title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 4 September 2012, the BBC posted on their internet blog that Android users would soon be able to download programs using the BBC iPlayer app.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 19 September 2012, the BBC reported that an Adobe AIR-based iPlayer application had been developed for Android 4.1, as well as earlier versions. The application, named BBC Media Player, is intended to permit continued iPlayer support for the Android platform.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 5 November 2010, an official BBC iPlayer app that allows users to stream live television and radio, and catch-up on previously aired content became available for download on BlackBerry OS 5.0 (and higher) devices. A Wi-Fi connection is needed for an "optimal viewing experience" but 3 and Vodafone are allowing it run on their 3G networks.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 7 March 2008, a beta version for Apple's iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, and later iPad) was released, allowing streaming over a Wi-Fi connection. An update released on 12 December 2011 allowed streaming over 3G. On 4 September 2012, an update provided the ability to download programmes for up to 30 days, with a seven-day viewing window. The EDGE connectivity on the iPhone, however, is not supported, as it is too slow for streaming video.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: Non-iPhone users were found to be watching and downloading streams intended for iPhone users allowing them to play them on alternative devices. The BBC modified the iPlayer service on 13 March 2008 to prevent this.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: Through the month of June 2008, further methods were discovered by iPlayer users to watch and download streams intended for iPhones. A Ruby


title: BBC iPlayer

text: hole was followed by the BBC introducing XOR encryption on parts of the downloaded files if a genuine iPhone was not detected.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: The BBC introduced specially crafted web bugs, referrer checks and download chunk limits, such that only devices exhibiting this behaviour, i.e. a genuine iPhone handset, would be able to stream the video content. A cycle of updates and reverse engineering has followed such that all the various streams, both for the iPhone and Flash streaming service, are now able to be downloaded without the need for decryption or DRM circumvention. This has been made possible by various software which can effectively simulate a RTMP Flash client or an iPhone. In early December 2010, the iPhone MP3 access was being changed to use HTTPS. The server checks the client's certificate and only accepts connections for those issued to Apple. This change to the protocol not only prevents access to non-Apple devices but also disables use by a number of early generation iPod Touch devices.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 28 July 2011, BBC Worldwide released an international version of the iPlayer for the iPad. A UK version of the iPlayer for iPad app was also launched, however, this version only allowed streaming video and did not allow any offline viewing. In December 2011, the iPlayer app was extended to work with the iPhone and iPod Touch.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 18 September 2008, the BBC announced that a version will become available to the Nokia N96 mobile phone as a download service to allow viewers to watch programmes even when they are out of reach of Wi-Fi or 3G networks. The launch date was set of 1 October 2008.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: Shortly after on 9 September 2008, even before the BBC Nokia N96 download service had gone live, a method was published to independently download and play the iPlayer N96 3GP stream on other mobiles, Linux and macOS.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: BBC Released BBC iPlayer app on Windows Phone 8 devices on 15 May 2013 as a mobile wrapper UI. Available on the Windows Phone Store.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In early December 2008, iPlayer was updated to include streaming radio and television, and extended to a variety of handsets including Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N8, Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson C905, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and Sony Ericsson W995.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: BBC Store codenamed Project Barcelona launched in the UK and opened the archive to consumers and allowed users to buy a show and download it. BBC Store was approved by the BBC Trust in 2014 and the store launched in 2015. It was initially hosted on a dedicated website but later integrated with BBC iPlayer. BBC Store closed in 2017.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: Before the launch in December 2007, the BBC had hoped the service would reach half a million users in its first six months.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: This turned out to be a gross underestimate, as 3.5 million programmes were streamed or downloaded in the first three weeks alone. "The Guardian" described these figures as "remarkably promising".


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In its first year, 2008, growth continued at an impressive rate. By April, the iPlayer accounted for around five percent of all UK Internet traffic, and had approximately five million page views per day by June. In December, it was announced that more than 180 million programmes have been watched on iPlayer since its release. During the BAFTAs in May, the iPlayer won the "Interactive Innovation Service/Platform" Award, beating Channel 4's 'Big Art Mob' and the Bebo 'Open Media Platform'. The streaming of programmes forms the lion's share of the success, outnumbering downloads eight to one in January 2008, and 97:3 in October 2009.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In the month of October 2009, it was revealed that the site experienced 70 million requests and transferred seven petabytes of data. Television formed about two thirds of all requests, with radio making up the rest. Most TV was streamed from pre-recorded footage, whereas live streaming was preferred of radio. Eighty-five percent of requests were from computers, with much of the rest coming from iPods, iPhones and PS3s (from a total of 15 platforms). The most popular TV programme of 2009 was "Top Gear", and the most popular radio was that reporting The Ashes.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: The success of the iPlayer may be down to a "long tail" effect, with users seeking out niche programmes; programmes broadcast on digital channels are doing remarkably well. However, this is expected to change with the introduction of booking programmes to download in advance, and automatic downloading of the next episode.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In 2008, the bandwidth use of iPlayer was met with some concern and criticism from UK ISPs. Several ISPs, notably Tiscali, called on the BBC to partially fund network upgrades to cope with iPlayer traffic. The BBC responded by saying that the iPlayer was driving demand for broadband subscriptions.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: By May 2010, the site was getting 123 million monthly play requests. The service was being used by 40 per cent of online adults in the UK by March 2012.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: During the 2005 and 2006 iPlayer trials, the digital rights management (DRM) system used was based on Microsoft's Windows Media DRM, which led to concerns about cross-platform availability, as this technology is available only for Windows XP. However, some users have managed to get it working using compatibility options in Microsoft's Windows Vista. The BBC emphasises that it "has a commitment to platform neutrality and a remit to make its content as widely available as possible", and that while the initial trial used a Microsoft-based technology, they are constantly looking for new technologies which would enable them to relax the restriction: Ashley Highfield, then BBC's director of Future Media and Technology, explained that "we have always started with the platform that reaches the most people and then rolled it out from there". They also point out that not all of the content delivered through the iPlayer will be subject to DRM – live streaming content, for instance, may not need the same level of control, presumably implying that players for OS X and Linux systems could be developed with a restricted range of content. However, a project was started to enable the iPlayer to work with other platforms via the Wine project. Streaming via the BBC iPlayer website is now available in all browsers supporting Adobe Flash. Also, iPlayer Desktop, which allows downloading programmes for later offline viewing, is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 14 August 2007, the Free Software Foundation staged a demonstration outside BBC Television Centre. The FSF's Peter T. Brown criticised the BBC for what he claimed was a break from previous tradition: the insistence that, for the first time, BBC viewers would be forced to use proprietary technology to watch BBC programmes.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: On 18 February 2010, the BBC updated iPlayer with an SWF verification layer which attempts to close the door on open source implementations of Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) streaming. The attempt was unsuccessful, with most existing open source applications remaining capable of playing or downloading RTMP content from the iPlayer.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: BBC TV productions are paid for by the UK television licence fee and rights agreements with third parties. Thus, all BBC iPlayer TV programmes are accessible from IP addresses allocated to the UK only, . However, most radio programmes can be accessed globally, with the exception of a few programmes, mainly sports broadcasts, that are affected by rights issues.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: An international version of the iPlayer was launched on 28 July 2011 in eleven western European countries, after receiving the approval of the BBC Trust in November 2010. The international iPlayer takes the form of an iPad application which offers a limited amount of free content, supported by pre-roll ads and sponsorship, but its core business model is subscription (subscription costs approximately £5.00 per month). The global iPlayer app includes some features that are not in the UK version, including the ability to stream shows over 3G as well as Wi-Fi, and a downloading feature to store programmes on one's mobile device for offline viewing. At launch 1,500 hours of content was made available, of which 60% had been produced and commissioned by the BBC, while 30% had been commissioned by the BBC but produced by independents. The other 10% was entirely non-BBC content, including ITV's "Primeval", and Channel 4's "The Naked Chef" and "Misfits". Launches in Australia and Canada followed by the end of 2011 as part of what was intended to be a one-year pilot.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: Although US availability was also anticipated in 2011, an American launch date was never announced. Reports from the summer of 2012 claimed that American cable providers threatened to drop BBC America if the iPlayer, which duplicates much of the content on the cable channel, were made available in the US market. In a statement on the difficulties facing the US rollout, BBC's Head of Communications for Global iPlayer Tessa Matchett said: "The United States is a very complex media market. Currently, we have one very successful cable channel in BBC America, and we’re looking into what options we have to roll out additional platforms in that country." In May 2015, it was announced that the global iPlayer service would be discontinued.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In early 2016, BBC Worldwide launched a version of the iPlayer service in Singapore, rebranded as BBC Player. The service is only available to Starhub subscribers who have subscribed to the BBC channels package in Singapore. The service was extended into Malaysia in 2017, however the service can only be accessed by UniFi subscribers who have signed up for the Jumbo pack on Hypp.TV. Access for Streamyx subscribers with the same Hypp.TV package was added a few months later.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In March 2017, BBC Worldwide, as part of a joint venture with ITV plc, and BBC America co-owner AMC Networks, launched a new U.S. subscription video-on-demand service known as BritBox.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: In 2009, the BBC's April Fools' joke was a press release announcing the availability of the iPlayer on a specialised toaster, supposedly for users to watch breakfast television.


title: BBC iPlayer

text: The volume control of the iPlayer goes up to 11, apparently a nod to a scene about an amplifier volume control that goes up to eleven in the rock mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984).


