oil tanks reduced the empty spaces that could flood and cause the ship to list, and greater provision was made to pump these spaces out. The longitudinal bulkheads of the side protection system were raised one deck higher to further subdivide the spaces behind the waterline armour belt. The side protection system had a maximum depth of , but this decreased significantly as the ship narrowed at its ends. Over the length of the citadel, this system was found during full-scale trials to be proof against of TNT.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard" was laid down on 2 October 1941 by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, with the yard number of 567. After the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December, the ship was given an A1 priority in the hope of finishing her by the end of 1944, and construction of the light cruiser HMS "Bellerophon", as well as some merchant shipping, was halted to expedite the ship's completion. This was unsuccessful, however, due to a shortage of skilled labour. As a result, it was not until 30 November 1944 that the ship was launched. Princess Elizabeth presided over this ceremony, the first ship she ever launched, and was presented with a diamond rose brooch to commemorate the event. Two yard workers were killed and six others injured when a "blinding explosion ripped" the ship in a fitting-out basin at Clydebank on 16 September 1945. Captain William Gladstone Agnew assumed command on 15 October 1945. The end of hostilities following Japan's surrender reduced the need for new warships, and consequently the ship was not commissioned until 12 May 1946. By this time, a total of £11,530,503, including £3,186,868 for the modernisation of the main armament, had been spent on producing "Vanguard".


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: After commissioning, the ship spent several months conducting sea trials and training until August, when she began the necessary modifications to serve as a royal yacht for the forthcoming royal tour of South Africa. The Admiral's suite was reworked into accommodations for the Royal Family and their staff while the anti-aircraft mount on top of 'B' turret was replaced by a saluting platform. Agnew was promoted to rear-admiral with effect from 8 January 1947. The alterations were complete by December, and "Vanguard" made a shakedown cruise into the Central Atlantic and made a port visit to Gibraltar on the return voyage. Initially escorted by the destroyers , , , , and , the ship rendezvoused with the Home Fleet on 1 February 1947 to receive a 21-gun salute led by the battleships and , and the aircraft carrier . Later that morning, a Sikorsky R-4 helicopter landed aboard to pick up mail and photographic film.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: "Vanguard" arrived in Cape Town on 17 February, escorted by the South African frigates , and on the last leg of her voyage. While the Royal Family toured the country on the first visit by a reigning monarch to South Africa, the ship exercised with ships of the South African and Royal Navies stationed there and made port visits to a number of South African cities. She sailed for home on 22 April and made brief visits to Saint Helena and Ascension Island en route. "Vanguard" arrived in Portsmouth on 11 May, and Captain F. R. Parham relieved the newly promoted Agnew on 29 May. In July, the ship began an overhaul in Devonport, which lasted until August 1948. While she was refitting, "Vanguard" was tasked to carry the Royal Family on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, planned for January 1949. On 31 August, she began a shakedown cruise to the Mediterranean and returned to Devonport on 12 November. Around this time, "Vanguard" was considered, along with a number of other large warships, for conversion to carry anti-aircraft missiles, but nothing further was done along these lines.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: George VI was now too ill for travel, and the Royal Tour was indefinitely postponed later that month. "Vanguard" became the flagship of Admiral Sir Arthur Power, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, on 1 March 1949, and the ship made port visits to Algeria, France, Italy, Cyprus, Libya, Lebanon, Greece and Egypt before she arrived back at Devonport on 21 July. The newly promoted Rear Admiral Parham was relieved by Captain G. V. Gladstone a week later. The ship then became the flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron under Rear Admiral Edward Evans-Lombe on 12 November. While returning from a brief training sortie to Gibraltar, "Vanguard" went to the aid of a small French merchantman whose cargo had shifted in a severe storm on 13 February 1950. The merchantman, , was taken under tow and the cargo was redistributed. Once the storm had abated, "Boffa" was able to resume her voyage under her own power. "Vanguard" reached Weymouth Bay the following day. Later, in March, she fired the salute to Vincent Auriol, the President of France, during his state visit to Great Britain.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: On 13 September 1950 Admiral Sir Philip Vian hoisted his flag as Commander in Chief, Home Fleet, on "Vanguard" and the ship joined the rest of Home Fleet on exercises with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Mediterranean Fleet. On 19 December, Vian transferred his flag to . Nearly two months later, on 10 February 1951, the aircraft carrier collided with "Vanguard" as the carrier docked at Gibraltar. The hole in the battleship's stern was not serious, and Vian re-hoisted his flag in "Vanguard" shortly afterwards. After manoeuvres with "Indomitable", during which her aircraft "sank" the battleship, the ship made port visits in Genoa and Villefranche-sur-Mer before returning for a brief refit in Devonport on 14 March. After completing her refit in May, she became flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron under Rear Admiral R. M. Dick at the Isle of Portland. Four months later the admiral transferred his flag to the carrier as "Vanguard" began another refit in preparation to again become the flagship of Home Fleet.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: Buckingham Palace announced in November that King George VI was planning to take a short cruise for his health aboard "Vanguard", which meant that her Admiral's suite again had to be modified to accommodate him and his staff. Captain John Litchfield assumed command on 21 December while the ship was still refitting, but the King died on 6 February 1952 before he could make his cruise. A detachment from the ship participated in his funeral procession before she departed for her post-refit shakedown cruise on 22 February. After exercising with "Implacable", "Indomitable" and the fast minelayer , "Vanguard" returned home on 29 March. She became flagship of Home Fleet again on 13 May when Admiral Sir George Creasy hoisted his flag. Due to manning and weight problems, "Vanguard" operated with many of her turrets unmanned and with ammunition carried for only two of the 15-inch turrets and only starshell ammunition for the 5.25-inch guns. She participated in exercises with the Dutch and American navies, before returning to Portsmouth for the holidays. Litchfield was relieved by Captain R. A. Ewing on 19 January 1953; the ship departed the next day for a brief refit at Gibraltar. After its completion on 2 March, the ship trained with several of the Royal Navy's carriers before arriving back at Portsmouth on 25 March. "Vanguard" participated in Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 15 June 1953. The following September, she participated in NATO's Exercise Mariner in the Denmark Strait.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: Admiral Sir Michael Denny replaced Creasy as Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, on 5 January 1954 and "Vanguard" participated in Exercise Medflex A with Dutch and French ships in March. During the rest of the year she participated in anti-submarine and anti-aircraft exercises as well as making port visits to Oslo and Kristiansand in Norway and Helsingborg in Sweden. She was inspected on 11 July by King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden before returning home later that month. Denny struck his flag on 15 September, and "Vanguard" sailed to Devonport for a £220,000 refit 10 days later. The February 1955 Defence Estimates had intended her as the Home Fleet flagship with a role as a killer, but after the appointment of Earl Mountbatten in April 1955 and with Antony Eden replacing Churchill as prime minister, the government decided instead to maintain two extra cruisers in the fleet, and "Vanguard" was placed in reserve when it completed its 1955 refit. She subsequently became the flagship of the Reserve Fleet when Vice Admiral Richard Onslow hoisted his flag on 28 November. While moored in Fareham Creek, during her time in the reserve fleet, waterline shots of "Vanguard" in Portsmouth Harbour were filmed for the title sequence of the 1957 comedy film "Carry on Admiral". Just before decommissioning, scenes for the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck!" were filmed aboard, with "Vanguard" being used to depict interiors of the bridges, Admiral's Quarters and gun turrets for "Hood", "Bismarck" and "King George V".


