title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Following the 2010 general election, Duncan Smith was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Under his leadership, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rolled out Universal Credit and a new Work Programme, as well as implemented a real terms cut in benefits. He also looked at "how to make it harder for sick and disabled people to claim benefits" by giving DWP staff more powers to conduct benefit eligibility tests and to strip benefits from claimants with serious but time-limited health conditions, but he was advised it would be illegal to introduce legislation not requiring parliamentary approval. The DWP was criticised by The Trussell Trust, Oxfam and Justin Welby for "scandalous" and "unacceptable" rises in food poverty and people being forced to use food banks. Duncan Smith himself was criticised by the UK Statistics Authority and National Institute of Economic and Social Research for breaking the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Shortly after being appointed, Duncan Smith said the government would encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65 and bringing forward the planned rises in the state pension age. He announced reforms to simplify benefits and tax credits into a single Universal Credit payment, arguing welfare reform would make low earners better off in employment. He promised targeted work activity, sanctions and possible removal of benefits for up to three years for those who refused to work. Benefits claimants with part-time incomes below a certain threshold would become required to search for additional work or risk losing access to their benefits. He said benefits were not a route out of child poverty but hundreds of thousands of children could be lifted out of child poverty if one of their parents were to work at least a 35-hour week at the national minimum wage.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In June 2011, Duncan Smith announced welfare-to-work programmes would be replaced with a single Work Programme, which included incentives for private sector service providers to help the unemployed find long term employment. The DWP announced on the 2012 United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities forced work for disabled people who received welfare benefits, in order to "Improve disabled people's chances of getting work by mandatory employment". In the 2012 Cabinet reshuffle, Duncan Smith was offered the job at the Ministry of Justice replacing Kenneth Clarke, but declined, and remained in his post at the DWP.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In April 2013, Duncan Smith said he could live on £53 per week as Work and Pensions Secretary, after a benefits claimant told the BBC he had £53 per week after housing costs. Also in April, he called for wealthier people to voluntarily return universal winter fuel payments to help reduce the strain on public finances, prompting some wealthier pensioners to state they had already tried this but had their offers refused because there was no mechanism for returning payments. In September, the DWP cancelled a week of "celebrations" to mark the impact of enhanced benefit sanctions. In the same month, the DWP was subject to an "excoriating" National Audit Office report, accusing the DWP of having "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance" and of wasting £34 million on inadequate computer systems. Duncan Smith dismissed allegations in Matthew d'Ancona's 2013 book "In It Together" that the Chancellor George Osborne had referred to him as "not clever enough". The allegations were also denied by Osborne.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In May 2014, it was reported the DWP was employing debt collectors to retrieve overpaid benefits, the overpayment purely down to calculation mistakes by HM Revenue and Customs. After the "workfare" element of the Work Programme was successfully challenged in the courts in 2013, Duncan Smith sought to re-establish the legality of the scheme through retrospective legislation but, in July 2014, the High Court ruled the retrospective nature of the legislation interfered with the "right to a fair trial" under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The DWP had said 1 million people would be placed on the new Universal Credit benefits system by April 2014, yet by October 2014 only 15,000 were assigned to UC. Duncan Smith said a final delivery date would not be set for this, declaring "Arbitrary dates and deadlines are the enemy of secure delivery."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In August 2015, Duncan Smith was criticised after the DWP admitted publishing fake testimonies of claimants enjoying their benefits cuts. Later the same month, publication of statistics showed 2,380 people died in a 3-year period shortly after a work capability assessment declared them fit for work leading Jeremy Corbyn to call for Duncan Smith's resignation. At the 2015 Conservative Party conference, Duncan Smith said to the sick and disabled "With our help, you'll work your way out of poverty" while criticising the current system, which he said "makes doctors ask a simplistic question: are you too sick to work at all? If the answer is yes, they're signed off work – perhaps for ever."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In March 2016, Duncan Smith unexpectedly resigned from the Cabinet. He stated that he was unable to accept the government's planned cuts to disability benefits. He later launched an attack on the "government's austerity programme for balancing the books on the backs of the poor and vulnerable", describing this as divisive and "deeply unfair", and adding: "It is in danger of drifting in a direction that divides society rather than unites it."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In the 2016 EU membership referendum, Duncan Smith campaigned to leave the EU working with the Vote Leave campaign, stating that staying in the EU "leaves the door open" to the UK enduring terrorist attacks. While he had opposed David Cameron over the referendum, sources close to Duncan Smith insisted his resignation as Work and Pensions Secretary was not about Europe.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, Duncan Smith served as chairman for Boris Johnson's leadership campaign, resulting in an emphatic win, with over 50% of MPs and 66% of the Conservative membership voting for Johnson to become the next Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister. He was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours, for political and public service. The honour sparked criticism, with more than 237,000 people signing an online petition, set up by Labour Party activist Dr Mona Kamal Ahmed, a National Health Service psychiatrist, demanding that it be rescinded.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In June 2020, Duncan Smith launched the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, becoming the co-chair of the alliance in the UK with Labour peer, Helena Kennedy. The alliance seeks to, "promote a coordinated response between democratic states to challenges posed by the present conduct and future ambitions of the People's Republic of China. By developing a common set of principles and frameworks that transcend domestic party divisions and international borders, our democracies will be able to keep the rules-based and human rights systems true to their founding purposes." In a launch message, Duncan Smith explained, "This challenge will outlast governments and administrations and it transcends party politics."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Duncan Smith was one of five MPs to be sanctioned by the Chinese government for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country. He was subsequently banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau and Chinese citizens and institutions became prohibited from doing business with him. The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: On 4 October 2021, he was attacked in Manchester outside a Conservative Party Conference. He was hit in the head with a traffic cone and Greater Manchester Police made five arrests.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Following the Liberal Democrats' victory in the North Shropshire by-election, Duncan Smith stated the government had lost focus due to stories about Downing Street parties where COVID-19 rules were broken. Duncan Smith stated, "The prime minister needs to show really strongly that he doesn't just disapprove but is prepared to get rid of people who are breaking those rules."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In July 2022, Duncan Smith announced his support for Liz Truss in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election because she had done more than her opponents to "deliver the benefits of Brexit". Following Truss's appointment as leader of the Conservative Party, Duncan Smith called on his colleagues to "unite" behind Liz Truss or risk losing the next election.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In September 2022, Duncan Smith declined an offer to serve in Liz Truss's first Cabinet. After Tom Tugendhat was chosen as Minister of State for Security, Duncan Smith announced he was considering seeking the Chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In September 2022, Duncan Smith joined a number of senior Conservative Party members in calling for the Chinese government's invitation to the Queen's funeral to be withdrawn.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: During his leadership campaign in 2001, Duncan Smith changed his stance from opposing repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 to supporting repeal. In 2003, his decision to compromise on the repeal of Section 28 was described as "illogical" and "messy" by other Conservative MPs. As leader, he imposed a three-line whip on a House of Lords amendment to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 that would have restricted adoption to married couples, thus ruling out unmarried heterosexual couples and gay couples. The amendment was rejected by 344 to 145, with eight Conservative MPs rebelling.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Duncan Smith has become significantly involved in issues of family and social breakdown. He has stated his support for early interventions to reduce and prevent social breakdown. In December 2010, he studied a state-sponsored relationship education programme in Norway, under which couples were forced to "think again" and confront the reality of divorce before formally separating. The policy has been credited with reversing Norway's trend for rising divorce rates and halting the decline of marriage in the country over the past 15 years. Duncan Smith said he was keen to explore ways in which similar approaches could be encouraged in Britain. Officials pointed out that such a programme would be expensive but that an approach could reduce the long-term cost of family breakdown, which has been estimated at up to £100 billion. Duncan Smith said couples in Norway were able to "work through what is going to happen with their children", which has "a very big effect on their thinking". "Many of them think again about what they are going to embark on once they really understand the consequences of their actions subsequently," he said.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Duncan Smith said in February 2011 that it was "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry. Duncan Smith said: "We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children. There are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage." He added that "The financial costs of family breakdown are incredibly high. But what is most painful to see is the human cost – the wasted potential, the anti-social behaviour, and the low self-esteem." In April 2012, he signalled his support for same-sex marriage on the basis that it would promote stability in relationships.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Duncan Smith has said that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid "losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness". In a speech delivered in Spain in 2011 he said that only immigrants with "something to offer" should be allowed into the country and that too often foreign workers purporting to be skilled take low-skilled jobs that could be occupied by British school leavers. According to "The Daily Telegraph"'s analysis, the speech contained a warning to David Cameron "that a "slack" attitude to immigration will result in the Coalition repeating the mistakes made under Labour, when the vast majority of new jobs generated before the recession were taken by immigrants". Duncan Smith believes that some companies are using immigration as "an excuse to import labour to take up posts which could be filled by people already in Britain". He says Britain needs an immigration system that gives the unemployed "a level playing field". "If we do not get this right then we risk leaving more British citizens out of work, and the most vulnerable group who will be the most affected are young people," he said.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Duncan Smith has called for cuts to Universal Credit to be reversed. Duncan Smith said, "Rolling out a new system, and pulling the money out of it the whole time, is very difficult to do it. It counters the whole purpose of what the welfare reforms are about."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: On 3 November 2016 and in response to the decision of the High Court in "R (Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union" on whether the UK government was entitled to notify an intention to leave the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union without a vote in Parliament, Duncan Smith stated that "it's not the position of the courts to tell parliament or the Government how that process should work. It never has been. Their job is to interpret what comes out of parliament, not to tell parliament how it goes about its functions."