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Queen + Adam Lambert (sometimes referred to as Q+AL or QAL) is a collaboration between the active members of the British band Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor) and American vocalist Adam Lambert. As with all other Queen performances since 1997, longstanding bassist John Deacon has declined to participate in the project due to his retirement. This is the first long-term collaboration of Queen since the Queen + Paul Rodgers project ended in 2009. Like the previous project, it was made clear that Lambert would not be replacing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, but rather that he would be featured with the band's active members.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: The Queen + Adam Lambert collaboration originated when May and Taylor appeared on "American Idol" in 2009 when Lambert was a contestant. They began performing occasionally in 2011, conducted a short European tour in 2012, and in 2014 announced a world tour, the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2014–2015 with dates in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and South America. In the summer of 2016, the group performed several dates as part of a festival tour in Europe and several dates in Asia. The next year, the group announced a second worldwide tour scheduled for 2017 and 2018. After the success of the film "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018), they announced their third worldwide tour called The Rhapsody Tour. This tour took the band back to North America in 2019 and to South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia playing stadiums early 2020. The European dates, including 10 shows at The O2 Arena in London, were scheduled for the summer of 2020. These shows have been postponed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Joining May, Taylor and Lambert are long-time Queen touring keyboardist Spike Edney, bassist Neil Fairclough and percussionist Tyler Warren. Although there are no immediate plans to release a studio album with this lineup, May and Taylor have stated that there is a possibility of the group recording original material.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Queen and Lambert first performed together in 2009 when Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared as guests on the eighth season of "American Idol" on which Lambert was a contestant. On the show, Lambert and the eventual winner Kris Allen performed "We Are the Champions" together with the band. Soon after the finale, May indicated to "Rolling Stone" that he was considering Lambert as a frontman for Queen. May later revealed that he became interested in Lambert as a replacement for Paul Rodgers after watching a video of Lambert's audition for "American Idol" where he performed "Bohemian Rhapsody".


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: In November 2011, Lambert joined Queen for a performance at the MTV Europe Awards in Belfast where Queen received a Global Icon Award. It was then reported in December 2011 that Taylor and May had begun discussions with Lambert for him to front Queen in concert. On 30 June 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert played their first full concert at Kyiv's Independence Square for a joint show with Elton John in aid of the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: After their first performance in Kyiv in 2012, a Queen + Adam Lambert mini-tour followed with dates in Moscow, Wrocław, and London. In September 2013, they appeared as a headliner at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. In March 2014, they announced a 19-date Queen + Adam Lambert North American tour in the summer of 2014, which was then extended to 24 dates. In May 2014, tour dates in Australia were also announced, followed by New Zealand. The band also performed in South Korea and Japan. The tour was then extended to 2015 with dates in Europe and the UK as well as South America.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Queen + Adam Lambert 2016 Summer Festival Tour started on 20 May 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and ended on 30 September 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: On 26 January 2017, a 26-date concert tour through North America was announced. The tour, which includes four dates in Canada, started on 23 June 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona and ended on 5 August 2017 in Houston, Texas. In April 2017, it was announced that the tour would be expanded to include 26 dates in Europe. Two months later, it was announced that the group would perform in New Zealand and Australia in February and March 2018. In February 2018, a second European leg was announced.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: On 3 December 2018, Queen + Adam Lambert announced a North American tour taking place from July to August 2019, called The Rhapsody Tour. On 7 April 2019 Queen + Adam Lambert announced they are bringing The Rhapsody Tour to Australia for 6 Stadium shows in February 2020 and on 8 April 2019 they announced 3 more shows in New Zealand. On 17 April 2019, four tour dates were announced for Japan in January 2020; Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: On March 31, 2020, Queen + Adam Lambert confirmed that their touring dates for their final leg in Europe planned for the year were postponed two times until 2022 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, May, Taylor and Lambert released "You Are the Champions" on 1 May 2020, with proceeds going to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. On 2 October 2020, Queen + Adam Lambert released the live album called: Live Around the World.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Queen + Adam Lambert have appeared on a number of television shows. On 30 November 2014 they performed "Somebody to Love" with the "X Factor" contestants joining in the final chorus. The band performed two songs on the Christmas special of the "Helene Fischer Show" on German television. One of them was "I Want It All" and the other was "Who Wants to Live Forever" which was a duet between Lambert and Helene Fischer.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: The band performed a special concert, Queen & Adam Lambert Rock Big Ben Live, which was broadcast live on BBC One on New Year's Eve 2014 and into New Year's Day 2015. The concert was performed in the shadow of Big Ben in Central Hall Westminster, and the show paused for the chimes of the Big Ben in the New Year countdown and the firework display in London. In February 2017, the band appeared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" where Corden and Lambert have a sing-off to determine who the better Queen frontman would be. In June 2017, they also made an appearance for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", where they performed multiple songs during a live concert sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: Queen + Adam Lambert announced a 10-date residency at Park Theater in Las Vegas in September 2018. They also performed at the 91st Academy Awards on 24 February 2019 to celebrate "Bohemian Rhapsody." They then closed out Global Citizen Festival 2019 on 28 September.


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: On 16 February 2020 they appeared at Fire Fight Australia, a 10-hour charity concert in Sydney, Australia following the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, where they performed the same set list that Queen performed at Live Aid in 1985. Afterwards, Brian May told fans on social media "I don’t think I’ve felt quite like that since Live Aid."


title: Queen + Adam Lambert

text: The band was the opening act for the Platinum Party at the Palace, a concert in front of Buckingham palace, London, in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, with a three song set.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. () is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani (in his directorial debut) and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was the first installment of "Munna Bhai series". Released in India on 19 December 2003, it features Sunil Dutt in his final film role as the father to his real-life son, Sanjay Dutt, who stars as the titular character. The cast also includes Gracy Singh, Jimmy Sheirgill, Arshad Warsi, Rohini Hattangadi, and Boman Irani.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Based in Mumbai, the films follows Munna Bhai (Sanjay Dutt), a goon who tries to please his father (Sunil Dutt) by pretending to be a doctor. When a doctor, Asthana (Irani), exposes Munna's lies and tarnishes his father's honor, Munna enrols in a medical college. Hijinks ensue when Munna, upon finding that Asthana is the college's dean, vows revenge, while also sparking a romance with a house doctor, Suman (Singh), unaware that she is Asthana's daughter.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S." was a major critical and commercial success, and was later followed by a second film "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", thus becoming the first installment of the "Munna Bhai film series". The film went on to win the 2004 National Film Award for Best Popular Film, and several Filmfare awards, including the Best Film (Critics) and Best Screenplay. At the box office, it achieved a silver jubilee status (25-week run) being one of only eight Hindi films to have achieved this status since the year 2000. In its 26th week of release, the film could still be found playing on 300 screens throughout India.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Hirani revealed in an interview in September 2019 that production on the third Munna Bhai film starring Dutt in the title role will begin in towards the end of 2020.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Murli Prasad Sharma, nicknamed "Munna Bhai", runs an extortion racket on the streets of Mumbai. He is supported by his loyal henchman, Circuit, who does most of his work for him. Once a year, Munna's gang converts his hide-out into a fully-functioning hospital, to fool Munna's visiting parents Hariprasad and Parvati, who believe Munna has become a real doctor. Munna's goons take turns playing doctors, staff and patients, to keep up the charade.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: This works for many years, until one of Hari's annual visits with Parvati culminates in Hari bumping into Dr. Jagdish Asthana, who founded the first hospital in Munna's village years ago. Hari proposes to Asthana that they get Asthana's daughter "Chinki" and Munna married. Asthana agrees, even though Munna calls "Chinki" and asks her to reject him, lest his parents discover the truth. However, it is when his maid reacts shockingly to Munna's photo that Asthana realizes the truth, and exposes Munna to Hari and Parvati. Humiliated and embarrassed at their son's lack of a real vocation, his parents leave the city and return home. Munna vows to set things right and exact vengeance from Asthana by getting a medical degree, but unknowingly ends up enrolling in the same college whose dean is Asthana. Certain that Munna has cheated his way through the entrance exam, but pending real evidence, Asthana is forced to allow Munna to study there.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Upon becoming a student, Munna falls back to his ways by flouting all the rules of the hospital. He enforces his regime of "common-sense treatment", directly challenging Asthana's conventional opinions to get under his skin. He also calls upon Circuit to 'tweak' the system for him when needed. His behaviour is well-received by the hospital staff and patients, who are able to see the good-natured intent behind his anti-establishment actions.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Meanwhile, Munna also develops a friendly relationship with Dr. Suman, who works at the hospital, unaware that she is "Chinki", an ignorance she hilariously exploits. Munna uses old-fashioned kindness and love to 'cure' many patients at the hospital, including Karan, a suicidal youngster he met on his first day of college, and home surgeon Dr. Rustom Pawri's father, who at one point fell ill and short of a desire to live. He even arranges to bring a stripper inside the patient ward to cheer up Zaheer, a man dying from cancer who he befriends in the process.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: When Asthana learns about the stripper episode, he sees this as a potential reason to expel Munna on disciplinary grounds, but is unable to do so after Munna injures himself in order to stay back. However, when he does recover, the hospital staff, patients and students stand in Asthana's way and refuse to let Munna leave. Munna is then made to take a test in front of the entire college the next day to keep his enrolment. Later that night, Zaheer dies; still in shock, Munna gives up at a point during the test and leaves; in the process, Anand Banerjee, a paraplegic patient who has been brain-dead for the last 12 years, comes back to life. Asthana, finally moved, is forced to change his opinion of Munna.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Munna does not end up becoming a doctor, but news of his 'miraculous' treatments reaches his parents. They return to the city and forgive him. Munna ends up marrying Suman after learning of her true identity, and together, they open a real hospital in Munna's family village.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: In an interview, Hirani discussed how the idea for the film emerged from his interaction with some friends who were medical students. Later, he also had the opportunity to interact with a lot of medical professionals when some members of his family became sick. These experiences gave birth to the idea for the film.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: During the scripting stage, Hirani wanted Anil Kapoor to play the lead role. However, Shah Rukh Khan was later cast as Munna along with Sanjay Dutt as Zaheer but due to his back problems Khan was forced to turn down the film. Nevertheless, the end credits of the film thank Khan for his inputs into the script. Hirani also narrated the script to Aishwarya Rai during the time he was in talks with Shahrukh Khan. Khan and Rai were working together on Devdas at the time. Vivek Oberoi was considered for the role, but in the end Sanjay Dutt took the role as Munna, which ultimately gave him an image make over and helped change the public perception of the controversial superstar; his real-life father Sunil Dutt returned to the silver screen after 10 years to play Munna's father. This is the first and only film in which real-life father and son Sunil and Sanjay appear together, although they both appeared in "Reshma Aur Shera" (1971), "Rocky" (1981) and "Kshatriya" (1993) but not in any scenes together.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: The original choice for Circuit's role was Makarand Deshpande. Arshad Warsi took over the role which proved to be a turning point for his career. The scenes of the Medical College were shot at the Agriculture College of Pune and Grant Medical College Mumbai.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: The film has a similar premise to the 1998 American film "Patch Adams", starring Robin Williams. The producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, however, denies there being a resemblance, and says that he had not watched the film before the release of "Munna Bhai".