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: On 9 October 1959 the Admiralty announced that "Vanguard" would be scrapped, as she was considered obsolete and too expensive to maintain. She was decommissioned on 7 June 1960 and sold to BISCO for £560,000. On 4 August 1960, when the ship was scheduled to be towed from Portsmouth to the breaker's yard at Faslane, Scotland, the whole of the Southsea sea front was packed with people who came to see her off. As "Vanguard" was being towed towards the harbour entrance, she slewed across the harbour and ran aground near the Still & West pub. She was pulled off by five tugboats an hour later, and after nearly running aground again near the Moving & East pub on the opposite shore, made her final exit from Portsmouth. Five days later she arrived at Faslane, and by mid-1962 the demolition process was complete. She was the last British battleship to be scrapped.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: As a part of the scrapping process, sections of pre-atomic steel plate uncontaminated with radionuclides were recovered from "Vanguard" and used for the shielding of the whole body monitor at the Radiobiological Research Laboratory (now DSTL) at Alverstoke, Gosport in Hampshire, England.


title: HMS Vanguard (23)

text: The process of decommissioning was filmed by the Rank Organisation for their Look at Life film series in an episode entitled "The Last Battleship".


title: Drakengard

text: Drakengard, known in Japan as is a series of action role-playing video games created by Yoko Taro. The eponymous first game in the series was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, and has since been followed by a sequel, a prequel and several spin-offs. A spin-off series titled Nier, taking place in an alternative timeline set after a different ending to the first "Drakengard" than the one 2005's "Drakengard 2" followed, was started in 2010 with the eponymous game. Yoko directed every game in both series, with the exception of "Drakengard 2" on which he only had minor involvement.


title: Drakengard

text: The stories of both "Drakengard" and "Nier" generally focus on the fortunes and personalities of a small group of protagonists either directly or indirectly connected to and affected by the events of the story. Dark or mature plot and character themes and multiple endings have become a staple of the series. The setting of the "Drakengard" games is a Northern Europe-like dark fantasy world where humans and creatures from myth and legends live side by side, while the "Nier" games are set in the distant future of a different ending to the first "Drakengard" from the one "Drakengard 2" follows, leading to 2017's "" taking place in a much different, post-apocalyptic science fiction setting. Both series have been largely praised for their complex characters and storylines, although the gameplay of the "Drakengard" games has been criticized.


title: Drakengard

text: Both "Drakengard" and the original "Nier" were long considered popular in Japan, selling well and gaining a cult following, and resulting in multiple adaptations and additional media such as books (including several novelizations), manga, comics, and a stage play. They remained little-known outside of Japan until the 2017 release of "Nier: Automata", which was a worldwide commercial and critical hit and led to an increase in interest from western countries, resulting in a remaster of the original "Nier", subtitled "Replicant ver.1.22474487139...", being released in 2021 to larger attention and substantially better sales than the original.


title: Drakengard

text: The idea for "Drakengard" originated in 1999 between Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki. The gameplay was conceived as a blend of elements from "Ace Combat" and "Dynasty Warriors 2". The team developing the game went under the moniker "Project Dragonsphere". The game was developed by Cavia and directed by Yoko Taro, who was the main drive behind the game's dark atmosphere. It was Shiba's first project as a producer. As Yoko was told there would not be a sequel, multiple endings were created. When it was localized and released in the west, references to things such as sexual taboos were censored. In addition, the title was changed, as "Drag-On Dragoon" was considered wrong for a western audience. "Drakengard" was considered enough of a success that a sequel was commissioned. Multiple staff members returned for the creation of the second game, although Yoko was mostly tied up with other projects and was replaced as director by Akira Yasui. Yoko still had a role in development, and he and Yasui had creative clashes during development. Yasui ended up making "Drakengard 2" the thematic opposite of the previous game, employing a lighter tone and broader color palette.