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: In December 2019, Duncan Smith voted in favour of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. When the House of Commons debated the agreement at the time, Duncan Smith argued against further scrutiny by the House, stating that Members of the House "had more than 100 hours in committee over the last 3 and a half years ... If there is anything about this arrangement that we have not now debated, thrashed to death, I would love to know what it is." He later bemoaned the "fine print" in the Withdrawal Agreement.


title: Iain Duncan Smith

text: Duncan Smith married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982. The couple have four children, and live in a country house belonging to his father-in-law's estate in Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire. He is a Roman Catholic. He has been reported to support both Tottenham Hotspur, where in 2002 he held a season ticket, and Aston Villa.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The flag of Austria () is the flag of the nation of Austria. It consists of three bands of colour in the following order: red, white, and red.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The Austrian flag is considered one of the oldest national symbols still in use by a modern country, with its first recorded use in 1230. The Austrian triband originated from the arms of the Babenberg dynasty. As opposed to other flags, such as the black-and-yellow banner of the Habsburgs, the red-white-red flag was from very early on associated, not with a reigning family or monarch, but with the country itself.


title: Flag of Austria

text: In addition to serving as the flag of Austria since 1230, it was adopted as the naval ensigns and flags of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Duchy of Modena and Reggio in the 18th and 19th centuries respectively, as both were ruled by cadet branches of the House of Habsburg.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The flag traces back to the coat of arms of the medieval Babenberg dynasty, a silver band on a red field (in heraldry: "Gules a fess Argent"). The origin of the "Bindenschild" has not been conclusively established, it possibly derived from the Styrian margraves of the Otakar noble family, who themselves may have adopted the colours from the descendants of the Carinthian duke Adalbero (ruled 1011–1035), a scion of the House of Eppenstein extinct in 1122. However, the Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria (1095–1136) had already been depicted with a triband shield in 1105.


title: Flag of Austria

text: When the last Otakar Duke Ottokar IV of Styria died in 1192, the Styrian duchy was inherited by the Babenberg duke Leopold V of Austria according to the 1186 Georgenberg Pact. According to the 18th-century historian Chrysostomus Hanthaler, his grandson Duke Frederick II of Austria (1230–1246), nicknamed the "Quarrelsome" or the "Warlike", the last of the Babenberg dynasty, designed a new coat of arms in red-white-red after his accession—an attempt to prevail against reluctant local nobles and to stress his autonomy towards Emperor Frederick II. The triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges of Lilienfeld Abbey. The medieval chronicler Jans der Enikel reports that the duke appeared in a red-white-red ceremonial dress at his 1232 accolade in the Vienna Schottenstift.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The Babenberg family colours developed to the coat of arms of their Austrian possessions. After the dynasty had become extinct with Frederick's death at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, they were adopted by his Přemyslid successor King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Upon the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld the colours were assumed by the victorious House of Habsburg and gradually became the coat of arms of the dynasty's Hereditary Lands within the Habsburg monarchy.


title: Flag of Austria

text: According to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria as a consequence of his fighting during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colours and scheme as his banner. The incident was documented as early as 1260.


title: Flag of Austria

text: In fact, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire during the Crusades was a silver cross on a red field quite similar to the later Austrian arms. This sign was used by the Austrian capital Vienna from the late 13th century onwards.


title: Flag of Austria

text: Since the days of Rudolph of Habsburg and the 1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden, the combination of red-white-red was widely considered to be the Austrian (later also Inner Austrian) colours used by the ruling Habsburg dynasty. However, the black-yellow flag was used as the "national flag" (in a modern sense) of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, the later Austrian Empire and the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, sometimes even for the entire empire as well, until 1918. These were the family colours of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and were themselves in part derived from the banner of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Flag of Austria

text: Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a naval ensign ("Marineflagge") based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these flags became obsolete with Austria-Hungary's dissolution in 1918, and the newly formed rump state of German Austria adopted the red-white-red triband as its national flag.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The Austrian flag has been the main motif of many collector coins. One of the most recent examples is the 20 euro Post War Period coin, issued by the Republic of Austria on 17 September 2003. The obverse of this coin shows the Austrian coat of arms flanked by the Austrian flag and the European Union flag.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The Constitution of Austria does not specify the colour shades of the flag, but members of the Austrian Armed Forces are told that the red on the coat of arms (which is used for the flag shield on the eagle) is Pantone 186 C.


title: Flag of Austria

text: The red-white-red Austrian flag is almost identical to several other flags found around the world, including the flags of Bouillon and Leuven in Belgium, the flag of Savona in Italy, the flags of Dordrecht, Gouda, Hoorn and Leiden in the Netherlands, and the flag of Puerto Asís in Colombia. The flag is said to have inspired the national flag of Lebanon and the Stars and Bars used by the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1863 (and ancestor of the flag of the U.S. state of Georgia).


title: Cephalonia

text: Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region. It was a former Latin Catholic diocese Kefalonia–Zakynthos (Cefalonia–Zante) and short-lived titular see as just Kefalonia. The capital city of Cephalonia is Argostoli.


title: Cephalonia

text: An "aition" explaining the name of Cephallenia and reinforcing its cultural connections with Athens associates the island with the mythological figure of Cephalus, who helped Amphitryon of Mycenae in a war against the Taphians and Teleboans. He was rewarded with the island of Same, which thereafter came to be known as Cephallenia.


title: Cephalonia

text: Kefalonia has also been suggested as the Homeric Ithaca, the home of Odysseus, rather than the smaller island bearing this name today. Robert Bittlestone, in his book "Odysseus Unbound", has suggested that Paliki, now a peninsula of Cephalonia, was a separate island during the late Bronze Age, and it may be this which Homer was referring to when he described Ithaca. A project which started in the summer of 2007 and lasted three years has examined this possibility.


title: Cephalonia

text: Kefalonia is also referenced in relation to the goddess Britomartis, as the location where she is said to have 'received divine honours from the inhabitants under the name of Laphria'.


title: Cephalonia

text: In the late Roman Empire, Cephalonia was part of the Roman province of Achaea. Ecclesiastically it was a suffragan of the Metropolis of Nicopolis (the eparchy of Epirus I). The four ancient cities of the island survived into late antiquity, with Sami probably as the island's capital.


title: Cephalonia

text: Following the loss of the bulk of Italy, and the expansion of the Muslims into the Western Mediterranean, the island became a strategically important base of operations for the Byzantine Empire in the area, blocking Muslim raids into the Adriatic and serving as a bridge for expeditions in Italy. Already from the 8th century, it was the centre of the namesake theme of Cephallenia. At the same time, the capital was moved to the Castle of Saint George, a more well-protected site in the island's interior. Mardaites were resettled in Cephalonia to serve as marines, and political prisoners were sometimes exiled there.


title: Cephalonia

text: The loss of Byzantine Italy in 1071 diminished Cephalonia's importance, and its administration passed from a military "strategos" to a civilian judge ("krites"). Its main city was besieged by the Italo-Normans in 1085, and the Venetians plundered the island in 1126. Cephalonia was captured during the Third Norman invasion of the Balkans in 1185, and it became part of the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos under the Kingdom of Sicily and Venetian suzerainty, until its last Count Leonardo III Tocco was defeated and the island conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1479.


title: Cephalonia

text: Turkish rule lasted only until 1500, when Cephalonia was captured by a Spanish-Venetian army, a rare Venetian success in the Second Ottoman–Venetian War. From then on Cephalonia and Ithaca remained part of the Stato da Mar of the Venetian Republic until its very end, following the fate of the Ionian islands, completed by the capture of Lefkas from the Turks in 1684. The Treaty of Campoformio dismantling the Venetian Republic awarded the Ionian Islands to France, a French expeditionary force with boats captured in Venice taking control of the islands in June 1797.


title: Cephalonia

text: Because of the liberal situation on the island, the Venetian governor Marc'Antonio Giustiniani (1516–1571) printed Hebrew books and exported them to the whole eastern Mediterranean. In 1596 the Venetians built the Assos Castle, one of Cephalonia's main tourist attractions today. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, the island was one of the largest exporters of currants in the world with Zakynthos, and owned a large shipping fleet, even commissioning ships from the Danzig shipyard. Its towns and villages were mostly built high on hilltops, to prevent attacks from raiding parties of pirates that sailed the Ionian Sea during the 1820s.


title: Cephalonia

text: Venice was conquered by France in 1797 and Cephalonia, along with the other Ionian Islands, became part of the French département of Ithaque.


title: Cephalonia

text: In the following year, 1798, the French were forced to yield the Ionian Islands to a combined Russian and Turkish fleet. From 1799 to 1807, Cephalonia was part of the Septinsular Republic, nominally under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, but protected by Russia.


title: Cephalonia

text: By the Tilsit Treaty in 1807, the Ionian Islands were ceded back to France, which remained in control until 1809.


title: Cephalonia

text: In 1809, the British established a blockade on the Ionian Islands as part of their conflict with France, and in September of that year they hoisted the Union Flag above the castle of Zakynthos. Cephalonia and Ithaca soon surrendered, and the British installed provisional governments. The treaty of Paris in 1815 recognised the United States of the Ionian Islands and decreed that it become a British protectorate. Colonel Charles Philippe de Bosset became provisional governor between 1810 and 1814. During this period he was credited with achieving many public works, including the Drapano Bridge.


