title: Gerontocracy

text: A gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. In many political structures, power within the ruling class accumulates with age, making the oldest the holders of the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are. In a simplified definition, a gerontocracy is a society where leadership is reserved for elders.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Although the idea of the elderly holding power exists in many cultures, the gerontocracy has its western roots in ancient Greece. Plato famously stated that "it is for the elder man to rule and for the younger to submit". One example of the ancient Greek gerontocracy can be seen in the city state of Sparta, which was ruled by a "Gerousia", a council made up of members who were at least 60 years old and who served for life.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Elders had leadership roles in many tribal societies. In the time of the Eight Immortals of the Chinese Communist Party, it was quipped, "the 80-year-olds are calling meetings of 70-year-olds to decide which 60-year-olds should retire". For instance, Party chairman Mao Zedong was 82 when he died, while Deng Xiaoping was not retired until the age of 85.


title: Gerontocracy

text: In the Soviet Union, gerontocracy became increasingly entrenched starting in the 1970s; it was prevalent in the country until at least March 1985, when a more dynamic and younger, ambitious leadership headed by Mikhail Gorbachev took power. Leonid Brezhnev, its foremost representative, died in 1982 aged 75, but had suffered a heart attack in 1975, after which generalized arteriosclerosis set in, so that he was progressively infirm and had trouble speaking. During his last two years he was essentially a figurehead.


title: Gerontocracy

text: In 1980, the average Politburo member was 70 years old (as opposed to 55 in 1952 and 61 in 1964), and by 1982, Brezhnev's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko, his Minister of Defense Dmitriy Ustinov and his Premier Nikolai Tikhonov were all in their mid-to-late seventies. Yuri Andropov, Brezhnev's 68-year-old successor, was seriously ill with kidney disease when he took over, and after his death fifteen months later, he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, then 72, who lasted thirteen months before his death and replacement with Gorbachev. Chernenko became the third Soviet leader to die in less than three years, and, upon being informed in the middle of the night of his death, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who was seven months older than Chernenko and just over three years older than his predecessor Andropov, is reported to have remarked "How am I supposed to get anyplace with the Russians if they keep dying on me?"


title: Gerontocracy

text: Other Communist countries with leaders in their 70s or 80s have included Albania (First Secretary Enver Hoxha was 76 at death), Bulgaria (General Secretary Todor Zhivkov was 78 at his resignation), Czechoslovakia (President Gustáv Husák was 76 at his resignation), China (Chairman Mao Zedong was 82 at death), East Germany (General Secretary and head of state Erich Honecker was 77 when forced out), Hungary (General Secretary János Kádár was 75 when forced out), Laos (President Kaysone Phomvihane was 71 at death), North Korea (Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung was 82 at death), Romania (General Secretary and Conducător Nicolae Ceauşescu was 71 when he was executed), Vietnam (General Secretary Lê Duẩn was 79 at death), Yugoslavia (President and Marshall Josip Broz Tito was 87 at death). On the sub-national level, Georgia's Party head Vasil Mzhavanadze was 70 when forced out, and his Lithuanian counterpart Antanas Sniečkus was 71 at death. Nowadays, Cuba has been characterized as a gerontocracy: "Although the population is now mainly black or mulatto and young, its rulers form a mainly white gerontocracy", "The Economist" wrote in 2008. Cuba's Fidel Castro had "de facto" ruled the country for nearly 50 years, effectively retiring in 2008 at the age of 82, although he remained the leader of the Communist Party of Cuba until 2011. He was replaced by his brother Raúl Castro, who was 89 years old at the time of his own retirement.


title: Gerontocracy

text: In 2021, the average age of a U.S. senator was 64, and positions of power within the legislatures – such as chairmanships of various committees – are usually bestowed upon the more experienced, that is, older, members of the legislature. Strom Thurmond, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, left office at age 100 after almost half a century in the body, while Robert Byrd of West Virginia was born in 1917 and served in the Senate from 1959 to his death in 2010. Senators under the age of 40 are virtually unknown.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the United States government has been described as a gerontocracy. At 70, Trump was the oldest person ever to be inaugurated president of the United States, until the inauguration of Joe Biden. Many senior officials in Trump's administration, such as Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William Barr, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, have been 70 or older.


title: Gerontocracy

text: In the 2020 presidential election, Biden prevailed against Trump, setting a new age record. Biden was 78 when he was sworn in on 20 January 2021, making him the oldest person to be inaugurated president of the United States. The Biden administration's cabinet appointments have also reflected these gerontocratic tendencies. For example, Janet Yellen, Biden's Treasury Secretary, is . The Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are also both the oldest holders of their offices in American history. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley are the oldest members of Congress at and years old, respectively. This observation has been connected to broader themes of American decline.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Gerontocracy is common in theocratic states and religious organizations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Vatican and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which leadership is concentrated in the hands of religious elders. Despite the age of the senior religious leaders, however, parliamentary candidates in Iran must be under 75. Nominally a theocratic monarchy, Saudi Arabia, likened to various late communist states, has been ruled by gerontocrats. Aged king Saud and his aged relatives held rule along with many elder clerics. They were in their eighties (born c. 1930). Recently, however, power has become concentrated by Mohammad bin Salman–31 years old when, by the king, he was appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (assuming 'office' 21 June 2017)–who has sidelined powerful, older members of the Saudi family.


title: Gerontocracy

text: In Kenya, Samburu society is said to be a gerontocracy. The power of elders is linked to the belief in their curse, underpinning their monopoly over arranging marriages and taking on further wives. This is at the expense of unmarried younger men, whose development up to the age of thirty is in a state of social suspension, prolonging their adolescent status. The paradox of Samburu gerontocracy is that popular attention focuses on the glamour and deviant activities of these footloose bachelors, which extend to a form of gang warfare, widespread suspicions of adultery with the wives of older men, and theft of their stock.


title: Gerontocracy

text: African societies such as this are known for their gerontocratic hierarchies. The Yoruba people, for example, are led by titled elders known as Obas and Oloyes. Although not an explicit requirement, most of them are decidedly elderly due to a variety of factors.


title: Gerontocracy

text: The Roman Republic was originally an example; the word "senate" is related to the Latin word "senex", meaning "old man". Cicero wrote: "They wouldn't make use of running or jumping or spears from afar or swords up close, but rather wisdom, reasoning, and thought, which, if they weren't in old men, our ancestors wouldn't have called the highest council the senate."


title: Gerontocracy

text: In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the government headed by M. Karunanidhi the state's chief minister who was 87 years old, was another real-world example of gerontocracy. In another Indian state, West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu, was 86 years old when he stepped down from the office of chief minister of the state. But he continued to remain a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) until a few months before his death in January 2010 and was consulted on all matters related to governance by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet as well as his other party colleagues.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Present-day Italy is often considered a gerontocracy, even in the internal Italian debate. The Monti government had the highest average age in the western world (64 years), with its youngest members being 57. Former Italian prime minister Mario Monti was 70 when he left office, his immediate predecessor Silvio Berlusconi was 75 at the time of resignation (2011), the previous head of the government Romano Prodi was 70 when he stepped down (2008). The Italian president Sergio Mattarella is , while his predecessors Giorgio Napolitano and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi were 89 and 85 respectively. In 2013, the youngest among the candidates for prime minister (Pier Luigi Bersani) was 62, the others being 70 and 78. The current average age of Italian university professors is 63, of bank directors and CEOs 67, of members of parliament 56, of labor union representatives 59.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Outside the political sphere, gerontocracy may be observed in other institutional hierarchies of various kinds. Generally the mark of a gerontocracy is the presence of a substantial number of septuagenarian or octogenarian leaders—those younger than this are too young for the label to be appropriate, while those older than this have generally been too few in number to dominate the leadership. The rare centenarian who has retained a position of power is generally by far the oldest in the hierarchy.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Gerontocracy generally occurs as a phase in the development of an entity, rather than being part of it throughout its existence. Opposition to gerontocracy may cause weakening or elimination of this characteristic by instituting things like term limits or mandatory retirement ages.


title: Gerontocracy

text: Judges of the United States courts, for example, serve for life, but a system of incentives to retire at full pay after a given age and disqualification from leadership has been instituted. The International Olympic Committee instituted a mandatory retirement age in 1965, and Pope Paul VI removed the right of cardinals to vote for a new pope once they reached the age of 80, which was to limit the number of cardinals that would vote for the new Pope, due to the proliferation of cardinals that was occurring at the time and is continuing to occur.


title: Is It Cake?

text: Is It Cake? is a 2022 game show style cooking competition television series created by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, and hosted by Mikey Day. The series premiered on Netflix on March 18, 2022. Contestants create cakes that replicate common objects in an effort to trick celebrity judges. Winners of each episode receive $5,000 and a chance to win more money by identifying which display of cash is real and which is cake.


title: Is It Cake?

text: The series is based on the viral internet meme of the same name, popularized on YouTube and TikTok. As a part of the trend, a common object or food is disguised as cake and others are tasked to determine which is real. Day was introduced to the trend by his manager Michael Goldman, to which he was fascinated by. Although Day had no baking experience or background, he took on role of host. Day explained the draw of show piqued the "human desire [...] to pick out the 'disguised something.'"


title: Is It Cake?

