title: Michael Angelis

text: He narrated John Peel's autobiography, "Margrave of the Marshes", which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. In 2006 he starred in "Fated", a film set in Liverpool, and in 2007 he appeared in episodes of "Midsomer Murders" and "The Bill". In September 2011 he participated in the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Reunion", talking with other cast members about "Boys from the Blackstuff".


title: Michael Angelis

text: Angelis married the "Coronation Street" actress Helen Worth in 1991, although they had been a couple since the mid 1970s. They divorced in 2001, following his much-publicised affair with the woman who would become his second wife, Welsh model Jennifer Khalastchi, whom he married in 2003. He and Worth remained friends.


title: Flagpole Sitta

text: "Flagpole Sitta" is a song by American rock band Harvey Danger from their 1997 debut album, "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?". It was released as the band's debut single in April 1998 and was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number 38 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 Airplay chart, number three on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number nine on the Canadian "RPM" Alternative 30.


title: Flagpole Sitta

text: The song was recorded during the 1996 sessions for "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" According to drummer Evan Sult, the song was written as a response to the Seattle music scene of the 1990s and its effect on mainstream culture.


title: Flagpole Sitta

text: The title of the song was inspired by the 1930 Marx Brothers film "Animal Crackers", which features a line of dialogue about the pole sitting fad of the 1920s. The band was inspired to spell "sitter" as "sitta" by the Pavement song "Fame Throwa" and the N.W.A album "Straight Outta Compton.


title: Flagpole Sitta

text: "Flagpole Sitta" gained popularity after Seattle radio station KNDD put the song into rotation. Afterwards, London Records sent a copy of "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" to KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, who began to air "Flagpole Sitta" and received a positive response from listeners. On April 27, 1998, the song was officially serviced to US rock radio, and a release to contemporary hit radio followed on June 9 of the same year. The song gained further exposure when it was used as the music in theatrical trailers and TV spots for the 1998 film "Disturbing Behavior". The track subsequently charted at number 38 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Airplay chart. A music video was produced to promote the single. The song is regarded as a power pop single by MTV and a post-grunge anthem by author Ericka Chickowski. "PopMatters" describes the single as "a hyper-literate Alternative rock dissection of the stupidity of the modern age". Music journalist Rob Sheffield also considers the song as "nineties pop-punk rage at its loudest".


title: Flagpole Sitta

text: "Flagpole Sitta" was used as the theme song for the British sitcom "Peep Show" for the second series through the ninth. In 2008, Harvey Danger singer Sean Nelson stated that "Peep Show" is "...the only pop culture item the song has been associated with that feels like a kindred spirit to the original attitude of the lyric." In 2016, he said: "It’s a joy to be affiliated with something that’s so smart and so funny and so kind of rude and weird." "Rolling Stone" ranked the song the 25th best of the 1990s. The song was included on the soundtrack to "".


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album "All Things Must Pass". In many countries, it was issued as the second single from the album, in February 1971, becoming a top-ten hit in the United States, Canada and elsewhere, and topping singles charts in Australia and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "What Is Life" appeared as the B-side to "My Sweet Lord", which was the best-selling single there of 1971. Harrison's backing musicians on the song include Eric Clapton and the entire Delaney & Bonnie and Friends band, with whom he had toured during the final months of the Beatles. Harrison co-produced the recording with Phil Spector, whose Wall of Sound production also employed a prominent string arrangement by John Barham and multiple acoustic rhythm guitars, played by Harrison's fellow Apple Records signings Badfinger.


title: What Is Life

text: An uptempo soul tune, "What Is Life" is one of several Harrison love songs that appear to be directed at both a woman and a deity. Harrison wrote the song in 1969 and originally intended it as a track for his friend and Apple protégé Billy Preston to record. Built around a descending guitar riff, it is one of Harrison's most popular compositions and was a regular inclusion in his live performances. "Rolling Stone" magazine has variously described it as a "classic" and an "exultant song of surrender".


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" has appeared in the soundtrack for feature films such as "Goodfellas" (1990), "Patch Adams" (1998), "Big Daddy" (1999), "Away We Go" (2009), "This Is 40" (2012) and "Instant Family" (2018). Harrison's original recording was included on the compilations "The Best of George Harrison" and "", and live versions appear on his album "Live in Japan" (1992) and in Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary "". In 1972, Olivia Newton-John had a UK hit with her version of the song. Ronnie Aldrich, the Ventures and Shawn Mullins are among the other artists who have covered the track.


title: What Is Life

text: Even before his temporary departure from the Beatles in January 1969 (documented in the song "Wah-Wah"), their Apple Records label was an "emancipating force" for Harrison from the creative restrictions imposed on him within the band, according to his musical biographer, Simon Leng. In his article on "All Things Must Pass" for "Mojo" magazine, John Harris has written of Harrison's journey as a solo artist beginning in November 1968 – when he spent time in Woodstock with Bob Dylan and the Band – and incorporating a series of other collaborations through the following eighteen months, including various Apple projects and a support role on Delaney & Bonnie and Friends' brief European tour. One of these projects, carried out intermittently from April to July 1969, was his production of "That's the Way God Planned It", an album by Billy Preston, whom Harrison had met during the Beatles' Hamburg years and had recently recruited to guest on the band's troubled "Get Back" sessions.<ref name="Irvin/Mojo p 82">Jim Irvin, "Close to the Edge", "Mojo", December 2003, p. 82.</ref> It was while driving up to a Preston session in London from his home in Esher, Surrey, that Harrison came up with the song "What Is Life".


title: What Is Life

text: In his autobiography, "I, Me, Mine", Harrison describes it as having been written "very quickly" and recalls that he thought it would be a perfect, "catchy pop song" for Preston to record. He adds that he changed his mind once he arrived at Olympic Studios and found Preston working on more typical material – or "playing his funky stuff". Rather than attempt it with the Beatles during the band's concurrent "Abbey Road" sessions, Harrison stockpiled "What Is Life" with his many other unused songs from the period, including "All Things Must Pass", "Let It Down", "I'd Have You Anytime" and "Run of the Mill". He revisited it a year later, after completing work on Preston's second Apple album, "Encouraging Words".


title: What Is Life

text: Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes "What Is Life" as "Motown-spiced" and a comparatively rare example of its composer's willingness to embrace the role of "entertainer" in his songwriting. The song is defined by Harrison's descending guitar riff, which also serves as the motif for the chorus.<ref name="Unterberger/AM">Richie Unterberger, "George Harrison 'What Is Life'", AllMusic (retrieved 22 February 2012).</ref> Author Alan Clayson describes "What Is Life" as a seemingly "lovey-dovey pop song" that "craftily renewed the simplistic tonic-to-dominant riff cliché".


title: What Is Life

text: The lyrics have a universal quality, being both simple and uplifting. Their meaning has caused some debate among biographers and music critics, as to whether "What Is Life" should be viewed as a straightforward love song – perhaps a "lovingly crafted paen" to Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, in Clayson's description – or a devotional song like many of Harrison's compositions. Ian Inglis writes that the song title suggests a "philosophical debate about the meaning of life", yet its rendering as "what is my life" in the choruses "reshapes [the meaning] completely".


title: What Is Life

text: Theologian Dale Allison finds no religious content in "What Is Life" but comments that the "failure of words to express feelings" implied in the opening line ("What I feel, I can't say") is a recurring theme in Harrison's spiritual songs. Joshua Greene, another religious academic, identifies the song as part of its parent album's "intimately detailed account of a spiritual journey": where "Awaiting on You All" shows Harrison "convinced of his union with God", "What Is Life" reveals him to be "uncertain that he deserved such divine favor". According to musicologist Thomas MacFarlane, the ambiguity in the lyrics suggests a connection between spiritual and physical love.


title: What Is Life

text: The second verse repeats what Inglis refers to as the "somewhat confusing promise" from Harrison (in lines 3 and 4) should his love be "rejected":


title: What Is Life

text: By May 1970, having recently collaborated with "genuine R&B heavy-weights" such as Doris Troy and Preston, as well as participating in the "blue-eyed soul" Delaney & Bonnie European tour, along with Eric Clapton, the previous December, Harrison was well placed to record "What Is Life", Leng observes. With Phil Spector as co-producer and all the Friends team on hand, the song was among the first tracks taped for Harrison's debut post-Beatles solo album; recording took place at Abbey Road Studios in London, during late May or early June. The same core of musicians – Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, Bobby Keys and Jim Price – would similarly elevate other "All Things Must Pass" tracks such as "Awaiting on You All", "Art of Dying" and "Hear Me Lord". According to Keys, he and Price overdubbed their horns parts at a later session at Abbey Road.


title: What Is Life

text: The track opens with Harrison playing the fuzztone guitar riff, which is then joined by Radle's bass and "churning" rhythm guitar from Clapton, before Gordon's drums bring the full band in. During the verses, Gordon moves to a square, Motown-style beat – or "rock-steady Northern soul backbeat" in Leng's words – before returning to the "galloping rhythm" of the more open, "knockout" choruses. The song is driven equally by Badfinger drummer Mike Gibbins' powerful tambourine work.


title: What Is Life

text: On "What Is Life", Spector provided what music critic David Fricke terms "echo-drenched theater", in the form of reverb-heavy brass, soaring strings (arranged by John Barham) and "a choir of multitracked Harrisons". Barham stayed at Harrison's new home, Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, and created the scores for "What Is Life" and other songs from melodies that Harrison sang or played to him on piano or guitar. Barham says that, for inspiration, Harrison also played him Spector productions such as Checkmates, Ltd.'s "Proud Mary". In his autobiography, "Every Night's a Saturday Night", Keys recalls that Harrison and Price worked out the horn arrangement together at the overdubbing session. In MacFarlane's description, the strings provide a complementary countermelody to the guitar riff, while the horns' combination of "uptown soul and mariachi" heightens and expands the track's musical colour.


title: What Is Life

text: After recording the album's backing tracks with Spector, Harrison carried out most of the overdubbing without him, working at Trident Studios with former Beatles engineer Ken Scott.<ref name="Burns/RBMA">Todd L. Burns (host), "Ken Scott: Red Bull Music Academy Lecture (New York)", redbullmusicacademy.com, 2013 (retrieved 14 November 2020).</ref> The song's vocals and strings, along with a brief slide-guitar commentary from Harrison over the final verse, were overdubbed at Trident. Dated 19 August, Spector's written comments on Harrison's early mix of the song had suggested a "proper background voice" was still needed. Harrison performed all the chorus vocals himself and credited them to "the George O'Hara-Smith Singers". Spector was impressed with Harrison's dedication in the studio, saying, "He was a great harmoniser ... he could do all the [vocal] parts himself" and rating Harrison "one of the most commercial musicians and songwriters and quintessential players I've ever known in my entire career".