title: Cephalonia

text: A few years later Greek nationalist groups started to form. Although their energy in the early years was directed to supporting the Greeks in the revolution against the Ottoman Empire, it soon started to turn towards the British. By 1848, calls for "enosis" with Greece were gaining strength and there were rebellions against British rule in Argostoli and Lixouri, which led to some relaxation in the laws and to freedom of the press. Union with Greece was now a declared aim, and by 1849, a growing restlessness resulted in another rebellion against the British, which was suppressed by the island's governor, Sir Henry George Ward.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia, along with the other islands, were transferred to Greece in 1864 as a gesture of goodwill when the British-supported Prince William of Denmark became King George the First of the Hellenes.


title: Cephalonia

text: In 1864, Cephalonia, together with all the other Ionian Islands, became a full member of the Greek state.


title: Cephalonia

text: In World War II, the island was occupied by Axis forces. Until late 1943, the occupying force was predominantly Italian, the 33rd Infantry Division "Acqui" plus Navy personnel totalled 12,000 men, but about 2,000 troops from Germany were also present. The island was largely spared the fighting, until the armistice with Italy concluded by the Allies in September 1943. Confusion followed on the island, as the Italians were hoping to return home, but German forces did not want the Italians' munitions to be used eventually against them; Italian forces were hesitant to turn over weapons for the same reason. As German reinforcements headed to the island the Italians dug in and, eventually, after a referendum among the soldiers as to surrender or battle, they fought against the new German invasion. The fighting came to a head at the siege of Argostoli, where the Italians held out. Ultimately the Germans prevailed, taking full control of the island.


title: Cephalonia

text: Approximately five thousand of the nine thousand surviving Italian soldiers were executed in reprisal by the German forces. The book "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis de Bernières, which was later made into a film, is based on this event. While the war ended in central Europe in 1945, Cephalonia remained in a state of conflict due to the Greek Civil War. Peace returned to Greece and the island in 1949.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia lies just to the southeast of a major active fault zone, where the Eurasian Plate meets the Aegean Plate at a transform boundary. The island itself is affected by a series of active thrust faults, which are responsible for the continuing uplift.


title: Cephalonia

text: A series of four earthquakes hit the island in August 1953, and caused major destruction, with virtually every house on the island destroyed. The third and most destructive of the quakes took place on 12 August 1953 at 09:24 UTC (11:24 local time), with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Moment magnitude scale. Its epicentre was directly south of the southern tip of Cephalonia, and caused the entire island to be raised higher, where it remains, with evidence in water marks on rocks around the coastline.


title: Cephalonia

text: The 1953 Ionian earthquake disaster caused huge destruction, with only regions in the north escaping the heaviest tremors and houses there remaining intact. Damage was estimated to run into tens of millions of dollars, equivalent to billions of drachmas, but the real damage to the economy occurred when residents left the island. The majority of the population left the island soon after, seeking a new life elsewhere.


title: Cephalonia

text: The forest fire of the 1990s caused damage to the island's forests and bushes, especially a small scar north of Troianata, and a large area of damage extending from Kateleios north to west of Tzanata, ruining about of forest and bushes and resulting in the loss of some properties. The forest fire scar was visible for some years.


title: Cephalonia

text: In mid-November 2003, an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter magnitude scale caused minor damage to business, residential property, and other buildings in and near Argostoli. Damages were around €1,000,000.


title: Cephalonia

text: On the morning of 20 September 2005, an early-morning earthquake shook the south-western part of the island, especially near Lixouri and nearby villages. The earthquake measured 4.9 on the Richter magnitude scale, and its epicentre was located off the island at sea. Service vehicles took care of the area, and no damage was reported. From 24 to 26 January 2006, a major snowstorm blanketed the entire island, causing extensive blackouts. The island was recently struck yet again by another forest fire in the south of the island, beginning of 18 July 2007 during an unusual heatwave, and spreading slowly. Firefighters along with helicopters and planes battled the blaze for some days and the spectacle frightened residents on that area of the island.


title: Cephalonia

text: In 2011 the eight former municipalities of the island lost their independence to form one united municipality. After losing its role as the capital of the island in the 19th century, Lixouri lost also its role as a seat of a municipality after 500 years. The Technological Educational Institute of the Ionian Islands closed one faculty in Lixouri and one in Argostoli.


title: Cephalonia

text: In January 2014, an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale left at least seven injured. There are reports of minor injuries and some damage to property," said the Foreign Office, on its website. "The airport remains operational but there may be some disruption to port services."


title: Cephalonia

text: In the southwestern portion of the island, in the area of Leivatho, an ongoing archaeological field survey by the Irish Institute at Athens has discovered dozens of sites with dates ranging from the Palaeolithic to the Venetian period.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia is extremely interesting archaeologically; finds go back to 40,000 BP. Without doubt, the most important era for the island is the Mycenaean era, from approximately 1500BC to 1100 BC. The archaeological museum in Cephalonia's capital, although small, is of great importance due to its exhibits from this era.


title: Cephalonia

text: The most important archaeological discovery in Cephalonia (and indeed in Greece) of recent decades is that, in 1991, of the Mycenaean Tholos tomb at the outskirts of Tzanata, near Poros in southeastern Cephalonia (former Municipality of Elios-Pronni) in a setting of olive trees, cypresses and oaks. The tomb was erected around 1300 BC; kings and highly ranked officials were buried in such tombs during the Mycenaean period. It is the largest tholos tomb yet found in northwestern Greece, and was excavated by archaeologist Lazaros Kolonas. The size of the tomb, the nature of the burial offerings found there, and its well-chosen position point to the existence of an important Mycenaean town in the vicinity.


title: Cephalonia

text: In late 2006, a Roman grave complex was uncovered as the foundation of a new hotel was being excavated in Fiskardo. The remains date to the period between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD. Archaeologists described it as the most important find of its kind in the Ionian Islands. Inside the complex, five burial sites were found, including a large vaulted tomb and a stone coffin, along with gold earrings and rings, gold leaves that may have been attached to ceremonial clothing, glass and ceramic pots, bronze artefacts decorated with masks, a bronze lock and bronze coins. The tomb had escaped the attention of grave robbers and remained undisturbed for thousands of years. When the tomb was opened the stone door easily swung on its stone hinges. A Roman theatre was discovered very near the tomb, so well preserved that the metal joints between the seats were still intact.


title: Cephalonia

text: A dissertation published in 1987 claims that Saint Paul, on his way from Palestine to Rome in AD 59, was shipwrecked and confined for three months not on Malta but on Cephalonia.


title: Cephalonia

text: According to Clement of Alexandria, the island had the largest community of Carpocratians, an early Gnostic Christian sect, because Carpocrates lived on the island.


title: Cephalonia

text: In the ancient period, the people lived in four cities on the island. Krani, Sami, Pale and Pronni formed a federation called "tetrapolis".


title: Cephalonia

text: In more recent times the population reached 70,000, in 1896, but declined gradually in the 20th century. The great 1953 Ionian earthquake forced many people to leave the island. Many of those who left moved to Patras or Athens, or emigrated to America and Australia, following relatives who had left the island decades before. In the same period people from poorer areas of Greece such as Epirus and Thrace came to the island. The population has hovered between 35,000 and 42,000 since then; in the 2011 census, it was 35,801.


title: Cephalonia

text: Most of the indigenous people of Cephalonia have surnames ending in "-atos", such as the Alexatos (Greek: Αλεξάτος) families, and almost every settlement on the island has a name ending in "-ata", such as Metaxata, Chavriata, Frangata, Lourdata, Favata, Delaportata and others.


title: Cephalonia

text: In 1222 the Frankish Crusaders established the Diocese of Kefalonia–Zakynthos (Cefalonia–Zante in Curiate Italian), which survived their rule and even the Turks. In 1919, the residential see was suppressed but immediately transformed into a titular bishopric of Kefalonia (Cefalonia in Italian). The territory and title were merged into the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Corfu–Zakynthos–Kefalonia. In 1921, this was also suppressed, never having had an incumbent.


title: Cephalonia

text: The main island of the regional unit is Cephalonia and has a size of 773 km (300 mi), with a population density of 55 people per km (140/mi). The town of Argostoli has one-third of the island's inhabitants. Lixouri is the second major settlement, and the two towns together account for almost two-thirds of the prefecture's population.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia lies in the heart of an earthquake zone, and dozens of minor, unrecorded tremors occur each year. In 1953, a massive earthquake destroyed almost all of the settlements on the island, leaving only Fiskardo in the north untouched.


title: Cephalonia

text: Important natural features include Melissani Lake, the Drogarati caves, and the Koutavos Lagoon in Argostoli.


title: Cephalonia

text: The island has a rich biodiversity, with a substantial number of endemic and rare species. Some areas have been declared a site in the European Union's Natura 2000 network.


title: Cephalonia

text: The island's highest mountain is Mount Ainos, with an elevation of 1628 meters; to the west-northwest are the Paliki mountains, where Lixouri is found, with other mountains including Geraneia (Gerania) and Agia Dynati. The top of Mount Ainos is covered with fir trees and is a natural park.


title: Cephalonia

text: Forestry is rare on the island; however its timber output is one of the highest in the Ionian islands, although lower than that of Elia in the Peloponnese. Forest fires were common during the 1990s and the early 2000s, and still pose a major threat to the population.


title: Cephalonia

text: Most of the Ainos mountain range is designated as a National Park and is covered with the unique species of Greek fir (Abies Cephalonica) and black pine (Pinus nigra).


