title: West Midlands (county)

text: West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It embraces seven metropolitan boroughs: the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, and the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. The county is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers all seven boroughs and other non-constituent councils, on economy, transport and housing.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The metropolitan county exists in law, as a geographical frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county. As such it has a Lord Lieutenant. and a High Sheriff. Between 1974 and 1986, the West Midlands County Council was the administrative body covering the county; this was abolished on 31 March 1986, and the constituent metropolitan boroughs effectively became unitary authorities. A new administrative body for the county (and some of the district surrounding it as Non-Constituent members), the West Midlands Combined Authority, was created in June 2016. Since May 2017, the authority has been headed by a directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands, a position currently held by Andy Street of the Conservative Party. Other county-wide bodies include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and Transport for West Midlands.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlands metropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation" or "Greater Birmingham", although these have different, less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation or urban area does not include Coventry, for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion, not surprising perhaps when geographically it is on the eastern side of the region, the western side comprising Shropshire and Herefordshire the southern side comprising Worcestershire and most of Warwickshire.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Although the modern county has only existed since 1974, the settlements of the West Midlands have long been important centres of commerce and industry as well as developing a good local infrastructure. Coventry was one of England's most important cities during the Middle Ages, with its prosperity built upon wool and cloth manufacture. Birmingham and Wolverhampton have a tradition of industry dating back to the 16th century, when small metal-working industries developed. Birmingham was known for its manufacture of small arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture and brass working. The coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country area provided a ready source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, and by the 20th century had grown into one large conurbation. Coventry was slower to develop, but by the early 20th century it had become an important centre of bicycle and car manufacture.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: 1966 saw a substantial reform in the local government of the area as the patchwork of county boroughs with municipal boroughs and urban district councils in between was replaced by a core of county boroughs covering a contiguous area, roughly as follows:


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Near the area, three other towns remained separate (Halesowen, Stourbridge and Sutton Coldfield), while Aldridge and Brownhills joined to form a single unit, called Aldridge-Brownhills. In the same year, a single West Midlands Constabulary was formed for the Black Country county boroughs, whilst Birmingham retained its Birmingham City Police and Solihull continued being policed by the Warwickshire Constabulary. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority was established in 1968.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect, creating the metropolitan county of West Midlands. This area was based on the seven county boroughs and the other non-county boroughs and urban districts around the fringe of the conurbation. The new area consisted of seven new metropolitan boroughs, with Aldridge-Brownhills added to Walsall; Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough of Sandwell was formed by the merger of West Bromwich and Warley. The actual designation of Warley itself was abolished and the three towns of Smethwick, Oldbury and Rowley Regis reinstated as component parts of Sandwell, although these areas formed the Warley postal district.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Solihull took in much of the suburban fringe to the east of Birmingham, including the former villages of Chelmsley Wood and Castle Bromwich, also Birmingham Airport, and the area of countryside between Solihull and Coventry, whilst Coventry itself received only small changes and Wolverhampton was unaltered. This led to (apart from in the east, with Coventry and the Meriden Gap) quite a tightly defined metropolitan border, excluding such places as Burntwood, Bromsgrove, Cannock, Kidderminster, Lichfield and Wombourne which had been considered for inclusion in the West Midlands metropolitan area by the Redcliffe-Maud Report. The 1974 reform created the West Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. A new West Midlands Police service was formed covering the entire area, with the West Midlands Constabulary and Birmingham City Police abolished, and also taking over responsibility from the county forces.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Between 1974 and 1986, the county had a two-tier system of local government, and the seven districts shared power with the West Midlands County Council. However, the Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan county councils, and the West Midlands County Council ceased to exist in 1986. Most of its functions were devolved to the West Midland boroughs, which effectively became unitary authorities, with responsibility for most local authority functions.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Following the abolition of the county council, some county-wide bodies continued to exist, which were administered by various joint-boards of the seven districts, among these were the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: In 1994, the western/southern shores of Chasewater, plus the adjacent Jeffreys Swag, were transferred from the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire. Further boundary changes came into effect in 1995, when part of the Hereford and Worcester parish of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the county.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: On 17 June 2016, a new administrative body, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created for the county, under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, which created several other combined authorities in England. The new body has powers over transport, economic development, skills and planning. A new directly elected position of Mayor of the West Midlands was created in 2017 to chair the new body. The first Mayoral election was held in May 2017, and the position was won by Andy Street of the Conservative Party.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The West Midlands is a landlocked county that borders the counties of Warwickshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south, and Staffordshire to the north and west.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The West Midlands County is one of the most heavily urbanised counties in the UK. Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form the third most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom with a combined population of around 2.44 million. However, the West Midlands is not entirely urban; Coventry is separated from the West Midlands conurbation by a stretch of green belt land approximately across, known as the "Meriden Gap", which retains a strongly rural character. A smaller piece of green belt between Birmingham, Walsall and West Bromwich includes Barr Beacon and the Sandwell Valley.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill, with a height of . The hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Barr Beacon is another hill in the West Midlands, located on the border of Birmingham and Walsall, with a height of .


title: West Midlands (county)

text: There are 23 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the county. One of these SSSIs is Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield, which has an area of . As a result, it is one of the largest urban parks in Europe, and the largest outside of a capital city in Europe. The park also has national nature reserve status.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: There are numerous rivers that pass through the county, including the River Tame. The river basin is the most urbanised basin in the United Kingdom, with approximately 42% of the basin being urbanised. The River Tame is fed by the River Rea, River Anker, and the River Blythe, which in turn is fed by the River Cole. The River Sowe and River Sherbourne both flow through Coventry. The River Stour flows through the west of the West Midlands county.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Like other metropolitan counties, the West Midlands is divided into districts called metropolitan boroughs. There are seven boroughs in the West Midlands, six of which are named after the largest settlement in their administrative area. The West Midlands is unusual amongst the metropolitan counties in that three of its boroughs have city status; Coventry is a city by ancient prescriptive usage, Birmingham was granted city status in 1889, and Wolverhampton in 2000 as a "Millennium City".


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Both of Coventry University and the University of Warwick are located in Coventry whilst University of Wolverhampton is located in Wolverhampton with campuses in Telford and Walsall.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Each of the local authorities has at least one further education college for students aged over 16, and since September 1992 all of the local authorities have operated traditional 5–7 infant, 7–11 junior, and 11-16/18 secondary schools for students in compulsory education. This followed the demise of 5–8 first, 8–12 middle and 12-16/18 secondary schools in the Sutton Coldfield area.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: For 18 years before September 1990, Dudley had operated 5–8 first, 8–12 middle, and 12-16/18 secondary schools before then, while Halesowen (September 1972 until July 1982) and Aldridge-Brownhills (September 1972 until July 1986) had both operated 5–9 first, 9–13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: Many local authorities still have sixth form facilities in secondary schools, though sixth form facilities had been axed by most secondary schools in Dudley since the early 1990s (and in Halesowen in 1982) as the local authorities changed direction towards further education colleges.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: All secondary state education in Dudley and Sandwell is mixed comprehensive, although there are a small number of single sex and grammar schools existing in parts of Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: In August 2009, Matthew Boulton College and Sutton Coldfield College merged to become Birmingham Metropolitan College, one of the largest further and higher education institutions in the country. Plans are afoot for the construction of a new campus in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The West Midlands is home to numerous sports teams. In rugby union, the West Midlands is home to various clubs including Wasps RFC, Birmingham Barbarians, Sutton Coldfield RFC, Moseley Rugby Football Club, Birmingham & Solihull RFC, and Coventry RFC.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: In rugby league, the Midlands Hurricanes are the only team from the county playing in the professional ranks, currently in the third tier League 1.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: In association football, there are six Premier League and Football League teams in the county of which two, Aston Villa, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, play in the Premier League. The following clubs are often referred to as the West Midlands "Big Six":


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The West Midlands is also home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, who are based at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which also hosts Test matches and One Day Internationals. The Birmingham Panthers basketball team replaced the Birmingham Bullets and are currently based at a facility provided by the University of Wolverhampton in Walsall.


title: West Midlands (county)

text: The West Midlands has its own Quidditch team, West Midlands Revolution (after its part in the Industrial Revolution), which won the Quidditch Premier League in 2017.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Gregor Clegane, nicknamed "The Mountain That Rides" or simply "The Mountain", is a fictional character in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation "Game of Thrones". In the books, the character is initially introduced in 1996's "A Game of Thrones". He subsequently appeared in "A Clash of Kings" (1998), "A Storm of Swords" (2000) and in "A Dance with Dragons" (2011).


title: Gregor Clegane

text: A notorious knight and retainer to House Lannister, he is well known for his enormous size, prowess in battle, extremely cruel nature, and uncontrollable temper. He is the older brother of Sandor "The Hound" Clegane; who has hated him ever since Gregor gruesomely scarred Sandor by shoving his face into a brazier when they were children. After being mortally wounded in a duel with Oberyn Martell, he is resuscitated by Qyburn via sinister means and becomes member of the Kingsguard and the personal bodyguard of Cersei Lannister.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: In the HBO television adaptation, Clegane was originally portrayed by Australian actor Conan Stevens in season one, and by Welsh actor Ian Whyte in season two; Icelandic actor and world champion strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson took over the role in season four and continued in the role until the final season.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor Clegane is the head of House Clegane, a landed knight vassal to House Lannister, and is the older brother of Sandor Clegane. His enormous size and strength make him a fearsome warrior (in the novels he is nearly 8 feet tall, and weighs over 400 lbs.), and he has earned a reputation for violence and brutality. When they were children, Gregor shoved Sandor's face into a brazier for using his toy, gruesomely scarring him. Over the course of his service to Tywin Lannister, he has committed numerous war crimes, most infamously the rape and murder of the Targaryen royal family, but has repeatedly avoided punishment due to House Lannister's power and influence over the Iron Throne. Clegane was one of the first Lannister soldiers to enter King's Landing during its sack at the end of Robert Baratheon's rebellion. He raped and murdered Princess Elia, after murdering her son Aegon by shattering the child's head against a wall, a grudge House Martell still bears 14 years later at the onset of "A Game of Thrones".