title: Drakengard

text: "Nier" originated when Yoko and Shiba teamed up to create a third "Drakengard" game. As the project continued, it became more detached from the main continuity and eventually developed into an entirely new spin-off. Despite what it became, Yoko has stated that he considers "Nier" to be the true "Drakengard 3". It was the last game developed by Cavia. After its release, Cavia closed down and was absorbed by AQ Interactive, then Yoko Taro left to pursue a wider range of projects. A stalled attempt to begin production of further games in the series at AQ Interactive was blamed by Shiba on a prevalent trend at the time for light-weight games for the general gaming community. Later, Yoko and Shiba came together again to create a proper second sequel to "Drakengard", with the intention of creating a hard core RPG for the fanbase. Unlike the previous games in the series, "Drakengard 3" was developed by Access Games, a developer whose noted games included "Deadly Premonition", and brought in team members used to create action games. During the run-up to "Drakengard 3"s release, both Yoko and Shiba expressed their willingness to continue the series on the PlayStation 4 if the latest game was enough of a success. Speaking in 2014 after the game's release, Yoko stated that the series was on hold due to lack of funds. A new "Nier" game was revealed to be in development at Square Enix and PlatinumGames.


title: Drakengard

text: The stories of the original game's characters were written by Yoko, Shiba and Iwasaki, while the main game script was written by Sawako Natori, who would go on to co-write the main scenarios for future "Drakengard" games. Yoko designed the darker elements to both contrast and actively compete with the likes of "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy". Yoko conceived the "insane" characters around the premise that people who killed hundreds of people in pursuit of their goals and took satisfaction from it were naturally insane. During the production of "Nier", his focus changed to writing a story where everyone believed they were in the right whatever their actions. Through the series, Yoko has also been attempting to answer the question of why people are driven to kill. Although some of the dark narrative themes were kept for "Drakengard 2", many of the other narrative elements were made more mainstream.


title: Drakengard

text: The character designer for the "Drakengard" games is Kimihiko Fujisaka. Initially a minor staff member at Cavia, the team were impressed by his skill as an amateur artist and he was recommended for the post of character designer for the game. The designs for both the characters and the world were influenced by armor and clothing of Medieval Europe. He returned in the same capacity for "Drakengard 2", and later for "Nier". Disliking some of his initial designs for "Drakengard", he took the opportunity to remodel them more to his liking for the arcade game "Lord of Vermilion". In "Drakengard 3", Fujisaka designed the protagonist Zero around the dark themes of the game, although some unusual elements were nearly cut. The other female characters were inspired by "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", while the male characters, considered a low priority, were designed around male archetypes and approved quickly.


title: Drakengard

text: The character designs for "Nier" were handled by an artist under the moniker D.K. For "Nier"s international release, the protagonist was redesigned from a teenager to an adult character. This was because the publishers felt an older character would appeal more to western players. For "Nier: Automata", the main character designs were handled by Akihiko Yoshida, an artist noted for his work on the "Final Fantasy" series. While he was initially expected to refuse, he agreed as several staff members at his company CyDesignation were fans of "Nier". For his designs, Yoko requested he focus on smooth outlines and black coloring. Other characters were designed by Yuya Nagai and Toshiyuki Itahana.


title: Drakengard

text: The first game's soundtrack was created by Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara. The two created the score using samples from well-known classical composers. The second game's soundtrack was composed by Ryoki Matsumoto and Aoi Yoshiki, who had never before been involved with video game soundtracks. The game's Japanese theme song, Hitori, was sung by Mika Nakashima. The music for "Nier" was composed by Keiichi Okabe, who composed the soundtrack as something different from the main series, and to directly reflect the sombre tone of the game's setting and story. Singer Emi Evans (Emiko Rebecca Evans) wrote and sung the vocal tracks, and performed many tracks in an invented language dubbed "Chaos Language". "Chaos Language" is less a language and more a writing style, as each individual song has a different language based on a real-world language. The one exception to this is "Song Of The Ancients" which is sung in a language based upon multiple different languages, instead of a single language. Okabe returned to compose the soundtrack for "Drakengard 3": in an interview, he stated that, in composing the music, he tried to emulate the work of the earlier composer without imitating them. He also commented that the result was very unlike the traditional Square Enix game. The game features two theme songs: "Black Song", performed by Eir Aoi, and "This Silence is Mine", the game's theme song proper, written and sung by Chihiro Onitsuka. Okabe is again providing the music for "Nier: Automata", with singer Emi Evans also returning.


title: Drakengard

text: The "Drakengard" games take place in a dark fantasy version of Medieval Europe called Midgard. Humans appear to be the predominant species, although races such as dragons, fairies and elves are shown to exist. The setting, mythos, and landscape borrow extensively from the lore of Northern Europe. The world is overseen by a group of unnamed gods who have yet to make a personal appearance. The gods are served by beings known as the Watchers, entities created to destroy humanity because they are considered a failure. The Watchers are kept from entering the world with the seals, which act to keep the world in balance: should the seals be destroyed, the Watchers would enter the world and destroy humanity. At the core of the seals is the Goddess of the Seal, a mortal virgin female chosen and branded with the final seal: if all the seals are destroyed, all that stands between the Watchers and the world is the death of the Goddess herself. A core element of the "Drakengard" universe is the ability for humans and beasts to form a Pact, a magical bond which links their souls and grants the human partner great power at the cost of some physical ability or personal trait (their voice, singing abilities, etc.). Pacts are normally entered into by beasts so they can feed off negative emotions, but sometimes they will enter a pact for other reasons. A recurring element across the series is the representation of magic using the Celestial Alphabet, with a common letter arrangement representing the human gene.


