title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki confirmed that she had been working on her seventeenth studio album for 2016 through a post published on Instagram. A 15th anniversary edition of Hamasaki's 2001 greatest hits album "A Best" was released on March 28, 2016. In May 2016, Hamasaki started her nationwide tour "Arena Tour 2016 A: Made in Japan", which was expanded version of her 2015–2016 Countdown Live "Made in Tokyo". On May 11, Hamasaki made a surprise release of her 17th studio album, entitled "Made in Japan", through music streaming website AWA, where it reached 1 million legal streams five days after release. The album was released on physical formats on June 29, 2016. With the album peaking at number two on the weekly Oricon chart, Hamasaki became the solo-artist with the most top-ten albums (50).


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On September 30, 2016, Hamasaki released the digital single "We Are the Queens", which was used as a theme song of smartphone game "Clash of Queens" developed by Elex Wireless. Hamasaki herself starred in the TV commercial for the game, which was first broadcast on September 17.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On September 6, 2017, Hamasaki released a new song entitled "Words" as a free download for attenders to her "Just the Beginning: Sacrifice" tour, available until November 30 through the mu-mo website.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: During 2017 Hamasaki embarked on her "Just the Beginning -20- Tour 2017", whose first leg started on May 13, 2017, at Yokohama Arena through July 17 at the Osaka-jō Hall, Osaka. The second leg of the tour, entitled "Just the beginning Part 2: Sacrifice", commenced on September 6 at the Pacifico Yokohama National Convention Hall, Yokohama, and is scheduled to end on November 28 at the Shunanshi Bunka Hall, Yamaguchi. A third leg of the tour began on December 2, 2017, at the Wakayama Prefectural Cultural Hall, through February 20, 2018, at the Okinawa Convention Center.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki embarked on the Power of Music 20th Anniversary arena tour from April 7 to July 22, 2018. She announced her then upcoming seventh extended play, "Trouble"—released on August 15, 2018—on the final day of the tour.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In August 2019, popular non-fiction author Narumi Komatsu released a novel about Hamasaki entitled "M Aisubeki Hito ga Ite", in which it was revealed that the singer had been in a relationship with her producer, Max Matsuura, in the early days of her debut. The book was written based on interviews with Hamasaki herself and gives a rare insight in the artist's private life and her road to stardom, although before the book was published, the singer stated that the book "combined both fact and fiction" to make its own story. Hamasaki also wrote a foreword to the novel, which was set in present time as she prepared for her 20th anniversary, and of her thoughts working with Matsuura again after the two grew apart professionally earlier in the 2010s. The book instantly became a best-seller, and reached #1 in the charts. A television drama-series based on the novel aired from April to July 2020. A 20th anniversary edition of Hamasaki's 1999 album "Loveppears," was released on November 10, 2019.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On February 20, the singer began "Trouble Tour 2020: Saigo no Trouble". The tour was suspended after only two dates due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions imposed by the Japanese government. On May 19, Hamasaki announced the cancellation of the remaining 36 dates through her official website.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On July 4, a surprise TV-commercial featuring a new song by the singer, titled "Ohia no Ki", was broadcast after the airing of the final episode of "M Aisubeki Hito ga Ite". Hamasaki's first new song in two years, it was also her first to have a title in Japanese instead of English. The song was composed by Kazuhito Kikuchi—known for having composed some of Hamasaki's signature songs, such as "Who..." and "Heaven"—with lyrics inspired by her newborn son. "Ohia no Ki" was released on digital platforms in Japan the next day.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: The singer held her "Premium Limited Live A: Natsu no Trouble" special concert without an in-person audience on July 25; it was streamed live on AbemaTV. A new digital single, "Dreamed a Dream", followed at the end of that month.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On August 29, Hamasaki took part in "A-Nation Online 2020" - the first time Avex had streamed their annual summer festival.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Due to the cancellation of her 2020 tour, Hamasaki held an online concert named "Trouble Tour 2020 A: Saigo no Trouble Final" on October 2. This was without an in-person audience, the stream being hosted by Mu-mo Live. Later in the same year, Hamasaki planned to hold an in-person Christmas concert titled "Special Showcase Xmas Eve 2020," but it was later adapted to be a streaming exclusive via YouTube on December 24. "Countdown Live 2020-2021 A: Music For Life," two New Year concerts for December 30 and 31, were cancelled on December 29 due to a member of staff testing positive with COVID-19. Hamasaki later confirmed she was following isolation instructions and had not tested positive herself.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki released the compilation album "A Ballads 2" on April 8, 2021, which included remastered versions of 29 previously released songs, as well as the single "Ohia no Ki" and a new cover of Yumi Matsutoya's "Haru yo, Koi". Alongside "A Ballads 2", she released the digital single "23rd Monster" on April 8. In the track, Hamasaki covers the themes of public pressure, self-doubt, and retaking control of one's own life; the title in reference to it being released on the date of her own 23rd anniversary since her major label debut.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On June 26 2021 Hamasaki held an online concert titled "Music for Life: Return", hosted on Mu-mo Live as well as having an in-person audience, which reused the concept and parts of the setlist she had planned for the cancelled "Countdown Live 2020 - 2021 A: Music For Life." An in-person exclusive concert, "Summer TA Party 2021", was held on August 23 at the Team Smile Toyosu Pit venue. After the concert ended, Hamasaki announced a new tour named "Asia Tour 2021-2022 A: 23rd Monster"; despite the name, there were no confirmed dates outside of Japan due to COVID-19 restrictions. The tour began on October 2 at the Makuhari Event Hall, Chiba. At the end of the year, her "Countdown Live 2021 - 2022 A: 23rd Monster" concerts were held with an in-person audience, along with it being streamed online by dTV.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In 2022, digital single "Nonfiction" was released on April 22, its lyrics condemning the recent uptick in false news reports and conspiracies. It was first revealed at Hamasaki's "Asia Tour: 24th Anniversary Special" concert, held at PIA Arena MM on April 6 and streamed through dTV; the concert also had Kishidan as special guests, who performed "One Night Carnival" with the singer. Ten years prior, they had also been a guest artist during her "Arena Tour 2012 A: Hotel Love Songs" tour to perform the same track, with their 2022 performance now being Hamasaki's own version recorded for an official Kishidan tribute album.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: "Summer Again" was released on July 1, which had callbacks to previous summer single "Inspire" in its music video, shot on Ishigaki Island. From July to August, seven "Summer TA Party 2022" concerts were held across Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Her third digital single of 2022, "Mask", was released on November 18th, with its later released music video made in collaboration with TeamLabs.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: The final show for "Asia Tour 2021-2022 A: 23rd Monster" took place on December 10, 2022 in Nagoya. "Countdown Live 2022–2023 A: Remember You," Hamasaki's New Year's Eve concert, will be held on December 30 and 31 at Yoyogi National Stadium. It has been confirmed that it will be streamed live on dTV.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki's lyrics have resonated among her fans throughout her career, who praise them as being honest and heartfelt and "expressing determination"; in two surveys conducted by Oricon, respondents voted Hamasaki's lyrics as their favorite aspect of her artistry. Steve McClure of "The Japan Times" noted that Hamasaki has "developed a reputation as a thoughtful, introspective lyricist"; Barry Walters of "The Village Voice" comments that Hamasaki's lyrics "pack unlikely insights". Having "trouble voicing her thoughts", Hamasaki uses her lyrics as an outlet; she draws inspiration from her own (and occasionally her friends') experiences and emotions and tries to put them "honestly into words". She has stated that honesty is essential to her lyrics, saying, "If I write when I'm low, it will be a dark song, but I don't care. I want to be honest with myself at all times." This meant that she did not use English lyrics until her album "Rainbow", as she felt that she could best express herself in Japanese. As with her musical style, the themes of her lyrics have varied. Her debut album "A Song for ××" dealt mostly with themes of "loneliness and confusion", as did her second album "Loveppears". "Duty" likewise expressed feelings of disappointment and confusion. Hamasaki began to take on a more global outlook with her following albums "I Am..." and "Rainbow", branching out to wider themes such as faith and peace. Music critic Tetsu Misaki noted a large change in her lyrics style between her debut album "A Song for ××" (1999), which mostly dealt with personal problems, and her following albums "Loveppears" and "Duty". Misaki believed Hamasaki had begun thinking about her influence on society more, and began writing songs with important messages she wanted to express to her listeners. This was signalled by her not using first person pronouns as much, and instead using the words and more often. As Hamasaki matured, her lyrics began to express more confidence; themes in her later albums included love and the struggles of women. With "Guilty", Hamasaki began to compose her lyrics not only as an exposition of her personal feelings but as encouragements for her listeners, an outlook she applied in "Next Level" as well. In songs such as "Talkin' 2 Myself" and "Mirrorcle World", Hamasaki deals with the "awareness and fighting spirit of surviving in a high-risk age" to encourage listeners. In addition to personal experiences and feelings, Hamasaki bases lyrics on sources such as historical events. The life of Joan of Arc was the inspiration for "Free & Easy", a story told to her by her friend about a saint named Mary served as the basis for "M", and the September 11 attacks inspired "A Song Is Born".


