title: Press Your Luck

text: On March 13, 2019, it was reported that ABC was partnering with Fremantle to reboot the series, with pre-production on new hour-long episodes of "Press Your Luck" and "Card Sharks" already underway and taping slated to begin sometime in the spring. The ABC version features a new bonus round in which one contestant competes head-to-head with the Whammy "to win a fortune". John Quinn (a producer on "Celebrity Name Game") is the executive producer.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The series premiered on June 12, 2019 following an early premiere the day before. The first season featured eight weekly hour-long episodes.


title: Press Your Luck

text: Each episode features three new contestants. Gameplay is identical to the 1983–86 version, except only three questions are asked rather than four in the first round. Maximum dollar amounts are $3,000—$4,000—$5,000 in the first Big Board round, and $6,000—$8,000—$10,000 in the second; the latter spaces each award an extra spin as well. Prizes are worth up to $50,000.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The high scorer at the end of the second Big Board round keeps his/her winnings and advances to the bonus game. If two or more contestants are tied for the lead at this point, each tied contestant takes one spin at a time until there is a clear winner. If two of the three contestants have whammied out of the game by accumulating four whammies each, the remaining contestant automatically advances to the bonus round. If all contestants have $0 but did not whammy out of the game, all three contestants are eligible to participate in the tiebreaker.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The revival's Big Board includes special squares also seen on the 1983 version. "Double Your Money + One Spin" and "Add-A-One" are present, both of which were added in Season 2. The third season introduced "Take the Lead + One Spin". Landing on this space awards the contestant enough cash to take first place by $1. Any contestant in first place who lands on this space receives only the extra spin.


title: Press Your Luck

text: In the bonus game, the champion faces the Big Board alone and can win up to $1 million in cash and prizes.


title: Press Your Luck

text: This game is divided into five rounds, each of which requires the champion to take a specific number of spins without stopping: five in the first round, four in the second, three in all others. Prizes tailored to the champion's preferences, such as a luxury car or dream vacation, are added to the Big Board in each of the first four rounds; values of these items can exceed $150,000 during later rounds.


title: Press Your Luck

text: Hitting a Whammy at any point wipes out the champion's bank and returns any prizes to the Big Board, but does not affect the winnings from the main game. If the champion accumulates four Whammies, the bonus game ends immediately.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The maximum dollar amounts for the five rounds are $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000. Prize values increase from one round to the next. For the fifth round, referred to as the "Big Bucks Bonanza," all cash and cash-plus-a-spin spaces only show one of the five maximum values. A "$7,000 or Lose a Whammy" space is added to the board in the second round, with the value increasing to $10,000 in the third and $15,000 in the fourth. If the champion hits a space that awards an extra spin, it must be taken in that round.


title: Press Your Luck

text: If the champion finishes a round with a bank total above $0, he/she may either stop playing and keep all winnings, or continue to the next round. If the total is $0 at the end of a round, the next one begins automatically. The champion receives all cash and prizes in the bank upon either choosing to stop or completing all five rounds. However, if the bank reaches or exceeds $500,000 at any point, the bonus game ends immediately and enough cash is added to bring the total up to $1 million.


title: Press Your Luck

text: During the first season, the bonus game was played under slightly different rules. Six rounds were played instead of five, with the same number of spins per round as listed above. The maximum cash values were $10,000 / $15,000 / $25,000 / $50,000 / $75,000 / $100,000, and the "Lose a Whammy" space was introduced in the third round rather than the second.


title: Press Your Luck

text: During the fourth season, a "Prize-a-Palooza" space was added to the board during the fifth round. Landing on this space credits the contestant with all prizes displayed on the board at the time.


title: Press Your Luck

text: In 1984, a self-described unemployed ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson made it onto the show. By recording episodes at home on a VCR and playing them back frame-by-frame, Larson discovered that the presumed random patterns of the game board were not actually random and he was able to memorize the sequences to help him stop the board where and when he wanted. On the single game in which he appeared, an initially tentative Larson spun a Whammy on his very first turn, but then went 45 consecutive spins without hitting another one.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The game ran for so long that CBS aired the episode in two parts, on June 8 and 11, 1984. In the end, Larson earned a total of $110,237 in cash and prizes, a record for the highest winnings total by a contestant in a single appearance on a daytime network game show. In 2006, when Vickyann Chrobak-Sadowski won $147,517 in cash and prizes on the Season 35 premiere of "The Price Is Right", it was not enough to surpass Larson's inflation-adjusted record ($110,237 was equal to $215,690 in 2006 dollars).


title: Press Your Luck

text: Having memorized the board sequences, Larson could consistently land on one of two spaces in which every available slide awarded cash and an extra spin. This strategy guaranteed that he would avoid the Whammy and be able to continue playing for as long as he desired.


title: Press Your Luck

text: After an investigation, CBS concluded that Larson's memorization of the board patterns did not constitute cheating and allowed him to keep his winnings. The board was subsequently reprogrammed with up to 32 new patterns to prevent subsequent contestants from duplicating his feat; all subsequent versions since then have followed this method. In 1994, "TV Guide" magazine interviewed Larson and revealed the background of this episode including his decision to pass his remaining spins after he lost concentration and missed his target squares.


title: Press Your Luck

text: The story was featured in a two-hour documentary on GSN titled "Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal" in March 2003. GSN aired a special rematch edition of "Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck", featuring the two runners-up from the show, host Tomarken and Michael Larson's brother James (Michael Larson had died of throat cancer in 1999).


title: Press Your Luck

text: In July 2010, Michael's brother James, and his former wife at the time of winning, were interviewed for PRI's "This American Life" for the episode "Million Dollar Idea".


title: Press Your Luck

text: The series was presented by Ian Turpie with John Deeks as announcer on Seven Network from 1987 to 1988. Grundy Worldwide packaged this version, with Bill Mason as executive producer. This version used the same Whammy animations as the original, as well as a similar set (a Grundy tradition); however, the Big Board used considerably lower dollar values. Prior to this, there was an Australian version of "Second Chance" that aired in 1977 on Network Ten hosted by Earle Bailey and Christine Broadway and also produced by Grundy.


title: Press Your Luck

text: A German version entitled "" ("Good Luck on the Trigger") aired on RTLplus in 1992 with Al Munteanu as host. It had an animated vulture named "Raffi" steal cash and prizes from contestants instead of Whammies.


title: Press Your Luck

text: GMA Network aired a version called "Whammy! Push Your Luck" based on the short-lived 2002–03 GSN remake called "Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck" from 2007 to 2008 hosted by Paolo Bediones and Rufa Mae Quinto. The program used the same (redubbed) Whammy animations as the 2000s updated American version.


title: Press Your Luck

text: A Taiwanese variety show called Slugger Attack aired a segment based on this game on Taiwan Television from 1985 to 1995. It used a naughty ghost instead of animated whammies.


title: Press Your Luck

text: A Turkish version of PYL called "Şansını Dene" ("Try Your Luck") aired on Kanal D from 1994 to 1996, hosted by Oktay Kaynarca. It used the same Whammy animations, music and sound effects as the original.


title: Press Your Luck

text: An ITV version ran for two seasons from June 6, 1991 to September 20, 1992 on ITV in the HTV West region, with Paul Coia as host. The series was made on a small budget, using a point-based scoring system with the day's winner receiving £200. This eliminated much of the excitement present in other versions, and declining ratings led to a switch from prime time to Saturday afternoons during the first season. When the show's second season premiered in 1992, it was moved to Sunday afternoons. The show was canceled following the second season due to budget cuts that resulted from the ITV franchise auctions of 1991, as well as lower ratings figures.


title: Press Your Luck

text: In 1988, GameTek released a home computer game of "Press Your Luck" for IBM PC compatibles and the Commodore 64. Ludia Inc. (now part of RTL Group, which owns the show franchise) along with Ubisoft released an adaptation called "Press Your Luck: 2010 Edition" on October 27, 2009 for PC, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Nintendo DS and Wii. Prior to this, on August 24, 2010, the game was released for the PlayStation 3 (via PSN) as part of the "Game Show Party" bundle pack (PS3 only) that also included "Family Feud: 2010 Edition" and "The Price is Right: 2010 Edition", and on PlayStation 3's PSN download service from August 24, 2010.


title: Press Your Luck

text: Shuffle Master was the first to develop a video slot machine version based on the show in 2000. It was also featured in the PC game "Reel Deal Casino: Shuffle Master Edition" in 2003. Currently, WMS Gaming develops video slot machines based on the show like the "Big Event" version with Todd Newton of Whammy! fame in 2008, a "Community Bonus" version in 2010 and a "3-reel mechanicals" in 2011. A now defunct online slot game was once developed for online UK casinos.


title: Press Your Luck

text: GSN featured a short-lived interactive version of "Press Your Luck" that featured a play-along element as rerun episodes of the show aired simultaneously.


title: Press Your Luck

text: In 2006, Imagination Entertainment released a DVD TV game hosted by Todd Newton of "Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck" fame, with Peter Kent as the announcer. The DVD game included three Question Rounds and three Big Board Rounds.


title: Press Your Luck

text: In January 2012, an app developed by Fremantle subsidiary Ludia and based on "Press Your Luck" debuted on Facebook. Ten contestants compete in a single-question round together, all answering the same multiple-choice questions. There are six questions in total, each worth between $500 and $1,000, or a Whammy. A correct answer earns the question's value multiplied by the number of contestants who answered incorrectly or ran out of time (e.g., answering the $500 question correctly with three other contestants answering incorrectly earns $1,500). Bonus cash is given to the three contestants who answer the questions correctly in the shortest amount of time. Answering the Whammy question incorrectly causes the contestant to lose any money accumulated to that point.


