title: Ventura, California

text: The Mexican secularization act of 1833 was passed twelve years after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. Mission land was sold or given away in large grants called ranchos. Rancho Ex-Mission San Buenaventura was a grant that included downtown Ventura. The Battle of San Buenaventura was fought in 1838 between competing armies from northern and southern California. Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Rancho San Miguel to Felipe Lorenzana and Raymundo Olivas, whose Olivas Adobe on the banks of the Santa Clara River was the most magnificent hacienda south of Monterey. Fernando Tico also received a Mexican land grant for Ojai and a parcel near the river in downtown Ventura.


title: Ventura, California

text: Following the American Conquest of California in the Mexican-American War, California became a U.S. territory in 1848 and a U.S. state in 1850. After the American Civil War, settlers came to the area, buying land from the Mexicans, or simply as squatters. Vast holdings were later acquired by Easterners, including railroad magnate Thomas A. Scott. He sent Thomas R. Bard to handle Scott's property.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura had a flourishing Chinese settlement in the early 1880s. The largest concentration of activity, known as China Alley, was just across Main Street from the Mission San Buenaventura.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura Pier was built in 1872 at a cost of $45,000 and was the longest wooden pier in California. By 1917, it had been rebuilt to a length of . Much of the pier was destroyed by a storm in 1995, but it was subsequently rebuilt.


title: Ventura, California

text: The large Ventura Oil Field was first drilled in 1919 and at its peak produced . The development of the oil fields in the 1920s, along with the building of better roads to Los Angeles and the affordability of automobiles, enabled a major real estate boom. Contemporary downtown Ventura is defined by extant buildings from this period. Landmarks built during the oil boom include Ventura Theatre (1928), the First Baptist Church of Ventura (1926), the Ventura Hotel (1926), and the Mission Theatre (1928).


title: Ventura, California

text: On March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, inland, failed catastrophically, creating a flood that took over 600 lives as it flowed down the Santa Clara River to the ocean.


title: Ventura, California

text: From the south, travel by auto was slow and hazardous, until the completion of a four-lane freeway (US Highway 101) over the Conejo Grade in 1959. This route, which was widened and improved by 1969, is known as the Ventura Freeway, which directly links Ventura with the rest of the Greater Los Angeles.


title: Ventura, California

text: In 2017, the Thomas Fire started north of Ventura in Santa Paula and the Santa Ana Winds the fire spread into hillside neighborhoods of Ventura and into the area above downtown. Five hundred and four residences burned down in the city.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura is located northwest of Los Angeles on the California coast. The western portion of the city stretches north along the Ventura River which is characterized by a narrow valley with steeply sloped areas along both sides. The steep slopes of the Ventura foothills abut the northern portion of the community. Much of the eastern portion is on a relatively flat alluvial coastal plain lying along the western edge of the Oxnard Plain. Several Barrancas extend from the foothills to the Santa Clara River which forms the city's southerly boundary. The city extends up to the beginning of the Santa Clara River Valley at the historic community of Saticoy.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura is within a seismically active region like much of California and is crossed by several potentially active fault systems. The Ventura Fault is capable of an 8.0 earthquake and a local tsunami up to 23 feet in height. According to the United States Census Bureau, Ventura has a total area of , of which is land and , comprising 32.53%, is water.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura has a Mediterranean climate, typical of most coastal California cities, with the sea breeze off the Pacific Ocean moderating temperatures. It is not uncommon for the city to be affected by Santa Ana winds off the Transverse Ranges on occasion, which increase temperatures dramatically.


title: Ventura, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Ventura had a population of 106,433. The population density was . The racial makeup of Ventura was 76.6% White, 1.6% African American, 1.2% Native American, 3.4% Asian (0.9% Filipino, 0.6% Chinese, 0.4% Indian, 0.4% Korean, 0.4% Japanese, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.5% Other), 0.2% Pacific Islander, 5.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.8% of the population.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Census reported that 103,940 people (97.7% of the population) lived in households, 755 (0.7%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1,738 (1.6%) were institutionalized.


title: Ventura, California

text: There were 40,438 households, out of which 13,014 (32.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 18,907 (46.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 4,936 (12.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,153 (5.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,621 (6.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 371 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 10,959 households (27.1%) were made up of individuals, and 4,271 (10.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57. There were 25,996 families (64.3% of all households); the average family size was 3.14.


title: Ventura, California

text: The population was spread out, with 23,918 people (22.5%) under the age of 18, 9,581 people (9.0%) aged 18 to 24, 28,814 people (27.1%) aged 25 to 44, 29,957 people (28.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 14,163 people (13.3%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.


title: Ventura, California

text: There were 42,827 housing units at an average density of , of which 22,600 (55.9%) were owner-occupied, and 17,838 (44.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.5%. 59,330 people (55.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 44,610 people (41.9%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Ventura, California

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 100,916 people, 38,524 households, and 25,233 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,790.6 inhabitants per square mile (1,849.3/km). There were 39,803 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 78.8% White, 1.4% African American, 1.2% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 11.1% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 30.4% of the population.


title: Ventura, California

text: There were 38,524 households, out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.12.


title: Ventura, California

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.8 males.


title: Ventura, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $52,297, and the other income for a family was $60,466. Males had a median income of $43,828 versus $31,793 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,065. About 6.4% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura is a popular tourist destination in Southern California, owing to its historic landmarks, beaches, and the local leisure economy. Businesses related to tourism and hospitality account for a significant portion of Ventura's economic activity.


title: Ventura, California

text: The outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is based in Ventura. Diaper bag manufacturer Petunia Pickle Bottom was founded in Ventura. Research and resource company The Barna Group is located near downtown Ventura.


title: Ventura, California

text: In 2009 the City of Ventura created Ventura Ventures Technology Center, a business incubator with a high-tech focus. Ventura Ventures Technology Center was created as an economic engine to develop jobs and companies locally, as well as attract entrepreneurs to the area. The Trade Desk was started in the incubator.


title: Ventura, California

text: According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Ventura, California

text: Following the legalization of Cannabis in California, local governments can prohibit companies from growing, testing, and selling cannabis within their jurisdiction by licensing none or only some of these activities but may not prohibit adults from growing, using or transporting marijuana for personal use. The state allows deliveries without local agency licensing at the point of delivery.<ref name="VCS 2019/01/02"></ref> The City Council adopted a resolution allowing a maximum number of cannabis businesses in the city in February 2021. The ordinances allow up to three retail permits and up to 10 distribution permits. In October 2022, the City Manager selected four businesses to be allowed to operate in the city after a lengthy application and ranking process. Three retail and one distribution business without a retail component can begin to work with the city on safety, security, odor control and other issues before opening for business. Two more permits for the city's coastal zone, which includes downtown could be issued after further information is received from the California Coastal Commission.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Majestic Ventura Theater is an early 20th-century landmark in the downtown. It has been a venue for concerts such as The Doors, Pearl Jam, Van Halen, X, Ray Charles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, Fugazi, Incubus, Tom Petty, They Might Be Giants, and Johnny Cash, as well as homegrown artists like KYLE, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Army of Freshmen.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Ventura County Fairgrounds is the home of the annual Ventura County Fair, and over the years has hosted such acts as Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Phish, Smokey Robinson, All American Rejects, Smash Mouth, and Sugar Ray, as well as the Vans Warped Tour. The train station for Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner route is adjacent to the fairgrounds.


title: Ventura, California

text: Downtown Ventura is home to the Mission San Buenaventura, museums, galleries, dining, and shopping. Located in downtown is the historic Ortega Adobe, once home to the Ortega family known for chili products. Downtown Ventura is home to Ventura's ornate city hall. Downtown includes restaurants, wine bars, breweries, and the Rubicon Theatre Company.


title: Ventura, California

text: In Plaza Park (Chestnut and Santa Clara streets, downtown) stands a large Moreton Bay fig tree. Across the street, the main post office has murals on interior walls commissioned by the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury Department as New Deal art.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura Harbor has fishing boats, seafood restaurants and a retail center, the Ventura Harbor Village. The Channel Islands National Park Headquarters is also located at the harbor, and boats to the Channel Islands depart daily.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Olivas Adobe, one of the early "California Rancho"-styled homes, is operated as a museum and performing arts venue. Living history reenactments, demonstrations of Rancho life and ghost stories are presented. A summer music series of performances held in the courtyard features an eclectic assortment of artists from blues to jazz to country.


title: Ventura, California

text: "Two Trees" is two lone trees on a hilltop, visible from much of Ventura. Access to the hill is private property. In early October 2017, one of the trees was destroyed by high winds.


title: Ventura, California

text: There are three branches of the Ventura County Library in the City of Ventura: E.P. Foster Library on Main Street, Avenue Library on Ventura Avenue, and Hill Road Library on the east side of the city. Saticoy Library is in the unincorporated area of Saticoy outside the east end of the city of Ventura.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Evelyn and Howard Boroughs Library of Ventura College, dedicated in 2005, serves the students, faculty and staff of the college as well as the general public of Ventura County.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Research Library of the Museum of Ventura County holds books and archival materials related to the history of the county and surrounding regions. Its holdings are catalogued in the Ventura County Library system and the Central Coast Museum Consortium, and the library is open to the public.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura County Law Library, located in the Ventura County Government Center, makes current legal resources available to judges, lawyers, government officials, and other users.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura is famed for the quality and frequency of the surfing conditions at spots such as Surfer's Point near the Ventura County Fairgrounds.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura is the home to the soccer clubs Ventura County Football Club and Ventura County Fusion, of the USL Premier Development League.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura had an at-large system of electing council members but changed to seven council districts in 2018 due to threatened legal action based on the California Voting Rights Act. Council members have 4-year terms and their elections are staggered so three or four are up for re-election every two years. The council elects from among its own members a mayor and deputy mayor who serve two-year terms.