title: Drakengard

text: The universe of the "Drakengard" series is split between multiple timelines. Events in those timelines are separate, but they can overlap. The core timeline is formed from "Drakengard" and its sequel. "Drakengard 3" acts as the first game's prequel, but most of its events take place in separate timelines leading to different outcomes. In "Drakengard 3", a malevolent flower uses servants called the Intoners, women gifted with the power to use magic through song, as instruments of humanity's destruction. In "Drakengard", which succeeds the fifth version of "Drakengard 3"s events detailed in a supplementary novel, the Watchers use a group known as the Cult of Watchers to spark a religious war and destroy the seals. In "Drakengard 2", the Watchers continue to use the former head of the cult to destroy the new seals, while the dragons prepare to usurp the gods and rule over the world. "Nier" is set in an alternative reality created by events stemming from "Drakengard"s fifth ending: in this reality, our modern world was decimated by a plague created by the magical beings who came through the portal, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction. "Nier: Automata" takes place after the fourth ending of "Nier", featuring appearances and mentions of characters from both "Nier" and the "Drakengard" games.


title: Drakengard

text: The "Drakengard" games feature a mix of action-based hack-and-slash combat during ground-based battles and aerial combat mixed in with RPG leveling mechanics. In the original, the player guides the characters around ground-based battles to combat small groups of enemy units. In aerial combat, the player takes control of the protagonist's dragon partner. In these situations, the dragon can either lock onto a target and unleash a barrage of small fireballs, or the player can manually aim and fire large bursts of flame, which do more damage but do not home in on a target. Basic gameplay changed little for "Drakengard 2", but there are some differences and additions, such as weapon types being tied to the character they are associated with, with changing them also swapping the character. The dragon gameplay remained virtually unchanged, apart from the ability, during air-ground missions, for the dragon to swoop down on a group of enemies in a special attack depicted in a short cutscene.


title: Drakengard

text: In "Nier" and "Drakengard 3", the player controls the main protagonist with two other characters acting as AI-controlled supports. "Drakengard 3" was designed to be a faster experience than the previous games, with the protagonist being given a special hyper-mode and the ability to freely switch between weapons without pausing the action. Aerial gameplay was also changed, with the dragon now capable of ground combat. "Nier", while featuring similar hack-and-slash combat, also includes other gameplay types such as a top-down view for puzzle areas, 2D style areas for buildings or similar structures. Side-quests were also added, which often involved fetch quests, fishing and farming.


title: Drakengard

text: One of the running narrative themes for the main series is Immorality, which also became the key character theme and was expressed through their personalities and actions. The second game also focused on themes of war and death. The theme for the world of "Drakengard 3", as described by composer Keiichi Okabe, is "the sense of contrast". Multiple anime series have influenced the series' characters over the years, including "Neon Genesis Evangelion", "Sister Princess" and "Puella Magi Madoka Magica". The series writer, Sawako Natori, drew inspiration for her writing from shōnen manga. The original game world was designed around Celtic and Norse myths, together with Japanese-style revisionism. The team for the original game were influenced by Asian epic movies and western action-adventure films such as the 1999 remake of "The Mummy" and "Dragonheart". While developing "Nier", the team drew inspiration from the "God of War" series, while the narrative structure was inspired by the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror. The central theme of "Nier: Automata" is struggling out of a bad situation, defined by the game's staff using the Japanese word "agaku".


title: Drakengard

text: The games received multiple adaptations and additional story content in the form of novelizations, manga and supplementary material. The first game received two novelizations: "Drag-On Dragoon: Side Story" on November 28, 2003, and "Drag-On Dragoon: Magnitude "Negative"" on January 23, 2004. The first book was written by Emi Nagashima, writing under her pen name of Jun Eishima, and the second by Takashi Aizawa. The novelization of "Drakengard 2", written again by Nagashima, was released on September 30, 2005.


title: Drakengard

text: Nagashima wrote character stories and manga for "Drakengard 3" leading up to that game's release. The manga was "Drag-On Dragoon: Utahime Five", a prequel following the game's main antagonists, and "Drag-On Dragoon: Shi ni Itaru Aka", which acts as a sequel, although for Branch A, as it along with Branches B, C, D, and E lead to alternative timelines. A book detailing the narrative connection between "Drakengard 3" and "Drakengard", titled "Drag-On Dragoon 3 Story Side", which serves as the fifth branch similar to the events of B and D, narrated by Brother One, was released on 28 August 2014. "Drag-On Dragoon 3 Complete Guide + Setting", a complete guide to the game with extra features explaining the game chronology and a novella set after the events of "Shi ni Itaru Aka", was published by ASCII Media Works in 2014.


title: Drakengard

text: "Nier" was expanded after release with a CD drama which told of events immediately after the events of "Drakengard"s fifth ending, and a supplementary book titled "Grimoire Nier" containing extra stories and concept art alongside a fifth ending for the game. Square Enix also paired up with WildStorm to create a digital comic, which detailed the backstories of the game's characters and world.


title: Drakengard

text: The Japanese girl band "Yorha" performed on the Drakengard 3 soundtrack, and in 2015 performed a stage production written by Yoko Taro that is directly related to the plot of "". The band's fictional backstory places them as military androids similar to the playable characters in "Automata".


title: Drakengard

text: The "Drakengard" series has received mixed to positive reviews over the years. So far, the original "Drakengard" has received the most positive response of the main series games. "Drakengard 2" and "Drakengard 3" have received lower scores. Each title in the series has received favorable review scores from Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu".


title: Drakengard

text: The common point of praise for the series through most of its life has been the story. While individual aspects have come in for criticism, the dark atmospheres, unconventional characters and general scenarios have been cited as one of each game's strengths. Despite some mixed feelings from reviewers either for the story as a whole or certain aspects of it, the characters and plot of "Drakengard 3" have also been praised. The major exception is "Drakengard 2": the story's lighter tone and more traditional narrative were noted and sometimes criticized for being overly simplistic or too similar to other games in the genre. The "Drakengard" characters have remained popular in Japan, with "Dengeki" holding a popularity contest for those characters to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary and the announcement of "Drakengard 3". Among the most popular characters were the first game's main protagonists, Caim and Angelus (the former having earned the nickname among fans). The characters of "Drakengard 3" have also proved to be highly popular.