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia is well known for its endangered loggerhead turtle population, also known as the Caretta caretta turtle, which nests on many of the beaches along the south coast of the island. The turtles can also be seen in the waters of Argostoli harbour, in Koutavos Lagoon, while walking on De Bosset Bridge. A small population of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal, "Monachus monachus", also lives around the island's coast, especially on parts of the coast which are inaccessible to humans due to the terrain. Caves on these parts of the coast offer ideal locations for the seals to give birth to their pups and nurse them through the first months of their lives. The most famous breeding ground in Cephalonia is a cave on Foki beach, located on the north-east coast near Fiskardo.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia has hot, sunny summers and mild rainy winters. During winter it can occasionally snow on the mountain peaks of the island's mountain ranges. The winter months can experience up to 156 mm of rainfall, resulting in high levels of humidity on the island. Winter temperature on Kefalonia average at 14-15 C during the day and fall at night to an average of 8-9 C. During the summer months there is usually little to no rainfall. Rain in the summer can usually be seen, but the dry air prevents it from being felt as it is evaporated before it reaches the ground.


title: Cephalonia

text: Wine and raisins are the oldest products exported, being important until the 20th century. Today fish farming and calcium carbonate are most important.


title: Cephalonia

text: The primary agricultural occupations are animal breeding and olive growing, with the remainder largely composed of grain and vegetables. Most vegetable production takes place on the plains, which cover less than 15% of the island, most of which is rugged and mountainous, suitable only for goats. Less than a quarter of the island's land is arable.


title: Cephalonia

text: Until the 1970s, most Cephalonians lived in rural areas, while today, two-thirds of the population lives in urban areas, with the other third in rural towns and villages close to farmland.


title: Cephalonia

text: The island has a long winemaking tradition and is home to the dry, white lemony wines made from the Robola grape.


title: Cephalonia

text: Olive oil production is a major component of Cephalonia's economy. Until the 18th century, the quantity of olive oil produced on the island just covered the needs of the residents. However, the pressure of Venetian conquerors' for olive plantation, especially after the loss of Peloponnese and Crete, resulted in increasing the production to such a degree that the first exports to Venice began. Before the 1953 Ionian earthquake, there were 200 oil presses operating on the island; today, there are thirteen. There are over one million olive trees on Cephalonia, covering almost 55% of the island's area. Olive oil is very important to the island's local, agricultural economy. "Koroneiki" and "theiako" are the two main varieties cultivated on the island, followed by a smaller number of "ntopia" and "matolia". Kefalonian olive oil has a green tone, a rich, greasy touch, and low acidity.


title: Cephalonia

text: Tourism to Cephalonia started in the early 19th century. The royal family of Greece sent their children in the summer Lixouri, in the early 20th century, but the island was not discovered by most tourists until the 1980s. Cephalonia is a popular holiday destination for many Italians, due to its proximity to Italy.


title: Cephalonia

text: Two cultural attractions, the fishing villages of Fiscardo and Assos, and other natural attractions, including Melissani underground lake, Drogarati cave and Myrtos beach, have helped popularize Cephalonia. The film "Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)" (2001), filmed on the island, made Cephalonia more widely known.


title: Cephalonia

text: Listed in "The Daily Telegraph" as one of the 20 Mediterranean islands you must visit in your lifetime.


title: Cephalonia

text: Across the broader island, two large monasteries are to be found: the first is that of Haghia Panagia in Markopoulo to the southeast, and the other lies on the road between Argostoli and Michata, on a small plain surrounded by mountains. This second has an avenue of about 200 trees aligned from NW to SE, with a circle in the middle, and is the monastery of Saint Gerasimus of Kefalonia, patron saint of the island, whose relics can be seen and venerated at the old church of the monastery. The monastery of "Sissia" was probably founded by Francis of Assisi, it was destroyed in 1953 but the ruins still exist. Although much of the island was destroyed by earthquakes, many notable churches all over the island have survived, some dating back to the renaissance. The ornaments of the churches are influenced by Venetian manierism.


title: Cephalonia

text: The Ionian Islands have a musical tradition called the Ionian School. Lixouri has the Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1836) and Argostoli the Rokos Vergottis Conservatory. Richard Strauss visited Lixouri some times where he had an affair with the pianist Dora Wihan (born Weiss).


title: Cephalonia

text: The Ionian Islands also developed a distinctive culture primarily as they did not experience Ottoman occupation, instead having ties to Venice, and musically drew from Italian influences, and Western Harmonics. This evolved into a unique musical style among the Greeks, the Cantada (Serenade) very similar to the Latin/Spanish/Italian Cantar (to sing). The Cantadas are an example of the Ionian music. Cantadas are still very popular and can be heard even today.


title: Cephalonia

text: The novelists Nikos Kavvadias (1910–1975) and the Swiss (1917–2010) spent parts of their life on the island. Andreas Laskaratos was a satirical poet and wrote about the society in the town of Lixouri. Lord Byron wrote parts of "Prelude" and "Don Juan" in Livatho.


title: Cephalonia

text: Additionally, a theory was proposed by Greek researcher Libieris Liberatos as to the true identity of the island setting from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" being Cephallonia.


title: Cephalonia

text: Perhaps the best known appearance of Cephalonia in popular culture is in the novel "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", by the English author Louis de Bernières. The book is believed to have been inspired by the village of Farsa, just outside Argostoli. The love story comprising the theme of the book is set before and after the Acqui Division massacre, during the Second World War. A film adaptation was released in 2001. During filming there was lively debate between the production team, local authorities as well as groups of citizens, as to the complex historical details of the island's antifascist resistance. As a result, political references were omitted from the film, and the romantic core of the book was preserved, without entering complex debates about the island's history. In 2005, Riccardo Milani made his TV film, "Cefalonia", also about the massacre, with music by Ennio Morricone.


title: Cephalonia

text: There are five harbours and ports in the prefecture and you can get to Kefalonia by boat: four main harbours on the island, Sami, a major port with links to Patras and Ithaca; Poros, in the south, has ferry routes to Kyllini; Argostoli, in the west, is the largest port, for local boats and ferries to Zante and regularly to Lixouri; Fiscardo, in the north, has links to Lefkas and Ithaca. There is room for about 100 small boats in Argostoli, where the port stretches 1 kilometre around the bay, while Lixouri is situated across the bay from Argostoli, on the Lixouri peninsula. There is a road connection to the rest of the island, but driving from Lixouri to Argostoli involves a detour.


title: Cephalonia

text: The first larger roads were built by the British in the 19th century. In the 20th century asphalted roads were built, and since 1995 almost all streets connecting villages and beaches are covered with asphalt. Since c. 2000 the Lixouri bypass was built and a four lane street south of Argostoli was constructed.


title: Cephalonia

text: The ferry between Argostoli and Lixouri goes every hour and every half-hour in the season. There are a few bus lines serving the more rural areas of Kefalonia, but often only two times a day. The KTEL bus cooperation offers services from Lixouri, Poros and Argostoli to the mainland.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia has one airport, Kefalonia Island International Airport, named Anna Pollatou (IATA: EFL, ICAO: LGKF) with a runway around . in length, located about south of Argostoli. Almost every scheduled flight is an Olympic Air route, flying mainly to and from Athens, although there is an Ionian Island Hopper service three times a week calling at Cephalonia, Zante and Lefkas. In summer the airport handles a number of charter flights from all over Europe.


title: Cephalonia

text: In December 2015 the privatisation of Kefalonia Airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised with the signing of the agreement between the Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group joint venture and the state privatisation fund. "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Kefallinia International Airport) for 40 years as of autumn 2016.


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia is a distinct regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and since 2019 it consists of three municipalities: Argostoli, Lixouri and Sami. Between the 2011 Kallikratis government reform and 2019, there was one single municipality on the island: Cephalonia, created out of the 8 former municipalities on the island. At the same reform, the regional unit Cephalonia was created out of part of the former Cephalonia Prefecture. The seat of administration is Argostoli, the island's main town.


title: Cephalonia

text: The regional unit has an area of 786.575 km. The Cephalonia regional unit also includes a number of uninhabited islands of the Echinades group. They are administered by the municipal unit of Pylaros. The most significant are as follows:


title: Cephalonia

text: Cephalonia is the home of Kassandra and Alexios, main characters of the videogame "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" (2018).


title: Cephalonia

text: The 1994 novel "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis de Bernières, and the 2001 film adaptation of the same name, are primarily set in Cephalonia.


title: League (unit)

text: A league is a unit of length. It was common in Europe and Latin America, but is no longer an official unit in any nation. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the "leuga", the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. It may have originally represented, roughly, the distance a person could walk in an hour. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.


title: League (unit)

text: The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as 1½ Roman miles (7,500 Roman feet, modern 2.2 km or 1.4 miles). The origin is the "leuga Gallica" "(also: leuca Callica)", the league of Gaul.


title: League (unit)

text: On land, the league is most commonly defined as three miles (4.83km), though the length of a mile could vary from place to place and depending on the era. At sea, a league is . English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas).


