title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: In November 2016, it was announced that Michael Green would serve as showrunner for the potential series in addition to writing a pilot script with Vaughan. In January 2017, it was reported that FX was expecting to receive the script in the next few months. In May 2017, it was clarified that Green had solely written the script and that Vaughan had read and liked it. In July 2017, it was confirmed that FX had received a draft of the script from Green, that they had liked it, and that discussions over the potential series were ongoing. In January 2018, FX CEO John Landgraf commented on the series' status during the annual Television Critics Association winter press tour saying, "[We feel] pretty optimistic, not quite at a final decision point. But we got a script I really like, a draft we really like recently." Landgraf went on to comment that Green was now available for the series following his departure from "American Gods".


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: In April 2018, it was announced that FX had given the production a pilot order. Green was expected to co-showrun the series with Aida Mashaka Croal, both of whom were also set to executive produce alongside Melina Matsoukas, Jacobson, Simpson, and Vaughan. Matsoukas was also slated to direct the pilot episode. In February 2019, it was announced at the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that the production had been given a series order for a first season, expected to premiere in 2020.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: In April 2019, Green and Croal exited the series, with creative differences cited. In June 2019, it was announced that Eliza Clark would be replacing Croal and Green as the showrunner. In February 2020, it was concluded that Clark, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force, and Vaughan would executive produce. Matsoukas also serves as executive producer, as does Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda. Nellie Reed serves as producer. In May 2020, it was announced that the show's title had been changed from simply "Y" to "Y: The Last Man". In June 2020, it was announced that the series would premiere FX on Hulu instead of FX's linear cable network. In October 2020, it was announced that along with serving as showrunner, Eliza Clark would also be writing the first two episodes, with Louise Friedberg directing those episodes. FX also announced that the entire first season would be directed by women. The series premiered with its first three episodes on September 13, 2021, with subsequent episodes released weekly.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: In July 2018, it was announced that Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Timothy Hutton had been cast in the pilot's main roles. In February 2020, it was announced that Keoghan was no longer portraying Yorick and that a new actor would be cast. Later that month, Ben Schnetzer was cast in the role of Yorick. In March 2020, it was announced that Elliot Fletcher had been cast in the series regular role of Sam Jordan, Hero's best friend. In October 2020, Ashley Romans and Olivia Thirlby joined the cast to replace Lynch and Poots as Agent 355 and Hero Brown, respectively. It was also announced that Hutton was no longer part of the cast list due to series restructuring, and his role would be played by Paul Gross. It was later announced that Diana Bang had been cast as Doctor Allison Mann.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: Filming locations reportedly included Pearl River, New York. In February 2020, it was revealed that production for the series was to begin in April. Production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming for the series began in Mississauga, Canada in October 2020, and concluded in July 2021.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: On October 17, 2021, FX on Hulu canceled the series after one season. However, Clark was committed to finding a new outlet or network for the series to continue. The reason for cancellation was not due to low viewing figures, but for budgetary reasons. Due to the showrunner and cast changes as well as the COVID-19 pandemic-related production shutdowns, FX had to pay to extend the contracts for the actors. The contracts were set to expire on October 15, 2021, and FX ultimately decided against spending $3 million to further extend them. On January 14, 2022, Clark revealed that the series was permanently canceled as it failed to find a new network.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: According to TV Time, "Y: The Last Man" was the second most anticipated new television series of September 2021. According to Whip Media, "Y: The Last Man" was the ninth most watched original television series across all platforms in the United States, during the week of September 19, 2021.


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 76% approval rating with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 58 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Y: The Last Man" makes a few key updates to its source material and boasts a number of incredible performances, but this highly anticipated adaptation can't help but feel like a bit of a letdown in a world full of dystopian realities." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Y: The Last Man (TV series)

text: Judy Berman of "Time" wrote, ""Y: The Last Man" improves so much over the course of its first six episodes that its potential feels limitless. If audiences can weather its apocalypse, the show might well become something special by the time rebuilding commences." Alan Sepinwall of "Rolling Stone" gave it 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "A solid but frustrating show that frequently struggles to embrace what's unique about itself." Darren Franich of "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a "C" grade and wrote, "there's a basic lack of flair in the storytelling" and "even if you never read the comic book, you've seen this all before." From "The Guardian", Joel Golby notes that its "...telling good, human stories against a backdrop of unbelievable sci-fi architecture makes for something utterly gripping" while Lucy Mangan dismissed the series as "a stale, male manbaby mess." Kelly Lawler of "USA Today" called it a "flawed but vibrant epic" and stated that the show "doesn't quite achieve the mastery and impact of its source material but is certainly a worthy adaptation." Clint Worthington of "Consequence" considered the series "dated and languid". Caroline Framke of "Variety" felt that "the real undoing of "Y: The Last Man", at least in the first six episodes provided to press ahead of the show's premiere, is that it takes itself too seriously to allow for many other emotions beyond 'desperate' and 'grieving'."


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress (born 2001) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. PinkPantheress's songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including bedroom pop, drum and bass, alt-pop, and 2-step garage. In 2021, while attending university in London, she posted several songs to TikTok that went viral, including "Break It Off", and she subsequently signed to Parlophone and Elektra Records. Her singles "Just for Me" and "Pain" from her debut mixtape "To Hell with It" (2021) peaked in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart and were certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). She won BBC's Sound of 2022 poll and has been nominated for three NME Awards.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress was born in 2001 in Bath, England, to a Kenyan mother, who works as a carer, and a white English father, who works as a statistic professor. She has one older brother, who works as an audio engineer. When she was five years old, her family moved from Bath to Kent, where she grew up. Her father moved to the United States to work at a university in Austin, Texas when she was 12 years old, while she and her mother stayed in England. She took piano lessons as a child, and, at age 12, sang "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King at a school talent show. When she was 14 years old, she became the lead singer in a rock band, which covered songs by My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Green Day, and performed with them for the first time at a school fête. She began working at around age 13, taking jobs at Marks & Spencer, Claire's, and the Co-op as a teenager. She studied film at University of the Arts London until 2022, when she dropped out.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress started writing music in high school to help a friend before eventually writing music on her own. At age 17, she began using GarageBand to produce instrumentals for her friend, fellow singer Mazz, and she later used GarageBand to record many of her early songs while lying down in her university hall late at night. She started uploading original songs of hers to SoundCloud, where they received little attention. After a video posted to her personal TikTok account in December 2020 received over 500,000 likes, she posted a snippet of her song "Just a Waste" as PinkPantheress that same month in the hopes of reaching a wider audience; the snippet soon went viral on the platform.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress's song "Pain" went viral on TikTok in January 2021 and peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart in August 2021. Her breakout single "Break It Off" also went viral on TikTok in early 2021. She released her song "Passion" in February 2021, and she was signed to Parlophone in April 2021. She was featured on GoldLink's song "Evian" from his studio album "Haram!" and signed to Elektra Records in June 2021. Also that month, a visual for her song "Break It Off" was released. After a snippet of her song "Just for Me" gained attention on TikTok, she released it in August 2021, along with a music video co-directed by her released the following month. It was her second top-40 and highest entry on the UK Singles Chart. In early October 2021, she announced the release date and title of her debut mixtape, "To Hell with It" and released her song "I Must Apologise". "To Hell With It" was released on 15 October 2021 through Parlophone and Elektra Records, debuting at number 20 on the UK Albums Chart.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress performed live for the first time in October and November 2021 in London. In January 2022, she was announced as the winner of BBC's Sound of 2022 poll. That same month, she released a remix album for "To Hell with It". She was nominated for the Brit Award for Song of the Year at the 42nd Brit Awards for "Obsessed With You" by Central Cee, which sampled her song "Just for Me", and gave a virtual performance on Roblox for the Brit Awards. She appeared on the song "Bbycakes" with Mura Masa, Lil Uzi Vert, and Shygirl in February 2022, and released her song "Where You Are" featuring Willow in April 2022.


title: PinkPantheress

text: In April 2022, PinkPantheress went on a European tour in support of "To Hell with It". She was featured on "Tinkerbell is Overrated", a song from Beabadoobee's second album, "Beatopia", released in July 2022. , she performed as an opening act on Halsey's Love and Power Tour throughout the spring of 2022 on the American leg. She released "Picture in my Mind" featuring Sam Gellaitry in August 2022. Details of her debut album were revealed in an interview with Pitchfork, as well as plans to release another single this year, which would be "Do You Miss Me", released in November 2022. On November 30, she released the viral hit “Boy’s a liar”, with “Do You Miss Me?” as a B-side.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress's stage name was taken from her TikTok account of the same name, which was inspired by a question from the game show "The Chase" that asked "What is a female panther called?" and by the "Pink Panther" film series. PinkPantheress has listed My Chemical Romance, Lily Allen, Just Jack, Michael Jackson, Kaytranada, Imogen Heap, Frank Ocean, as inspirations, also citing K-pop songs, Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Green Day, early Panic! at the Disco, Linkin Park, and Frou Frou as inspirations for her melodies and beat choices. She has called Hayley Williams a "big influence" on her as a performer, stating that she first wanted to become a professional musician when she was 14 years old after seeing Williams perform as part of Paramore during Reading Festival. She has also stated that she was inspired by an interview with Doja Cat to pursue music as a career, and was inspired to post her songs on TikTok by Lil Nas X.


title: PinkPantheress

text: PinkPantheress's music has been described as pop, bedroom pop, dance, alt-pop, drum and bass, 2-step, jungle, and hyperpop, and often uses samples of other songs, such as dance music from the 1990s and 2000s and jungle, funk, UK garage, and pop songs. PinkPantheress uses topline writing to write her songs, which are frequently self-produced and short in length. She has described her own music as alt-pop and "a form of D'n'B that's acceptable to listen to at home", and has stated that she writes "sadder", "dark" lyrics to "appeal to the youth", often to contrast them with her "happy instrumentals".


