title: Passover Seder

text: Jews generally observe one or two seders: in Israel, one seder is observed on the first night of Passover; traditional Diaspora communities (to the general exception of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews)also hold a seder on the second night. Seders have been observed around the world, including in remote places such as high in the Himalaya mountains in Kathmandu, Nepal.


title: Passover Seder

text: The rituals and symbolic foods evoke the twin themes of the evening: slavery and freedom. It is stated in the Haggadah that "In every generation everyone is obligated to see themselves as if they themselves came out of Egypt" – i.e., out of slavery.


title: Passover Seder

text: The rendering of time for Jews is that a day began at sunset and ended at sunset. According to the Exodus narrative, at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan in Ancient Egypt, the Jewish people were enslaved to Pharaoh. After the struck Egypt at midnight, killing all the first-born sons from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first-born of the lowest Egyptian to all the first-born of the livestock in the land (Exodus 12:29), Pharaoh let the Hebrew nation go, effectively making them free people for the second half of the night.


title: Passover Seder

text: Thus, Seder participants recall the slavery that reigned during the first half of the night by eating matzah (the "poor person's bread"), maror (bitter herbs which symbolize the bitterness of slavery), and charoset (a sweet paste, possibly representing the mortar which the Jewish slaves used to cement bricks). Recalling the freedom of the second half of the night, they eat the matzah (the "bread of freedom" as well as the "bread of affliction") and 'afikoman', and drink the four cups of wine, in a reclining position, and dip vegetables into salt water (the dipping being a sign of royalty and freedom).


title: Passover Seder

text: There is an obligation to drink four cups of wine during the Seder. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even the poor are obliged to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder. The first is for Kiddush (קידוש), the second is for 'Maggid' (מגיד), the third is for Birkat Hamazon (ברכת המזון) and the fourth is for Hallel (הלל).


title: Passover Seder

text: The Four Cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God : "I will bring out," "I will deliver," "I will redeem," and "I will take."


title: Passover Seder

text: The Vilna Gaon relates the Four Cups to four worlds: this world, the Messianic age, the world at the revival of the dead, and the world to come. The MaHaRaL connects them to the four Matriarchs: Sarah, Rebeccah, Rachel, and Leah. (The three matzot, in turn, are connected to the three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.) Abarbanel relates the cups to the four historical redemptions of the Jewish people: the choosing of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the survival of the Jewish people throughout the exile, and the fourth which will happen at the end of days.


title: Passover Seder

text: The four cups might also reflect the Roman custom of drinking as many cups as there are letters in the name of the chief guest at a meal, which in the case of the Seder is God Himself whose Hebrew name has four letters.


title: Passover Seder

text: The special Passover Seder plate ("ke'arah") is the special plate containing symbolic foods used during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal – a stack of three matzot – is placed on its own plate on the Seder table.


title: Passover Seder

text: Since the retelling of the Exodus to one's child is the object of the Seder experience, much effort is made to arouse the interest and curiosity of the children and keep them awake during the meal. To that end, questions and answers are a central device in the Seder ritual. By encouraging children to ask questions, they will be more open to hearing the answers.


title: Passover Seder

text: The most famous question which the youngest child asks at the Seder is the ""Ma Nishtana"" – 'Why is this night different from all other nights?' After the asking of this questions, the main portion of the Seder, "Magid", discusses the answers in the form of a historical review. Also, at different points in the Seder, the leader of the Seder will cover the matzot and lift their cup of wine; then put down the cup of wine and uncover the matzot – all to elicit questions from the children.


title: Passover Seder

text: In some traditions, the questions are asked by the assembled company in chorus rather than by a child, and are put to the leader of the seder, who either answers the question or may direct the attention of the assembled company to someone who is acting out that particular part of the Exodus. Physical re-enactment of the Exodus during the Passover seder is common in many families and communities.


title: Passover Seder

text: Families will follow the Haggadah's lead by asking their own questions at various points in the Haggadah and offering prizes such as nuts and candies for correct answers. The "afikoman", which is hidden away for the "dessert" after the meal, is another device used to encourage children's participation. In most families, the leader of the Seder hides the "afikoman" and the children must find it, whereupon they receive a prize or reward. In other homes, the children hide the "afikoman" and a parent must look for it; when the parents give up, the children demand a prize (often money) for revealing its location.


title: Passover Seder

text: The order and procedures of the Seder are stated and printed in the text of the Passover Haggadah, a copy of which is in front of all participants. Jewish children learn the following words, denoting the order of the Seder, with a rhyme and tune at their Jewish schools:


title: Passover Seder

text: "Kadeish" קדש is Hebrew Imperative for "Kiddush". It should be recited as soon as the synagogue services are over but not before nightfall. This "Kiddush" is similar to that which is recited on all of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, but also refers to matzot and the exodus from Egypt. Acting in a way that shows freedom and majesty, many Jews have the custom of filling each other's cups at the Seder table. The Kiddush is traditionally said by the father of the house, but all Seder participants may participate by reciting the Kiddush and drinking at least a majority of the first cup of wine.


title: Passover Seder

text: Technically, according to Jewish law, whenever one partakes of fruits or vegetables dipped in liquid while remaining wet, one must wash one's hands if the fruit or vegetable remains wet. However, at other times of the year, one has either already washed their hands before eating bread, or dry the fruit or vegetable, in which case one need not wash their hands before eating the fruit or vegetable.


title: Passover Seder

text: According to most traditions, no blessing is recited at this point in the Seder, unlike the blessing recited over the washing of the hands before eating bread. However, followers of Rambam or the Gaon of Vilna do recite a blessing.


title: Passover Seder

text: Each participant dips a vegetable into either "salt water" (Ashkenazi custom; said to serve as a reminder of the tears shed by their enslaved ancestors), "vinegar" (Sephardi custom) or "charoset" (older Sephardi custom; still common among Yemenite Jews). Another custom mentioned in some Ashkenazi sources and probably originating with Meir of Rothenburg, was to dip the karpas in "wine".


title: Passover Seder

text: Three matzot are stacked on the seder table; at this stage, the middle matzah of the three is broken in half. The larger piece is hidden, to be used later as the "afikoman", the "dessert" after the meal. The smaller piece is returned to its place between the other two matzot.


title: Passover Seder

text: Moroccan Jewish custom is that when the matzah is split, a passage is recited describing how "in this manner God split the Red Sea" in the aftermath of the Exodus.


title: Passover Seder

text: Before Magid, some Sephardi families have a custom to sing "Bivhilu yatzanu mi-mitzrayim"- (translated:"In haste we left Egypt"). While this is being sung, the head of the household walks around the table with the Seder plate and waves it over each individual's head.


title: Passover Seder

text: The story of Passover, and the change from slavery to freedom is told. At this point in the Seder, Moroccan Jews have a custom of raising the Seder plate over the heads of all those present while chanting "Bivhilu yatzanu mimitzrayim, halahma anya b'nei horin" (In haste we went out of Egypt [with our] bread of affliction, [now we are] free people).


title: Passover Seder

text: The matzot are uncovered, and referred to as the "bread of affliction". Participants declare (in Aramaic) an invitation to all who are hungry or needy to join in the Seder. Halakha requires that this invitation be repeated in the native language of the country.


title: Passover Seder

text: The Mishna details questions one is obligated to ask on the night of the seder. It is customary for the youngest child present to recite the four questions. Some customs hold that the other participants recite them quietly to themselves as well. In some families, this means that the requirement remains on an adult "child" until a grandchild of the family receives sufficient Jewish education to take on the responsibility. If a person has no children capable of asking, the responsibility falls to their spouse, or another participant. The need to ask is so great that even if a person is alone at the seder they are obligated to ask themselves and to answer their own questions.


title: Passover Seder

text: The question about reclining substitutes for a question about eating roasted meat, that was present in the mishnah but removed by later authorities due to its inapplicability after the destruction of the temple:


title: Passover Seder

text: Roasted sacrifices were no longer possible after the destruction, and roasted meat was therefore disallowed on seder night, to avoid ambiguity.


title: Passover Seder

text: The traditional Haggadah speaks of "four sons" – one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask. This is based upon the rabbis of the Jerusalem Talmud finding four references in the Torah to responding to your son who asks a question. Each of these sons phrases his question about the seder in a different way. The Haggadah recommends answering each son according to his question, using one of the three verses in the Torah that refer to this exchange.


title: Passover Seder

text: The wise son asks "What are the statutes, the testimonies, and the laws that God has commanded us to do?" One explanation for why this very detailed-oriented question is categorized as wise, is that the wise son is trying to learn how to carry out the seder, rather than asking for someone else's understanding of its meaning. He is answered fully:


title: Passover Seder

text: "You should reply to him with [all] the laws of pesach: one may not eat any dessert after the paschal sacrifice."


title: Passover Seder

text: The wicked son, who asks, "What is this service to you?", is characterized by the Haggadah as isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating. Therefore, he is rebuked by the explanation that "It is because God acted for "my" sake when "I" left Egypt." (This implies that the Seder is not for the wicked son because the wicked son would not have deserved to be freed from Egyptian slavery.) Where the four sons are illustrated in the Haggadah, this son has frequently been depicted as carrying weapons or wearing stylish contemporary fashions.


title: Passover Seder

text: The simple son, who asks, "What is this?" is answered with "With a strong hand the Almighty led us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage."


title: Passover Seder

text: And the one who does not know to ask is told, "It is because of what the Almighty did for me when I left Egypt."


