title: Ledley King

text: King announced his retirement from all forms of football on 19 July 2012 as a result of the chronic knee injuries that plagued much of his career. In August 2020, King was appointed assistant first team coach to work alongside José Mourinho and other coaching staff at Tottenham.


title: Ledley King

text: King was born in Bow, London in 1980, and is of Antiguan descent. As a youth footballer, he played for Senrab F.C. and the Tower Hamlets district representative team. He attended the Blessed John Roche RC School, which is now closed. King joined Tottenham as a trainee in July 1996 and progressed through the youth system. Whilst a trainee, he was identified as having qualities and instincts similar to Bobby Moore.


title: Ledley King

text: His debut came in May 1999 at Anfield ending in a 3–2 defeat to Liverpool. When breaking into the first team under former manager George Graham he was often used as a midfielder. It was with a performance in central midfield during Tottenham's 2–1 win over Liverpool in November 2000 that he established himself as a regular in the Spurs side. His first goal for Tottenham came in December 2000 in a 3–3 draw away to Bradford City after just ten seconds, setting a new Premier League record for the quickest goal. This record stood for over 18 years, finally beaten by Shane Long, scoring for Southampton on 23 April 2019 after only 7.69 seconds.


title: Ledley King

text: After injuring his knee in training before the start of the season, King did not start his season until mid-September. Then after breaking his metatarsal again, he did not feature for Spurs from Boxing Day until the UEFA Cup quarter-final clash with Sevilla in mid-April. Spurs played 59 games in all competitions that season, but King featured in less than half of them. Tottenham only managed 3 clean sheets against top flight opposition without King in the side. In a Premier League clash with reigning champions Chelsea at White Hart Lane, Spurs went on to win the game 2–1, meaning King had captained Tottenham to their first league win over Chelsea since 1990, and the first at White Hart Lane since 1987.


title: Ledley King

text: King underwent surgery in the summer, meaning he would miss the start of the season. Manager Martin Jol had been sacked and replaced by Juande Ramos. But on Boxing Day 2007, King made a surprise return to the starting line-up against Fulham, playing 73 minutes before being replaced by Adel Taarabt. He appeared sporadically for the rest of the season, but captained Tottenham to a 2–1 victory over Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final, the first major honour of his career.


title: Ledley King

text: On 3 April 2008, it was announced that he would be rested for the remainder of the season, Spurs having been knocked out of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and unable to qualify for the Champions League through the League. King had featured in just 10 games all season, with just four Premiership games under his belt.


title: Ledley King

text: On 12 August 2008, King picked up the trophy for the cleanest team in the Premier league for the season. He received the award at the 'Get on with the Game' programme which was shown on Sky Sports News.


title: Ledley King

text: It became clear at the start of the 2008–09 season that King's injury problems meant that he could not play in every game. Ramos picked him in all five of the cup games he managed the club for that season, but only two of the eight league games. With Spurs rooted to the bottom of the league, having picked up just 2 points from those 8 games, Ramos was sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp, who chose to prioritise the league and only play King in those games. On 26 October 2008, King made his 200th league appearance for Tottenham Hotspur as they defeated Bolton Wanderers 2–0. He captained the club in the League Cup final yet again, this time against Manchester United, keeping a clean sheet after 120 minutes of play, but Tottenham lost on penalties.


title: Ledley King

text: "There's no cure. There's no cartilage, nothing to operate on. It's just bone on bone. So it's just a question of managing it. It swells up after games and it normally takes seven days to recover but having played on Monday night he's had less time than usual. He rarely trains, he mostly just goes to the gym to keep himself ticking over. But not running or anything like that. But even if he only plays 20 games a season, he's worth having because he's so good we have a much better chance of winning."


title: Ledley King

text: King won his first game ever against Arsenal in the league on 14 April 2010, with a 2–1 win, of which he played 90 minutes. Exactly three weeks later, on 5 May 2010 King captained Tottenham to a 1–0 away victory at Manchester City, thus guaranteeing Tottenham's highest ever finish in the Premier League and securing entry into the qualification round of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. King had been a major doubt for the match having played against Bolton just 4 days earlier, however his performance in this game and many other games in early 2010 look to have secured his place in Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On 16 May 2010 it was reported that King had signed a new two-year contract extension with Spurs which would keep him at the club until 2012. It was rumoured that King had been released by Tottenham after The Premier League released a list of players who would not be staying at their clubs; with King included on the list. This was confirmed to be incorrect by Tottenham, who said they were still in the process of offering King a new deal.


title: Ledley King

text: On 19 July 2012, King announced he would retire from football. He has continued at Tottenham as a club ambassador. Thierry Henry stated he was the best defender he had played against and the only one to tackle him without resorting to fouling. Throughout the whole of his career King received only eight yellow cards, unusual even for a relatively short career.


title: Ledley King

text: On 12 May 2014, Ledley made a final playing appearance at White Hart Lane in his testimonial match. King with a Guests XI featuring David Ginola, Teddy Sheringham and Dimitar Berbatov faced a Tottenham Hotspur team made up of first and reserve team players. The game finished 6–3 to the Ledley XI, with King opening the scoring from the penalty spot, and Louis Saha netting a second half hat trick for the XI.


title: Ledley King

text: King's England debut came in a 1–2 loss to Italy in March 2002. He was called into the England squad for the friendly against Portugal on 18 February 2004, and netted his first goal on his third appearance.


title: Ledley King

text: King received his England call-up for Euro 2004 deputising for the injured John Terry in the opener against France in Portugal. He also made a substitute appearance in midfield in the final group game against Croatia.


title: Ledley King

text: After featuring regularly in the qualifiers, King looked a likely participant in the England 2006 World Cup squad before fracturing a bone in his foot on 15 April 2006. Although not as bad as a similar injury affecting David Beckham, Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard, King's injury prevented him from being named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad. "Ledley King is injured and he can't train. If you talk about centre-halves we are very well covered, so taking another one half-injured when we have so many good ones it is not a good idea."


title: Ledley King

text: King played in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia on 6 June 2007. King played 90 minutes and England won 3–0. Although he featured in Fabio Capello's first squad, he had to pull out through injury. Due to the chronic knee condition which preventing him holding down a regular place in the club side he was also not selected for England games for the rest of 2007 and during the whole of 2008.


title: Ledley King

text: On 22 March 2009, King was given a recall by head coach Fabio Capello to the team to play Slovakia and Ukraine. However, two days later he was removed from the squad after being assessed by England's medical staff, who thought it was in his best interests to continue his personal training regime at his club, due to the chronic knee condition that he has.


title: Ledley King

text: Fabio Capello later said, in response to Harry Redknapp's objection to King's call-up, "Without doubt, King is one of the best central defenders in England. If he was fit, Redknapp would not need to make the journey. King could come with us." He later promoted King's cause again, saying that "We hope (he has an international future), because he's a very interesting player – one of the best centre-backs. But I don't know the future."


title: Ledley King

text: On 11 May 2010, King was named in the 30-man provisional squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup alongside fellow Spurs central defender Michael Dawson. He went on to score a headed goal against Mexico in the first preparation friendly on 24 May.


title: Ledley King

text: King made it into England's World Cup 2010 squad. On 12 June 2010, King played 45 minutes for England in their opening match against the US, before picking up a groin injury which kept him out of the rest of the tournament.


title: Ledley King

text: On 26 July 2020, Tottenham Hotspur manager José Mourinho confirmed King's appointment as an assistant coach for the club. On 6 August 2020, Tottenham announced that King, who had previously been a club ambassador, would be a first-team assistant coach. Following the sacking of Jose Mourinho, King returned full time to his club ambassador duties.


title: Ledley King

text: On 10 May 2009 at 2:30 am, King was arrested on Soho Street on suspicion of a racially aggravated common assault outside a London nightclub. He spent the night in a police cell and was subsequently bailed until mid-July while the police investigated the incident. King later issued an apology to his club, saying:


title: Ledley King

text: "I sincerely regret that a night out with friends went too far. I have apologised to Harry and I fully appreciate that, as a professional footballer, I have a duty to behave in a responsible manner", King said in a statement on the club's website. "I am assisting the police with their enquiries. Anyone who knows me, knows that much of what has been suggested is totally out of character. I am keen to resolve this as soon as possible and concentrate on my football."


title: Ledley King

text: This prompted his manager at Tottenham, Harry Redknapp, to promise a ban on alcohol for Tottenham players:


title: Ledley King

text: "I'll implement a strong rule next season that drinking is a no-no here. Footballers should not drink. You shouldn't put diesel in a Ferrari. I know it's hard but they are earning big money, they are role models to kids. We wouldn't get these problems if the players weren't drinking. There's still too much of a drinking culture in English football but it's not as bad as it used to be. At Tottenham we do a lot with kids, a lot of them underprivileged. We have to set an example. Too much drinking goes on in this country. Too many people are not happy unless they have had a drink."


