title: Don't Start Now

text: In her review for "NME", Rhian Daly deemed the song "powerful pop perfection", while "musicOMH"s Nick Smith described the song as a "Moloko-esque nu-disco treasure". AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung appreciated Lipa's "endless supply of confidence, charm, and cooler-than-you attitude", and called it an "immediate earworm". Jon Freeman of "Rolling Stone" similarly wrote that it has instant appeal, with "hooks piled upon hooks" and "a recipe for club glory". "Entertainment Weekly"s Marc Snetiker described it as a "dance floor jawdropper". "The Daily Telegraph"s music critic Neil McCormick regarded it as "a fantastic put-down of a needy ex". In "The New York Times", Jon Caramanica explained the song was "effective but not overambitious", arguing that Lipa sells its "kiss-off sentiment with rhythm but not punch".


title: Don't Start Now

text: "Time" placed "Don't Start Now" fifth in its list of 2019's best songs, while "Billboard" and "NME" ranked the song at number 41 and 17 respectively. In 2020, "Variety" named it the best song of the year, and "Consequence", "Gigwise" and "Spin" placed it in the 9th, 8th and 20th positions in their year-end lists, respectively. "Rolling Stone" ranked the song sixth on its 2020 year-end list. "Don't Start Now" won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Song at the 2020 ceremony, giving Lipa her first American Music Award. It received nominations for Best Song at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards as well as Best British Song and Best Song in the World at the 2020 "NME" Awards. At the 2020 Nickelodeon Mexico Kids' Choice Awards and 2020 LOS40 Music Awards, the song received respective nominations for Global Hit and Best International Song. It was awarded an iHeartRadio Titanium Award for receiving one billions spins on the station in the United States. The song was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, marking Lipa's first acknowledgment in all three categories. The song won Most Performed International Work at the APRA Music Awards of 2021.


title: Don't Start Now

text: In November 2019, "Don't Start Now" debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 49,334 units, making it Lipa's highest debut on the chart and seventh UK top-10 single. It spent three consecutive weeks at number two; "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I kept it from the top spot. "Don't Start Now" charted for 25 weeks in the top 10, the seventh-longest overall, and spent 67 weeks on the chart in total. In June 2021, the song was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for track-equivalent sales of 1.8 million units. "Don't Start Now" topped the Irish Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks, making it Lipa's fourth chart-topper in Ireland.


title: Don't Start Now

text: In Australia, "Don't Start Now" entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number eight; it was Lipa's fifth single to reach the top 10 on the chart. The song spent 10 non-consecutive weeks at number two, placing it in joint-second with "Moves like Jagger" (2011) by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera for most weeks spent at number two without reaching number one. It was blocked from the top spot by "Dance Monkey". The song charted for 29 consecutive weeks in the top 10, the fourth-longest top 10 stay in the chart's history. It was certified eight-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for track-equivalent sales of 560,000 units. The song reached number three in New Zealand and was certified quadruple platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for 120,000 track-equivalent unit sales.


title: Don't Start Now

text: "Don't Start Now" debuted at number 30 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 with a first-week tally of 14,000 downloads sold, 13.2 million streams and 10.2 million radio impressions. In its nineteenth week on the chart, the song rose to number two, held off the top spot by Roddy Ricch's "The Box". It became Lipa's highest-charting single in the US, and her second to reach the top 10. "Don't Start Now" spent 52 weeks on the chart, becoming Lipa's first song to spend an entire year on the chart. In March 2021, the song received a quadruple platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for track-equivalent sales of four million units. In Canada, it peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100 and was certified nine times platinum by Music Canada (MC) for track-equivalent sales of 720,000 units. In September 2020, almost a year following the song's release, "Billboard" introduced their Global 200 chart and "Don't Start Now" debuted at number 37 and later reached a peak of 30 the following March.


title: Don't Start Now

text: The music video for "Don't Start Now" was filmed on 14 October 2019 in Brooklyn. It was directed by Nabil Elderkin, who had previously worked with Lipa during her 2019 campaign for Yves Saint Laurent's Libre fragrance. The video was produced by Eric Brown with Operator Media serving as the production company. Elderkin found inspiration for the treatment by skating around London while listening to the song. He used darker lighting and moods in a balance he felt complimented "Don't Start Now". Various concepts and edits were explored before Lipa and her management signed off on the final cut. Lipa decided at the last minute to use the final scene at the start of the video. The music video premiered on YouTube on 1 November 2019.


title: Don't Start Now

text: The video opens with a point-of-view shot of Lipa leaving a nightclub and throwing the camera onto the pavement. The clip blacks out briefly before rewinding to a scene from five hours earlier. In it, Lipa enters a pub and removes her orange Raf Simons jacket to perform on stage in a yellow Versace bra top and Marni jeans. The video then cuts to a crowded nightclub where Lipa dances under a disco ball and spotlight. In the next scene, she dances at a 19th-century-themed masquerade ball, and notices eyes on paintings coming to life. She runs down a staircase to return to the nightclub, and is later shown washing her face in the bathroom there and strutting its hallway. The video ends with a cumulative montage of the evening's events.


title: Don't Start Now

text: Amy Francombe of "The Face" said Elderkin's signature directing style "shines through" in the neon colour schemes and high-angle shots. Writing for "Paper", Brendan Wetmore described the video as "something straight out of the POV TikTok genre and put onto Vevo". In her review for "Vogue", Rachel Hahn called it "a fine showcase for Lipa's expert post-breakup style". "Nylon"s Allison Stubblebine compared the crowded nightclub scene to one in Harry Styles' music video for "Lights Up". For the video, Elderkin was nominated for Best Direction at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, while the visual itself was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2020 Urban Music Awards.


title: Don't Start Now

text: Lipa gave her first live performance of "Don't Start Now" on 1 November 2019 on "The Graham Norton Show". Two days later, she performed the song at the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards. She wore a black leotard and was surrounded by a float of 40 dancers in yellow bodysuits during the performance, which was directed by Es Devlin; it was acclaimed by the media. BBC News reporter Mark Savage said, "Fans who'd previously made fun of her stage presence were won over by the dance moves and staging". "Clash"s Zoya Raza-Sheikh wrote, "All it took was a few minutes for the singer to – yet again – prove a questioning audience wrong". Writing for "PopMatters", Evan Sawdey praised Lipa for "nailing tight choreography and delivering a striking stage presence heretofore unseen". Lipa's other renditions also featured floats of dancers and used the same dance routine, but were modified slightly to resonate on various stages. On 10 November 2019, she sang the song on the ninth season finale of "The Voice of Germany" with contestant Freschta Akbarzada.


title: Don't Start Now

text: At her 2019 American Music Awards performance on 24 November, she wore a red bodysuit and was backed by a float of dancers in silver costumes during the 1970s-inspired rendition, which featured a giant disco ball and cube-shaped side tables as props. The performance ended with silver, cushion-shaped balloons falling from the ceiling. In Australia, Lipa presented the song at the 2019 ARIA Music Awards on 27 November 2019, and on the breakfast television programme "Sunrise" the following day. In Japan, Lipa sang "Don't Start Now" in an all-black Versace outfit at the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards on 4 December 2019; South Korean singer Hwasa of Mamamoo opened for her, staging "New Rules". On 17 December, she performed the song on the 17th US season finale of "The Voice" surrounded by roller skaters in a showgirl-inspired set. Lipa performed the song on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" with a string section on 19 December 2019, and on "Good Morning America" the following day. On 31 December, she played "Don't Start Now" in a chequerboard miniskirt on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve". On 9 January 2020, Lipa performed the song on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". During the presentation, purple and blue lights were projected on stage, creating silhouettes of Lipa and her dancers against a white backdrop.


title: Don't Start Now

text: Lipa gave a virtual performance of "Don't Start Now" for "The Late Late Show with James Corden" on 30 March 2020, while in self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her band, backing singers and dancers also performed from their respective homes via Zoom in a changing split-screen. On 22 April, she sang the song virtually on "Big Brother Brasil 20". On 17 September 2020, the singer presented the song for a second time on "The Late Late Show with James Corden"; this time as a parody version with "New Rules", titled "New Rules For COVID Dating", where Corden sang backing vocals. Lipa wore an Alexandre Vauthier disco dress, covered in gold studs, as well as sheer black tights and black platforms, with two gold hair clips. For some parts of the show, she also wore a sparkly face mask that matches the dress. Lipa performed the song as the closing track on her Studio 2054 livestream concert, which took place on 27 November 2020. On 19 December, she performed the song on "Saturday Night Live". For the performance, she wore a belted leopard-print top with black leggings and a gold chain necklace with a diamond, while dancing with backup dancers and a band. In 2021, Lipa performed the song as a medley with "Levitating" at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards and it was also included in a medley of "Future Nostalgia" tracks for her performance at the 2021 Brit Awards. The song was later included on the setlist of Lipa's 2022 Future Nostalgia Tour, in the encore and closing the show.


title: Don't Start Now

text: "Don't Start Now" is considered to be the start of what would become a revival for disco music in 2020. At the time of its release, top 40 radio had been dominated by downtempo urban-styled music, and the song was one of very few dance tracks. Due to this, the song was also thought to have started a new wave of disco-oriented music in radio format. Some suspected that the song served as a "refuge" for some listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic as they were unable to attend hangouts with other individuals. Its bullet point lyricism was used as an instructional meme for social distancing protocols associated with the pandemic. It was included on the soundtracks of "Love Island", "Love, Victor", "Riverdale" and "Resident Evil". The video game "Fortnite" also used the song in its soundtrack, where a dance created by Filipino TikTok user Hannah Kaye Balanay was used as an emote. Various vocal parts from the song were sampled by vaporwave group Death%27s Dynamic Shroud for their track “See Me” from their 2021 album "Faith in Persona."