title: Passover Seder

text: Some modern Haggadahs mention "children" instead of "sons", and some have added a fifth child. The fifth child can represent the children of the Shoah who did not survive to ask a question or represent Jews who have drifted so far from Jewish life that they do not participate in a Seder.


title: Passover Seder

text: For the former, tradition is to say that for that child we ask "Why?" and, like the simple child, we have no answer.


title: Passover Seder

text: Four verses in Deuteronomy (26:5–8) are then expounded, with an elaborate, traditional commentary. ("5. And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my parent, and they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6. And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. 7. And we cried unto the Lord, the God of our parents, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.")


title: Passover Seder

text: The Haggadah explores the meaning of those verses, and embellishes the story. This telling describes the slavery of the Jewish people and their miraculous salvation by God. This culminates in an enumeration of the Ten Plagues:


title: Passover Seder

text: With the recital of the Ten Plagues, each participant removes a drop of wine from his or her cup using a fingertip. Although this night is one of salvation, Don Isaac Abravanel explains that one cannot be completely joyous when some of God's creatures had to suffer. A mnemonic acronym for the plagues is also introduced: "D'tzach Adash B'achav", while similarly spilling a drop of wine for each word.


title: Passover Seder

text: At this part in the Seder, songs of praise are sung, including the song "Dayenu", which proclaims that had God performed any single one of the many deeds performed for the Jewish people, it would have been enough to obligate us to give thanks. Some sing instead "The Women's Dayenu", a feminist variant of "Dayenu", by Michele Landsberg.


title: Passover Seder

text: After "Dayenu" is a declaration (mandated by Rabban Gamliel) of the reasons of the commandments of the Paschal lamb, Matzah, and Maror, with scriptural sources. Then follows a short prayer, and the recital of the first two psalms of Hallel (which will be concluded after the meal). A long blessing is recited, and the second cup of wine is drunk.


title: Passover Seder

text: First one recites the standard blessing before eating bread, which includes the words "who brings forth" (motzi in Hebrew).


title: Passover Seder

text: The maror (bitter herb) is placed between two small pieces of matzo, similarly to how the contents of a sandwich are placed between two slices of bread, and eaten. This follows the tradition of Hillel, who did the same at his Seder table 2000 years ago (except that in Hillel's day the Paschal sacrifice, matzo, and maror were eaten together.)


title: Passover Seder

text: The festive meal is eaten. Traditionally it begins with a hard boiled egg dipped in salt water, referencing the charred egg on the Seder plate. In Yiddish, there is a saying: , which means "We set the table and eat the fish".


title: Passover Seder

text: The "afikoman", which was hidden earlier in the Seder, is traditionally the last morsel of food eaten by participants in the Seder.


title: Passover Seder

text: Each participant receives an olive-sized portion of matzo to be eaten as "afikoman". After the consumption of the "afikoman", traditionally, no other food may be eaten for the rest of the night. Additionally, no intoxicating beverages may be consumed, with the exception of the remaining two cups of wine.


title: Passover Seder

text: Note: The Third Cup is customarily poured before the Grace after Meals is recited because the Third Cup also serves as a Cup of Blessing associated with the Grace after Meals on special occasions.


title: Passover Seder

text: In many traditions, the front door of the house is opened at this point. Psalms 79:6–7 is recited in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, plus Lamentations 3:66 among Ashkenazim.


title: Passover Seder

text: Most Ashkenazim have the custom to fill a fifth cup at this point. This relates to a Talmudic discussion that concerns the number of cups that are supposed to be drunk. Given that the four cups are in reference to the four expressions of redemption in Exodus 6:6–7, some rabbis felt that it was important to include a fifth cup for the fifth expression of redemption in Exodus 6:8. All agreed that five cups should be poured but the question as to whether or not the fifth should be drunk, given that the fifth expression of redemption concerned being brought into the Land of Israel, which – by this stage – was no longer possessed of an autonomous Jewish community, remained insoluble. The rabbis determined that the matter should be left until Elijah (in reference to the notion that Elijah's arrival would precipitate the coming of the Messiah, at which time all halakhic questions will be resolved) and the fifth cup came to be known as the "Kos shel Eliyahu" ("Cup of Elijah"). Over time, people came to relate this cup to the notion that Elijah will visit each home on Seder night as a foreshadowing of his future arrival at the end of the days, when he will come to announce the coming of the Jewish Messiah.


title: Passover Seder

text: Some seders (including the original Women's Seder, but not limited to women-only seders) now set out a cup for the prophet Miriam as well as the traditional cup for the prophet Elijah, sometimes accompanied by a ritual to honor Miriam. Miriam's cup originated in the 1980s in a Boston Rosh Chodesh group; it was invented by Stephanie Loo, who filled it with mayim hayim (living waters) and used it in a feminist ceremony of guided meditation. Miriam's cup is linked to the "midrash" of Miriam's well, which "is a rabbinic legend that tells of a miraculous well that accompanied the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert at the Exodus from Egypt".


title: Passover Seder

text: The entire order of Hallel which is usually recited in the synagogue on Jewish holidays is also recited at the Seder table, albeit sitting down. The first two psalms, 113 and 114, were recited before the meal. The remaining psalms 115–118, are recited at this point. Psalm 136 (the Great Hallel) is then recited, followed by "Nishmat", a portion of the morning service for Shabbat and festivals.


title: Passover Seder

text: There are a number of opinions concerning the paragraph "Yehalelukha" which normally follows Hallel, and "Yishtabakh", which normally follows "Nishmat". Most Ashkenazim recite "Yehalelukha" immediately following the Hallel proper, i.e. at the end of Psalm 118, except for the concluding words. After Nishmat, they recite "Yishtabakh" in its entirety. Sephardim recite "Yehalelukha" alone after Nishmat.


title: Passover Seder

text: The Seder concludes with a prayer that the night's service be accepted. A hope for the Messiah is expressed: ""L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim!" – Next year in Jerusalem!" Jews in Israel, and especially those in Jerusalem, recite instead ""L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim hab'nuyah!" – Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem!" Jerusalem is the holiest city in the Bible; it has become symbolic of the idea of spiritual perfection. The tradition of saying "Next year in Jerusalem" is similar to the tradition of opening the door for Elijah: it recognizes that “this year” we live in an imperfect world outside of “Jerusalem,” but we patiently await a time, hopefully “next year,” in which we live in spiritual perfection.


title: Passover Seder

text: Although the 15 orders of the Seder have been complete, the Haggadah concludes with additional songs which further recount the miracles that occurred on this night in Ancient Egypt as well as throughout history. Some songs express a prayer that the Beit Hamikdash will soon be rebuilt. The last song to be sung is "Chad Gadya" ("One Kid Goat"). This seemingly childish song about different animals and people who attempted to punish others for their crimes and were in turn punished themselves, was interpreted by the Vilna Gaon as an allegory to the retribution God will levy over the enemies of the Jewish people at the end of days.


title: Passover Seder

text: Following the Seder, those who are still awake may recite the Song of Songs, engage in Torah learning, or continue talking about the events of the Exodus until sleep overtakes them.


title: Passover Seder

text: In 1976, the first of a series of women-only Passover seders was held in Esther M. Broner's New York City apartment and led by her, with 13 women attending, including Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Phyllis Chesler. Esther Broner and Naomi Nimrod created a women's haggadah for use at this seder. In the spring of 1976 Esther Broner published this "Women's Haggadah" in Ms. Magazine, later publishing it as a book in 1994; this haggadah is meant to include women where only men had been mentioned in traditional haggadahs, and it features the Wise Women, the Four Daughters, the Women's Questions, the Women's Plagues, and a women-centric "Dayenu". The original Women's Seder has been held with the Women's Haggadah every year since 1976, and women-only seders are now held by some congregations as well. Some seders (including the original Women's Seder, but not limited to women-only seders) now set out a cup for the prophet Miriam as well as the traditional cup for the prophet Elijah, accompanied by a ritual to honor Miriam. Miriam's cup originated in the 1980s in a Boston Rosh Chodesh group; it was invented by Stephanie Loo, who filled it with mayim hayim (living waters) and used it in a feminist ceremony of guided meditation. Miriam's cup is linked to the "midrash" of Miriam's well, which "is a rabbinic legend that tells of a miraculous well that accompanied the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert at the Exodus from Egypt". Furthermore, some Jews include an orange on the seder plate. The orange represents the fruitfulness for all Jews when all marginalized peoples are included, particularly women and gay people. An incorrect but common rumor says that this tradition began when a man told Susannah Heschel that a woman belongs on the bimah as an orange on the seder plate; however, it actually began when in the early 1980s, while when speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist Haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (as some would say there's as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the seder plate would be to accept that Jewish lesbians and gay men violate Judaism like chametz violates Passover. So, at her next seder, she chose an orange as a symbol of inclusion of gays and lesbians and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community. In addition, each orange segment had a few seeds that had to be spit out – a gesture of spitting out and repudiating what they see as the homophobia of traditional Judaism.


title: Passover Seder

text: The group of people who hold a Passover Seder together is referred to in the Talmud (tractate Pesachim) as a "chavurah" (group). In the Far East, for example, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries regularly conduct Seders for hundreds of visiting students, businesspeople and Jewish travelers. The Chabad Seder in Kathmandu regularly attracts more than 1,200 participants. In 2006, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic Countries organized over 500 public Seders throughout the Former Soviet Union, led by local rabbis and Chabad rabbinical students, drawing more than 150,000 attendees in total.