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Hirani did not have a big budget to shoot the film. As a result, he had to change the way certain scenes were shot. For example, the film ends with stills of Munna Bhai's wedding. Hirani was told that setting up a wedding stage and making a wedding outfit for Gracie Singh would cost him several thousand rupees. To save on some of that money, Hirani arranged to have the stills shot on an actual wedding stage set up for a real wedding near the sets. The production team reached an agreement with the wedding hall management and used their stage after a wedding ended.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: The music is composed by Anu Malik. Lyrics for the songs are penned by Abbas Tyrewala and Rahat Indori. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's one of the highest-selling.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S." was the recipient of a number of awards. At the 50th Filmfare Awards, it received the Best Film (Critics), Best Screenplay, the Best Dialogue, and Best Comedian (for Warsi) in addition to four other nominations. It won a number of awards at the 2004 Zee Cine Awards including Best Debuting Director, Best Actor in a Comic Role (for Warsi), Best Cinematography, and Best Dialogue.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: Other ceremonies include the 2004 National Film Awards where it won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and the 2004 International Indian Film Academy Awards where it won the IIFA Best Comedian Award.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: In February 2004, after the success of "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.", Rajkumar Hirani decided to work on his next project. He, along with his co-writer Abhijat Joshi, started to write the script of their new film. They didn't wanted that script to include Munnabhai but after they wrote it, the script eventually turned out to be of "Lage Raho Munna Bhai". Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Dutt, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani were to reprise their roles but after the death of Sunil in May 2005, Hirani decided that the film will only have Sanjay & Warsi to reprise their characters from "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S." and other actors like Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill were cast in new roles. "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" was released on 1 September 2006 and turned out to be a huge success.


title: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

text: The film was remade in Tamil as "Vasool Raja MBBS" (2004), in Telugu as "Shankar Dada M.B.B.S." (2004), in Kannada as "Uppi Dada M.B.B.S." (2007) and in Sinhala as "Dr. Nawariyan" (2017).