title: PinkPantheress

text: NPR's Vanessa Handy called breakbeat loops a "signature of [PinkPantheress's] work", while Kieran Press-Reynolds of "Insider" also wrote that her songs regularly have "fast-paced breakbeats" and "ASMR-like refrains". "Rolling Stone"s Keegan Brady described PinkPantheress's music as "alt-girl rap" and wrote that she uses "confessional, almost treacly rap-singing" and "dated production technology" in her songs which "tap[s] into a deeply nostalgic sound that conjures the height of Nineties U.K. culture". "DIY"s Georgia Evans called her "DIY aesthetic that started as GarageBand experimentation" a signature of her music. PinkPantheress has said that her lyrics are usually not based on personal experiences, stating, "A lot of it just comes because I really like storytelling."


title: PinkPantheress

text: "The Guardian"s Michael Cragg described PinkPantheress's vocals as "sweet but unsettling", while Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" wrote that she "sounds like she's flirting and aching all at once." Cat Zhang of "Pitchfork" called PinkPantheress's voice "angelic", "girlish", and "slight" and wrote that she was "one of the rare TikTok artists whose internet fame seems proportional to their potential". Felicity Martin of "Dazed" called her lyrics "sad" and "wistful". Writing for "Nylon", Steffanee Wang called her music "a collage of sounds that fell [sic] simultaneously dated and contemporary", adding that listening to it "feels like being on the internet before social media was a thing". "Insider"s Kieran Press-Reynolds wrote that PinkPantheress gave uptempo electronic music genres like drum and bass an "introspective, romantic bedroom sound" with her "hushed" vocals.


title: Catania

text: Catania (, , ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by the presence of important road and rail transport infrastructures as well as by the main airport in Sicily, fifth in Italy. It is located on Sicily's east coast, at the base of the active volcano, Mount Etna, and it faces the Ionian Sea. It is the capital of the 58-municipality region known as the Metropolitan City of Catania, which is the seventh-largest metropolitan city in Italy. The population of the city proper is 311,584, while the population of the Metropolitan City of Catania is 1,107,702.


title: Catania

text: Catania was founded in the 8th century BC by Chalcidian Greeks. The city has weathered multiple geologic catastrophes: it was almost completely destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake in 1169. A major eruption and lava flow from nearby Mount Etna nearly swamped the city in 1669 and it suffered severe devastation from the 1693 Sicily earthquake.


title: Catania

text: During the 14th century, and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italy's most important cultural, artistic and political centres. It was the site of Sicily's first university, founded in 1434. It has been the native or adopted home of some of Italy's most famous artists and writers, including the composers Vincenzo Bellini and Giovanni Pacini, and the writers Giovanni Verga, Luigi Capuana, Federico De Roberto and Nino Martoglio.


title: Catania

text: Catania today is the industrial, logistical, and commercial center of Sicily. Its airport, the Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, is the largest in Southern Italy. The central "old town" of Catania features exuberant late-baroque architecture, prompted after the 1693 earthquake, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Catania

text: The ancient indigenous population of the Sicels named their villages after geographical attributes of their location. The Sicilian word, "katane", means "grater, flaying knife, skinning place" or a "crude tool apt to pare". Other translations of the name are "harsh lands", "uneven ground", "sharp stones", or "rugged or rough soil". The latter etymologies are easily justifiable since, for many centuries following an eruption, the city has always been rebuilt within its black-lava landscape.


title: Catania

text: Around 263 BC, the city was variously known as "Catĭna" () and "Catăna" (; ). The former has been primarily used for its supposed assonance with "catina", the Latin feminization of the name "catinus". "Catinus" has two meanings: "a gulf, a basin or a bay" and "a bowl, a vessel or a trough", thanks to the city's distinctive topography.


title: Catania

text: Around 900, when Catania was part of the emirate of Sicily, it was known in Arabic as "Balad al-fīl" () and "Madīnat al-fīl" (), respectively meaning "the Village (or Country) of the Elephant" and "the City of the Elephant". The Elephant likely referred to the ancient lava sculpture, now placed over the fountain in Piazza Duomo. The sculpture is most likely a prehistoric sculpture that was reforged during the Byzantine Era, prized as a protective talisman against enemies, both human, natural or geologic. Another Arab toponym was "Qaṭāniyyah" (), allegedly from the Arabic word for the "leguminous plants". Pulses like lentils, beans, peas, broad beans, and lupins were chiefly cultivated in the plains around the city well before the arrival of Aghlabids. Afterwards, many Arabic agronomists developed these crops and the citrus orchards in the area around the city. The toponym "Wādī Mūsá" (), or "the Valley of Moses" (from the Arabic name of the Simeto River), was rarely used.


title: Catania

text: As observed by Strabo, the location of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna has been both a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, violent outbursts of the volcano throughout history have destroyed large parts of the city, while on the other hand the volcanic ashes yield fertile soil, especially suited for the growth of vines. (Strab. vi. p. 269)


title: Catania

text: Two subterranean rivers run under the city; the Amenano, which surfaces at one single point south of Piazza Duomo, and the Longane (or Lognina).


title: Catania

text: The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Csa" (Mediterranean Climate). It has hot summers, one of the hottest in the whole country of Italy (a feature characterising nearly every month). Temperatures of are surpassed almost every year a couple of times.


title: Catania

text: Winters are mild with chilly nights (not rare peaks around ) . Most of precipitation is concentrated from October to March, leaving late spring and summer virtually dry (some years there is no rain for 3–4 months). The city receives around of rain per year, although the amount can vary greatly from year to year (wettest over , driest under ,).


title: Catania

text: During winter nights lows can occasionally go under . Highs under may happen during winter. Snow, due to the presence of Etna that protects the city from the northern winds, is an uncommon occurrence, but occasional snow flurries have been seen over the recent years especially in the hilly districts, more substantial in the northern hinterland. More recently, light snowfalls occurred on 9 February 2015, 6 January 2017 and 5 January 2019, but the last heavy snowfall dates back to 17 December 1988.


title: Catania

text: In January 2015, there were 315,601 people residing in Catania, of whom 47.2% were male and 52.8% were female. Minors (people under age 18) totalled 20.50 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 18.87 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners).


title: Catania

text: The average age of Catania residents is 41 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Catania declined by 3.35 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85 percent. The reason for this population decline in the "comune" di Catania is mainly due to a large segment of the population leaving the city centre to go to live in the uptown residential areas of the "comuni" of the Metropolitan area. As a result of this, while the population in the "comune" di Catania declines, the population of the hinterland "comuni" increases making the overall population of the Metropolitan area increase.


title: Catania

text: The current birth rate of Catania is 10.07 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births. , 98.03% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant groups come from Sub-Saharan Africa: 0.69%, South Asia: 0.46%, and from other European countries (particularly from Ukraine and Poland): 0.33%. There is currently a small community of Samaritans from Israel.


title: Catania

text: Around 729 BC, the ancient village of "Katane" was occupied by Chalcidian Greek settlers from nearby Naxos along the coast. It became the Chalcidian colony of "Katánē" under a leader named Euarchos (Euarchus) and the native population was rapidly Hellenised.


title: Catania

text: Thucydides states that it came into existence slightly later than Leontini (modern Lentini), which he claims was five years after Syracuse, or 730 BC.


title: Catania

text: The settlement's acropolis was on the hill of Monte Vergine, a defensible hill immediately west of the current city centre. The port of Catania appears to have been much frequented in ancient time and was the chief place of export for the corn of the rich neighbouring plains.


title: Catania

text: Catania was associated with the ancient legend of Amphinomos and Anapias, who, on occasion of a great eruption of Etna, abandoned all their property and carried off their aged parents on their shoulders. The stream of lava itself was said to have parted, and flowed aside so as not to harm them. Statues were erected to their honour, and the place of their burial was known as the "Campus Piorum"; the Catanaeans even introduced the figures of the youths on their coins, and the legend became a favorite subject of allusion and declamation among the Latin poets, of whom the younger Lucilius and Claudian have dwelt upon it at considerable length.


title: Catania

text: The Greek polis of Catania appears to have been a local center of learning. The philosopher and legislator Charondas (late 6th c. BC), born in Catania, putatively wrote program of laws used here and in other Chalcidic cities, both in Sicily and through Magna Graecia. suggesting a link between Catania and other cities during this time. The poets Ibycus and Stesichorus (–555 BC) lived in Catania. The latter putatively was buried in a magnificent sepulchre outside one of the gates, therefore named "Porta Stesichoreia". Xenophanes (-475 BC), one of the founders of the Eleatic school of philosophy, also spent the latter years of his life in the city. The first introduction of dancing to accompany the flute was also ascribed to Andron, a citizen of Catania.


title: Catania

text: Catania appears to have remained independent until the conquest by the despot Hieron of Syracuse; in 476 BC, he expelled all the original inhabitants of Catania and replaced them with his subjects from the town of Leontini – said to have numbered no less than 10,000, consisting partly of Syracusans and Peloponnesians. Hieron changed the city's name to ("Aítnē", Aetna or Ætna, after the nearby Mount Etna, and proclaimed himself the Oekist or founder of the new city. For this he was celebrated by Pindar, and after his death he received heroic honours from the citizens of his new colony.


title: Catania

text: A few years after the death of Hieron and the expulsion of Thrasybulus of Syracuse, the Syracusans combined with Ducetius, king of the Sicels, to expel the newly settled inhabitants of Catania, who went on to settle in the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the name Aetna). The old Chalcidic citizens returned to the city in 461 BC.


title: Catania

text: The period that followed appears to have been one of great prosperity for Catania, as well as for the Sicilian cities in general.