title: Ventura, California

text: Sofia Rubalcava has served as Mayor of San Buenaventura since 2020. Ventura is located within California's 26th congressional district, with Julia Brownley currently serving as its representative in the U.S. Congress.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura has four college campuses: Ventura College of Law, Southern California Institute of Law, Santa Barbara Business College and Ventura College. Ventura College of Law is a non-profit law school founded in 1969. Ventura College is a community college, part of the Ventura County Community College District. The Brooks Institute of Photography shut down in 2016 after many years in the community.


title: Ventura, California

text: Public school students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend schools in the Ventura Unified School District. The district has five high schools: Ventura High in the midtown area, Buena High in east Ventura, Foothill Technology High School, Pacific High School and El Camino High School, an independent study program located on the Ventura College campus. Private schools include St. Bonaventure High School, a Catholic school, Ventura County Christian School, Ventura Missionary School, evangelical Christian schools, and Holy Cross School, Sacred Heart, and Our Lady of the Assumption, Roman Catholic schools for grades pre-kindergarten through 8.


title: Ventura, California

text: The major road through Ventura is the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101), connecting the California Central Coast and San Francisco to the north, and Los Angeles to the south. State Route 33, the Ojai Freeway, heads north to Ojai. State Route 126 and State Route 118 head east to Santa Clarita and Simi Valley, respectively.


title: Ventura, California

text: The East Ventura Station, in the historic Montalvo neighborhood, serves as the western terminus of the Ventura County Line of the Metrolink commuter rail system, which extends to Union Station in Los Angeles. The downtown Ventura Amtrak Station is served by Amtrak's "Pacific Surfliner" from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.


title: Ventura, California

text: Local bus service is provided by Gold Coast Transit. Commuter and intercity bus services are provided by VCTC Intercity and by MTD to Santa Barbara.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura provides water to its residents and some unincorporated areas near the city. Water sources are Lake Casitas, the Ventura River, and groundwater. The water system includes 3 treatment plants, 10 wells, and 27 reservoirs.


title: Ventura, California

text: Sanitary sewer services are treated at a single plant in 1955. The plant, within a former portion of the estuary of the Santa Clara River, has ponds of treated water that attract birds. Some recycled water from the plant is used for landscaping and other non potable uses.


title: Ventura, California

text: The Montalvo Community Services District looked at the cost of a new treatment plant in 2014 and considered having the city take over their service area and dissolve the district. The Montalvo Municipal Improvement District had been formed 60 years prior to bringing sewer service to what was then a remote unincorporated area southeast of Ventura. The city of Ventura annexed the last unincorporated portions of Montalvo in 2012 and had already begun to provide water to the community before the annexation.


title: Ventura, California

text: The movies "Swordfish", "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Erin Brockovich" were partially filmed in Ventura.


title: Ventura, California

text: Ventura was fictionalized as "Madison City" by long-time resident Erle Stanley Gardner in his "D.A." series of crime novels featuring Doug Selby, the crusading district attorney of a rural California county.


title: Ventura, California

text: The macOS Ventura operating system was presented at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC2022) on June 6, 2022 after having been named after the city.


title: Duckman

text: Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American adult animated sitcom that aired on the USA Network from March 5, 1994, through September 6, 1997. It was created and developed by Everett Peck, and is based on characters he created in his 1990 one-shot comic book published by Dark Horse Comics. The series later gained a cult following throughout the years.


title: Duckman

text: In a universe where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, the series centers on Eric Tiberius Duckman (voiced by Jason Alexander), a widowed, lewd, self-hating, egocentric anthropomorphic duck who lives with his family in Los Angeles (as mentioned in the episode "Bev Takes a Holiday") and works as a private detective. The tagline of the show, seen in the opening credits, is "Private Dick/Family Man".


title: Duckman

text: Main characters include Cornfed (voiced by Gregg Berger), a pig who is Duckman's Joe Friday–esque business partner and best friend; Ajax (voiced by Dweezil Zappa), Duckman's eldest, slow-witted teenage son; Charles (voiced by Dana Hill and later Pat Musick) and Mambo (voiced by E. G. Daily), Duckman's genius conjoined twins whose heads share a body; Bernice (voiced by Nancy Travis), the identical twin of Duckman's presumed-dead wife Beatrice, a fanatical fitness buff who hates Duckman with a passion; and Grandma-ma (voiced by Travis), Duckman's comatose, immensely flatulent mother-in-law.


title: Duckman

text: Recurring characters include Agnes Delrooney (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray), Grandma-ma's doppelgänger who kidnaps her and poses as her for several episodes; Fluffy and Uranus (voiced by Musick), Duckman's two Care Bear–esque teddy-bear office assistants; George Herbert Walker "King" Chicken (voiced by Tim Curry), a supervillain who schemes to ruin Duckman's life; Beverly (voiced by Travis), Beatrice and Bernice's long-lost sister; and Gecko (voiced by Frank Welker), Duckman's pet dog (which he had stolen).


title: Duckman

text: In the final episode, four couples (Dr. Stein/Dana Reynard, Duckman/Honey, King Chicken/Bernice, Cornfed/Beverly) get married – the last three in a joint ceremony. The kids, Fluffy and Uranus, and a number of characters from previous episodes are in attendance. As the ceremonies draw to a close, Beatrice (Duckman's supposedly deceased wife) appears and shocks the entire crowd. When Duckman asks how she can still be alive, Beatrice indicates Cornfed always knew. Cornfed says, "I can explain." The show then ends with "To be continued...?" superimposed on the screen. In regards to this cliffhanger, "Duckman" writer Michael Markowitz offered the following shortly after the series came to an end: "We never formally planned Part II... and I'll never tell what I personally had in mind. I'm hoping to leave it to my heirs, for the inevitable day when Duckman is revived by future generations." On August 13, 2015, Markowitz posted on his Twitter page in response to a question from a fan about the cliffhanger, "Was then (& now) an #XFiles fan (bride in ep was Dana Reynard, a Mulder-Scully hint) so involved gov't coverup of aliens".


title: Duckman

text: The series consists of 70 episodes that aired on Saturday nights from 1994 to 1997 on the USA Network. It later reran on Comedy Central in the United States from 2000 to 2006. In Spain, it aired on Canal+ in the 90s and on Cartoon Network alongside "The Critic" through a nightly block aimed at adults in the early 2000s, with dubbing made in that country. In the United Kingdom, it aired on Sky 1 and BBC Two, and in Canada, it is a former program on MTV2 and Teletoon. The initial showrunners were Peck, Reno and Osborn, and the show was produced in association with Paramount Network Television. Klasky Csupo animated and produced the show; around the same time, they were also producing "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" on Nickelodeon. In later years, the show running duties went to David Misch and Michael Markowitz. Creator and executive producer Everett Peck was with the show for its entire run. Producer Gene Laufenberg was with the show for most of its run. Scott Wilk and Todd Yvega created original music for the series, including the theme. The first season also featured excerpts from Frank Zappa's published catalog (Frank Zappa died several months prior to this series' premiere).


title: Duckman

text: Between 1994 and 1996 various comic books were published by Topps based on the TV series. These were largely written and drawn by others, including Jay Lynch, Scott Shaw! and Craig Yoe. Topps also reprinted Peck's original 1990 "Duckman" comic.


title: Duckman

text: In January 2008, TVShowsOnDVD.com reported that "Duckman" would be coming to region 1 DVD. Details followed in May, when it was announced that the first release in the series would be the first two seasons, 22 combined episodes on three discs, on September 16, 2008. The final two seasons, 48 episodes, were released on a seven-disc set on January 6, 2009. Both DVD sets were released by CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment.


title: Duckman

text: With the DVD releases, many episodes were edited to remove copyrighted music because of royalty issues, and as a result they differ somewhat from the aired TV episodes though Everett Peck was involved in the process of the DVD releases and he felt the most important music was preserved.


title: Duckman

text: In May 1997, a point-and-click adventure computer game, "", was released for Microsoft Windows. In it, Duckman has become a famous detective, and a television series based on him is about to debut, but someone is pushing Duckman out of his own life and replacing him with a bigger, better, heroic Duckman. The player's goal is to help Duckman get rid of the impostor and reclaim his rightful place. A PlayStation port was also planned, but it was cancelled at the last minute.


title: Duckman

text: The show was critically acclaimed. In January 2009, IGN listed "Duckman" as the 48th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.