title: League (unit)

text: The French "lieue" — at different times — existed in several variants, namely 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400 French feet, about . It was used along with the metric system for a while, but is long discontinued.


title: League (unit)

text: A metric lieue was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metric lieue being exactly 4,000 m, or 4 km (about 2.5 mi). It is this unit that is referenced in both the title and the body text of Jules Verne's novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas" (1870).


title: League (unit)

text: Perhaps in some rural parts of Mexico, the league (Spanish "legua") is still used in the original sense of the distance that can be covered on foot in an hour, so that a league along a good road on level ground is a greater distance than a league on a difficult path over rough terrain.


title: League (unit)

text: In Portugal, Brazil and other parts of the former Portuguese Empire, there were several units called league (Portuguese: ""):


title: League (unit)

text: The names of the several "léguas" referred to the number of units that made the length corresponding to an angle degree of a meridian arc.


title: League (unit)

text: As a transitory measure, after Portugal adopted the metric system, the metric "légua", of 5.0 km, was used.


title: League (unit)

text: The "legua" or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to (Spanish miles). This varied depending on local standards for the "pie" (Spanish foot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to (2.6 miles) before the "legua" was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in use in parts of Latin America, where its exact meaning varies.


title: League (unit)

text: In the early Hispanic settlements of New Mexico, Texas, California, and Colorado, a league was also a unit of area, defined as 25 million square varas or about 4,428.4 acres. This usage of league is referenced frequently in the Texas Constitution. So defined, a league of land would encompass a square that is one Spanish league on each side.


title: League (unit)

text: A comparison of the different lengths for a "league", in different countries and at different times in history, is given in the table below. Miles are also included in this list because of the linkage between the two units.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Swept Away is a 2002 American adventure comedy romance film written and directed by Guy Ritchie; it is a remake of Lina Wertmüller's 1974 Italian film of the same name. The film stars Ritchie's then-wife Madonna and Adriano Giannini (the son of Giancarlo Giannini, the original film's lead) with a supporting cast featuring Bruce Greenwood, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Elizabeth Banks.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Produced by Matthew Vaughn and released theatrically by Screen Gems, "Swept Away" was a box office bomb, grossing less than a tenth of its $10 million budget worldwide, and was panned by critics, who have considered it to be one of the worst films ever made.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Amber Leighton is a wealthy, spoiled socialite wife of a millionaire who joins two other couples on a private cruise from Italy to Greece. Amber develops an instant and intense dislike for Giuseppe, a deckhand, and insults him mercilessly throughout the trip. During the trip, she insists on being taken out on a dinghy for a lark, overruling Giuseppe's warnings about an oncoming storm.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: During their dinghy trip, Amber berates Giuseppe incessantly, which only intensifies once they run out of gas. Through a series of mishaps, Amber damages the dinghy and they end up washing ashore on a deserted island.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: On the island, Giuseppe gains the upper hand in their interactions due to his survival skills. As the roles reverse, Giuseppe becomes more dominant in his treatment of Amber, while she concurrently becomes more submissive and cowering. Their relationship evolves into intimacy.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Eventually, the two are rescued and return to their normal lives. Giuseppe attempts to reach out to Amber, to rekindle their relationship, but his messages receive no reply. Giuseppe believes that Amber has rejected him, and is despondent. However, it is revealed at the end that his letters have been intercepted by Amber's wealthy husband, who ensures that Amber never sees them or Giuseppe again.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The film's working title was "Love, Sex, Drugs and Money" and was filmed in Sardinia and Malta from 1 October 2001 until 9 November 2001 with security increased due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Madonna had only finished her 2001 Drowned World Tour two weeks prior to filming. Giancarlo Giannini's son Adriano Giannini plays his original film role.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The film received extremely negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 5% rating, based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 2.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Muddled and lacking the political context of the original, "Swept Away" offers further proof that Madonna can't act." Metacritic reports an 18 out of 100 rating, based on 27 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Roger Ebert, of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who called the original "Swept Away" such an "absorbing movie" that he bestowed with a 4-out-of-4 star rating, gave the remake only 1 star. According to Ebert, despite Ritchie's relatively faithful adaptation, the original "Swept Away" was "incomparably superior," and the remake's fatal flaw was the "utterly missing" vitality or emotional resonance of the main characters. Additionally, wrote Ebert, Madonna's character "starts out so hateful that she can never really turn it around" and gain any redemption or believable change. Similarly, A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote, "In her concerts, music videos and recordings, Madonna has often been a mesmerizing performer, but she is still not much of an actress. Striking a pose is not the same as embodying a person, and a role like this one requires the surrender of emotional control, something Madonna seems constitutionally unable to achieve." In his otherwise negative review of the film, Slant Magazine critic Ed Gonzalez said: "Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara had her beaten to a pulp in his "Dangerous Game"."


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: "The way critics take it out on me now is to have a go at anything me and Guy do together," Madonna remarked about the negative critical reaction. "Everyone in England has slagged it off without having seen it. Isn't that beautiful? Don't you think that's absurd? But I think the knives were going to come out for Guy anyway, even if he hadn't ended up with me. He had too much success with his first two films. That's how the media is: eventually they have to pull you down."


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: "Swept Away" was a box office bomb; from a $10 million budget, it grossed $598,645 in the United States and around $437,875 from foreign territories for a worldwide total of $1,036,520. It was shown only on 196 screens for two weeks, dropping down to 59 in the final third week of release. In Italy, it grossed €71,575 and in Spain €105,371 from 174 screens.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The film was awarded five awards at the 2002 Golden Raspberry Awards. Additionally, Madonna won Worst Supporting Actress that same year (for "Die Another Day").


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The film was nominated for Worst Screenplay (written by Ritchie), and Giannini for Worst Actor. It was the first to win both Worst Picture and Worst Remake or Sequel.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The film also received nominations for Worst Director (Ritchie), Most Intrusive Musical Score, and Worst Remake.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: The score was composed by Michel Colombier, and it is mostly his work that is featured on the 12-track soundtrack album. The soundtrack also contains several songs by other artists. "Come-On-a-My-House", sung by Della Reese, is the only one featured on the album.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: Songs not featured on the album include "Lovely Head" by Goldfrapp (played during the opening credits), "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" by Louis Jordan (the charades scene), and "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star (as Amber and Pepe experience life on the island together). Arvo Pärt's "Spiegel im Spiegel" plays during the closing moments and end credits of the film.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: In the United Kingdom, the film was released direct-to-video by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. The DVD special features include a filmmakers' commentary with Ritchie and Vaughn, an interview with Ritchie and Madonna, sixteen deleted scenes, Movie Special (making of), theatrical trailers, and filmographies.


title: Swept Away (2002 film)

text: In 2019 "Swept Away" was reissued on DVD and released on Blu-Ray by Fabulous Films, under license from Sony Pictures.


title: Creative director

text: A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions are often found within the television production, graphic design, film, music, video game, fashion, advertising, media, or entertainment industries, but may be found in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well.


title: Creative director

text: A creative director is a vital role in all of the arts and entertainment industries and can be seen as another element in any product development process. The creative director may also assume the roles of an art director, copywriter, or lead designer. The responsibilities of a creative director include leading the communication design, interactive design, and concept forward in any work assigned. For example, this responsibility is often seen in industries related to advertisement. The creative director is known to guide a team of employees with skills and experience related to graphic design, fine arts, motion graphics, and other creative industry fields. Some example works can include visual layout, brainstorming, and copywriting.


title: Creative director

text: In the advertising industry, a creative director is determined to develop various marketing schemes and strategies for a company or client that they are hired by. Assuming one is hired by a company that is fairly well known and established, there would be some type of creative department or management that the director would work with. The creative director would also serve as the project manager that works directly with employers, and in most circumstances, they would be responsible for designing concepts for advertisements and other promotional needs for their clients. Some examples of their duties involve copywriting and laying out chronological advertisement plans which explain the ongoing process of a project. It is important for an advertisement creative director to meet their goals at specific deadline with maximum efficiency as possible. To do so, they must be able to guide the creative department effectively from start to finish. Educational requirements of this position involve a blending of skills in business and journalism. To even be considered as a creative director, one would need to have years of experience in advertising (as little as five to as many as ten years).


title: Creative director

text: Advertising creative directors are usually promoted from copywriting or art directing positions. Familiarity with film-making techniques is also common. Creative directors rise to become executive creative directors or chief creative officers, a position with executive responsibility for the entire creative department, and some progress to chairman of a firm.


title: Creative director

text: Creative directors usually possess a communication design, fine arts or animation degree. Copywriters may have degrees in journalism, language arts, or media innovation, or may develop more emphasis on advertising copywriting while pursuing a communication design degree.


title: Creative director

text: With the increased team sizes and more specialized disciplines in the games industry, certain game designers are titled as "creative director", "executive designer", or "game director". A creative director in a video game company is usually responsible for product development across a number of titles and is generally regarded as the prime design authority across the company's product range. Some examples are Peter Molyneux, Sam Lake, Hidetaka Miyazaki, or Shigeru Miyamoto whose influence extends across more than one project.