title: Press Your Luck

text: Ludia released an app version of "Press Your Luck" Slots for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad on April 22, 2013.


title: Triple product

text: In geometry and algebra, the triple product is a product of three 3-dimensional vectors, usually Euclidean vectors. The name "triple product" is used for two different products, the scalar-valued scalar triple product and, less often, the vector-valued vector triple product.


title: Triple product

text: The scalar triple product (also called the mixed product, box product, or triple scalar product) is defined as the dot product of one of the vectors with the cross product of the other two.


title: Triple product

text: is the (signed) volume of the parallelepiped defined by the three vectors given. Here, the parentheses may be omitted without causing ambiguity, since the dot product cannot be evaluated first. If it were, it would leave the cross product of a scalar and a vector, which is not defined.


title: Triple product

text: Although the scalar triple product gives the volume of the parallelepiped, it is the signed volume, the sign depending on the orientation of the frame or the parity of the permutation of the vectors. This means the product is negated if the orientation is reversed, for example by a parity transformation, and so is more properly described as a pseudoscalar if the orientation can change.


title: Triple product

text: This also relates to the handedness of the cross product; the cross product transforms as a pseudovector under parity transformations and so is properly described as a pseudovector. The dot product of two vectors is a scalar but the dot product of a pseudovector and a vector is a pseudoscalar, so the scalar triple product must be pseudoscalar-valued.


title: Triple product

text: In exterior algebra and geometric algebra the exterior product of two vectors is a bivector, while the exterior product of three vectors is a trivector. A bivector is an oriented plane element and a trivector is an oriented volume element, in the same way that a vector is an oriented line element.


title: Triple product

text: and is the Hodge dual of the scalar triple product. As the exterior product is associative brackets are not needed as it does not matter which of or is calculated first, though the order of the vectors in the product does matter. Geometrically the trivector a ∧ b ∧ c corresponds to the parallelepiped spanned by a, b, and c, with bivectors , and matching the parallelogram faces of the parallelepiped.


title: Triple product

text: The triple product is identical to the volume form of the Euclidean 3-space applied to the vectors via interior product. It also can be expressed as a contraction of vectors with a rank-3 tensor equivalent to the form (or a pseudotensor equivalent to the volume pseudoform); see below.


title: Triple product

text: The vector triple product is defined as the cross product of one vector with the cross product of the other two. The following relationship holds:


title: Triple product

text: This is known as triple product expansion, or Lagrange's formula, although the latter name is also used for several other formulas. Its right hand side can be remembered by using the mnemonic "ACB − ABC", provided one keeps in mind which vectors are dotted together. A proof is provided below. Some textbooks write the identity as formula_15 such that a more familiar mnemonic "BAC − CAB" is obtained, as in “back of the cab”.


title: Triple product

text: Since the cross product is anticommutative, this formula may also be written (up to permutation of the letters) as:


title: Triple product

text: These formulas are very useful in simplifying vector calculations in physics. A related identity regarding gradients and useful in vector calculus is Lagrange's formula of vector cross-product identity:


title: Triple product

text: If geometric algebra is used the cross product b × c of vectors is expressed as their exterior product b∧c, a bivector. The second cross product cannot be expressed as an exterior product, otherwise the scalar triple product would result. Instead a left contraction can be used, so the formula becomes


title: Triple product

text: The proof follows from the properties of the contraction. The result is the same vector as calculated using a × (b × c).


title: Triple product

text: referring to the formula_32-th component of the resulting vector. This can be simplified by performing a contraction on the Levi-Civita symbols, formula_33


title: Triple product

text: where formula_34 if formula_35 and formula_36 if formula_37. We can reason out this identity by recognizing that the index formula_38 will be summed out leaving only formula_32 and formula_40. In the first term, we fix formula_41 and thus formula_42. Likewise, in the second term, we fix formula_43 and thus formula_44.


title: Triple product

text: Consider the flux integral of the vector field formula_46 across the parametrically-defined surface formula_47: formula_48. The unit normal vector formula_49 to the surface is given by formula_50, so the integrand formula_51 is a scalar triple product.


title: Man in the Moon

text: In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar maria) and the lighter-colored highlands (and some lowlands) of the lunar surface.


title: Man in the Moon

text: A longstanding European tradition holds that the man was banished to the Moon for some crime. Jewish lore (as this predates the Christians) commonly held that he is the man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the Book of Numbers XV.32–36. Some Germanic cultures thought he was a woodcutter found working on the Sabbath. There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief.


title: Man in the Moon

text: One medieval Christian tradition claims that he is Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth. Dante's "Inferno" alludes to this:


title: Man in the Moon

text: John Lyly says in the prologue to his "Endymion" (1591), ""There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone.""


title: Man in the Moon

text: In Norse mythology, Máni is the male personification of the Moon who crosses the sky in a horse-drawn carriage. He is continually pursued by the Great Wolf Hati who catches him at Ragnarök. "Máni" simply means "Moon".


title: Man in the Moon

text: In Chinese mythology, the goddess Chang'e is stranded upon the Moon after foolishly consuming a double dose of an immortality potion. In some versions of the myth, she is accompanied by Yu Tu, a Moon rabbit. Another mythology tells the story of Wu Gang, a man on the moon who is trying to cut down a tree that always regrows.


title: Man in the Moon

text: In Haida mythology, the figure represents a boy gathering sticks. The boy's father had told him the Moon's light would brighten the night, allowing the chore to be completed. Not wanting to gather sticks, the boy complained and ridiculed the Moon. As punishment for his disrespect, the boy was taken from Earth and trapped on the Moon.


title: Man in the Moon

text: In Japanese mythology, it is said that a tribe of human-like spiritual beings live on the Moon. This is especially explored in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.


title: Man in the Moon

text: In Vietnamese mythology, the Man in the Moon is named Cuội. He was originally a woodcutter on Earth who owned a magical banyan. One day, when his wife ignorantly watered the tree with unclean water and caused it to uproot itself to fly away, Cuội grabbed its roots and was taken to the Moon. There, he eternally accompanied the Moon Lady and the Jade Rabbit. The trio has become the personifications of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when they descend to the mortal world and give out cellophane lanterns, mooncakes and gifts to children.


title: Man in the Moon

text: There is a traditional European belief that the Man in the Moon enjoyed drinking, especially claret. An old ballad runs (original spelling):


title: Man in the Moon

text: In the English Middle Ages and renaissance, the Moon was held to be the god of drunkards, and at least three London taverns were named "The Man in the Moone".


title: Man in the Moon

text: In the folklore of the New Forest in Southern England he was believed to have been thrown there by the giant forest guardian Yernagate, for hoarding all the wood of the forest floor.


title: Man in the Moon

text: One tradition sees a figure of a man carrying a wide burden on his back. He is sometimes seen as accompanied by a small dog. Various cultures recognise other examples of lunar pareidolia, such as the Moon rabbit.


title: Man in the Moon

text: In the Northern Hemisphere, a common Western perception of the face has it that the figure's eyes are Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, its nose is Sinus Aestuum, and its open mouth is Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum. This particular human face can also be seen in tropical regions on both sides of the equator. However, the Moon orientation associated with the face is observed less frequently—and eventually not at all—as one moves toward the South Pole.


title: Man in the Moon

text: Conventionalized illustrations of the Man in the Moon seen in Western art often show a very simple face in the full moon, or a human profile in the crescent moon, corresponding to no actual markings. Some depict a man with a face turned away from the viewer on the ground, for example when viewed from North America, with Jesus Christ's crown shown as the lighter ring around Mare Imbrium. Another common one is a cowled Death's head looking down at Earth, with the black lava rock 'hood' around the white dust bone of the skull, and also forming the eye sockets.


title: Man in the Moon

text: "The Man in the Moon" can also refer to a mythological character said to live on or in the Moon, but who is not necessarily represented by the markings on the face of the Moon. An example is Yue-Laou, from Chinese tradition; another is Aiken Drum from Scotland.


title: Man in the Moon

text: "The Man in the Moone" by Francis Godwin, published in 1638, is one of the earliest novels thought of as containing several traits prototypical of science fiction.


title: Man in the Moon

text: The Man in the Moon is made up of various lunar maria (which ones depend on the pareidolic image seen). These vast, flat spots on the Moon are called "maria" or "seas" because, for a long time, astronomers believed they were large bodies of water. They are large areas formed by lava that covered up old craters and then cooled, becoming smooth, basalt rock.


