title: Tombstone, Arizona

text: There were 694 households, out of which 20.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.73.


title: Tombstone, Arizona

text: In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 19.3% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.


title: Tombstone, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the city was $26,571, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $26,923 versus $18,846 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,447. About 13.0% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 13.1% of those age 65 or over. In 2010, the total population was 1,380.


title: Tombstone, Arizona

text: Tombstone Unified School District serves Tombstone. The district schools in Tombstone are Walter J. Meyer Elementary School and Tombstone High School. Tombstone is within the Cochise Technology District which assists in the development of career and technical education programs for high school students.


title: Tombstone, Arizona

text: Several properties in Tombstone have been included in the National Register of Historic Places. The following are images of some of these properties:


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in June 1926 in the United Kingdom by William Collins, Sons and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company. It is the third novel to feature Hercule Poirot as the lead detective.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Poirot retires to a village near the home of a friend, Roger Ackroyd, to pursue a project to perfect vegetable marrows. Soon after, Ackroyd is murdered and Poirot must come out of retirement to solve the case.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The novel was well-received from its first publication. In 2013, the British Crime Writers' Association voted it the best crime novel ever. It is one of Christie's best known and most controversial novels, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre. Howard Haycraft included it in his list of the most influential crime novels ever written. The short biography of Christie which is included in 21st century UK printings of her books calls it her masterpiece.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The book's narrator, Dr James Sheppard, introduces himself and explains these are his memoirs of a murder which happened in his town. In King's Abbot, wealthy widow Mrs Ferrars unexpectedly commits suicide, distressing her fiancé the widower Roger Ackroyd. At dinner that evening in Ackroyd's home of Fernly Park, his guests include his sister-in-law Mrs Cecil Ackroyd and her daughter Flora, big-game hunter Major Blunt, Ackroyd's personal secretary Geoffrey Raymond, and Dr James Sheppard, whom Ackroyd invited earlier that day. During dinner, Flora announces her engagement to Ackroyd's stepson, Ralph Paton. After dinner, Ackroyd reveals to Sheppard in his study that Mrs Ferrars had confided in him that she was being blackmailed over the murder of her husband. He then asks Sheppard to leave, wishing to read a letter from Mrs Ferrars that arrives in the post, containing her suicide note. Once home, Sheppard receives a call and leaves for Fernly Park again, after informing his sister that Parker, Ackroyd's butler, has found Ackroyd murdered. But when Sheppard arrives at Fernly Park, Parker denies making such a call; yet he, Sheppard, Raymond, and Blunt find Ackroyd dead in his study, stabbed to death with a weapon from his collection.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Hercule Poirot, living in the village, comes out of retirement at Flora's request. She does not believe Paton killed Ackroyd, despite him disappearing and police finding his footprints on the study's window. Poirot learns a few important facts on the case: all in the household, except parlourmaid Ursula Bourne, have alibis for the murder; while Raymond and Blunt heard Ackroyd talking to someone after Sheppard left, Flora was the last to see him that evening; Sheppard met a stranger on his way home, at Fernly Park's gates; Ackroyd met a representative of a dictaphone company a few days earlier; Parker recalls seeing a chair that had been in an odd position in the study when the body was found, that has since returned to its original position; the letter from Mrs Ferrars has disappeared since the murder. Poirot asks Sheppard for the exact time he met his stranger. He later finds a goose quill and a scrap of starched cambric in the summer house, and a ring with the inscription "From R" in a goldfish pond in the gardens.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Raymond and Mrs Ackroyd later reveal they are in debt, but Ackroyd's death will resolve this as they stood to gain from his will. Flora admits she never saw her uncle after dinner; she was taking money from his bedroom. Her revelation throws doubts on everyone's alibis, and leaves Raymond and Blunt as the last people to hear Ackroyd alive. Blunt reveals he is secretly in love with Flora. Poirot calls a second meeting, adding Parker, the butler; Miss Russell, the housekeeper; and Ralph Paton, whom he had found. He reveals that the goose quill is a heroin holder belonging to Miss Russell's illegitimate son, the stranger whom Sheppard met on the night of the murder. He also informs everyone that Ursula secretly married Paton, as the ring he found was hers; it was discarded after Paton chastised her for informing his uncle of this fact, which had led to the termination of her employment. Poirot then proceeds to inform all that he knows the killer's identity, confirmed by a telegram received during the meeting. He does not reveal the name; instead he issues a warning to the killer. When Poirot is alone with Sheppard, he reveals that he knows him to be Ackroyd's killer.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Sheppard was Mrs Ferrars' blackmailer and murdered Ackroyd to stop him knowing this; he suspected her suicide note would mention this fact, and so he took it after the murder. He then used a dictaphone Ackroyd had, to make it appear he was still alive when he departed, before looping back to the study's window to plant Paton's footprints; Poirot had noted an inconsistency in the time he mentioned for the meeting at the gates. As he wanted to be on the scene when Ackroyd's body was found, he asked a patient earlier in the day to call him some time after the murder, so as to have an excuse for returning to Fernly Park; Poirot's telegram confirmed this. When no-one was around in the study, Sheppard removed the dictaphone, and returned the chair that concealed it from view to its original place. Poirot tells Sheppard that all this information will be reported to the police in the morning. Dr Sheppard continues writing his report on Poirot's investigation (the novel itself), admitting his guilt and wishing his account was that of Poirot's failure to solve Ackroyd's murder. The novel's epilogue serves as his suicide note.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The book is set in the fictional village of King's Abbot, England. It is narrated by Dr James Sheppard, who becomes Poirot's assistant, in place of Captain Hastings who has married and settled in the Argentine. The novel includes an unexpected plot twist in the final chapter, where Dr Sheppard reveals he was an unreliable narrator, using literary techniques to conceal his guilt without writing anything untrue (e.g., "I did what little had to be done" at the point where he hid the dictaphone and moved the chair).


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The review in the "Times Literary Supplement" began, "This is a well-written detective story of which the only criticism might perhaps be that there are too many curious incidents not really connected with the crime which have to be elucidated before the true criminal can be discovered". The review concluded, "It is all very puzzling, but the great Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian detective, solves the mystery. It may safely be asserted that very few readers will do so."


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: No one is more adroit than Miss Christie in the manipulation of false clues and irrelevances and red herrings; and "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" makes breathless reading from first to the unexpected last. It is unfortunate that in two important points – the nature of the solution and the use of the telephone – Miss Christie has been anticipated by another recent novel: the truth is that this particular field is getting so well ploughed that it is hard to find a virgin patch anywhere. But Miss Christie's story is distinguished from most of its class by its coherence, its reasonableness, and the fact that the characters live and move and have their being: the gossip-loving Caroline would be an acquisition to any novel.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: When in the last dozen pages of Miss Christie's detective novel, the answer comes to the question, "Who killed Roger Ackroyd?" the reader will feel that he has been fairly, or unfairly, sold up. Up till then he has been kept balancing in his mind from chapter to chapter the probabilities for or against the eight or nine persons at whom suspicion points... Everybody in the story appears to have a secret of his or her own hidden up the sleeve, the production of which is imperative in fitting into place the pieces in the jigsaw puzzle; and in the end it turns out that the Doctor himself is responsible for the largest bit of reticence. The tale may be recommended as one of the cleverest and most original of its kind.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Howard Haycraft, in his 1941 work, "Murder for Pleasure", included the novel in his "cornerstones" list of the most influential crime novels ever written.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Robert Barnard, in "A Talent to Deceive: An appreciation of Agatha Christie", wrote that this novel is "Apart—and it is an enormous 'apart'—from the sensational solution, this is a fairly conventional Christie." He concluded that this is "A classic, but there are some better [novels by] Christie."


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: John Goddard produced a thorough analysis of whether Christie 'cheats' with her sensational solution and concluded that the charge of cheating fails.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is the supreme, the ultimate detective novel. It rests upon the most elegant of all twists, the narrator who is revealed to be the murderer. This twist is not merely a function of plot: it puts the whole concept of detective fiction on an armature and sculpts it into a dazzling new shape. It was not an entirely new idea ... nor was it entirely her own idea ... but here, she realised, was an idea worth having. And only she could have pulled it off so completely. Only she had the requisite control, the willingness to absent herself from the authorial scene and let her plot shine clear.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In 1944–1946, the American literary critic Edmund Wilson attacked the entire mystery genre in a set of three columns in "The New Yorker". The second, in the 20 January 1945 issue, was titled "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?", though he does no analysis of the novel. He dislikes mystery stories altogether, and chose the famous novel as the title of his piece.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Pierre Bayard, literature professor and author, in "Qui a tué Roger Ackroyd?" ("Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?"), re-investigates Agatha Christie's "Ackroyd", proposing an alternative solution in another crime novel. He argues in favour of a different murderer – Sheppard's sister, Caroline – and says Christie subconsciously knew who the real culprit is.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In 1990, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" came in at fifth place in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, a ranking by the members (all crime writers) of the Crime Writers' Association in Britain. A similar ranking was made in 1995 by the Mystery Writers of America, putting this novel in twelfth place.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In 1999 the novel was included in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century published in the French newspaper "Le Monde", chosen by readers from a list of 200.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In 2013, the Crime Writers' Association voted this novel as CWA Best Ever Novel. The 600 members of CWA said it was "the finest example of the genre ever penned." It is a cornerstone of crime fiction, which "contains one of the most celebrated plot twists in crime writing history." The poll taken on the 60th anniversary of CWA also honoured Agatha Christie as the best crime novel author ever.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In the "Binge!" article of "Entertainment Weekly" Issue #1343–44 (26 December 2014 – 3 January 2015), the writers picked "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" as an "EW and Christie favorite" on the list of the "Nine Great Christie Novels".