title: Catania

text: In 415 BC, Catania became involved with the expedition to Sicily pursued by the Athenians to punish Syracuse. Initially the Catanaeans refused to allow the Athenians into their city, but after the latter had forced an entrance, the Athenian leader Alcibiades made a famous speech in front of the assembly. Catania became an ally, and the headquarters of the Athenian army for the first year of the expedition, and a base of their subsequent operations against Syracuse. After the defeat of the Athenians, Catania was again threatened by Syracuse. In 403 BC, Dionysius I of Syracuse plundered the city, sold its citizens as slaves, and repopulated the town with Campanian mercenaries. However, the Carthaginians would take possession of Catania under Himilco and Mago, after the nearby great naval Battle of Catana (397 BC) where they defeated Leptines of Syracuse, and in 396 BC forcing the local Campanian mercenaries to relocate to Aetna.


title: Catania

text: Calippus, the assassin of Dion of Syracuse, held Catania for a time (Plut. "Dion." 58); and when Timoleon landed in Sicily in 344 BC Catania was subject to the despot Mamercus who at first joined the Corinthian leader, but afterwards abandoned this allegiance for that of the Carthaginians. As a consequence he was attacked and expelled by Timoleon in 338 BC.


title: Catania

text: Catania was now restored to a fragile independence; changing sides during the wars starting in 311 BC of Agathocles of Syracuse with the Carthaginians. When Pyrrhus landed in Sicily in 278 BC, Catania was the first to open its gates to him, and welcomed him with great splendor.


title: Catania

text: During the First Punic War, Catania was one of the first cities of Sicily to submit to the Roman Republic after their first successes in 263 BC when it was taken by Valerius Messalla. A sundial was part of the booty which was placed in the Comitium in Rome. Since then the city became a "civitas decumana" i.e. was subject to the payment of a tenth of its agricultural income as a tax to Rome. The conqueror of Syracuse, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, built a gymnasium here.


title: Catania

text: It appears to have continued afterwards to maintain its friendly relations with Rome and though it did not enjoy the advantages of a confederate city ("foederata civitas"), like its neighbours Tauromenium (modern Taormina) and Messana (modern Messina), it rose to a position of great prosperity under the Roman rule.


title: Catania

text: One of the most serious eruptions of Mount Etna happened in 121 BC, when a great part of Catania was overwhelmed by streams of lava, and the hot ashes fell in such quantities in the city itself, as to break in the roofs of the houses. Catana was in consequence exempted, for 10 years, from its usual contributions to the Roman state. The greater part of the broad tract of plain to the southwest of Catana (now called the "Piana di Catania", a district of great fertility), appears to have belonged, in ancient times, to Leontini or Centuripa (modern Centuripe), but that portion of it between Catana itself and the mouth of the Symaethus was annexed to Catana and must have furnished abundant supplies of grain.


title: Catania

text: Cicero repeatedly mentions it as, in his time, a wealthy and flourishing city; it retained its ancient municipal institutions, its chief magistrate bearing the title of "Proagorus"; and appears to have been one of the principal ports of Sicily for the export of corn.


title: Catania

text: In the Sicilian revolt from 44 BC Sextus Pompeius selected Sicily as his base and Catania gave in to Sextus' revolt and joined his forces. Sextus amassed a formidable army and a large fleet of warships at his base at Messana, with many slaves joining from the villas of patricians. After the victory of Augustus in 36 BC much of the vast farmland in Sicily was either ruined or left empty, and much of this land was taken and distributed to members of the legions which had fought there. Catania suffered severely from the ravages but was afterwards one of the cities raised to the status of colony by Augustus which restored its prosperity through the settlement of veterans, so that in Strabo's time it was one of the few cities in the island that was flourishing.


title: Catania

text: The Roman aqueduct of Catania was the longest in Roman Sicily at 24 km length starting from the springs of Santa Maria di Licodia.


title: Catania

text: It retained its colonial rank, as well as its prosperity, throughout the period of the Roman Empire; so that in the 4th century Ausonius in his "Ordo Nobilium Urbium", notices Catania and Syracuse alone among the cities of Sicily.


title: Catania

text: Catania was sacked by the Vandals of Gaiseric in 440–441. After a period under the Ostrogoths, it was reconquered in 535 by the Eastern Roman Empire, under which (aside from a short period in 550–555) it remained until the 9th century. It was the seat of the Byzantine governor of the island.


title: Catania

text: Catania was under an Islamic emirate for two centuries, after which it fell to the Normans of Roger I of Sicily. Subsequently, the city was ruled by a bishop-count (1072). In 1194–1197 the city was sacked by German soldiers during after the conquest of the island by emperor Henry VI. In 1232 it rebelled to the former's son, Frederick II, who later built a massive castle, "Castello Ursino" and also made Catania a royal city, ending the dominance of the bishops. Catania was one of the main centers of the Sicilian Vespers revolt (1282) against the House of Anjou, and was the seat of the incoronation of the new Aragonese king of Sicily, Peter I. In the 14th century it gained importance as it was chosen by the Aragonese as a Parliament and Royal seat. Here, in 1347, it was signed the treaty of peace that ended the long War of the Vesper between Aragonese and Angevines. Catania lost its capital role when, in the early 15th century, Sicily was turned into a member of the Crown of Aragon, and kept its autonomy and original privileges specially during the period from 1282 to 1410.


title: Catania

text: In 1434 King Alfonso V founded here the "Siciliae Studium Generale", the oldest university in the island.


title: Catania

text: With the unification of Castile and Aragon (early 16th century), Sicily became part of the Spanish Empire. It rebelled against the foreign government in 1516 and 1647.


title: Catania

text: In 1669 the city's surroundings suffered great material damage from the 1669 Etna eruption. The city itself was largely saved by its walls that diverted most of the lava into the port. Afterwards, in 1693 the city was nearly completely destroyed by a heavy 1693 Sicily earthquake and its aftershocks. The city was then rebuilt in the Baroque architecture that nowadays characterizes it.


title: Catania

text: In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's expedition of the Thousand conquered Sicily for Piedmont from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Since the following year Catania was part of the newly unified Italy, whose history it shares since then.


title: Catania

text: After the conflict, and the constitution of the Italian Republic (1946), Catania attempted to catch up with the economic and social development of Italy's richer northern regions. The problems faced in Catania were emblematic of those faced by other towns in the Mezzogiorno, namely a heavy gap in industrial development and infrastructures, and the threat of the mafia. This notwithstanding, during the 1960s (and partly during the 1990s) Catania enjoyed development and a period of economic, social, and cultural success. In the first decade of the 21st century, Catania's economic and social development somewhat faltered and the city is again facing economic and social stagnation. This was aggravated by the economic crisis left by the Forza Italia administration of mayor Scapagnini in 2008.


title: Catania

text: The Metropolitan City of Catania was established in 2015 and replaced the former Province of Catania. It includes the city proper and 57 "comuni" (municipalities). The population of the Metropolitan City is 1,107,702.


title: Catania

text: The Metropolitan area of Catania includes the "comune" of Catania (311,584 inhabitants) and 26 surrounding "comuni" forming an urban belt (498,650 inhabitants). The total population of the Metropolitan area of Catania is therefore 810,234. The "comuni" of the Metropolitan area are:


title: Catania

text: These "comuni" form a system with the centre of Catania sharing its economical and social life and creating an organic urban texture.


title: Catania

text: The city of Catania proper ("comune di Catania") is divided in six administrative areas called "circoscrizioni". The current administrative setup was established in 2013, modifying previous setups dating back to 1971, 1978 and 1995.


title: Catania

text: The symbol of the city is "u Liotru", or the "Fontana dell'Elefante", assembled in 1736 by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. It portrays an ancient lavic stone elephant and is topped by an Egyptian obelisk from Syene. Legend has it that Vaccarini's original elephant was neuter, which the men of Catania took as an insult to their virility. To appease them, Vaccarini appropriately appended elephantine testicles to the original statue.


title: Catania

text: The Sicilian name "u Liotru" is a phonetic change of Heliodorus, a nobleman who, after trying without success to become bishop of the city, became a sorcerer and was therefore condemned to the stake. Legend has it that Heliodorus himself was the sculptor of the lava elephant and that he used to magically ride it in his fantastic travels from Catania to Constantinople. Another legend has it that Heliodorus was able to transform himself into an elephant.


title: Catania

text: The presence of an elephant in the history of Catania is surely connected to both zooarcheology and popular creeds. In fact, the prehistoric fauna of Sicily from the Upper Paleolithic, included dwarf elephants. Paleontologist Othenio Abel suggested that the presence of dwarf elephants in Sicily may be the origin of the legend of the Cyclops. Ancient Greeks, after finding the skulls of dwarf elephants, about twice the size of a human skull, with a large central nasal cavity (mistaken for a large single eye socket) supposed that they were skulls of giants with a single eye.


title: Catania

text: The "Catanian Museum of Mineralogy, Paleontology and Vulcanology" holds the integral unburied skeleton of an "Elephas falconeri" in an excellent state of conservation. The first inhabitants of Etna molded such lavic artifacts to idolize the mythical proboscidian.


title: Catania

text: The city has been buried by lava a total of seventeen times in recorded history, and in layers under the present-day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that. Many of the ancient monuments of the Roman city have been destroyed by these numerous incidents. Currently, different ancient remains can be seen and visited in the city centre, as part of an archaeological park (Parco Archeologico Greco-Romano di Catania).


title: Catania

text: Catania is the first economic and industrial hub of Sicily. The city is famous for its mainly petrochemical industry, and the extraction of sulphur. In the year 2000, according to Census, Catania was the 14th richest city in Italy, with a GDP of US$6.6 billion (€6.304 billion), which was 0.54% of the Italian GDP, a GDP per capita of US$21,000 (€20,100) and an average GDP per employee of US$69,000 (€66,100).