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria Morgendorffer is a fictional character from the MTV animated series "Beavis and Butt-Head" and its spin-off "Daria". She was voiced in both productions by Tracy Grandstaff.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In 2002, Daria placed at number 41 on the list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" by "TV Guide" for her role in the two shows. She was also listed in AOL's 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Mike Judge created the Daria character on advice of the network. MTV senior vice president and creative director Abby Terkuhle explained that when "Beavis and Butt-Head" "became successful, we... created Daria's character because we wanted a smart female who could serve as the foil." Terkuhle said that he added Daria "to put Beavis and Butt-Head in their place". Judge says that Daria was named for a girl he knew in school who, like the character, was saddled with the nickname "Diarrhea". Glenn Eichler, who created the "Daria" spin-off – sometimes incorrectly stated to be the character's creator as well – was, along with Peggy Nicoll, one of the main writers of the series; other writers were Neena Beber, Anne D. Bernstein, Rachelle Romberg, Rachel Lipman, and Sam Johnson.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In Daria's first incarnation as a recurring character on "Beavis and Butt-Head", she formed an intelligent female foil to the two main characters. She went through three different outfits, had a stockier figure, and initially was a more expressive character; her iconic monotone voice developed over time. While she later became more sardonic, she showed early on that she could hold her own against the two and could react quickly to their antics.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In her debut episode, "Scientific Stuff", she was forced to do a science class presentation with Beavis and Butt-Head. At first, Daria is horrified by this and voiced out her complaints to Mrs. Dickie against having to work with the pair due to their history of stupidity and lack of common sense. She later turned it to her advantage by using "them" as the presentation's experiment. She had a minor role in her next two appearances, in "Babes R Us" and "Sign Here". In "Sign Here" she answered questions from David Van Driessen on furriers and their treatment of animals. In later appearances, she alternated between being irritated by their antics and finding their stupidity to be amusing: in "Sprout", she specifically came over to watch them fail at planting seeds, and in "Walkathon" she got them to unwittingly pledge $100 apiece on a charity walkathon. In "Sporting Goods" she gave three eye-popping gasps while Beavis and Butt-Head wear eye patches as athletic supporters, which is a dramatic contrast to her monotonous behavior in the later series. She lacked the passionate hatred for them that Principal McVicker and Coach Buzzcut had and was one of the very few characters that would willingly seek them out, but did not really believe there is any hope for them either, as Van Driessen had. On multiple occasions, she took it upon herself to explain simple concepts to them, such as informing them in "U.S. History" what graduation was (Beavis responded, "You mean, like... school ends?") and in "Sprout" that you put seeds in the ground.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In a Christmas special, it is stated that Butt-Head had been responsible for giving her a negative outlook on boys. Aside from that, she was one of the few characters that the duo never managed to drive crazy as they had with many other students and teachers. Butt-Head sometimes treated her with some degree of respect, following her advice in "Sprout" and chuckling "Daria's "cool!"" after she asked Bill Clinton if "you were just jerking us around" on a campaign promise.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: John J. O'Connor of "The New York Times" describes Daria as "as sharp as B. & B. are dimwitted". John Allemang of "The Globe and Mail" described Daria in "Beavis and Butt-Head" "the prematurely wise girl who could be counted on to put their idiocy in perspective." Beavis and Butt-Head often call her "Diarrhea".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In the final episode of season 7, when the boys were believed dead, Daria expressed the sentiments that "I guess it's sad they're dead", but they did not have very bright futures to look forward to.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria appeared frequently in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the TV show, and also got to appear on the cover of one issue and "answer" the fan mail in two others. In "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America", she appears once throughout the film with a group of students, but does not have any dialogue.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria's own show never mentioned Beavis and Butt-Head and named Highland only once at the beginning of the first episode of season one, carried over from the original and unbroadcast pilot. Despite this, it was frequently noted in media articles about the show that it was a spin-off from "Beavis and Butt-Head". In an "interview" on "CBS Early Show" on January 21, 2002, Daria was asked by Jane Clayson if she kept in touch with Beavis and Butt-Head; she responded "I'd like to, but first they'd have to figure out that when the telephone makes that funny sound, you're supposed to pick it up and say hello".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: As revealed in a "Rolling Stone" interview with Mike Judge, Daria would not return to the new episodes of "Beavis and Butt-Head" in 2011, but she was referenced in "Drones" during a music video when Beavis assumed she had committed suicide. However, Butt-Head incredulously tells his friend "What are you talking about, Beavis? Daria didn't die, she just moved away".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria made a brief, silent cameo in the 2022 Paramount+ film "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", during Beavis and Butt-Head's sentencing, angry with the fact that the boys got off scot-free with their crime.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In the series "Daria" which followed "Beavis and Butt-Head", Daria remains bespectacled and plain. She is an unfashionably dressed, highly intellectual, entirely pessimistic about life altogether, cynical/Diogenean, and sarcastic teenage girl who is portrayed as an icon of sanity in an insane household in an equally insane upper middle class suburb. She resides with her vacuous, fashion-obsessed younger sister Quinn and career-obsessed parents Helen and Jake. Their family name, "Morgendorffer" (lit. "one from Dawn Village", Morgen + Dorf + -er), indicates that her father's family originally hails from Germanic roots. John Allemang of "The Globe and Mail" said that Daria is "both the disappointment of her overachieving parents and an embarrassment to her boy-crazy sister Quinn". She had moved to a new school, having transferred from the one in "Beavis and Butt-Head". Glenn Eichler said, in relation to "Daria" the series, of which he was a co-creator, "I like to think that I've helped her come out of her shell."


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: David L. Coddon of the "San Diego Union-Tribune" described Daria as "the anti-cheerleader, the un-social climber, the jaundiced eye in a cartoon world of too much makeup and superficial crayon colors". Coddon added that Daria "may look like a misfit, but the catch is that Daria's the only character on the show who 'gets it'. It's everyone else who's a misfit." Daria states in the first episode that she does not have low self esteem: she has low esteem for everybody else. Anita Gates of "The New York Times" said "The secret of Daria's popularity (everywhere but in her own home and school) may be our collective alienation." Gates says "her tastes are a little dark." As an example, Gates used the fact that she reads "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg at a reading to the elderly program.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Eichler said, "Apparently everyone, with the exception of a very few people who were hit on the head when they were very young, felt like they were outsiders. You either identify with her as an outsider or you sort of envy her ability to navigate her life as an outsider and stay sane." John J. O'Connor, a television critic for "The New York Times", said "In short, Daria is the perfect anti-Barbie Doll. Merchants of fashion and cosmetics are beneath her contempt. Her refusal to be Miss Goody Consumer borders on the truly subversive." He concludes that Daria "is every glorious misfit I ever knew".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Allemang said that in "Daria", Daria "seems more tortured and neurotic, if only because it's more clear that the airheads have won". Daria often talks to herself. Allemang adds "in a perky-teen world with its twisted values, soliloquies are the best hope of intelligent conversation." In addition he said "There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Daria, just because she can't or won't hang out with the cool kids." John J. O'Connor of "The New York Times" said that Daria has "a withering eye" towards her classmates. Emily Nussbaum for "Slate" would praise the show both for having a character that many disaffected teenagers could relate to and for showing "the flipside of her principled withdrawal from the world: her crippling terror of rejection, a streak of ugly self-righteousness".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria likes to watch the fictitious television show "Sick, Sad World". Gates added that "Daria is the kind of girl who reads "Heart of Darkness" and Edgar Allan Poe's 'Telltale Heart' in class."


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Anita Gates of "The New York Times" says "The Morgendorffers don't even seem to notice that Daria constantly gives them lip." In one scene, when Helen, her mother, says, "There's no course that can teach you to be a perfect mother," Daria responds "That's obvious." Gates says that "nobody sends her to her room". Gates also said that Daria's popular, self-absorbed sister Quinn is "the greatest burden on the home front". Jane Lane, Daria's best friend, met her at a self-esteem class. Gates adds that Jane "knows all of Daria's peculiarities and still loves her". Gates said that Daria's "silent intense crush" on Jane's brother Trent is her "only discernible weakness" and that "the absolute proof that Jane is a good friend is that she knows how Daria feels about Trent and will never, ever tell." In spite of her early infatuation with Trent, Daria's most significant romantic relationship is with Tom Sloane, who entered the show at the end of the third season and rapidly became Jane's love interest before beginning a relationship with Daria that continued throughout the rest of the show and caused some friction between Daria and Jane.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: The first "Daria" movie, "Is It Fall Yet?", gave the principal characters time apart from one another in parallel narratives which foreshadowed further changes in their relationships.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: By the time of the finale movie "Is It College Yet?", Daria's character has undergone noticeable growth. She chooses to attend Raft College. She graduates from Lawndale High, winning the Dian Fossey Award "for dazzling academic achievements in face of near total misanthropy", and crowning her acceptance speech with the assertion that "there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria wears rounded thick glasses, an orange T-shirt underneath a green jacket, a black skirt, and black boots. John Allemang of "The Globe and Mail" said "to surrender is to be normal, to sacrifice your brain in the rush to be popular and wear uncomfortable shoes that make your legs look hot. Daria, as always, keeps her integrity. She wears sensible shoes, and finds her intellectual reward in not being hot."


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In "Beavis and Butt-Head", Daria wears square glasses, a black leather jacket, white T-shirt, a red skirt, black leggings and black boots. In the earlier episodes, she is seen wearing a brown jacket, beige skirt, green shirt and brown boots.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: During her run on MTV, Daria would narrate or "host" special events and shows, either with a real-life presenter or with Jane. She was part of the Cool Crap Auction in 1999, giving an overview of the goods for auction and talking "live" to the winner of one prize, answering machine messages recorded by her. Daria and Jane also hosted MTV's "Top Ten Animated Videos Countdown" and two "Daria Day" marathons of their episodes; the "Countdown" and second marathon segments are included on the 2010 DVD release.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria makes a brief cameo in the "Drawn Together" episode "Lost in Parking Space, Part Two". She is being tortured in the basement of a Hot Topic along with other cartoon characters. She has a nail being hammered into her eye and says, "This is men's fault", in her infamous monotone and is rather indifferent to the pain. Also, at one point in the MTV animated series "Undergrads", Gimpy is talking to his friends via webcam when a female hacker hacks into the video stream and edits Gimpy to look like Daria.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: In late 2010, following the DVD release, Daria was licensed as a voice for Garmin and TomTom GPS systems; original putdowns and jokes were recorded.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: She made a brief appearance in the "Family Guy" episode "Peter & Lois' Wedding", where Joe Swanson tried to flirt with her in a flashback of the 1990s.


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Daria appears in the "Robot Chicken" episodes "Kramer vs. Showgirls" and "May Cause Weebles to Fall Down".