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In addition to writing her own lyrics, Hamasaki has also involved herself in other aspects of production such as artistic direction. Though Max Matsuura is officially credited as the producer of her records, he said of Hamasaki, "Ayu is a very meticulous worker behind the scenes. A lot of the work she does by herself is more in the producer's arena. I think really we should say 'Produced by [A]yumi [H]amasaki'."In 2022, Matsuura would state that he began to step away from the lead producer role from around 2000, leaving Hamasaki to coordinate production herself. Until her single "M", however, Hamasaki left the task of composing to her staff; as she has explained, "I'm not a professional; I lack even basic knowledge about writing music." However, she started to compose her own melodies after her staff had failed to compose a tune for "M" that appealed to her. Wanting to produce works faithful to her visions, Hamasaki took control of most aspects of her artistry. "I Am..." is representative of this stage in Hamasaki's career; she directed the production of its songs, videos, and artwork. She began to compose less after "I Am...": whereas nearly all of "I Am..." was her work, only nine of "Rainbow" fifteen tracks were composed by her. She was even less involved in the composition of subsequent albums, composing two tracks on "Memorial Address", three on "My Story", and one on "(Miss)understood"; since "Secret", none of the songs on her studio albums have listed her as a composer. With later albums, Hamasaki also began to delegate to her staff tasks she had once handled herself. Hamasaki cites Madonna, soul musicians Babyface and En Vogue, and rock bands Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple as her influences and states that she admires Michelle Branch, Kid Rock, Joan Osborne, Seiko Matsuda, Rie Miyazawa, and Keiko Yamada; these diverse influences have led to the variety of her own music. Hamasaki began commissioning remixes of her songs early in her career, and this practice also influenced the diversity of her music. Found on many of her records, these remixes span different genres of electronic dance music including Eurobeat, house, and trance, as well as acoustic genres such as classical and traditional Chinese music. She has employed Western as well as Japanese musicians; among those she has worked with are Above & Beyond, the Lamoureux Orchestra of France, and traditional Chinese music ensemble Princess China Music Orchestra. Hamasaki has released more than a hundred original songs; through them, she has covered a wide range of musical styles, such as dance, metal, R&B, progressive rock, pop, and classical. She uses different instruments and techniques including piano, orchestra, gospel choirs, guitars, traditional Japanese strings, music boxes, and effects such as yells, claps, and scratching.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki is often involved in the artistic direction of her music videos. They are often artistic productions through which Hamasaki tries to convey the meaning or feeling of their respective songs. The themes of the videos are varied; she has made "sad and fragile" or "emotional" videos ("Momentum", "Endless Sorrow"), "refreshing" summer videos ("Blue Bird", "Fairyland"), surreal or "scary" videos ("1 Love", "Marionette"), and humorous videos ("Evolution", "Angel's Song", "Beautiful Fighters"). Additionally, many of the videos contain short storylines, some of which use symbolism to convey their respective messages. The video of "Voyage" depicts Hamasaki as a woman in a mental hospital whose previous incarnation was a woman in feudal Japan who was sacrificed to the moon; the video of "Endless Sorrow" features a young boy living in a society where speaking is forbidden by law. In the video for "Free & Easy", Hamasaki portrayed a "twenty-first-century Joan of Arc" to convey her message "freedom cannot be easily obtained; there is a price to pay for it" and to express her opposition to her marrying at the time; the video for "Ourselves" featured masked people destroying "effigies of [Hamasaki's] past" such as photographs and album covers to symbolize destruction and rebirth. Additionally, the videos of "Fairyland", "My Name's Women", "Jewel", "Green", and "Virgin Road" are among the top twenty or so most expensive music videos, making Hamasaki the only non-American artist to hold such a distinction. Hamasaki is also involved in the production and artistic direction of her live performances; they, like her videos, are often lavish productions and use a variety of props, extravagant costumes, and choreographed dances. She has used large video screens, fireworks, simulated rain drops, trick stage floors, and suspended devices.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki's lyrics and image have gained a following predominantly among the Generation X of Asia, mainly because of the "conflicting or inharmonious beauty" of her fashion and lyrics; Hamasaki's fashions combine Eastern and Western elements, and her songs, unlike those of many of her contemporaries, mostly all have English titles but contained no English lyrics (until "Rainbow"). Music critic Tetsu Misaki believed that the juxtaposition of her fashionable appearance and her personal lyrics was one of her most important selling points. The popularity of her music extends beyond Japan; she has a "sizable [following] across Asia" and is one of the few Japanese singers whose albums have sold over 10,000 copies in Singapore. In 2002, however, Hamasaki's domestic sales began declining due to a sluggish Japanese market and increasing piracy in Japan. As a result, she began moving toward the Asian market in 2002, performing at the 2002 MTV Asia awards in Singapore, at South Korea's "Asia Song Festival", and at a concert in Beijing to celebrate Sino-Japanese relations. With her popularity declining (due in part to the rising popularity of other singers), she made a foray into the Asian market, starting with her first tour of Asia in 2007.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki is also noted for the visual aspects of her artistry: she is considered a fashion trendsetter, with her influence extending beyond Japan. While maintining tight control over her image, Teresa Nieman of "The Guardian" said that Hamasaki has "married accessible, mainstream hits with over-the-top costumes and high-concept videos", Besides her frequent appearances in fashion magazines, such as "Vivi", "Popteen", and "Cawaii!", Hamasaki has often been lauded for her trendy choices in apparels and accessories; Oricon has repeatedly named her the "Most Fashionable Female Artist". Many aspects of Japan's fashions—including clothing, hair, nails, and accessories—have in some way been influenced by her. As with her music, trends Hamasaki started have spread to Asian countries as Taiwan, China, and Singapore. Among the trends Hamasaki has started is "hime-kei" (a look inspired by the fashions of 18th century French aristocracy); she has also heavily influenced the "kogal" subculture. Hamasaki's constantly changing image is apparent not only in her fashion photo shoots and commercial endorsements but also in her record covers, an element she considers essential in conveying her message. She has portrayed herself as a vine-clad "peace muse" or "Greek goddess" (on her album "I Am..."), as a "twenty-first-century Joan of Arc" (for her single "Free & Easy"), and as a "funky Lolita".


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Though Hamasaki has portrayed herself in earlier releases as a "girl next door", she has adopted a more sexualized image since the release of "Loveppears". The covers for records including "Loveppears", "I Am...", "Rainbow", and "Party Queen" feature Hamasaki in states of partial nudity, for which she has generated controversy. While her music is considered one of the major forces in shaping Japan's current music trends, some critics have also credited clever marketing strategies.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki has accepted offers by numerous brands to endorse their products. Throughout her career under Avex, she has promoted products that ranged from electronics (Tu-Ka cell phones and Panasonic) to various snack foods. Among the products she has advertised on television are the Honda Crea scooter, KOSÉ cosmetics, Mister Donut donuts, and Boss coffee. Although Hamasaki initially supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, saying that it was "necessary that [she is] viewed as a product", she eventually opposed Avex's decision to market her as a "product rather than a person".


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: As well as serving as background music for television advertisements, some of Hamasaki's songs have been used as themes for video games, television shows and motion pictures, such as "", "InuYasha", "" and "Tales of Xillia".


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In 2001, Hamasaki launched her own fashion brand, MTRLG (Material Girl); the clothes were sold at MTRLG boutiques and at Mise S*clusive stores.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In 2002, Hamasaki created Ayupan, a cartoon version of herself that appeared in a line of merchandise (mainly figurines) and in a 2003 cartoon. For her 2007 tour "Tour of Secret", Hamasaki collaborated with Sanrio to create a line of merchandise, "Ayumi Hamasaki x Hello Kitty/", that features Ayupan and Hello Kitty together. The merchandise included cell phone straps and Lumix cameras decorated with a picture of Hello Kitty behind Hamasaki's "A" logo; the former product was a result of a collaboration with Sanrio and Japanese fashion brand Ash & Diamonds, the latter a collaboration with Sanrio and Panasonic.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: From October 2002 to March 2004, Hamasaki was also the host of her own talk and variety TV show, "Ayuready?", on Fuji Television. The talk show, aired on Saturday nights from 11:30 to midnight, often featured her performing songs with guests, among whom were Goto Maki, Puffy, and Akina Nakamori. To promote the program (and her album "Rainbow"), Hamasaki opened a restaurant, Rainbow House, on Shōnan Beach on July 1, 2003, which was open through August 31, 2003. After less than two years, the last episode of "Ayuready?" aired in March 2004.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In March 2011, Hamasaki donated 30 million yen to relief efforts for the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. She also collaborated with fashion magazine ViVi to sell charity T-shirts.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In 2021 Hamasaki donated 10 million yen to the Japanese National Center for Global Health and Medicine, receiving the Medal of Honor.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: During the 2022 typhoon aftermath in Shizuoka prefecture, Hamasaki openly criticized the media for not reporting on the disaster thoroughly. Over a period of three days, she organized a donation point and visited Shizuoka to talk to survivors and coordinate resources.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: Hamasaki had a seven-year relationship with actor Tomoya Nagase, from 2000 to 2007. The pair had known each other since co-starring a TV drama in 1997, and began a romantic relationship in 2000.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On January 1, 2011, Hamasaki announced her engagement to Austrian actor and model Manuel Schwarz, whom Hamasaki met in August 2010 on the set of her music video for "Virgin Road". On January 2, her office announced that she and Schwarz had married in the United States the day before. However, on January 16, 2012, Hamasaki announced on her website that she would divorce Schwarz. The reason for the divorce was that, initially, Hamasaki wanted to move in with Schwarz in the United States but due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit her home country in March, 2011, she strongly desired not to leave Japan.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On December 13, 2013, it was announced on her official TeamAyu site that Hamasaki had become engaged to an American medical student 10 years her junior, whom she had been with since the spring of that year, adding: "As my partner is an ordinary student, I would be very happy if you could watch over us quietly."