title: Don't Start Now

text: Several artists have covered "Don't Start Now". American singer Hayley Williams covered it for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in February 2020, along with her song "Simmer". The cover was categorised as an R&B song with jazz elements; it retained the funk elements of the original but used sultry and raspy vocals, backed by drums. American band Echosmith performed an indie rock rendition of the song for a "Billboard" live at home concert, along with a cover of Coldplay's "Fix You". Australian rapper Illy performed a rap over the song that addresses social distancing, the Australian government's COVIDSafe app, and "". For Spotify Singles, Ingrid Andress recorded the song, converting it into an upbeat country ballad. On "The Masked Singer", "Don't Start Now" was a part of Chloe Kim's setlists. In "Dancing with the Stars" and "Strictly Come Dancing", actress Anne Heche and television presenter Clara Amfo both performed a cha-cha-cha dance to the song on each show, respectively.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Cat People is a 1942 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced for RKO by Val Lewton. The film tells the story of Irena Dubrovna, a newly married Serbian fashion illustrator obsessed with the idea that she is descended from an ancient tribe of Cat People who metamorphose into black panthers when aroused. When her husband begins to show interest in one of his coworkers, Irena begins to stalk her. The film stars Simone Simon as Irena, and features Kent Smith, Tom Conway, and Jane Randolph in supporting roles.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Production began in 1942, with Lewton being placed in charge of developing RKO's low-budget horror films. He brought together a team of filmmakers that he had worked with in the past, including Tourneur, editor Mark Robson and screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen. "Cat People" was the first film upon which the team worked. They were given the title by an RKO executive, who instructed them to develop a film from it. After researching various horror films and cat-related literature, Bodeen and Lewton developed the script with Lewton doing extensive uncredited work on the story. The film was shot at RKO's studios reusing sets from previous films such as "The Magnificent Ambersons". During editing, Robson developed a technique later called The Lewton Bus, a jump scare that Lewton used in his subsequent films.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: "Cat People" had its premiere at the Rialto Theatre in Manhattan on December 5, 1942, before having a wider release on December 25. Initial critical reviews ranged from negative to mildly enthusiastic. The film did well in the box office, being one of RKO's biggest hits of the season. Several horror films of the 1940s and 1950s were influenced by "Cat People", either drawing on the film's shadowy visuals or containing a female character who fears that she possesses a hereditary trait that makes her transform into a monster. The film was followed by a sequel, "The Curse of the Cat People", in 1944, and a remake, directed by Paul Schrader, was released in 1982. The film has become well known, though created as a B-movie, being selected by Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993. Retrospective reception of the original has been varied. Some modern critics have described the film as being too subdued for the genre and have deprecated the quality of the acting. Others have praised the film's atmosphere and sophistication, with the critic Roger Ebert describing it and the other Val Lewton productions as landmark films of the 1940s.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: At the Central Park Zoo in New York City, Serbian-born fashion illustrator Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) makes sketches of a black panther. She catches the attention of marine engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), who strikes up a conversation. Irena invites him to her apartment for tea. At her apartment, Oliver is intrigued by a statue of a medieval warrior on horseback impaling a large cat with his sword. Irena informs Oliver that the figure is King John of Serbia and that the cat represents evil. According to legend, long ago, the Christian residents of her home village gradually turned to witchcraft and devil worship after being enslaved by the Mameluks. When King John drove the Mameluks out and saw what the villagers had become, he had them killed. However, "the wisest and the most wicked" escaped into the mountains. Oliver is dismissive of the legend even though Irena clearly takes it seriously.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Oliver buys her a kitten, but upon meeting her, it hisses. Irena suggests they go to the pet shop to exchange it. When they enter the shop, the animals go wild in her presence, and Irena becomes uneasy. Irena gradually reveals to Oliver that she believes she is descended from the cat people of her village, and that she will transform into a panther if aroused to passion. Despite this, Oliver asks her to marry him, and she agrees. During the dinner after their wedding at The Belgrade, a Serbian restaurant, a cat-like woman walks over and addresses Irena as "moya sestra" ("my sister"). Irena never consummates the marriage, fearful of the consequences. Oliver is patient with her, but eventually persuades her to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway). Judd tries to convince her that her fears stem from childhood traumas. Meanwhile, Irena is unhappy to discover that Oliver has confided in his assistant, Alice Moore (Jane Randolph). Alice confesses to Oliver that she loves him. When Irena chances to see Oliver and Alice seated together at a restaurant, she follows Alice home. Just as Alice hears a menacing sound, a bus pulls up and she boards it. Soon after, a groundskeeper discovers several freshly killed sheep. The paw prints leading away turn into imprints of a woman's shoes. Irena returns to her apartment looking dishevelled and exhausted; she is shown shortly afterwards weeping in the bathtub. Irena dreams of Dr. Judd dressed up as King John speaking of "the key". She later steals the key to the panther's cage in Central Park.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Irena, Oliver and Alice visit a museum, and Irena is angered when the two virtually ignore her. That evening, when Alice decides to use the basement swimming pool of her apartment building, she is stalked by an animal. When Alice screams for help, Irena appears, turning on the lights, and says she is looking for Oliver. Alice later finds her bathrobe torn to shreds. After an appointment with Dr. Judd, Irena tells Oliver that she is no longer afraid, but Oliver tells her it is too late: he has realized that he loves Alice and intends to divorce Irena. Later at work, Oliver and Alice are cornered by a snarling animal. Oliver and Alice manage to get out of the building but not before smelling Irena's perfume. Alice calls Judd to warn him to stay away from Irena, but he hangs up when Irena arrives for her appointment with him. He kisses Irena passionately, resulting in her transformation into a panther who attacks and kills him. When Oliver and Alice arrive at Judd's office, Irena slips away and goes to the zoo. There, she opens the panther's cage with the stolen key and is struck down by the escaping panther, which is accidentally run down and killed by a car. Next to the panther's cage, Oliver and Alice find a dead panther lying on the ground. Oliver says, "She never lied to us".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: In March 1942, producer Val Lewton ended his working relationship with independent producer David O. Selznick to work for RKO Radio Pictures' Charles Koerner, becoming the head of a new unit created to develop B-movie horror feature films. Writing in 2009, the film critic Kim Newman compared the Lewton productions to RKO's own B-movie mystery series based on The Falcon, which were, unlike Lewton's productions, "churned out". The Lewton productions were modestly budgeted compared to Universal's 1941 film "The Wolf Man" and Paramount's 1944 film "The Uninvited", but had larger budgets than those for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) film "The Mad Monster" (1942) or Monogram's "The Ape Man" (1943). "Cat People" had a budget of around $135,000. This was significantly smaller than Universal had for 1943's "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" but more than the $97,000 that the poverty row studio PRC spent on the 1940 film "The Devil Bat".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Lewton selected most of the film's main crew, including director Jacques Tourneur and writer DeWitt Bodeen, who all worked on the treatment. These were people Lewton had connections with through their work with Selznick, as Tourneur had worked as part of the second unit teams for Selnick's production of "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935) and Bodeen had been a research assistant on what would become "Jane Eyre" (1943). Tourneur and Bodeen offered conflicting accounts as to how "Cat People" was conceived. Tourneur said that Lewton called him from RKO to direct the film after Koerner attended a party where it was suggested to him that he develop a film with the title "Cat People". Tourneur added that Lewton was not sure what to do with the title and recalled Lewton deciding to not make a "cheap horror movie that the studio expected but something intelligent and in good taste". Bodeen's version involved him being hired by Lewton at RKO as a contract writer. He had previously watched British and American horror and suspense films that he felt were "typical of what we did not want to do". According to Bodeen, Koerner felt that werewolves, vampires and man-made monsters were over-exploited, and that "nobody has done much with cats". Bodeen added that Lewton was unhappy with the proposed title of "Cat People" and said, "if you want to get out now, I won't hold it against you".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Bodeen then began researching cat-related literature, including Ambrose Bierce's "The Eyes of the Panther" and Margaret Irwin's "Monsieur Seeks a Wife". Lewton decided to base the film on Algernon Blackwood's 1906 short story "Ancient Sorceries". Blackwood's story had a contemporary setting and involved a Medieval architecture French town inhabited by a group of devil-worshipping cat people. According to Bodeen, as the rights were about to be purchased, Lewton changed his mind at the last minute and told Bodeen that the film would be set in contemporary New York and involve a love triangle between a man, a foreign woman obsessed with abnormal fears, and a female office worker. According to Tourneur, he was not content with the period setting of "Ancient Sorceries", stating, "if you're going to have horror, the audience must be able to identify with the characters in order to be frightened". Lewton contributed heavily to the screenplay. During the writing process, Tourneur recalled driving by Lewton's home in the evening to find a light turned on where Lewton was still working on the screenplay. Bodeen described the screenplay as a "group project", saying Lewton had the original idea and wrote the treatment and screenplay, collaborating with Tourneur and Lewton, and later the film's editor Mark Robson. Bodeen concluded that "Tourneur was entirely responsible for the style of "Cat People", but if you read the screenplay you would find everything in the film was in the original script – and that's simply because it was a group project. Val, Tourneur, myself, Robson – we all talked about it and I put it down on paper". By May 1, 1942, Bodeen had a fifty-page treatment completed for "Cat People".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Simone Simon was cast in the role of Irena Dubrovna by producer Lewton. Lewton commented that, "I'd like to have a girl with a little kitten face like Simone Simon, cute and soft and cuddly and seemingly not at all dangerous". He compared his decision to the casting of Kathleen Burke in "Island of Lost Souls" (1932), where she portrayed the Panther Woman, stating that any attempt at securing a wild, cat-like appearance in their casting would be disastrous. Simon, a star in her native France, had recently garnered fame in the United States for her role in "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941). Opposite Simon, Kent Smith was cast as Oliver Reed. Smith allegedly received the role after Lewton spotted him cycling across the studio lot.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: The "Los Angeles Times" reported in August 1942 that Jack Holt had been cast in a supporting role, following Simon's casting as the lead. Tom Conway was cast as Dr. Judd, a psychiatrist who evaluates Irena and initially believes her fears to be delusional. Jane Randolph, then a young actress who had recently begun her film career, was cast as Alice Moore, a woman vying for Oliver's affections. Lewton had wanted Jennifer Jones to play Alice, but was prevented from casting her by Selznick, who had other plans for Jones. Among the rest of the crew was the composer of the score Roy Webb and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, who were seasoned veterans at RKO.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Principal photography commenced on July 28, 1942, at RKO's Gower Gulch studios in Hollywood. Tourneur recalled that he was nearly fired three days into shooting after executive producer Lew Ostrow saw the daily rushes, called Lewton and told him to fire the director. According to Tourneur, Lewton subsequently contacted Koerner, who viewed the raw unedited footage of the film the following day and expressed satisfaction with Tourneur's performance. Simon frequently clashed with co-stars as well as Tourneur during the shoot and displayed a significant temper. Randolph recalled that Simon frequently upstaged her during their scenes together, to the point that Tourneur confronted Simon: "He really bawled her out—in French. And she didn't like that either". Randolph also recalled Simon intentionally pouring coffee on one of her costumes in order to halt the production for the day. In a 1994 interview, Simon commented on her reputation in the United States: "I had a reputation of being temperamental – I never knew why – but this became part of my temperamental legend". Tourneur also clashed with higher-ups at RKO, recalling a later scene in the film, which featured a panther: "The front office made me put a cat in the drafting room scene: I had only intended to suggest the cat's presence by shadows". The director finished this scene by shooting it in a way that "you couldn't really be sure what you were seeing. That's the only way to do it".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Some of the film sets were re-used from previous productions, such as the hallway and staircase in Dubrovna's apartment, which were from "The Magnificent Ambersons". Other sets were re-used from "The Devil and Miss Jones". Additional photography took place at the Royal Palms Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where the swimming pool sequence involving a character believing she is stalked by a panther was shot. The location was chosen by the production team due to its claustrophobic atmosphere. Bodeen also stated that the scene was inspired by his own experience of nearly drowning when swimming alone at night in a pool while Tourneur said that the scene was based on his own experience of swimming alone in a friend's pool while the friend's pet cheetah escaped and began pacing nearby. Filming was concluded on August 21. The film's final cost sheet was $141,659.88, which was $22,711.88 over-budget.