title: Passover Seder

text: In Israel, where permanent residents observe only one Seder, overseas students learning in yeshivas and women's seminaries are often invited in groups up to 100 for "second-day Seders" hosted by outreach organizations and private individuals.


title: Passover Seder

text: Some Christians, especially but not only Evangelical Protestants, have recently taken great interest in performing Seders according to . Many churches host Seders, usually adding a Messianic Christian Passover message, and many times inviting Messianic Jews to lead and teach on it. The Gospels place the Last Supper at Passover, so that some Christians have interpreted it as a Seder; in consequence some Christian Seders are on Maundy Thursday as part of commemorating the Last Supper. Many Christians cite the meal as a way to connect with the heritage of their own religion and to see how the practices of the ancient world are still relevant to Christianity today. However, the current form of the Passover Seder dates from the Rabbinic period, after Christianity and Judaism had already gone their separate ways. Some Jews and Christians consider Christian Seders an inappropriate cultural appropriation of Jewish ritual for non-Jewish purposes.


title: Passover Seder

text: A number of churches hold interfaith Seders where Jews and non-Jews alike are invited to share in the story and discuss common themes of peace, freedom, and religious tolerance. During the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, interfaith Seders energized and inspired leaders from various communities who came together to march for equal protection for all. The first of these, the "Freedom Seder," was written by Arthur Waskow, published in "Ramparts" magazine and in a small booklet by the Micah Press and in a later edition (1970) by Holt-Rinehart-Winston, and was actually performed on April 4, 1969, the first anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.and the third night of Passover, at Lincoln Memorial Temple in Washington, DC. It celebrated the liberation struggle of Black America alongside that of ancient Israel from Pharaoh, and was the first Haggadah to go beyond the original Biblical story. It sparked a large number of Haggadahs celebrating various other forms of liberation – feminism, vegetarianism, the liberation movements in Latin America in the 1970s, ecological healing, etc.. Today, many Unitarian Universalist congregations hold annual interfaith community Seders. A number of Interfaith Passover Seder Haggadahs have been written especially for this purpose.


title: Passover Seder

text: In 2009 President Barack Obama began conducting an annual Passover seder in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, marking the first time that a sitting US president hosted a Seder in the White House. The private dinner for about 20 guests, both Jewish and non-Jewish – including the President and his family, members of the President's and First Lady's staffs, and friends and their families – features the reading of the Haggadah, traditional rituals such as the hiding of the afikoman and the cup of Elijah, and the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation.


title: Passover Seder

text: When people wish to participate in a shared Seder but are unable to be physically together, technology such as videoconferencing software can be used to facilitate a "virtual" Seder. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge of virtual Seders, as many Jews sought to practice social distancing during the holiday, or lived in jurisdictions where they were legally required to do so, and thus could not visit the homes of friends and family who were hosting Seders. The website OneTable saw a fourfold increase in the number of virtual seders it hosted from 2019 to 2020, and Zoom was widely used to host virtual Seders. Virtual seders were endorsed by Progressive rabbis but eschewed by Orthodox rabbis. The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism issued guidance (though not an official Conservative responsum) specific to 2020 on using videoconferencing to facilitate Seders while avoiding or minimizing violations of Yom Tov restrictions that limit the use of electronic devices on holidays.


title: Passover Seder

text: In 2022, the Israeli astronaut, Eytan Stibbe, participating in the first privately sponsored trip to the International Space Station as part of the "Rakia" mission to conduct science and technology experiments for a number of universities and startups in Israel, as part of the “Rakia” mission, held the first Seder in space on the first night of the holiday, reciting kiddush and drinking grape juice, eating matzah, and relating to his fellow astronauts about the values that the Seder tradition and the reading of the Haggadah can teach, noting that the story of the exodus from Egypt of the people of Israel "from slavery into freedom" shows that "no dream is beyond reach".


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997. Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Following Coe's retirement from athletics, he was a Conservative member of parliament from 1992 to 1997 for Falmouth and Camborne in Cornwall, and became a Life Peer on 16 May 2000.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: He headed the successful London 2012 Olympic bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. In 2007, he was elected a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and re-elected for another four-year term in 2011. In August 2015, he was elected president of the IAAF.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 2012, Coe was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Loughborough University where he had been an undergraduate, and he is also a member of the university's governing body. He was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the IAAF Hall of Fame. In November 2012, he was appointed chairman of the British Olympic Association. Coe was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December 2012.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was born on 29 September 1956 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Hammersmith, London. His father was athletics coach Peter Coe and his mother, Tina Angela Lal, was of half Indian descent, born to a Punjabi father, Sardari Lal Malhotra, and an English/Irish mother (née Swan).