title: Man in the Moon

text: The near side of the Moon, containing these maria that make up the man, is always facing Earth. This is due to a tidal locking or synchronous orbit. Thought to have occurred because of the gravitational forces partially caused by the Moon's oblong shape, its rotation has slowed to the point where it rotates exactly once on each trip around the Earth. This causes the near side of the Moon to always turn its face toward Earth.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963, many well-known actors have performed at the National Theatre. Until 1976, the company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London. In addition to performances at the National Theatre building, the National Theatre tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. The theatre has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and toured some as far as China, Australia and New Zealand. However, touring productions to European cities was suspended in February 2021 over concerns about uncertainty over work permits, additional costs and delays because of Brexit. Permission to add the "Royal" prefix to the name of the theatre was given in 1988, but the full title is rarely used. The theatre presents a varied programme, including Shakespeare, other international classic drama, and new plays by contemporary playwrights. Each auditorium in the theatre can run up to three shows in repertoire, thus further widening the number of plays which can be put on during any one season.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In June 2009, the theatre began National Theatre Live (NT Live), a programme of simulcasts of live productions to cinemas, first in the United Kingdom and then internationally. The programme began with a production of "Phèdre", starring Helen Mirren, which was screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK. NT Live productions have since been broadcast to over 2,500 venues in 60 countries around the world. In November 2020, National Theatre at Home was announced. It is a video on demand streaming service, specifically created for National Theatre Live recordings. Videos of plays are added every month, and can be "rented" for temporary viewing, or unlimited recordings can be watched through a monthly or yearly subscription programme.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The NT had an annual turnover of approximately £105 million in 2015–16, of which earned income made up 75% (58% from ticket sales, 5% from NT Live and Digital, and 12% from commercial revenue such as in the restaurants, bars, bookshop, etc.). Support from Arts Council England provided 17% of income, 1% from Learning and Participation activity, and the remaining 9% came from a mixture of companies, individuals, trusts and foundations.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In 1847, a critic using the pseudonym "Dramaticus" published a pamphlet describing the parlous state of British theatre. Production of serious plays was restricted to the patent theatres, and new plays were subjected to censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. At the same time, there was a burgeoning theatre sector featuring a diet of low melodrama and musical burlesque; but critics described British theatre as driven by commercialism and a "star" system. There was a demand to commemorate serious theatre, with the "Shakespeare Committee" purchasing the playwright's birthplace for the nation demonstrating a recognition of the importance of "serious drama". The following year saw more pamphlets on a demand for a National Theatre from London publisher Effingham William Wilson. The situation continued, with a renewed call every decade for a National Theatre. Attention was aroused in 1879 when the Comédie-Française took a residency at the Gaiety Theatre, described in "The Times" as representing "the highest aristocracy of the theatre". The principal demands now coalesced around: a structure in the capital that would form a permanent memorial to Shakespeare; an "exemplary theatre" company producing at the highest level of quality; and a centre from which appreciation of great drama could be spread as part of education throughout the country.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened in Stratford upon Avon on 23 April 1879, with the New Shakespeare Company (now the Royal Shakespeare Company, RSC); then Herbert Beerbohm Tree founded an Academy of Dramatic Art at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1904. This still left the capital without a national theatre. A London Shakespeare League was founded in 1902 to develop a Shakespeare National Theatre and – with the impending tercentenary in 1916 of his death – in 1913 purchased land for a theatre in Bloomsbury. This work was interrupted by World War I.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In 1910, George Bernard Shaw wrote a short comedy, "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets", in which Shakespeare himself attempts to persuade Elizabeth I of the necessity of building a National Theatre to stage his plays. The play was part of the long-term campaign to build a National Theatre.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Finally, in 1948, the London County Council (LCC) presented a site close to the Royal Festival Hall for the purpose, so the "National Theatre Act", offering financial support, was passed by Parliament in 1949. Ten years after the foundation stone had been laid in 1951, the Government declared that the nation could not afford a National Theatre; in response, the LCC offered to waive any rent and pay half the construction costs. The Government still tried to apply unacceptable conditions to save money, attempting to force the amalgamation of the existing publicly supported companies: the RSC, Sadler's Wells and Old Vic.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Following some initial inspirational steps taken with the opening of the Chichester Festival Theatre in Chichester in June 1962, the developments in London proceeded. In July 1962, with agreements finally reached, a board was set up to supervise construction, and a separate board was constituted to run a National Theatre Company, which would lease the Old Vic theatre in the interim. The "National Theatre Company" opened on 22 October 1963 with "Hamlet", starring Peter O'Toole in the title role. The Company was founded by Laurence Olivier, who became the first artistic director of the company. As fellow directors, he enlisted William Gaskill and John Dexter. Among the first ensemble of actors of the company were Robert Stephens, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Lynn Redgrave, Michael Redgrave, Colin Blakely and Frank Finlay.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Meanwhile, construction of the permanent theatre proceeded with a design by architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley and structural engineers Flint & Neill containing three stages, which opened individually between 1976 and 1977. The construction work was carried out by Sir Robert McAlpine.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The National Theatre building houses three separate theatres. Additionally, a temporary structure was added in April 2013 and closed in May 2016.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Named after the theatre's first artistic director, Laurence Olivier, this is the main auditorium, modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for 1160 people. A "drum revolve" (a five-storey revolving stage section) extends eight metres beneath the stage and is operated by a single staff member. The drum has two rim revolves and two platforms, each of which can carry ten tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenery changes. Its design ensures that the audience's view is not blocked from any seat, and that the audience is fully visible to actors from the stage's centre. Designed in the 1970s and a prototype of current technology, the drum revolve and a multiple "sky hook" flying system were initially very controversial and required ten years to commission, but seem to have fulfilled the objective of functionality with high productivity.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Named after Oliver Lyttelton, the National Theatre's first board chairman, it has a proscenium arch design and can accommodate an audience of 890.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Named after Lloyd Dorfman (philanthropist and chairman of Travelex Group), the Dorfman is "the smallest, the barest and the most potentially flexible of the National Theatre houses . . . a dark-walled room" with an audience capacity of 400. It was formerly known as the Cottesloe Theatre (named after Lord Cottesloe, Chairman of the South Bank Theatre Board), a name which ceased to be used with the theatre's closure under the National's NT Future redevelopment.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Temporary Theatre, formerly called The Shed, was a 225-seat black box theatre which opened in April 2013 and featured new works; it closed in May 2016, following the refurbishment of the Dorfman Theatre.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In 2015 British artist Carl Randall painted a portrait of actress Katie Leung standing in front of The Shed as part of the artist's "London Portraits" series, where he asked various cultural figures to choose a place in London for the backdrop of their portraits. Leung explained she chose The Shed as her backdrop because she performed there in the 2013 play "The World of Extreme Happiness", and also because "... it's a temporary theatre, it's not permanent, and I wanted to make it permanent in the portrait".


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The style of the National Theatre building was described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening. Architectural opinion was split at the time of construction. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner found the "Béton brut" concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Charles III described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, wrote to Lasdun stating ironically that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph. The carefully refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall. It is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the top ten "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building. A key intended viewing axis is from Waterloo Bridge at 45 degrees head on to the fly tower of the Olivier Theatre (the largest and highest element of the building) and the steps from ground level. This view is largely obscured now by mature trees along the riverside walk but it can be seen in a more limited way at ground level.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The National Theatre's foyers are open to the public, with a large theatrical bookshop, restaurants, bars and exhibition spaces. The terraces and foyers of the theatre complex have also been used for ad hoc, short seasonal and experimental performances and screenings. The riverside forecourt of the theatre is used for regular season of open-air performances in the summer months.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Clore Learning Centre is a new dedicated space for learning at the National Theatre. It offers events and courses for all ages, exploring theatre-making from playwriting to technical skills, often led by the NT's own artists and staff. One of its spaces is The Cottesloe Room, so called in recognition of the original name of the adjacent theatre.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The dressing rooms for all actors are arranged around an internal light-well and air-shaft and so their windows each face each other. This arrangement has led to a tradition whereby, on the opening night (known as "Press Night") and closing night of any individual play, when called to go to "beginners" (opening positions), the actors will go to the window and drum on the glass with the palms of their hands.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Backstage tours run throughout the day and the Sherling High Level Walkway, open daily until 7.30 pm, offers visitors views into the backstage production workshops for set construction and assembly, scenic painting and prop-making.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: 2013 saw the commencement of the "NT Future" project; a redevelopment of the National Theatre complex which it was estimated would cost about £80m.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Studio building across the road from the Old Vic on The Cut in Waterloo. The Studio used to house the NT's workshops, but became the National's research and development wing in 1984. The Studio building houses the New Work Department, the Archive, and the NT's Immersive Storytelling Studio.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The Studio is a Grade II listed building designed by architects Lyons Israel Ellis. Completed in 1958, the building was refurbished by architects Haworth Tompkins and reopened in autumn 2007.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The National Theatre Studio was founded in 1985 under the directorship of Peter Gill, who ran it until 1990. Laura Collier became Head of the Studio in November 2011, replacing Purni Morrell who headed the Studio from 2006. Following the merge of the Studio and the Literary Department under the leadership of Rufus Norris, Emily McLaughlin became the Head of New Work in 2015.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: National Theatre Live is an initiative which broadcasts performances of their productions (and from other theatres) to cinemas and arts centres around the world. It began in June 2009 with Helen Mirren in Jean Racine's "Phedre", directed by Nicholas Hytner, in the Lyttelton Theatre.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The third season of broadcasts launched on 15 September 2011 with "One Man, Two Guvnors" with James Corden. This was followed by Arnold Wesker's "The Kitchen". The final broadcast of 2011 was John Hodge's "Collaborators" with Simon Russell Beale. In 2012 Nicholas Wright's play "Travelling Light" was broadcast on 9 February, followed by "The Comedy of Errors" with Lenny Henry on 1 March and "She Stoops to Conquer" with Katherine Kelly, Steve Pemberton and Sophie Thompson on 29 March.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: "One Man, Two Guvnors" returned to cinema screens in the United States, Canada and Australia for a limited season in Spring 2012. Danny Boyle's "Frankenstein" also returned to cinema screens worldwide for a limited season in June and July 2012.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The fourth season of broadcasts commenced on Thursday 6 September 2012 with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", a play based on the international best-selling novel by Mark Haddon. This was followed by "The Last of the Haussmans", a new play by Stephen Beresford starring Julie Walters, Rory Kinnear and Helen McCrory on 11 October 2012. William Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" followed on 1 November 2012 starring Simon Russell Beale as Timon. On 17 January 2013, NT Live broadcast Arthur Wing Pinero's "The Magistrate", with John Lithgow.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The performances to be filmed and broadcast are nominated in advance, allowing planned movement of cameras with greater freedom in the auditorium.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: National Theatre Connections is the annual nationwide youth theatre festival run by the National Theatre. The festival was founded in 1995, and features ten new plays for young people written by leading playwrights. Productions are staged by schools and youth groups at their schools and community centres, and at local professional theatre hubs. One of the productions of each play is invited to perform in a final festival at the National Theatre, usually in the Olivier Theatre and Dorfman Theatre.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The "National Theatre Collection" (formerly called "On Demand. In Schools") is the National Theatre's free production streaming service for educational establishments worldwide, which is free to UK state schools. The service is designed for use by teachers and educators in the classroom, and features recordings of curriculum-linked productions filmed in high definition in front of a live audience.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The service was launched initially to UK secondary schools in 2015 with productions for Key Stage 3 pupils and above. In November 2016, the National Theatre launched to service to UK primary schools, adding a number of new titles for Key Stage 2. Productions currently offered by the service include "Frankenstein" (directed by Danny Boyle, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller), "Othello" (directed by Nicholas Hytner, starting Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear), "Antigone" (directed by Polly Findlay, starring Christopher Eccleston and Jodie Whittaker), and "Jane Eyre" (directed by Sally Cookson).