title: Duckman

text: Episodes "T.V. or Not to Be", "Noir Gang", and "Duckman and Cornfed in 'Haunted Society Plumbers'" were nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 1994, 1996, and 1997, respectively.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as MLS's predecessor, the North American Soccer League (NASL), and co-founder of World Championship Tennis. He was also the founder and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL), the Kansas City Wizards of MLS, and at the time of his death owned two other MLS teams, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas. In Kansas City, Hunt also helped establish the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun theme parks.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: The oldest ongoing national soccer tournament in the United States, the U.S. Open Cup (founded 1914), now bears his name in honor of his pioneering role in that sport stateside. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972; into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1982; and into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. The National Soccer Hall of Fame bestowed upon Hunt their Medal of Honor in 1999, an award given to only three recipients in history thus far. He was married for 42 years to his second wife Norma, and had four children, Sharron, Lamar Jr., Daniel, and Clark Hunt.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Hunt was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, the son of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt and younger brother of tycoons Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt. Lamar was raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Culver Military Academy and graduated from The Hill School in Pennsylvania in 1951 and Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1956, with a B.S. degree in geology. Hunt was a college football player who rode the bench but was still an avid sports enthusiast during his time in college and throughout his entire childhood. While attending SMU in 1952, Hunt joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In 1972, he was selected as Kappa Sigma's Man of the Year.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: On the strength of his great inherited oil wealth, Hunt applied for a National Football League expansion franchise but was turned down. In 1959, professional American football was a distant second to Major League Baseball in popularity, and the thinking among NFL executives was that the league must be careful not to "oversaturate" the market by expanding too quickly. Hunt also attempted to purchase the NFL's Chicago Cardinals franchise in 1959 with the intention to move them to Dallas, but was again turned down.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In response, Hunt approached several other businessmen who had also unsuccessfully sought NFL franchises, including fellow Texan and oilman K. S. "Bud" Adams of Houston, about forming a new football league, and the American Football League was established in August 1959. The group of the eight founders of the AFL teams was referred to as the "Foolish Club". Hunt's goal was to bring professional football to Texas and to acquire an NFL team for the Hunt family. Hunt became an owner of the Dallas Texans and hired future hall-of-Famer Hank Stram as the team's first head coach.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: As a response to the newly formed league and the presence of an AFL franchise in Dallas, the NFL quickly placed a new franchise of their own in Dallas, the Dallas Cowboys. As a result, the Dallas Texans, despite being one of the more successful AFL teams in the league's early days, had little luck at the gate, as they had to compete with the Cowboys for fans.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: By the end of the 1962 season, Hunt concluded that Dallas was not big enough to support two teams, and began to consider moving the team. Kansas City became one of the contenders, as Hunt wanted a city to which he could easily commute from Dallas. To convince Hunt to move the team to Kansas City, mayor H. Roe Bartle promised Hunt home attendance of 25,000 people per game: Hunt finally agreed to move the team to Kansas City, and in 1963 the Dallas Texans were rebranded the Kansas City Chiefs.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: While the Chiefs' first two seasons had attendance not match the levels Mayor Bartle had promised, in 1966 average home attendance at Chiefs games increased and reached 37,000. By 1969, Chiefs' average home attendance had reached 51,000. In 1966, the Chiefs won their first AFL Championship (after having previously won it as the Dallas Texans) and reached the first-ever Super Bowl, which the Chiefs lost to the Green Bay Packers. The Chiefs remained successful through the 1960s, and in 1970 the Chiefs won the AFL Championship and Super Bowl IV (the last Super Bowl played when the AFL was a separate league, prior to it being absorbed into the NFL as the American Football Conference) over the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Hunt insisted that he be listed in team media guides as the "founder" of the Chiefs rather than the "owner", and publicly listed his telephone number in the phone book for the rest of his life.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1966, the NFL and AFL agreed to merge, with a championship game between the two leagues to be played after that season. In a July 25, 1966, letter to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Hunt wrote, "I have kiddingly called it the 'Super Bowl,' which obviously can be improved upon." Hunt would later say the name was likely in his head because his children had been playing with a Super Ball toy. Although the leagues' owners decided on the name "AFL-NFL Championship Game", the media immediately picked up on Hunt's "Super Bowl" name, which would become official beginning with the third annual game, which was won by the AFL's New York Jets over the NFL's Baltimore Colts.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1967 Hunt helped promote professional soccer in the United States. Hunt's interest in soccer began in 1962 when he accompanied his future wife, Norma, to a Shamrock Rovers game in Dublin, Ireland. In 1966, he viewed the FIFA World Cup in England, and then attended nine of the next 11 World Cup tournaments.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1967, Hunt founded the Dallas Tornado as members of the United Soccer Association. In 1968 the league merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League. Hunt was an active advocate for the sport and the league and the Dallas Tornado won the NASL championship in 1971 and were runners-up in 1973.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: The NFL owners were not happy with Hunt's ownership in and promotion of pro soccer. The NFL attempted to force legal requirements that would disallow team ownership in more than one sport for owners of NFL franchises. This strategy backfired on the NFL, and the NASL won an anti-trust case against the NFL. A primary benefactor of this outcome was Lamar Hunt.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1981, after 15 seasons and losses in the millions, Hunt and his Dallas Tornado partner Bill McNutt decided to merge their team with the Tampa Bay Rowdies franchise, while retaining a minority stake in the Florida club. Two years later, along with Rowdies principal George Strawbrige, they sold the Rowdies to local investors. The move effectively ended Hunt's ties to the NASL a year before the league itself finally collapsed.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Hunt returned to soccer as one of the original founding investors of Major League Soccer, which debuted in 1996. He originally owned two teams: the Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City). In 1999, Hunt financed the construction of the venue now known as Mapfre Stadium, the second, and first since 1913, of several large soccer-specific stadiums in the USA. In 2003, Hunt purchased a third team, the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas), after announcing that he would partially finance the construction of their own soccer-specific stadium. On August 31, 2006, Hunt sold the Wizards to a six-man ownership group led by Cerner Corporation co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1968, Hunt co-founded the World Championship Tennis circuit, which gave birth to the Open Era of tennis. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Hunt was the founder of two theme parks in Kansas City: Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, which opened in 1973 and 1982 respectively. The two parks were an outgrowth and adjoined a vast industrial park he developed in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Immediately south of the Hunt-founded parks is the Hunt-developed SubTropolis, a 55 million-square-foot (5.06 million m), manmade limestone cave which is claimed to be the "World's Largest Underground Business Complex (TM)". Hunt's extensive business dealings in Clay County contributed to the Chiefs having their NFL Training Camp at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri until 1991.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: During the 1970s and early 1980s, brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt attempted to corner the silver market. They began buying silver in the early 1970s. By the end of 1979, their ownership of one-third of the silver market caused the price to rise from $11 an ounce in September 1979 to $50 an ounce in January 1980. In the last nine months of 1979, the brothers profited by an estimated $2 billion to $4 billion. However, on March 27, 1980, subsequently referred to within the precious-metals industry as Silver Thursday, the price collapsed. In September 1988, the Hunt brothers filed for bankruptcy under the United States Bankruptcy Code Chapter 11.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Lamar Hunt had two brothers, Nelson Bunker and William Herbert. His half-sister Swanee Hunt was Ambassador to Austria.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Married twice, Hunt first married Rosemary Carr. The pair met in Dallas as teenagers, went to Southern Methodist University together and married in 1956. Together they had two children Lamar Jr. and Sharron Hunt. The pair divorced in 1962, due in part to Hunt's travel schedule.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: In 1964, he married again. His second wife was a schoolteacher and hostess for the Dallas Texans, Norma Lynn Knobel, whom he was married to until his death. They had two sons, Clark and Daniel. Norma Hunt has attended every Super Bowl.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Lamar Hunt died December 13, 2006, at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas of complications related to prostate cancer. Upon his death, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Hunt "a founder of the NFL as we know it today," adding "He's been an inspiration for me." Said Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers: "Lamar Hunt was one of the most influential owners in professional football over the past 40-plus years, He was instrumental in the formation of the American Football League and in the AFL-NFL merger, which helped the National Football League grow into America's passion." The Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Kay Waldo Barnes, requested that all city flags fly at half-staff the following Thursday and Friday after Hunt's death.


title: Lamar Hunt

text: Upon Hunt's death, his son Clark was named the chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas, having been elected by Hunt's other children, Lamar Hunt Jr., Sharron Munson, and Daniel Hunt. Though Hunt's wife and children share legal ownership of the Chiefs, Clark represents the team at all league owner meetings and handles the day-to-day responsibilities of the team.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool city centre, it has an all-seated capacity of 39,414.


title: Goodison Park

text: As Everton have only been outside the top division for four seasons, Goodison Park has hosted more top-flight games than any other stadium in England (they were relegated in 1930 and 1951). The stadium has also been the venue for an FA Cup Final and numerous international fixtures, including a semi-final match in the 1966 World Cup, among others.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton originally played on an open pitch in the south-east corner of the newly laid out Stanley Park (on a site where rivals Liverpool FC considered building a stadium over a century later). The first official match after being renamed Everton from St. Domingo's was at Stanley Park, staged on 20 December 1879 with St. Peter's being the opposition, and admission was free. In 1882, a man named J. Cruit donated land at Priory Road with the necessary facilities required for professional clubs, but asked the club to leave his land after two years because the crowds became too large and noisy.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton moved to nearby Anfield Road, a site where proper covered stands were built. Everton played at the Anfield ground from 1884 until 1892. During this time the club turned professional entering teams in the FA Cup. They became founding members of the Football League winning their first championship at the ground in 1890–91. Anfield's capacity grew to over 20,000 with the club hosted an international match with England hosting Ireland. During their time at Anfield, Everton became the first club to introduce goalnets to professional football.


title: Goodison Park

text: In the 1890s, a dispute about how the club was to be owned and run emerged with John Houlding, Anfield's majority owner and Everton's Chairman, at the forefront. Houlding disagreed with the club's committee initially disagreeing about the full purchase of the land at Anfield from minor land owner Mr Orrell escalating into a principled disagreement of how the club was run. Two such disagreements included Houlding wanting Everton to sell only his brewery products during an event and for the Everton players to use his public house "The Sandon" as changing room facilities.