title: Catania

text: In the late-19th century and early-20th century, Catania began to be heavily industrialised, with its several factories and chimneys, often being referred to as Southern Italy's "Manchester". The economy of Catania suffered heavily from the bad effects of World War I, and was marked by an economic crisis and recession that culminated in the 1920s. Since then, the city lost its industrial and entrepreneurial importance. In the 1930s, Catania remained a small fishing town with derelict and disused industries. However, after the destruction of World War II, Catania's economy began to re-grow in the late-1950s and early-1960s. The city's economic growth was so rapid and dynamic that it was often nicknamed the ""Milan of the South"", or in Italian ""Milano del Sud"". This rapid economic growth prompted a great number of Sicilians living in the more rural areas, or smaller towns such as Enna, Ragusa and Caltanissetta, to move to the city to seek new jobs.


title: Catania

text: Today, Catania, despite several problems, has one of the most dynamic economies in the whole of Southern Italy. It still has a strong industrial and agricultural sector, and a fast-growing tourist industry, with many international visitors coming to visit the city's main sights and the nearby Etna volcano. It contains the headquarters or important offices of companies such as STMicroelectronics, and also several chemical and pharmaceutical businesses. There have been several new business developments to further boost Catania's economy, including the construction of Etnapolis, a big shopping mall designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, the same architect who designed the FieraMilano industrial fair in Milan, or the Etna Valley, where several high-tech offices are located.


title: Catania

text: Tourism is a fast-growing industry in Catania. Lately, the administration and private companies have made several investments in the hospitality industry in order to make tourism a competitive sector in the Metropolitan City. Etnaland, a large amusement and water park located in Belpasso, is in the metropolitan area of Catania, 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the city center. It is the largest of its kind in Southern Italy and attracts thousands of tourists, not only from Sicily, but also from the rest of Italy. According to Tripadvisor (2018) it is the third-largest water park in Europe.


title: Catania

text: The seaport of Catania is linked to the road-rail distribution hub of Bologna. In September 2020 Mercitalia Logistics opened the first full railway route to link the city to Northern Italy. It replaced an older mixed maritime-railway line.


title: Catania

text: Established in 1434, the University of Catania is the oldest university in Sicily. Its academic nicknames are: "Siculorum Gymnasium" and "Siciliae Studium Generale". It hosts 12 faculties and over 62,000 students; and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs.


title: Catania

text: Catania hosts the "Scuola superiore di Catania", linked to the University of Catania, aimed at excellence in education; they offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs for teachers.


title: Catania

text: Catania is home to the prestigious "Istituto Musicale Vincenzo Bellini" an advanced institute of musical studies (Conservatory) and the "Accademia di Belle Arti" an advanced institute of artistic studies. Both institutions offer programs of university level for musical and artistic education.


title: Catania

text: Opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Palazzo Gravina-Cruyllas in the city center, the palace now houses a museum about him.


title: Catania

text: The Teatro Massimo Vincenzo Bellini, which opened in 1890, presents a variety of works through a season, which run from December to May, including the works of its namesake.


title: Catania

text: Giovanni Verga was born in Catania in 1840. He became the greatest writer of "Verismo", an Italian literary movement akin to Naturalism. His novels portray life among the lower levels of Sicilian society, such as fishermen and stonemasons, and were written in a mixture of both literary language and the local dialect. Francesco Longo Mancini was a painter known for his paintings of nudes, who was born in Catania in 1880.


title: Catania

text: The city's patron saint is Saint Agatha, who is celebrated with religious pageantry, the Festival of Saint Agatha, on 5 February every year.


title: Catania

text: The city is the base of the newspaper "La Sicilia" and of the TV channel Antenna Sicilia, also known as the Sicilia Channel. Several other local television channels and free-press magazines have their headquarters in Catania.


title: Catania

text: The city is home to the Catania Jazz Festival, which typically runs for several winter months with concerts in different locations. In the late 1980s and during the 1990s Catania had a energetic and unique popular music scene. Indie pop and indie rock bands, local radio stations, and dynamic independent music record labels sprung up as a result. As a result, in those years the city experienced a vital and effervescent cultural period. Artists like Carmen Consoli and Mario Venuti, and internationally known indie rock bands like Uzeda came out of this cultural "milieu".


title: Catania

text: Catania is home to many sports clubs covering a wide range of disciplines. The most famous club is the Calcio Catania football team, followed by approximately half a million supporters. Another club standing out from the rest is Orizzonte Catania, which is the leading women's water polo club in Italy, with 22 National Championship titles (15 in a row from 1992 to 2006), and also in Europe, with 8 European Champions Cup titles.


title: Catania

text: Catania is the most successful city in team sports in the entire south of Italy (including Sicily and Sardinia), leading (as of October 2021) with 68 National Championships titles and 9 European Champions Cups titles, ahead of Naples (55 National Championships titles and 5 European Champions Cups titles) and of Bari (17 National Championships titles).


title: Catania

text: Considering the total number of titles won by Sicilian sports clubs, 68 out of 96 National Championships titles and 9 out of 10 European Champions Cups titles are from Catania, with the capital Palermo following with just 11 National Championships titles.


title: Catania

text: As for individual sports, 56 athletes from Catania have won world titles, 54 have won European titles and 139 have won national titles.


title: Catania

text: In the Olympic Games, over the years, Italian athletes from Catania have won a total of 7 gold medals, 8 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals.


title: Catania

text: Catania holds the Catania-Etna car competition, organized by the Automobile Club d'Italia. The competition dates back to 1923 and has been taking place on a regular basis (with some gaps) from 1947. Suspended in 2010 due to a serious accident, the 46th edition is planned for the end of June 2021.


title: Catania

text: From 1960 to 2011 Catania held the International event named "Trofeo Sant'Agata", a road running competition which took place in the streets of the city center, every year on the 3rd of February (the day the Festival of Saint Agatha begins.)


title: Catania

text: The city also hosted a series of International Sports Events: in 1992 Catania hosted the first ever qualification tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, and the associated Etna Cup, which was won by the host Sicily team. In 1994 the city hosted, together with Agrigento and Palermo, the UCI Road World Championships. In 1997 Catania hosted, together with Palermo and Messina, the Universiade. In 2003 the city hosted the Military World Games and in 2011 the Men's EuroHockey Championship III. In 2011 Catania also hosted the World Fencing Championships: Italy came out of this competition as the top winning nation with 11 medals, one won by the local fencer Paolo Pizzo.


title: Catania

text: Food is an important part of Catania's culture and way of life. Local cuisine emphasizes several traits of Sicilian cuisine, whilst developing some of its own character.


title: Catania

text: Street food is one of the best ways to experience traditional dishes. Arancini are perhaps the city's most iconic: they are stuffed rice balls coated in bread-crumbs and deep fried; in Catania, they are shaped like a cone to remind of Mount Etna. Typical specialties from the city include ' (puff pastry with onion, tomato, and prosciutto filling), "bolognese" (a small pizza topped with tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto, and boiled egg, and covered in puff pastry), ' (deep fried dough balls with ricotta or anchovies filling.)


title: Catania

text: During street fairs and religious festivals, street stalls sell ' (toasted chickpeas and pumpkin seeds). Typical from old street markets are ' (cooked pork blood), ' (pork tripe), ' (pork jelly), ' (edible seaweed), and raw seafood. Horse meat is very traditional and it is sold in shops called ' ("roast it and eat it"), which roast the meat in streetside barbecues.


title: Catania

text: Apart from street food, typical dishes from Catania are: "pasta alla Norma" (pasta with fried aubergine, tomato sauce and ricotta salata cheese), named after the namesake opera by Vincenzo Bellini; ' (pasta in cuttlefish ink), ' (fava beans purée), ' or ' (stewed cauliflower or broccoli), ' (sautéed vegetables) and ' (a pie filled with tuma cheese) which is traditional during Christmastime.


title: Catania

text: Catania is also famous for its "pasticceria" (pastries and cakes). Pastries vary according to season and to seasonal events: during the Festival of Saint Agatha, patron saint of the city, there are the ' (small cassatas) and ' (olive shaped almond paste). In Easter, there are ' (boiled eggs covered in biscuit). In summer there is granita. During the "Festa dei morti" (traditional celebrations in All Souls' Day) there are biscuits called ', ' and '.


title: Catania

text: Drink kiosks are everywhere in town and serve soft drinks. Traditional soft drinks are made by mixing fruit syrups with soda and other flavors such as anisette.


title: Catania

text: Local products include blood oranges, pistachios from Bronte, extra-virgin olive oil, cactus fruit, cherries, grapes from Mazzarrone, strawberries from Maletto, mushrooms, honey and wine.


title: Catania

text: Catania has a commercial seaport (Catania seaport), an international airport (Catania Fontanarossa), several railway stations (Catania Centrale is the main one) and it is the main node of the Sicilian motorway system.


title: Catania

text: The motorways serving Catania are the A18 Messina-Catania and the A19 Palermo-Catania; and the prosecution of the A18 going from Catania to Syracuse and to Gela.


title: Catania

text: The Circumetnea is a narrow-gauge railway that runs for from Catania around the base of Mount Etna. It attains an elevation of above sea level before descending to rejoin the coast at Giarre-Riposto to the north.


title: Catania

text: In the late 1990s, the first line of an underground railway ("Metropolitana di Catania") was built. The underground service started in 1999 and it is currently active on a route of , from the station Nesima (west of town), passing through the stations of San Nullo, Cibali, Milo, Borgo, Giuffrida, Italia, Galatea, Giovanni XXIII, to Stesicoro. The last two stations, bringing Catania's underground into the city centre, opened on 20 December 2016. The line is planned to be extended from the satellite city of Paternò to Fontanarossa Airport.