title: Creative director

text: The creative director has an important responsibility in this industry. The director must devise ideas to lead a video game project forward and many responsibilities involve working with various individuals or teams spread out within the entire project or video-game production. This can include cross-functional collaboration with the various disciplines involved in games development. Academically speaking, a creative director is usually degree educated but there are some circumstances where a high school education strongly focusing on aspects such as art, graphics, computer science, and math can be acceptable and provide some valuable insight to students who hope to aspire in this field of work. Some skills that a creative director working in the video game industry may have include proficiency in computer programming and graphic development (illustrations, fine art) and have excellent interpersonal and writing skills (since they deal with many other clients and management leaders). The exact skills a game director possesses will depend on their background in the industry. Creative director, or game director, is not usually an entry-level position, but in a smaller studio it can be. This is more common in start-up companies for instance though normally one would have to earn that role by showing their skills and development over a period of years. The entertainment industry is not always a meritocracy, however, and sometimes people just luck into or inherit such positions. Creative directors have often done their share of lower-level startup positions such as internships or assisting other directors in art-related work fields. It is all about advancing through the career chain, and once one has earned the position a creative director, they may be eligible to work for larger and more popular game developing companies depending on how successful they have been with past collaborative projects.


title: Creative director

text: The creative director in the film industry is referred to as the "production designer". A production designer carries a large responsibility of designing the look of a movie. The job is similar to a creative director's role in the video game industry in that they manage a team of employees and has to consistently develop new ideas and methods of working. It is vital that designers in this field are able to produce expressive and creative ideas and translate them into something cinematic. Usually a certain sum of funds is distributed among different departments in the production of a film (in this case, the art department). Creative directors must decide on how to distribute and use the funds in the most efficient and effective way to ensure maximum quality in the films art department. An example can include the structuring of scenes and sets once a film begins to undergo the shooting process. During this process, it is important for creative directors to understand what props and effects should be used and how they should be used among various sets and scenes of the film. Some important qualifications that one should have include being able to manage teams, having expertise in design (specifically in theatre, interior sets and art design), being open minded to new ideas and methods in regards to organizing film sets, and having an understanding of coordinating among different departments in order to move a project towards success. A creative director in the film industry usually starts out in lower ranks of the chain, such as an assistant to other art directors or as a draughtsman.


title: Creative director

text: Creative supervisors in the field of music typically have various key roles that make up the whole. It is in this artistic field where the individual must master tasks that are relatable to one another. This role would guide and direct other musicians (such as the music director or artistic director) for greater overall program effectiveness. The three roles in this sense can consist of: the active musician, the musical art director, and the instructor that teaches and informs music for society. The main requirements one would need to have is an extensive background and knowledge of music (being able to master one or more instrument), understanding the principles and theories behind music composition, developing an understanding and connection with musicians that the director would be working with to communicate music in a harmonic and creative sense, and most importantly being able to develop leadership skills among other musicians.


title: Creative director

text: Creative director is the highest creative position in a fashion house. The creative director does not design clothes, but instead formulates and impresses upon the designers an overarching concept or concepts for a certain collection and the label as a whole.


title: Creative director

text: A fashion creative director's main role is to establish what designs should be created, what will appeal to the target market, and how the concepts will be applied and distributed in collaboration with fashion designers who are responsible for creating the clothing and fabrics.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: She debuted as a singer in 2014 under Pony Canyon with the song "Soushou Innocence". Her best-selling single is youthful beautiful. With her rising success, she also participated in many music festivals and held one-man lives in large venues such as Yoyogi National Gymnasium two days with 13,291 capacity and Nippon Budokan with 14,471 capacity.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: As an actress, she debuted in "Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger" with the role of Hakase Hiroyo. She is the older sister of Yuma Uchida.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: When she was in elementary school, she had a strong interest in gaming. At the time she entered middle school, she joined the Theater Club and later on realized that she wanted to voice game characters and she soon then discovered the profession of being a voice actor. In the autumn of her third year in high school, she decided to become a voice actress. Afterwards, she went on the internet and read magazines to decide on which university for voice acting she was going to enter and later on decided to join the Japan Narration Acting Institute (日本ナレーション演技研究所 "Nihon Narēshon Engi Kenkyūjo").


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Uchida completed her studies in narration school during 2009. Upon graduation, she made her debut as a voice actress in the OVA Boku, Otari-man as an office employee. In April 2010, she signed to voice talent agency I'm Enterprise.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: As a voice actress, she admires veteran voice actress, Kikuko Inoue, and is close friends with fellow voice actress and singer, Sumire Uesaka. She is a fan of the baseball team, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Her nicknames include "Marei-chan", "Mayayan", and "Mareitaso".


title: Maaya Uchida

text: In 2011, she made her first appearance in a video game in the game "Gal Gun" with the role Kaoruko Sakurazaki. In 2012, she starred for the first time in the anime "Sankarea" with the role Rea Sanka. In the same year, she debuted as an actress in "Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger" with the role of Hakase Hiroyo.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Among the works in she appeared, she mentions that the work she especially has strong feelings for is "Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions" (as Rikka Takanashi); and the works that were a big challenge in her voice actress career are "Charlotte" (as Yusa/Misa Nishimori) and "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress" (as Ayame). Since the early years in her career, she always hoped to voice a male character and her wish was finally realized in "The Promised Neverland" as Norman.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: In 2014, Uchida debuted as a singer with the single "Soushou Innocence", under the label Pony Canyon. Same year, she won the Best Rookie Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. Her first photobook was also released on December 24, 2014.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Since 2014, she has been setting a goal for herself every year, which can be seen on her official website. In 2014, "holding a live in a big venue"; in 2015, "working on things one by one, carefully"; in 2016, "doing my best while joining forces with everyone"; in 2017, "communicating with many people"; in 2018, "pursuing being like myself"; in 2019, "releasing my feelings"; in 2020, "improving Maaya Uchida"; in 2021, "continuing to convey 'like'"; in 2022, "giving back".


title: Maaya Uchida

text: In 2015, she participated in Animelo Summer Live for the first time. She has continued to participate every year since then, except 2020 (which was canceled).


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On December 24, 2017; she announced the opening of her official fan club ""LIFE IS LIKE A SUNNY DAY"" at "Maaya Happy Birthday & Xmas Party!! 2017".


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On February 7, 2020 she appeared in the live action movie "" with the role of herself. In the same year, she made a guest appearance in a detective drama for the first time in the sixth episode of "Keishichou Sousa Ichikachou 2020" with the role Rika Oita.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On May 8, 2022, her agency announced that Uchida had tested positive for COVID-19. She returned to work on May 17, 2022.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Since 2021, her low-voiced roles in many foreign dubs (such as "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (as Xialing, 2021), "Dune" (as Chani, 2021), "" (as Phoenix, 2022)) and many popular anime (such as "The Promised Neverland" (as Norman, 2019-2021), "Bocchi the Rock!" (as Seika Ijichi, 2022), "Chainsaw Man" (as Angel Devil, 2022), "The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen" (as Stale Royal Ivy, 2023)) are steadily increasing, shocking people for the gap with her 'usual' voice. She's rapidly gaining recognition for her wide vocal range.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On December 23, 2022, Uchida participated in the popular Japanese music television program Music Station. She performed a collab with Kouki Maeda and Cocomi for the "Aladdin" theme song A Whole New World.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Uchida made her solo debut in April 2014 under Pony Canyon with her first solo single, "Soushou Innocence" (創傷イノセンス); it peaked at 14th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 9 weeks. The main song in the single was used as the opening theme song for the anime, "Riddle Story of Devil". She released her second single, "Gimme! Revolution" (ギミー!レボリューション) on November 3, 2014; it peaked at 12th place on the Oricon Weekly Single Chart and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks. The titular song from the single was used as the opening theme song for the anime, "Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!".


title: Maaya Uchida

text: She released her 3rd single, "Karappo Capsule" (からっぽカプセル) on April 1, 2015; the single peaked at 14th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. The song "Karappo Capsule" from the single was used as the ending theme song for the anime, "Comical Psychosomatic Medicine". Her first solo album titled "PENKI" was released on December 2, 2015; it peaked at 6th place on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart and stayed on the chart for 7 weeks.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On February 28, 2016, Uchida held her 1st solo live concert titled "1st LIVE Hello, 1st Contact!" in Nakano Sun Plaza. A blu-ray edition of the concert was released on July 20 of the same year the concert was held; it peaked on 9th place on the Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart. Her 4th single, "Resonant Heart", was released on May 11, 2016; the single peaked at 13th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. The titular song in the single was used as the opening theme song for the anime, "Seisen Cerberus".