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On March 3, 2014, the singer announced on her fan club site "TeamAyu" that she was officially married. According to her agency, the couple already finished their marriage procedure in the United States near the end of February. On the 3rd, Hamasaki's mother, as a deputy, submitted the marriage registration to Japan.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On September 11, 2016, Hamasaki announced that she and her husband had separated. On September 30, 2016, she announced that her divorce had been finalized.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: With the release of the non-fiction novel "M Aisubeki Hito ga Ite" in August 2019, it was made public that Hamasaki had a romantic relationship with her producer, Max Matsuura, from 1998 to 2000.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: On January 1, 2020, Hamasaki announced on her official TeamAyu site that she "gave birth to a beautiful angel last year" with keeping the pregnancy a secret. Reports suggest that it was in November and a boy. On October 2, 2020, Hamasaki announced her second pregnancy through her official TeamAyu site, and gave birth to her second child in spring 2021.


title: Ayumi Hamasaki

text: In January 2008, Hamasaki announced on her blog that an inoperable condition, possibly tinnitus or Ménière's disease, had caused complete deafness in her left ear. She had been diagnosed with the condition in 2006 and that the problem dated to 2000, when she developed an ear infection but continued to perform against the advice of doctors. Despite the setback, Hamasaki stated that she wished to continue singing, and that "as a professional", she wanted to "deliver the best performance for everyone". On May 20, 2017, she wrote that she is also losing hearing in her right ear, and had experienced dizziness and nausea. She vowed to continue performing, writing: "The stage is where I belong. It's the only place I really, truly exist. I don't know anything else."


title: Glenn McGrath

text: Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer who played international cricket for 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler and is considered one of the greatest international bowlers of all time, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the late-2000s.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: Known throughout his career for maintaining an accurate line and length, McGrath displayed a consistency that enabled him to be one of the most economical and successful fast bowlers of his time. In terms of total career Test wickets taken by fast bowlers, McGrath is the third-most successful of all time behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad. On the list of all Test bowlers, he is fifth, and no bowler has taken more wickets at a lower average. He has also taken the seventh-highest number of one day international wickets (381) and holds the record for most wickets (71) in the Cricket World Cup. McGrath announced his retirement from Test cricket on 23 December 2006, with his Test career coming to an end after the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January 2007, while the 2007 World Cup, which marked the end of his one-day career, saw him win the man-of-the-tournament award for his outstanding bowling, which was instrumental in Australia winning the tournament.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath later played for the Indian Premier League team of the Delhi DareDevils and was one of the competition's most economical bowlers during its first season, but he saw no action in the second season, ultimately having his contract bought out.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath is the director of MRF Pace Foundation, Chennai, replacing Dennis Lillee, who served for 25 years. He currently serves as president of the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity he founded with his late first wife, Jane.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was honoured during the seventh annual Bradman Awards in Sydney on 1 November 2012. He was inducted into the ICC Hall of fame in January 2013.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was born in Dubbo to Beverly and Kevin McGrath. He grew up in Narromine, New South Wales (NSW), where he first played cricket, and his potential was spotted by Doug Walters. He moved to Sydney to play grade cricket for Sutherland and made his debut for NSW during the 1992–93 season. McGrath capped his rapid rise in the next Australian summer with selection in the Test team after only eight first-class matches.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath's Test debut was against New Zealand at Perth in 1993–1994. In Australia's 1995 Test series victory McGrath took the approach of bouncing the West Indies team, including the bowlers, which had not happened before. In McGrath's biography, Ricky Ponting is quoted as saying:


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath played for Worcestershire in the 2000 English County Championship, proving both successful on the field and popular with the county's supporters. In 14 first-class games he took 80 wickets at 13.21, including an outstanding innings return of 8–41 against Northamptonshire, as well as making his first-ever first-class half-century (55 against Nottinghamshire). He also played a few games for Middlesex in 2004; although accurate, he could manage only nine wickets in four first-class appearances for the county.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: During the first Test at Lord's in the 2005 Ashes series McGrath became the fourth bowler in history to take 500 Test wickets with the dismissal of Marcus Trescothick. This wicket was also the start of a productive spell of 5–2 that led to England being bowled out for 155. McGrath took 4–29 in the second innings and was named man of the match in a comprehensive Australian victory.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath trod on a cricket ball and injured his ankle the morning before the start of the second Test at Edgbaston and was unable to play in the match, in which England amassed 407 runs in one day against the McGrath-less bowling attack to win by two runs. He was rushed back when not fully fit for the third Test at Old Trafford, where he earned another five-wicket haul in the second innings of a drawn game, batting in a last-wicket partnership with Brett Lee in the last hour of the Test to deny an English victory. He then missed the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, which England won by three wickets, with an elbow injury. McGrath returned for the final Test at The Oval but he and the rest of the Australian team were unable to force a result and the match was drawn, giving England the series win. McGrath's injury problems are seen as a key factor in England regaining the Ashes, as their victories came in matches in which he was absent.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: Australia hosted England in the 2006-07 Ashes series and regained the Ashes, beating England 5–0, only the second 5–0 series whitewash in Ashes history (the first time was by the Australian team during the 1920–1921 Ashes Series, and the later 2013–14 Ashes series). Having taken a break from cricket since April 2006, McGrath used the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy to reclaim his spot in Australia's Test XI. He took a six-wicket haul in his comeback innings in the first test at the Gabba to set the tone for the rest of the series, with Australia winning back the Ashes in a record-breaking 15 days of play. McGrath took 21 wickets in the series at an average of 23.90, and scored 10 runs and took a catch in what would be his final test series.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: On 23 December 2006, McGrath announced his retirement from Tests. His last Test was the fifth Ashes Test against England in Sydney in January 2007, where he took a wicket with the last ball of his Test career. He retired from all forms of international cricket following the successful 2007 Cricket World Cup, at which he became the leading wicket taker in the history of the World Cup, while also being the tournament's top wicket taker with 26 and being named player of the tournament. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by ESPNCricinfo for the 2007 World Cup. His spell of 3-18 against South Africa was named as the fifth-best ODI bowling performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo voters.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was signed by the Delhi DareDevils for the 2008 Indian Premier League, the first season of the Indian Premier League. He played in 14 matches for the side and was the team's most economic bowler during the competition. He was resigned for the 2009 competition but did not play a match. After playing twice for Delhi in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, in January 2010 the franchise announced that it had bought out the remaining year of McGrath's contract, effectively bringing his cricketing career to an end.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath's bowling was not of express pace. Rather, he relied on unerring accuracy and subtle seam movement, which he derived from his high wrist action and lengthy follow-through. His height (195 cm), combined with a high arm action, allowed him to extract extra bounce, which often surprised batsmen. In the later years of his career he developed as a swing bowler.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: His uncomplicated method and natural physical fitness were significant factors in the longevity of McGrath's career. In 2004, he became the first Australian fast bowler to play 100 Tests. In the first innings of the ICC Super Series Test match in 2005, McGrath passed Courtney Walsh to become the greatest wicket-taker among fast bowlers in Test history.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the world and has had success against every opposition team, in both Test and one-day cricket. He deliberately (and publicly) targeted the opposition's best batsmen prior to a series in an attempt to distract them, a ploy that regularly worked. At the beginning of the Frank Worrell series against the West Indies he stated in interviews before the match that he would dismiss Sherwin Campbell for his 299th wicket, then remove star batsman Brian Lara for his 300th wicket the very next ball. This happened as planned, and he followed this with the dismissal of captain Jimmy Adams to complete a memorable hat-trick. The targeting of opposition batsmen was generally successful; he dismissed Mike Atherton of England 19 times – the most times any batsman has been dismissed by one bowler in cricket history. On the other hand, he targeted Michael Vaughan prior to the 2002/03 Ashes series in Australia, with Vaughan going on to score three centuries at an average greater than 60. He targeted Andrew Strauss in the 2005 series in England, who went on to score two centuries.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: He also tended to engage in sledging of opposition batsmen and teams, though it didn't always pay off. Before the 2005 Ashes series he predicted a 5–0 whitewash for Australia, and even said that if England won the Ashes he would return to Australia by boat, but England prevailed 2–1. However, this did not dissuade him from making a similar 5–0 prediction for the next Ashes series, in Australia in 2006/07, which turned out to be true. He finished his career as the most successful Test fast bowler and third-highest Test wicket taker.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was not known as a competent outfielder but he had a strong and accurate throwing arm; while not known for his athleticism, he took an exceptional outfield catch on one memorable occasion in 2002 at the Adelaide Oval against England, dismissing English batsman Michael Vaughan from the bowling of Shane Warne, running many metres before leaping into the air and catching the ball with arms outstretched and body horizontal. His captain, Steve Waugh, described the famous catch as "a miracle" and "one of the great catches in history".


