title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: "Bride of Frankenstein" was subjected to censorship, both during production by the Hays office and following its release by local and national censorship boards. Joseph Breen, lead censor for the Hays office, objected to lines of dialogue in the originally submitted script in which Henry Frankenstein and his work were compared to that of God. He continued to object to such dialogue in revised scripts, and to a planned shot of the Monster rushing through a graveyard to a figure of a crucified Jesus and attempting to rescue the figure from the cross. Breen also objected to the number of murders, both seen and implied by the script and strongly advised Whale to reduce the number. The censors' office, upon reviewing the film in March 1935, required a number of cuts. Whale agreed to delete a sequence in which Dwight Frye's "Nephew Glutz" kills his uncle and blames the Monster, and shots of Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in which Breen felt too much of her breasts were visible. Despite his earlier objection, Breen offered no objection to the cruciform imagery throughout the film – including a scene with the Monster lashed Christ-like to a pole – nor to the presentation of Pretorius as a coded homosexual. "Bride of Frankenstein" was approved by the Production Code office on April 15.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Following its release with the Code seal of approval, the film was challenged by the censorship board in the state of Ohio. Censors in England and China objected to the scene in which the Monster gazes longingly upon the body intended for reanimation as the Bride, citing concerns that it looked like necrophilia. Universal voluntarily withdrew the film from Sweden because of the extensive cuts demanded, and "Bride" was rejected outright by Trinidad, Palestine, and Hungary. Additionally, Japanese censors objected to the scene in which Pretorius chases his miniature Henry VIII with tweezers, asserting that it constituted "making a fool out of a king".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: The film had its premiere on April 19 in San Francisco, California, at the Oprheum Theater. The film went into general release on April 20.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: "Bride of Frankenstein" was profitable for Universal, with a 1943 report showing that the film had by then earned approximately $2 million ($ in money) for the studio, a profit of about $950,000 ($ as of ). The film was critically praised upon its release, although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film's being in the horror genre. The "New York World-Telegram" called the film "good entertainment of its kind". The "New York Post" described it as "a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of its kind, is swell". "The Hollywood Reporter" similarly called the film "a joy for those who can appreciate it".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: "Variety" did not so qualify its review: "[It is] one of those rare instances where none can review it, or talk about it, without mentioning the cameraman, art director, and score composer in the same breath as the actors and director". "Variety" also praised the cast, writing that "Karloff manages to invest the character with some subtleties of emotion that are surprisingly real and touching ... Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious [is] a diabolic characterization if ever there was one ... Lanchester handles two assignments, being first in a preamble as author Mary Shelley and then the created woman. In latter assignment she impresses quite highly".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In another unqualified review, "Time" wrote that the film had "a vitality that makes their efforts fully the equal of the original picture ... Screenwriters Hurlbut & Balderston and Director James Whale have given it the macabre intensity proper to all good horror pieces, but have substituted a queer kind of mechanistic pathos for the sheer evil that was "Frankenstein"". The "Oakland Tribune" concurred it was "a fantasy produced on a rather magnificent scale, with excellent stagecraft and fine photographic effects". While the "Winnipeg Free Press" thought that the electrical equipment might have been better suited to Buck Rogers, nonetheless the reviewer praised the film as "exciting and sometimes morbidly gruesome", declaring that "all who enjoyed "Frankenstein" will welcome his "Bride" as a worthy successor". "The New York Times" called Karloff "so splendid in the role that all one can say is 'he is the Monster'". The "Times" praised the entire principal cast and Whale's direction in concluding that "Bride" is "a first-rate horror film", and presciently suggested that "the Monster should become an institution, like Charlie Chan". "Bride" was nominated for one Academy Award, for Sound Recording (Gilbert Kurland).


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: The film's reputation has persisted and grown in the decades since its release. In 1998, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Frequently identified as James Whale's masterpiece, the film is lauded as "the finest of all gothic horror movies". "Time" rated "Bride of Frankenstein" in its "All-Time 100 Movies", in which critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel overruled the magazine's original review to declare the film "one of those rare sequels that is infinitely superior to its source". In 2008, "Bride" was selected by "Empire" magazine as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Also that year, the "Boston Herald" named it the second greatest horror film after "Nosferatu". In 2016, James Charisma of "Playboy" ranked the film #7 on a list of "15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals". "Entertainment Weekly" considers the film superior to "Frankenstein".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Christian imagery appears throughout the film. In addition to the scenes of the Monster trussed in a cruciform pose and the crucified figure of Jesus in the graveyard, the hermit has a crucifix on the wall of his hut – which, to Whale's consternation, editor Ted Kent made glow during a fade-out – and the Monster consumes the Christian sacraments of bread and wine at his "last supper" with the hermit. Horror scholar David J. Skal suggests that Whale's intention was to make a "direct comparison of Frankenstein's monster to Christ". Film scholar Scott MacQueen, noting Whale's lack of any religious convictions, disputes the notion that the Monster is a Christ-figure. Rather, the Monster is a "mockery of the divine" since, having been created by Man rather than God, it "lacks the divine spark". In crucifying the Monster, he says, Whale "pushes the audience's buttons" by inverting the central Christian belief of the death of Christ followed by the resurrection. The Monster is raised from the dead first, then crucified.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In the decades since its release, modern film scholars have noted the possible queer reading of the film. Director James Whale was openly gay, and some of the actors in the cast, including Ernest Thesiger and, according to rumor, Colin Clive, were respectively gay or bisexual. Although James Curtis, Whale's biographer, rejects the notion that Whale would have identified with the Monster from a homosexual perspective, scholars have perceived a gay subtext suffused through the film, especially a camp sensibility, particularly embodied in the character of Pretorius and his relationship with Henry.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Gay film historian Vito Russo, in considering Pretorius, stops short of identifying the character as gay, instead referring to him as "sissified", "sissy" itself being Hollywood code for "homosexual". Pretorius serves as a "gay Mephistopheles", a figure of seduction and temptation, going so far as to pull Frankenstein away from his bride on their wedding night to engage in the unnatural act of creating non-procreative life. A novelization of the film published in the United Kingdom made the implication clear, having Pretorius say to Frankenstein: "Be fruitful and multiply. Let us obey the Biblical injunction: you of course, have the choice of natural means; but as for me, I am afraid that there is no course open to me but the scientific way".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: The Monster, whose affections for the male hermit and the female Bride he discusses with identical language ("friend") has been read as sexually "unsettled" and bisexual. Gender studies author Elizabeth Young writes: "He has no innate understanding that the male-female bond he is to forge with the bride is assumed to be the primary one or that it carries a different sexual valence from his relationships with [Pretorius and the hermit]: all affective relationships are as easily 'friendships' as 'marriages'". Indeed, his relationship with the hermit has been interpreted as a same-sex marriage that heterosexual society will not tolerate: "No mistake – this is a marriage, and a viable one ... But Whale reminds us quickly that society does not approve. The monster – the outsider – is driven from his scene of domestic pleasure by two gun-toting rubes who happen upon this startling alliance and quickly, instinctively, proceed to destroy it", writes cultural critic Gary Morris for "Bright Lights Film Journal". The creation of the Bride scene, Morris continues, is "Whale's reminder to the audience – his Hollywood bosses, peers, and everyone watching – of the majesty and power of the homosexual creator".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Filmmaker Curtis Harrington, a friend and confidant of Whale's, dismissed this as "a younger critic's evaluation. All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something, but artists don't think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind". Specifically in response to the "majesty and power" reading, Harrington stated: "My opinion is that's just pure bullshit. That's a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration". He concludes: "I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor". Whale's companion David Lewis stated flatly that Whale's sexual orientation was "not germane" to his filmmaking: "Jimmy was first and foremost an artist, and his films represent the work of an artist – not a gay artist, but an artist".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In 1985, MCA Home Video released "Bride of Frankenstein" on LaserDisc. In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released the film on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In 1999, Universal released "Bride of Frankenstein" on VHS and DVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection". In April 2004, Universal released "Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection" on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection". This two-disc release includes "Bride of Frankenstein", as well as the original "Frankenstein", "Son of Frankenstein", and "The House of Frankenstein".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In 2012, "Bride of Frankenstein" was released on Blu-ray as part of the "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection" box set, which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series. In 2014, Universal released "Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection" on DVD. This set contains eight films: "Frankenstein", "Bride of Frankenstein", "Son of Frankenstein", "Ghost of Frankenstein", "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man", "The House of Frankenstein", "House of Dracula", and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein". In 2015, the six-film "Universal Classic Monsters Collection" was released on DVD. In 2016, "Bride of Frankenstein" received a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring a glow-in-the-dark cover. That same year, the "Complete Legacy Collection" was released on Blu-ray. In September 2017, "Bride of Frankenstein" received a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook Blu-ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: "Bride of Frankenstein" was included in the "Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection" Blu-ray box set in August 2018. This box set also received a DVD release.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Universal Pictures has sought to remake "Bride of Frankenstein" on several occasions. While the novel "Frankenstein" has been adapted to film many times, "Bride of Frankenstein"s closest remake was "The Bride" (1985), starring Sting, Clancy Brown, and Jennifer Beals. In 1991, the studio sought to remake the film for cable television, and Martin Scorsese expressed interest in directing.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In the first decade of the 21st century, Universal paired with Imagine Entertainment and contracted Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who wrote the screenplay for "American Splendor", to write a remake. The screenwriters set the story in contemporary New York. Jacob Estes was also involved with the project at one point and wrote a draft. In June 2009, Universal and Imagine entered discussions with director Neil Burger and his writing partner Dirk Wittenborn, and producer Brian Grazer was assigned to oversee the development of the remake.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In December 2015, "Variety" reported that David Koepp would write the script. In May 2017, Universal Pictures announced their shared universe film series of rebooted, modern-day interpretations of their classic Universal Monsters titled, Dark Universe. The film series began with the 2017 film "The Mummy", and was expected to continue with "Bride of Frankenstein" with Bill Condon directing the film. Later in October, pre-production had begun when the creative team and studio decided to postpone the release in order to further work on the script with intentions being to improve the story. Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie were still attached to the film as Frankenstein's monster and the film's reluctant bride, respectively. The same month Condon stated that should Jolie decide to leave the project, he would be interested in seeing Gal Gadot play the titular character. On November 8, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects, leaving the future of the "Dark Universe" in doubt.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In January 2018, Condon was reportedly assembling a production team, consisting of cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler, production designer Sarah Greenwood, composer Carter Burwell, and costume designer Jacqueline Durran.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: In November 2019, Condon reflected on the proposed "Bride of Frankenstein" remake not entering production. He stated: "That was a heartbreaker, really ... the simplest way to say it is that I think "The Mummy", and not to say anything against the movie, but the fact that that hadn't worked for them and it was the beginning of this whole reinvention of their monsters gave them cold feet at the end of the day. Because David Koepp was writing the script, I thought it was unbelievably good, and we were on the verge of making a really beautiful movie, I thought. So that was a shame". He also noted his uncertainty regarding his ability to publicly discuss the project "because [Koepp], I think, is still involved in figuring out the new approach ... The movie that we started was devised as a great big movie, and at the end of the day, probably these movies should be smaller".