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Gregor Clegane is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Arya Stark and Cersei Lannister. Gregor is mostly a background character in the novels.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: In "A Game of Thrones", Tywin Lannister sends him to raid the Riverlands in retaliation for Catelyn Stark's abduction of Tyrion. Beric Dondarrion is sent to arrest Gregor, but Gregor ambushes and kills him. He and his men continue raiding the Riverlands throughout "A Clash of Kings". When Tyrion Lannister demands a trial by combat in "A Storm of Swords", the accuser Cersei Lannister chooses Gregor as her champion. Elia's brother Oberyn Martell volunteers as Tyrion's champion to expose Gregor as a murderer. Oberyn wounds Gregor with a poisoned spear, but the Mountain is ultimately victorious, admitting to murdering Elia and Aegon before crushing Oberyn's skull. The dying Gregor is given to Qyburn for experimentation. Later Gregor's skull is sent to Doran Martell and the Sand Snakes who question if it is really Gregor.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Following Cersei's walk of atonement, Qyburn presents Ser Robert Strong as Kingsguard's newest member and Cersei's champion for her upcoming trial by combat. Strong is of similar enormous stature as Gregor, and his body is completely covered in armor. Several characters have made comments about his unnatural behaviour and have theorized about who he could be, however he is currently not confirmed to be Ser Gregor.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Tywin Lannister sends Ser Gregor to raid the Riverlands. Beric Dondarrion is sent to arrest Gregor. When war breaks out, Gregor is given command of Tywin's vanguard and left flank and leads his men through intimidation.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor is left to command Harrenhal in Tywin's absence and to find and destroy "The Brotherhood Without Banners", invoking the escape of Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie from Harrenhal. He later abandons Harrenhal after slaughtering the prisoners and is defeated by Edmure Tully at the Stone Mill, but manages to escape back to the Westerlands. Robb chides his uncle, having planned to draw the Mountain into a trap of his own making to be captured or killed.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor is chosen as Cersei's champion for Tyrion's trial by combat, and fights Oberyn Martell, Tyrion's champion who wants to kill Gregor as revenge for the murder of his sister, Elia Martell. Oberyn inflicts several serious injuries on Clegane with his poisoned spear, but Gregor eventually kills Oberyn by crushing his skull, while admitting that he did rape Elia, killed her children and enjoyed it, before collapsing from his own injuries. It is later revealed that The Mountain has been poisoned with manticore venom, a poison with which Oberyn had laced his weapon, and that he is slowly dying. Cersei enlists ex-maester Qyburn to save him, though Qyburn claims that the procedure will "change" Clegane.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: The procedure is seemingly a success as Ser Gregor returns to duty, now as a kingsguard, presenting himself as Cersei returns from her walk of shame. Though Qyburn's treatment has changed his physical appearance and behavior, and seemingly made him completely mute, Qyburn explains that Ser Gregor - not naming him as such - has sworn a vow of silence and vowed to serve as Cersei's personal bodyguard until all her enemies are destroyed and evil has been driven from the realm. He picks her up and carries her into Qyburn's care, her demeanor visibly lifted.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor continues to act as Cersei's bodyguard to intimidate all those who may bother or mock her. He also rips the head off of a Faith Militant with his bare hands when they try to take Cersei into their custody. After Cersei destroys the Great Sept of Baelor and retakes power, she has Gregor torture Septa Unella in revenge for torturing her during her time in prison.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor is still with Cersei as a member of the Queensguard. He is confronted by his brother Sandor "The Hound" Clegane in the season finale, where Sandor conveys an ominous message that he (Gregor) already knows who is coming for him and that he has always known.


title: Gregor Clegane

text: Ser Gregor is present when Daenerys Targaryen arrives at King's Landing with all her forces, demanding the release of her advisor Missandei and Cersei's surrender. A defiant Cersei has Ser Gregor decapitate Missandei. Ser Gregor is killed in the penultimate episode when Cersei attempts to flee the Red Keep, meeting Gregor's vengeful brother on their way down. Sandor quickly dispatches her guards and Gregor slays Qyburn as he insists upon obeying him and protecting the queen, instead engaging in a sword duel with Sandor (whose presence seems to break his spell of loyalty). After stubbornly fighting his brother by any means available, and even penetrating his bared face with a dagger all the way through his skull (suggesting that Gregor is, in fact, dead and reanimated by magical means), Sandor finally tackles him into an unsteady wall as the Red Keep crumbles around them. The effort is finally successful, and both brothers fall out of the stairwell into a raging inferno below. Ironically, Gregor's ward, Queen Cersei, dies at the same time below them as even the crypts beneath the keep collapse, fulfilling (in a narrow, somewhat ironic sense) Qyburn's promise that the knight would not rest until her enemies had been defeated and "evil driven from the realm".


title: Andy Cole

text: Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career lasted from 1988 to 2008, and is mostly remembered for his time with Manchester United, who paid a British record transfer fee to sign him from Newcastle United. Cole spent six years with Manchester United and won eight major trophies, including the Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in 1999.


title: Andy Cole

text: As well as for Manchester United and Newcastle United, Cole also played in the top division of English football for Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Sunderland, as well as in The Football League for Bristol City, Birmingham City, Burnley and Nottingham Forest. He is the fourth-highest goalscorer in Premier League history with 187 goals, and holds Premier League records for most goals scored in a 42-game season (34), and fastest to score 50 goals (65 matches), as well as being the first player to top the Premier League's goalscoring charts and assist charts in the same season in their own right, in 1993–94.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole has the distinction of being one of the few players in England to have swept all possible honours in the English game, including the PFA Young Player of the Year award, as well as the coveted UEFA Champions League title. Cole was also capped 15 times for the England national team between 1995 and 2001, scoring once against Albania in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole began his career as a youth player for Arsenal on leaving school in 1988, signing professional in 1989. He made his only league appearance for Arsenal, aged 19, as a substitute against Sheffield United at Highbury during a First Division match on 29 December 1990. Arsenal won 4–1 but Cole did not score. He also made a substitute appearance against Tottenham Hotspur in the Charity Shield in 1991 and almost made an immediate impact, hitting the side netting from outside the penalty area. The following season, Cole was loaned to Fulham in the Third Division, where he scored three goals in 13 matches.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole joined Second Division Bristol City on loan in March 1992 before signing in a £500,000 permanent deal in the summer of 1992, at the time becoming their most expensive player. Having proved himself as a competent young goalscorer with Bristol City (who began the 1992–93 season in the new Football League Division One following the creation of the Premier League), Cole was quickly one of the hottest prospects in England and his name was frequently linked with Premier League clubs throughout the 1992–93 season.


title: Andy Cole

text: In February 1993, Division One leaders Newcastle United broke their club transfer record by paying £1.75 million to sign Cole. He then scored 12 goals in as many league matches as Newcastle cruised to the Division One title and won promotion to the Premier League. His 12 goals included two hat-tricks, the first against Barnsley on 7 April, the second on the final day of the season in a 7–1 hammering of Leicester City. He also scored the first of the club's two goals in their 2–0 promotion clinching win over Grimsby Town at Blundell Park on 4 May.


title: Andy Cole

text: After David Kelly was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers, manager Kevin Keegan brought in Peter Beardsley as Cole's strike partner for the 1993–94 Premier League campaign.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole scored 34 goals in 40 matches during Newcastle's first Premier League season as they finished third, and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time since the 1970s. His first top division goal was in a 1–1 draw against defending league champions Manchester United at Old Trafford on 21 August 1993. This was Newcastle's first goal in the Premier League. Exactly three months later, Cole scored all three goals as Newcastle defeated Liverpool 3–0 at home. Another emphatic hat-trick followed against Coventry City in late February and with Peter Beardsley almost as lethal as his strike partner. Cole scored 41 total goals in all competitions – breaking the club's goalscoring record which had been set by Hughie Gallacher nearly 70 years earlier (Gallacher still holds the record for the highest number of league goals in a season with 36). Cole scored in 26 different Premier League appearances for Newcastle in 1993-94, which is a season record in the competition by a player.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole then scored 9 goals in 18 Premier League matches for Newcastle after the start of the 1994–95 season, and also scored a hat-trick against Royal Antwerp in the UEFA Cup.


title: Andy Cole

text: In all, Cole scored 68 goals in 84 matches for Newcastle, giving him a strike rate of 81%. Cole's last goal for Newcastle United came in the 1–1 home draw with Ipswich Town on 26 November 1994.


