title: Catalan independence movement

text: The "Cercle d'Estudis Sobiranistes", a think tank led by the jurists Alfons López Tena and Hèctor López Bofill, was founded in 2007. It affiliated with Solidaritat Catalana per la Independència (Catalan Solidarity for Independence) in 2011.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: At the beginning of 2021, Òmnium Cultural published a manifesto to obtain amnesty for Catalan politicians persecuted by the Spanish justice system. Among the signatories are four Nobel Peace Prize winners and several world-renowned personalities such as Yoko Ono Lennon and Dilma Rousseff. The Nobel Peace Prize winners that signed the manifesto are: Jody Williams, Mairead Corrigan, Shirin Ebadi and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: All of the Spanish national political parties in Catalonia reject the idea of independence, except Catalonia In Common-We Can "(Catalunya En Comú-Podem)" which are pro-referendum but have remained neutral on the issue. Together they represent a minority of votes and a minority of seats in the Catalan parliament. Others such as Ciutadans, and the People's Party of Catalonia, which had 25.4% and 4.2% of the vote respectively in the 2017 Catalan regional election, have always opposed the notion of Catalan self-determination. The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (13.9% of the vote) opposes independence as well. While some of its members supported the idea of a self-determination referendum up until 2012, the official position as of 2015 is that the Spanish Constitution should be reformed in order to better accommodate Catalonia. A slight majority of voters of left-wing platform Catalonia In Common-We Can (Catalunya En Comú-Podem) (8.94%) reject independence although the party favours a referendum in which it would campaign for Catalonia remaining part of Spain. CDC's Catalanist former-partner Unió came out against independence and fared badly in every subsequent election, eventually disbanding due to bankruptcy in 2017.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: On 8 October 2017, Societat Civil Catalana held a rally against Catalan independence; the organisers claimed that over a million people attended, while the Barcelona police force estimated the number at about 300,000. To date this event is the largest pro-Constitution and anti-independence demonstration in the history of Catalonia.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: On 12 October 2017, 65,000 people, according to the Barcelona police, marched against independence in a smaller demonstration marking the Spanish national day. The turnout was thirteen times more than the prior year and the highest on record in Barcelona's history for this event.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: On 29 October 2017, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated on the streets of Barcelona in favor of the unity of Spain and celebrating the Spanish government forcing new regional elections in December, in a demonstration called by Societat Civil Catalana. According to the Delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia the turnout was of 1,000,000 people whereas according to the Barcelona police it was of 300,000 people. Societat Civil Catalana itself estimated the turnout at 1,000,000 people.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: In 2017 the concept of 'Tabarnia' became popular on social media and received widespread media attention. Tabarnia is a fictional region covering urban coastal Catalonia demanding independence from the wider region, should it proceed with independence. Arguments in favor of Tabarnia satirically mirror those in favor of Catalan independence from Spain. Numerous separatists were critical of the concept and responded that the parody unfairly trivializes Catalonia's independence movement, which is based in part on Catalonia's distinct culture and identity. This proposal, from a platform created in 2011, was shown to map the electoral results of the Catalan regional election of 21 December 2017, which provoked renewed interest. The word 'Tabarnia' went viral on 26 December 2017, reaching worldwide top-trending status with over 648,000 mentions. The first major demonstration in favour of Tabarnia's autonomy from Catalonia took place in Barcelona on the 4th of February 2017, with 15,000 participants according to the Guàrdia Urbana and 200,000 according to organizers.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: In these years, different figures from Catalan culture and politics have spoken out against the process, like Joan Manuel Serrat, Josep Borrell, Isabel Coixet, Pau Gasol, Mercedes Milá, "Estopa", Montserrat Caballé or Núria Espert among others.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: This is a list of recent opinion polling on the subject. Most polls are conducted by the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió, a research institute under the purview of the Catalan government, or the Institut de Ciencès Politiques i Socials, a part of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. However newspapers such as La Vanguardia or El Periodico also sometimes conduct polls on the subject.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: Questions about a referendum are listed below if asked, however the ICPS also asked 'Do you want Catalunya to be an independent state or do you prefer to stay part of Spain?', where 'stay part of Spain' regularly performs ~10 points better than 'No' on the referendum question.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: Under Spanish law, lawfully exiting Spain would require the Spanish parliament to amend the constitution. It may be difficult for an independent Catalonia to gain international recognition; for example, many countries fail to recognize Kosovo, despite Kosovo having a strong humanitarian claim to independence. Most of Catalonia's foreign exports go to the European Union; Catalonia would need Spain's permission if it wishes to eventually re-enter the EU following secession. Catalonia already runs its own police, schools, healthcare, transport, agriculture, environment policy, municipal governments; other institutions, such as a central bank and a revenue collection service, would have to be rebuilt, possibly losing existing economies of scale. Accounting measures vary, but the BBC and "The Washington Post" cite estimates that in 2014 Catalans may have paid about 10 billion Euros (or about US$12 billion) more in taxes to the State than what it received in exchange. As of 2014, an independent Catalonia would be the 34th largest economy in the world. Should Catalonia secede from Spain, some residents of Val d'Aran (population 10,000) have stated they might break away from Catalonia, although others state that the local identity has only been recognised by the Catalan Government, something the Spanish State never did.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: Opponents of Catalan independence have accused the movement of racism or elitism, and argue that the majority of the Catalan public does not support independence. In an op-ed for "The Guardian" Aurora Nacarino-Brabo and Jorge San Miguel Lobeto, two political scientists affiliated with the anti-independence Ciutadans Spanish nationalist party, disputed the claim that Catalonia has been oppressed or excluded from Spanish politics. They argued that the independence movement is "neither inclusive nor progressive", and criticised nationalists for excluding the Spanish speaking population of Catalonia, and resorting to what they argue are appeals to ethnicity. These criticisms of ethnic-based appeals and exclusion of Spanish speakers have been echoed by other politicians and public figures opposed to independence, such as former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González, and the leader of Ciutadans in Catalonia Inés Arrimadas. Polls show that the wish for independence is positively correlated with having Catalonia-born parents and grandparents, families which also tend to fare better economically.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: Statements by different key figures in the independence movement have sometimes contributed to this view. In 2013 Carme Forcadell, then president of the influential Assemblea Nacional Catalana and later president of the Parliament of Catalonia publicly declared that the Partido Popular and Citizens were not part of the 'Catalan people' and hence were 'enemies' to defeat. Former president of the Parliament of Catalonia Núria de Gispert has been involved in controversy over the years due to her Tweets, including comparing members of those two parties with pigs to be exported, or for revealing the address of the school where Citizens' leader Albert Rivera's daughter studied. Quim Torra, who was appointed president of the regional parliament of Catalonia in 2018, was also involved in controversy regarding past tweets suggesting “Spaniards know only how to plunder” and describing them as having “a rough patch in their DNA”.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: Members of the Catalan independence movement have strongly denied their movement is xenophobic or supremacist and define it as "an inclusive independence movement in which neither the origin nor the language are important". In addition, independence supporters usually allege most far-right and xenophobic groups in Catalonia support Spanish nationalism, and usually participate in unionist demonstrations.


title: Catalan independence movement

text: On the part of the independence movement, the Comitès de Defensa de la República (Committees for the Defense of the Republic; CDR) were created and organised to hinder police action through passive resistance. In September 2019, seven members of the CDR, alleged to be a branch called "Equipos de Respuesta Técnica" (Tactical Response Teams), were arrested for terrorist offenses; they were said to have been found with explosive material and maps of official buildings. Three of them were released on bail in October 2019.


title: Pamela Rooke

text: Pamela Rooke (23 June 1955 – 3 April 2022), also known as Jordan and Jordan Mooney, was an English model and actress known for her work with Vivienne Westwood and the SEX boutique in the Kings Road area of London in the mid-1970s, and for attending many of the early Sex Pistols performances. Her style and dress sense—a bleached platinum-blonde bouffant hairdo with dark raccoon-like eye make-up—made her a highly visible icon of the London punk subculture. Along with Johnny Rotten, Soo Catwoman and Siouxsie Sioux, she is credited with creating the London punk look.


title: Pamela Rooke

text: She took the single name "Jordan" at the age of 14, in Seaford, East Sussex. When Jordan first walked into 430 King's Road, London, wearing gold stilettos, a see-through net skirt, with a white bouffant hairstyle, it had just changed to SEX,


title: Pamela Rooke

text: Rooke commuted for two hours each day to London from Seaford. She recalled that her punk image caused problems for her:


title: Pamela Rooke

text: In the late 1970s, she served as an early manager for Adam and the Ants. She recorded the track "Lou" (about Lou Reed) as a guest lead vocalist with the band for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel's Peel Sessions and often performed the song live with them from mid-1977 up to May 1978 when she left the band. In the 1980s, she managed the band Wide Boy Awake, in which her then-husband Kevin Mooney was a guitarist. Mooney had previously been the bassist in Adam and the Ants.


title: Pamela Rooke

text: She made a cameo appearance in Derek Jarman's debut film "Sebastiane", and played the lead role in his follow-up film "Jubilee" as the punk "anti-historian" Amyl Nitrate (named after the drug amyl nitrite). She can also be seen in Julien Temple's "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" wearing an "Only anarchists are pretty" T-shirt and appearing on stage with the Sex Pistols during their first live television performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." in August 1976.


title: Pamela Rooke

text: Maisie Williams plays Rooke in the FX Network series "Pistol", which portrays Rooke's political influence and her ethos of turning the male gaze in on itself, weaponizing the male gaze.


title: Pamela Rooke

text: In 1984, after divorcing Mooney, she returned to Seaford, breeding Burmese cats and working as a veterinary nurse. Rooke's autobiography, "Defying Gravity: Jordan's Story", written with Cathi Unsworth, was published by Omnibus Press in 2019.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: French 75 is a cocktail made from gin, champagne, lemon juice, and sugar. It is also called a 75 Cocktail, or in French simply a "Soixante Quinze" (Seventy Five).