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The character of Caroline Sheppard was later acknowledged by Christie as a possible precursor to her famous detective Miss Marple.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Christie revealed in her 1977 autobiography that the basic idea of the novel was given to her by her brother-in-law, James Watts of Abney Hall, who suggested a novel in which the criminal would be a Dr Watson character, which Christie considered to be a "remarkably original thought".


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In March 1924 Christie also received an unsolicited letter from Lord Mountbatten. He had been impressed with her previous works and wrote, courtesy of "The Sketch" magazine (publishers of many of her short stories at that time) with an idea and notes for a story whose basic premise mirrored the Watts suggestion. Christie acknowledged the letter and after some thought, began to write the book but to a plot line of her invention. She also acknowledged taking inspiration from the infamous case of the unsolved death of Charles Bravo, who she thought had been murdered by Dr James Manby Gully.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In December 1969 Mountbatten wrote to Christie again after having seen a performance of "The Mousetrap". He mentioned his letter of the 1920s, and Christie replied, acknowledging the part he played in the conception of the book.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The novel received its first true publication as a fifty-four part serialisation in the "London Evening News" from Thursday, 16 July, to Wednesday, 16 September 1925, under the title, "Who Killed Ackroyd?" Like that paper's serialisation of "The Man in the Brown Suit", there were minor amendments to the text, mostly to make sense of the openings of an instalment (e.g., changing "He then..." to "Poirot then..."). The main change was that the book has twenty-seven chapters whereas the serialisation has only twenty-four. Chapter Seven of the serialisation is named "The Secrets of the Study" whereas in the book it is Chapter Eight and named "Inspector Raglan is Confident".


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In the US, the novel was serialised in four parts in "Flynn's Detective Weekly" from 19 June (Volume 16, Number 2) to 10 July 1926 (Volume 16, Number 5). The text was heavily abridged and each instalment carried an uncredited illustration.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The Collins first edition of 1926 was Christie's first work placed with that publisher. "The first book that Agatha wrote for Collins was the one that changed her reputation forever; no doubt she knew, as through 1925 she turned the idea over in her mind, that here she had a winner."<nowiki> </nowiki>HarperCollins, the modern successor firm to W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., remains the UK publishers of Christie's oeuvre.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: By 1928, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was available in braille through the Royal National Institute for the Blind and was among the first works to be chosen for transfer to Gramophone record for their Books for the Blind library in the autumn of 1935. By 1936 it was listed as one of only eight books available in this form.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: To Punkie, who likes an orthodox detective story, murder, inquest, and suspicion falling on every one in turn!


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "Punkie" was the family nickname of Christie's sister and eldest sibling, Margaret ("Madge") Frary Watts (1879–1950). Despite their eleven-year age gap, the sisters remained close throughout their lives. Christie's mother first suggested to her that she should alleviate the boredom of an illness by writing a story. But soon after, when the sisters had been discussing the recently published classic detective story by Gaston Leroux, "The Mystery of the Yellow Room" (1908), Christie said she would like to try writing such a story. Margaret challenged her, saying that she would not be able to do it. In 1916, eight years later, Christie remembered this conversation and was inspired to write her first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles".


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Margaret Watts wrote a play, "The Claimant", based on the Tichborne Case, which enjoyed a short run in the West End at the Queen's Theatre from 11 September to 18 October 1924, two years before the book publication of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd".


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: M. Poirot, the hero of "The Mysterious Affair at Stiles" and other brilliant pieces of detective deduction, comes out of his temporary retirement like a giant refreshed, to undertake the investigation of a peculiarly brutal and mysterious murder. Geniuses like Sherlock Holmes often find a use for faithful mediocrities like Dr Watson, and by a coincidence it is the local doctor who follows Poirot round, and himself tells the story. Furthermore, as seldom happens in these cases, he is instrumental in giving Poirot one of the most valuable clues to the mystery.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The book formed the basis of the earliest adaptation of any work of Christie's when the play, "Alibi", adapted by Michael Morton, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on 15 May 1928. It ran for 250 performances with Charles Laughton as Poirot. Laughton also starred in the Broadway run of the play, retitled "The Fatal Alibi," which opened at the Booth Theatre on 8 February 1932. The American production was not as successful and closed after just 24 performances.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "Alibi" inspired Christie to write her first stage play, "Black Coffee". Christie, with her dog Peter, attended the rehearsals of "Alibi" and found its "novelty" enjoyable. However, "she was sufficiently irritated by the changes to the original to want to write a play of her own."


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The play was turned into the first sound film based on a Christie work. Running 75 minutes, it was released on 28 April 1931, by Twickenham Film Studios and produced by Julius S. Hagan. Austin Trevor played Poirot, a role he reprised later that year in the film adaptation of Christie's 1930 play, "Black Coffee". "Alibi" is considered to be a lost film.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: In 2002, the story was made into a Russian film titled Неудача Пуаро ("Neudacha Puaro" = "Poirot's Failure"). This film version was overall quite faithful to the original story.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: Orson Welles adapted the novel as a one-hour radio play for the 12 November 1939 episode of "The Campbell Playhouse". Welles played both Dr Sheppard and Hercule Poirot. The play was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, produced by Welles and John Houseman, and directed by Welles.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: The novel was also adapted as a 1½-hour radio play for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast on 24 December 1987. John Moffatt made the first of his many performances as Poirot. The adaptation was broadcast at 7.45pm and was recorded on 2 November of the same year; it was adapted by Michael Bakewell and produced by Enyd Williams.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: With Richard Tate, Alan Dudley, Joan Matheson, David Goodland, Peter Craze, Karen Archer and Paul Sirr


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was adapted as a 103-minute drama transmitted in the UK on ITV Sunday 2 January 2000, as a special episode in their series, "Agatha Christie's Poirot". In this adaptation Japp – not Sheppard – is Poirot's assistant, leaving Sheppard as just another suspect. However, the device of Dr Sheppard's journal is retained as the supposed source of Poirot's voice-over narration and forms an integral part of the dénouement. The plot strays considerably from the book, including having Sheppard run over Parker numerous times with his car and commit suicide with his gun after a chase through a factory. Ackroyd was changed to a more elderly, stingy man, disliked by many, who owns a chemical factory. Mrs Ackroyd, the sister-in-law of Roger Ackroyd, is also not as zany as in the book version. Location filming took place at Castle Combe in Wiltshire.


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was adapted as a 190-minute drama transmitted in Japan on Fuji Television on April 14, 2018, as a special drama, under the title "The Murder of Kuroido" (, "Kuroido Goroshi").


title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

text: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 20 August 2007, adapted and illustrated by Bruno Lachard (). This was translated from the edition first published in France by in 2004 under the title, "Le Meurtre de Roger Ackroyd".


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The Buick V6, popularly referred to as the 3800 in its later incarnations, originally and initially marketed as "Fireball" at its introduction in 1962, was a large V6 engine used by General Motors. The block is made of cast iron and all use two-valve-per-cylinder iron heads, actuated by pushrods. The engine, originally designed and manufactured in the United States, was also produced in later versions in Australia. It was the first six-cylinder engine designed exclusively for Buick products since the Buick straight-six was discontinued in 1930.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The 3800 was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines of the 20th century list, made Ward's yearly 10 Best list multiple times, and is one of the most-produced engines in history. To date, over 25 million have been produced.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In 1967, GM sold the design to Kaiser-Jeep. The muscle car era had taken hold, and GM no longer felt the need to produce a V6, considered an unusual engine configuration in North America at the time. The energy crisis a decade later prompted the company to buy the design back from American Motors (AMC), who had by that point bought Kaiser-Jeep, and the descendants of the early 231 continue to be the most-common GM V6 as it developed into a very durable and reliable design.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Though the pre-3800 rear-wheel drive (RWD) V6 uses the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (BOP) bellhousing pattern, an oddity of both the front-wheel drive (FWD) and RWD 3800 V6 is that although it is a 90° V6, it uses the GM 60° V6 bell housing (Metric Pattern). For use in the FWD applications, the bellhousings on the FWD transmissions are altered slightly.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: This engine has the cylinders numbered 1-3-5 on the left-hand bank (front bank for FWD applications) and 2-4-6 on the right-hand bank, the number 1 cylinder being the furthest from the flywheel end. The firing order is 1-6-5-4-3-2.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The engine was produced at the Flint North plant in Flint, Michigan, with engine blocks and cylinder heads cast at the Grey Iron plant (now the GM Saginaw Metal Casting Operations plant) at 1629 N. Washington Avenue in Saginaw, Michigan.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: It is a derivative of Buick's aluminium V8 family, which also went on to become the Rover V8, another engine with a very long life (1960–2006)


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The first engine in this family was introduced in 1961 for the 1962 model year Buick Special with Buick's engine, the first V6 in an American car (the GMC V6 was used earlier in trucks). Because it was derived from Buick's aluminum V8, it has a 90° bank between cylinders and an uneven firing pattern due to the crankshaft having only three crank pins set at 120° apart, with opposing cylinders (1-2, 3-4 and 5-6) sharing a crank pin in, as do many V8 engines. The uneven firing pattern was often perceived as roughness, leading a former American Motors executive to describe it as "Rougher than a cob."