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In 2018, the National Theatre reported that over half of UK state secondary schools have registered to use the service. "On Demand. In Schools" won the 2018 Bett Award for Free Digital Content or Open Educational Resources.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In March 2020, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the National Theatre Collection was made available for pupils and teachers to access at home to aid blended learning programmes. In April 2020, six new titles were added to the service to bring the total up to 30 productions. These include "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (directed by Benedict Andrews for the Young Vic, starring Sienna Miller and Jack O'Connell) and "Small Island" (directed by Rufus Norris for the National Theatre).


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Public Acts is a community participation programme from the National Theatre working with theatres and community organisations across the UK to create large-scale new work. The first Public Acts production was "Pericles" in August 2018, at the National Theatre, in the Olivier Theatre. "The Guardian" described this as 'a richly sung version with brilliant performances from a cast of hundreds.' The second production was "As You Like It" performed in August 2019 at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Since 2019, Public Acts has been working on a third production in Doncaster in partnership with Cast and six local community partners. The new adaptation of "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" was originally planned for 2020 but has been postponed, due to Covid-19.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: In December 2020, in partnership with "The Guardian", Public Acts released an online musical called "We Begin Again" by James Graham ("Quiz") as a music video and a standalone track released by Broadway Records.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: River Stage is the National Theatre's free outdoor summer festival that place over five weekends outside the National Theatre in its north-east cornersquare. It is accompanied by a number of additional street food stalls and bars run by the NT.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The event features programmes developed by various companies for the first four weekends, with the National Theatre itself programming the fifth weekend. Particiating organisations have included The Glory, HOME Manchester, Sadler's Wells, nonclassical, WOMAD, Latitude Festival, Bristol's Mayfest and Rambert. The festival launched in 2015 and is produced by Fran Miller.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The annual "Watch This Space" festival was a free summer-long celebration of outdoor theatre, circus and dance, which was replaced in 2015 by the River Stage festival.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: "Watch This Space" featured events for all ages, including workshops and classes for children and adults. "Watch This Space" had a strong national and international relationships with leading and emerging companies working in many different aspects of the outdoor arts sector. Significant collaborators and regular visitors included Teatr Biuro Podrozy, The Whalley Range All Stars, Home Live Art, Addictive TV, Men in Coats, Upswing, Circus Space, Les Grooms, StopGAP Dance Theatre, metro-boulot-dodo, Avanti Display, The Gandinis, Abigail Collins, The World-famous, Ida Barr (Christopher Green), Motionhouse, Mat Ricardo, The Insect Circus, Bängditos Theater, Mimbre, Company FZ, WildWorks, Bash Street Theatre, Markeline, The Chipolatas, The Caravan Gallery, Sienta la Cabeza, Theatre Tuig, Producciones Imperdibles and Mario Queen of the Circus.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: The festival was set up by its first producer Jonathan Holloway, who was succeeded in 2005 by Angus MacKechnie.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Whilst the Theatre Square space was occupied by the Temporary Theatre during the NT Future redevelopment, the "Watch This Space" festival was suspended. but held a small number of events in nearby local spaces. In 2013 the National announced that there would be a small summer festival entitled "August Outdoors" in Theatre Square. Playing Fridays and Saturdays only, the programme included "The Sneakers" and "The Streetlights" by Half Human Theatre, "The Thinker" by Stuff & Things, "H2H" by Joli Vyann, "Screeving" by Urban Canvas, "Pigeon Poo People" by The Natural Theatre Company, "Capses" by Laitrum, "Bang On!", "Caravania!" by The Bone Ensemble, "The Hot Potato Syncopators", "Total Eclipse of the Head" by Ella Good and Nicki Kent, "The Caravan Gallery", "Curious Curios" by Kazzum Theatre and "The Preeners" by Canopy.