title: Catania

text: The average amount of time people spend commuting on public transit in Catania on a weekday is 56 min. 13% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 23 min, while 46% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 4.7 km, while 3% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.


title: Catania

text: The following countries have a Consulate in Catania: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine.


title: Catania

text: The site of what was to become the major Australian city of Adelaide was surveyed and laid out by Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of South Australia. In 1823, Light had fondly written of Catania: "The two principal streets cross each other at right angles in the square in the direction of north and south and east and west. They are wide and spacious and about a mile [1.6 km] long". This became the basis for his plan of Adelaide.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Fatal insomnia is an extremely rare genetic (and even more rarely, sporadic) disorder that results in trouble sleeping as its hallmark symptom. The problems with sleeping typically start out gradually and worsen over time. Eventually, the patient will succumb to total insomnia (agrypnia excitata), most often leading to other symptoms such as speech problems, coordination problems, and dementia. It results in death within a few months to a few years and has no known cure.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Clinically, fatal insomnia manifests with a disordered sleep-wake cycle, dysautonomia, motor disturbances, and neuropsychiatric disorders.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Other symptoms include profuse sweating, miosis (pinpoint pupils), sudden entrance into menopause or impotence, neck stiffness, and elevation of blood pressure and heart rate. The sporadic form of the disease often presents with double vision. Constipation is common as well. As the disease progresses, the person becomes stuck in a state of pre-sleep limbo, or hypnagogia, which is the state just before sleep in healthy individuals. During these stages, people commonly and repeatedly move their limbs as if dreaming.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: The age of onset is variable, ranging from 13 to 60 years, with an average of 50. The disease can be detected prior to onset by genetic testing. Death usually occurs between 6–36 months from onset. The presentation of the disease varies considerably from person to person, even among people within the same family; in the sporadic form, for example, sleep problems are not commonly reported and early symptoms are ataxia, cognitive impairment, and double vision.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: This rare hereditary prion disease is associated with the D178N-129M PRNP gene that is caused by a mutation. The gene "PRNP" that provides instructions for making the prion protein PrP is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 20 at position p13. Both people with FFI and those with familial Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (fCJD) carry a mutation at codon 178 of the prion protein gene. FFI is also invariably linked to the presence of the methionine codon at position 129 of the mutant allele, whereas fCJD is linked to the presence of the valine codon at that position. "The disease is where there is a change of amino acid at position 178 when an asparagine (N) is found instead of the normal aspartic acid (D). This has to be accompanied with a methionine at position 129."


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Fatal insomnia (FFI) is an autosomal dominant disease that harbors a missense GAC to AAC mutation at codon 178 of the PRNP prion protein gene located on chromosome 20, along with the presence of the methionine polymorphism at position 129 of the mutant allele. Pathologically, FFI is characterized by predominant thalamic degeneration especially in the medio-dorsal and anterio-ventral nuclei5, 6. Phenotypic variability is a perplexing feature of FFI.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Given its striking clinical and neuropathologic similarities with fatal familial insomnia (FFI), a genetic prion disease linked to a point mutation at codon 178 (D178N) in the PRNP coupled with methionine at codon 129, the MM2T subtype is also known as sporadic FI (sFI).6,7. Transmission studies using susceptible transgenic mice have consistently demonstrated that the same prion strain is associated with both sFI and FFI.8,9. In contrast to what has been the rule for the most common neurodegenerative disorders, sFI is rarer than its genetic counterpart.10 Whereas the recognized patients with FFI are numerous and belong to >50 families worldwide, only about 30 cases of CJD MM2T and a few cases with mixed MM2T and MM2C features (MM2T+C) have been recorded to date.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In itself, the presence of prions causes reduced glucose to use by the thalamus and a mild hypo-metabolism of the cingulate cortex. The extent of this symptom varies between two variations of the disease, these being those presenting methionine homozygotes at codon 129 and methionine/valine heterozygotes being the most severe in the latter one. Given the relationship between the involvement of the thalamus in regulating sleep and alertness, a causal relationship can be drawn, and is often mentioned as the cause.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Diagnosis is suspected based on symptoms and can be supported by a sleep study, a PET scan, and genetic testing if the patient's family has a history of the disease. Similar to other prion diseases, the diagnosis can only be confirmed by a brain autopsy at post-mortem. Further work up often include a sleep study and PET scan. Confirmation of the familial form is by genetic testing.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Other diseases involving the mammalian prion protein are known. Some are transmissible (TSEs, including FFI) such as kuru, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "mad cow disease") in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in American deer and American elk in some areas of the United States and Canada, as well as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). Until recently, prion diseases were only thought to be transmissible by direct contact with infected tissue, such as from eating infected tissue, transfusion, or transplantation; research suggests that prions can be transmitted by aerosols, but that the general public is not at risk of airborne infection.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Treatment involves palliative care. There is conflicting evidence over the use of sleeping pills, including barbiturates, as a treatment for the disease.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Similar to other prion diseases, the disease is invariably fatal. Life expectancy ranges from seven months to six years, with an average of 18 months.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In 1998, 40 families were known to carry the gene for FFI globally: eight German, five Italian, four American, two French, two Australian, two British, one Japanese, and one Austrian. In the Basque Country, Spain, 16 family cases of the 178N mutation were seen between 1993 and 2005 related to two families with a common ancestor in the 18th century. In 2011, another family was added to the list when researchers found the first man in the Netherlands with FFI. While he had lived in the Netherlands for 19 years, he was of Egyptian descent. Other prion diseases are similar to FFI and could be related, but are missing the "D178N" gene mutation.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: , 37 cases of sporadic fatal insomnia have been diagnosed. Unlike in FFI, those with sFI do not have the "D178N" mutation in the "PRNP"-prion gene; they all have a different mutation in the same gene causing methionine homozygosity at codon 129.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Nonetheless, the methionine presence "in lieu" of the valine (Val129) is what causes the sporadic form of disease. The targeting of this mutation is another strategy that has been suggested as possible for treatment, or hopefully as cure for the disease.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In late 1983, Italian neurologist/sleep expert Dr. Ignazio Roiter received a patient at the University of Bologna hospital's sleep institute. The man, known only as Silvano, decided in a rare moment of consciousness to be recorded for future studies and to donate his brain for research in hopes of finding a cure for future victims.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In a 2006 published article, Schenkein and Montagna wrote of a 52-year-old American man who was able to exceed the average survival time by nearly one year with various strategies that included vitamin therapy and meditation, different stimulants and hypnotics, and even complete sensory deprivation in an attempt to induce sleep at night and increase alertness during the day. He managed to write a book and drive hundreds of miles in this time, but nonetheless, over the course of his trials, the man succumbed to the classic four-stage progression of the illness.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In 2011, the first reported case in the Netherlands was of a 57-year-old man of Egyptian descent. The man came in with symptoms of double vision and progressive memory loss, and his family also noted he had recently become disoriented, paranoid, and confused. While he tended to fall asleep during random daily activities, he experienced vivid dreams and random muscular jerks during normal slow-wave sleep. After four months of these symptoms, he began to have convulsions in his hands, trunk, and lower limbs while awake. The person died at age 58, seven months after the onset of symptoms. An autopsy revealed mild atrophy of the frontal cortex and moderate atrophy of the thalamus. The latter is one of the most common signs of FFI.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: Still with unclear benefit in humans, a number of treatments have had tentative success in slowing disease progression in animal models, including pentosan polysulfate, mepacrine, and amphotericin B. , a study investigating doxycycline is being carried out.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: In 2009, a mouse model was made for FFI. These mice expressed a humanized version of the PrP protein that also contains the" D178N" FFI mutation. These mice appear to have progressively fewer and shorter periods of uninterrupted sleep, damage in the thalamus, and early deaths, similar to humans with FFI.


title: Fatal insomnia

text: The Prion Alliance was established by husband and wife duo Eric Minikel and Sonia Vallabh after Vallabh's mother was diagnosed with the fatal disease. They conduct research at the Broad Institute to develop therapeutics for human prion diseases. Other research interests involve identifying biomarkers to track the progression of prion disease in living people.


title: Robert Webb

text: Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell. Webb and Mitchell both starred in the Channel 4 sitcom "Peep Show", in which Webb plays Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne. The two also starred in the sketch comedy programme "That Mitchell and Webb Look", for which they then performed a stage adaption, "The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb". The duo starred in the 2007 film "Magicians," and in the short-lived series "Ambassadors". Webb headed the critically acclaimed sitcom "The Smoking Room" and was a performer in the sketch show "Bruiser". Since 2017, he has starred alongside Mitchell in the Channel 4 comedy-drama "Back".