title: Maaya Uchida

text: She released her 1st mini album named "Drive-in Theater" on January 11, 2017; the mini album peaked at 6th place on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart and stayed on the chart for 5 weeks. The album was created with the desire to express her real self. Especially the song "Smiling Spiral" from the album was made with the purpose of "a cheering song". The album heavily features her hobbies; like "Crossfire", a song like a festival song with baseball-like lyrics, "Moratorium Dance Floor", which has a Japanese taste and "Shiny drive, Moony dive", which is themed on driving. On February 25–26, 2017, she held her 2nd solo live concert in two days, titled "2nd LIVE Smiling Spiral" in Yoyogi National First Gymnasium with over 13,000 capacity. A blu-ray edition of the concert was released on August 23 of the same year the concert was held; it peaked on 13th place on the Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart. Her 5th single, "+INTERSECT+" was released on June 21, 2017; it peaked at 8th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. Her 6th single, "c.o.s.m.o.s" was released on October 25, 2017; it peaked at 6th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. She held another solo live concert on July 1 and 29, 2017 in Tokyo and Osaka named, "Live 2017 +INTERSECT SUMMER+ ". A blu-ray edition of the concert was released on November 11, 2017; it peaked at 25th place on the Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Her 7th single, "aventure bleu" was released on February 14, 2018; it peaked at 14th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. The titular song from the single was used as the opening theme song for the anime, "Takunomi". Her 2nd album named "Magic Hour" was released on April 25, 2018; it peaked at 7th place on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart and stayed on the chart for 6 weeks. She opened her fanclub in April 2018; named "LIFE IS LIKE A SUNNY DAY". On June 17, 24 and July 1, 2018, she held her first solo live tour titled, "Magic Number TOUR 2018", in Fukuoka, Osaka, and Tokyo. A blu-ray edition of the tour was released on December 12 of the same year the live tour was held; it peaked at 10th place Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Her 8th and best-selling single, "youthful beautiful", was released on October 17, 2018; it peaked at 7th place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. The titular song from the single was used as the ending theme song for the anime, "SSSS.Gridman". She held her first fanclub event on October 28, 2018.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: She held her live with the largest capacity (14,471), titled "New Year LIVE 2019 take you take me BUDOKAN!!" on January 1, 2019 in Nippon Budokan. She is the 8th artist to ever hold a solo live on January 1 in Nippon Budokan. A blu-ray edition of the live has been released on May 22, 2019. A blu-ray edition of the live was released on May 22, 2019. It peaked at 9th place on Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart. She held a live exclusively for her fanclub members in Nakano Sun Plaza (Tokyo) and IMP Hall (Osaka) on April 27–28, 2019. She released her 9th single, "Kodou Escalation" (鼓動エスカレーション) on July 10, 2019. The single peaked at 10th place on Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 3 weeks. The titular song from the single was used as the second ending theme song for the anime, "Ace of Diamond Act II". She released her 2nd mini album on October 2, 2019 named "you are here". The album peaked at 9th place on Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 4 weeks. A live tour titled "Zepp Tour 2019 we are here" was held throughout Japan in selected Zepp locations in November and December 2019. A blu-ray edition of the live was released on April 22, 2020. It peaked at 14th place on Oricon Weekly Blu-ray Chart.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Her 10th single titled "No Scenario" (ノーシナリオ) was released on March 18, 2020. It peaked at 12th place on Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 6 weeks. A live titled "LIVE 2020 Live For All Stars" was supposed to be held on July 5, 2020 in Yokohama Arena, but was canceled. Instead, an online live called "Hello, ONLINE contact!" was held on the same day, in Harevutai. Her 11th and double A-side single titled "Heartbeat City/Itsuka Kumo ga Haretanara" (ハートビートシティ／いつか雲が晴れたなら) was released on November 25, 2020. The single peaked at 14th place on Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed for 4 weeks.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: She released her 12th single "Strobe Memory" (ストロボメモリー) on May 12, 2021. The titular song from the single was used as the ending theme song for the anime, "SSSS.Dynazenon". The single peaked at 10th place on Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for 8 weeks. She held a live with audience after 1 and a half years titled "LIVE 2021 FLASH FLASH FLASH" on July 3, 2021 in Tachikawa Stage Garden. A blu-ray edition of the live was released on December 15, 2021.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: Her official YouTube channel was opened on September 3, 2021. Her 3rd album, "HIKARI" was released on October 27, 2021. The album peaked at 12th on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart and stayed on the chart for 3 weeks. She held her 3rd fanclub event after 2 and a half years on December 5, 2021 in Shinjuku Bunka Centre.


title: Maaya Uchida

text: On February 20 and March 13 2022, she held a live tour called "LIVE 2022 MA-YA-YAN Happy Cream MAX!!", in Pacifico Yokohama and Grand Cube Osaka. A blu-ray edition of the live was released on July 27, 2022. In the Yokohama performance, it was announced that a revival of her 1st live called "Hello, 1st Contact [Revival]" would be held on September 24, 2022 in Culttz Kawasaki. Her 13th single "Kikoeru?" (聴こえる？) was released on April 20, 2022. The titular song from the single was used as the ending theme song for the anime, "Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost". Her 4th fanclub event was held on April 23, 2022; which is the day of her 8th artist debut anniversary. On September 16 2022, her 1st digital single "CHASER GAME" was released. The titular song from the single was used as the opening theme for the television drama of the same name.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Aaron John Boone (born March 9, 1973) is an American baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 13 seasons from 1997 through 2009. As a player, Boone is most recognized for his 2003 campaign with the Yankees, during which he was an All-Star and hit the winning walk-off home run of the 2003 American League Championship Series.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Following the conclusion of his playing career, Boone was an analyst for ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" and "Baseball Tonight" from 2010 to 2017. He began serving as the Yankees' manager in 2018, leading the team to two 100-win records during his first two seasons and playoff appearances in all five.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone attended Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California. He batted .423 with 22 stolen bases for the school's baseball team in his senior year, and was named the Century League's co-player of the year. The California Angels selected Boone on the third day of the 1991 MLB draft, but he had no intention to sign a professional contract.


title: Aaron Boone

text: He attended the University of Southern California (USC) and played college baseball for the USC Trojans. In 1993, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named a league all-star and helped lead Orleans to the league championship.


title: Aaron Boone

text: The Cincinnati Reds selected Boone in the third round of the 1994 MLB draft. Boone made his MLB debut in June 1997, and was ejected from the game after being called out sliding into home. On the last day of the 1998 season, the Reds started the only MLB infield composed of two sets of brothers: first baseman Stephen Larkin, second baseman Bret Boone, shortstop Barry Larkin, and third baseman Aaron Boone.


title: Aaron Boone

text: On September 22, 2002, Boone hit the last home run in Riverfront Stadium in the eighth inning of the Reds' 4–3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, a solo home run off reliever Dan Plesac. Boone hit a career-high 26 home runs in 2002, playing in all 162 games. The Reds named Boone their team's most valuable player. He appeared in the 2003 MLB All-Star Game.


title: Aaron Boone

text: The New York Yankees acquired Boone from the Reds for Brandon Claussen, Charlie Manning and cash on July 31, 2003. In 54 games after the trade, he hit .254 with a .720 OPS, six home runs and 31 RBIs.


title: Aaron Boone

text: During Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series (ALCS), Boone hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning, off of Tim Wakefield, which gave the New York Yankees a 6–5 victory over the Boston Red Sox, thus prolonging the Curse of the Bambino. The "New York Daily News" dubbed the play the "Curse of the Boonebino". This home run was rated the ninth-best home run of all time on "Baseball Tonight". Afterward, some Red Sox fans called Boone "Aaron Fucking Boone," much as they called Bucky Dent "Bucky Fucking Dent."


title: Aaron Boone

text: In January 2004, Boone tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a pick-up basketball game. The game violated the standard MLB player contract, which forbids taking part in off-season basketball, skiing and surfing. The Yankees immediately hinted that they would terminate his contract.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Soon after trading for Alex Rodriguez to play third base, the Yankees released Boone on February 27, 2004.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone signed a two-year contract with the Cleveland Indians in June 2004. He earned $600,000 for 2004, $3 million for the 2005 season, and a club option for the 2006 season worth $4.5 million. After missing the entire 2004 season, Boone played 154 games in 2005. He batted .243 with 16 home runs and 60 RBIs. The Indians exercised an option on Boone's contract for the 2006 season. In his second season with Cleveland, he batted .251 with seven home runs.


title: Aaron Boone

text: On December 29, 2006, Boone signed a one-year contract with the Florida Marlins worth $925,000. He batted .286 in 69 games for the Marlins in 2007.


title: Aaron Boone

text: On December 6, 2007, Boone signed a one-year, $1,000,000 contract with the Washington Nationals. In 104 games, Boone hit .241 with 6 home runs and 28 RBIs in 2008.


title: Aaron Boone

text: On December 18, 2008, Boone signed a one-year $750,000, plus incentives, deal with the Houston Astros. He played in only 10 games in 2009, reaching base only once—on a hit by pitch—in 14 plate appearances.


title: Aaron Boone

text: In March 2009, Boone underwent open-heart surgery to replace a bicuspid aortic valve, a condition that he has been aware of since childhood but which routine tests indicated had recently worsened. Boone stated that doctors told him he could play baseball when he recovered, but he was not sure if he would choose to do so. Boone returned to baseball on August 10, when he began his rehabilitation with the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Astros' Double-A minor league affiliate. He played five innings and was hitless in two plate appearances. Boone stated after the game that his goal was to return to the major leagues by September 1, the date that major league rosters expand. Boone was activated on September 1, and added to the Astros' expanded roster. On September 2, Boone made his season debut, playing at first base and going 0 for 3. On September 16, Boone stated that he was leaning towards retirement, and on October 4 he played his last game.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone served as a guest analyst for the MLB Network coverage of the 2009 ALCS between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.


title: Aaron Boone

text: On February 23, 2010, Boone announced his retirement and that he would become an analyst for ESPN. Boone appeared on "Monday Night Baseball" and for "Baseball Tonight"s pregame show on Sunday night. Boone called the 2014 and 2015 World Series for ESPN Radio with play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman. He and Jessica Mendoza became color commentators on "Sunday Night Baseball" with Shulman in 2016. Boone and Shulman continued to call World Series games for ESPN Radio through 2017.