text: Throughout each episode, contestants and celebrity judges are presented with multiples of an object, with a cake replicating that object presented amongst the real objects. Three contestants are able to compete by baking a cake within eight hours which actually replicates the look of an object selected for that episode. Celebrity judges are then presented with three separate sets of objects presented themselves in sets of five of the same object. Amongst each set of five is one cake baked that day by one of the contestants. If the judges correctly guess which object is actually a cake, that contestant is eliminated from that episode. When multiple contestants are able to trick the judges, the judges then select a winner based on quality of the cake to break the tie. The winner of each episode wins $5,000 and is able to win an additional $5,000 if they can correctly identify between a visually identical pair of bundles of cash which is actually a cake. If they do not correctly identify the cake, the $5,000 is added to the cash bundle round winnings in the next episode. The winners of the three episodes leading up to the finale then compete in the finale to win $50,000. The show does not eliminate any of the eight contestants and they are able to stay throughout the season and observe even if they are not competing in that episode. Some not competing in the finale were selected to help support the finalists' baking efforts.


title: Is It Cake?

text: "Is It Cake?" was created by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz and is produced by their company, Alfred Street Industries. It is hosted by Mikey Day. On June 2, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Combined Statistical Area. The city, along with nearby Midland and Saginaw, form the Greater Tri-Cities region of Central Michigan.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The city is geographically divided by the Saginaw River, and travel between the east and west sides of the city is made possible by four modern bascule-type drawbridges: Liberty Bridge, Veterans Memorial Bridge, Independence Bridge, and Lafayette Avenue Bridge, which allow large ships to travel easily down the river. The city is served by MBS International Airport, located in nearby Freeland, and James Clements Municipal Airport.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Leon Tromblé is regarded as the first settler within the limits of Bay County, in an area which would become Bay City. In 1831, he built a log cabin on the east bank of the Saginaw river.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City was first established in 1837 and was incorporated as a city in 1865. In 1834 John B. Trudell built a log-cabin near the present corner of Seventeenth and Broadway. Trudell later purchased land that extended from his residence north along the river to what later became the location for the Industrial Brownhoist, making him the first permanent resident of what has become Bay County. Bay City became the largest community in the county and the location of the county seat of government. Most of the county's agencies and associations are located here. The city shares common borders with Essexville and the townships of Bangor, Frankenlust, Hampton, Merritt, Monitor, and Portsmouth.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City was originally known as "Lower Saginaw," and fell within the boundaries of Saginaw County. On June 4, 1846, the Hapton, or Hampton, Post Office opened to service Lower Saginaw. The community was placed in Bay County, when the county was organized in 1857. It was at this time that the name was changed to Bay City. The Post Office changed its name to Bay City on March 22, 1858.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: While Saginaw had the first white settlement in this area in 1819, larger ships had difficulty navigating the shallower water near the Saginaw settlement. Due to this fact, many of the early pioneers moved to Lower Saginaw as it became clear its deeper waters made it a better location for the growth of industry which relied on shipping. By 1860, Lower Saginaw had become a bustling community of about 2,000 people with several mills and many small businesses in operation. In 1865, the village of Bay City was incorporated as a city. Rapid economic growth took place during this time period, with lumbering, milling, and shipbuilding creating many jobs. The early industrialists in the area used the Saginaw River as a convenient means to float lumber to the mills and factories and as a consequence amass large fortunes. Many of the mansions built during this era are registered as historical landmarks by the state and federal government.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: In 1873, Charles C. Fitzhugh, Jr., a Bay City pioneer, and his wife, Jane, purchased land and built a home on property bounded by Washington, Saginaw, Ninth and Tenth Streets, which later became the location for City Hall. Fitzhugh dealt on a large scale in wild lands and farms, being an agent for over of land in Bay County. During this time, Washington Avenue was primarily developed with residential homes. Businesses were concentrated along Water Street near the Saginaw River. As time went on, businesses started to expand along Washington Avenue. In 1891, the Fitzhughs sold the land to the City of Bay City for $8,500 "to be used for the erection of a City Hall and offices and for no other purposes whatever."


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Until 1905, the City of Bay City was limited to the east bank of the Saginaw River. when West Bay City was annexed.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: During the latter half of the 19th century, Bay City was the home of several now-closed industries including many sawmills and shipbuilders. The Defoe Shipbuilding Company, which ceased operations December 31, 1975, built destroyer escorts, guided missile destroyers, and patrol craft for the United States Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. To maintain this strong Naval heritage, the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum worked through the Naval Sea Systems Command to bring the USS Edson (DD-946) to Bay City as a museum ship. It was finally delivered to its temporary home in Essexville, Michigan, on August 7, 2012. Another important part of the city's industrial history is Industrial Brownhoist, which was well known for its construction of large industrial cranes.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: There was a majority German section of Bay City called Salzburg. However, most people in Bay City were not German and the German-descended minority became the focus of extreme nativism and xenophobia. Pastors introduced English-language sermons for the first time in that part of town in response; however, it did not catch on and sermons in Salzburg remained mostly German. The Salzburghers demanded that the rest of Bay City recognize them as Americans first and German-American second; nevertheless, hostility towards them continued.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City's unusual Third Street Bridge was damaged by a freighter on June 17, 1976. The following morning, when the swing span was operated, one half crashed into the Saginaw River blocking all riverine traffic. A river crossing was never reinstated at that location.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: On December 10, 1977, a deadly fire claimed the lives of 10 at the Wenonah Hotel (Wenonah Park Apartments) in downtown Bay City. The hotel had been built on the site of the Fraser House, which had also succumbed to a fiery end. The Wenonah Hotel was located at the corner of Center Ave and Water Street, the current site of the Delta College Planetarium. Built in 1907, the four-storey Wenonah Hotel had been converted into apartments at the time of the fire. Strong winds and cold weather hampered the efforts of the fire department. There was some controversy over the cause of the fire (arson, electrical, or grease fire) and it remains the deadliest fire in Bay County history.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: On Christmas Eve, 1979, a large Bay City department store of long standing, Oppenheim's, was destroyed by fire.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: In September 1990, the tankship MV "Jupiter" was unloading gasoline at the Total Petroleum Terminal. A passing cargo ship, , moving at excessive speed, created a wake that caused "Jupiter" to break free of its berth. A fire and explosion ensued, and one man drowned. There was considerable legal action taken, ultimately resulting in an adjudication that was subsequently appealed by the owners of "Buffalo". The findings of the Court of Appeals upheld the original decision, which assigned 50% of the responsibility to "Buffalo" (for her excessive speed), 25% to the dock operator (for rotten wood pilings) and 25% to "Jupiter" (for improper procedures in unloading her cargo).


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: In January 2009, Bay City's wholly owned municipal power company, Bay City Electric Light and Power, installed a "limiter" device to restrict the receipt of power to the home of Marvin Schur, a 93-year-old customer who had failed to pay an outstanding bill in excess of $1,000. The Bay City Electric Light and Power policy was to install the limiter, and to notify the customer by trying to collect the amount due. City employees failed to knock on the door, and it was later found that Schur had a check already made out and had failed to mail it. Schur died from hypothermia in his home a few days later. The day following his death, Bay City Electric Light and Power removed the limiters from all households. It was later learned that Schur had willed his estate, estimated by his family to be in excess of $500,000, to Bay Regional Medical Center.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: On October 12, 2010, the historic 113-year-old City Hall sustained significant damage as the result of an attic fire which caused the sprinkler system to run for nearly two hours. Most of the damage to the building was water damage from the sprinkler system and water used to fight the fire. The fire started in the midst of a $1.6 million roofing project. After an investigation, it was determined that a worker was using a grinder to cut off bolts in the area where the fire started, and sparks from the work started the blaze. Fire crews were on the scene for nearly five hours fighting the hard-to-access fire.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Despite declining population, Bay City remains (by a narrow margin over Port Huron) as the largest U.S. city by population on or near Lake Huron, much smaller than the largest cities on the other four Great Lakes: (Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, and Thunder Bay).


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City, along with Saginaw, and Midland make up the Tri-Cities Area, a sub-region of Flint/Tri-Cities. Bay City is sometimes regarded as being part of the greater Thumb of Michigan Area, which is also a sub-region of the Flint/Tri-Cities.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bay City has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 34,932 people, 14,436 households, and 8,546 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 15,923 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 89.7% White, 3.5% Black, 0.6% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.8% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.5% of the population.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: There were 14,436 households, of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.0% were married couples living together, 16.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.8% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38, and the average family size was 3.04.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The median age in the city was 35.8 years. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.2% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64; and 12.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 36,817 people, 15,208 households, and 9,322 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 16,259 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 91.19% White, 2.72% Black, 0.74% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 2.47% from other races, and 2.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.72% of the population.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: There were 15,208 households, out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.7% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.04.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The median income for a household in the city was $30,425, and the median income for a family was $38,252. Males had a median income of $32,094 versus $21,494 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,550. About 10.3% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: According to Bay City's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City is well known in Mid-Michigan for its numerous festivals and celebrations which take place during the summer months. Among them are the River Roar, St. Stan's Polish Festival, the Bay City Fireworks Festival, and the River of Time living history reenactment. Many of these events take place along one or more banks of the Saginaw River, often in Wenonah Park on the east bank or the larger Veterans Memorial Park on the west bank.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The Bay County Historical Museum, located on Washington Avenue, is the designated repository for the records of the Patrol Craft Sailors Association and also contains numerous displays on local and regional history. Over the past several years, the museum has expanded significantly. It is housed in the former armory building on Washington Avenue, adjacent to the historic City Hall.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The official Bay City flag is blue with the city logo on it. It has been changed from the original design.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival is held annually in September. The festival features a mix of independent films with live indie music.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City has a Commission-Manager form of government. The Mayor, who is elected to a four-year term, is the presiding officer of the City Commission and has the power to appoint some board and commission members, with the approval of the City Commission. The Mayor of Bay City is Kathleen Newsham, who has served in that capacity since January 2016. The City Commission has nine members, one from each of the city's nine wards. City Commissioners serve four-year terms and term limited to two consecutive terms. The terms of the Commissioners are staggered; the even-numbered wards are elected together (in years 1999, 2003, 2007, etc.), and the odd-numbered wards are elected together (in years 2001, 2005, 2009, etc.). City operations are managed by the City Manager, who is chosen by the City Commission.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Bay City Public Schools operates eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and three high schools.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Essexville Hampton Public Schools operates three elementary schools, one junior high schools, and one high school.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Mosaica Education Inc. operates a charter school, Bay County Public School Academy, serving grades kindergarten through 8th grade.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has three grade schools in Bay City: Bethel Lutheran School (Pre-K-8), St. John's Lutheran School (Pre-K-8), and Trinity Lutheran School (Pre-K-8).


