title: Dennis Kelly

text: Other work includes translations of Péter Kárpáti's "Fourth Gate" (National Theatre Studio) and "The Colony", a radio play which won Best European Radio Drama at the Prix Europa, 2004.


title: Dennis Kelly

text: On 9 November 2015, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts awarded both Kelly and "Matilda" co-collaborator Tim Minchin an Honorary Doctorate in letters, validated by the University of East Anglia, for their work on "Matilda the Musical".


title: Martial race

text: Martial race was a designation which was created by army officials in British India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which they classified each caste as belonging to one of two categories, the 'martial' caste and the 'non-martial' caste. The ostensible reason for this system of classification was the belief that a 'martial race' was typically brave and well-built for fighting, while the 'non-martial races' were those races which the British considered unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.


title: Martial race

text: According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta, the martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait. British-trained Indian soldiers were among those who had rebelled in 1857 and thereafter, the Bengal Army abandoned or diminished its recruitment of soldiers who came from the catchment area and enacted a new recruitment policy which favored castes whose members had remained loyal to the British Empire.


title: Martial race

text: The concept already had a precedent in Indian culture as one of the four orders (varnas) in the Vedic social system of Hinduism is known as the Kshatriya, literally "warriors". Brahmins were described as 'the oldest martial community', in the past having two of the oldest British Indian regiments, the 1st Brahmans and 3rd Brahmans.


title: Martial race

text: Following Indian independence, the Indian government in February 1949 abolished the official application of "martial race" principles with regard to military recruitment, although it has continued to be applied formally and informally in certain circumstances. In Pakistan, such principles, although no longer rigidly enforced, have continued to hold considerable sway and have had major consequences for the nation's political life—the most extreme case being the Bangladesh Liberation War, following decades of continued Bengali exclusion from the armed forces.


title: Martial race

text: In their attempts to assert control after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British faced fierce resistance in some regions while easily conquering others. British officials sought 'martial races' accustomed to hunting, or from agricultural cultures from hilly or mountainous regions with a history of conflict. Others were excluded due to their 'ease of living' or branded as seditious agitators. The doctrine of 'martial races' postulated that the qualities that make a useful soldier are inherited and that the rest of most Indians did not have the requisite traits that would make them warriors.


title: Martial race

text: British general and scholar Lieutenant-General George MacMunn (1869–1952) noted in his writings "It is only necessary for a feeling to arise that it is impious and disgraceful to serve the British, for the whole of our fabric to tumble like a house of cards without a shot being fired or a sword unsheathed". To this end, it became British policy to recruit only from those tribes whom they classified as members of the 'martial races', and the practice became an integral part of the recruitment manuals for the Army in the British Raj.


title: Martial race

text: The British regarded the 'martial races' as valiant and strong but also intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. They were also regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority. For these reasons, the martial races theory did not lead to officers being recruited from them; recruitment was based on social class and loyalty to the British Raj. One source calls this a "pseudo-ethnological" construction, which was popularised by Frederick Sleigh Roberts, and created serious deficiencies in troop levels during the World Wars, compelling them to recruit from 'non-martial races'. Winston Churchill was reportedly concerned that the theory was abandoned during the war and wrote to the Commander-in-Chief, India that he must, "rely as much as possible on the martial races".


title: Martial race

text: Critics of the theory state that the Indian rebellion of 1857 may have played a role in reinforcing the British belief in it. During this event the troops from the Bengal Native Infantry led by sepoy Mangal Pandey mutinied against the British. Similarly, the Revolt of Rajab Ali from Chittagong also caused trouble with British forces. However, the loyal Rajputs, Jats, Pashtuns, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Kumaunis and Garhwalis did not join the mutiny, and fought on the side of the British Army. From then on, this theory was used to the hilt to accelerate recruitment from among these 'races', whilst discouraging enlistment of 'disloyal' troops and high-caste Hindus who had sided with the rebel army during the war.


title: Martial race

text: Some authors, such as Heather Streets, argue that the military authorities puffed up the images of the martial soldiers by writing regimental histories, and by extolling the kilted Scots, kukri-wielding Gurkhas and turbaned Sikhs in numerous paintings. Richard Schultz, an American author, has claimed the martial race concept as a supposedly clever British effort to divide and rule the people of India for their own political ends.