title: Drakengard

text: The gameplay has so far come in for major criticism, with the original title's aerial and ground-based gameplay being seen as repetitive and dull, although some reviewers found it entertaining. "Drakengard 2" also came in for such criticism, although minor improvements were cited. In contrast, the gameplay of "Drakengard 3" was generally praised or seen as an improvement upon the previous two entries, though the dragon-riding segments came in for criticisms for difficult controls. Opinions were divided on "Nier"s unconventional mix of gameplay styles from multiple game genres, with some praising the variety and others seeing it as poorly executed. The series as a whole has gained a cult following in Japan.


title: Drakengard

text: Each game has sold relatively well in its home market. The original game was a commercial success, selling over 120,000 units in the first week of release and eventually selling over 240,000 copies in Japan. "Drakengard 2"s first-week sales were similarly impressive, selling 100,000 units. It sold over 203,000 copies by the end of 2005. "Drakengard 3" sold just under 115,000 units in its first week, and over 150,000 units by May 2014. The two versions of "Nier"—"Gestalt" and "Replicant"—sold roughly 12,500 and 60,000 copies in their first week respectively. "Replicant" eventually sold over 121,000 in Japan by the end of May 2010. The series has sold over 770,000 units in Japan as of May 2014. Sales figures for western regions are unavailable. The first two games in the main series have both been included in Square Enix's Ultimate Hits series, re-releases of popular titles developed or published by them. "Nier: Automata" became a worldwide success, shipping over 4 million copies by June 2019, becoming the best-selling title in the franchise. , "Automata" has sold over units worldwide. Less than two months after its release, the remaster of "Replicant" had shipped over one million copies worldwide, two times the estimated sales of the original game.


title: National Lampoon's Vacation (film series)

text: National Lampoon's Vacation film series is a comedy film series initially based on John Hughes' short story "Vacation '58" that was originally published by "National Lampoon" magazine. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. and consists of five main films, two of which are not sponsored by "National Lampoon", and one spin-off. In recent years, the series has been the inspiration for various advertising campaigns featuring some of the original cast members. The series portrays the misadventures of the Griswold family, whose attempts to enjoy vacations and holidays are plagued with continual disasters and strangely embarrassing predicaments.


text: "National Lampoon's Vacation" was directed by Harold Ramis and written by John Hughes. The film follows Clark and Ellen Griswold as they take their two children, Rusty and Audrey, on a cross-country trip from their home in Chicago, to the California theme park Walley World. Planned out by Clark, the trip begins to go awry after the family gets lost in St. Louis. From there, they make it to Coolidge, Kansas, where they spend the night at the home of Ellen's cousin Catherine and husband Eddie. There they are forced to take Ellen's Aunt Edna and her dog to Phoenix, Arizona. Along the way to there, Clark accidentally drags the dog from the back of the car and Edna dies during a long day of driving. Dropping her body off at cousin Normy's house in Phoenix, they eventually make it to Walley World only to find that it is closed, causing Clark to take matters into his own hands.


text: "National Lampoon's European Vacation" was directed by Amy Heckerling and written by John Hughes and Robert Klane. After becoming the winning family on a game show called "Pig In A Poke", the Griswolds win a two-week trip to Europe. The vacation begins in London, where they visit sights such as Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. Having trouble with driving on the left side of the road, Clark ends up in many accidents and unknowingly knocks down Stonehenge. From there they stop in France, where their camcorder gets stolen; in West Germany, where they spend the night at the home of strangers they mistake for their relatives; and in Italy, where they become involved with a thief's robbery and kidnapping. In addition, they also have many run-ins with a bicycle rider.


text: This is the first of two "Vacation" films to not feature the Randy Quaid "Cousin Eddie" character. The second film is the 2015 "Vacation".


text: In the opening "Pig in a Poke" sequence as well as the closing credits, the family's name is spelled as "Griswald" as opposed to "Griswold". Clark's passport during the opening credits also shows his last name as Griswald.


text: "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and written by John Hughes. The film follows Clark's attempt at delivering "the most fun-filled old-fashioned family Christmas ever". As Clark's parents, aunt, and uncle, Ellen's parents, and Catherine and Eddie's family begin arriving early, he becomes obsessed with ensuring that everything goes right. Meanwhile, he is also expecting a large Christmas bonus check from Frank Shirley that will cover a surprise backyard swimming pool that he already ordered. However, when the Christmas bonuses are cut, he instead receives a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, causing him to snap and go crazy.


text: The film's success resulted in a sequel, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2", centered on Eddie's family.


text: "Vegas Vacation" was directed by Stephen Kessler and written by Elisa Bell, based on a story by Bell and Bob Ducsay. After receiving a large bonus check from Frank Shirley for the success of one of the preservatives that he worked on, Clark takes his family on vacation to Las Vegas. Immediately hitting the blackjack tables, he begins to blow all his money, resulting in them breaking off in their own directions. While he tries to regain his money through the help of his cousin-in-law Eddie, Ellen becomes infatuated with Wayne Newton as Rusty wins big at the dice tables and Audrey turns to go-go dancing with her cousin Vicki. The film is notable for being the first (and to date, only) installment to receive a PG rating from the MPAA and the first to be made without the involvement of John Hughes.


text: "Vacation" is a 2015 theatrical installment of the series written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Following in Clark's footsteps, a grown-up Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) surprises his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), and their two sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins) with a cross-country road trip back to Walley World, in an effort to recreate the family vacations he had with his parents and sister (Leslie Mann). It is the first entry since the original to receive an R rating.