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: "Cat People" editor Mark Robson had previously worked on Orson Welles's "The Magnificent Ambersons", which was a financial failure on its release. Robson felt that he was assigned to Lewton's horror film unit because RKO punished anyone who had worked with Welles. "Cat People" contains a stalking scene that ends with a jump scare. Such scenes were also featured in other Lewton horror productions, such as "The Leopard Man" and "The Seventh Victim". Robson referred to these scenes as "the bus", which he described as an "editing device [he] created by accident". In "Cat People", the scene involved Alice walking through a park alone at night as the film cuts to close ups of her face while her expression changes from chipper to distressed as she quickens her walking pace. Alice looks over her shoulder and turns to the sudden sound of a bus's air brakes. Robson stated that he "put a loud sound of air brakes on it so that it knocked viewers out of their seats. That became the 'bus' and we used it in every film".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: On October 5, Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted Roy Webb's score for "Cat People" at RKO's Stage 2A. Part of the score was influenced by Simon. Lewton found Simon singing a tune at RKO that went "doo-doo-baby-doo", subsequently taking her to see Webb, who developed the tune into the film's score. The score of the film, along with those of "I Walked with a Zombie", "The Seventh Victim", "The Body Snatcher" and "Bedlam", was re-recorded by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and released on compact disc in 1999. In his review of the album, Bruce Eder wrote for AllMusic noting that both "Cat People" and "The Seventh Victim" scores "represent distinctly non-traditional suspense scores, built around memorable core motifs, dealing with their central characters' struggle with the forces of evil within and without".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Prior to its official release, the higher-up executives at RKO saw the film at a studio projection room and expressed disapproval. Early test screenings took place in October at the RKO Hill Street Theatre, a testing site for sneak previews, with the cast and crew in attendance. Bodeen recalled that the film opened up with a Disney cartoon about a kitten, which led to the audience meowing. The audience cat-called and meowed further at the films opening title screen, according to Bodeen. Upon seeing an early preview, Randolph commented that she thought she was "terrible" in the film, while Simon was terrified that people would laugh at her performance, specifically in the pool scene. Bodeen found that as the story progressed the audience calmed and became more involved in the film. By late October, Lewton and Tourneur were already shooting their next film together, "I Walked with a Zombie".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: "Cat People" had its premiere at the Rialto Theatre in Manhattan on December 5, 1942. It was released regionally the following day in New York City. "Cat People" was popular for its first two weeks at the Rialto Theatre, where it took in $17,000. In comparison, "The Wolf Man" grossed $19,500 at the same theatre in December 1941. The film received a wide release on December 25, where it was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It held its Los Angeles premiere on January 14, 1943, at the Hawaii Theater, where it broke the attendance record. It was reissued theatrically in 1952 by RKO.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: The film's box office receipts are disputed. Film historian Edmund Bansak has estimated the box office for "Cat People" at $4 million domestically and $4 million in foreign markets. Film historians Chris Fujiwara and Joel Siegel also put the domestic box office at $4 million. "Variety" estimated its rentals in 1943 as $1.2 million. Mank stated that RKO files report that domestic rentals were $360,000, foreign rentals were $175,000 leading to a total of $535,000 and a profit of $183,000. Mank notes that rentals are not equivalent to gross revenue, and assuming that the revenue was split evenly between theaters and the studio, the film grossed over $1 million. Mank writes that this was still "excellent business", comparing it to the profit of RKO's "The Falcon's Brother", which had worldwide rentals of $361,000.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: RKO Home Video released the film home video in 1986 as part of their horror series. It was released on laserdisc by the Voyager Company as part of The Criterion Collection in 1995. This release contained an audio commentary from Eder, trailers for other Val Lewton titles and his filmography and production stills, lobby cards and production photos.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: In the United States, "Cat People" and its sequel, "The Curse of the Cat People", were issued in 2005 as a double feature DVD or as part of the "Val Lewton Horror Collection" DVD box set. In December 2016, "Cat People" was reissued on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection. This Blu-ray was from a new digital transfer created at 2K resolution from a 35mm safety fine-grain master.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: At the time of its original release, the reviews for "Cat People" were mixed. Newman compiled the reviews after the films premiere in New York, stating that "The New York Times", "The New York Herald Tribune", "New York Sunday News" and the "New York World-Telegram" "all went thumbs down", while "The New York Sun", "New-York Mirror", "New York Journal-American" and "PM" reviews were "more positive, if not really enthusiastic". Wanda Hale of the "New York Daily News" was unimpressed by the film, writing that it "tries hard to be a melodrama ... but it doesn't try hard enough". Bosley Crowther ("The New York Times") described the film as a "labored and obvious attempt to induce shock" and said that its themes are explored "at tedious and graphically unproductive length". Crowther commented on Simon's acting, stating that actresses who are trying to portray "[feline] temptations – in straight horror pictures, at least – should exercise their digits a bit more freely than does Simone Simon".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Newman referred to the reviews after the film opened in Los Angeles as "somewhat better". "Variety" stated that the film is "well-made on a moderate budget outlay" and relies upon "developments of surprises confined to psychology and mental reaction, rather than transformation to grotesque and marauding characters for visual impact on the audiences". A reviewer at "BoxOffice" found the film "grim and unrelenting ... a dose of horror best suited to addicts past the curable stage" and noted that the film was "definitely not for children, young or old ... Potent stuff, straight from the psychopathic clinic". A critic writing in the "Monthly Film Bulletin", a British publication, stated that "Cat People" was "a fantastic story, reasonably produced and directed". "Variety" also added that the script would be "hazy for the average audience in several instances, [but] carries sufficient punch in the melodramatic sequences to hold it together in good style", elaborating that Tourneur "does a fine job with a most difficult assignment". The "Monthly Film Bulletin" complimented the photography and acting, noting that Simon "only partly succeeds in interpreting the part of Irena, but lighting and camera work and sound recording help to make her performance adequate".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Fujiwara summarized "Cat People"s retrospective critical status by stating that it "is so famous that it has, inevitably, suffered a backlash, and now it might even be called underrated". Less enthusiastic reviews came from Charles Higam and Joel Greenberg, who wrote that the film now appeared "so understated that much of its intended effect is dissipated [...] [I]ts total impression is distinctly tepid". Joel E. Siegel spoke about the film in his book on Lewton, stating it was "seriously weakened by passages of lumpy, strained dialogue, uncertain performance and uneven pacing". Richard Combs of the "Monthly Film Bulletin" compared the film unfavorably to other Lewton productions, stating that "it is perhaps easier to prefer the more mellow, less heavily fingered fantasy of "Curse of the Cat People", and even the reconciled ambitions of "The Ghost Ship"". In his 1995 book on Lewton, Edmund G. Bansak found that "Cat People" "may have lost some of its edge over the years and what remains may be a bit tarnished, but it is infinitely better than Paul Schrader's 1982 remake". Tourneur himself held varying opinions about the film, once saying that the film was "very childish but audiences in those days were more naive than they are today [...] but there are some very good things in it". On another occasion, he suggested that World War II-era audiences "all love war and love to be frightened, and in wartime people had money from plants, money to burn, and they loved that kind of film". Critic Ken Hanke remarked: "It isn't because the [Lewton films] are unsuccessful in themselves. It's simply that they threw the baby out with the bathwater by rejecting "everything" of the Universal product. Moreover, the films are a bit too "trés snob" and condescending for genre fans to feel comfortable about them".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: The critical reception to Simon's acting has historically been mixed. Siegel critiqued her acting, stating that her range was "too narrow for the film's more dramatic moments, a problem heightened by her difficulties with American pronunciation". Tourneur later stated that he was not happy with Simon's acting. Although "not delicately nuanced", Simon's performance, Fujiwara writes, "is effective in its mixture of narcissism and hesitant uncertainty". Newman describes Simon's performance as "remarkably affecting, strange accent and all". He adds, "there's a sense of life in her performance that makes "Cat People", like most great monster movies, as much as a tragedy as a melodrama".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Newman praises the film, noting that it was the first major supernatural horror film with a contemporary urban, American setting with "normal people, engaged in normal occupations" as leading characters. He concludes that "Cat People" was a progenitor of films like "Rosemary's Baby". Newman writes that through numerous viewings of the film, he discovered "new aspect[s], some unnoticed detail carefully crafted [...] I would happily rewatch it this evening which may be the highest praise I can give any film". In his book on Tourneur, Fujiwara declared that "Cat People" was the "master text" of Tourneur's career, stating that most of his later films have some connection with "Cat People", specifically "The Leopard Man" and "Night of the Demon" but also "Experiment Perilous", "Out of the Past", "Nightfall" and "Circle of Danger". Fujiwara concluded that "Cat People" is "with all its flaws, a perfect film". He added that even its flaws "have become classic", dismissing the "careful", "tepid", "strained" and "uneven" qualities that some critics have complained about. Fujiwara states that "Cat People" "is still contagious; the viewer can still share the surprise and pleasure the film evoked in audiences who discovered this unheralded B horror film on its initial release". Critic Roger Ebert included "Cat People" in his list of "Great Movies" in 2006. He remarked that the film would work for contemporary audiences depending on their tastes, stating that the film was "frightening in an eerie, mysterious way that was hard to define" with "an undertone of sexual danger that was more ominous because it was never acted upon". Ebert also praised the filmmakers, writing that Tourneur and Musuraca were "masters of light and shadow". Ebert added that the films Lewton produced in the 1940s were "landmark[s] in American movie history". In 1993, the Library of Congress selected "Cat People" for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: On discussing the history of horror films, Newman states that if a horror film in the 1940s was financially successful, it was likely to become a franchise. "Cat People" was followed by "The Curse of the Cat People", directed by Robert Wise, which follows Oliver Reed's daughter Amy and her invisible friend, portrayed by Simon. Lewton had unsuccessfully attempted to have the film's title changed to "Amy and Her Friend". Other actors from "Cat People" appear in the film in different roles, such as Russell, who plays Barbara Farren.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: "The Seventh Victim" is described by Newman as being "an unacknowledged spin-off" of "Cat People", as it features Tom Conway's character returning as Dr. Judd, as well as another haunted woman eager to embrace death. In the film, Judd recalls that he once knew a mysterious woman who was in fact a "raving lunatic", even though Judd's character died in "Cat People", making the relationship between the two fictional narratives incoherent. In memos and early drafts of the screenplay, Conway's character was referred to as "Mr. Siegfried", leading film scholars to believe that the character's name was changed to create continuity between the two films and capitalize on "Cat People"s success.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: British producer Milton Subotsky bought the rights to "Cat People" from RKO with plans to develop a remake. Subotsky later passed the property to Universal who were going to originally have Roger Vadim direct the remake. Three drafts for the screenplay were developed with the first two written by Bob Clark and the final chosen screenplay written by Alan Ormsby. According to Ormsby, Vadim was very concerned that the film would appear sexist, as the woman who was sexually intense had to be destroyed. Ormsby changed this in the remake to have a male character who has the same problem.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: In the early 1980s, Universal Pictures hired Paul Schrader to direct a remake of "Cat People". The remake was announced and began shooting in 1981. According to cinematographer John Bailey, Schrader paid homage to the stalking scene in the original with a scene featuring Annette O'Toole's character jogging through a park as she appears to be stalked. Bailey and Schrader also remade the swimming pool scene. Bailey recalled that the two carefully studied the original scene, taking note of how the shadows reflected against the pool. Bailey stated that the pool sequence was the most similar of the homages, remarking that the primary reason for this was that "we didn't think we could do it any better". The film was released in April 1982 to mixed reviews.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: In March 1999, a second remake was announced as a co-production between Universal Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment. The proposed remake, to be written by Rafael Moreu, would be updated to the present day and set in New York.