title: Martial race

text: British-declared martial races in the Indian subcontinent included some groups that were officially designated instead as "agricultural tribes" under the provisions of the Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900. These terms were considered to be synonymous when the administration compiled a list in 1925. Among the communities listed as martial were:


title: Martial race

text: India was quick to formally disclaim the martial races theory after gaining independence. The largest single of source recruitment for the British Indian Army had come from Punjab, with Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims particularly preferred, with the result that at independence over 50% of the new Indian Armed Forces' senior officers came from East Punjab, despite the fact that it made up just 5% of the new country's population. Recognizing the destabilising potential of an unrepresentative armed forces, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru soon urged the Commander-in-Chief, India and Defence Secretary to undertake "large scale reform to the armed forces”.


title: Martial race

text: However, while most caste or tribal bars on recruitment were lifted, recruitment in regions populated by the former "martial races" was progressively intensified, with the result that by the beginning of the 1970s, India had more than doubled the number of "martial class" units. The Punjab Regiment, which recruits mainly Sikhs and Dogras, had gone from five to 29 battalions since independence, while the Rajputana Rifles, which is mainly composed of Jats and Rajputs, increased from six to 21 battalions over the same time period. The three states that comprised the former East Punjab—Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab—remain substantially over-represented in the contemporary Indian Armed Forces. In 2001, Haryana, which accounted for 2.2% of India's population, accounted for 7.82% of the armed forces' headcount; the figures for Himachal Pradesh were 0.6% of the population, and 4.68% of the armed forces, and for Punjab, 2.4% of the population and 16.6% of the armed forces.


title: Martial race

text: Explicit ethnic- or caste-based requirements have nevertheless persisted amongst some military formations. The most notable instance is the President's Bodyguard, the most senior and arguably the most prestigious unit of the Indian Army, which recruits exclusively from Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs in equal proportion. The Indian government has defended what it terms as "class composition" restrictions on the grounds of the "functional requirements" of the ceremonial detachment, namely its "ceremonial duties [which] demand common height, built, appearance and dress for reason of pomp and projection".


title: Martial race

text: At independence, the new Pakistan Armed Forces likewise reflected the institutional legacy of the "martial races" theory, although it was no longer formally applied there as well. The British preference of Punjabis, combined with the fact that Bengalis (who were the single largest group in the new nation) had been disfavored ever since the Revolt of 1857, led to an even more ethnically lopsided army corps than in India. At the Pakistan Army's establishment in 1947, Punjab, with 25% of the new nation's population, accounted for 72% of the Army's headcount, while East Bengal, with 55% of the total population, was virtually unrepresented. In the Armoured Corps, there was not a single Muslim member from Sindh, Balochistan or Bengal, which together comprised 70% of Pakistan's total population.


title: Martial race

text: This imbalance created tensions, particularly amongst the Bengalis of East Pakistan, who felt humiliated by the continued belief in the theory which continued to hold sway in West Pakistan, that they were not 'martially inclined' compared to the Punjabis and Pashtuns. Pakistani author Hasan-Askari Rizvi notes that the limited recruitment of Bengali personnel in the Pakistan Army was because the West Pakistanis "could not overcome the hangover of the martial race theory". As a result, in 1955, out of the Pakistan Army's 908-strong officer corps, 894 hailed from West Pakistan and a mere 14 from East Pakistan. Thus, following the coup d'état of 1958, the exclusion of East Pakistani Bengalis from military leadership translated into their exclusion from the nation's political leadership. This deepened the alienation of East Pakistanis from the Pakistani government, which would eventually lead to the independence of Bangladesh.


title: Martial race

text: Furthermore, it has been alleged that the continued influence of the theory among the command of the Pakistan Armed Forces, whose rank and file had largely drawn from the erstwhile martial races, contributed to an otherwise unjustified confidence that they would easily defeat India in a war, especially prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Based on this belief in martial supremacy numerical superiority of the foe could be overcome. Defence writers in Pakistan have noted that the 1971 defeat was partially attributable to the flawed 'martial races' theory which led to wishful thinking that it was possible to defeat the Bengali Rebel Forces based on the theory alone. Author Stephen P. Cohen notes that "Elevating the 'martial races' theory to the level of an absolute truth had domestic implications for Pakistani politics and contributed to the neglect of other aspects of security.".