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: Four modern bascule bridges allow transportation across the Saginaw River, which separates the East and West sides of Bay City. Lafayette Avenue Bridge, opened in 1938, carries M-13 and M-84 over the river. The Veterans Memorial Bridge, opened in 1957, carries M-25 over the river. Independence Bridge, opened in 1976, carries Truman Parkway over the river, replacing the earlier Belinda Street Bridge (built in 1893). Liberty Bridge, opened in 1990, connects Vermont Street (on the west side of the river) and Woodside Avenue (on the east side).


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The Bay City Rollers, a Scottish band, were named after this city after the band randomly threw a dart at a map.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The singer Madonna, who was born in Bay City, referred to her birthplace as "a little, smelly town in Northern Michigan" for which she has had great affection on national television. Mike Buda, former Mayor in the 1990s, commented: "Madonna was absolutely right", explaining that air pollution from the gas refinery and a neighboring beet sugar plant was in fact so bad that the EPA forced the industries involved to pay a cash settlement to families, like those of Madonna’s grandmother Elsie Fortin, with homes in the Banks neighborhood.


title: Bay City, Michigan

text: The story of Bay City's refusal to have a commemoration sign about the singer was described in a book "Madonnaland" (2016) by Alina Simone. The sign was subsequently posted in 2022 near her birthplace, the former Mercy Hospital, now known as Bradley House.


title: Simon Weston

text: Simon Weston (born 8 August 1961) is a Welsh veteran of the British Army who is known for his charity work and recovery from severe burn injuries suffered during the Falklands War.


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston was born at Caerphilly District Miners Hospital in Caerphilly. He was brought up by his mother, Pauline and adoptive father, "Lofty". His biological father served in the Royal Air Force alongside his mother. Simon lived in Singapore and at RAF Hospital Nocton Hall in Lincolnshire before returning to Nelson at the age of around six or seven. He has one elder sister, Helen, and three stepbrothers. At the age of 14, Weston was given a police caution when he was caught as a passenger in a car stolen by his older friends.


title: Simon Weston

text: mother, after he "got into bother". He served in Berlin, Northern Ireland and Kenya before being deployed to the Falkland Islands.


title: Simon Weston

text: On 8 June 1982, Weston was embarked with other members of his regiment in in Port Pleasant near Fitzroy, just off the Falkland Islands. "Sir Galahad" was bombed and set on fire by Argentine Skyhawk fighters during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks. The ship was carrying ammunition as well as phosphorus bombs and thousands of gallons of diesel and petrol. Out of his platoon of 30 men, 22 were killed. The Welsh Guards lost a total of 48 men killed and 97 wounded aboard the "Sir Galahad".


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston endured years of reconstructive surgery, including over 96 major operations or surgical procedures. Skin from his shoulders was used to make eyelids, and skin grafts also repaired healing contraction to his nose. He suffered psychological trauma, drinking heavily and becoming suicidal, and admits his behaviour during this time was "terrible". He credits his mother with helping him to overcome this, in particular, her act of reuniting him with his old regiment, who refused to mollycoddle him (especially Glen White, who ran the Welsh Guards rugby side), forced him to "face up to the unavoidable and to be positive about everything including especially my future".


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston has made regular contributions to radio programmes and appeared on television, especially within Wales. He has been the subject of several BBC documentaries and presented his own radio show "Face for the Radio" for BBC Radio Wales. He has been interviewed on many occasions for television news programmes and documentaries recounting his experiences, including appearances on 14 June 2007, the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War ending. He has also appeared on programmes such as "This Is Your Life" (appearing on 7 February 1990; aged still only 28, Weston was one of the show's youngest-ever guests) and later "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" He was featured in a £7 million advertising campaign launched in 2000 aimed at boosting recruitment into the police force.


title: Simon Weston

text: He has written best-selling autobiographies as well as a series of novels. In 2003 he announced that he had been in talks over plans to make a film about his life.


title: Simon Weston

text: In 1986, Weston undertook his first goodwill tour, to Australia, at the request of the Guards Association of Australasia. The resulting donations to children's burns units made him begin to feel useful again.


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston became patron of a number of charities that support people living with disfigurements, as well as the lead ambassador for The Healing Foundation. He also set up a national youth charity, Weston Spirit, in 1988 with Paul Oginsky and Ben Harrison, shortly after moving to Liverpool. However, in 2008, the charity suffered from financial difficulties and had to be shut down.


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston is also a patron of the LMS-Patriot Project. The Project is constructing a new replica LMS Patriot Class steam locomotive, number 5551 The Unknown Warrior. On 10 November 2018 in a ceremony at Crewe Heritage Centre he unveiled the locomotives new crest which would be carried above the locomotives nameplates (the previous one being the Royal British Legion crest which the RBL later asked to be removed from the engine).


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston has campaigned in support of troops and veterans and against politicians' alleged failure to support them adequately. He has spoken out against defence budget cuts and British troops allegedly being supplied with inadequate equipment, and about the lack of support, health care and adequate compensation for veterans. On 12 March 2007 he appeared on ITV News, giving his opinion on the care of British soldiers in hospital. On 4 March 2008, he appeared alongside Conservative leader David Cameron as he announced the formation of a commission to investigate ways to help restore the "military covenant", which Cameron called "well and truly broken". It was intended that Weston would take a non-partisan, advisory role to the Commission (headed by Frederick Forsyth), with his work taking a particular focus to the treatment of veterans and the compensation paid out to injured service personnel.


title: Simon Weston

text: It is stated that Weston is a critic of the Iraq War, believing Tony Blair's arguments for the invasion were invalid. In February 2003, in the run-up to the war, he spoke out about "politicians with so many different agendas, spin and bluff and throwing smoke in the air and I have to say even lies... so often that we are not sure what we are actually listening to now".


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston also spoke to the ethical committee at London's Royal Free Hospital in 2006 to support the case for authorising full face transplants, even though he had previously been against the idea.


title: Simon Weston

text: In 2008, Weston criticised the then French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, for failing to attend a war ceremony. Weston said, "He should have got it right", "We in Wales have lost and sacrificed as much as anybody for different causes". Showing his support for the British monarchy, Weston added, "Not for a second would Charles have disrespected the event. He has always acted with a great deal of reverence for the occasion."


title: Simon Weston

text: In February 2012 Weston was caught up in an angry exchange with actor Sean Penn, who said it was improper for Prince William to be deployed to the Falklands. Weston was reported as saying, "Sean Penn does not know what he is talking about and, frankly, he should shut up. His [Penn's] views are irrelevant and it only serves to fuel the fire of the Argentinians and get them more pumped up."


title: Simon Weston

text: In 2012, Weston decided to stand for the post of elected Police and Crime Commissioner for the South Wales Police. As part of the nomination process, he had to disclose the police caution he had received as a child and whether this caution disbarred him from standing became a matter of public debate. He withdrew from the process, citing this controversy and the perceived politicisation of the post (some sources hold that a caution for a juvenile should not be grounds for disqualification). During a BBC radio interview on the subject of the disclosure of cautions to juveniles, Weston pointed out that he has never sought to hide the caution.


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston is married to Lucy, with whom he has three children: James, Stuart and Caitlin. They met in Liverpool when she was working for his charity, Weston Spirit. They were engaged on 8 June 1989, exactly seven years after the attack on the "Sir Galahad". They married on 12 May 1990 and now live in Cardiff.


title: Simon Weston

text: Weston has met and become friends with First Lieutenant Carlos Cachon, the Argentine pilot who dropped the bomb which caused his injuries. He was criticised for this by families of those who fought in the Falklands War, which he dismissed by saying "I don't have a problem with other people criticising me for things I do, as long as people understand why I did them. Then I don't have a problem to walk away and say 'you're entitled to your opinions'."


title: Simon Weston

text: The medals Weston received for his military service include the General Service Medal with "Northern Ireland" clasp and the South Atlantic Medal with rosette.


title: Simon Weston

text: His courage and charity work have been recognised and honoured on a number of occasions. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for charitable services. In 2002 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool. In 2004, he was named one of the top 100 Welsh heroes. In 2005 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University. In 2006 Weston and dual code (Rugby league and Rugby Union) international David Watkins were installed as patrons of the Wales Rugby League, in a ceremony held in the Welsh Assembly.


title: Simon Weston

text: In September 2009 he agreed to be President Elect of the Welsh Scout Council, and was formally introduced at the Council's annual general meeting at Llandrindod Wells on 31 October.


title: Room on Fire

text: Room on Fire is the second studio album by American rock band the Strokes, released on October 28, 2003, through RCA Records. Its title is derived from a lyric in the song "Reptilia".