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" was released in late November 1970 as the first track on side two of "All Things Must Pass", in its original, triple LP format. Along with "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", the song had already been identified as a potential hit single by Allan Steckler, manager of Apple's US operation. Backed by "Apple Scruffs", "What Is Life" was issued as a single in America on 15 February 1971 (as Apple 1828), just as the "My Sweet Lord" / "Isn't It a Pity" double A-side was slipping out of the top ten. "Billboard" magazine's reviewer described "What Is Life" and "Apple Scruffs" as "intriguing rhythm follows-ups" to the first single, which were "sure to repeat that success" and "should prove big juke box items".


title: What Is Life

text: While describing the initial impact of "All Things Must Pass", author Robert Rodriguez includes the song as an illustration of how the depth of Harrison's talents had been "hidden in plain sight" behind John Lennon and Paul McCartney during the Beatles' career. The album introduced Harrison as an overtly spiritual songwriter who sought to connect with his audience on a "higher level" compared with the populist approach of McCartney or the confrontationalism adopted by Lennon. Rodriguez concludes: "That the Quiet Beatle was capable of such range – from the joyful 'What Is Life' to the meditative 'Isn't It a Pity' to the steamrolling 'Art of Dying' to the playful 'I Dig Love' – was truly revelatory."


title: What Is Life

text: The front of the single's US picture sleeve consisted of a photo of Harrison playing guitar inside the central tower of Friar Park. The tower's sole, octagonal-shaped room was an area that Harrison had adopted as his personal temple and meditation space. This picture was taken by photographer Barry Feinstein, whose Camouflage Productions partner, Tom Wilkes, originally used it as part of an elaborate poster intended as an insert in the album package. The poster featured a painting of the Hindu deity Krishna watching a group of naked maidens beside a bathing pond. Harrison apparently felt uncomfortable with the symbolism in Wilkes's design – the Friar Park tower image filled the top half of the poster, floating among clouds above the Krishna scene – so Wilkes abandoned the concept and instead used a darkened photo of Harrison inside the house as the album poster. In Denmark, the picture sleeve consisted of four shots of Harrison, again with guitar, taken on stage during the Delaney & Bonnie tour.


title: What Is Life

text: As with the parent album, the single was a commercial and critical success. "What Is Life" peaked at number 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 7 on "Cash Box"s Top 100 chart, making Harrison the first ex-Beatle to have two top-ten hits in the United States.<ref name="Mapes/Billboard">Jillian Mapes, "George Harrison's 10 Biggest Billboard Hits", billboard.com, 29 November 2011 (retrieved 4 June 2014).</ref> The single climbed to number 1 in Switzerland and on Australia's "Go-Set" National Top 60, and reached the top three elsewhere in Europe and in Canada.<ref name="Tsosrt/GH singles">"George Harrison (Song artist 225)", Tsort pages (retrieved 16 October 2012).</ref> In Britain, where Harrison had resisted issuing a single from "All Things Must Pass" until midway through January, "What Is Life" appeared as the B-side of "My Sweet Lord". The record became the top-selling single of 1971 in that country.


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" is one of Harrison's most commercial and popular songs – a "spiritual guitar quest" that "became [a] classic", according to "Rolling Stone" magazine. In their "Solo Beatles Compendium", authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter refer to it as an "intensely catchy track" and view its pairing with "My Sweet Lord" in the UK as perhaps the strongest of all of Harrison's singles. Writing in 1981, "NME" critic Bob Woffinden grouped "What Is Life" with "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't It a Pity" and "Awaiting on You All" as "all excellent songs".


title: What Is Life

text: Reviewing the 2001 reissue of "All Things Must Pass", for "Rolling Stone", James Hunter wrote of how the album's music "exults in breezy rhythms", among which "the colorful revolutions of 'What Is Life' ... [move] like a Ferris wheel". The following year, in Rolling Stone Press's "Harrison" tribute book, David Fricke included "What Is Life" among his selection of "essential Harrison performances" (just three of which date from the ex-Beatle's solo years) and described the track as an "exultant song of surrender", abetted by Harrison's "pumping fuzz guitar" and the song's "singalong magnetism". AllMusic's Richie Unterberger similarly praises "What Is Life" for its "anthemic" qualities, "particularly snazzy horn lines", and a guitar riff that is "one more entry in the catalog of George Harrison's book of arresting, low, descending guitar lines".


title: What Is Life

text: Writing in the book "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die", author Tom Moon refers to "the upbeat single 'What Is Life'" as an example of how Harrison "grabs what he needs from his old band – that insinuating hook sense – and uses it to frame an utterly comfortable metaphysical discourse". Simon Leng credits Harrison's "innate ability to write very fine pop-rock songs" and deems the result "as innovative an exercise in rock-soul as the Temptations' 'Cloud Nine'". Ian Inglis is less enthusiastic, acknowledging that Barham's orchestration and the other musicians give the track "undoubted excitement and energy", but lamenting that the song offers "little overall coherence between words and music". In Thomas MacFarlane's view, "What Is Life" is a "remarkable pop song" that "takes the tone and attitude of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and channels it through the prism of the late-period Beatles".


title: What Is Life

text: Writing for "Q" magazine in 2002, John Harris said the "widescreen sound" of "All Things Must Pass" tracks such as "What Is Life" was a forerunner to recordings by ELO and Oasis. "PopMatters" Jason Korenkiewicz describes the song as a "jangle pop masterpiece and blueprint for the Britpop movement", adding that "Harrison's musical legacy has contributed greatly to the exuberance of Britpop in the '90s." The track is said to be a favourite of Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl, who titled his 1995 song "Oh, George" in tribute to Harrison. Guitarist Steve Lukather also named it as a favourite, adding of "All Things Must Pass": "there is a LOT of deep soul music in those grooves."


title: What Is Life

text: Michael Galluci of "Ultimate Classic Rock" placed "What Is Life" second (behind "My Sweet Lord") in his list titled "Top 10 George Harrison Songs". Galluci wrote of the track having "a giant pop hook as its guide" as well as "the catchiest chorus Harrison ever penned".<ref name="Gallucci/UCR">Michael Gallucci, "Top 10 George Harrison Songs", "Ultimate Classic Rock" (retrieved 28 March 2014).</ref> In 2009, Matt Melis of "Consequence of Sound" listed it sixth among his "Top Ten Songs by Ex-Beatles", writing: "it's arguable that Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" is the best solo album put out by a Beatle. 'What is Life' … with its riff-driven bounce, soaring harmonies on the choruses, and perfectly placed sax and trumpet, [is] probably Harrison's catchiest pop song." In the 2005 publication "NME Originals: Beatles – The Solo Years 1970–1980", Adrian Thrills rated it first among Harrison's "ten solo gems", adding: "One of Harrison's greatest guitar riffs – brilliant pop." "What Is Life" topped a similar list in "Paste" magazine, where Madison Desler writes: "Another ambiguous love song that could be directed at a woman or a higher power, 'What Is Life' explodes jubilantly, a rare moment of pure celebration for Harrison." She also describes the track as "an onion of pop gold that reveals different parts of itself the more you listen to it" and "a staple of pop culture" due to the song's popularity in film soundtracks.


title: What Is Life

text: In a 2010 poll to find the "10 Best George Harrison Songs", AOL Radio listeners voted "What Is Life" third, behind "My Sweet Lord" and "Blow Away". In a "Rolling Stone" readers' poll, titled "10 Greatest Solo Beatle Songs", the song placed fourth, with the editor commenting: "The track is deceptively simple, and more layers become apparent the more often you play it." "What Is Life" has featured in Bruce Pollock's book "The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000", "Treble" website's "The Top 200 Songs of the 1970s" (ranked at number 101) and Dave Thompson's "1000 Songs That Rock Your World" (at number 247).