title: Andy Cole

text: On 10 January 1995, Cole was suddenly sold in a shock deal to Manchester United for a deal worth £7 million – £6 million cash plus £1 million-rated Keith Gillespie going in the opposite direction, setting a new record for the most expensive British transfer. Newcastle fans were saddened and confused with Keegan for selling Cole, leading to Keegan publicly confronting fans at St James' Park, against the advice of chairman Sir John Hall and first team coach Terry McDermott, explaining his reasons on the day of the transfer. Cole stated his sadness at leaving the club, however felt the iconic status Newcastle fans aligned with him was premature and affecting him personally, whilst he cited Newcastle's November loss to Wimbledon as permanently damaging his relationship with Keegan. McDermott stated in his autobiography that Keegan decided to sell Cole citing a drop in form and enthusiasm, whilst also hoping to sign Queens Park Rangers striker Les Ferdinand shortly following Cole's departure. Ferdinand signed for Newcastle that summer.


title: Andy Cole

text: Despite joining halfway through the 1994–95 season, Cole still managed to score 12 goals in just 18 Premier League matches for United. This included his first, the winner in a 1–0 victory over Aston Villa on 4 February at Old Trafford and five in the 9–0 rout of Ipswich Town, making him the first player to score five goals in a Premier League match. He also scored twice in away wins over Leicester City and Coventry City during the season’s final stages, as his new team kept up the pressure and cut the gap between themselves and league leaders Blackburn Rovers.


title: Andy Cole

text: However, Cole missed two goal chances in the final minutes against West Ham United on the final day of the season as they could only manage a 1–1 draw and the league title went to Blackburn Rovers instead. He was cup-tied for the FA Cup Final a week later. Without him, United lost to Everton 1–0. United were also without the banned Eric Cantona and the injured Andrei Kanchelskis, the club's two other highest scoring players that season.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole's first full season in 1995–96 with Manchester United proved to be difficult, as Cole struggled to find his trademark form in a side now built around the much heralded return of Eric Cantona. Though Cole scored in four consecutive matches halfway through the season, including an important opening goal in United's 2–0 defeat of title rivals Newcastle United on 27 December, Cole was badgered by fans and critics alike across much of the season for only scoring 14 times and missing many chances. However, Cole picked up his form in the final stages of the season and scored crucial goals including the equaliser in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea to help send United to Wembley Stadium again. He then collected his first Premier League title winners medal and scored the second goal in United's 3–0 defeat of Middlesbrough on the final day of the season to help United win the Premier League title for the third time in four years - a remarkable turnaround as his new club had been 10 points behind his old club at Christmas.


title: Andy Cole

text: He also played in United’s FA Cup final victory to become part of England's first ever side to win the double twice.


title: Andy Cole

text: Before the 1996–97 season began, Cole had to deal with being offered to Blackburn Rovers as part-exchange in a £12 million deal that would have brought Alan Shearer to Old Trafford, but the offer was rejected and Shearer joined Newcastle instead. Despite Alex Ferguson's clear indication to Cole that he was looking for another striker, after the Shearer deal fell through, Cole fought to stay at the club and was handed the number 9 shirt, having previously worn 17. The arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjær – and being the victim of two broken legs suffered after a tackle by Neil Ruddock in a reserve match against Liverpool, restricted Cole's first-team chances further. However, he managed to recover by December 1996 and still played in 20 Premier League matches (ten as a substitute) for the season. Cole then ended the season strongly with several crucial goals in both the league (such as away at title rivals Arsenal), and in the UEFA Champions League (where he scored a goal voted the season's best European goal against Porto) to complete his comeback from injury. Cole then scored the title sealing goal in a landmark 3–1 win for United at Anfield – the scene of his broken legs a few months earlier - as United moved closer to another title triumph.


title: Andy Cole

text: For the 1997–98 season, the retirement of Eric Cantona saw Cole emerge as first choice striker once again, and he discovered his best form ever for the club. He found himself starting most of United’s games that season, either alongside Solskjaer or new signing Teddy Sheringham.


title: Andy Cole

text: He became the joint top goalscorer in the Premier League during the course of the season with 18, several of which were spectacular efforts. The most notable was perhaps a chip against Everton, which fans voted as the Manchester United goal of the season. Cole also developed a strong partnership with Teddy Sheringham (despite considerable personal friction between the two), but United finished trophyless for only the second time in the 1990s as they surrendered their lead of the Premier League to Arsenal during the final two months of the season.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole achieved several personal landmarks in this campaign, scoring his first European hat-trick for the club in an away match at Feyenoord, as well as ending the season as runner-up in the PFA Players' Player of the Year award to Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp. Despite this accreditation, and being the leading goalscorer in all competitions that season with 25, Cole was omitted from England's 1998 FIFA World Cup squad by national coach Glenn Hoddle. Cole remained upbeat when interviewed and when asked about his new-found return to success, he claimed he had found freedom in his life after the injuries and erratic form of his earlier time at Old Trafford, saying he had great joy with his young son and lived for him and his family in his faith as a born-again Christian. He also claimed the friendship of Ryan Giggs, his roommate on away matches, was a major motivating factor through the tough times when fans and media doubted him at United.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole faced competition from new signing Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær during the 1998–99 season, but ended up developing an immensely successful partnership with Yorke. The two contributed 53 goals between them and were rated as one of the most feared attacking partnerships in Europe, with the pair scoring against sides like Barcelona away at the Camp Nou, and repeating the form all season with incredible one-touch passes and assists that at times seemed to demonstrate a telepathic understanding. Although Solskjaer still managed to excel on occasions whether as a starting player or a substitute, and Sheringham also managed to do well and score crucial goals when he played.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole played a key role in the side's unique treble of the Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. Cole scored the winning goal in United's final Premier League match of the season against Tottenham Hotspur, a result which meant United finished one point ahead of rivals Arsenal to win the Premier League title. He also scored United's third and winning goal in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Juventus, sealing their place in the final. Also in this season, Cole scored his 100th Premier League goal in a top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal at Old Trafford on 17 February; the match ended 1–1.


title: Andy Cole

text: During United's pre-season tour of Australia in July 1999, Cole was involved in a horror tackle which left 19-year-old Australian defender Simon Colosimo sidelined for six months and requiring a complete knee reconstruction. Before the injury, Colosimo was one of Australia's best young players and was about to make a big money move to Europe, and was never able to complete a career in Europe, despite a handful of appearances for Manchester City.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole was United's second top scorer again in 1999–2000 with 19 goals in 28 Premier League matches. He collected his fourth Premier League title medal in five seasons, and scored over 20 goals in all competitions for the third successive season. Cole scored many goals for United including the only goal of the game in their top-of-the-table clash against their closest rivals Leeds United. He also joined an elite group during this season by scoring his 100th goal for the club in a 2–2 draw against Wimbledon.


title: Andy Cole

text: Another title followed in 2000–01 when, despite suffering from an injury that restricted his appearances, Cole scored 13 goals in all competitions, including four in the UEFA Champions League, allowing him (at the time) to become Manchester United's record goal scorer in European competition of all-time, eclipsing the record set some 30 years earlier by Denis Law.


title: Andy Cole

text: The following 2001–02 season saw Cole face fresh competition from new signing Ruud van Nistelrooy, as well as Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solskjær and also Paul Scholes for places up front, with Sir Alex Ferguson adopting a more conservative approach, especially in European matches, by playing Scholes behind Van Nistelrooy with Roy Keane and Juan Sebastián Verón in a three-man midfield. Despite this, Cole managed to score seven goals before leaving for Blackburn Rovers halfway through the season after falling behind to the formidable partnership of Van Nistelrooy and Solskjær, meaning that he was often a substitute during the final months of his United career.


title: Andy Cole

text: More than five years after his Old Trafford exit, a 35-year-old Cole made one last appearance for Manchester United in the UEFA Celebration Match six years later, on 13 March 2007, coming on at half-time for a friendly match between Manchester United and a European XI, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the European Community and 50 years of Manchester United in the European Cup.


title: Andy Cole

text: The arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Sebastián Verón counted against Cole's first-team chances in the 2001–02 season, and on 29 December 2001, Cole was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £8 million. Within two months of arriving, he had collected a League Cup winners medal, scoring the winning goal for Blackburn in the final against Tottenham Hotspur, who were managed by the former England manager and open critic of Cole, Glenn Hoddle. This victory meant that, in the space of seven seasons, Cole had won all four domestic trophies plus a European trophy. Cole ended the season with a total of 18 goals in all competitions, 5 for Manchester United and 13 in just 20 matches for Blackburn.


title: Andy Cole

text: Rovers finished sixth the following season and qualified for the UEFA Cup. That campaign saw Cole reunited with Dwight Yorke, who had signed for Blackburn from Manchester United for £2 million in July 2002.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole had a frustrating season in 2003–04 season, as Rovers slid into the bottom half of the Premier League, finishing 15th. He scored 11 goals but his relationship with manager Graeme Souness hit rock bottom after Cole reported him to the Professional Footballers' Association ("PFA") accusing him of unfair treatment. Cole scored 37 goals in 100 appearances in all competitions for Blackburn.