title: Goodison Park

text: The most famous of the disagreements concerns the level of increased rent Everton were asked to pay. In 1889, Everton paid £100 to Houlding in rent which by the 1889–90 season had risen to £250. Everton had to pay for all works and stands. The dispute escalated to a rent of £370 per year being demanded. In the complicated lead up to the split in the club, the rent dispute is too simplistic to be singled out as the prime cause. The dispute was compounded by many minor disputed points.


title: Goodison Park

text: The flashpoint was a covenant in the contract of land purchase by Houlding from Orrell causing further and deep friction. A strip of land at the Anfield ground bordering the adjacent land owned by Mr Orrell, could be used to provide a right of way access road for Orrell's landlocked vacant site. In early 1891 the club erected a stand on this now proposed roadway, which was also overlapping Orrell's land, unbeknown to the Everton F.C. Committee. In August 1891 Orrell announced intentions of developing his land next to the football ground, building an access road on the land owned by Houlding and occupied by Everton F.C.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton F.C. stated they knew nothing of the covenant, Houlding stated they did. This situation created great distrust leading to friction between Houlding and the Everton F.C. Committee. The rift and distrust between the two parties was on three levels, Houlding's personal business intentions, politically and morally. Nevertheless, the club faced a dilemma of having to destroy the new revenue generating stand or compensate Orrell.


title: Goodison Park

text: Houlding's way around the problem was to propose a limited company with floatation of the club enabling the club to purchase Houlding's and Orrell's land outright, hoping to raise £12,000. Previous attempts to raise money from the community had failed miserably. This would have meant the club would need to find £6,000 in cash with an additional £4,875 mortgage. The Everton Committee initially accepted Houlding's proposal in principle, yet voted against it at a meeting.


title: Goodison Park

text: After much negotiating and brinkmanship on both sides Everton vacated Anfield, leaving Houlding with an empty stadium with no one to play in it. As a consequence, Houlding formed his own football club, Liverpool, to take up residence at the stadium.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 15 September 1891, a general meeting took place at Royal Street Hall, near Everton Valley. Everton's chairman John Houlding proposed that a limited company be formed with the new company purchasing his land and local brewer Joseph Orrell's adjacent land for a combined £9,237. A club run as a limited company was unusual for the time as football clubs were usually run as "sports clubs" with members paying an annual fee. The proposal was supported by William Barclay, the club secretary and a close friend of Houlding.


title: Goodison Park

text: Liberal Party politician and Everton board member George Mahon fought the proposal putting forward his own amendment which was carried by the Everton board. At the time Everton's board contained both Conservative and Liberal Party councillors. Houlding and Mahon had previously clashed during local elections.


title: Goodison Park

text: Both men agreed that Everton should operate as a limited company; however, they had different ideas about share ownership. Houlding suggested that 12,000 shares be created with each Everton board member given one share and the other shares sold to the public or Everton board members. Mahon disagreed and proposed that 500 shares be created with no member carrying more than 10 shares with board members given "7 or 8" shares. Mahon reasoned "we would rather have a large number of individual applications so that there will be more supporters of the club."


title: Goodison Park

text: A special general meeting was convened at the former Liverpool College building on Shaw Street on 25 January 1892. John Houlding's proposal was defeated once more with George Mahon suggesting that Everton relocate to another site. A heckler shouted, "You can't find one!" Mahon responded "I have one in my pocket" revealing an option to lease Mere Green field, in Walton, Lancashire, the site of the current Goodison Park.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Liverpool press were partisan. The proposal was deemed to be a positive move for the club by the Liberal-leaning "Liverpool Daily Post" which described Houlding's ousting as "having shaken off the incubus." The Tory-supporting "Liverpool Courier" and "Liverpool Evening Express"—owned by Conservative MP for Everton, John A. Willox, a Trustee of the Licensed Victuallers' and Brewers' Association—took Houlding's side. The "Courier" published letters regularly criticising Mahon's supporters—many of which were anonymous. Philanthropist William Hartley, a jam manufacturer and Robert William Hudson, a prominent soap-manufacturer supported Mahon.


title: Goodison Park

text: The stadium was named Goodison Park because the length of the site was built against Goodison Road. The road was named after a civil engineer named George Goodison who provided a sewage report to the Walton Local Board in the mid-1800s later becoming a local landowner.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Mere Green field was owned by Christopher Leyland with Everton renting until they were in a position to buy the site outright. Initially, the field needed work as parts of the site needed excavation, the field was levelled, a drainage system was installed and turf was laid. This work was considered to be a 'formidable initial expenditure' with local contractor Mr Barton contracted to work on the site at 4½d per square yard—a total cost of £552. A J. Prescott was brought in as an architectural advisor and surveyor.


title: Goodison Park

text: Walton-based building firm Kelly Brothers were instructed to erect two uncovered stands that could each accommodate 4,000 spectators. A third covered stand accommodating 3,000 spectators was also requested. The combined cost of these stands was £1,640. Everton inserted a penalty clause into the contract in case the work was not completed by its 31 July deadline. Everton officials were impressed with the builder's workmanship agreeing two further contracts: exterior hoardings were constructed at a cost of £150 with 12 turnstiles installed at a cost of £7 each. In 1894, Benjamin Kelly of Kelly Brothers was appointed as a director of Everton.


title: Goodison Park

text: Dr. James Baxter of the Everton committee donated a £1,000 interest-free loan to build Goodison Park. The stadium was England's first purpose-built football ground, with stands on three sides. Goodison Park was officially opened on 24 August 1892 by Lord Kinnaird and Frederick Wall of the Football Association. No football was played; instead the 12,000 crowd watched a short athletics event followed by music and a fireworks display. Upon its completion the stadium was the first joint purpose-built football stadium in the world; Celtic's basic Celtic Park ground in Glasgow, Scotland was inaugurated on the same day as Goodison Park.


title: Goodison Park

text: The first football match at Goodison Park was on 2 September 1892 between Everton and Bolton Wanderers. Everton wore its new club colours of salmon and dark blue stripes and won the exhibition game 4–2. The first league game at Goodison Park took place on 3 September 1892 against Nottingham Forest; the game ended in a 2–2 draw. The stadium's first competitive goal was scored by Forest's Horace Pike and the first Everton goal scored by Fred Geary. Everton's first league victory at their new ground came in the next home game with a 6–0 defeat of Newton Heath in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators.


title: Goodison Park

text: It was announced at a general meeting on 22 March 1895 that the club could finally afford to buy Goodison Park. Mahon revealed that Everton were buying Goodison Park for £650 less than the price of Anfield three years earlier, with Goodison Park having more land and a 25% larger capacity. The motion to purchase Goodison Park was passed unanimously. Dr. Baxter also lent the club £5,000 to redeem the mortgage early at a rate of 3½%. By this time the redrawing of political boundaries put Walton, and hence Goodison Park, inside the City of Liverpool.


title: Goodison Park

text: In 1999, "The Independent" newspaper journalist David Conn unexpectedly coined the nickname "The Grand Old Lady" for the stadium when he wrote "Another potential suitor has apparently thought better of Everton, walking away on Tuesday from the sagging Grand Old Lady of English football, leaving her still in desperate need of a makeover."


title: Goodison Park

text: The Goodison Park structure was built in stages. In the summer of 1895 a new Bullens Road stand was built and a roof placed on the original Goodison Road stand but only after five directors, including chairman, George Mahon had resigned over what was described in the club minutes as 'acute administrative difficulties'. In 1906, the double-decker Goodison Avenue Stand was built behind the goal at the south end of the ground. The stand was designed by Liverpool architect Henry Hartley who went on to chair the Liverpool Architectural Society a year later. The club minutes from the time show that Hartley was unhappy with certain aspects of the stand and the poor sightlines meant that the goal line had to be moved seven metres north, towards Gwladys Street. In January 1908, he complained that his fees had not been paid and the bill for the stand was near £13,000. There were 2,657 seats on its upper tier with a terrace below.


title: Goodison Park

text: Archibald Leitch designed the Goodison Road Stand with construction in 1909. In September that year Ernest Edwards, the "Liverpool Echo" journalist who christened the terrace at Anfield the "Spion Kop", wrote of the newly built stand, "The building as one looks at it, suggests the side of Mauretania at once." The stand was occasionally referred to as the "Mauretania Stand", in reference to the Liverpool-registered , then the world's largest ship, which operated from the Port of Liverpool.


title: Goodison Park

text: The two-tier steel frame and wooden floor Bullens Road Stand, designed by Archibald Leitch, was completed in 1926. The upper tier was seated, with terracing below, a part of the ground called The Paddock. Few changes were made until 1963 when the rear of the Paddock was seated and an overhanging roof was added. The stand is known for Archibald Leitch's highly distinctive balcony trusses which also act as handrails for the front row of seats in the Upper Bullens stand. Goodison Park is the only stadium with two complete trusses designed by Leitch. Of the 17 created, only Goodison Park, Ibrox and Fratton Park retain these trusses.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton constructed covered dugouts in 1931. The idea was inspired by a visit to Pittodrie to play a friendly against Aberdeen, where such dugouts had been constructed at the behest of the Dons' trainer Donald Colman. The Goodison Park dugouts were the first in England.


title: Goodison Park

text: The ground become an entirely two-tiered affair in 1938 with another Archibald Leitch stand at the Gwladys Street end. The stand completed at a cost of £50,000, being delayed because an old man would not move from his to be demolished home. The original Gwladys Street having had terraced houses on either side, with those backing on to the ground making way for the expansion. Architect Leitch and Everton Chairman Will Cuff became close friends with Cuff appointed as Leitch's accountant with Leitch moving to nearby Formby.