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" was included on the 1976 compilation "The Best of George Harrison", as the closing track, and 2009's "". The song has also appeared in several popular feature films: Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" (1990), during the "May 11, 1980" sequence; Tom Shadyac's "Patch Adams" (1998); Sam Mendes' "Away We Go" (2009); Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" (2012), for which it was also used in advance promotion; and "Instant Family" (2018), directed by Sean Anders. According to Andy Greene of "Rolling Stone": "Today, many people know it merely as a song from all those soundtracks ... It's almost as ubiquitous as 'Let My Love Open the Door' or 'Solsbury Hill'."


title: What Is Life

text: A portion of "What Is Life" plays in Scorsese's 2011 documentary "", between "Here Comes the Sun" and the Radha Krishna Temple's "Hare Krishna Mantra". It accompanies a sequence of 1969 photos of Harrison with, variously, Preston, Jackie Lomax, the Plastic Ono Band, Clapton and Ravi Shankar, and follows archive footage showing him discussing the restrictions he felt within the Beatles and how the band "had to implode". In his film review for "Entertainment Weekly", Owen Gleiberman recalled of the song:


title: What Is Life

text: I will never forget the tingle I felt while standing, when I was around 11, at a jukebox in a diner in early-'70s Ann Arbor, dropping a coin into the machine to play a song that was still new to me: "What Is Life". That descending guitar line crackled out of the speaker like a sassy, jagged lightning bolt. The drums were as thunderous as Led Zeppelin's, only it was "romantic" thunder, and Harrison's yearning vocals rode atop Phil Spector's now-electrified wall of sound like a jubilant cry of triumph: He had broken free! Free of the Beatles, of the '60s, of the material world ... It was one of the most ecstatic things I'd ever heard, and ever would hear. It was the spirit of love speaking through George Harrison, as it would speak through him throughout that album.


title: What Is Life

text: An alternative studio version of "What Is Life" was one of the five bonus tracks included on the 2001 remaster of "All Things Must Pass". This version is a rough mix of the original backing track with different orchestration – in this case, piccolo trumpet and oboe. In the accompanying booklet, Harrison writes that this orchestral arrangement was discarded because he "didn't like the feel". Speaking to "Billboard" editor-in-chief Timothy White in December 2000, Harrison explained the reason for the lack of a guide vocal on this version: "I'm playing the fuzz guitar part that goes all through the song. So all I could do on the [initial] take was to give the band the cue line – the first line of each verse – and then go back to playing that riff. So that rough mix without the vocal – I'd forgot all about it …"


title: What Is Life

text: Coinciding with the release of the "Apple Years 1968–75" box set in September 2014, Harrison's widow and son, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, held an online competition in which filmmakers were invited to create a video clip for "What Is Life". The winner would receive a $5000 cash prize and have their entry become the official video for the track, appearing on the George Harrison YouTube channel and other media platforms. In November, Olivia and Dhani selected Brandon Moore of Oakland, California, as the winner. Moore's video comprises dance interpretations by Emma Rubinowitz and Esteban Hernandez of the San Francisco Ballet, filmed in the streets and woods of the San Francisco Presidio.


title: What Is Life

text: A live version of the song, recorded with Eric Clapton and his band in December 1991, is available on Harrison's 1992 album "Live in Japan" album. The performance was recorded at Tokyo Dome on 17 December, during the final show of the tour.


title: What Is Life

text: Part of a concert performance of "What Is Life" from Harrison's 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar appears in Scorsese's "George Harrison: Living in the Material World". This was the first US tour by a former Beatle but the concerts were highly controversial and proved damaging to Harrison's artistic standing. Rock publications such as "Rolling Stone" ensured that the tour gained a reputation as a disastrous venture, although bootleg recordings from the shows partly refute this. Simon Leng writes of a Fort Worth performance of "What Is Life" that was "greeted with a reception that matched anything the New York audience at the [August 1971] Bangla Desh concerts expressed".


title: What Is Life

text: English-born Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John included "What Is Life", along with a version of Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" track "Behind That Locked Door", on her 1972 album "Olivia". The song was arranged and produced by Bruce Welch of the Shadows and John Farrar, who was Newton-John's regular producer and collaborator during the 1970s.


title: What Is Life

text: Released as a single in some countries, this version reached the UK top 20 in March 1972, peaking at number 16. The song's chart run coincided with Newton-John touring the UK with French balladeer Sacha Distel before beginning a season of solo concerts at London's Prince of Wales Theatre. "What Is Life" subsequently appeared on her compilation albums "" (1992) and "The Definitive Collection" (2002).


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" was one of the songs that middle-of-the-road artists rushed to record as a result of "All Things Must Pass" popularity. In 1971, British easy listening pianist Ronnie Aldrich covered it (as well as "My Sweet Lord") on his album "Love Story", giving the track what AllMusic reviewer Al Campbell views as a regrettable "Muzak arrangement". That same year, the Ventures included an instrumental version on their "New Testament" album, recorded when the band had progressed from their surf rock roots to embrace fuzz-tone and other heavier guitar sounds. Music critic Bruce Eder cites the track as an example of the album's "loud, jagged guitar" music and of Ventures guitarist Gerry McGee "crossing swords musically" with contemporaries such as Harrison, Clapton and Jimmy Page through the band's choice of covers.<ref name="Eder/AM">Bruce Eder, "The Ventures "New Testament"", AllMusic (retrieved 16 December 2020).</ref>


title: What Is Life

text: Shawn Mullins recorded "What Is Life" for the soundtrack of the 1999 film "Big Daddy". Released as a single, it peaked at number 62 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, Christian rock singer Neal Morse included a recording on the special-edition version of his album "One", with Phil Keaggy as a guest vocalist. The track later appeared on Morse's 2006 album with Mike Portnoy and Randy George, "Cover to Cover", which also includes covers of "Day After Day", which Harrison produced for Badfinger in 1971, and the Clapton–Harrison composition "Badge".


title: What Is Life

text: "What Is Life" was performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic at the George Fest tribute concert in Los Angeles on 28 September 2014. The recording was included on the "George Fest" live album and concert DVD package in 2016.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967 to 1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs, and has won numerous awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Born Billy Don Moyers in Hugo in Choctaw County in southeastern Oklahoma, he is the son of John Henry Moyers, a laborer, and Ruby Johnson Moyers. Moyers was reared in Marshall, Texas.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers began his journalism career at 16 as a cub reporter at the "Marshall News Messenger". In college, he studied journalism at the North Texas State College in Denton, Texas. In 1954, US Senator Lyndon B. Johnson employed him as a summer intern and eventually promoted him to manage Johnson's personal mail. Soon after, Moyers transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he wrote for "The Daily Texan" newspaper. In 1956, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. While in Austin, Moyers served as assistant news editor for KTBC radio and television stations, owned by Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Senator Johnson. During the academic year 1956–1957, he studied issues of church and state at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland as a Rotary International Fellow. In 1959, he completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Moyers served as Director of Information while attending SWBTS. He was also a Baptist pastor in Weir in Williamson County, near Austin.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers was ordained in 1954. Moyers planned to enter a Doctor of Philosophy program in American Studies at the University of Texas. During Senator Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the 1960 Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, Moyers served as a top aide, and in the general campaign he acted as liaison between Democratic vice-presidential candidate Johnson and the Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy.


title: Bill Moyers

text: The Peace Corps was established by President Kennedy by Executive Order in March 1961, but it was up to top aide Sargent Shiver and Bill Moyers to find the funding to actually establish the organization. The Peace Corp Act was signed by President Kennedy on September 22, 1961. In "Sarge," Scott Stossel reports that "Peace Corps legend has it that between them Moyers and Shriver personally called on every single member of Congress."


title: Bill Moyers

text: Reflecting 25 years later on the creation of the program Moyers said: ”We knew from the beginning that the Peace Corps was not an agency, program, or mission. Now we know—from those who lived and died for it—that it is a way of being in the world." At the 50th Anniversary “Salute to Peace Corps Giants,” hosted by the National Archives, Moyers said, "The years we spent at the Peace Corps were the best years of our lives.” Moyers gave the same answer in the famed "Vanity Fair" Proust questionnaire in 2011.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers served first as associate director of public affairs and then as Sargent Shriver's deputy director before becoming special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson in November 1963.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Bill Moyers was a key player in the creation of the public broadcasting system.  When, in 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow labeled television a  “vast wasteland” and called for programming in the public interest, the Johnson Administration instituted a study of the issue. The Carnegie Corporation of New York established a commission to study the value of and need for noncommercial educational television. Bill Moyers served on this committee, which released its report 'Public Television: A Program for Action,' in 1967. Moyers said of the endeavor: “We became a central part of the American consciousness and a valuable institution within our culture."


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers was influential in creating the legislation that would fulfill the committee's recommendations. In 1967, President Johnson signed Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. (1) it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes;


title: Bill Moyers

text: On the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act, Moyers and Joseph A. Califano, Jr. spoke about their experience with WNET.


title: Bill Moyers

text: When Lyndon B. Johnson took office after the Kennedy assassination, Moyers became a special assistant to Johnson, serving from 1963 to 1967. Moyers and Pamela Turnure are the last surviving people identifiable in the photograph taken of Johnson's swearing in. He played a key role in organizing and supervising the 1964 Great Society legislative task forces and was a principal architect of Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign. Moyers acted as the President's informal chief of staff from October 1964 until 1966. From July 1965 to February 1967, he also served as White House press secretary.


title: Bill Moyers

text: After the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Walter Jenkins because of a sexual misdemeanor in the run up to the 1964 election, President Lyndon B. Johnson, alarmed that the opposition was framing the issue as a security breach, ordered Moyers to request FBI name checks on 15 members of Goldwater's staff to find "derogatory" material on their personal lives. Goldwater himself only referred to the Jenkins incident off the record. The Church Committee stated in 1975 that "Moyers has publicly recounted his role in the incident, and his account is confirmed by FBI documents." In 2005, Laurence Silberman wrote that Moyers denied writing the memo in a 1975 phone call, telling him the FBI had fabricated it. Moyers said he had a different recollection of the telephone conversation.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers also sought information from the FBI on the sexual preferences of White House staff members, most notably Jack Valenti. Moyers indicated his memory was unclear on why Johnson directed him to request such information, "but that he may have been simply looking for details of allegations first brought to the president by Hoover."