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath's batting prowess, in the early phases of his career, was poor; in fact, he scored first-ball ducks (zero runs) on both his Test and One-Day International debuts, and his batting average hovered below 4 for the first few years of his career. Years of patient tutelage from captain and friend Steve Waugh improved this aspect of his game to the point where he scored a Test half-century, which came on 20 November 2004 against New Zealand Full Scorecard of Australia vs New Zealand 1st Test 2004 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com at the Gabba. His final score in that innings was 61, sharing a last wicket stand of 114 with Jason Gillespie (54*) to hilarity and the acclaim of their team-mates. Nevertheless, McGrath was, for the duration of his career, regarded as a batting 'bunny', although he pushed his average above 7.00 runs/dismissal by the end of his career. In the first World Cricket Tsunami Appeal charity match, he was promoted to bat at number 6 ahead of specialist batsmen Stephen Fleming and Matthew Hayden, but was dismissed first ball trying to slog Muttiah Muralitharan. Towards the end of his international career McGrath, while not scoring many runs himself, became rather more difficult for opposing bowlers to dismiss, being dismissed only once during the 2005 Ashes series. With a contribution of 11 runs in the first innings of the MCG 2005 Boxing Day Test versus South Africa Full Scorecard of Australia vs South Africa 2nd Test 2005 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com, he stood his ground for 53 deliveries, helping Michael Hussey push the Australian tail to a record tenth-wicket stand against South Africa of 107 runs.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: Glenn's first wife, Jane Louise (née Steele), was born in the United Kingdom and had worked as a flight attendant before their marriage. Glenn and Jane met at a Hong Kong nightclub called "Joe Bananas" in 1995, and married in 2001. They had two children. Jane McGrath fought recurrent battles with metastatic breast cancer, having been first diagnosed in 1997. On 26 January 2008 (Australia Day) Glenn and Jane McGrath were both made Members of the Order of Australia. Jane McGrath died, aged 42, on 22 June 2008 from complications following cancer surgery.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: Glenn McGrath met Sara Leonardi, an interior designer, during the 2009 Indian Premier League. They married at home in Cronulla on 18 November 2010. In April 2011 McGrath put his home on the market for $6 million. Their daughter was born in 2015.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: In 2015 McGrath received widespread criticism when it was revealed he had killed a variety of animals during a hunting safari in South Africa. Photographs of McGrath appeared on the website of Chipitani Safaris, a game park, showing him crouched beside what looked to be a dead buffalo, two hyenas and the tusks of an elephant. He subsequently expressed his regret. McGrath had earlier told "Australian Shooter" magazine that "I’m keen to get into trophy hunting, no animal in particular, but a big safari in Africa would be great."


title: Glenn McGrath

text: In 2002 Glenn and Jane founded the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities right across Australia and increase breast cancer awareness in young women. Since 2007, the third day of the first Test held in Sydney Cricket Ground is named Jane McGrath Day, even if the day is washed out. Following the death of Jane in June 2008, Glenn accepted the voluntary role of Chairman of the Board of the McGrath Foundation, and he participates in many activities in support of the Foundation to ensure the fulfilment of its vision. As of April 2016, the McGrath Foundation has placed 110 McGrath Breast Care Nurses around Australia, who have helped support more than 33,000 Australian families.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: In 2001, McGrath was one of just twenty-one Australian athletes inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport "Best of the Best" list.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: He was awarded the Allan Border Medal and the Men's Test Player of the Year by CA in 2000. He was also awarded the Men's ODI Player of the Year in 2001.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was named a "Member of the Order of Australia" on 26 January (Australia Day) in 2008 for "service to cricket as a player", and along with his wife for "service to the community through the establishment of the McGrath Foundation." In 2008 McGrath was named the "NSW Australian of the Year".


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2011, and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2013. He was also inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame by the CA in 2013.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: In a fan poll conducted by the CA in 2017, he was named in the country's best Ashes XI in the last 40 years.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: A statue of McGrath by artist Brett "Mon" Garling was installed at McGrath's home town of Narromine in 2009.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath was twice involved in tenth wicket partnerships which added 100 runs or more, a record matched only by New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: At the time of his retirement, McGrath's 7 for 15 against Namibia were the best bowling figures in a World Cup match, and the second-best in all ODIs. He also held the record for the most wickets in an edition of the World Cup (26 in 2007) until this was broken by Mitchell Starc in 2019.


title: Glenn McGrath

text: After his dismissal for a duck in the fourth test of the 2006–2007 Ashes series, McGrath claimed the record of having scored more ducks in Test cricket than any other Australian cricketer (35 – one more than Shane Warne).


title: Glenn McGrath

text: McGrath held the record for dismissing the most batsmen for ducks in Test cricket (104), until it was surpassed by James Anderson in 2021.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Cal Kestis is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" franchise. He is the player character and main protagonist of the 2019 video game "", an action-adventure game developed by Respawn Entertainment, and its upcoming sequel, "" (in 2023). Within the series, Cal is a former Jedi Padawan who survived the Great Jedi Purge and went into hiding. Years later, he is detected using the Force and is then led on a journey to rebuild the Jedi Order. He is portrayed through performance capture by American actor and model Cameron Monaghan.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Cal also appeared in a brief cameo in the novel "Star Wars: Brotherhood" by Mike Chen and will appear as the main character in the upcoming novel "Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars" by Sam Maggs.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Cal has received a generally positive reception from critics, with praise for his characterization, but criticism for his "generic" visual design.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Monaghan provides both the voice and likeness for Cal's character, including his natural red hair. On playing the part of Cal, he said "It's pretty surreal to see a character that you built and got to explore and imagine. It's a character that I've really grown to love." He also stated, "It's such a privilege to be able to play something that has a storied history behind it, but also something that I'm a fan of and have always wanted to be part of since I was a kid." The actor "didn't want to model Cal on any specific "Star Wars" character", adding "I wanted Cal's personality and demeanor and everything to come out of his own experiences and his own stories, and to build it from an inward place."


title: Cal Kestis

text: During his audition process for the game, Monaghan wasn't told that he was auditioning for a "Star Wars" game. "At that point I didn't know I was auditioning for a Star Wars game, but I kinda knew. They made these fake audition pages and stuff, and I was kinda reading it like 'hmmm ... This is "Star Wars", isn't it?' They were like 'No, of course not.' So when I got into the room and they gave me the toy lightsaber, I was like 'I knew it!


title: Cal Kestis

text: Before the developers knew who Cal Kestis was going to be, there were several different concepts. The director of the game, Stig Asmussen revealed "We talked about doing an alien character, we talked about doing a different gender, but we arrived at where we were because at the time, Rey was kind of the thing for "Star Wars", so it made a lot more sense for us to have a male protagonist."


title: Cal Kestis

text: Cal Kestis was a Jedi Padawan during the Clone Wars, training under Jedi General Jaro Tapal (Travis Willingham). After a successful mission, Cal, his Master, and their troops prepared to leave for Mygeeto when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine initiated Order 66, turning all the clone troops against the Jedi, including Kestis and Tapal. Tapal, able to sense the betrayal of his troops, killed the clone preparing to shoot him. The duo made their way to the escape pods with Kestis sneaking through the pipes while Tapal sabotaged the ship's reactor. Cal made it to the escape pods with his master despite losing his lightsaber. As they entered the escape pods, Tapal was fatally shot by one of the troopers and died advising his pupil to stay true to the Jedi. Cal kept his Master's lightsaber but was heavily traumatized by this event.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Five years after the Jedi Purge, Cal remains in hiding on the planet Bracca as a rigger for the Scrapper Guild. During an accident, he uses the Force to save a friend's life, though is spotted by an Imperial Probe droid. This leads the Empire to send their Inquisitors after him, led by the Second Sister. Cal is rescued by former Jedi Cere Junda and pilot Greez Dritus, who allow him to take refuge on their ship "Stinger Mantis". Since the former has cut herself from the Force after a brush with the Dark Side, Cal is recruited to retrieve a Holocron containing a list of Force-sensitive people in the galaxy, which will allow them to train more Jedi and reform Order.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Tracking it to the planet Bogano, Cal befriends a droid named BD-1 and learns the Holocron was hidden by Jedi master Eno Cordova, Cere's former master and the droid's former owner. The only way to retrieve it is to recover an artifact called the Astrium, developed by an extinct species called the Zeffo and hidden in an ancient tomb visited by the Jedi. With assistance from BD-1, Cere and Greez, Cal retraces Cordova's steps to the planets Zeffo, Kashyyyk and Dathomir to investigate the Zeffo's tombs. During the journey, he allies himself with Saw Gerrera's Rebels during a battle with the Empire and comes into conflict with the Haxion Brood, a crime syndicate whom Greez owes a debt. Cal also learns that the Second Sister is actually Cere's former Padawan Trilla, who she betrayed to the Empire after being captured and interrogated by Darth Vader.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Eventually tracking the Astrium to Dathomir, Cal comes into conflict with Nightsister Merrin and fallen Jedi Taron Malicos. Whilst accessing the final tomb, he is subjected to visions of the Jedi Purge and a bitter Tapal, who blames him for his death and destroys his lightsaber. Forced to flee as Merrin and Malicos battle each other, Cal is prepared to give up the search, though Cere convinces him to continue and rebuild his Lightsaber with parts of her own. With help from BD-1, Cal recovers a Kyber Crystal from Ilum, during which he realizes that he can overcome failures and comes to terms with his guilt. After constructing his new weapon, he returns to Dathomir and joins forces with Merrin to defeat Malicos. Cal then retrieves the Astrium and invites Merrin to join the "Mantis" crew.


title: Cal Kestis

text: Returning to the vault, Cal uses the Astrium to access the Holocon, though experiences visions of him and the Younglings being capture and turned into future Inquisitors. He is soon attacked by Trilla, who steals the Holocron to present to Darth Vader. After being knighted by Cere, Cal helps her infiltrate the Fortress Inquisitorius to retrieve it, during which he defeats Trilla. After recovering the Holocron, they are confronted by Darth Vader, who kills Trilla for failing him and chases them through the base. Cal and Cere barely manage to escape the Sith Lord and are rescued by Merrin. Afterward, Cal and the "Mantis" crew decide to destroy the Holocron to ensure the safety of Force-sensitives in the galaxy.


title: Cal Kestis

text: The character of Cal Kestis received generally positive reviews, with some expressing dissatisfaction that the final design of the character was "generic" or "dorky". Elijah Beahm from "The Escapist" criticized the depiction of Cal's reactions to the deaths of various characters and argued that it makes him unsympathetic as a heroic protagonist. Conversely, Nick Calandra from "The Escapist" defended Cal Kestis, saying "Cal learning to control his emotions and work through his trauma provides an infinitely more interesting character than he would have been had he just “followed” the Jedi way without truly understanding what it means. Once Cal finally stops fighting the past, sheathes his lightsaber, and promises to honor the teachings of his former master, only then does he become knighted as a Jedi."