title: Andy Cole

text: Thirteen years after spending a month on loan at Fulham, Cole returned to Craven Cottage for the 2004–05 season, joining them on a one-year contract. He was the club's top scorer and scored one of the goals of the season against Liverpool. Despite this successful period at Fulham, he decided to leave the club after only one season as his family wanted to return to the North West.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole signed for Manchester City on a free transfer at the beginning of the 2005–06 season, and enjoyed a good start to his career at Eastlands. Stuart Pearce's side spent most of the season in the top half of the table, but Cole's season was ended by injury in March.


title: Andy Cole

text: Despite signing a new contract with Manchester City only months earlier and leaving Fulham in 2005 to return to the north, Cole signed for south coast club Portsmouth on transfer deadline day (31 August 2006) for an undisclosed fee, reported as £500,000 with the potential to rise to £1 million depending on appearances. He scored his first league goal for his new club in the 2–0 win at home to West Ham United on 14 October. However, Cole struggled to break into Harry Redknapp's side and in March 2007, he signed on loan for Birmingham City of the Championship until the end of the season. Cole returned to Portsmouth after five appearances and one goal (against Wolverhampton Wanderers) for Birmingham. He was released on 3 August 2007.


title: Andy Cole

text: After being released by Portsmouth at the end of the 2006–07 season, Cole signed a one-year contract with Sunderland on a free transfer, reuniting him once more with former Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers strike partner Dwight Yorke, and under the management of former United teammate Roy Keane. After seven matches for the club, Cole spent three months on loan at Burnley where he scored six goals for the Championship club, including a hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. Reflecting on his time at Turf Moor, Cole stated, "I went to Burnley and spoke to Owen Coyle and got a great vibe. He brought the best out of me and made me feel a lot younger than my age." Cole was released by Sunderland at the end of the 2007–08 season.


title: Andy Cole

text: On 4 July 2008, Cole signed a 12-month deal with Nottingham Forest, his 12th club and his local from his time growing up in Nottingham. However, on 31 October 2008, Forest confirmed Cole's contract had been cancelled by mutual consent after 11 appearances and 0 goals.


title: Andy Cole

text: Despite first being capped for England in 1995, Cole earned only 15 caps by the time he announced his retirement from international football after failing to be selected for the 2002 World Cup squad. He scored one goal for England, in a World Cup qualifying match against Albania in March 2001. He also scored in his single appearance for the England B team.


title: Andy Cole

text: Glenn Hoddle, in defence of his decision not to select Cole for the World Cup in 1998, accused Cole of needing six or seven chances to score one goal.


title: Andy Cole

text: A persistent toe injury in the lead up to UEFA Euro 2000 led to Cole missing out on another major competition for his country.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole earned his first four caps under four different managers. He made his debut against Uruguay under Terry Venables in 1995; appeared next against Italy under Glenn Hoddle at the Tournoi de France in 1997; made his third appearance against France under caretaker Howard Wilkinson in 1999; and finally earned his fourth cap against Poland under new manager Kevin Keegan in his first starting appearance a few weeks later.


title: Andy Cole

text: In August 2009, Cole was hired by his former Manchester United and England teammate, Milton Keynes Dons manager Paul Ince, to coach the club's forwards on an initially temporary basis. However, one week later, Cole agreed to spend at least two days a week working on finishing with the forwards at Huddersfield Town, under his former Newcastle United and Fulham teammate Lee Clark.


title: Andy Cole

text: In December 2010, Cole was back at Manchester United, working at the Carrington training ground while finishing his coaching badges.


title: Andy Cole

text: In October 2019, Cole was named as forward and attack coach assisting manager, Sol Campbell at Southend United. On 30 June 2020, manager Campbell and his three assistants including Cole left the club by mutual consent.


title: Andy Cole

text: In 1999, Cole signed to WEA/Warner Music and released a cover of the Gap Band's "Outstanding" which reached number 68 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole's father, Lincoln, emigrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1957 and worked as a coal miner in Gedling, Nottinghamshire, from 1965 to 1987.


title: Andy Cole

text: Cole married his long-time girlfriend Shirley Dewar in July 2002. Their son, Devante, is also a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Barnsley.


title: Andy Cole

text: In 2008, Cole was questioned by police after an alleged assault on his wife at their home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, before being released on bail. Six months later, Cole, through his representative law firm Schillings, won damages in an action against the owners of the "Daily Star" for defamation regarding the publication of material concerning the assault allegations and for harms caused against his family by sensationalist reports.


title: Andy Cole

text: In June 2014, Cole suffered kidney failure after developing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. In April 2017, he underwent a kidney transplant. His nephew Alexander was the donor.


title: Andy Cole

text: In 2000, Cole visited Zimbabwe and returned to set up his own charitable foundation, called the Andy Cole Children's Foundation, which helped AIDS orphans in the country. The charity has since closed down. He has since set up the Andy Cole Fund to raise money for Kidney Research UK, after suffering kidney failure in 2015 after contracting an airborne virus.


title: Andy Cole

text: Neil Ruddock considered Cole to be the player he most enjoyed playing against. In a candid interview with Talksport, he jokingly referred to the incident that resulted in Cole suffering two broken legs in 1997 as "not big, and not clever", adding "but it was great", and that "I didn't mean to break both of his legs if I'm honest, I only meant to break one".


title: Andy Cole

text: In 2010, Cole wrote in his column in "The Independent" he had "loathed" and "pretty much detested" former Manchester United and England teammate Teddy Sheringham "for 15 years" after Sheringham did not offer to shake Cole's hand as Cole was substituted on for Sheringham to make his England debut in a match against Uruguay at Wembley in 1995.


title: James Bolam

text: James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in "The Likely Lads" and its sequel "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?", Jack Ford in "When the Boat Comes In", Roy Figgis in "Only When I Laugh", Trevor Chaplin in "The Beiderbecke Trilogy", Arthur Gilder in "Born and Bred", Jack Halford in "New Tricks" and the title character of Grandpa in the CBeebies programme "Grandpa in My Pocket".


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam was born on 16 June 1935 in Sunderland, County Durham, England. His father, Robert Alfred Bolam, was from Northumberland, and his mother, Marion Alice Drury, from County Durham. After attending Bede Grammar School, Sunderland, Bolam attended Bemrose School in Derby. Bolam trained as an articled clerk to chartered accountant, before becoming an actor, and formally trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, where he won the gold medal and the Margaret Rawlings Cup. Lacking funding for his fees, he worked in Lyons Corner House tearoom and West End restaurants, washing dishes, at night and studied during the day.


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam's first professional engagement was at the Royal Court Theatre as an understudy to Ronnie Barker in Chekhov's "Platonov". He first appeared on screens in the early 1960s, initially in television shows such as "Z-Cars" and the Northern social realist films "A Kind of Loving" and "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (both 1962), in the latter film as the best friend of the title character (played by Tom Courtenay).


title: James Bolam

text: It was "The Likely Lads", with Bolam as Terry Collier and Rodney Bewes as Bob Ferris, which made Bolam a star during its 1964 to 1966 run, and he adapted the scripts for a BBC Radio version soon afterwards. He appeared with John Thaw in the Granada serial, "Inheritance" in 1967.


title: James Bolam

text: Before the sequel, "Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?", began its run, Bolam appeared in films such as "Half a Sixpence" (1967), "Otley" (1969), and "O Lucky Man!" (1973). The revived series, chronicling the further adventures of Bob and Terry, lasted for two series broadcast in 1973 and 1974 and a 45-minute 1974 Christmas Eve special.


title: James Bolam

text: In 1975, Bolam appeared alongside the original cast in a further BBC Radio series adapted from the 1973 TV series and in 1976 there was a further reunion in a feature film spin-off from the series, simply entitled "The Likely Lads". Bolam's co-star Rodney Bewes stated in 2005 that the two actors had not spoken since the film had been made, a period of over thirty years. The rift, according to Bewes, developed through his indiscreetly telling a journalist that when Bolam's wife revealed she was pregnant, Bolam was so startled that the car he was driving mounted a pavement and almost crashed into a lamp post. Bolam denied there was a rift between the two men when Bewes died in November 2017.