title: Sebastian Coe

text: When he was less than a year old, Coe and his family moved to Warwickshire, where he later attended Bridgetown Primary School and Hugh Clopton Secondary School in Stratford-upon-Avon. The family then moved to Sheffield where he attended Tapton School, a secondary modern school, at Crosspool which became a comprehensive school while he was there and Abbeydale Grange School. He joined Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and soon became a middle-distance specialist, having been inspired by David Jackson, a geography teacher at Tapton School who had been a cross-country runner. Coe was coached by his own father and represented Loughborough University and later Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club when not competing for his country.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe studied Economics and Social History at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977—an 800 metres event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain. At Loughborough University he met an athletics coach, George Gandy, who developed "revolutionary" conditioning exercises to improve Coe's running.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: His mother, Tina Angela Lal, died in London, in 2005, aged 75. His father, Peter Coe, died on 9 August 2008, aged 88, while Coe was visiting Beijing.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe first caught the public's attention on 14 March 1977 when he competed in the 800m at the European Indoor Championships in San Sebastián, front-running the entire race and winning in 1:46.54, just short of the world indoor record. He ran in the Emsley Carr mile on 29 August 1977, outsprinting Filbert Bayi of Tanzania in the home straight and winning in 3:57.7. Eleven days later, on 9 September 1977, he ran the 800m at the Coca-Cola Games at Crystal Palace in a time of 1:44.95, beating Andy Carter's 1:45.12 to claim his first UK national outdoor record.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe's 1978 season continued to show his progression in the middle distances, though he raced only sparingly, as in early June he had suffered a serious ankle injury whilst out on a training run. On 18 August 1978, he ran the 800m at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels, where he far outclassed the field and stormed home in a time of 1:44.25, another UK national record.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: He first ran against his great rival Steve Ovett in a schools cross country race in 1972. Neither won, nor did either win in their first major encounter, on 31 August 1978, in the 800m at the European Championships in Prague. Ovett took second, breaking Coe's UK record with a time of 1:44.09, and Coe finished third; the race was won by the East German Olaf Beyer. According to Pat Butcher, Coe's father and coach Peter Coe had encouraged him to run as fast as he could from the start. The early pace was indeed exceptionally fast: Coe ran 200m in 24.3, 400m in 49.32, and 600m in 1:16.2; he then slowed and finished third in 1:44.76. A few weeks later, Coe reclaimed the UK record at Crystal Palace, setting an all-comers' mark of 1:43.97 which ranked him second in the world that year. On 1 October 1978, Coe displayed to the world for the first time his phenomenal natural endurance by winning the Loughrea 4-Mile road race in Ireland in 17:54, defeating the likes of Eamonn Coghlan (who would win the 5000m at the 1983 World Championships) and Mike McLeod (who would be the 1984 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist), and breaking Brendan Foster's course record of 18:05. All this off a season which had been focussed on 800m, with only one race at 1500m or the mile. This was a warning to the world's top milers of what was to happen the following summer.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: The next year, 1979, Coe set three world records in 41 days. He set the first two in Oslo, Norway, at 800m (1:42.33) and the mile (3:48.95), then broke the world 1500m record with his 3:32.03 in Zurich, Switzerland, becoming the first person to hold these three records at the same time. He easily won the 800m at the European Cup in Turin in August, covering the last 200m in 24.1, and anchored the British 4 × 400m relay team with the quartet's fastest split, 45.5. He was voted Athlete of the Year by "Athletics Weekly" and "Track and Field News" and was ranked number one in the world at 800m and 1500m; no other athlete since has ranked number one at these distances in the same year.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 1980, Coe broke Rick Wohlhuter's world record for 1000m with a time of 2:13.40. He held all four middle-distance world records—the 800m, 1000m, 1500m, and mile—simultaneously (another unique feat) for one hour until Ovett broke his mile record. In the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Ovett and Coe each won the other's speciality: Ovett the 800m and Coe the 1500m. Coe took second in the 800m after running what he described as "the worst tactical race of my life", while Ovett took third in the 1500. It was Ovett's first defeat at one mile or 1500m in three years and 45 races. Coe covered the last 400m in 52.2 and the last 100m in 12.1 seconds, the fastest-ever finish in a championship final at this distance.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe began 1981 with an indoor world record of 1:46.0 for 800m at Cosford in February. On 10 June, he set a world 800m record in Florence; his 1:41.73 remained unbeaten until August 1997. As of 2022, his time still stands as the UK record and puts him in a tie with Nijel Amos for third-fastest man ever at the distance. A month afterwards he set another world record with 2:12.18 for 1000m, which was to last 19 years and to this day (2022) has only been bettered once. At this time, Coe was more than 1.7 seconds (about 14m) faster than anyone in history at both distances. Between these two record-breaking runs he won the Europa Cup 800m semifinal, running the last 100m in 11.3 (the fastest final 100m ever recorded in a major international race), and achieved a personal best of 3:31.95 at 1500m, despite dreadful pacemaking (he went through 400m in 52.4 and 800m in 1:49.1, the fastest start ever in an international 1500m race at the time) by US 800m runner James Robinson, who passed 400m in 51.5. In August, Coe won the gold medal over 800m at the European Cup final with a blistering last 200m in 24.6 and last 100m in 11.9. He then bettered the standard for the mile twice, first with 3:48.53 in Zürich and then with 3:47.33 in Brussels, on either side of Ovett's world record in Koblenz (3:48.40). His 3:47.33 remained on the all-time top-10 list until 31 May 2014.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe ended the season with gold over 800m at the World Cup in Rome in September with 1:46.16 (and a 12.0 last 100m), and remained undefeated at both 1500m/mile and 800m for the entire season, as he had in 1979. "Track & Field News" and "Athletics Weekly" magazines voted Coe Athlete of the Year, an honour he had also won in 1979. Although he had a short season in 1982 because of injuries in June and July, Coe still managed to rank number one in the world in the 800m and to participate in a world-record 4 x 800m relay. Coe, Peter Elliott, Garry Cook and Steve Cram ran a time of 7:03.89, which would remain the world record for 24 years. Coe's leg was the fastest of the day, a solo 1:44.01. Heavily favored for the 800m at the 1982 European Championships in Athletics in Athens, he unexpectedly finished second; the next day British team doctors revealed that he had been suffering from glandular fever. Coe decided to withdraw from the 1500 metres in those championships.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe began 1983 with world indoor records at 800m in Cosford, England (1:44.91, breaking his own 1:46.0 from 1981) and 1000m (2:18.58) in Oslo, but he spent much of that year battling health problems, including a prolonged bout with toxoplasmosis. He missed the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The disease was severe, and he spent several months in and out of hospital. He returned to competition in 1984 and was selected at 800m and 1500m for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, despite having been narrowly beaten by Peter Elliott in the AAA Championships. In the 800m he took silver behind Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, but in the 1500m final—his seventh race in nine days—he took the gold in an Olympic record of 3:32.53. He ran the last 800m of the race in 1:49.8, the last lap in 53.2, and the last 100m in 12.7. He remains the only man to win successive Olympic 1500m titles.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe had planned to have a somewhat quiet season in 1985, partly because of the intensity of the previous year's efforts to get himself ready in time for the Olympics, as well as a planned move up to 5000m, which never materialised. He suffered a recurrence of a back problem which had plagued him on and off since 1980; this caused him to miss several weeks of midseason training. He nevertheless managed to run some fast times towards the end of the season, but he lost his mile world record to Cram, who beat him in Oslo. In 1986, Coe won the 800m gold medal at the European Championships in Stuttgart, beating Tom McKean and Cram with a stunning last 200m of 24.8 and 100m of 12.4. It was his only 800m title at an international championship. He took the silver in the 1500m behind Cram, the mile world record holder proving too strong in the homestretch. He then ran his personal best over 1500m with a 3:29.77 performance in Rieti, Italy, becoming the fourth man in history to break 3:30 at the distance. For the fourth year in his career (1979, 1981, 1982 & 1986), he was ranked No. 1 in the world at 800m, and he was in the top two for 1500m for the fifth time.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe sustained a foot injury in 1987 after winning an 800m and running a 4 × 400m leg for his club, Haringey, and was out for the entire season. The following year he was not selected for the British 1988 Olympic Games team after he failed to advance from the heats of the 1500m at the Trials in Birmingham. He had shown good early season form, but he picked up a chest infection after a spell of altitude training. The "Daily Mirror" ran a campaign and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, unsuccessfully tried to have the rules changed in Coe's favour. It was said that India was willing to include him on its national team on account of his mother's Indian heritage.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe had a final good season in 1989, when, in his 33rd year (at age 32), he won the AAA 1500m title, was ranked British number one for both 800m and 1500m, ran the world's second-fastest 800m of the year (1:43.38), and took the silver medal at the World Cup over 1500m. He retired from competitive athletics in early 1990, after having to bow out of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand with yet another chest infection. He ended his career having run sub-1:44 for 800m in eight different years.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: A scene in the 1981 film "Chariots of Fire" recreates a race in which competitors attempt to run round the perimeter of the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge in the time it takes the clock to double-strike the hour at midday or midnight. Many have tried to run the around the court in the 43.6 seconds that it takes to strike 12 o'clock. Known as the Great Court Run, students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the evening of the matriculation dinner. The only persons recognised to have actually completed the run in time are David Cecil in 1927 and Sam Dobin in 2007. It was thought that Coe had succeeded when he beat Steve Cram in a charity race in October 1988 in a time of 42.53 seconds. A video of the race, however, apparently shows that Coe was 12 metres short of the finish line when the last chime sounded, so Trinity College never officially accepted his time.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was elected as Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, for the Conservative Party, but lost his seat in the 1997 general election. He returned to politics for a short time as Leader of the Opposition William Hague's chief of staff, having accepted the offer of a Life Peerage on 16 May 2000.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: When London announced its bid to hold the 2012 Olympics, Coe became an ambassador for the effort and a member of the board of the bid company. With the May 2004 resignation of chairman Barbara Cassani, Coe became the chairman for the latter phase of the bid. As Coe was a well-known personality in Olympic sport, it was felt he was better suited to the diplomatic finesse needed to secure the IOC's backing. Coe's presentation at the critical IOC meeting in July 2005 was viewed by commentators as being particularly effective, against tough competition from Paris and Madrid, and the London bid won the IOC's blessing on 6 July.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe attended the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver to see how the city coped with the challenges of hosting. Lord Coe noted the Games had "gradually recovered from its tumultuous start" and queried that he "never thought the British would find rivals in their preoccupation with the weather which is almost elevated to an Olympic event" as he credited VANOC for meeting unforeseen challenges such as the unseasonably warm weather of Cypress Mountain. Coe added "Rarely have I seen a host city so passionate and so ready to embrace the Games".


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was instrumental in asking Queen Elizabeth II to star in "", a short film featuring James Bond, which formed part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The director of the ceremony, Danny Boyle first pitched the idea to Coe, who loved it so much that he took it to Edward Young, Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen. A friend of Coe's from their days of advising William Hague, Young "listened sagely, laughed, and promised to ask the Boss". Word soon came back to Coe that she would love to take part.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was appointed the first chairman of FIFA's independent watchdog, the FIFA Ethics Committee. The commission will judge all cases alleging conflicts of interest and breaches of FIFA rules. FIFA president Sepp Blatter made the announcement in Zurich on 15 September 2006 and said: "It is perhaps a surprise but it has been very well received. We have found an outstanding personality in the world of sport, a great personality in the Olympic movement." His appointment makes him one of the most senior Englishmen to work for FIFA.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: He stood down from this post to join the English committee that failed to bring the 2018 World Cup to England, with Russia chosen to host instead.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 2007 Coe was appointed as vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was reappointed in 2011. When Lamine Diack president of the IAAF announced that he was standing down in 2013 seemed likely to announce Coe as his successor as there had never been an election for the President position. Coe, in November 2014 announced that he would stand for election for this position in 2015. In December 2014, Coe unveiled his manifesto, ‘Growing Athletics in a New Age.' On 19 August 2015, in Beijing, he was elected president of IAAF against Sergey Bubka, by 115 votes to 92 votes.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 2015 Lord Coe's presidency of IAAF created turmoil when major sponsor Adidas terminated a multimillion sponsorship deal four years early.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Following the London Olympics, Coe was appointed as Chairman of the British Olympic Association replacing Lord Moynihan.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe has been appointed a member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Coordination Commission representing the Association of National Olympic Committees.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in 2015 accused Coe of misleading the committee. He was also accused of blocking the release of a report from the University of Tübingen that mentioned the extent of doping


title: Sebastian Coe

text: After graduating in 1980, and a few months after his exploits on the track in the 1980–81 seasons, Coe got a job as a research assistant at the Loughborough University of Technology in the department of Physical Education and Sports Science. At this time he shared a semi-detached home with his close friend Steve Mitchell.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 1990, when resident in Surrey, Coe married Nicky McIrvine, a former Badminton three-day-event champion, with whom he has two sons and two daughters. The marriage ended in divorce in 2002 after twelve years.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In 2003, Coe began a relationship with Carole Annett; the couple wed in 2011. She is the daughter of former England cricket captain M.J.K. Smith.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe is a worldwide ambassador for Nike and owns a string of health clubs with a membership of more than 20,000. He is a member of the East India Club, a private gentlemen's club in St James's Square. He has supported London athletic events such as the London 10K of Nike and the British 10K charity race. On 12 February 2010, Coe was the 19th runner on the 106th day of the Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay. Coe's leg was along the Stanley Park Seawall, and he exchanged a "torch kiss" with the previous runner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the next runner, a 19-year-old member of the Squamish community.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: In October 2012, Coe was appointed chairman of Chime Communications sports marketing subsidiary, CSM Sport and Entertainment. The company also entered into an 'option agreement' to buy Coe's 93% interest in CLG, the firm which acts as a vehicle for his earnings from speeches and appearances.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe is a supporter of Chelsea Football Club. He is also a fan of cricket and jazz, in particular Billie Holiday and Lester Young.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was featured in an episode of the BBC TV series "Who Do You Think You Are?", which showed that he is descended from John Astley, the portrait painter, Jamaican sugar farmers and slave owners, George Clarke, Lieutenant Governor of New York Colony, and Edward Hyde of Norbury.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was made an Honorary Doctor of Technology (Hon DTech) by his alma mater, Loughborough University in 1985. In November 2009, he was awarded an honorary degree as Doctor of Science (Hon DSc) from the University of East London. In 2009, he also was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sunderland in 2011.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1990 New Year Honours. On 16 May 2000, he was created a Life Peer as Baron Coe, "of Ranmore in the County of Surrey". He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to sport. In the 2013 New Year Honours, Coe was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) for services to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: He was presented with the first Prince of Asturias Award (Sports category) in 1987. After his work in delivering London 2012 Coe was presented with an Olympic Order. Coe received another lifetime achievement award at the Laureus World Sport Awards.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe has also received three separate awards at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony: The main individual award in 1979, a "Special Gold Award" in 2005 and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2012.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: A building at the Nike world headquarters in Beaverton Oregon was named after Sebastian Coe in 2017. Coe is a longtime Nike athlete and was recognised by Nike as a great middle-distance runner. The 'Nike Sebastian Coe building' was designed to emphasise connectivity.