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: An adaptation of the film was being considered with Scarlett Johansson in the titular lead role as the Bride in October 2020, but no further announcements or confirmations have been made since the initial rumours.


title: Bride of Frankenstein

text: Amy Pascal was hired as producer in February 2020, with the project becoming a joint-venture production between Universal Pictures and Pascal Pictures. The studio is courting David Koepp to continue his work as screenwriter. Filmmakers John Krasinski and Sam Raimi have individually had discussions with the studio regarding potentially directing, while "Variety" reported that Krasinski was given options to develop films from the roster of monsters owned by Universal Pictures. In June, Koepp stated that, in addition to still being actively involved with the project, he was also inspired by the success of "The Invisible Man". He said that the story will explore the modern-day desire to extend our lives, create life, and cheat death. Furthermore, the filmmaker intends to include plot devices that are relevant to the #MeToo era, stating that "it's horror effortlessly lending itself to metaphor". In March 2022, Koepp revealed that he was no longer involved with the project. He also stated the initial version would have started in the 1870s and would have involved the Bride reawakening in the present day.


title: James Holzhauer

text: James Holzhauer (born July 23, 1984) is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the third-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time and is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion on the quiz show "Jeopardy!" from April to June 2019, during which he set multiple single-game records for winnings, and for winning the following Tournament of Champions that November.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer won $2,464,216 in his 33 appearances, making him the second-highest winner in "Jeopardy!" regular-play (non-tournament) winnings (behind only Ken Jennings, who won $2,522,700 in 2004) and, at the time, second in number of games won (again behind only Jennings) although he has since been surpassed by Matt Amodio (38 games) and Amy Schneider (40). His $250,000 top prize in the Tournament of Champions and $250,000 runner-up prize in the Greatest of All Time Tournament brought his total to $2,964,216, making him still the third-highest winning "Jeopardy!" contestant, behind Jennings and Brad Rutter. Holzhauer also set the single-game winnings record with $131,127. Based on his success on "Jeopardy!", he has been nicknamed "Jeopardy James".


title: James Holzhauer

text: Born July 23, 1984, Holzhauer was born and raised in Naperville, Illinois. His father was a German immigrant. His grandmother was Japanese and spoke very little English; he had promised her that he would appear on "Jeopardy!" before she died. In 1989, when he was four, his teacher was astounded by his arithmetic abilities and developed advanced classwork just for him. At age seven, he was moved up to a fifth-grade math class, and at his mother's urging he skipped second grade. He consistently got A's on math tests and competed on the Naperville North High School math team.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Despite high marks on individual tests, he was a C student overall, as he often skipped class and homework on the grounds that he could use the time more "productively", such as playing online poker. Holzhauer memorized obscure baseball and professional wrestling statistics, prompting his parents to reprimand him for "wasting his life" learning about sports.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer was a member of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Team that won the state competition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; he contributed by taking first place in physics and second in math. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 2005.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer appeared on the American version of the quiz show "The Chase" on September 2, 2014, internationally produced by ITV Studios. In his first round, a one-minute round called the Cash Builder, he correctly answered 12 questions out of 13 posed by host Brooke Burns; the last question was asked just before time expired and was quickly passed on by Holzhauer. His score set a record for the Cash Builder that was never surpassed during the show's run.


title: James Holzhauer

text: In his second round, he faced Mark Labbett to determine whether he would advance to the final round and add money to the team prize pool. Holzhauer had a choice of three amounts to play for: $60,000 based on his score in the Cash Builder, $30,000 to reduce the difficulty of the round; and $120,000, which would increase the difficulty. He chose to play for $60,000; after the show he said that the odds did not favor playing for the maximum amount and that it was not worth the gamble.


title: James Holzhauer

text: "The Chase" was played head-to-head, with the players using hidden buttons to select multiple-choice answers. Holzhauer advanced to the finals and added to the prize pool with a score of five right and one wrong. Labbett scored a perfect five, with his final answer not revealed since Holzhauer had already achieved the necessary points to win the round.


title: James Holzhauer

text: In the Final Chase round (as team leader with two other contestants also participating), Holzhauer's team defeated Labbett by a score of 26 to 9, earning him a $58,333.33 share of the $175,000 team prize pool. By answering 19 questions correctly for his team, he set a Final Chase record, which was also never surpassed.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Bob Boden, the producer of "The Chase", was impressed by his performance and had Holzhauer audition to join the show as a colleague of Labbett. In July 2020, Holzhauer and several other famous game show contestants were said to be in negotiations to become chasers for a potential reboot of "The Chase", which would be produced for ABC. The reboot starring Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter premiered January 7, 2021 on ABC.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer appeared on the American quiz show "500 Questions" on May 22, 2015. This show did not allow the challenger to replace the champion unless the champion answered three questions wrong in a row. The incumbent champion, Steve Bahnaman, prevailed over Holzhauer, who did not receive any winnings.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer appeared on 33 episodes of Season 35 of the American quiz show "Jeopardy!", from April 4 to June 3, 2019. During his first game, he won $43,680, the largest single-game total to that point in Season 35. In his fourth game, which aired on April 9, he broke the previous single-game "Jeopardy!" winnings record ($77,000, set by Roger Craig in 2010) by winning $110,914.


title: James Holzhauer

text: During his 33 appearances, Holzhauer exceeded Craig's single-day total 16 times (see table below), including a new all-time record set on April 17, when he won $131,127. He is also the first and only player to win $100,000 or more in a single episode, a feat he accomplished six times. His $298,687 total winnings across his first five days surpassed the five-day record set by Frank Spangenberg in 1990 before the changes in the values of the clues. Holzhauer is the only contestant to date to do so. He won a total of $2,464,216, averaging $75,362 per episode—a 33-day average that nearly equaled the previous all-time single-day record. Fellow "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings has likened this feat to "a basketball player notching 70-point games for an entire season or a baseball player hitting for the cycle in every game". Holzhauer's average winnings were more than the estimated $43,000 per episode that host Alex Trebek earned.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer was defeated in his 33rd game, which aired on June 3, 2019, and was watched by 14.5 million people. The winner, Emma Boettcher, used many of the same strategies as Holzhauer.


title: James Holzhauer

text: In July 2019, "Jeopardy!" confirmed that Holzhauer would return for the Tournament of Champions in November. Holzhauer won both his quarterfinal and semifinal games to advance to the final round, which featured a rematch against Boettcher, who was invited separately and also won her first two tournament games. Holzhauer won the two-day final, winning the first game by a larger margin than Boettcher won the second and claiming the $250,000 top prize. The next week, "Jeopardy!" announced that Holzhauer would compete against Jennings and Rutter in prime-time specials for a million-dollar prize in "Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time", which aired in January 2020. Holzhauer won one match in the tournament, but lost to Jennings in the others, and received the runner-up prize of $250,000.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer took a two-pronged approach to play. He selected the highest-value clues first in an attempt to maximize the money he had available to wager when he hit a Daily Double. This strategy does not always work, as a Daily Double is more likely to be behind a high-value clue, and often he hit the Daily Double before accumulating a large sum to wager. On Daily Doubles and during Final Jeopardy! clues, Holzhauer bet aggressively; his average wager on Daily Doubles was $9,000.


title: James Holzhauer

text: While aggressive betting is disadvantageous if a player responds incorrectly, Holzhauer was correct on 72 of the 76 Daily Doubles he hit (94.7%). This strategy was not entirely new; Alex Jacob, also a professional gambler, used a similar strategy in his six regular-play wins in April 2015 and the 2015 Tournament of Champions, which he won.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Excluding Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! wagers, Holzhauer's average score of $30,800 during his 32-episode winning streak (57% of the $54,000 available in each game) is higher than the $28,786 averaged by Jennings, who was far more conservative in his wagering; Holzhauer considered it more logical to make large bets that will usually pay off, since, during the first 25 episodes of his winning streak, he averaged 35.5 correct and only 1.04 wrong responses per game. On the episode he lost, he did not respond to any clues incorrectly. He credited reading fact books written for children, with their heavy use of infographics, with allowing him to learn vast amounts of information in an easily digestible manner. He took a year off from his occupation as a sports gambler to study for "Jeopardy!".