text: "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure" is a made-for-TV spin-off film directed by Nick Marck and written by Matty Simmons. After a workplace accident involving a chimpanzee, Eddie Johnson is given a free vacation for him and his family to an island in the South Pacific by his boss Professor Doornitz to avoid a potential lawsuit from Eddie. But when he tries to catch a shark during a family boat trip, they become lost and eventually shipwrecked on an isolated island.


text: It can be considered a sequel to "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", although it is more of a spin-off than a direct chapter in the "Vacation" series, because Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo do not appear. It stars Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn, reprising their roles as Cousin Eddie and Catherine, with Dana Barron returning as Audrey Griswold. Ed Asner appears as Eddie's uncle Nick.


text: "Hotel Hell Vacation" is a short film directed by Bryan Buckley. On their way to visit Rusty and his family at a vacation rental, Clark and Ellen decide to have a romantic getaway at a hotel before they get there. Everything goes wrong and they hastily make their way to Rusty's rental.


text: The film was a campaign ad for HomeAway that originally aired in part during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV and in entirety on Homeaway.com. While it was sanctioned by Warner Bros., it was not sponsored by the National Lampoon label.


text: In December 2019, a television spin-off series entitled "The Griswolds" entered development. The series is set to be aired on HBO Max, though it has not been officially picked up, with former Rusty actor Johnny Galecki serving as executive producer.


text: After the success of "National Lampoon's Animal House" in 1978, it was decided that another story from the "National Lampoon" magazine should be adapted into a film. One of such stories chosen for development was John Hughes' "Vacation '58" that was originally published in the September 1979 issue of "National Lampoon". Hughes wrote the screenplay for the first "Vacation" film as "a fairly straight adaptation of the short story", with the exception of the ending that was rewritten and reshot after being "thoroughly despised by preview audiences". In addition to Hughes, "Vacation" involved the crew of many people connected to "National Lampoon". The film was produced by "Lampoon" co-founder and "Animal House" producer, Matty Simmons, and directed by "Lampoon" alumnus and "Animal House" co-writer Harold Ramis.


text: Released on July 29, 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation" proved to be a financial and critical success. Simmons went on to produce two sequels, with scripts by Hughes. While involved with the early stages of a third sequel, "Vegas Vacation", Simmons resigned from production due to creative differences. As a result, the film was made without the "National Lampoon" title.


text: During an interview on the TBS series "Dinner and a Movie", Beverly D'Angelo revealed that due to the success of "Animal House", the original "Vacation" was envisioned as a raunchier R-rated comedy targeting young adults. This was principally the reason for nudity such as D'Angelo's shower scene, and Chase's profanity-laced tirades and pool scene with Christie Brinkley. However, the movie's success with larger family audiences who identified with Chase's everyman-father character caught the filmmakers by surprise. As a result, the subsequent sequels prior to the 2015 R-rated revival were toned down and family friendly, with PG-13 or PG ratings.


text: Along with John Belushi, who starred in "Animal House", Chevy Chase had previously performed in "The National Lampoon Radio Hour" and in the stage show "National Lampoon Lemmings", both of which were spin-offs from "National Lampoon" magazine.


text: In each of the main films of the series, the Griswold children are portrayed by different actors. This is usually attributed to the fact that after Anthony Michael Hall declined to reprise his role in "European Vacation" in order to star in "Weird Science", director Amy Heckerling requested both children be recast. Chase has indicated that it was his idea to continue recasting the children by explaining: "I always wanted to make the joke, 'Geez, I hardly ever get the chance to see the kids anymore. I hardly know who they are. We should go on a vacation'. That was funny to me: the idea that Clark was such a great family man, but still didn't even recognize his own children".


text: Shortly after making "European Vacation", Chase and Eric Idle began to write a script for a follow up called "National Lampoon's Australian Vacation". According to Idle: "We spent some time working together on it. It had some nice shark gags, but I can't pretend it was in any way finished". The concept of "Australian Vacation" resurfaced in the 90s as a potential fifth installment of the series, but nothing ever came of it.


text: Prior to the confirmed plans of New Line Cinema rebooting the series, Chase made note that he has developed another sequel tentatively titled "Swiss Family Griswold". In 2011, Chase revealed that he and Beverly D'Angelo have been working on the idea: "There's a cruise, there's a fire on the ship, we think the whole ship's on fire and we jump —- it's just a little fire —- and we end up on an island where we meet Randy somewhere who's been left there from an old "Survivor" series".


text: New Line Cinema (owned by Warner Bros., which released the previous films) confirmed a new "Vacation" film in 2010. The film, titled simply "Vacation", was ultimately released on July 29, 2015, exactly 32 years after the original film was released into theaters. It was produced by David Dobkin and written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.


text: The film is a direct sequel to the previous films (picking up years after the events of "Vegas Vacation"), starring Ed Helms as Rusty Griswold, as he takes his own family to Walley World. Leslie Mann appeared as Audrey Griswold. Original series stars D'Angelo and Chase appeared in cameo roles. The film also starred Chris Hemsworth, Charlie Day and Christina Applegate.


text: Aside from the obvious issues with the characters' physical appearances due to being played by different actors, Rusty and Audrey both age on a floating timeline. It is assumed that each film takes place in the year they are actually filmed, as no other indication of time is mentioned and the characters' clothing, cars, and environment are contemporary to the time of each film's release. In most of the films it is never mentioned which of the two children is older. Rusty and Audrey appear to be in their early teens in "Vacation" (1983), and in their mid-teens in "European Vacation" (1985) two years later (at one point in the film, he specifically mentions that he is fifteen years old). However, in "Christmas Vacation" (1989), while she appears to be in her late teens, he looks younger than he did in the preceding films. In "Vegas Vacation" (1997), both are in their late teens to which Clark tells the kids, "I hardly recognize you anymore!" The next shot freezes for a moment on the kids sitting silently, making fun of the discontinuity.