title: Goodison Park

text: In 1940, during the Second World War, the Gwladys Street Stand suffered bomb damage. The bomb had landed directly in Gwladys Street and caused serious injury to nearby residents. The bomb splinter damage to the bricks on the stand is still noticeable. The cost of repair was £5,000 and was paid for by the War Damage Commission.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Director's minutes read: "It was decided also that Messrs A. Leitch be instructed to value the cost of complete renewal of damaged properties and that a claim should be forwarded to the War Damage Claims department within the prescribed 30 days.


title: Goodison Park

text: "The damage referred to included the demolition of a wide section of the new stand outer wall in Gwladys St, destruction of all glass in this stand, damage to every door, canteen, water and electricity pipe and all lead fittings: perforate roof in hundreds of places.


title: Goodison Park

text: "On Bullens Road side, a bomb dropped in the school yard had badly damaged the exterior wall of this stand and the roof was badly perforated here also. A third bomb outside the practice ground had demolished the surrounding hoarding and had badly damaged glass in the Goodison Ave and Walton Lane property."


title: Goodison Park

text: The first floodlit match at Goodison Park took place when Everton hosted Liverpool on 9 October 1957 in front of 58,771 spectators. Four pylons each with 36 lamps installed were installed behind each corner of the pitch. At the time, they were tallest in the country. There was capacity for 18 more lamps per pylon if it was felt the brightness was insufficient for the game. Each bulb was a 1,500 watt tungsten bulb 15 inches in diameter and cost 25 shillings. It was recommended that the club made a habit of changing them after three to four seasons to save the club performing intermittent repairs. MANWEB installed a transformer sub-station to cope with the 6,000 volt-load.


title: Goodison Park

text: The first undersoil heating system in English football was installed at Goodison Park in 1958, with 20 miles (30 km) of electric wire laid beneath the playing surface at a cost of £16,000. The system was more effective than anticipated and the drainage system could not cope with the quantity of water produced from the melting of frost and snow. As a consequence the pitch had to be relaid in 1960 to allow a more suitable drainage system to be installed.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Everton chairman Sir John Moores who presided over the club between 1960 and 1973 provided finances for the club in the form of loans to become involved in large-scale redevelopment projects and compete with other clubs for the best players, for a period of time under his stewardship Everton were known as 'The Mersey Millionaires'.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park featured in the filming of "The Golden Vision", a BBC film made for television. The matches featured in the film were Division One games against Manchester City on 4 November 1967 (1–1 draw) and 18 November 1967 versus Sheffield United (1–0 win)—the scorer of the winner that day was Alex Young, also known as The Golden Vision or Golden Ghost after whom the film was named.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton were the first club to have a scoreboard installed in England. On 20 November 1971 Everton beat Southampton 8–0 with Joe Royle scoring four, David Johnson three and Alan Ball one. The scoreboard did not have enough room to display the goal scorer's names and simply read "7 9 7 9 8 9 9 7" as it displayed the goal scorers' shirt numbers instead.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Goodison Road Stand was partially demolished and rebuilt during the 1969–70 season with striking images of both old and new stands side by side. The new stand opened 1971, at a cost of £1 million. The new stand housed the 500 and 300 members clubs and an escalator to the tallest stand in the ground—the Top Balcony. However, not everyone thought that the upgrade was necessary at the time. Journalist Geoffrey Green of "The Times" wrote "Goodison Park has always been a handsome fashionable stage for football, a living thing full of atmospherics-like a theatre. And now it has stepped into the demanding seventies with a facelift it scarcely seemed to need compared with some of us I know. New giant stands in place of the old; the latest in dazzling floodlight systems that cast not a shadow. A cathedral of a place indeed, fit for the gods of the game."


title: Goodison Park

text: The Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 saw the Bullens Road Stand extensively fireproofed with widened aisles, which entailed closure of parts of the stand. Because of the closure, Anfield was chosen over first choice Goodison Park for a Wales vs. Scotland World Cup qualifying tie.


title: Goodison Park

text: Following Moores' exit from Everton's hierarchy, minimum changes had been made to Goodison Park's structure due to costs, two British Government Acts; the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and Football Spectators Act 1989 had forced the club's hand into improving the facilities. Upon Moore's death the club was sold to Peter Johnson.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton legends William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean and former manager Harry Catterick both died at Goodison Park. Dean suffered from a heart attack aged 73 in 1980, whilst Catterick died five years later, also suffering a heart attack aged 65.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton F.C. celebrated the centenary of Goodison Park with a game against German club side Borussia Mönchengladbach in August 1992. In addition, 200 limited edition medals were created and Liverpool based author and journalist Ken Rogers wrote a book "One Hundred Years of Goodison Glory" to commemorate the occasion.


title: Goodison Park

text: Following the publication of the 1990 Taylor Report, in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, top-flight English football grounds had to become all-seated. At the time three of the four sides of the ground had standing areas. The Enclosure, fronting the main stand, had already been made all-seated in time for the 1987–88 season and was given the new name of Family Enclosure. The Paddock, the Park End terrace and the Gwladys Street terrace, known as 'the Ground', were standing and had to be replaced.


title: Goodison Park

text: The fences around the perimeter of the ground fronting the terracing (which were to prevent fans, notably hooligans, running onto the pitch) were removed immediately post Hillsborough, in time for the rearranged league fixture with Liverpool. The Everton match versus Luton Town in May 1991 was the final time that Gwladys Street allowed standing spectators. Seats were installed in the Paddock, while the Lower Gwladys Street was later completely rebuilt to accommodate seating with new concrete steps.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton opted to demolish the entire Park End stand in 1994 and replace it with a single-tier cantilever stand, with the assistance of a grant of £1.3 million from the Football Trust.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park has a total capacity of 39,572 all-seated and comprises four separate stands: the Goodison Road Stand, Gwladys Street Stand, Bullens Road Stand, and the Park End Stand.


title: Goodison Park

text: Built in sections from 1969 to 1971, replacing the large double-decker 1909 Archibald Leitch designed stand. The Goodison Road Stand is a double-decker stand with the lower deck being two-tier. Each level is given a separate name. The middle-deck level is known as the Main Stand and is fronted by another seated section known as the Family Enclosure. The Enclosure was originally terracing prior to the advent of all-seater stadia. The Top Balcony is the highest part of the stadium. The stand became all seated in 1987 and now has a capacity of 12,664.


title: Goodison Park

text: The back wall of the stand cuts into the stand because of the non-square nature of the Goodison Park site. The Goodison Road Stand is also home to the conference and hospitality facilities. On non-match days Goodison Park holds conferences, weddings, meetings and parties on a daily basis.


title: Goodison Park

text: On the east side of the ground, the Bullens Road stand is divided into the Upper Bullens, Lower Bullens and The Paddock. The rear of the south end of the stand houses away supporters. The north corner of the stand is connected to the Gwladys Street Stand. The current capacity of the stand is 10,546. The stand takes its name from the adjacent Bullens Road. The Upper Bullens is decorated with Archibald Leitch's distinctive truss design.


title: Goodison Park

text: Behind the goal at the north end of Goodison Park, the Gwladys Street Stand is divided into Upper Gwladys and Lower Gwladys. This stand is the "Popular End", holding the most boisterous and vociferous home supporters. It is known colloquially as "The Street End". If Everton win the toss before kick-off the captain traditionally elects to play towards the Gwladys Street End in the second half. The stand has a capacity of 10,611 and gives its name to Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame. In July 2016 the stand was renamed the Howard Kendall Gwladys Street End, in honour of Everton's most successful manager.


title: Goodison Park

text: At the south end of the ground, behind one goal, the Park End Stand backs onto Walton Lane which borders Stanley Park. The name of the stand was originally the "Stanley Park End" but it is commonly referred to as the "Park End". The single tiered stand broke from the multi-tiered tradition of Goodison Park. The Park End has the smallest capacity at Goodison Park. The current layout of the stand was opened on 17 September 1994 with a capacity of 5,750. It was opened by David Hunt, a Member of Parliament. During the structure's development, fans were able to watch matches by climbing trees in neighbouring Stanley Park.


title: Goodison Park

text: In the late 1970s and 1980s the stand accommodated the away fans. Previously it was open to home supporters. The lower tier of the old stand was terracing and this was closed off by the turn of the 1980s due to it being a fire hazard as the terracing steps were wooden. The front concrete terracing remained and was one of the last standing areas at a Premiership ground.


title: Goodison Park

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, both ends of the ground featured a large arc behind the goals. This was created as a requirement for the 1966 World Cup because the crowd had to be a required distance from the goals.


title: Goodison Park

text: The area around Goodison Park when built was a dense area full of terraced housing, and Goodison Avenue behind the Park End stand was no different. Oddly housing was built right into the stand itself (as shown on old photographs of Goodison and in programmes). The club had previously owned many of the houses on the road and rented them to players. One of the players to live there, Dixie Dean later had a statue erected in his honour near the Park End on Walton Lane.


title: Goodison Park

text: By the 1990s the club had demolished virtually the whole street and this coincided with the redevelopment of the Park End stand. However at present the majority of the land is now an open car park for the club and its Marquee.


title: Goodison Park

text: In July 2016 the stand was renamed the Sir Philip Carter Park Stand, in honour of the club's former chairman.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park is unique in the sense that a church, St Luke's, protrudes into the site between the Goodison Road Stand and the Gwladys Street Stand only yards from the corner flag. Everton do not play early kick-offs on Sundays in order to permit Sunday services at the church. The church is synonymous with the football club and a wooden church structure was in place when Goodison Park was originally built. Former Everton players such as Brian Harris have had their funeral service held there.