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Carol A. Stabile and Mark Harrison, authors of "Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture", said that "for the cerebral, writerly types who liked television Daria was the outcast she-hero who dared to say things they were too scared to say in their teenage years." Van Toffler, then the general manager of MTV, said in 1998 that Daria "has an attitude about parents, school, and siblings that is common to the experiences of our audience. She is a good spokesperson for MTV... intelligent but subversive." A 1997 "The Nation" article referred to Daria as "a 10th grade Dorothy Parker". Another critic praising the character said that she is like "a 50-year-old deadpan Jewish comic in the body of a 16-year-old". Jennifer Vineyard, a writer of "My Life as Liz", said "Daria made it cool to be a smart chick." Vineyard added, "Just the presence of people or characters like Daria help make it cool to be yourself. There's a tendency for young girls to play dumb. Characters like Daria show you that you don't have to."


title: Daria Morgendorffer

text: Some commentators believed that the character's deadpan humor had too much morbidity for the teenage audience. A critic said that Daria uses her "omnivorous deadpan" contempt against other people, represented a variety of "living death", and was "a grim reaper in a dress" who was more dangerous than Marilyn Manson. Anita Gates of "The New York Times" said "And some people like her just because she says mean things. As far as I can tell, with her show well into its third season [...], Daria has never cracked a smile."


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: Afa Amituana'i "Arthur" Anoa'i (born November 21, 1942) is a Samoan-American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Center.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: Anoa'i was born on an island in Western Samoa, a trust territory that was then administered by New Zealand, and his family relocated to San Francisco, California in the United States when he was young. At the age of 17, Anoa'i enlisted in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: Upon leaving the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Anoa'i began training as a wrestler under family friends Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia. He later received supplementary training from Kurt Von Steiger. He wrestled his first match in 1971 in Phoenix, Arizona. He then trained his brother Sika, and the siblings formed a tag team known best as The Wild Samoans.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: Throughout the 1970s, The Wild Samoans wrestled for the Canadian Stampede Wrestling promotion (where they received further training from Stu Hart) and for numerous National Wrestling Alliance affiliates. In 1978, The Wild Samoans traveled to Japan to wrestle for the International Wrestling Alliance, winning the IWA Tag Team Championship.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: In 1979, The Wild Samoans joined the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by Lou Albano and referred to as "Albano's Wildmen". The "wild" nature of the brothers was conveyed through their unorthodox behavior (which included communicating only in unintelligible grunts and consuming unprepared raw fish, during interviews and while approaching the ring). While in the WWF, The Wild Samoans won the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Both members also challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship on several occasions. They left the promotion in 1980.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: The Wild Samoans then wrestled in Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions, before returning to the WWF (renamed from WWWF in 1979) in 1983 and regaining the WWF World Tag Team Championship. After Sika suffered an injury, the tag team was supplemented by Afa's son Samu (the relationship was not acknowledged on TV). The trio remained in the WWF until 1984. According to Afa, he lost his job because a few days earlier, Afa didn't come to work because he was at the birth of his son. Afa Anoa'i returned to the WWF for a third time in 1992, as the manager and occasional tag partner of The Headshrinkers (Samu and Anoai's nephew, Fatu). He wrestled his final match on May 22, 1994, teaming with The Headshrinkers to defeat The Quebecers and Johnny Polo at the Rosemont Horizon. When Samu left WWF in 1994, he also managed Sionne. Anoa'i left the WWF in mid-1995.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: After leaving the WWF, he began training wrestlers at his Wild Samoan Training Facility, along with Sika. On March 31, 2007, the Wild Samoans were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Samu and Sika's son, Matt. He was the wrestling trainer for Darren Aronofsky's 2008 film, "The Wrestler".


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: In 2013 and 2014, Afa came out of retirement to wrestle for his promotion World Xtreme Wrestling at age 71.


title: Afa Anoa'i

text: In 1999, Afa and Lynn Anoa'i started the Usos Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to turn youth away from drugs, gangs and poverty by providing scholarships to the Wild Samoans Training Center.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora was initially designed by the "Kingdom Hearts" series director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura during a discussion between Disney and Square about who the series's protagonist should be. Wanting an original character, Nomura made various sketches of Sora until the design met the approval of Disney. Throughout the series, Sora has been voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English version and Miyu Irino in the Japanese version. For his depiction as a child in the prequel "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep", Sora was voiced by Luke Manriquez and Takuto Yoshinaga in English and Japanese, respectively. Sora has made supporting appearances in other games from the series and reprised his role in manga and light novel adaptations of the games.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora's character has received a generally positive critical response due to his warm personality and adventurous spirit. His personal and martial growth in the series also received praise, especially in his appearance in "Kingdom Hearts II". Since his debut in "Kingdom Hearts", he has become popular among the video game community, with high rankings among character popularity polls. His prominence increased significantly in 2021 after he was added to Nintendo's fighting video game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" as a downloadable fighter and revealed to be the most requested fighter to appear in the "Super Smash Bros." series.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora was designed by Tetsuya Nomura as the protagonist of "Kingdom Hearts". He was not originally slated to be the protagonist, as Disney wanted Donald Duck to fill the role, while Square wanted Mickey Mouse. Nomura designed Sora with the concepts of the Disney characters in mind, basing his outfit on Mickey Mouse's trademark white gloves, red shorts and giant yellow shoes. Sora originally wielded a weapon resembling a chainsaw; however, the weapon was not well received by Disney, which led Nomura to redesign the weapon into a Keyblade. He was also designed with lion-like features, which were removed as the staff found them to be similar to those of "Final Fantasy IX" protagonist Zidane Tribal. The design was further reworked after a talk with the Disney staff, and Nomura finished it after a night's work. Because Sora was a new character in the first "Kingdom Hearts", Square added "Final Fantasy" characters who support the protagonist.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: One of the main concepts of Sora's character in the series is that, according to Nomura, he is a normal boy instead of a supernatural being, even though he is deeply connected with other characters from the series. With Sora, Nomura wants to give players the message that even though they are not "important people", they have the opportunity to accomplish great things. This was emphasized in "Birth by Sleep"s secret ending, which Nomura hoped players would find because it showed Sora's potential to influence everyone's lives. In early versions of development of "Birth by Sleep", Nomura thought that Ventus would actually be Sora before being reborn, but due to negative feedback from overseas, that plot line was discarded. Nomura has stated that Sora's name can be interpreted as "sky", since the Japanese word means sky. This name was also chosen to symbolize Sora's role and his personality, as well as his close relationship with Riku and Kairi, making their three names together "sky, land, and sea." He was also described by Nomura as having an outgoing personality, which allows him to make friends throughout the series. Of all of the characters he has designed, Nomura called Sora his favorite, describing him as "special" after having worked to develop the character over many games. The name of Noctis Lucis Caelum from "Final Fantasy XV" is also a reference to Sora; Sora and Caelum both mean "sky" in their respective languages, and Nomura considered Noctis to be his latest "son". When "Kingdom Hearts II" included a note using Sora's handwriting, Nomura wrote it himself.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Following the first "Kingdom Hearts", Nomura was worried that players would be unhappy that Sora would start "Kingdom Hearts II" as a weak character with few powers who once again had to be leveled up like the first title. Therefore, Nomura developed the plot of "Chain of Memories" to explain how Sora loses his abilities in Castle Oblivion and then starts anew. Additionally, a new mystery regarding Sora's memories of Twilight Town was added in "Chain of Memories", which would be explained in "Kingdom Hearts II". Sora was given a new outfit to reflect the time spent between "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts II". The team in charge of "Kingdom Hearts II" expressed difficulties in animating Sora's "Valor" Drive Form for having a completely different motion except in Sora's walking animation, which is shared with his regular motion. The Anti-Form was also made to focus on Sora's dark side from the first "Kingdom Hearts", where he is temporarily transformed into a Heartless. Gameplaywise, the form was created to be both powerful and troublesome. The fights Sora has with Roxas and Xemnas were meant to surprise gamers, especially in the latter when the player loses control of Sora and has Riku to save him.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: After finishing "Kingdom Hearts II", Nomura wanted to give Sora a rest from the series in order to focus the following games on other characters from the series. Moreover, the events from the endings of "Coded" and "Birth by Sleep" hinted at a new mystery regarding Sora's character, which would be revealed in "Kingdom Hearts III". Although Nomura stated in March 2010 that Sora would once again be the focus of the next title, "Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance", he stated that Sora would share it with another character with great importance. The switches between player characters Sora and Riku across the game are meant to contrast the style from "Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep", which allowed the player to use three characters in their own campaigns, as well as to explain the word "Distance" in the title, because the two characters never interact across their stories. Nomura has stated that the themes of the game are trust and friendship, and that like "Birth by Sleep", the story is on par with that of a numbered title. As a result of the game's plot, both Sora and Riku appear in their younger forms from the first "Kingdom Hearts" game. To avoid misconceptions that "Dream Drop Distance" was a remake of the original game, Nomura decided to change Sora's and Riku's outfits for most of the game.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In response to rumors saying that Sora's story would end in "Kingdom Hearts III", Nomura answered that Sora is the protagonist of the series and that his role will end once the series ends. For this game, Nomura was interested in giving Sora a new costume, but was worried about doing so because of the popularity of the character's "Kingdom Hearts II" outfit. In the end, he decided to create a new one as "Kingdom Hearts III" was a new numbered title. Nomura also revealed that Sora is the same proportions as in previous games; however, they "muted the volume on his hair—it's not wild." Regarding updating Sora's look from his "Kingdom Hearts II" design, Nomura noted that the basis for the resulting design is a mix between Sora's costumes for "Kingdom Hearts II" and "Dream Drop Distance", one that is "a lot more sleek and sporty" since "Sora does a lot more... acrobatic [and]... action-oriented movements". Sora's new skills in "Kingdom Hearts III" were inspired by those of Terra from "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix" and "Birth by Sleep" in order to surprise gamers with new powers related to the Keyblade, with other skills that were influenced by Sora's and Riku's powers from "Dream Drop Distance". For the "Monsters Inc." world, Nomura considered giving Sora a monster costume similar to the one Boo wears in the movie, but Pixar gave the idea to actually change Sora into a monster. Sora's final stage in "Kingdom Hearts III" was left ambiguous though Nomura suggested it might be related to the Square Enix game "The World Ends With You".