text: Dana Barron, who was then in her late thirties, reprised the role of Audrey in "Christmas Vacation 2" (2003). Rusty is also portrayed as an adult with a wife and daughter in "Hotel Hell Vacation" (2010). However, in "Vacation" (2015), Rusty is portrayed by Ed Helms and has two sons with no mention of a daughter.


text: In the first "Vacation" film, Clark sees a golden-haired beauty driving a red Ferrari played by model and actress Christie Brinkley. Clark later encounters her at a hotel, with her attempts to seduce him resulting in an embarrassing failure on his behalf. In "Vegas Vacation", Clark once again drives alongside the same woman (again played by Brinkley) when en route to Eddie and Catherine's current location, mouthing the question "remember me?" After she responds that she does, Clark spots a baby in the backseat of her car, clearly indicating she's now a mom and possibly married — much to Clark's disappointment where she just shrugs her shoulders when Clark mouths a question.


text: A new girl in a red Ferrari played by model Hannah Davis appears in the 2015 "Vacation". This time, while driving down the highway, the girl pulls alongside Rusty and makes flirtatious gestures at him before swerving into the other lane, being hit head on and killed by a semi-truck.


text: Eddie and Catherine are seen with the following children in their respective films: Vicky, Dale, Daisy Mable, Eddie Jr, and Junior ("Vacation"); Rocky and Ruby Sue ("Christmas Vacation"); Denny ("Vegas Vacation"); and Clark "Third" Johnson — the namesake of Clark Griswold ("Christmas Vacation 2"). In addition to those seen, several others are mentioned or alluded to throughout the series. While the Johnsons do not appear in the 2015 "Vacation", Eddie is mentioned once. Since Clark refers to Eddie as his cousin-in-law in "Christmas Vacation", hence generally being referred to as 'Cousin Eddie' - it's presumed that Catherine is a cousin of Ellen. This is confirmed in "Vegas Vacation" when Ellen directly asks Clark how often she gets to see her "cousin", Catherine.


text: Clark is usually very easy-going and optimistic, even in the face of adversity and his family's seeming lack of appreciation for his efforts on their behalf. However, when he is pushed beyond the limit of his patience, he tends to lose his temper and go on furious tirades, as seen in the first "Vacation", where he scolds his family for not wanting to continue the trip and after finding that Walley World is closed for repairs. In "Christmas Vacation", Clark went into a tirade against his boss Frank Shirley not giving him a Christmas bonus, angry at his relatives because of their wanting to leave following the squirrel incident, and rants to Frank about him cutting the Christmas bonuses.


text: Ellen has a tendency to mention about her family's first action in some films. In "Vacation", Clark pulled a BB gun on Russ Laskey where Ellen mentions "We're not violent people, this is our first gun!" Clark then quotes "No it's not"! In "Christmas Vacation", Eddie actually abducts Frank Shirley from his house on Melody Lane and brings him to the Griswald household with a ribbon on his head and a dog chain on his wrist and ankles where he rants that he had never been treated like this in his life. Ellen then quotes "I'm sorry, this is our family's first kidnapping!"


text: When released in 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation" was a significant box-office hit. The film earned over $61 million in the United States with an estimated budget of $15 million.


text: Without being adjusted for inflation, the profit earned by the individual "Vacation" films follow behind "National Lampoon's Animal House" as the highest-grossing films of the National Lampoon brand.


text: In 2000, readers of "Total Film" magazine voted "National Lampoon's Vacation" as the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. The film was also nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list in 2000. "Christmas Vacation" has additionally become a television staple, especially during the holiday season, as it has often been labeled as a contemporary Christmas classic.


text: In November and December 2012, series regulars Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo were featured in a set of commercials for Old Navy. Joining them in one commercial were Juliette Lewis (from "Christmas Vacation"), Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall (from "Vacation"), and Jason Lively (from "European Vacation"); that spot featured three Rustys and three Audreys (including a "new Rusty" and a "new Audrey", both of whom were children).


text: In 2020, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprised their roles as Clark and Ellen in a Ford commercial for the Ford Mustang Mach-E. The commercial spoofed the house lighting scene.


text: Christie Brinkley reprised her role as the Girl in the Red Ferrari, while Anthony Michael Hall played a theme park security guard in the seventh season of the television series "The Goldbergs".


text: In the "Family Guy" episode "Boys Do Cry", there is a scene where a woman is driving next to Peter and gets hit by a truck, which mimics the Christie Brinkley car scene from the first "Vacation"; Lois responds "Eh, you marry Billy Joel, it's gonna happen one way or another". In "Blue Harvest", the Griswold Family is seen driving past the Death Star during the battle at the end. Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo reprise their roles here.


text: In 2008, Christie Brinkley spoofed her role as "The Girl in the Red Ferrari" in a DirecTV commercial that recreated the swimming pool scene from "Vacation" by inter-splicing footage from the original film.


text: In 2015, Christie Brinkley reprised her role as "The Girl in the Red Ferrari" as the mom in an Infiniti QX60 TV spot, in which she comments about another blonde beauty driving by in a red convertible. Ethan Embry, who played Rusty in the 1997 "Vegas Vacation", plays the dad.


text: On December 25, 2014, in Clark, NJ, signs for the Garden State Parkway Exit 135 were vandalized from "Clark and Westfield" to "Clark Griswold", making national news headlines.


text: Australian hip hop artists, Hilltop Hoods issued a single "Clark Griswold" (July 2018) featuring Adrian Eagle, which reached the Australian Singles Chart top 50, and won the ARIA Award for Best Urban Release in 2018.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Kevin Carter (13 September 1960 – 27 July 1994) was a South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He was the recipient in 1994 of a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan. He died by suicide at the age of 33. His story is depicted in the book "The Bang-Bang Club", written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva and published in 2000.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Kevin Carter was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in a middle-class, whites-only neighbourhood. As a child, he occasionally saw police raids to arrest black people who were illegally living in the area. He said later that he questioned how his parents, a Catholic, "liberal" family, could be what he described as 'lackadaisical' about fighting against apartheid.


