title: James Chadwick

text: During the Second World War, Chadwick carried out research as part of the Tube Alloys project to build an atom bomb, while his Manchester lab and environs were harassed by Luftwaffe bombing. When the Quebec Agreement merged his project with the American Manhattan Project, he became part of the British Mission, and worked at the Los Alamos Laboratory and in Washington, D.C. He surprised everyone by earning the almost-complete trust of project director Leslie R. Groves, Jr. For his efforts, Chadwick received a knighthood in the New Year Honours on 1 January 1945. In July 1945, he viewed the Trinity nuclear test. After this, he served as the British scientific advisor to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. Uncomfortable with the trend toward Big Science, he became the Master of Gonville and Caius College in 1948. He retired in 1959.


title: James Chadwick

text: James Chadwick was born in Bollington, Cheshire, on 20 October 1891, the first child of John Joseph Chadwick, a cotton spinner, and Anne Mary Knowles, a domestic servant. He was named James after his paternal grandfather. In 1895, his parents moved to Manchester, leaving him in the care of his maternal grandparents. He went to Bollington Cross Primary School, and was offered a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School, which his family had to turn down as they could not afford the small fees that still had to be paid. Instead he attended the Central Grammar School for Boys in Manchester, rejoining his parents there. He now had two younger brothers, Harry and Hubert; a sister had died in infancy. At the age of 16, he sat two examinations for university scholarships, and won both of them.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick chose to attend Victoria University of Manchester, which he entered in 1908. He meant to study mathematics, but enrolled in physics by mistake. Like most students, he lived at home, walking the to the university and back each day. At the end of his first year, he was awarded a Heginbottom Scholarship to study physics. The physics department was headed by Ernest Rutherford, who assigned research projects to final-year students, and he instructed Chadwick to devise a means of comparing the amount of radioactive energy of two different sources. The idea was that they could be measured in terms of the activity of of radium, a unit of measurement which would become known as the curie. Rutherford's suggested approach was unworkable—something Chadwick knew but was afraid to tell Rutherford—so Chadwick pressed on, and eventually devised the required method. The results became Chadwick's first paper, which, co-authored with Rutherford, was published in 1912. He graduated with first class honours in 1911.


title: James Chadwick

text: Having devised a means of measuring gamma radiation, Chadwick proceeded to measure the absorption of gamma rays by various gases and liquids. This time the resulting paper was published under his name alone. He was awarded his Master of Science (MSc) degree in 1912, and was appointed a Beyer Fellow. The following year he was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, which allowed him to study and research at a university in continental Europe. He elected to go to the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin in 1913, to study beta radiation under Hans Geiger. Using Geiger's recently developed Geiger counter, which provided more accuracy than the earlier photographic techniques, he was able to demonstrate that beta radiation did not produce discrete lines, as has been previously thought, but rather a continuous spectrum with peaks in certain regions. On a visit to Geiger's laboratory, Albert Einstein told Chadwick that: "I can explain either of these things, but I can't explain them both at the same time." The continuous spectrum would remain an unexplained phenomenon for many years.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick was still in Germany at the start of the First World War, and was interned in the Ruhleben internment camp near Berlin, where he was allowed to set up a laboratory in the stables and conduct scientific experiments using improvised materials such as radioactive toothpaste. With the help of Charles Drummond Ellis, he worked on the ionisation of phosphorus, and the photochemical reaction of carbon monoxide and chlorine. He was released after the Armistice with Germany came into effect in November 1918, and returned to his parents' home in Manchester, where he wrote up his findings over the previous four years for the 1851 Exhibition commissioners.


title: James Chadwick

text: Rutherford gave Chadwick a part-time teaching position at Manchester, allowing him to continue research. He looked at the nuclear charge of platinum, silver, and copper, and experimentally found that this was the same as the atomic number within an error of less than 1.5 per cent. In April 1919, Rutherford became director of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, and Chadwick joined him there a few months later. Chadwick was awarded a Clerk-Maxwell studentship in 1920, and enrolled as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. The first half of his thesis was his work with atomic numbers. In the second, he looked at the forces inside the nucleus. His degree was awarded in June 1921. In November, he became a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick's Clerk-Maxwell studentship expired in 1923, and he was succeeded by the Russian physicist Pyotr Kapitza. The Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Sir William McCormick arranged for Chadwick to become Rutherford's assistant director of research. In this role, Chadwick helped Rutherford select PhD students. Over the next few years these would include John Cockcroft, Norman Feather and Mark Oliphant, who would become firm friends with Chadwick. As many students had no idea what they wanted to research, Rutherford and Chadwick would suggest topics. Chadwick edited all the papers produced by the laboratory.


title: James Chadwick

text: In 1925, Chadwick met Aileen Stewart-Brown, the daughter of a Liverpool stockbroker. The two were married in August 1925, with Kapitza as Best Man. The couple had twin daughters, Joanna and Judith, who were born in February 1927.


title: James Chadwick

text: In his research, Chadwick continued to probe the nucleus. In 1925, the concept of spin had allowed physicists to explain the Zeeman effect, but it also created unexplained anomalies. At the time it was believed that the nucleus consisted of protons and electrons, so nitrogen's nucleus, for example, with a mass number of 14, was assumed to contain 14 protons and 7 electrons. This gave it the right mass and charge, but the wrong spin.


title: James Chadwick

text: At a conference at Cambridge on beta particles and gamma rays in 1928, Chadwick met Geiger again. Geiger had brought with him a new model of his Geiger counter, which had been improved by his post-doctoral student Walther Müller. Chadwick had not used one since the war, and the new Geiger–Müller counter was potentially a major improvement over the scintillation techniques then in use at Cambridge, which relied on the human eye for observation. The major drawback with it was that it detected alpha, beta and gamma radiation, and radium, which the Cavendish laboratory normally used in its experiments, emitted all three, and was therefore unsuitable for what Chadwick had in mind. However, polonium is an alpha emitter, and Lise Meitner sent Chadwick about 2 millicuries (about ) from Germany.


title: James Chadwick

text: In Germany, Walther Bothe and his student Herbert Becker had used polonium to bombard beryllium with alpha particles, producing an unusual form of radiation. Chadwick had his Australian 1851 Exhibition scholar, Hugh Webster, duplicate their results. To Chadwick, this was evidence of something that he and Rutherford had been hypothesising for years: the neutron, a theoretical nuclear particle with no electric charge. Then in January 1932, Feather drew Chadwick's attention to another surprising result. Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie had succeeded in knocking protons from paraffin wax using polonium and beryllium as a source for what they thought was gamma radiation. Rutherford and Chadwick disagreed; protons were too heavy for that. But neutrons would need only a small amount of energy to achieve the same effect. In Rome, Ettore Majorana came to the same conclusion: the Joliot-Curies had discovered the neutron but did not know it.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick dropped all his other responsibilities to concentrate on proving the existence of the neutron, assisted by Feather and frequently working late at night. He devised a simple apparatus that consisted of a cylinder containing a polonium source and beryllium target. The resulting radiation could then be directed at a material such as paraffin wax; the displaced particles, which were protons, would go into a small ionisation chamber where they could be detected with an oscilloscope.


title: James Chadwick

text: In February 1932, after only about two weeks of experimentation with neutrons, Chadwick sent a letter to "Nature" titled "Possible Existence of a Neutron". He communicated his findings in detail in an article sent to "Proceedings of the Royal Society A" titled "The Existence of a Neutron" in May. His discovery of the neutron was a milestone in understanding the nucleus. Reading Chadwick's paper, Robert Bacher and Edward Condon realised that anomalies in the then-current theory, like the spin of nitrogen, would be resolved if the neutron has a spin of 1/2 and that a nitrogen nucleus consisted of seven protons and seven neutrons.


title: James Chadwick

text: The theoretical physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg considered whether the neutron could be a fundamental nuclear particle like the proton and electron, rather than a proton–electron pair. Heisenberg showed that the neutron was best described as a new nuclear particle, but its exact nature remained unclear. In his 1933 Bakerian Lecture, Chadwick estimated that a neutron had a mass of about . Since a proton and an electron had a combined mass of , this implied the neutron as a proton–electron composite had a binding energy of about , which sounded reasonable, although it was hard to understand how a particle with so little binding energy could be stable. Estimating such a small mass difference required challenging precise measurements, however, and several conflicting results were obtained in 1933–4. By bombarding boron with alpha particles, Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie obtained a large value for the mass of a neutron, but Ernest Lawrence's team at the University of California produced a small one. Then Maurice Goldhaber, a refugee from Nazi Germany and a graduate student at the Cavendish Laboratory, suggested to Chadwick that deuterons could be photodisintegrated by the 2.6 MeV gamma rays of Tl (then known as thorium C"):


title: James Chadwick

text: An accurate value for the mass of the neutron could be determined from this process. Chadwick and Goldhaber tried this and found that it worked. They measured the kinetic energy of the proton produced as 1.05 MeV, leaving the mass of the neutron as the unknown in the equation. Chadwick and Goldhaber calculated that it was either 1.0084 or 1.0090 atomic units, depending on the values used for the masses of the proton and deuteron. (The modern accepted value for the mass of the neutron is .) The mass of the neutron was too large to be a proton–electron pair.


title: James Chadwick

text: For his discovery of the neutron, Chadwick was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 1932, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935, the Copley Medal in 1950 and the Franklin Medal in 1951. His discovery of the neutron made it possible to produce elements heavier than uranium in the laboratory by the capture of slow neutrons followed by beta decay. Unlike the positively charged alpha particles, which are repelled by the electrical forces present in the nuclei of other atoms, neutrons do not need to overcome any Coulomb barrier, and can therefore penetrate and enter the nuclei of even the heaviest elements such as uranium. This inspired Enrico Fermi to investigate the nuclear reactions brought about by collisions of nuclei with slow neutrons, work for which Fermi would receive the Nobel Prize in 1938.