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer's record-breaking winning streak attracted considerable reaction and media attention. When Holzhauer reached $1 million, Craig, who held the single-game winnings record before Holzhauer, said, "To me, it's clear that he's one of the top players of all time already." Jennings said he was "just gobsmacked by James", adding, "It's absolutely insane what he's doing." Of Holzhauer's strategies, Jennings said, "he's got these incredibly confident wagers. He's maximizing money. He can make two or three times what any other player ever has with that same level of play, which again is top-shelf. He's as good as anybody." Jennings adopted Holzhauer's wagering strategy in the "Greatest of All Time" tournament, a factor in his victory. Labbett, meanwhile, recalled Holzhauer's "The Chase" appearance as "the worst beating I've ever had", adding, "I've got to give "Jeopardy!" immense credit, and "The Chase" U.S.A. In Britain or Australia, James would not have made it onto television, because he's just too damn good. They would never have him on."


title: James Holzhauer

text: Nielsen ratings for "Jeopardy!" rose 11% nationally during the first two weeks of Holzhauer's run and as much as 50% in select local markets, with a continuing upward trend over the course of his streak; by the fourth week of his run, ratings were up 30% nationwide and had doubled in select markets. Former Game Show Network executive Bob Boden said the ratings would help compensate for any short-term financial losses Holzhauer's run caused, and that the show's profitability up to this point (both "Jeopardy!" and sister program "Wheel of Fortune" combine to generate approximately $125 million in revenue while costing $100 million) would allow them to absorb the increased payouts. It was also noted that the improved ratings would not immediately allow the show to increase advertising rates, since those are set on a season-by-season basis as part of long-term ad buys.


title: James Holzhauer

text: The highest-rated episode during Holzhauer's run was his final one, which at 14.5 million same-day viewers was the highest-rated episode since Jennings's last episode in 2004, the highest-rated episode of a syndicated show that season and the third-most-watched episode of a running series in the 2018–19 season (behind only the series-ending "The Stockholm Syndrome" episode of "The Big Bang Theory" and an episode of "60 Minutes" that had led out of an "NFL on CBS" contest), not counting DVR or streaming views, the latter of which "Jeopardy!" does not offer. The episode had been spoiled several hours before it aired on most affiliate stations; "Sports Illustrated" credited the spoilers with creating buzz, counteracting the conventional wisdom that people would not tune in without the element of surprise. Even if the result had not been spoiled, Holzhauer was on pace to break Jennings's regular-play record that day had he won, which might also have had a part in the increased ratings.


title: James Holzhauer

text: While a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Holzhauer played hearts and spades at a card club. The twice-a-week club quickly turned into a five-day-a-week home poker game with a 10-cent ante and $2 maximum bets. The poker game is where Holzhauer began gambling but he grew his sports betting bankroll in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Believing the round-robin format of the tournament and variance in baseball had skewed the odds, he bet heavily on each team except the US and the Dominican Republic to win the tournament. After graduating from college, Holzhauer moved to Las Vegas in 2008 to bet professionally on sports. He says he has built predictive models for baseball, NFL, and college basketball, but now focuses largely on in-game betting.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer debuted at the World Series of Poker in 2019. In his first event, he finished 454th out of approximately 1,800 contestants and did not win any prize money (he would have needed to finish at 281st or higher to win any prize money). His second event was a tag-team match in which he partnered with Mike Sexton. He ultimately was knocked out as a solo contestant in round 17 of the tournament, with his most notable prize win being a $600 profit for finishing 92nd out of 1,867 on a game.


title: James Holzhauer

text: On September 8, 2012, Holzhauer married Melissa Sassin, a tutor from Seattle, Washington. Sassin has also been a game show contestant, appearing on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in 2014 and winning $28,800. Their daughter, Natasha, was born on November 9, 2014.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer frequently made inside references to important dates in his life with his "Jeopardy!" wagers, including family members' birthdays, his anniversary, and the date of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer is a lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs; he has said his dream job is a front-office position with the team and has actively sought employment in Major League Baseball. Holzhauer has said that he was contractually obligated to a non-compete clause in an agreement with the "Jeopardy!" producers; it expired in January 2020.


title: James Holzhauer

text: Holzhauer said he intended to donate some of his "Jeopardy!" winnings to Las Vegas children's charities. On April 7, 2019, he donated $10,000 to a Las Vegas organization for displaced teens. On May 2, 2019, he was awarded a key to the Las Vegas Strip for his success on "Jeopardy!" and for his donations to children's charity organizations and other nonprofit organizations in the Las Vegas area. In mid-2019, Holzhauer donated $1,109.14 (representing his daughter's birthday) to the 2019 Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Reach Walk in Illinois, in Alex Trebek's name. On June 24, 2019, he began participating in World Series of Poker events in Las Vegas. He plans to donate half his winnings to the Las Vegas nonprofit Project 150, which helps homeless, displaced and disadvantaged high school students.


title: Bill Shankly

text: William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the UEFA Cup. He laid foundations on which his successors Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan were able to build by winning seven league titles and four European Cups in the ten seasons after Shankly retired in 1974. A charismatic, iconic figure at the club, his oratory stirred the emotions of the fanbase. In 2019, 60 years after Shankly arrived at Liverpool, Tony Evans of "The Independent" wrote, “Shankly created the idea of Liverpool, transforming the football club by emphasising the importance of the Kop and making supporters feel like participants.” Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly came from a small Scottish mining community and was one of five brothers who played football professionally. He played as a ball-winning right-half and was capped twelve times for Scotland, including seven wartime internationals. He spent one season at Carlisle United before spending the rest of his career at Preston North End, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1938. His playing career was interrupted by his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a manager after he retired from playing in 1949, returning to Carlisle United. He later managed Grimsby Town, Workington and Huddersfield Town before moving to become Liverpool manager in December 1959.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly took charge of Liverpool when they were in the Second Division and rebuilt the team into a major force in English and European football. He led Liverpool to the Second Division Championship to gain promotion to the top-flight First Division in 1962, before going on to win three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four Charity Shields and one UEFA Cup. It was during Shankly’s reign the club changed to an all-red home strip, and "You'll Never Walk Alone" became the club’s anthem. Shankly announced his surprise retirement from football a few weeks after Liverpool had won the 1974 FA Cup Final, having managed the club for 15 years, and was succeeded by his long-time assistant Bob Paisley. He led the Liverpool team out for the last time at Wembley for the 1974 FA Charity Shield. He died seven years later, aged 68. Considered one of the greatest managers in the sport, Shankly was among the inaugural inductees into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2004.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Bill Shankly was born in the small Scottish coal mining village of Glenbuck, Ayrshire, whose population in 1913, the year of Shankly's birth, was around 700. People born there would often move to find work in larger coal mines. As a result, Glenbuck became largely derelict and by the time Shankly's ghost writer John Roberts visited it in 1976, there were only 12 houses left, including a cottage owned by Shankly's sister, Elizabeth, whom Roberts described as "the last of the children of Glenbuck".


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's parents, John and Barbara, lived in one of the Auchenstilloch Cottages with their 10 children; five boys and five girls. Shankly was the ninth child and the youngest boy. Although he was known as Bill throughout his football career, his name in the family was Willie, pronounced ["Wullie"]. His father was a postman who became a tailor of handmade suits. Despite the football pedigree in his family, he did not play himself.


title: Bill Shankly

text: All five Shankly brothers played professional football and Shankly claimed they could have beaten any five brothers in the world when they were all at their peaks. His brothers were Alec, known as Sandy by the family, who played for Ayr United and Clyde; Jimmy (1902–1972), who played for various clubs including Sheffield United and Southend United; John (1903–1960), who played for Portsmouth and Luton Town; and Bob (1910–1982), who played for Alloa Athletic and Falkirk. Bob became a successful manager, guiding Dundee to victory in the Scottish championship in 1962 and the semi-finals of the European Cup the following year. Their maternal uncles, Robert and William Blyth were professional players who both became club directors at Portsmouth and Carlisle United respectively.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly wrote in his autobiography that times were hard during his upbringing and that hunger was a prevailing condition, especially during the winter months. He admitted that he and his friends used to steal vegetables from nearby farms; bread, biscuits and fruit from suppliers' wagons, and bags of coal from the pits. Shankly admitted the act was wrong but insisted it was done out of devilment only because the root cause was their constant hunger. He said that he and his friends learned from their mistakes and became better people in later years. He was at school from age five until 14. Discipline at both home and school was strict but Shankly said it was character-building. His favourite subject was geography and he played football as often as possible, especially in the school playground, but there was no organised school team.


title: Bill Shankly

text: After Shankly left school in 1928, he worked at a local mine alongside his brother Bob. He did this for two years until the pit closed and he faced unemployment. In his autobiography, he described the life of a miner at some length and mentioned many of the problems such as the sheer hard work, rats, the difficulties of eating and drinking at the coal face. The worst problem was the filth because the miners never felt really clean, even though they would go home to wash in a tub after each shift.