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam is known for being guarded about his private life. He once remarked: "I'm having a man fix the track rods on my car. I don't want to know anything about him. Why should he want to know anything about me?"


title: James Bolam

text: In 1976, Bolam returned to straight drama, as Jack Ford in the BBC Television series "When the Boat Comes In", which ran until 1981. Since then he has mostly appeared in comedies and comedy dramas, including "Only When I Laugh" (as Roy Figgis) from 29 October 1979 to 16 December 1982, "The Beiderbecke Affair" (as Trevor Chaplin) in 1985, "The Beiderbecke Tapes" in 1987, "Andy Capp" (in the title role), "The Beiderbecke Connection" in 1988, "Second Thoughts" (as Bill MacGregor) from 3 May 1991 to 14 October 1994, "Midsomer Murders", "Pay and Display", "Dalziel and Pascoe", "Close and True", "Born and Bred" (as Dr Arthur Gilder), and "New Tricks" (as Jack Halford). Another memorable role was alongside Timothy West and Sheila Hancock in the 2002 series of the BBC comedy-drama "Bedtime", in which Bolam played the seemingly decent but actually crooked Ronnie Stribling.


title: James Bolam

text: On radio, in 1978 he played Willie Garvin in a BBC World Service radio adaptation of the Modesty Blaise book "Last Day in Limbo". He provided the voice for The Tod in the animated film version of "The Plague Dogs" (1982). In the mid-1980s, he co-starred in the original radio version of the romantic sitcom "Second Thoughts", which ran for several series and was subsequently adapted for television with Bolam reprising his role. In the year 2000 he played Sir Archibald Flint in the "Doctor Who" audio play "The Spectre of Lanyon Moor". He was also the narrator for the three-part football documentary "Three Lions", which aired before Euro 2000 on BBC One. The three episodes were about England's National Team's history from the 1966 World Cup until before the Euro 2000 finals.


title: James Bolam

text: In 2002, Bolam played the serial killer Harold Shipman in "", the ITV adaptation of Brian Masters' book on the case, "Prescription for Murder b" and Father Leonard Tibbings in "Dalziel and Pascoe" (Ser. 7, Ep. 1 'Sins of the Fathers'). He portrayed Harold Wilson, the former Prime Minister, in the 2006 BBC documentary "The Plot Against Harold Wilson". He appeared in Frank Loesser's musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at the Chichester Festival Theatre during the 2005 summer season. He played the role of Grandpa in the Cbeebies show "Grandpa in My Pocket". In 2009 he played Ken Lewis, CEO of the Bank of America, in the television dramatisation "The Last Days of Lehman Brothers".


title: James Bolam

text: His appearances on the London stage include "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell" by Keith Waterhouse and Ben Elton's play, "Gasping". In 1974, he appeared in a novel production of 'Macbeth' at The Young Vic, in which the lead role was shared by Bolam and two other actors. It was announced on 20 September 2011, that Bolam had quit the role of Jack Halford in "New Tricks", just days after two more series were commissioned.


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam continues to work in the theatre as well as on television. During spring 2015, he appeared in the play "Bomber's Moon" by William Ivory at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam lives in Wisborough Green, West Sussex and Chiswick, London, with his wife, the actress Susan Jameson (who co-starred with him in an early episode of "The Likely Lads", the TV series "When the Boat Comes In", "New Tricks", "Close and True" and "Grandpa in My Pocket"). They have a daughter. Bolam plays golf and is a member of the Stage Golfing Society.


title: James Bolam

text: In March 1977, Bolam was Roy Plomley's guest on "Desert Island Discs", where he picked as his favourite track, the "Violin Concerto in D" by Ludwig van Beethoven, as his book "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien, and as his luxury, "selected cases of French wine". In the show, he expressed an ambition to appear in a Western, and referred to his enjoyment of horses and having been a race-horse owner.


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam sings top tenor in the Wisborough Green barber shop choir. The choir is a small local group that performs at fetes and small venues (The Right Notes Nov. 1995).


title: James Bolam

text: Bolam was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours "For services to Drama."


title: India Post

text: India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into a service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates (universal service) and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country.


title: India Post

text: It is involved in delivering mail (post), remitting money by money orders, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The DoP also acts as an agent for the Indian government in discharging other services for citizens such as old age pension payments and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement. With 154,965 post offices (as on March 2017), India Post is the widest postal network in the world.


title: India Post

text: The country has been divided into 23 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a Postmaster General and comprising field units known as Divisions. These divisions are further divided into subdivisions. In addition to the 23 circles, there is a base circle to provide postal services to the Armed Forces of India headed by a Director General. One of the highest post offices in the world is in Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh operated by India Post at an altitude of .


title: India Post

text: The British Raj was instituted in 1858, when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown.


title: India Post

text: A number of acts were enacted during the British Raj to expand and regulate posts and telegraphs service:


title: India Post

text: The world's first official airmail flight took place in India on 18 February 1911, a journey of lasting 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, carried about of mail (approximately 6,000 letters and cards) across the Ganges from Allahabad to Naini; included in the airmail was a letter to King George V the United Kingdom. India Post inaugurated a floating post office in August 2011 at Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. Telegraphy and telephony made their appearance as part of the postal service before becoming separate departments. One unique telegraph office was established and operated in the capital of Lhasa until the People's Republic of China's annexation of Tibet. It is one of the Floating Wonders of India. The Posts and Telegraphs departments merged in 1914, dividing again on 1 January 1985.


title: India Post

text: Since India became independent in 1947, the postal service continues to function on a nationwide basis, providing a variety of services. The structure of the organization has the directorate at its apex; below it are circle offices, regional offices, the superintendent's offices, head post offices, sub-post offices and branch offices. In April 1959, the Indian Postal Department adopted the motto "Service before help"; it revised its logo in September 2008.


title: India Post

text: The number of post offices was 23,344 when India became independent in 1947 and these were primarily in urban areas. The number increased to 155,015 2016 and 90% of these were in rural areas.


title: India Post

text: The first adhesive postage stamps in Asia were issued in the Indian district of Scinde in July 1852 by Bartle Frere, chief commissioner of the region. Frere was an admirer of Rowland Hill, the English postal reformer who had introduced the Penny Post. The Scinde stamps became known as "Scinde Dawks"; "Dawk" is the Anglicised spelling of the Hindustani word "Dak" or ("post"). These stamps, with a value of -anna, were in use until June 1866. The first all-India stamps were issued on 1 October 1854.


title: India Post

text: The volume of mail moved by the postal system increased significantly, doubling between 1854 and 1866 and doubling again by 1871. The Indian Post Office Act, 1866 (XIV) introduced reforms by 1 May 1866 to correct some of the more obvious postal-system deficiencies and abuses. Postal-service efficiencies were also introduced. In 1863, lower rates were set for "steamer" mail to Europe at (six annas, eight pies for a -ounce letter). Lower rates were also introduced for inland mail.


title: India Post

text: New regulations removed special postal privileges enjoyed by officials of the East India Company. Stamps for official use were prepared and carefully accounted for, to combat abuses by officials. In 1854 Spain had printed special stamps for official communications, but in 1866 India was the first country to adopt the expedient of overprinting "Service" on postage stamps and "Service Postage" on revenue stamps. This innovation was later widely adopted by other countries.


title: India Post

text: Shortages developed, so stamps also had to be improvised. Some "Service Postage" overprinted rarities resulted from abrupt changes in postal regulations. New designs for the four-anna and six-anna-eight-pie stamps were issued in 1866. Nevertheless, there was a shortage of stamps to meet the new rates. Provisional six-anna stamps were improvised by cutting the top and bottom from a current foreign-bill revenue stamp and overprinting "Postage". India was the first country in the Commonwealth to issue airmail stamps.


title: India Post

text: India attained independence on 15 August 1947. Thereafter, the Indian Posts and Telegraph Department embarked on a broad-based policy for the issuance of stamps. On 21 November 1947 the first new stamp was issued by independent India. It depicts the Indian flag with the patriots' slogan, "Jai Hind" ("long live India"), at the top right-hand corner. The stamp was valued at three and one-half annas. A memorial to Mahatma Gandhi was issued 15 August 1948 on the first anniversary of independence. One year later a definitive series appeared, depicting India's broad cultural heritage (primarily Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and Jain temples, sculptures, monuments and fortresses). A subsequent issue commemorated the beginning of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950. Definitives included a technology-and-development theme in 1955, a series depicting a map of India in 1957 (denominated in "naya paisa"—decimal currency) and a 1965 series with a wide variety of images. The old inscription "India Postage" was replaced in 1962 with ""भारत INDIA"", although three stamps (issued from December 1962 to January 1963) carried the earlier inscription.


title: India Post

text: India has printed stamps and postal stationery for other countries, mostly neighbours. Countries which have had stamps printed in India include Burma (before independence), Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Portugal and Ethiopia. The country has issued definitive and commemorative stamps. Six definitive series on India's heritage and progress in a number of fields have been issued. The seventh series, with a theme of science and technology, began in 1986. Between independence and 1983, 770 stamps were issued.


title: India Post

text: The postal department has always been the biggest loss-making entity in India, surpassing others like the Air India and BSNL, with an annual loss to the exchequer to the tune of ₹15,000 crore in the fiscal year 2019, and amounting to ₹15,541 crore in the calendar year 2020. The following table shows losses incurred by the postal department over the years.


title: India Post

text: The Postal Index Number (PIN, or sometimes redundantly PIN code) is a six-digit postal code. The PIN system was made by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar when he was at service in Kolkata. It was introduced on 15 August 1972 by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. There are nine postal zones in the country; the first eight are geographical regions, and the ninth is reserved for the Army Postal Service (APS905898).


title: India Post

text: The PIN for an address may be found on the Postal Service website. There are total of 19,101 PINs covering 154,725 post offices in India, with the exception of the Army Postal Service, 2014.


title: India Post

text: Indian post proposed a 12 digit unique identification number to each and every address in India based on geo coordinates. Draft approach paper on Digital Address Code was issued by Indian Post for public comments.


title: India Post

text: Project Arrow was launched in April 2008. The project plans to upgrade post offices in urban and rural areas, improving service and appearance into a vibrant and responsive organization and to make a visible and positive difference. The project aims to create an effective, friendly environment for staff and customers, providing secure IT services and improving mail delivery, remittances (electronic and manual) and postal-savings plans. Core areas for improvement are branding, information technology, human resources and infrastructure. The project to improve service has been implemented in more than 23,500 post offices, and 'look and feel' improvements have been made in 2,940 post offices. The Department of Posts received the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration during 2008–09 for "Project Arrow – Transforming India Post" on 21 April 2010.