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The drink dates to World War I, and an early form was created in 1915 at the New York Bar in Paris—later Harry's New York Bar—by barman Harry MacElhone. The combination was said to have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm field gun.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The drink with its current name and recipe developed over the 1920s, though similar drinks date to the 19th century. In the 19th century, the "champagne cup" was a popular cocktail, consisting of champagne, lemon juice, sugar, and ice. Gin was sometimes added, yielding a drink much like the French 75.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The drink was first recorded as the "75" in "Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails", 1922 edition, by Harry MacElhone, and in the same year in Robert Vermeire's "Cocktails: How to Mix Them", which credits the drink to MacElhone. However, the recipes differed from the current form – MacElhone's version consisted of Calvados, gin, grenadine, and absinthe, while Vermeire added lemon juice.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The recipe took its now-classic form and "French 75" name in "Here’s How", by Judge Jr. (1927), consisting of gin, sugar, lemon juice, and champagne. This recipe was republished with the name "French 75" in "The Savoy Cocktail Book" (1930), which helped popularize the drink. Some later cocktail books use cognac instead of gin, such as "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" by David A. Embury.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The French 75 was popularized in America at the Stork Club in New York. It appears in the movie "Casablanca" (1942) and is referenced twice in the John Wayne films "A Man Betrayed" (1941) and "Jet Pilot" (1957). In 2016, it appears in the ITV series "Mr. Selfridge", which is set in London in the 1910s and 1920s.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: A fanciful alternative story of the invention of the French 75 was related by humorist Jean Shepherd on November 17, 1969, wherein he credits Gervais Raoul Lufbery as the inventor. The mixture, as related by Shepherd, is champagne and cognac on ice with perhaps a twist of lemon. This version is not credible, given the documented earlier version.


title: French 75 (cocktail)

text: The recipe of the French 75 is very similar to one of the most popular cocktails, the Tom Collins, with champagne replacing carbonated water. According to the recipe in Harry MacElhone's book "Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails", a French 75 is supposed to be served in a highball glass. The highball glass, which the Tom Collins cocktail is also served in, supports the theory of the French 75 being a variation of the Tom Collins.


title: Adam G. Sevani

text: Adam G. Sevani (born June 29, 1992) is an American actor and dancer, known for playing Robert "Moose" Alexander III in the Step Up film series.


title: Adam G. Sevani

text: In February 2008, Sevani appeared in the Touchstone Pictures dance drama film "", the second installment of the "Step Up" film series. The film centered on a group of students who form a dance troupe and battle on the streets. Sevani's performance as Robert "Moose" Alexander III was praised by critics, such as The New York Times, for portraying a character who "might be the baddest nerd in movie history". The film, which received generally mixed reviews, went on to gross over $150 million worldwide. For his role in the film, Sevani received the "Best Scene Stealer" award at the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards.


title: Adam G. Sevani

text: In May 2009 Sevani was confirmed to reprise the role of Moose in the third installment of the "Step Up" series. Filming took place in New York City on a $30 million budget. The film, "Step Up 3D", centers on Moose and his best friend Camille Alyson Stoner moving to New York to start University until Sevani's character gets mixed up in the underground dance scene. The film was released in August 2010 to generally mixed reviews from critics. As of August 2012, the film is the highest grossing installment of the franchise, with over $159 million worldwide. In July 2012, Sevani made a small appearance in the series' fourth installment, "Step Up Revolution". In 2014, Sevani once again reprised his role as Moose in the fifth installment of the Step Up film series, "".


title: Adam G. Sevani

text: In August 2010, Sevani was confirmed to star in the American remake of the 2008 French film "LOL (Laughing Out Loud)", alongside Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore and Ashley Greene. The film centers on Cyrus's character finishing her final year of high school. In May 2012, the film received a limited US release, and was given bad reviews from critics.


title: Adam G. Sevani

text: Sevani has appeared in music videos such as: Mase's "Breathe, Stretch, Shake", Will Smith's "Switch", T-Pain's "Church" and a little part in NLT's "That Girl." He also did the choreography for NLT's music video for "Karma." He is credited as a back-up dancer for Kevin Federline's performance on the Teen Choice Awards in 2006. Adam also formed a dance crew with Jon Chu and several California area dancers with celebrity cameos in 2008 known as the AC/DC, or Adam/Chu Dance Crew. The crew had a highly publicized YouTube dance battle with Miley Cyrus. The battle ended with a final dance off between the two crews at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards. In November 2008, he was featured in a tribute video to Michael Jackson's 25th Anniversary 'Thriller' video, with "Step Up" series co-star Alyson Stoner.


title: Ratatoskr

text: In Norse mythology, Ratatoskr (Old Norse, generally considered to mean "drill-tooth" or "bore-tooth") is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry messages between the eagles perched atop Yggdrasil, and the serpent Níðhöggr, who dwells beneath one of the three roots of the tree. Ratatoskr is attested in the "Poetic Edda", compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the "Prose Edda", written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.


title: Ratatoskr

text: The name "Ratatoskr" contains two elements: "rata-" and "-toskr". The element "toskr" is generally held to mean "tusk". Guðbrandur Vigfússon theorized that the "rati-" element means "the traveller". He says that the name of the legendary drill Rati may feature the same term. According to Vigfússon, "Ratatoskr" means "tusk the traveller" or "the climber tusk."


title: Ratatoskr

text: Sophus Bugge theorized that the name "Ratatoskr" is a loanword from Old English meaning "Rat-tooth." Bugge's basis hinges on the fact that the "-toskr" element of the compound does not appear anywhere else in Old Norse. Bugge proposed that the "-toskr" element is a reformation of the Old English word "tūsc" (Old Frisian "tusk") and, in turn, that the element "Rata-" represents Old English "ræt" ("rat").


title: Ratatoskr

text: According to Albert Sturtevant, "[as] far as the element "Rata-" is concerned, Bugge's hypothesis has no valid foundation in view of the fact that the [Old Norse] word "Rata" (gen. form of "Rati"*) is used in "Háv[amál]" (106, 1) to signify the instrument which Odin employed for "boring" his way through the rocks in quest of the poet's mead [...]" and that ""Rati*" must then be considered a native [Old Norse] word meaning "The Borer, Gnawer" [...]".


title: Ratatoskr

text: Sturtevant says that Bugge's theory regarding the element "-toskr" may appear to be supported by the fact that the word does not appear elsewhere in Old Norse. However, Sturtevant says that the Old Norse proper name "Tunne" (derived from Proto-Norse "*Tunþē") refers to "a person who is characterized as having some peculiar sort of "tooth"" and theorizes a Proto-Germanic form of "-toskr". Sturtevant concludes that "the fact that the [Old Norse] word occurs only in the name "Rata-toskr" is no valid evidence against this assumption, for there are many [Old Norse] "hapax legomena" of native origin, as is attested by the equivalents in the Mod[ern] Scandinavian dialects." Modern scholars have accepted this etymology, listing the name "Ratatoskr" as meaning "drill-tooth" (Jesse Byock, Andy Orchard, Rudolf Simek) or "bore-tooth" (John Lindow).


title: Ratatoskr

text: In the "Poetic Edda" poem "Grímnismál", the god Odin (disguised as "Grímnir") says that Ratatoskr runs up and down Yggdrasil bringing messages between the eagle perched atop it and Níðhöggr below it:


title: Ratatoskr

text: An eagle sits at the top of the ash, and it has knowledge of many things. Between its eyes sits the hawk called Vedrfolnir [...]. The squirrel called Ratatosk [...] runs up and down the ash. He tells slanderous gossip, provoking the eagle and Nidhogg.


title: Ratatoskr

text: According to Rudolf Simek, "the squirrel probably only represents an embellishing detail to the mythological picture of the world-ash in "Grímnismál". Hilda Ellis Davidson, describing the world tree, states the squirrel is said to gnaw at it—furthering a continual destruction and re-growth cycle, and posits the tree symbolizes ever-changing existence. John Lindow points out that Yggdrasil is described as rotting on one side and as being chewed on by four harts and Níðhöggr, and that, according to the account in "Gylfaginning", it also bears verbal hostility in the fauna it supports. Lindow adds that "in the sagas, a person who helps stir up or keep feuds alive by ferrying words of malice between the participants is seldom one of high status, which may explain the assignment of this role in the mythology to a relatively insignificant animal".


title: Ratatoskr

text: Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie Ferrell theorize that "the role of Ratatosk probably derived from the habit of European tree squirrels ("Sciurus vulgaris") to give a scolding alarm call in response to danger. It takes little imagination for you to think that the squirrel is saying nasty things about you."


title: Ratatoskr

text: A fragment of Ratatoskr, nicknamed “Bitter” and voiced by Troy Baker, appears in the 2018 video game "God of War", where he has the ability to provide the player with healing items. The actual Ratatoskr appears in the 2022 sequel, "God of War Ragnarök" (alongside Bitter), tending to the world tree Yggdrasil; this version of the character is voiced by SungWon Cho.


title: Ratatoskr

text: In the 2010 video game "Young Thor", Ratatoskr is depicted as an ally of Hel, who serves as the game's antagonist.


title: Ratatoskr

text: Ratatoskr also appears in the 2020 video game "Assassin's Creed Valhalla", where he engages the player in flyting, a poetic duel, in the mythical realm of Jötunheimr.