title: Royal National Theatre

text: Laurence Olivier became Artistic Director of the National Theatre at its formation in 1963. He was considered the foremost British film and stage actor of the period, and became the first director of the Chichester Festival Theatre – there forming the company that would unite with the Old Vic Company to form the National Theatre Company. In addition to directing, he continued to appear in many successful productions, not least as Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice". In 1969 the National Theatre Company received a Special Tony Award which was accepted by Olivier at the 23rd Tony Awards. He became a life peer in 1970, for his services to theatre, and stepped down in 1973.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The McDonnell F2H Banshee (company designation McDonnell Model 24) is an American single-seat carrier-based jet fighter aircraft deployed by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps from 1948 to 1961. A development of the FH Phantom, it was one of the primary American fighters used during the Korean War, and was the only jet-powered fighter deployed by the Royal Canadian Navy. The aircraft's name is derived from the banshee of Irish mythology.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The Banshee was a development of the FH Phantom, and planning started before the Phantom entered production. McDonnell engineers intended the aircraft to be a modified Phantom that shared many parts with the earlier aircraft, but it soon became clear that the need for heavier armament, greater internal fuel capacity, and other improvements would make the idea infeasible.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The new aircraft would use much larger and more powerful engines, a pair of newly developed Westinghouse J34 turbojets, nearly doubling the total thrust from compared to the Phantom but since the larger engines still had to fit within the wing roots, this required a larger and thicker wing. The more powerful engines used more fuel, so the fuselage had to be enlarged and strengthened to increase the fuel capacity. The Navy was replacing the obsolete World War II machine guns with cannon, four of which were mounted under the nose where pilots would not be blinded by muzzle flash when firing at night, a problem with the Phantom. The Banshee incorporated an ejection seat, which the Phantom lacked, and a large number of improvements to other aircraft systems. The cockpit was pressurized and air-conditioned, and the flaps, landing gear, folding wings, canopy, and air brakes were electrically rather than pneumatically operated. The front of the windscreen was bulletproof glass that was electrically heated to prevent frost.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The Banshee had a "kneeling" nose landing gear with a pair of small wheels forward of the regular nosewheel. The regular nosewheel would be retracted so the aircraft rested on the smaller wheels. It could taxi with its nose down, redirecting the hot jet blast up to enhance safety, and to allow parked aircraft to be tucked under each other to save space. This was usually removed from later variants as it was found to be of little use and caused deck handling problems.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: A mockup was completed in April 1945, designated "XF2D-1". The project survived the end of war cancellations, but development slowed down and the first of three prototypes was not completed until late 1946. Its first flight was on 11 January 1947, from Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. During the first test flight, the aircraft demonstrated a climb rate of , twice that of the F8F Bearcat, the Navy's primary fleet defense interceptor. It was redesignated XF2H-1 in 1947, after the Navy ordered an unrelated jet fighter from Douglas, which had previously been assigned the manufacturer's letter "D". Fifty-six were ordered in May 1947. In August 1949, an F2H-1 set a US Navy jet fighter altitude record of , but it wasn't enough to beat the reached by a de Havilland Vampire on March 23, 1948.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Similarities to the FH-1 meant that McDonnell was able to complete the first F2H-1 in August 1948, a mere three months after the last FH-1 was built. Compared to the XF2D-1, the F2H was larger all around and fuel capacity was increased to . The empennage was new, the dorsal fin was reduced and dihedral was eliminated from the horizontal stabilizers. The wing and tail were reduced in thickness to increase the critical Mach number and different airfoil sections were used. The F2H-1 was retrofitted with engines as they became available.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Although the Navy was satisfied with the F2H-1, it was the more capable F2H-2 that was most widely used. With Westinghouse J34-WE-34 thrust engines, it had significantly improved performance. The wings were strengthened to add provision for wingtip fuel tanks but unlike those of the contemporary Grumman F9F Panther, the Banshee's wingtip tanks were detachable.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Two armament pylons were added under each inboard and outboard wing, for a total of eight, allowing the aircraft to carry of stores, consisting of up to four bombs and four unguided rockets. The "kneeling" nose gear was omitted from the F2H-2 and most subsequent Banshee variants.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The F2H-2B had strengthened wings and an additional pylon adjacent to the intake on the port side to allow it to carry a Mark 7 nuclear bomb or a Mark 8 nuclear bomb. To compensate for the increased load, the F2H-2B was fitted with stiffer landing gear struts and a pilot-switchable aileron power boost.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The latter was necessary to control the roll to the left when a heavy nuclear bomb was carried. One cannon was removed to provide room for the electronics needed to arm the weapon. 25 F2H-2Bs were built.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The F2H-2N was the US Navy's first carrier-based jet night fighter, making its first flight on February 3, 1950, although only 14 would be built. It had a longer nose that housed a Sperry Corporation AN/APS-19 radar which required that the cannons be moved back to make room. An F2H-2N was returned to McDonnell to serve as the prototype for the enlarged F2H-3. Some F2H-2Ns retained the "kneeling" nose feature of the earlier F2H-1.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The F2H-2P photo-reconnaissance version had six cameras in a longer nose and was the US Navy's first jet-powered carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. First flight was on 12 October 1950, and 90 were built. The pilot could rotate the cameras in both vertical and horizontal planes, and the aircraft could carry a pair of underwing pods that each contained 20 flash cartridges for night photography. The camera bay was electrically heated. The F2H-2P was a valuable photo-reconnaissance asset due to its long range for a jet aircraft, high ceiling of , and speed that made it difficult to intercept even by other jet aircraft. As a result, the F2H-2P was responsible for supplying roughly 40% of the United States Air Force (USAF) Fifth Air Force's daytime reconnaissance needs.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The F2H-3 was an all-weather fighter, with a larger diameter Westinghouse AN/APQ-41 radar fitted in an longer fuselage which also increased its internal fuel load by over 50%, to . This allowed the detachable wingtip fuel tanks to be reduced to each, and due to the increased internal capacity, these were now seldom needed. The cannons were moved back, away from the nose to accommodate the larger diameter radar while allowing for an increased ammunition capacity. The horizontal stabilizers were lowered from the fin to the fuselage and were given dihedral, and on all but the first aircraft, large triangular fillets were added to the leading edges. The weapons load was increased to and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles would be cleared for use. The F2H-3 also added provisions for aerial refueling consisting of as-needed bolt-on, in-flight refueling probe that replaced the upper port cannon. 250 were built, with the first flight being made on March 29 1952.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The final variant to be produced was the F2H-4. It had a Hughes AN/APG-37 radar and slightly more powerful Westinghouse J34-WE-38 engines that increased the aircraft's service ceiling to . The F2H-4 was externally indistinguishable from the F2H-3.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: McDonnell also created at least 48 proposals, including a long range escort fighter (Model 24H), a two-seat night fighter (Model 24N), a two-seat trainer (Model 24P), a two seat interceptor (Model 24Q), several single seat interceptors (models 24R & 24S), multiple variants with lengthened fuselages, alternate wings and tails, swept wings (model 24J, and others) and afterburners (model 24K, 24L and others), and various engine (model 24W, and others) and radar installations (model 24Y, and others), few of which were built. Plans for adding afterburners were canceled after a test aircraft suffered extensive damage to the wing and tail after the afterburners were lit.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Production ended on 24 September 1953 after 895 aircraft had been delivered. Under the 1962 unified designation system surviving F2H-3 and F2H-4 were redesignated F-2C and F-2D respectively while F2H-1 and F2H-2 (F-2A and F-2B) had already been retired. No Banshee flew under the new designations as the last examples were already in storage when the new designations came into effect.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: US Navy and Marine pilots often referred to the F2H as the "Banjo". The F2H-2 served during the Korean War with the US Navy's Task Force 77 and the Marine Corps.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Due to its good performance at high altitude, the F2H-2 initially proved its worth as an escort fighter for the USAF bombers supporting United Nations Command (UNC) ground forces.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: From mid-1950, the F2H-2 had negligible exposure to hostile aircraft over Korea, due to several factors. During the opening weeks of the war, the North Korean air force had been almost completely annihilated by UNC fighter units. Later, North Korea and its allies were unable to operate from airfields near combat zones in South Korea, forcing them to operate out of air bases in China. As a result of their air superiority throughout most of 1950, UNC squadrons were able to carry out ground attack missions instead, especially close air support and interdiction of North Korean army supply lines.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The Banshee, like most naval jets of its generation, had a serious handicap. Naval air services, including the USN, had resisted faster, swept wing designs from fears that poor low speed flight characteristics made them unsafe to operate from aircraft carriers. Consequently, the Banshee was almost slower than the latest land-based fighters. Their obsolescence was reinforced by the introduction of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in November 1950. Most UNC air combat missions, such as patrols over "MiG Alley", were undertaken by North American F-86 Sabres of the USAF Far East Air Forces. Consequently, F2H fighters operated most of the war beyond the range of enemy fighters. Banshee pilots scored no victories, while three F2H-2s were lost to anti-aircraft gunfire.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The F2H-2P flew reconnaissance missions during the Korean War, primarily with the USMC. At that time of the war, surface-to-air missiles had not yet been deployed and few enemy aircraft had radar, while AA guns were ineffective against fast, high-altitude targets. Air defense was still largely visual, and so a lone high-flying F2H-2P was almost impossible for ground forces to shoot down. The aircraft was in demand for its invaluable battlefield photography. F2H-2Ps had USAF fighter escorts when in areas frequented by enemy fighters. Despite being deployed constantly throughout the war, only two F2H-2Ps were lost to radar-directed AA gunfire, and suffered no air-to-air losses.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The USN deployed the radar-equipped F2H-3 and F2H-4 for all-weather fleet defense after the Korean War as a stopgap measure until the swept wing Grumman F-9 Cougar and McDonnell F3H Demon, and delta wing Douglas F4D Skyray could be deployed. Later Banshee variants were only briefly on the front lines and saw no action. Similarly, the F2H-2P was superseded by the F9F-8P (later RF-9J) variant of the F9F Cougar and the F8U-1P (later RF-8A) variant of the Vought F8U Crusader as these aircraft became available.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: In 1954, a Banshee flew coast-to-coast, nonstop without refueling, approximately from NAS Los Alamitos, California to NAS Cecil Field, Florida, in approximately four hours.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: During the Korean War, the US was concerned about the lack of intelligence available should there be a war in Europe involving the Soviet Union, in particular on the location of airfields. The US Navy's "Operation Steve Brody", with four F2H-2P photo reconnaissance Banshees were to fly from a carrier on routine maneuvers off Greece and fly north, photographing Russian territory bordering the Black Sea. In May 1952, this was presented to Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett, but Lovett canceled it.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Later, in 1955, fears of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan resulted in Marine F2H-2Ps making 27 overflights of possible Chinese staging areas without incident, escorted by Marine fighter Banshees based in South Korea.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: In 1951, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) drafted a $40 million deal for 60 new Banshees to replace obsolete Hawker Sea Furies. However, the purchase was not approved by the Parliament of Canada until after Banshee production had ended (1953). The RCN acquired 39 second-hand US Navy F2H-3s for $25 million which were delivered from 1955 to 1958. They would be flown from or as NORAD interceptors from shore bases.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: In order to improve the Banshee as an interceptor, the RCN equipped their aircraft with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The RCN conducted sea trials of the Sidewinder in November 1959, during which several remotely piloted drones were downed.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Although initially well-liked by its Canadian pilots for its flying qualities, the Banshee began to suffer from problems. The RCN would eventually lose 12 of its original 39 Banshees to accidents, a loss rate of 30.8%. One Banshee and its pilot were lost after an inflight failure of the folding wing mechanism, and another Banshee suffered a brake failure and rolled off the carrier's deck into the ocean, drowning its pilot.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Banshee utilization fell as the RCN shifted to anti-submarine warfare (ASW), which didn't anticipate aerial attacks, and so there was little need for the Banshee. Also, due to the carrier's small size, no room was left for Banshees when "Bonaventure" was carrying enough Grumman CS2F Trackers for around-the-clock ASW patrols, so it regularly operated without them. The Canadian military was also under pressure to reduce its budget, and the obsolescent Banshees were expensive to maintain as their age and punishing carrier service, and the harsh North Atlantic were taking their toll. Having been the only jet-powered carrier-based fighters deployed by the RCN, the last examples were retired without replacement in September 1962.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Banshees were the primary aircraft of the short-lived RCN Grey Ghosts aerobatic team. The team's name was a play on the Banshee name and the RCN color scheme. The RCN was too small to dedicate aircraft for airshows, so the team flew available operational Banshees for each show.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Aside from the three former RCN Banshees that survive, RCN Banshees were cut up for scrap or burned in firefighting exercises upon their retirement.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: Surviving examples are on display in private collections and at several naval air stations and marine corps air stations in the United States as well as in Canada.


title: McDonnell F2H Banshee

text: The aircraft played a central role in the 1953 James A. Michener novel "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" although the 1955 movie adaptation used F9F Panthers for flight scenes.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: The sixth series of the Australian cooking game show MasterChef Australia premiered on Monday, 5 May 2014 on Network Ten.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: This series was won by Brent Owens in the final against Laura Cassai on 28 July 2014. Coincidentally, Cassai and third-placed Emelia Jackson attended the same high school, Siena College. Owens is the last male winner until Sashi Cheliah from tenth series.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: In a reversal from the previous season, the audition and preliminary stages were again broadcast as part of the series, and the weekly theme format was dropped. Series 6 also introduced the "power apron", which granted its wearer a number of advantages and control across a series of challenges.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: In elimination challenges and pressure tests, the contestant wore black aprons with their name in it. The same type of aprons were used by eliminated contestants in week 8 of the 5th season of Masterchef Australia. In the previous seasons, the contestant who faced an elimination test or a pressure test wore a black apron without their name on it.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: In addition, the Immunity Challenges were expanded to have a preliminary round between three contestants before the winner moved on to cook for immunity against a professional chef. Kylie Kwong regularly appeared as a mentor during the Immunity Challenge episodes in addition to a recurring role as a guest judge.