title: India Post

text: Multipurpose counter machines with computers were introduced in post offices in 1991 to improve customer service and increase staff productivity. 25,000 departmental post offices out of 25,464 were computerized between as of 2011–2012. In 2012, a plan costing was formulated to computerize rural post offices.


title: India Post

text: The first philatelic Society in India was founded in Calcutta on 6 March 1897 to service postage-stamp collections. Function include design, printing and distribution of special or commemorative postage stamps, definitive postage stamps and items of postal stationery, promotion of philately, conduct of philatelic examinations at the national level, participation in international exhibitions and monitoring exhibitions at the state, regional and district levels and maintenance of the National Philatelic Museum.


title: India Post

text: Philatelic bureaus were established in head post offices located at circle headquarters and at district-capital head post offices (as necessary). There are 68 philately bureaus and 1111 philatelic counters, including all head post offices ("Mukhya Dak Ghars") in the country as of 31 March 2011. A domestic philatelic deposit-account system was introduced on 1 August 1965 at all philatelic bureaus. Customers are given priority in purchasing commemorative or special-issue stamps, first-day covers and information sheets soon after their issue by opening a deposit account at any philatelic bureau. The number of philately deposit-accountholders grew from 23,905 in 1999–2000 to 168,282 in 2006–2007 and 183,202 in 2008–2009. Four philatelic Bureaus—the Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Parliament Street, New Delhi GPOs are authorized to sell United Nations stamps. A quarterly philatelic magazine, "Philapost", was launched in 2008.


title: India Post

text: The Department of Post has also developed software for philatelic inventory management, known as "Philsim". It is used for all activities relating to philately, including forecasting, indenting, invoicing, monitoring supply and demand and recording sales and revenue for commemorative stamps and other philatelic products at philately bureaus and counters (and definitive stamps and stationery at circle stamp depots and head post offices).


title: India Post

text: The National Philatelic Museum was inaugurated on 6 July 1968 in New Delhi. It had its beginnings at a meeting of the Philatelic Advisory Committee on 18 September 1962. Besides a large collection of India Postage stamps designed, printed and issued, it has a large collection of Indian states (confederate and feudatory), early essays, proofs and colour trials, a collection of Indian stamps used abroad, early Indian postcards, postal stationery and thematic collections. The museum was renovated in 2009 with more exhibits, a philatelic bureau and postal objects (such as Victorian post boxes). The Department of Posts inaugurated the National Philatelic Museum on 11 July 2011. It exhibits rare postage stamps from around the world and provides a venue for philatelists to exhibit their collections.


title: India Post

text: The Army Postal Service (APS) functions as a government-operated military mail system in India. A primary feature of Army Postal Service systems is that normally they are subsidized to ensure that military mail posted between duty stations abroad and the home country (or vice versa) does not cost the sender any more than normal domestic mail traffic. In some cases, Indian military personnel in a combat zone may post letters and/or packages to the home country for free, while in others, senders located in a specific overseas area may send military mail to another military recipient, also located in the same overseas area, without charge.


title: India Post

text: The Electronic Indian Postal Order (e-IPO) was introduced on 22 March 2013, initially only for citizens living abroad. The postal orders can be used for online payment of fees for access to information under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The service was expanded to include all Indian citizens on 14 February 2014.


title: India Post

text: Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was introduced on 1 February 1884 with the express approval of the Secretary of State (for India) to Her Majesty, the Queen Empress of India. It was essentially a welfare scheme for the benefit of Postal employees in 1884 and later extended to the employees of Telegraph Department in 1888. In 1894, PLI extended insurance cover to female employees of P & T Department at a time when no other insurance company covered female lives. It is the oldest life insurer in this country. There was over 6.4 million policies active as on 31 March 2015 with a sum assured of . Premium income of PLI for the year 2014-15 was . It was extended to all rural residents on 24 March 1995.


title: India Post

text: Policies for government employees include "Santhosh" (endowment assurance), "Suraksha" (whole-life assurance), "Suvidha" (convertible whole-life assurance), "Sumangal" (anticipated endowment policy) and "Yugal Suraksha" (joint life endowment assurance). India Post started Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) for the rural public in 1995. RPLI plans include "Gram Santosh" (endowment assurance), "Gram Suraksha" (whole-life assurance), "Gram Suvidha" (convertible whole-life assurance), "Gram Sumangal" (anticipated endowment assurance) and "Gram Priya".


title: India Post

text: On 17 December 2022 - 5 thousand will be earned from interest every month, this post office scheme guarantees fixed income, know the details - Under this scheme of the post office, up to 6.6 percent interest is available annually. Suppose you invest Rs 9 lakh in this scheme, then you will get Rs 59,400 as interest every year.


title: India Post

text: The post office offers a number of savings plans, including recurring deposit accounts, Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA), National Savings Certificates ("NSC"), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), the Public Provident Fund, savings-bank accounts, monthly-income plans, senior-citizens' savings plans and time-deposit accounts.


title: India Post

text: In 2013, it was revealed that the Indian postal service had formulated plans to enter the banking industry after RBI guidelines for the issuance of new banking licenses were released. Eventually they are planning to open a Post Bank of India, an independent banking service.


title: India Post

text: As of 29 February 2016, 18,231 post offices are utilizing Core Banking Solutions (CBS). ATMs are installed at 576 Post Office locations and debit cards issued to Post Office Savings Bank customers. Core Insurance Solution (CIS) for Postal Life Insurance (PLI) is rolled out in 808 head post offices and corresponding 24,000+ sub post offices. In September 2017, it was announced that by 2018 all of the 1.55 lakh post offices, every postman and "grameen dak sevak" (postmaster) will accept all payment options that the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) plans to provide.


title: India Post

text: A collaboration between the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and the Department of Posts has enabled the computation of consumer-price indices for rural areas. These statistics were previously unobtainable, due to problems of remoteness and scale. The agreement authorises the postal service to collect data on prices paid for selected consumer goods. In February 2011, MoSPI published its first Consumer Price Index (CPI) and All-India Consumer Price Index. The information has since been published monthly, based on data available from 1,181 villages across the country.


title: India Post

text: The boom in e-commerce and the surging number of cash-on-delivery consignments has led India Post to partner with major e-commerce portals for delivering pre-paid as well as cash on delivery (COD) parcels. According to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, revenue of India Post from such deliveries would go up to in the year 2015–16.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor, billed as The Money Fight and The Biggest Fight in Combat Sports History, was a professional boxing match between undefeated eleven-time five-division boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and two-division mixed martial arts (MMA) world champion and, at the time, UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor. The fight took place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on August 26, 2017, at the light middleweight limit (154 lbs; 69.9 kg). It was scheduled for twelve rounds and recorded the second highest pay-per-view buy rate in history, behind Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Mayweather extended his professional boxing undefeated streak to 50 victories and 0 defeats (50–0), surpassing the 49–0 record of Hall of Famer Rocky Marciano, after defeating McGregor by technical knockout (TKO) in the 10th round. Mayweather's guaranteed disclosed paycheck was $100 million and McGregor's guaranteed disclosed paycheck was $30 million. However, the purse for the two fighters was expected to be substantially higher for each, with Mayweather reportedly earning $280 million from the fight and McGregor earning $130 million.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: During his successful UFC mixed martial arts career McGregor maintained an interest in boxing and entertained the idea of a "money fight" with Mayweather. UFC president Dana White dismissed the rumors of a fight with Mayweather on "The Dan Patrick Show", stating that Mayweather would have to contact him since McGregor was under contract with the UFC. White even went as far as stating, "Here's what I think the chances are [of the fight happening]: About the same of me being the backup quarterback for Brady on Sunday," referring to Super Bowl LI. In January 2017, it was reported that the two parties had entered an "exploratory phase" in negotiating a potential match between Mayweather and McGregor. On "The Herd with Colin Cowherd", White openly offered to pay Mayweather $25 million to hold the proposed bout during a UFC event. He also predicted that pay-per-view viewership of the hypothetical bout could possibly rival Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: On March 7, 2017, Mayweather called upon McGregor to "sign the paper" and "make it happen", arguing that "if Conor McGregor really wants this fight to happen, stop blowing smoke up everybody's ass." On March 10, 2017, Mayweather stated that only a fight with McGregor would make him come out of retirement. On March 16, 2017, Dana White backpedaled on his stance against a Mayweather–McGregor bout and said that he would not deprive McGregor of a massive payday. On May 18, 2017, McGregor reportedly agreed to all of Mayweather's updated terms and signed the contract. The official confirmation of the fight was made on June 14. An international press tour was held from July 11–14.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: In July 2017, IBF junior lightweight champion Gervonta Davis was reported to be going to participate in a co-main event. Earlier in 2017 McGregor called Mayweather a Malteser with eyeballs. On July 19, additional undercard details were released. By that time, three names had been confirmed on the undercard, including British amateur boxer Savannah Marshall, who signed up earlier in the year with Mayweather Promotions, and Badou Jack, who stepped up to fight at light heavyweight. On July 26, 2017, it was announced that former welterweight titleholder Shawn Porter would be headlining the preliminary card, facing Thomas Dulorme. On August 17, Porter pulled out of the fight due to personal reasons, including a death in the family. He was replaced by Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugás. On July 29, it was reported that Gervonta Davis would defend his IBF junior lightweight title against former WBO champion Roman 'Rocky' Martinez. Martínez was dropped due to not having enough time to make the 130 pound [59 kg] limit. Instead Davis has been rescheduled to fight unbeaten prospect Francisco Fonseca. On August 9, 2017, it was announced that Nathan Cleverly would defend his WBA light heavyweight title against Money Team fighter Badou Jack.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: A mural was painted in McGregor's Dublin training facility, Straight Blast Gym, depicting McGregor hitting Mayweather with a left-handed punch.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: In the United States, the fight was televised via Showtime pay-per-view, available through both traditional television providers and various digital services, including the Showtime PPV website and apps, and UFC.tv. Fathom Events organized public screenings at venues such as movie theaters. On July 10, 2017, it was announced that pricing for the PPV in the U.S. would mirror that of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, being set at US$89.95 (with an additional $10 charge for high definition).