title: Room on Fire

text: "Room on Fire" received positive reviews upon its release, and reached number four on the US "Billboard" 200 (where it went on to sell 597,000 units by October 2006 and was certified gold) and number two on the UK Albums Chart. Three singles were released from the album: "", "Reptilia", and "The End Has No End".


title: Room on Fire

text: Immediately after touring for their debut album "Is This It", the Strokes returned to the studio. They hired Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, but fired him when, according to the band, their work together proved "soulless". Godrich said of the failed collaboration: "The problem there was that me and [singer Julian Casablancas] are just too similar, we're both control freaks. He wanted to do it his way, I wanted to do it my way, and obviously that's the point of me being there. And I'm saying 'Well, why am I here if you're not prepared to try and do it the way I want to do it?' We got on great, it was just one of those laughable things where it just doesn't work. I wanted them to change, and they didn't."


title: Room on Fire

text: Those sessions were ultimately scrapped and the band returned to their original producer, Gordon Raphael. The Strokes had exactly only three months of studio time to record the album. Guitarist Nick Valensi stated that "the album would've ended up a lot better if we'd had another couple of weeks."


title: Room on Fire

text: "Room On Fire" received generally positive reviews from critics: on the review aggregating website Metacritic, it currently has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". However, in general, reviewers found the album too similar to "Is This It". Rob Mitchum of "Pitchfork" gave the album an 8 out of 10, but stated that the band "have all but given birth to an identical twin." A positive review from "Rolling Stone" said that "the Strokes have resisted the temptation to hit the brakes, grow up and screw around with a sound that doesn't need fixing — yet." The review also stated that "if you want comfort and clarity, you're definitely in the wrong room. This record was built for thrills and speed." Dan Tallis of BBC Music gave it a favorable review and said, "Bands should think themselves lucky to achieve such heights just once in their careers. However, they've done all they could have done. They've made "Is This It" part two. It's more of the same plus extras. And I'm more than happy to settle for that."


title: Room on Fire

text: Ben Thompson of "The Observer" gave it all five stars and said, "This is a feeling that can be inspired only by people making the absolute most of an opportunity to communicate: cutting through all the rubbish that surrounds them to make a clear and memorable artistic statement. And that the Strokes should have managed to do such a thing at this stage in their careers, is - I think - an achievement of real significance." Greg Milner of "Spin" gave it a score of eight out of ten and said that its "similarity to its predecessor ultimately bespeaks a purity of vision, not a dearth of new ideas." Jenny Tatone of Neumu gave it a score of nine stars out of ten and said, "The Strokes don't make the most original sounding music you've ever heard, but they make something that is only the Strokes." In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention () while picking out two songs from the album ("Between Love and Hate" and "What Ever Happened?") and stating simply, "Narcissism repeats itself."


title: Room on Fire

text: Not all reviews were positive, however. Raoul Hernandez of "The Austin Chronicle" gave the album a score of two stars out of five and stated that "even the half-hearted retreads... cashing in on the notoriously unwashed NYC quintet's debut can't muster a wink." Iain Moffat of Playlouder gave the album only one star and said of the Strokes, "There's little of the pop sparkle that shone through the likes of 'The Modern Age' and 'Last Nite' even when - as with 'You Talk Way Too Much' - they're rewriting old material, and Julian's vocals are, to be blunt, awful, sounding uncomfortable to record and rather complacently nasal."


title: Room on Fire

text: In 2013, "Room On Fire" was listed at number 360 on "NME"s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2018, the BBC included it in their list of "the acclaimed albums that nobody listens to any more".


title: Room on Fire

text: In 2021, "Pitchfork" included it on its list of album review scores they "would change if they could", upgrading its score from 8.0 out of 10 to 9.2. Lane Brown of "Pitchfork" praised as an album with a "different, better album with major improvements over its predecessor". Scoring a 0.1 bonus point more than "Is This It", "Room On Fire" is commended in marking confident progress and "at least partially thwarting rock history's most inevitable backlash."


title: Room on Fire

text: The album peaked at number four on the "Billboard" 200 in the US, and was later certified Gold by the RIAA in December 2003, and platinum certification for selling over 1.000.000 units in June 2021. As of 2021, the album has sold 1.6 million units worldwide and became their second best selling album.


title: Karl Wolff

text: Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supreme SS and Police Leader in occupied Italy and helped arrange for the early surrender of Axis forces in that theatre, effectively ending the war there several days sooner than in the rest of Europe. He escaped prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials, apparently as a result of his participation in Operation Sunrise.


title: Karl Wolff

text: In 1962, Wolff was prosecuted in West Germany for the deportation of Italian Jews, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being an accessory to murder in 1964. He was released in 1971 due to his failing health, and died 13 years later.


title: Karl Wolff

text: Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff was born the son of a wealthy district court magistrate in Darmstadt on 13 May 1900. During World War I he graduated from school in 1917, volunteered to join the Imperial German Army ("Leibgarde-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 115") and served on the Western Front. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and was awarded both the Iron Cross second class and first class.


title: Karl Wolff

text: After the war, Wolff was forced to leave the army because of the reduction of the German armed forces following the terms imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Wolff was in the paramilitary "Freikorps" from December 1918 to May 1920. He started a two-year apprenticeship at the Bethmann Bank in Frankfurt and married Frieda von Römheld in 1923. The couple moved to Munich, where Wolff worked for Deutsche Bank. In June 1924 he was laid off and joined a public relations firm. Wolff may also have studied law, but never took any state exams. In 1925 he started his own public relations company which he operated in Munich until 1933.


title: Karl Wolff

text: Wolff joined the Nazi Party with card number 695,131 and the SS in October 1931. His SS membership number was 14,235 and he was commissioned as an SS-"Sturmführer" in February 1932.


title: Karl Wolff

text: From March 1933, after the Nazi Party had obtained national power, Wolff served as an adjutant to Franz Ritter von Epp, then-governor of Bavaria. Here he came to the attention of the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler who appointed Wolff his personal adjutant in June 1933. In 1936 Wolff became a member of the Reichstag. The same year Himmler named him chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS to coordinate all contact and correspondence within the SS at both party and state levels.


title: Karl Wolff

text: By managing Himmler's affairs with the SS, the Nazi Party, state agencies and personnel, the eloquent and well mannered Wolff rose to become one of the key figures in Himmler's power regime. In addition, Wolff oversaw the economic investments made by the SS, was responsible for saving funds among Himmler's circle of friends and for connections to the SS organizations Ahnenerbe and Lebensborn. In 1939 he retroactively became head of the Main Office and SS liaison officer to Hitler. In 1936, Wolff left the Protestant Church. On 30 January 1937, he was promoted to the rank of SS-"Gruppenführer" (major general).


title: Karl Wolff

text: As was later revealed in the 1964 trial, during the early part of the Second World War, Wolff was "Himmler's eyes and ears" in Hitler's headquarters. He would have been aware of significant events or could easily have access to the relevant information. Apart from the information passing across his desk, Wolff received (as Chief of Himmler's Personal Staff) copies of all letters from SS officers, and his friends at this point included Odilo Globocnik, the organiser of Operation Reinhard. His later denial of knowledge of Holocaust activities may be plausible only at the detailed level, but not of the extent of atrocities by the Nazi regime.


title: Karl Wolff

text: Incriminating letters show that Wolff was involved in the Holocaust. On 8 September 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland, Wolff wrote to the Gestapo office in Frankfurt (Oder) and ordered the immediate "arrest of all male Jews of Polish nationality and their family members" and the confiscation of any wealth. In 1942 Wolff oversaw the deportation transports during "Grossaktion Warschau", the mass extermination of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. When rail transport bottlenecks occurred, Wolff communicated repeatedly with Reich Railway Director Albert Ganzenmüller. In a letter sent from the Führer Headquarters, dated 13 August 1942 and referring to transports of Jews to Treblinka extermination camp, Wolff thanked Ganzenmüller for his assistance:


title: Karl Wolff

text: In August 1941, Himmler and Wolff attended the shooting of Jews at Minsk which had been organized by Arthur Nebe who was in command of "Einsatzgruppe B", a mobile killing unit. Nauseated and shaken by the experience, Himmler decided that alternative methods of killing should be found. On Himmler's orders, by the spring of 1942, the camp at Auschwitz had been greatly expanded, including the addition of gas chambers, where victims were killed using the poison gas Zyklon B.


title: Karl Wolff

text: After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in June 1942, Wolff developed a strong rivalry with other SS leaders, particularly with Heydrich's successor at the Reich Security Main Office ("Reichssicherheitshauptamt"), Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and with Walter Schellenberg of the foreign intelligence service in the RSHA. His position was weakened by his frequent absence from Berlin, in part due to his suffering from pyelitis and renal calculus (kidney stones), which required surgery. Wolff fell out of favour with Himmler and was dismissed as his chief of staff. In April 1943, he was relieved of his duties as liaison officer to Hitler. Himmler announced he would temporarily take over Wolff's duties. A new replacement as liaison officer to Hitler's HQ did not occur until the appointment of Hermann Fegelein, who assumed the duty in January, 1944. Wolff had particularly angered Himmler by his divorce and remarriage in March 1943. Himmler, who believed the family to be the nucleus of the SS, had denied Wolff permission to divorce, but Wolff had turned directly to Hitler. Himmler still appears to have considered Wolff a loyal member of the SS, for in September 1943 Wolff was transferred to Italy as Supreme SS and Police Leader.