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The Inheritance Cycle is a tetralogy of young adult high fantasy novels written by American author Christopher Paolini. Set in the fictional world of Alagaësia (), the novels focus on the adventures of a teenage boy named Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, as they struggle to overthrow the evil king Galbatorix. The series was originally intended to be a trilogy (named the "Inheritance Trilogy") until Paolini announced on October 30, 2007, while working on the third novel, that he believed the story was too complex to conclude in just three books.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The book series as a whole received mixed reviews by critics, but has gained both popularity and commercial success. The first book in the series, "Eragon", was originally self-published by Paolini in 2001, and subsequently re-published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on June 25, 2003. The second book in the series, "Eldest", was published by Knopf on August 23, 2005. Both were New York Times bestsellers. The third book in the series, "Brisingr", was published by Knopf on September 20, 2008. The fourth and final book in the series, "Inheritance", was published by Knopf on November 8, 2011. The series has sold 33.5 million copies worldwide.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: In 2006, a feature film was released based on the first book in the cycle, "Eragon", starring Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Djimon Hounsou. The film received generally negative reviews, but closed as the 13th highest grossing fantasy-live action film within the United States.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Homeschooled by his parents, Christopher Paolini graduated from high school at the age of fifteen, but felt he was not yet mature enough for college, so he wrote "Eragon" in his spare time. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters, and then presented it to his parents. They had it self-published by the family publishing company, Paolini International, and Paolini then travelled to various schools advertising his novel. In 2002, author Carl Hiaasen discovered the book while his stepson was reading it, and brought it to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. It was republished by Knopf in 2003.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: "Brisingr"—a word that means "fire" in Alagaësia's ancient language, taken from Old Norse—was published on September 20, 2008. Paolini's announcement of the book's publishing date included the revelation that the Inheritance Trilogy would now contain four books instead of three, thus resulting in the renaming of the series to the Inheritance Cycle.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: "Inheritance" was announced by Random House on March 23, 2011 with the cover artwork. It was released on November 8, 2011 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: In the fictional land of Alagaësia, an order was originally created to oversee the countries and bring peace to the world. This group was known as the Dragon Riders, for they rode dragons, the rider formed a bond with the dragon in accordance with a pact made between elves and dragons millennia earlier. Later, humans were involved in the Riders too. One Dragon Rider named Galbatorix suffered the death of his dragon, Jarnunvösk, at the hands of a group of Urgals (a species of brutish humanoids); the dragon's death pushed him to insanity. Denied another dragon by the Council of Elder Riders, Galbatorix blamed the Council for the death of his dragon and sought to destroy the order. He made an alliance with an ambitious young rider, Morzan, and with his help slew another rider and took his dragon, Shruikan captive. Using magic, he broke Shruikan's will and forced the dragon to serve him. Gathering more Riders to his cause, he created the Thirteen Forsworn and with their help took over Ilirea, the capital of the Broddring Kingdom, and destroyed Doru Araeba, the centre of the Dragon Riders. Galbatorix slew the Elders, their leader Vrael, taking his sword, Islingr, and most of the Dragon Riders, along with their dragons, taking many Eldunarí, or the Heart of Hearts, which is a gem inside dragons that their consciousness can remain in even after they die. When the remaining dragons found out that the betrayal was aided by their own species, they collectively cast a spell on the Forsworns' dragons, which prevents them from being named.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Elder Rider Oromis and his Dragon Glaedr fled to Ellesméra, the capital of the elves' kingdom in the forest Du Weldenvarden, while Morzan confronted his old friend Brom, slaying his dragon Saphira. However, Morzan showed mercy to Brom, who later escaped. After the fall of the Riders, Galbatorix declared himself King over all of Alagaësia. He then focused his efforts onto going after the elves and the dwarfs but he couldn't find them.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Over the next century, several of the Forsworn were killed either from battle or power struggles or committed suicide after going mad. Galbatorix shut himself up for more than forty years, bending the Eldunarí to his will. His negligence allowed a Southern region called Surda to gain independence from the Empire and become its own country. Brom created the Varden, a rebellion meant to oppose the Empire. He killed three of the Forsworn personally, including Morzan; and orchestrated the deaths of five more. While working undercover for the Varden in Morzan's staff Brom fell in love with Morzan's wife, Selena. Selena, who already had borne Morzan's son, became pregnant with Brom's child. She returned to Carvahall, her brother Garrow's home, to give birth to the child. After begging her brother and his wife to raise her son, Eragon, as their own, she left Carvahall to return to Morzan and her first son. She died soon afterward. When Brom needed to disappear, he travelled to Carvahall, disguised as a storyteller to be near his son, who was not aware of his relationship to Brom.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The first book in the series started when a Shade named Durza (servant of Galbatorix) ambushed three elves named Fäolin, Glewin and Arya, who was carrying a dragon egg. Only two other dragon eggs remained, in the citadel in Ilirea, renamed Urû'baen by Galbatorix. Arya attempted to send the egg to Brom, but the remaining Eldunarí, which were hidden in the Vault of Souls, a secret cave hidden on the island Vroengard, near Doru Araeba, altered the spell making the egg go to Eragon, because they believed that the egg might hatch for him (revealed in the final book), who finds the egg while on a hunting trip. A few days later, the egg hatches and Eragon touches the dragon that was inside of the egg, giving him a silver mark on his palm (the gëdwey ignasia) and making Eragon a Dragon Rider through their bond. The hatchling chooses the name Saphira from a list of dragon names Eragon recites, from Brom, to her. Eragon's cousin, Roran, leaves for a job in the next town Therinsford, to earn money so he can start a family with his beloved, Katrina. His uncle, Garrow, is killed by King Galbatorix's servants, the Ra'zac, and Eragon flees Carvahall with Brom with the intention of hunting down the Ra'zac, unaware that Brom is his father. Brom gives Morzan's sword, Zar'roc, to Eragon.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: On the journey, Brom teaches Eragon sword fighting, magic, a minimal understanding of the ancient language, and the ways of the Dragon Riders. On the journey they become close friends. Once again the Eldunarí decide to act, sending Eragon dreams of Arya, who is imprisoned in Gil'ead. Halfway through their journey, their camp is ambushed by the Ra'zac and a stranger named Murtagh rescues them, but Brom is mortally wounded. In his dying breath, Brom reveals to Eragon that he once was a Dragon Rider and his dragon was also named Saphira.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Eragon decides to follow his dream of Arya to Gil'ead, and Murtagh and Eragon rescue her, though Eragon has to battle Durza. When Arya remains unconscious for days on end, Eragon decides to take a risk and communicate with their thoughts. Arya tells him how to find the Varden. They flee to the Varden as they are being chased by Kull (overlarge Urgals). As they are trapped by the Kull, Murtagh is revealed to be Morzan's son. A dwarf named Orik saves them with the help of some of the Varden. One of The Twins, two nasty bald men, examines Eragon's memories, but Murtagh refuses to let anyone into his head. Eragon and Murtagh are taken to Tronjheim, the city-mountain at the center of the hollow mountain Farthen Dûr. The leader of the Varden, Ajihad, imprisons Murtagh after he refuses again to allow his mind to be read, even though Ajihad recognizes Murtagh's voice. Eragon is properly introduced to Ajihad, his daughter Nasuada, the dwarf King Hrothgar, and his foster son Orik. The Varden are attacked by an army of Urgals. In the ensuing battle, Eragon gets separated from the main fighting and finds himself in a one-on-one duel with Durza. In the duel, Eragon receives a large cursed scar on his back, but Arya and Saphira break Isidar Mithrim, the Star Rose, creating a distraction long enough for Eragon to stab Durza through the heart. In the aftermath, Ajihad is killed by a band of stray Urgals, and Murtagh and The Twins are captured.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Meanwhile, Roran is wanted by the Empire. His supporters help him fortify and defend Carvahall. He later evacuates to Surda along with most of the villagers, intending to join the Varden.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Eragon, Saphira, Orik and Arya set off to Ellesméra, the capital of the elves, to finish Eragon’s training. When they arrived, they met Queen Islanzadí, who they find out was Arya's mother. Eragon was tutored by a rider called Oromis who had a dragon named Glaedr. During an elvish Agaetí Blödhren, or Blood-Oath Celebration, honoring the pact between elves and dragons, Eragon is changed by a symbolic dragon, giving him elf-like abilities and completely healing his back as well as all of his other injuries. Eragon then reveals his true feelings to Arya. After much persistence, Arya angrily rejects Eragon's suit. Meanwhile, Nasuada moves the Varden to the separate country of Surda which is ruled by King Orrin, and Roran moves the villagers of Carvahall to Surda, after their village was destroyed by the Ra'zac, who also captured Katrina. Eragon returns to the Varden, and Nasuada allows the Urgals to join the ranks of the Varden, even though her decision is opposed by many. The next day there is a great battle against Galbatorix's minions. During the battle, a ship arrives with Roran and the entire village of Carvahall. Roran kills The Twins, who are revealed to have planned the death of Ajihad. Meanwhile, Eragon and Saphira confront an enemy Rider, who kills King Hrothgar, and turns out to be Murtagh, and Thorn, who hatched from the second egg and whose growth was accelerated by Galbatorix, making him almost as large as Saphira. Murtagh says that he is sworn to Galbatorix, who extracted oaths of fealty from him and Thorn, and that he and Eragon are brothers. This he says in the ancient language, meaning he can't lie. He takes Zar'roc from Eragon, but shows him mercy, interpreting Galbatorix's orders in a different way.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Eragon, Saphira, and Roran arrive at Helgrind, the Gates of Death, near Dras-Leona, where they free Katrina. Eragon and Roran slay the Raz'ac while Saphira kills the Lethrblaka, the Ra'zac's adult form. Eragon stays behind because he finds Katrina's father Sloan, who betrayed the villagers of Carvahall to the Ra'zac. He finds out Sloan's true name, and uses it to make him go to Ellesméra. Then Eragon catches up with the rest of the Varden. He then goes to the Beor mountains and helps Orik become king of the dwarves, and Saphira fulfills her promise to mend Isidar Mithrim. After that, Eragon goes back to Du Weldenvarden and creates his own sword Brisingr, which bursts into flames each time Eragon speaks its name, and learns from Oromis and Glaedr that Brom is his real father (Eragon and Murtagh are actually only half brothers) and of the Eldunarí, which are also the source of Galbatorix's power.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The Varden capture several cities of the Empire, and Oromis and Glaedr are killed by Murtagh and Thorn, though Glaedr has given his Eldunarí to Eragon and Saphira to further their training. After the defeat of one of the Empire's cities, Nasuada is captured by Murtagh, who becomes attached to her and heals her of her injuries, which causes an identity switch, breaking his oath to Galbatorix. Eragon travels to the Vault of Souls, which has a massive amount of secret Eldunarí and dragon eggs hidden from Galbatorix. Taking the Eldunarí, he faces Galbatorix, who uses the true name of the ancient language against Eragon. Eragon duels Murtagh, besting him. Then Eragon and Galbatorix have a fierce mental battle, where Eragon accidentally forces Galbatorix to commit suicide with an improvised spell.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Murtagh and Thorn retreat to somewhere in the north to have some time to themselves, but Eragon tracks him down. Murtagh tells him the name of the ancient language. Nasuada, after a heated debate with the other leaders of the rebellion, becomes the High Queen of Alagaësia, and changes Urû'baen back to Ilirea. Arya returns to Du Weldenvarden to help choose a new monarch for the elves after the death of Queen Islanzadí in battle, and is chosen herself. She takes with her the rescued green dragon egg, which soon hatches for her. Thus, Arya becomes a Rider with her dragon named Fírnen. Near the end of the book, Arya reveals this to Eragon, as well as her True Name, while Saphira decides to test Fírnen "to see if he has the iron in his bones, and the fire in his belly to match [her]". The two dragons become mates shortly thereafter.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Eragon reworks the magic of the original pact between elves and dragons to include both dwarves and Urgals, allowing the dragon eggs to hatch for members of their races. Eragon, coming to the conclusion that there is no safe place to raise the dragons and train new Riders in Alagaësia, begins planning transport of the Eldunarí and the eggs to a region far from Alagaësia, save for two eggs which are kept in Alagaësia: one is to be sent to the dwarves, and the other to the Urgals. Those future Riders will travel to Eragon's new home for training, while new eggs will be sent back to Alagaësia to hatch for new Riders. At the end of the book, Eragon & Saphira depart Alagaësia forever.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The series is set on the mythical continent of Alagaësia. Its name was invented by the author, although other place names in the series are drawn from real-world examples.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The Beor Mountains are a vast and incredibly tall mountain range in the southeast of Alagaësia. Within this area is the Az Ragni (The River) and Beartooth River, as well as multiple dwarf cities. The city of Tronjheim is located inside the hollow mountain Farthen Dûr. Northwest of Farthen Dûr is Tarnag, the home of Celbedeil, a great dwarven temple, and Dûrgrimstnz Quan and Ragni Hefthyn.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Du Weldenvarden (The Guarding Forest) is a dense forest which covers the north of Alagaësia. The elves live in Du Weldenvarden, and their cities of Ceris and Ellesméra (named after Ellesmere Island) are located within the forest, as well as other cities, the Gaena River, and Lake Ardwen.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The Empire covers the west of Alagaësia and is the area under the control of King Galbatorix. The area is populated by humans living in cities and towns including Aroughs, Belatona, Bullridge, Carvahall, Ceunon, Daret, Dras-Leona, Eastcroft, Feinster, Furnost, Gil'ead, Kuasta, Melian, Narda, Therinsford, Teirm, Urû'baen, and Yazuac. The Empire is split by an untamed mountain range known as The Spine. One peak, named Utgard (from the Norse language), contains the Rider's sanctuary where Vrael died. The Palancar Valley, a major valley of The Spine, is the location of Eragon's hometown Carvahall and Therinsford and is thus where the Inheritance Cycle begins. It was named for the artist John Jude Palencar before he was chosen as the series' cover artist. Helgrind is a large black bare rock mountain known as the Gates of Death, near Dras-Leona. It is where the Ra'zac live.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: South of The Empire is the country of Surda which seceded from The Empire while Galbatorix was learning to use the dragons' Eldunari. Surda is home to the cities of Aberon, Cithrí, Dauth, Lithgow, Petrøvya, and Reavstone.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Northwest of the mainland lies the island of Vroengard, containing the city of Doru Araeba. This used to be the home of the Riders before they fell. Now, it is inhabited by strange creatures - later named by Eragon - and is almost completely abandoned except for a few strange people that Eragon saw.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: Alagaësia is populated by various sentient races, including humans, elves (the Fair Folk), dwarves, Urgals (Urgals who grow over 8 feet tall are referred to as Kull), dragons, werecats, weredogs/werewolves (mentioned in "Eldest" was a Weredog and as a woman with a cloak on (the hood and rest would cover ears and tail) who turned into a she-wolf. They have the ability to turn into any canine and appear as a human with a tail and wolf ears. She may or may not be an elf), spirits (beings of pure energy), Shades (a human that is possessed by a spirit or spirits that are stronger than the human vessel), and Ra'zac. Alagaësia was once host to a now extinct race or people known as the Grey Folk.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: There are multiple languages in the world of Alagaësia; many races have their own, and the ancient language—which is used to control magic—is spoken mainly by the elves. No one knows the true name of the ancient language, except for Eragon, Arya, Murtagh, and Galbatorix. It is impossible to lie while speaking the ancient language, but one can still write lies through the Liduen Kvaedhí. The common is spoken by all, but mainly humans. Many races can speak Common, including the dragons (through thought), though they more often communicate through the ancient language and through feelings and images. Dwarvish is spoken by the dwarves. The huge, gray-skinned Urgals speak their own guttural language, as well as more primitive Common. The Nomadic language is spoken by the various tribes that wander throughout Alagaësia. The Ra'zac and the Lethrblaka have their own form of communication—a series of clicks, hisses and rattles that no others have been able to speak or decipher. Werecats speak like any other cats.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: "Eragon's Guide to Alagaësia" is a supplemental book to the Inheritance Cycle, published in November 2009. The book takes the appearance of being written by Eragon after the events of "Inheritance", and is directed at a "young Dragon Rider" (the reader). It is a collection of information about the characters, settings and objects referred to in the Inheritance novels, and offers some hints as to the ending of Inheritance, Paolini's fourth book. Fully in color, the book features fifteen pieces of artwork depicting cities and the various races of Alagaësia. The illustrations were created by Fred Gambino, Larry McDougal, Ian Miller, and David Wyatt. According to the Publishers Weekly Children's Hardcover Frontlist, more than 100,000 copies of the book were sold in 2009.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: In an interview, Christopher Paolini stated that he was considering writing more stories set in Alagaësia. He plans for one of them to be a continuation of the Inheritance Cycle, and the others to be for new story lines (such as a possible prequel centering on Brom). A new book was published December 31, 2018 named "The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm".