title: Aaron Boone

text: After the 2017 season, the Yankees decided not to retain Joe Girardi as their manager. The Yankees hired Boone to succeed him on December 4, 2017. The Yankees started the 2018 season with a 6–1 win against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 29, 2018. On September 2, 2018, Boone was suspended for one game for making illegal contact with an umpire. He finished his first season with a 100–62 record, good for second in the American League East, and led the Yankees to the wild card game against the Oakland Athletics, despite losing star outfielder and team leader Aaron Judge for two months with a wrist injury. On October 3, 2018, the Yankees defeated the Athletics 7–2 to advance to the American League Division Series, giving Boone his first postseason win as a manager. The Boston Red Sox eliminated the New York Yankees three–games–to–one in the American League Division Series


title: Aaron Boone

text: The Yankees started the 2019 season with a 7–2 win against the Baltimore Orioles on March 28, 2019. On September 19, after winning against the Los Angeles Angels 9–1, the Yankees clinched the American League East, becoming AL East Division Champions for the first time since 2012 and also earning their 100th win. Boone became the first manager in MLB history to have 100 or more wins in each of his first two seasons. The Yankees would go on to lose to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Following the 2019 season, Boone was named a finalist for American League Manager of the Year award. He finished runner-up to Minnesota Twins manager, Rocco Baldelli.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Yankees as well as the other 29 Major League Baseball teams only played a 60-game regular season. The Yankees started off the shortened season with a hot 16–6 start, but then lost 15 out of their next 20 games evening their win loss record at 21–21. The Yankees then won 10 straight to finish the season 2nd in their division with a 33–27 record, seven games behind the division champion Tampa Bay Rays, who they lost eight of 10 games to in the regular season, in the AL East, but good enough for the 5th seed in the American League due to MLB's postseason expansion for the season. The Yankees would sweep the Cleveland Indians in a best-of-three Wild Card Series to advance to the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, but their struggles against the Rays would continue, as they were eliminated in five games.


title: Aaron Boone

text: During the 2021 season, the Yankees had what was called one of the "streakiest [teams] in recent memory. Through July 4, the team struggled to a 41–41 record with half of the season left to play, then went on a 51–29 run to end the season at 92–70. Between August 14–28, the Yankees won 13 consecutive games, tied for fifth-longest in franchise history. Following the winning streak, the team stumbled, going 3–12 between August 28 and September 12, and finished tied for second in the American League East behind the Tampa Bay Rays, but lost the Wild Card Game to the Boston Red Sox 6–2.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Following the season, Boone signed a three-year contract with the Yankees with a club option for 2025.


title: Aaron Boone

text: In 2022 he was ejected nine times, four times more than any other major league manager. At the end of the regular season, the Yankees finished first in the AL East and earned home field advantage in Games 1, 2, and 5 of the ALDS. They beat the Cleveland Guardians in five games, but got swept by the Houston Astros in the ALCS, marking Boone's fifth straight playoff exit.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone is the son of former catcher and manager Bob Boone, the brother of All Star and four-time Gold Glove winner Bret Boone, the brother of former Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer Matt Boone, and the grandson of former major leaguer Ray Boone. As children, Aaron and Bret spent time in the Phillies clubhouse with fellow sons of other major league players, including Pete Rose Jr. Boone is a descendant of pioneer Daniel Boone.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone's wife, Laura Cover, was a "Playboy" Playmate (Miss October 1998). Boone lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Boone and Cover have four children: two biological children and two adopted.


title: Aaron Boone

text: Boone, who had open heart surgery in 2009, had surgery to implant a pacemaker in March 2021. Boone was quoted as feeling “awesome” after being on the bench for two weeks following the procedure.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: "Chicanery" is the fifth episode of the third season of the AMC television series "Better Call Saul", the spinoff series of "Breaking Bad". The episode aired on May 8, 2017 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: In a flashback to 2001, Jimmy McGill aids Chuck McGill as he attempts to reconcile with Rebecca Bois during dinner at Chuck's house. Rebecca does not know Chuck believes he suffers from EHS and answers a call on her cellular phone, which causes Chuck to panic and knock the phone out of her hands.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: In 2003, Jimmy asks Dr. Caldera if he knows "someone with a light touch" who is willing to do a job. After a successful hearing before the banking board, Kim Wexler informs Paige Novick and Kevin Wachtell of Chuck's allegations that Jimmy tampered with Mesa Verde documents, which they dismiss as Chuck's anger at making a mistake.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: The bar association's attorney intends to use Jimmy's taped confession, and Kim knows Chuck will testify to its authenticity, allowing Kim and Jimmy to cross-examine Chuck and bring up his EHS. She suggests in her opening that the real story is not Jimmy's supposed crimes, but the feud between Jimmy and Chuck.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: The hearing room is arranged to accommodate Chuck's EHS and Howard Hamlin testifies that Chuck did not want to hire Jimmy as an attorney at HHM, supposedly to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Kim points out that HHM hired Howard even though he was the founding partner's son. Jimmy's confession is played for the committee.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: Chuck arrives to testify and bumps into Huell Babineaux. To Chuck's surprise, Jimmy arrives with Rebecca. She explains that Jimmy contacted her out of concern for Chuck's well-being, but Chuck tells her Jimmy called her as a psychological tactic to disrupt Chuck's testimony.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: During cross-examination, Jimmy raises Chuck's EHS and asks him to identify the closest source of electricity. Chuck guesses Jimmy is attempting a trick and asks if Jimmy has something in his pocket. Jimmy reveals his cell phone and Chuck correctly guesses Jimmy has removed the battery. Jimmy then asks Chuck to reach into his own pocket and Chuck pulls out the phone battery. Jimmy reveals Huell planted the battery on Chuck when they bumped into each other. Though Chuck has carried it for nearly two hours, he has not been affected by his supposed EHS. When the bar association's attorney argues that Chuck's apparent mental illness is irrelevant in the context of the charges against Jimmy, Chuck becomes offended and rants angrily about Jimmy's dishonest behavior. He stops mid-sentence, realizing his tirade has shocked everyone into silence.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode is directed by Daniel Sackheim, a first-time director on the show, and written by Gordon Smith, who previously wrote the season 2 episode "Inflatable".


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: This episode is the first time Jonathan Banks, who had appeared in every episode in the series up to that point, did not make an appearance as Mike. Lavell Crawford reprises his role as Huell Babineaux from "Breaking Bad" after last appearing in the season 5 episode "To'hajiilee".


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: Upon airing, the episode received 1.76 million American viewers, and an 18–49 rating of 0.7. With Live+7 viewing factored in, the episode had an overall audience of 4.16 million viewers, and a 1.6 18–49 rating.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode received universal acclaim from critics, with many considering it to be one of the best of the series. Terri Schwartz of IGN awarded the episode 10 out of 10, describing it as "the best episode of "Better Call Saul" to date". It holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 9.5/10 based on 14 reviews. The site consensus reads: "The war between Jimmy and Chuck comes to an unprecedented climax in the heartbreaking, sober, and defining 'Chicanery', an episode that clearly cements "Better Call Saul" as essential television."


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: TVLine named Michael McKean the "Performer of the Week" for his performance in this episode, writing it was the "finest showcase yet for his fascinatingly layered performance as Jimmy's brother Chuck McGill." Donna Bowman of "The A.V. Club", who gave the episode an "A" rating, praised the courtroom scene, saying "it isn't just to give us the satisfaction of a courtroom drama, the neat ending where the truth comes out. The brilliance of this structure is to give us a slow-motion view of the heavens falling, an outcome methodically pursued by Kim and Jimmy, which nevertheless seems to give them no satisfaction."


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, Skip Macdonald was nominated for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, and Gordon Smith was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for this episode, his second for the series. Smith was awarded the Writers Guild of America Award for . Many critics were disappointed when McKean, who was said to have given "one of the best performances by anyone in TV all year", failed to secure an Emmy nomination while his co-star Jonathan Banks did.


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode's final scene is an homage to the climactic courtroom scene in "The Caine Mutiny", in which a suspicious, authoritarian, by-the-book Navy captain cracks under cross-examination. Uproxx noted that even the facial expressions of "Chicanery's" three committee members mirror those of three judges in "Caine". (The film—which Vince Gilligan counts among his favorites—is also referenced in the "Breaking Bad" episode "Madrigal", in which Mike can be seen watching it.)


title: Chicanery (Better Call Saul)

text: On March 24, 2020, a Subreddit named r/okbuddychicanery (itself a parody of the popular r/okbuddyretard subreddit) was created. It features satirical and ironic memes and shitposts around "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad", many of which are parodies of Chuck's monologue. As of October 2022 it has over 200,000 members.


title: Lawsuit

text: A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil action brought by a plaintiff (a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions) requests a legal remedy or equitable remedy from a court. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint. If the plaintiff is successful, judgment is in the plaintiff's favor, and a variety of court orders may be issued to enforce a right, award damages, or impose a temporary or permanent injunction to prevent an act or compel an act. A declaratory judgment may be issued to prevent future legal disputes.


title: Lawsuit

text: A lawsuit may involve dispute resolution of private law issues between individuals, business entities or non-profit organizations. A lawsuit may also enable the state to be treated as if it were a private party in a civil case, as plaintiff, or defendant regarding an injury, or may provide the state with a civil cause of action to enforce certain laws.