title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Josh Brolin plays Bretton James, head of the Churchill Schwartz investment bank, whom Jacob blames for the death of his mentor. Bretton has been described as being a villain. Bretton is presented as a "new style" version of Gekko in the film. Javier Bardem was in final talks to play the character; in July 2009 it was confirmed that he had turned down the project in favor of a film adaptation of the book "Eat, Pray, Love", with Julia Roberts. Brolin took the part and lost 30 pounds in a month to prepare physically for this part. The actor, acknowledging that every character had both good and bad in them, viewed Bretton as being on a "higher level," adding that he liked the ambition his character had and that he was an opportunist.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Carey Mulligan was cast as Winnie Gekko, Gordon's estranged daughter and Jacob's fiancée. Winnie has not spoken to her father since his imprisonment; she blames Gordon for the suicide of her drugged-out brother, Rudy. The character has been said to be the "moral center of the story" and described as being liberal, and to some extent passive. Mulligan is British and had to speak with an American accent for her role. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" was her first major studio film. When she first met Stone for the role she explained that she did not want her character to be a "token girlfriend;" both agreed to work to make sure that would not happen. During the same encounter Stone learned that she had short hair, and he initially discussed having her wear a wig, but Mulligan said she did not feel like herself when wearing the hairpiece. Stone trusted her and made an exception. According to Mulligan, Stone cast her in the "Wall Street" sequel based on her performance in "An Education" (2009).


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Frank Langella was cast as Louis Zabel. His death "ultimately leads the characters to discover the shady practices" of James's bank. Susan Sarandon portrays Sylvia Moore, Jacob's real-estate agent mother who is just as consumed by greed as Gekko is, but in a different sense. Audrey, a "tough, intelligent trader in the Wall Street trenches", is portrayed by Vanessa Ferlito. John Buffalo Mailer plays Jacob's Long Island financier friend, Robby and Eli Wallach plays the part of Jules Steinhardt, a Churchill Schwartz top executive and Wall Street patriarch who considers the current economic climate to be like the 1929 stock market crash. Pressman deemed the actor's role as the "crier of doom," who, "reveals just how much more devastating things can be today." Charlie Sheen reprised his role of Bud Fox, Gekko's former protégé, whom he meets briefly at a cocktail party. Sylvia Miles reprised her role as a real estate agent from the first film.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Television actress Natalie Morales, "Vanity Fair" magazine editor Graydon Carter, economist Nouriel Roubini, financier Warren Buffett and director Stone's mother have minor roles in the film. Jim Cramer also makes a brief appearance after Stone cast him because he was a former hedge fund manager. Stone, who had a cameo in the first film, plays a similarly brief role in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps". He wanted to give the young LaBeouf "some older connections" that would "give it weight" in the movie. Donald Trump and Julianne Michelle played minor parts, but Trump's scene was cut from the final version (it is instead available on the DVD). Stone said the scene was too "distracting" for the ending. Program host Neil Cavuto appears in the sequel for several seconds. A longer scene that involved him was cut; a representative for Stone clarified that his decision was an aesthetic, not political, choice. Roger Hendricks Simon, a director-actor, landed a part acting as a thinly veiled version of former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg. Like Trump's part, his scenes were not included but are in the film's DVD version.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: In early 2007, "The New York Times" reported that a sequel to "Wall Street", then tentatively titled "Money Never Sleeps", had entered pre-production and was in the early stages of development with a screenplay by Stephen Schiff of "The New Yorker". Shortly after the film was confirmed, Douglas was reported to be interested in reprising his role as Gordon Gekko, depending on the script. In October 2008, 20th Century Fox announced that it had officially green-lit the film and would serve as a distributor. In the same month it was announced that Allan Loeb had been approached to write a script that was being referred to as a "page one rewrite", meaning that he would be starting "from scratch". Shortly after the film had entered pre-production it was announced that both Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah would not be involved with the sequel for unknown reasons. Despite stating that Sheen was not going to return, Stone confirmed he would briefly reprise his role as Bud, which would be worked into the script.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Around May 2007, "The New York Times" reported that Stone had turned down the opportunity to direct the film, even after months of being pressured to do so by Douglas, among others. However, in April 2009 Fox confirmed that Stone would be returning as both director and producer, alongside Douglas and Edward R. Pressman. Stone stated that he reconsidered passing on directing the film after the stock market crash. The film was co-produced by Eric Kopeloff with Alessandro Camen and Celia D. Costas serving as executive producers. In addition to screenwriter Loeb, the film's overall writer is Schiff. Bryan Burrough received credit as a consultant, and may have done uncredited work on the story.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: At the time of the film's announcement the plot details were kept under wraps, but Loeb later confirmed that its plot would primarily focus on Gekko, recently released from prison and re-entering a much more "chaotic" financial world than the one he once oversaw from the previous film. Its budget was reported to be between $60 million ($50 million with the tax credits) and $70 million. "Money Never Sleeps" was being used as the film's working title before being renamed "Wall Street 2" at the director's request and finally changed to "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps". As part of research for the film, Douglas and Stone had a dinner meeting with Samuel D. Waksal, the founder of the bio-pharmaceutical company ImClone Systems, who spent five years in federal prison for securities fraud. LaBeouf, along with Stone, discussed the financial collapse with multiple hedge fund managers.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Early in mid-2009, Stone took LaBeouf to a cocktail party organized by Nouriel Roubini, a New York University economics professor and chairman of a consulting firm. There, Stone and LaBeouf discussed the financial collapse with Roubini and also discussed hedge fund managers who are clients of Roubini's firm. Roubini said that "in this financial crisis it was the traditional banks and the investment banks that had a larger role in doing stupid and silly things than the hedge funds." Stone also stated that he had conversations with Jim Chanos, a prominent hedge fund manager who had urged him to focus less on hedge funds and more on the banking system, Chanos said, "there was a much more important story, a bigger story, in what happened with the system."


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: In October 2008, 20th Century Fox confirmed that Allan Loeb, who is a licensed stock broker, had been selected to re-write the script. Stanley Weiser had worked on a treatment for a sequel set in the present with Gekko being released from jail; the second part would be set in China. The studio felt that the material was dated, and put the project in turnaround. Stone had a falling out with Pressman, the producer, and began work on "W." with Weiser. Weiser's treatment for "Wall Street Two" was discarded and the film began taking shape from an original script by Stephen Schiff. It was reported that Aaron Sorkin had turned down the opportunity to work on the film's script.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: During December 2008, while still in the process of drafting, Loeb said that he had been riveted by the Bernard Madoff headlines and showed interest in referencing him in the film, noting: "the thing that is so crazy about this story is that Ponzi schemes seem to be the simplest low-class scam," and "but this was carried out in the highest echelon of high finance. You couldn't even get in to see this guy unless you had $2 million to invest." Stone clarified that Madoff will not be mentioned in the film, commenting that he considered Madoff's actions to be "a crook running a Ponzi scheme" which is "legal robbery." The filmmaker returned to the project in April on the strength of this script, feeling Loeb's draft was "so great" that he did not feel the need to touch it, although he did have the option.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Sometime in early June, Loeb reportedly handed in his second draft of the film to Fox, and in July, was finalizing the screenplay. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is based in four locations; New York, London, the United Arab Emirates, and an Asian country. One of the character consultants to the new film will be billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz. Pressman said that Tchenguiz had modeled Gekko but did admit that Gekko was "partly Milken" and that Gekko will be a more outwardly altruistic figure but, admits, "a leopard doesn't change its spots, despite appearances." Pressman said of the origin of the film's subtitle: "Wall Street was New York-centric. Today the markets are much more global, hence the title of the new film, "Money Never Sleeps"." He described Gekko's involvement in the film as being "larger than life".


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: It was reported that Loeb had taken advice from a "number of real Wall Street movers and shakers" to ensure "horrifying accuracy" for the film's script. Of the re-writes done to script, Stone said: "We sort of started over with the story of a young man who is at the center of it, and how he needs Gordon Gekko's help to navigate those waters." In a reference to the GEICO Gecko commercial, which was suggested by New York Governor David Paterson, Gekko says "even a caveman could do it" in the movie. At the request of Mulligan and LaBeouf, the filmmaker cut some dialogue from the character's break-up scenes, which he at first was initially hesitant to do.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Stone said that the film will provide more of a social commentary and admitted that he had never expected high finance to "serve again as a tableau for his storytelling". He also added that its plot will showcase the unemployment rate at an all-time high and the "our national debt ever climbing." Discussing the difference between "Wall Street" and its sequel, the director explained, "In the other movie, Charlie Sheen is corrupt at the beginning and he finds a path to integrity. In this movie, it starts out the other way. Shia and Carey are idealists. And their idealism is being threatened." A writer for "USA Today" believed that the film's story line "attempts to put the complicated financial schemes that led to the worldwide economic collapse on a human scale."