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: The fight was called by Showtime's lead commentary team of Mauro Ranallo (play-by-play), Al Bernstein (color), and Paulie Malignaggi (color), along with ringside reporter Jim Gray. Showtime produced a four-part documentary series, "All Access: Mayweather vs. McGregor", focusing on the preparations for the fight. Fox Sports (the television rightsholder of the UFC) provided shoulder programming for the fight, including coverage of the press tour on "UFC Tonight", as well as a pre-show and preliminary card on Fox and Fox Deportes.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Due to the high demand, a large number of television providers, as well as UFC.tv, experienced technical issues with their carriage of the PPV, including errors, buffering and low video quality. The main event was delayed by an hour from its projected start time in order to address these problems. Following the fight, a class-action lawsuit was proposed in Oregon against Showtime Networks for unlawful trading practices and unjust enrichment, alleging that the network knowingly advertised a level of quality it was unable to deliver with the amount of bandwidth it allocated for the PPV stream. Showtime and the UFC stated that they were investigating their respective customer complaints, and would issue refunds on a case-by-case basis.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Sky Sports Box Office held broadcasting rights to the fight in McGregor's native Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Although it was initially believed that the price would match that of the U.S. PPV, the price was set at €24.95 (£19.95). The fight was called for Sky Sports by lead commentator, Adam Smith alongside Carl Froch and British MMA fighter and UFC analyst, Dan Hardy. British radio rights were held by the BBC, with Mike Costello and Steve Bunce on commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: In Hispanic America, the fight aired on Fox Premium Action. In Brazil, the event aired on Globosat-owned Combate.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: As with Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, it was expected that many viewers would seek unauthorized streams of the fight due to the high cost of the PPV. Showtime successfully received a preliminary injunction against the registrant of a group of 44 websites who planned to illegally stream the fight in violation of its copyrights, and all parties in active concert or participation with them.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: It was estimated that nearly 2.93 million viewers illegally streamed the fight, on video streaming websites and social media channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Periscope.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Mayweather was expected to earn at least $100 million, increasing up to four times that amount upon the event achieving all its metrics. McGregor was expected to earn $75 million, but both men signed non-disclosure agreements barring them from publicly communicating the financial details. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather would earn a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor was guaranteed $30 million.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: In a Q&A session in Glasgow in September 2017, McGregor revealed, had he been disqualified, he would have been fined $10 million. The referee also warned him, had he lifted a leg, he would have not been warned and got a straight point deduction.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: On August 23, 2017, the WBC revealed that the inaugural "Money Belt" would be on the line; it is made from Italian-made alligator leather and encrusted with 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg) of 24-karat gold, 3,360 diamonds, 600 sapphires, and 300 emeralds.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Both athletes initially agreed to box in 10-ounce (285 g) gloves per Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) rules which require 10-ounce (285 g) gloves for boxing matches contracted over 147 pounds [67 kg] (the fight is contracted at 154 pounds [70 kg]). McGregor, accustomed to wearing 4-ounce (113 g) gloves in his UFC fights, wanted 8-ounce (225 g) gloves for the fight. Mayweather agreed, and both athletes submitted formal requests to box in 8-ounce (225 g) gloves, which was granted by the NSAC.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Experts expected that more money would be bet on the fight than any other boxing match in history; estimates ranged up to $85 million in bets. There were six separate $1 million bets on Mayweather in Las Vegas bookmakers, but a large majority of bets overall were on the underdog, McGregor.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the live gate for the event was $55,414,865.79 from 13,094 tickets sold and 137 complimentary tickets given out. This was far less than the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight which grossed $72,198,500 from a paid attendance of 16,219 in 2015, despite claims from Ellerbe and Mayweather that it did more than $80 million.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Showtime Sports’ Stephen Espinoza told the LA Times the fight was expected to generate around 4.4 million domestic buys, which would fall just short of the 4.6 million record which was set by Mayweather-Pacquiao. On December 14, 2017, Showtime officially announced 4.3 million domestic buys, making it the 2nd highest buy rate in pay-per-view history.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Sky Sports initially estimated the fight garnered over a million PPV buys in the UK and grossed in excess of £20 million, which would've surpassed the record set in April 2017 when Anthony Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at the Wembley Stadium. This would've also meant the fight generated more buys in the UK than Mayweather-Pacquiao which took place in 2015. Figures later revealed by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed the MayweatherMcGregor fight drew 874,000 PPV buys in the UK.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: At the weigh-in, Mayweather tipped the scales at 149.5 lbs, with McGregor at 153 lbs. On the night of the fight, McGregor weighed nearly 20 lbs heavier than Mayweather. Mayweather and McGregor entered the ring following the Irish and American national anthems; the Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Imelda May performed on behalf of Conor McGregor, followed by the American singer-songwriter and actor Demi Lovato, who was personally chosen by Mayweather.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Mayweather was expected to dominate the fight early but McGregor started strong and was ahead on one judge's card for the first few rounds, due in part to Mayweather using the rope-a-dope technique in the early stages. Because of this, the fight looked closer than it actually was due to McGregor dominating the first 3 rounds and Mayweather turning his back to him most of the time. Mayweather eventually abandoned his usual stick-and-move style in order to knock McGregor out. As the fight progressed, McGregor began to fatigue heavily. In Round 9, Mayweather landed a series of punches to McGregor's face, and the onslaught continued into Round 10, when referee Robert Byrd eventually called the fight in favor of Mayweather after McGregor failed to defend himself.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: After the match Mayweather stated that he had expected McGregor to be a fast starter and had allowed him to deliver his heavy blows early. McGregor on the other hand was disappointed by what he saw as an early stoppage, but respected the referee's decision. Former boxers such as George Foreman and Evander Holyfield expressed their impression regarding McGregor's boxing skills and the competitiveness of the fight, with Foreman claiming that experts who criticized the fight "should apologize. It was competitive". Mike Tyson gave McGregor an "A grade" for his performance, stating he was impressed. The fight was lauded for its entertaining and exciting nature, especially when compared to Mayweather's most recent bouts.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Mayweather announced in his post-fight interview that he had fought his final boxing match and would officially retire from the sport. Mayweather stated "Any guy that's calling me out? Forget it," putting an end to his boxing career. McGregor said in his post-fight interview that he would be willing to box again and that he would return to mixed martial arts and the UFC.


title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

text: Gervonta Davis failed to make weight at the August 25 weigh in, forcing the IBF to strip him of his title. The title was declared vacant, but would still be on the line for Francisco Fonseca if he secured victory. Davis would go on to win by KO in the eighth round. Nathan Cleverly lost his WBA light heavyweight title to Badou Jack in a one-sided bout which ended when the referee stopped the fight in the fifth. Cleverly retired from boxing after the fight.


title: Constructed language

text: A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. A constructed language may also be referred to as an artificial, planned or invented language, or (in some cases) a fictional language. "Planned languages" (or engineered languages/engelangs) are languages that have been purposefully designed; they are the result of deliberate, controlling intervention and are thus of a form of "language planning".


title: Constructed language

text: There are many possible reasons to create a constructed language, such as to ease human communication (see international auxiliary language and code); to give fiction or an associated constructed setting an added layer of realism; for experimentation in the fields of linguistics, cognitive science, and machine learning; for artistic creation; and for language games. Some people may also make constructed languages as a hobby.


title: Constructed language

text: The expression "planned language" is sometimes used to indicate international auxiliary languages and other languages designed for actual use in human communication. Some prefer it to the adjective "artificial", as this term may be perceived as pejorative. Outside Esperanto culture, the term language planning means the prescriptions given to a natural language to standardize it; in this regard, even a "natural language" may be artificial in some respects, meaning some of its words have been crafted by conscious decision. Prescriptive grammars, which date to ancient times for classical languages such as Latin and Sanskrit, are rule-based codifications of natural languages, such codifications being a middle ground between naïve natural selection and development of language and its explicit construction. The term "glossopoeia" is also used to mean language construction, particularly construction of artistic languages.


title: Constructed language

text: Conlang speakers are rare. For example, the Hungarian census of 2011 found 8,397 speakers of Esperanto, and the census of 2001 found 10 of Romanid, two each of Interlingua and Ido and one each of Idiom Neutral and Mundolinco. The Russian census of 2010 found that there were in Russia about 992 speakers of Esperanto (on place 120) and nine of the Esperantido Ido.