title: Sebastian Coe

text: Coe was included in "The Sunday Times"' "100 Makers of the 21st Century" list. In 2018 he was recognised as a Tourism Australia's Friend of Australia, in conjunction with the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In addition in 2018 Coe was awarded an OLY post nominal title from World Olympians Association.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Wernicke encephalopathy (WE), also Wernicke's encephalopathy, or wet brain is the presence of neurological symptoms caused by biochemical lesions of the central nervous system after exhaustion of B-vitamin reserves, in particular thiamine (vitamin B1). The condition is part of a larger group of thiamine deficiency disorders that includes beriberi, in all its forms, and alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome. When it occurs simultaneously with alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome it is known as Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Classically, Wernicke encephalopathy is characterised by a triad of symptoms: ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and confusion. Around 10% of patients exhibit all three features, and other symptoms may also be present. While it is commonly regarded as a condition peculiar to malnourished people with alcohol misuse, it can be caused by a variety of diseases.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: It is treated with thiamine supplementation, which can lead to improvement of the symptoms and often complete resolution, particularly in those where alcohol misuse is not the underlying cause. Often other nutrients also need to be replaced, depending on the cause; however medical literature notes the importance of managing the condition in a timely fashion to avoid worsening symptoms.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Wernicke encephalopathy may be present in the general population with a prevalence of around 2%, and is considered underdiagnosed; probably, many cases are in patients who do not have commonly-associated symptoms.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: However, in actuality, only a small percentage of patients experience all three symptoms, and the full triad occurs more frequently among those who have overused alcohol.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Also a much more diverse range of symptoms has been found in patients with this condition, including:


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Although hypothermia is usually diagnosed with a body temperature of 35 °C / 95° Fahrenheit, or less, incipient cooling caused by deregulation in the central nervous system (CNS) needs to be monitored because it can promote the development of an infection. The patient may report feeling cold, followed by mild chills, cold skin, moderate pallor, tachycardia, hypertension, tremor or piloerection. External warming techniques are advised to prevent hypothermia.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Among the frequently altered functions are the cardio circulatory. There may be tachycardia, dyspnea, chest pain, orthostatic hypotension, changes in heart rate and blood pressure. The lack of thiamine sometimes affects other major energy consumers, the myocardium, and also patients may have developed cardiomegaly. Heart failure with lactic acidosis syndrome has been observed. Cardiac abnormalities are an aspect of the WE, which was not included in the traditional approach, and are not classified as a separate disease.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Infections have been pointed out as one of the most frequent triggers of death in WE. Furthermore, infections are usually present in pediatric cases.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: In the last stage other symptoms may occur: hyperthermia, increased muscle tone, spastic paralysis, choreic dyskinesias and coma.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Because of the frequent involvement of heart, eyes and peripheral nervous system, several authors prefer to call it Wernicke disease rather than simply encephalopathy.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Early symptoms are nonspecific, and it has been stated that WE may present nonspecific findings. In Wernicke Korsakoff's syndrome some single symptoms are present in about one-third.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Korsakoff syndrome, characterised by memory impairment, confabulation, confusion and personality changes, has a strong and recognised link with WE. A very high percentage of patients with Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome also have peripheral neuropathy, and many people who consume excess alcohol have this neuropathy without other neurologic signs or symptoms. Korsakoff's occurs much more frequently in WE due to chronic alcoholism. It is uncommon among those who do not consume excessive amounts of alcohol. Up to 80% of WE patients who misuse alcohol develop Korsakoff's syndrome. In Korsakoff's, is usually observed atrophy of the thalamus and the mammillary bodies, and frontal lobe involvement. In a study, half of Wernicke-Korsakoff cases had good recovery from the amnesic state, which may take from 2 months to 10 years.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Wernicke encephalopathy has classically been thought of as a disease solely of people who drink excessive amounts of alcohol, but it is also found in the chronically undernourished, and in recent years had been discovered post bariatric surgery. Without being exhaustive, the documented causes of Wernicke encephalopathy have included:


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Thiamine deficiency and errors of thiamine metabolism are believed to be the primary cause of Wernicke encephalopathy. Thiamine, also called B1, helps to break down glucose. Specifically, it acts as an essential coenzyme to the TCA cycle and the pentose phosphate shunt. Thiamine is first metabolised to its more active form, thiamine diphosphate (TDP), before it is used. The body only has 2–3 weeks of thiamine reserves, which are readily exhausted without intake, or if depletion occurs rapidly, such as in chronic inflammatory states or in diabetes. Thiamine is involved in:


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: The primary neurological-related injury caused by thiamine deficiency in WE is three-fold: oxidative damage, mitochondrial injury leading to apoptosis, and directly stimulating a pro-apoptotic pathway. Thiamine deficiency affects both neurons and astrocytes, glial cells of the brain. Thiamine deficiency alters the glutamate uptake of astrocytes, through changes in the expression of astrocytic glutamate transporters EAAT1 and EAAT2, leading to excitotoxicity. Other changes include those to the GABA transporter subtype GAT-3, GFAP, glutamine synthetase, and the Aquaporin 4 channel. Focal lactic acidosis also causes secondary oedema, oxidative stress, inflammation and white matter damage.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Despite its name, WE is not related to Wernicke's area, a region of the brain associated with speech and language interpretation.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Lesions are usually symmetrical in the periventricular region, diencephalon, the midbrain, hypothalamus, and cerebellar vermis. Brainstem lesions may include cranial nerve III, IV, VI and VIII nuclei, the medial thalamic nuclei, and the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve. Oedema may be found in the regions surrounding the third ventricle, and fourth ventricle, also appearing petechiae and small hemorrhages. Chronic cases can present the atrophy of the mammillary bodies.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Endothelial proliferation, hyperplasia of capillaries, demyelination and neuronal loss can also occur.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Diagnosis of Wernicke encephalopathy or disease is made clinically. Caine et al. in 1997 established criteria that Wernicke encephalopathy can be diagnosed in any patient with just two or more of the main symptoms noted above. The sensitivity of the diagnosis by the classic triad was 23% but increased to 85% taking two or more of the four classic features. These criteria are challenged because all the cases he studied were people who drank excessive amounts of alcohol. Some consider it sufficient to suspect the presence of the disease with only one of the principal symptoms. Some British hospital protocols suspect WE with any one of these symptoms: confusion, decreased consciousness level (or unconsciousness, stupor or coma), memory loss, ataxia or unsteadiness, ophthalmoplegia or nystagmus, and unexplained hypotension with hypothermia. The presence of only one sign should be sufficient for treatment.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: As a much more diverse range of symptoms has been found frequently in patients it is necessary to search for new diagnostic criteria, however Wernicke encephalopathy remains a clinically-diagnosed condition. Neither the MR, nor serum measurements related to thiamine are sufficient diagnostic markers in all cases. However, as described by Zuccoli et al. in several papers the involvement of the cranial nerve nuclei and central gray matter on MRI, is very specific to WE in the appropriate clinical setting. Non-recovery upon supplementation with thiamine is inconclusive.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: The sensitivity of MR was 53% and the specificity was 93%. The reversible cytotoxic edema was considered the most characteristic lesion of WE. The location of the lesions were more frequently atypical among people who drank appropriate amounts of alcohol, while typical contrast enhancement in the thalamus and the mammillary bodies was observed frequently associated with alcohol misuse. These abnormalities may include:


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Thiamine can be measured using an erythrocyte transketolase activity assay, or by activation by measurement of in vitro thiamine diphosphate levels. Normal thiamine levels do not necessarily rule out the presence of WE, as this may be a patient with difficulties in intracellular transport.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: There are hospital protocols for prevention, supplementing with thiamine in the presence of: history of alcohol misuse or related seizures, requirement for IV glucose, signs of malnutrition, poor diet, recent diarrhea or vomiting, peripheral neuropathy, intercurrent illness, delirium tremens or treatment for DTs, and others.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Some experts advise parenteral thiamine should be given to all at-risk patients in the emergency department.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: In the clinical diagnosis should be remembered that early symptoms are nonspecific, and it has been stated that WE may present nonspecific findings. There is consensus to provide water-soluble vitamins and minerals after gastric operations.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: In some countries certain foods have been supplemented with thiamine, and have reduced WE cases. Improvement is difficult to quantify because they applied several different actions. Avoiding or moderating alcohol consumption and having adequate nutrition reduces one of the main risk factors in developing Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome..