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In 1977, Buick redesigned the crankshaft to a "split-pin" configuration to create an "even-firing" version. The crank pins associated with the opposing cylinders were offset from each other by 30°. The relatively small offset did not require flying arms to be incorporated, however a thick flange was built in between the offset crank pins to prevent the connecting rod big-ends from "walking" off the crank pin bearing journal and interfering with the adjacent big end. The thick flange effectively caused the connecting rods on the left-hand bank of cylinders (forward bank for FWD applications) to move forward relative to the right-hand bank, but the engine block remained unchanged compared to the odd-fire engine. Since the cylinders center-lines were no longer centralized over the crank pin bearing journals, the connecting rods were re-designed with the big-ends offset from the piston pin ends by . The engine in this configuration became known to have "off-center bore spacing".


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The off-center design continued up until the 1988 LN3 version of the engine, when the left-hand bank of cylinders was moved forward relative to the right-hand bank. Although the actual bore spacing between cylinders on the same bank remained unchanged at , the LN3 and later engines became known to have "on-center bore spacing".


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Buick Division, concerned about high manufacturing costs of their innovative aluminum 215 V8, sought to develop a cheaper, cast-iron engine based on the same tooling. They settled on an unusual 90° V6 layout that was essentially the architecture of the '215' less two cylinders. In initial form, it had a bore and stroke of , for an overall displacement of . It weighed about more than the aluminum engine, but was far cheaper to produce. Dubbed the Fireball V6, it became the standard engine in the 1962 Buick Special. In their test that year, "Road & Track" was impressed with Buick's "practical" new V6, saying it "sounds and performs exactly like the aluminum V8 in most respects."


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The bore was increased to , and stroke increased to , increasing displacement to . Since the engine was similar to the popular small-block Buick V8 — now with a cast-iron block and displacement of , the engine was made cheaply at the same factory with much of the same tooling. This engine was used in Buick's intermediate-sized Special and Skylark models from 1964 to 1967 and Oldsmobile's mid-sized F-85/Cutlass models for 1964 and 1965, including the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and Buick Sport Wagon.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: 1964-1965 models featured a single barrel Rochester MonoJet, producing . In 1966-1967, the 1-barrel was replaced with a 2-barrel Rochester 2GV, giving the engine a 5-horsepower boost to .


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The V6 was dropped after the 1967 model year in favor of a conventional inline-six engine built by the Chevrolet division, and the tooling was sold to Kaiser-Jeep.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In 1965, Kaiser-Jeep began using the Buick 225 in Jeep CJs. It was known as the Dauntless V6 and used a much heavier flywheel than the Buick version to damp vibrations resulting from the engine's firing pattern. Buick sold the tooling for this engine to Kaiser in 1967, as the demand for the engine was waning steadily in an era of V8s and muscle cars. When American Motors (AMC) bought Jeep, the V6 was replaced with AMC Straight-6 engines, but the ownership of the V6 tooling remained with AMC.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The 1973 oil crisis prompted GM to look for more economical engines than the V8s of 350, 400 and 454/455 cubic inches that powered most General Motors cars and trucks during that time. At that time, the only "small" engines generally offered by GM were built by the Chevrolet division including the OHC aluminum inline-four engine used in the subcompact Chevy Vega and a straight-6 used in smaller Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac models, whose design roots dated back to the 1962 Chevy II (Nova).


title: Buick V6 engine

text: One quick idea was tried by Buick engineers — taking an old Fireball V6 picked up at a junkyard and installing it into a 1974 Buick Apollo. The solution worked so well that GM wanted AMC to put the engine back into production. However, AMC's cost per unit was deemed as too high. Instead of buying completed engines, GM made an offer to buy back the tooling and manufacturing line from AMC in April, 1974, and began building the engines on August 12. With production back within GM, Buick re-introduced the V6 that fall in certain 1975 models — a move made possible by the fact that foundations for the old V6 machinery were still intact at Buick's engine assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, so it was easy to put the old tooling back in place and begin production at least two years ahead of the normal schedule that would have been required to create new tooling. The bore was enlarged to , identical to the Buick 350 and Olds 307 V8s, yielding displacement. 78,349 units were installed in Buicks for 1975.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In 1978, GM began to market the 231 as the 3.8 liter as metric engine sizes became common in the United States. The "RPO Code" was LD5, though California-emissions versions were called LC6. Starting in 1979, the engine was used in the front-wheel drive Buick Riviera, though still with a longitudinal mounting. Larger valves and better intake and exhaust boosted the power output for 1979.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: A turbocharged version was introduced as the pace car at the 1976 Indianapolis 500, and a production turbo arrived in 1978. The turbo 3.8 received sequential fuel injection and a wasted spark Distributorless Ignition System in 1984. In 1986 an air-to-air Garrett intercooler was added and the "RPO Code" became "LC2". The LC2 engine has a bore x stroke of . The horsepower ratings for 1986 & 1987 were , respectively. The limited production GNX benefitted from additional factory modifications such as a ceramic turbocharger, more efficient Garrett intercooler, low restriction exhaust system and revised programming which resulted in a factory rating.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The turbocharged 1987 Buick Regal "Grand National GNX" was called America's quickest automobile, and the model continues to be collected and appreciated today.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: A smaller version of this engine was produced in 1978 and 1979 for the Century, Regal and Chevrolet Monza. The bore was reduced to , resulting in an engine of piston displacement. The "RPO code" was "LC9". Initially this engine produced , but in 1979 it received the same improvements in the cylinder heads as did the LD5, and therefore power increased to .


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In response to rising gas prices, a larger version of the 3.8 liter LD5 V6 was produced from 1980 through 1984 and marketed as an alternative to a V8. The bore was enlarged to , yielding an output of and . This engine was used in many large rear-wheel drive Buicks, and in some models from each of GM's other divisions, including Cadillac which offered the "big" Buick V6 in several models from 1980 to 1982 as a credit option to the troublesome V8-6-4 engine used in 1981 and early versions of the aluminum-block Cadillac HT-4100 V8 introduced in 1982. It was also the standard powerplant in the front-drive Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado from 1981 to 1984. Additionally, the 4.1 block was used unsuccessfully at Indianapolis for racing. Its only weakness was the intake valve seals. This was the first naturally aspirated GM V-6 to feature a 4-barrel carburetor.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: A small version of the Buick V6 was produced for GM's 1980s front-wheel drive cars. Introduced in 1982, it was a lower deck version of the 3.8 designed for transverse application in the new GM A platform cars such as the Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. It shared the same bore size as its larger sibling, but featured a smaller stroke of . It used a Rochester E2ME 2-bbl carburetor and the VIN code for the engine is "E".


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The LN7 is a multiport fuel injected version of the LK9. It was introduced for 1985 and used the VIN code: L. It was replaced in 1989 with the 3.3.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: In mid-1984, the 3.8 liter LD5 engine was modified for transverse-mounting in smaller, FWD vehicles, and equipped with multi point fuel injection (MPFI). 1984-1985 models used a distributor and a distributorless wasted spark ignition system was added for all engines produced in 1986 and later. In 1986, it received sequential fuel injection (SFI) and it was initially produced in two forms, the LG2 with flat lifters (tappets), and the LG3 with a roller camshaft and lifters. The latter was offered in various models through 1988. From 1986, the 3.8 had a revised, crankshaft-driven oil pump which eliminated a longstanding problem with pump housing wear and loss of prime. Power produced by this engine was:


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Introduced in 1988, the "3800" LN3 would later be loosely considered the "Pre-Series I", although the older 3.8 SFI (LG3) was still available that year in some models. Designated initially by VIN code C, the multiport fuel injected 3800 LN3 was a major redesign, featuring changes such as a balance shaft, on-center bore spacing, use of a 3x/18x crank-trigger system, and other improvements. This generation continued in use in several GM products into the early 1990s. It produced and .