title: James Chadwick

text: Wolfgang Pauli proposed another kind of particle on 4 December 1930 in order to explain the continuous spectrum of beta radiation that Chadwick had reported in 1914. Since not all of the energy of beta radiation could be accounted for, the law of conservation of energy appeared to be violated, but Pauli argued that this could be redressed if another, undiscovered, particle was involved. Pauli also called this particle a neutron, but it was clearly not the same particle as Chadwick's neutron. Fermi renamed it the neutrino, Italian for "little neutron". In 1934, Fermi proposed his theory of beta decay which explained that the electrons emitted from the nucleus were created by the decay of a neutron into a proton, an electron, and a neutrino. The neutrino could account for the missing energy, but a particle with little mass and no electric charge was difficult to observe. Rudolf Peierls and Hans Bethe calculated that neutrinos could easily pass through the Earth, so the chances of detecting them were slim. Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan would confirm the neutrino on 14 June 1956 by placing a detector within a large antineutrino flux from a nearby nuclear reactor.


title: James Chadwick

text: With the onset of the Great Depression in the United Kingdom, the government became more parsimonious with funding for science. At the same time, Lawrence's recent invention, the cyclotron, promised to revolutionise experimental nuclear physics, and Chadwick felt that the Cavendish laboratory would fall behind unless it also acquired one. He therefore chafed under Rutherford, who clung to the belief that good nuclear physics could still be done without large, expensive equipment, and turned down the request for a cyclotron.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick was himself a critic of Big Science in general, and Lawrence in particular, whose approach he considered careless and focused on technology at the expense of science. When Lawrence postulated the existence of a new and hitherto unknown particle that he claimed was a possible source of limitless energy at the Solvay Conference in 1933, Chadwick responded that the results were more likely attributable to contamination of the equipment. While Lawrence rechecked his results at Berkeley only to find that Chadwick was correct, Rutherford and Oliphant conducted an investigation at the Cavendish that found that deuterium fuses to form helium-3, thereby causing the effect that Lawrence had observed. This was another major discovery, but the Oliphant-Rutherford particle accelerator was an expensive state-of-the-art piece of equipment.


title: James Chadwick

text: In March 1935, Chadwick received an offer of the Lyon Jones Chair of physics at the University of Liverpool, in his wife's home town, to succeed Lionel Wilberforce. The laboratory was so antiquated that it still ran on direct current electricity, but Chadwick seized the opportunity, assuming the chair on 1 October 1935. The university's prestige was soon bolstered by Chadwick's Nobel Prize, which was announced in November 1935. His medal was sold at auction in 2014 for $329,000.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick set about acquiring a cyclotron for Liverpool. He started by spending £700 to refurbish the antiquated laboratories at Liverpool, so some components could be made in-house. He was able to persuade the university to provide £2,000 and obtained a grant for another £2,000 from the Royal Society. To build his cyclotron, Chadwick brought in two young experts, Bernard Kinsey and Harold Walke, who had worked with Lawrence at the University of California. A local cable manufacturer donated the copper conductor for the coils. The cyclotron's 50-ton magnet was manufactured in Trafford Park by Metropolitan-Vickers, which also made the vacuum chamber. The cyclotron was completely installed and running in July 1939. The total cost of £5,184 was more than Chadwick had received from the University and the Royal Society, so Chadwick paid the rest from his (£8,243) Nobel Prize money.


title: James Chadwick

text: At Liverpool the Medicine and Science faculties worked together closely. Chadwick was automatically a committee member of both faculties, and in 1938 he was appointed to a commission headed by Lord Derby to investigate the arrangements for cancer treatment in Liverpool. Chadwick anticipated that neutrons and radioactive isotopes produced with the 37-inch cyclotron could be used to study biochemical processes, and might become a weapon in the fight against cancer.


title: James Chadwick

text: In Germany, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann bombarded uranium with neutrons, and noted that barium, a lighter element, was among the products produced. Hitherto, only the same or heavier elements had been produced by the process. In January 1939, Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch astounded the physics community with a paper that explained this result. They theorised that uranium atoms bombarded with neutrons can break into two roughly equal fragments, a process they called fission. They calculated that this would result in the release of about 200 MeV, implying an energy release orders of magnitude greater than chemical reactions, and Frisch confirmed their theory experimentally. It was soon noted by Hahn that if neutrons were released during fission, then a chain reaction was possible. French scientists, Pierre Joliot, Hans von Halban and Lew Kowarski, soon verified that more than one neutron was indeed emitted per fission. In a paper co-authored with the American physicist John Wheeler, Bohr theorised that fission was more likely to occur in the uranium-235 isotope, which made up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick did not believe that there was any likelihood of another war with Germany in 1939, and took his family for a holiday on a remote lake in northern Sweden. The news of the outbreak of the Second World War therefore came as a shock. Determined not to spend another war in an internment camp, Chadwick made his way to Stockholm as fast as he could, but when he arrived there with his family, he found that all air traffic between Stockholm and London had been suspended. They made their way back to England on a tramp steamer. When he reached Liverpool, Chadwick found Joseph Rotblat, a Polish post-doctoral fellow who had come to work with the cyclotron, was now destitute, as he was cut off from funds from Poland. Chadwick promptly hired Rotblat as a lecturer, despite his poor grasp of English.


title: James Chadwick

text: In October 1939, Chadwick received a letter from Sir Edward Appleton, the Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, asking for his opinion on the feasibility of an atom bomb. Chadwick responded cautiously. He did not dismiss the possibility, but carefully went over the many theoretical and practical difficulties involved. Chadwick decided to investigate the properties of uranium oxide further with Rotblat. In March 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls at the University of Birmingham re-examined the theoretical issues involved in a paper that became known as the Frisch–Peierls memorandum. Instead of looking at unenriched uranium oxide, they considered what would happen to a sphere of pure uranium-235, and found that not only could a chain reaction occur, but that it might require as little as of uranium-235, and unleash the energy of tons of dynamite.


title: James Chadwick

text: A special subcommittee of the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare (CSSAW), known as the MAUD Committee, was created to investigate the matter further. It was chaired by Sir George Thomson and its original membership included Chadwick, along with Mark Oliphant, John Cockcroft and Philip Moon. While other teams investigated uranium enrichment techniques, Chadwick's team at Liverpool concentrated on determining the nuclear cross section of uranium-235. By April 1941, it had been experimentally confirmed that the critical mass of uranium-235 might be or less. His research into such matters was complicated by all-but-incessant Luftwaffe bombings of the environs of his Liverpool lab; the windows were blown out so often that they were replaced by cardboard.


title: James Chadwick

text: In July 1941, Chadwick was chosen to write the final draft of the MAUD Report, which, when presented by Vannevar Bush to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in October 1941, inspired the U.S. government to pour millions of dollars into the pursuit of an atom bomb. When George B. Pegram and Harold Urey visited Britain to see how the project, now known as Tube Alloys, was going, Chadwick was able to tell them: "I wish I could tell you that the bomb is not going to work, but I am 90 per cent sure that it will."


title: James Chadwick

text: In a recent book about the Bomb project, Graham Farmelo wrote that "Chadwick did more than any other scientist to give Churchill the Bomb. ... Chadwick was tested almost to the breaking point." So worried that he could not sleep, Chadwick resorted to sleeping pills, which he continued to take for most of his remaining years. Chadwick later said that he realised that "a nuclear bomb was not only possible—it was inevitable. Sooner or later these ideas could not be peculiar to us. Everybody would think about them before long, and some country would put them into action". Sir Hermann Bondi suggested that it was fortunate that Chadwick, not Rutherford, was the doyen of UK physics at the time, as the latter's prestige might otherwise have overpowered Chadwick's interest in "looking forward" to the Bomb's prospects.


title: James Chadwick

text: Owing to the danger from aerial bombardment, the Chadwicks sent their twins to Canada as part of a government evacuation scheme. Chadwick was reluctant to move Tube Alloys there, believing that the United Kingdom was a better location for the isotope separation plant. The enormous scope of the effort became more apparent in 1942: even a pilot separation plant would cost over £1 million and strain Britain's resources, to say nothing of a full-scale plant, which was estimated to cost somewhere in the vicinity of £25 million. It would have to be built in America. At the same time that the British became convinced that a joint project was necessary, the progress of the American Manhattan Project was such that British cooperation seemed less essential, although the Americans were still eager to utilise Chadwick's talents.


title: James Chadwick

text: The matter of cooperation had to be taken up at the highest level. In September 1943, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and President Roosevelt negotiated the Quebec Agreement, which reinstated cooperation between Britain, the United States and Canada. Chadwick, Oliphant, Peierls and Simon were summoned to the United States by the director of Tube Alloys, Sir Wallace Akers, to work with the Manhattan Project. The Quebec Agreement established a new Combined Policy Committee to direct the joint project. The Americans disliked Akers, so Chadwick was appointed technical advisor to the Combined Policy Committee, and the head of the British Mission.


title: James Chadwick

text: Leaving Rotblat in charge in Liverpool, Chadwick began a tour of the Manhattan Project facilities in November 1943, except for the Hanford Site where plutonium was produced, which he was not allowed to see. He became the only man apart from Groves and his second in command to have access to all the American research and production facilities for the uranium bomb. Observing the work on the K-25 gaseous diffusion facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Chadwick realised how wrong he had been about building the plant in wartime Britain. The enormous structure could never have been concealed from the Luftwaffe. In early 1944, he moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, with his wife and their twins, who now spoke with Canadian accents. For security reasons, he was given the cover name of James Chaffee.