title: Bill Shankly

text: While Shankly was employed as a miner, he played football as often as possible and sometimes went to Glasgow to watch either Celtic or Rangers, sharing his allegiance between the two and ignoring the sectarianism that divides Glasgow. Shankly developed his skills to the point that he was unemployed for only a few months before Carlisle United signed him. He wrote that he had his football future worked out in his mind and that, even when working in the pit, he was only "killing time". He always believed that it was only a matter of time before he became a professional player. He explained that, in football terms, he had always been an optimist with a belief in his destiny and that was the basis of his undying enthusiasm for the sport.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's village team was called the Glenbuck Cherrypickers, a name probably derived from the 11th Hussars (the "Cherry Pickers"), but he said the club was near extinction when he had a trial and he never actually played for them. Shankly, aged 18, then played part of the 1931–32 season for Cronberry Eglinton, about 12 miles from Glenbuck. He used to cycle to and from the ground. Cronberry were in the Cumnock & District League. Although Shankly had less than one full season at Cronberry, he acknowledged his debt to Scottish Junior Football as he learned a lot, mainly by listening to older players and especially his brothers.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly had a single season, 1932–33, at Carlisle United, then relatively new to the Football League and playing in the Third Division North, their reserve side playing in the North Eastern League. Shankly was recommended by a scout called Peter Carruthers who had seen him playing for Cronberry. He was invited for a month's trial and said it was the first time he had left Scotland. He was signed after just one trial match for Carlisle's reserves against Middlesbrough reserves, even though Carlisle reserves lost the match 6–0. A local newspaper report said that he had worked hard and might develop into a useful left back. In fact, he developed into a top-class right-half.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly made his senior debut on 31 December 1932 in a 2–2 draw against Rochdale and made 16 appearances for the first team. At the end of the season, the reserves won the North Eastern League Cup, defeating Newcastle United reserves 1–0 in the final. In his 1976 autobiography, Shankly stated that he still had the medal.


title: Bill Shankly

text: At this stage of his career, Shankly was assessed as "a hard running, gritty right-half" whose displays brought him much praise and credit. He was considered a promising key young player who was capable of taking Carlisle to greater things. He was paid four pounds ten shillings a week at Carlisle which he considered a good wage as the top rate at that time was eight pounds. Shankly was happy at Carlisle which was close to his home at Glenbuck and he had settled in well with almost a guarantee of first team football. When the opportunity came for him to move on, he was not convinced he wanted to leave.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Soon after the 1932–33 season ended, Shankly received a telegram from Carlisle United asking him to return as soon as possible because another club wanted to sign him. Arriving at Carlisle, he discovered that the interested club was Preston North End who had offered a transfer fee of £500. The terms for Shankly personally were a fee of £50 plus a £10 signing-on fee and wages of five pounds a week (). Shankly's initial reaction was that it was not enough and the deal nearly fell through. His brother Alec pointed out to him that Preston were in the Second Division and a bigger club than Carlisle with the potential to regain First Division status. Alec persuaded him that the opportunity was more important than what he would be paid immediately, stressing that it was what he would get later that counted. Shankly took his brother's advice and signed the Preston contract in a railway carriage.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly began his Preston career in the reserves, who played in the Central League which was a higher standard than the North Eastern League. He made his first team debut on 9 December 1933, three months after his 20th birthday, against Hull City. Shankly created an early goal to help Preston win 5–0, earning him praise in a national newspaper for his "clever passing". With his wholehearted attitude and commitment to the team, he quickly established himself as a first-team regular and became a crowd favourite. Preston fulfilled their potential and gained promotion to the First Division as runners-up to Grimsby Town. It was therefore a successful debut season for Shankly who stayed with Preston until he retired in 1949. His wage was increased to eight pounds a week with six pounds in the summer. In a summary of the 1933–34 season, a Preston correspondent, Walter Pilkington, wrote:


title: Bill Shankly

text: One of this season's discoveries, Bill Shankly, played with rare tenacity and uncommonly good ideas for a lad of 20. He is full of good football and possessed with unlimited energy; he should go far.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In his autobiography, Shankly wrote that Preston had more than held their own in the 1934–35 season and the club was not relegated again until the end of the 1948–49 season in which he left them. Shankly developed into a tough half back, as good as any in the Football League. The outstanding Northern Ireland international Peter Doherty recalled how Shankly dogged his footsteps in one match and kept muttering: "Great wee team, North End, great wee team", subduing Doherty completely as Preston defeated Manchester City 3–1.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In 1936–37, Preston reached the FA Cup Final but were well beaten 3–1 by Sunderland at Wembley Stadium. Preston recovered to reach the 1938 FA Cup Final in which they defeated Huddersfield Town 1–0 with a penalty scored by George Mutch in the final minute of extra time. As well as winning the FA Cup, Preston finished third in the league. That season marked the pinnacle of Shankly's playing career.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly had just reached his 26th birthday when the Second World War began and the war claimed the peak years of his playing career. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) and managed to play in numerous wartime league, cup and exhibition matches for Norwich City, Arsenal, Luton Town, Cardiff City, Lovell's Athletic F.C and Partick Thistle, depending on where he was stationed (winning the Summer Cup with the Glasgow club in 1945). On 30 May 1942, he played a single game for Liverpool in a 4–1 win over Everton at Anfield. Shankly was keen on boxing and fought as a middleweight in the RAF, winning a trophy when he was stationed in Manchester. He confirmed in his autobiography that his weight as an RAF boxer was 159 pounds (72 kg) and he was only six pounds (2.7 kg) heavier than that in 1976. Shankly met his wife, Nessie, in the RAF (she was in the WAAF and stationed at the same camp) and they married in 1944.


title: Bill Shankly

text: With the resumption of full League football again in the 1946–47 season, Shankly returned to Preston who held his registration, but he was now 33 and coming to the end of his playing days. By 1949, he was Preston's club captain but had lost his place in the first team, which was struggling against relegation despite having Tom Finney in the side. Shankly was a qualified masseur and had decided he wanted to become a coach so, when Carlisle United asked him to become their manager in March of that year, he retired as a player and accepted the job. Shankly's departure from Preston was resented by some at the club and he was refused a benefit match, to which he felt entitled. He described Preston's attitude as the biggest let-down of his life in football.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly had enormous admiration for Tom Finney and devotes more than three pages of his autobiography to Finney's prowess as a footballer. In the 1970s, Shankly was asked how a current star compared to Finney and Shankly replied: "Aye, he's as good as Tommy – but then Tommy's nearly 60 now". Another Preston player admired by Shankly was his Scottish international teammate Andy Beattie, with whom he would later work in management. Shankly was succeeded in the Preston team by Tommy Docherty and Shankly told Docherty that he should just put the number four shirt on and let it run round by itself because it knows where to go.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly played for Scotland 12 times from 1938 to 1943 in five full and seven wartime internationals. He spoke of his "unbelievable pride" when playing for Scotland against England and how, when confronted by the "Auld Enemy", the Scottish players would become William Wallace or Robert the Bruce for 90 minutes after pulling on the blue jersey. Shankly himself certainly had that spirit when playing for Scotland as confirmed by Alex James, who said of Shankly: "He is a real Scotland player who will fight until he drops".


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly made his international debut on 9 April 1938 against England at Wembley; Scotland winning the match 1–0 with a late goal by Tommy Walker. Nine of his Scotland appearances were against England and the others were against Northern Ireland, Wales and Hungary. He was Scotland's captain in the wartime match against England at Hampden Park, attended by 78,000 people on 3 May 1941, but Scotland lost that game 1–3. Perhaps his most memorable international was the wartime game at Wembley on 18 April 1942 when Scotland won 5–4 and Shankly scored his only Scotland goal. A post-match report said that Scotland's success was inspired by "the Busby–Shankly victory service" when Shankly and his future management rival Matt Busby combined to help Scotland's cause. According to the Liverpool website, Shankly's goal was "probably the strangest national goal ever". He took a speculative shot towards goal from 50 yards and the ball bounced over the England goalkeeper's head and into the net. In January 1973, when Shankly was the subject of "This Is Your Life", the goal was shown and Shankly commented that "they all count and we won".