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: A shift in location in the sequel reflected some of the changes in the world since then: while the New York Stock Exchange and its trading floor had featured heavily in the first film, they are less prominent in the second. Instead, more time is spent at the Federal Reserve Building, reflecting its new position as a "bulwark of the system" according to Stone. The location provided a link to the contemporary crisis the film examines, since September 2008 it has been an important site for meeting on the crisis.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Although August 10 was reportedly the start date, principal photography began on September 9. The filmmaker continued to make additions to the script and meet with financial consultants about the project whilst filming. Mulligan was able to film all of her scenes in 15 days. Stone said that they were on schedule and on budget, but claimed that the constantly changing weather was a problem for filming. He also said that the filming on location process was similar to the first film. While filming, LaBeouf said that Douglas was an "opened wound on the set" due to his oldest son's arrest in July for drug trafficking, adding that Stone filmed a "struggling" Douglas.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Charlie Sheen was able to shoot his scene in one day and described being on set with the director and Douglas as strange, with Stone adding that it was difficult for the actor. Sheen reportedly had trouble remembering his lines and required some prodding to remember his cue during the party scene in which Gekko encounters Fox. Although eager to meet him, LaBeouf did not interact with Sheen on set per request. Regarding working with the director, who has a reputation for being demanding on his cast, Douglas described him as being mellow, but acknowledged that "it's still always a workout with him." "Everyone was very friendly, but the scene work felt dangerous," LaBeouf recalls of the on-set atmosphere. "These guys aren't going to coddle you. Douglas was the one who comforted me. And I've never gone deeper with a director than Oliver. He's the Easter bunny and Orson Welles in one man." The young actor further discussed Stone's work ethic on-set with him, saying:


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Douglas filmed the opening scene, which is Gekko being released from Sing Sing maximum-security prison, in Ossining, Westchester County, on September 18. Stone felt that the prison scene was a "key plot element" because there is no one there to meet Gekko, who returns to society as an outsider. Regarding there being no scenes that show Gekko adjusting to the modern world, the director clarified that there is "very little space to do those kind of tricks in this movie" because of how modern the world is becoming on a monthly basis. Filming took place in Fordham University for the classroom scenes on October 10 and 11. In order to shoot a dining scene between LaBeouf and Douglas, Shun Lee West closed for 24 hours so the two could film scenes at the restaurant for the entire day of November 10. Brolin and Stone found extras simply by asking workers, at places like RdV, if they would like to be a part of the sequel.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: The soundtrack to the film was released on September 21, 2010, through Todo Mundo. The album features numerous songs by David Byrne, including several tracks from his 2008 collaboration with Brian Eno, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today".


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: The film was screened out of competition during May 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Pressman thought that Cannes would be the "perfect platform to launch a film that speaks of today's economic dilemma". It was met with positive reviews from film critics at the festival, although numerous reviewers "objected to an ending deemed somewhat pat". A spokesperson for Fox said that Stone had changed the ending since its screening at Cannes. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" opened The Ischia Global Film and Music Fest, held during July 11–18. Michael Corkery of "The Wall Street Journal" reported that numerous journalists involved in the financial industry had been invited to see advance screenings of the film. To promote "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", several cast members visited the NASDAQ Market site in Times Square, on September 20 and presided over the NASDAQ Opening Bell.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Also on September 20, the movie's New York premiere was held at the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan. According to "Deadline Hollywood" the film originally had a February 2010 release date, but it was later given an April 23, 2010, release. In March 2010, the film's release date was pushed back to September 24. Brolin stated that he hoped that audiences would wonder about the ethics of the banking industry, asking "How much is enough?," he concluded, "There used to be a ceiling. Now there's no ceiling". Surveys indicated that the main audience for the movie would be older adults who remembered the first film.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: "Money Never Sleeps" opened at a total of 3,597 theaters in the United States, earning $6.9 million on its first day and $19 million in its opening weekend in the US, averaging $5,330 per theatre and becoming the number one movie at the box office, although falling short of studio estimates. Nonetheless it still marked one of the best openings for a Stone film. Despite an increase of screens for its second weekend, "Money Never Sleeps" saw a 47% decrease on its earnings, falling to third place at the box office and making slightly over $10 million for the weekend.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: During the October 8–10 weekend it had a further decrease, falling almost 55%, earning over $4 million and dropping to seventh place at the box office. In its fourth week of domestic release it fell under the top ten at the box office with a revenue of more than $1 million, after suffering a 48% decrease. Domestically, the film made $52.4 million, and has grossed over $134.7 million worldwide.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: The film's reception was mixed. Review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 55%, based on a sample of 234 reviews, with an average rating of 5.97/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's more entertaining than many sequels, but with Oliver Stone directing, a terrific cast, and a timely storyline that picks up where the original left off, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" should be better." By comparison, "Wall Street" (1987) had achieved a 79% positive rating. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Joe Neumaier of the New York "Daily News" awarded it five out of five stars saying that it is a sharp sequel that is worthy of its investment. He also saluted the cast's performance and noted that Douglas gives Gekko "uncounted layers as he fakes, deals and fuels fire". Matthew Toomey of Australia's 612 ABC Radio Brisbane gave it a B-rating and said that Douglas is the film's "biggest positive", finding LaBeouf to be unconvincing in his role. Christy Lemire, in "The Canadian Press", claimed that the film ultimately "goes soft and loses its way" and described the contrast in its final scenes as being "laughable". Furthermore, the subplot between LaBeouf and Mulligan's characters was criticized as unneeded and pointed out that their relationship leads viewers to wonder why Winnie, who despises Gekko, would be involved with a man who does exactly the same thing as him, which she condemns; however, Lemire acknowledged that the movie is an uncommon sequel that seems to be both relevant and necessary and said that it proves that "greed can still be good". Film critic Colin Newton of the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" felt that the plot lacked the enthusiasm of the first film. Along the same lines, "Village Voice" contributor Nick Pinkerton pointed out that the "Wall Street" sequel did not have the "clean, fable-like arc" formula of its predecessor.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" said that the film succeeded in being one of the good sequels in a while, but that Stone "gets too fancy here and there", the film's "heavy reliance on multiple screens, graphics and digital tricks makes it feel like one is watching CNN with all its computer-screen busyness." Roger Ebert, reviewing the movie in the "Chicago Sun-Times", noted that it ended with a better conclusion when Stone had edited the film after its Cannes viewing, but still felt it was a little too long. He considered the film to be sophisticated and said its photography was aesthetically pleasing but stated he wanted it to be "outraged." In "The Guardian" Peter Bradshaw gave the film two out of five stars, commenting that "despite the pious waffle about market craziness being like cancer, no one is ever shown enduring the actual misery of losing money." Writing for "Time" magazine, Richard Corliss stated that the film has the "drive, luxe and sarcastic wit of the snazziest Hollywood movies." David Edelstein, writing in "New York Magazine", described the film as being "full of promise, with minuscule returns." He concluded that, like Stone's other recent work, it is difficult to distinguish what the project's focus is supposed to be.


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: Joe Morgenstern from "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that the movie manages to keep a hold on its audience's attention. He thought that Douglas measured up to Gekko's standards in the film, believing that he was the only actor to sustain a "sense of nasty fun", and felt that LaBeouf's effectiveness was within the range of the film-maker's direction, but was unimpressed with Brolin's portrayal of James. He concluded that the script takes an unconvincing jab at Gekko's "spiritual regeneration," which was due to a scene that he considered to be "inherently illogical and emotionally inert." "The Daily Telegraph"s David Gritten said that "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" lacked the "punch" of the original film and was annoyed by the number of cameos throughout the film. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" received three out of five stars from Stephen Lambrechts of IGN Australia. Lambrechts felt that Stone's growth as a film director might mirror Gekko's as a person; having had used time to calm down over the years and settle into a more relaxed state of being. He concluded that the film's final result is not "quite the incendiary attack that it could have been, but it still has plenty to say while also managing to be an entertaining crowd pleaser."


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: In contrast to the film's detractors, "BoxOffice" journalist Pete Hammond said the film was "brilliantly cast" and labeled it a "crackerjack powerhouse of a movie that shines a light on the financial machinations". He stated that Douglas does not lose any of the substance of Gekko and LaBeouf is firm as Jacob. The writer predicted the "Wall Street" sequel's box office performance would be brisk, while the prospects were assured on DVD. Andrew O'Hehir's of Salon.com reviewed the film from Cannes, calling it an "ambitious, uneven, surprisingly talky melodrama, which mixes a quasi-documentary approach to the crash of 2008 with the story." O'Hehir's considered the film to express a more "personal, intimate sense of moral hazard". Marshall Fine, writing in the "Huffington Post", viewed the film as an "overstuffed blend of agitprop and melodrama" that contains a cautionary story pertaining to unchecked capitalism. He considered Stone to be proclaiming a message of the "cancerous effects of greed". Bill Goodykoontz of "Arizona Republic" admitted that he was not surprised to see that the sequel is not as effective as its predecessor, though it was an engaging film at the top of its game when it is hostile, and less satisfying during romantic parts. He ended by saying that it is not a "great movie", but explained that it is an "effective commentary on what greed cost" everyone. CEO of Tullett Prebon, Terry Smith, one of the largest inter-dealer money brokers in the world, reviewed the movie for "Today" on BBC Radio 4. He gave it three out of five saying that, although it was "a little bit corny in some respects", it puts the events of the credit crunch into context and that "it rings reasonably true," capturing some of the activities, the moods and the individuals quite well."


title: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

text: "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 21, 2010, in the US. Since then it has made more than $15.5 million in DVD sales revenue selling more than 983,000 units.


title: Philip Green

text: Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of May 2021, his net worth was estimated at £910 million.


title: Philip Green

text: Green was the chairman and chief executive of Amber Day from 1988 to 1992. In 1999, he acquired Sears plc. He bought British Home Stores (BHS) for £200 million in 2000, and subsequently spent £840 million to acquire the Arcadia Group in 2002. Arcadia became a private company and was delisted from the London Stock Exchange. He unsuccessfully sought to acquire Marks & Spencer in 1999 and 2004.


title: Philip Green

text: At its peak, Green's Arcadia Group owned the clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Outfit. BHS was part of Arcadia from 2009 to 2015. Arcadia had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK, concessions in UK department stores such as Debenhams and Selfridges, and several hundred franchises in other countries. After high street sales fell in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Arcadia entered administration and ASOS acquired the Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge brands in 2021.