title: Constructed language

text: The terms "planned", "constructed", and "artificial" are used differently in some traditions. For example, few speakers of Interlingua consider their language artificial, since they assert that it has no invented content: Interlingua's vocabulary is taken from a small set of natural languages, and its grammar is based closely on these source languages, even including some degree of irregularity; its proponents prefer to describe its vocabulary and grammar as standardized rather than artificial or constructed. Similarly, Latino sine flexione (LsF) is a simplification of Latin from which the inflections have been removed. As with Interlingua, some prefer to describe its development as "planning" rather than "constructing". Some speakers of Esperanto and Esperantidoj also avoid the term "artificial language" because they deny that there is anything "unnatural" about the use of their language in human communication.


title: Constructed language

text: By contrast, some philosophers have argued that all human languages are conventional or artificial. François Rabelais's fictional giant Pantagruel, for instance, said: "It is a misuse of terms to say that we have natural language; languages "exist" through arbitrary institutions and the conventions of peoples. Voices, as the dialecticians say, don't signify naturally, but capriciously."


title: Constructed language

text: Furthermore, fictional or experimental languages can be considered "naturalistic" if they model real world languages. For example, if a naturalistic conlang is derived "a posteriori" from another language (real or constructed), it should imitate natural processes of phonological, lexical, and grammatical change. In contrast with languages such as Interlingua, naturalistic fictional languages are not usually intended for easy learning or communication. Thus, naturalistic fictional languages tend to be more difficult and complex. While Interlingua has simpler grammar, syntax, and orthography than its source languages (though more complex and irregular than Esperanto or its descendants), naturalistic fictional languages typically mimic behaviors of natural languages like irregular verbs and nouns, and complicated phonological processes.


title: Constructed language

text: The boundaries between these categories are by no means clear. A constructed language could easily fall into more than one of the above categories. A logical language created for aesthetic reasons would also be classifiable as an artistic language; one created with philosophical motives could include being used as an auxiliary language. There are no rules, either inherent in the process of language construction or externally imposed, that would limit a constructed language to fitting only one of the above categories.


title: Constructed language

text: A constructed language can have native speakers if young children learn it from parents who speak it fluently. According to "Ethnologue", there are "200–2000 who speak Esperanto as a first language". A member of the Klingon Language Institute, d'Armond Speers, attempted to raise his son as a native (bilingual with English) Klingon speaker.


title: Constructed language

text: As soon as a constructed language has a community of fluent speakers, especially if it has numerous native speakers, it begins to evolve and hence loses its constructed status. For example, Modern Hebrew and its pronunciation norms were developed from existing traditions of Hebrew, such as Mishnaic Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew following a general Sephardic pronunciation, rather than engineered from scratch, and has undergone considerable changes since the state of Israel was founded in 1948 (Hetzron 1990:693). However, linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann argues that Modern Hebrew, which he terms "Israeli", is a Semito-European hybrid based not only on Hebrew but also on Yiddish and other languages spoken by revivalists. Zuckermann therefore endorses the translation of the Hebrew Bible into what he calls "Israeli". Esperanto as a living spoken language has evolved significantly from the prescriptive blueprint published in 1887, so that modern editions of the "Fundamenta Krestomatio", a 1903 collection of early texts in the language, require many footnotes on the syntactic and lexical differences between early and modern Esperanto.


title: Constructed language

text: Proponents of constructed languages often have many reasons for using them. The famous but disputed Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is sometimes cited; this claims that the language one speaks influences the way one thinks. Thus, a "better" language should allow the speaker to think more clearly or intelligently or to encompass more points of view; this was the intention of Suzette Haden Elgin in creating Láadan, a feminist language embodied in her feminist science fiction series "Native Tongue". Constructed languages have been included in standardized tests such as the SAT, where they were used to test the applicant's ability to infer and apply grammatical rules. By the same token, a constructed language might also be used to "restrict" thought, as in George Orwell's Newspeak, or to "simplify" thought, as in Toki Pona. However, linguists such as Steven Pinker argue that ideas exist independently of language. For example, in the book "The Language Instinct", Pinker states that children spontaneously re-invent slang and even grammar with each generation. These linguists argue that attempts to control the range of human thought through the reform of language would fail, as concepts like "freedom" will reappear in new words if the old words vanish.


title: Constructed language

text: Proponents claim a particular language makes it easier to express and understand concepts in one area, and more difficult in others. An example can be taken from the way various programming languages make it easier to write certain kinds of programs and harder to write others.


title: Constructed language

text: Another reason cited for using a constructed language is the telescope rule, which claims that it takes less time to first learn a simple constructed language and then a natural language, than to learn only a natural language. Thus, if someone wants to learn English, some suggest learning Basic English first. Constructed languages like Esperanto and Interlingua are in fact often simpler due to the typical lack of irregular verbs and other grammatical quirks. Some studies have found that learning Esperanto helps in learning a non-constructed language later (see propaedeutic value of Esperanto).


title: Constructed language

text: Codes for constructed languages include the ISO 639-2 "codice_1" for conlangs; however, some constructed languages have their own ISO 639 language codes (e.g. "codice_2" and "codice_3" for Esperanto, "codice_4" for Lojban, "codice_5" and "codice_6" for Interlingua, "codice_7" for Klingon, "codice_8" and "codice_9" for Ido, "codice_10" for Lingua Franca Nova, and "codice_11" for Toki Pona).


title: Constructed language

text: One constraint on a constructed language is that if it was constructed to be a natural language for use by fictional foreigners or aliens, as with Dothraki and High Valyrian in the "Game of Thrones" series, which was adapted from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series, the language should be easily pronounced by actors, and should fit with and incorporate any fragments of the language already invented by the book's author, and preferably also fit with any personal names of fictional speakers of the language.


title: Constructed language

text: An "a priori" constructed language is one whose features (including vocabulary, grammar, etc.) are not based on an existing language, and an "a posteriori" language is the opposite. This categorization, however, is not absolute, as many constructed languages may be called "a priori" when considering some linguistic factors, and at the same time "a posteriori" when considering other factors.


title: Constructed language

text: An "a priori" language (from Latin "a priori", "from the former") is any constructed language of which all or a number of features are not based on existing languages, but rather invented or elaborated so as to work in a different way or to allude to different purposes. Some "a priori" languages are designed to be international auxiliary languages that remove what could be considered an unfair learning advantage for native speakers of a source language that would otherwise exist for "a posteriori" languages. Others, known as philosophical or taxonomic languages, try to categorize their vocabulary, either to express an underlying philosophy or to make it easier to recognize new vocabulary. Finally, many artistic languages, created for either personal use or for use in a fictional medium, employ consciously constructed grammars and vocabularies, and are best understood as "a priori".


title: Constructed language

text: An "a posteriori" language (from Latin "a posteriori", "from the latter"), according to French linguist Louis Couturat, is any constructed language whose elements are borrowed from or based on existing languages. The term can also be extended to controlled versions of natural languages, and is most commonly used to refer to vocabulary despite other features. Likewise, zonal auxiliary languages (auxiliary languages for speakers of a particular language family) are "a posteriori" by definition.


title: Constructed language

text: While most auxiliary languages are "a posteriori" due to their intended function as a medium of communication, many artistic languages are fully "a posteriori" in design—many for the purposes of alternate history. In distinguishing whether the language is "a priori" or "a posteriori", the prevalence and distribution of respectable traits is often the key.


title: Constructed language

text: Grammatical speculation dates from Classical Antiquity, appearing for instance in Plato's "Cratylus" in Hermogenes's contention that words are not inherently linked to what they refer to; that people apply "a piece of their own voice ... to the thing".


title: Constructed language

text: "He [Alexarchus] once wrote something ... to the public authorities in Casandreia ... As for what this letter says, in my opinion not even the Pythian god could make sense of it."


title: Constructed language

text: While the mechanisms of grammar suggested by classical philosophers were designed to explain existing languages (Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit), they were not used to construct new grammars. Roughly contemporary to Plato, in his descriptive grammar of Sanskrit, Pāṇini constructed a set of rules for explaining language, so that the text of his grammar may be considered a mixture of natural and constructed language.


title: Constructed language

text: A legend recorded in the seventh-century Irish work Auraicept na n-Éces claims that Fénius Farsaid visited Shinar after the confusion of tongues, and he and his scholars studied the various languages for ten years, taking the best features of each to create "in Bérla tóbaide" ("the selected language"), which he named "Goídelc"—the Irish language. This appears to be the first mention of the concept of a constructed language in literature.


title: Constructed language

text: The earliest non-natural languages were considered less "constructed" than "super-natural", mystical, or divinely inspired. The Lingua Ignota, recorded in the 12th century by St. Hildegard of Bingen, is an example, and apparently the first entirely artificial language. It is a form of private mystical cant (see also language of angels). An important example from Middle-Eastern culture is Balaibalan, invented in the 16th century. Kabbalistic grammatical speculation was directed at recovering the original language spoken by Adam and Eve in Paradise, lost in the confusion of tongues. The first Christian project for an ideal language is outlined in Dante Alighieri's "De vulgari eloquentia", where he searches for the ideal Italian vernacular suited for literature. Ramon Llull's "Ars Magna" was a project of a perfect language with which the infidels could be convinced of the truth of the Christian faith. It was basically an application of combinatorics on a given set of concepts. During the Renaissance, Lullian and Kabbalistic ideas were drawn upon in a magical context, resulting in cryptographic applications.