title: Kevin Carter

text: After high school, Carter dropped out of his studies to become a pharmacist and was drafted into the army. To escape from the infantry, he enlisted in the Air Force in which he served four years. In 1980, he witnessed a black mess-hall waiter being insulted. Carter defended the man, resulting in him being badly beaten by the other servicemen. He then went absent without leave, attempting to start a new life as a radio disc-jockey named "David". This, however, proved more difficult than he had anticipated. Soon after, he decided to serve out the rest of his required military service. After witnessing the Church Street bombing in Pretoria in 1983, he decided to become a news photographer and journalist.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Carter had started to work as a weekend sports photographer in 1983. In 1984, he moved on to work for the "Johannesburg Star", exposing the brutality of apartheid.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Carter was the first to photograph a public "necklacing" execution by black Africans in South Africa in the mid-1980s. Carter later spoke of the images: "I was appalled at what they were doing. But then people started talking about those pictures... then I felt that maybe my actions hadn't been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn't necessarily such a bad thing to do."


title: Kevin Carter

text: In March 1993, Robert Hadley of the UN Operation Lifeline Sudan offered João Silva the opportunity to travel to Sudan and report about the famine in South Sudan embedding with the rebels in that area's civil war. Silva told Carter, who felt it was an opportunity to expand his freelance career and use work as a way to address personal problems. Operation Lifeline Sudan had been having funding difficulties, and the UN believed that publicising the area's famine and needs would help aid organisations sustain funding. Silva and Carter were apolitical and desiring only to photograph.


title: Kevin Carter

text: After flying to Nairobi, the two found out that new fighting in Sudan would force them to wait in that city indefinitely. During this time, Carter made a day trip with the UN to Juba in the south Sudan to photograph a barge with food aid for the region. Soon afterwards, the UN received permission from a rebel group to fly food aid to Ayod. Hadley invited Silva and Carter to fly there with him. Once in Ayod, Silva and Carter separated to shoot photos of famine victims, discussing between themselves the shocking situations they were witnessing. Silva found rebel soldiers who could take him to someone in authority. Carter joined him. One of the soldiers, who did not speak English, was interested in Carter's wristwatch. Carter gave him the cheap watch as a gift. The soldiers served as their bodyguards.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Carter shot an image of what appeared to be a little girl, fallen to the ground from hunger, while a vulture lurked on the ground nearby. He told Silva he was shocked by the situation he had just photographed, and had chased the vulture away. A few minutes later, Carter and Silva boarded a small UN plane and left Ayod for Kongor.


title: Kevin Carter

text: Sold to "The New York Times", the photograph first appeared on 26 March 1993, and syndicated worldwide. Hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask the fate of the girl. The paper said that according to Carter, "she recovered enough to resume her trek after the vulture was chased away" but that it was unknown whether she reached the UN food center. In April 1994, the photograph won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.


title: Kevin Carter

text: In 2011, the child's father revealed the child was actually a boy, Kong Nyong, and had been taken care of by the UN food aid station. Nyong had died four years prior, c. 2007, of "fevers", according to his family.


title: Kevin Carter

text: In March 1994, Carter took a photograph of the three Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members being shot during their abortive invasion of Bophuthatswana just before the South African election. Carter ran out of film halfway through the incident. Eamonn McCabe of "The Guardian" said: "It was a picture that made nearly every front page in the world, the one real photograph of the whole campaign."


title: Kevin Carter

text: On 27 July 1994, Carter drove to Parkmore near the Field and Study Centre, an area where he used to play as a child, and died by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the driver's side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 33. Portions of Carter's suicide note read:


title: Kevin Carter

text: The 1996 song "Kevin Carter" by rock band Manic Street Preachers, from their fourth album "Everything Must Go", was inspired by Carter's life and suicide. The lyrics were written by Richey Edwards shortly before his own disappearance.


title: Kevin Carter

text: A main character in the book "House of Leaves", Will Navidson, is a photojournalist who is tormented by guilt over winning a Pulitzer Prize for photo of a starving Sudanese girl but not helping her. In Footnote 336 it is mentioned that this is "clearly based on Kevin Carter's [...] photograph".


title: Kevin Carter

text: The 2001 album "Poets and Madmen", by American heavy metal band Savatage, is inspired by the life and death of Kevin Carter.


title: Clarinet

text: The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.


title: Clarinet

text: Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest such woodwind family, with more than a dozen types, ranging from the BB♭ contrabass to the E♭ soprano. The most common clarinet is the B soprano clarinet.


title: Clarinet

text: German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet sometime after 1698 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, an earlier single-reed instrument. Over time, additional keywork and the development of airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Today the clarinet is used in classical music, military bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles. It is a standard fixture of the orchestra and concert band.


title: Clarinet

text: The word "clarinet" may have entered the English language via the French "clarinette" (the feminine diminutive of Old French "clarin"), or from Provençal "clarin" ("oboe"). It is ultimately from the Latin root "clarus" ("clear"). The word is related to Middle English "clarion", a type of trumpet, the name of which derives from the same root.


title: Clarinet

text: The earliest mention of the word "clarinette" as used for the instrument dates to a 1710 order placed by the Duke of Gronsfeld for two of the instrument made by Jacob Denner. The English form "clarinet" is found as early as 1733, and the now-archaic "clarionet" appears from 1784 until the early 20th century.


title: Clarinet

text: A person who plays the clarinet is called a "clarinetist" (in North American English), a "clarinettist" (in British English), or simply a clarinet player.