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Most symptoms will improve quickly if deficiencies are treated early. Memory disorder may be permanent.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: In patients suspected of WE, thiamine treatment should be started immediately. Blood should be immediately taken to test for thiamine, other vitamins and minerals levels. Following this an immediate intravenous or intramuscular dose of thiamine should be administered two or three times daily. Thiamine administration is usually continued until clinical improvement ceases.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Considering the diversity of possible causes and several surprising symptomatologic presentations, and because there is low assumed risk of toxicity of thiamine, because the therapeutic response is often dramatic from the first day, some qualified authors indicate parenteral thiamine if WE is suspected, both as a resource for diagnosis and treatment. The diagnosis is highly supported by the response to parenteral thiamine, but is not sufficient to be excluded by the lack of it. Parenteral thiamine administration is associated with a very small risk of anaphylaxis.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: People who consume excessive amounts of alcohol may have poor dietary intakes of several vitamins, and impaired thiamine absorption, metabolism, and storage; they may thus require higher doses.\


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: If glucose is given, such as in people with an alcohol use disorder who are also hypoglycaemic, thiamine must be given concurrently. If this is not done, the glucose will rapidly consume the remaining thiamine reserves, exacerbating this condition.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: The observation of edema in MR, and also the finding of inflation and macrophages in necropsied tissues, has led to successful administration of antiinflammatories.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Other nutritional abnormalities should also be looked for, as they may be exacerbating the disease. In particular, magnesium, a cofactor of transketolase which may induce or aggravate the disease.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Other supplements may also be needed, including: cobalamin, ascorbic acid, folic acid, nicotinamide, zinc, phosphorus (dicalcium phosphate) and in some cases taurine, especially suitable when there cardiocirculatory impairment.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Patient-guided nutrition is suggested. In patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, even higher doses of parenteral thiamine are recommended. Concurrent toxic effects of alcohol should also be considered.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Wernicke's lesions were observed in 0.8 to 2.8% of the general population autopsies, and 12.5% of people with an alcohol use disorder. This figure increases to 35% of such individuals if including cerebellar damage due to lack of thiamine.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: Most autopsy cases were from people with an alcohol use disorder. Autopsy series were performed in hospitals on the material available which is unlikely to be representative of the entire population. Considering the slight affectations, previous to the generation of observable lesions at necropsy, the percentage should be higher. There is evidence to indicate that Wernicke encephalopathy is underdiagnosed. For example, in one 1986 study, 80% of cases were diagnosed postmortem. Is estimated that only 5–14% of patients with WE are diagnosed in life.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: In a series of autopsy studies held in Recife, Brazil, it was found that only 7 out of 36 had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol, and only a small minority had malnutrition. In a reviewed of 53 published case reports from 2001 to 2011, the relationship with alcohol was also about 20% (10 out of 53 cases).


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: WE is more likely to occur in males than females. Among the minority who are diagnosed, mortality can reach 17%. The main factors triggering death are thought to be infections and liver dysfunctions.


title: Wernicke encephalopathy

text: WE was first identified in 1881 by the German neurologist Carl Wernicke, although the link with thiamine was not identified until the 1930s. A similar presentation of this disease was described by the Russian psychiatrist Sergei Korsakoff in a series of articles published 1887–1891; where the chronic version of WE was described as Korsakoff's Syndrome, involving symptoms of amnesia.


title: Steve Agee

text: Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series "The Sarah Silverman Program" and as John Economos in the 2021 superhero film "The Suicide Squad", reprising the latter role in the 2022 streaming television series "Peacemaker". He also served as the on-set stand-in for Nanaue / King Shark.


title: Steve Agee

text: Agee is also a musician. He played guitar and bass in various rock bands in the 1990s, and has collaborated with Brendon Small in the past. He played bass guitar in a commercial for "Rocksmith 2014" and released a comedy-punk album, "Scab", on September 4, 2021.


title: Ideological leanings of United States Supreme Court justices

text: The Supreme Court of the United States is the country's highest federal court. Established pursuant to Article Three of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, it has ultimate, and largely discretionary, appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and state court cases involving issues of U.S. federal law, plus original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is generally the final interpreter of federal law including the U.S. Constitution, but it may act only within the context of a case in which it has jurisdiction. The Court may decide cases having political overtones, but does not have the power to decide political questions that are nonjusticiable, and its enforcement arm is in the executive rather than judicial branch of government.


text: As established by the Judiciary Act of 1869, the Court normally consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The justices base their decisions on their interpretation of both legal doctrine and the precedential application of laws in the past. In most cases, interpreting the law is relatively clear-cut and the justices decide unanimously; however, in more complicated or controversial cases, the Court is often divided.


text: In modern discourse, the justices of the Court are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation. It has long been commonly assumed that justices' votes are a reflection of their judicial decision-making philosophy as well as their ideological leanings, personal attitudes, values, political philosophies, or policy preferences. A growing body of academic research has confirmed this understanding, as scholars have found that the justices largely vote in consonance with their perceived values. Analysts have used a variety of methods to deduce the specific perspective of each justice over time.


text: Researchers have carefully analyzed the judicial rulings of the Supreme Court—the votes and written opinions of the justices—as well as their upbringing, their political party affiliation, their speeches, their political contributions before appointment, editorials written about them at the time of their Senate confirmation, the political climate in which they are appointed, confirmed, and work, and the political contributions of the law clerks they hire. Bonica and Sen provide an overview of these methods.


text: From this data, scholars have inferred the ideological leanings of each justice and how the justices are likely to vote on upcoming cases. For example, Segal and Cover found (p. 561) a strong correlation (0.80) between justices' perceived ideological perspectives on civil liberties and civil rights issues as attributed to them in elite newspaper editorials written just before their confirmation (their Segal–Cover score) and their later votes in the study period 1953–1988. Epstein, Walker, and Dixon found they could explain and predict rulings in criminal justice cases (in the study period 1946–1986) using a simple model with four inputs: the political party affiliation of the majority of justices, the political party affiliation of the current president (representing the current political climate), the Supreme Court rulings in criminal justice cases in the previous year, and the percent of criminal cases the Court decides to hear in the current year (how much interest they take in the issue). In this analysis, the political party affiliation of the majority of justices provided about one-fourth of the predictive power. In 1999, Pinello conducted a meta-analysis of 84 studies of American courts covering 222,789 cases and found that political party affiliation was a dependable indicator of rulings: Democratic judges voted in favor of liberal solutions more often than Republican judges did, especially in federal courts (the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and U.S. District Courts). Bonica "et al." utilized the ideology of the law clerks hired by federal judges (as estimated by the law clerks' political donations) to estimate the ideology of the judges themselves.


text: Using statistical analysis of Supreme Court votes, scholars found that an inferred value representing a justice's ideological preference on a simple conservative–liberal scale is sufficient to predict a large number of that justice's votes. For example, Grofman and Brazill performed multidimensional scaling (MDS) using SYSTAT 5.0 of the entire range of cases considered by the Supreme Court, 1953–1991. Analyzing terms with an unchanging membership ("natural courts") and a complete bench of nine members (3,363 cases), they found that a one-dimensional scale provided a satisfactory explanation of votes and that the degree of unidimensionality generally rose over the years, writing: "On average, over the 15 courts, the mean r values are 0.86 for a one dimensional metric MDS solution, and 0.97 for a two dimensional metric MDS solution." In 2003, Poole used various statistical measures to show that a unidimensional scale provided a good measure of the Rehnquist Court during the 8-year period 1995–2002.


text: Using increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis, researchers have found that the policy preferences of many justices shift over time. The ideological leanings of justices and the drift over time can be seen clearly in the research results of two sets of scholars using somewhat different models:


text: Andrew D. Martin and Kevin M. Quinn have employed Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to fit a Bayesian statistic measurement model of ideal points (policy preferences on a one-dimensional scale) for all the justices based on the votes in every contested Supreme Court case since 1937. The graph below shows the results of their analysis: the ideological leaning of each justice from the term that began in October 1937 to the term that began in October 2021. Note that the scale and zero point are arbitrary, and only the relative distance of the lines is important. Each unique color represents a particular Supreme Court seat, which makes the transitions from retiring justices to newly appointed justices easier to follow. The black lines represent the leanings of the chief justices. The yellow line represents the estimated location of the median justice—who, as Duncan Black's median voter theorem posits, is often the swing vote in closely divided decisions.


text: Michael A. Bailey used a slightly different Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian method to determine ideological leanings and made significantly different scaling assumptions. He analyzed cases by calendar year (rather than Supreme Court term) and supplemented the data regarding votes in each Court case with additional information from the majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions in which justices commented on previous cases, as well as with votes made by members of Congress on similar legislation, amicus filings by U.S. solicitors general and members of Congress, and presidential and Congressional positions on Court cases. This additional information gave him a richer dataset and also enabled him to deduce preference values that are more consistent with the DW-Nominate Common Space scores used to evaluate the ideological leanings of members of Congress and presidents. However, he only used votes and cases related to the major topics addressed by the courts in the postwar era: crime, civil rights, free speech, religion, abortion, privacy, and labor unions. He did not include cases addressing federalism, judicial power, economic activity, or federal taxation.


text: The graph below shows the ideological leaning of each justice by calendar year from 1950 to 2019. The scale and zero point roughly correspond to DW-Nominate Common Space scores, but otherwise are arbitrary. As in the graph above, each unique color represents a particular Supreme Court seat. The black lines represent the leanings of the chief justices. The yellow line represents the median justice.