title: Cal Kestis

text: Alani Vargas from "CheatSheet" also stated that Cal Kestis is "a great choice for the main character". Some reviewers noted that while he doesn't start off strong, the good writing, interesting cast of supporting characters and the entertaining story help the player connect with Cal.


title: Cal Kestis

text: The actor experienced bullying over his red hair, with people making mods just to change the color of Cal's hair, and spoke out against them.


title: Cal Kestis

text: IGN named Cal Kestis one of the best video game characters of 2019, with staff member Matthew Adler highlighting his growth in power as well as his "down-to-earth personality and willingness to seek change". In 2020, Cal Kestis ranked 50th place in a "Best "Star Wars" character of All Time" fan poll organized by IGN.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The National Front (NF) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently led by Tony Martin. As a minor party, it has never had its representatives elected to the British or European Parliaments, although it gained a small number of local councillors through defections and it has had a few of its representatives elected to community councils. Founded in 1967, it reached the height of its electoral support during the mid-1970s, when it was briefly England's fourth-largest party in terms of vote share.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF was founded by A. K. Chesterton, formerly of the British Union of Fascists, as a merger between his League of Empire Loyalists and the British National Party. It was soon joined by the Greater Britain Movement, whose leader John Tyndall became the Front's chairman in 1972. Under Tyndall's leadership it capitalised on growing concern about South Asian migration to Britain, rapidly increasing its membership and vote share in the urban areas of east London and northern England. Its public profile was raised through street marches and rallies, which often resulted in violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters, most notably the 1974 Red Lion Square disorders and the 1977 Battle of Lewisham. In 1982, Tyndall left the National Front to form a new British National Party (BNP). Many NF members defected to Tyndall's BNP, contributing to a substantial decline in the Front's electoral support. During the 1980s, the NF split in two; the Flag NF retained the older ideology, while the Official NF adopted a Third Positionist stance before disbanding in 1990. In 1995, the Flag NF's leadership transformed the party into the National Democrats, although a small splinter group retained the NF name.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Ideologically positioned on the extreme right or far-right of British politics, the NF has been characterised as fascist or neo-fascist by political scientists. Different factions have dominated the party at different times, each with its own ideological bent, including neo-Nazis, Strasserites and racial populists. The party espouses the ethnic nationalist view that only white people should be citizens of the United Kingdom. The NF calls for an end to non-white migration into the UK and for settled non-white Britons to be stripped of their citizenship and deported. A white supremacist party, it promotes biological racism and the white genocide conspiracy theory, calling for global racial separatism and condemning interracial relationships and miscegenation. It espouses anti-semitic conspiracy theories, endorsing Holocaust denial and claiming that Jews dominate the world through both communism and finance capitalism. It promotes economic protectionism, hard Euroscepticism and a transformation away from liberal democracy, while its social policies oppose feminism, LGBT rights and societal permissiveness.


title: National Front (UK)

text: After the BNP, the NF has been the most successful far-right group in British politics since the Second World War. During its history, it has established sub-groups such as a trade unionist association, a youth group and the Rock Against Communism musical organisation. Only whites are permitted membership of the party, and in its heyday most of its support came from white British working-class and lower middle-class communities in northern England and east London. The NF has generated vocal opposition from left-wing and anti-fascist groups throughout its history, and NF members are prohibited from various professions.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The National Front began as a coalition of small far-right groups active on the fringes of British politics during the 1960s. The resolve to unite them came in early 1966 from A. K. Chesterton, the leader of the League of Empire Loyalists (LEL). He had a long history in the British fascist movement, having been a member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in the 1930s. Over the following months, many far-rightists visited Chesterton at his Croydon apartment to discuss the proposal, among them Andrew Fountaine and Philip Maxwell of the British National Party (BNP), David Brown of the Racial Preservation Society (RPS), and John Tyndall and Martin Webster of the Greater Britain Movement (GBM). Although everyone agreed with the idea of unification, personal rivalries made the process difficult.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Chesterton agreed to a merger of the LEL and BNP, and a faction of the RPS decided to join them. Chesterton and the BNP agreed that Tyndall's GBM would not be invited to join their new party because of its strong associations with neo-Nazism, as well as the recent arrest of Tyndall and seven other GBM members for illegal weapon possession. Chesterton wanted to keep his new party clear of the crude sloganeering he thought was holding back the far-right's electoral success; he later stated that "the man who thinks this is a war that can be won by mouthing slogans about 'dirty Jews' and 'filthy niggers' is a maniac whose place should not be in the National Front but in a mental hospital."


title: National Front (UK)

text: In October 1966, the LEL and BNP established a working committee to determine what policies they could agree on. The committee's initial policy platform revolved around opposition to Britain's political establishment, anti-communism, support for the white minority governments in Rhodesia and South Africa, a ban on migration into Britain and the expulsion of all settled non-white immigrants. They considered various names for the new party, before settling on "National Front" in December 1966. The National Front (NF) was founded on 7 February 1967, with Chesterton its first chairman. At the time it had approximately 2,500 members, of whom 1,000 were from the BNP, 300 from the LEL and over 100 from the RPS. The historian Richard Thurlow described the NF's formation as "the most significant event on the radical right and fascist fringe of British politics" since the internment of the country's fascists during the Second World War.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF's first year was marked by a power struggle between the ex-LEL and ex-BNP factions. The former were unhappy with the behaviour of ex-BNP members, such as their propensity for political chanting, while the ex-BNP faction criticised Chesterton's elitist pretensions. At the invitation of the ex-BNP faction, in June 1967, Tyndall discontinued the GBM and called on its members to join the NF. Despite his own earlier commitment to keep Tyndall out, Chesterton welcomed him into the party. Tyndall's magazine, "Spearhead"—originally sold as "an organ of National Socialist [i.e. Nazi] opinion in Britain"—dropped its open neo-Nazism and backed the NF, eventually becoming the party's "de facto" monthly magazine.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The party held its first annual conference in October 1967; it was picketed by anti-fascists. In 1968, Chesterton's leadership was unsuccessfully challenged by Fountaine, who then left the party. There were further internal arguments after its lease on its Westminster headquarters ended. Ex-LEL members wanted another base in central London, while the ex-GBM and ex-BNP factions favoured moving into the GBM's old headquarters in Tulse Hill. Chesterton backed the ex-LEL position, and offered a small office in Fleet Street. In April 1968, immigration became the foremost political topic in the national media after the Conservative Party politician Enoch Powell made his Rivers of Blood speech, an appeal against non-white immigration into Britain. Although Powell proposed more moderate measures for expelling migrants than the NF, his use of language was similar to theirs, and some individuals on the right-wing of the Conservatives defected to the NF.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF fielded 45 candidates in the 1969 local elections and averaged a poll of 8%, although a few secured over 10%. The party focused on these latter seats in the 1970 local elections, fielding 10 candidates; almost all received under 5% of the vote. The party faced militant left-wing opposition, including the driving of a lorry into its Tulse Hill building in 1969, and to counter this the NF installed a spy in London's anti-fascist movement. Against Chesterton's wishes, NF activists carried out publicity stunts: in 1968 they marched onto a London Weekend Television show uninvited and in 1969 assaulted two Labour Party ministers. While Chesterton was holidaying in South Africa, a faction led by Gordon Brown—formerly of Tyndall's GBM—launched a leadership challenge against him. On realising that his support was weak, Chesterton resigned. He was succeeded by John O'Brien in February 1971. Frustrated that Tyndall maintained links with neo-Nazi groups like the Northern League, O'Brien and his supporters ultimately left the NF for the National Independence Party in June 1972.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Tyndall became party chairman in July 1972, centralising the NF's activities at a new Croydon headquarters. According to Thurlow, under Tyndall the NF attempted to "convert racial populists" angry about immigration "into fascists". In his history of fascism, Roger Eatwell noted that with Tyndall as chair, "the NF tried hard to hide its neo-Nazism from public view, fearing it might damage popular support." Refocusing its appeal towards the white working class, in June 1974 it launched the NF Trade Unionists Association. Britain's leftists fought back by publicising the neo-Nazi past of senior NF members, including photographs of Tyndall wearing a Nazi uniform.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF capitalised on fears surrounding the arrival of Ugandan Asian refugees in 1972, resulting in rapid growth of its membership. At the 1973 West Bromwich by-election it gained 16% of the vote, passing the 10% mark in a parliamentary election for the first time, something that brought greater media coverage. 54 candidates were fielded at the February 1974 general election, a number that guaranteed them a party political broadcast. It contested six times as many seats as in 1970, averaging a vote share of 3.2%, slightly less than in 1970. By the mid-1970s, the NF's membership had stagnated and in several areas declined; all of its 90 candidates for the October 1974 general election lost their deposits. In the 1975 local elections they fielded 60 candidates, far fewer than in previous elections.


title: National Front (UK)

text: A faction known as the "Populists" emerged in the party under Roy Painter's leadership. They were frustrated that the NF's directorate was dominated by former BNP and GBM members and believed that Tyndall remained a neo-Nazi. They ensured John Kingsley Read's election as chairman, with Tyndall demoted to vice chair. Growing strife between the Tyndallites and Populists broke out; Read and the executive committee suspended Tyndall and nine of his supporters from the directorate, before expelling Tyndall from the party. Tyndall took the issue to the High Court, where his expulsion was declared illegal. In frustration at their inability to eject Tyndall and the Tyndallites, Read and his supporters split from the NF to form the National Party (NP) in December 1975.