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Several contemporary features were influenced by "Cat People". In 1944, Columbia Pictures released "Cry of the Werewolf", which Newman describes as combining the "subtle Lewton approach" with elements from Universal's "The Wolf Man" such as a plot that involves a gypsy curse. Several other films borrow plot elements from "Cat People", specifically they either feature a female character who fears that she has inherited the tendency to turn into a monster or attempt to replicate the shadowy visual style of Tourneur and Musuraca. These include "Jungle Woman", "The Soul of a Monster", "The Woman Who Came Back", "She-Wolf of London", "The Catman of Paris", "The Cat Creeps", "Cult of the Cobra", "Daughter of Dr. Jekyll", "The Creeper" and "The She-Creature".


title: Cat People (1942 film)

text: Director Curtis Harrington made two films as a tribute to Lewton's work. The first was "Night Tide", which reworks "Cat People"s plot into a story about a side show performer who dresses as a mermaid and is concerned that she actually is a siren. Harrington also paid tribute to Lewton's work and Universal's horror films with his television film "The Cat Creature", which featured Kent Smith as part of its cast.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: During World War II, the Gran Sasso raid (codenamed "Unternehmen Eiche", , literally "Operation Oak", by the German military) on 12 September 1943 was a successful operation by German paratroopers and "Waffen-SS" commandos to rescue the deposed Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from custody in the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. The airborne operation was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler, approved by General Kurt Student and planned and executed by Major Harald Mors.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: On the night between 24 and 25 July 1943, a few weeks after the Allied invasion of Sicily and bombing of Rome, the Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against prime minister Benito Mussolini. On the same day, King Victor Emmanuel III replaced him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio and had Mussolini arrested. This is commonly known as the Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy (or "25 Luglio" in Italian); Badoglio's government at first continued the war on the Axis powers' side, but after Italian and German forces were defeated during the Allied invasion of Sicily (17 August), the Italian government began secret negotiations with the Allies to surrender. This resulted in the Armistice of Cassibile on 3 September, coinciding with the Allied invasion of mainland Italy.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Italian high command, led by Marshal Badoglio, was well aware that the German army would probably try to seize control of Italy as soon as the government switched sides to the Allies. Therefore, the Italian government wanted the Allied troops to have landed on the mainland before the armistice took effect and was announced publicly – which happened on 8 September – so that the Allies could move north quickly to help defend especially the capital city of Rome against the looming German invasion. Indeed, Mussolini's fall prompted German military commanders to develop Operation Achse (the plans, originally codenamed Operation Alarich, were changed several times from 28 July to 30 August) to mitigate the impact of a potential Italian defection as much as possible. The Badoglio government also realised that the Germans were likely to attempt breaking Mussolini out of prison, reinstate him and rally Fascist support to keep Italy in the war on Germany's side, and so strict measures to hide and secure Mussolini were taken: he was moved several times and guarded by almost a battalion of troops.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Mussolini was arrested on the king's orders by the Carabinieri on 25 July just after he left the king's private residence, and he was initially brought to the Podgora Carabinieri Headquarters in Trastevere. In the afternoon he was transferred to the Carabinieri Cadet School in the vía Legnano, where he was held until 27 July. On 27 July, military police led by general Francesco Saverio Pólito took Mussolini to Gaeta, boarded the ship "Persefone" and imprisoned Mussolini in an isolated house on the island of Ponza in the Tyrrhenian Sea from 12:00 on 28 July to 7 August. On 7 August, Mussolini was transferred to a private villa on La Maddalena (until 27 August). Since 28 August, Mussolini had been held at the Hotel Campo Imperatore, which was built on a remote and defendable mountain plateau 2,112 metres above sea level in the Gran Sasso d'Italia mountain range. A ski station was located next to the hotel, linked with a cable car. The hotel was one of originally three planned hotels (but the only one that was ever built) shaped in the letters 'D', 'V' and 'X', together 'DVX', the Latin word meaning "leader", from which Mussolini's Italian title "il Duce" was derived. Ironically, the D-shaped Hotel Campo Imperatore constructed to celebrate Mussolini's rule served as his prison for several weeks.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Adolf Hitler's common procedure was to give similar orders to competing German military organisations. He ordered "Hauptsturmführer" Otto Skorzeny to track Mussolini and simultaneously ordered the paratroop General Kurt Student to execute the liberation. On September 7, German signals intelligence intercepted a coded Italian report which indicated that Mussolini was imprisoned somewhere in the Abruzzi mountains. Next, the Germans employed a ruse to confirm the exact location in which a German doctor pretended to try to establish a hospital at the hotel on the Grand Sasso. Informants of "SS-Obersturmbannführer" Herbert Kappler used counterfeit notes with a face value of £100,000 forged under Operation Bernhard to help obtain information. Skorzeny used information gathered by agents to plan his raid.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: After the Italian government announced the Armistice of Cassibile and thereby its defection from the Axis to the Allies on 8 September, the German army launched Operation Achse and quickly occupied strategic points in northern and central Italy within days, effectively disarming hundreds of thousands of Italian soldiers who had nominally just switched sides. The Allied Italian military and political leaders including marshal Badoglio and king Victor Emmanuel III fled to Allied-controlled territory in southern Italy.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: On 12 September 1943, Skorzeny and 16 SS troopers joined the "Fallschirmjäger" to rescue Mussolini in a high-risk glider mission. Ten DFS 230 gliders, each carrying nine soldiers and a pilot, towed by Henschel Hs 126 planes started between 13:05 and 13:10 from the Pratica di Mare Air Base, near Rome.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: The leader of the airborne operation, Oberleutnant Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch, entered the first glider while Skorzeny and his SS troopers sat in the fourth and the fifth gliders. To gain height before crossing the close by Alban Hills, the leading three glider-towing plane units flew an additional loop. All of the following units considered that manoeuvre to be unnecessary and preferred not to endanger the given time of arrival at the target. That led to both of Skorzeny's units arriving first over the target.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Meanwhile, the valley station of the funicular railway leading to the Campo Imperatore was captured at 14:00 in a ground attack by two paratrooper companies, led by Major Harald Mors, the commander-in-chief of the whole raid, which cut all telephone lines. This ground attack caused the only two deaths of the operation, Italian forestry guard Pasqualino Vitocco, who was killed while attempting to warn the garrison of the approaching German troops, and "carabiniere" Giovanni Natale, who was killed while preparing to open fire on the attackers. Two more carabinieri were slightly wounded by a hand grenade. At 14:05, the airborne commandos landed their ten DFS 230 gliders on the mountain near the hotel. One crashed and caused injuries.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: The "Fallschirmjäger" and Skorzeny's special troopers overwhelmed Mussolini's captors, 200 well-equipped "Carabinieri" guards, without a single shot being fired. General Fernando Soleti of the Italian African Police, who flew in with Skorzeny, had told them to stand down. Skorzeny attacked the radio operator and his equipment and stormed into the hotel, followed by his SS troopers and the paratroopers. Ten minutes after the beginning of the raid, Mussolini left the hotel and was accompanied by the German soldiers. At 14:45, Mors accessed the hotel via the funicular railway and introduced himself to Mussolini.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Mussolini was then to be flown out by a Fieseler Fi 156 STOL plane that had arrived in the meantime. Although under the given circumstances the small plane was overloaded, Skorzeny insisted on accompanying Mussolini, which endangered the mission's success.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: After an extremely dangerous but successful takeoff, they flew to Pratica di Mare. They then immediately continued to fly in a Heinkel He 111 to Vienna, where Mussolini stayed overnight at the Hotel Imperial. The next day he was flown to Munich, and on 14 September, he met Hitler at Führer Headquarters, in Wolf's Lair, near Rastenburg.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: The operation granted a rare public relations opportunity to Hermann Göring late in the war, with German propaganda hailing the operation for months afterward. The landing at Campo Imperatore was in fact led by First Lieutenant von Berlepsch, commanded by Major Mors and under orders from General Student, all of whom were "Fallschirmjäger" officers, but Skorzeny stewarded the Italian leader right in front of the cameras.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: After an SS propaganda coup at the behest of "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Skorzeny and his special forces of the "Waffen-SS" were granted the majority of the credit for the operation.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Skorzeny gained a large amount of success from the mission. He received a promotion to Sturmbannführer, the award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the fame that led to his image as the "most dangerous man in Europe".