title: Bill Moyers

text: Under the direction of President Johnson, Moyers gave J Edgar Hoover the go-ahead to discredit Martin Luther King, played a part in the wiretapping of King, discouraged the American embassy in Oslo from assisting King on his Nobel Peace Prize trip, and worked to prevent King from challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers approved (but had nothing to do with the production) of the infamous "Daisy Ad" against Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. Goldwater blamed him for it, and once said of Moyers, "Every time I see him, I get sick to my stomach and want to throw up." The ad is considered the starting point of the modern-day harshly negative campaign ad.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Journalist Morley Safer in his 1990 book "Flashbacks" wrote that Moyers and President Johnson met with and "harangued" Safer's boss, CBS president Frank Stanton, about Safer's coverage of the Marines torching Cam Ne village in the Vietnam War.


title: Bill Moyers

text: During the meeting, Safer alleges, Johnson threatened to expose Safer's "communist ties". This was a bluff, according to Safer. Safer says that Moyers was "if not a key player, certainly a key bystander" in the incident. Moyers stated that his hard-hitting coverage of conservative presidents Reagan and Bush was behind Safer's 1990 allegations.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In "The New York Times" on April 3, 1966, Moyers offered this insight on his stint as press secretary to President Johnson: "I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies." On October 17, 1967, he told an audience in Cambridge that Johnson saw the war in Vietnam as his major legacy and, as a result, was insisting on victory at all costs, even in the face of public opposition. Moyers felt such a continuation of the conflict would tear the country apart. "I never thought the situation could arise when I would wish for the defeat of LBJ, and that makes my current state of mind all the more painful to me," he told them. "I would have to say now: It would depend on who his opponent is."


title: Bill Moyers

text: The full details of his rift with Johnson were not made public. However, an Oval Office tape which was recorded following Johnson's public announcement that he would not seek re-election on March 31, 1968, suggested that Moyers and Johnson were still in contact after Moyers left the White House, with Moyers even encouraging the President to change his mind about running.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers served as publisher for the Long Island, New York, daily newspaper "Newsday" from 1967 to 1970. The conservative publication had been unsuccessful, but Moyers led the paper in a progressive direction, bringing in leading writers such as Pete Hamill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Saul Bellow, and adding new features and more investigative reporting and analysis. Circulation increased and the publication won 33 major journalism awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. But the owner of the paper, Harry Guggenheim, a conservative, was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing the "left-wing" coverage of Vietnam War protests. The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey. Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative Times-Mirror Company over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 1976 Moyers joined CBS News, where he worked as editor and chief correspondent for "CBS Reports" until 1981, then as senior news analyst and commentator for the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" from 1981 to 1986. He was the last regular commentator for the network broadcast. During his last year at CBS, Moyers made public statements about declining news standards at the network and declined to renew his contract with CBS, citing commitments with PBS.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers briefly joined NBC News in 1995 as a senior analyst and commentator, and the following year he became the first host of sister cable network MSNBC's "Insight" program. He was the last regular commentator on the "NBC Nightly News".


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 1971 Moyers began working for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). His first PBS series, titled "This Week with Bill Moyers", aired in 1971 and 1972.


title: Bill Moyers

text: "Bill Moyers Journal" ran on PBS from 1972 until 1981 with a hiatus from 1976 to 1977. He later hosted a show with this title from 2007 to 2010.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 1975, Bill Moyers Journal aired "Rosedale: The Way It Is," documenting the furor after the first Black family moved into Rosedale, Queens — including a rash of fire bombings. Forty-five years later a graduate student drew attention to a short segment recording the reactions of a group of black girls trying to make sense of the virulent racist attack they'd just experienced. "The New York Times" picked up on the story and found the children and others featured in the documentary and produced its own reported feature: " A Racist Attack on Children Was Taped in 1975. We Found Them."


title: Bill Moyers

text: From 1982 through 2006, 70 different documentaries, interviews or limited series produced and hosted by Moyers ran on PBS stations.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers also hosted a 6-part interview series called "Creativity" in 1982 and a 42-part interview series "A World of Ideas" from 1988-1990 which featured a companion book.


title: Bill Moyers

text: These were often produced by Moyers and his wife, Judith Suzanne Davidson Moyers, through Public Affairs Television, a company they formed in 1986. Other collaborators included filmmaker David Grubin and producer Madeline Amgott


title: Bill Moyers

text: Between 1990 and 1999, Moyers produced and hosted 7 episodes of the PBS journalism program "Frontline":


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers hosted the TV news journal "NOW with Bill Moyers" on PBS for three years, starting in January 2002. He retired from the program on December 17, 2004, but returned to PBS soon after to host "Wide Angle" in 2005. When he left "NOW", he announced that he wished to finish writing a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.


title: Bill Moyers

text: On April 25, 2007, Moyers returned to PBS with "Bill Moyers Journal". In the first episode, "Buying the War", Moyers investigated what he called the general media's shortcomings in the runup to the War in Iraq. "Buying the War" won an Emmy at the 29th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2008) for Best Report in a News Magazine.


title: Bill Moyers

text: On November 20, 2009, Moyers announced that he would be retiring from his weekly show on April 30, 2010.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In August 2011 Moyers announced a new hour-long weekly interview show, "Moyers & Company", which premiered in January 2012. In that same month, Moyers also launched BillMoyers.com. Later reduced to a half hour, "Moyers & Company" was produced by Public Affairs Television and distributed by American Public Television. The show has been heralded as a renewed fulfillment of public media's stated mission to air news and views unrepresented or underrepresented in commercial media.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 2020, Moyers started a series of podcasts named "Moyers on Democracy". Conversations included Lisa Graves on the Post Office conflict; Heather Cox Richardson on "How the South Won the Civil War;" Heather McGhee on racism's pernicious effect on American society and Bill T. Jones on his newest project — a retelling of "Moby Dick" from the viewpoint of a Black cabin boy. The series ended in early 2021.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 1995, Bill Moyers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. The same year, he also won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. When he became a recipient of the 2006 Lifetime Emmy Award, the official announcement noted that “Bill Moyers has devoted his lifetime to the exploration of the major issues and ideas of our time and our country, giving television viewers an informed perspective on political and societal concerns," and that "The scope of and quality of his broadcasts have been honored time and again. It is fitting that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honor him with our highest honor—the Lifetime Achievement Award." He has received well over thirty Emmys and virtually every other major television journalism prize, including a gold baton from the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, a lifetime Peabody Award, and a George Polk Career Award (his third George Polk Award) for contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Philosophical Society, and has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including a doctorate from the American Film Institute. In 2011, Moyers received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers said, "The corporate right and the political right declared class warfare on working people a quarter of a century ago and they've won." He noted, "The rich are getting richer, which arguably wouldn't matter if the rising tide lifted all boats." Instead, however, "[t]he inequality gap is the widest it's been since 1929; the middle class is besieged and the working poor are barely keeping their heads above water." He added that as "the corporate and governing elites are helping themselves to the spoils of victory," access to political power has become "who gets what and who pays for it."


title: Bill Moyers

text: Meanwhile, the public has failed to react because it is, in his words, "distracted by the media circus and news has been neutered or politicized for partisan purposes." In support of this, he referred to "the paradox of Rush Limbaugh, ensconced in a Palm Beach mansion massaging the resentments across the country of white-knuckled wage earners, who are barely making ends meet in no small part because of the corporate and ideological forces for whom Rush has been a hero. ... As Eric Alterman reports in his recent book—a book that I'm proud to have helped make happen—part of the red-meat strategy is to attack mainstream media relentlessly, knowing that if the press is effectively intimidated, either by the accusation of liberal bias or by a reporter's own mistaken belief in the charge's validity, the institutions that conservatives revere—corporate America, the military, organized religion, and their own ideological bastions of influence—will be able to escape scrutiny and increase their influence over American public life with relatively no challenge."


title: Bill Moyers

text: When he briefly retired in December 2004, the AP News Service quoted Moyers as saying, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."


title: Bill Moyers

text: On July 24, 2006, liberal political commentator Molly Ivins published an article entitled "Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously", urging a symbolic candidacy, on the progressive website Truthdig. The call was taken up in October 2006 by Ralph Nader. Moyers did not run.


title: Bill Moyers

text: In 2003, Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman Kenneth Tomlinson wrote to Pat Mitchell, the president of PBS, that "NOW with Bill Moyers" "does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting." In 2005, Tomlinson commissioned a study of the show, without informing or getting authorization from the CPB board. The study was conducted by, Fred Mann, Tomlinson's choice, a 20-year veteran of the American Conservative Union and a conservative columnist. Like the study itself, Mann's appointment was not disclosed to the CPB.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Tomlinson said that the study supported what he characterized as "the image of the left-wing bias of NOW". George Neumayr, the executive editor of "The American Spectator", a conservative magazine, told the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" that "PBS looks like a liberal monopoly to me, and Bill Moyers is Exhibit A of that very strident, left-wing bias... [Moyers] uses his show as a platform from which to attack conservatives and Republicans."


title: Bill Moyers

text: The Reporters Committee on the Freedom of the Press was vocal about the danger of the CPB chairman interfering with programming independence. The PBS Ombudsman and the Free Press noted that a poll taken in 2003 by the CPB itself found that 80 percent of Americans believe PBS to be "fair and balanced." In a speech given to The National Conference for Media Reform, Moyers said that he had repeatedly invited Tomlinson to have a televised conversation with him on the subject but had been ignored.


title: Bill Moyers

text: On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board, prompted by a report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General, Kenneth Konz, requested by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The report, which found that Tomlinson violated the Director's Code of Ethics and the statutory provisions of the CPB and PBS, was made public on November 15. It states:We found evidence that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) former Chairman violated statutory provisions and the Director's Code of Ethics by dealing directly with one of the creators of a new public affairs program during negotiations with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the CPB over creating the show. Our review also found evidence that suggests "political tests" were a major criteria ["sic"] used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices.In 2006, the PBS Ombudsman, whose role was reinvigorated by the controversy published a column entitled "He's Back: Moyers, not Tomlinson." Reflecting on the conflict, Moyers told "The Boston Globe": "It's a place where if you fight you can survive, but it's not easy. The fact of the matter is that Kenneth Tomlinson had a chilling effect down the line."