title: Karl Wolff

text: In that position, Wolff shared responsibility for standard police functions such as security, maintenance of prisons, supervision of concentration camps, and forced labor camps as well as the deportation of forced laborers with Wilhelm Harster, who was the Commander in Chief of the Security Police. When Wolff became Plenipotentiary General of the German Wehrmacht in July 1944, he also became responsible for anti-partisan warfare in occupied Italy. By now Wolff commanded the police and the entire rear army in Italy. So far Wolff's involvement in war crimes in Italy remains largely unclear, partially because source material on the degree to which SS units participated in Nazi security warfare is lacking. Although it seems as if US investigators were in possession of incriminating material in 1945, that indicated Wolff's approval of the executions that became known as the Ardeatine massacre, this evidence was deemed not sufficient for criminal charges. On 9 December 1944, Wolff was awarded the German Cross in Gold for using Italian units, with secondary German units, to destroy partisans and for the "maintenance of war production in the Italian territory". During this period he approved the project of the Marnate's Bunker, close to the German command of Olgiate Olona. By 1945 Wolff was acting military commander of Italy.


title: Karl Wolff

text: In 1945, Wolff, under Operation Sunrise, took over command and management of intermediaries including the Swiss Intelligence officer, Captain Max Waibel, in order to make contact in Switzerland with the headquarters of the US Office of Strategic Services, under Allen W. Dulles, as to the surrender of German forces in and around Italy. After initially meeting with Dulles in Berne on 8 March 1945, Wolff negotiated the surrender of all German forces in Italy, ending the war there on 29 April, before the war ended in Germany on 2 May 1945. Wolff's capitulation of Italy to the Allies upset Admiral Karl Dönitz who had otherwise planned a staged series of surrenders designed to give the troops and refugees more time to make their way west.


title: Karl Wolff

text: Arrested on 13 May 1945, he was imprisoned in Schöneberg. During the Nuremberg trials, Wolff was allowed to escape prosecution because of his early capitulation in Italy and by appearing as a witness for the prosecution at trial. Although released in 1947, he had been indicted by the post-war German government as part of the denazification process. Detained under house arrest, after a German trial, Wolff was sentenced in November 1948 and served four years in prison. After his release, Wolff worked as an executive for an advertising agency.


title: Karl Wolff

text: He took up residence with his family in Starnberg. In 1962 during the trial in Israel of Adolf Eichmann, evidence showed that Wolff had organized the deportation of Italian Jews in 1944. Wolff was again tried in West Germany and in 1964 was convicted of deporting 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp, which led to their murder. Sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in Straubing, Wolff served only part of his sentence and was released in 1971 following a heart attack.


title: Karl Wolff

text: After his release, Wolff retired to Austria. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wolff returned to public life, frequently lecturing on the internal workings of the SS and his relationship with Himmler. This resulted in his appearing in television documentaries including "The World At War" saying that he witnessed an execution of twenty or thirty partisan prisoners in Minsk in 1941 with Himmler.


title: Karl Wolff

text: In the early 1970s, Wolff promoted the theory of an alleged plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII. Most other allegations of such a plot are based on a 1972 document written by Wolff that "Avvenire d'Italia" published in 1991, and on personal interviews with Wolff before his death in 1984. Wolff maintained that on 13 September 1943, Hitler gave the directive to "occupy Vatican City, secure its files and art treasures, and take the Pope and Curia to the north". Hitler allegedly did not want the Pope to "fall into the hands of the Allies".


title: Karl Wolff

text: Wolff's reliability has been questioned by Holocaust historians, such as István Deák, a professor of history at Columbia University. Reviewing "A Special Mission" by Dan Kurzman, a promoter of the theory, Deák noted Kurzman's "credulity" and that the latter "uncritically accepts the validity of controversial documents and unquestioningly believes in the statements made to him by his principal German interlocutor, the former SS General Karl Wolff". He further criticized the book's "modest documentation" containing "a great number of vague or inaccurate references".


title: Karl Wolff

text: In the late 1970s Wolff also became involved with "Stern" journalist Gerd Heidemann. Together with Heidemann, he travelled through South America, where he helped to locate, among others, Klaus Barbie and Walter Rauff, with whom Heidemann conducted interviews for a series of articles. Wolff served as a consultant for the alleged Hitler Diaries and was upset when they turned out to be forgeries by Konrad Kujau. Asked to attend the trial of Heidemann and Kujau, Wolff declined; on 17 July 1984, he died in a hospital in Rosenheim. He was buried in the cemetery at Prien am Chiemsee on 21 July.


title: Karl Wolff

text: A few weeks before his death, Wolff declared the Islamic profession of faith, becoming a Muslim. At his grave, his daughter Fatima Grimm gave the funeral prayer in the presence of representatives of the Islamic Center of Munich (ICM). She was also a Muslim convert, doing so in 1960 while in Munich, later becoming a translator, author and speaker on Islam in Germany.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Edmund Patrick Jordan, OBE (born 30 March 1948), also known as EJ, is an Irish businessman, television personality and former motorsport team owner. Born in Dublin, Jordan worked first at the Bank of Ireland. He won the Irish Kart Championship in 1971 and moved to Formula Ford in 1974. He was the founder and owner of Jordan Grand Prix, a Formula One constructor which operated from 1991 to 2005. He was the chief analyst for Formula One coverage on the BBC from 2009 to 2015 before joining Channel 4 after BBC pulled out in 2016. In February 2016, it was announced that Jordan would join "Top Gear" as a presenter.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan was born Edmund Patrick Jordan at the Wentworth Nursing Home in Dublin on 30 March 1948, the son of Eileen and Paddy Jordan. He has one, older, sibling Helen. His father was the twin brother of a senior nun, Mother Rectoress of the Irish Sisters of Charity and worked as an accountant for the electricity board. At ten months old, Jordan developed a form of pink disease and his family were advised by doctors to move from Dublin to Bray for "fresh air". His mother Eileen was advised to "take him out of woollens and into cotton during the month of May", advice she opposed, initially. Nevertheless, she conceded and Jordan's condition did gradually improve. During his childhood, Jordan grew up in Dartry, south Dublin and Bray, County Wicklow. He spent most of his time in Bray, where he became close with his Aunt Lilian, having regularly travelled to visit her at the end of the school week. In his childhood, Jordan was known by the nickname "Flash" as his surname rhymed with the name Gordon.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan began his education at Saint Anne's Pre-School in Milltown later spending eleven years at the Synge Street Christian Brothers School, where he and his fellow students would be regularly beaten if they did not study hard. Despite this experience, Jordan found the level of education to be high. While at Synge Street, aged 15, Jordan briefly considered becoming a priest. Having dismissed the priesthood and family pressures to enter dentistry, he ended up taking a six-week accountancy course at the College of Commerce, Dublin, and then began working for the Bank of Ireland as a clerk at their branch in Mullingar. After four years, Jordan moved to the branch in Camden Street, Dublin. During a banking strike in Dublin in 1970, he spent the summer on the island of Jersey, working as an accountant for an electricity company by day and doing bar work in the evenings. During this period, he encountered kart racing for the first time, and had his first (unofficial) races there at St Brelade's Bay.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Upon his return to Dublin, Jordan bought a kart and began racing. He entered the Irish Kart Championship in 1971 and won it.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In 1974 Jordan moved up to Formula Ford, the Irish Formula Ford Championship and in 1975 to Formula Three, but was forced to sit out the 1976 season after shattering his left leg in a crash at Mallory Park. After his injuries had healed, he switched to Formula Atlantic, won three races in 1977, and won the Irish Formula Atlantic Championship in 1978. Jordan and Stefan Johansson raced in British Formula Three in 1979, under the name "Team Ireland" and, in the same year, Jordan drove in one Formula Two race and did a small amount of testing for McLaren.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: At the end of 1979 and short of money, Jordan founded his first team, Eddie Jordan Racing, which ran drivers David Leslie and David Sears in 1981 at various events in and around Great Britain. In 1982 his primary driver was James Weaver; in 1983 Weaver ran again in European F3 and Jordan hired Martin Brundle, who finished second to Ayrton Senna in British F3. In 1987 the team employed Johnny Herbert, who proceeded to win the British Formula Three Championship.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan also entered a Formula 3000 team, whose first wins came with drivers Herbert and Martin Donnelly in 1988. In 1989 the Jordan F3000 team dominated the season and Jordan driver Jean Alesi won the championship. During 1989, hired Reynard Chief Designer Gary Anderson becoming Donnelly's engineer and overseeing operations of the team eventually joining full-time on 4 February 1990.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: A host of drivers owe their breaks to Jordan. Drivers who have won Grands Prix who have driven for him include world champions Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, while Jean Alesi, Rubens Barichello, Thierry Boutsen, Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Roberto Moreno, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Martin Brundle and John Watson also drove in Jordan cars.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan founded Jordan Grand Prix in 1991 with Anderson as Chief Designer. The team quickly gained its respect and punched above their weight on a number of occasions during the season. Jordan gave Michael Schumacher his Formula 1 debut in the team's debut season. After one race for the team, Schumacher was lured away to rivals Benetton.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In the team achieved its best ever result when drivers Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher finished first and second at the Belgian Grand Prix. In , Jordan achieved their F1 zenith when Heinz-Harald Frentzen became a genuine contender for the championship, ultimately finishing third, the best placing ever of a Jordan driver and accumulating two race wins along the way. He was leading the European Grand Prix, but retired because of electrical problems. Had he won the race, Frentzen would have been within a point of the championship lead with two rounds remaining.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: After losing a Honda engine partnership deal to the BAR team in 2002 and numerous difficulties within the team (including a very public row and the sacking of Frentzen before his home GP in 2001), Jordan was forced to switch to expensive Cosworth engines. The added burden of this plus DHL withdrawing their sponsorship and Benson & Hedges toning down their sponsorship soon added up and the lack of funds made his team go from bad to worse in 2003. However, despite this, Jordan delivered an improbable race win in Brazil 2003 courtesy of Giancarlo Fisichella, the first for Fisichella and the last Formula One victory for the Ford Motor Company and the Jordan team. In 2001 Jordan sued Vodafone for allegedly breaking a three-year sponsorship agreement worth $150 million but lost the case creating further setbacks for Team Jordan.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan's steep fall from third in the constructors in 1999 was now out of control. Despite new sponsorship from Trust computers and the addition of "Quick" Nick Heidfeld and a promising young rookie in Timo Glock for 2004, Jordan was in serious trouble. Jordan retained complete ownership of his team until 2004 and his rejections of rumoured approaches for buy outs (most notably from Peugeot and Honda) may have cost the team greater success. Jordan, however, said at the team's final race that they in fact won five times—the fifth being their survival on such small funds.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Midland Group, financed by wealthy Russian-Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider, bought Jordan Grand Prix in early 2005, and the team was subsequently renamed MF1 Racing for . The team was sold again in 2006 to Dutch car manufacturer Spyker Cars to become Spyker F1 for , and then sold once more to become Force India in . After bankruptcy proceedings in 2018, Force India was liquidated and its former assets sold to the new Racing Point F1 Team, which became Aston Martin for the 2021 F1 season. Aston Martin competes in Formula One and operates out of Jordan's old premises at Silverstone.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In 2009, Jordan returned to the F1 scene as a pundit for BBC Sport F1 coverage alongside Jake Humphrey (who was later replaced by Suzi Perry) and David Coulthard.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan wrote a monthly column called "This Much I Know" for "F1 Racing" magazine, until they relaunched with Murray Walker writing instead. Jordan also worked on a TV series called "Eddie Jordan's Bad Boy Racers". In 2007 he was appointed Chairman of Rally Ireland, a round of the World Rally Championship.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has broken many stories before they were due to be confirmed; these include Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes, Michael Schumacher's return in 2010 and Felipe Massa's departure from Ferrari.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: On 11 February 2016 it was announced that he would be one of the new presenters for "Top Gear". In March 2016 he was announced as Channel 4's lead analyst for C4F1 .