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: After hearing of Mussolini's escape, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated in the House of Commons: "Knowing that "il Duce" was hidden in a safe place and that the Government of Badoglio was committed to handing him over to the Allies, a daring attack, completely beyond all foresight, prevented this from happening".


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Skorzeny published an autobiography in 1950 ("Geheimkommando Skorzeny") and another book ("Meine Kommandounternehmen") in 1976.


title: Gran Sasso raid

text: Historian Ulrich Trumpener (2015) stated that 'exaggerated credit [for the operation] was later given to a small SS detachment under Otto Skorzeny'. Historian Óscar González López stated that Skorzeny was a 'fake liberator' created by Nazi propaganda, calling the Fallschirmjäger the 'legitimate protagonists' of the Gran Sasso raid.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: During 12–16 August 1969, there was an outbreak of political and sectarian violence throughout Northern Ireland, which is often seen as the beginning of the thirty-year conflict known as the Troubles. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising out of the Northern Ireland civil rights campaign, which demanded an end to discrimination against Catholics and Irish nationalists. Civil rights marches had been attacked by Protestant loyalists, and protesters often clashed with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the overwhelmingly Protestant police force.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 12 August, the Battle of the Bogside erupted in Derry: three days of fierce clashes between the RUC and thousands of Catholic/nationalist residents of the Bogside district. The besieged residents built barricades and set up first aid posts and workshops for making petrol bombs. Police fired CS gas at rioters for the first time in the history of the UK. In support of the Bogsiders, on 13 August Catholics/nationalists held protests elsewhere in Northern Ireland, some of which led to violence. The bloodiest clashes were in Belfast, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded, five of them Catholic civilians shot by police. Protesters clashed with both the police and with loyalists, who attacked Catholic districts. Scores of homes and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics, and thousands of mostly Catholic families were driven from their homes. In some cases, police helped the loyalists and failed to protect Catholic areas. Some viewed this as an attempted pogrom against the Catholic minority. Both republican and loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the clashes. There were also clashes between protesters and police in Armagh, where a protester was killed by police, as well as in Dungannon and Newry.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The British Army was deployed to restore order on 14 August, beginning the thirty-seven year Operation Banner, and peace lines were built to separate Catholic and Protestant districts. The Republic of Ireland's government set up field hospitals and refugee centres near the Irish border, and called for a United Nations peacekeeping force to be sent to Northern Ireland. The British government held an inquiry into the riots, and the reserve police force was disbanded. The riots led to the formation of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Official Irish Republican Army. It also led to the growth of loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Northern Ireland was destabilised in 1968 by sporadic rioting arising out of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) campaign, and the police and loyalist reaction to it. The civil rights campaign demanded an end to discrimination against Catholics in voting rights, housing and employment. NICRA was opposed by loyalists led primarily by Ian Paisley.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: During the summer of 1969, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) published a highly critical report which "criticised the Northern Ireland Government for police brutality, religious discrimination [against Catholics] and gerrymandering in politics". The ICJ secretary general said that laws and conditions in Northern Ireland had been cited by the South African government to justify its apartheid system. "The Times" reported that the Ulster Special Constabulary (B-Specials), Northern Ireland's reserve police force, was "regarded as the militant arm of the Protestant Orange Order". The "Belfast Telegraph" reported that the ICJ had added Northern Ireland to the list of states/jurisdictions "where the protection of human rights is inadequately assured".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The first major confrontation between Catholic civil rights activists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's overwhelmingly Protestant police force, occurred in Derry on 5 October 1968, when a NICRA march was baton-charged by the RUC. Disturbed by the prospect of major violence, the prime minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, promised reforms in return for a "truce", whereby no further demonstrations would be held.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In spite of these promises, in January 1969 People's Democracy, a left-wing group, staged an anti-government march from Belfast to Derry. Loyalists, including off-duty members of the B-Specials, attacked the marchers, most determinedly at Burntollet Bridge, outside Derry. The RUC failed to adequately protect the marchers. This action, and the RUC's subsequent entry into Derry's predominantly Catholic Bogside district, led to serious rioting in the city.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In March and April 1969, there were six bomb attacks on electricity and water infrastructure, causing blackouts and water shortages. At first the attacks were blamed on the Irish Republican Army (IRA), but it later emerged that the loyalist Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had carried out the bombings in an attempt to implicate the IRA, destabilise the Northern Ireland government and halt the reforms promised by O'Neill.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: There was some movement on reform in the first half of 1969. On 23 April Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) members of the Northern Ireland parliament voted by 28 to 22 to introduce universal adult suffrage in local government elections in Northern Ireland. The call for "one man, one vote" had been one of the key demands of the civil rights movement. Five days later, O'Neill resigned as UUP leader and prime minister and was replaced in both roles by James Chichester-Clark. Chichester-Clark, despite having resigned in protest over the introduction of universal suffrage in local government, announced that he would continue the reforms begun by O'Neill.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Street violence, however, continued to escalate. On 19 April there was serious rioting in the Bogside following clashes between NICRA marchers and the RUC. A Catholic, Samuel Devenny, was severely beaten by the RUC and later died of his injuries. On 12 July, during the Orange Order's Twelfth of July marches, there was serious rioting in Derry, Belfast and Dungiven, causing many families in Belfast to flee from their homes. Another Catholic civilian, Francis McCloskey (67), died after being hit on the head with batons by RUC officers during rioting in Dungiven.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: This unrest culminated in a pitched battle in Derry from 12 to 14 August, known as the Battle of the Bogside. As the yearly march by the Protestant loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry skirted the edge of the Catholic Bogside, stone-throwing broke out. The RUC—on foot and in armoured vehicles—drove back the Catholic crowd and attempted to force its way into the Bogside, followed by loyalists who smashed the windows of Catholic homes. Thousands of Bogside residents mobilised to defend the area, and beat back the RUC with a hail of stones and petrol bombs. Barricades were built, petrol bomb workshops and first aid posts were set up, and a radio transmitter ("Radio Free Derry") broadcast messages and called on "every able-bodied man in Ireland who believes in freedom" to defend the Bogside.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The overstretched police resorted to throwing stones back at the Bogsiders, and were helped by loyalists. They fired CS gas into the Bogside – the first time it had been used by police in the UK. The Bogsiders feared that the B-Specials, the wholly-Protestant police reserves, would be sent in and would massacre the Catholic residents. On 13 August, NICRA called for protests across Northern Ireland in support of the Bogside to draw police away from the fighting there. That night it issued a statement: A war of genocide is about to flare across the North. The CRA demands that all Irishmen recognise their common interdependence and calls upon the Government and people of the Twenty-six Counties to act now to prevent a great national disaster. We urgently request that the Government take immediate action to have a United Nations peace-keeping force sent to Derry.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Belfast saw the most intense violence of the August 1969 riots. Unlike Derry, Catholics were a minority in Belfast and mostly lived in enclaves surrounded by Protestant districts. For this reason, whereas in Derry the fighting was largely between nationalists and the RUC, in Belfast it also involved fighting between Catholics and Protestants, including exchanges of gunfire and widespread burning of homes and businesses.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On the night of 12 August, bands of Apprentice Boys arrived back in Belfast after taking part in the Derry march. They were met by Protestant pipe bands and a large crowd of supporters. They then marched to Shankill Road waving Union Flags and singing "The Sash My Father Wore", a popular loyalist ballad.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: According to journalists Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie, "Both communities were in the grip of a mounting paranoia about the other's intentions. Catholics were convinced that they were about to become victims of a Protestant pogrom; Protestants that they were on the eve of an IRA insurrection".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The first disturbances in Belfast took place on the night of 13 August. Derry activists Eamonn McCann and Seán Keenan contacted Frank Gogarty of NICRA to organise demonstrations in Belfast to draw off police from Derry. Independently, Belfast IRA leader Billy McMillen ordered republicans to organise demonstrations "in support of Derry".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In protest at the RUC's actions in Derry, a group of 500 nationalists held a demonstration outside Springfield Road police station, where they handed in a petition. After handing in the petition, the crowd of now 1,000–2,000 people, including IRA members such as Joe McCann, began a protest march along Falls Road and Divis Street to the Hastings Street police station. When they arrived, about fifty youths broke away from the march and attacked the police station with stones and petrol bombs. The RUC responded by deploying riot police and by driving Shorland armoured cars at the crowd. Protesters pushed burning cars onto the road to stop the RUC from entering the nationalist area.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At Leeson Street, roughly halfway between the two police stations, an RUC Humber armoured car was attacked with a hand grenade and rifle fire. At the time, it was not known who had launched the attack, but it has since emerged that it was IRA members, acting under the orders of Belfast commander Billy McMillen. He also authorised members of the Fianna Éireann (IRA youth wing) to attack the Springfield Road police station with petrol bombs. The station also came under fire, and police fired "warning shots" in response, wounding two young men.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In addition to the attacks on the RUC, the car dealership of Protestant Isaac Agnew, on the Falls Road, was destroyed. The nationalist crowd also burnt a Catholic-owned pub and betting shop. At this stage, loyalist crowds gathered on Shankill Road but did not join in the clashes.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 14 August, many Catholics and Protestants living near sectarian flashpoints fled their homes for safety.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Loyalists viewed the nationalist attacks of Wednesday night as an organised attempt by the IRA "to undermine the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom". Contrary to loyalist belief, the IRA was actually responding to events rather than orchestrating them. McMillen called up all available IRA members for "defensive duties" and sent parties out to Cupar Street, Divis Street and St Comgall's School on Dover Street. They amounted to thirty IRA volunteers, twelve women, forty youths from the Fianna and 15–20 girls. Their arms consisted of one Thompson submachine gun, one Sten submachine gun, one Lee–Enfield rifle and six handguns. A "wee factory" was also set up in Leeson Street to make petrol bombs. Their orders at the outset were to "disperse people trying to burn houses, but under no circumstances to take life".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At around 7 pm, a nationalist crowd the Falls gathered outside Hastings Street police station and began to attack it with stones and petrol bombs for a second night. Riot police and armoured vehicles scattered the nationalists and moved into the Falls district. From the rooftop of the Whitehall flats, part of the Divis complex, a group of nationalists would spend the rest of the night raining missiles on the police below. A chain of people were passing stones and petrol bombs from the ground to the roof.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Loyalist crowds armed with petrol bombs, bricks, stones, sharpened poles and protective dustbin lids gathered at Dover and Percy Streets. On Dover Street, the loyalist crowd was led by Ulster Unionist MP John McQuade. They included a rowdy gang of loyalist football supporters who had returned from a match. The loyalists began moving down these streets into the Catholic district, attacking Catholic homes and businesses. They were confronted by nationalists, who had hastily blocked their streets with barricades. Fighting broke out between the rival factions at about 11 pm. Catholics claimed that B-Specials had been seen giving guns to the loyalists, while journalists reported seeing pike-wielding loyalists standing among RUC officers. On Percy Street, a loyalist opened fire with a shotgun, and B-Specials helped the loyalists to push back the nationalists.