title: James Chadwick

text: Chadwick accepted that the Americans did not need British help, but that it could still be useful in bringing the project to an early and successful conclusion. Working closely with the director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., he attempted to do everything he could to support the effort. He also endeavoured to place British scientists in as many parts of the project as possible in order to facilitate a post-war British nuclear weapons project to which Chadwick was committed. Requests from Groves via Chadwick for particular scientists tended to be met with an immediate rejection by the company, ministry or university currently employing them, only to be overcome by the overriding priority accorded to Tube Alloys. As a result, the British team was critical to the Project's success.


title: James Chadwick

text: Although he had more knowledge of the project than anyone else from Britain, Chadwick had no access to the Hanford site. Lord Portal was offered a tour of Hanford in 1946. "This was the only plant to which Chadwick had been denied access in wartime, and now he asked Groves if he could accompany Portal. Groves replied that he could, but if he did then 'Portal will not see very much'." For his efforts, Chadwick received a knighthood in the New Year Honours on 1 January 1945. He considered this to be a recognition of the work of the whole Tube Alloys project.


title: James Chadwick

text: By early 1945, Chadwick was spending most of his time in Washington, D.C., and his family relocated from Los Alamos to a house on Washington's Dupont Circle in April 1945. He was present at the meeting of the Combined Policy Committee on 4 July when Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson gave Britain's agreement to use the atom bomb against Japan, and at the Trinity nuclear test on 16 July, when the first atom bomb was detonated. Inside its pit was a polonium-beryllium modulated neutron initiator, a development of the technique that Chadwick had used to discover the neutron over a decade before. William L. Laurence, "The New York Times" reporter attached to the Manhattan Project, wrote that "never before in history had any man lived to see his own discovery materialize itself with such telling effect on the destiny of man."


title: James Chadwick

text: Shortly after the war ended, Chadwick was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Atomic Energy (ACAE). He was also appointed as the British scientific advisor to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. He clashed with fellow ACAE member Patrick Blackett, who disagreed with Chadwick's conviction that Britain needed to acquire its own nuclear weapons; but it was Chadwick's position that was ultimately adopted. He returned to Britain in 1946, to find a country still beset by wartime rationing and shortages.


title: James Chadwick

text: At this time, Sir James Mountford, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, wrote in his diary "he had never seen a man 'so physically, mentally and spiritually tired" as Chadwick, for he "had plumbed such depths of moral decision as more fortunate men are never called upon even to peer into ... [and suffered] ... almost insupportable agonies of responsibility arising from his scientific work'."


title: James Chadwick

text: In 1948, Chadwick accepted an offer to become the Master of Gonville and Caius College. The job was prestigious but ill-defined; the Master was the titular head of the College, but authority actually resided in a council of 13 fellows, of whom one was the Master. As Master, Chadwick strove to improve the academic reputation of the college. He increased the number of research fellowships from 31 to 49, and sought to bring talent into the college. This involved controversial decisions, such as hiring in 1951 the Chinese biochemist Tien-chin Tsao and the Hungarian-born economist Peter Bauer. In what became known as the Peasants' Revolt, fellows led by Patrick Hadley voted an old friend of Chadwick's off the council and replaced him with Bauer. More friends of Chadwick's were removed over the following years, and he retired in November 1958. It was during his mastership that Francis Crick, a PhD student at Gonville and Caius College, and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA.


title: James Chadwick

text: Over the years, Chadwick received many honours, including the Medal for Merit from the United States, and the "Pour le Mérite" from Germany. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1927, and in 1946 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was made a Companion of Honour in the New Year Honours on 1 January 1970 for "services to science", and went to Buckingham Palace for the investiture ceremony. He became more frail, and seldom left his flat, although he travelled to Liverpool for celebrations of his eightieth birthday. A lifelong atheist, he saw no reason to adopt religious faith in later life. He died in his sleep on 24 July 1974.


title: James Chadwick

text: His papers are held at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, and are accessible to the public. The Chadwick Laboratory at the University of Liverpool is named after him, as is its Sir James Chadwick Chair of Experimental Physics, which was named after him in 1991 as part of celebrations of the centenary of his birth. A crater on the moon is also named after him. The James Chadwick Building, which houses part of the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences, University of Manchester is named in his honour. He was described by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority official historian Lorna Arnold as "a physicist, a scientist-diplomat, and a good, wise, and humane man."


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Yoann Miguel Gourcuff (born 11 July 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder. He could also be utilized as a withdrawn striker, and was described as a "playmaker of real quality" who "is an accomplished passer of the ball". Gourcuff was described by former France international player David Ginola as the best French player of his generation. His talent, elegant playing style, tenacity on the pitch, technical skills and precocious ability have drawn comparisons to French legend Zinedine Zidane.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Yoann Gourcuff is the son of Christian Gourcuff. In 2001, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined Rennes. After progressing through the youth ranks and making the senior team, Gourcuff quickly became a fan favorite among supporters and his individual achievements soon led to interest from clubs abroad, which resulted in a move to Italian club AC Milan. he achieved many club honours despite not being able to break into the starting eleven, which resulted in the player being sent on loan to Ligue 1 club Bordeaux in his home country of France. Following a successful season, in which Bordeaux captured the league and league cup double and Gourcuff attained several individuals honours, he signed with the club permanently. Gourcuff is a former winner of the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and, in December 2009, was named the French Player of the Year for the 2009 calendar year. In August 2010, he joined Olympique Lyonnais on a five-year contract. In September 2015, he returned to his former club Rennes, where would he play for three seasons before signing for Dijon, the final club of his career. Having terminated his contract in January 2019, Gourcuff's retirement was confirmed by his father in October 2020.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff is a French international. Prior to playing at senior level, he played on the under-19 team that won the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Gourcuff made his senior national team debut in August 2008. He scored his first international goal two months later against Romania. Gourcuff made his first major tournament appearance for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. After joining the national team, he was inserted into the playmaker role, a position that was vacated and never filled following the retirement of Zidane in 2006.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff was born in Ploemeur, Brittany to parents Dr. Marine Thalouarn and Christian Gourcuff, both of whom are Bretons. He comes from a very athletic family: his mother was a basketball player, his older brother, Erwan, is a competitive swimmer and cyclist, while his father was a former footballer who played for several clubs in such countries as France, Switzerland, and Canada. However, his father was best known for his time at Rennes, Lorient, and Le Mans. Gourcuff's father later moved into managerial roles, having stints at Rennes, Le Mans, Lorient (three times), and Qatari club Al-Gharafa. As a youth, the younger Gourcuff excelled at both football and tennis, becoming the top player of his age group (12), but eventually opted to focus on football. While beginning his career as a football player, Gourcuff admired and drew inspiration from the playing style of the Brazil national team from the 1970s, whom he discovered from watching tapes with his father. He often attempted to emulate the skills of Brazilian legend Pelé.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff began his career with Lorient, who were, at the time, managed by his father Christian in 1992. During his time at Lorient, he also trained at PEF Ploufragan, a regional academy located in the Brittany region that trained players similarly to the Clairefontaine academy in the Île-de-France. Further to his father's departure to Stade Rennais, Gourcuff, who initially considered rivals Nantes, followed suit and signed an "aspirant" (youth) contract with the club in 2001. He spent two years in the club's youth academy and, while competing domestically in the system, Gourcuff played on the club's under-19 team that won the 2003 edition of the Coupe Gambardella. Rennes defeated Strasbourg 4–1 in the final match at the Stade de France. Gourcuff scored the club's opening goal. Included on that team with Gourcuff were future club and international teammates Jimmy Briand and Sylvain Marveaux.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Ahead of the 2003–04 season. Gourcuff was promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football, Gourcuff appeared in 15 matches and scored two goals with the team before signing his first professional contract in November 2003, which resulted in his promotion to the senior team by manager Laszlo Bölöni. Gourcuff made his professional debut on 25 January 2004 in a 2–0 victory to Croix-de-Savoie in the Coupe de France appearing as a substitute. On 7 February, he made his league debut in a 2–0 defeat to Auxerre appearing as a substitute. Following the match, he was relegated back to the reserve team. Gourcuff returned to the senior team in late March making two more substitute appearances against Strasbourg and Lille. On 18 April, he made his first professional start in a 3–1 win over Bordeaux. Gourcuff made his second career start on the final match day of the season assisting on a goal in a 4–0 victory over Montpellier.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: For the second consecutive season under Bölöni, Gourcuff rotated between the club's reserve team and the senior team. He appeared in nine matches with the reserve team and 21 with the senior team. Gourcuff only started six matches with the latter team scoring no goals and providing one assist. In the 2005–06 season, he was reassigned the number 10 shirt by Bölöni and giving a starting place within the team. In his first season as a starter, Gourcuff appeared in 42 total matches and scored six goals. He formed midfield partnerships with fellow Frenchman Olivier Monterrubio and the Swede Kim Källström and made his European debut on 15 September in a UEFA Cup first round tie against Spanish club Osasuna appearing as a substitute. Rennes won the tie 3–1 on aggregate and were later eliminated in the group stage portion of the competition. Three days after his European debut, on 18 September, Gourcuff scored his first professional goal against Monaco in a 2–0 win. In November, Gourcuff scored goals in back-to-back matches against Troyes and Toulouse. In the latter part of the season, Gourcuff went on a scoring run netting three goals in a span of four weeks. He scored the first of these goals on 25 February 2006 in a 4–1 away win over Lyon. After going a week without a goal, Gourcuff responded by scoring goals in back-to-back weeks in wins over Ajaccio and Metz. In the Coupe de France, Gourcuff appeared in all four of the team's matches as Rennes reached the semi-finals where the club was defeated 3–0 by Marseille. Rennes ultimately finished the season in 7th place in the league, which resulted in the club qualifying for the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Gourcuff finished his Rennes career with 80 appearances, six goals, and nine assists.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Following the season, Gourcuff was linked to a host of big name European clubs such as Dutch club Ajax, Spanish club Valencia, and English club Arsenal. He ultimately joined Italian club AC Milan. He signed a five-year contract with the transfer fee being priced at €4.58 million. Gourcuff was assigned the number 20 shirt and made his competitive debut for the "Rossoneri" on 9 August 2006 in the club's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie against Serbian club Red Star Belgrade. He appeared as a substitute in the 81st minute for Andrea Pirlo as Milan won the match 1–0. In his next competitive match with the club against Greek outfit AEK Athens in the Champions League group stage, Gourcuff scored his first career goal for the club in a 3–0 win. Gourcuff didn't make his Serie A debut until 20 September playing the entire match in a 1–0 win over Ascoli. In the ensuing matches, Gourcuff rotated between the starting lineup and the bench and capped the season by scoring in Milan's final match of the Seria A season; a 3–2 defeat to Udinese. Despite not appearing in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, which Milan won, Gourcuff did earn a winner's medal with the club as a result of his participation in the group stage and knockout round matches.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Due to Milan winning the UEFA Champions League, Gourcuff was included in the squads that competed in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup and the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup, though he didn't appear in the former match and appeared infrequently in the latter competition. In the 2007–08 Serie A season, Gourcuff struggled for playing time as he was in direct competition with the Brazilian international and 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year winner Kaká. Gourcuff's development and attitude at the club was also questioned by manager Carlo Ancelotti who critically stated that the player had psychological issues. Gourcuff only appeared in 15 league matches for the club starting only four. He scored his only goal of the season on 31 October 2007 in a 5–0 hammering of Sampdoria. On 24 February 2008, after appearing as a half-time substitute, Gourcuff assisted on the game-winning goal scored in the 90th minute by Filippo Inzaghi in Milan's 2–1 win over Palermo. In the final nine matches of the season, Gourcuff was an unused substitute in seven of them. In Gourcuff's final match at the club, he assisted on the final goal by Alexandre Pato in the club 5–1 win over Reggina.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Following the season, on 31 May 2008, Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani revealed that the club would loan Gourcuff to French club Bordeaux for the entire 2008–09 season to allow him more playing time. In 2010, in an interview with French newspaper "L'Equipe", former Milan captain Paolo Maldini stated that Gourcuff lacked discipline while at the club and often distanced himself from the team citing the player's refusal to learn the Italian language. Maldini also stated that Gourcuff did not give his all during his stint at Milan and that the player himself knew it. Gourcuff did not respond to the comments, but his father Christian did, stating to "France Football" that there was some sort of conspiracy out there looking to tarnish his son's image. The elder Gourcuff responded to Maldini's charges stating his son "took two hours (of Italian language courses) per day and spoke Italian after two months" and that "he is passionate about tactics" in response to Maldini saying Gourcuff refused to learn Italian and he was limited tactically. Gourcuff was also defended by his club president Jean-Louis Triaud at his former club Bordeaux who stated in response to Maldini's comments "Yoann is not like that. A number ten who does not play with the group is a little weird. This does not correspond at all to what we saw with Yoann at Bordeaux. He was well integrated with his teammates, and collectively with them on the ground. He left good memories here."