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has had a long time friendship with Bernie Ecclestone and has interviewed him several times. Jordan has spoken many times about how Ecclestone influenced his career.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan loves rock and roll music, and he plays the drums. Until 2007, his band's name was V10. A cut-down version of the band is currently gigging at various venues around the world under the name of "Eddie & The Robbers". Jordan is a fan of Celtic, Coventry City and Chelsea and has been linked with takeover bids for Coventry. Jordan is also a Celtic shareholder. Jordan's other sporting interests include golf and horse racing; he has horses in training with Mouse Morris.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan is a keen cyclist in Monaco and South Africa and cycles in the Cape Town Cycle Tour (formerly the Argus) annually in Cape Town.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has been a keen sailor and boating enthusiast for much of his life. He circumnavigated the world in 2015.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In 2014, Jordan took delivery of the largest Sunseeker Yacht ever built, reportedly for a price tag of £32m. Jordan's current yacht is a 45.3m sailing boat called Blush.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan is a keen supporter of Irish art and boasts a wide collection that include Louis le Brocquy, Felim Egan and Markey Robinson among others.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has or has had considerable business interests in oil, motor racing, sports, property, gaming, entertainment, and the health and fitness industries.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: He was a shareholder in Celtic Football Club. He is an investor in Kinmont Advisory (a corporate advisory business) and a partner in hedge fund, Clareville Capital (founded by David Yarrow).


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In 2018, Jordan assisted in the successful bid by his long time friend Richard Hadidas to acquire Oyster Yachts. Jordan served as a director on the board until 2021, when he then became the brand ambassador for the luxury yacht builder.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has also invested in property, both commercial real estate (which included Bunbury Holdings), as well as residential developments and investments. He also owns land which houses a PGA golf course, and has also invested in a land bank in Bulgaria, for which Norman Forster designed a resort.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has been long-time friends with Dermot Desmond and Denis O'Brien, who were early supporters of Jordan F1. He has had several investments alongside them since. In 2021, he founded JKO Capital to invest in gaming and entertainment businesses.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In July 2021, Jordan was linked with a $1bn bid to buy the OpenBet business from Scientific Games. Jordan is a long time investor in the gaming space, with investments in Entain, Scientific Games and Evolution, among others.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: In November 2021, it emerged that Jordan and Keith O'Loughlin were behind a bid by JKO to acquire Playtech PLC for a rumoured £3 billion. In January 2022, JKO signalled they would not proceed with a formal offer for the company.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: He has business interests that include Ready Room (South Africa), Tosca, Valeo Foods, Jarvis Hotels, Debrett's, Zwift, Apex, Coople (Recruitment) and Docplanner, Spring Studios, George & Dragon (a PR and Marketing agency) and Ceiba (a healthcare tech company). In the past, he has also had his own vodka brand 'Vodka V10' and the energy drink brand 'EJ-10' and Bulgarian property company Madara Capital, that develop Karadere beach. He is an advisor to Aspinall Capital Partners.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan is a patron of the child cancer charity CLIC Sargent., and is now a patron Amber Foundation. His OBE was awarded for his charity work related to CLIC which raised £11 million over three years and built houses UCLH so parents can be with children when ill.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: He is married to Marie (née McCarthy), a former Ireland basketball player. The couple have been married since 1979 and have four children: Zoe, Miki, Zak & Kyle. They have homes in Cape Town, South Kensington, London and Monaco, where he keeps his yacht.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: Jordan has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster and Dublin Institute of Technology.


title: Eddie Jordan

text: He has received the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin, one of the largest student societies in Ireland, to honour his contribution to motorsport in Ireland. He also received the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin to honour his contribution to motor racing and his charity work over the years. Despite being Irish, Jordan is also a member of the British Racing Drivers' Club due to a grandfather clause that anyone born in Ireland before 1950 would be considered eligible for membership.


title: Rachel Kempson

text: Rachel, Lady Redgrave (28 May 1910 – 24 May 2003), known primarily by her birth name Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.


title: Rachel Kempson

text: Kempson trained at RADA before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. She married Michael Redgrave in 1935 and the couple appeared together many times on stage. She also appeared many times on film and television, most notably in the films "The Captive Heart", "The Sea Shall Not Have Them" (both opposite her husband Michael), "The Jokers", "Two Gentlemen Sharing", "Out of Africa", "Uncle Vanya", and the television series "" (1974) and "The Jewel in the Crown". She made three films with her daughter Lynn ("Tom Jones", "Georgy Girl" and "The Virgin Soldiers"), and two films with her other daughter Vanessa ("The Charge of the Light Brigade" – which also starred her son Corin – and "Déjà Vu"). Her 1986 autobiography, "Life Among the Redgraves" was published by Dutton. According to "Publishers Weekly", "Lady Redgrave writes with candour, wit, restraint and some sadness about her background, beginnings in the theatre in 1932, marriage and motherhood, the trials of moving and the problems of being married to a handsome matinee idol."


title: Rachel Kempson

text: Kempson was born in Dartmouth, Devon, the daughter of Beatrice Hamilton (née Ashwell) and Eric William Edward Kempson, a headmaster.


title: Rachel Kempson

text: Kempson married fellow actor Michael Redgrave in 1935, and became the daughter-in-law of Roy Redgrave and Margaret Scudamore. Kempson was the mother of Vanessa (born 1937), Corin (1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943–2010) and the grandmother of Joely and Natasha Richardson (1963–2009), Jemma Redgrave, Luke Redgrave, Arden Redgrave, Harvey Redgrave, Carlo Gabriel Nero, Benjamin B. Clark, Kelly B. Clark and Annabel Lucy Clark.