title: Philip Green

text: Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Birthday Honours. He has been called the "King of the High Street" but has been involved in a number of controversies during his career, including his actions prior to the demise of BHS in 2016.


title: Philip Green

text: Green was born on 15 March 1952 in Croydon, England, into a middle-class Jewish family. He was the son of Simon Green, a successful property developer and electrical goods retailer, and Alma. He has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. His family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb, a middle-class area of North London, and at the age of nine he was sent to the now-closed Jewish boarding school Carmel College in Oxfordshire.


title: Philip Green

text: When Green was twelve, his father died of a heart attack, and he inherited the family business. After leaving boarding school at 15 with no O-levels, Green worked for a shoe importer in East London before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East. On his return, aged 21, he set up his first business, importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to London retailers. The business was assisted with a £20,000 loan (equivalent to £216,000 in 2014) backed by his family.


title: Philip Green

text: In 1979, Green bought up, at low prices, the entire stock of ten designer-label clothes retailers that had gone into receivership. He then had the newly bought clothes dry cleaned, put on hangers, and wrapped in polythene to make them look new, and bought a shop from which to sell them to the public.


title: Philip Green

text: In 1988, he became chairman and Chief Executive of a quoted company called Amber Day, a discount retailer. The shares performed well, but then suffered a series of profit downgrades and in 1992 he resigned when the company failed to meet its profit forecast.


title: Philip Green

text: Next, Green assisted his wife Tina Green in the purchase of the Arcadia Group, which owns High Street chains such as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Topshop/Topman and Wallis in 2002. The company was briefly owned by Green but sold to Tina Green within 24 hours, with Philip acting as CEO. On 30 November 2020, Arcadia Group went into administration after high street sales were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Philip Green

text: In April 1980, Green registered a philanthropic initiative, the Kahn Charitable Trust, with a vision of "putting lost smiles back on the faces of less privileged persons across the globe."


title: Philip Green

text: Green is a supporter of the Fashion Retail Academy and the industry charity Retail Trust. Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours "For services to the Retail Industry".


title: Philip Green

text: In May 2007, after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal, Green donated £250,000 as a monetary reward for any useful public information. He also gave the McCanns the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome for a Papal visit.


title: Philip Green

text: In 2010, Green donated $465,000 for new beds at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, after his wife Tina's mother died there. He also spent more than $150,000 for an Alexander McQueen dress at Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief charity event. In the same year, Green donated £100,000 to the "Evening Standard's" Dispossessed Fund which aims to support London's poorest people.


title: Philip Green

text: He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of "The Apprentice"; however, at that time in 2004, he was too busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks & Spencer.


title: Philip Green

text: Two weeks prior to the 2010 general election, Green came out in support of David Cameron, George Osborne and the Conservative Party, stating that Cameron and Osborne "understand what needs to be done. They get it."


title: Philip Green

text: In August 2010, Green was asked by Cameron, then recently elected as Prime Minister, to carry out a review of UK government spending and procurement. Green's summary report, "Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green", published in October 2010, alleged significant failings in government procurement processes. The government published the review identifying its main finding as "the Government is failing to leverage both its credit rating and its scale". Green argued that the report gave "a fair reflection" of government waste and inefficiency in practice, for which "very poor data and process" were seen as the main causes. Cameron welcomed the report, saying "I think it's a good report, it will save a lot of money and it's important we do it."


title: Philip Green

text: The report examined central government's procurement practice but also noted that "the whole public sector" could potentially benefit from better centralised procurement.


title: Philip Green

text: Green is based during the week at a London hotel, spending the weekends with his wife and their children in an apartment in Monaco. For his 50th birthday, Green flew 200 guests in a chartered Airbus A300 to a hotel in Cyprus for a three-day toga party, where Tom Jones and Rod Stewart performed. For his 55th birthday, Green flew 100 guests 8,500 miles in two private jets to the Four Seasons at Landaagiraavaru, an eco-spa on a private island in the Maldives.


title: Philip Green

text: Green owns a £100 million, Benetti Lionheart yacht and a £20 million Gulfstream G550 private jet. For a birthday, his wife bought him a solid gold Monopoly set, featuring his own acquisitions.


title: Philip Green

text: Green is inspired by Sir Charles Clore, who built the Sears plc UK retail empire from scratch in the 1950s and 1960s.


title: Philip Green

text: Green is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. In 1987 he suggested to Irving Scholar, the Spurs chairman, that Tony Berry be appointed to the board. In 1991, he helped Terry Venables raise the last £500,000 needed to purchase shares in the club. He was also involved in the transfers of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United and Louis Saha from Fulham to Manchester United.


title: Philip Green

text: Green is involved with Everton Football Club due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright, but states that has no intention of formally investing in the club. He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood's owner Robert Earl, to purchase shares from former director Paul Gregg during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004. He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco CEO Terry Leahy and helps negotiate player transfer fees with agents.


title: Philip Green

text: Green became the target of activist group UK Uncut in November 2010 for alleged corporate tax avoidance. The group targeted Green specifically as a government advisor.


title: Philip Green

text: Taveta Investments, acquired by Arcadia in 2002, is registered in the name of Green's wife. As a Monaco resident, the company faces a significantly lower tax liability than if she were a UK resident. When Green paid his family £1.2 billion in 2005, it was paid for by a loan taken out by Arcadia, cutting Arcadia's corporation tax as interest charges on the loan were offset against profits.


title: Philip Green

text: In December 2014, Michelle Young accused Philip Green, Richard Caring and Simon Cowell of helping her ex-husband, businessman Scot Young, to hide assets and so avoid paying maintenance to his ex-wife and their two daughters. In February 2015, a note from HSBC bankers in Caring's files mentioned that Philip Green's wife Tina Green had been holding part of Caring's assets in cash on his behalf, prompting suspicions that Caring might have funnelled profits through Tina Green to avoid paying taxes on his assets.


title: Philip Green

text: Arcadia has been criticised for the pay and conditions of both overseas and UK workers by anti-sweatshop groups such as Labour Behind the Label, No Sweat and the student activist network People & Planet. Green denied allegations in "The Sunday Times" made during 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshops where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages.


title: Philip Green

text: In 2010, Green was again accused of using sweatshops, this time by Channel 4's "Dispatches" programme. It was asserted that he was using factories in Britain in which workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage.


title: Philip Green

text: When "The Guardian" newspaper investigated a proposed takeover of Safeway in 2003, Green responded to queries about Arcadia's accounts by insulting and swearing at the journalists, asking them "Is this "The Beano" or "The Guardian"?".


title: Philip Green

text: Of "The Guardian"s financial editor, Paul Murphy. Green said: "He can't read English. Mind you, he is a fucking Irishman." Green issued an apology to the Irish later, to prevent a customer boycott, according to "The Guardian".


title: Philip Green

text: Green bought BHS for £200m in 2000, but the firm performed poorly so he sold it for just £1 in 2015. By April 2016 BHS had debts of £1.3bn, including a pensions deficit of £571m. Despite the deficit of £571m, Green and his family collected £586m in dividends, rental payments and interest on loans during their 15-year ownership of the retailer. Referring to the conduct of Green, Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, said: "In this situation it appears this owner extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from the business and walked away to his favourite tax haven, leaving the Pension Protection Scheme to pick up the bill." Simon Walker, the Director General of the Institute of Directors, described Green's "lamentable failure of behaviour" which was deeply damaging to the reputation of business. He then added that he had moral responsibilities to the pension fund and a proper investigation was needed but not one that took years. It took months for the negotiation to be settled down, it ended with Green agreeing to a voluntary settlement of £363m into the scheme.


title: Philip Green

text: Ahead of a joint Business and Work and Pensions Select Committee meeting, Green called the inquiry biased, and stated that he "therefore required [its chair, Frank Field] to resign". Field pointed out that the size of the pensions deficit is a fact, not a matter of opinion, and that Parliament and not Green decides who chairs Committees.


title: Philip Green

text: In 2016, the House of Commons approved a motion asking the Honours Forfeiture Committee to recommend Green's knighthood be "cancelled and annulled". One hundred MPs voted in favour of the motion, the first time MPs have proposed someone be stripped of a knighthood. The vote was not binding on the government. Following his paying £363m into the BHS pension scheme in 2017, and a decision in 2018 not to ban him from being a company director, it appeared that he would not be stripped of his knighthood.


title: Philip Green

text: In October 2018, "The Daily Telegraph" reported that "a leading businessman has been granted an injunction against" the newspaper to stop the "newspaper revealing alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff". The following day, in the House of Lords, Labour peer Peter Hain exercised parliamentary privilege to name Green as the subject of the allegations. "The Telegraph" said that the allegations would "reignite the #MeToo movement against the mistreatment of women, minorities and others by powerful employers. Opposition MPs, including Labour MPs Frank Field and Jess Phillips, and Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, called for a revocation of Green's knighthood.


title: Philip Green

text: In May 2019, Green was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault in the US after an Arizona Pilates teacher accused him of frequently touching her inappropriately.


title: Philip Green

text: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Green's Arcadia Group closed 550 stores in the UK, furloughing 14,500 of its workers in the process. Arcadia Group publicly requested taxpayer help to cover the pay of the furloughed workers.


title: Compressed natural gas

text: Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes.