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: At Bordeaux, Gourcuff quickly asserted himself into the squad for the 2008–09 season scoring on his league debut against Caen in a 2–1 victory and also helping Bordeaux capture their 2nd Trophée des champions title. He scored Bordeaux's 4th and final goal in the team's 4–0 triumph over Vannes in the Coupe de la Ligue final. Gourcuff also provided the assist on the third goal. He scored two goals in Bordeaux's Champions League campaign against Roma and CFR Cluj. On 11 January 2009, Gourcuff scored a goal that was voted the goal of the season by fans against Paris Saint-Germain in a 4–0 victory. Upon receiving the ball from teammate Matthieu Chalmé, just outside the box, Gourcuff performed a swift "Marseille turn", eluding PSG defender Sylvain Armand, followed by quickly shifting the ball from his right foot to his left causing Sammy Traoré to lose balance, before bringing the ball back to his right foot and blasting it past Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Mickaël Landreau with the outside of his right foot.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: The following two weeks, Gourcuff scored his fifth and sixth goals, respectively, against Nantes in a 2–1 victory and Lille in a 2–2 draw. After going goalless in the league for seven straight weeks, Gourcuff got back on track scoring against relegation-bound Le Havre. On 20 April 2009, Gourcuff scored his first career double against his former club Rennes in a 3–2 victory. In the ensuing three weeks, Gourcuff maintained his form scoring in all three matches, against Sochaux, Valenciennes, and Le Mans giving him a tally of 12 league goals for the season. Bordeaux won all three matches, which effectively put them in first-place position heading into the final week of the season. Bordeaux eventually won the league capturing the sixth title in the club's history. The club also recorded its second ever double, as a result of its Coupe de la Ligue title. For his efforts during the 2008–09 season, Gourcuff was awarded the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award. He was also named in the organization's Ligue 1 Team of the Year. His performances during the 2008–09 season later earned him a nomination by the French magazine France Football for the 2009 Ballon d'Or award, won by Lionel Messi as Gourcuff finished in 20th place with six points.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Due to Gourcuff's impressive season, his parent club announced that it would be open to the player returning to Milan for the 2009–10 season. However, the club's plans were put on halt after learning of Bordeaux's intent to meet Gourcuff's buy-out clause of €15 million included in the loan deal. Despite general manager Adriano Galliani and new manager Leonardo's efforts to persuade Gourcuff to return, on 28 May, it was announced that Bordeaux had signed Gourcuff permanently from Milan with Gourcuff agreeing to a four-year deal. The transfer fee was €13.6 million.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff began the 2009–10 season claiming his fourth silverware with Bordeaux on 25 July 2009, winning the 2009 Trophée des Champions title in a 2–0 victory over Guingamp. As a result of his performance, he was named Man of the Match. Two weeks later, he scored a double in the club's opening match of the league season against Lens. The final result was 4–1. The victory set a record in league play for most consecutive wins for the club with 12. On 23 August, he scored another set of goals, this time against Nice in a 4–0 victory.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: In the UEFA Champions League, Gourcuff assisted on Bordeaux's only goal in the club's opening 1–1 draw against Italian club Juventus scored by Jaroslav Plašil. On 30 September, Gourcuff suffered a groin injury in the club's 1–0 victory over Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, which forced him to miss two league matches and an international call up. Bordeaux lost both matches. He returned to the team for Bordeaux's back-to-back matches with German club Bayern Munich. In the first match, which Bordeaux won 2–1, Gourcuff missed a penalty after attempting to cheekily chip the ball over goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt, however in the second match, he made amends scoring the game-winning goal in Bordeaux's 2–0 victory at the Allianz Arena. Bordeaux eventually finished the group stage portion undefeated.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: For most of November and the early part of December, Gourcuff suffered a dip in form in league play going scoreless and also not providing any assists. Manager Laurent Blanc later stated that Gourcuff had lacked confidence since returning from his injury following Gourcuff's second penalty miss of the season in the club's midweek 1–0 victory over Montpellier on 16 November. However, three days later, Gourcuff returned to form scoring a goal and providing the assists on the other three goals in Bordeaux's 4–1 win over Lorient. On 20 December, he was declared by magazine France Football the French Player of the Year for 2009 beating out the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Hugo Lloris, Thierry Henry, and Franck Ribéry; the latter having won the award the past two seasons prior.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: On 23 February 2010, Gourcuff assisted on Bordeaux's only goal, scored by Michaël Ciani, in the club's shutout victory away to Greek club Olympiacos in the first leg of its UEFA Champions League knockout round match following his delivery of a powerful and driven free kick into the box that landed at the head of the defenseman. In the second leg, he scored the opening goal in the 5th minute converting a free kick to put Bordeaux up 2–0 on aggregate. The team won the tie with a 3–1 aggregate scoreline to advance to the quarter-finals where Bordeaux faced league rivals Lyon. In the first leg, which Lyon won 3–1, Gourcuff provided the assist on an away goal scored by Marouane Chamakh. In the second leg, Bordeaux recorded a first half goal, but were unable to score another as Lyon advanced to the semi-finals on a 3–2 aggregate scoreline. On 24 April in a league match against Lorient, Gourcuff endured a recurring groin injury during the early stages of the match. Despite showing signs of injury, Gourcuff remained in the match until the end of the first half. Due to the injury, Gourcuff missed the Bordeaux's final five league matches. The club recorded two wins, one draw, and two losses in the five matches which resulted in Bordeaux failing to qualify for European competition next season.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: In the 2010–11 season, Gourcuff appeared in Bordeaux's first three league matches of the season. On 22 August 2010, French media reported that, on the eve of the team's match against Paris Saint-Germain, the midfielder had informed Bordeaux officials of his intent to join Lyon. Gourcuff was, subsequently, relegated to the bench for the match. In his final match with the club, he appeared as a substitute and assisted on the game-winning goal scored by Ciani in injury time.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: On 23 August 2010, Lyon confirmed on its website that the club had reached an agreement with Bordeaux for the transfer of Gourcuff. After passing his medical on 25 August, Gourcuff signed a five-year contract with the club for a fee of €22 million, to be paid in three installments by 31 December 2012. Gourcuff selected the number 29 shirt and made his club debut on 28 August in the team's 2–0 defeat to Lorient. Gourcuff appeared as a substitute in the match for the injured César Delgado. On 17 October, he scored his first goal for the Lyon in the club's 3–1 win over Lille. In the UEFA Champions League, Gourcuff scored his first goal in the team's 4–3 group stage defeat to Portuguese club Benfica on 2 November. In mid-November, he assisted on game-winning goals in back-to-back weeks against Nice and Lens.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: In early February 2011, Gourcuff admitted that he was "disappointed and frustrated" with his performances with Lyon since joining the club stating "I expected a lot more of myself" and "It's clear that my attacking contribution is not enough". Gourcuff also admitted that he was struggling to adapt to the style of manager Claude Puel, though the player later clarified his statements stating that they were misinterpreted. Two weeks after his comments, on 18 February 2011, Gourcuff scored his third goal for Lyon in the club's 4–0 win over Nancy. He, subsequently, went scoreless for the next two months with his only statistical output being an assist on a Jimmy Briand goal in a 3–0 win over Lens on 10 April. On 27 April, Gourcuff scored the match-winning goal in a 3–2 victory against Montpellier after appearing as a substitute two minutes prior. A week later, his season was ended prematurely after suffering an adductor injury in a 2–0 defeat to Toulouse. Gourcuff finished his debut campaign at Lyon with 36 total appearances, four goals, and five assists.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: On 26 July 2011, it was reported by Lyon that Gourcuff would undergo ankle surgery in order to heal a niggling ankle complaint. The surgery ruled Gourcuff out for the club's entire 2011–12 pre-season campaign. In September 2011, he suffered an injury setback in training, which prevented the player from making his debut under new manager Rémi Garde against Marseille on 18 September. Gourcuff made his season debut a month later appearing as a substitute in a 3–1 win over Nancy. Two weeks later, he scored his first goal of the season in a 2–0 win over rivals Saint-Étienne.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff consistently suffered injury after joining Lyon, missing over 90 games due to injury during his tenure with the club.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Yoann Gourcuff accepted a one-year deal with his former club Rennes. He was officially unveiled on 16 September 2015. His first appearance for the club came against local rivals FC Lorient in January 2016. In the dying minutes of the game which would ultimately finish 2–2, Gourcuff found himself in the penalty area with a chance to strike, but was unfortunately tackled by one of his own teammates: Cheikh M'Bengue. This tackle put the playmaker out of action for another month. He returned in February and gradually started to put together a run of games, during which his manager Rolland Courbis revealed that he was only operating at "60% of his capacity" and was getting better each week. Gourcuff finally managed to score again for Rennes on 18 March 2016, netting twice in a 5–2 victory against Marseille. These two goals came exactly ten years after his last goal in a Rennes shirt. In June 2018, having played just 10 league matches the season before, Gourcuff was released by Rennes.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: In July 2018, free agent Gourcuff signed a one-year contract with Ligue 1 side Dijon . He made his debut for the club as an 87th minute substitute in a 2–1 league win over Montpellier on 11 August 2018. On 23 January 2019, having made only eight appearances for the club, his contract at the club was terminated by agreement after he suffered a muscle injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff was capped for France at the schoolboy level earning his first youth cap with the under-17 team in a 0–0 draw with Spain on 18 September 2002. He scored his first goal for the team on 5 February 2003 in a friendly match against the Czech Republic. Gourcuff finished the season with the under-17 team accumulating twelve appearances and netting two goals as the squad failed to qualify for the 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. Gourcuff made only four appearances with the under-18 team scoring his only goal on 30 October in a 2–2 friendly draw with the Ukraine. Gourcuff returned to international level with the under-19 team and was a part of the winning team at the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Leading up to the tournament, Gourcuff scored goals against Armenia in the first qualifying round and Spain in the Elite round. The 1–0 victory over Spain assured France's qualification for the tournament. In the tournament, Gourcuff scored a hat-trick in a 3–1 victory over Norway converting two penalty kicks and scoring in the run of play. He assisted on two goals in the team's 3–2 semi-final win over Germany and played the entire match in the championship match against England. France won the match 3–1 giving the nation its sixth under-19 title and Gourcuff his first international honor. In total with the under-19 team, Gourcuff featured in 17 matches and scored seven goals.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff made his debut for the under-21 team on 18 May 2006 in a preparatory friendly match for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship against Croatia. In the tournament, Gourcuff was the team's lone underage player and played in all four of the team's matches as France reached the semi-finals losing in extra time to the Netherlands. On 5 September 2006, Gourcuff scored his first under-21 goal in a 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Slovenia. France, however, failed to qualify for the tournament. On 27 March 2007, Gourcuff captained the under-21 team for the first time in a 1–0 defeat to Norway. Due to injury, he missed the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs against Germany. France lost the tie 2–1 on aggregate. The negative result ended Gourcuff's under-21 career.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff earned his first call up to the senior team on 11 August 2008 for the team's friendly match against Sweden that was played on 20 August. He earned his first cap in that match appearing as a substitute in the 92nd minute when France's 3–2 victory had been all but confirmed. He scored his first goal for "Les Bleus" on 11 October 2008 against Romania in a 2010 World Cup qualification match. The wonder strike from almost 30 yards out drew the match at 2–2 ensuring France's positioning in the group. Since the match against Serbia, held a month before the match against Romania, manager Raymond Domenech has installed Gourcuff in the attacking midfield position, just behind the striker, a position that some believe has yet to be filled since the retirement of Zinedine Zidane following the 2006 World Cup. On 30 May, Gourcuff assisted on the equalizing goal scored by William Gallas in the team's 1–1 draw with Tunisia.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Gourcuff was a member of France's 23-man team that competed in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On 11 June 2010, Gourcuff made his FIFA World Cup debut in the team's opening group stage match against Uruguay. The match ended 0–0 with Gourcuff being substituted out in the second half. Following the match against Uruguay, former international Just Fontaine stated that Gourcuff "was lost" during the match. It was later reported by the media that midfielder Franck Ribéry and striker Nicolas Anelka had purposely "frozen-out" Gourcuff in the Uruguay match. In the team's final group stage match against the hosts South Africa, Gourcuff was sent off in the first half after the referee ruled that he intentionally elbowed an opposing player in the face. France lost the match 2–1, which resulted in its elimination from the competition.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: Due to his red card suspension in the World Cup, Gourcuff missed two call-ups to the national team in August and September. In October 2010, he was called back into the team by his former manager at Bordeaux Laurent Blanc for UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Romania and Luxembourg. In the match against Romania, Gourcuff appeared as a substitute and scored the final goal in the team's 2–0 victory. He was inserted into the starting lineup against Luxembourg and responded by assisting on the opening goal scored by Karim Benzema and scoring the second goal in another 2–0 win.