title: Rachel Kempson

text: In 1959, her husband was knighted and she formally became Lady Redgrave. However, she refused to use her title professionally. In 2003, four days before what would have been her 93rd birthday, she died of a stroke at the home of her granddaughter, Natasha Richardson, in Millbrook, New York. Richardson died on 18 March 2009 in a skiing accident and was buried near Kempson. Kempson's youngest daughter, Lynn Redgrave, was buried in the same cemetery on 8 May 2010, near Kempson and Richardson.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus (90482 Orcus, provisional designation ) is a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet with a large moon, Vanth. It has a diameter of . The surface of Orcus is relatively bright with albedo reaching 23 percent, neutral in color and rich in water ice. The ice is predominantly in crystalline form, which may be related to past cryovolcanic activity. Other compounds like methane or ammonia may also be present on its surface. Orcus was discovered by American astronomers Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz on 17 February 2004.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus is a plutino, a trans-Neptunian object that is locked in a 2:3 resonance with the ice giant Neptune, making two revolutions around the Sun to every three of Neptune's. This is much like Pluto, except that the phase of Orcus's orbit is opposite to Pluto's: Orcus is at aphelion (most recently in 2019) around when Pluto is at perihelion (most recently in 1989) and vice versa. Orcus is the largest known plutino after Pluto itself. The perihelion of Orcus's orbit is around 120° from that of Pluto, while the eccentricities and inclinations are similar. Because of these similarities and contrasts, along with its large moon Vanth that recalls Pluto's large moon Charon, Orcus has been regarded as the "". This was a major consideration in selecting its name, as the deity Orcus was the Roman/Etruscan equivalent of the Roman/Greek Pluto.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus was discovered on 17 February 2004, by American astronomers Michael Brown of Caltech, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory, and David Rabinowitz of Yale University. Precovery images taken by the Palomar Observatory as early as 8 November 1951 were later obtained from the Digitized Sky Survey.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: The minor planet Orcus was named after one of the Roman gods of the underworld, Orcus. While Pluto (of Greek origin) was the ruler of the underworld, Orcus (of Etruscan origin) was a punisher of the condemned. The name was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 November 2004 (). Under the guidelines of the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) naming conventions, objects with a similar size and orbit to that of Pluto are named after underworld deities. Accordingly, the discoverers suggested naming the object after "Orcus", the Etruscan god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths. The name was also a private reference to the homonymous Orcas Island, where Brown's wife had lived as a child and that they visit frequently.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: On 30 March 2005, Orcus's moon, Vanth, was named after a winged female demon, Vanth, of the Etruscan underworld. She could be present at the moment of death, and frequently acted as a psychopomp, a guide of the deceased to the underworld.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Planetary symbols are no longer much used in astronomy, so Orcus never received a symbol in the astronomical literature. An Orcus symbol (), mostly used among astrologers, is included in Unicode as U+1F77F. The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts; it is an OR monogram, designed to resemble both a skull and an orca's gape. There is a rarer symbol , an inverted astrological Pluto symbol, reflecting Orcus as the anti-Pluto: it was designed by Melanie Reinhart.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus is in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, having an orbital period of 245 years, and is classified as a plutino. Its orbit is moderately inclined at 20.6 degrees to the ecliptic. Orcus's orbit is similar to Pluto's (both have perihelia above the ecliptic), but is oriented differently. Although at one point its orbit approaches that of Neptune, the resonance between the two bodies means that Orcus itself is always a great distance away from Neptune (there is always an angular separation of over 60 degrees between them). Over a 14,000-year period, Orcus stays more than 18 AU from Neptune. Because their mutual resonance with Neptune constrains Orcus and Pluto to remain in opposite phases of their otherwise very similar motions, Orcus is sometimes described as the "anti-Pluto". Orcus last reached its aphelion (farthest distance from the Sun) in 2019 and will come to perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) around 9 January 2143. Simulations by the Deep Ecliptic Survey show that over the next 10 million years Orcus may acquire a perihelion distance ("q") as small as 27.8 AU.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: The rotation period of Orcus is uncertain, as different photometric surveys have produced different results. Some show low amplitude variations with periods ranging from 7 to 21 hours, whereas others show no variability. The rotational axis of Orcus probably coincides with the orbital axis of its moon, Vanth. This means that Orcus is currently viewed pole-on, which could explain the near absence of any rotational modulation of its brightness. Astronomer José Luis Ortiz and colleagues have derived a possible rotation period of about 10.5 hours, assuming that Orcus is not tidally locked with Vanth. If, however, the primary is tidally locked with the satellite, the rotational period would coincide with the 9.7-day orbital period of Vanth.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: The absolute magnitude of Orcus is approximately 2.3. The detection of Orcus by the Spitzer Space Telescope in the far infrared and by Herschel Space Telescope in submillimeter estimates its diameter at , with an uncertainty of . Orcus appears to have an albedo of about 21–25 percent, which may be typical of trans-Neptunian objects approaching the diameter range. The magnitude and size estimates were made under the assumption that Orcus is a singular object. The presence of a relatively large satellite, Vanth, may change them considerably. The absolute magnitude of Vanth is estimated at 4.88, which means that it is about 11 times fainter than Orcus itself. The ALMA submillimeter measurements taken in 2016 showed that Vanth has a relatively large size of with albedo of about 8 percent while Orcus's has a slightly smaller size of . Using a stellar occultation by Vanth in 2017, Vanth's diameter has been determined to be , with an uncertainty of . Michael Brown's website lists Orcus as a dwarf planet with "near certainty", Tancredi concludes that it is one, and is massive enough to be considered one under the 2006 draft proposal of the IAU, but the IAU has not formally recognized it as such.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus and Vanth are known to constitute a binary system. The mass of the system has been estimated to be , approximately equal to that of the Saturnian moon Tethys (). The mass of the Orcus system is about 3.8 percent that of , the most-massive known dwarf planet (). How this mass is partitioned between Orcus and Vanth depends on their relative densities. If Vanth were (typical for a TNO in this size range), it would be about 5% of Orcus's mass; if it had the same density of Orcus (that is, the system density of ), then it would be about 20% of Orcus's mass. The low albedo of Vanth compared to Orcus suggests that their compositions are different and that Vanth's density is relatively low. Thus, the mass of Orcus is likely to be close to the system mass.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: The first spectroscopic observations in 2004 showed that the visible spectrum of Orcus is flat (neutral in color) and featureless, whereas in the near-infrared there were moderately strong water absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm. The neutral visible spectrum and strong water absorption bands of Orcus showed that Orcus appeared different from other trans-Neptunian objects, which typically have a red visible spectrum and often featureless infrared spectra. Further infrared observations in 2004 by the European Southern Observatory and the Gemini telescope gave results consistent with mixtures of water ice and carbonaceous compounds, such as tholins. The water and methane ices can cover no more than 50 percent and 30 percent of the surface, respectively. This means the proportion of ice on the surface is less than on Charon, but similar to that on Triton.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Later in 2008–2010 new infrared spectroscopic observations with a higher signal-to-noise ratio revealed additional spectral features. Among them are a deep water ice absorption band at 1.65 μm, which is an evidence of the crystalline water ice on the surface of Orcus, and a new absorption band at 2.22 μm. The origin of the latter feature is not completely clear. It can be caused either by ammonia/ammonium dissolved in the water ice or by methane/ethane ices. The radiative transfer modeling showed that a mixture of water ice, tholins (as a darkening agent), ethane ice and ammonium ion (NH) provides the best match to the spectra, whereas a combination of water ice, tholins, methane ice and ammonia hydrate gives a slightly inferior result. On the other hand, a mixture of only ammonia hydrate, tholins and water ice failed to provide a satisfactory match. So, as of 2010, the only reliably identified compounds on the surface of Orcus are crystalline water ice and, possibly, dark tholins. A firm identification of ammonia, methane and other hydrocarbons requires better infrared spectra.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus sits at the threshold for trans-Neptunian objects massive enough to retain volatiles such as methane on the surface. The reflectance spectrum of Orcus shows the deepest water-ice absorption bands of any Kuiper belt object that is not associated with the Haumea collisional family. The large icy satellites of Uranus have infrared spectra quite similar to that of Orcus. Among other trans-Neptunian objects, the large plutino and Pluto's moon Charon both have similar surface spectra to Orcus, with flat, featureless visible spectra and moderately strong water ice absorption bands in the near-infrared.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Crystalline water ice on the surfaces of trans-Neptunian objects should be completely amorphized by the galactic and Solar radiation in about 10 million years. Thus the presence of crystalline water ice, and possibly ammonia ice, may indicate that a renewal mechanism was active in the past on the surface of Orcus. Ammonia so far has not been detected on any trans-Neptunian object or icy satellite of the outer planets other than Miranda. The 1.65 μm band on Orcus is broad and deep (12%), as on Charon, Quaoar, Haumea, and icy satellites of giant planets. Some calculations indicate that cryovolcanism, which is considered one of the possible renewal mechanisms, may indeed be possible for trans-Neptunian objects larger than about . Orcus may have experienced at least one such episode in the past, which turned the amorphous water ice on its surface into crystalline. The preferred type of volcanism may have been explosive aqueous volcanism driven by an explosive dissolution of methane from water–ammonia melts.


title: 90482 Orcus

text: Orcus has one known moon, Vanth (full designation ). It was discovered by Michael Brown and T.-A. Suer using discovery images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on 13 November 2005. The discovery was announced in an IAU Circular notice published on 22 February 2007. A spatially resolved submillimeter imaging of Orcus–Vanth system in 2016 showed that Vanth has a relatively large size of , with an uncertainty of . That estimate for Vanth is in good agreement with the size of about derived from a stellar occultation in 2017. Like Charon compared to Pluto, Vanth is quite large compared to Orcus, and is one reason for characterizing Orcus as the 'anti-Pluto'. If Orcus is a dwarf planet, Vanth would be the third-largest known dwarf-planet moon, after Charon and Dysnomia. The ratio of masses of Orcus and Vanth is uncertain, possibly anywhere from 1:33 to 1:12.


title: Banacek

text: Banacek is an American detective TV series starring George Peppard that aired on the NBC network from 1972 to 1974. The series was part of the rotating "NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie" anthology. It alternated in its time slot with several other shows, but was the only one of them to last beyond its first season.


title: Banacek

text: Peppard played Thomas Banacek, a Polish-American freelance, Boston-based private investigator who solves seemingly impossible thefts. He collects from the insurance companies 10% of the insured value of the recovered property. One of Banacek's verbal signatures is the quotation of strangely worded yet curiously cogent "Polish proverbs" such as:


title: Banacek

text: Part of the joke is that Ralph Manza, as Banacek's chauffeur Jay Drury, will often ask "What does it mean, Boss?" Banacek also has a running agreement with his chauffeur for a 10% share of Banacek's 10% if he solved the crime. Mr. Drury is never at a loss for a potential solution that Banacek always manages to shoot down with his very next line. Another recurring gag is for other characters—particularly his rivals— to mispronounce his name deliberately. The name "Banaczek" (as pronounced in the show) is actually quite rare in Poland.