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb is also a regular comedy panelist, appearing on television shows, such as "The Bubble", "Have I Got News for You", "Never Mind the Buzzcocks", "QI", "Mastermind", "Was It Something I Said", and "Argumental". He has also hosted and narrated several programmes. His other sitcom appearances include "Blessed", "The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff" and "Fresh Meat".


title: Robert Webb

text: Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Webb grew up in Woodhall Spa near Horncastle. His parents divorced when he was aged five, with his mother remarrying a year or so later. He has two elder brothers and a younger half-sister. He grew up on a council estate, and was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Horncastle. Having grown up watching the sitcoms "The Young Ones", "Blackadder", and "Only Fools and Horses", he became interested in drama and poetry while in school, and began writing parodies. At the age of 13, partly because of resentment towards his father, he chose to lose his Lincolnshire accent.


title: Robert Webb

text: When Webb was 17 and in the lower sixth form preparing for his A-levels, his mother died of breast cancer, and he moved in with his father and re-sat his A-levels.


title: Robert Webb

text: In 1992, Webb attended Robinson College, Cambridge, where he studied English and became vice-president of the Footlights, where he met David Mitchell. The two met at an audition for a Footlights production of "Cinderella" in 1993.


title: Robert Webb

text: The two put together their first project, a show about World War I titled "Innocent Millions Dead or Dying – A Wry Look at the Post-Apocalyptic Age (With Songs)", in January 1995. Webb later described it as being "fucking terrible". From this the duo were given the chance to write for Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, and for series two of "Big Train". After minor work on "The Jack Docherty Show" and "Comedy Nation", their first break into television acting was in 2000, on the short-lived BBC sketch show "Bruiser", which they primarily wrote, and starred in.


title: Robert Webb

text: In 2001, the duo were commissioned for a sketch show of their own, entitled "The Mitchell and Webb Situation", which ran for six episodes on the now defunct channel Play UK. Mitchell and Webb's next project came in 2003, with starring roles in the Channel 4 sitcom "Peep Show", as flatmates Mark Corrigan and Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne respectively. The pair shared the 2007 Royal Television Society Award for "Comedy Performance", and were jointly nominated for Best Television Comedy Actor at the 2006 British Comedy Awards. Webb was nominated for the Best Television Comedy Actor award again, this time without Mitchell, in 2009. "Peep Show" ran for nine series, making it the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history.


title: Robert Webb

text: After the success of "Peep Show", Mitchell and Webb returned to sketch comedy with their BBC Radio 4 sketch show "That Mitchell and Webb Sound", which ran for five series. The show was adapted for television and became "That Mitchell and Webb Look"; producer Gareth Edwards described it as "the shortest pitch (he had) ever written". Towards the end of 2006 the pair made their first tour, with a show called "The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb". The tour was criticised as just "a succession of largely unrelated scenes" by "The Guardian"s Brian Logan, who gave it a rating of two stars.


title: Robert Webb

text: "That Mitchell and Webb Look" won them the BAFTA for "Best Comedy Programme or Series" at the 2007 awards, and they earned a further nomination for it in 2009. It was nominated for two British Comedy awards in 2006: "Britain's Best New TV Comedy" and the "Highland Spring People's Choice". Their stage tour "The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb" was nominated for the British Comedy Award for "Best Stage Comedy", and "That Mitchell and Webb Sound" won a Sony Silver Award. Their first film, "Magicians" was released on 18 May 2007. It was directed by Andrew O'Connor and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. Webb played the role of modern magician Karl.


title: Robert Webb

text: They filmed "Playing Shop", a comedy television pilot for BBC2 about two men who operate a business out of their shed, which they also wrote. Although the BBC were happy with it, Mitchell and Webb scrapped it themselves, as they felt it was too similar to "Peep Show". A new pilot had been commissioned, but the plan was later shelved.


title: Robert Webb

text: The duo fronted the campaign of the UK version of Apple Inc.'s Get a Mac adverts, with Mitchell playing a PC. The adverts proved controversial. Writing in "The Guardian", Charlie Brooker claimed that the use of Mitchell and Webb in the adverts was a curious choice. He compared the characters of PC and Mac in the adverts to those of Mark and Jeremy in "Peep Show", stating that "when you see the ads, you think, 'PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.'" The British Sitcom Guide criticised the pair for "selling their souls". One journalist called the adverts "worse than not funny", and accused Mitchell and Webb of "an act of grave betrayal" for taking corporate work. In an interview with "The Telegraph", Webb responded to the critics of the Apple adverts, stating that "when someone asks, 'Do you want to do some funny ads for not many days in the year and be paid more than you would be for an entire series of "Peep Show"?' the answer, obviously, is, 'Yeah, that's fine'". In the same interview, Mitchell also said "I don't see what is morally inconsistent with a comedian doing an advert. It's alright to sell computers, isn't it? Unless you think that capitalism is evil – which I don't. It's not like we're helping to flog a baby-killing machine".


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb has appeared in two series of the BBC Three sitcom "The Smoking Room" (2004) and the Radio 4 sketch show "Concrete Cow". In 2005 he appeared in the Ben Elton-scripted BBC One sitcom "Blessed" as Ardal O'Hanlon's 'perfect' counterpart.


title: Robert Webb

text: He and Olivia Colman also featured as a naturist couple in "Confetti", a 2006 film about a competition for the most original wedding. Webb has since said that he believed that his genitals would be pixellated out but only discovered at the screening of the film that they were not. Also in 2008, Webb made his West End stage debut in the UK premiere of Neil LaBute's "Fat Pig".


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb won the 2009 series "Let's Dance" for the charity Comic Relief, parodying the audition sequence from the film "Flashdance". He narrated the series "Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum". He hosted a 2010 Channel 4 series looking at the week's online news, "Robert's Web".


title: Robert Webb

text: He has appeared on several panel shows, including "Have I Got News for You", "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" and "QI". In January 2011, Webb appeared on a celebrity version of BBC quiz "Mastermind", answering nine questions correctly on his specialist subject (the novels of Ian McEwan) and 11 correctly on the general knowledge round. In 2011 Webb played Dan, a geology lecturer, in the Channel 4 series "Fresh Meat". Later that year, he was cast in the costume comedy "The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff", a parody of Charles Dickens' works. Since 2011, Webb has replaced Rufus Hound as team captain on the BBC comedy panel show "Argumental".


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb was the narrator of Channel 5's anti-nostalgia series "10 Things I Hate About", which began on 16 April 2012. In each episode, Webb presented his opinion on the awful aspects of a particular year (1995, 1990, 1987, and 1999).


title: Robert Webb

text: In 2011 Webb presented "Groundbreaking Gags" on BBC Three, in which he looked at the significant gags for which that the animated show "Family Guy" has been recognised.


title: Robert Webb

text: From December 2012 Webb featured in adverts for comparethemarket.com, as its founder Maurice Wigglethorpe-Throom.


title: Robert Webb

text: From September 2021 Webb was a contestant in the nineteenth series of "Strictly Come Dancing", partnered with professional dancer Dianne Buswell. The couple completed three dances and were in 11th place, when Webb withdrew on 13 October, due to his heart condition. He said he had an urgent consultation with his heart specialist, after experiencing symptoms, and that she had recommended he pull out of the competition. Webb said he was "extremely sorry" to have to leave, adding: "It became clear that I had bitten off way more than I could chew for this stage in my recovery."


title: Robert Webb

text: Together with Mitchell, Webb published his first comedy book "This Mitchell and Webb Book", which was released in the UK and the US in 2009 by HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate. An abridged edition of highlights from "This Mitchell and Webb Book", entitled "How to Cope with Mitchell and Webb", was released only in the UK on 1 October 2009. The pair signed a two-book deal with Fourth Estate but, as of November 2013, a second book remained unpublished.


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb wrote articles for the comments pages of the "Telegraph" newspaper between 2009 and 2011. He criticised those who commented on the online versions of his articles in a "New Statesman" piece. In a 2013 interview, Webb explained his experience with the publication:


title: Robert Webb

text: In 2015, Webb began writing his first solo memoir, "How Not to Be a Boy", on growing up in working class Lincolnshire. The memoir was released in August 2017. A spoken-word adaptation, read by Webb, was featured as BBC Radio 4's "Book of the Week" to coincide with the launch.


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb married fellow comedy performer Abigail Burdess in 2006, who he worked with on the BBC2 comedy show "The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff". David Mitchell was the best man at the wedding ceremony. They live in West Hampstead, London, and have two daughters. In his 2017 memoir "How Not to Be a Boy", he talked about his bisexuality.


title: Robert Webb

text: In a 2008 "Independent" piece, Webb explained that he was a "swaggering atheist" prior to the death of his mother, but that the loss led to him starting to pray. Upon reflection, however, Webb stated that his temporary departure from atheism was a coping mechanism for the loss, and after he learned to "co-exist" with his mother's death, he returned to atheism: "... I've returned to total non-belief. I don't know how long it'll last, but God, it's good to be back!"


title: Robert Webb

text: Following the "sell-out" criticism both Webb and Mitchell received for appearing in an advertisement for Apple Inc. Webb stated in 2008:


title: Robert Webb

text: I'm not a sell-out ... The problem is that that presupposes a set of principles we don't actually hold. We never said comedians shouldn't do ads, or that we somehow operate outside the mixed market economy ... really we're just doing a job.


title: Robert Webb

text: In 2020 he underwent emergency surgery on his heart for a mitral valve prolapse after being diagnosed with the condition at a routine medical check. He had attributed the symptoms to excessive alcohol intake, saying: "I just assumed, that's the booze... I thought this is what you feel like when you're 47 and you treat your body like a skip." He then gave up drinking alcohol, saying: "The drinking crawled up so gradually that I was slow-killing myself... It was certainly an addiction at the end, a dependency... I was thinking of [drinking] at any given time of the day."


title: Robert Webb

text: In August 2014, Webb was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb was a staunch supporter of the Labour Party, and joined the party in 2013, in response to Russell Brand's interview on "Newsnight", in which he suggested people should not vote as a form of protest.


title: Robert Webb

text: By November 2015, he announced on Twitter that he was leaving the Labour Party, citing his lack of confidence in the party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn. He also expressed his disapproval at the appointment of "Guardian" journalist Seumas Milne as Labour's press secretary. He was quoted as saying that paying his party subscription with Milne in post made him "feel sick".


title: Robert Webb

text: In December 2018, Webb tweeted his support of an article by Janice Turner in which she criticised Mermaids – a charity which supports transgender children and their families – that had sought (and was eventually awarded) a £500,000 UK National Lottery grant. He also identified himself as a gender-critical feminist, but claimed to oppose transphobia. He stood by the comments in a 2020 interview with "The Sunday Times". In a 2021 interview with Jesse Thorn on the NPR show "Bullseye", Webb said that his criticism of Mermaids should not be confused with an opposition to supporting transgender children, and that the debate around gender-nonconforming children had become overheated. When asked about what his opposition to Mermaids was he declined to elaborate further, stating he could no longer remember the specifics. Webb has been criticised by some LGBT news outlets, charities and activists for this stance.