title: National Front (UK)

text: In February 1976, Tyndall was restored as the NF leader. The party then capitalised on public anger at the government's agreement to accept Malawian Asian refugees, and held demonstrations against their arrival. After a resurgence in fortunes in London at the 1977 GLC election, when the party improved on its October 1974 general election result, further marches were planned in the city. These included a march through Lewisham in August 1977, where clashes with anti-fascists became known as the "Battle of Lewisham".


title: National Front (UK)

text: In the 1979 general election, the NF contested more seats than any insurgent party since Labour in 1918. It nevertheless performed badly, securing only 1.3% of the total vote, down from 3.1% in the October 1974 general election. This decline may have been due to increased anti-fascist campaigning over preceding years, or because of the Conservatives' increasingly restrictive stance on immigration under Margaret Thatcher attracted many votes that previously went to the Front. NF membership had also declined.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Although Tyndall and Webster had been longstanding comrades, in the late 1970s Tyndall began to blame his old friend for the party's problems. Tyndall was upset with Webster's attempts to encourage far-right skinheads and football hooligans to join the NF, as well as allegations that Webster had been making sexual advances toward the party's young men. In October 1979 he urged the NF directorate to call for Webster's resignation, but was refused. Tyndall resigned in January 1980, complaining of a "foul stench of perversion" in the party. In June, he founded the New National Front (NNF), which claimed that a third of the NF's membership defected to it.


title: National Front (UK)

text: After Tyndall's departure, Webster became party chair, but was ousted in 1983 by a faction led by Nick Griffin and Joe Pearce. In May 1985, this faction – who adhered to the Strasserite variant of Nazism – secured control of the party's directorate and suspended the membership of their opponents. Their focus was not on electoral success but on developing an activist elite consisting largely of working-class urban youths; its supporters became known as "Political Soldiers". The Strasserites officially reformulated their party along a centralised cadre system at the November 1986 AGM. Their ideology was influenced by their strong links with members of an Italian fascist militia, the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (NAR), who were hiding in London after the Bologna massacre. Like the NAR, the NF Strasserites emphasised the far-right ideology of the Third Position, which they presented as being opposed to both capitalism and Marxist-oriented socialism. They were also influenced by the Nouvelle Droite, a French far-right movement that advocated long-term strategies of cultural influence to achieve their goals.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The Strasserites described themselves as "radical, youthful and successful", contrasting their approach with the "out-dated conservative policies" of their internal opponents. These opponents then formed a rival organisation, the Flag Group, which adopted the name "National Front" in January 1987. According to Eatwell, the Flag NF "was essentially a continuation of the racial-populist tradition" used by earlier forms of the party. It had more working-class leaders than the Strasserite group and regarded the latter as intellectuals pursuing foreign ideological fads. There remained two organisations claiming the name of National Front—that controlled by the Flag Group and the Strasserites' Official National Front—until 1990. In contrast to the Strasserite NF's increased centralisation, the Flag Group gave autonomy to its branches, focusing on local issues. Following the NF's declining vote share in the late 1970s, both groups had effectively abandoned interest in electoral participation.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Reflecting the Nouvelle Droite's influence, the Strasserite Official NF promoted support for "a broad front of racialists of all colours" who were seeking an end to multi-racial society and capitalism, praising black nationalists like Louis Farrakhan and Marcus Garvey. Their publication, "Nationalism Today", featured positive articles on the Libyan and Iranian governments, presenting them as part of a global anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist third force; they may have also seen Libya and Iran as potential sources of funding. This new ideology alienated many NF members. The Official NF experienced internal problems and in 1989 Griffin, Derek Holland and Colin Todd split from it to establish the International Third Position. In March 1990 the Official NF was disbanded by its leaders, Patrick Harrington, Graham Williamson and David Kerr, who replaced it with a new organisation, the Third Way. This left the Flag Group as the only party using the National Front banner.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During the 1990s, the NF was eclipsed by Tyndall's new British National Party (BNP) as Britain's foremost far-right movement. Following the Lansdowne Road football riot of 1995, in which English far-right hooligans attacked Irish supporters, the NF's chairman Ian Anderson attempted to escape the negative associations of the name "National Front" by renaming the party as the National Democrats. A small faction broke away to retain the National Front name, contesting the 1997 and 2001 general elections, with little success. By 2001, the NF had developed close links with Combat 18, a neo-Nazi paramilitary which had been founded by Tyndall's BNP before breaking from the latter. The Front continued to organise rallies, several of which were banned by successive Home Secretaries.


title: National Front (UK)

text: A 2010 High Court ruling forced the BNP to remove a clause from its constitution prohibiting non-white membership, leading to defections to the NF. After the English Defence League (EDL), an Islamophobic social movement, emerged in 2009, the NF pursued links but was rebuffed by the EDL, which sought to distance itself from the Front and other established far-right groups. As the EDL declined in the following years, the NF collaborated with some of the groups that had split from it, like the North West Infidels and South East Alliance. In March 2015 Kevin Bryan became the NF's chair. After Bryan was injured in a car accident he was replaced by Dave MacDonald in November 2015, with Tony Martin taking over in September 2018.


title: National Front (UK)

text: A far-right or extreme-right party, the NF has both commonalities and differences with older far-right groups. Political scientists and historians characterise it as fascist, or neo-fascist, with the historian Martin Durham stating that the NF—like France's National Front and Germany's The Republicans—represented "the direct descendants of classical fascism". The political psychologist Michael Billig notes that the NF displayed many of fascism's recurring traits: an emphasis on nationalism and racism, an anti-Marxist stance, statism and support for private enterprise, and a hostile view of democracy and personal freedom.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Rejecting the term "fascist" to describe itself, the NF sought to conceal its connections to older fascist movements, denying its leaders' previous fascist activities. It claimed that it could not be fascist because it took part in elections; the political scientist Stan Taylor argues that this claim was obsolete, for many earlier fascist parties—including the BUF, the German Nazi Party and the Italian National Fascist Party—also contested elections. In avoiding the "fascist" label, the NF was typical of fascist groups operating after the Second World War; having to contend with the legacy of the war and the Holocaust, they tried to hide their intellectual pedigrees from voters.


title: National Front (UK)

text: As with many political extremists, the image the NF presented to the public was more moderate than the ideology of its inner core of members. As noted by Billig, the NF's "ideological core and its genocidal tendencies, are hidden" so as not to scare off potential recruits sympathetic to its nationalism and anti-immigration stance but not its antisemitic conspiracy theories. While noting that the party's views on race departed considerably "from what is normal or acceptable to the average citizen" in the UK, the political scientist Nigel Fielding observes that many of its other views were grounded in what would be considered "popular common-sense opinion" across the political right.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During its history, the NF contained various factions with distinct ideological positions. From the party's early days until the 1980 Tyndall/Webster split, its ideology was dominated by the ex-GBM faction. According to Thurlow, the ex-GBM faction oversaw "an attempt to portray the essentials of Nazi ideology in more rational language and seemingly reasonable arguments", while Wilkinson observed that this faction's leadership was "deeply imbued with Nazi ideas" and retained "intimate connections" with both domestic and foreign neo-Nazi groups. Taylor also regarded the NF of the 1970s as a Nazi organisation because of its fixation on antisemitic conspiracy theories. In his words, the NF's "full ideology" was, "in a large number of respects", identical to the original German Nazism.


title: National Front (UK)

text: According to Thurlow, the members of the "Populist" faction that challenged the ex-GBM faction's dominance in the late 1970s were "pseudo-Conservative racial populists", representing the party's "non-fascist and ostensibly more democratic element". After Tyndall and Webster were ousted and replaced by Brons and Anderson, a new faction took control whose members regarded themselves as Strasserite, drawing inspiration from German Nazi Party members Otto Strasser and Gregor Strasser. This faction embraced the Third Position ideology and drew inspiration from Muammar Gaddafi's Third International Theory.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The National Front is a British nationalist party; its early policy statements declared that it "pledged to work for the restoration of full national sovereignty for Britain in all affairs". It rejected internationalism and thus opposed both liberalism and communism, contrasting their internationalist espousal of universal values with its view that nations should have their own distinct values. Labelling itself a racial nationalist party, the NF's concept of nationalism was bound up with that of race. NF members typically referred to themselves as "racialists", with Durham stating that the NF was "undeniably a racist organisation". The party claimed that humanity divides into biologically distinct races with their own physical and social characteristics. Although some of its published material referred only to "white" and "black" races, elsewhere it listed various racial groups, among them the "Nordics", "Caucasoids", "Negroids", "Semites" and "Turco-Armonoids". It claimed that within racial groups can be found "nations", a form of "race within a race"; many party activists nevertheless used the terms "race" and "nation" interchangeably.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF claimed the existence of a distinct British racial "nation", all the members of which shared common interests; Welsh and Scottish nationalisms were condemned as threats to British racial unity. It viewed class as a false distinction among the British nation, rejecting the concept of class war as "nonsense", and—like most fascist groups—tried to attract support across class boundaries. For the NF, patriotism was deemed essential to the cohesion of the British nation, with nationalism regarded as a vital component of patriotism. Members regarded themselves as patriots, and the party made heavy use of British patriotic symbols like the Union Flag and Remembrance Day.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Fielding believed that the "dialectic of insiders and outsiders" was the "linchpin of its ideology", and noted that the NF's "rigid boundaries between in-group and out-group" were typical of the far-right. In its 1974 electoral manifesto, the NF called for a "vigorous birth-rate" among the white British, claiming that any ensuing overpopulation of the UK could be resolved by emigration to the British Commonwealth. Tyndall defended Nazi Germany's "lebensraum" policy, and under his leadership the NF promoted imperialist views about expanding British territory to create "living space" for the country's growing population. The party also promoted eugenics, calling for the improvement of the quality as well as the quantity of the white British people. Under Tyndall, it called for the sterilisation of those with genetically transmittable disabilities. By 2011, the party's website was utilising the Fourteen Words slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."