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly declared in his autobiography that he specialised in what he called "the art of tackling", emphasising that it is an art. He wrote that he was never sent off or booked by a referee. In his view, the art of tackling is in the timing and the sole object is to win the ball. He wrote that even if the opponent is injured in the tackle, it is not a foul if you have timed everything right and you have won the ball. His philosophy, therefore, was to play hard but fair with no cheating. During his playing career, Shankly said he would not argue with referees. He realised after taking the advice of his brothers that it is a waste of time. The referee, he wrote, always wins in the end.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was always noted for his dedication to football and, in his playing days, would do his own training during the summer months. During the summer of 1933 when he returned to Glenbuck after completing his first season as a professional, he decided to develop his throw-in skills. He was an early exponent of the long throw-in – he practised by throwing balls over a row of houses and the small boys of the village helped by fetching them back for him.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly wrote in his autobiography that he had long prepared himself for a career as a football manager. He had absorbed all the coaching systems with any useful qualifications and had full confidence in his ability and in himself to be a leader. For him, he had done the hard work and it was simply a question of waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Shankly summed up the essential criteria for success in football management when he claimed he could speak common sense about the game and could spot a good player. In spotting a player, he always applied a basic formula which was that, first and foremost, the player must have both ability and courage. Other attributes were physical fitness and willingness to work, especially to struggle against the odds.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly began his managerial career at Carlisle United, the club where his professional playing career had started. Carlisle in the 1948–49 season were struggling in the bottom half of the Third Division North and finding it difficult to attract southern-based players because of the town's geographic remoteness in the far north of England. Shankly's work ethic transformed the team who finished 15th in 1948–49 after he had been in charge for only the last few matches. They improved to ninth in 1949–50 and then to third in 1950–51, almost gaining promotion.


title: Bill Shankly

text: One of Shankly's players at Carlisle was Geoff Twentyman, then a promising young centre half, who was later transferred to Liverpool. After he retired from playing, Twentyman became chief scout at Liverpool, working with Shankly and finding several outstandingly talented players.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly used psychology to motivate his players, for example telling them that the opposition had had a very tiring journey and were not fit to play the match. He urged the local population to support the team and would use the public address system at matches to tell the crowd about his team changes and how his strategy was improving the team. Shankly recalled that Brunton Park was dilapidated, writing that the main stand was falling to pieces and the terraces derelict. He even burned all the kit. When the team was travelling to Lincoln City, he saw a sportswear shop in Doncaster and stopped the coach to buy a full set of kit in which the team played at Lincoln.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Season ticket sales in 1950–51 reached an all-time high and Carlisle challenged strongly for promotion as well as achieving a draw with Arsenal at Highbury in the FA Cup. It ended badly, however, because Shankly accused the club's board of reneging on a bonus promise for the players should the team finish in the top three of the league. He resigned and accepted an offer from Grimsby Town. Shankly's overall record in league football at Carlisle was 42 wins and 22 defeats from 95 matches.


title: Bill Shankly

text: After an unsuccessful interview at Liverpool, Shankly moved to manage Grimsby Town in June 1951. He said in his autobiography that there was greater potential at Grimsby than at Carlisle. His main problems were that Grimsby had been relegated twice in recent seasons, dropping from the First to the Third Division, and some good players had been transferred before he arrived. Even so, Shankly believed he still had good players to work with and was able to buy some additional players on the transfer market for low fees.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Grimsby made a strong challenge for promotion in 1951–52 but finished second, three points behind Lincoln City (only one team was promoted from Division Three North, with one from Division Three South). Shankly insisted in his autobiography that his Grimsby team was:


title: Bill Shankly

text: Pound for pound, and class for class, the best football team I have seen in England since the war. In the league they were in, they played football nobody else could play. Everything was measured, planned and perfected and you could not wish to see more entertaining football.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's biographer Stephen Kelly quotes the "pound for pound" analysis but qualifies it as another of Shankly's slight, though well-meant, exaggerations. Kelly added that this kind of talk by Shankly could only boost morale at the club.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly made great use of five-a-side football in training at Grimsby, playing these games as if they were competitive cup or league matches. The games would last an hour each time. Shankly worked on set pieces such as throw-ins and tried to devise a method of counter-attacking from corners conceded.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Grimsby's ageing team made a bright start in 1952–53 with five straight wins but eventually slipped and finished in fifth place. In 1953–54, Shankly became disillusioned when the board could not give him money to buy new players. He was reluctant to promote some promising reserves because of loyalty to the older players (a fault that was to resurface at Liverpool years later) and he finally resigned in January 1954, citing the board's lack of ambition as his main reason. In his autobiography, he said that he and his wife were feeling homesick in Grimsby and, when an opportunity came to manage Workington, he was attracted to the challenge partly because they would be closer to Scotland. Shankly's record in league football at Grimsby was 62 wins and 35 defeats from 118 matches.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Although the Workington team was close to the bottom of the Third Division North, Shankly saw it as a challenge and attacked the job with all of his usual enthusiasm and relish. Workington rose to 18th by the end of the 1953–54 season and so did not have to apply for re-election. In 1954–55, the team finished a creditable eighth and saw a rise in attendances from 6,000 to 8,000.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Workington operated on a shoestring and Shankly had to do much of the administration work himself, including answering the telephone and dealing with the mail by using an old typewriter to answer letters. In addition, he had the risky job of going to the bank each week to collect the payroll. One of his main problems was sharing the ground with the local rugby league club and Shankly was very concerned about the damage done to the playing surface by the rugby players. The situation led to numerous arguments with the club's board which, as Kelly records, included a majority of rugby league men whose interest in football took second place to rugby.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly resigned on 15 November 1955 to take up the post of assistant manager at Huddersfield Town, working with his old friend Andy Beattie. His record in league football at Workington was 35 wins and 27 defeats from 85 matches.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's initial role at Huddersfield was as reserve team coach. He found himself in charge of several promising youngsters who soon graduated to the first team after Town were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1955–56 season. Beattie resigned in the next season and, on 5 November 1956, Shankly succeeded him as manager. On Christmas Eve, he gave a first team debut to 16-year-old prospect Denis Law. Another prospect in his team was left back Ray Wilson who went on to become Huddersfield's most capped player before joining Everton. Shankly did not gain promotion at Huddersfield, the team finishing 12th in 1956–57, ninth in 1957–58 and 14th in 1958–59.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Other players in Shankly's Huddersfield team were Ken Taylor, who was an England Test cricketer; striker Les Massie and captain Bill McGarry. On 21 December 1957, Huddersfield lost 7-6 to Charlton Athletic, who played most of the match with ten men, after Huddersfield were leading 5–1 with just 27 minutes remaining. Shankly described it as one of the most amazing games he had ever seen. On another occasion, Huddersfield beat Liverpool 5–0 with ten men and Shankly recalled the Liverpool directors leaving the ground in single file as if they were in a funeral procession.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Disillusioned by a board that wanted to sell his best players without offering money to buy replacements, Shankly felt stifled by Huddersfield's lack of ambition and was delighted in November 1959 to receive an approach for his services by Liverpool. He recalled how Liverpool chairman Tom (T.V.) Williams asked him if he would like to manage the best club in the country, to which Shankly replied: "Why, is Matt Busby packing up?" Shankly decided to think about the offer as he realised the great potential at Liverpool, who like Huddersfield were in the Second Division at that time. Rumours began and were fuelled by Liverpool's visit to Leeds Road on 28 November. Although Huddersfield won the game 1–0, Shankly accepted the Liverpool offer and resigned his position as Huddersfield manager at a board meeting on 1 December 1959. His league record at Huddersfield was 49 wins and 47 defeats in 129 matches.


title: Bill Shankly

text: When Shankly arrived at Anfield on Monday, 14 December 1959, Liverpool had been in the Second Division for five years, and had been defeated by non-league Worcester City in the 1958–59 FA Cup. Anfield itself was in disrepair with no means of watering the pitch and Shankly insisted the club spend £3,000 to rectify that. Shankly described the training ground at Melwood as "a shambles". The Liverpool squad he inherited consisted largely of average players and some promising reserves.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In spite of the difficulties, Shankly quickly felt at home in his new club and believed he shared an immediate bond with the supporters, whom he saw as his kind of people. He quickly established working relationships with the coaching staff of Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Reuben Bennett who shared his views about loyalty to each other and to the club. Paisley's influence at Liverpool was crucial for, as Kelly puts it, Shankly was "the great motivating force behind Liverpool, but it was Paisley who was the tactician". One aspect of the quartet's legacy to football was the conversion of an old storage room into what became known as the "Boot Room", which was used for tactical discussion while cleaning and repairing boots. Although Shankly believed he had an excellent coaching staff, the playing staff were not so impressive – indeed, Shankly said of the latter:


title: Bill Shankly

text: After only one match I knew that the team as a whole was not good enough. I made up my mind that we needed strengthening through the middle, a goalkeeper and a centre half who between them could stop goals, and somebody up front to create goals and score them.


title: Bill Shankly

text: To deal with what he saw as a below average playing squad, he placed 24 players on the transfer list. All of them had left the club within one year. Shankly resolutely pursued his strength through the middle goal and always knew which three players he needed to achieve it.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Melwood was overgrown and had only an old wooden cricket pavilion. Shankly commented that one of the pitches looked as if bombs had been dropped on it and he asked if the Germans had been over in the war. He instituted a development programme to cultivate the site and modernise the facilities. In the meantime, he arranged for the players to meet and change at Anfield before going to and from Melwood by bus. According to Kelly, Liverpool's eventual success was based on hard work done in the training system that Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Bennett introduced at Melwood. Shankly deplored long distance running on roads and insisted that, apart from warm-up exercises or any special exercises needed to overcome injuries, the players trained on grass using a ball. Everything was done systematically with players rotating through exercise routines in groups with the purpose of achieving set targets. These would first cycle through athletic exercises, like skipping or squats, before moving on to football-specific functions, such as a heading the ball or chipping it. Five-a-side games, as at all Shankly's earlier clubs, were at the heart of the system and he again insisted on these being as competitive as league matches. One particular routine designed to develop stamina, reflexes and ball skills was the "sweat box" which Shankly described as: "using boards like the walls of a house with players playing the ball off one wall and on to the next; the ball was played against the boards, you controlled it, turned around and took it again". Shankly got the idea from a routine he had seen Tom Finney use at Preston to hone his skills. After experimenting with the routine, he set the players a limit of two minutes per session. The system was geared to Shankly's simple philosophy of "pass and move", which formed the basis of Liverpool's strategy. Shankly insisted on suitable cooling-off periods after training (now called "warming down") before the players took a bath and had a meal. The team changed the studs in their boots to suit all playing conditions. Shankly summarised the entire strategy in terms of attention to detail with nothing left to chance.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool's recovery depended on new players being acquired and, in his autobiography, Shankly recalled the struggles he had with the board to make them realise the club's potential and the need to spend money on good players. He said there were times when he felt like walking out. He found a valuable ally in Eric Sawyer, of the Littlewoods pools organisation, who joined the board not long after Shankly's appointment and shared Shankly's vision of Liverpool as the best club in England. At one board meeting in 1961 when Shankly insisted the club make offers for two players in Scotland, the board's initial response was that they couldn't afford them, but Sawyer stepped in and said: "We can't afford "not" to buy them".