title: Yoann Gourcuff

text: On 8 November 2012, he was recalled by new coach Didier Deschamps for a friendly match with Italy. In the match, he appeared as a 73rd-minute substitute for Mathieu Valbuena.


Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia ( 1871 – 1899) was the third son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria of Russia.


title: Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia

text: George was named after his uncle, King George I of Greece. He was brought up in a spartan fashion with his siblings in the English manner. They slept on camp beds, rose at six, and usually took cold baths (being occasionally allowed a warm bath in their mother's bathroom). Breakfast usually consisted of porridge and black bread, mutton cutlets or roast beef with peas. Baked potatoes were served for lunch; and bread, butter and jam at tea-time. George and Nicholas, his brother, had a sitting-room, dining room, playroom, and bedroom, all simply furnished. The only trace of ostentation was an icon surrounded by pearls and precious stones. Because of his parents' happy marriage, he was brought up in an atmosphere of love and security missing in many royal households at the time.


text: On 27 May 1883, George's parents were crowned in a ceremony in the Uspensky Cathedral in the Kremlin in Moscow. The Emperor and Empress received the homage of the Imperial Family, including their sons, Nicholas and George. The family lived mostly in the security of the palace at Gatchina.


text: George was considered to be the most clever of the Imperial children, and outgoing like his mother. George and Nicholas shared the same tutors but studied in adjoining rooms. They followed the course of the Academy of the Russian General Staff, their tutors being distinguished professors. Their English teacher, Charles Heath, had once been tutor to their uncles, Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel. Both brothers spoke and wrote perfect English. From Mr. Heath they acquired a love of sport, particularly shooting and fly-fishing. They also spoke fluent French and passable German and Danish. George displayed signs of a promising career in the Navy before falling ill with tuberculosis in 1890.


text: The Emperor and Empress both decided to send Nicholas and George on a nine-month-long trip to Japan in 1890. George would go as a naval cadet and Nicholas to complete his education by seeing the world. They left Gatchina on 4 November 1890. Nicholas and George first went by warship to Athens where they were joined by their cousin, Prince George of Greece. From there, they traveled to Egypt then to India. From Bombay in India, Nicholas telegraphed that his brother George had to remain on the ship because he had trouble with his leg. George's family was informed he had a fever and would have to return home. George was diagnosed with acute bronchitis and was sent back to Athens where he could be examined by Imperial doctors. The Empress was distressed for both brothers: George, whose disappointment she felt deeply, and Nicholas, who was now deprived of his brother's company.


text: In November 1894, Alexander III died and Nicholas mounted the throne as Emperor. At the time, Nicholas had no children, thus according to the laws of succession of the Russian Empire, the Grand Duke George became "Tsesarevich", the heir presumptive to the throne. George's ill-health had forced him to relocate to Likani, making it impossible for him to return to St. Petersburg for the funeral of his father. Nicholas wrote to his brother, "Constantly pray to God to send you a full and speedy recovery, and to comfort you because it is so much more difficult to be alone after such great sorrow than it is for us who are at least together!" George also missed the christenings of Nicholas' elder daughters, Olga and Tatiana. Shortly after the birth of Nicholas' third daughter, Maria, in June 1899, George wrote to his brother, "I am terribly sad that I have not yet been able to see your daughters and get to know them; but what can I do? It means it's not my fate, and everything is the will of God."