title: Compressed natural gas

text: CNG is used in traditional petrol/internal combustion engine vehicles that have been modified, or in vehicles specifically manufactured for CNG use: either alone (dedicated), with a segregated liquid fuel system to extend range (dual fuel), or in conjunction with another fuel (bi-fuel). It can be used in place of petrol (gasoline), diesel fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). CNG combustion produces fewer undesirable gases than the aforementioned fuels. In comparison to other fuels, natural gas poses less of a threat in the event of a spill, because it is lighter than air and disperses quickly when released. Biomethane – refined biogas from anaerobic digestion or landfills – can be used.


title: Compressed natural gas

text: In response to high fuel prices and environmental concerns, CNG has been used in auto rickshaws, pickup trucks, transit and school buses, and trains.


title: Compressed natural gas

text: The cost and placement of fuel storage containers is the major barrier to wider/quicker adoption of CNG as a fuel. It is also why municipal government, public transportation vehicles were the most visible early adopters of it, as they can more quickly amortize the money invested in the new (and usually cheaper) fuel. In spite of these circumstances, the number of vehicles in the world using CNG has grown steadily (30 percent per year). Now, as a result of the industry's steady growth, the cost of such fuel storage cylinders has been brought down to a much more acceptable level. Especially, for the CNG Type 1 and Type 2 cylinders, many countries are able to make reliable and cost effective cylinders for conversion need.<ref>


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 "Carry On" films, and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show "Just a Minute" from its second series in 1968 until his death 20 years later.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams grew up in Central London in a working-class family; he claimed his father spoke cockney. He served in the Royal Engineers during World War II, where he first became interested in becoming an entertainer. After a short spell in repertory theatre as a serious actor, he turned to comedy and achieved national fame in "Hancock's Half Hour". He sustained continued success throughout the 1960s and 1970s with his regular appearances in "Carry On" films, and subsequently kept himself in the public eye with chat shows and other television work.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams was fondly regarded in the entertainment industry; in private life, however, he suffered from depression. He kept a series of diaries throughout his life that achieved posthumous acclaim.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February 1926 in Bingfield Street, Kings Cross, London. His parents were Charles George Williams, who managed a hairdressers in the Kings Cross area, and Louisa Alexandra ("" Morgan), who worked in the salon. Charles was a Methodist who had "a hatred of loose morals and effeminacy", according to Barry Took, Williams's biographer. Charles thought the theatre immoral and effeminate, although his son aspired to be involved in the profession from an early age. Between 1935 and 1956, Williams lived with his parents in a flat above his father's barber shop at 57 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams stated in his diaries that he believed he was of Welsh extraction because of his parents' surnames (Williams was later proven correct; both his parents were born in Wales). Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia "Pat", born in 1923 before Louie had met Charlie Williams and three years before Kenneth was born. He was educated at The Lyulph Stanley Boys' Central Council School, a state-owned Central school, in Camden Town, north London and subsequently became apprenticed as a draughtsman to a mapmaker. His apprenticeship was interrupted by the Blitz, and he was evacuated to Bicester, and the home of a bachelor veterinary surgeon. It provided his first experience of an educated, middle-class life, and he loved it. He returned to London with a new, vowel-elongated accent. In 1944, aged 18, he was called up to the British Army. He became a sapper in the Royal Engineers Survey Section, doing much the same work that he did as a civilian. When the war ended he was in Ceylon and he opted to transfer to the Combined Services Entertainment Unit, which put on revue shows. While in that unit he met Stanley Baxter, Peter Vaughan, Peter Nichols and John Schlesinger.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams's professional career began in 1948 in repertory theatre. Failure to become a serious dramatic actor disappointed him, but his potential as a comic performer gave him his break when he was spotted playing the Dauphin in Bernard Shaw's "St Joan" in the West End, in 1954 by radio producer Dennis Main Wilson. Main Wilson was casting "Hancock's Half Hour", a radio series starring Tony Hancock. Playing mostly funny voice roles, Williams stayed in the series almost to the end, five years later. His nasal, whiny, camp-cockney inflections (epitomised in his "Stop messing about ... !" catchphrase) became popular with listeners. Despite the success and recognition the show brought him, Williams considered theatre, film and television to be superior forms of entertainment. In 1955 he appeared in Orson Welles's London stage production "Moby Dick—Rehearsed". The pair fell out after Williams became annoyed with Welles's habit of repeatedly changing the script.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: When Hancock steered his show away from what he considered gimmicks and silly voices, Williams found he had less to do. Tiring of this reduced status, he joined Kenneth Horne in "Beyond Our Ken" (1958–64), and its sequel, "Round the Horne" (1965–68). His roles in "Round the Horne" included Rambling Syd Rumpo, the eccentric folk singer; Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (failed), Oriental criminal mastermind; J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, telephone heavy breather and dirty old man; and Sandy of the camp couple Julian and Sandy (Julian was played by Hugh Paddick). Their double act was characterised by double entendres and Polari, the homosexual argot.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams also appeared in West End revues including "Share My Lettuce" with Maggie Smith, written by Bamber Gascoigne, and "Pieces of Eight" with Fenella Fielding. The latter included material specially written for him by Peter Cook, then a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Cook's "One Leg Too Few" and "Interesting Facts" were part of the show and became routines in his own performances. Williams's last revue, in 1961, was "One Over The Eight" at the Duke of York's Theatre, with Sheila Hancock.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams worked regularly in British film during the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, mainly in the "Carry On" series (1958–78) with its double entendre humour; and appeared in the series more than any other actor. The films were commercially successful but Williams claimed the cast were poorly paid. In his diaries, Williams wrote that he earned more in a St Ivel advert than for any "Carry On" film, although he was still earning the average Briton's annual salary in a year for the latter. He often privately criticised and "dripped vitriol" upon the films, considering them beneath him, even though he continued to appear in them. This became the case with many of the films and shows in which he appeared. He was quick to find fault with his own work, and also that of others. Despite this, he spoke fondly of the "Carry On"s in interviews. Peter Rogers, producer of the series, recollected, "Kenneth was worth taking care of because, while he cost very little—£5,000 a film, he made a great deal of money for the franchise."


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams was a regular on the BBC Radio impromptu-speaking panel game "Just a Minute" from its second season in 1968 until his death. He frequently got into arguments with host Nicholas Parsons and other guests on the show. (Russell Davies, editor of "The Kenneth Williams Letters", explains that Williams's "famous tirades on the programme occurred when his desire to entertain was fuelled by his annoyance.") He was also remembered for such phrases as "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street" (i.e. one block away) and "They shouldn't have women on the show!" (directed at Sheila Hancock, Aimi MacDonald and others). He once talked for almost a minute about a supposed Austrian psychiatrist called Heinrich Swartzberg, correctly guessing that the show's creator, Ian Messiter, had just made the name up.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: On television, he co-hosted his own TV variety series on BBC2 with the Young Generation entitled "Meanwhile, On BBC2", which ran for 10 episodes from 17 April 1971. He was a frequent contributor to the 1973–74 revival of "What's My Line?", hosted the weekly entertainment show "International Cabaret" and was a regular reader on the children's storytelling series "Jackanory" on BBC1, hosting 69 episodes. He also narrated and provided all of the voices for the BBC children's cartoon "Willo the Wisp" (1981).


title: Kenneth Williams

text: On 14 October 1962, Kenneth's father, Charlie Williams, was taken to hospital after drinking carbon tetrachloride that had been stored in a cough-mixture bottle. Kenneth, who had never got on well with his father, refused to visit him. Charlie died the following day and, an hour after being given the news, Kenneth went on stage in the West End. The coroner's court recorded a verdict of accidental death due to corrosive poisoning by carbon tetrachloride. Kenneth believed his father had committed suicide, because the circumstances leading to the poisoning seemed unlikely to have happened by bad luck. Williams was later denied a visa to the United States, when it emerged that Scotland Yard kept a file on him relating to his father's death – the suspicion being that he had poisoned his father.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams often said that he was asexual and celibate, and his diaries appear to substantiate his claims — at least from his early forties onwards. He lived alone all his adult life and had few close companions apart from his mother, and no significant romantic relationships. His diaries contain references to unconsummated or barely consummated homosexual dalliances, which he describes as "traditional matters" or "tradiola". He befriended gay playwright Joe Orton, who wrote the role of Inspector Truscott in "Loot" (1965) for him, and had holidays in Morocco with Orton and his lover, Kenneth Halliwell. Other close friends included Stanley Baxter, Gordon Jackson and his wife Rona Anderson, Sheila Hancock, and Maggie Smith and her playwright husband, Beverley Cross. Williams was also fond of fellow "Carry On" regulars Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: From the mid-1950s, Williams lived in a succession of small rented flats in central London. After his father died, his mother Louisa lived near him, and then in the flat next to his. His last home was a flat on Osnaburgh Street, Bloomsbury (since demolished).