title: Bill Shankly

text: The two Scottish players were centre half Ron Yeats and centre forward Ian St John from Dundee United and Motherwell respectively. With Sawyer's help, Shankly signed them both in the spring of 1961 and challenged the Liverpool board to sack him if they couldn't play. At a press conference when Yeats came to Liverpool, Shankly emphasised Yeats' height by inviting the journalists to "go and walk round him; he's a colossus!" Goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence came through the club's junior teams, so Shankly now had his "strength through the middle" and the team building continued with the acquisition of wing half Gordon Milne from Preston. Other players developed at Anfield were Jimmy Melia, Ronnie Moran, Alan A'Court and the future England internationals Gerry Byrne and Roger Hunt. Shankly said of goalscorer Hunt the first time he saw him: "Christ, this one can play!" Liverpool had finished third in both 1959–60 and 1960–61 (only the top two clubs were promoted); but the new team gained promotion in the 1961–62 season by winning the Second Division championship, Hunt scoring 41 goals.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool consolidated in 1962–63, finishing eighth in their first top flight season under Shankly's management. Significant signings were wing half Willie Stevenson from Rangers in 1962 and left winger Peter Thompson from Preston in 1963. Shankly described the Thompson deal as "daylight robbery". Liverpool's youth system produced more future England internationals in Ian Callaghan, Tommy Smith and Chris Lawler. The hard work paid off in 1963–64 when Liverpool won their sixth League Championship title, ending the season with a 5–0 defeat of Arsenal at Anfield. According to Roger Hunt, the secret of Liverpool's success was that, under Shankly, they were the fittest team in the country. In 1964, Jimmy Melia was transferred to Wolverhampton Wanderers; with Shankly buying Arsenal's utility player Geoff Strong for £40,000 and this was Liverpool's last significant transfer activity until 1967.


title: Bill Shankly

text: One of Shankly's greatest ambitions when he joined Liverpool was to win the FA Cup and, after he signed Yeats and St John, he told the club directors that they would win it with these two players in the team. It was St John who scored the winning goal in May 1965 when Liverpool won the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history with a 2–1 extra time victory over Leeds United at Wembley. In his autobiography, Shankly recounted that among his many achievements, winning the 1965 FA Cup final was his greatest day in football. Ahead of the final The Beatles had sent Shankly a telegram wishing the team luck, and Shankly appeared on the BBC's "Desert Island Discs" where he picked the club’s anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" as his eighth and final selection.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool made their European debut in 1964–65, competing in the European Cup and reaching the semi-finals. In the second round, the club was drawn against the formidable Anderlecht. Immediately before the match, Shankly decided to experiment with the Liverpool kit. Liverpool played in red shirts with white shorts and white socks with red stripes but Shankly and Ian St John had the idea of an all-red kit that would give the impression the players were taller. Liverpool played in all-red only for European matches but quickly adopted the colour permanently. Three days after winning the FA Cup, Liverpool defeated European champions Inter Milan 3–1 at Anfield in the semi-final first leg with a performance that was saluted by Inter's coach Helenio Herrera. The second leg at the San Siro remains controversial because, according to Shankly, the match was "a war" which Liverpool lost 3–0 and so were knocked out of the competition 4–3 on aggregate. Eleven years later, Shankly maintained that two of Inter's goals were illegal. Even today, the Liverpool website describes the match by saying that Liverpool were denied at the semi-final stage by a dishonest referee in Milan. According to Kelly, however, video evidence shows that the two disputed goals were actually legitimate. Shankly said after the defeat in Milan that the Inter fans were going mad because they were so pleased to have beaten Liverpool and he insisted it proved the high standard to which the Liverpool team had raised itself. In the 1964–65 Football League Championship, Liverpool dropped from first to seventh with 13 fewer points than the previous season, perhaps due to the exertion of lengthy participation in the FA and European Cups.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In 1965–66, Liverpool regained the League Championship title and reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup at Hampden Park, where they lost 2–1 in extra time to Borussia Dortmund. Shankly's summary of that final, played on a wet night, was that the team didn't play well and gave away "two silly goals". Shankly and Paisley had learned a great deal about European football which Liverpool would eventually turn into trophies. Their strategy in two-legged ties would be containment away and attack at home. Shankly had applied the principle in a preliminary round tie against Juventus when Liverpool were away in the first leg. Despite Juventus taking the lead after 81 minutes, Shankly ordered his players to ensure the deficit was only one goal. Liverpool then switched to all-out attack in the second leg at Anfield and won 2–0 (2–1 aggregate).


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool began the 1966–67 season by beating neighbours Everton in the FA Charity Shield match but the team were never really in contention for major honours that season, finishing fifth in the league. Shankly recognised the potential of Blackpool teenager Emlyn Hughes, a future England captain, and signed him for £65,000 in February 1967. Liverpool's performance in the 1966–67 European Cup was poor and, after struggling to overcome FC Petrolul Ploiești in the first round, they were well beaten in the last 16 by Ajax Amsterdam, inspired by 19-year-old Johan Cruyff. Ajax won 7–3 on aggregate after defeating Liverpool 5–1 in Amsterdam. Several years later, in his autobiography, Shankly still complained that the match in Amsterdam should never have started because of fog and, although Liverpool lost 5–1, he still thought Liverpool would win the tie at Anfield. Although Shankly claimed to have been unworried about the Ajax defeat, he acknowledged that he was examining the team and planning ahead. The Liverpool site argues that Shankly was mistaken in his decision at this time to postpone team rebuilding.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool improved their league performances over the next two years, finishing third in 1967–68 and then second in 1968–69, although to Shankly himself it was "a mediocre time in the late 1960s as we prepared for the 1970s". Shankly made two controversial signings in this period which did not turn out as he had hoped. In 1967, he signed striker Tony Hateley from Chelsea for a club record £96,000 and then felt obliged to transfer him to Coventry City only a year later. He wrote that bad luck and injuries disrupted the progress of two other prospects Alf Arrowsmith and Gordon Wallace; Shankly had compared the latter to Tom Finney. In September 1968, he paid £100,000 ()to Wolverhampton Wanderers for their teenage striker Alun Evans who thus became "football's first £100,000 teenager". Evans started well and produced some outstanding performances during his four years at the club but Shankly eventually had to sell him to Aston Villa. He later recalled that Evans was scarred by a glass in a nightclub incident which, in Shankly's opinion, had a detrimental impact on his career.


title: Bill Shankly

text: The only long-term success that Shankly had in the transfer market in the late 1960s was his signing of Emlyn Hughes, who went on to captain Liverpool to victory in the European Cup. Otherwise, he did not significantly change the team until the 1969–70 season when Liverpool finished fifth in the league championship, a long way behind the winners, their local rivals Everton. Shankly was characteristically defiant whenever Everton got the better of Liverpool and, although he liked and respected everyone connected with Everton, would always talk up Liverpool at Everton's expense. Typical of this was his joke about the city having two great football teams – Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In the 1969–70 FA Cup quarter final, Liverpool played against struggling Second Division side Watford at Vicarage Road and lost 1–0 after a very poor performance. The Liverpool site records that the defeat signalled the end for St John, Hunt, Byrne, Yeats and Lawrence; the incomers included Ray Clemence, Alec Lindsay, Larry Lloyd, John Toshack, Brian Hall and Steve Heighway. Apart from Hall who graduated through the reserves, they were all signed from clubs in lower divisions or even, in the case of Heighway, from non-league football. Adding the new players to Tommy Smith, Ian Callaghan, Chris Lawler and Emlyn Hughes, Shankly formed the nucleus of a second great team which went on to dominate English and European football in the 1970s.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Many of the new players came to Liverpool because of a new scouting system created by Shankly in 1967 and placed under the control of new chief scout Geoff Twentyman, who had played for Shankly at Carlisle and had then spent several seasons at Liverpool, retiring shortly before Shankly's appointment. According to Stephen Kelly, hiring Twentyman as chief scout was "perhaps Shankly's finest signing ever". It was through Twentyman that Liverpool found the new players and, after Shankly retired, Twentyman gave sterling service to Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan by finding players including Phil Neal, Alan Hansen and Ian Rush. As always, Shankly kept things simple and Twentyman was told to look for a prospect's basic qualities which were the abilities to pass the ball and move into position to receive a pass. Shankly also wanted Twentyman to check the player's personality and ensure he had the right attitude for a professional footballer. Above all, said Twentyman, "he wanted to know if the lad had the heart to play for Liverpool". Although Shankly sometimes paid large transfer fees he was loath to do so and Twentyman's brief was to find young players so he (Shankly) could mould them into what he wanted.