title: Robert Webb

text: Webb has appeared on a number of podcasts including "The QuaranTea Break Podcast" with Simon Ward and "The Two Shot Podcast".


title: AS-90

text: The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army.


title: AS-90

text: It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (comparable to Russian 2S19 Msta) and with 52 cal. one. The max. rate of fire is 3 rounds in 10 seconds (burst), 6 per minute for 3 minutes (intense), and 2/min. for 60 minutes (sustained).


title: AS-90

text: AS-90 was designed and built by the Armaments division of Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering (VSEL). Between 1992 and 1995, VSEL supplied 179 vehicles at a cost of £300 million ($480 million). The AS-90 was first deployed by the British Army in 1993. The AS-90s were acquired to re-equip six of the eight self-propelled field artillery regiments (each of 24 guns) in the I (BR) Corps, replacing the 105 mm FV433 Abbot SPG and older M109 155 mm Self Propelled Gun and FH70 towed howitzer. In 1999, VSEL became a part of BAE Systems.


title: AS-90

text: In 1999, Marconi Electronic Systems was contracted to upgrade British Army AS-90s to include a 52 calibre gun in order to increase the range of the artillery. Critical to the programme was a bi-modular charge system from Somchem of South Africa (selected after extensive trials of ammunition from many suppliers), which offered greatly reduced barrel wear. However, this ammunition failed to meet the requirement for insensitive munitions and the project was terminated.


title: AS-90

text: It remains in UK service and equips three field regiments supporting armoured infantry brigades for the foreseeable future. In 2008, there were 134 AS-90 in service further reduced to 117 by 2015. In 2008 and 2009, a capability enhancement programme primarily upgraded AS-90's electronic system.


title: AS-90

text: The initial expected out-of-service date for the AS-90 had been 2030, but this was later delayed to 2032 with a replacement planned to enter service in 2029.


title: AS-90

text: On 24 April 2022, the "Daily Express" reported that AS-90s and 45,000 artillery rounds will be sent to Ukraine that was subsequently denied on 25 April by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.


title: AS-90

text: AS-90 started in the mid-1980s as a private venture on the gamble that the tri-national SP70 would fail. When this subsequently occurred, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a cardinal point specification on one page for a new 155 mm self-propelled gun. The MoD was also required to consider the US "Paladin", an upgraded M109 howitzer. The MoD undertook studies in 2006–09 to "up-gun" the Royal Navy's main shipboard gun armament, the 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun, to accept 155mm ammunition from the AS-90. This would have introduced a common gun calibre for the British Army and Royal Navy, helping with ammunition logistics, and encouraging joint Army-Navy development of extended-range and precision-guided shells. The Royal Navy did not adopt this gun system.


title: AS-90

text: In 1963 certain NATO nations, including the UK, agreed to a "Ballistics Memorandum of Understanding" for a 155 mm 39 calibre ordnance and a baseline projectile with the shape used for the US M549 rocket-assisted shell. The AS-90 uses a conforming 39 calibre barrel which fires the L15 unassisted projectile out to a range of 24.7 km. However, this was a new design of ordnance using a split sliding block breech with Crossley obturation, instead of the more usual screw breech, to permit bagged charges (no metal cartridge cases). The breech mechanism has a primer magazine holding 18 primers. The standard ammunition is that designed for FH-70 (L15 HE and associated propelling charges) although in training the less effective but cheaper M107 with Green and White propelling charges is used.


title: AS-90

text: It is fitted with an auxiliary power unit to eliminate the need to run the main engine to keep the batteries charged while stationary; electrical servos drive the automated elevation, traverse, magazine, shell transfer arm and loader as well as power for electronics and communications.


title: AS-90

text: The vehicle is fitted with an autonomous navigation and gun laying dynamic reference unit (DRU) mounted on the trunnion. All main turret functions are controlled by a Turret Control Computer (TCC) with control and display units for the No 1 (Detachment Commander), No 2 (loader) and No 3 (layer). The combination of the DRU, TCC and powered laying controls provide autolaying. Every gun is fitted with a radar Muzzle Velocity Measuring Device. Reversionary mode laying uses deflection laying via the direct fire sight.


title: AS-90

text: The gun can be brought into action fully closed down; the barrel can be clamped and unclamped from within the vehicle. In-to and out-of action times are less than 1 minute.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: Hari Hara Veera Mallu is an upcoming Indian Telugu-language period action adventure film written and directed by Krish Jagarlamudi. Depicting the life of legendary outlaw Veera Mallu, the film stars Pawan Kalyan in the titular role alongside Nidhhi Agerwal, Arjun Rampal and Nargis Fakhri. The story is set in 17th century under the backdrop of Mughal Empire.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: The film began its production in September 2020 with filming taking place primarily in Hyderabad. The production experienced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to Kalyan's other film and political commitments. The film is planned to be released on 30 March 2023.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: Set in the Mughal Era, outlaw Veera Mallu is tasked with the job of stealing the Koh-i-Noor diamond from the Mughals.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: In September 2019, producer A. M. Rathnam approached Pawan Kalyan, who semi-retired from films to pursue a career in politics, to star in a film directed by Krish Jagarlamudi. Later in November, Jagarlamudi narrated Kalyan the script of a period film in which he would play a thief. Kalyan accepted the film in principle and underwent a look test in January 2020. The film was launched in the same month in Hyderabad at Rathnam's office. It was tentatively titled "PSPK 27," intended to be Kalyan's 27th film as a lead actor.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: In September 2020, Jagarlamudi officially confirmed through his Twitter account that a period film has been in production, marking the first collaboration between Jagarlamudi and Kalyan. The film is set in 17th century with the backdrop of Mughals and Qutb Shahis. Several titles including "Virupaksha", "Hara Hara Mahadeva" and "Hari Hara Veeramallu" were considered. In March 2021, the film's title is confirmed as "Hari Hara Veera Mallu".


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: The film is produced under Rathnam's production banner Mega Surya Production. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by M. M. Keeravani. Gnana Shekar V. S. is signed as the cinematographer. Sai Madhav Burra is signed to write the film's dialogues. Ben Lock, who has supervised the graphic work in films like "Aquaman", "Warcraft", "" is in charge of the VFX of this film.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: The film marks the Telugu debut of Hindi film actor Arjun Rampal who will reportedly be playing the role of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Actress Nidhhi Agerwal is cast in the role of Panchami, opposite Kalyan. In March 2021, Jacqueline Fernandez was signed to play a crucial role in the film. However, Fernandez opted out of the project due to scheduling conflicts and she was replaced by Nargis Fakhri in December 2021. Fakhri plays Mughal empress Roshanara, Aurangzeb's sister.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: Jagarlamudi completed a 15-day shooting schedule with Pawan Kalyan before it was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shooting is resumed in January 2021 in Hyderabad. Rampal joined the production in February 2021. The production has set up historical monuments Charminar, Red Fort and Machilipatnam port for the film. The shoot was suspended in April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: Shooting of the film experienced delays due to Kalyan's other film commitments, namely, "Bheemla Nayak". In December 2021, art director Rajeevan was replaced by Anand Sai, who began working on the film's sets. A new schedule where a major part of the film would be shot was expected to begin in January 2022 but delayed. Filming resumed in April 2022 with Kalyan joining the production. Nearly 60 percent of the shoot was completed by September 2022.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: Filming resumed on last week of October 2022. A large set is erected at Ramoji Film City for this purpose, with a crew of over 900 people.


title: Hari Hara Veera Mallu

text: "Hari Hara Veera Mallu" is planned to be released on 30 March 2023 in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. The film was initially slated for worldwide release on 14 January 2022 coinciding with Sankranti. However, in September 2021, the release date was rescheduled as 29 April 2022. However, it was postponed due to delays caused by the pandemic and Kalyan's political commitments. Later, in August 2022, A. M. Ratnam announced that the film is tentatively planned to release on 30 March 2023.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was, in part, due to its distribution partnerships with American companies United Artists, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American International Pictures and Seven Arts Productions as well as fellow European film companies.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: During the late 1960s and 1970s, the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer formula with varying degrees of success. The company eventually ceased production in the mid-1980s. In 2000, the studio was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Charles Saatchi and publishing millionaires Neil Mendoza and William Sieghart. The company announced plans to begin making films again, but none was produced.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: In May 2007, the company name was sold to a consortium headed by Dutch media tycoon John de Mol, who announced plans to spend some $50 million (£25m) on new horror films. The new organization acquired the Hammer group's film library of 295 pictures. Simon Oakes, who took over as CEO of the new Hammer, said, "Hammer is a great British brand—we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time."


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Since then, Hammer has produced several films, including "Beyond the Rave" (2008), "Let Me In" (2010), "The Resident" (2011), "The Woman in Black" (2012), "The Quiet Ones" (2014), and "The Lodge" (2019).