title: Banacek

text: Murray Matheson plays seller of rare books and information source Felix Mulholland, a character always ready with a droll remark and who exhibits a passion for chess and jigsaw puzzles. He is also the series' only character to ever call Banacek by his first name.


title: Banacek

text: Banacek's rival and some-time love interest Carlie Kirkland (Christine Belford), and another insurance investigator/rival Fennyman/Henry DeWitt (Linden Chiles).


title: Banacek

text: While he has a limousine and driver, he also owns and sometimes drives an antique 1941 Packard convertible. Both vehicles are equipped with mobile radio telephones at a time when such devices are uncommon and expensive. Banacek is intelligent, well-educated, cultured, and suave. An unapologetic ladies' man who enjoys the company of beautiful women, he is also street-smart and can engage in hand-to-hand combat when the need arises; in one episode he mentions having learned combat judo in the Marine Corps. He grew up in Scollay Square and a childhood acquaintance described him as the neighborhood jock who excelled in all sports. For recreation he jogs, plays squash, engages in weekend touch football and sculling on the Charles River.


title: Banacek

text: In general, the series was shot on the Universal Studios backlot, though location scenes were filmed around Los Angeles in areas that could pass for Boston, or rural areas near there. The episode titled "If Max Is So Smart, Why Doesn't He Tell Us Where He Is?" was shot on location at the California Institute of the Arts around the time the school first opened. "Ten Thousand Dollars a Page" was filmed at the Pasadena Art Museum, later known as the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art and now the Norton Simon Museum of Art. "Horse of a Slightly Different Color" was filmed at Hollywood Park Racetrack, now the site of SoFi Stadium.


title: Banacek

text: A customized 1969 American Motors AMX was built by George Barris for the second regular-season episode. The car became known as the AMX-400 and it is now owned by an automobile collector. Other continuing cars in the series were a 1941 Packard 180 with a Victoria body designed by Howard "Dutch" Darrin (license plate number 178344), a 1973 Corvette (driven by Ms. Kirkland) and a 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine (mobile telephone number KL 17811). In keeping with both the exotic car theme and the humor between Banacek and his driver Jay Drury, he was even chauffeured around in a Willys MB, Jeep CJ2A, and a CJ6, as well as a brand new Ford/De Tomaso Pantera.


title: Banacek

text: In preparation for both the pilot, first, and then the second seasons, the cast went to Boston and filmed a variety of background scenes. These scenes were then used through the series and are especially shown in the opening scenes, including Banacek rowing on the Charles River and walking through Government Center. In the pilot, Banacek's car pulls into his Beacon Hill home, the historic Second Harrison Gray Otis House located at 85 Mount Vernon Street. In other episodes, views are shown of the Public Garden, the entry to Felix's bookstore at 50 Beacon Street, and the Esplanade. The Boston-filmed pieces were done by a second unit and directed by Peppard himself.


title: Banacek

text: Although the show had a mixture of humor and rather intricate plots, it never generated strong ratings. Despite this, the show was well received by critics. In addition, the Polish American Congress gave the series an award for portraying Polish Americans in a good manner.


title: Banacek

text: "Banacek" was well received by television critics, and as a result was picked up for a third season. However, before the third season could start, Peppard quit the show to prevent his ex-wife Elizabeth Ashley from receiving a larger percentage of his earnings as part of their divorce settlement. The complication ended any chance of reviving "Banacek" during Peppard's lifetime. A&E continued rebroadcasts of "Banacek" in syndication.


title: Banacek

text: In 2018, "Banacek" was the subject of an episode-length parody in "The Simpsons" ("Homer Is Where the Art Isn't"), referencing items from the series' storytelling format to its establishing shots, including Goldenberg's theme music.


title: Banacek

text: The show was referenced by the band Fun Lovin' Criminals in the lyrics of its 1998 single "Love Unlimited".


title: Banacek

text: The character Banacek was referenced in "The Simpsons" "Treehouse of Horror III" segment "Dial Z for Zombies" when Bart tries cast a spell to rid Springfield of the Zombies he unleashed by intoning the magic words "Kojak, Mannix, Banacek, Danno..." (All names of 1970s TV detectives.)


title: Banacek

text: Banacek has a clear resemblance to the title character of the Steve McQueen movie "The Thomas Crown Affair", particularly in his attitude towards women and authority. The house used for exterior shots of Thomas Crown's home in Boston was used for Banacek's home in the series. Both the film and the show revolve around insurance investigations, but in the series Banacek is solving crimes, not committing them.


title: Banacek

text: Arts Alliance America has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1. Season one was released on May 15, 2007, without the series pilot. Season two was released on January 22, 2008, and included the pilot episode. On September 30, 2008, Arts Alliance released "Banacek: The Complete Series", a five-disc box set featuring all 17 episodes.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: The economy of Iraq is dominated by the oil sector, which has provided about 99.7% of foreign exchange earnings during its modern history. As of 2021, the oil sector provides about 92% of foreign exchange earnings. Iraq's hitherto agrarian economy underwent rapid development following the 14 July Revolution which overthrew the Hashemite Iraqi monarchy. It had become the third-largest economy in the Middle East by 1980. This occurred in part because of the Iraqi government's successful industrialization and infrastructure development initiatives in the 1970s, which included irrigation projects, railway and highway construction, and rural electrification.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: In the 1980s, financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the Iran-Iraq War and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the Ba'athist government to implement austerity measures, to borrow heavily, and to later reschedule foreign debt payments. Iraq suffered economic losses of at least $80 billion from the war. In 1988, the hostilities ended. Oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities, but again underwent a sharp decline after the Persian Gulf War. GDP dropped to one-fourth of the country's 1980 gross domestic product and continued to decline under postwar international sanctions, until receiving aid from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Programme in 1997.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: The Coalition Provisional Authority made efforts to modernize Iraq's economy after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, through privatization and reducing the country's foreign debt. As a result Iraq's economy expanded rapidly during this time, though growth was stunted by the insurgency, economic mismanagement, and oil shortages caused by outdated technology. Since mid-2009, oil export earnings have returned to levels seen before . Government revenues have rebounded, along with global oil prices. In 2011, Baghdad probably would increase oil exports above their then-current level of per day as a result of new contracts with international oil companies. It was thought likely to fall short of the per day it was forecasting in its budget. Iraq's recent contracts with major oil companies have the potential to greatly expand oil revenues, but Iraq will need to upgrade its oil processing, pipeline, and export infrastructure to enable these deals to reach their potential.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: An improved security environment and an initial wave of foreign investment are helping to spur economic activity, particularly in the energy, construction, and retail sectors. Broader economic improvement, long-term fiscal health, and sustained increases in the standard of living still depend on the government passing major policy reforms and on the continued development of Iraq's massive oil reserves. Although foreign investors viewed Iraq with increasing interest in 2010, most are still hampered by difficulties acquiring land for projects and other regulatory impediments.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: Nominal GDP grew by 213% in the 1960s, 1325% in the 1970s, 2% in the 1980s, −47% in the 1990s, and 317% in 2000s.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: Real GDP per capita (measured in $1990 ) increased significantly during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, which can be explained by both higher oil production levels as well as oil prices, which famously peaked in the 1970s due to the OPEC's oil embargo, causing the 1973 oil crisis. In the following two decades, however, GDP per capita in Iraq dropped substantially because of multiple wars, namely the 1980-88 war with Iran, the 1990-1991 Gulf War.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: Before the outbreak of the war with Iran in September 1980, Iraq's economic prospects were bright. Oil production had reached a level of 560,000 m³ (3.5 million barrels) per day in 1979, and oil revenues were 21 billion dollars in 1979 and $27 billion in 1980 due to record oil prices. At the outbreak of the war, Iraq had amassed an estimated $35 billion in foreign exchange reserves. It had the best education and health care systems in the Middle East, and thousands of migrant workers from Egypt, Somalia, and the Indian subcontinent came to the country to work in construction projects.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: The Iran–Iraq War and the 1980s oil glut depleted Iraq's foreign exchange reserves, devastated its economy and left the country saddled with a foreign debt of more than $40 billion. After the initial destruction of the war, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and the restoration of damaged facilities.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990, subsequent international economic sanctions on Iraq, and damage from military action by an international coalition beginning in January 1991, drastically reduced economic activity. The regime exacerbated shortages by supporting large military and internal security forces and by allocating resources to key supporters of the Ba'ath Party. The implementation of the UN's Oil for Food program in December 1996 helped improve economic conditions. For the first six six-month phases of the program, Iraq was allowed to export increasing amounts of oil in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods. In December 1999, the UN Security Council authorized Iraq to export as much oil as required to meet humanitarian needs. Per capita, food imports increased substantially, while medical supplies and health care services steadily improved, though per capita economic production and living standards were still well below their prewar level.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: Iraq changed its oil reserve currency from the U.S. dollar to the euro in 2000. However, 28% of Iraq's export revenues under the program were deducted to meet UN Compensation Fund and UN administrative expenses. The drop in GDP in 2001 was largely the result of the global economic slowdown and lower oil prices.


title: Economy of Iraq

text: The removal of sanctions on 24 May 2003 and rising oil prices in the mid-to-late 2000s led to a doubling in oil production from a low of 1.3 mbpd during the turbulence of 2003 to a high of 2.6 mbpd in 2011. Furthermore, reduced inflation and violence since 2007 have translated to real increases in living standards for Iraqis.