title: National Front (UK)

text: A white supremacist party, the NF rejected the concept of racial equality. It argued that different races can be ranked hierarchically based on differing abilities, and that the "higher races" compete for world domination. It believed that racial segregation was natural and ordained by God, but that non-whites had been encouraged to migrate to Britain and other white-majority countries to breed with the indigenous inhabitants and thus bring about "white genocide" through assimilation.


title: National Front (UK)

text: It opposed inter-racial marriage and miscegenation—typically referring to the latter as "mongrelisation"—and displayed particular anxiety about black men seducing white women. It claimed its racial prejudice arose from a natural desire for racial preservation rather than hatred of other races.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF claimed that most non-white racial groups were inferior to "Caucasoids and Mongoloids". In the mid-1970s, Tyndall used "Spearhead" to claim that "the negro has a smaller brain and a much less complex cerebral structure" than whites; in the early 1980s, "Nationalism Today" carried articles maintaining that black Africans had lower average IQs than whites and thus were unfit "to go to white schools" or "live in white society". Its published material presented black people as dirty and unhygienic, infected with disease and incapable of governing themselves. "Spearhead" featured references to black people being cannibals; at least one article claimed they ate dirt and faeces.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF sought academic support for its views, placing great importance on scientific racist publications. Its booklist offered academic and quasi-academic books endorsing scientific racism; early party literature often referenced the work of Hans Eysenck, William Shockley, Arthur Jensen and Richard Herrnstein, while "Spearhead" and other NF publications repeatedly cited articles from the "Mankind Quarterly". In citing these studies, the party claimed that its views were scientific, although Fielding observed that the NF's racial views relied "as much on blind assertion, on faith, as on 'scientific' sources".


title: National Front (UK)

text: The cornerstone of the Front's manifesto since 1974 has been the compulsory deportation of all non-white immigrants and their descendants, as well as the white British partners in mixed-race relationships. It stated that the "repatriation" process could take ten years, adding that before deportation, non-whites would be stripped of British citizenship and placed behind white Britons when it came to access to welfare, education and housing. It accompanied this with a call to prohibit future non-white migration to Britain. In the 1970s the NF stated that it did not oppose the arrival of white immigrants from Commonwealth countries, but called for "firm controls" on the migration of whites from elsewhere.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During its first decade, the party emphasised the claim that it was the politicians who enabled immigration—rather than migrants themselves—who were to blame. In 1969, it stated: "Your enemies are not the coloured immigrants, but the British government which let them come in hundreds of thousands." It claimed that Labour had promoted migration to boost their vote and that Conservatives had seen migrants as cheap labour. Its early publications generally avoided derogatory terms for non-whites like "wog" or "nigger", although such language appeared at party rallies. As it developed, the NF press included racially inflammatory headlines like "Black Savages Terrorize Old Folk" and "Asians Import Bizarre Sex-Murder Rites", also comparing non-white migrants to vermin by describing areas as "immigrant-infested".


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF linked other issues to race and immigration, targeting concerns among the white British about immigrants being competition for jobs, housing and welfare. Common NF claims included that immigrants carried diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis, that they were a burden on the National Health Service (NHS), and that incompetent migrant staff were detrimental to the NHS. It claimed that immigrants evaded taxes and that they were arrogant, aggressive and unhygienic in the workplace. It maintained that blacks were a source of crime, and that black pupils eroded school quality.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF is antisemitic. It claimed that Jews form a biologically distinct race—one of the world's "higher races"—and that they seek to destroy the white "Caucasoid" race. The Front alleged that a Jewish cabal orchestrated non-white migration into Britain, hoping to weaken the white race through racial mixing, as well as through internationalism and encouraging internal division. The party propagated the conspiracy theory that Jews did this to plunge other "higher races" in disarray so that they would be left dominant. As mentioned in "Spearhead", this achieved, "the Jewish nation would be the only surviving ethnically identifiable population group amid a mongrelised world population", the latter being easier for Jews to control. This conspiracy theory owed much to the 19th-century Russian antisemitic forgery "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and was previously articulated by the BUF. Whereas the BUF explicitly claimed Jews were behind this global conspiracy, the NF were aware of considerable public disapproval of antisemitism following the Holocaust so used code-words and dogwhistles such as "Money Power", "internationalist", "cosmopolitan", "alien", "rootless", "shifty", "money-lenders" and "usurers" instead of "Jews".


title: National Front (UK)

text: In the 1970s the NF denied it was "antisemitic", instead calling itself "anti-Zionist"; it claimed to oppose "Zionists" rather than all Jews. Within the NF, the word "Zionism" was not used in the commonly understood manner, which is to describe the ideology promoting the formation of a Jewish state, but rather applied to the alleged Jewish cabal secretly manipulating the world. For instance, one issue of "Spearhead" stated that "the twin evils of International Finance and International Communism" are "perhaps better described as International Zionism". Fielding observed that party members used the term "Zionist" indiscriminately, often against any critics.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Many of the Front's central members, among them Chesterton, Tyndall and Webster, had long histories of antisemitism before joining the party. For instance, in 1963, Tyndall claimed that "Jewry is a world pest wherever it is found in the world today. The Jews are more clever and more financially powerful than other people and have to be eradicated before they destroy the Aryan peoples." In an early edition of "Spearhead", Tyndall stated: "if Britain were to become Jew-clean she would have no nigger neighbours to worry about ... It is the Jews who are our misfortune: T-h-e J-e-w-s. Do you hear me? THE JEWS?" While some of its senior members had previously called for a genocide of the Jews, the party itself engaged in Holocaust denial, referring to the Holocaust as "the six million myth". It is possible that most senior NF figures were aware that the Holocaust really happened, but denied its occurrence for tactical reasons, hoping that the spread of Holocaust denial would facilitate a more positive attitude toward Nazi Germany among Britain's population.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During the 1970s the Front alleged that the UK's liberal democracy was "bogus democracy" and declared that it would forge "a genuinely democratic political system", utilising referendums on major issues. In making claims such as that "true democracy is that which is representative of the will of the people", the NF espoused populist rhetoric. Fielding nevertheless believed that "the essence of the NF ideology is incompatible with democracy" and instead reflected an "elitist tendency" at odds with its "populist rhetoric".


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF saw democracy as a luxury that was subordinate to the preservation of the nation. In "Spearhead", Tyndall stated that although he would support parliamentary democracy if he thought it in the national interest, "the survival, and the national recovery of Britain stand as top priority over all. We will support whatever political methods are necessary to attain that end." He called for governance by a strong leader, an individual unencumbered by political parties and elections so that they could focus on the national interest rather than the interests of sub-groups or short-term considerations. In "Spearhead", Tyndall stated that "it is only in banana republics, where the 'sophisticated' Western institutions of a multi- or two-party system, powerful trade unions and a 'free' press have not yet taken root, that there is still scope for men of real personality and decision to emerge and truly lead." Fielding believed that had the NF achieved political office it would have marginalised parliament and governed in a totalitarian manner.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Under its Strasserite leadership during the 1980s, the NF adopted a different position on governance, influenced heavily by the Third International Theory propounded by Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi in "The Green Book". It promoted the establishment of communal political structures, with street councils, area councils, county councils and a National People's Council "for each of the British Nations". In its view of this future, the British population would be armed and trained in military tactics, allowing for the establishment of local militias rather than a state-controlled professional army.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Regarding international institutions as part of the Jewish conspiracy's plan for a one world government, the Front opposed UK membership of the United Nations and the European Economic Community (EEC). To replace the EEC, the NF called for stronger UK links with the "White countries" of the British Commonwealth, namely Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but also the white-minority governments of Rhodesia and South Africa. According to the Front, this would "strengthen the ethnic, cultural and family ties between peoples of British stock all over the world". It stated that an NF-led UK would not remain allied to the United States because the latter was dominated by the Jewish conspiracy, and called for withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with Britain instead boosting its defensive capabilities through nuclear weaponry.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During the 1970s the Front was British unionist, advocating for the unity of the United Kingdom. From the late 1960s onward it supported the Ulster Unionists, deeming Irish republicanism a communist conspiracy to undermine British unity. The NF argued that the UK had been too soft in dealing with militant Irish republicans; it argued that military courts should replace civil ones, that Provisional Irish Republican Army members should be interned and that those guilty of sabotage or murder should be executed. In the early 1970s it alleged that the Irish Republic was harbouring republican militants, "an act of war" that required trade sanctions. In that decade the NF endorsed the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, but many Ulster Unionists were suspicious of the NF; in 1973 the Ulster Defence Association proscribed it as "a neo-Nazi movement". In 1985 – by which time Strasserites dominated the party – the NF called on Northern Ireland to declare independence in response to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During the 1970s the Front identified as neither capitalist nor socialist, advocating an economic system drawing on both. It endorsed private enterprise but rejected laissez-faire capitalism, claiming that the latter places the interests of business above that of the nation. It promoted economic nationalism, calling for maximum national self-sufficiency and a rejection of international free trade. By this approach it wished to separate Britain from the international financial system, which it believed was controlled by the Jewish conspiracy. It opposed foreign ownership of British industry, endorsing protectionist and monetarist policies, advocating the state control of banking and financial services, and calling for a state bank to provide interest-free loans to fund municipal housing construction. These economic views were common across Britain's far-right, being akin, for example, to those of the BUF.