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers is a former director of the Council on Foreign Relations (1967–1974), and a member of the Bilderberg Group and since 1990 has been president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy.


title: Bill Moyers

text: Moyers married Judith Suzanne Davidson (a producer) on December 18, 1954. They have three children and five grandchildren. His son William Cope Moyers (CNN producer, Hazelden Foundation spokesman) struggled to overcome alcoholism and crack addiction as detailed in the book "Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption". He includes letters from Bill Moyers in his book, which he says are "a testament to a father's love for his son, a father's confusion with his son, and ultimately, a father's satisfaction with his son." His other son, John Moyers, assisted in the foundation of TomPaine.com, "an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary." His daughter, Suzanne Moyers, a former teacher and editor, is the author of the historical novel, ‘"Til All These Thing Be Done" (She Writes Press; September 13, 2022")."


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and supershow. The event was co-produced by American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on June 26, 2022, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, and was the first AEW/NJPW co-promoted event.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including four on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the interim AEW World Champion. In other prominent matches, Jay White defeated "Hangman" Adam Page, Kazuchika Okada, and Adam Cole in a four-way match to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Pac defeated Clark Connors, Miro, and Malakai Black in a four-way match to become the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion, and Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro in WWE, defeated Zack Sabre Jr. in his AEW debut match. The event also saw special appearances by Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In February 2021, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) started a partnership with the Japanese promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), with Kenta being the first NJPW wrestler to appear on AEW's primary weekly television program, "Dynamite" during the Beach Break special. Since then, both AEW and NJPW have had their wrestlers appear on each other's shows in the United States. On April 15, 2022, it was reported that a planned co-promoted event held by the two promotions was in the works. On the April 20 episode of "Dynamite", AEW President Tony Khan introduced NJPW President Takami Ohbari to make a major announcement regarding their respective companies. They were interrupted by AEW wrestler Adam Cole, who officially announced that a co-promoted event titled Forbidden Door would be held on June 26 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The event took its name from the same term often used by AEW when referring to working with other professional wrestling promotions. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) via traditional PPV outlets, the Bleacher Report app, FITE TV, and will stream in Japan on NJPW World. Pre-sale tickets went on sale on May 5 and sold out in less than 40 minutes, with more than 11,000 tickets sold with only a limited number of tickets set aside to go on sale to the general public on May 6.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: On the June 1 episode of "Dynamite", newly crowned AEW World Champion CM Punk called out his NJPW Forbidden Door opponent. Hiroshi Tanahashi would make a surprise debut, indicating he would face Punk for the title at the supershow. On the June 3 episode of "Rampage", Punk announced that he would need surgery and would be taking time off. AEW owner Tony Khan had informed Punk he would not have to relinquish the championship. Later that night, it was announced that a battle royal would take place at the start of the June 8 episode of "Dynamite", with the winner facing Jon Moxley, who was the number one ranked singles competitor, in the show's main event, and the winner of that match would be placed in the match to crown an interim AEW World Champion at Forbidden Door. It was then announced on AEW's social media that the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto at NJPW's Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall would be the other competitor in the interim championship match at Forbidden Door. On the June 8 episode of "Dynamite", Kyle O'Reilly won the Casino Battle Royale, and was defeated by Moxley, who advanced to Forbidden Door. At Dominion, Tanahashi defeated Goto, setting up NJPW's half of the match.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: On the June 8 edition of "Dynamite", "Hangman" Adam Page wrestled his first match, since losing the AEW World Championship to CM Punk at Double or Nothing, defeating David Finlay. After the match, Page called out Kazuchika Okada, the-then IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, challenging him to a match for the title at Forbidden Door. Page was interrupted by Adam Cole, who pointed out that Okada may not be champion by Forbidden Door due to his scheduled title defense against Jay White at Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall. On June 12, White defeated Okada to win the title and insulted Page after the match. Page addressed the situation on the June 15 episode of "Dynamite", and was once again interrupted by Cole, who also wanted to face White for the world title. White appeared from behind Page and attacked him with a Blade Runner. White went on to explain that he would not defend his title against Page, pointing out to White being 2–0 in his singles matches against Page, much to Cole's amusement. At the same time, much to Cole's dismay, White also stated he would not defend the title against Cole either, leaving White's Forbidden Door opponent still to be decided. On the June 22 episode of "Dynamite", Cole and White once again attacked Page, however, Okada made his AEW debut, helping Page fend off Cole and White. It was later announced that White would defend the title in a four-way match against Okada, Page, and Cole.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Also on the June 8 episode of "Dynamite", AEW unveiled a brand new men's singles championship, the AEW All-Atlantic Championship, to be a secondary championship of the promotion and to "represent the AEW fans watching around the world in over 130 countries". It was announced that four wrestlers, determined through qualifying matches, would battle in a fatal four-way match at Forbidden Door to be crowned the inaugural champion. Pac defeated Buddy Matthews that same night to qualify. On the June 15 episode of "Dynamite", Miro defeated Ethan Page to become the second qualifier, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Clark Connors on June 21 at New Japan Road to qualify. Malakai Black was the last qualifier, defeating Penta Oscuro on the June 22 episode of "Dynamite". On June 23, Ishii was replaced by Connors following an injury.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: On the May 25, episode of "Dynamite", the United Empire's Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb interrupted a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships between FTR and Roppongi Vice, attacking both teams. The following week, faction leader Will Ospreay made his surprise debut where, along with other UE stablemates Aaron Henare and Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis of Aussie Open, they attacked Trent Beretta and FTR. On the June 10, episode of "Rampage", Beretta and FTR picked up a victory against Ospreay, Davis and Fletcher. Ospreay competed in his first AEW singles match at Road Rager on June 15, where he defeated Dax Harwood. After the match, Ospreay and United Empire, including new IWGP Tag Team Champions O-Khan and Cobb, attacked FTR and Roppongi Vice once more, only to be interrupted by Orange Cassidy, who stared down Ospreay. Soon after, a singles match between both men was scheduled for Forbidden Door for Ospreay's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. A few days later, a Winner Takes All three-way tag team match between FTR, Roppongi Vice, and O-Khan and Cobb for the ROH World and IWGP Tag Team Championships was announced for the show as well.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Since the announcement of Forbidden Door, Zack Sabre Jr. had continuously called out in post-match interviews, challenging "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson to find out who the best technical wrestler was. However, following defeat in the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing, it was speculated that Danielson had suffered an injury. This was confirmed by Danielson on the June 22nd episode of "Dynamite", yet he acknowledged Sabre Jr.’s challenge, revealing that he had organised a replacement as “the one person” he trusted to take his place at the PPV and the subsequent AEW Blood and Guts special episode of "Dynamite". This led to Sabre Jr making his AEW debut, verbally mocking Danielson.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Following their defeat in the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing, Eddie Kingston along with Santana and Ortiz continued to feud with the Jericho Appreciation Society. On the June 1 edition of "Dynamite", Blackpool Combat Club’s manager William Regal and Kingston issued a challenge to the JAS to fight the trio and the BCC in a Blood and Guts match, which Jericho declined. Ortiz then jumped Jericho from behind and cut a lock of Jericho's hair off, which led to Jericho accepting the match while also challenging Ortiz to a Hair vs. Hair match. On the June 15 edition of "Dynamite:" Road Rager, Jericho defeated Ortiz in the match after seemingly receiving outside help from Fuego Del Sol, only for it to be revealed as Sammy Guevara under the mask, who would later be revealed to have joined the JAS along with his fiancé Tay Conti, turning both heels. Later in the night, Jericho interrupted the face-to-face confrontation between Moxley and Tanahashi, and both men were immediately attacked by Suzuki-gun members Lance Archer and El Desperado, despite additional help from Wheeler Yuta. Jericho announced that he and Sammy would team up with their leader, Minoru Suzuki, to face Kingston, Yuta and Moxley's NJPW protege Shota Umino in a six-man tag team match.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: On the June 8 edition of "Dynamite", Thunder Rosa successfully defended her AEW Women's World Championship against Marina Shafir, only for Shafir to attack her after the match. Toni Storm rushed out to the ring to successfully stop Shafir's assault. Storm then picked up the championship belt, admired it, and handed it back to Rosa, indicating a possible future match against the two. Soon after, the match was made official for Forbidden Door.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In June, reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) began feuding with Darby Allin and Sting, which led to reDRagon challenging Allin to match at "Rampage". On the June 17 episode of "Rampage," Allin defeated Fish, before being attacked by O'Reilly, however, Sting made the save, helping Allin fend off O'Reilly, with Allin breaking Fish's leg. The following week on "Dynamite", O'Reilly and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) challenged them to a match at Forbidden Door with their partner being Hikuleo, rejoining Bullet Club for one night only. Allin and Sting accepted their challenge with their partners being Los Ingobernables de Japón's Hiromu Takahashi and Shingo Takagi. On June 23, it was announced that O'Reilly would be forced to miss the event, due to an injury, being replaced by El Phantasmo. On June 25, it was announced that Takahashi would be forced to miss the event, due to suffering from a fever, and that the match would be a trios match with Sting, Allin and Takagi facing the Young Bucks and El Phantasmo (accompanied by Hikuleo).