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: According to "Super Smash Bros." series director Masahiro Sakurai, Sora had been the winner of the "Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U" Fighter Ballot in 2015, and Sakurai was well aware of the various fan campaigns advocating for Sora's inclusion in the series. Sakurai described Sora's inclusion as a "huge undertaking" and "perfect" as the concluding fighter for "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". Sakurai also felt that it was "impossible" for Sora to appear in the series, but after Sakurai met a Disney executive at an awards show, Nintendo, Disney, and Square Enix began negotiations to include him. According to Luigi Priore, Vice President of Disney and Pixar Games, the company recognized that having Sora in "Smash Bros." was something that fans had been asking for a long time, and the team was delighted to make it happen. "Knowing the passion of "Kingdom Hearts" fans, we were not surprised [by the reaction], but we were thrilled," Priore added. "It's been incredible watching all the videos and commentary online." Sora was designed as a floaty, light, and aerial fighter. The majority of his moves are inspired by his appearance in the original "Kingdom Hearts", but per the limitations of the licensing agreement, Disney characters were not included as spirits or cameos.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In April 2022, During the interview with Nomura at "Famitsu", he said that ""Kingdom Hearts 4" will explore the contrast between the real world known as Quadratum and the fictional worlds of "Kingdom Hearts"". He further said that "Sora also looks more realistic due to him being in that world. However, if he were to return to his own world, his appearance would look similar to [how he would look with] the shaders used for Donald and Goofy."


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora is voiced in Japanese by Miyu Irino, who used his normal voice for the beginning; Irino was filmed with cameras during voice recording to provide a reference for Sora's mouth movements. As Irino grew older, he struggled with sounding as young as Sora, who remained the same in "Re:coded" as his data form. By "Kingdom Hearts III", Irino faced more issues during recordings of the game. After finishing the game, Irino wondered if he might properly portray Sora in sequels due to his age gap.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In English, the character is voiced by Haley Joel Osment. Due to Sora's lack of growth across the franchise, Osment faced the challenge of properly giving him the tone of a teenager; "I think he's a little bit older now [in "Kingdom Hearts 3"] than he was in "Kingdom Hearts 1" and "2". But early on, you know, I started this when I was 12, and my voice had started to change and everything. So learning how to manipulate that and keep the voice sounding young while still preserving the range of emotions that Sora had; that was a unique challenge." In retrospect, Osment found the idea of ending "Kingdom Hearts III" as an emotional moment as, while the series is not ending with this installment, the narrative is giving a proper closure to the story started by the antagonist Xehanort.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora appears as a boy with spiky brown-hair who, when first introduced, wears a red shirt, red pants, and a white and blue jacket covered by keychains. Upon traveling to certain worlds, Sora's appearance is altered by Donald Duck's magic to adapt to different environments and keep his origin from another world a secret; for example, he turns into a merman in underwater environments. After undergoing significant growth in "Kingdom Hearts II", Sora is provided with a new, black outfit by Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. When battling, Sora's outfit can change into other designs depending on the player's choices. The primary form of Sora's Keyblade is the , but through the use of in-game keychains, the Keyblade can assume a variety of unique forms. During "Kingdom Hearts II", Sora dual-wields Keyblades, their forms depending on the player's use of keychains.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Across the series, Sora is depicted as a cheerful teenager who cherishes his friendships and relies on them for his strength. As a result, several of Sora's enemies use his friends as bait to use the Keyblade for their purposes. During the first game, it is discovered that Sora was not meant to wield the Keyblade, which only chooses him in the absence of its intended owner, Riku. However, Sora's greater strength of heart causes the Keyblade to reject Riku in favor of Sora.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In "Kingdom Hearts", Sora, Riku and Kairi plan to leave their home on the Destiny Islands to explore new worlds. They are separated when the island is attacked by the Heartless; in the process, Sora obtains a Keyblade that he uses to eliminate the Heartless. Arriving in Traverse Town, Sora allies with Donald Duck and Goofy, who are under instruction from their missing king, Mickey Mouse, to follow the "key". The three travel across worlds in their Gummi Ship in search of their missing friends, sealing the worlds' "Keyholes" along the way to protect them from being consumed by the Heartless. They are opposed by an alliance of Disney villains led by Maleficent, who seeks out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the Keyhole that leads to "Kingdom Hearts", a repository of knowledge and power, and the source of all hearts. Riku, who has come under Maleficent's watch, fights with Sora on several occasions under the belief that Sora has replaced him with new friends. As the group travels to Hollow Bastion and defeat Maleficent, Riku becomes possessed by Ansem, who reveals that Kairi's heart is in Sora's body. To save Kairi, Sora impales himself with Ansem's Keyblade, briefly transforming him into a Heartless before Kairi restores Sora to human form. After taking Kairi to safety, Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat Ansem at the open door to Kingdom Hearts. From inside the door, Mickey and Riku help Sora and his friends close it to prevent the Heartless within from escaping, with Mickey and Sora using their Keyblades to lock the door. Separated from their friends again, Sora, Donald and Goofy continue their quest to reunite with Riku and Mickey.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In "", Sora's group stumbles upon a fortress known as Castle Oblivion, where Naminé is forced by the group Organization XIII to manipulate their memories in order to turn Sora into their slave. After Sora and friends defeat the Organization members controlling the castle, Naminé helps restore the trio's memories to their state prior to entering Castle Oblivion, at the cost of their memories of the events in the castle. This requires them to sleep in the castle for the restoration of memories to be completed.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In "Kingdom Hearts II", Sora reawakens along with Donald and Goofy in Twilight Town once his Nobody, Roxas, merges within him. They visit Mickey's master, Yen Sid, from whom they are reacquainted with Organization XIII. Sora embarks with Donald and Goofy to find Riku and King Mickey, traversing new and unfamiliar worlds to eliminate the threat of the remaining Heartless, Nobodies, and local villains. Learning that the Organization has abducted Kairi to force Sora to gather more hearts for them, Sora's group rejoins Mickey and arrives at the Organization's fortress in the World That Never Was, where they reunite with Kairi and Riku. After being separated from the others, Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, after which a doorway appears that allows them to reunite with their friends on the Destiny Islands.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora makes a minor appearance in "Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days", the majority of which is set as he sleeps to recover his lost memories from the events of "Chain of Memories"; it is also established that Xion, an experimental replica of Roxas created by the Organization, inadvertently hinders the restoration process until she joins with him. In "Kingdom Hearts Coded", a computer program based on Sora's likeness serves as the primary protagonist of the game, finding out the truth behind a mysterious message found inside Jiminy's journal. A four-year-old Sora appears in the prequel, "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep"; after Ventus, one of the protagonists, has his heart damaged following a confrontation with his dark side, Vanitas, his heart finds its way into Sora, who accepts it into his own heart. In the game's secret ending, set after the events of "Kingdom Hearts II", Ansem the Wise tells Aqua about Sora's adventures, and how he may help all the people connected to him. In the final scene, Sora decides to save them after reading Mickey's letter.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In "", Sora and Riku undertake a Mark of Mastery exam in response to Xehanort's return. The two are sent to awaken several worlds submerged in sleep after the defeat of Ansem. Sora is lured into a deep slumber by Xehanort's incarnations, who plan to turn him into a vessel for Xehanort's heart. Riku and his friends save Sora and bring him back to Yen Sid's tower, where Riku dives into Sora's heart and awakens him. Because of Sora's failure, he does not achieve the rank of Keyblade Master. In the ending of "Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage", Yen Sid reveals that Sora has lost most of his powers as a consequence of Xehanort's attempted possession, and advises Sora to seek out Hercules, who has gone through a similar experience.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In "Kingdom Hearts III", Sora goes on a journey to regain his strength, particularly the required to restore the hearts of Ventus, Aqua, and Terra while also looking for a chance to restore Roxas. Sora engages prepares with Master Xehanort and the thirteen seekers from the new Organization XIII. Although Sora's missions end in failures, upon finding Vanitas' body, Sora manages to properly use his strength and restore Ventus. Sora and the other Keyblade wielders go to Graveyard of their predecessors to fight Xehanort but are nearly killed by the amount of Heartless. After being restored by Namine, Sora uses his Power of Waking to give his friends another chance with Kairi's help. After their return to the graveyard, Sora manages to restore Terra and defeat the Organization with the group. However, the original Xehanort kills Kairi, causing him to track him to his hometown where Xehanort accepts defeat after as he goes to the afterlife, giving Sora his χ-blade. Sora uses his power of waking to restore Kairi despite learning the risks of its overuse, which causes him to fade from existence.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: In the aftermath, as depicted in the "Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind" DLC, Sora finds himself in the Final World, where he is accosted by a young man, Yozora, who claims he was sent to save him. The two end up in a different world, Quadratum, where they engage in a fierce battle in which Sora emerges victorious; if defeated, Sora transforms into a crystal statue. In the rhythm action game "", Kairi recalls Sora's adventures in a dream world she creates within her own heart to search for clues for his whereabouts. Towards the end of her dream, Kairi confronts an illusion of Xehanort, who nearly overpowers her until Sora remotely takes control of her body and defeats him.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: A 2D cartoonish avatar version of Sora wearing his original outfit in "Kingdom Hearts" is also present in the online community-based social gaming networking service, "Kingdom Hearts Mobile".


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Outside "Kingdom Hearts", Sora appeared as free limited-time downloadable content in the "Final Fantasy" crossover game "World of Final Fantasy" in January 2017. In 2019, Sora appeared in the mobile game "Disney Emoji Blitz" to commemorate the release of "Kingdom Hearts III". Sora appears as a playable character in the Nintendo Switch crossover fighting game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" via downloadable content, which was released on October 18, 2021.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora also appears in various "Kingdom Hearts" media adaptations, including a manga series written by Shiro Amano and a series of novels by Tomoko Kanemaki, which adapt his role in the video games. In a collaboration between Square Enix and Japanese fashion brand SuperGroupies, Sora's image was used to create clothing based on his design from "Kingdom Hearts III".