text: These two graphs differ because of the choices of data sources, data coverage, coding of complicated cases, smoothing parameters, and statistical methods. Each of the lines in these graphs also has a wide band of uncertainty. Because these analyses are based on statistics and probability, it is important not to over-interpret the results. Also note that the nature of the cases the Supreme Court chooses to hear may lead the justices to appear more liberal or conservative than they would if they were hearing a different set of cases; the Court accepts only 100–200 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year. In addition, all cases are valued equally even though some cases are much more important than others. Moreover, recent consequential cases decided through the "shadow docket" are not included at all. Still, these graphs offer an indication of the overall ideological orientation of the justices and provide a visualization of changes in the Court's orientation over time.


text: In the early 1930s, which is earlier than the data on the Martin–Quinn graph, the "Four Horsemen" (justices James McReynolds, Pierce Butler, George Sutherland, and Willis Van Devanter) mostly opposed the New Deal agenda proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The liberal "Three Musketeers" (justices Harlan Stone, Benjamin Cardozo, and Louis Brandeis) generally supported the New Deal. Two justices (Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Justice Owen Roberts) normally cast the swing votes.


text: The Martin–Quinn graph shows that, by the 1939 term, Roosevelt had moved the Court to a more liberal position by appointing four new justices including strong liberals Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and Frank Murphy. Led by the increasingly conservative chief justices Harlan F. Stone and Fred M. Vinson, the Court shifted in a more conservative direction through the early 1950s.


text: President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren to be chief justice in 1953, and both graphs indicate that the Court then turned in a more liberal direction as Warren grew substantially more liberal and especially when he was joined by strong liberal justices William J. Brennan Jr., Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, and Thurgood Marshall, although justices Black and Felix Frankfurter became more conservative over time. In the 1970s, the Court shifted in a more conservative direction when President Richard Nixon appointed Chief Justice Warren Burger and strong conservative justices Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist, and Harry Blackmun, and more so when President Ronald Reagan elevated Rehnquist to chief justice, although Blackmun became more liberal over time. The Court shifted to an even more conservative orientation when it was joined by strong conservative justices Antonin Scalia (appointed by President Ronald Reagan), Clarence Thomas (appointed by President George H. W. Bush), and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts (both whom were appointed by President George W. Bush). During this time, Justice David Souter became more liberal.


text: Since 2020, the Roberts Court is more conservative, with six conservative justices that include justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett (appointed by President Donald Trump). Dissenting in many key cases are justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan (appointed by President Barack Obama). In 2022, Justice Stephen Breyer (appointed by President Bill Clinton) retired and was replaced by Ketanji Brown Jackson (appointed by President Joe Biden). Jackson is widely considered to be, like Breyer, an ideological liberal.


text: The most volatile seat appears to be Seat 10 (light blue lines), which was held by conservative Pierce Butler until 1939, then liberal Frank Murphy until 1949, then moderate-conservative Tom Clark until 1967, then strong liberal Thurgood Marshall until 1991, and then strong conservative Clarence Thomas. The path of Justice Harry Blackmun illustrates the ideological drift shown by many justices. Blackmun (purple line) had a conservative score (Quinn–Martin = 1.465; Bailey = 1.289) in the 1969–70 term, his first on the bench, but had shifted to a liberal score (Quinn–Martin = −1.939; Bailey = −1.188) by the 1993–94 term, his last. The median justice (shown with a yellow background line) was Byron White (orange line) for most of the time from 1969 to 1989, Sandra Day O’Connor (dark brown line) from 1991 to 2005, Anthony Kennedy (green line) from 2006 to 2017, John Roberts (black line) in 2018 and 2019, and Brett Kavanaugh (green line) since 2020.


text: The graphs show that since the 1938 term every chief justice (black lines), except Earl Warren and John Roberts (since about 2020), has had a more conservative ideological lean than the median justice on the Court.


text: The following sortable table lists the lifetime percentage liberal scores of Supreme Court justices as compiled in the Supreme Court Database. The table shows data for justices whose service began at or after the 1946 term; the data ends with the 2016–2017 term.


text: In the Supreme Court Database, "liberal" represents the voting direction of the justices across the various issue areas. It is most appropriate in the areas of criminal procedure, civil rights, and First Amendment cases, where it signifies pro-defendant votes in criminal procedure cases, pro-women, or pro-minorities in civil rights cases, and pro-individual against the government in First Amendment cases. In takings clause cases, a pro-government/anti-owner vote is considered liberal. In labor union cases, pro-union votes against both individuals and the government are considered liberal, and in economic cases, the term represents pro-government votes against challenges to federal regulatory authority and pro-competition, anti-business, pro-liability, pro-injured person, and pro-bankruptcy decisions. In federalism and federal taxation cases, the term indicates pro-national government positions.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Ranger's Apprentice is a series written by Australian author John Flanagan. The first novel in the series, "The Ruins of Gorlan", was released in Australia on 1 November 2004. The books were initially released in Australia and New Zealand, though have since been released in 14 other countries. The series follows the adventures of Will, an orphan who is chosen as an apprentice Ranger, one of the skilled trackers, archers and warriors in the service of the King of Araluen. Will strives to keep the Kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors, and threats. He is joined on his adventures by his mentor Halt and his best friend Horace.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: The series originally consisted of twelve books, with the eleventh book being a collection of short stories and the twelfth being a follow-up novel set 16 years later. A prequel series, "", has released two titles, the first in 2015 and the second in 2016. A spin-off series, "Brotherband", which is set in the same universe, though with new characters, started in 2011. The eighth book in the "Brotherband" series came out in October 2019. In 2018 the twelfth book of the "Ranger's Apprentice" series was renamed and made the first book in a sequel series, "".