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Four matches were contested on the Buy-In pre-show. In the first match, The Factory (Aaron Solo and Q. T. Marshall) faced Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi). Marshall went for a 450 splash, but Hashi avoided it. Hashi and Goto performed a Powerbomb/Spinning headlock elbow drop combo on Solo for the win.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Next, Lance Archer took on Nick Comoroto. Comoroto attempted to attack Archer before the match had begun, but Archer prevented it and took out Comoroto with a cannonball. In the end, Archer performed the Blackout on Comoroto to win the match.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: After that, Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland) took on Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru). Strickland hit a backbreaker on Desperado, who came right back with a clothesline, which was followed by Strickland hitting him with a flatliner. Kanemaru took a swig from a whiskey bottle at ringside and spit the whiskey into Lee's eyes, which led to a nearfall. In the end, Lee performed the Big Bang Catastrophe on Kanemaru to secure the win. Following the match, Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs spoke from a luxury box. Hobbs stated that Strickland and Lee think they are Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and then compared himself and Starks to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Starks questioned how Strickland and Lee could call themselves the best tag team, when they have not beaten him and Hobbs.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In the final match of the pre-show, Max Caster (accompanied by Anthony Bowens) and Gunn Club (Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) faced Yuya Uemura and New Japan LA Dojo (Alex Coughlin, The DKC, and Kevin Knight). Before the match began, Danhausen appeared on the screen and introduced a new "Ass Boys” theme, which caused Austin and Colten to run to the back. The NJPW dojo wrestlers took advantage of the numbers advantage while Austin and Colten were gone. In the end, Caster performed the Mic Drop on the DKC for the victory.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: The actual pay-per-view opened with Minoru Suzuki and Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara) (accompanied by Tay Conti) facing the team of Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino, and Wheeler Yuta, with the winning team receiving the man advantage for the upcoming Blood and Guts match between the Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club. Early in the match, Yuta performed multiple German suplexes on Jericho. Yuta and Kingston performed suicide dives on Guevara and Jericho, respectively. In the final moments, Suzuki hit a Gotch-Style Piledriver on Kingston. Umino knocked both Guevara and Suzuki down, but Jericho took advantage and dropped Umino with a Judas Effect for the win, thus giving the Jericho Appreciation Society the man advantage for Blood and Guts.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Next was a Winner Takes All three-way tag team match for both the ROH World Tag Team Championship and IWGP Tag Team Championship between ROH World Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood), IWGP Tag Team Champions United Empire (Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb), and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta). During the match, Harwood legitimately injured his left shoulder, leaving Wheeler to fly solo. Later, Harwood returned with his shoulder wrapped. Romero performed a suicide dive onto Harwood and Khan on the floor. FTR hit Romero with the Big Rig to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships and retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Backstage, Tony Schiavone interviewed Juice Robinson and Jay White. Robinson had the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship and White noted that Robinson never lost the title. White also spoke about retaining his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship later in the night.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: After that was the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Championship four-way match between Pac, Clark Connors, Miro, and Malakai Black. Outside the ring, Connors landed a Spear on Miro through a table. Back in the ring, Miro applied the Game Over submission on Pac but was broken up by Black who sprayed a mist into Miro's face. As Black and Connors were fighting over an armbar, Pac performed a 450 Splash on Black and applied the Brutalizer submission on Connors to become the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: The next match was between Dudes with Attitudes (Darby Allin, Sting, and Shingo Takagi) against Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) (accompanied by Hikuleo). As the Bullet Club was making their entrances, Sting dove onto Bullet Club from the top of one of the entrance tunnels. Allin hit a cutter on Phantasmo, but the Young Bucks took Allin out with a double superkick. Takagi performed the Last of the Dragon on Phantasmo to win the match.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Next, Thunder Rosa defended the AEW Women's World Championship against Toni Storm. Rosa ended up at ringside and stuffed a Tornado DDT attempt and suplexed Storm. Storm executed a Tornado DDT on Rosa on the floor. Back in the ring, Rosa performed a Fire Thunder Driver on Storm for a near fall. Storm attempted the Storm Zero, but her shoulder gave out. Rosa then performed the Final Reckoning on Storm to retain the title. After the match, Rosa and Storm shook hands.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In the sixth match, Will Ospreay (accompanied by Aussie Open) defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Orange Cassidy. Cassidy performed a Stundog Millionaire and Michinoku Driver on Ospreay for a near fall. Cassidy removed his elbow pad and attempted an Orange Punch on Ospreay, who countered and hit Cassidy with a cutter. Ospreay went for a Storm Breaker, but Cassidy countered into a frankensteiner for a near fall. Cassidy held up his thumb and Ospreay performed the Storm Breaker to retain the title. Following the match, Ospreay instructed Fletcher and Davis to take out Cassidy. Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta) ran out to Cassidy's aid, but they were cleared from the ring. They were interrupted by Katsuyori Shibata, who attacked Ospreay and Aussie Open. Cassidy approached Shibata and teased putting his sunglasses on, but instead put them on Shibata and struck his thumbs-up pose.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Subsequently, Zack Sabre Jr. came out for his match against an opponent who was pre-selected by Bryan Danielson. Claudio Castagnoli made his unannounced AEW debut as Sabre Jr.'s opponent and also became the newest member of Blackpool Combat Club. At the start of the match, Castagnoli performed a Neutralizer on Sabre Jr. for a near fall. A short time later when Sabre stood up, Castagnoli dropped him with a forearm shot. Castagnoli performed the Swing on Sabre Jr. and attempted a sharpshooter, but Sabre Jr. countered into a heel hook submission. Castagnoli broke free and later hit Sabre Jr. with an uppercut and a lariat and then performed the Ricola Bomb on the latter to win the match.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In the penultimate match, Jay White (accompanied by Gedo) defended the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada, "Hangman" Adam Page, and Adam Cole in a four-way match. Cole attempted the Boom on White, but White ducked it and performed a Uranage Slam on Cole. Cole hit White with the Boom, Okada landed a dropkick on Cole, Page executed a lariat on Okada and all four men were down temporarily. White attempted a Bladerunner on Page, who countered with a Dead Eye. As Page performed the Buckshot Lariat on White, Okada broke up the pin. Cole hit multiple superkicks on Page and Okada for a near fall. White executed another Bladerunner on Okada and pinned Cole to retain the title.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: In the main event, Jon Moxley took on Hiroshi Tanahashi to determine the interim AEW World Champion. Early in the match, Moxley performed a piledriver on Tanahashi for a near fall. Outside the ring, Tanahashi landed a crossbody block on a bloodied Moxley. Back in the ring, Moxley applied a bulldog choke submission on Tanahashi, who escaped the hold. Tanahashi slapped Moxley multiple times and ran the ropes, but Moxley blasted him with a clothesline. Moxley covered Tanahashi, but Tanahashi kicked out at one. Moxley applied the rear naked choke submission, who later released the hold and executed the Paradigm Shift on Tanahashi to become the interim AEW World Champion. Post-match, Moxley celebrated his victory. Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia ran out and attacked Moxley and Tanahashi. Eddie Kingston ran out and went after Jericho, but Garcia put him in a sleeper. Wheeler Yuta, Santana, and Ortiz ran out and attacked Jericho and Garcia. Jake Hager, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, and Sammy Guevara ran out to help Jericho and Garcia. Castagnoli ran out and went after Jericho. The Jericho Appreciation Society fled and lost the brawl, culminating in the Blackpool Combat Club celebrating.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: The following episode of "Dynamite" was the special episode Blood and Guts. Due to Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Minoru Suzuki defeating Shota Umino, Wheeler Yuta, and Eddie Kingston, the Jericho Appreciation Society earned the advantage in the Blood and Guts match. Additionally, due to Bryan Danielson's injury preventing him from participating in Blood and Guts, Claudio Castagnoli took his place in the match. The match resulted in the Blackpool Combat Club, Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz defeating the Jericho Appreciation Society.