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams rarely revealed details of his private life although, in two half-hour documentary programmes in 1977 on BBC Radio London entitled "Carry On Kenneth", he spoke openly to Owen Spencer-Thomas about his loneliness, despondency and sense of underachievement.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: He died on 15 April 1988 in his flat. His last words, recorded in his diary, were "Oh, what's the bloody point?" and the cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates. An inquest recorded an open verdict, because it was not possible to establish whether his death was suicide or an accident. His diaries reveal that he had often had suicidal thoughts, and some of his earliest diaries record periodic feelings that there was no point in living. His authorised biography argues that Williams did not take his own life but died of an accidental overdose. The actor had doubled his dosage of antacid without discussing it with his doctor. That, combined with the mixture of medication, is the widely accepted cause of death. He had a stock of painkilling tablets and it is argued that he would have taken more of them if he had been intending suicide. He was cremated at East Finchley Cemetery, and his ashes were scattered in the memorial gardens. Williams left an estate worth just under £540,000 ().


title: Kenneth Williams

text: In April 2008 Radio 4 broadcast the two-part "The Pain of Laughter: The Last Days of Kenneth Williams". The programmes were researched and written by Wes Butters and narrated by Rob Brydon. Butters purchased a collection of Williams's personal belongings from the actor's godson, Robert Chidell, to whom they had been bequeathed.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: The first of the programmes said that, towards the end of his life and struggling with depression and ill health, Williams abandoned Christianity following discussions with the poet Philip Larkin. Williams had been brought up a Wesleyan and then a Methodist, though he spent much of his life struggling with Christianity's teachings on homosexuality.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: "Kenneth Williams Unseen" by Wes Butters and Russell Davies, the first Williams biography in 15 years, was published in October 2008.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: An authorised biography, "Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams", by Christopher Stevens, was published in October 2010. This drew for the first time on the full Williams archive of diaries and letters, which had been stored in a London bank for 15 years following publication of edited extracts. The biography notes that Williams used a variety of handwriting styles and colours in his journals, switching between different hands on the page.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: David Benson's 1996 Edinburgh Fringe show, "Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams", saw Benson playing Williams; after touring, the show ran in London's West End. Benson reprised his performance at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe and continues to tour.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams was played by Adam Godley in Terry Johnson's play "Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick", which premiered at the National Theatre in 1998. Godley reprised the role in the subsequent film adaptation, "Cor, Blimey!"


title: Kenneth Williams

text: A flat in the Osnaburgh Street block in which Williams lived from 1972 until his death was bought by Rob Brydon and Julia Davis for the writing of their comedy series "Human Remains". The building was demolished in 2007.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: Williams is commemorated by a blue plaque at the address of his father's barber shop, 57 Marchmont Street, London, where he lived from 1935 to 1956. The plaque was unveiled on 11 October 2009 by Leslie Phillips, Bill Pertwee and Nicholas Parsons, with whom Williams performed.


title: Kenneth Williams

text: On 22 February 2014—on what would have been Williams' 88th birthday—an English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at Farley Court off Marylebone Road, where Williams lived between 1963 and 1970. Speaking at the ceremony, his "Carry On" co-star Barbara Windsor said: "Kenny was a one off, a true original".


title: Kate Phillips

text: Kate Phillips (born 21 May 1989) is a British actress. She became famous for her role as Jane Seymour in the successful miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015). She subsequently appeared in the miniseries "War & Peace" (2016), the first season of the television series "The Crown" (2016), and last three seasons of the television series "Peaky Blinders" (2016–2022). In 2019, she appeared as Princess Mary in the film "Downton Abbey". Since 2020, she has appeared as Eliza Scarlet, the series lead, in the Victorian era crime drama, "Miss Scarlet and The Duke".


title: Kate Phillips

text: After spending three years studying at Leeds University, Phillips secured a place at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. After graduation she returned to Leeds to appear as Abigail Williams in "The Crucible" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. By this time she had already filmed her scenes for the BBC's adaptation of "Wolf Hall" in which she played Jane Seymour, a role she had been offered whilst still studying at Guildhall. There was some mild controversy following the initial airing of "Wolf Hall" after some historians described Philips as 'too pretty' to play Henry VIII's third wife. This criticism was disregarded by several critics who praised Philips' performance with "Screen Daily" naming her as a 'Star of Tomorrow'. She went on to secure roles in "War & Peace", "Peaky Blinders" and "The Crown".


title: Kate Phillips

text: An August 2018 announcement indicated that Phillips would be among the new cast to join the original actors in the feature film "Downton Abbey" which started principal photography at about the same time. In 2020 Phillips took on one of the lead roles in detective series "Miss Scarlet and the Duke".


title: Agra Fort

text: The Agra Fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India also known as the Red Fort. Rebuilt by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1565 and completed in 1573, it served as the main residence of the rulers of the Mughal Dynasty until 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. It was also known as the “Lal-Qila”, “Fort Rouge” or “Qila-i-Akbari”. Before capture by the British, the last Indian rulers to have occupied it were the Marathas. In 1983, the Agra fort was life inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.


title: Agra Fort

text: Like the rest of Agra, the history of Agra Fort prior to Mahmud Ghaznavi's invasion is unclear. However, in the 15th century, the Chauhan Rajputs occupied it. Soon after, Agra assumed the status of capital when Sikandar Lodi (A.D. 1487–1517) shifted his capital from Delhi and constructed a few buildings in the pre-existing fort at Agra. After the first battle of Panipat (A.D. 1526) Mughals captured the fort and ruled from it. In A.D. 1530, Humayun was crowned in it. The fort was given its present appearance during the reign of Akbar (A.D. 1556–1605). Later this fort was under the rule of Jats of Bharatpur for 13 years.


title: Agra Fort

text: After the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, Babur stayed in the fort, in the palace of Ibrahim Lodi. He later built a baoli (step well) in it. His successor, Humayun, was crowned in the fort in 1530. He was defeated at Bilgram in 1540 by Sher Shah Suri. The fort remained with the Suris till 1555, when Humayun recaptured it. Adil Shah Suri's general, Hemu, recaptured Agra in 1556 and pursued its fleeing governor to Delhi where he met the Mughals in the Battle of Tughlaqabad.


title: Agra Fort

text: Realising the importance of its central situation, Akbar made it his capital and arrived in Agra in 1558. His historian, Abul Fazl, recorded that this was a brick fort known as 'Badalgarh'. It was in a ruined condition and Akbar had it rebuilt with red sandstone from Barauli area Dhaulpur district, in Rajasthan. Architects laid the foundation and it was built with bricks in the inner core with sandstone on external surfaces. Some 4,000 builders worked on it daily for eight years, completing it in 1573.


title: Agra Fort

text: It was only during the reign of Akbar's grandson, Shah Jahan, that the site took on its current state. Shah Jahan built the beautiful Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Unlike his grandfather, Shah Jahan tended to have buildings made from white marble.


title: Agra Fort

text: The fort was under the Jat rulers of Bharatpur for 13 years. In the fort, they built the 'Ratan Singh ki Haveli'. The fort was invaded and captured by the Maratha Empire in the early 18th century. Thereafter, it changed hands between the Marathas and their foes many times. After their catastrophic defeat at Third Battle of Panipat by Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1761, Marathas remained out of the region for the next decade. Finally Mahadji Shinde took the fort in 1785. It was lost by the Marathas to the British during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, in 1803. The fort was the site of a battle during the Indian rebellion of 1857, which caused the end of the British East India Company's rule in India, and led to a century of direct rule of India by Britain.


title: Agra Fort

text: On 30 November 1871 thirty six people died when a cartridge factory located inside the fort exploded.


title: Agra Fort

text: The fort has a semicircular plan, its chord lies parallel to the river Yamuna and its walls are seventy feet high. Double ramparts have massive circular bastions at intervals, with battlements, embrasures, machicolations and string courses. Four gates were provided on its four sides, one Khizri gate opening on to the river. Two of the fort's gates are notable: the "Delhi Gate" and the "Lahore Gate." The Lahore Gate is also popularly also known as the "Amar Singh Gate," for Amar Singh Rathore.


title: Agra Fort

text: The monumental Delhi Gate, which faces the city on the western side of the fort, is considered the grandest of the four gates and a masterpiece of Akbar's time. It was built circa 1568 both to enhance security and as the king's formal gate, and includes features related to both. It is embellished with intricate inlay work in white marble. A wooden drawbridge was used to cross the moat and reach the gate from the mainland; inside, an inner gateway called Hathi Pol ("Elephant Gate") – guarded by two life-sized stone elephants with their riders – added another layer of security. The drawbridge, slight ascent, and 90-degree turn between the outer and inner gates make the entrance impregnable. During a siege, attackers would employ elephants to crush a fort's gates. Without a level, straight run-up to gather speed, however, that is prevented by this layout.


title: Agra Fort

text: Because the Indian military (the Parachute Brigade in particular) is still using the northern portion of the Agra Fort, the Delhi Gate cannot be used by the public. Tourists enter via the Amar Singh Gate.


title: Agra Fort

text: The site is very important in terms of architectural history. Abul Fazal recorded that five hundred buildings in the beautiful designs of Bengal and Gujarat were built in the fort. Some of them were demolished by Shah Jahan to make way for his white marble palaces. Most of the others were destroyed by the British troops of East India Company between 1803 and 1862 for raising barracks. Hardly thirty Mughal buildings have survived on the south-eastern side, facing the river, such as the Delhi Gate and Akbar Gate and one palace – "Bengali Mahal".


title: Agra Fort

text: Akbar Darwazza (Akbar Gate) was renamed Amar Singh Gate by Shah Jahan. The gate is similar in design to the Delhi Gate. Both are built of red sandstone.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Avery Franklin Brooks (born October 2, 1948) is an American actor, director, singer, narrator and educator. He is best known for his television roles as Captain Benjamin Sisko on "", as Hawk on "" and its spinoff "A Man Called Hawk", and as Dr. Bob Sweeney in the Academy Award–nominated film "American History X". Brooks has delivered a variety of other performances to a great deal of acclaim. He has been nominated for a Saturn Award and three NAACP Image Awards. Brooks also been inducted in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre and bestowed with the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre by the Shakespeare Theatre Company.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Avery Brooks was born in Evansville, Indiana, the son of Eva Lydia ("née" Crawford), a choral conductor and music instructor, and Samuel Brooks, a union official and tool and die worker. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Travis Crawford, was also a singer who graduated from Tougaloo College in 1901. When Avery was eight years old his family moved to Gary, Indiana, after his father had been laid off from International Harvester. Brooks has said: "I was born in Evansville...but it was Gary, Indiana, that made me."