title: Martial race

text: In contemporary Pakistan, army recruitment still reflects the biases of "martial races" theory, with a considerable over-representation of ethnic Pashtuns and Punjabis, particularly from the Salt Range, and under-representation of Balochis and Sindhis. In the past few decades there have been some efforts to rectify these imbalances and make the Armed Forces more representative, in part by relaxing recruitment standards in Sindh and Balochistan. In 2007 a report published by the Inter-Services Public Relations claimed success bringing the army's composition closer to national demographics; the proportion of Punjabis in the army had fallen from 71% in 2001 to 57% in 2007, and was expected to reach 54% by 2011. In turn, the proportion of Sindhis was expected to increase from 15% to 17%, and Balochis from 3.2% in 2007 to 4% in 2011. The report also projected an increase in the soldiers from Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from 0% to 9% by 2011. However, noting that, for instance, a disproportionately large share of new recruits from Sindh are ethnic Pathans (Pashtuns) rather than Sindhis, critics have alleged that such figures, in measuring provincial origin rather than ethnicity "per se", mask continued biases in recruiting.


title: The Voidz

text: The Voidz (formerly Julian Casablancas + The Voidz) are an American rock band. They consist of Julian Casablancas (vocals), Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter (guitar), Amir Yaghmai (guitar), Jacob "Jake" Bercovici (bass, synthesizers), Alex Carapetis (drums), and Jeff Kite (keyboards). Their debut album was placed 50th in "NME"s Top 50 Albums of 2014 list.


title: The Voidz

text: Jeff Kite, Alex Carapetis and Jake Bercovici had all worked with Casablancas previously. Kite and Carapetis appeared as part of the Sick Six live band (which also featured Danielle Haim), that backed Casablancas when touring his first solo album, "Phrazes for the Young". Kite and Carapetis, along with Bercovici, also worked on "I Like the Night", a song Casablancas recorded as part of an advertising campaign he fronted for the French fashion label, Azzaro. Casablancas enjoyed working with the band and chose to collaborate with other musicians, in a similar format to the Sick Six, when recording his next album. Casablancas, Carapetis, Bercovici, and Kite, along with mutual friends Jeramy Gritter and Amir Yaghmai formed The Voidz and began writing music together.


title: The Voidz

text: The band, then known as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, signed to Casablancas' record label, Cult, and following an appearance at SXSW Festival, began touring the world throughout 2014 and 2015, playing a combination of festivals and headline shows, the former of which included the Lollapallooza festivals in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as Coachella, Festival Estéreo Picnic in Colombia, Governor's Ball in New York and Primavera Sound in Barcelona. The band's debut album, "Tyranny", was released on September 23, 2014. The band's live sets generally consist of a mix between Casablancas' earlier solo songs, covers of Strokes songs written solely by Casablancas, Casablancas' collaborations with other artists (such as Daft Punk's "Instant Crush" and Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse's "Little Girl") as well as their own original material from "Tyranny" and "Virtue".


title: The Voidz

text: On December 8, 2017, the band announced "Virtue", as well as their signing to RCA. On January 23, 2018, “Leave It In My Dreams,” the first single from their new album "Virtue" was released. "Virtue" was announced for release March 30, 2018, on Cult Records via RCA. The band toured extensively and appeared on several late night shows to promote the album.


title: The Voidz

text: In 2019, The Voidz collaborated with Mac DeMarco who produced two songs, “Did My Best” and “The Eternal Tao” that were released as a single on Terrible Records.