title: Goodison Park

text: The church can be seen from the Park End and Bullens Road and has featured prominently over the years as a backdrop during live televised matches. It is also the home to the Everton Former Players' Foundation of which the Reverend is a trustee.


title: Goodison Park

text: The church has over the years curtailed development of the ground. Everton did attempt to pay for its removal in order to gain extra space for a larger capacity. One of two jumbotron screens (both installed in 2000) has been installed between the Goodison Road stand and Gwladys Street stand partially obscuring the church from view. The other is situated between the Bullens Road and Park End.


title: Goodison Park

text: Imaginative spectators would climb the church and watch a football game from the rooftop however they have now been deterred from doing so with the installation of security measures such as barbed wire and anti-climb paint. In addition, the introduction of the 'all-seater' ruling following the Taylor Report has meant that spectators no longer resort to climbing nearby buildings for a glimpse of the event as a seat is guaranteed with a purchased ticket.


title: Goodison Park

text: Following the conversion of Goodison Park into an all-seater stadium in 1994, plans for relocation to a new site have been afoot since 1996, when then chairman Peter Johnson announced his intention to build a new 60,000-seat stadium for the club. At the time, no English league club had a stadium with such a high capacity.


title: Goodison Park

text: In January 2001, plans were drawn up to move to a 55,000-seat purpose-built arena on the site of the King's Dock in Liverpool. The proposed stadium would have had a retractable roof enabling it to be used for concerts and chairman Bill Kenwright had hoped to have it ready for the 2005–06 season.


title: Goodison Park

text: However, the plans were abandoned in April 2003 due to the club not being able to raise adequate funds. Following this, plans were made to move to Kirkby, just outside the city, in a joint venture with the supermarket chain Tesco. The scheme was greatly divisive amongst supporters and local authorities, but was rejected in late November 2009 following a decision by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.


title: Goodison Park

text: The site of Goodison Park was earmarked in 1997 and 2003 for a food store by Tesco who offered £12 million which was valued at £4 million for the site but Liverpool City Council's advisor's advised against allowing planning permission. The club were advised that the planning permission required would not necessarily be granted, and chose not to take the scheme further.


title: Goodison Park

text: Supporters' groups have fought against the club moving to a new stadium twice. In 2007 a group was established called "Keep Everton in Our City" (KEIOC) whose aim is to keep Everton FC inside the city of Liverpool. The KEIOC attempted to prevent the club moving to a new stadium in Kirkby, just outside the city limits. The supporters' groups have argued that it is possible to expand Goodison Park, despite the odd shaped landlocked site being surrounded by housing, local authority buildings, and have produced image renders, architectural drawings and costings for a redeveloped Goodison Park. The then Liverpool City Council leader Warren Bradley stated in November 2009 that a redevelopment of Goodison Park was his favoured option, and that relocation of the homes, infrastructure and businesses in streets adjoining the ground is "not a major hurdle". Council leader Joe Anderson stated, "the setback for Everton was an opportunity for both clubs to go back to the drawing board".


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton were considering all options, including relocation, redevelopment of the current ground, or a groundshare with Liverpool F.C., in a new, purpose-built stadium in Stanley Park, stressing that finance is the main factor affecting decision-making.


title: Goodison Park

text: In 2010, Everton supporters approached University of Liverpool and Liverpool City Council to initiate a dedicated 'Football Quarter'/'Sports City' zone around Goodison Park, Stanley Park and Anfield. The university and city council met with the North West Development Agency, Everton and Liverpool F.C. representatives but no further action was taken. Plans for relocation of Liverpool to a new stadium have since been abandoned in favour of expanding Anfield.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 10 February 2011, Liverpool City Council Regeneration and Transport Select Committee proposed to open the eastern section of the Liverpool Outer Loop line using "Liverpool Football Club and Everton Football Club as priorities, as economic enablers of the project". This proposal would place both football clubs on a rapid-transit Merseyrail line circling the city giving high throughput, fast transport access.


title: Goodison Park

text: In 2016, following his investment in the club by major shareholder Farhad Moshiri, the prospect of a new stadium was once again addressed, with a pair of options mentioned. The preferred option was to resurrect the idea of a riverside stadium, this time in partnership with the Peel Group using the Clarence Dock. However, the other option was a site located at Stonebridge Cross in Gillmoss, which is seen as more easily deliverable in some areas. The dockside site option was later confirmed as Bramley-Moore Dock.


title: Goodison Park

text: In August 2010, Everton announced plans to build a new development situated between the Park End stand and Walton Lane; the site is currently used for a hospitality marquee. The £9m scheme was designed by Manchester-based Formroom Architects. In September 2010 the club submitted a planning application to Liverpool City Council.


title: Goodison Park

text: The proposed development is a four-storey building which include a retail store, ticket office, offices, conference and catering facilities and a museum. The project has been delayed twice and is currently on hold.


title: Goodison Park

text: In February 2021, Liverpool City Council voted in favour of Everton's £82m plan to redevelop Goodison Park into a mixed-use scheme featuring 173 homes and 51,000sq ft of offices. The approval followed the green light for the club's new Everton Stadium, which is now under construction and due to complete in 2024.


title: Goodison Park

text: As well as the homes and office space, the outline proposals for the Goodison Park site in Walton comprise a 63,000 sq ft, six-storey care home, more than 107,000 sq ft of space for community uses, and 8,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park is located two miles (3 km) north of Liverpool City Centre. Liverpool Lime Street railway station is the nearest mainline station. The nearest station to the stadium is Kirkdale railway station on the Merseyrail Northern Line which is located just over half a mile (800 m) away. On match days there is also a frequent shuttle bus service from Sandhills railway station known as "SoccerBus". In 2007 Sandhills underwent a £6million renovation to help encourage people to use the rail service.


title: Goodison Park

text: Walton & Anfield railway station located on Walton Lane—the same road that the Park End backs onto—was the nearest station to Goodison Park until its closure in 1948. Although Everton has now shifted towards a new stadium away from Goodison Park it remained a suggestion that the station could be re-opened should the freight only Canada Dock Branch line once again run passenger trains.


title: Goodison Park

text: There are on-site parking facilities for supporters (limited to 230 spaces) and the streets surrounding the ground allow parking only for residents with permits. The Car Parking resident parking scheme is operated by Liverpool City Council.


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton has staged more top-flight football games than any other club in England, eight more seasons than second placed Aston Villa. Everton have played at Goodison Park for all but 4 of their 106 league seasons, giving Goodison Park the distinction of hosting more top-flight games than any other ground in England. Goodison is the only English club ground to have hosted a FIFA World Cup semi final. Until the expansion of Old Trafford in 1996 Goodison Park held the record Sunday attendance on a Football League ground (53,509 v West Bromwich Albion, FA Cup, 1974).


title: Goodison Park

text: Everton won 15 home league games in a row between 4 October 1930 and 4 April 1931. In the 1931–32 season Goodison Park was the venue of the most goals scored at home in a league season, 84 by Everton. Between 23 April 1984 and 2 September 1986 Everton scored consecutively in 47 games., registering 36 wins and 7 draws and scoring 123 goals in the process while conceding 38. Scottish striker Graeme Sharp scored 32 of these goals.


title: Goodison Park

text: Jack Southworth holds the record for most goals scored in one game at Goodison Park, scoring six versus West Bromwich Albion on 30 December 1893.


title: Goodison Park

text: The most goals scored in a game at Goodison Park is 12, this occurred in two Everton games; versus Sheffield Wednesday (9–3) on 17 October 1931 and versus Plymouth Argyle (8–4) on 27 February 1954.


title: Goodison Park

text: Whilst at Goodison Park the club has had one of the highest average attendances in the country. The stadium has only had six seasons where Everton FC has not been amongst the top ten highest attendances in the country.


title: Goodison Park

text: The highest average attendance in the club's history has been 51,603 (1962–63) and the lowest was 13,230 (1892–93) which was recorded in Goodison Park's first year.


title: Goodison Park

text: Despite being purposefully built for Everton F.C. to play football, Goodison Park has hosted many other types of events.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park became the first Football League ground to hold an FA Cup Final, in 1894. Notts County beat Bolton Wanderers, watched by crowd of 37,000. An FA Cup final replay was staged in 1910 with Newcastle United beating Barnsley 2–0.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 26 December 1920, Goodison Park hosted a match between; Dick, Kerr's Ladies & St Helens Ladies. An estimated 53,000 attended the match, at a time when the average gate at Goodison Park in 1919–20 was near 29,000. Dick, Kerr's Ladies won 4–0. More than £3,000 was raised for charity. Shortly after, the Football Association banned women's football. The reasons given by the FA were not substantial and it is perceived by some that the women's teams were a threat to the men's game. The ban was lifted in 1970.


title: Goodison Park

text: During the Second World War, Goodison Park was chosen as a host venue for the "Football League – Northern Section".


title: Goodison Park

text: In 1949, Goodison Park became the site of England's first ever defeat on English soil by a non-Home Nations country, namely the Republic of Ireland. The ground hosted five matches including a semi-final for the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In April 1895 Goodison Park hosted England versus Scotland and so Everton became the first club to host England internationals on two grounds (the other being Anfield in 1889 when England won 6–2 versus Ireland). The city of Liverpool also became the first English city to stage England games at three different venues, the other being Aigburth Cricket Club.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park hosted five games during the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The original schedule of the 1966 World Cup meant that if England won their group and then reached the Semi final, the match would be held at Goodison Park. However, the organising committee were allowed to swap the venues, with England playing Portugal at Wembley Stadium.