title: Avery Brooks

text: The Brooks household was filled with music. His mother, who was among the first African-American women to earn a master's degree in music at Northwestern University, taught music wherever the family lived. His father was a member of the Wings Over Jordan Choir, an "a cappella" spiritual choir best known for performing on CBS radio from 1937 to 1947. His maternal uncle Samuel Travis Crawford was a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys. "Music is all around me and in me, as I am in it," Brooks has said.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks attended Indiana University and Oberlin College. He later completed his Bachelor of Arts plus a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University in 1976, becoming the first African American to receive an MFA in acting and directing from Rutgers.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 1985, Brooks was cast in the role of Hawk on the ABC television detective series "", based on the mystery series published by Robert Parker. Hawk became a popular character, and after three seasons, Brooks in 1989 received his own, short-lived spinoff series, "A Man Called Hawk". In landing the title role, Brooks became the third Black-American male actor in a starring role in a first-run television drama following Bill Cosby, who co-starred with Robert Culp in the NBC spy series "I Spy" from 1965 to 1968, Clarence Williams III, who starred as undercover police detective Linc Hayes in the iconic ABC "hippie" cop drama "The Mod Squad" from 1968 to 1973, and Philip Michael Thomas, who starred opposite Don Johnson in "Miami Vice".


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks said of his role as Hawk: "I never thought of myself as the sidekick... I've never been the side of anything. I just assumed that I was equal."


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks returned to play Hawk in four "Spenser" television movies: "Spenser: Ceremony", "Spenser: Pale Kings and Princes", "Spenser: The Judas Goat" and "Spenser: A Savage Place".


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks is best known for his role as Benjamin Sisko on the syndicated science-fiction television series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" which ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 1999.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks won the role of Commander Benjamin Sisko by beating 100 other actors from all racial backgrounds to become the first Black-American captain to lead a "Star Trek" series. Brooks also directed nine episodes of the series, including "Far Beyond the Stars", an episode focusing on racial injustice.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 1984, Brooks received critical praise for his featured role in PBS's American Playhouse production of "Half Slave, Half Free: Solomon Northup's Odyssey", directed by Gordon Parks. The story chronicled the life of Solomon Northup, a free man from New York kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841 and held until 1853, when he regained his freedom with the help of family and friends. It was adapted from Northup's memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave" (1853).


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks appeared in the 1985 television movie adaptation of "Finnegan Begin Again." In 1987, he starred in the role of Uncle Tom in Showtime's filmed adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Brooks was nominated for an Ace Award in the category of best Actor in a movie or miniseries for that said role. A third project that allowed Brooks to highlight the history of African Americans was his performance in the 1988 television movie "", which featured his fellow "Star Trek" actors LeVar Burton, Kate Mulgrew, and Tim Russ.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 1998, he appeared in the motion picture "American History X", which also stars another "Star Trek" actor, Jennifer Lien. He also played the role of Paris in the 1998 film "The Big Hit".


title: Avery Brooks

text: During 1998 he also supplied the voice of King Maximus in an episode of the animated TV series, "" entitled "The Golden Goose". Brooks was eventually nominated for an NAACP Image Award within the category of Outstanding Performance in a Youth or Children's Series/Special for the role. He also voiced the character of Nokkar in an episode of the Disney animated series "Gargoyles".


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks has taught at Oberlin College and Case Western Reserve University. A graduate of Livingston College and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, he accepted an appointment in 1976 as an associate professor of theater arts at Mason Gross.


title: Avery Brooks

text: From 1993 to 1996, Brooks was artistic director for the National Black Arts Festival in association with Rutgers University. Held annually since 1988 in Atlanta, Georgia, the internationally renowned festival celebrates African-American culture and people of African descent. In addition, Brooks has also done extensive work with the Smithsonian Institution's Program in Black American Culture.


title: Avery Brooks

text: A deep baritone singer, Brooks has performed on stage with Butch Morris, Lester Bowie, and Jon Hendricks. He also recorded an album with saxophone player James Spaulding, "James Spaulding Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington" (Storyville, 1977). Brooks had the lead role in the 1985 Anthony Davis opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X". Also, he performed at the Paris Banlieues Bleues Festival in 2005. In his role as Benjamin Sisko, he performed the Frank Sinatra tune "The Best Is Yet to Come" at the conclusion of the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang" as a duet with James Darren.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In a brief venture into scoring, Brooks did the musical score for the final two episodes of "A Man Called Hawk", which he starred in.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2009, Brooks released his debut album, "Here", an album of jazz and blues covers, as well as spoken word. During 2016 Brooks performed in concert with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra at the Springfield Symphony Hall.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2020, Brooks was featured on The DX Experiment's debut album, "Black In My Own Way", an album of experimental music with spoken word.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks received critical acclaim in Phillip Hayes Dean's play "Paul Robeson". Brooks portrayed the life of the famous singer, actor, and civil-rights activist in a one-man, critically acclaimed biographical drama. He has performed the role since 1982 at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the Longacre Theater on Broadway. He also portrayed Robeson in "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?", both on- and off-Broadway.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks' early theater credits include "The Offering", "A PHOTOGRAPH: A Study of Cruelty", and "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" in the 1970s. He started to gain recognition after his appearance in "Spell #7" at the Public/Anspache Theater in New York City in 1979. He subsequently starred in "Othello" at the Folger Shakespeare Festival (1985) and "Fences" at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1990. He reprised the role of "Othello" at the Washington Shakespeare Theater in 1990–1991.


title: Avery Brooks

text: During 1994, he was inducted in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Brooks later appeared in the title role of "The Oedipus Plays", a production that traveled to the 2003 Athens Festival in Greece. He also appeared in the title role of "King Lear" at Yale's Repertory Theatre. In 2005, Brooks again starred as "Othello", this time at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in a production directed by renowned Michael Kahn. Brooks was one of 15 actors of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, to be honored with the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre in 2007. He returned to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Fall 2007 to play the title role in Christopher Marlowe's "Tamburlaine". His performance was interrupted when an injury made it necessary for him to take time off to heal.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In September 2008, Brooks played Willy Loman in a production of "Death of a Salesman" at Oberlin College.


title: Avery Brooks

text: During 2010, Brooks performed in Baltimore Center Stage's production of Kwame Kwei-Armah's play Let There Be Love. Once again, Brooks played the title role of Paul Robeson at the Shakespeare Theater from March 24–27 in 2011.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks played Dr. Bob Sweeney in "American History X" alongside Edward Norton. He also played mob boss Paris in "The Big Hit", co-starring Mark Wahlberg. His last feature-film role was in 2001 as Detective Leon Jackson in "15 Minutes", which also starred Robert De Niro and Edward Burns.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks has also hosted several documentaries and served as narrator in such features as the IMAX film "Africa's Elephant Kingdom". His other documentary credits include narrating "Earthquake!", "A Passion for Faith", covering the history of black Catholics in America, "Eyes on the Prize", "Walking with Dinosaurs", "", "Land of the Mammoth: Ancient Evidence", "The Ballad of Big Al", "The Science of Big Al", "Savage Sun", "Engineering the Impossible" (The Colosseum), "Greatest Places and Echoes from the White House", and "God vs. Satan". He also narrated the three-part series "Heart of Africa", consisting of "Heart of Africa: Jewel of the Rift", about the lifecycles of African cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika, "Heart of Africa: Virunga", about the gorillas of Virunga National Park, and "Heart of Africa: Fire and Ice", about the lowland animals of the Rift Valley.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In May 2007, Brooks recorded the narration for the documentary "The Better Hour", which is about the life of William Wilberforce, the man who led the campaign for the end of slavery in the United Kingdom in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks also provided the narration for the BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs" when it aired in North America on the Discovery Channel. His deep and authoritative voice commanded viewer attention; Brooks was able to draw on his years of training as an opera singer and his extensive stage experience with Shakespeare company actors not only to engage the viewer, but also to use his vocal abilities to emphasize the events as seen in the show.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2009, Brooks narrated a special documentary for the National Geographic channel, titled "Drain the Ocean". Using CGI animation, National Geographic simulates removing the water from the oceans to explore the ocean floor and its vast geography.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2011, Brooks was interviewed by William Shatner in the feature-length documentary "The Captains". The film was written and directed by Shatner and features the original "Star Trek" captain interviewing every other actor who had portrayed a prominently recurring captain, upon whom the science-fiction franchise had yet been based. Brooks also served as music supervisor for the project.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2013, Brooks began to narrate the Christian or Abrahamic series "The Bible's Greatest Secrets", on the American Heroes Channel, which attempted to use interpretations of events found in the "Bible" to illuminate new archeological findings and interpretations of history, and to use interpretations of new archeological findings to illuminate interpretations of events found in the Bible. IMDb lists the "Storyline" as: "Unlock the mysteries of vanished civilizations of the Holy Land and the people who built them."


title: Avery Brooks

text: Brooks was part of a directors panel at a festival celebrating the work of Ntozake Shange at the New Federal Theatre on February 11, 2007. Brooks has directed Shange's "Boogie Woogie Landscapes" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in London's West End.


title: Avery Brooks

text: As part of BBC Audiobooks America's entry into the US market, Brooks narrated an audiobook of Alex Haley's novel "". This was the first time the novel was adapted into an audiobook. Brooks had previously starred in a 1988 television film based upon the book, "Roots: The Gift". As an audio book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family won an Audie Award in 2008 within the category of Non-Fiction.