title: The Voidz

text: On December 15, 2020, the band released a single titled "Alien Crime Lord" in promotion of the "Cayo Perico Heist" update of "Grand Theft Auto Online." On April 1, 2021, the band also released an extended version of their 2019 track "The Eternal Tao", titled "The Eternal Tao 2.0"-.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: The Scarlet Gospels is a 2015 horror novel by author Clive Barker which acts as a continuation to both his previous novella "The Hellbound Heart" (which introduced his popular Cenobite characters that then starred in the "Hellraiser" franchise) and his canon of Harry D'Amour stories. The book concerns the Hell Priest, the demonic Cenobite nicknamed "Pinhead", and his efforts to gain power. Occult detective Harry D'Amour must journey into Hell to rescue his friend and stop the Hell Priest's plans. The book was the first in which the Hell Priest was officially given a name by Clive Barker, who disliked the nickname 'Pinhead' given his character by others.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: The Hell Priest, a demonic Cenobite known to some of them as "Pinhead" (a nickname the Cenobite abhors), is murdering the world's true magicians, practitioners of true magic. After years of this, the last remaining magicians gather to resurrect Ragowski, a member of their order killed by the Hell Priest three years before. Ragowski informs them the Priest is determined to obtain every source of magic known on Earth and is too powerful to be defeated by so few magicians. Their only hope of avoiding his fate, he says, is to simply give the Priest the location of all of their grimoires and talismans. The Hell Priest arrives, having been alerted by the spell that resurrected Ragowski. He degrades and massacres all of the magicians save for one, Felixson, whom he enslaves.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: Occult detective Harry D'Amour travels to New Orleans, having been hired by a recently deceased magician (via a medium named Norma Paine) to destroy evidence of his occult activities before his family can discover them in his home. Harry learns the assignment is a lethal trap set by the Hell Priest, who sees the detective as a potential obstacle to completing his mission. Harry is rescued by Dale, a middle aged Southern man who experiences moments of precognition. Dale sends Harry back to New York City to attend to Norma. She tells Harry a monumental event is about to occur in the spirit world.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: Harry enlists the help of his friend Caz to move Norma to a safe house operated by their mutual acquaintance, Lana. Joined by Dale, they attempt to transport Norma, only to witness the opening of a portal to Hell in Manhattan. The Priest emerges, absconds with Norma, and confirms a momentous event in Hell's history is about to occur. Harry's survival of his assassination attempt has convinced the Hell Priest that the detective is the perfect individual to write an account of the events.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: Harry and his group - dubbed "the Harrowers" - discover Lucifer has disappeared from Hell and a thriving demon civilization has arisen in his absence. The Priest has been using his accrued knowledge of magic to kill Hell's various ruling classes, in order to eliminate any who might prevent his pilgrimage into a forbidden region of Hell called the Wastelands. The Harrowers follow the Priest into the Wastelands and discover a tribe of inbred demons willing to take them across a cursed lake to a tiny island in the center. The Priest and Norma have already secured passage to the island, where the Priest hopes to find a cathedral rumored to be Lucifer's throne room. He wishes to hold an audience with the Devil and experience a spiritual revelation.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: The Harrowers and the Priest discover the cathedral is in fact Lucifer's tomb, erected after he had committed suicide due to being exiled from the presence of God. Enraged, the Priest strips Lucifer's body of its armor, dons it, and declares himself the new Lord of Hell. Armies led by Hell's surviving generals raid the cathedral but the Hell Priest, his power increased by Lucifer's armor, easily defeats many of them. The removal of the armor inadvertently causes Lucifer's resurrection. Enraged that he must once more endure existence without God, he engages the Priest in battle. After a vicious battle, Lucifer disembowels the Hell Priest and announces his intention to destroy Hell. The Harrowers, Norma, and surviving demons all flee the cathedral.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: The desiccated remnants of the Hell Priest confront the Harrowers on the shores of the lake. The Priest blinds Harry and rapes Norma to death before escaping the lake. The Harrowers discover a wormhole that leads them to a desert road in Arizona. Meanwhile, Lucifer crushes all of Hell and its inhabitants beneath a collapsing stone sky, then travels to New York, resolving to make a name for himself. Angels from Heaven come to observe the ruins of Hell. Later, an unseen force eliminates Hell from existence, destroying the Hell Priest with it.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: In New York, Harry — permanently blind and sinking into alcoholism — is contacted by Norma's ghost, who tells him she's gone on to Paradise. She now wants him to take her place as a medium who comforts the recently deceased and passes her power onto him. Taking up residence in her old office, Harry is overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of a throng of ghosts wanting his assistance. Seeing the ghost of a small child clinging to an older woman, Harry feels sympathy and compassion. He comforts the child and tells the pair they can trust him to help.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: Clive Barker had no name for his Cenobite characters in the novella "The Hellbound Heart", except for one called the Engineer. One of the Cenobites was described as having a head with a grid pattern and golden nails embedded in each vertex, each of which was decorated by a small jewel. When he adapted the story into the first "Hellraiser" film, Barker decided the Cenobite with nails in his head would act as the leader, referring to the character in early script drafts as "The Priest". The character was never named on-screen, however, and was simply referred to in the final credits as "Lead Cenobite". The film version had iron nails in his head rather than gold ones, and the production team nicknamed him "Pinhead". Fans learned of the nickname and adopted it, and the film franchise referred to him by the same name on-screen in multiple films, starting with "Hellraiser III". Barker said on different occasions he didn't care for the name, believing it was undignified for such a well-spoken and sophisticated villain. In "The Scarlet Gospels", Barker finally gave the Pinhead character an official name: the Hell Priest. In "The Scarlet Gospels", it is mentioned the nails may have once been golden but have now darkened, making their appearance in prose now resemble their appearance in the films. The second and third "Hellraiser" films indicate Pinhead was originally a human being who died soon after World War I. "The Scarlet Gospels" narration mentions that different characters in-universe debate whether the Hell Priest is an immortal being who has lived for thousands of years or if different humans have adopted his nature and appearance over the centuries, meaning the origin presented in the film could also be canon within the books or could be dismissed.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: The novel had a long gestation period, with Barker talking as early as 1998 about wanting to write a story in which he killed the Pinhead character. Updates to the novel's progress appeared on Barker's website sporadically over the course of the next twelve years, mostly related to the book's progressively swelling length; at one point, Barker predicted that his completed manuscript would reach 1,000-2,000 pages. Updates culminated in a June 2010 Twitter announcement that "the 243,000 words of "The Scarlet Gospels" merely lacks a publisher". Due to the length of the completed work, the book underwent heavy editing between 2010 and 2013, with Barker announcing in September 2013, that although no date had been set for release, "the "Scarlet Gospels" are finished". In 2014, Barker announced the book's publication on his official website with the message: "Clive is delighted to announce that St Martin's Press has acquired world English rights to publish "The Scarlet Gospels", his upcoming novel featuring Pinhead and Harry D'Amour".