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora's character was very well received by gaming media. In January 2010, "Famitsu" featured Sora as its readers' fifth most popular character of all time. They also featured him on its issue #1105 cover, showing his many appearances through the years. "UGO Networks" placed Sora nineteenth on their list of "Top 25 Japanese RPG Characters" calling him a "charismatic and visually interesting" character. Although he did not make to the top ten of "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s "Top Ten: List of Videogame Characters", Sora was nevertheless noted for his growing popularity. In an "ASCII Media Works" poll in which fans voted selected whose video game or manga character would like to name their children after, Sora's name was second in the male category. In a "Famitsu" poll from 2011, Sora was voted as the most popular "Kingdom Hearts" character, with his fight against Roxas from "Kingdom Hearts II" also being listed as the best scene from the series. "GamesRadar" staff ranked Sora as 53rd on their "100 best heroes in video games", published in 2013. In 2016, "Glixel" staff ranked Sora as the 30th most iconic video game character of the 21st century. In 2019, Chris Penwell of "PlayStation LifeStyle" named Sora as his favorite character for having "A relatable personality." He was also placed 15th in the "Game Informer" poll of best characters from the 2000s. Sora has the most appearances as hero in Square Enix RPGs, according to "Guinness World Records"s "The records held by Gamer's Edition 2020 cover characters". In 2021, "HobbyConsolas" also included Sora on their "The 30 best heroes of the last 30 years."


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Various types of merchandising have been released based on Sora's character. There are several types of action figures which show Sora with a different appearance such as his original form, the "Kingdom Hearts II" design and others variants. Other accessories include plush, keychains, boots, necklaces, cube, nendoroid, phone charm straps and phone cases. In October 2021, during the reveal of the 20th Anniversary of the "Kingdom Hearts" trailer, an Ichiban Kuji-based Sora merchandise was made, and is set to be released in 2022. In that same year, Square Enix also made a tote bag and tamagotchi, depicting Sora.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Critics and fans have generally praised Sora. When Sora was first revealed in 2002, "GameSpot"s Giancarlo Varanini regarded him as "an appropriate amalgamation of the Square and Disney universes." He also comically noted that Sora "doesn't look like much, but you know how it goes." A "1UP.com" writer called Sora "one of my all-time favorite Square characters", praising his cheerful personality. "Gamasutra" commented on Sora's journey along the series in their feature "The Birth of Collecting: The Osiris Archetype In Games" by Jason Johnson; while comparing Sora with Isis, Johnson found Sora's adventure appealing. "IGN" praised Sora's resilient character, noting how such an ordinary "youngster" could face up to his challenges during his adventures for the sake of friendship, while "RPGFan"s Nicole Monet Kirk labelled him as an "extremely likable hero". Furthermore, in the book "Interactive Storytelling for Video Games: A Player-Centered Approach to Creating Memorable Characters and Stories", it is noted that while Sora follows a "standard hero archetype", his character becomes more believable and strong when worrying about his friends' fates. Louis Bedigian from "GameZone" mentioned that "Sora had something rarely found in video-game characters: depth" also praising his role in "Kingdom Hearts". "Game Informer"s Bryan Vore found that in "Kingdom Hearts II", Osment has improved in voicing the character, praising his work. He was third in "1UP.com"s "Top 5 Most Irritating RPG Protagonists" with writer Bob Mackey commenting he is "a human version of Mickey Mouse", criticizing his original outfit and relationship with Riku and Kairi, and finding him to be less popular than the Disney characters featured in the series.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora's transformations in the various Disney worlds in "Kingdom Hearts II" were commented to be entertaining by Julia Reges from "AllGame" due to how varied they are. Also reviewing "Kingdom Hearts II", Greg Bemis from "G4TV" praised Sora's development in the game, including his growth and the fact each of his attacks from the title are entertaining. Although "Computer and Video Games" also found an improvement in Sora's movements due to sequences made with the Reaction Commands, they found them "fairly straightforward." "RPGamer"s Cortney Stone stated that Sora now moved "like an acrobatic honed fighter" in contrast to his "adolescent awkwardness" seen in the first "Kingdom Hearts", and remarked on Sora's transformation into a lion seen in the sequel as enjoyable. His new outfit was also well received by "GameSpy", who found it to be an improvement from the original one that looked like a "wardrobe from Mickey Mouse's closet". "GamesRadar" had similar opinions and particularly focused on Sora's transformation and his new abilities. "Game Informer" viewed Sora's Drive Forms as well as his combined techniques with other characters as one of the best additions to the gameplay. Sora also received negative comments regarding his characterization. In January 2007, Sora was listed the fourth "biggest dork" of 2006 by "Game Informer", citing the Atlantica singing portions of the second main game.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Although "IGN" also praised Sora's growth in "Kingdom Hearts II" in their article "Kingdom Hearts III: The "IGN" Concept", they stated that in order to make his role in a future sequel more entertaining, he would need more development making him "be confident, collected and committed to the tasks at hand". Both "IGN" and "Anime News Network" said Sora and Riku's stories in "Dream Drop Distance" were just a preparation for their growth in "Kingdom Hearts III". Also commenting on his role in a future sequel, "GamesRadar" stated that having Sora's character older would be necessary to make the story more mature, but Allegra Frank of "Polygon" felt that Sora's characterization in "Kingdom Hearts III" was "off". In retrospect, "Paste Magazine" found Sora's story and links with his two similar other selves to be confusing. Wired regarded Sora as a hero who can make anything possible and wanted this to be done again in "Kingdom Hearts III", hoping him to remain his likable traits. Critics panned the relationship between Sora and Kairi, criticizing the latter's continued role as a damsel in distress to be rescued by the former, rather than an ally. "RPGamer" criticized Sora's hero's journey for being downplayed in contrast to the final worlds. Sora's fate in the ending was the subject of analysis due to his apparent death after saving Kairi to the point "GameRevolution" stated that "Kingdom Hearts III" did not give the audience the happy ending they expected despite ending Xehanort's arc.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Sora was a popular choice for inclusion in the "Super Smash Bros." roster among fans and numerous websites, including "Screen Rant", "GamingBolt", "Shacknews", "IGN", and "Siliconera"; although Jeremy Winslow of "Kotaku" opposed him because the roster already included too many sword-wielding characters, he later admitted that Sora was "kinda cool". Kyle Campbell of "USA Today" and Wesley Leblanc of "Game Informer" both praised the character's inclusion, stating that Sora's addition "is a big deal" and "perfect".


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: Upon the reveal of the first "Kingdom Hearts IV" trailer during April 2022, Polygon noted that there were several fans of the character wanting to know the true location of Sora's apartment from the world of Quadratum which is heavily based on Shibuya, Japan. This led to the discovery that it was in the Regno Raffine building of Aoyama, Tokyo which Polygon found wealthy for the idea of Sora living there. Sora's new shoes were also shown, and fans had mixed reactions to it and the loss of his clown shoes.


title: Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

text: There have also been comments focused on Sora's voice actors, with Haley Joel Osment, Sora's English voice actor, being praised by the media. "Gaming Target"s Matt Swidder, who mentioned Osment "makes a perfect fit for Sora". On the other hand, Osment's work in "Re:Chain of Memories" was noted to have made a poor impact in his portrayal as the young lead, as he no longer sounds like in the original "Kingdom Hearts" game. Louis Bedigian from "GameZone" remarked on Osment's continuous work in the sequel "Kingdom Hearts II". "RPGamer" still praised Osment's performance in the game, still finding him suitable for the protagonist. Koinya lamented the fact Miyu Irino's work was never made available for the Western audience, considering him talented alongside Mamoru Miyano (Riku).


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Night on Bald Mountain (), also known as Night on the Bare Mountain, is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a "musical picture", "St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain" () on the theme of a Witches' Sabbath occurring at Bald Mountain on St. John's Eve, which he completed on that very night, 23 June 1867. Together with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sadko" (1867), it is one of the first tone poems by a Russian composer.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Although Mussorgsky was proud of his youthful effort, his mentor, Mily Balakirev, refused to perform it. To salvage what he considered worthy material, Mussorgsky attempted to insert his "Bald Mountain" music, recast for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra, into two subsequent projects—the collaborative opera-ballet "Mlada" (1872), and the opera "The Fair at Sorochyntsi" (1880). However, "Night on Bald Mountain" was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky's lifetime.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: In 1886, five years after Mussorgsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov published an arrangement of the work, described as a "fantasy for orchestra." Some musical scholars consider this version to be an original composition of Rimsky-Korsakov, albeit one based on Mussorgsky's last version of the music, for "The Fair at Sorochyntsi":


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: It is through Rimsky-Korsakov's version that "Night on Bald Mountain" achieved lasting fame. Premiering in Saint Petersburg in 1886, the work became a concert favourite. Half a century later, the work obtained perhaps its greatest exposure through the Walt Disney animated film "Fantasia" (1940), featuring an arrangement by Leopold Stokowski, based on Rimsky-Korsakov's version. Mussorgsky's tone poem was not published in its original form until 1968. It has started to gain exposure and become familiar to modern audiences.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The original Russian title of the tone poem, "Иванова ночь на лысой горе", translates literally as "Saint John's Eve on Bald Mountain", usually shortened to "Night on Bald Mountain". However, due to several ambiguities, the composition is also known by a number of alternative titles in English.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The Russian word "ночь" ("noch′") is literally "night" in English, but idiomatically this would refer to the night following St. John's Day, variously observed between 21 June (the summer solstice) and 25 June. The night before St. John's Day is usually referred to as "St. John's Eve" in English; Russian does not make this distinction.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "Bald Mountain" is the most familiar translation of "лысой горе" ("lysoy gore") in English, and is also the most literal. The adjective "bald" is commonly used in English place names for barren hills, mountains, and other features, and so is also idiomatic. However, because the most familiar use of "bald" describes hairlessness, this part of the title is also known as "Bare Mountain". The use of "bald" to describe barren landscapes is common in European languages. In French, the piece is known as ' and in Italian ' ("A Night on Bald Mountain").