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The LN3 is very closely related to the Series I L27 and Series I L67 Supercharged. In fact, supercharger-related hardware can be fitted to an LN3 without changing the cylinder heads. However, the ECM would have to be reprogrammed. The L27 has a two piece, upper plenum intake and lower intake, the LN3 is all one piece.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: A smaller 3.3 liter "3300" was introduced in 1989 and produced through 1993. It was effectively a lower-deck version of the 3800, with a smaller bore and stroke of for . Like the 3800, it used a cast iron block and heads, push rods, and hydraulic lifters. Unlike the 3800, however, it used a batch-fire injection system rather than sequential injection, as evidenced by the lack of a cam position sensor. It also did not have a balance shaft. Power output was at 5,200 rpm and at 2,000 rpm with a 5,500 rpm redline.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The LN3 was replaced by the L27 in 1991-1992 and produced from 1992 onward, this engine was referred to as the Series I 3800, or 3800 TPI (Tuned Port Injection). In Australia, the LN3 was also replaced by the L27 by Holden who used the engine in their series 2 (1991) VN Commodore range. However, the Australian L27 retained the LN3's one piece upper intake and lower plenum. Power was still boosted to for the Holden L27, before being boosted to in the revised VR Commodore in 1993. The L36 made its debut in 1995.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The Series I Supercharged engine went through 2 Supercharger revisions(Gen2&Gen3) and the horsepower improved between initial launch and the time that the Series II L36 was introduced. The M62 supercharger was manufactured by Eaton, for the GM 3800 SI engine. HP was rated at 205 for 1991-1993 engines (Gen2 supercharger) with a pulley, and 225 for 1994-1995 engines(Gen3 Supercharger). All of the additional horsepower for 1994-95 Gen3 supercharged engines was gained by using epoxy (not Teflon as commonly believed) coated supercharger rotors to improve efficiency, a larger supercharger inlet and throttle body, Thus the 1994-1995 utilized a pulley versus the pulley on the Gen2. The easiest way to spot the difference between the Gen2 and Gen3 is the smaller pulley and the ribs on the side of the Gen2 extend all the way down the sides, while the Gen3 ribs stay on only the top, they perform slightly differently and interchanging one without tuning may result in strange behavior of the engine. Redline on Gen3 engines is at 6000rpm but the ECM will shift at 5400rpm without performance shift enabled.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Introduced in 1995, the "Series II" is quite a different engine. It is also by far the most popular of the 3800 family for its power, smoothness, fuel efficiency, and reliability, although the stroke for the 3.8 liter engine remained at , and the bore remained at . That said, the engine architecture was vastly changed. The deck height is shorter than the Series I, reducing weight and total engine package size. This required that the piston connecting rods be shortened , and the crankshaft was also redesigned. A new intake manifold improved breathing while a redesigned cylinder head featured larger valves and a higher compression ratio. The result was and , better fuel economy, and lighter overall weight (to ). This 3800 weighs only more than the all-aluminum High Feature V6 that currently dominates GM's six-cylinder applications, despite being an all cast-iron design.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The new intake manifold greatly improved airflow. To meet emissions standards, an EGR tube was placed in the intake manifold to reduce combustion temperatures.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: GM recalled 1.5 million vehicles with this engine on April 14, 2009 due to risk of fire from engine oil leaking under the valve cover gaskets onto hot exhaust manifolds. The fire could spread to the nearby plastic spark plug wire retainers on the valve cover and then to the rest of the engine compartment. GM fitted the affected vehicles with redesigned spark plug wire retainers. These engines were noted for having problems with the plastic upper intake manifold cracking around the EGR passage. The engine would then hydrolock. The lower intake gaskets and upper intake manifolds were revised, correcting all these issues.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The L67 is the supercharged version of the 3800 Series II L36 and appeared in 1996, one year after the normally aspirated version. It uses the Eaton Generation III M90 supercharger with a pulley, a larger throttle body, and different fuel injectors, different cylinder heads, as well as different lower intake manifold and pistons than the L36 uses. Both engines share the same engine blocks, but compression is reduced from 9.4:1 in the L36 to 8.5:1 for the L67. GM listed the engine output as and of torque. Final drive ratios are reduced in most applications, for better fuel economy and for improved use of the engine's torque in the low RPM range. Like most 3800 V6s, the engine is well known for its reliability and low maintenance costs. The engine is a popular choice for aftermarket modification thanks to its very strong internals and impressive power gains from basic upgrades. The engine was built in Flint, Michigan and was certified LEV in 2001.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The "Series III" engines include many changes. The upper and lower intake manifold is now aluminum on the naturally aspirated models. Intake ports are mildy improved, intake valves (instead of as on Series II) and exhaust valves were introduced in 2003 engines, just before switching to Series III. Electronic throttle control is added to all versions, as is returnless fuel injection. Stronger powdered metal sinter forged connecting rods are used in 2004+ supercharged, and 2005+ naturally aspirated engines, instead of the cast iron style from Series II engines. Emissions are also reduced. In 2005, it was the first gasoline engine in the industry to attain SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) emissions certification.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Also note that Series III engines are the base for any 3800 produced for the 2004 year and up. This means the same block, heads, & connecting rods apply to any remaining Series II engines made after 2004 also. The difference is that Series III engines received the new superchargers (Generation 5 - Eaton M90 - if equipped), intake manifolds, fuel systems, powdered connecting rods, as well as larger intake valves, drive by wire throttle body and electronics.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: The "L26" is the "Series III" version of the 3800. It is still a design. Compression remains at 9.4:1 as with the L36, but the aluminum upper and lower intake (2004+) and stronger connecting rods (2005+) are the primary physical changes. The powdered metal connecting rods were meant to be introduced in 2004 along with the L32, but the GM plant in Bay City, Michigan that supplies the Flint, Michigan plant could not achieve the desired production dates in time for that engine year.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Introduced in 2004, the main differences between the L67 and the L32 are the L32's electronic throttle control, slightly improved cylinder head design, and updated Eaton supercharger, the Generation 5 M90. Power output is up to in the Grand Prix GTP.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: As with the L67, premium fuel (91 octane or higher) is required, but the PCM can compensate for lower octane fuel at the cost of acceleration. The use of below 87 octane fuel can cause detonation that eventually leads to engine damage and failure.


title: Buick V6 engine

text: Production of the 3800 V6 engine officially ended on August 22, 2008 at plant 36. There was a ceremony and speakers who extolled the virtues of the engine. Originally, GM had set this date for January 1, 1999; however, due to the popularity among investors and customers and the reliability of the engine, the date was extended. At the end of production, the LZ4 3500 OHV V6 replaced the naturally aspirated 3800 applications, and the LY7 3.6L DOHC V6 replaced the supercharged 3800 applications.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: Emma Katherine Walton Hamilton (née Walton; 27 November 1962) is a British-American children's book author, theatrical director, and actress. She is an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton, where she serves as Director of the Southampton Children's Literature Fellows program and the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP). She is the daughter of singer and actress Dame Julie Andrews and set/costume designer Tony Walton.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: Walton was born in The London Clinic in central London. Her parents are British actress and singer Julie Andrews and Tony Walton, a British set and costume designer. Her godmothers were actress Carol Burnett and Svetlana Beriosova, "prima ballerina" of The Royal Ballet; her godfather was British actor Vic Oliver. In 1967, her parents divorced, and two years later, her mother married film director Blake Edwards, who became her stepfather. Walton's childhood was spent between London, Los Angeles, where her mother worked, and New York City, where her father lived. She attended UCLA Lab School, according to her mother.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: From 1983 to 1991, she had a few bit parts in films and television, including "Micki + Maude" and "That's Life!".


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: In 1991, she, her husband, and British-American actress Sybil Christopher founded the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York. This independent non-profit theatre is still in operation as of 2022. Walton-Hamilton was the theatre's Artistic co-Director and Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences for 17 years.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: She has voiced many audiobooks, including Gitty Daneshvari's "School of Fear", Patrick McDonnell's "Me . . . Jane", and Nancy Tafuri's "All Kinds of Kisses". In 2010, she won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for voicing "Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies".


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: In 2000, she began writing books for children in collaboration with her mother, starting with "Dumpy the Dumptruck". They wrote 13 "Dumpy" books, of which 12 were illustrated by her father Tony Walton, who had remained friends with her mother despite their divorce. Walton-Hamilton and Andrews have co-written 31 children's books, including the "Dumpy" books, "The Great American Mousical" (2006), also illustrated by Walton, two "Bonnie Boadicea" novels for middle schoolers, "The Very Fairy Princess" (2010) series, and two unrelated novels. They have also co-edited two anthologies of poetry and songs, and one concept book, "Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother and Child". Walton-Hamilton has also written a book for adults, "Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment" (2009). The book won a Parent's Choice Gold Medal, silver medals from the Living Now and IPPY Book Awards, and Honorable Mention from "ForeWord Magazine's" Best Book of the Year.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: Walton-Hamilton and Andrews contributed to Kate Dawson, Jodi Glucksman, and Barbara Buck-Aronica's "Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project" (2012), a book with accompanying CD. In 2016, Walton Hamilton created the preschool television series "Julie's Greenroom" with her mother Julie Andrews and Judy Rothman. The show stars Andrews, joined by her assistant Gus (Giullian Yao Gioiello) and the Greenies, a cast of original puppets built by The Jim Henson Company. The show premiered on Netflix in 2017.


title: Emma Walton Hamilton

text: In 1991, Emma Walton married actor/director Stephen Hamilton. The couple are parents to a son and daughter.


title: Electrolux

text: Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool.


title: Electrolux

text: Electrolux products sell under a variety of brand names (including its own), and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners intended for home consumer use. Electrolux has a primary listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the OMX Stockholm 30 index.


title: Electrolux

text: The company originates from a merger of two companies—Lux AB and Svenska Elektron AB, the former an established manufacturer and the latter a younger company founded by a former vacuum salesman who had also been an employee of the former firm. The origins of Electrolux are closely tied to the vacuum, but today it also makes major appliances.


title: Electrolux

text: In 1919, a Svenska Elektron AB acquisition, Elektromekaniska AB, became Elektrolux (the spelling was changed to Electrolux in 1957). It initially sold Lux branded vacuum cleaners in several European countries.


title: Electrolux

text: In 1923, the company acquired AB Arctic and subsequently added absorption refrigerators to its product line. Other appliances soon followed, including washing machines in 1951, dishwashers in 1959, and food service equipment in 1962.