title: Bill Shankly

text: The new team began promisingly in 1970–71 by retaining fifth place in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup where they lost 0–1 to Leeds United side. The highlight of Liverpool's European campaign that season was a 4–1 aggregate victory in the quarter-final over Bayern Munich. For the first time since winning the competition in 1965, Liverpool reached the FA Cup Final but, as in the Fairs Cup, experience was the major factor and Shankly's young team were beaten 2–1 by league champions Arsenal despite having taken the lead in extra time through a Steve Heighway goal. Watching from the sidelines was another new player whom Shankly had recently signed from Scunthorpe United for £35,000 on Twentyman's recommendation. This was Kevin Keegan and he was such an important addition to the new Liverpool team that Shankly devoted an entire chapter of his autobiography to him entitled "A Boy Called Keegan". Shankly summarised Keegan as "the inspiration of the new team".


title: Bill Shankly

text: In Keegan's first season, 1971–72, Liverpool missed out on winning the League Championship by a single point, the title going to Brian Clough's Derby County. Shankly maintained that Liverpool were denied a definite penalty in their crucial away match against Derby and then had a good goal disallowed towards the end of their final match against Arsenal. Both decisions cost the team a vital point which would have been enough to claim first place. Shankly took encouragement from the team's overall form, especially as they made a strong finish to the season, and he was confident of success in 1972–73.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly had always been noted for his use of psychology, both to encourage his own players and to raise doubt in the minds of opponents. One of his lasting innovations is the "THIS IS ANFIELD" plaque secured to the wall above the players' tunnel. Coupled with the roar of the crowd, it was designed to intimidate. Shankly stated the plaque "is to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against". In the first match after it was erected, Liverpool defeated Newcastle United 5–0 on 18 March 1972, despite an attempt by Malcolm Macdonald to joke about the sign. Shankly would try to boost the confidence of his own players by announcing that a key opponent was unfit. When Keegan was about to play against Bobby Moore for the first time, Shankly told him that Moore had been out at a night club and was hung over. Afterwards, Keegan having produced an outstanding performance against the equally outstanding Moore, Shankly told him that Moore had been brilliant that day and Keegan would never play against anyone better.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In 1972–73, Liverpool won the club's eighth league title and their third under Shankly. On 30 December 1972 the team beat Crystal Palace at Anfield to make it 21 consecutive home wins in the league. This was the longest run in English top-flight history until it was surpassed by Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool who made it 22 consecutive home wins in March 2020. A massive bonus for the club was winning the 1973 UEFA Cup, the club's first European success. In the two-legged final they faced Borussia Mönchengladbach, whom Shankly rated the best team in Europe. The first leg at Anfield had to be played twice after an abandonment due to heavy rain which flooded the pitch. Shankly had left John Toshack out of the team but then, having studied the Borussia defence, recalled him for the rematch the following night. Toshack used his height and heading ability to great effect and created two goals for Keegan as Liverpool won 3–0. The second leg in Mönchengladbach was a different story as Borussia took an early 2–0 lead and Shankly admitted he thought the final was lost, but Liverpool held on to win the final by an aggregate score of 3–2. It was the first time an English club had won both the league title and a European trophy in the same season.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool were well beaten by Red Star Belgrade in the second round of the 1973–74 European Cup and lost out to Leeds in the League Championship, finishing second. In the third round of the FA Cup, Liverpool had to score a late equaliser to draw 2–2 at home against lowly Doncaster Rovers but recovered to win the replay and then go all the way to the final. In what proved to be Shankly's last competitive game in charge, Liverpool produced a superb second half performance to defeat Newcastle 3–0 at Wembley.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In his autobiography, Shankly wrote: "Right from the start as a manager [i.e., when he was at Carlisle] I tried to show that the fans are the people that matter. You've got to know how to treat them (and) have them on your side". This was particularly true at Liverpool and Shankly said he was made for Liverpool where the people that matter most are the ones who come through the turnstiles. He added that a manager has got to identify himself with the people because their team is something that really matters to them. In return, he said, the support of the Liverpool fans for their team had been incredible.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In April 1973, when Shankly and the team were showing off the League Championship trophy to the fans on the Kop, he saw a policeman fling aside a Liverpool scarf which had been thrown in Shankly's direction. Shankly retrieved the scarf and wore it. He said to the policeman: "Don't you do that. That's precious". Shankly saw the offer of the scarf as a mark of respect which deserved his respect in return.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly emphasised the importance of communication with the supporters. At Carlisle he used to speak to them over the public address system before matches. Rather than just putting a few lines in the match programme, he preferred to speak and explain his team changes and his views about the previous match. At Workington, he would answer supporters' letters in person, using an old typewriter. He said he preferred to phone business people as he would put as little as possible in writing when dealing with them. He would readily obtain match tickets for fans whom he considered to be deserving cases and wrote in his autobiography that he would give people anything within reason.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly formed a special bond with the Liverpool supporters and, at the end of the 1961–62 season when Liverpool won the Second Division championship, he told the "Liverpool Echo": "In all sincerity, I can say that they are the greatest crowd of supporters in the game". In Tommy Smith's view, Shankly was completely in tune with the city of Liverpool; he loved the supporters and they loved him, mainly because they knew he understood them.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Regarded as a great orator who stirred emotions among the fanbase, following the 1971 FA Cup Final (which Liverpool lost to Arsenal), Shankly and the players toured the city of Liverpool where people turned out to greet the gallant losers. Standing on the steps of St George's Hall, Shankly overlooked a crowd of over 100,000 Liverpool fans, and delivered one of his most famous speeches. “'Since I've come here to Liverpool, to Anfield, I've drummed it into our players, time and again, that they are privileged to play for you. And if they didn't believe me, they believe me now.” Commenting on the mood of the crowd, a moved Peter Robinson, club secretary of Liverpool, told a reporter, “Bill’s got such power of oratory that if he told them to march through the Mersey tunnel and pillage Birkenhead they’d do it”.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was 60 when Liverpool won the 1974 FA Cup final and said in his autobiography that, on returning to the dressing room at the end of the match, he felt tired from all the years. His mind was made up and he knew he was going to retire. His wife, Nessie, had asked him to retire a year earlier but he decided that was not the right time. Tommy Smith said that Shankly's feelings for Nessie were undoubtedly a major reason for his decision. In 1974, he decided that he could leave Liverpool with pride in a job well done and only one regret, which was that he did not win the European Cup.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly had considered retirement in previous years. The Liverpool secretary Peter Robinson was initially blasé in 1974 but, when he realised Shankly was serious this time, tried to make him change his mind. Shankly's granddaughter, Karen Gill, said to "The Observer" in 2009: "I think that perhaps it was tiredness, that football had taken its toll on him". In her 2006 book about her grandfather, Karen Gill said Shankly never professed anything privately about retirement that he did not declare publicly. She did not agree that there was any hidden motive behind his decision and she thought Brian Clough's view about tiredness was probably correct.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's retirement was officially and surprisingly announced at a press conference called by Liverpool on 12 July 1974. Chairman, John Smith, said in his opening address:


title: Bill Shankly

text: It is with great regret that I as chairman of Liverpool Football Club have to inform you that Mr Shankly has intimated that he wishes to retire from active participation in league football. And the board has with extreme reluctance accepted his decision. I would like to at this stage place on record the board's great appreciation of Mr Shankly's magnificent achievements over the period of his managership.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly soon regretted his decision and tried to continue his involvement with the club, mainly by turning up for team training at Melwood. He said he still wanted the involvement as the club had become his life. He soon stopped going to Melwood because he felt there was some resentment and people were asking what he was doing there. He still attended matches, but sat in the stand away from the directors and staff. He was especially annoyed that Liverpool did not invite him to attend away matches as the club's guest. When, finally, he was invited to travel with them to the away leg of the 1976 UEFA Cup Final in Bruges, he was accommodated in a separate hotel and said he found that insulting. Shankly contrasted Liverpool's attitude with what he encountered at other clubs, including Liverpool's great rivals Everton and Manchester United, where he was received warmly. He recalled Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty's comment to a Liverpool director that he (Shankly) was welcome at Old Trafford. About Everton, once his greatest rivals, he wrote that he had been received more warmly by Everton than by Liverpool. He said it was a scandal that he needed to say that about the club he had helped to build.


title: Bill Shankly

text: From Liverpool's point of view, the situation was that Shankly had retired and the club had to move on. Shankly did not understand that, by turning up for training at Melwood, he was effectively undermining Bob Paisley's status as manager. On one visit to Melwood, a player opined to Shankly that Paisley had made a good start in the job. Shankly retorted: "I could have left a monkey in charge!" Shankly's visits even went as far as actually taking over the training. Tommy Smith recalled that Shankly as manager never ran training and would only speak to Paisley, Fagan and Bennett about what needed to be done. As a visitor at Melwood, he began to intervene and Paisley's initial pleasure on seeing him soon turned to polite embarrassment. Eventually, Paisley had to point out to Shankly that he did not work there any more, that it was now Paisley's team and that he had things which he wanted to do with the team.


title: Bill Shankly

text: It is believed that Shankly wanted a seat on the Liverpool board, as Matt Busby had been given by Manchester United after he retired as their manager in 1969. Again, what Shankly did not understand was that his relations with the board had often been acrimonious with several resignation threats and a statement made by Shankly that:


title: Bill Shankly

text: At a football club, there's a holy trinity – the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Although some club officials like secretary Peter Robinson wanted bygones to be bygones, Tommy Smith summarised the board's view as one of satisfaction that Shankly had gone at last. There was a perception that Shankly was an overbearing figure, who could use a position on the board to be a "back-seat driver", and the board were well aware that Matt Busby's time as a Manchester United director had been disastrous. Busby's successors had complained about being undermined by his continued presence at United, who had been relegated in 1974. While Liverpool's treatment of Shankly may have seemed disrespectful, they were acting in the best interests of the club and its new manager by pursuing the same relentless winning ethic that Shankly himself had instilled. In any event, their perceived ruthlessness was vindicated by the unprecedented haul of League Championship titles and European Cups won over the next decade under Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Soon after Shankly's retirement, Brian Clough – who himself had recently been sacked by Leeds United – was asked during a David Frost interview whom in football management he respected, to which Clough replied: "Well, the guy who had my total respect finished a few months ago at Liverpool. He's a one off, there'll never be another one like Shanks. Never at all. He absolutely lives the game ... he was totally honest, he believed implicitly in what he was doing, and there was never, ever a doubt when you either talked to him, met him, or anything; he was above board. He was above board. He was one off."