text: George was visited by his mother in Likani. In 1895, George and his mother visited Denmark and nearby Danish relatives.


text: Suddenly, his health started to deteriorate. "Yesterday, in the garden, he expectorated some blood...that frightened me more than I can tell - the surprise of it was shocking because he had been so well of late...I am quite desperate that this should have happened here"."" As a result, George was forbidden to smoke and was confined to bed until he was fit enough to return to Likani. Writing to Nicholas back home once again, George said about his trip to Denmark, "Of course, it was good to see the family after 4 years, but it did not really do me any good, as I lost more than 5 pounds which I had put on with such difficulty in May and June. I also get out of breath more easily. So these are the results of my trip. Very annoying."


text: George died suddenly in Abastumani, on 10 July 1899, at the age of 28. He had been out alone on his motorcycle and some hours later, when he failed to return, his worried staff sent out a search party. By the time they found him, a peasant woman had already discovered him collapsed at the side of the road, blood oozing from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. She supported him in her arms until he died.


text: The news reached Nicholas by telegram, who had the difficult task of telling their family. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote, "Everyone was struck, as if by lightning, by this sad and unexpected news. Queen Victoria wrote to Nicholas II, "Pray to accept the expression of my sincerest sympathy in this great sorrow, for I know the affection you had for your poor brother Georgy, whose life was so sad and lonely." The Dowager Empress telegraphed Queen Victoria, "Thank you so much for kind sympathy in this terrible sudden bereavement... My poor dearest son died quite alone. Am heartbroken."


text: On 14 July 1899, George was laid to rest in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, not far from his late father, Alexander III. When the coffin was put down into the tomb, Maria Feodorovna stood next to Xenia, holding her arm-in-arm, but quickly left the service as a result of her grief. Maria retrieved George's hat and took it with her as she left in-carriage.


text: George's title as Heir Presumptive was passed to his younger brother, Michael, until the birth, in 1904, of Nicholas' son, Alexei. In 1910, Michael named his newborn son, George, after his late brother.


text: Decades later, George's body was disinterred from the grave in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul so that a sample of DNA could be taken from the remains to see whether the skeletal remains belonged to his older brother, Nicholas II. The DNA sample obtained from the Grand Duke's remains indicated that he was closely related to the DNA sample from the remains, confirming their identity. After the completion of DNA testing, the remains of Grand Duke George Alexandrovich were once again laid to rest not far from those of his older brother and family.


title: Kate Magowan

text: Katie Victoria "Kate" Magowan (born 1 June 1975) is an English actress and producer. She has been in film, theatre, television and radio productions. Her best known role is Princess Una in the 2007 feature film "Stardust". She is married to actor John Simm.


title: Kate Magowan

text: After finishing high school, and having trained as a dancer, she graduated from the Actors' Institute, London and has trained in the Meisner technique.


title: Kate Magowan

text: She began her screen career in season 2 of "Dream Team", Sky 1's first original drama series. She went on to appear in many films and television roles including the role of Princess Una in the magical film "Stardust" in 2007, "Kidulthood", "4.3.2.1.", "Screwed", "A Lonely Place to Die" and "It's All Gone Pete Tong".


title: Kate Magowan

text: She made her stage debut in a production of Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls" and has gone on to work consistently in film, theatre, television and radio.


title: Kate Magowan

text: Magowan appeared in "Spotless", playing Sonny Clay. She has also featured in two episodes of the third series of "Primeval" as Eve. She also stars as Martha Bannerman in four episodes of "A Dinner of Herbs" by Catherine Cookson, a TV series made for British television. She most recently appeared in series 15 of "Silent Witness" in the two-part story '' as murder victim Justine Thompson.


title: Kate Magowan

text: Her film credits include leading roles in Michael Winterbottom's "24 Hour Party People", Sonya in "It's All Gone Pete Tong", Princess Una in "Stardust", Jenny in "A Lonely Place to Die", Danielle in "Screwed", Mrs Gammon in "Elfie Hopkins" and Natalie in "Outside Bet".


title: Kate Magowan

text: Magowan married actor John Simm in April 2004 in the Forest of Dean. They have two children: son Ryan and daughter Mollie.


title: Kate Magowan

text: Magowan and Simm have appeared together in four films: "24 Hour Party People", "Is Harry On The Boat?", the award-winning short film "Devilwood" and the heist thriller "Tuesday", as well as in the BBC Series "Exile".


title: Sam Dekker

text: Samuel Thomas Dekker (born May 6, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the London Lions of the British Basketball League (BBL) and the EuroCup. Dekker played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers. After finishing college on a championship game run in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, Dekker was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.


title: Sam Dekker

text: Dekker was named the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year following his senior season. He was also named 2012 "Parade" All-American, AP first-team all-state and Wisconsin Basketball Coaches' Association's Mr. Basketball award. He led Sheboygan Lutheran to the school's first-ever WIAA state title. Dekker scored 40 points, including the last 12, in the state title game including the game-winning three-point shot with two seconds left.


title: Sam Dekker

text: Dekker played in 35 games (3 starts) as a freshman on the Wisconsin Badgers. He is one of only four true freshman to start under Bo Ryan joining Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Josh Gasser. He earned Big Ten All-Freshman team recognition as well as honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. He was also two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week (January 14 and March 4, 2013). Dekker scored a season-high 19 points against Arkansas on November 24, 2012, and Nebraska on February 26, 2013.


title: Sam Dekker

text: At the conclusion of the regular season in which he started all 38 games, Dekker was named to the Second Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and Third Team All-Big Ten by the media.


title: Sam Dekker

text: At the conclusion of the regular season, Dekker was named to the Second Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and by the media. But he really only took off in the NCAA Tournament. In the Sweet 16 against the number four seeded North Carolina Tar Heels, Dekker scored a career high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the 1-seed Wisconsin to a 79–72 victory. In the Elite 8 against the number 2-seeded Arizona Wildcats, Dekker again came up big, scoring a new career high 27 points, including 5 of the Badgers's 10 second-half threes, the final of which is now known nationally as the "Dekker Dagger" shot because it sealed the win for Wisconsin. For these efforts, he was named West Regional Most Outstanding Player during the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. In the Final Four game against the heavily favored and undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, Dekker came through with another huge game, scoring 16 points, including the three that gave Wisconsin the lead for good. The Badgers finished second in the NCAA tournament after losing to Duke in the championship game. A week later, Dekker declared for the 2015 NBA draft, forgoing his final year of college eligibility.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On June 25, 2015, Dekker was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. On July 7, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Rockets but subsequently missed the entire 2015 NBA Summer League due to a back injury. He appeared in all eight of the Rockets' preseason games, but managed game time in just three of the team's first 11 regular-season games. On November 18, 2015, he was ruled out for three months after requiring back surgery. On February 19, 2016, he was assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets' D-League affiliate, on a rehab assignment. He was recalled by the Rockets on February 22. He went on to receive two more assignments to the Vipers.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On December 14, 2016, Dekker scored a career-high 19 points in a 132–98 win over the Sacramento Kings. On January 21, 2017, he made his first career start and set a new career high with 30 points in a 119–95 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On June 28, 2017, the Los Angeles Clippers acquired Dekker, Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams, Kyle Wiltjer and a 2018 first-round pick from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On August 7, 2018, Dekker was traded, along with the draft rights to Renaldas Seibutis and cash considerations, to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for the draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On December 7, 2018, Dekker was traded to the Washington Wizards in a five-player, three-team deal. The Wizards traded Jason Smith and cash considerations to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks sent John Henson, Matthew Dellavedova, and 2021 first- and second-round picks to the Cleveland Cavaliers and received George Hill and a 2021 second-round pick. The Wizards also sent a 2022 second-round pick to the Cavs.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On August 5, 2019, Dekker signed with Russian club PBC Lokomotiv Kuban of the VTB United League and the EuroCup.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On August 10, 2021, Dekker signed with the Toronto Raptors. However, he was waived on November 6, after making a single regular season appearance.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On December 4, 2021, Dekker signed with Bahçeşehir Koleji of the Turkish Basketball Super League. The team won the 2021-22 FIBA Europe Cup, with Dekker averaging 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He helped Bahçeşehir win the 2021–22 FIBA Europe Cup, contributing averages of 11 points and 5.5 rebounds in the Finals.


title: Sam Dekker

text: On August 7, 2022, Dekker signed with London Lions of the British Basketbal League (BBL) and the EuroCup.


title: Sam Dekker

text: Dekker has remained a Sheboygan resident throughout his NBA career. In November 2016, Dekker purchased a 1,568-square-foot condo on the Sheboygan River for $289,000.


title: Sam Dekker

text: In May 2017, Dekker became engaged to Olivia Harlan, an ESPN and SEC Network reporter, daughter of NBA announcer Kevin Harlan, and granddaughter of NFL Green Bay Packers Chairman Emeritus Bob Harlan. The two were married on July 14, 2018.