title: Ratatoskr

text: In the comic book series "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl", Ratatoskr is featured as a villainous female squirrel god from Asgard who wants to destroy all of humanity. She was defeated by Squirrel Girl after she teamed up with Thor and Loki. However, she later teamed up with Squirrel Girl to fight the Frost Giants.


title: Ratatoskr

text: Ratatoskr appears in the trading card game "" as 'Toski, Bearer of Secrets'; a homage to the mythical creature. The card’s effects connote Toski's tenacity to exchange information between the many realms of Kaldheim.


title: Ratatoskr

text: Ratatoskr can be cast as the spell "Ratatoskr's Spin," as of 2019, in the video game Wizard101, where he climbs down the world tree, digging up a giant acorn and damaging all enemies with it.


title: Ratatoskr

text: In the novel "Hammered", Atticus rides Ratatoskr to the top of Yggdrasil on his quest to steal the golden apples of Iðunn.


title: Ratatoskr

text: Ratatosk is referenced in Larry Niven's novel "Rainbow Mars". Plans were made to capture a giant squirrel that ran up and down the World Tree (Yggdrasil). Although called "Batatosk" in the story, it is clearly referring to the mythical creature Ratatosk.


title: Ratatoskr

text: Ratatosk is the name of the Summon Spirit of Monsters in "", though his role is quite a bit different from Norse myth. He is responsible for managing the distribution of mana through the world (via monsters). He resides in Ginnungagap, and also acts as the guardian of the gate to Niflheim. Much of the story of the game is centered around him.


title: Ratatoskr

text: The Ratatosk Express is the name given to the train in The Mechanisms' album, 'The Bifrost Incident', which is the setting for the majority of the events in the album.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club is a fictional society appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Hellfire Club often comes into confrontation with the mutant superhero team, the X-Men. Although the Club appears to merely be an international social club for wealthy elites, its clandestine Inner Circle seeks to influence world events, in accordance with their own agenda.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club was created in 1980 by the "Uncanny X-Men" writer/artist duo of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, who were heavily influenced by a 1966 episode of the British television series "The Avengers" ("A Touch of Brimstone"). The name "Hellfire Club" in fact has a historical precedent, having been a popular name for gentlemen's clubs in the 18th century. Additionally, the hierarchy of the Inner Circle is modeled on the pieces of a chess set, with Black and White sets of Kings, Queens, Bishops and Rooks.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club and its Inner Circle were introduced in "The Dark Phoenix Saga", attempting to subvert the X-Men's Jean Grey. This incarnation, composed most notably of Black King Sebastian Shaw and White Queen Emma Frost, would remain prominent for many years. After their initial confrontations, the Hellfire Club and the X-Men settled into an uneasy alliance. This eventually changed as endless power struggles perpetuated a series of upheavals within the Inner Circle. The club has appeared in two X-Men animated series ("" and "Wolverine and the X-Men"), both times being renamed as simply The Inner Circle, due to the aversion of using the term "hellfire" in a children's cartoon. Members of the Hellfire Club appeared in 2011's "" as the main villains, led by Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, Azazel and Riptide. The Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle also appear as the main antagonists of the second season of the television series "The Gifted" led by a character named Reeva Payge played by Grace Byers, and the Frost sisters played by Skyler Samuels.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In creating the Hellfire Club, "Uncanny X-Men" writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne drew heavily upon a 1966 episode of the British spy series "The Avengers" entitled "A Touch of Brimstone". In the episode, agents John Steed and Emma Peel attempt to infiltrate a secret society named after the Hellfire Club of the 18th century, whose members of the "Inner Circle" all wear period costumes. Emma Peel's guise as "the Queen of Sin", dressed in a black leather corset, would be the model for the Club's Queens, her first name even borrowed for White Queen Emma Frost. The leader of the episode's club was played by actor Peter Wyngarde, best known for his role as Jason King, forming the basis for Mastermind's new "Jason Wyngarde" identity.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The other members of Claremont and Byrne's Hellfire Club were similarly drawn from the names and faces of famous actors: Sebastian Shaw was based on actor Robert Shaw, Harry Leland on Orson Welles (who acted as Harry Lime in "The Third Man" and whose film "Citizen Kane" featured a reporter named Jed Leland), and Donald Pierce was based on Donald Sutherland (the surname referencing his Hawkeye Pierce character from "M*A*S*H").


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Later writers would further the references to "The Avengers": Sir Patrick and Lady Diana, from the Philadelphia branch of the 1780s, are named after actors Patrick Macnee (John Steed) and Diana Rigg (Mrs. Emma Peel); conversely, the Black Queen of the London branch was revealed to be named Ms. Emma Steed.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club counts among its members the most famous, wealthy, and influential members of society. Membership is passed on to descendants, and can also be earned through wealth or influence. While many accept the invitation simply for the pleasures that the Club offers, others seek wealth and influence. In fact, the purpose of the Hellfire Club is to obtain and exert power through politics and economic influence instead of outward conquest and domination. Since its foundation, the Hellfire Club has been involved in wars and assassinations to further the agendas of the Club's most powerful members.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Club has branches in New York City, London, Hong Kong, and Paris; the various branches are all overseen by the Lord Imperial (a position long-held by Sir Gordon Phillips). Unbeknownst to most members is the Club's Inner Circle. Originally known as the Council of the Chosen, this secret group formed around Edward "Ned" Buckman, each member assuming the titles of the major chess pieces. As White King, Buckman financed Stephen Lang's revived Sentinel program with the assistance of probationary member Sebastian Shaw. Shaw, now Black Bishop, began securing allies within the Club, meeting Harry Leland, Emma Frost, and Donald Pierce, as well as his loyal assistant, Tessa. Buckman, no longer having a use for the dangerously-ambitious Shaw, ordered a Sentinel attack on Shaw and his allies, resulting in the death of Shaw's lover, Lourdes Chantel. That night, Shaw and Emma Frost purged the entire Council of the Chosen, remaking it as the Lords Cardinal and appointing themselves Black King and White Queen.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Shaw's Inner Circle soon turned their attentions to the X-Men, kidnapping several of their number. Mastermind, as Jason Wyngarde, was made a probationary member pending his subversion of the X-Men's Jean Grey. Jean Grey was in fact the Phoenix, a god-like cosmic entity who became unstable after Mastermind's psychic manipulations, turning into the Dark Phoenix. The Hellfire Club had failed, and the X-Men had taken their toll: Phoenix had driven Mastermind insane, Colossus had crippled Donald Pierce and Wolverine nearly killed Harry Leland and several guards.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Despite such setbacks, the Inner Circle continued to pursue its agenda. Shaw, using his connections to Senator Robert Kelly to initiate Project: Wideawake, secured a government contract for Shaw Industries to manufacture Sentinels, profiting from the state of fear concerning the "mutant menace" despite secretly being a mutant himself. Frost meanwhile ran the Massachusetts Academy, a prestigious preparatory school affiliated with the Hellfire Club that secretly trained a team of young mutants, known as the Hellions. The Inner Circle also underwent some personnel changes, notably the expulsion of Donald Pierce for conspiring against his mutant colleagues, and the addition of Selene as Black Queen.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Although the hierarchy of the Inner Circle goes through constant upheaval due to the competing egos and political motives of its members, it continues to exist in the same basic structure today.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Magneto briefly took the title of Grey King after Sebastian Shaw was voted out of the Inner Circle, and with Emma Frost he began plotting against Black Queen Selene, having planted Hellion Empath into Nova Roma via his relationship with New Mutant Magma prior to ousting Shaw. However, when Magneto discovered the X-Man Rogue alive and well in the Savage Land (where Magneto was visiting), Magneto abandoned the Hellfire Club and ultimately went into exile when he was rejected by Rogue when he murdered the Savage Land priestess Zaladane. Meanwhile, Emma Frost attempted to force former Hellion Firestar to rejoin the Hellions but was rebuked by Firestar and her new teammates in the New Warriors.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Disjointed, Selene exploited the chaos to launch a pre-emptive strike to slaughter the Lord Cardinals with aid from a group of young mutant "Upstarts" who were loyal to Selene. Points for each kill were awarded by the Gamesmaster and Magneto, Shaw, Pierce, and Frost were all targeted, before Selene herself was betrayed by Trevor Fritzroy and Gamemaster. During this time the Inner Circle of the London branch was working behind the American branch's back and was influencing Parliament and the secret government agency "Black Air". Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) held a position for a short term on Shinobi Shaw's advisement to investigate its activities as they had mutual objectives. Excalibur collected evidence of their crimes and the Inner Circle was either arrested or went into hiding.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Upstarts' uprising was quashed by Sebastian Shaw. He reinstated some of the old Inner Circle until he disbanded it due to his own invested interest in business pursuits. The Club still continued loosely partly due to Selene's influence, although it never had the same prestige as the original.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Sebastian Shaw again reformed a variation of the original Inner Circle with a nobler outlook posing as a force for good, which may have been a deception on his part. Tessa/Sage rejoined the Inner Circle to observe this and to assist Roberto da Costa's usurping the position of Lord Imperial which Shaw had claimed.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club was next under the leadership of Roberto da Costa as the Lord Imperial aided by Sage. Sat-Yr-9 (under the guise of Courtney Ross) as the new White Queen, aided by her assassin Viper, her "Warrior White Princess". As with many members in the past, both Sat-Yr-9 and Viper have their own personal agendas.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Following M-Day, Sunspot remains as Lord Imperial, while Shaw resumes his activities, though under Sunspot's close watch. While Sat-Yr-9's whereabouts remain unknown, Viper returns to Madripoor to oversee HYDRA operations and Sage became a member of the short-lived New Excalibur, only to end up as one of the Exiles.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: When the X-Men and many other powered or depowered mutants came to San Francisco, an offshoot of the Club, known as the Hellfire Cult, begins attacking mutants and "species traitors". Officially, their leadership appears to be Empath, but the real power behind the scenes is the mysterious Red Queen. Their activities draw the attention of the X-Men.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Kade Kilgore later took control of the Hellfire Club. Kilgore founded the Hellfire Academy where he recruited mutant outlaws as its faculty and started looking for students to attend this school. The Hellfire Academy serves as the direct opponent for the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Lord Imperial is not a member of the Inner Circle or any particular branch of the Hellfire Club; the Lord Imperial is the true leader of the Hellfire Club and oversees all branches of it. As such, only a few individuals have held the title. Sir Gordon Phillips, while unknown at the time, ruled as Lord Imperial for most of the club's modern history, holding the position from before the club's introduction until his death: killed by Sabertooth on a cruise ship filled with humans infected with the Legacy Virus.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The constant intrigue, backstabbing, blackmailing and politicking that plague the Hellfire Club have resulted in many changes of the Inner Circle, as new players seek out membership in order to obtain influence, power and wealth. The following lists the membership of each incarnation of the Inner Circle and the title they held; in descending order of rank are Kings and Queens, followed by Bishops and Rooks.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Sebastian Shaw was instrumental in the Hellfire Club's funding of Stephen Lang's resurrected Sentinel program, but having completed his purpose, White King Ned Buckman sought to eliminate the ambitious Black Bishop. After a Sentinel attack on Shaw's beach house resulted in the death of his lover, Lourdes Chantel, Shaw and his ally Emma Frost purged the entire Council in one night and appointed themselves its Black King and White Queen.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Shaw renamed The Council of the Chosen as The Lords Cardinal following his takeover of the New York branch, and appointed a number of allies to key positions. Frost began running the Massachusetts Academy at this time. Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind, later became a probationary member pending his subversion of the X-Men's Jean Grey into the Club's Black Queen.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Following Mastermind's failed subversion of Jean Grey, the title of Black Queen was once again empty. Donald Pierce reached the rank of White King but was later expelled for conspiring against his mutant colleagues. New members appointed during this period were:


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: A truce between the Hellfire Club and the X-Men began after an encounter with Nimrod resulted in the deaths of Leland and von Roehm. This truce soon grew into a formal alliance as Storm and Magneto, as the leaders of the X-Men and Xavier's school respectively, took over the shared position of White King.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Storm and the X-Men would later seemingly die, leaving Magneto alone to deal with the Inner Circle. After a protracted power struggle, Magneto turned Emma Frost and Selene against Shaw and expelled him from Inner Circle, assuming both mantles as the new Grey King. Magneto, while never formally resigning, would soon withdraw from the club, after relocating to Savage Land to deal with the threat of the villainess Zaladane. Meanwhile, Selene would turn against Frost and Magneto after learning that the two had sent Empath (one of Emma's students) to Selene's Amazon fortress Nova Roma in order to subvert Selene's granddaughter Magma. Selene would create "The Upstarts", a group of young and wealthy mutants who replace the Hellfire Club. Organizing a "game" where whichever member killed the most Hellfire Club members would rule the group, Emma Frost's students in the Hellfire Club were slaughtered by Trevor Fitzroy and Emma herself put into a coma. Fitzroy also "killed" Donald Pierce and his Reavers. Magneto meanwhile, having relocated to Asteroid M, invited a young healer named Fabian Cortez and his group known as the Acolytes to stay with him. Cortez (whose power was to boost other mutants abilities) manipulated Magneto into declaring war upon the X-Men and ultimately hijacked control over a SHIELD orbital weapons platform, to blow up Asteroid M, seemingly killing Magneto. Sebastian Shaw would be "killed" by Shinobi Shaw, a young mutant who was fathered by Harry Leland but raised by Sebastian as his son. In retaliation, Empath used his powers to manipulate all of Nova Roma (including Magma) into thinking they were kidnapped victims of Selene's, who had been manipulated due to her mind control powers, into thinking they were citizens of an ancient, long lost Roman settlement in South America. Selene however, would soon fall prey to her new allies own wrath as Trevor Fitzroy and Selene's ally, the Gamemaster, turned against her and allowed Gamemaster to take control over the Upstarts.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: White Rook Emmanuel da Costa was also killed around this period, though his death was unrelated to the agenda of the Upstarts. A group of immortal mutants known as the Externals, became aware of a prophecy that one of the New Mutants was destined to play a major role in the salvation of the planet. The prophecy referenced two New Mutants in particular, de Costa's son Sunspot and the New Mutant Cannonball, one of which potentially possessed the secondary mutation of immortality and the destiny of savior of mutantkind. As Cable infiltrated the New Mutants under the notion that Cannonball was to be the immortal messiah, the External's leader Gideon sought to corrupt Sunspot, who was the messiah promised in the prophecy. Already a family friend, Gideon had de Costa's secretary poison the White Rook in order to force his super-hero son to leave the New Mutants and take leadership of his family's company. When Cannonball survived a near fatal impaling (which Cable mistook as being the result of his being immortal), Gideon turned on Sunspot who was ultimately rescued by X-Force.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: With exception of de Costa; all of the Hellfire Club Lord Cardinals killed by the Upstarts, later recovered. Sebastian Shaw faked his death, as did Magneto. Donald Pierce was rebuilt by Stryfe along with the rest of the Reavers, while Emma Frost recovered from her coma and repented her evil ways.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Selene had originally planned on creating a new Inner Circle with the help of the Upstarts - among them Shinobi Shaw, son of Sebastian Shaw - but they betrayed and imprisoned her. Believing to have successfully assassinated his father, Shinobi Shaw briefly took over the New York branch of the Club, seemingly with support from the External Candra. He offered membership in his Inner Circle to Archangel, Storm, and Sunspot (also known as Roberto da Costa, son of former White Rook Emmanuel da Costa), but all declined.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The titles of Payge and Kaur are not established. When Cordelia Frost (younger sister of Emma) applies for membership to the Inner Circle, Shinobi states that the title of White Queen is already taken.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Shinobi Shaw's actions as Black King were limited to failed attempts at extending his influence and monitoring the London branch of the Club.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club's London branch is introduced briefly operating parallel to Shinobi's Inner Circle. Instead of Black and White, the titles of the London Inner Circle are designated Black and Red.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Captain Britain, having inherited club membership from his father, Sir James Braddock, was asked by Shinobi Shaw to infiltrate the London Inner Circle, as the branch's mysterious agenda surely ran counter to both their interests. The London Branch and their plans were soon brought to an end after a failed attempt to use a demon's essence to control the city. The Black Queen and Red King were taken into police custody.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Sebastian Shaw, despite his apparent death, later re-emerged and retook control of the Hellfire Club in attempt to restore its former power and glory. Selene, freed from her imprisonment by the Upstarts, took under her influence a resurrected Madelyne Pryor in her quest for revenge. Shaw meanwhile attempted to ally with the AOA-exile Holocaust. Meeting in New York, Shaw proposes a reformation of the Inner Circle with the following line-up: At first operating in secret from outside the Hellfire Club (still under Shinobi Shaw's control), Sebastian's group soon reasserted control over the organization.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Selene's mind control over Madelyne Pryor eventually waned, and the Black Rook's allegiance soon turned to Sebastian Shaw. Concerned, Selene contacted Fitzroy and Tessa to counteract the changing balance of power. Donald Pierce returned to the Hellfire Club as a probationary member, however his failure in attaining the alien technology of Apocalypse resulted in his expulsion from the group. Pryor meanwhile had betrayed and deserted the club. Shaw, presented with a mysterious offer, decided to accept its terms and resign from the Inner Circle, advising Fitzroy to do the same.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Selene, finding herself the sole remaining member of the Inner Circle, reformed the club in her own image and allied with the ruler of Hell, Blackheart. After a confrontation with the Fantastic Four, Blackheart is imprisoned and Selene's captive Daimon Hellstrom is freed; Hellstorm then became the club's White King to ensure a balance of power and light. Selene would later successfully induct Sunspot (Roberto da Costa, son of former Black Rook Emmanuel da Costa) into the Inner Circle, offering the resurrection of his long-dead girlfriend, Julianna, who died saving his life.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: It is unknown what led to the dissolution of this incarnation. The Hellfire Club was found closed and abandoned, covered in blackbriar thorns; Selene herself was trapped inside the mansion, unable to leave.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: After the death of Sir Gordon Phillips at the hands of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Sebastian Shaw positioned himself as the new Lord Imperial and, as such, oversaw the entire Hellfire Club.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Selene, despite remaining imprisoned underneath the Hellfire Club's New York mansion and not actively participating in the Inner Circle, has apparently retained her title of Black Queen. It was also revealed that Emma Frost, despite having left the club long ago and having since joined the X-Men, still retained her membership and White Queen title. Sat-Yr-9 confronts Emma Frost and, assuming her title, becomes the newest addition to the Inner Circle, bringing with her bodyguard and self-appointed "White Warrior Princess" Viper.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: A confrontation with Donald Pierce leaves Sebastian Shaw gravely injured, and Sunspot takes over as Lord Imperial, which was Tessa's plan all along. Tessa left the Club, still under Sunspot's rule, and joined New Excalibur in the wake of M-Day. Shaw has since returned as the Black King, seemingly plotting to rebuild his power base.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: A mysterious new Inner Circle emerged in the pages of 'Astonishing X-Men' vol. 3. Members of this version were never given titles since they were revealed to be psionic projections created by Emma Frost at the behest of Cassandra Nova. In an attempt to free herself the X-Men, Cassandra had placed a portion of her consciousness in Frost's prior to being mentally imprisoned and launched an assault on the X-Mansion by using Emma as a Trojan horse. Other than Cassandra Nova, each member appears to represent a different aspect of Emma's past with Negasonic Teenage Warhead being a former student of hers who died in Genosha; Perfection, a manifestation of Emma's younger, evil self and Sebastian Shaw representing her time with the Hellfire Club.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Selene, finding herself once again the sole remaining member of the Inner Circle, and disappointed by the many betrayals from Sebastian Shaw and his Hellfire Club, decided it was time to rise to goddesshood, a state she believed she was destined for. To accomplish that, she specifically recruited a Coven of deadly mutants to seek revenge against all those that had betrayed her or stood in her way in the past. Together they went to the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, where she cut all ties with them by using her new Inner Circle to slaughter every person there. This Inner Circle was made up of mostly by mutants whose abilities were designed for killing. Membership consisted of:


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Sebastian Shaw's Inner Circle eventually reemerged. Wolverine came into confrontation with a new "Inner Circle", under the false impression (by Sebastian Shaw and "Miss Sinister") that they are behind the kidnapping of his son, Daken.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In the event "Schism", there has apparently been a pro-human coup in the Hellfire Club, all mutant members have been removed, and 12-year-old supergenius Kade Kilgore has been named the new Black King. Kilgore then called together a cabal of prepubescent geniuses to secretly rule the Hellfire Club and eradicate mutantkind, then proceeding to poison the other remaining Hellfire Club members, making them the sole leadership. Kade Kilgore later had a change of heart and began recruiting mutants to his side to train the newly manifested mutants at the Hellfire Academy. The Hellfire Academy is destroyed by the staff of the Jean Grey School.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Sebastian Shaw has since regained control of the Hellfire Club and in an attempt to restore its former power and glory, decided to ally himself with Magneto and his X-Men branch to form a new Inner Circle.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Eventually Emma Frost decided to rid of Shaw, by spiking his wine with a paralytic agent she made sure there was no way for him to release his body's absorbed energies which overloaded his Mothervine-induced secondary mutation, resulting in his death. She then reformed the Inner Circle in her image and using Vanisher as her personal transportation, she worked behind the scenes to get the X-Men to handle certain affairs.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: With mutants congregating on Krakoa, Kade Kilgore is able to retake control of the Hellfire Club branch in New York City. Opting later to rename themselves as "Homines Verendi", a Latin name which roughly translates to "man must be revered and feared", Kade and his group (Maximilian Frankenstein, Manuel Enduque and Wilhemina Kensington) recruited Taiwanese millionaire and anti-mutant activist, Chen Zhao and stands poised ready to tear down the new age of mutantkind as they are involved in the Krakoans' problems.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: With each of the founding members already in possession of massive fortunes, they succeeded in taking over Madripoor, an island in Southeast Asia, and are using it as its base of power. While it is unknown whether or not the royal family of Madripoor has been detained, fled or simply murdered, it's clear that the lawless island is no longer a safe haven for mutants. Once used as a base of operations for the X-Man Wolverine while using the alias “Patch,” Madripoor has now degenerated into a country that is openly hostile toward mutants and has even gone so far as to offer its citizens payment for killing mutants. It's almost become a dark reflection of Krakoa and everything that it stands for and recruited long-time X-Men foe Donald Pierce to act as Madripoor’s official representative to the United Nations.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: They also secretly aid Hellfire Club member Sebastian Shaw in the murder of Kitty Pryde. Shaw paid Verendi to participate in his scheme to get Kitty alone on Verendi's ship so that he could ensnare her in Krakoan vines and sink her with the ship.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The following characters are members of the Hellfire Club, many of them being extremely influential, but were not part of any of the Inner Circle incarnations mentioned above. Membership is either hereditary, or obtained through personal invitation from the branch's King. Known members include:


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In "Runaways" #10, Emma Frost tells Cyclops that the Hellfire Club had once reached out for the Hayeses, though the attempt went awry because the Hayeses were "sadistic monsters".


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club has employed a large number of mostly-anonymous armed guards. A few have been named:


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Cole, Macon and Reese were savagely wounded by Wolverine in the Hellfire Club's first confrontation with the X-Men. They would return to duty as cyborgs before leaving the Club to join Lady Deathstrike in seeking revenge against Wolverine, eventually joining the Reavers. Sam Guthrie worked as a Hellfire guard for a brief period before joining the New Mutants as Cannonball. Kade Kilgore also recruited two survivors of private military company Blackguard, who were augmented with adamantium skeletons, and laser claws as his personal bodyguards.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club also employs a number of servants, escorts and strippers. Sharon Kelly was a waitress at the New York branch who was chosen by Sebastian Shaw to seduce Senator Robert Kelly. The couple quickly married, but soon afterwards Sharon was killed in a battle involving the X-Men, further fueling her husband's hatred for mutants.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club was aligned with the prestigious prep school the Massachusetts Academy, run by White Queen Emma Frost, for a number of years. In addition to its large, traditional, student body, the Academy secretly trained a team of young mutants known as the Hellions. Due to their affiliation with the Club, the Hellions were often present at its social functions. This group would entertain a rivalry with Professor Charles Xavier's students at the time, the New Mutants.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: After the death of the Hellions in an attack orchestrated by the Upstarts, Emma Frost left the Hellfire Club. Re-aligning herself with Professor Xavier, the Massachusetts Academy became the new site for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and a new class, known as Generation X.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The seventh incarnation of the Hellfire Club have since founded the Hellfire Academy, a rival to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. It is located on an unnamed island. According to Kade Kilgore, the purpose of recruiting newly empowered mutants is to train them to be supervillains so he can then profit from the fear generated by them through his Sentinel program. Staff outside the Hellfire Club's leadership include:


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In the wake of the establishment of the mutant nation of Krakoa in the 2019 series "House of X and Powers of X", Emma Frost reforms the Club and reorganized it into the Hellfire Trading Company, the distribution arm for the Krakoan drugs produced by the mutant nation-state. Sailing out of Hellfire Bay, its ships the Marauder, the Upstart and the Mercury perform public delivery of mutant goods, while also smuggling the drugs illicitly and freeing mutants from unfriendly nations. The company is run by a new Inner Circle which is compose of a triple dynasty of black, white and red Hellfire royalty.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In the alternate universe known as the "Age of Apocalypse", the Hellfire Club was not active and was possibly decimated by the forces of Apocalypse. Its closest counterpart was Heaven, Warren Worthington III's nightclub that formed a neutral zone from the genetic conflict that boiled outside. Sebastian Shaw meanwhile served as a member of Apocalypse's court. Donald Pierce also became a servant of Apocalypse, and lead the techno-organic-infected Reavers. On the other side of the conflict, Emma Frost served as part of the Human High Council, having been stripped of her powers through a lobotomy. Jason Wyngarde, a victim of the Sugar Man's genetic experiments, had become one of Forge's Outcasts.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: After the ascension of Weapon X, Sebastian Shaw remade Heaven into his image and renamed the nightclub as Hellfire Club all the while trying to gain power.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: The Hellfire Club retained its position as one of the world's major powers in the future timeline of Bishop. The Club is ruled by Anthony Shaw, a descendant of Sebastian Shaw; he also has an illegitimate son, Trevor Fitzroy. (Fitzroy would later travel back in time, bringing him into conflict with his forefathers Shinobi and Sebastian Shaw.) Malcolm, a colleague of Bishop and member of the Xavier Security Enforcers (X.S.E.), was also a member of the Club.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In a future dominated by Trevor Fitzroy, calling himself The Chronomancer, one of the forces opposing his rule is Clan Hellfire, led by a Samara Shaw.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In one alternate reality in which the X-Men are based in Japan, the Hellfire Club is ruled by Professor Xavier. The White Queen Emma Frost is a junior member who, along with Tessa, believe Xavier to be their biological father. The Club controls the Shadowcat Clan of ninjas, which includes Pyro, Iceman and Colossus.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: In "X-Men Noir", the Hellfire Club is an exclusive S&M club owned by Sebastian Shaw, and is plundered early on by Beast, Cyclops and Iceman.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: Within the Hellfire Club of the Ultimate Marvel Universe is an Inner Circle led by Sebastian Shaw (with other notable members being Xavier spy Gerald Lavine, and Shaw's son Shinobi) who worship a pagan "Phoenix God". Believing the Phoenix to be incarnated in the body of X-Man Jean Grey, the Club quietly funded Professor Charles Xavier as she developed under his tutelage. Jean however underwent a mental breakdown, and stole the Inner Circle's bank access codes and wiped their minds.


title: Hellfire Club (comics)

text: A group called the Church of Shi'ar Enlightenment later approached the Xavier Institute, claiming the Hellfire Club was a breakaway sect, and asking to examine whether or not Jean really is the Phoenix God. However, Lilandra's assistant Gerald Lavine was revealed to be an operative of the Hellfire Club and working for Shinobi Shaw, who is also dating Emma Frost, headmistress of the Academy of Tomorrow and secretly a member of the Hellfire Club.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. A socialist member of the Labour Party, she served in Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Home Secretary from 2016 to 2020. Abbott is the first black woman elected to Parliament, and the longest-serving black MP in the House of Commons.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Born in Paddington, London W2, to a British-Jamaican family, Abbott attended Harrow County Grammar School before going up to read History at Newnham College, Cambridge. After joining the Civil Service, she worked as a reporter for Thames Television and TV-am before becoming a press officer for the Greater London Council. Joining Labour, she was elected as a Councillor on Westminster City Council in 1982 and then as an MP in 1987, being returned in every general election since for 35 years.


title: Diane Abbott

text: She was a member of the Labour Party Black Sections, the same as fellow MPs Paul Boateng, Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz, who were also elected in 1987.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Critical of Tony Blair's New Labour project which pushed the party to the centre during the 1990s, in the House of Commons Abbott voted against several Blairite policies, including the launching of the Iraq War and the proposed introduction of ID cards. She stood for the Labour Party leadership on a left-wing platform in 2010, losing to Ed Miliband, who appointed her Shadow Minister for Public Health in the Official Opposition frontbench.