title: MasterChef Australia (series 6)

text: The full Top 24 were revealed on Tuesday, 6 May. At the first Top 24 challenge, it was revealed that Cecilia Vuong, who was recovering from brain surgery due to a skiing injury, had withdrawn from the competition based on medical advice. Georgia Hughes, who had been the last one eliminated in the Top 50 portion of the show, entered as her replacement.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Senthamizhan Seeman (born 8 November 1966) is an Indian politician, filmmaker and the chief-coordinator of the political party Naam Tamilar Katchi in Tamil Nadu. He is an advocate of the creation of vote bank for Tamils.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman began his career as a filmmaker in the mid-1990s, working on films such as "Panchalankurichi" (1996) and "Veeranadai" (2000). The failure of his early films made it difficult for him to attract offers as a director and several of his proposed projects were stalled in the late 1990s. He later made a comeback through the successful vigilante film "Thambi" (2006), though the commercial failure of his next film, prompted Seeman to prioritise commitments as a supporting actor in the late 2000s.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: In the early 2010s, Seeman started a Tamil nationalist political party, and has since often been in the news for his controversial statements on Indian social issues.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman was born in Aranaiyur, Tamil Nadu to Senthamizhan, member of Congress and Annammal in Aranaiyur, Tamil Nadu. He studied in Government Primary School in Aranayur up to class 5th. He attended K.K. Ibrahim Ali High School from Class 6th to Class 10th and finished his class 11 and 12 in Ilayankudi. He completed his degree undergraduate economics at Zakir Hussain College in Ilayankudi. Seeman has a brother named James Peter. During his high school and college years, Seeman was enthralled with the ideals of the Dravidian movement. He moved to Chennai to pursue his dream of working in the film industry.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman took up film direction as a career after being inspired by the films of Bharathiraja and Manivannan. He worked as an assistant director with Bharathiraja and Manivannan. Seeman started his career by directing "Panchalankurichi" (1996), a village action film starring Prabhu and Madhubala. He collaborated with Prabhu again in "Iniyavale" (1998), a romantic film which also featured actresses Suvalakshmi, Gouthami and Keerthi Reddy. Seeman's third film was "Veeranadai" (2000) with Sathyaraj and Khushbu, which garnered mixed review from critics and underperformed commercially. The failure of his initial films made it difficult for Seeman to attract producers to work on his next films. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he worked on four other projects, "Vaigai Karai Oram" with Vijayakanth, "Anandham" with Karthik, "Karma Veerar" with Sarathkumar, and "Sethupathi Cheemaiyile" with Rajkiran, but all failed to develop beyond production.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman then made the village-based vigilante film, "Thambi" (2006), starring Madhavan in the titular role. The film's production was briefly halted following a disagreement between the actor and director, after Seeman raised an objection to Madhavan returning to be with his family for the birth of his son. The film opened to mixed reviews but performed well commercially. His most recent directorial release, "Vaazhthugal" (2008), received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. A reviewer from Sify noted the "execution is tacky and the final outcome is a dreary and boring message film that leaves you exhausted."


title: Seeman (politician)

text: The failure of "Vaazhthugal" made it difficult for Seeman to find producers and actors to work on his other proposed projects, despite his interest in continuing work as a film director. In the late 2000s, Seeman attempted to make a film titled "Pagalavan" with either Ajith Kumar or Madhavan starring, but was unsuccessful. Seeman then hoped to make the film with Vikram for director Bala's production studio, but the venture did not materialise. In mid-2010, producer Kalaipuli S. Dhanu agreed to finance the project, and Seeman held talks with Vijay to be a part of the film. The actor later refused to work on the project, which prompted Seeman to speak out against Vijay. In 2013, Seeman approached Jiiva, Jayam Ravi, Arya and Vishal to work on the project, but none of the actors agreed to be a part of the film. In 2017, Seeman was in talks with Vijay Antony to feature in the lead role, and then with Silambarasan in 2018, but both actors later opted to prioritise other projects. In 2017, Seeman announced another project titled "Kobam" with G. V. Prakash Kumar in the lead role. However, despite an announcement, the film failed to find producers and was stalled.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Since the mid-2000s, Seeman has mostly worked as an actor. His notable roles including supporting characters in "Pallikoodam" (2007) and "Evano Oruvan" (2007).


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman addressed Periyar's ideology and caste abolition in the film industry. In the 2006 assembly elections, he campaigned for the DMK alliance, and notably sided with Pattali Makkal Katchi's S. Ramadoss and delivered speeches against the candidature of Vijayakanth. He met with Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2008 when the war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE was looming. Following this, Seeman started to speak out against the killings of a large number of Tamils during Sri Lanka's civil war. Seeman's ensuing speech in Rameswaram marked a turning point in his political career for which he was arrested. He was also detained for continuing to speak out in Erode in favor of the LTTE. He was subjected to the National Security Act, passport block and state monitoring.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman was arrested in March 2009 under the National Security act for speaking in favour of the LTTE and was lodged at the Kalapet prison.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman along with several other activists gathered on 18 May 2009, coinciding the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War at Madurai to form the Naam Tamilar Iyakkam, as a social outfit. It subsequently turned into a political party named Naam Tamilar Katchi.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman was arrested at Chepauk under the National Security Act for making inflammatory speeches at a meeting protesting against the killing of a Tamil fisherman by the Sri Lankan Navy. He was detained at the Vellore central Prison for five months.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Upon his release from a five-month detention at the Vellore prison, Seeman in 2011 actively campaigned for the defeat of the Congress party in the State Assembly elections. He was neutral on MDMK and DMK while extended support to AIADMK. Seeman campaigned in 59 of the 63 places the Congress party were contesting, and the party was defeated in all of those constituencies except for one.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Since the 2011 Assembly elections, Seeman and his party have been actively involved in various causes such as the anti-nuclear Power plant protests in Kudankulam or the attacks on Tamil fishermen perpetuated by the Sri Lankan Navy that has claimed the lives of over 800 fishermen.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: During the parliamentary elections in 2014, Seeman has stated that the Naam Tamilar Katchi would campaign for the defeat of the candidates fielded by the Congress, BJP and the DMDK where they are contesting and will support ADMK.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: In February 2015, the party conceived Veera Thamizhar Munnani, aimed at reviving and recovering age-old Tamil culture and traditions. In September 2016, Seeman was among some 176 people arrested after "attempting to lay siege to Srivaikuntam dam, where desilting works [were] under way as per a directive from the National Green Tribunal".


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Naam Tamilar Katchi contested in the 2016 assembly election, with Seeman as the Chief Ministerial candidate from the Cuddalore constituency. The party contested in all the 234 assembly constituencies on its own, in the elections Tamil Nadu and as well as those in Puducherry. Seeman contested in the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election from Cuddalore constituency and polled 12,497 votes and lost by a low margin, finishing fifth and forfeited his deposits in the process.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Naam Tamilar Katchi contested in all the 39 constituencies present in Tamil Nadu, but got only 4% of the vote share, thus losing deposits in all constituencies. NTK fared well in rural areas when compared to urban areas.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Seeman is married to Kayalvizhi, daughter of K. Kalimuthu, the former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the AIADMK party. The ceremony was held according to Tamil traditions at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam, Chennai during September 2013.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: Actress Vijayalakshmi claimed that she was in a relationship with Seeman who she had met on the sets of Seeman's film "Vaazhthugal" during 2007. In 2011, she filed a police complaint against him for cheating her. The pair continued to engage in a public war of words throughout the 2010s, with Vijayalakshmi later attempting suicide in July 2020, blaming Seeman and his supporters for torture. In 2011, Seeman publicly expressed his interest in marrying a Sri Lankan Tamil woman and chose Yarlmathy, a widow of a LTTE fighter, but later did not do so.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: In November 2009, while on a speaking tour in Canada, Seeman was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency for giving a hate-filled incendiary speech at an event in Toronto. In the speech, he reportedly talked about restarting the civil war in Sri Lanka, and allegedly said "no Sinhala can live," going on to state that the LTTE should have bombed 100 Sinhala schools for every Tamil school which was attacked.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: While campaigning for Vikravandi assembly by-election, he declared that his party proudly declared the killing of an enemy (Rajiv Gandhi) for he had sent Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Eelam that killed numerous Tamil people. This speech raised criticism from people of various political spectrum. Following this event many charges were booked against him by the police.


title: Seeman (politician)

text: The most controversial aspect of Seeman and his political party is that of ethnic purism arbitrarily based on caste lines. He claims the 'decline of Tamil people' is due to continuous rule of Tamil Nadu by 'Vandheris' (refers to outsiders or non Tamils especially Telugus based on caste and history of immigration) and only hope for Tamils is to elect "Real Tamilian" to power.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is the fourth expansion pack to "Final Fantasy XIV", a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. It was released on December 7, 2021, over two years after "", the previous expansion, with its production delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like its predecessors, Naoki Yoshida served as director and producer and Masayoshi Soken composed the soundtrack. The expansion pack was released as a standalone product for current players; for new players, the "Complete Edition" that originally launched with "" was updated to include all expansions including "Endwalker".