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: "Hellraiser: The Toll" is a 2018 horror novella written by Mark Alan Miller and published by Subterranean Press, from a story by Clive Barker. It serves as a sequel to the 1986 novella "The Hellbound Heart" and a prequel to "The Scarlet Gospels", both written by Barker, set thirty years after the events of the former. It focuses on the returning Kirsty Singer, as she once again comes face-to-face with the Hell Priest. Meanwhile, the Priest calls upon a first witness for his plan seen in "The Scarlet Gospels".


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: "The Toll" evolved from the partially written short story "Heaven's Reply" by Clive Barker that had been in development dating back to 2010. At one point, "Heaven's Reply" was integrated into a screenplay for a "Hellraiser" reboot, which would have featured the creator of the Lament Configuration - the Frenchman Lemarchand - and would have opened in the fictional location of Devil's Island. The script was turned in to Dimension Films, but did not move forward. According to Barker, "that was the last anyone heard until news of surfaced". When Barker didn't know where to take the short story, it was suggested by his collaborators that the plot tie into the events of "The Scarlet Gospels". After considering how to do it, Clive Barker's collaborator and author Mark Alan Miller reverse engineered the story into the novella "Hellraiser: The Toll" to be published by Subterranean Press. The novella received a limited release in February 2018, in two separate editions–a limited edition, with a quantity of 724 clothbound copies made available, and a lettered edition, with an availability of 26 leather-bound copies.


title: The Scarlet Gospels

text: It was released in audiobook format on 6 November 2018, narrated by horror film director Tom Holland.


title: Yoo Sun

text: Wang Yoo-sun (born February 11, 1976), known professionally as Yoo Sun, is a South Korean actress. She is best known for the popular family drama "My Too Perfect Sons", as well as the films "Black House", "Moss", "GLove", and "Don't Cry Mommy".


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: Night Raiders is a 2021 Canadian-New Zealand science fiction dystopian film written and directed by Danis Goulet. The film stars Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Alex Tarrant, Amanda Plummer and Violet Nelson. Taika Waititi serves as an executive producer.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: Set in a dystopian version of North America in the year 2044, the film centres on Niska (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers), a Cree woman who joins a resistance movement to the military government in order to save her daughter.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: The film, a coproduction of companies from Canada and New Zealand, is executive produced by Taika Waititi. Goulet has described the film as inspired in part by Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film "Children of Men", as well as by the military response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2016; in addition, the film functions in part as an allegory for the Indian residential school system.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: The film was shot in the Toronto area in 2019. It was originally slated for commercial release in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 following production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: On February 10, 2021, Berlinale announced that the film would have its worldwide premiere at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in the "Panorama" section, in March 2021. It had its Canadian premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, and is scheduled to screen as the opening film of the 2021 ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: It premiered commercially in October 2021, with the widest opening of any film by an indigenous director in Canadian film history. It was later released on TVOD platform in 2022.


title: Night Raiders (2021 film)

text: The film was mostly well-received by critics, who praised its cast and storytelling. However, the film was also criticized for its reliance on tropes of YA fiction. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 83% approval rating, based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads, ""Night Raiders" strikes grim parallels between its dystopian setting and the present, offering a disturbing reminder that the horrors of the past are often very much still with us."