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At about 12:30 am, an IRA unit opened fire on RUC officers and loyalists gathered at the intersection of Dover and Divis Street, at the edge of the Catholic district. Protestant Herbert Roy (26) was killed and three officers were wounded. Police responded with bursts from Sterling submachine guns. At this point, the RUC, believing they were facing an organised IRA uprising, deployed Shorland armoured cars mounted with Browning machine guns, whose .30 calibre bullets "tore through walls as if they were cardboard".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In response to the RUC coming under fire at Divis Street, three Shorland armoured cars were called to the scene. The Shorlands were immediately attacked with gunfire, an explosive device and petrol bombs. The RUC believed that the shots had come from the Divis complex. Gunners inside the Shorlands opened fire with their heavy machine-guns. At least thirteen Divis flats were hit by high-velocity gunfire. A nine-year-old boy, Patrick Rooney, was killed by police machine-gun fire as he lay in bed in one of the flats. He was the first child to be killed in the violence.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The Republican Labour Party MP for Belfast Central, Paddy Kennedy, who was on the scene, phoned RUC headquarters and appealed to Northern Ireland Minister for Home Affairs, Robert Porter, for the Shorlands to be withdrawn and the shooting to stop. Porter replied that this was impossible as "the whole town is in rebellion". Porter told Kennedy that Donegall Street police station was under heavy machine-gun fire. In fact, it was undisturbed throughout the riots.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At about 1 am, police marksmen on the roof of Hastings Street station fired eighteen rifle rounds at rioters on the roof of the Whitehall flats. The shots killed Hugh McCabe (20), a Catholic soldier in the British Army who was on leave, and wounded several other people. The police marksmen claimed they responded to gunfire coming from the roof of the Whitehall flats, but witnesses denied that anyone on the roof was armed.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Some time after the killing of Hugh McCabe, some 200 loyalists attacked Divis Street and began burning Catholic houses there. A unit of six IRA volunteers in St Comgall's School shot at them with a rifle, a Thompson submachine gun and pistols; keeping the attackers back and wounding eight. An RUC Shorland then arrived and opened fire on the school. The IRA gunmen returned fire and managed to escape.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: West of St Comgall's, loyalists from the Shankill broke through the nationalist barricades on Conway Street and burned two-thirds of the houses. Catholics claimed that the RUC held them back as the loyalists burned their homes. The Scarman Report found that RUC officers were on Conway Street when its houses were set on fire, but "failed to take effective action". Journalist Max Hastings wrote that loyalists on Conway Street had been begging the RUC to give them their guns.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The Crumlin Road in north Belfast marked the boundary between the Protestant/loyalist Woodvale district to the south, and the Catholic/nationalist Ardoyne district to the north. According to the Scarman Tribunal, at around 10:30pm a "pitched battle" erupted on the Crumlin Road between members of the two communities. The RUC made baton charges into the Catholic streets, using a Humber armoured vehicle to smash through barricades that had been erected. The Scarman Tribunal recorded that they were followed by a crowd of loyalists, who reportedly threw petrol bombs at Catholics "over the heads of RUC officers". The RUC were pelted with stones and petrol bombs from nationalists, and there were reports of nationalist gunfire coming from Herbert Street. Police responded by firing a Sterling submachine gun at several houses on the street, killing Catholic civilian Samuel McLarnon (aged 27). A Police Ombudsman report later concluded that this "was disproportionate and posed a risk to civilian life".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On Butler Street, a Humber vehicle was struck by petrol bombs, caught fire and stalled. As the RUC officers jumped out, they allegedly came under fire from the nationalist crowd. A Head Constable told his officers to fire a warning volley over the heads of the crowd, which they did with Sterling submachine guns and revolvers. When the shooting at police continued, he ordered his officers to "fire for effect" (i.e. to wound or kill). Catholic civilian Michael Lynch (aged 28) was killed. Ten other people were wounded by gunfire in the area that night, all of them Catholics.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The morning of 15 August saw many Catholic families in central Belfast flee to Andersonstown, on the western fringes of the city, to escape the rioting. According to Bishop and Mallie, "Each side's perceptions of the other's intentions had become so warped that the Protestants believed the Catholics were clearing the decks for a further attempt at insurrection in the evening".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At 4:30am on Friday 15 August, the police commissioner for Belfast asked for military aid. From the early hours of Friday, the RUC had withdrawn to its bases to defend them. The interface areas were thus left unpoliced for half a day until the British Army arrived. The deputy police commissioner had assumed that the Army would be deployed by 10am or 11am. At 12:25 that afternoon, the Northern Ireland cabinet finally sent a request for military aid to the Home Office in London. However, it would be another nine hours until the Army arrived at the Falls-Shankill interface where it was needed. Many Catholics felt they had been left at the mercy of loyalists by the forces of the state who were meant to protect them.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The IRA in Belfast, which had limited manpower and weaponry at the start of the riots, was also exhausted and low on ammunition. McMillen and nineteen other republicans were arrested by the RUC early on 15 August under the Special Powers Act.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 15 August, violence continued along the Falls-Shankill interface. Father PJ Egan of Clonard Monastery recalled that a large loyalist mob moved down Cupar Street at about 3pm and was confronted by nationalist youths. Shooting began at about 3:45pm. Egan claimed that himself and other priests at Clonard Monastery made at least four calls to the RUC for help, but none came.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: A small IRA party under Billy McKee was present and had two .22 caliber rifles at their disposal. They exchanged fire with a loyalist sniper who was shooting from a house on Cupar Street, but failed to dislodge him, or to halt the burning of Catholic houses in the area. Almost all of the houses on Bombay Street were burned by the loyalists, and many others were burned on Kashmir Road and Cupar Street – the most extensive destruction of property during the riots. A loyalist sniper shot dead Gerald McAuley (15), a member of the Fianna, as he helped people flee their homes on Bombay Street.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At about 6:30pm The Royal Regiment of Wales was deployed on the Falls Road, where they were greeted with subdued applause and cheering. However, despite pleas from local Catholics, they did not move into the streets that were being attacked. At about 9:35pm that night, the soldiers finally took up positions at the blazing interface and blocked the streets with barbed-wire barricades. Fr Egan recalled that the soldiers called on the loyalists to surrender but the loyalists instead began shooting and throwing petrol bombs. The soldiers could only fire back on the orders of an officer when life was directly threatened. The loyalists continued shooting and burned more Catholic-owned houses on Bombay Street, but were stopped by soldiers using tear gas.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Soldiers were not deployed in Ardoyne, and violence continued there on Friday night. Nationalists hijacked fifty buses from the local bus depot, set them on fire and used them as makeshift barricades to block access to Ardoyne. A Protestant civilian, David Linton (48), was shot dead by IRA gunmen at the Palmer Street/Crumlin Road junction. Several Catholic-owned houses were burned on Brookfield Street. The Scarman Report found that an RUC armoured vehicle was nearby when Brookfield Street was set on fire, but did not intervene.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On the evening of 16 August the British Army was deployed on Crumlin Road. Thereafter, the violence died down into what the Scarman report called "the quiet of exhaustion".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In aid of the Bogsiders, the NICRA executive called for protests in towns across Northern Ireland. The Scarman Report concluded that the spread of the disturbances "owed much to a deliberate decision by some minority groups to relieve police pressure on the rioters in Londonderry". It included NICRA among these groups.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On the evening of 11 August a riot erupted in Dungannon after a NICRA demonstration. This was quelled after the RUC baton charged nationalist rioters down Irish Street. There were claims of police brutality. The following night republicans attacked the police stations in Coalisland, Strabane and Newry. There were further riots on 13 August in Dungannon, Coalisland, Dungiven, Newry and Armagh. In Coalisland, the B-Specials opened fire on rioters without orders but were immediately ordered to stop.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 14 August riots continued in Dungannon, Armagh and Newry. In Dungannon and Armagh, the B-Specials again opened fire on rioters. They fired twenty-four rounds on Cathedral Road in Armagh, killing Catholic civilian John Gallagher and wounding two others. In Newry, nationalist rioters surrounded the police station and attacked it with petrol bombs. In Crossmaglen on 17 August, the IRA attacked the police station and withdrew after an exchange of fire.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 13 August, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Jack Lynch made a television address in which he stated that the Irish Defence Forces were setting up field hospitals along the Irish border and called for UN intervention. He said:It is evident that the Stormont Government is no longer in control of the situation. Indeed, the present situation is the inevitable outcome of the policies pursued for decades by successive Stormont Governments. It is clear, also, that the Irish Government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse. It is obvious that the R.U.C. is no longer accepted as an impartial police force. Neither would the employment of British troops be acceptable [...] The Irish Government have, therefore, requested the British Government to apply immediately to the United Nations for the urgent despatch of a Peace-keeping Force [...] We have also asked the British Government to see to it that police attacks on the people of Derry should cease immediately.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: When the Irish government met on 14 and 15 August, it decided to send troops to protect the field hospitals and to call up the first line army reserves "in readiness for participation in peace-keeping operations". This, along with Lynch's statement, fuelled rumours that Irish troops were about to cross the border and intervene. On 16 August, three Irish nationalist members of the Northern Ireland parliament—Paddy Kennedy, Paddy Devlin and Paddy O'Hanlon—went to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin and demanded the Irish government send guns to protect Catholics in Northern Ireland, but were refused.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The prime minister of Northern Ireland, James Chichester-Clark, responded: "In this grave situation, the behaviour of the Dublin Government has been deplorable, and tailor-made to inflame opinion on both sides". On 14 August he stated in the Northern Ireland parliament:This is not the agitation of a minority seeking by lawful means the assertion of political rights. It is the conspiracy of forces seeking to overthrow a Government democratically elected by a large majority. What the teenage hooligans seek beyond cheap kicks I do not know. But of this I am quite certain – they are being manipulated and encouraged by those who seek to discredit and overthrow this Government".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Chichester-Clark denied that his government was not doing enough to bring about the reforms sought by the civil rights movement, or that this was a cause of the violence. Instead, he said, "The real cause of the disorder is to be found in the activities of extreme Republican elements and others determined to overthrow our State".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: On 23 August, Catholic Cardinal William Conway, together with the Catholic bishops of Derry, Clogher, Dromore, Kilmore, and Down & Connor, issued a statement which included the following:The fact is that on Thursday and Friday of last week the Catholic districts of Falls and Ardoyne were invaded by mobs equipped with machine-guns and other firearms. A community which was virtually defenceless was swept by gunfire and streets of Catholic homes were systematically set on fire. We entirely reject the hypothesis that the origin of last week's tragedy was an armed insurrection.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The Irish republican party, Sinn Féin, issued a statement saying, "The present events in the Six Counties are the outcome of fifty years of British rule. The civil rights demands, moderate though they are, have shown us that Unionist rule is incompatible with democracy […] The question now is no longer civil rights, but the continuation of British rule in Ireland".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Representatives of the British and Northern Ireland governments—including Chichester-Clark and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson—held a two-day meeting at 10 Downing Street, beginning on 19 August. A Communique and Declaration was issued at the end of the first day. It re-affirmed that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom unless the people of Northern Ireland decided otherwise, and that the Northern Ireland and British governments are solely responsible for affairs in Northern Ireland. The Irish government failed to have a resolution on Northern Ireland put to a vote at the UN.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In late August, the Northern Ireland government announced the establishment of an inquiry into the riots, to be chaired by Justice Scarman (and known as the "Scarman Inquiry"). A committee under Baron Hunt was also set up to consider reform of the RUC and the B-Specials, which led to the latter being disbanded.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: During July, August and September 1969, 1,820+ families had been forced to flee their homes, including