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Some performances of the work also insert the article "the" before "Bald Mountain" or "Bare Mountain". Articles are not used in Russian, but are often applied to nouns when translating Russian into languages that regularly use articles, such as English and French. However, because the title of the work refers to a specific place "called" "Bald Mountain", an article would not normally be used in English.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Program of the opera "St. John's Night", in three acts, after the tale by Gogol, written by P. Boborïkin, in the presence and with the help of Modest Mussorgsky, Yevgeniy Mussorgsky, and Vasiliy. Witness to the proceedings: Mily Balakirev.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: This curious fragment, dated 25 December 1858, has been interpreted as an indication of Mussorgsky's intent to write an opera on the subject of Gogol's short story "St. John's Eve" (, "Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala", "St. John's Eve"). Gogol's tale contains the elements of witchcraft common to other stories in the "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" collection, but does not feature a Witches' Sabbath. No further plans for this project were mentioned.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The theme of a witches' sabbath, the central theme in all subsequent "Night on Bald Mountain" projects, appears to have been derived from the nonextant play "The Witch" (, "Ved′ma") by Baron Georgiy Mengden, a military friend of the composer. In 1860 Mussorgsky informed Balakirev that he had been commissioned to write one act of an opera on this subject:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: However, as with the previous project, it is unknown whether any materials were written down, and, if so, whether they were transferred to subsequent projects.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Rimsky-Korsakov declares in his memoirs ("Chronicle of My Musical Life") that in the early 1860s Mussorgsky, under the influence of Franz Liszt's "Totentanz", had written a version of the "Bald Mountain" music for piano and orchestra. However, it is believed that Mussorgsky did not hear Liszt's work until 1866, by which time he was planning the orchestral tone poem "St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain" (see below). No trace of a work for piano and orchestra has survived outside Rimsky-Korsakov's recollections, so it is assumed that the score has been lost, or, more likely, that it never existed.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: In 1866 Mussorgsky wrote to Balakirev expressing a desire to discuss his plans for "The Witches", his informal name for his "Bald Mountain" music. In early June 1867, he began composing the orchestral version of the piece. The score is inscribed with the following details:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Conceived in 1866. Began to write for orchestra 12 June 1867, completed work on the eve of St. John's Day, 23 June 1867, in Luga District on Minkino Farm. Modest Mussorgskiy.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "Russian original": Задумана в 1866 году. Начал писать на оркестр 12-го июня 1867 года, окончил работу в Канун Иванова дня 23 июня 1867 года в Лугском уезде на Мызе Минкино. Модест Мусоргский


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: So far as my memory doesn't deceive me, the witches used to gather on this mountain, ... gossip, play tricks and await their chief—Satan. On his arrival they, i.e. the witches, formed a circle round the throne on which he sat, in the form of a kid, and sang his praise. When Satan was worked up into a sufficient passion by the witches' praises, he gave the command for the sabbath, in which he chose for himself the witches who caught his fancy. So this is what I've done. At the head of my score I've put its content: 1. Assembly of the witches, their talk and gossip; 2. Satan's journey; 3. Obscene praises of Satan; and 4. Sabbath ... The form and character of the composition are Russian and original ... I wrote "St. John's Eve" quickly, straight away in full score, I wrote it in about twelve days, glory to God ... While at work on "St. John's Eve" I didn't sleep at night and actually finished the work on the eve of St. John's Day, it seethed within me so, and I simply didn't know what was happening within me ... I see in my wicked prank an independent Russian product, free from German profundity and routine, and, like "Savishna", grown on our native fields and nurtured on Russian bread.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: He also stated—incorrectly, as it turned out—that he would never re-model it: "with whatever shortcomings, it is born; and with them it must live if it is to live at all." Having finally completed the work, Mussorgsky was crushed when his mentor Mily Balakirev was savagely critical of it. The score is peppered with comments such as "the devil knows what [this is]", "what rubbish", and "this might be of use", probably pencilled in by Balakirev. This "first version" was put aside, and did not appear in print until 1968, in a new edition prepared by Georgiy Kirkor.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The original tone poem, "St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain" (1867), was not performed until the 20th century. Musicologist Aleksandra Orlova claims that the original manuscript of this version was discovered in the library of the Leningrad Conservatory by musicologist Georgiy Orlov in the late 1920s, that it was performed once by the Leningrad Philharmonic Society, and that Nikolay Malko brought along a copy of it when he emigrated to the West. Gerald Abraham states that this version was performed by Malko on 3 February 1932, apparently in England. Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi claims that Malko performed this version in several countries in 1933.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Russian legend tells of a witches' sabbath taking place on St. John's Night (23–24 June) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kyiv.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The first re-modelling of the tone poem took place in 1872, when Mussorgsky revised and recast it for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra as part of act 3 that he was assigned to contribute to the collaborative opera-ballet "Mlada". In this new version the music was to form the basis of the "Night on Mount Triglav" (, "Noch′ na gore Triglave") scene.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Mussorgsky referred to this piece under the title "Glorification of Chernobog" (, "Slavlenye Chornoboga") in a list of his compositions given to Vladimir Stasov. In 1930, Pavel Lamm, in his edition of Mussorgsky's complete works, referred to the piece as "Worship of the Black Goat" (, "Sluzheniye chornomy kozlu").


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "Mlada" was a project doomed to failure, however, and this "second version" languished along with the first. The score of "Glorification of Chernobog" has not survived, and was never published or performed.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The following scenario is taken from Rimsky-Korsakov's later "magic opera-ballet" "Mlada" (1890), based on the same libretto by Viktor Krïlov.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "Mlada" is set in the 9th or 10th century city of Retra, in the (formerly) Slavic lands between the Baltic Sea coast and the Elbe River. This would be the land of the pre-Christian Polabian Slavs, in the region corresponding to the modern German areas of Holstein, Mecklenburg, or Vorpommern.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The "Mlada" scenario is the only "Bald Mountain" setting that mentions a "Mt. Triglav", where the supernatural events of act 3 take place. The name Triglav ("tri" three + "glav" head) happens to be the name of an ancient three-headed Slavic deity or a trinity of deities, and is also the name of a famous peak in Slovenia, which is, however, some distant.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Voyslava and her father Mstivoy, the Prince of Retra, have poisoned Mlada, the betrothed of Yaromir, Prince of Arkona. Voyslava sells her soul to Morena, an evil goddess, to obtain her aid in making Yaromir forget Mlada so she may have him to herself. In act 3, the shade (ghost) of Mlada leads Yaromir up the slopes of Mount Triglav to a pine wood in a gorge on top of the mountain. Mlada's shade joins a gathering of the spirits of the dead. She expresses in mime to Yaromir the wish to be reunited with him in the kingdom of dead souls. He is eager to join her. However, there is a rumbling sound announcing the appearance, apparently from underground, of the following fantastic characters (many of whom also appear in "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad" from "The Fair at Sorochyntsi", described below):


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The evil spirits sing in a strange demonic language, in the manner of the "demons and the damned" of Hector Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust". Morena calls on Chernobog to help make Yaromir forsake Mlada. Kashchey determines that Morena and Chernobog will be successful if Yaromir is seduced by another. Chernobog commands Yaromir's soul to separate from his body, and for Queen Cleopatra to appear. Instantly the scene changes to a hall in Egypt, where the shade of Cleopatra attempts to entice Yaromir's soul to her side with a seductive dance. She almost succeeds in doing so when a cock crow announcing the break of day causes the entire infernal host to vanish. Yaromir awakens and ponders the mysterious events he has witnessed.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The work's "third version", the "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad" (, "Sonnoye videniye parobka"), was composed eight years later when Mussorgsky revived and revised the second version to function as a "dream intermezzo" in his opera "The Fair at Sorochyntsi" (1874–80), a work which was still incomplete at the time of his death in 1881. Mussorgsky's piano-vocal score is dated 10 May 1880.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Mussorgsky originally chose the end of act 1 of the opera as the location for his choral intermezzo. It is now generally performed in the Shebalin version (1930) of the opera, where it is relocated to act 3, just after a partial reprise of the peasant lad's dumka. The theme of the dumka also serves as one of the main themes of the new quiet ending.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad" was first performed as part of Vissarion Shebalin's performing edition of "The Fair at Sorochyntsi", which premiered in 1931 in Leningrad at the Maly Theater, conducted by Samuil Samosud. Shebalin's orchestration was published by Muzgiz () in 1934.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "The Fair at Sorochyntsi" is set in and around the Ukrainian village of Velyki Sorochyntsi, some 500 kilometers east of Kyiv and the famous "Bald Mountain" (Lysa Hora), in the year 1800.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The peasant Solopiy Cherevik, his domineering wife Khivrya, and pretty daughter Parasya are visiting the Sorochyntsi Fair. Parasya is wooed by Gritsko Golopupenko, the "peasant lad" of the title. Gritsko desires Cherevik's consent to marry his daughter. Although Cherevik is not against the match, his wife objects because Gritsko had thrown mud in her face on the way to the fair. Gritsko strikes a bargain with a gypsy to assist him in winning Parasya. They exploit the superstitious fears of the fairgoers, who believe that the location of the fair this year is ill-chosen, it being the haunt of a devil who was thrown out of hell, took to drinking, went broke, pawned his jacket, and has returned to claim it. After various pranks and comic circumstances, Gritsko achieves his goal and all ends happily.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: At the end of act 1, Gritsko falls asleep some distance from the fair, and, because there has been talk of devilry, has a dream of a witches' sabbath. The following remarks are taken from the score (page numbers supplied):