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was awarded the OBE in November 1974, four months after he retired as Liverpool manager. He and Nessie went to Buckingham Palace and, according to Kelly, that was a rare day out for them. They continued to live in the semi-detached house at West Derby, near the Everton training ground at Bellefield, which they bought when they moved to Liverpool in 1959. After Shankly's death in 1981, Nessie lived there alone until she died in August 2002.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly tried to keep busy in retirement and stay in touch with football. He worked for Radio City 96.7, a Liverpool station on which he presented his own chat show, once interviewing prime minister Harold Wilson, and was a pundit on its football coverage. He briefly took up advisory roles at Wrexham and then at Tranmere Rovers, helping former Liverpool captain Ron Yeats at the latter. In November 1976, the press speculated that Shankly would make a return to management as the successor to Dave Mackay at Derby County, but the position went to Colin Murphy instead. John Toshack recalled that Shankly was a great help to him when he went into management with Swansea City in 1978. Despite being in his sixties, Shankly kept himself fit and often took part in five-a-side football. If nothing else was available he would join teams of youngsters in kickabouts.


title: Bill Shankly

text: On the morning of 26 September 1981, Bill Shankly was admitted to Broadgreen Hospital following a heart attack. His condition appeared to be stable and there was no suggestion that his life was in danger. On the following Monday morning, his condition suddenly deteriorated and he was transferred into intensive care. At 00:30 on 29 September, he suffered another cardiac arrest and was certified dead, twenty-seven days after his 68th birthday, at 01:20. He was cremated at the Anfield Crematorium on 2 October and his ashes were scattered on the Anfield pitch at the Kop end.


title: Bill Shankly

text: On the day of Shankly's death, training was cancelled at both Melwood and Bellefield. The Labour Party conference stood in a minute's silence for a man who had always been a socialist. Sir Matt Busby, the former Manchester United manager, was so upset that he refused to take any telephone calls from people asking him for a reaction. Tributes poured in from the world of football, especially from the former players of all Shankly's clubs. Liverpool chairman John Smith summed them up with a simple but fitting: "In my opinion, he was the most outstanding and dynamic manager of the century". On 3 October, Liverpool’s first home league game since his passing, Anfield celebrated his life, with one fan on the Kop holding aloft a homemade banner declaring "Shankly Lives Forever".


title: Bill Shankly

text: Liverpool erected the 15-foot high cast-iron Shankly Gates in front of the Anfield Road stand. Inscribed "You'll Never Walk Alone", they were opened by Nessie Shankly at a low-key ceremony in August 1982. In 1997, a seven-foot tall bronze statue of Shankly was unveiled outside the stadium. It bears the legend: "He made the people happy". In 2016, a plinth to Shankly was installed on 96 Avenue outside Anfield. The inscription features details of Liverpool’s 1965 win over Inter Milan at Anfield, the club’s first great European night.


title: Bill Shankly

text: From the mid-1990s, Preston North End started a complete re-building of Deepdale to convert it into a modern all-seater stadium. When the former Spion Kop end was replaced by a new stand in 1998, it was named the Bill Shankly Kop and was designed with different coloured seats providing an image of Shankly's head and shoulders.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002, in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager. In 2004, he was an inaugural inductee into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. David Peace's biographical novel "Red or Dead", published in 2013, is a fictionalised account of Shankly's career as Liverpool manager. The novel was short-listed for the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize (2013). A hotel and museum opened in Liverpool in August 2015 dedicated to the life and career of Bill Shankly. Shankly also features in the popular Liverpool chant "Allez, Allez, Allez", which is frequently sung by Liverpool supporters, especially during European matches. Archived voice overs of Shankly ("My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility") appear on the track "Anfield Rap", a Liverpool FA Cup Final song from 1988.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was married to his wife Agnes Wren-Fisher from 1944 until his death 37 years later. They had met earlier during World War II, when Bill was serving as a Corporal with the RAF and "Nessie", who was six years younger, was serving with the WRAF. They had two daughters - Barbara (born 1945) and Jeanette (born 1951) - and eventually went on to have six grandchildren, although their youngest grandchild and only grandson was born several months after Bill Shankly's death. Nessie survived her husband by more than 20 years, dying in August 2002 at the age of 82. On Shankly's appointment as Liverpool manager in 1959, he and his family moved into a house in Bellefield Avenue, West Derby, Liverpool. Nessie Shankly was still living there at the time of her death more than 40 years later.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Stephen Kelly, in his 1997 biography of Shankly, calls him "the ultimate obsessive". Shankly was fanatical about Liverpool and about football in general. From coaching his players and arguing with journalists to buttonholing fans in pubs, all Shankly ever wanted to do was talk about football and to be involved in football. As a result, he had few interests outside the game other than his family. His wife Nessie told Kelly that Shankly would spend time in the garden, mowing and weeding. She could rely on him to clean the cooker when Liverpool lost. Family holidays were limited to a week in Blackpool, where they always stayed at the Norbreck Hotel. One non-football activity that Shankly did enjoy was playing cards and Ian St John said he loved it, always taking part on long coach trips to away matches.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly was noted for his charismatic personality and his wit; as a result, he is oft-quoted. His most famous quotation is probably one that is often misquoted:


title: Bill Shankly

text: Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Kelly wrote that, although it was said half-jokingly, so far as Shankly was concerned there was a degree of truth in what he had said. Shankly had fully realised the importance of football to its die-hard fans, himself included. It had become too important. Ian St John agreed that much of Shankly's behaviour was "bizarre", but everything was done with a purpose because Shankly always knew what he was doing and what he was saying.


title: Bill Shankly

text: On how his tough, working class upbringing kept him grounded. “Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That’s the reward.” On his belief in hard work, he referred to his time in the RAF: “If I had a job to do, even if it was scrubbing the floor, I wanted my floor to be cleaner than yours. Now if everyone thinks along these lines and does all the small jobs to the best of their ability – that’s honesty, then the world would be better and football will be better. So, what I want is hard work. And no football club is successful without hard work.”


title: Bill Shankly

text: In his autobiography, Shankly gave insights into his character such as his world-view as a socialist, explaining that the socialism he believed in was not about politics but about collectivism, with everyone working for each other and enjoying a share of the rewards. That was the basis of his approach to football which is a team game in which everyone works together and shares the rewards.


title: Bill Shankly

text: While he lived most of his life in the North of England, Shankly identified as a Scot, saying “If Scotland went to war tomorrow, I’ll be the first one there." He admitted to idolising Robert Burns, whose birthplace was only 26 miles from Glenbuck, and he was inspired by many of Burns' philosophical quotations, such as his egalitarian statement that "A Man's A Man for A' That". Shankly had no time for bigotry or prejudice, especially arising from differences of religion. He compared the cities of Glasgow and Liverpool by saying that there is nothing like the Rangers–Celtic situation in Liverpool because the supporters of Liverpool and Everton are a mixed bunch whose religion is football.


title: Bill Shankly

text: Shankly's public persona was that of a "tough guy" with the swagger of his favourite film star James Cagney but privately he was very different. Joe Mercer described his "heart of gold" and likened him to a Border Collie who drives his sheep but could never hurt them. Liverpool's perceived failings in the late 1960s have been attributed to Shankly's reluctance to drop his long-serving players even though they were past their best. Bob Paisley said it was Shankly's one failing and it was because he was "a softie at heart".


title: Bill Shankly

text: When asked by a TV interviewer how he would like to be remembered, Shankly replied: Basically as an honest man in a game that is sometimes short on honesty. That I've been working honestly for the people of Liverpool to try and give them entertainment.


title: Bill Shankly

text: In April 2013, Shankly was honoured by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom, as one of ten people selected as subjects for the "Great Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue.


title: Danniella Westbrook

text: Danniella Westbrook (born 5 November 1973) is an English actress, best known for originally playing Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" on and off from 1990 to 2000 and 2009 to 2016. Away from "EastEnders", she has presented various series, and was also a contestant on the ITV contest "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" in 2003. Westbrook competed in the 2010 series of "Dancing on Ice", with US Pairs Skater Matthew Gonzalez, and finished fourth in the competition. In 2013, she appeared in "Hollyoaks" as Trudy Ryan. In 2016, she took part in the seventeenth series of "Celebrity Big Brother", where she reached the final and finished in fifth place. On 27 February of that same year, it was confirmed that Westbrook would return to "EastEnders", very briefly with on-screen brother Grant (Ross Kemp), for the death of their on-screen mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor). In 2022, it was announced that Westbrook would play "The Fairy Godmother" in a West End adult pantomime of "Sinderfella", on 12 December of that year.