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: In "Endwalker," players as the Warrior of Light travel to the secluded nation of Sharlayan to seek help in handling the approaching Final Days, an apocalyptic event that threatens to destroy the entire world. Meanwhile, Zenos, the mad son of the former emperor of Garlemald, has murdered his father and now seeks a final confrontation with the Warrior of Light. Zenos is assisted by the nihilistic Ascian Fandaniel, who wants the Final Days to occur so everyone, himself included, is wiped out. The story has been marketed as the "finale" of the Hydaelyn–Zodiark arc, drawing the current ongoing story since "A Realm Reborn" to a close, with an entirely new story beginning in the major patches following release, in contrast to past expansion's stories continuing into midway thru the post-release patches. In addition to adding new areas, the expansion pack increases the level cap to 90 and debuts two new "Final Fantasy" "jobs", Sage and Reaper among other changes.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: The gameplay and quest structure of "Endwalker" largely matches that of the base game. As with many MMORPGs, players interact with each other in a persistent world that responds to their actions. Due to ongoing issues with numerical values, such as enemy health pools, growing large enough to threaten overflow errors, "Endwalker" includes a numeric down-scaling, sometimes colloquially referred to by MMO players as a "stat squish." Two new jobs were introduced as well. The first is Sage, a healer that uses magical objects inspired by Funnels from the "Gundam" franchise called Nouliths to direct aetheric energy to create barriers and amplify the character's own offense abilities. The second new job, Reaper, is a scythe-wielding armored melee fighter that calls on the aid of an avatar from the void for greater power. Many other jobs have been given changes as well, including a complete rework of the Summoner job, a major update to the Monk job, and various new abilities for other jobs.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: A player versus player (PvP) overhaul also debuted in Endwalker, with PvP abilities for all jobs being completely reworked to be more streamlined. A new "small-scale" PvP gamemode called Crystalline Conflict launched in the 6.1 update. This also comes with the cessation of the former "Feast" gamemode, with rewards from the Feast now being available to be obtained from playing Crystalline Conflict.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Estinien, a character who formally joined the player's allies in the lead-up to "Endwalker", was added as an option for the Trust system that debuted in "Shadowbringers", and a later update added the ability to use the trust system in "A Realm Reborn" and "" dungeons, with plans to include "" dungeons as well, to allow all of the Main Story Quest to be almost fully a single player experience. Further new content to come after launch includes Myths of the Realm, a 24-player raid series that explores myths and legends surrounding the twelve deities worshiped by the people of Eorzea, and Pandæmonium, an eight-player raid series focusing on a mysterious location connected to a past villain, Lahabrea. Similar to the changes in "Shadowbringers", some Main Story quests have been changed, including removing the trial "Cape Westwind" and replacing it with a single-player instance, while shortening and streamlining the dungeons of "Castrum Meridianum" and "The Praetorium"; the latter has had its last sections—a chain of boss fights against the Ultima Weapon and Lahabrea—split into a different Raid and single player instance respectively.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Patch 6.2 of "Endwalker" debuted a new system, Island Sanctuary, a farming simulation mode where players can tend a garden on a deserted island, raise livestock, and interact with pets. Island Sanctuary's philosophy is "slow life" and is intended as a relaxing solo pursuit for players without the pressure of competition. Further changes here made to Main Story quests, including remove the trial "The Steps of Faith" and replacing it with a single-player instance, and changing the boss mechanics of several early dungeons such as "The Aery". As of patch 6.1, the existing player housing grew to include a new housing area in the city-state of Ishgard, called the Empyreum. A new lottery-based method of acquiring a house was implemented, alongside assigning a larger number of wards for player guilds called Free Companies, to ameliorate player concerns about the availability issues with the current system. As of patch 6.18, the World Visit system was expanded to allow players to travel to other data centers in their region, greatly increasing the number of players one may connect with. Data centers were also added for the Oceania region, allowing better connections for players in locations such as New Zealand and Australia, rather than having to use Data Centers intended for Japan.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: "Endwalker" opens as the Warrior of Light and Scions sail to Old Sharlayan, and the Warrior converses with Hydaelyn. The Scions split, each group with the Warrior's aid. One examines Sharlayan's history and the artificial Labyrinthos habitat. Hydaelyn, possessing Krile, gifts the Warrior of Light a flower that glows near strong emotion. The Forum catches the Scions, and orders them to stop or be banished.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: The other travels to Thavnair, seeking its alchemists, who are developing an anti-tempering charm. They learn that the dragon Vrtra has ruled Thavnair for millennia, hiding behind a figurehead satrap. While testing a dragonscale ward, Nidhana is captured, and Fandaniel reveals his former identity: the Allagan technologist Amon. The Amon slain during the expedition into the Crystal Tower was one of his clones.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Protected by the warding scales, the Scions rescue Nidhana. The Scions, and a Grand Company of Eorzea detachment, march on the ruins of Garlemald. Belligerent Garlean holdouts rebuff their aid, but eventually accept. The Scions then assault the Tower of Babil and defeat Anima, a primal derived from Emperor Varis. This releases almost enough aether to free Zodiark, so Fandaniel and Zenos teleport to the moon to finish it. Hydaelyn redirects them, permitting pursuit, but the Warrior is too late: Zodiark is freed. Fandaniel betrays Zenos, merging with Zodiark to fight the Warrior. Defeated, Fandaniel kills himself and Zodiark as planned, restarting the Final Days. Seeing the Warrior is preoccupied, Zenos departs.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Some Scions join the Warrior, and a Hydaelyn servant called the Watcher explains the moon doubles as an evacuation vessel if the Final Days return. He calls the Warrior's flower an "elpis," bidding them remember this. They learn Hydaelyn created the rabbit-like loporrits to prepare the moon for evacuating "Etheirys," the star's Ancient name. However, they are woefully ignorant of modern Etheirys, derailing their preparations. They say the other Shards' residents cannot be saved, and will die when the Source is destroyed. The heroes eventually persuade the loporrits to consider other options.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Monsters resembling the first Final Days' horrors assault Thavnair, and the Scions fight back. They arise from fear and despair warping innocent people. The satrap is slain, forcing Vrtra to reveal himself. The Warrior goes to the First to consult the lingering essence of Elidibus. He names "Elpis" a "place", where new life concepts were safety tested. He recalls the Warrior being in Elpis before the sundering, and thus consumes his soul-energy to send the Warrior back in time to seek Hermes, Fandaniel's identity before he took the seat.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: There, the Warrior meets Emet-Selch, Hythlodaeus, and Venat, the previous Azem, and later reveals their future knowledge. They seek out Hermes and his empathic creation, Meteion, linked to a collective of identical Meteia sent to distant stars via dynamis, emotional energy, to ask other beings what gives life meaning. Every world the Meteia encounter is dead, dying, or destroyed soon after arrival. They conclude that life is suffering, and should end. Meteion departs to join her sisters at the universe's edge, from which their despair will unleash the Final Days. Bitter over his colleagues' casual anthropocentrism and wanting to test mankind's worthiness, Hermes enables Meteion's escape. He tries to erase everyone's memories, but the Warrior and Venat escape; Hermes, Emet-Selch, and Hythlodaeus forget all these events.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Returning to Sharlayan, Alphinaud secures the cooperation of the Forum. Moved by their success, Fourchenault reconciles with his children. He leads the Scions to the Aitiascope, where they can physically enter the aetherial sea. Finally, they reach Hydaelyn. She greets them, revealing Her ages-long plan to stop the Final Days, but the Scions must prove they can defeat Her. She is slain, even Her soul expended, but She gifts the Warrior some of Her power and a crystal pointing to the Meteia's nest. Further, She reveals that the Mothercrystal is not Her, but a separate, vast repository of aether. It powers the newly christened vessel "Ragnarok".


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: They reach the edge of the universe: Ultima Thule. Meteion intercepts the "Ragnarok", nearly killing all aboard, before Thancred sacrifices himself, making Ultima Thule survivable. Other Scions make similar sacrifices over time, leaving only the Warrior. They use Azem's crystal, empowered by Hydaelyn's Light, to revive Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, who Create a field of elpis, radiating hope. This anchors Ultima Thule, allows the Scions to be resurrected, and restores Meteion's original personality. She begs them to stop her sisters. Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus then willingly die; Emet-Selch assures the Warrior that many further adventures await.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: The Scions pursue Meteion through memories of dead stars. The Meteia merge into the Endsinger, overpowering them. The Warrior teleports their comrades to safety and, with Zenos' unexpected aid, defeats the Endsinger. Meteion views the Warrior's memories, realizing Hermes' question has no single answer, and departs peacefully. Zenos and the Warrior battle one final time. They barely defeat Zenos, who breathes his last, and nearly die themselves, but are miraculously saved by the teleporter. The Scions narrowly revive them on the way home. Having averted the Final Days and brought peace to Eorzea, the Scions formally disband, but secretly remain connected.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Inspired by Emet-Selch, the Warrior helps Estinien hunt for a legendary undersea vault near Thavnair, joined by Y'shtola, G'raha, and Urianger. They find the treasure, but learn it belongs to Vrtra, as an emergency fund. At Estinien's suggestion, he calls for a reconstruction fund and an orphanage. The vault also houses a tiny fissure leading to the Void, also known as the Thirteenth. Vrtra once sought to expand it, to search for his beloved sister, Azdaja. She had flown through a massive Allagan voidgate to stop their voidsent armies from invading Meracydia. Y'shtola investigates, seeking a means to travel to other shards. Vrtra had long since given up searching, but the Scions rekindle his hopes. The party learns of an way to expand the voidgate via alchemy, and the alchemists set to work. Meanwhile, an armored figure discusses plans of invading the Source, while Zenos' former Reaper avatar declares the Void a world "bereft of saviors."