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: In July 2022, Paolini tweeted that a TV adaptation was in very early stages of development. The show is set to air on Disney+, but a few details are yet to be unveiled.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The same tweet also announced that two new books would be published in 2023, but did not confirm if they would either be a continuation of the Inheritance Cycle, or a totally new concept.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: The books have been criticized for their derivative nature. The two most commonly discussed sources are "Star Wars" (because of numerous similarities in the plots) and "The Lord of the Rings" (because of the setting, elf and dwarf races, the language and character and place names). However, there were also many positive reviews.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: On December 15, 2006, a film adaptation of "Eragon" was released. The movie, starring Ed Speleers in the title role of Eragon, as well as Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Rachel Weisz, Sienna Guillory, Djimon Hounsou and Robert Carlyle, was produced by 20th Century Fox. Stefen Fangmeier made his directorial debut with "Eragon." The screenplay was written by Peter Buchman. Principal photography for the film took place in Hungary and Slovakia. A DVD of the movie was released March 20, 2007. The film received negative reviews, with complaints of amateur writing and of borrowing from "The Lord of the Rings." Despite the film's box office success, all planned sequels were cancelled.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: In June 2021, Christopher Paolini tweeted #EragonRemake in an effort to get Disney, the intellectual rights holders following their acquisition of 21st Century Fox, to revamp the book series into a possible television show for Disney+. Within hours, the hashtag began to trend with fans pushing for a proper adaptation.


title: The Inheritance Cycle

text: On July 25, 2022, "Variety" reported that a live action television series adaptation of "Eragon" was in early development for Disney+, with Paolini serving as a co-writer on the series, and with Bert Salke executive producing.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The World Cup is a solid gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, before the FIFA World Cup Trophy from 1974 to the present day. It is one of the most expensive trophies in sporting history, valued at $250,000.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The first trophy, originally named "Victory", but later renamed in honour of FIFA president Jules Rimet, was made of gold plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli. It depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Brazil won the trophy outright in 1970, prompting the commissioning of a replacement. The original Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in 1983 and never recovered.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The subsequent trophy, called the "FIFA World Cup Trophy", was introduced in 1974. Made of 18 karat gold with bands of malachite on its base, it stands 36.8 centimetres high and weighs 6.175 kilograms (30,875 carats). The trophy was made by the Stabilimento Artistico Bertoni company in Italy. It depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. The current holders of the trophy are Argentina, winners of the 2022 World Cup.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The Jules Rimet Trophy was the original prize for winning the FIFA World Cup. Originally called "Victory", but generally known simply as the "World Cup" or "Coupe du Monde", it was renamed in 1946 to honour the FIFA President Jules Rimet, who in 1929 passed a vote to initiate the competition. It was designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur and made of gold-plated sterling silver on a lapis lazuli base. In 1954 the base was replaced with a taller version to accommodate more winner's details. It stood 35 centimetres (14 in) high and weighed 3.8 kilograms (8.4 lb).


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: It comprised a decagonal cup, supported by a winged figure representing Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory. The Jules Rimet Trophy was taken to Uruguay for the first FIFA World Cup aboard the "Conte Verde", which set sail from Villefranche-sur-Mer, just southeast of Nice, in June 1930. This was the same ship that carried Jules Rimet and the footballers representing France, Romania, and Belgium who were participating in the tournament that year. The first team to be awarded the trophy was Uruguay, the winners of the 1930 World Cup.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: During World War II, the trophy was held by 1938 champion Italy. Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president of FIFA and president of FIGC, secretly transported the trophy from a bank in Rome and hid it in a shoe-box under his bed to prevent the Nazis from taking it. The 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden marked the beginning of a tradition regarding the trophy. As Brazilian captain Hilderaldo Bellini heard photographers' requests for a better view of the Jules Rimet Trophy, he lifted it up in the air. Every Cup-winning captain ever since has repeated the gesture.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: On 20 March 1966, four months before the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, the trophy was stolen during a public exhibition at Westminster Central Hall. It was found seven days later wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a suburban garden hedge in Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood, South London, by a black and white mongrel dog named Pickles.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: As a security measure, The Football Association secretly manufactured a replica of the trophy for use in exhibitions rather than the original. This replica was used on occasions up until 1970 when the original trophy had to be handed back to FIFA for the next competition. Since FIFA had explicitly denied the FA permission to create a replica, the replica also had to disappear from public view and was for many years kept under its creator's bed. This replica was sold at an auction in 1997 for £254,500, when it was purchased by FIFA. The high auction price, ten times the reserve price of £20,000–£30,000, was led by speculation that the auctioned trophy was not the replica trophy but the original itself. Testing by FIFA confirmed the auctioned trophy was a replica. Soon afterwards FIFA arranged for the replica to be lent for display at the English National Football Museum, which was then based in Preston but is now in Manchester.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The Brazilian team won the tournament for the third time in 1970, allowing them to keep the real trophy in perpetuity, as had been stipulated by Jules Rimet in 1930. It was put on display at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, in a cabinet with a front of bullet-proof glass.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: On 19 December 1983, the wooden rear of the cabinet was opened by force with a crowbar and the cup was stolen again. Four men were tried and convicted in absentia for the crime. The trophy has never been recovered, and it is widely believed to have been melted down and sold. Only one piece of the Jules Rimet Trophy has been found, the original base, which FIFA had kept in a basement of the federation's Zürich headquarters prior to 2015.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The Confederation commissioned a replica of their own, made by Eastman Kodak, using of gold. This replica was presented to Brazilian military president João Figueiredo in 1984.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: A replacement trophy was commissioned by FIFA for the 1974 World Cup. Fifty-three submissions were received from sculptors in seven countries. Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga was awarded the commission. The trophy stands tall and is made of or 30,875 Carats of 18 karat (75%) gold, worth approximately US$161,000 in 2018. Its base is in diameter containing two layers of malachite. Chemist Sir Martyn Poliakoff claims that the trophy is hollow because if it were solid gold, the trophy would weigh and would be too heavy to lift, but this claim was impossible to prove and it remained only a simple allegation. The controversies were fought and proven wrong by FIFA; at the specified dimensions, even with a full cylinder, the weight of the trophy could never exceed 28 kilograms. This proves that the trophy is not hollow, but made of solid gold.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: Produced by "Bertoni, Milano" in Paderno Dugnano, it depicts two human figures holding up the Earth. Gazzaniga described the trophy thus, "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory".


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The trophy has the engraving "FIFA World Cup" on its base. After the 1994 FIFA World Cup, a plate was added to the bottom side of the trophy where the names of winning countries are engraved, names therefore not visible when the trophy is standing upright. The original trophy is now permanently kept at the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich, Switzerland. It only leaves there when it goes on its FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. It is present at the Final draw for the next World Cup, and on the pitch at the World Cup opening game and Final. The FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour was inaugurated for the 2006 FIFA World Cup competition.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: The Cup used to be kept by the winning team until the final draw of the next tournament, however, that is no longer the case. Instead the winners of the tournament receive a bronze replica which is gold-plated rather than solid gold. The inscriptions state the year in figures and the name of the winning nation in its national language. For example, "1974 " or "1994 ". In 2010, the name of the winning nation was engraved as "2010 Spain", in English, not in Spanish. This was corrected in the new plate after the 2018 World Cup.


title: FIFA World Cup Trophy

text: As of 2018, twelve winners have been engraved on the base. The plate is replaced each World Cup cycle and the names of the trophy winners are rearranged into a spiral to accommodate future winners, with Spain on later occasions written in Spanish (). FIFA's regulations now state that the trophy, unlike its predecessor, cannot be won outright: the winners of the tournament receive a bronze replica which is gold-plated rather than solid gold. Germany became the first nation to win the new trophy for the third time when they won the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Argentina became the second nation to achieve this feat following their win in Qatar at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Kabir Khan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer who works in Hindi cinema. He started his career working in documentary films, and then made his feature film directorial debut in 2006 with "Kabul Express". He is best known for directing "Ek Tha Tiger" (2012) and "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" (2015). His latest film "83" was released in (2021).


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Khan was born to Rasheeduddin Khan, a Muslim Urdu Speaking father and Leela Narayan Rao, a Hindu Telugu-speaking mother. Rasheeduddin, who was a Pathan hailing from Kaimganj in Farrukhabad district, Uttar Pradesh, was a nephew of Dr. Zakir Hussain (President of India – 1967 to 1969) and a communist politician favored by Indira Gandhi as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha at a relatively young age, in the early 1970s. He was also a professor of political science, and in the early 1970s, he became one of the founding professors of Jawaharlal Nehru University. His sister, Anusheh, is the wife of film-maker Vijay Krishna Acharya, director of films like "Tashan" and "Dhoom 3".