title: Electrolux

text: While Electrolux had bought several companies before the 1960s, that decade saw the beginnings of a new wave of M&A activity. The company bought ElektroHelios, Norwegian Elektra, Danish Atlas, Finnish Slev, and Flymo, et al., in the nine years from 1960 to 1969. This style of growth continued through the 1990s, seeing Electrolux purchase scores of companies including, for a time, Husqvarna.


title: Electrolux

text: Hans Werthen, President and later chairman of the board, led the strategic core of an increasingly decentralized Electrolux—and was instrumental to its rapid growth.


title: Electrolux

text: While attempts to cut costs, centralise administration, and wring out economies of scale from Electrolux's operations were made in the 1960s and 1970s with the focus so firmly on growth, further company-wide restructuring efforts only began in the late 1990s.


title: Electrolux

text: Electrolux made an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 (it was delisted in 2010) and another on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1930.


title: Electrolux

text: Currently, its shares trade on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Market and over-the-counter. Electrolux is an OMX Nordic 40 constituent stock.


title: Electrolux

text: In North America, the Electrolux name was long used by vacuum cleaner manufacturer Aerus LLC, originally established to sell Swedish Electrolux products. In 2000, Aerus transferred trademark rights back to the Electrolux Group, and ceased using the Electrolux name in 2004.


title: Electrolux

text: Conversely, Electrolux-made vacuums carried the Eureka brand name, which Electrolux continued to use while also selling Electrolux branded vacuums after 2000. Electrolux USA customer service maintains a database of Electrolux made vacuums and provides a link to Aerus's website for the convenience of owners of Electrolux branded Aerus vacuums.


title: Electrolux

text: Keith McLoughlin took over as president and CEO on January 1, 2011, and became the company's first non Swedish chief executive.


title: Electrolux

text: In August 2011, Electrolux acquired from Sigdo Koppers the Chilean appliance manufacturer CTI obtaining several brands with the purchase including: Fensa, Gafa, Mademsa and Somela.


title: Electrolux

text: On February 6, 2017, Electrolux announced that it had agreed to acquire Anova Applied Electronics, Inc., the U.S.-based provider of the Anova Precision Cooker.


title: Electrolux

text: On March 23, 2020, Electrolux completed the spin-off of its professional division, which the separated company incorporated as Electrolux Professional AB.


title: Electrolux

text: Electrolux sells under a wide variety of brand names worldwide. Most of them were acquired through mergers and acquisitions and only do business in a single country or geographic area. The following is an incomplete list.


title: Electrolux

text: Note: This list does not include brands such as Kenmore, IKEA and John Lewis, which may sell Electrolux produced appliances but are not owned by or affiliated with Electrolux, as Electrolux acts as an OEM for these brands.


title: Electrolux

text: The company's current international slogan is "Shape living for the Better". In the past it used to be "Thinking of you". In the 1960s the company successfully marketed vacuums in the United Kingdom with the slogan "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux".


title: Electrolux

text: In the United States, it was frequently assumed that using this slogan was a brand blunder. In fact, the informal American meaning of the word sucks was already well known at the time in the United Kingdom, and the company hoped the slogan, with its possible double entendre, would gain attention. In Indonesia, the Electrolux previous slogans was ""Kalau saja semua seawet Electrolux"" (English: If Only All Durable as Electrolux).


title: Stephen Gately

text: Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer, who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone; all of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third being their most successful internationally. With Boyzone, Gately had a record-breaking sixteen consecutive singles enter the top five of the UK Singles Chart. He performed for millions of fans globally. He released a solo album in 2000, after the group's initial break-up, which charted in the UK top ten and yielded three UK hit singles, including the top three hit "New Beginning". Gately went on to appear variously in stage productions and on television programmes as well as contributing songs to various projects. In 2008, he rejoined his colleagues as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately made his sexuality known in 1999 and came out to publicity. He married Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006. Upon Boyzone's reformation, Gately featured as part of the first gay couple in a boyband music video for "Better", in what was to be his last with the band. Gately died of a congenital heart defect in a flat that he and Cowles owned in Mallorca, Spain, in 2009. Brian Boyd in "The Irish Times" stated: "Stephen Gately's death represents the first time that the boyband genre has had to deal with such a tragic situation". Tim Teeman of "The Times" (UK) heralded Gately as a hero of gay rights for his response to being "smoked out of the closet".


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately grew up in relative poverty in the working-class Sheriff Street area of Dublin. He was the fourth of five children; his father Martin was a former decorator and his mother, Margaret (born 1949) a cleaner. His siblings are Michelle, Tony, Alan and Mark. He was particularly close to sister Michelle throughout his life. Gately's father had an accident as a result of which he had to be hospitalised for three months from September 2004. His mother then took over as full-time carer. Gately attended primary school at St Laurence O'Toole's and secondary school at North Strand Technical College. As a teenager he appeared in various musicals and theatre performances at school, such as "Juno and the Paycock". He was estranged from his parents for years, but reconciled with them in 2008 and visited them with Andrew Cowles that year.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately joined Boyzone upon their formation in 1993. The group became known in Ireland after an infamous appearance on "The Late Late Show" that year, which presenter Gay Byrne dismissed—although he later concluded: "They certainly had the last laugh on us". Boyzone's first success outside Ireland was when the song "Love Me for a Reason" reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1995. The group split suddenly following a string of performances in Dublin's Point Theatre in 2000. By the time Boyzone originally rested the band, they had achieved six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. They were considered a major pop band of the 1990s and had a much publicised rivalry with UK boy band Take That, even selling more singles than them. Gately shared the majority of lead vocal work with Ronan Keating.


title: Stephen Gately

text: A February appearance at the 2008 Meteor Awards relaunched the reformed Boyzone, with touring taking place throughout 2008. After his death, manager Louis Walsh described Gately as "the glue in Boyzone, he kept them all together". Keating informed the congregation at Gately's funeral that he had nicknames for them all; "the campest straight band in the world"—Rosaleen, Michaela, Kitty, Shanice and Stephanie.


title: Stephen Gately

text: After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first, with his debut solo single, "New Beginning", released on 29 May 2000. The single reached number three in the UK charts.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Two weeks later the album "New Beginning" was released and entered the charts. The album included twelve tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes", which he recorded for the soundtrack to the TV version of "Watership Down". He also voiced one of the characters in the series, Blackavar, which was created to look like him. His character only spoke for 3 episodes, before becoming a background character.


title: Stephen Gately

text: The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2000, this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film "Billy Elliot". The single just missed the UK top ten, peaking at number eleven. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire, Leicester Square, along with the stars of the film, Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Gately's third single, "Stay", was released and reached number thirteen in the UK chart. That month, with his single still in the charts, his record company Polydor dropped him from their label.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In 2008 following his solo career and various bouts of acting and television appearances, Gately rejoined his old colleagues when Boyzone reformed, following the success of revived contemporaries Take That. Gately had been the most eager to reform and urged his bandmates to come together again. They sold out two more tours of the United Kingdom.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Boyzone released a brand new single, "Love You Anyway", followed by a new compilation album in October 2008. December 2008 saw the release of a second new single, "Better". The video for the song generated controversy, as scenes depicting romantic couples included a shot of two men embracing, in an inclusive nod to Gately's homosexuality. The group unanimously agreed that Gately should be allowed to pair with a male actor. It was condemned by, among others, the minister of the Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church. Others, however, cite that milestone as among the reasons why Gately is a "gay rights hero". Wrote Tim Teeman of the "Times Online", "Gately showed that an unflamboyant guy could be a pop star and gay...the real shame should be reserved for those managers and showbusiness power-brokers who practise that kind of discrimination, and also maintain the closet, to line their pockets."


title: Stephen Gately

text: At the time of Gately's death the group had selected thirty songs which they intended to record for a new album to be released in 2010. This was to have been followed by a tour.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately's vocals featured on Boyzone's final album, in a song called "I Can Dream". A video of the song was released on 15 June 2018, featuring images of Gately and Boyzone. The album was released on the 16 November 2018.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In December 2002, Gately took the lead role in Bill Kenwright's new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", which previewed in Oxford in December 2002 before moving to Liverpool over Christmas 2002 and finally to London's West End and the New London Theatre in Drury Lane in February 2003. From September 2004 until March 2005 Gately played the Child Catcher in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" at the London Palladium.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In 2001 he made a cameo as himself in the fourth series of BBC sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous", in that series' opening episode 'Parralox'.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately made his pantomime debut at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley in December 2005 starring as Dandini in "Cinderella". In April 2006 he took on the role of The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately also took part in Channel Five's "All Star Talent Show" in October 2006, performing the slice and dice magic trick which he only had a week to learn, coming second to Toby Anstis. He was also in the second series of ITV's "Dancing on Ice" with his dancing partner Kristina Lenko. They went out in eighth place on 10 February 2007.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In January 2007, Gately was heard in "Horror of Glam Rock", a "Doctor Who" audio drama produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7. For this audio play, Gately recorded an original song, "Children of Tomorrow", with music by Tim Sutton and lyrics by Barnaby Edwards; this was his first solo track since 2001.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In September 2007, Gately began touring the UK in an 11-week run of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical "Godspell", but withdrew from the production after just three weeks for contractual reasons.


title: Stephen Gately

text: In 2008, Gately appeared in the independent horror film, "Credo", which was released in the United States as "Devil's Curse".