title: Sam Dekker

text: In Summer 2012, Dekker was on the under-18 United States national team that defeated Brazil for the gold medal in the FIBA Americas championship, but his play was limited due to an injury.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Álvaro Tauchert Soler (, , ; born 9 January 1991) is a Spanish-German singer. He rose to prominence across Europe and Latin America with his 2015 hit "El Mismo Sol", primarily hitting success in Italy, Switzerland and Mexico. A special bilingual Spanish-English version of "El mismo sol", featuring Jennifer Lopez, was also recorded for international release in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and worldwide. His follow up single "Sofia" in 2016 also achieved chart success in European countries, reaching number 1 in Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium and Switzerland. Soler has released three studio albums,


title: Álvaro Soler

text: "Eterno Agosto" in 2015, "Mar de Colores" in 2018, and "Magia" in 2021. His single "La Cintura" taken from his second album has become a pan-European hit for him.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Born in Sant Cugat del Vallès to a German father and to a Spanish-Belgian mother, he became multilingual at a young age. He moved with his parents to Japan at age 10, staying there until age 17. He took piano lessons very early there. Returning to Barcelona, in 2010 he established the musical band Urban Lights alongside his brother and some friends. The band continued performing music described as a mixture of British pop, indie pop and electronic music building following locally. They won a university music contest and the band appeared in 2013 on the Spanish music casting contest "¡Tú sí que vales!" reaching the Final 8. They released some materials and self-produced album. Soler also pursued studies in industrial design at Escuela de Grafismo Elisava.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Soler decided to drop the Urban Lights band in 2014- to go solo establishing himself as a musical artist based in Germany. Based in Berlin, he released his single "El mismo sol" co-written by Soler, Yasmin Gabriel, Ali Zuckowski, Simon Triebel and John Speaks (from the band Juli) and produced by Triebel. The song released on 24 April 2015 became initially a huge hit in Italy reaching number one on the Italian FIMI and certified double platinum. It also made it to number one on the Swiss Swiss Hitparade singles chart.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Based on this success, Soler released his debut solo album "Eterno Agosto" on 23 June 2015 on Universal Music.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: In 2016, Soler was chosen as a judge on the tenth series of Italian talent show "X Factor". Alongside being nominated for awards, Soler performed his recently released single on the Latin American Music Awards on 6 October 2016 alongside Mexican actress/singer Lucero.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Soler released a version of his song "Libre" in 3 language versions with: Mexican singer Paty Cantú, Polish singer Monika Lewczuk and Italian singer Emma Marrone.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: He also collaborated with Morat, performing in the song "Yo contigo, tú conmigo" for the film "Despicable Me 3", or "Gru, mi villano favorito 3" in Spanish. The videoclip was released on 16 June 2017.


title: Álvaro Soler

text: Soler was also the voice of Camilo Madrigal in the Italian and German dubbed versions of the 2021 Disney film "Encanto".


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: The Addams Family is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and based on the eponymous comic strip characters by Charles Addams. It is the second cartoon show to feature the characters (the first was the 1973 series, also produced by Hanna-Barbera), and ran from September 12, 1992, to November 6, 1993, on ABC. The series' development began in the wake of the successful 1991 "Addams Family" feature film. Two seasons were produced.


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: The series focuses on the Addams Family at their ancestral home in the fictional town of Happydale Heights. Much of the plot lines focus on mostly the family dealing with an issue concerning their lives, which they seek to resolve. In some stories, the Addams find themselves dealing the Normanmeyer family who seek to exploit their situation or thwart their schemes in order to be rid of them from the town; the exception being the family's only son, who is friends with the Addams children. Most episodes focus on a single story that concludes with the Addams celebrating their success with a family dance.


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: As with the 1973 series, the macabre nature of the Addams family was toned down in order to be acceptable for children. An example of this was Gomez's love of cigars being not shown, along with his responses to his wife's use of foreign languages being reduced to mere kissing frenzy. In additional, writers also ensured that the plots for episodes followed a similar nature to those written for other Saturday morning cartoons of the period.


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: Additional voices were provided by Ernest Harada, Susan Silo, Pamela Segall, Marcia Wallace, and Héctor Elizondo


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: New artistic models of the characters were used for this series, though still having a passing resemblance to the original comics. Lurch, for instance, has blue skin in the animated series. "The Addams Family Theme", re-recorded with a basso profondo lead vocal, was reused as the theme for the series.


title: The Addams Family (1992 TV series)

text: Playmates Toys produced a series of nine action figures based on the "Addams Family" animated series. This includes Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley, and Granny among others. Each figure includes multiple points of articulation, accessories, and a biography card on their cardback. No commercial was ever made for this. Books were also produced.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves, among other purposes, as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The hall is a compromise between a vineyard-style seating configuration, like the Berliner Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun, and a classical shoebox design like the Vienna Musikverein or the Boston Symphony Hall.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: Lillian Disney made an initial gift of $50 million in 1987 to build a performance venue as a gift to the people of Los Angeles and a tribute to Walt Disney's devotion to the arts and to the city. Both Gehry's architecture and the acoustics of the concert hall, designed by Minoru Nagata, the final completion supervised by Nagata's assistant and protege Yasuhisa Toyota, have been praised, in contrast to its predecessor, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The Walt Disney Concert Hall was designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. Despite being a well-accomplished architect at the time of design, Gehry found himself an unlikely candidate for the job when the Disney family was looking for the hall's designer. Even with the location of the Walt Disney Concert Hall set to be in his hometown of Los Angeles, California, Gehry, when discussing his thoughts at the time the architect was selected, said, “it was the least likely thing that I thought would ever happen to me in my life”. Gehry's opinion was supported by the representative of the Disney family. Gehry says he was told, "that under no circumstances would Walt Disney’s name be on any buildings that I design". Much of this doubt came from Gehry's reputation for relying on the use of cheap materials in his architecture that were used in unconventional ways. With the Walt Disney Concert Hall being a project that demanded a high budget and an elegant style, Gehry did not seem like the right candidate for the job. However, Gehry's determination landed him the job of designing the hall, as he produced a design that caught the eye of Walt Disney's widow, Lilian. His design included some of the elements of the deconstructivist architecture that he was known for, while still producing an elegant structure.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The project was initiated in 1987, when Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, donated $50 million. Frank Gehry delivered completed designs in 1991. Construction of the underground parking garage began in 1992 and was completed in 1996. The garage cost had been $110 million, and was paid for by Los Angeles County, which sold bonds to provide the garage under the site of the planned hall. Construction of the concert hall itself stalled from 1994 to 1996 due to lack of fundraising. Additional funds were required since the construction cost of the final project far exceeded the original budget. Plans were revised, and in a cost-saving move the originally designed stone exterior was replaced with a less costly stainless steel skin. The needed fundraising restarted in earnest in 1996, headed by Eli Broad and then-mayor Richard Riordan. Groundbreaking for the hall was held in December 1999. Delay in the project completion caused many financial problems for the county of LA. The County expected to repay the garage debts by revenue coming from the Disney Hall parking users.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: Due to the mathematical complexity of Gehry's innovative design, he relied on computer software to produce his design in a way that could be completed by contractors. The technology, called CATIA (computer-sided three-dimensional interactive application) is typically used in the design process for French fighter jets, but its mathematical ability aided Gehry in his process of designing the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Perhaps it is the angle-based design of the concert hall that required the use of CATIA, which can be seen on the exterior of the building. For example, the box columns on the north side of the Walt Disney Concert Hall are tilted forward at seventeen degrees. The angular design was used by Gehry to "symbolize musical movement and the motion of Los Angeles".


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: Upon completion in 2003, the project cost an estimated $274 million; the parking garage alone cost $110 million. The remainder of the total cost was paid by private donations, of which the Disney family's contribution was estimated to $84.5 million with another $25 million from The Walt Disney Company. By comparison, the three existing halls of the Music Center cost $35 million in the 1960s (about $330 million in 2021 dollars).


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: As construction finished in the spring of 2003, the Philharmonic postponed its grand opening until the fall and used the summer to let the orchestra and Master Chorale adjust to the new hall. Performers and critics agreed that it was well worth this extra time taken by the time the hall opened to the public. During the summer rehearsals a few hundred VIPs were invited to sit in including donors, board members and journalists. Writing about these rehearsals, "Los Angeles Times" music critic Mark Swed wrote the following account:


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The hall met with laudatory approval from nearly all of its listeners, including its performers. In an interview with PBS, Esa-Pekka Salonen, former music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said, "The sound, of course, was my greatest concern, but now I am totally happy, and so is the orchestra," and later said, "Everyone can now hear what the L.A. Phil is supposed to sound like." This remains one of the most successful grand openings of a concert hall in American history.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: As he was designing the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gehry committed to producing a building that would promote the best acoustics possible. In order to do this, Gehry used ratios to test the acoustics of a model of the building, which was a 1:10 replica. Gehry had to scale all elements of the design accordingly, including the sound that he pumped into the model. Gehry reduced the wavelength of the sounds by a factor of ten in order to discover how his design would respond to the orchestras that would later perform in it to provide the best possible acoustics.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The walls and ceiling of the hall are finished with Douglas-fir while the floor is finished with oak. Columbia Showcase & Cabinet Co. Inc., based in Sun Valley, CA, produced all of the ceiling panels, wall panels and architectural woodwork for the main auditorium and lobbies. The Hall's reverberation time is approximately 2.2 seconds unoccupied and 2.0 seconds occupied.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has an agreement with the Los Angeles Music Center to use the most advanced noise-suppression measures for construction of the Regional Connector Transit Corridor subway under 2nd Street where it passes the hall and the Colburn School of Music. Metro will use procedures to ensure that the rumble of trains does not intrude on the sound quality of recordings made in the venues or mar audiences' musical experience within this sensitive stretch of the tunnel. Metro will also build an elevated walkway from the Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill station to the concert hall.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: Originally, Frank Gehry had designed the Disney Concert Hall with a facade of stone, because "at night stone would glow," he told interviewer Barbara Isenberg. "Disney Hall would look beautiful at night in stone. It would have just been great. It would have been friendly. Metal at night goes dark. I begged them. No, after they saw Bilbao, they had to have metal."