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Khan studied at Kirori Mal College of Delhi University, as well as Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. He is married to television host & actress Mini Mathur, with whom he has 2 children, Vivaan and Sairah.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: In initial days, he worked with prominent journalist like Saeed Naqvi. Before becoming a full time film maker he has worked as a camera man and director with Saeed Naqvi and travelled across the globe to cover international issues.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Khan started his career at age 25 as a cinematographer for the Discovery Channel documentary film "Beyond the Himalayas" (1996) directed by Gautam Ghosh. He then made his own directorial debut with the documentary "The Forgotten Army" (1999) based on Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. He then directed two more documentaries before shifting his focus to mainstream cinema.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Khan debuted through the Yash Raj Films-backed "Kabul Express", which gained him the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director at the 54th National Film Awards. He then went on to direct two more films with Yash Raj Films, namely "New York" and "Ek Tha Tiger". While "Kabul Express" was a below average performer, both "New York" and "Ek Tha Tiger" led him to mainstream success.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: After his 3-film deal with Yash Raj Films ended, Khan set up his own production company, and ventured into mainstream screenwriting with "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", which is his most-successful film to date, and has been the third highest-grossing Indian film globally. The film garnered the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the 63rd National Film Awards. After the success of "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", he directed Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan in "Phantom", an all-out actioner based on the 26/11 attacks.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: Khan again collaborated with Salman on "Tubelight", an official remake of the 2015 American film "Little Boy", which was based in the backdrop of the 1962 Sino-Indian war and marked the debut of Chinese actress Zhu Zhu, with a worldwide release in June 2017. The film, just like the original, met with negative reviews, but was slightly better received due to Salman's performance and the direction. Later, in 2019, his first web series, "The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye", a 5-episode original based on Subhas Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj, released on Amazon Prime Video. The series has a different premise from his 1999 documentary of the same name.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: His next film is "The Zookeeper", a Sino-Indian production. It is a travel-related drama film which is being shot in the Chinese city of Chengdu and the surrounding region. The film has an estimated budget of (), and it will star a leading Indian actor and a leading Chinese actress.


title: Kabir Khan (director)

text: In the end of 2021, his long awaited film "83", was released. It is based on India's historic victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup, in which Ranveer Singh plays the role of Kapil Dev, the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team. It received widespread critical acclaim. Made on a budget of , the film only managed a worldwide gross collection of crore and was deemed a box-office failure.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion", and later came to refer to the overall storyline, including "Endymion", "The Rise of Endymion", and a number of short stories. More narrowly, inside the fictional storyline, after the first volume, the Hyperion Cantos is an epic poem written by the character Martin Silenus covering in verse form the events of the first two books.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: Of the four novels, "Hyperion" received the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1990; "The Fall of Hyperion" won the Locus and British Science Fiction Association Awards in 1991; and "The Rise of Endymion" received the Locus Award in 1998. All four novels were also nominated for various science fiction awards.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: First published in 1989, "Hyperion" has the structure of a frame story, similar to Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and Giovanni Boccaccio's "Decameron". The story weaves the interlocking tales of a diverse group of travelers sent on a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs on Hyperion. The travelers have been sent by the Church of the Final Atonement, alternately known as the Shrike Church, and the Hegemony (the government of the human star systems) to make a request of the Shrike. As they progress in their journey, each of the pilgrims tells their tale.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: This book concludes the story begun in "Hyperion". It abandons the storytelling frame structure of the first novel, and is instead presented primarily as a series of dreams by John Keats.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The story commences 274 years after the events in the previous novel. Few main characters from the first two books are present in the later two. The main character is Raul Endymion, an ex-soldier who receives a death sentence after an unfair trial. He is rescued by Martin Silenus and asked to perform a series of rather extraordinarily difficult tasks. The main task is to rescue and protect Aenea, a messiah coming from the distant past via time travel. The Catholic Church has become a dominant force in the human universe and views Aenea as a potential threat to their power. The group of Aenea, Endymion, and A. Bettik (an android) evades the Church's forces on several worlds, ending the story on Earth.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: This final novel in the series finishes the story begun in "Endymion", expanding on the themes in "Endymion", as Raul and Aenea battle the Church and meet their respective destinies.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The Hyperion universe originated when Simmons was an elementary school teacher, as an extended tale he told at intervals to his young students; this is recorded in "The Death of the Centaur", and its introduction. It then inspired his short story "Remembering Siri", which eventually became the nucleus around which "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" formed. After the quartet was published came the short story "Orphans of the Helix". "Orphans" is currently the final work in the Cantos, both chronologically and internally.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The original "Hyperion Cantos" has been described as a novel published in two volumes, published separately at first for reasons of length. In his introduction to "Orphans of the Helix", Simmons elaborates:


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: Some readers may know that I've written four novels set in the "Hyperion Universe"—"Hyperion", "The Fall of Hyperion", "Endymion", and "The Rise of Endymion". A perceptive subset of those readers—perhaps the majority—know that this so-called epic actually consists of two long and mutually dependent tales, the two Hyperion stories combined and the two Endymion stories combined, broken into four books because of the realities of publishing.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: Much of the appeal of the series stems from its extensive use of references and allusions from a wide array of thinkers such as Teilhard de Chardin, John Muir, Norbert Wiener, and to the poetry of John Keats, the famous 19th-century English Romantic poet, Norse Mythology, and the monk Ummon. A large number of technological elements are acknowledged by Simmons to be inspired by elements of "".


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The Hyperion series has many echoes of Jack Vance, explicitly acknowledged in one of the later books.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The title of the first novel, "Hyperion", is taken from one of Keats's poems, the unfinished epic "Hyperion". Similarly, the title of the third novel is from Keats' poem "Endymion". Quotes from actual Keats poems and the fictional "Cantos" of Martin Silenus are interspersed throughout the novels. Simmons goes so far as to have two artificial reincarnations of John Keats (""cybrid"s": artificial intelligences in human bodies) play a major role in the series.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: Much of the action in the series takes place on the planet Hyperion. It is described as having one-fifth less gravity than Earth standard. Hyperion has a number of peculiar indigenous flora and fauna, notably Tesla trees, which are essentially large electricity-spewing trees. It is also a "labyrinthine" planet, which means that it is home to ancient subterranean labyrinths of unknown purpose. Most importantly, Hyperion is the location of the Time Tombs, large artifacts surrounded by "anti-entropic" fields that allow them to move backward through time. In the fictional universe of the "Hyperion Cantos", the Hegemony of Man encompasses over 200 planets.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The Farcaster network was given to humanity by the TechnoCore and again it was another use of the Void Which Binds that allowed this instantaneous travel between worlds. Faster than light communications technology, Fatlines are said to operate through tachyon bursts. However, in later books it is revealed that they operate through the Void Which Binds. The Hawking Drive was developed by the Human scientists, allowing the faster than light travel which led to the Hegira (from the Arabic word "", meaning 'migration'). The Gideon drive, a Core-provided starship drive, allows for near-instantaneous travel between any two points in human-occupied space. The drive's use kills any human on board a Gideon-propelled starship; thus, the technology is only of use with remote probes or when used in conjunction with the Pax's resurrection technology. The resurrection creche can regenerate someone carrying a cruciform from their remains. Treeships are living trees that are propelled by ergs (spider-like solid-state alien being that emits force fields) through space.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: The region of the Tombs is also the home of the Shrike, a menacing half-mechanical, half-organic four-armed creature that features prominently in the series. It appears in all four Hyperion Cantos books and is an enigma in the initial two; its purpose is not revealed until the second book, but is still left nebulous. The Shrike appears to act both autonomously and as a servant of some unknown force or entity. In the first two Hyperion books, it exists solely in the area around the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. Its portrayal is changed significantly in the last two books, "Endymion" and "The Rise of Endymion". In these novels, the Shrike appears effectively unfettered and protects the heroine Aenea against assassins of the opposing TechnoCore.


title: Hyperion Cantos

text: Surrounded in mystery, the object of fear, hatred, and even worship by members of the Church of the Final Atonement (the Shrike Cult), the Shrike's origins are described as uncertain. It is portrayed as composed of razorwire, thorns, blades, and cutting edges, having fingers like scalpels and long, curved toe blades. It has the ability to control the flow of time, and may thus appear to travel infinitely fast. The Shrike may kill victims in a flash or it may transport them to an eternity of impalement upon an enormous artificial 'Tree of Thorns,' or 'Tree of Pain' in Hyperion's distant future. The Tree of Thorns is described as an unimaginably large, metallic tree, alive with the agonized writhing of countless human victims of all ages and races. It is also hinted in the second book that the Tree of Thorns is actually a simulation generated by a mystical interface which connects to human brains via a strong and pulsing (as if it were alive) cord. The name Shrike is undoubtedly a reference to the Loggerhead Shrike, a small fierce bird that impales its victims on thorns, spines, or twigs.


title: Citroën DS

text: The Citroën DS () is a front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations, across three series of one generation.


title: Citroën DS

text: Marketed with a less expensive variant, the Citroën ID, the DS was known for its aerodynamic, futuristic body design; unorthodox, quirky and innovative technology, and it set new standards in ride quality, handling, and braking — thanks to both being the first mass production car equipped with hydropneumatic suspension, as well as disc brakes. The 1967 series 3 also introduced "directional headlights" to a mass-produced car.


title: Citroën DS

text: Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre styled and engineered the car, and Paul Magès developed the hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. Robert Opron designed the 1967 Series 3 facelift.


title: Citroën DS

text: Citroën built 1,455,746 examples in six countries, of which 1,330,755 manufactured at Citroën's main Paris Quai de Javel (now Quai André-Citroën) production plant.