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: The alchemists complete their work, as well as a new adult-size body for Vrtra. Protected by reinforced warding scales, the party crosses to a castle in the Void. They best its guardians, including Scarmiglione, archfiend of earth. They meet Zenos' former avatar, revealed by the light of Hydaelyn's final crystal to be a half-voidsent woman. She tells them her story, though only once promised payment in aether: she was exposed to the darkness while still in her mother's womb, during a war called the Contramemoria. Y'shtola gives her a name, "Zero," meaning a beginning rather than nothing. They are surprised by a revived Scarmiglione, who reveals that death is impossible on the Thirteenth. Y'shtola realizes overabundant Darkness prevents souls from travelling to the aetherial sea. After requesting her services in payment for naming her, the Scions permanently slay Scarmiglione using Zero's crystallizing power, called "memoria".


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: The Echo reveals Azdaja was caught by Golbez, the armored figure, and that she may yet live. Meanwhile, Golbez learns that a "memoriate" may still live, and dispatches Barbariccia to deal with any issues. The Warrior defeats Barbariccia, and Zero crystallizes her, but collapses from over-exerting herself. The group is forced to fall back to the Source with Zero in tow so she can recuperate. The two remaining archfiends plot a way to draw out and destroy Zero, as she presents a dire threat to them.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Zero recovers on the Source, and offers a legend about the Thirteenth as payment. Long ago, their world was at peace, until the Ascians came, teaching the summoning of primals, called "Eidolons." Memoriates, like Zero and her mother, defeated them and temporarily restored peace. Unfortunately, Darkness leaked from the memoria crystals and corrupted them. They turned on each other: the Contramemoria war. Eventually, the chaos triggered a Flood of Darkness, erasing most of the world and corrupting all life into Voidsent. The Scions surprise Zero by pledging to restore her world. Meanwhile, Golbez muses on his plans, with a flashback showing someone in an Ancient's robes.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Planning for expansions like "Endwalker" begins shortly prior to the release of the preceding expansion with a "scriptwriting retreat" involving producer and director Naoki Yoshida and the main scenario writers, Natsuko Ishikawa and Banri Oda. The story was largely finalized by October 2019. The process for developing an expansion involves laying out the progression from main game to expansion in detail and categorizing these elements so that developers would not get confused between patch content and expansion content which were being created simultaneously. Expansions for "Final Fantasy XIV" are designed to compete with offline RPGs in length and content. In terms of content, roughly 70% of development time is devoted to standard features common to every expansion, such as new dungeons and classes, and 30% is devoted to creating unique features and modes of gameplay. Development for the PlayStation 5 version of the game was part of the latter 30%. This version takes advantage of the console's larger internal memory to improve load times and includes higher quality graphics, DualSense controller rumble support, and improved audio. With the completion of the PlayStation 5 version, an Xbox version is now in active development.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Development of "Endwalker" was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Square Enix moved to remote work in April 2020 due to the state of emergency declared in Tokyo. One major obstacle was the inability to connect to internal servers remotely for bug testing. The quality assurance team reconfigured the office to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Development was back at 90% efficiency by June 2020. "Endwalker" was originally planned for a Q3 2021 release but it was ultimately delayed to Q4 2021.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Expansions for "Final Fantasy XIV" are traditionally announced at Fan Festival, a biennial convention that takes place in Japan, North America, and Europe. However, these events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In their place, Square Enix announced the expansion at an online showcase in February 2021 and released additional information at a digital "Fan Festival Around the World" in May 2021. The latter encompassed livestreams of concerts and panel interviews with developers as well as in-game events. Yoshida chose the timing of the digital Fan Festival to fall in between the two story-based updates in Patch 5.5 of "Shadowbringers" to encourage speculation about the plot of "Endwalker".


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Yoshida describes the story for "Endwalker" as the conclusion to the "Hydaelyn–Zodiark arc" that began with "A Realm Reborn" in 2013. The decision to conclude the long-running arc came about after the success of 2017's "" expansion secured greater funding for the title as a whole. Unlike previous expansions where the main story continues in content added in patches, the primary conflict of "Endwalker" will resolve within the expansion itself and the patch content will debut a new story arc. The development team has a preliminary road map for at least five years of content beyond "Endwalker".


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: "Shadowbringers" introduced Viera and Hrothgar as playable races to the game. However, due to time and resource constraints, only one gender of each was made available at the time. "Endwalker" will debut with male Viera, while female Hrothgar will become available at a later date. The development team was able to implement these additions using 30% time to address the tremendous desire for them. The team has also included more hairstyle options for both Viera and Hrothgar, as well as more to come in the future.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Masayoshi Soken composed the majority of the expansion's score in addition to his duties as sound director. Due to his health issues, Nobuo Uematsu was asked to prioritize his other projects and did not contribute to the soundtrack. At Fan Festival 2021, Soken revealed that he had been in treatment for cancer since March 2020 and had hidden his diagnosis from most of the development team. With Yoshida's support, he arranged for materials to be brought to his hospital so he could compose while in treatment. He credited his recovery to composing as if "nothing had changed", which gave him something to live for. As of May 2021, he is almost in full remission and his doctor cleared him to perform at Fan Festival. The main theme of the game, "Footfalls", incorporates elements from grunge and shoegaze. It also quotes musical phrases and lyrics from each of the previous expansions' main themes to highlight "Endwalker" status as the conclusion of a long-running story arc. Sam Carter of Architects provided the main vocals with Amanda Achen, who had performed on "Shadowbringers", on background vocals.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: In December 2021, musician Sia covered "Fly Me to the Moon" as a tie-in promotion because of the game's focus on the moon. This cover features elements of "Prelude", a theme included in many entries of the "Final Fantasy" series.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: "Endwalker" received "universal acclaim" for the PC and PlayStation 5 version according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

text: Chris Carter of "Destructoid" praised the title for being a "joy to progress through from start to finish", lauding the lack of boring fetch quests and the quality of life improvements. "GameSpot" noted the game's excellent dungeon and trial designs and its earnest storytelling while criticizing the plot's pacing issues for feeling too rushed and bloated at the same time. "GamesRadar+" called the expansion a "landmark achievement in narrative development" and cited it as cementing "Final Fantasy XIV" as "one of the best Final Fantasy games ever made." Leif Johnson of "IGN" praised the title's ability to deliver enriching content despite its aging resources, writing, "Packed with hours of meaningful cutscenes and unforgettable new zones, Endwalker marks a satisfying conclusion to Final Fantasy XIV's story as it has existed to date." "PC Gamer" called the two new added jobs "terrific fun" and the narrative both "ambitious" and "messy", saying that the expansion "represent[ed] FF14's development team at their peak."


title: Eric Stewart

text: Eric Michael Stewart (born 20 January 1945) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of 10cc from 1972 to 1995. Stewart co-owned Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England, from 1968 to the early 1980s, where he recorded albums with 10cc and artists, including Neil Sedaka and Paul McCartney. Stewart collaborated with McCartney extensively in the 1980s, playing on or co-writing songs for McCartney's solo albums "Tug of War" (1982), "Pipes of Peace" (1983), "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984), and "Press to Play" (1986). Since 1980, Stewart has released four solo studio albums.


title: Eric Stewart

text: Stewart was invited to join local band Jerry Lee and the Staggerlees, which after a year changed its name to the Emperors of Rhythm. Stewart remained with the band for two years and was at the Oasis club in Manchester in early 1963 on the evening that Wayne Fontana had an audition with a record company representative. Wayne Fontana's drummer and guitarist did not turn up for the audition, and Wayne asked Eric and drummer Ric Rothwell if they would 'sit in' for the audition. After a few minutes' rehearsal, the quartet played three well known songs of the time. Wayne Fontana was offered a record deal on condition that the musicians who played at the audition formed the band.


title: Eric Stewart

text: Wayne Fontana's band was called The Jets, but due to an existing band using the name, an alternative name had to be sought – it was decided that the band would take the name "The Mindbenders", which was the name of a film on release at the time – Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders then came into being. The band initially played rhythm and blues relying on outside material, however Stewart and Fontana co-wrote several songs during that period: "Since You've Been Gone" (with bassist Bob Lang), the B-side of the band's sixth single "The Game of Love" (April 1965), which hit No.2 in the UK and No.1 in the US, "One More Time" and "Long Time Comin'", the latter B-side of "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late" (June 1965).


title: Eric Stewart

text: The band toured the US with Herman's Hermits in July and August 1965, producing wild scenes Stewart compared with Beatlemania. "The hotels we stayed in were under constant guard by security people and there were always girls waiting outside in the hundreds," he recalled. "They were always yanking off my glasses and pulling out tufts of hair, which was very, very painful." The Mindbenders split with Fontana in late 1965 and continued with a successful UK and US No. 2 hit "A Groovy Kind of Love" in early 1966 with Stewart on vocals. They reached the top 20 later that year with "Ashes To Ashes". Stewart was also devoting more time to songwriting having written several b-sides ("Love Is Good", "My New Day and Age", "Yellow Brick Road", "The Man Who Loved Trees") and album tracks ("You Don't Know About Love", "The Morning After", "Rockin' Jaybee", the latter written with band members Bob Lang and Ric Rothwell). Stewart became disenchanted with the Mindbenders towards the end of its existence, realising the material they were playing was drifting further from the music for which they had gained chart success.