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: In November 1934, William Hinds, a comedian and businessman, registered his film company, Hammer Productions Ltd. It was housed in a three-room office suite at Imperial House, Regent Street, London. The company name came from Hinds' stage name, Will Hammer, which he had taken from the area of London in which he lived, Hammersmith.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Work began almost immediately on the first film, now lost, "The Public Life of Henry the Ninth" at the MGM/ATP studios. Filming concluded on 2 January 1935. The film tells the story of Henry Henry, an unemployed London street musician, and the title was a "playful tribute" to Alexander Korda's "The Private Life of Henry VIII" which was Britain's first Academy Award for Best Picture nominee in 1934. During this time Hinds met Spanish émigré Enrique Carreras, a former cinema owner, and on 10 May 1935 they formed the film distribution company Exclusive Films, operating from an office at 60-66 National House, Wardour Street. Hammer produced four films distributed by Exclusive:


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: A slump in the British film industry forced Hammer into bankruptcy, and the company went into liquidation in 1937. Exclusive survived and on 20 July 1937 purchased the leasehold on 113-117 Wardour Street and continued to distribute films made by other companies.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: James Carreras joined Exclusive in 1938, closely followed by William Hinds' son, Anthony. At the outbreak of World War II, James Carreras and Anthony Hinds left to join the armed forces and Exclusive continued to operate in a limited capacity. In 1946, James Carreras rejoined the company after demobilisation. He resurrected Hammer as the film production arm of Exclusive with a view to supplying 'quota-quickies', cheaply made domestic films designed to fill gaps in cinema schedules and support more expensive features. He convinced Anthony Hinds to rejoin the company, and a revived Hammer Film Productions set to work on "Death in High Heels", "The Dark Road", and "Crime Reporter". Not able to afford top stars, Hammer acquired the film rights to BBC radio series such as "The Adventures of PC 49" and "" (an adaptation of the successful Dick Barton radio show). All were filmed at Marylebone Studios during 1947. During the production of "Dick Barton Strikes Back" (1948), it became apparent that the company could save money by shooting in country houses instead of studios. For the next production, "Dr Morelle – The Case of the Missing Heiress" (another radio adaptation), Hammer rented Dial Close, a 23 bedroom mansion beside the River Thames, at Cookham Dean, Maidenhead.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: On 12 February 1949, Exclusive registered "Hammer Film Productions" as a company with Enrique and James Carreras, and William and Tony Hinds as directors. Hammer moved into the Exclusive offices in 113-117 Wardour Street, and the building was rechristened "Hammer House".


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: In August 1949, complaints from locals about noise during night filming forced Hammer to leave Dial Close and move into another mansion, Oakley Court, also on the banks of the Thames between Windsor and Maidenhead. Five films were produced there: "Man in Black" (1949), "Room to Let" (1949), "Someone at the Door" (1949), "What the Butler Saw" (1950), "The Lady Craved Excitement" (1950).


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: In 1950, Hammer moved again to Gilston Park, a country club in Harlow Essex, which hosted "The Black Widow", "The Rossiter Case", "To Have and to Hold" and "The Dark Light" (all 1950).


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: In 1951, Hammer began shooting at their most fondly-remembered base, Down Place, on the banks of the Thames. The company signed a one-year lease and began its 1951 production schedule with "Cloudburst". The house, virtually derelict, required substantial work, but it did not have the construction restrictions that had prevented Hammer from customising previous homes. A decision was made to remodel Down Place into a substantial, custom-fitted studio complex that became known as Bray Studios. The expansive grounds were used for much of the later location shooting in Hammer's films and are a key to the 'Hammer look'.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Also in 1951, Hammer and Exclusive signed a four-year production and distribution contract with Robert Lippert, an American film producer. The contract meant that Lippert Pictures and Exclusive effectively exchanged products for distribution on their respective sides of the Atlanticbeginning in 1951 with "The Last Page" and ending with 1955's "Women Without Men" (a.k.a. "Prison Story"). It was Lippert's insistence on an American star in the Hammer films he was to distribute that led to the prevalence of American leads in many of the company's productions during the 1950s. It was for "The Last Page" that Hammer made a significant appointment when they hired film director Terence Fisher, who played a critical role in the forthcoming horror cycle.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Towards the end of 1951, the one-year lease on Down Place expired, and with its growing success Hammer looked towards more conventional studio-based productions. A dispute with the Association of Cinematograph Technicians blocked this proposal, and the company purchased the freehold of Down Place instead. The house was renamed Bray Studios after the nearby village of Bray, and it remained Hammer's principal base until 1966. In 1953, the first of Hammer's science fiction films, "Four Sided Triangle" and "Spaceways", were released.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Hammer's first significant experiment with horror came in a 1955 adaptation of Nigel Kneale's BBC Television science fiction serial "The Quatermass Experiment", directed by Val Guest. As a consequence of the contract with Robert Lippert, American actor Brian Donlevy was imported for the lead role and the title was changed to "The Quatermass Xperiment" to cash in on the new X certificate for horror films. The film was unexpectedly popular, and led to the popular 1957 sequel "Quatermass 2"again adapted from one of Kneale's television scripts, this time by Kneale and with a budget double that of the original: £92,000. In the meantime, Hammer produced another "Quatermass "-style horror film, "X the Unknown", originally intended as part of the series until Kneale denied them permission to use his characters (the writer is known to have disliked Donlevy's performance as Quatermass). At the time, Hammer voluntarily submitted scripts to the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) for comment before production. Regarding the script of "X the Unknown", one reader/examiner (Audrey Field) commented on 24 November:


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Well, no one can say the customers won't have had their money's worth by now. In fact, someone will almost certainly have been sick. We must have a great deal more restraint, and much more done by onlookers' reactions instead of by shots of 'pulsating obscenity', hideous scars, hideous sightless faces, etc, etc. It is keeping on and on in the same vein that makes this script so outrageous. They must take it away and prune. Before they take it away, however, I think the President [of the BBFC] should read it. I have a stronger stomach than the average (for viewing purposes) and perhaps I ought to be reacting more strongly.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The scores for many Hammer horror films, including "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "Dracula", were composed by James Bernard. Other Hammer musical personnel included Malcolm Williamson, John Hollingsworth, and Harry Robertson.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Production designer Bernard Robinson and cinematographer Jack Asher were instrumental in creating the lavish look of the early Hammer films, usually on a very restricted budget.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Hammer's horror films featured many actors who appeared repeatedly in a number of movies, forming an informal "Hammer repertory company".


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: As production began on "Quatermass 2", Hammer started to look for another U.S. partner willing to invest in and handle the American promotion of new product. They eventually entered talks with Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) and head, Eliot Hyman. During this period, two young American filmmakers, Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky, who later established Hammer's rival Amicus, submitted to a.a.p. a script for an adaptation of the novel "Frankenstein". Although interested in the script, a.a.p. were not prepared to back a film made by Rosenberg and Subotsky, who had just one film to their credit. Eliot Hyman however, sent the script to his contact at Hammer. Rosenberg would often claim he 'produced' "The Curse of Frankenstein", an exaggeration repeated in his obituary.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Although the novel by Mary Shelley was long since in the public domain, Anthony Hinds was unsure about the story, as Subotsky's script adhered closely to the plot of the 1939 Universal film "Son of Frankenstein", featuring a second-generation Baron Frankenstein emulating his father, the original monster-maker. This put the project at risk of a copyright infringement lawsuit by Universal. In addition a great deal of polishing and additional material was needed, as the short script had an estimated running time of just 55 minutes, far less than the minimum of 90 minutes needed for distribution in the U.K. Accordingly, comments on the script from Hammer's Michael Carreras (who had joined his father James as producer in the early 1950s) were less than complimentary:


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The script is badly presented. The sets are not marked clearly on the shot headings, neither is DAY or NIGHT specified in a number of cases. The number of set-ups scripted is quite out of proportion to the length of the screenplay, and we suggest that your rewrites are done in master scene form.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Further revisions were made to the script, and a working title of "Frankenstein and the Monster" was chosen. Plans were made to shoot the film in Eastmancolora decision which caused worry at the BBFC. Not only did the script contain horror and graphic violence, but it would be portrayed in vivid colour.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The project was handed to Tony Hinds, who was less impressed with the script than Michael Carreras, and whose vision for the film was a simple black-and-white 'quickie' made in three weeks. Concerned that Subotsky and Rosenberg's script had too many similarities to the Universal films, Hinds commissioned Jimmy Sangster to rewrite it as "The Curse of Frankenstein". Sangster's treatment impressed Hammer enough to rescue the film from the 'quickie' treadmill and to produce it as a colour film.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: We are concerned about the flavour of this script, which, in its preoccupation with horror and gruesome detail, goes far beyond what we are accustomed to allow even for the 'X' category. I am afraid we can give no assurance that we should be able to pass a film based on the present script and a revised script should be sent us for our comments, in which the overall unpleasantness should be mitigated.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The film was directed by Terence Fisher, with a look that belied its modest budget. British TV star Peter Cushing portrayed Baron Victor Frankenstein, and supporting actor Christopher Lee was cast as the imposingly tall, brutish Creature. With a budget of £65,000 and a cast and crew that would become the backbone of later films, Hammer's first Gothic horror went into production. The use of colour encouraged a previously unseen level of gore. Until "The Curse of Frankenstein", horror films had not shown blood in a graphic way, or when they did, it was concealed by monochrome photography. In this film, it was bright red, and the camera lingered on it.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The film was an enormous success, not only in Great Britain, but also in the U.S., where it inspired numerous imitations from, amongst others, Roger Corman and American International Pictures (with their series largely based on Edgar Allan Poe – the so-called "Poe Cycle"). It found success on the European continent also, where Italian directors and audiences were particularly receptive.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: The huge box office success of "The Curse of Frankenstein" led to the inevitable desire for a sequel in "The Revenge of Frankenstein", and an attempt to give the Hammer treatment to another horror icon. Dracula had been a successful film character for Universal in the past, and the copyright situation was more complicated than for Frankenstein. A legal agreement between Hammer and Universal was not completed until 31 March 1958after the film had been shotand was 80 pages long.


title: Hammer Film Productions

text: Meanwhile, the financial arrangement between a.a.p. and Hammer had broken down when money promised by a.a.p. had not arrived. Hammer began looking for alternatives, and with the success of "The Curse of Frankenstein" signed with Columbia Pictures to distribute "The Revenge of Frankenstein" and two films from the defaulted a.a.p. deal, "The Camp on Blood Island" and "The Snorkel". Hammer's financial success also meant the winding-down of the parent film distribution company Exclusive, leaving Hammer to concentrate on filmmaking.