title: National Front (UK)

text: After the Strasserite faction took control in the 1980s, the NF adopted distributist policies, maintaining the emphasis on an economic system neither capitalist nor socialist. In the party's material from 1980, it claimed that "Capitalism and Communism" were "twin evils" to be overcome by "Revolutionary Nationalism". In keeping with the Strasserites' distributism, the 1980s NF called for large business and industry to be redistributed into a tripartite system: small privately owned enterprises, workers' co-operatives and, in the case of financial institutions and heavy industry, nationalised enterprises. To solve unemployment, the party stated that it would encourage urban-to-rural migration, with heavily mechanised agriculture being replaced by small, labour-intensive farms.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF adopted a strong stance against liberal and socially permissive policies, claiming that what it perceived as the growing permissiveness of British society was orchestrated by the Jewish conspiracy. Tyndall called for a moral "regeneration" penetrating "every sphere of work and leisure", including prohibitions on "art, literature or entertainment by which public moral standards might be endangered". Although placing little importance on religion, during the 1970s the party claimed that God had set forth absolute moral values.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The party opposed changes to traditional gender roles. "Spearhead" stated that the NF saw "the feminine role as principally one of wife, mother and home maker". In the party's first year, it largely ignored the 1967 Abortion Act that legalised abortion, although by 1974 had adopted an anti-abortion stance, stating that abortions should only be legal in medical emergencies. According to Tyndall, the legalisation of abortion was part of a conspiracy to reduce white British births. The issue decreased in resonance within the party during the early 1980s but was re-emphasised when the Strasserites took control. The party condemned homosexuality, mixed-race marriages, and prostitution.


title: National Front (UK)

text: In the 1970s the NF claimed that the teaching profession was full of "communists", and stated that under an NF government all teachers deemed unsuitable would be fired. That decade, it stressed that education should be suited to the varying abilities of students although did not outright condemn comprehensive schooling. It called for greater emphasis on examinations and sporting competitions, with a rejection of "slapdash Leftwing-inspired teaching fads". It stated that it would emphasise the teaching of British history to encourage patriotism while expanding science and technology in the curriculum at the expense of the social sciences.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The Front exalted self-sufficiency, asserting that the individual should be willing to serve the state and that citizens' rights should be subordinate to their duties. During the 1970s the Front criticised the UK's welfare state, stating that it wanted to end the perception of the UK as a "loafer's paradise". From its early years the NF promoted a tough stance on law and order, calling for harsher criminal sentencing, tougher prisons, and the reintroduction of both capital punishment, and national service. Emphasising self-responsibility, it rejected the idea that an individual's misdeeds should be attributed to their societal background.


title: National Front (UK)

text: During its 1970s heyday the National Front was headed by its directorate, a body of between 7 and 20 party members. With strict control over local and regional organisations, the directorate determined party policy, controlled its structures and finances, oversaw admissions and expulsions, and determined tactics. A third of the directorate were required to stand down every year, with a postal ballot of the membership to determine their replacements. Between 1971 and 1975, the directorate elected two of its members to be the chairman and deputy chairman. However, at the 1977 annual general meeting it agreed—at Tyndall's instigation—that the chairman would instead be elected through a postal ballot of the membership. As the directorate met in London infrequently, in practice the running of the party was left to the chairman and deputy chairman.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF's local presence divided into "groups", which had under twelve members, and "branches", which had over twelve. Fielding stated that in July 1973 the party had 32 branches and 80 groups, while the journalist Martin Walker claimed that in January 1974, it had 30 branches and 54 groups. Most were in south-east England, with 11 branches and 8 groups in Greater London and 5 branches and 22 groups elsewhere in the south-east. It had 5 branches and 3 groups in the Midlands, 7 branches and 11 groups in the north, 1 branch and 7 groups in western Britain and 1 group each in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each branch or group had its own five-person committee, with annual elections for the committee positions. Typically taking place in pubs, branch meetings focused largely on practical issues like raising finances. Some NF branches established supporters' associations for sympathisers unwilling to become members. Supporter organisations were established elsewhere in the world; in New Zealand in 1977 and in Australia, Canada and South Africa in 1978. In April 1974, the party introduced regional councils to co-ordinate between the national party and its local groups and branches.


title: National Front (UK)

text: After the Strasserite faction secured control in 1986, it formally adopted a cadre system of leadership. This made the party more elitist, creating what the Strasserites called "a revolutionary cadre party; a movement run by its most dedicated and active members rather than by armchair nationalists". This was linked to the idea that each NF member should be a "political soldier", a "New Type of Man" who rejected the "materialist nightmare" of contemporary capitalist society and underwent a personal "Spiritual Revolution" to dedicate themselves fully to the nation.


title: National Front (UK)

text: Preoccupied with security, during the 1970s the Front created a file of its opponents' names and addresses. To guard its marches, it formed "defence groups"—later called the "Honour Guard"—who often carried makeshift weapons. These marches often took place in areas with high migrant populations to instil fear in the latter, whip up racial tensions and generate publicity. These tactics have continued into more recent times. Local authorities sometimes banned its marches; in 2012, Aberdeen City Council rejected the NF's request to hold a procession on Adolf Hitler's birthday. The NF also disrupted anti-fascist and mainstream political meetings. In 1975, NF activists attacked a National Council of Civil Liberties meeting, with eight people requiring hospitalisation; in another instance they stormed a Liberal Party meeting discussing the transition to black-majority rule in Rhodesia, chanting "White Power".


title: National Front (UK)

text: The Front claimed that its members only resorted to violence in self-defence, although in the 1970s Fielding observed the group using force "aggressively". Fielding believed the most notable violent clash involving the NF was the Red Lion Square disorders in June 1974, during which an anti-fascist protester, Kevin Gateley, was killed. Another prominent clash took place in Lewisham in August 1977, when Trotskyist groups attacked the NF marchers, resulting in the "Battle of Lewisham". In April 1979, an anti-NF demonstration in Southall clashed with police, resulting in the death of Blair Peach.


title: National Front (UK)

text: There have also been actions where covert NF involvement was suspected but not proven. For instance, in 1974, several men put up NF posters in Brighton, assaulted individuals they accused of being Jewish and attacked the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist) bookshop. The local NF branch denied involvement. In June 1978, the Anti-Nazi League headquarters was hit by an arson attack; the slogan "NF Rules OK" was graffitied on the building. The NF denied responsibility. The party's leadership showed little concern with the violence of its members and supporters, and openly praised some of its members convicted for violent activity.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF formed various sub-groups. In 1974, it launched the NF Trade Unionists Association, and issued a short-lived trade unionist magazine, "The British Worker". During the 1970s it encouraged members to infiltrate other groups, such as the Hunt Saboteurs Association and ratepayers' and residents' associations, through which to promote the NF. In 1978, the party's directorate established a legal department to deal with the growing number of members being charged with inciting racial hatred under the 1976 Race Relations Act. Also in the 1970s, it formed a Student Association, and issued the student magazine "Spark". The NF Student Association initially tried recruiting students at universities, but later refocused attention towards schools and sixth forms. In 1978 it launched the Young National Front (YNF): membership was restricted to 14 to 25 years olds. The YNF issued a newsletter, "Bulldog", and organised a football competition between YNF teams.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF observed how the left mobilised anti-fascist support through musical ventures like Rock Against Racism and decided to employ similar techniques. In 1979, Pearce—then the YNF leader—established Rock Against Communism (RAC), through which the NF held concerts featuring neo-Nazi skinhead bands. Tyndall and other senior NF members liked the opportunity for expanding party membership that RAC offered them, but were concerned that associations with the skinhead subculture would damage the NF's image. After Tyndall left the party, in 1982 RAC was revived with Skrewdriver as its flagship band. In 1983 the NF launched a record label, White Noise Records, which became an important source of revenue for several years. The RAC had difficulty finding venues willing to stage its concerts and in 1984 got around this by staging its first large open-air concert at the Suffolk home of Nick Griffin's parents. Later in the 1980s, Skrewdriver broke from the NF to establish its own far-right music promotion network, Blood & Honour.


title: National Front (UK)

text: There was regional variation in the support that the NF received during the 1970s, reflected both in its vote share and the size and number of its branches. Paralleling the earlier support of the BUF, the NF's strength was centred heavily in England; its support was far weaker in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England, its support clustered along the South Coast and in London and Birmingham.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The National Front was not open about its finances, but often stressed that it was short of funds. It is likely that in its heyday, it had just enough money to pay for its two full-time officials, three head office secretaries and party expenses. Its central funds came from several sources: membership dues, the sale of its publications, donations, and lotteries. Donations were requested at rallies and meetings, and also provided by wealthy supporters, some from abroad. Branches were expected to finance their own candidates in election campaigns, raising funds from jumble sales and social events.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The NF faced a high membership turnover. In 1977, Walker described its membership as being "like a bath with both taps running and the plughole empty. Members pour in and pour out." Fielding echoed this, stating that the NF's "stable membership" was lower than the number


title: National Front (UK)

text: of people who have "passed through" it; Taylor suggested that during the 1970s, "at least 12,000" people joined and then left. Many of those attracted to the party because of its anti-immigrationism may have departed on discovering its fascist ideology. In other cases, individuals may have left because the hardship they encountered — social ostracism, job losses, verbal abuse and, on rare occasions, assault — became too much to endure, particularly as the party's fortunes declined in the latter 1970s.


title: National Front (UK)

text: The Front refused to disclose the number of members that it had. Thurlow suggested that "the most reliable estimates" were produced by the anti-fascist magazine "Searchlight". "Searchlight" claimed that from its origins with 4,000 members in 1968, the party reached a peak membership of 17,500 in 1972, which had declined to 10,000 in 1979, to 3,148 in 1984 and to 1,000 in 1985. An estimate of party membership in 1989 put adherents of the Flag Group at about 3,000 and of the Strasserite faction at about 600. Even at its 1970s peak, the Front's membership was half that of the BUF during its 1930s heyday.