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Catholics generally fled across the border into the Republic of Ireland, while Protestants generally fled to east Belfast. The Irish Defence Forces set up refugee camps in the Republic – at one point the Gormanston refugee camp held 6,000 refugees from Northern Ireland.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The August riots were the most sustained violence that Northern Ireland had seen since the early 1920s. Many Protestants, loyalists and unionists believed the violence showed the true face of the Catholic civil rights movement – as a front for the IRA and armed insurrection. They had mixed feelings regarding the deployment of British troops. Eddie Kinner, a resident of Dover Street who would later join the UVF, vividly recalled the troops marching down his street with fixed bayonets and steel helmets; he and his neighbours had felt they were being invaded by their "own army".


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Catholics and nationalists, on the other hand, saw the riots (particularly in Belfast) as an assault on their community by loyalists and the forces of the state. The riots are often cited as the beginning of the Troubles. Violence escalated sharply in Northern Ireland after these events, with the formation of new paramilitary groups on both sides, most notably the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in December of that year. On the loyalist side, the UVF were galvanised by the riots and in 1971, another paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was founded out of a coalition of loyalist militants who had been active since August 1969. The largest of these were the Woodvale Defence Association (WDA), led by Charles Harding Smith, and the Shankill Defence Association (SDA), led by John McKeague, which had been responsible for what organisation there was of loyalist violence in the riots. While the thousands of British troops sent to Northern Ireland were initially seen as a neutral force, they quickly got dragged into the street violence and by 1971 were devoting most of their attention to combating republican paramilitaries.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The role of the IRA in the riots has long been disputed. At the time, the organisation was blamed by the Northern Ireland authorities for the violence. However, it was badly prepared to defend nationalist areas of Belfast, having few weapons or members on the ground. The Scarman Inquiry concluded:Undoubtedly there was an IRA influence at work in the DCDA (Derry Citizens' Defence Association) in Londonderry, in the Ardoyne and Falls Road areas of Belfast, and in Newry. But they did not start the riots, or plan them: indeed, the evidence is that the IRA was taken by surprise and did less than many of their supporters thought they should have done.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: In Catholic areas, the IRA was reportedly blamed for having failed to protect neighbourhoods like Bombay Street and Ardoyne from being burned out. A Catholic priest, Fr Gillespie, reported that in Ardoyne the IRA was being derided in graffiti as, "I Ran Away". However, IRA veterans of the time, who spoke to authors Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, disputed this. One, Sean O'Hare, said, "I never saw it written on a wall. That wasn't the attitude. People fell in behind the IRA, stood behind them 100%". Another, Sean Curry, recalled "some people were a bit angry but most praised the people who did defend the area. They knew that if the men weren't there, the area wouldn't have been defended."