title: Goodison Park

text: Portugal's Eusébio won the tournament's Golden Boot scoring nine goals, six of them at Goodison Park. Eusébio later stated that "Goodison Park is for me the best stadium in my life". In Garrincha's 50 caps for Brazil, the only defeat he experienced was in the game versus Hungary at Goodison Park.


title: Goodison Park

text: Two years after construction, Goodison Park was chosen by the Football Association to host the final of the FA Cup.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park has played host to England on eight occasions during the Home Championships. When Everton player Alex Stevenson scored for Ireland in the 1935 British Home Championship versus England, he became the first player to score an international away goal on his club's home ground.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 22 February 1973 the Irish Football Association announced that Northern Ireland's home matches in the 1973 British Home Championship would be moved to Goodison Park due to the civil unrest within Belfast at that time.


title: Goodison Park

text: Both Northern Ireland goalscorers Dave Clements (vs. England) and Bryan Hamilton (vs. Wales) went on to play for Goodison Park's club side Everton later on in their careers.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 11 July 1913 Goodison Park became the first English football ground to be visited by a reigning monarch when King George V and Queen Mary attended. The attending royals had opened Gladstone Dock on the same day. A tablet was unveiled in the Main Stand to mark the occasion. During the First World War Goodison frequently hosted Territorial Army training drill sessions.


title: Goodison Park

text: On 19 May 1938 George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended Goodison Park to present new colours to the 5th Battalion the King's Regiment (Liverpool) and the Liverpool Scottish (Queens Own Cameron Highlanders) in front of 80,000 spectators.


title: Goodison Park

text: In 1921, Goodison Park played host to Lancashire's rugby team when they took on Australia national rugby union team and lost 29–6.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park was chosen as one of two English venues for the Sox-Giants 1924 World Tour. On 23 October 1924, 2,000 spectators witnessed US baseball teams Chicago White Sox and New York Giants participate in an exhibition match. One player managed to hit a ball clear over the large Goodison Road Stand. The other English venue selected was Stamford Bridge.


title: Goodison Park

text: In September 1939, Goodison Park was commandeered by military, the club's minutes read: "The Chairman reported that our ground has been commandeered as an anti-aircraft (Balloon Barrage section), post." During World War Two, an American forces baseball league was based at Goodison Park. In addition, a baseball game between two Army Air Force nines watched by over 8,000 spectators raised over $3,000 for British Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance fund.


title: Goodison Park

text: The Liverpool Trojans and Formby Cardinals were the last two teams to play baseball at Goodison Park. This was in the Lancashire Cup Final in 1948.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park is used as a venue for weddings. More than 800 fans' ashes have been buried at Goodison Park and since 2004 the club have had to reject further requests because there is no room for any more. Tommy Lawton wanted his ashes to be scattered at Goodison but his son chose to donate them to the national football museum because of Goodison's uncertain future.


title: Goodison Park

text: Goodison Park was also the venue for the boxing match between "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (played by native Evertonian and Everton fan Tony Bellew) and Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) in the 2015 movie "Creed". The stadium hosted the first outdoor boxing event in Liverpool since 1949 when Bellew defeated Ilunga Makabu on 29 May 2016 to claim the vacant WBC Cruiserweight title.


title: Goodison Park

text: Between 1908 and 1921, Goodison Park also played host to four rugby league Kangaroo Tour matches involving the Australian and Australasian teams from 1908 to 1921.


title: Quantile

text: In statistics and probability, quantiles are cut points dividing the range of a probability distribution into continuous intervals with equal probabilities, or dividing the observations in a sample in the same way. There is one fewer quantile than the number of groups created. Common quantiles have special names, such as "quartiles" (four groups), "deciles" (ten groups), and "percentiles" (100 groups). The groups created are termed halves, thirds, quarters, etc., though sometimes the terms for the quantile are used for the groups created, rather than for the cut points.


title: Quantile

text: -quantiles are values that partition a finite set of values into subsets of (nearly) equal sizes. There are partitions of the -quantiles, one for each integer satisfying . In some cases the value of a quantile may not be uniquely determined, as can be the case for the median (2-quantile) of a uniform probability distribution on a set of even size. Quantiles can also be applied to continuous distributions, providing a way to generalize rank statistics to continuous variables (see percentile rank). When the cumulative distribution function of a random variable is known, the -quantiles are the application of the" quantile function" (the inverse function of the cumulative distribution function) to the values }.


title: Quantile

text: As in the computation of, for example, standard deviation, the estimation of a quantile depends upon whether one is operating with a statistical population or with a sample drawn from it. For a population, of discrete values or for a continuous population density, the -th -quantile is the data value where the cumulative distribution function crosses . That is, is a -th -quantile for a variable if


title: Quantile

text: For a finite population of equally probable values indexed from lowest to highest, the -th -quantile of this population can equivalently be computed via the value of . If is not an integer, then round up to the next integer to get the appropriate index; the corresponding data value is the -th -quantile. On the other hand, if is an integer then any number from the data value at that index to the data value of the next index can be taken as the quantile, and it is conventional (though arbitrary) to take the average of those two values (see Estimating quantiles from a sample).


title: Quantile

text: If, instead of using integers and , the "-quantile" is based on a real number with then replaces in the above formulas. This broader terminology is used when quantiles are used to parameterize continuous probability distributions. Moreover, some software programs (including Microsoft Excel) regard the minimum and maximum as the 0th and 100th percentile, respectively. However, this broader terminology is an extension beyond traditional statistics definitions.


title: Quantile

text: The following two examples use the Nearest Rank definition of quantile with rounding. For an explanation of this definition, see percentiles.


title: Quantile

text: Consider an ordered population of 10 data values [3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20]. What are the 4-quantiles (the "quartiles") of this dataset?


title: Quantile

text: So the first, second and third 4-quantiles (the "quartiles") of the dataset [3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20] are [7, 9, 15]. If also required, the zeroth quartile is 3 and the fourth quartile is 20.


title: Quantile

text: Consider an ordered population of 11 data values [3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20]. What are the 4-quantiles (the "quartiles") of this dataset?


title: Quantile

text: So the first, second and third 4-quantiles (the "quartiles") of the dataset [3, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20] are [7, 9, 15]. If also required, the zeroth quartile is 3 and the fourth quartile is 20.


title: Quantile

text: For any population probability distribution on finitely many values, and generally for any probability distribution with a mean and variance, it is the case that


title: Quantile

text: where is the value of the -quantile for (or equivalently is the -th -quantile for ), where is the distribution's arithmetic mean, and where is the distribution's standard deviation. In particular, the median is never more than one standard deviation from the mean.


title: Quantile

text: For example, the value that is standard deviation above the mean is always greater than or equal to , the median, and the value that is standard deviations above the mean is always greater than or equal to , the fourth quintile.


title: Quantile

text: One problem which frequently arises is estimating a quantile of a (very large or infinite) population based on a finite sample of size .


title: Quantile

text: The asymptotic distribution of the -th sample quantile is well-known: it is asymptotically normal around the -th population quantile with variance equal to


title: Quantile

text: where is the value of the distribution density at the -th population quantile. However, this distribution relies on knowledge of the population distribution; which is equivalent to knowledge of the population quantiles, which we are trying to estimate! Modern statistical packages thus rely on a different technique — or selection of techniques — to estimate the quantiles.


title: Quantile

text: All methods compute , the estimate for the -quantile (the -th -quantile, where ) from a sample of size by computing a real valued index . When is an integer, the -th smallest of the values, , is the quantile estimate. Otherwise a rounding or interpolation scheme is used to compute the quantile estimate from , , and . (For notation, see floor and ceiling functions).


title: Quantile

text: The first three are piecewise constant, changing abruptly at each data point, while the last six use linear interpolation between data points, and differ only in how the index used to choose the point along the piecewise linear interpolation curve, is chosen.


title: Quantile

text: Mathematica, Matlab, R and GNU Octave programming languages support all nine sample quantile methods. SAS includes five sample quantile methods, SciPy and Maple both include eight, EViews includes the six piecewise linear functions, Stata includes two, Python includes two, and Microsoft Excel includes two. Mathematica and SciPy support arbitrary parameters for methods which allow for other, non-standard, methods.


title: Quantile

text: Of the techniques, Hyndman and Fan recommend R-8, but most statistical software packages have chosen R-6 or R-7 as the default.


title: Quantile

text: The standard error of a quantile estimate can in general be estimated via the bootstrap. The Maritz–Jarrett method can also be used.


title: Quantile

text: Computing approximate quantiles from data arriving from a stream can be done efficiently using compressed data structures. The most popular methods are t-digest and KLL. These methods read a stream of values in a continuous fashion and can, at any time, be queried about the approximate value of a specified quantile.


title: Quantile

text: Both algorithms are based on a similar idea: compressing the stream of values by summarizing identical or similar values with a weight. If the stream is made of a repetition of 100 times v1 and 100 times v2, there is no reason to keep a sorted list of 200 elements, it is enough to keep two elements and two counts to be able to recover the quantiles. With more values, these algorithms maintain a trade-off between the number of unique values stored and the precision of the resulting quantiles. Some values may be discarded from the stream and contribute to the weight of a nearby value without changing the quantile results too much. The t-digest maintains a data structure of bounded size using an approach motivated by k-means clustering to group similar values. The KLL algorithm uses a more sophisticated "compactor" method that leads to better control of the error bounds at the cost of requiring an unbounded size if errors must be bounded relative to .


title: Quantile

text: Both methods belong to the family of "data sketches" that are subsets of Streaming Algorithms with useful properties: t-digest or KLL sketches can be combined. Computing the sketch for a very large vector of values can be split into trivially parallel processes where sketches are computed for partitions of the vector in parallel and merged later.