title: AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door

text: Due to Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI's win over The Factory, The Young Bucks challenged them to a match on the "Rampage" special episode Royal Rampage for an opportunity at the Bucks' AEW World Tag Team Championship, which they lost.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The Battle of Madagascar (5 May – 6 November 1942) was a British campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial Japanese Navy and to prevent the loss or impairment of the Allied shipping routes to India, Australia and Southeast Asia. It began with Operation Ironclad, the seizure of the port of Diego-Suarez (now Antsiranana) near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: A subsequent campaign to secure the entire island, Operation Stream Line Jane, was opened on 10 September. The Allies broke into the interior, linking up with forces on the coast and secured the island by the end of October. Fighting ceased and an armistice was granted on 6 November. This was the first large-scale operation by the Allies combining sea, land and air forces. The island was placed under Free French control.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Diego-Suarez is a large bay, with a fine harbour, near the northern tip of the island of Madagascar. It has an opening to the east through a narrow channel called Oronjia Pass. The naval base of Diego-Suarez lies on a peninsula between two of the four small bays enclosed within Diego-Suarez Bay. The bay cuts deeply into the northern tip of Madagascar's Cape Amber, almost severing it from the rest of the island. In the 1880s, the bay was coveted by France, which claimed it as a coaling station for steamships travelling to French possessions farther east. The colonization was formalized after the first Franco-Hova War when Queen Ranavalona III signed a treaty on 17 December 1885 giving France a protectorate over the bay and surrounding territory; as well as the islands of Nosy Be and St. Marie de Madagascar. The colony's administration was subsumed into that of French Madagascar in 1897.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Following the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia east of Burma by the end of February 1942, submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy moved freely throughout the north and eastern expanses of the Indian Ocean. In March, Japanese aircraft carriers raided merchant ships in the Bay of Bengal, and attacked bases in Colombo and Trincomalee in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This raid drove the British Eastern Fleet out of the area and they were forced to relocate to a new base at Kilindini Harbour, Mombasa, Kenya.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The move made the British fleet more vulnerable to attack. The possibility of Japanese naval forces using forward bases in Madagascar had to be addressed. The potential use of these facilities particularly threatened Allied merchant shipping, the supply route to the British Eighth Army and also the Eastern Fleet.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Japanese Kaidai-type submarines had the longest range of any Axis submarines at the time – more than in some cases, but being challenged by the United States Navy's then-relatively new fleet submarines' top range figures. If the Imperial Japanese Navy's submarines could use bases on Madagascar, Allied lines of communication would be affected across a region stretching from the Pacific and Australia, to the Middle East and as far as the South Atlantic.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On 17 December 1941, Vice Admiral Fricke, Chief of Staff of Germany's Maritime Warfare Command ("Seekriegsleitung"), met Vice Admiral Naokuni Nomura, the Japanese naval attaché, in Berlin to discuss the delimitation of respective operational areas between the German "Kriegsmarine" and Imperial Japanese Navy forces. At another meeting on 27 March 1942, Fricke stressed the importance of the Indian Ocean to the Axis powers and expressed the desire that the Japanese begin operations against the northern Indian Ocean sea routes. Fricke further emphasized that Ceylon, the Seychelles, and Madagascar should have a higher priority for the Axis navies than operations against Australia. By 8 April, the Japanese announced to Fricke that they intended to commit four or five submarines and two auxiliary cruisers for operations in the western Indian Ocean between Aden and the Cape of Good Hope, but they refused to disclose their plans for operations against Madagascar and Ceylon, only reiterating their commitment to operations in the area.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The Allies had heard the rumours of Japanese plans for the Indian Ocean and on 27 November 1941, the British Chiefs of Staff discussed the possibility that the Vichy government might cede the whole of Madagascar to Japan, or alternatively permit the Japanese Navy to establish bases on the island. British naval advisors urged the occupation of the island as a precautionary measure. On 16 December, General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in London, sent a letter to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in which he also urged a Free French operation against Madagascar. Churchill recognised the risk of a Japanese-controlled Madagascar to Indian Ocean shipping, particularly to the important sea route to India and Ceylon, and considered the port of Diego-Suarez as the strategic key to Japanese influence in the Indian Ocean. However, he also made it clear to planners that he did not feel Britain had the resources to mount such an operation and, following experience in the Battle of Dakar in September 1940, did not want a joint operation launched by British and Free French forces to secure the island.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: By 12 March 1942, Churchill had been convinced of the importance of such an operation and the decision was reached that the planning of the invasion of Madagascar would begin in earnest. It was agreed that the Free French would be explicitly excluded from the operation. As a preliminary battle outline, Churchill gave the following guidelines to the planners and the operation was designated Operation Bonus:


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On 14 March, Force 121 was constituted under the command of Major-General Robert Sturges of the Royal Marines with Rear-Admiral Edward Syfret being placed in command of naval Force H and the supporting sea force.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Force 121 left the Clyde in Scotland on 23 March and joined with South African-born Syfret's ships at Freetown in Sierra Leone, proceeding from there in two convoys to their assembly point at Durban on the South African east coast. Here they were joined by the 13th Brigade Group of the 5th Division – General Sturges' force consisting of three infantry brigades, while Syfret's squadron consisted of the flag battleship , the aircraft carriers and , the cruisers and , eleven destroyers, six minesweepers, six corvettes and auxiliaries. It was a formidable force to bring against the 8,000 troops (mostly conscripted Malagasy) at Diego-Suarez, but the chiefs of staff were adamant that the operation was to succeed, preferably without any fighting.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: This was to be the first British amphibious assault since the disastrous landings in the Dardanelles twenty-seven years before.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: During the assembly in Durban, Field-Marshal Jan Smuts pointed out that the mere seizure of Diego-Suarez would be no guarantee against continuing Japanese aggression and urged that the ports of Majunga and Tamatave be occupied as well. This was evaluated by the chiefs of staff, but it was decided to retain Diego-Suarez as the only objective due to the lack of manpower. Churchill remarked that the only way to permanently secure Madagascar was by means of a strong fleet and adequate air support operating from Ceylon and sent General Archibald Wavell (India Command) a note stating that as soon as the initial objectives had been met, all responsibility for safeguarding Madagascar would be passed on to Wavell. He added that when the commandos were withdrawn, garrison duties would be performed by two African brigades and one brigade from the Belgian Congo or west coast of Africa.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: In March and April, the South African Air Force (SAAF) had conducted reconnaissance flights over Diego-Suarez and No. 32, 36 and 37 Coastal Flights were withdrawn from maritime patrol operations and sent to Lindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Tanganyika, with an additional eleven Bristol Beauforts and six Martin Marylands to provide close air support during the planned operations.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Allied commanders decided to launch an amphibious assault on Madagascar. The task was Operation Ironclad, executed by Force 121. It included Allied naval, land and air forces and was commanded by Major-General Robert Sturges of the Royal Marines. The British Army landing force included the 29th Independent Infantry Brigade Group, No 5 (Army) Commando, and two brigades of the 5th Infantry Division, the latter en route to India with the remainder of their division. The Allied naval contingent consisted of over 50 vessels, drawn from Force H, the British Home Fleet and the British Eastern Fleet, commanded by Syfret. The fleet included the aircraft carrier "Illustrious", her sister ship "Indomitable" and the ageing battleship "Ramillies" to cover the landings.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Following many reconnaissance missions by the South African Air Force, the first wave of the British 29th Infantry Brigade and No. 5 Commando landed in assault craft on 5 May, with follow-up waves by two brigades of the 5th Infantry Division and Royal Marines. All were carried ashore by landing craft to Courrier Bay and Ambararata Bay, just west of the major port of Diego-Suarez, at the northern tip of Madagascar. A diversionary attack was staged to the east. Air cover was provided mainly by Fairey Albacore and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers which attacked Vichy shipping and the airfield at Arrachart. They were supported by Grumman Martlets fighters from the Fleet Air Arm. A small number of SAAF planes assisted. The Swordfish sank the armed merchant cruiser "Bougainville" and then the submarine "Bévéziers," although one Swordfish was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and its crew was taken prisoner. The aircraft shot down had been dropping leaflets in French that encouraged the Vichy troops to surrender.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The defending Vichy forces, led by Governor General Armand Léon Annet, included about 8,000 troops, of whom about 6,000 were Malagasy tirailleurs (colonial infantry). A large proportion of the rest were Senegalese. Between 1,500 and 3,000 Vichy troops were concentrated around Diego-Suarez. However, naval and air defences were relatively light and/or obsolete: eight coastal batteries, two armed merchant cruisers, two sloops, five submarines, 17 Morane-Saulnier 406 fighters and 10 Potez 63 bombers.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The beach landings met with virtually no resistance and these troops seized Vichy coastal batteries and barracks. The Courier Bay force, the 17th Infantry Brigade, after toiling through mangrove swamp and thick bush took the town of Diego-Suarez taking a hundred prisoners of war. The Ambararata Bay force, the 29th Independent Brigade, headed towards the French naval base of Antisarane. With assistance from six Valentines of 'B' Special Service Squadron and six Tetrarch light tanks of 'C' Special Service Squadron they advanced 21 miles overcoming light resistance with bayonet charges. Antisarane itself was heavily defended with trenches, two redoubts, pillboxes, and flanked on both sides by impenetrable swamps. Arrachart airfield was attacked, with five of the Morane fighters being destroyed and another two damaged, while two Potez-63s were also damaged. This attack effectively resulted in the Vichy air strength on the island being reduced by 25 per cent. Two Morane fighters did briefly appear and strafe beaches at Courier Bay, but two more Vichy aircraft were lost on the first day.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On the morning of 6 May a frontal assault on the defences failed with the loss of three Valentines and two Tetrarchs. Three Vichy Potez 63s attempted to attack the beach landing points but were intercepted by British Martlets and two were shot down. Albacores were used to bomb French defences, while a Swordfish managed to sink the submarine . By the end of the day fierce resistance had resulted in the destruction 10 out of the 12 tanks the British had brought to Madagascar. The British had been unaware of the strength of the French defences known as the 'Joffre line', and were hugely surprised at the level of resistance they had come across. Another assault by the South Lancashires worked their way around the Vichy defences but the swamps and bad terrain meant they were broken up into groups. Nevertheless, they swung behind the Vichy line and caused chaos. Fire was poured on the Vichy defences from behind and the radio station and a barracks were captured. In all 200 prisoners were taken, but the South Lancashires had to withdraw as communication with the main force was nonexistent after the radio set failed. At this time, the Vichy government in France began to learn of the landings, and Admiral Darlan sent a message to Governor Annet telling him to "Firmly defend the honour of our flag", and "Fight to the limit of your possibilities ... and make the British pay dearly." The Vichy forces then asked for assistance from the Japanese, who were in no position to provide substantial support.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: With the Vichy French defence highly effective, the deadlock was broken when the old destroyer dashed straight past the harbour defences of Antisarane and landed fifty Royal Marines from "Ramillies" amidst the Vichy rear area. The marines created a "disturbance in the town out of all proportion to their numbers" taking the French artillery command post along with its barracks and the naval depot. At the same time the troops of the 17th Infantry Brigade had broken through the defences and were soon marching in the town. The Vichy defence was broken and Antisarane surrendered that evening, although substantial Vichy forces withdrew to the south. On 7 May British Martlets encountered three Morane French fighters, with one Martlet being shot down. All three of the French fighters were then shot down, meaning that by the third day of the attack on Madagascar, twelve Moranes and five Potez 63s had been destroyed out of a total of 35 Vichy aircraft on the entire island. A further three Potez bombers were destroyed on the ground during a raid on Majunga on 15 May. Fighting continued into 7 May but by the end of the day Operation "Ironclad" had effectively concluded. In just three days of fighting the British had seen 109 men killed and 283 wounded, with the French suffering 700 casualties.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The Japanese submarines , , and arrived three weeks later on 29 May. "I-10"s reconnaissance plane spotted HMS "Ramillies" at anchor in Diego-Suarez harbour, but the plane was spotted and "Ramillies" changed her berth. "I-20" and "I-16" launched two midget submarines, one of which managed to enter the harbour and fired two torpedoes while under depth charge attack from two corvettes. One torpedo seriously damaged "Ramillies", while the second sank the 6,993-ton oil tanker "British Loyalty" (later refloated). "Ramillies" was later repaired in Durban and Plymouth.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The crew of one of the midget submarines, Lieutenant Saburo Akieda and Petty Officer Masami Takemoto, beached their craft ("M-20b") at Nosy Antalikely and moved inland towards their pick-up point near Cape Amber. They were betrayed when they bought food at the village of Anijabe and both were killed in a firefight with Royal Marines three days later. One marine was killed in the action as well. The second midget submarine was lost at sea and the body of a crewman was found washed ashore a day later.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Hostilities continued at a low level for several months. After 19 May two brigades of the 5th Infantry Division were transferred to India. On 8 June, the 22nd (East Africa) Brigade Group arrived on Madagascar. The 7th South African Motorized Brigade arrived on 24 June. On 2 July, an invasion force was sent to the Vichy-held island of Mayotte in order to take control of its valuable radio station and to utilise it as a useful base for British operations in the area. The island's defenders were caught by surprise and the key radio station and most of the sleeping defenders were captured. The Chief of Police and a few others attempted to escape by car but were stopped by roadblocks that had been assembled. The island's capture was carried out with no loss of life or major damage.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The 27th (North Rhodesia) Infantry Brigade (including forces from East Africa) landed in Madagascar on 8 August. The Vichy governor of Madagascar Annet attempted to obtain reinforcements from the central Vichy government, particularly in terms of aircraft, but was unable to do so. By August, Vichy air strength on the island primarily consisted of only four Morane fighters and three Potez-63s.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The operation code-named "Stream Line Jane" (sometimes given as "Streamline Jane") consisted of three separate sub-operations code-named Stream, Line and Jane. Stream and Jane were, respectively, the amphibious landings at Majunga on 10 September and Tamatave on 18 September, while Line was the advance from Majunga to the French capital, Tananarive, which fell on 23 September.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On 10 September the 29th Brigade and 22nd Brigade Group made an amphibious landing at Majunga, another port on the west coast of the island. No. 5 Commando spearheaded the landing and faced machine gun fire but despite this they stormed the quayside, took control of the local post office, stormed the governor's residence and raised the Union Jack. Having severed communications with Tananarive, the Allies intended to re-launch the offensive ahead of the rainy season. Progress was slow for the Allied forces. In addition to occasional small-scale clashes with Vichy forces, they also encountered scores of obstacles erected on the main roads by Vichy soldiers. Vichy forces attempted to destroy the second bridge on the Majunga-Tananarive road, but only succeeded in causing the central span of the bridge to sag merely 3 ft into the river below, meaning that Allied vehicles could still pass over. Once the Vichy forces realised their mistake, a Potez-63 aircraft was sent to drop bombs to finish off the bridge, but the attack failed. The Allies eventually captured the capital, Tananarive, without much opposition, and then the town of Ambalavao, but the devoutly Vichy Governor Annet escaped.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Eight days later a British force set out to capture Tamatave. Heavy surf interfered with the operation. As HMS "Birmingham"s launch was heading to shore it was fired at by French shore batteries and promptly turned around. "Birmingham" then opened her guns up on the shores batteries and within three minutes the French hauled up the white flag and surrendered. From there the South Lancashires and the Royal Welch Fusiliers set out to the south to link up with forces there. After they reached Tananarive they pressed on towards Moramanga and on 25 September they linked up with the King's African Rifles having secured the British lines of communication around the island. At the same time the East African infantry and South African armoured cars set out to find the elusive Governor Annet. The same day, a bombing raid was launched by South African Marylands on a Vichy-held fort in Fianarantsoa, the only major centre of population that was still in French hands and where the remainder of the Vichy aircraft were now based. Tetrarch and Valentine tanks of 'B' and 'C' Special Service Squadrons had been embarked for use in these operations, but they were not used as they could not ford the Ivondro River and the railway bridges were unsuitable.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On 29 September, two companies of the South African Pretoria Highlanders performed the only amphibious landing by South African forces of the entire war at the west coast harbor town of Tulear some 900 miles south of Diego Suarez. HMS "Birmingham", 2 destroyers and 200 Royal Marines supported the unopposed landing.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: On 6 October, a Morane fighter strafed British positions near Antinchi, and on 8 October a British bombing raid on Ihosy airfield destroyed four Vichy aircraft.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The last major action took place on 18 October, at Andramanalina, a U-shaped valley with the meandering Mangarahara River where an ambush was planned for British forces by Vichy troops. The King's African Rifles split into two columns and marched around the 'U' of the valley and met Vichy troops in the rear and then ambushed them. The Vichy troops suffered heavy losses which resulted in 800 of them surrendering. A single Morane fighter was operational until 21 October, and even strafed South African troops, but by 21 October the only serviceable aircraft the Vichy forces had was a Salmson Phrygane transport aircraft. On 25 October the King's African Rifles entered Fianarantsoa but found Annet gone, this time near Ihosy 100 miles south. The Africans swiftly moved after him, but they received an envoy from Annet asking for terms of surrender. He had had enough and couldn't escape further. An armistice was signed in Ambalavao on 6 November, and Annet surrendered two days later.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The Allies suffered about 500 casualties in the landing at Diego-Suarez, and 30 more killed and 90 wounded in the operations which followed on 10 September 1942.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Julian Jackson, in his biography of de Gaulle, observed that the French had held out longer against the Allies in Madagascar in 1942 than they had against the Germans in France in 1940.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: With Madagascar in their hands, the Allies established military and naval installations across the island. The island was crucial for the rest of the war. Its deep water ports were vital for control of the passageway to India and the Persian corridor, and were now beyond the grasp of the Axis. This was the first large-scale operation of World War II by the Allies combining sea, land, and air forces. In the makeshift Allied planning of the war's early years, the invasion of Madagascar held a prominent strategic place.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Historian John Grehan has claimed that the British capture of Madagascar before it could fall into Japanese hands was so crucial in the context of the war that it led to Japan's eventual downfall and defeat.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Free French General Paul Legentilhomme was appointed High Commissioner for Madagascar in December 1942 only to replace British administration. Like many colonies, Madagascar sought its independence from the French Empire following the war. In 1947, the island experienced the Malagasy Uprising, a costly revolution that was crushed in 1948. It was not until 26 June 1960, about twelve years later, that the Malagasy Republic successfully proclaimed its independence from France.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: Campaign service in Madagascar did not qualify for the British and Commonwealth Africa Star. It was instead covered by the 1939–1945 Star.


title: Battle of Madagascar

text: The following order of battle represents the Malagasy and Vichy French forces on the island directly after the initial "Ironclad" landings.


title: John Sturges

text: John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His films include "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957), "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963), and "Ice Station Zebra" (1968). In 2013, "The Magnificent Seven" and 2018, " Bad Day at Black Rock" were selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: John Sturges

text: Sturges started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932. During World War II, Sturges directed documentaries and training films as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit. Sturges's mainstream directorial career began with "The Man Who Dared" (1946), the first of many B movies. In the suspense film "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), he made imaginative use of the widescreen CinemaScope format by placing Spencer Tracy alone against a vast desert panorama, receiving a Best Director Oscar nomination for the film. Over the course of his career, Sturges developed a reputation for elevated character-based drama within the confines of genre filmmaking. He was awarded the Golden Boot Award in 1992 for his lifetime contribution to Westerns.


title: John Sturges

text: He once met Akira Kurosawa, who told him that he loved "The Magnificent Seven" (which was a remake of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai"). Sturges considered this the proudest moment of his professional career. "The Magnificent Seven" was an inductee in the 2013 National Film Registry list. Sturges commented that its popularity is due in part as a springboard for several young actors, transporting the locale from Japan to Mexico, putting a twist into the career of Yul Brynner, and having part of its score used as the Marlboro cigarette commercial theme.


title: Hisar (missile family)

text: The Hisar (Turkish: "fortress") is a family of short, medium and long-range surface-to-air missile systems being developed by Roketsan and Aselsan since 2007. The missiles are developed by Roketsan, while most sensors and electronics are developed by Aselsan. The missile family consists of the short range Hisar-A, medium range Hisar-O, the 100 km long range Hisar-U and the 150 km air defence system SİPER. Missile seeker of Hisar-A and Hisar-O is infrared homing.


title: Hisar (missile family)

text: On 18 April 2007, the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries issued a request for information to international and domestic defence companies to meet a low to medium altitude air defense requirements under Turkey's Low Altitude Air Defence Missile System (T-LALADMIS) programme ("Alçak İrtifa Hava Savunma Füze Sistemi" in Turkish). A total of 18 companies responded to the RFI.


title: Hisar (missile family)

text: A subsequent request for proposal was issued on 28 September 2008, for the direct acquisition of 18 systems and options for up to 27 additional systems.