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Surviving the transfer from "Glorification of Chernobog" are the same supernatural characters, although Morena has been replaced by Death (, "Smert"'). Chernobog and his accomplices form a kind of Six Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The demon language the characters sing, of which Mussorgsky was contemptuous in a letter, is preserved.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Mussorgsky sent the following program to Vladimir Stasov about three months after its composition in 1880:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The peasant lad sleeps at the foot of a hillock at some distance from the hut where he should have been. In his sleep appear to him:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Паробок спит у подножия пригорка, далеко, вдали от хаты, куда бы должен попасть. Во сне ему мерещатся:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: In the years after Mussorgsky's death, his friends prepared his manuscripts for publication and created performing editions of his unfinished works to enable them to enter the repertoire. The majority of the editorial work was done by Rimsky-Korsakov, who in 1886 produced a redacted edition of "Night on Bald Mountain" from the "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad" vocal score. Rimsky-Korsakov discusses his work on the piece, designated a "fantasy for orchestra", in his memoirs, "Chronicle of My Musical Life" (1909):


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: During the season of 1882/83, I continued working on "Khovanshchina" and other compositions of Mussorgsky's. "A Night on Bald Mountain" was the only thing I could not find my way with. Originally composed in the sixties under the influence of Liszt's "Danse Macabre" (Totentanz) for the piano with accompaniment of orchestra, this piece (then called "St. John's Eve", and both severely and justly criticized by Balakirev) had long been utterly neglected by its author, gathering dust among his unfinished works. When composing Gedeonov's "Mlada", Mussorgsky had made use of the material to be found in "Night", and, introducing singing into it, had written the scene of Chernobog on Mount Triglav. That was the second form of the same piece in substance. Its third form had developed in his composing of "Sorochintsï Fair", when Mussorgsky conceived the queer and incoherent idea of making the peasant lad, without rhyme or reason, see the sabbath of devilry in a dream, which was to form a sort of stage intermezzo that did not chime at all with the rest of the scenario of "Sorochintsy Fair". This time the piece ended with the ringing of the village church bell, at the sounds of which the frightened evil spirits vanished. Tranquility and dawn were built on the theme of the peasant lad himself, who had seen the fantastic dream. In working on Mussorgsky's piece, I made use of its last version for the purpose of closing the composition. Now then, the first form of the piece was for piano solo with orchestra; the second form and the third, vocal compositions and for the stage, into the bargain (unorchestrated). None of these forms was fit to be published and performed. With Mussorgsky's material as a basis, I decided to create an instrumental piece by retaining all of the author's best and coherent material, adding the fewest possible interpolations of my own. It was necessary to create a form in which Mussorgsky's ideas would mould in the best fashion. It was a difficult task, of which the satisfactory solution baffled me for two years, though in the other works of Mussorgsky I had got on with comparative ease. I had been unable to get at either form, modulation, or orchestration, and the piece lay inert until the following year.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: «В сезоне 1882/83 года я продолжал работу над «Хованщиной» и другими сочинениями Мусоргского. Не давалась мне только «Ночь на Лысой горе». Сочиненная первоначально в 60-х годах под влиянием листовского «Danse macabre» для фортепиано с сопровождением оркестра, пьеса эта (называвшаяся в то время «Ивановой ночью» и подвергшаяся суровой и справедливой критике Балакирева) была надолго совершенно заброшена автором и лежала без движения среди его «inachevé». При сочинении гедеоновской «Млады» Мусоргский воспользовался имеющимся в «Ночи» материалом и, введя туда пение, написал сцену Чернобога на горе Триглаве. Это был второй вид той же пьесы по существу. Третий вид ее образовался при сочинении «Сорочйнской ярмарки», когда Мусоргскому пришла странная и несуразная мысль заставить парубка, ни с того ни с сего, увидеть шабаш чертовщины во сне, что должно было составить некое сценическое интермеццо, отнюдь не вяжущееся со всем остальным сценариумом «Сорочинской ярмарки». На этот раз пьеса оканчивалась звоном колокола деревенской церкви, при звуках которого испуганная нечистая сила исчезала. Успокоение и рассвет были построены на теме самого парубка, видевшего фантастическое сновидение. При работе над пьесой Мусоргского я воспользовался последним вариантом для заключения сочинения. Итак, первый вид пьесы был solo фортепиано с оркестром, второй и третий вид – вокальное произведение, и притом сценическое (не оркестрованное). Ни один из видов этих не годился для издания и исполнения. Я решился создать из материала Мусоргского инструментальную пьесу, сохранив в ней все, что было лучшего и связного у автора, и добавляя своего по возможности менее. Надо было создать форму, в которую уложились бы наилучшим способом мысли Мусоргского. Задача была трудная, удовлетворительно разрешить которую мне не удавалось в течение двух лет, между тем как с другими сочинениями Мусоргского я справился сравнительно легко. Не давались мне ни форма, ни модуляции, ни оркестровка, и пьеса лежала без движения до следующего года.»


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Rimsky-Korsakov made "corrections" typical of him, as he did with "Khovanshchina", and was later to do with "Boris Godunov", preserving the general thematic structure, but adding or omitting bars, and making modifications to melody, harmony, rhythm, and dynamics.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Rimsky-Korsakov's edition was completed in 1886, and published in the same year by V. Bessel and Co. It received its premiere on 15 October 1886 in St. Petersburg's Kononov Hall, performed by the orchestra of the Russian Symphony Concerts. Rimsky-Korsakov conducted the performance himself, and gives the following account of it in his memoirs, "Chronicle of My Musical Life" (1909):


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The orchestration of "A Night on Bald Mountain", which had baffled me so long, was finished for the concerts of [the 1886/87] season, and the piece, given by me at the first concert in a manner that could not be improved upon, was demanded again and again with unanimity. Only a tam-tam had to be substituted for the bell; the one I selected at the bell-store proved to be off pitch in the hall, owing to a change in temperature.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: In the summer of 1889, the Paris Universal Exposition took place. Belyayev decided to give there two symphonic concerts of Russian music at the Trocadéro, under my direction... The concerts were set for Saturdays 22 and 29 June, new style. Upon our arrival in Paris, rehearsals commenced. The orchestra, which proved to be excellent, the men being amiable and painstaking, had been borrowed from Colonne. Their playing in the concerts was fine... The success was considerable, with plenty of applause, but the attendance was not large.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: "Night on Bald Mountain" was performed at the second concert, on 29 June 1889, where it followed Borodin's 'Polovtsian Dances' and 'Polovtsian March' from "Prince Igor" in the second half of the program. Rimsky-Korsakov later mentions another performance of the piece, taking place on 25 April 1890, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The following program is printed in Rimsky-Korsakov's edition of "Night on Bald Mountain", published in 1886 by V. Bessel and Co.:


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Subterranean sounds of non-human voices. Appearance of the spirits of darkness, followed by that of Chernobog. Glorification of Chernobog and Black Service. Sabbath. At the height of the sabbath, the distant ringing of a village church bell is heard; it disperses the spirits of darkness. Morning.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Millions of 20th-century listeners owe their initial acquaintance with Mussorgsky's tone-poem to Leopold Stokowski's version, specially produced for Walt Disney's 1940 film "Fantasia". Stokowski stated that he based it on the Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement in form and content (though notably without the "fanfare" that marks the entrance of Chernobog), but on Mussorgsky's original in orchestration. However, like Rimsky-Korsakov himself, Stokowski had no copy of the original tone poem from 1867, so he did what he felt Mussorgsky would have done, being somewhat familiar with Mussorgsky's style. Stokowski had conducted the U.S. premiere of the original version of "Boris Godunov" in 1929, and subsequently produced a symphonic synthesis of "Boris" for concert purposes. Despite the success of "Fantasia", Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration remains the concert favorite, and the one most often programmed.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: At the climax of the 1939 film version of "The Wizard of Oz", an arrangement of the piece is heard, while the Wicked Witch of the West pursues Dorothy Gale and her friends.


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: David Shire arranged an orchestral disco adaptation, "Night on Disco Mountain", for the 1977 motion picture "Saturday Night Fever". The arrangement was released as part of the film's soundtrack. "Night on Disco Mountain" is based on the first portion of Mussorgsky's composition, complementing the composer's unusual selection of instruments with "wah-wah electric guitar solo, synthesized bells, a constantly throbbing electric bass, hi-hat, snare drum, and a variety of exotic bongos and percussion instruments", "various studio sound effects", and "an otherworldly synthesized chorus".


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The German progressive thrash metal band Mekong Delta features a cover of the piece on their fourth studio album, "Dances of Death (and Other Walking Shadows)".


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: Yoko Shimomura arranged a version of the piece for the international release of the 2002 video game "Kingdom Hearts". Re-arrangements of that version were then used in "" and "Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix".


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: A version of the piece was arranged for the game "The End Is Nigh" titled "Golgotha – Night On Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky 1867)" by video game composer team Ridiculon (Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans).


title: Night on Bald Mountain

text: The Russian dancer and choreographer Igor Moiseyev also created a piece from variations of the same theme.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American singer, musician and actor. He enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929. He also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and he is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" (1940) and "Fun and Fancy Free" (1947), and Dandy (Jim) Crow in Walt Disney's "Dumbo" (1941).