title: Diane Abbott

text: A supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become Labour Leader in 2015, Abbott became Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, then Shadow Health Secretary, and eventually Shadow Home Secretary. As a key Corbyn ally, she supported his leftward push of the Labour Party. She unsuccessfully attempted to be the Labour candidate for the 2016 London mayoral election, and backed the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign to retain UK membership of the European Union. After the 2019 general election, Abbott left the Shadow Cabinet. She remains in the House of Commons as a backbencher.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott was born to Jamaican parents in Paddington, London, on 27 September 1953. Her father worked as a welder and her mother as a nurse. Both of her parents left school at the age of 14. She attended Harrow County School for Girls (a grammar school) and then Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read history, achieving a lower second-class degree (2:2). At Cambridge, she was supervised by Sir Simon Schama.


title: Diane Abbott

text: After university, Abbott became an administration trainee (a fast-track route to senior positions in HM Civil Service) at the Home Office (1976 to 1978), and then a Race Relations Officer at the National Council for Civil Liberties (1978 to 1980). She was a researcher and reporter at Thames Television from 1980 to 1983, and then a researcher at the breakfast television company TV-am from 1983 to 1985. She was a press officer at the Greater London Council under Ken Livingstone from 1985 to 1986, and Head of Press and Public Relations at Lambeth Council from 1986 to 1987.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott's career in politics began in 1982 when she was elected to Westminster City Council, serving until 1986. In 1983, she was active in the Labour Party Black Sections movement, alongside Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng and Keith Vaz, campaigning for greater African Caribbean and Asian political representation. In 1985, she unsuccessfully fought to be selected in Brent East, losing out to Ken Livingstone. In 1987, Abbott was elected to the House of Commons, replacing the deselected serving Labour MP Ernie Roberts as MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington. She was the first black woman to become an MP.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott's speech on civil liberties, in the debate on the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008, won "The Spectator" magazine's "Parliamentary Speech of the Year" award, and further recognition at the 2008 Human Rights awards. A speech by Abbott in a House of Commons debate on the Caribbean is included in Margaret Busby's 2019 anthology "New Daughters of Africa".


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott has served on a number of parliamentary committees on social and international issues and held shadow ministerial positions in successive Shadow Cabinets. For most of the 1990s, she also served on the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons. She went on to serve on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. She gave birth to her son in October 1991, one year before the House of Commons introduced a crèche. She did not have maternity leave and was obliged to attend Parliament and vote throughout her pregnancy. Giving birth on a Monday, she was made to work until the Thursday before, and returned to parliament eight days later.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott chairs the All-Party Parliamentary British-Caribbean Group and the All-Party Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Group. She is the founder of the London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst black children.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In May 2010, Abbott was returned as MP for the constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, with a doubled majority on an increased turn-out. She was again re-elected in 2015 with 62% of the vote.


title: Diane Abbott

text: At Goldsmiths' College, on 26 October 2012, a jubilee celebration was held to honour Abbott's 25 years in parliament, with a series of contributions by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Kadija Sesay, Tunday Akintan and others.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 20 May 2010, Abbott announced her intention to stand in the Labour leadership contest. She secured the necessary 33 nominations by 9 June, assisted by the withdrawal of left-wing candidate John McDonnell and support from David Miliband and Jack Straw, among others. On Saturday, 25 September 2010, Ed Miliband was announced as the new leader of the Labour Party, Abbott having been eliminated in the first round of voting after securing 7.24% of votes.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott was later appointed Shadow Minister for Public Health by Ed Miliband, taking shadow responsibility for a range of issues including children's health, maternity services, sexual health, tobacco, nursing, obesity and alcohol abuse. Following her move onto the front bench, the "Telegraph" said on 27 September 2011 that Abbott had "become one of Labour's best front bench performers".


title: Diane Abbott

text: On the issue of abortion, Abbott has become a vocal "pro-choice" supporter, opposing moves towards changing abortion counselling policy, and reducing the abortion time limit. She resigned from a cross-party group on abortion counselling saying it was no more than a front to push forward an anti-abortion agenda without debate in parliament.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 5 February 2013, following the Second Reading, Abbott voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 8 October 2013, Abbott was sacked as Shadow Public Health Minister in a reshuffle by Labour leader Ed Miliband, and replaced by Luciana Berger. On 23 June 2014, Abbott had stated she would consider standing in the 2016 London mayoral election as Mayor of London. On 30 November 2014, Abbott announced her intention to put herself forward to become Labour's candidate at the London mayoral elections in 2016. She was unsuccessful in her bid for Labour's 2015 London mayoral election nomination.


title: Diane Abbott

text: She was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.


title: Diane Abbott

text: A close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, Abbott was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate him as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. Following Corbyn's election as Labour leader, Abbott was appointed to the post of Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 27 June 2016, after the resignations of many of Labour's ministerial team in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, Abbott was promoted to the position of Shadow Health Secretary.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 6 October 2016, following the resignation of Andy Burnham, Abbott was appointed Shadow Home Secretary. She was sworn of the Privy Council on 15 February 2017.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 2 May 2017, during that year's general election campaign, Labour's pledge to recruit an extra 10,000 police officers was overshadowed by Abbott's inability to give accurate funding figures. In an interview on LBC Radio with Nick Ferrari, she repeatedly struggled to explain how the promise would be funded. In the interview, Abbott frequently paused, shuffled her papers and gave out the wrong figures. When asked about her performance, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, insisted he was not embarrassed by what many pundits called a "car crash" interview.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In a further interview conducted by ITV on 5 May 2017, as the 2017 local elections results were being announced, Abbott was again unable to give accurate figures on the Labour party's performance suggesting that the party had a net loss of 50 seats. However, her figure was corrected by the interviewer who stated that Labour had in fact lost 125 seats, at which point Abbott said that the last figures she had seen were a net loss of around 100.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Appearing on Andrew Marr's Sunday morning programme for the BBC on 28 May, Abbott's apparent support for the IRA nearly 35 years ago came up, along with some parliamentary votes Marr thought questionable. These included her advocacy of the abolition of "conspiratorial groups" such as MI5 and Special Branch in the late 1980s, both of which she said had been successfully reformed. She defended a vote opposing the proscription of a list of groups, including al-Qaida, on the basis that some of the others had the status of dissidents in their country of origin and Abbott would have voted to ban al-Qaida in isolation. According to Sam Coates in "The Times", this appearance was arranged without the consent of Labour's campaign team.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 5 June 2017, during a Sky News interview, Abbott was unable to answer questions about the Harris report on how to protect London from terror attacks. She insisted that she had read the report, but was unable to recall any of the 127 recommendations. When asked if she could remember the specific recommendations, Abbott said: "I think it was an important review and we should act on it." Abbott also denied reports that Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell were attempting to stop her from making broadcasts. The next day, Abbott withdrew at the last minute – citing illness – from a joint interview on "Woman's Hour" on 6 June, in which she had been due to face her Conservative frontbench opposite number Amber Rudd. On 7 June, Corbyn announced that Abbott was "not well" and had stepped aside in her role as Shadow Home Secretary. Lyn Brown was temporarily assigned to replace her. Barry Gardiner said in a radio interview on LBC that Abbott had been diagnosed with having a "long-term" medical condition, and was "coming to terms with that".


title: Diane Abbott

text: In spite of these controversies, Abbott was re-elected in her seat of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, receiving 75% of the constituency's votes with an increased majority of over 35,000. The following week it became known that Abbott had been diagnosed as suffering from type 2 diabetes in 2015. "During the election campaign, everything went crazy – and the diabetes was out of control, the blood sugar was out of control", she told "The Guardian". Dealing with six or seven interviews in a row became problematic because she was not eating enough food, which forced a break upon her; however, the condition is back under control. Abbott returned to the role of Shadow Home Secretary on 18 June.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 2 October 2019, Abbott became the first black MP at the dispatch box at Prime Minister's Questions. She served as a temporary stand-in for the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, while First Secretary of State Dominic Raab stood in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott was a supporter of Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, and defended him from bullying allegations made by David Leakey. She was re-elected at the snap 2019 general election.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 23 February 2020, Abbott said she would be standing down as Shadow Home Secretary and leaving the frontbench upon the election of a new Labour leader. She stood down on 5 April and was succeeded by Nick Thomas-Symonds.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In May 2021, she wrote in a "Guardian" article that if Labour was to lose the Batley and Spen by-election, Starmer should resign as Labour leader. She described the local elections as disappointing for Labour. Abbott criticised the shadow cabinet reshuffle later carried out by Keir Starmer. She told Sophy Ridge on Sky News that his demotion of Angela Rayner was "baffling". After the 2022 local elections, Abbott said that Keir Starmer should resign if he is fined by Durham Constabulary over Beergate.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott's memoirs, "A Woman Like Me", will be published by Viking in summer 2022, to mark her 35 years in parliament and to tell her story as the first black woman to become an MP.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Until her appointment as a shadow minister in October 2010, Abbott appeared alongside media personality and former Conservative politician Michael Portillo on the BBC's weekly politics digest "This Week". Abbott and Portillo have known each other since their schooldays, during which they appeared in joint school productions of "Romeo and Juliet" (although not in the title roles), and of "Macbeth" as Lady Macduff and Macduff respectively.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In August 2012, the BBC Trust ruled that payments to Abbott for her appearances on "This Week" were made in breach of BBC guidelines that banned payments to MPs who were representing their political parties. For her part, Abbott had correctly declared the payments in the Parliamentary Register of Members' Interests. The Trust also said that Abbott had appeared on the show too often.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott is a frequent public speaker, newspaper contributor and TV performer, appearing on programmes including "Have I Got News for You", "Celebrity Come Dine with Me" and "Cash in the Celebrity Attic".