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: The series has sold over three million copies. The series was originally twenty short stories Flanagan wrote for his son to get him interested in reading. Ten years later, Flanagan found the stories again and decided to turn them into a book. BookPeople, a bookstore in Texas, helped promote the book through a five-day camp in 2010. The series is well praised by critics.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Morgarath, the exiled baron, has been waiting fifteen years, carefully planning his revenge against the Kingdom of Araluen. He prepares to unleash his power and attempt once more to take control of the kingdom. In Araluen, in Redmont Fief, a special day has come for 15-year-old Will and his fellow wardmates (Horace, Alyss, George, and Jenny), called Choosing Day, where they all become an apprentice to a craftmaster or have to work in the local farms. Will becomes apprenticed to Halt the Ranger. Rangers are the intelligence group of the country and specialize in long-range weapons and the art of staying unseen. Will begins to train in these skills.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: In the meantime, Will's wardmate Horace is in Battleschool. His life is harsh and he is bullied by three second-year Battleschool cadets. During a local holiday known as Harvest Day, Horace and Will fight, increasing their hatred for each other. Six weeks later, Will saves Horace's life during a boar hunt, cementing a friendship between the two boys. Later, the Battleschool bullies attack Will, leading to Halt intervening and having the bullies banished from the fief. Soon after, Halt and Will leave for the Ranger Gathering, where they receive a report that the Kalkara, vicious creatures under the control of Morgarath, have entered Araluen.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Halt, Will and Gilan leave to track down and kill the Kalkara. Halt thinks that the Kalkara are headed to the ruins of Gorlan and tells Will to go back to Redmont, get backup, and rendezvous at the ruins. At Redmont, Baron Arald and Sir Rodney (Arald's battlemaster) head out to slay the Kalkara and to save Halt. Finding that Halt is battling the Kalkara alone (and not faring so well), Sir Rodney and Baron Arald manage to knock one into the fire, but are badly injured by the other. Will shoots the Kalkara fatally in the chest with a flaming arrow. Back at his fief, Will is considered a hero and receives his bronze oakleaf, which identifies him as a Ranger's apprentice.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: A war with Morgarath is approaching, and Will, Gilan (Halt's former apprentice), and Horace (Will's friend and a knight-in-training) are sent to Celtica, a nearby country, to ask for reinforcements. Every town they find is deserted. A survivor named Evanlyn explains that Wargals, mindless minions of Morgarath, have caused the destruction. Gilan travels to Araluen to report to the king. Meanwhile, Will, Horace, and Evanlyn encounter Wargals. They follow them to the Fissure, a deep gorge, to discover that the Celtic miners were captured to complete a bridge across the Fissure and a tunnel through the cliffs above up to Morgarath's lair. This would allow Morgarath's army to attack the King's army from behind. It is revealed that Evanlyn is in truth the missing crown princess Cassandra.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Horace and Gilan manage to warn the king and his advisers of Morgarath's plan. The king dispatches an auxiliary force, led by Halt, to stop a force of Skandian warriors that have come up from the coast to outflank the king's army. This is done successfully, and Halt and his troops disguise themselves as Skandians, tricking Morgarath into ordering the Wargals to charge into the open plain. A cavalry charge demolishes the advancing Wargals, who are afraid only of horses. His army destroyed, Morgarath offers a flag of truce and prepares to challenge Halt to single combat to avenge his own defeat. Horace challenges Morgarath instead. Horace is outmatched by Morgarath, but Horace manages to kill Morgarath. Meanwhile, Will and Cassandra are captured by the Skandians and held as hostages.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Will and Cassandra are enslaved in Skandia, a country north-east across the Stormwhite Sea at the Araluen border. In Hallasholm, the Skandian capital, Will is forced to work outside in the bitter cold, while Cassandra is taken into the kitchens. Will quickly becomes addicted to warmweed, a drug that destroys the mind and body. Erak, the Skandian who captured Will and Cassandra, helps Cassandra escape with Will, and the two take refuge in a small log cabin for winter. Following Erak's advice, Cassandra weans Will off the warmweed and Will overcomes his addiction. Meanwhile, Horace and Halt set off to rescue Will and Cassandra, by crossing into Gallica and making their way north along the coast. Horace becomes known as "The Oakleaf Knight" as he defeats many Gallican knights in combat, thereby attracting the attention of Deparnieux, a famed knight. Deparnieux attempts to capture Halt and Horace but is tricked by Halt and killed.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: In "Oakleaf Bearers", called "The Battle for Skandia" in the United States, Cassandra is captured by a Temujai warrior while scavenging for food. The Temujai are a fierce, nomadic tribe of horse warriors from the east and are masters of the recurve bow. Will struggles to rescue her until Horace and Halt arrive. Halt captures a Temujai and realizes the Temujai are attempting to take over the western world. Twenty years earlier, they almost succeeded. Halt agrees to help Skandia drive off the Temujai, since they pose a threat to Araluen as well. The Skandians make use of Halt's knowledge of the Temujai tactics, and Will trains a force of archers for the upcoming battle against the Temujai. During the battle, the Skandians surprise the Temujai with their archers, and the Temujai are forced to withdraw. The Skandian Oberjarl Ragnak (the supreme ruler) is killed in the battle, and Erak is elected to succeed him. Cassandra and Erak sign the Treaty of Hallasholm, which means the end of constant Skandian raids against the Araluen coast.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: After receiving his silver oakleaf and being assigned to Seacliff Fief, Will takes on his first mission as a full-fledged Ranger. A few weeks after arriving in the fief, a disguised Will is sent north to Castle Macindaw to investigate claims of sorcery. The lord of Castle Macindaw, Syron, is ill and many believe a sorcerer caused the illness. His friend Alyss, also in disguise, is sent to help Will, but is captured by the rogue knight Keren, responsible for poisoning Syron. Will escapes with allies of Syron, and enlists the help of the "sorcerer", who is a gifted healer called Malcolm. Orman, Syron's son, has been poisoned as well and is smuggled to Malcolm. Will attempts to rescue Alyss, but Keren walks through the door and Will barely escapes.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Horace and Will devise a plan to take control of the castle and rescue Alyss with the help of a group of Skandians. They infiltrate the castle and Will reaches the tower where Alyss is held, but Keren hypnotises her to believe Will is the enemy and orders her to kill him. At the last moment, Will tells Alyss that he loves her, and the hypnosis is broken. As Keren attacks Will, Alyss defeats him while the Skandians, led by Horace, take control of the castle. Will returns to Seacliff Fief and receives a letter from Alyss with her own love confession.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: "Erak's Ransom" takes place after "Oakleaf Bearers" but before "The Sorcerer in the North", several months before Will receives his Silver Oakleaf, though it was released after "The Siege of Macindaw". Skandian Oberjarl Erak goes on one final raid. However, he is captured and held for ransom while attempting to raid Al Shabah, a province of Arrida. Because Erak's first mate Svengal believes that he was betrayed by Toshak, a rival Skandian, the raiding party goes to Araluen, instead of Skandia, for the ransom money. Princess Cassandra goes to Arrida in her father's place to negotiate prices with Selethen, the Wakir (leader) of Al Shabah. Will, Gilan, Halt, Horace, and thirty of Erak's men go along for protection and to deliver the ransom. After the negotiation is over, Selethen reveals that Erak was being held in Mararoc, a fort in the desert, but as they are traveling there, Will loses his horse Tug during a sandstorm and goes off to find him. Will runs out of water and is saved by the nomadic Bedullin tribe. Meanwhile, Erak is captured by the Tualaghi, a merciless nomadic tribe of devil worshipers. The rescue party, with the help of the Bedullin tribe, defeat the leader of the Tualaghi and free Erak. Finally, Will is promoted to full Ranger and is awarded a silver oakleaf.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Will, Halt, and Horace are on a mission to stop a cult called the Outsiders from taking power. The cult offers protection to villages from "bandits", who are secretly other Outsiders, in exchange for gold. In this fashion, they have taken control of five of the six kingdoms of Hibernia. Halt, Will, and Horace are sent to Clonmel, the last kingdom, to try to prevent the cult from expanding into Araluen. Halt, a Hibernian native, is a member of the royal family, and he tries to persuade his twin brother, King Ferris of Clonmel, to use his troops to drive the cult out. The cult loses power in Clonmel, but the leader, Tennyson, escapes. At the same time, King Ferris is killed by a Genovesan assassin hired by Tennyson, and Halt's nephew Sean becomes king. Will, Halt, and Horace leave Clonmel to chase the false prophet, Tennyson.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: After reaching a smuggler's port and managing to get information on Tennyson's whereabouts, the trio hire a ship to take them to Picta. The chase is on as the three pursue Tennyson through a drowned forest, and finally, at an encounter with Tennyson's hired assassins, Halt is shot with a poisoned arrow and is incapacitated. Picta is located near Macindaw, so Will rides to fetch Malcolm, the best healer in Araluen. They discover that Halt was poisoned with a toxin that has another toxin extremely similar to it. They both have antidotes, but to use the wrong one is fatal. Will captures the assassin that fired the arrow and forces him to reveal the toxin he used, and Malcolm cures Halt. The group finds Tennyson, who is trying to swindle more countryfolk. Using Halt's similarity to King Ferris, whom Tennyson murdered, they manage to discredit Tennyson. Will causes a cave-in that kills Tennyson and his followers. Halt, Horace, and Will are given a heroes' welcome when they return to Araluen.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Horace and George are in Nihon-Ja, guests of the Emperor of Nihon-Ja, Shigeru. Meanwhile, Will, Halt, Selethen, and Alyss observe a Toscan general's demonstration of military tactics while at a treaty signing between the Toscans and the Arridi, both allies of Araluen. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja is told by his cousin Shukin that there's been a coup against the Emperor by Arisaka, a noble. A Senshi (skilled swordsman) ambush nearly succeeds in killing the Emperor, but Horace intervenes. He decides to help the Emperor find the legendary, impenetrable fortress of Ran-Koshi while George contacts Araluen for help. Later, the crown princess of Araluen, Cassandra, appears and enlists the help of the two Rangers, Alyss, and Selethen to go after Horace. En route to Ran-Koshi, Horace's party befriends the local woodworkers known as Kikori, and they join Horace's group on the trek to Ran-Koshi. Halt's group arrives in Nihon-Ja and learn of Horace's whereabouts. While Shukin and other Senshi sacrifice themselves to delay Arisaka's enormous Senshi party, Horace's group reaches Ran-Koshi and settle in. Halt's group arrives at Ran-Koshi soon after.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: The group sets up defenses to stop Arisaka's army, successfully repelling them. Cassandra and Alyss set out to recruit a tribe of warriors allied with the Emperor: the Hasanu. Will, noting how the Kikori work together excellently, utilizes the tactics of the Toscan general to train them. Arisaka's main party arrives near Ran-Koshi. The final battle begins, and the armies seem evenly matched until Arisaka's reinforcements arrive. As the Kikori forces regroup, Alyss and Cassandra arrive with the Hasanu. Before the battle can continue, the Emperor calls a truce and convinces Arisaka's army that Arisaka is a power-hungry fool. Arisaka is enraged and Will directly confronts him and kills him. On the return trip to Araluen, Horace and Cassandra announce their engagement. Will makes a poor attempt at proposing to Alyss, and she marches off in mock indignation.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: "The Lost Stories" consists of nine different short stories, set at various times before, during, and after the events of the previous ten books. Stories include the tale of Will's father, what happened to Gilan during the events of "The Icebound Land", the story of Halt's apprenticeship in Hibernia, and several stories following the main characters after the conclusion of "The Emperor of Nihon-Ja", including one where Will and Alyss get married.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Years after the previous books, Will Treaty tries to cope with the death of his wife Alyss, who died in an inn set on fire by the gang leader Jory Ruhl. When his friends begin to notice the change in his personality, Gilan, the new Ranger Commandant, calls on Halt, Pauline, Cassandra, and Horace to discuss the situation. Halt suggests that Will take on an apprentice to take his mind off his quest for revenge. Meanwhile, Princess Madelyn, the daughter of Horace and Cassandra, sneaks out at night to use her sling to hunt, against the will of her parents. Halt suggests that Maddie be apprenticed to Will, which would make Maddie the first female apprentice in Ranger history. At the beginning of her apprenticeship, Will gives Maddie a letter from her parents, which says she has been disinherited as a princess of Araluen, in a desperate last resort by her parents to get her under control. Will proceeds to train Maddie, and his quest for revenge is slowly forgotten. When Gilan suggests Will take Maddie on a mission, Will accepts.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: Gilan assigns Will and Maddie to investigate the death of Liam, another Ranger. They soon discover a plot by an illicit slave ring who kidnaps children. Will learns that the leader of the slave ring is actually Jory Ruhl, but he manages to set aside his desire for revenge to save the children Ruhl has kidnapped. Maddie is injured in the process, and Will kills Ruhl to save her. Six months later, Maddie is awarded her bronze oakleaf, marking her as an official Ranger's apprentice, and Cassandra offers her reinstatement as a princess. However, Maddie declines, saying she wishes to complete her apprenticeship instead.


title: Ranger's Apprentice

text: John Flanagan stated that he first wrote the series as short stories for his son to get him interested in reading. This continued for about 20 weeks. Ten years later, John Flanagan found the stories again and decided to turn them into the first book, "The Ruins of Gorlan". He never knew that the one book would be able to turn into so many volumes. In 2010, Flanagan was unsure how many volumes in the series he would release, saying, "I haven't set a limit. If I have an idea that will progress the characters, I'll write it. But I don't want to find myself jumping up and down on the same spot, as it were."