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately was a vice patron of the charity Missing People (formerly National Missing Persons Helpline), supporting their Runaway Helpline service for young people. He was an ambassador for the Caudwell Children Charity in Stoke and on one occasion gave a private Christmas performance, raising thousands of pounds. Gately's family requested that donations be given to the charity instead of flowers sent to them after his death in 2009. This in turn raised thousands more pounds. On one visit to a hospital he met a terminally ill child who admired the jacket he was wearing, and Gately allowed her to have it.


title: Stephen Gately

text: During the three years prior to his death, Gately had been writing a children's fantasy novel called "The Tree of Seasons". In an April 2009 interview with the Press Association he declared that he was nearly finished, had publisher interest, and hoped for a Christmas 2009 release. Boyzone bandmate Ronan Keating promised at Gately's funeral that "by hook or by crook" the book would be finished.


title: Stephen Gately

text: "The Tree of Seasons" was written in collaboration with June Considine and Jules Williams. Based on Gately's handwritten notes – the day he died he had just worked out the ending. The book released in the UK and Ireland on 13 May 2010, published by Hodder & Stoughton. It contains a foreword by Elton John and David Furnish, and is illustrated by Keith Wilson. "The Tree of Seasons" remained a bestseller and a top-ten seller for three consecutive weeks. The paperback version was released in April 2011.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately came out as gay in 1999 after discovering that an acquaintance was about to sell the details of his sexuality to the media.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately started dating Andrew Cowles, an internet businessman, who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Gately and Cowles held a commitment ceremony in a wedding chapel while on holiday in Las Vegas in 2003. On 19 March 2006, Gately entered into a civil partnership with Cowles in a ceremony in London. The couple lived together in the north London village of Highgate. Gately spoke of his love for the village, saying he "wouldn't move away for the world. It has a great vibe and the people here are brilliant". In July 2009, their home was broken into by thieves who took £80,000 of items, including a prized Rolex watch which Gately had purchased with his first pay cheque. Gately was based in London for the rest of his life.


title: Stephen Gately

text: His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for Boyzone and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, claiming less than a year before his death that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band". Walsh described Gately as his "very, very best friend" after the singer's death, saying: "Of all the people I've worked with I don't think anybody thanked me as much as Stephen. He used to always say to me, 'If I wasn't in Boyzone I don't know where I'd be today, thank you'".


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately's idol was Michael Jackson, whom he met at RDS Arena in 1997 when Jackson was embarking on his HIStory World Tour. Jackson died four months prior to Gately.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately died at his home in Port d'Andratx, Mallorca, early on 10 October 2009. His body was discovered later in the morning. His death was later determined to have been caused by a pulmonary oedema resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately had spent the evening with his partner Cowles at the Black Cat club in Mallorca's capital Palma. They returned home with someone that they had met that night, Bulgarian national Georgi Dochev. Dochev stayed in the spare bedroom. According to Dochev, he discovered Gately's body lying on a sofa as he was about to leave. He woke Cowles, who was sleeping alone in the couple's bedroom. However, Gately's solicitor and family friend, Gerald Kean, insisted Cowles was the one who found Gately's body. Spanish police were alerted at 1:45 pm by Cowles, after he had tried to revive Gately. Gately was squatting in an awkward position on the sofa, dressed in his pyjamas. Police said they had no reason to believe the death was related to abuse of substances, and no suicide note or signs of violence were found on his body.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Gately's bandmates flew to Mallorca on 11 October 2009. The remaining members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Ronan Keating, and Shane Lynch, issued a joint statement: We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'.A post-mortem and toxicology tests took place on 13 October and this examination showed that Gately died of natural causes. His death was a result of a congenital heart defect.


title: Stephen Gately

text: On 16 October, accompanied by the four remaining members of Boyzone, his body was brought from Mallorca to Dublin where his funeral took place at the Church of St Laurence O'Toole the following day. The four surviving members of Boyzone maintained an overnight vigil in the church the night before. Thousands of fans, celebrities, and politicians were in attendance at the funeral. Fans had travelled from as far as South Africa, and Taiwan to attend the funeral. He was cremated in a private ceremony later that afternoon. Gately's coffin was carried into and out of the church by his bandmates, and during the service Ronan Keating gave an emotional eulogy, during which he broke down several times and apologised to the congregation. Keith Duffy reminisced on the early days: "He told Louis [Walsh] he was 5ft 7in (170 cm). When he auditioned for "The Hobbit" later on, he said he was 5ft 3in (160 cm). But he was a true giant of a man". Michael Graham said Gately had only told him the previous week how much he loved Cowles, adding: "When he came out, he finally became himself". The funeral clashed with the wedding of a niece of Bertie Ahern and several of her guests defected to the funeral instead.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Fans responded with messages of sympathy on Twitter and Facebook. Thousands of pounds have been donated by fans to a Stoke-based children's charity which Gately had endorsed. Searches for "Stephen Gately" was said to have "risen exponentially" and remained at the top for several days after the singer's death and was later confirmed as being the most searched for topic on Google's UK site in 2009. The search term "Boyzone" also ranked highly, being separated from "Stephen Gately" only by second-placed searches for "Nobel Peace Prize" following the announcement of the award to US President Barack Obama. Boyzone's record catalogue was propelled back into the music charts. The single "No Matter What", on which Gately is a prominent vocalist, received heavy play on radio.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Boyzone's former manager Louis Walsh is quoted as saying: "We're all absolutely devastated. I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet. I only heard after "The X Factor" (UK television talent show on which Walsh is a judge) and we will rally around each other this week. He was a great man." Walsh dropped out of the live results show of "The X Factor" on 11 October 2009 as a direct result of Gately's death. Simon Cowell addressed the issue at the start of the programme. He said: "This is really, really tragic news I want to send out my condolences to the family, our thoughts are with Louis". That edition of the show attracted an "absolutely huge" audience which was said to have been seeking updates on the singer's death. Walsh also was absent from the second week of "The X Factor" which coincided with Gately's funeral,—later commenting: "I never want to watch the show at home again. I've been shouting at the TV all night"—at which Walsh was too upset to speak. "My First Time", a stage show which was set to star bandmember Keith Duffy, was cancelled entirely. The four surviving members of Boyzone had memorial tattoos inked on their bodies when they brought Gately's body home. Graham, Keating and Lynch also had "76 09" (Gately's birth and death years) written with their memorial tattoos, while Duffy had "Steo, "Riposa in pace"" (Italian for "Rest in peace") written with his memorial tattoo.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Irish boy band Westlife said: "We are, like everyone else, in shock today. We met Stephen Gately back in 1998 when we first started out and since then had the pleasure of meeting him many times. Himself and the Boyzone lads paved the way for us as a band. Our thoughts are with Andy and the rest of his family, his friends, his legions of fans and of course his bandmates Keith, Mikey, Shane and Ronan who will be devastated at the loss of a truly beautiful person."


title: Stephen Gately

text: Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "It's so sad. Boyzone and Stephen, they've all been part of Irish life and far wider than that, the last 15 years, and so successful, so it's a huge, huge tragedy. He was 33 years of age, 15 years at the top, a fine musician, it's just a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well". Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen paid tribute: "Stephen Gately was a gifted young man with a talent for singing which brought him tremendous success as a member of Boyzone and also as a West End star. There was a joy about his music making, and his death at such a young age is both a personal and professional loss". Andrew Lloyd Webber said it is "a great loss to the musical world". Elton John said he and his partner David Furnish were "stunned" when they heard the news. Katherine Jenkins twittered of "memories 2 cherish" from a night out in the weeks leading up to his death. Stephen Fry described Gately's demise as "a dreadful shock". "This was not supposed to happen. This was not in the script", said music historian Paul Gambaccini.


title: Stephen Gately

text: UK television personality Paul O'Grady said he was "haunted" by Gately's death and based his decision to move back to ITV from Channel 4 on a phone call with Louis Walsh during which they discussed Gately's death. Bono later paid tribute to Gately during U2's U2 360° Tour worldwide concerts.


title: Stephen Gately

text: After winning the 2009 PDC World Darts Grand Prix, Phil Taylor dedicated the trophy to Gately after beating Raymond Van Barneveld 6-3 in the final.


title: Stephen Gately

text: An article by Jan Moir in the "Daily Mail" on 16 October 2009 claimed: "Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again. Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one." She suggested that drugs and a "dangerous lifestyle" were to blame for Gately's death.


title: Stephen Gately

text: Moir's article resulted in over 25,000 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) that day, causing its site to crash for several hours. Derren Brown and Stephen Fry used Twitter to front an online campaign against the "Daily Mail" and Jan Moir throughout the afternoon and a Facebook page was set up urging followers to complain to the brands whose advertisements featured alongside the article. Fry wrote, "I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathesome and inhumane". Brown wrote, "If Gateley's passing causes today's kind of gutter-journalism to be held to account, we can perhaps take that as a tribute". "Father Ted" and "The IT Crowd" writer Graham Linehan called for a complete boycott of the "Daily Mail", tweeting "Which brands advertise in the "Mail"? Are they aware of Jan Moir's piece?...what are they going to do about it?". Details of companies with advertisements on the same web page as Moir's article were posted on a specially established Facebook page named "The "Daily Mail" should retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article". According to "The Guardian" details about where Moir lived were posted on the Internet and a false rumour that the "Daily Mail" had reported Cowles as Gately's murderer was repeated on Twitter.