title: Citroën DS

text: In combination with Citroën's proven front-wheel drive, the DS was used competitively in rally racing during almost its entire 20year production run, and achieved multiple major victories, as early as 1959, and as late as 1974. It placed third in the 1999 Car of the Century poll recognizing the world's most influential auto designs and was named the most beautiful car of all time by "Classic & Sports Car" magazine.


title: Citroën DS

text: The name DS and ID are puns in the French language. "DS" is pronounced exactly like , , whereas "ID" is pronounced as "idée" ('idea').


title: Citroën DS

text: After 18 years of secret development as the successor to the Traction Avant, the DS 19 was introduced on October 6, 1955 at the Paris Motor Show. In the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 orders were taken, and orders for the first day totalled 12,000. During the 10 days of the show, the DS took in 80,000 deposits; a record that stood for over 60 years, until it was eclipsed by the Tesla Model 3 which received 180,000 first day deposits in March 2016. The original list price for a 1959 ID19 was US$2,833 ($ in dollars).


title: Citroën DS

text: Contemporary journalists said the DS pushed the envelope in the ride vs. handling compromise possible in a motor vehicle.


title: Citroën DS

text: To a France still deep in reconstruction after the devastation of World War II, and also building its identity in the post-colonial world, the DS was a symbol of French ingenuity. The DS was distributed to many territories throughout the world.


title: Citroën DS

text: It also posited the nation's relevance in the Space Age, during the global race for technology of the Cold War. Structuralist philosopher Roland Barthes, in an essay about the car, said that it looked as if it had "fallen from the sky". An American advertisement summarised this selling point: "It takes a special person to drive a special car".


title: Citroën DS

text: Because they were owned by the technologically aggressive tyre manufacturer Michelin, Citroën had designed their cars around the technologically superior radial tyre since 1948, and the DS was no exception.


title: Citroën DS

text: The car used front leading-arms and trailing-arms at the rear, with totally novel hydropneumatic spring and damper units. The car's advanced hydraulics included automatic self-levelling and driver adjustable ride-height, developed in-house by Paul Magès. This suspension allowed the DS to travel quickly on the poor road surfaces common in France.


title: Citroën DS

text: In addition, the vehicle had power steering and a semi-automatic transmission (the transmission required no clutch pedal but gears still had to be shifted by hand, with the shift lever controlling a powered hydraulic shift mechanism in place of a mechanical linkage).


title: Citroën DS

text: It had a fibreglass roof which lowered the centre of gravity, and so reduced weight transfer. Inboard front disc brakes (as well as independent suspension) reduced unsprung weight. Different front and rear track widths reduced the unequal tyre loading, which is well known to promote understeer, typical of front-engined and front-wheel drive cars. Although disc brakes had been tried on a car as early as 1902 by British Lanchester, volume production hadn't been applied until 1949, by USA small car manufacturer Crosley, but without success. The Citroën DS was the first successful fielding of disc brakes on a mass-produced car.


title: Citroën DS

text: Furthermore, at launch the DS featured innovative centerlock wheels which used a captive allen bolt as the central fastener whilst a hexagonal protrusion transferred the drive to a matching recess in the wheel. This made it possible to change the wheel very quickly in the event of a puncture and proved an advantage in motor racing.


title: Citroën DS

text: As with all French cars, the DS design was affected by the tax horsepower system, which effectively encouraged smaller engines. Unlike the "Traction Avant" predecessor, there was no top-of-range model with a powerful six-cylinder engine. Citroën had planned an air-cooled flat-6 engine for the car, but did not have the funds to put the prototype engine into production.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS placed third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, and fifth on the 2005 list of "100 Coolest Cars" by "Automobile Magazine". It was also named the most beautiful car of all time by "Classic & Sports Car" magazine after a poll of 20 world-renowned car designers, including Giorgetto Giugiaro, Ian Callum, Roy Axe, Paul Bracq, and Leonardo Fioravanti.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS was successful in motorsports like rallying, where sustained speeds on poor surfaces are paramount, and won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959. In the 1000 Lakes Rally, Pauli Toivonen drove a DS19 to victory in 1962.


title: Citroën DS

text: In 1966, the DS won the Monte Carlo Rally again, with some controversy as the competitive BMC Mini-Cooper team was disqualified due to rule infractions. Ironically, Mini was involved with DS competition again two years later, when a drunk driver in a Mini in Sydney Australia crashed into the DS that was leading the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon, from the finish line. Robert Neyret won the Rallye du Maroc in 1969 and 1970 in a DS 21.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS was still competitive in the grueling 1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally, where it won over 70 other cars, only 5 of which even completed the entire event.


title: Citroën DS

text: In conventional cars, hydraulics are only used in brakes and power steering. In the DS they were also used for the suspension, clutch, and transmission. The cheaper 1957 ID19 did have manual steering and a simplified power braking system. An engine-driven pump pressurizes the closed system to


title: Citroën DS

text: At a time when few passenger vehicles had independent suspension on all wheels, the application of the hydraulic system to the car's suspension system to provide a self-levelling system was an innovative move. This suspension allowed the car to achieve sharp handling combined with very high ride quality, frequently compared to a "magic carpet".


title: Citroën DS

text: The hydropneumatic suspension used was pioneered the year before, on the rear of another car from Citroën, the top of range Traction Avant 15CV-H.


title: Citroën DS

text: The 1955 DS cemented the Citroën brand name as an automotive innovator, building on the success of the Traction Avant, which had been the world's first mass-produced unitary body front-wheel-drive car in 1934. In fact, the DS caused such a huge sensation that Citroën was apprehensive that future models would not be of the same bold standard. No clean sheet new models were introduced from 1955 to 1970.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS was a large, expensive executive car and a downward brand extension was attempted, but without result. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Citroën developed many new vehicles for the very large, profitable market segments between the 2CV and the DS, occupied by vehicles like the Peugeot 403, Renault 16 and Ford Cortina, but none made it into production. Either they had uneconomic build costs, or were ordinary "me too" cars, not up to the company's high standard of innovation. As Citroën was owned by Michelin from 1934 to 1974 as a sort of research laboratory, such broad experimentation was possible. Michelin was getting a powerful advertisement for the capabilities of the radial tyre Michelin had invented, when such experimentation was successful.


title: Citroën DS

text: New models based on the small, utilitarian 2CV economy car were introduced, such as the 1961 Ami. It was also designed by Flaminio Bertoni and aimed to combine Three-box styling with the chassis of the 2CV. The Ami was very successful in France, but less so on export markets. Many found the styling controversial, and the car noisy and underpowered. The Dyane was a modernised 2CV with a hatchback that competed with the 2CV inspired Renault 4 Hatchback. All these 2 cylinder models were very small, so there remained a wide market gap to the DS range all through the 1960s.


title: Citroën DS

text: In 1970, Citroën finally introduced a car to target the mid-range – the Citroën GS, which won the "European car of the Year" for 1971 and sold 2.5 million units. It combined a small flat-4 air-cooled engine with Hydropneumatic suspension. The intended Wankel rotary-engined version with more power did not reach full production.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS maintained sales and remained competitive throughout its production run. Its peak production year was 1970. Certain design elements like the somewhat narrow cabin, column-mounted gearstick, and separate fenders began to seem a little old-fashioned in the 1970s.


title: Citroën DS

text: Citroën invested enormous resources to design and launch an entirely new vehicle in 1970, the SM, which was in effect a thoroughly modernized DS, with similar length, but greater width. The manual gearbox was a modified DS unit. The front disc brakes were the same design. Axles, wheel bearings, steering knuckles, and hydraulic components were either DS parts or modified DS parts.


title: Citroën DS

text: The SM had a different purpose than replacing the 15-year-old DS design, however – it was meant to launch Citroën into a completely new luxury grand touring market segment. Only fitted with a costly, exotic Maserati engine, the SM was faster and much more expensive than the DS. The SM was not designed to be a practical 4-door saloon suitable as a large family car, the key market for vehicles of this type in Europe. Typically, manufacturers would introduce low-volume coupés based on parts shared with an existing saloon, not as unique models, a contemporary example being the Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class. BMW follows a similar strategy of a mid-size sedan (5 series), large coupe (6 series), and large sedan (7 series) sharing common underpinnings.


title: Citroën DS

text: The SM's high price and limited utility of the 2+2 seating configuration meant the SM as actually produced could not seize the mantle from the DS. While the design funds invested would allow the DS to be replaced by two cars, a 'modern DS' and the smaller CX, it was left to the CX alone to provide Citroën's large family or executive car in the model range.


title: Citroën DS

text: The last DS came off the production line on 24 April 1975 – with Citroën building up approximately eight months of inventory of the "brake" (estate/station wagon) version of the DS, to continue sales until the autumn of 1975 when the estate/station wagon version of the CX would be introduced.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS maintained its size and shape, with easily removable, unstressed body panels, but design changes occurred. During the 20-year production, improvements were made on an ongoing basis.


title: Citroën DS

text: The 1955 DS19 was 65% more expensive than the car it replaced, the Citroën Traction Avant. This affected potential sales in a country still recovering economically from World War II, so a cheaper submodel, the Citroën ID, was introduced in 1957.


title: Citroën DS

text: The ID shared the DS's body but was less powerful and luxurious. Although it shared the engine capacity of the DS engine (at this stage 1,911 cc), the ID provided a maximum power output of only compared to the claimed for the DS19. Power outputs were further differentiated in 1961 when the DS19 acquired a Weber-32 twin bodied carburettor, and the increasing availability of higher octane fuel enabled the manufacturer to increase the compression ratio from 7.5:1 to 8.5:1. A new DS19 now came with a promised . The ID19 was also more traditional mechanically: it had no power steering and had conventional transmission and clutch instead of the DS's hydraulically controlled set-up. Initially, the basic ID19 was sold on the French market with a price saving of more than 25% against the DS, although the differential was reduced at the end of 1961 when the manufacturer withdrew the entry-level ID19 "Normale". A station wagon variant, the "ID Break", was introduced in 1958.