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott was shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for her work on London Schools and the Black Child, and remains in the directory of the "Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who" publication.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott has a record of differing from some party policies, voting against the Iraq War, opposing ID cards and campaigning against the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott supported a number of amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now Act) that favoured abortion rights (along with Katy Clark MP and John McDonnell MP) – including in 2008 leading on the NC30 Amendment of the Abortion Act 1967: Application to Northern Ireland. Writing for "The Guardian", Abbott argued that


title: Diane Abbott

text: When it comes to the right to choose, women in Northern Ireland are second-class citizens. They are denied the NHS treatment and funding for abortion that is permitted to every other woman in the United Kingdom.


title: Diane Abbott

text: It was reported that the Labour Government at the time (in particular Harriet Harman) asked MPs not to table these pro-abortion amendments (and at least until Third Reading) and then allegedly used parliamentary mechanisms in order to prevent a vote accordingly. Speaking in the debate in Parliament, Abbott criticised these "manoeuvres":


title: Diane Abbott

text: I speak against the programme motion because—and I say this with no pleasure—it and the order of discussion appear to be a shabby manoeuvre by Ministers to stop the full debate of some very important matters. I appreciate that Ministers did not intend this to be a Bill about abortion. I am open to the argument that we should have another piece of legislation that would enable a full debate on most of the matters in relation to abortion that have been raised as amendments and new clauses to the Bill, but there is a special case for debating and voting on the particular new clause that I tabled to extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott criticised David Cameron's government for its continued support for Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen. In March 2016, Abbott wrote: "over the past year alone, Britain has sold around £6bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, whose campaign in Yemen is targeting civilians – 191 such attacks have collectively been reported by the UN, HRW and Amnesty."


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott campaigned and supported the Labour Party's official preference for the remain campaign in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. In December 2016, she told Andrew Marr that Labour policy was to respect the result of the referendum.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In January 2017, Abbott stated that Labour could oppose the bill to trigger Article 50 if Labour's amendments were rejected. She abstained from voting on the second reading of the Brexit Bill, after becoming ill hours before the vote, and later voted in favour at the third and final reading. She said she did this out of party loyalty and respect for democracy In December 2017, Abbott did not support holding a second referendum, saying in 2018 that the UK would vote to leave again in a hypothetical poll. She supported the holding of one after the 2019 European Parliament elections. She consistently voted against the withdrawal agreement.


title: Diane Abbott

text: During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Abbott spoke at a Free Palestine rally in London condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott wrote to Sajid Javid demanding that he publish the figures for people caught up in the Windrush scandal, and also tell how many Commonwealth citizens lost their jobs, became homeless and were prevented from using public services. She wrote that "warm words are not enough", and maintained that transparency was needed to give the Windrush generation confidence ministers have come to grips with what is "clearly a systemic problem at the Home Office. In order to make good on your promise to do right by the Windrush generation and begin to right this historic wrong, you must stop covering up the extent of the Windrush crisis and publish these figures. (...) It is unacceptable and frankly scandalous that the extent of the Windrush crisis is yet to be revealed and that the home secretary is still to publish these figures. As the Windrush scandal shows, the hostile environment inevitably catches our fellow citizens who are legally entitled to be here in its net. The government now needs to stop covering up the true human cost of the hostile environment."


title: Diane Abbott

text: In August 2018, Abbott complained that there were still delays in settling Windrush claims, saying: "From the Windrush scandal to immigration detention, to these outrageous delays – it is long past time that the government takes responsibility for leaving people distressed and destitute."


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 2008, during a BBC One "This Week" interview between Abbott, Michael Portillo and Andrew Neil about who was history's worst dictator, Abbott said about the Chinese leader Mao Zedong: "I suppose some people will judge that on balance Mao did more good than harm... He led his country from feudalism, he helped to defeat the Japanese and he left his country on the verge of the great economic success they are having now." She finished by saying: "I was just putting the case for Mao."


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott's decision in 2003 to send her son to the private City of London School after criticising colleagues for sending their children to selective schools, which she herself described as "indefensible" and "intellectually incoherent", caused controversy and criticism.


title: Diane Abbott

text: According to the "Daily Mirror", she said: "I'd done a lot of work on how black boys underachieve in secondary schools so I knew what a serious problem it was. I knew what could happen to my son if he was sent to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd. I realised they were subjected to peer pressure and when that happens it’s very hard for a mother to save her son. Once a black boy is lost to the world of gangs it's very hard to get them back and I was genuinely very fearful of what could happen."


title: Diane Abbott

text: Her son contacted a radio phone-in to say that his mother was following his own wishes: "She's not a hypocrite, she just put what I wanted first instead of what people thought," he told LBC. He added that he had wanted to go private rather than attend a local state school in Abbott's Hackney constituency.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 2004, following a complaint made by Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, Abbott was investigated by the Committee on Standards and Privileges regarding payments she had received from the BBC. The committee found that she had failed to declare earnings of £17,300 in the Register of Members' Interests she had received for appearances on the television programme "This Week". The Committee upheld the complaint and required Abbott to apologise to the House.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 1996, Abbott was criticised after she claimed that at her local hospital "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" were unsuitable as nurses because they had "never met a black person before". In response, Marc Wadsworth, founder of the Anti-Racist Alliance, whose mother is Finnish, pointed out that the then-current Miss Finland, Lola Odusoga, was Black, of Nigerian and Finnish descent. "She's a black Finn like me," he said. Abbott's position was supported by fellow Labour MP Bernie Grant: "Bringing someone here from Finland who has never seen a black person before and expecting them to have some empathy with black people is nonsense. Scandinavian people don't know black people—they probably don't know how to take their temperature."


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 2010, defending her decision to send her son to a private school, she asserted that "West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children", prompting criticism about this perceived slight on white mothers.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 4 January 2012, Abbott tweeted that: "White people love playing 'divide and rule'. We should not play their game", which again led to widespread criticism, including accusations of racism. Abbott later apologised for "any offence caused", claiming that she had not intended to "make generalisations about white people"; she claimed in an interview with Andrew Neil that her tweet was referring to the history of the British Empire. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called her comments a "stupid and crass generalisation". Nadhim Zahawi, Conservative MP, said: "This is racism. If this was a white member of Parliament saying that all black people want to do bad things to us he would have resigned within the hour or been sacked." Members of the public lodged complaints, but the Metropolitan Police stated that no investigation would be launched, and no charges would be brought against her, saying she "did not commit a criminal offence."


title: Diane Abbott

text: In May 2017, "The Sunday Times" reported that Abbott backed the IRA in a 1984 interview with "Labour and Ireland", a pro-republican journal. In the 1984 interview, Abbott criticised the Unionist population of Northern Ireland as an "enclave of white supremacist ideology comparable to white settlers in Zimbabwe", and called for their views to be ignored on the question of Unification, adding: "Ireland is our struggle—every defeat of the British state is a victory for all of us. A defeat in Northern Ireland would be a defeat indeed."


title: Diane Abbott

text: In May 2017, while Shadow Home Secretary, she was asked by Andrew Marr whether she regretted her comments on the IRA. Abbott replied that "[i]t was 34 years ago and I've moved on".


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 2017, Abbott was criticised after it emerged that in 2011, she charged the University of Birmingham £1,750 for a 50-minute speech. An online petition called on Abbott to repay the money to be used for educational purposes.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In November 2020, Abbott apologised for appearing on a livestream with Li Jingjing, a journalist who works for the Chinese state-owned CGTN, who denied human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and suggested they were a "fiction" cooked up to try and start a "racial war". Abbott failed to challenge these remarks.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Black activist #SashaJohnson in hospital in critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. Nobody should have to potentially pay with their life because they stood up for racial justice.


title: Diane Abbott

text: The tweet was criticised by a Home Office source who accused Abbott of departing from the facts and for stoking racial tensions after suggesting that the shooting was a racially motivated attack and targeted because of Johnson's activism. Abbott denies the claim the tweet inflamed racial divides.


title: Diane Abbott

text: On 24 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Abbott was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the Stop the War Coalition which questioned the legitimacy of NATO and accused the military alliance of "eastward expansion". All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In a "Guardian" article in February 2017, Abbott wrote about receiving racist and sexist abuse online every day, such as threats of rape. A few days later, in an interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News, Abbott proposed a parliamentary inquiry into the sexist and racist abuse of MPs in social media and the way Twitter and Facebook investigate cases which arise. An Amnesty International report found that Abbott was the subject of almost half of all abusive tweets about female MPs on Twitter during the 2017 election campaign, receiving ten times more abuse than any other MP.


title: Diane Abbott

text: Abbott had a brief relationship with Jeremy Corbyn, who later became the Labour leader, when he was a councillor in north London in the late 1970s. In 1991, she married David P. Ayensu-Thompson, a Ghanaian architect. They had one son together, James (born October 1991 or 1992), before divorcing in 1993. Abbott chose her Conservative MP voting pair, Jonathan Aitken, as her son's godfather.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In 2007, Abbott began learning the piano under the tutelage of Paul Roberts, Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for the BBC documentary TV programme "Play It Again". She performed Frédéric Chopin's Prelude No. 4 in E minor before an audience.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In July 2019, Abbott called 999 after being "chased around her home" by her son, James Abbott-Thompson. In relation to this incident, as well as subsequent incidents away from Abbott's home, Abbott-Thompson later pleaded guilty to 12 assaults and racially aggravated criminal damage.