title: Stephen Gately

text: The matter became serious enough for retailer Marks & Spencer to request the newspaper to remove an advertisement for its services from anywhere near the vicinity of the article, with the company issuing a statement which read: "Marks & Spencer does not tolerate any form of discrimination". Nestlé also disassociated themselves with the article, saying Moir's words contradicted the company's values of "mutual respect and tolerance, regardless of culture, religion or nationality". The company's Nescafé brand was featured alongside the article.


title: Stephen Gately

text: The "Daily Mail" then removed all advertising from the online version of the article. The publication also attempted to alter the original headline but this succeeded only in provoking the public further. Moir responded to the controversy by criticising what she claimed was "clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign" and said it was "mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones".


title: Stephen Gately

text: "The Guardian"s Charlie Brooker, whilst "struggling to absorb the sheer scope of [Moir's] hateful idiocy", accused her of "dancing" on Gately's grave before he had even been buried. Caitlin Moran of "The Times" said the article was "vile". The editor of UK gay magazine "Attitude" questioned why Moir linked Gately's death with the recent suicide of the former partner of comedian Matt Lucas, asking "If that's not homophobic, what is homophobia?" "The Daily Telegraph"s Damian Thompson said "Moir's reputation is in tatters this evening". The PCC contacted the Gately family and investigated if they had received a formal complaint from them, but stated they were not in a position to act directly on complaints from members of the public. A PCC spokesman said "We're trying to work out what the complaints are. Offensiveness is not within the remit of the PCC – we deal with accuracy and intrusion." However, the column featured only in the British version of the newspaper, being removed from the "Irish Daily Mail" and replaced instead by positive tributes to the singer's life. According to Sky News, the Gatelys "are aware of the article, they have not read it, they will not read it, but they know what is contained in it and they know the sentiment" and "are just very, very disappointed".


title: Stephen Gately

text: In Ireland itself, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said, "Some of the [British] papers were waiting to write some sensational piece about him ... I can never understand why people just don't leave things simple" and one radio station owner, who called on people to write to the "Mail" to express their disagreement, commented, "We are all very very insulted by that coverage. ... I certainly hope the Irish people force that newspaper's editor to apologise for the great hurt caused by that article". Scotland Yard received a complaint. Gately's record company also issued a complaint to the PCC. The PCC did not uphold the complaint, stating: "It found the article caused some offence but there was insufficient evidence it breached the law". Tony Connell, CPS London complex casework lawyer, said: "In coming to this conclusion I have paid particular attention to Article 10 of the Human Rights Act which protects individuals' freedom of expression. It is an established legal principle that this freedom applies equally to information and ideas that are favourably received as to those which offend, shock and disturb. Though the complainants and many others found this article offensive, this does not make its publication unlawful."


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird native to subtropical and tropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is one of six species of the genus "Sula" – known as boobies. It is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait and a product of their diet. Males display their feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting them up and down while strutting before the female. The female is slightly larger than the male and can measure up to long with a wingspan up to .


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The natural breeding habitats of the blue-footed booby are the tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. It can be found from the Gulf of California south along the western coasts of Central and South America to Peru. About half of all breeding pairs nest on the Galápagos Islands. Its diet mainly consists of fish, which it obtains by diving and sometimes swimming under water in search of its prey. It sometimes hunts alone, but usually hunts in groups.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby usually lays one to three eggs at a time. The species practices asynchronous hatching, in contrast to many other species whereby incubation begins when the last egg is laid and all chicks hatch together. This results in a growth inequality and size disparity between siblings, leading to facultative siblicide in times of food scarcity. This makes the blue-footed booby an important model for studying parent–offspring conflict and sibling rivalry.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby was described by the French naturalist Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1882 under the current binomial name "Sula nebouxii". The specific epithet was chosen to honor the surgeon, naturalist, and explorer Adolphe-Simon Neboux (1806–1844). There are two recognized subspecies:


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Its closest relative is the Peruvian booby. The two species likely split from each other recently due to their shared ecological and biological characteristics. A 2011 study of multiple genes calculated the two species diverged between 1.1 and 0.8 million years ago.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The name booby comes from the Spanish word "bobo" ("stupid", "foolish", or "clown") because the blue-footed booby is, like other seabirds, clumsy on land. They are also regarded as foolish for their apparent fearlessness of humans.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby is on average long and weighs , with the female being slightly larger than the male. Its wings are long, pointed, and brown in color. The neck and head of the blue-footed booby are light brown with white streaks, while the belly and underside exhibit pure white plumage. Its eyes are placed on either side of its bill and oriented towards the front, enabling excellent binocular vision. Its eyes are a distinctive yellow, with the male having more yellow in its irises than the female. Blue-footed booby chicks have black beaks and feet and are clad in a layer of soft white down. The subspecies "S. n. excisa" that breeds on the Galápagos Islands is larger than the nominate subspecies and has lighter plumage especially around the neck and head.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The Peruvian booby is similar in appearance, but has grey feet, whiter head and neck, and white spots on its wing coverts. The ranges of the two species overlap in the waters of northern Peru and southern Ecuador.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Since the blue-footed booby preys on fish by diving headlong into the water, its nostrils are permanently closed, and it has to breathe through the corners of its mouth. Its most notable characteristic is its blue-colored feet, which can range in color from a pale turquoise to a deep aquamarine. Males and younger birds have lighter feet than females. Its blue feet play a key role in courtship rituals and breeding, with the male visually displaying his feet to attract mates during the breeding season.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby is distributed among the continental coasts of the eastern Pacific Ocean from California to the Galápagos Islands south into Peru. It is strictly a marine bird. Its only need for land is to breed and rear young, which it does along the rocky coasts of the eastern Pacific.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: A booby may use and defend two or three nesting sites, which consist of bare black lava in small divots in the ground, until they develop a preference for one a few weeks before the eggs are laid. These nests are created as parts of large colonies. While nesting, the female turns to face the sun throughout the day, so the nest is surrounded by excrement.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Females start breeding when they are 1 to 6 years old, while males start breeding when they are 2 to 6 years old. Very limited natal dispersal occurs, meaning that young pairs do not move far from their original natal nests for their own first reproduction, leading to the congregation of hundreds of boobies in dense colonies. The benefit of limited dispersal is that by staying close to their parents' nesting sites, the boobies are more likely to have a high-quality nest. Since their parents had successfully raised chicks to reproductive age, their nest site must have been effective, either by providing cover from predation and parasitism, or by its suitability for taking off and landing. Bigamy has been observed in the species, and cases are known where two females and one male all share a single nest.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue color of the blue-footed booby's webbed feet comes from structures of aligned collagens in the skin modified by carotenoid pigments obtained from its diet of fresh fish. The collagens are arranged in a manner that makes the skin appear blue. The underlying color is a "flat, purplish blue". That color is modified by carotenoids to aquamarine in healthy birds. Carotenoids also act as antioxidants and stimulants for the blue-footed booby's immune function, suggesting that carotenoid pigmentation is an indicator of an individual's immunological state. Blue feet also indicate the current health condition of a booby. Boobies that were experimentally food-deprived for 48 hours experienced a decrease in foot brightness due to a reduction in the amount of lipids and lipoproteins that are used to absorb and transport carotenoids. Thus, the feet are rapid and honest indicators of a booby's current level of nourishment. As blue feet are signals that reliably indicate the immunological and health condition of a booby, coloration is favored through sexual selection.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The brightness of the feet decreases with age, so females tend to mate with younger males with brighter feet, which have higher fertility and greater ability to provide paternal care than older males. In a cross-fostering experiment, foot color reflects paternal contribution to raising chicks; chicks raised by foster fathers with brighter feet grew faster than chicks raised by foster males with duller feet. Females continuously evaluate their partners' condition based on foot color. In one experiment, males whose partners had laid a first egg in the nest had their feet dulled by make-up. The female partners laid smaller second eggs a few days later. As duller feet usually indicate a decrease in health and possibly genetic quality, it is adaptive for these females to decrease their investment in the second egg. The smaller second eggs contained less yolk concentration, which could influence embryo development, hatching success, and subsequent chick growth and survival. In addition, they contained less yolk androgens. As androgen plays an important role in chick survival, the experiment suggested female blue-footed boobies use the attractiveness and perceived genetic quality of their mates to determine how much resources they should allocate to their eggs. This supports the differential allocation theory, which predicts that parents invest more in the care of their offspring when paired with attractive mates.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Males also assess their partner's reproductive value and adjust their own investment in the brood according to their partner's condition. Females that lay larger and brighter eggs are in better condition and have greater reproductive value. Therefore, males tend to display higher attentiveness and parental care to larger eggs, since those eggs were produced by a female with apparent good genetic quality. Smaller, duller eggs garnered less paternal care. Female foot color is also observed as an indication of perceived female condition. In one experiment, the color of eggs was muted by researchers, males were willing to exercise similar care for both large eggs and small eggs if his mate had brightly colored feet, whereas males paired with dull-footed females only incubated larger eggs. Researchers also found that males did not increase their care when females exhibited both bright feet and high-quality offspring.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby is a specialized fish eater, feeding on small schooling fish such as sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and flying fish. It will also take squid and offal. The blue-footed booby hunts by diving into the ocean after prey, sometimes from a great height, and can also swim underwater in pursuit of its prey. It can hunt singly, in pairs, or in larger flocks. Boobies travel in parties of about 12 to areas of water with large schools of small fish. When the lead bird sees a fish shoal in the water, it signals to the rest of the group and they all dive in unison, pointing their bodies down like arrows.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Plunge diving can be done from heights of and even up to . These birds hit the water around and can go to depths of below the water surface. Their skulls contain special air sacs that protect the brain from enormous pressure. Prey are usually eaten while the birds are still under water. Individuals prefer to eat on their own instead of with their hunting group, usually in the early morning or late afternoon. Males and females fish differently, which may contribute to why blue-foots, unlike other boobies, raise more than one young. The male is smaller and has a proportionally larger tail, which enables the male to fish in shallow areas and deep waters. The female is larger and can carry more food. Both the male and female feed the chicks through regurgitation.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby is monogamous, although it has the potential to be bigamous. It is an opportunistic breeder, with the breeding cycle occurring every 8 to 9 months. The courtship of the blue-footed booby consists of the male flaunting his blue feet and dancing to impress the female. The male begins by showing his feet, strutting in front of the female. Then, he presents nest materials and finishes the mating ritual with a final display of his feet. The dance also includes "sky-pointing", which involves the male pointing his head and bill up to the sky while keeping the wings and tail raised.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby is one of only two species of booby that raises more than one chick in a breeding cycle.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The female blue-footed booby lays two or three eggs, about four to five days apart. Both male and female take turns incubating the eggs, while the nonsitting bird keeps watch. Since the blue-footed booby does not have a brooding patch, it uses its feet to keep the eggs warm. The incubation period is 41–45 days. Usually, one or two chicks are hatched from the two or three eggs originally laid. The male and female share parental responsibilities. The male provides food for the young in the first part of their lives because of his specialized diving. The female takes over when the demand is higher. Chicks feed off the regurgitated fish in the adult's mouth. If the parent blue-footed booby does not have enough food for all of the chicks, it will only feed the biggest chick, ensuring that at least one will survive.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Like other sexually size-dimorphic birds, female blue-footed boobies usually favor the smaller sex during times of food scarcity. Booby chicks do not show clear differences in size based on sex, but females do grow faster than males, which means they require greater parental investment. Blue-footed boobies display behavior that is described in the flexible investment hypothesis, which states that a female adjusts the allocation of resources to maximize her lifetime reproductive success. This was shown in an experiment in which females had their flight feathers trimmed, so that they had to expend more energy during flights to obtain food for their broods. Female chicks of such mothers were more strongly affected than their brothers, in that they had lower masses and shorter wing lengths.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Fledglings are more likely to become reproductive adults when one parent is old and the other young. The reason for this is unknown, but nestlings with different aged parents are least infected by ticks.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The blue-footed booby lays one to three eggs in one nest at a time, although 80% of nests only contain two eggs. Eggs are laid five days apart. After the first egg is laid, it is immediately incubated, which results in a difference in chick hatching times. The first chick hatches four days before the other, so it receives a four-day head start in growth compared to its younger sibling. This asynchronous hatching serves many purposes. First, it spaces out the difficult time period in rearing during which newborn chicks are too feeble to accept regurgitated food. In addition, it reduces the chance that parents will suffer total brood loss to predators such as the milk snake.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Asynchronous hatching may also reduce sibling rivalry. Experimentally manipulated synchronous broods produced more aggressive chicks; chicks in asynchronous broods were less violent. This pattern of behavior arguably occurs through a clearly established brood hierarchy in asynchronously hatched siblings. Although asynchronous hatching is not vital for the formation of brood hierarchies (the experimentally synchronous broods established them, as well), it does aid in efficient brood reduction when food levels are low. Subordinate chicks in asynchronous broods die more quickly, thus relieving the parents of the burden of feeding both offspring when resources are insufficient to properly do so.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Blue-footed booby chicks practice facultative siblicide, opting to cause the death of a sibling based on environmental conditions. The A-chick, which hatches first, will kill the younger B-chick if a food shortage exists. The initial size disparity between the A-chick and B-chick is retained for at least the first two months of life. During lean times, the A-chick may attack the B-chick by pecking at its younger sibling vigorously, or it may simply drag its younger sibling by the neck and oust it from the nest. Experiments in which the necks of chicks were taped to inhibit food ingestion showed that sibling aggression increased sharply when the weight of the A-chicks dropped below 20-25% of their potential. A steep increase in pecking occurred below that threshold, indicating that siblicide is, in part, triggered by the dominant chick's weight, and not simply by the size difference between the siblings. Younger broods (those less than six weeks old) had three times the rate of pecking than older broods. This is perhaps due to the relative inability of young B-chicks to defend themselves against an A-chick attack.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: The elder sibling also may harm the younger one by controlling access to the food delivered by the parents. A-chicks always receive food before B-chicks. Although subordinate chicks beg just as much as their dominant siblings, the older chicks are able to divert the parents' attention to themselves, as their large size and conspicuousness serve as more effective stimuli.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: However, another experiment showed that booby chicks do not operate exclusively by the "leftovers hypothesis", where younger chicks are fed only after the elder ones are completely satiated. Instead, researchers identified a certain degree of tolerance towards the younger sibling during short-term periods of food shortages. This hypothesis suggests that the elder chicks reduce food intake moderately, just enough so that the younger sibling does not starve. Although this system works during short-term food shortages, it is unsustainable during prolonged periods of dearth. In this latter case, the elder sibling usually becomes aggressive and siblicidal.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Blue-footed booby parents are passive spectators of this intrabrood conflict. They do not intervene in their offspring's struggles, even at the point of siblicide. Booby parents even appear to facilitate the demise of the younger sibling by creating and maintaining the inequality between the two chicks. They reinforce the brood hierarchy by feeding the dominant chick more often than the subordinate one. Thus, they respond to the brood hierarchy and not to the level of begging when deciding which chick to feed, as both chicks beg in equal amounts. This level of passivity towards the very possible death of their younger offspring may be an indication that brood reduction is advantageous for the parents. The "insurance egg hypothesis" views the second egg and resulting chick as insurance for the parent in case the first egg does not hatch, or if food levels are higher than expected.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: However, booby parents may not be as indifferent as they seem. The parental behavior described above may be masking parent-offspring conflict. Blue-footed booby parents make steep-sided nests that serve to deter the early ejection of the younger chick by the older sibling. This is in direct contrast to the masked booby, a species in which siblicide is obligate due to the ease in which older siblings can eject younger chicks from their flat nests. When blue-footed booby nests were experimentally flattened, parents restored them to their original steepness. Blue-footed booby chicks that were placed in masked booby nests were more likely to engage in siblicide, which reveals that parental care somehow affects the level of siblicide. Parents also appear to respond more frequently to chicks that are in poorer body conditions during periods of food deprivation. Egg-mass analysis shows that in clutches produced at the beginning of the breeding season, the second egg in a nest were, on average, 1.5% heavier than the first. Since heavier eggs give rise to heavier chicks that have greater fitness, this evidence indicates that parents may try to rectify any disadvantages that accompany a late hatching date by investing more into the second egg. Hormonal analysis of eggs also shows that no parental favoritism seems to exist in regards to androgen allocation. This may simply be because the species has evolved simpler ways to manipulate asymmetries and maximize parental reproductive output. What may at first appear to be parental cooperation with the elder chick may in fact mask a genetic parent-offspring conflict.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: A dominant-subordinate relationship always exists between chicks in a brood. Although dominant A-chicks grow faster and survive past infancy more often than subordinate B-chicks, no difference in reproductive success is seen between the two types of siblings during adulthood. In one longitudinal study, no long-term effects of dominance hierarchies were apparent; in fact, subordinate chicks were often observed producing nests of their own before their dominant siblings.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Blue-footed boobies make raucous or polysyllabic grunts or shouts and thin whistling noises. The males of the species have been known to throw up their heads and whistle at a passing, flying female. These ritual displays are also a form of communication.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Mates can recognize each other by their calls. Although calls differed between sexes, unique individual signatures were present. Both males and females can discriminate the calls of their mates from others.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Concerns of a decline in the booby population of the Galápagos Islands prompted a research project in its cause. The project, completed in April 2014, confirmed the population decline. The blue-footed booby population appears to be having trouble breeding, thus is slowly declining. The decline is feared to be long-term, but annual data collection is needed for a firm conclusion that this is not a normal fluctuation.


title: Blue-footed booby

text: Food problems may be the cause of an observed failure of the birds to even try to breed. This is related to a decline in sardines ("Sardinops sagax"), an important part of the boobies’ diet. Earlier work on Española Island had successful breeding in blue-footed boobies that have access to sardines, in which case their diet consists essentially wholly of sardines. However, sardines have been largely absent from the Española area since 1997, as has been shown from Nazca boobies there, which also prefer sardines, but can breed using other prey. In 2012–13, roughly only half of prey items in the boobies' diet were sardines. No evidence was seen of other possible causes for the decline, such as effects of humans, introduced predators, or disease.