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: After the construction, modifications were made to the Founders Room exterior; while most of the building's exterior was designed with stainless steel given a matte finish, the Founders Room and Children's Amphitheater were designed with highly polished mirror-like panels. The reflective qualities of the surface were amplified by the concave sections of the Founders Room walls. Some residents of the neighboring condominiums suffered glare caused by sunlight that was reflected off these surfaces and concentrated in a manner similar to a parabolic mirror. The resulting heat made some rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm, caused the air-conditioning costs of these residents to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much as . There was also the increased risk of traffic accidents due to blinding sunlight reflected from the polished surfaces. After complaints from neighboring buildings and residents, the owners asked Gehry Partners to come up with a solution. Their response was a computer analysis of the building's surfaces identifying the offending panels. In 2005 these were dulled by lightly sanding the panels to eliminate unwanted glare.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The design of the hall included a large concert organ, completed in 2004, which was used in a special concert for the July 2004 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. The organ had its public debut in a non-subscription recital performed by Frederick Swann on September 30, 2004, and its first public performance with the Philharmonic two days later in a concert featuring Todd Wilson.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The organ's façade was designed by architect Frank Gehry in consultation with organ consultant and tonal designer Manuel Rosales. Gehry wanted a distinctive, unique design for the organ. He would submit design concepts to Rosales, who would then provide feedback. Many of Gehry's early designs were fanciful, but impractical: Rosales said in an interview with Timothy Mangan of the "Orange County Register", "His [Gehry's] earliest input would have created very bizarre musical results in the organ. Just as a taste, some of them would have had the console at the top and pipes upside down. There was another in which the pipes were in layers of arrays like fans. The pipes would have had to be made out of materials that wouldn't work for pipes. We had our moments where we realized we were not going anywhere. As the design became more practical for me, it also became more boring for him." Then, Gehry came up with the curved wooden pipe concept, "like a logjam kind of thing," says Rosales, "turned sideways." This design turned out to be musically viable.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The organ was built by the German organ builder Caspar Glatter-Götz under the tonal direction and voicing of Manuel Rosales. It has an attached console built into the base of the instrument from which the pipes of the Positive, Great, and Swell manuals (keyboards) are playable by direct mechanical, or "tracker" key action, with the rest playing by electric key action; this console somewhat resembles North-German Baroque organs, and has a closed-circuit television monitor set into the music desk. It is also equipped with a detached, movable console, which can be moved about as easily as a grand piano, and plugged in at any of four positions on the stage, this console has terraced, curved "amphitheatre"-style stop-jambs resembling those of French Romantic organs, and is built with a low profile, with the music desk entirely above the top of the console, for the sake of clear sight lines to the conductor. From the detached console, all ranks play by electric key and stop action.


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: In all, there are 72 stops, 109 ranks, and 6,125 pipes; pipes range in size from a few inches/centimeters to the longest being 32 feet (9.75m) (which has a frequency of 16 hertz).


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The organ is a gift to the County of Los Angeles from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (the U.S. sales, marketing, service, and distribution arm of Toyota Motor Corporation).


title: Walt Disney Concert Hall

text: The concert hall houses celebrity chef Nolan Murphy's landmark fine dining restaurant Patina designed by Belzberg Architects. Patina serves French and California cuisine.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: All We Know Is Falling is the debut studio album by American rock band Paramore, released on July 26, 2005, under the Atlantic-distributed Fueled by Ramen in the United States. The production was led by James Paul Wisner, Mike Green, Nick Trevisick, and Roger Alan Nichols. The departure of bassist Jeremy Davis, which occurred a few days after arriving in Orlando, served as the album's main theme. This theme was reflected especially in the album's cover and title. Mostly categorized as a pop punk album, the album received mostly positive reviews and has been labeled a "scene classic".


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: The album's production took place in Orlando, Florida. Instead of making a major push towards radio, the band's A&R recommended that the band build a fanbase through word of mouth. Initially, the album received positive reviews by music critics, praising the vocals of Hayley Williams. The album had a weak domestic commercial performance: it failed to enter the "Billboard" 200, though it did reach number 30 on "Billboard"s Heatseekers Chart. It reached No. 4 on the UK Rock Chart, and in 2010 it managed to reach No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart and earned a gold certification by the BPI. In July 2014, after the group found success with its following records, "All We Know Is Falling" received gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Three singles from the album were released: "Pressure", "Emergency" and "All We Know". None of the singles managed to reach any major chart, although "Pressure" was certified gold by the RIAA in 2016 after the band found commercial success with subsequent releases.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: Hayley Williams was originally signed to Atlantic Records in 2003 as a solo pop singer. However, Williams resisted the label's solo-career wishes, saying she did not envision herself as "the next Madonna". As a result, she formed Paramore with Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. In her short solo career, Williams recorded some demos, which were later re-recorded with the band for a "more authentic" sound. However, the band was almost fired because the label thought they "were terrible." Williams and Farro wrote two new songs, "Here We Go Again" and "Hallelujah", which saved the group from being fired. The former song became the fifth track on "All We Know Is Falling", while "Hallelujah" was saved for their sophomore album "Riot!" (2007).


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: The group traveled to Orlando, Florida, to write and record the remainder of the album. A few days after arriving in Orlando, Davis left the band. The remaining members continued work on the album. The band decided to base the album's theme around Davis' departure. According to Williams, the album's cover art also represented Davis' departure: "The couch with no one there and the shadow walking away; it's all about Jeremy leaving us and us feeling like there's an empty space." The album's artwork was created by Electric Heat.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: The album's recording process took about three weeks, with Josh Farro calling the sessions "rushed". "All We Know", "Never Let This Go" and "My Heart" were recorded with producer James Paul Wisner at Wisner Productions, located in St. Cloud, Florida. "Pressure", "Emergency", "Brighter", "Whoa", "Conspiracy" and "Franklin" were recorded with producer Mike Green at ARS Studios, located in Orlando, Florida. "Here We Go Again" was recorded with producers Roger Alan Nichols and Nick Trevisick at Bigger Dog Studio, located in Franklin, Tennessee. Additional recording took place at Stone Gables Studio, located in Brentwood, Tennessee and at The Skyview Church of Tone and Soul, located in East Nashville, Tennessee.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: All of the songs were mixed by Green, except for "Here We Go Again", which was mixed by Nichols and Trevisick. Tom Baker mastered the recordings at Precision Mastering in Hollywood, California. Nath Warshowsky acted as the studio drum tech for every song, except for "Here We Go Again". Dave Buchman engineered "Here We Go Again". Lucio Rubino, then frontman of , replaced the absent Davis in the studio. He performed bass on every song except for "Here We Go Again", which was done by Jeremy Caldwell.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: Typically, Farro would write the music while Williams wrote the lyrics. On occasion, Farro would contribute lyrics as well. "Conspiracy" was composed by Williams, Farro, and Taylor York. It was the first song they wrote together. Many of the lyrics in "All We Know Is Falling" which are not related to Davis' departure deal with the bad relationship and divorce of Williams' parents.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: Critics have variously called "All We Know Is Falling" a pop punk, emo, pop rock, and alternative rock album. Trevor Kelley at "Alternative Press" categorized the music on the album as "vaguely emo, but mostly mall-punk". Tom Whitson of Click Music defined the music on the album as emo with "pop-punk beats", drawing comparisons from Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy. The Allmusic review by Neil Z. Yeung referred to the album as a "formulaic" pop punk album, complete with "head-bobbing drums, straightforward riffs, and a midtempo sameness throughout". In a retrospective "Alternative Press" review by Tyler Sharp, the album was referred to as what would have been "just another pop-rock effort that ultimately fell short in the face of its true potential" if not for the band's later success. "Gigwise" reviewer David Renshaw also drew comparisons to Lavigne, but believed that the songs on the album were inferior to those of Lavigne's.


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: Paramore released "All We Know Is Falling" on July 26, 2005, in the United States. According to Paramore's A&R at Atlantic Records, Steve Robertson, the promotion strategy behind the album was that the band would start small and slowly build through word of mouth instead of giving the debut album a major radio promotional push. In his own words, Robertson "wanted kids to discover the band without it being shoved down their throats." In September 2005, a special Japanese edition containing a previously unreleased song "Oh Star" was made available. In January 2009, the album was released on vinyl for the first time. On May 19, 2009, a deluxe edition of the album was released exclusively on iTunes with live versions of "Pressure" and "Here We Go Again", and the music videos for all the singles. A 10th anniversary edition of the album was released on December 4, 2015 on vinyl, which contains "O Star" and "This Circle" as bonus tracks; this version was limited to 4,000 copies. The album featured three singles: "Pressure", "Emergency" and "All We Know".


title: All We Know Is Falling

text: Two weeks before starting a tour to promote the album, John Hembree joined the band to replace bassist Jeremy Davis, though Davis ended up rejoining the group after five months away from the band. In October and November, the group supported Simple Plan on their headlining tour in the United States, followed by a supporting slot for Funeral for a Friend in December. In February 2006, the group went on Midwest and east coast tour with Halifax, My American Heart, and So They Say. Through the spring of 2006, Paramore was an opening act on tours for both Bayside and The Rocket Summer. The band was initially planned to appear on the 2006 edition of the Take Action Tour in early March 2006, but Williams came down with flu, which resulted in the band being replaced by Sullivan. The band went on the 2006 edition of the Warped Tour, which took place in Nashville, near the group's hometown. In August and September, the band headlined a tour in the US with support from Hit the Lights, Cute Is What We Aim For and This Providence, followed by some dates in the United Kingdom in October.