title: Diane Abbott

text: In September 2020, an authorised biography of Diane Abbott was released, "Diane Abbott: The Authorised Biography", by Robin Bunce and Samara Linton, published by Biteback. In 2020, Abbott was invited to participate in "Strictly Come Dancing". Speaking on BBC Radio Four's "Today Programme", she said that she refused the invitation, pausing only "for about sixty seconds". Instead, she said that she will continue to do what she has done all of her life, speaking up on human rights, civil liberties, women's rights, and representing the people of Hackney.


title: Sasha Roiz

text: Sasha Roiz (; born October 21, 1973) is an Israeli-born Canadian actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Sam Adama in the science-fiction TV series "Caprica" and Captain Sean Renard in the American fantasy TV series "Grimm".


title: Sasha Roiz

text: Roiz was born in Tel Aviv to Russian Jewish parents. The family moved to Montreal in 1980. Roiz studied history before joining a theatre school in Montreal. He later graduated from the Guildford School of Acting in Guildford, Surrey.


title: Sasha Roiz

text: Roiz has appeared in a number of popular television dramas, including ", House, NCIS, The Mentalist, Lie To Me" and "". He had a recurring role on "Warehouse 13" as Marcus Diamond.


title: Sasha Roiz

text: In 2008, Roiz landed the role of Sam Adama on "Caprica", a spin-off of "Battlestar Galactica". His character is a Tauron enforcer for the Ha'la'tha crime syndicate on Caprica who frequently goes head-to-head with his lawyer brother Joseph Adama (played by Esai Morales), and is also the uncle of William Adama. On April 28, 2009, his role was expanded to series regular. Roiz stated in an interview that it was later revealed to him that his character would be gay, something he felt was an opportunity to explore the dynamic relationship of a gay character in a science fiction setting, as well as to explore the issue of homosexuality on a social level. In 2012, he guest-starred in the second season of the Jane Espenson–scripted romantic comedy web series "Husbands".


title: Sasha Roiz

text: From 2011 to 2017, Roiz was a series regular on "Grimm", a supernatural/fantasy police procedural drama produced by Universal Television for NBC, staying on the regular cast for all 6 seasons of the show.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought him fame and fortune. He lived much of his boyhood and the last fifteen years of life in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William Cooper on property that he owned. Cooper became a member of the Episcopal Church shortly before his death and contributed generously to it. He attended Yale University for three years, where he was a member of the Linonian Society.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: After a stint on a commercial voyage, Cooper served in the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, where he learned the technology of managing sailing vessels which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was "The Spy", a tale about espionage set during the American Revolutionary War and published in 1821. He also created American sea stories. His best-known works are five historical novels of the frontier period, written between 1823 and 1841, known as the "Leatherstocking Tales", which introduced the iconic American frontier scout, Natty Bumppo. Cooper's works on the U.S. Navy have been well received among naval historians, but they were sometimes criticized by his contemporaries. Among his more famous works is the Romantic novel "The Last of the Mohicans", often regarded as his masterpiece. Throughout his career, he published numerous social, political, and historical works of fiction and non-fiction with the objective of countering European prejudices and nurturing an original American art and culture.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: James Fenimore Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1789 to William Cooper and Elizabeth (Fenimore) Cooper, the eleventh of 12 children, half of whom died during infancy or childhood.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: Shortly after James' first birthday, his family moved to Cooperstown, New York, a community founded by his father on a large piece of land which he had bought for development. Later, his father was elected to the United States Congress as a representative from Otsego County. Their town was in a central area of New York along the headwaters of the Susquehanna River that had previously been patented to Colonel George Croghan by the Province of New York in 1769. Croghan mortgaged the land before the Revolution and after the war part of the tract was sold at public auction to William Cooper and his business partner Andrew Craig. By 1788, William Cooper had selected and surveyed the site where Cooperstown would be established. He erected a home on the shore of Otsego Lake and moved his family there in the autumn of 1790. Several years later he began construction of the mansion that became known as Otsego Hall, completed in 1799 when James was ten.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: Cooper was enrolled at Yale University at age 13, but he incited a dangerous prank which involved blowing up another student's door—after having already locked a donkey in a recitation room. He was expelled in his third year without completing his degree, so he obtained work in 1806 as a sailor and joined the crew of a merchant vessel at age 17. By 1811, he obtained the rank of midshipman in the fledgling United States Navy, conferred upon him by an officer's warrant signed by Thomas Jefferson.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: William Cooper had died more than a year before, in 1809, when James was 20. All five of his sons inherited a supposed-large fortune in money, securities, and land titles, which soon proved to be a wealth of endless litigation. He married Susan Augusta de Lancey at Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York on January 1, 1811, at age 21. She was from a wealthy family who remained loyal to Great Britain during the Revolution. The Coopers had seven children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Their daughter Susan Fenimore Cooper was a writer on nature, female suffrage, and other topics. Her father edited her works and secured publishers for them. One son, Paul Fenimore Cooper, became a lawyer and perpetuated the author's lineage to the present.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: In 1806, at the age of 17, Cooper joined the crew of the merchant ship "Sterling" as a common sailor. At the time, the "Sterling" was commanded by young John Johnston from Maine. Cooper served as a common seaman before the mast. His first voyage took some 40 stormy days at sea and brought him to an English market in Cowes where they sought information on where best to unload their cargo of flour. There, Cooper saw his first glimpses of England. Britain was in the midst of war with Napoleon's France at the time, so their ship was immediately approached by a British man-of-war and was boarded by some of its crew. They seized one of the "Sterling's" best crew members and impressed him into the British Royal Navy. Cooper thus first encountered the power of his country's former colonial master, which led to a lifelong commitment to helping create an American art independent culturally as well as politically from the former mother country.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: Their next voyage took them to the Mediterranean along the coast of Spain, including Águilas and Cabo de Gata, where they picked up cargo to be taken to London and unloaded. Their stay in Spain lasted several weeks and impressed the young sailor, the accounts of which Cooper later referred to in his "Mercedes of Castile", a novel about Columbus.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: After serving aboard the "Sterling" for 11 months, he joined the United States Navy on January 1, 1808, when he received his commission as a midshipman. Cooper had conducted himself well as a sailor, and his father, a former U.S. Congressman, easily secured a commission for him through his long-standing connections with politicians and naval officials. The warrant for Cooper's commission as midshipman was signed by President Jefferson and mailed by Naval Secretary Robert Smith, reaching Cooper on February 19. On February 24, he received orders to report to the naval commander at New York City. Joining the United States Navy fulfilled an aspiration he had had since his youth.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: Cooper's first naval assignment came on March 21, 1808, aboard the , an 82-foot bomb ketch that carried twelve guns and a thirteen-inch mortar. For his next assignment, he served under Lieutenant Melancthon Taylor Woolsey near Oswego on Lake Ontario, overseeing the building of the brig for service on the lake. The vessel was intended for use in a war with Great Britain which had yet to begin. The vessel was completed, armed with sixteen guns, and launched in Lake Ontario in the spring of 1809. It was in this service that Cooper learned shipbuilding, shipyard duties and frontier life. During his leisure time, Cooper would venture through the forests of New York state and explore the shores of Lake Ontario. He occasionally ventured into the Thousand Islands. His experiences in the Oswego area later inspired some of his work, including his novel "The Pathfinder".


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: After completion of the "Oneida" in 1809, Cooper accompanied Woolsey to Niagara Falls, who then was ordered to Lake Champlain to serve aboard a gunboat until the winter months when the lake froze over. Cooper himself returned from Oswego to Cooperstown and then New York City. On November 13 of the same year, he was assigned to the under the command of Captain James Lawrence, who was from Burlington and became a personal friend of Cooper's. Aboard this ship, he met his lifelong friend William Branford Shubrick, who was also a midshipman at the time. Cooper later dedicated "", "The Red Rover", and other writings to Shubrick. Assigned to humdrum recruiting tasks rather than exciting voyages, Cooper resigned his commission from the navy in spring 1810; in the same


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: time period he met, wooed, and became engaged to Susan Augusta de Lancey, whom be married on January 1, 1811.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: In 1820, when reading a contemporary novel to his wife Susan, he decided to try his hand at fiction, resulting in a neophyte novel set in England he called "Precaution" (1820). Its focus on morals and manners was influenced by Jane Austen's approach to fiction. "Precaution" was published anonymously and received modestly favorable notice in the United States and England. By contrast, his second novel "The Spy" (1821) was inspired by an American tale related to him by neighbor and family friend John Jay. It became the first novel written by an American to become a bestseller at home and abroad, requiring several re-printings to satisfy demand. Set in the "Neutral Ground" between British and American forces and their guerrilla allies in Westchester County, New York, the action centers on spying and skirmishing taking place in and around what is widely believed to be John Jay's family home "The Locusts" in Rye, New York of which a portion still exists today as the historic Jay Estate.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: Following on a swell of popularity, Cooper published "The Pioneers", the first of the "Leatherstocking" series in 1823. The series features the inter-racial friendship of Natty Bumppo, a resourceful American woodsman who is at home with the Delaware Indians, and their chief, Chingachgook. Bumppo was also the main character of Cooper's most famous novel "The Last of the Mohicans" (1826), written in New York City where Cooper and his family lived from 1822 to 1826. The book became one of the more widely read American novels of the 19th century. At this time, Cooper had been living in New York on Beach Street in what is now downtown's Tribeca.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: In 1823, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In August of that same year, his first son died. He organized the influential Bread and Cheese Club that brought together American writers, editors, artists, scholars, educators, art patrons, merchants, lawyers, politicians, and others.


title: James Fenimore Cooper

text: In 1824, General Lafayette arrived from France aboard the "Cadmus" at Castle Garden in New York City as the nation's guest. Cooper witnessed his arrival and was one of the active committee of welcome and entertainment.