title: Avery Brooks

text: In 2007, Brooks released an album containing in his words "a selection of ballads and love songs... I speak of my respect for my father, and for artists that I have listened to all my life."


title: Avery Brooks

text: Since 1976, Brooks has been married to Vicki Lenora Brooks, an assistant dean at Rutgers University. Together, they have three adult children – Ayana, Cabral, and Asante – and live in Princeton, New Jersey.


title: Avery Brooks

text: After police received a report of erratic driving, at around 10 PM on January 29, 2012, Brooks was arrested under charges of driving under the influence in Wilton, Connecticut (being released with a court date of February 9 that year).


title: Avery Brooks

text: In a December 27, 2020 interview with The 7th Rule Podcast on the YouTube channel "Orville Nation", Cirroc Lofton indicated Brooks was not retired as an actor and would return to acting if offered a role, saying he has been blacklisted from Hollywood and is without any agent or agency.


title: Thomas Newman

text: Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including "The Player" (1992); "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994); "American Beauty" and "The Green Mile" (both 1999); "In the Bedroom" (2001); "Finding Nemo" (2003); "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2004); "Cinderella Man" (2005); "WALL-E" (2008); the "James Bond" films "Skyfall" (2012) and "Spectre" (2015); "Finding Dory" (2016); and "1917" (2019). He also composed the music for the 2003 HBO miniseries "Angels in America". Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with directors such as Sam Mendes, Frank Darabont, Steven Soderbergh, John Madden and John Lee Hancock.


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman has been nominated for fifteen Academy Awards, tying him with fellow composer Alex North for the most nominations without a win. He has also been nominated for four Golden Globes, and has won two BAFTAs, six Grammys and an Emmy Award. Newman was honored with the Richard Kirk award at the 2000 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. His achievements have contributed to the Newmans being the most nominated Academy Award extended family, with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories.


title: Thomas Newman

text: Born in Los Angeles, California, Newman is the youngest son of composer Alfred Newman (1900–1970), who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score nine times, and Martha Louis Montgomery (1920–2005). He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood that includes his father Alfred, older brother David Newman, younger sister Maria Newman, uncles Lionel Newman and Emil Newman, cousin Randy Newman (also known as a singer and songwriter), and his first cousin, once removed, Joey Newman. His paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and his mother was from Mississippi.


title: Thomas Newman

text: During their upbringing, Martha Newman took her sons to violin lessons in the San Fernando Valley every weekend. Newman later studied composition and orchestration for two years at the University of Southern California, before transferring to Yale University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1977 and a Master of Music in 1978. While at Yale, he met composer Stephen Sondheim, who became an early mentor.


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman and his wife Ann Marie have three children. They reside in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.


title: Thomas Newman

text: At first, Newman was more interested in musical theater than in film composition, working with Sondheim in Broadway plays. Lionel, who succeeded Alfred as music director for 20th Century Fox, gave Thomas his first scoring assignment on a 1979 episode of the series "The Paper Chase". In 1983, John Williams, who was a friend of both Alfred and Lionel, invited Newman to work on "Return of the Jedi", orchestrating the scene in which Darth Vader dies. Afterward Newman met producer Scott Rudin in New York City and Rudin invited him to compose the score for "Reckless" (1984). Newman said that he thought "it was a tough job, at first" for requiring him to "develop vocabularies and a sense of procedure", only getting comfortable with writing scores "and not fraudulent in my efforts" after eight years.


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 1992, Newman composed the score for Robert Altman's "The Player" and Martin Brest's "Scent of a Woman".


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 1994, he received his first Academy Award nominations with the scores for Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption" and Gillian Armstrong's "Little Women". He also scored Jon Avnet's "The War". In 1996, he scored Diane Keaton's "Unstrung Heroes", receiving yet another Oscar nomination. In 1998, he scored Robert Redford's "The Horse Whisperer" as well as Martin Brest's "Meet Joe Black". In 1999, Newman composed the score to Sam Mendes' first feature film "American Beauty", created using mainly percussion instruments. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the "moral ambiguity" of the script, saying "It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that.". He received a fourth Oscar nomination for this score, and although he lost again (to John Corigliano for "The Red Violin"), he did receive a Grammy and a BAFTA.


title: Thomas Newman

text: His critical and commercial success continued in the years to follow with his scores for films such as Steven Soderbergh's "Erin Brockovich", and Todd Field's "In the Bedroom". He was nominated consecutively for a further three Academy Awards, for Sam Mendes' "Road to Perdition" (2002), Andrew Stanton's "Finding Nemo" (2003), and Brad Silberling's "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2004). However, he lost on each occasion to Elliot Goldenthal (for "Frida"), Howard Shore (for ""), and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (for "Finding Neverland").


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 2006, he teamed once again with Todd Field for "Little Children" and Steven Soderbergh for "The Good German" (he was nominated for latter). At the Oscar ceremony, he appeared in the opening segment by Errol Morris, who jokingly stated that Newman had been nominated for and failed to win an Oscar eight times. Newman replied: "No, I've failed seven but this will be my eighth", and indeed, he again lost, this time to Gustavo Santaolalla for "Babel".


title: Thomas Newman

text: His first score since The Good German was for Alan Ball's "Towelhead". In 2008 he scored the animated film "WALL-E", collaborating for the second time with director Andrew Stanton (with the first collaboration being "Finding Nemo"). The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (as had "Nemo"). Newman received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Original Score, and another for Best Original Song for "Down to Earth", which he co-wrote with Peter Gabriel. He was nominated in the Original Score category with two other veteran composers, James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman, both of whom have also been nominated for several Oscars but each time unsuccessfully. Newman lost both the score and song nominations to A R Rahman for his work on "Slumdog Millionaire". He and Peter Gabriel did however win a Grammy for "Down to Earth".


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 2008 he also scored Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road". In 2009, he scored Jim Sheridan's "Brothers" (the remake of the Susanne Bier film). In 2011, he scored Tate Taylor's "The Help", John Madden's "The Debt", Phyllida Lloyd's "The Iron Lady", and George Nolfi's "The Adjustment Bureau".


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 2012, Newman scored John Madden's "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". He also scored the 23rd James Bond movie "Skyfall", which celebrates the film franchise's 50th anniversary. His work on this film earned him his eleventh Oscar nomination and a second BAFTA win. During 2013, he scored Steven Soderbergh's "Side Effects" and John Lee Hancock's "Saving Mr. Banks". The latter score was very well received by film music critics, earning Newman BAFTA and Oscar nominations for the second consecutive year, both of which he lost to Steven Price for "Gravity".


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman's 2014 projects included David Dobkin's "The Judge" and Tate Taylor's "Get on Up". In 2015, he scored John Madden's "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", marking the first time Newman has scored a sequel to a film he also wrote the score for. Also that year, Newman returned to score Sam Mendes' 24th James Bond movie "Spectre", the sequel to "Skyfall." He also collaborated with Steven Spielberg for "Bridge of Spies", marking Newman's first collaboration with Spielberg and the first Spielberg film not to feature a musical score from his long-time composer John Williams, since the production of "The Color Purple" in 1985. For his score on "Bridge of Spies", Newman garnered additional Oscar and Grammy nominations.


title: Thomas Newman

text: In 2016, Newman scored the motion picture Morten Tyldum's "Passengers" starring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne, for which he received his 14th Oscar nomination. Three years later, Newman reunited with Sam Mendes for his war film "1917", for which Newman received his 6th BAFTA and 15th Oscar nominations.


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman likes to vary the instrumentation in his scores, ranging from full orchestra to percussion-only music. He is also fond of incorporating unusual instruments such as the zither, hurdy-gurdy, psaltery and hammered dulcimer, or unexpected sounds, like Aboriginal chants and the chirping of cicadas. The composer declared that he has "an interest in mundane experimentation."


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman has also composed music for television, including theme music for the series "Boston Public" and the miniseries "Angels in America". His theme music for the television show "Six Feet Under" won two Grammy Awards in 2003, for Best Instrumental Composition as well as Best Instrumental Arrangement. He also wrote the theme for the HBO series "Newsroom".


title: Thomas Newman

text: Newman also wrote a commissioned concert work for orchestra, "Reach Forth Our Hands", for the 1996 Cleveland Bicentennial. The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissioned an orchestral work by Newman, "It Got Dark", which was performed by the Kronos Quartet and Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Leonard Slatkin during the orchestra's 2009–2010 season.


title: Thomas Newman

text: He composed the incidental music for the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2014 production of "As You Like It," directed by Michael Attenborough and starring Zoe Waites.


title: Thomas Newman

text: He also collaborated with composer and multi-instrumentalist Rick Cox in an electro-acoustic album "35 Whirlpools Below Sound"; which is released under the label Cold Blue Music in 2014.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Badlands is a 1973 American neo-noir period crime drama film written, produced and directed by Terrence Malick, in his directorial debut. The film stars Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, and follows Holly Sargis (Spacek), a 15-year old who goes on a killing spree with her partner, Kit Carruthers (Sheen); the film also stars Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri. While the story is fictional, it is loosely based on the real-life murder spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, in 1958.


title: Badlands (film)

text: "Badlands" was released in 1973 to positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised its cinematography, soundtrack—which includes pieces by Carl Orff—and the lead performances. At the 49th British Academy Film Awards, Spacek was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles award; at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Sheen won the Best Actor award.