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri. He left school at age 14 and soon moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and Saint Charles, Missouri, where he entertained as a singer in saloons. As many places had pianos in bad shape or none at all, Edwards taught himself to play ukulele to serve as his own accompanist (choosing it because it was the cheapest instrument in the music shop). He was nicknamed "Ukulele Ike" by a club owner who could never remember his name. He got his first break in 1918 at the Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, where he performed a song called "Ja-Da", written by the club's pianist, Bob Carleton. Edwards and Carleton made it a hit on the vaudeville circuit. Vaudeville headliner Joe Frisco hired Edwards as part of his act, which was featured at the Palace in New York City—the most prestigious vaudeville theater—and later in the Ziegfeld Follies.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards made his first phonograph records in 1919. He recorded early examples of jazz scat singing in 1922. The following year he signed a contract with Pathé Records. He became one of the most popular singers of the 1920s, appearing in several Broadway shows. He recorded many of the pop and novelty hits of the day, including "California, Here I Come", "Hard Hearted Hannah", "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", and "I'll See You in My Dreams".


title: Cliff Edwards

text: In 1924, Edwards performed as the headliner at the Palace, the pinnacle of his vaudeville success. That year he also featured in George and Ira Gershwin's first Broadway musical "Lady Be Good", alongside Fred and Adele Astaire. As a recording artist, his hits included "Paddlin’ Madeleine Home" (1925), "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (1928), and the classic "Singin' in the Rain" (1929), which he introduced. Edwards's own compositions included "(I'm Cryin' 'Cause I Know I'm) Losing You", "You're So Cute (Mama o' Mine)", "Little Somebody of Mine", and "I Want to Call You 'Sweet Mama'". He also recorded a few "off-color" novelty songs for under-the-counter sales, including "I'm a Bear in a Lady's Boudoir", "Take Out That Thing", and "Give It to Mary with Love".


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Millions of ukuleles were sold during the decade, and Tin Pan Alley publishers added ukulele chords to standard sheet music. Edwards always played American Martin ukuleles, favoring the small soprano model in his early career. In his later years, he moved to the larger tenor ukulele, which was becoming popular in the 1930s.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards continued to record until shortly before his death in 1971. His last record album, "Ukulele Ike", was released posthumously on the independent Glendale label. He reprised many of his 1920s hits; his failing health was however evident in the recordings.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: In 1929, Cliff Edwards was playing at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles where he caught the attention of movie producer-director Irving Thalberg. His film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Edwards to appear in early sound movies. After performing in some short films, Edwards was one of the stars in the feature "Hollywood Revue of 1929", doing some comic bits and singing some numbers, including the film debut of his hit "Singin' in the Rain". He appeared in a total of 33 films for MGM through 1933. He had a small role as Mike, playing a ukulele very briefly at the beginning of the 1931 movie "Laughing Sinners" (1931), starring Joan Crawford.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards had a friendly working relationship with MGM's comedy star Buster Keaton, who featured Edwards in three of his films. Keaton, himself a former vaudevillian, enjoyed singing and harmonized with Edwards between takes. One of these casual jam sessions was captured on film, in "Doughboys" (1930), in which Buster and Cliff scat-sing their way through "You Never Did That Before".


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards was also an occasional supporting player in feature films and short subjects at Warner Bros. and RKO Radio Pictures. He played a wisecracking sidekick to western star George O'Brien, and he filled in for Allen Jenkins as "Goldie" opposite Tom Conway in "The Falcon Strikes Back". In a 1940 short, he led a cowboy chorus in "Cliff Edwards and His Buckaroos". Throughout the 1940s he appeared in a number of "B" westerns playing the comic, singing sidekick to the hero, seven times with Charles Starrett and six with Tim Holt.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards appeared in the darkly sardonic western comedy "The Bad Man of Brimstone" (1937), and he played the character "Endicott" in the screwball comedy film "His Girl Friday" (1940). In 1939, he voiced the off-screen wounded Confederate soldier in "Gone with the Wind" in a hospital scene with Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: His most famous voice role was as Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" (1940). Edwards's rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is probably his most familiar recorded legacy. He voiced the head crow in Disney's "Dumbo" (1941) and sang "When I See an Elephant Fly".


title: Cliff Edwards

text: In 1932, Edwards had his first national radio show on CBS Radio. He continued hosting network radio shows through 1946. In the early 1930s, however, Edwards' popularity faded as public taste shifted to crooners such as Russ Columbo, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Arthur Godfrey's use of the ukulele spurred a surge in its popularity and those that played it, including Edwards. Like many vaudeville stars, Edwards was an early arrival on television. In the 1949 season, he starred in "The Cliff Edwards Show", a three-days-a-week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings) TV variety show on CBS. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he made appearances on "The Mickey Mouse Club", in addition to performing his Jiminy Cricket voice for various Disney shorts and the Disney Christmas spectacular, "From All of Us to All of You".


title: Cliff Edwards

text: Edwards was careless with the money he made in the 1920s, always trying to sustain his expensive habits and lifestyle. He continued working during the Great Depression, but never again enjoyed his former prosperity. Most of his income went to alimony for his three former wives, and paying debts, and he declared bankruptcy four times during the 1930s and early 1940s. Edwards married his first wife Gertrude (Benson) Ryrholm in 1917, but they divorced four years later. He married Irene Wylie in 1923; they divorced in 1931. In 1932, he married his third and final wife, actress Judith Barrett. They divorced in 1936.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: As well as being a lifelong heavy tobacco smoker, Edwards also struggled with alcoholism, drug addiction and gambling for much of his career.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: In his final years, Edwards lived in a home for actors and often spent his time at the Walt Disney Studios to be available any time he could get voice work. He was sometimes taken to lunch by animators whom he befriended and told stories of his days in vaudeville.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: On July 17, 1971, Cliff Edwards died in a nursing home in Hollywood, Los Angeles at age 76 from a cardiac arrest brought on by arteriosclerosis. Now penniless, Edwards was a charity patient at the Virgil Convalescent Hospital in Hollywood, California. His body was unclaimed and was donated to the University of California, Los Angeles medical school. When Walt Disney Productions, which had been quietly paying many of his medical expenses, discovered this, they offered to purchase his remains and pay for the burial. Instead, it was done by the Actors' Fund of America (which had also aided Edwards) and the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund. Disney paid for his grave marker.


title: Cliff Edwards

text: In 2002, Edwards' 1940 recording on Victor, Victor 26477, "When You Wish Upon a Star", was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2000, Edwards was awarded as a Disney Legend for voice-acting.


title: Bobby Ball

text: Robert Harper (28 January 1944 – 28 October 2020), known professionally as Bobby Ball, was a British comic, actor, singer and television host. He was best known as a member of the comic double act Cannon and Ball, with Tommy Cannon (Thomas Derbyshire).


title: Bobby Ball

text: They hosted their own ITV show, "The Cannon and Ball Show", for nine years between 1979 and 1988. Ball then went on to star in various sitcoms and dramas including "Last of the Summer Wine", "Heartbeat" and "Not Going Out". In 2005, Ball took part in "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!".


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball was born at Boundary Park General Hospital in Oldham, Lancashire, on 28 January 1944, to May (née Savage) and Bob Harper. He attended Crompton House C of E school, Shaw, Oldham, and briefly studied Shipping Management at Wigan Mining & Technical College before going to work in a factory as a welder, where he also met his future partner in comedy, Thomas Derbyshire (Tommy Cannon).


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball was one half of comedy duo Cannon and Ball, opposite his friend and colleague Tommy Cannon. The duo's primetime Saturday night television series "The Cannon and Ball Show", was one of LWT's most successful series, with consistently high viewing ratings that lasted for twelve years. They starred in the film "The Boys in Blue" together in 1982 and guest starred in the Eric Sykes slapstick film, "Mr H Is Late", in 1988. Other notable guest appearances were "The Kenny Everett Television Show" in 1982 and "Shooting Stars" in 1996.


title: Bobby Ball

text: Cannon and Ball competed in the fifth series of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", and in 2011, Cannon and Ball were guest judges on one episode of ITV's "Show Me the Funny".


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball was the creator of the ITV children's cartoon series "Military Style!", which aired in 1990, and the BBC children's cartoon series "Juniper Jungle", which aired in 1992. He played Mr. Turner (also known as Topsy Turner) in the ITV drama series "Heartbeat" from 2005 to 2006. From 2005 to 2008, he played Lenny in the BBC series "Last of the Summer Wine". In 2009, Ball starred in the comedy "The Fattest Man in Britain" playing Morris Morrissey.


title: Bobby Ball

text: In 2009, Ball was cast as Frank in the long-running BBC One Sitcom "Not Going Out". He first made a guest appearance in 2009 and two further guest appearances in 2011 (Series 4) and 2012 (Series 5), and became a recurring fixture from series 6 onwards. He appeared in the 2015 Christmas special, and returned alongside the cast for the eighth series in 2017, the ninth series in 2018 and the tenth series in 2019. Ball made his final appearance as Frank in the eleventh season, which began airing in January 2021, and was filmed a few weeks before his death.


title: Bobby Ball

text: From 2011 to 2017, Ball played Barry in the Sky1 sitcom series "Mount Pleasant". The following year, he took part in BBC One's "Pointless Celebrities" alongside Cannon. His second appearance on the show was for a "Children in Need" special in November 2013 with Lee Mack.


title: Bobby Ball

text: In 2013, Ball played the role of Duckers in the ITV sitcom pilot "The Security Men", starring alongside the likes of Brendan O'Carroll and Paddy McGuinness. The episode, written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope, was later not picked up for a full series. Cannon and Ball appeared in ITV's "Last Laugh in Vegas" in 2018. Cannon and Ball have also previously starred in the Safestyle UK television advertisements.


title: Bobby Ball

text: In November 2019, he played the regular character Ray, stepdad to Joe Wilkinson's character Simon, in "The Cockfields".


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball married his first wife, Joan Lynn, in 1964, with whom he had two sons, Robert (born 1965) and Darren (born 1969), who are now a comedy double act in their own right, performing under their surname 'Harper'. Ball and Lynn separated in 1970.


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball married his second wife, Yvonne Nugent, in 1974. In an interview on BBC Tees on 28 June 2016, Ball said that he met Yvonne while performing with Cannon at a club in Norton, County Durham: "We were playing there ... she came downstairs in a little mini skirt, looked at me and Tommy, shook her head and walked away. I thought, 'I'd spend my life with her.'"


title: Bobby Ball

text: Ball and his wife lived in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. Together they had a daughter Joanne born in 1972.