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: At the time, the IRA released a statement on 18 August, saying it had been "in action in Belfast and Derry" and "fully equipped units had been sent to the border". It had been "reluctantly compelled into action by Orange murder gangs" and warned the British Army that if it "was used to the legitimate demands of the people they will have to take the consequences" and urged the Irish government to send the Irish Army over the border. Cathal Goulding, the IRA Chief of Staff, sent small units from Dublin, Cork and Kerry to border counties of Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan with orders to attack RUC posts in Northern Ireland and draw off pressure from Belfast and Derry. A total of 96 weapons and 12,000 rounds of ammunition were also sent to the North.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Nevertheless, the poor state of IRA arms and military capability in August 1969 led to a bitter split within the IRA in Belfast. According to Hanley and Millar, "dissensions that pre-dated August [1969] had been given a powerful emotional focus". In September 1969, a group of IRA men led by Billy McKee and Joe Cahill stated that they would no longer be taking orders from the Dublin leadership of the IRA, or from Billy McMillen (their commander in Belfast), because they had not provided enough weapons or planning to defend Catholic areas. In December 1969, they broke away to form the 'Provisional' IRA and vowed to defend areas from attack by loyalists and the RUC. The other wing of the IRA became known as the 'Official' IRA. Shortly after its formation, Provisionals launched an offensive campaign against the state of Northern Ireland.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The actions of the police in the riots are perhaps the most contentious issue arising out of the disturbances. Nationalists argue that the RUC acted in a blatantly biased manner, helping loyalists who were assaulting Catholic neighbourhoods. There were also strong suggestions that police knew when loyalist attacks were to happen and seemed to disappear from some Catholic areas shortly before loyalist mobs attacked. This perception discredited the police in the eyes of many Catholics/nationalists and later allowed the IRA to effectively take over policing in Catholic areas. In his study "From Civil Rights to Armalites", nationalist author Niall Ó Dochartaigh argues that the actions of the RUC and USC (B-Specials) were a key factor in the worsening of the conflict. He wrote:From the outset, the response of the state and its forces of law and order to Catholic mobilisation was an issue capable of arousing far more anger and activism than the issues around which mobilisation had begun. Police behaviour and their interaction with loyalist protesters probably did more to politically mobilise large sections of the Catholic community than did any of the other grievances.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: The Scarman Inquiry found that the RUC were "seriously at fault" on at least six occasions during the rioting. Specifically, they criticised the RUC's use of Browning heavy machine-guns in built-up areas, their failure to stop Protestants from burning down Catholic homes, and their withdrawal from the streets long before the Army arrived. However, the Scarman Report concluded that, "Undoubtedly mistakes were made and certain individual officers acted wrongly on occasions. But the general case of a partisan force co-operating with Protestant crowds to attack Catholic people is devoid of substance, and we reject it utterly". The report argued that the RUC were under-strength, poorly led and that their conduct in the riots was explained by their belief they were dealing with a co-ordinated IRA uprising. They pointed to the RUC's dispersal of loyalist rioters in Belfast on 2–4 August in support of the force's impartiality.


title: 1969 Northern Ireland riots

text: Of the B-Specials, the Scarman Report said:There were grave objections, well understood by those in authority, to the use of the USC in communal disturbances. In 1969 the USC contained no Catholics but was a force drawn from the Protestant section of the community. Totally distrusted by the Catholics, who saw them as the strong arm of the Protestant ascendancy, they could not show themselves in a Catholic area without heightening tension. Moreover, they were neither trained nor equipped for riot control duty. The report found that the B-Specials had fired on Catholic demonstrators in Dungiven, Coalisland, Dungannon and Armagh, causing casualties, which "was a reckless and irresponsible thing to do". It found that B-Specials had, on occasion, sided with loyalist mobs. There were reports that B-Specials were spotted hiding among loyalist mobs, using coats to hide their uniforms. Nevertheless, the Scarman Report concluded "there are no grounds for singling out mobilised USC as being guilty of misconduct".


title: International Boxing Hall of Fame

text: The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The IBHOF started as a 1990 initiative by Ed Brophy to honour Canastota's world boxing champions, Carmen Basilio and Basilio's nephew, Billy Backus; the village of Canastota inaugurated the new museum, which showcases boxing's rich history. It is visited by boxing fans from all over the world.


title: International Boxing Hall of Fame

text: An earlier hall had been created in 1954, when "The Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame was launched, located at Madison Square Garden in New York City. When that Boxing Hall of Fame was disbanded in 1987, it had a total of 155 inductees. , all but 14 of those 155 have also been inducted to the IBHOF. Beginning in 2020, the IBHOF began inducting female boxers for the first time since its inception.


title: International Boxing Hall of Fame

text: The IBHOF is one of two recognised Boxing Halls of Fame with the other being the World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF), with the IBHOF being the more widely recognised institution.


title: International Boxing Hall of Fame

text: Ceremonies are held each year to honour inductees, but were postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. Events are attended by many former world boxing champions, as well as boxing and Hollywood celebrities. Artist Richard T. Slone has been the official artist of the IBHOF since 1997, creating portraits of inductees and other works for the Hall.


title: International Boxing Hall of Fame

text: Professional boxers become eligible for election into the International Boxing Hall of Fame five (sometimes four) years after their retirement. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an international panel of boxing historians, based on criteria in five separate categories:


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Cenk Tosun (; born 7 June 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and the Turkey national team.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: After making one Bundesliga appearance for Eintracht Frankfurt, he transferred to Gaziantepspor in January 2011, where he won the Spor Toto Cup in 2012. In 2014, he was signed by Beşiktaş and won two Süper Lig titles before transferring to Everton in January 2018 for a reported £27 million transfer fee.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Tosun was born in Germany and represented the country from under-16 to under-21 level. He then changed his allegiance to Turkey, for whom he made his senior international debut with in 2013, and played at UEFA Euro 2016.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Born in Wetzlar in the German state of Hesse, Tosun began his career with Eintracht Frankfurt. He played mainly for the reserves in the Regionalliga. His sole first team appearance was on 8 May 2010 in the final match of the 2009–10 Bundesliga season as a 75th-minute substitute for Martin Fenin in a 3–1 loss at VfL Wolfsburg.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: On 29 January 2011, Tosun joined Gaziantepspor for a €400,000 transfer fee. He scored 10 goals in 14 league matches in his debut season. After a less successful second season, he scored double digits in the following two campaigns and helped the club win the Spor Toto Cup in 2012. He scored twice in the final, a 3–1 win over Orduspor on 17 May 2012.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: On 4 February 2014, Beşiktaş signed Tosun on a five-year contract worth nearly €500,000, effective from the 2014–15 season. He chose the number 23 shirt after basketball player Michael Jordan. In his first two campaigns at the Istanbul club, he was mainly a substitute, behind Demba Ba and Mario Gómez in the pecking order. After Ba and Gómez left, he was a regular in the 2016–17 season, scoring 24 goals as his club won the Süper Lig title. He then turned down a move to Premier League club Crystal Palace.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: In 2017–18, Tosun scored four goals in six match as Beşiktaş won a UEFA Champions League group containing RB Leipzig, Porto and Monaco, including both of a 2–1 win at Monaco on 17 October.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: On 5 January 2018, Tosun joined Premier League club Everton for a reported £27 million transfer fee, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Merseyside club. He made his debut eight days later, playing 61 minutes of a 4–0 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away loss against Burnley on 3 March. Manager Sam Allardyce praised Tosun when he received criticism for the start of his Everton career. Tosun and fellow new signing Theo Walcott helped an Everton side that had struggled for goals in the first half of the season as the club finished in eighth place in the 2017–18 Premier League.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Under new manager Marco Silva, Tosun lost his starting place to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Moise Kean. However, he stayed at the club for the 2019–20 season after rejecting moves to Galatasaray S.K. and Qatar's Al-Gharafa SC.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Tosun moved on loan to Crystal Palace for the rest of the 2019–20 season on 10 January 2020. He made his debut the next day against Arsenal when he came on for Max Meyer in the 68th minute of the 1–1 home draw. In his next game, a first start on 18 January, he scored in a 2–2 draw away to reigning champions Manchester City.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: In March, Tosun was sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament injury picked up during training. He returned to Everton for rehabilitation once surgery had been completed.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: On 31 January 2021, Tosun returned to Beşiktaş on a loan deal until the end of the season. On his league debut on 15 February, he came on as a 62nd-minute replacement for Vincent Aboubakar and scored twice in a 3–0 win at Gençlerbirliği. He subsequently suffered another knee injury and was diagnosed with COVID-19. On June 10, the BBC reported he would leave the club at the end of the month once his contract expired.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Tosun played for Germany under-19 in qualification for the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In the qualifying group in Luxembourg, he scored twice in a 5–0 win over Moldova and a consolation goal in a 2–1 loss to Turkey. He scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 win over Poland in the Elite Round, but Germany did not advance to the finals in France.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: On 16 November 2010, Tosun made his under-21 debut in a 2–0 friendly win over England in Wiesbaden, scoring a penalty for the second goal.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Tosun made his senior international debut for Turkey on 15 October 2013, replacing Selçuk İnan for the final 16 minutes of a 2–0 loss to the Netherlands in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul; the result ended the Turks' hope of qualification. On 13 November 2015, he scored his first international goal, the winner in a 2–1 friendly triumph away to Qatar. He added another two goals on 24 March 2016 in a 2–1 friendly win over Sweden in Antalya.


title: Cenk Tosun

text: Tosun was part of the 23-man squad chosen by head coach Fatih Terim for UEFA Euro 2016 in France. He started in the opening match, a 1–0 loss to Croatia, but was dropped in favour of Burak Yılmaz for the following match against Spain. Tosun then returned as an added-time substitute in the 2–0 win over the Czech Republic in Lens that was not enough to take Turkey to the round of 16.