title: Quantile

text: Standardized test results are commonly reported as a student scoring "in the 80th percentile", for example. This uses an alternative meaning of the word percentile as the "interval" between (in this case) the 80th and the 81st scalar percentile. This separate meaning of percentile is also used in peer-reviewed scientific research articles. The meaning used can be derived from its context.


title: Quantile

text: If a distribution is symmetric, then the median is the mean (so long as the latter exists). But, in general, the median and the mean can differ. For instance, with a random variable that has an exponential distribution, any particular sample of this random variable will have roughly a 63% chance of being less than the mean. This is because the exponential distribution has a long tail for positive values but is zero for negative numbers.


title: Quantile

text: Quantiles are useful measures because they are less susceptible than means to long-tailed distributions and outliers. Empirically, if the data being analyzed are not actually distributed according to an assumed distribution, or if there are other potential sources for outliers that are far removed from the mean, then quantiles may be more useful descriptive statistics than means and other moment-related statistics.


title: Quantile

text: Closely related is the subject of least absolute deviations, a method of regression that is more robust to outliers than is least squares, in which the sum of the absolute value of the observed errors is used in place of the squared error. The connection is that the mean is the single estimate of a distribution that minimizes expected squared error while the median minimizes expected absolute error. Least absolute deviations shares the ability to be relatively insensitive to large deviations in outlying observations, although even better methods of robust regression are available.


title: Quantile

text: The quantiles of a random variable are preserved under increasing transformations, in the sense that, for example, if is the median of a random variable , then is the median of , unless an arbitrary choice has been made from a range of values to specify a particular quantile. (See quantile estimation, above, for examples of such interpolation.) Quantiles can also be used in cases where only ordinal data are available.


title: Alestorm

text: Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a "pirate metal" band by many critics and their fanbase. The group currently consists of lead vocalist/keytarist Christopher Bowes, bassist Gareth Murdock, drummer Peter Alcorn, keyboardist/harsh vocalist Elliot Vernon and guitarist Máté "Bobo" Bodor.


title: Alestorm

text: After signing to Napalm Records in 2007, their debut album "Captain Morgan's Revenge", was released on 25 January 2008. "Black Sails at Midnight", the band's second album, was released on 27 May 2009. The band's third album, "Back Through Time", was released on 3 June 2011. The fourth album from the band, "Sunset on the Golden Age," was released in August 2014. Their fifth album "No Grave But the Sea" was released on 26 May 2017. Their sixth album, "Curse of the Crystal Coconut", was released on 29 May 2020. Their seventh and most recent album, "Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum" was released on 24 June 2022.


title: Alestorm

text: The band has also released one live album and five EPs. The lead vocalist Christopher Bowes provides the announcer voice for the Pirate team in the video game "Pirates, Vikings and Knights II".


title: Alestorm

text: The band was founded in 2004 in Perth, Scotland as Battleheart, a studio project by Christopher Bowes and Gavin Harper. Originally intended as a standard power metal band, the success of song "Heavy Metal Pirates" convinced the band to permanently adopt a pirate theme and incorporate folk metal elements into their music. Gavin and Christopher recorded & released two independent demos in 2006, which were received well by the local metal community. The band began to perform live in 2006, with a lineup consisting of Bowes (vocals and keytar), Harper (guitars), Dani Evans (bass) and Doug Swierczek (drums). Doug Swierczek eventually left the band later that year and was replaced by Ian Wilson. After a period of inactivity, in late 2007 Battleheart sent their demos to Napalm Records, and the band was promptly offered a record deal.


title: Alestorm

text: After being signed by Napalm Records, the band changed their name from Battleheart to Alestorm. Their debut studio album, "Captain Morgan's Revenge", was released in early 2008. The album featured the drummer of the band Incubator, Migo Wagner as the session drummer. The album was also produced by Incubator guitarist Lasse Lammert.


title: Alestorm

text: In April 2008, the band released the single "Heavy Metal Pirates". Drummer Ian Wilson left in June 2008 and later rejoined in August of the same year. By September 2008, original guitarist Gavin Harper had left the band. Tim Shaw was Harper's replacement, but after a brief period of touring, was fired from the band. To fill the guitarist position, Dani Evans switched instruments from bass to guitar, and Gareth Murdock of Waylander joined as the replacement bassist. The band's second studio album Black Sails at Midnight was released in May 2009. The album peaked at #60 on the GfK Entertainment charts. In March 2010, Ian Wilson left the band and was replaced with a new drummer named Peter Alcorn. Alestorm's third album, "Back Through Time", was Alcorn's first appearance on an Alestorm album. Alestorm went on a "Back Through Time" World Tour starting in Australia and New Zealand. The album reached #42 on the German Albums Chart. In October 2011, Elliot Vernon joined the band as keyboard player and performing screamed / death metal vocals.


title: Alestorm

text: The band released their fourth record entitled "Sunset on the Golden Age" on 1 August 2014, reaching the #1 position in the UK Rock Chart.


title: Alestorm

text: Dani Evans retired from the band in April 2015, and was replaced by Hungarian guitarist Máté Bodor of the band Wisdom, who is also a part of Leander Kills.


title: Alestorm

text: In October 2016, Christopher Bowes announced during a concert on the Super Smashed Turbo Tour that the band planned to begin recording a fifth studio album in January 2017. The fifth record, entitled "No Grave But the Sea", was released on 26 May 2017. The album peaked at #1 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers Albums chart.


title: Alestorm

text: On 8 January 2020, the band announced the title of their sixth studio album, "Curse of the Crystal Coconut". This was released on 29 May 2020. On 30 April, the band released an EP titled, "The Treasure Chest EP". Prior to the album's release, Alestorm released the singles "Treasure Chest Party Quest" on 2 April 2020, "Tortuga" (feat. Captain Yarrface of Rumahoy) on 23 April 2020, and "Fannybaws" on 14 May 2020. The fourth single for the album titled, "Pirate Metal Drinking Crew" was released on 29 May 2020. The album peaked at #68 on the Official Albums Chart. A deluxe version of the album includes the normal track listing, along with what is referred to as ""16th Century Version"" editions of each track was released. On 6 August, The Wooden Box was released and it included two bonus tracks on a 7-inch Single which are "Big Ship Little Ship" and "Bassline Junkie". On 28 May 2021, the band released their second live album, "Live in Tilburg".


title: Alestorm

text: On 16 January 2022, the band announced that they entered the studio to record their seventh studio album, "Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum". On 31 January 2022, the band released a music video for the song "Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship", a song from their sixth album, "Curse of the Crystal Coconut". On 13 March 2022, the band announced that their seventh studio album will be released on 24 June 2022. On 6 April 2022, the band released the lead single, "Magellan's Expedition". On 4 May 2022, the band released the second single, "P.A.R.T.Y.". On 1 June 2022, the band released the third single, "The Battle of Cape Fear River. On 22 June 2022, the band released the fourth single, "Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum".


title: Alestorm

text: Alestorm is generally classified as pirate metal, folk metal, power metal, heavy metal, hard rock, and folk. Alestorm has also included elements of pop, rap metal, nu metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, symphonic metal, cock rock, death metal, symphonic black metal, metalcore, black metal, extreme metal, and Finnish folk music in their music.


title: Alestorm

text: The band refer to themselves as "True Scottish Pirate Metal" and are identifiable by the pirate-themed lyrics in their songs. Alestorm's music utilizes the upbeat epic style of Scottish folk metal and power metal. Album recordings feature heavy use of real trumpets, trombones, accordions synths, fiddle and tin whistle, violins, vibraslaps, brass, keytars, and singalong choruses to convey a pirate sea shanty feel. Alestorm's lyrical themes focus on pirates themes including, sailing, pillaging, and drinking.


title: Alestorm

text: The band's later albums incorporate screaming and death growls performed by keyboard player Elliot Vernon, as well from guest vocalists such as Ken Sorceron and Mathias Lillmåns.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler. , Kallis is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 10,000 runs and take over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test match cricket; he also took 131 ODI catches. He scored 13,289 runs in his Test match career and took 292 wickets and 200 catches.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: Kallis played 166 Test matches and had a batting average of over 55 runs. From October to December 2007, he scored five centuries in four Test matches. With his century in the second innings of the third Test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar's 51.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: Kallis was named Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008 Wisden for his performances in 2007 in addition to being the "ICC Test Player of the Year" and ICC Player of the Year in 2005. He has been described by Kevin Pietersen and Daryll Cullinan as the greatest cricketer to play the game, and along with Wally Hammond and Sir Garry Sobers is one of the few Test all-rounders whose Test batting average is over 50 and exceeds his Test bowling average by 20 or more.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: He was declared the "Player of the Tournament" in South Africa's victorious 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy (now referred to as ICC Champions Trophy) campaign, which until date is South Africa's only ICC tournament win in their history. He finished as the 2nd highest run-scorer and was the leading wicket taker with 'Man of the Match' awards in both the semi-final and the final.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: Kallis became the fourth player and first South African to score 13,000 Test runs on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on 2 January 2013. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013. He retired from Test and first-class cricket after playing in the second test against India at Durban in December 2013; Kallis scored his 45th Test hundred in this match, making him one of the few batsmen to score a century in his final Test. He retired from all forms of international cricket on 30 July 2014.


title: Jacques Kallis

text: In December 2019, it was announced that Jacques Kallis would rejoin the South African national cricket team, The Proteas, as the team's batting consultant for the duration of the summer. In August 2020, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.