title: Citroën DS

text: The ID was replaced by the D Spécial and D Super in 1970, but these retained the lower specification position in the range. The D Super was available with the DS21 2175 cc engine and a 5-speed gearbox, and named the "D Super 5."


title: Citroën DS

text: In September 1962, the DS was restyled with a more aerodynamically efficient nose, better ventilation, and other improvements. It retained the open two headlamp appearance, but was available with an optional set of driving lights mounted on the front fenders. All models in the range changed nose design at the same time, including the ID and station wagon models.


title: Citroën DS

text: In late 1967, for the 1968 model year, the DS and ID was again restyled, by Robert Opron, who also styled the 1970 SM and 1974 CX. This version had a more streamlined headlamp design. This design had four headlights under a smooth glass canopy and the inner set swivelled with the steering wheel. This allowed the driver to see "around" turns, especially valuable on twisting roads driven at high speed at night. The directional headlamps were linked to the wheels by cable.


title: Citroën DS

text: Behind each glass cover lens, the inboard high-beam headlamp swivels by up to 80° as the driver steers, throwing the beam along the driver's intended path rather than uselessly across the curved road. The outboard low-beam headlamps are self-leveling in response to pitching caused by acceleration and braking.


title: Citroën DS

text: Because this feature was not allowed in the US (see World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations), a version with four exposed headlights that did not swivel was manufactured for the US market.


title: Citroën DS

text: Although a directional headlight was previously seen on the 1948 Tucker 48 'Torpedo', Citroën was the first to mass-market adaptive headlights.


title: Citroën DS

text: The original hydropneumatic system used a vegetable oil ("liquide hydraulique végétal", LHV), but later switched to a synthetic ("liquide hydraulique synthétique", LHS). Both had the disadvantage of being hygroscopic. Disuse allows water to enter the hydraulic components, causing deterioration and requiring expensive maintenance. The difficulty with hygroscopic hydraulic fluid was exacerbated in the DS/ID due to the extreme rise and fall in the fluid level in the reservoir, which went from nearly full to nearly empty when the suspension extended to maximum height and the six accumulators in the system filled with fluid. With every "inhalation" of fresh moisture- (and dust-) laden air, the fluid absorbed more water.


title: Citroën DS

text: For the 1967 model year, Citroën introduced a new mineral oil-based fluid LHM ("Liquide Hydraulique Minéral"). This fluid was much less harsh on the system.


title: Citroën DS

text: LHM required completely different materials for the seals. Using either fluid in the incorrect system would completely destroy the hydraulic seals very quickly. To help avoid this problem, Citroën added a bright green dye to the LHM fluid and also painted all hydraulic elements bright green. The former LHS parts were painted black.


title: Citroën DS

text: All models, including the station wagon and ID, were upgraded at the same time. The hydraulic fluid changed to the technically superior LHM in all markets except the US and Canada, where the change did not take place until January 1969, due to local regulations.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS was primarily manufactured at the Quai André-Citroën in the Javel neighborhood of Paris, with other manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (mostly Break Ambulances), and Australia.


title: Citroën DS

text: Australia constructed their own D variant in the 1960s at Heidelberg, Victoria, identified as the ID 19 "Parisienne." Australian market cars were fitted with options as standard equipment such as the "DSpecial DeLuxe" that were not available on domestic European models.


title: Citroën DS

text: Until 1965 UK cars were assembled at the manufacturer's Slough premises, to the west of London, using a combination of French-made knock down kits and locally sourced components, some of them machined on site. A French electrical system superseded the British one on the Slough cars in 1962, giving rise to a switch to "continental style" negative earthing. An intermediate model between the DS and the ID, called the "DW", was introduced on the UK market in 1963 with a manual transmission and simpler foot-operated clutch while retaining the DS power unit, power steering and power braking; outside of the UK this model was known as the "DS19M". When the 1985 cc engine replaced the original 1911 cc unit in September 1965 the manual-equipped DSes built in Slough were renamed "DS19A". The Slough factory closed on 18 February 1966 and thereafter cars for the British market were imported fully assembled from the company's French plant. The British-built cars are distinguished by their leather seats, wooden (early ID19 models) or one-piece plastic (early DS19 models) dashboards, chromed number plate mount set into the front bumper, and (on pre-1962 cars) Lucas-made electrics. These were all right hand drive cars.


title: Citroën DS

text: The DS was sold in North America from 1956 to 1972. Despite its popularity in Europe and regard for its design from the American motoring press, it did not sell well in the United States, and little better in Canada. While promoted as a luxury car, it did not have the basic features that American buyers expected to find on such a vehicle, such as an automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, or a powerful engine. The DS was designed specifically to address the French market, with punitive tax horsepower taxation of large engines and very poor roads, and not for a market where those constraints were removed.


title: Citroën DS

text: Further harming the DS' prospects on the other side of the Atlantic was an inadequate supply of parts for the vehicle. Jay Leno described the sporadic supply of spare parts as a problem for 1970s era customers, based on his early experiences working at a Citroën dealer in Boston.


title: Citroën DS

text: Additionally, the DS was expensive, with a vehicle costing $4,170 in 1969, when the price was $4,500 for a Buick Electra 225 4 door sedan. The Electra was available with an automatic transmission, power windows, and came with a much larger engine (a 7,040 cc V8), and it was hardly the only competitor to the DS to have these features as options or as standard.


title: Citroën DS

text: As a result of the insufficient supply of replacement parts, an inability to compete with bigger and more luxurious cars sold for the same price, and simply having not been designed for the North American market, sales for the DS were mediocre on the North American market, ultimately reaching a total of 38,000.


title: Citroën DS

text: US regulations at the time also banned one of the car's more advanced features: its composite headlamps with aerodynamic covered lenses. Based on legislation that dated from 1940, all automobiles sold in the U.S. were required to have round, sealed-beam headlamps that produced 75,000 candlepower. The DS's quartz iodine swiveling headlamps designed for the 1968 model were not allowed by the regulations. Even the aerodynamic headlight covers, featured on other cars such as the Jaguar E-Type were illegal and had to be removed. It was not until Ford Motor Company lobbied to have composite headlamps allowed that the sealed-beam headlamp requirements were finally rescinded in 1983.


title: Citroën DS

text: The hydraulic fluid change in 1967 also fell afoul of American regulations. NHTSA follows the "precautionary principle," also used by the Food and Drug Administration, where new innovations are prohibited until their developers can prove them safe to the regulators. The castor-based LHV and synthetic LHS fluids used in European-market DSes were not certified for use in North America, so cars sold there used conventional brake fluid instead. Brake fluid (as well as LHV and LHS) is hygroscopic and miscible, readily absorbing and mixing with moisture, the idea being that within a closed hydraulic circuit these properties will ensure pockets of non-soluble water will not form and cause corrosion of the system from within. The design of the DS's hydraulic system used much more fluid and allowed much more moist air into the system than a simple hydraulic braking circuit, so the fluid's hygroscopic properties were not preventing corrosion as intended. Brake fluid also did not provide the viscosity and lubricity suited for used in the suspension, clutch and gear change mechanism. Mineral-based LHM fluid was designed to remedy these issues but Citroen was obligated to demonstrate the new fluid was safe for automotive use before it could be installed in American-market cars. It took NHTSA until January 1969 to approve it, so in the US market about half the production of cars in the 1969 model year use the older red LHS fluid and half use newer green LHM fluid, neither of which is compatible with the other.


title: Citroën DS

text: In 1965 a luxury upgrade, the DS Pallas (after Greek goddess Pallas Athena), was introduced. This included comfort features such as better noise insulation, a more luxurious (and optional leather) upholstery, and external trim embellishments. From 1966, the Pallas model received a driver's seat with height adjustment.


title: Citroën DS

text: A station wagon version was introduced in 1958. It was known by different names in individual markets (Break in France, Safari, and Estate in the UK, Wagon in the US, and Citroën Australia used the terms Safari and Station-Wagon). It had a steel roof to support the standard roof rack. 'Familiales' had a rear seat mounted further back in the cabin, with three folding seats between the front and rear squabs. The standard Break had two side-facing seats in the main load area at the back.


title: Citroën DS

text: The Ambulance configuration was similar to that of the Break, but with a 60/30 split in the rear folding seat to accommodate a stretcher. A 'Commerciale' version was also available for a time.


title: Citroën DS

text: The Safari saw use as a camera car, notably by the BBC. The hydropneumatic suspension produces an unusually steady platform for filming while driving.


title: Citroën DS

text: A convertible was offered from 1958 until 1973. The Décapotable Cabriolet d'Usine (factory convertible) were built by French carrossier Henri Chapron, for the Citroën dealer network. It was an expensive car and only 1,365 were sold. These DS convertibles used a special frame which was reinforced on the side members and rear suspension swingarm bearing box, similar to, but not identical to the Break (Station Wagon) frame.


title: Citroën DS

text: In addition, Chapron also produced a few coupés, non-works convertibles and special sedans (including the "Prestige", same wheelbase but with a central divider, and the "Lorraine" notchback).


title: Citroën DS

text: In 1965, American auto customizer Gene Winfield created "The Reactor", a Citroën DS chassis, with a turbocharged flat-six engine from the Corvair driving the front wheels. Since the DS already had the engine behind the front wheels, the longer engine meant only one row of seats. This was draped in a streamlined, low slung, aluminum body.