title: Badlands (film)

text: "Badlands" was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress in 1993.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Holly Sargis narrates the film as a 15-year-old living in Fort Dupree, a dead-end South Dakota town. She has a strained relationship with her father, a sign painter, since her mother's death from pneumonia years earlier. Holly meets Kit Carruthers, a 25-year-old garbage collector, troubled greaser and Korean War veteran. He resembles James Dean, an actor whom Holly admires. After Kit charms Holly, he takes her virginity. As they become closer, his violent and antisocial tendencies are gradually revealed.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Holly's father disapproves of Kit and kills her dog as punishment for spending time with him. Kit breaks into Holly's house and insists she run away with him. When her father protests and threatens to call the police, Kit shoots him dead. After Kit and Holly fake suicide by burning down the house, they head for the badlands of Montana. They build a treehouse in a remote area and live there, fishing and stealing chickens for food. They flee after being found by three men (who Kit later tells Holly were bounty hunters) whom Kit shoots dead. They seek refuge with Kit's former co-worker Cato, but when he attempts to summon help, Kit shoots him too. Kit forces a young couple who arrive to visit Cato into a storm cellar. He shoots into the closed cellar door and leaves without checking to see if they are dead.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Kit and Holly are pursued across the Midwest by law enforcement. They stop at a rich man's mansion and take supplies, clothing, and his Cadillac, sparing the lives of the man and his deaf housemaid. As they drive across Montana to Saskatchewan, the police find and chase them.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Holly, who has grown tired of Kit and life on the run, refuses to go with him and turns herself in. Kit leads the police on a car chase but is soon caught. He charms the arresting officers and National Guard troops, tossing them his personal belongings as souvenirs of his crime spree. Holly reveals at the end that she received probation and married her defense attorney's son, and Kit was executed for his crimes.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Director Terrence Malick makes a cameo as the man at the rich man's door, while Sheen's sonsCharlie Sheen and Emilio Estevezappear briefly as two boys sitting under a lamppost outside Holly's house.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Malick, a protégé of Arthur Penn (whom he thanked in the film's end credits), began work on "Badlands" after his second year attending the American Film Institute. In 1970, Malick, at age 27, began working on the screenplay during a road trip. "I wrote and, at the same time, developed a kind of sales kit with slides and video tape of actors, all with a view to presenting investors with something that would look ready to shoot," Malick said. "To my surprise, they didn't pay too much attention to it; they invested on faith. I raised about half the money and executive producer Edward Pressman the other half." Malick paid $25,000 of his own funds. The remainder of his share was raised from professionals such as doctors and dentists. "Badlands" was the first feature film that Malick had written for himself to direct.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Sissy Spacek, in only her second film, was the first actor cast. Malick found her small-town Texas roots and accent were perfect for the part of the naive impressionable high school girl. The director included her in his creative process, asking questions about her life "as if he were mining for gold." When he found out she had been a majorette, he worked a twirling routine into the script. Several up-and-coming actors were auditioned for the part of Kit Carruthers. When Martin Sheen was suggested by the casting director, Malick was hesitant, thinking he was too old for the role. Spacek wrote in her autobiography that "the chemistry was immediate. He "was" Kit. And with him, I was Holly." Sheen based his characterization of Kit on the actor James Dean.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Principal photography took place in Colorado starting in July 1972, with a non-union crew and a low budget of $300,000 (excluding some deferments to film labs and actors). The film had a somewhat troubled production history: several members of the crew clashed with Malick, and another was severely injured when an explosion occurred while filming the fire scene. The Frank G. Bloom House in Trinidad was used for the rich man's house. Malick himself had an uncredited cameo after the actor hired to play ‘Caller at Rich Man’s House’ failed to show up. The script's beginning was mostly filmed in the southeastern Colorado towns of La Junta and Las Animas, including the scene in which Holly runs out of the latter town's Columbian Elementary School. The closing credits thank the people of Otero County, Colorado "for their help and cooperation."


title: Badlands (film)

text: Jack Fisk served as art director for the film in his first of several collaborations with the director. During production, Sissy Spacek and Fisk fell in love and were married on April 12, 1974. The film was originally set to be edited by Robert Estrin. When Malick saw Estrin's cut of the film, he disliked it and removed him from the production. Malick and Billy Weber recut the movie. Estrin remains credited as the sole editor, however, with Weber credited as associate editor. Both Weber and art designer Jack Fisk worked on all of Malick's subsequent features through 2016 ("The Tree of Life", "To the Wonder", "Knight of Cups").


title: Badlands (film)

text: Though Malick paid close attention to period detail, he did not want it to overwhelm the picture. "I tried to keep the 1950s to a bare minimum," he said. "Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything. I wanted the picture to set up like a fairy tale, outside time." At a news conference coinciding with the film's festival debut, Malick called Kit "so desensitized that [he] can regard the gun with which he shoots people as a kind of magic wand that eliminates small nuisances." Malick also pointed out that "Kit and Holly even think of themselves as "living" in a fairy tale", and he felt was appropriate since "children's books like "Treasure Island" were often filled with violence." He also hoped a fairy tale tone would "take a little of the sharpness out of the violence but still keep its dreamy quality."


title: Badlands (film)

text: The film makes repeated use of the short composition Gassenhauer from Carl Orff's and Gunild Keetman's "Schulwerk", and also uses other tunes by Erik Satie, Nat "King" Cole, Mickey & Sylvia and James Taylor.


title: Badlands (film)

text: Warner Bros. purchased and distributed the film for just under $1 million. Warner Bros. initially previewed the film on a double bill with the Mel Brooks comedy "Blazing Saddles", resulting in very negative audience response. The production team was forced to book the film into several other theaters, in locations such as Little Rock, Arkansas, to demonstrate that the film could make money. The film has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 8.9/10 based on the reviews of 59 critics, with the general consensus being "Terrence Malick's debut is a masterful slice of American cinema, rife with the visual poetry and measured performances that would characterize his work." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted score of 93/100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Variety stated that the film was an "impressive" debut. Roger Ebert added it to his "Great Movies" list in 2011.


title: Badlands (film)

text: "Badlands" was the closing feature film at the 1973 New York Film Festival, reportedly "overshadowing even Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets"." Vincent Canby, who saw the film at the festival debut, called it a "cool, sometimes brilliant, always ferociously American film"; according to Canby, "Sheen and Miss Spacek are splendid as the self-absorbed, cruel, possibly psychotic children of our time, as are the members of the supporting cast, including Warren Oates as Holly's father. One may legitimately debate the validity of Malick's vision, but not, I think, his immense talent. Badlands is a most important and exciting film."


title: Badlands (film)

text: In April 1974, Jay Cocks wrote that the film "might better be regarded less as a companion piece to "Bonnie and Clyde" than as an elaboration and reply. It is not loose and high-spirited. All its comedy has a frosty irony, and its violence, instead of being brutally balletic, is executed with a dry, remorseless drive." According to executive producer Edward Pressman, apart from Canby's "New York Times" review, most initial reviews of the film were negative, but its reputation with critics improved over time. David Thomson conversely reported that the work was "by common consent [...] one of the most remarkable first feature films made in America." Writing years later for "The Chicago Reader", Dave Kehr wrote: "Malick's 1973 first feature is a film so rich in ideas it hardly knows where to turn. Transcendent themes of love and death are fused with a pop-culture sensibility and played out against a midwestern background, which is breathtaking both in its sweep and in its banality."


title: Badlands (film)

text: Spacek later said that "Badlands" changed the whole way she thought about filmmaking. "After working with Terry Malick, I was like, 'The artist rules. Nothing else matters.' My career would have been very different if I hadn't had that experience". In 2003, Bill Paxton said: "It had a lyricism that films have only once in a while, moments of a transcendental nature... There's this wonderful sequence where the couple have been cut adrift from civilisation. They know the noose is tightening and they've gone off the road, across the Badlands. You hear Sissy narrating various stories, and she's talking about visiting faraway places. There's this strange piece of classical music [an ethereal orchestration of Erik Satie's "Trois Morceaux en forme de Poire]," and a very long-lens shot. You see something in the distance – I think it's a train moving – and it looks like a shot of an Arabian caravan moving across the desert. These are moments that have nothing to do with the story, and yet everything to do with it. They're not plot-orientated, but they have to do with the longing or the dreams of these characters. And they're the kind of moments you never forget, a certain kind of lyricism that just strikes some deep part of you and that you hold on to."


title: Badlands (film)

text: Martin Sheen commented in 1999 that "Badlands" "still is" the best script he had ever read. He wrote that "It was mesmerising. It disarmed you. It was a period piece, and yet of all time. It was extremely American, it caught the spirit of the people, of the culture, in a way that was immediately identifiable."


title: Portulaca oleracea

text: Portulaca oleracea (common purslane, also known as little hogweed, or pursley) is an annual (actually tropical perennial in USDA growing zones 10–11) succulent in the family Portulacaceae.


title: Portulaca oleracea

text: The plant may reach in height. It has smooth, reddish, mostly prostrate stems and the leaves, which may be alternate or opposite, are clustered at stem joints and ends. The yellow flowers have five regular parts and are up to wide. Depending upon rainfall, the flowers appear at any time during the year. The flowers open singly at the center of the leaf cluster for only a few hours on sunny mornings. The tiny seeds are formed in a pod, which opens when the seeds are mature. Purslane has a taproot with fibrous secondary roots and is able to tolerate poor soil and drought.


title: Portulaca oleracea

text: The fruits are many-seeded capsules. Seed set is considerable; one plant can develop up to 193,000 seeds. The seeds germinate optimally at a temperature above 25 °C; they are light germinators, with even a soil cover of 5 mm having a negative effect on germination.