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champion (four-time BDO and one-time PDC), a two-time UK Open Champion and a former winner of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, the Grand Slam of Darts and the Premier League. He is also a twice-winner of the World Masters and the World Darts Trophy, and a three-time winner of the International Darts League and the WDF World Cup Singles event.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld won the PDC World Cup of Darts four times (once with Co Stompé and three times with Michael van Gerwen) and the WDF World Cup Pairs once (with Vincent van der Voort), all whilst representing the Netherlands. He also won the PDC World Pairs with Roland Scholten.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: From January to June 2008, he was the world's number one ranked player. His victory over Phil Taylor in the 2007 PDC World Championship final, added to his four previous BDO World Championships brought him level with Eric Bristow as a five-time world champion; he is one of only three players in darts history to achieve this.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He is one of the most successful Dutch darts players to date, and has had a significant effect in raising the popularity of darts in the Netherlands. He is naturally left-handed but throws darts with his right hand.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In November 2018, Van Barneveld announced his intention to retire from darts after the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship. On 28 March 2019, following a 7–1 defeat to Michael van Gerwen in his final Premier League match, he announced his retirement with immediate effect, but reversed his decision the following day. He retired again following his first-round exit from the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship. In February 2021, 14 months after retiring, he regained his professional tour card after qualifying at the PDC's Q-School.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld began participating in competitive events around the Netherlands since 1984 when he was 17 years old. During that year he won his first tournament, which was the Rotterdam Open. From there onwards, Van Barneveld was considered among his compatriots as a future potential. In the following years he joined the international darts circuit, achieving further success reaching the semi-finals of the 1987 Belgian Open and reaching the semi-finals in the 1988 Dutch Open. In September 1990 he participated in the WDF Europe Cup singles where he lost in the quarter-finals to Phil Taylor.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld's World Championship debut was at the 1991 Embassy World Championship at the Lakeside Country Club. His debut at the World Championship however was short-lived as he was comfortably beaten 3–0 by Keith Sullivan of Australia.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He started to make some progress on the British Darts Organisation circuit in the early 1990s, reaching the quarter-finals of the Belgian Open in September 1990 and the German Open in March 1991. His first semi-final came at the Swiss Open in June 1991.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He failed to qualify for the World Championship in 1992, but returned to Lakeside in 1993, which would be the last time that a unified World Championship would be staged. Van Barneveld served notice of his potential when he hit a 170 checkout to go 2 sets to 1 in front against John Lowe during their second-round match, but Lowe eventually won the match 3–2. Lowe went on to win the 1993 World Championship. Shortly after the 1993 World Final, the top players in the World Darts Council (WDC, now the PDC) were suspended and later banned from BDO tournaments.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld continued to make progress in the BDO Open events in 1994 after the split. Despite failing to qualify for the 1994 BDO World Championship, he reached the quarter-finals of both Dutch Open and Berlin Open, the semi-final at the Belgium Open and his first and only final in a major in 1994, at the Finnish Open where he lost to Andy Fordham.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He continued his good run of form into the 1995 World Championship by beating Les Wallace, Dave Askew, Colin Monk and Martin Adams to reach his first World Final. Van Barneveld's run to the final would eventually come to an end as he was defeated 6–3 by Welshman Richie Burnett.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: After second round exits in 1996 and 1997 Championships, Van Barneveld claimed his first world title in the 1998 World Championship in a World Final grudge match meeting against Richie Burnett. This time Van Barneveld was the victor, edging Burnett 6–5 in a game which is often considered to be one of the greatest finals of all time having reached 5–5 in sets Van Barneveld finally took the title by winning the final set 4–2 in legs on double 8.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He successfully defended the trophy the year later by the same winning margin as the previous year, this time against Ronnie Baxter. This made him only the second player in the tournament's history to have launched a successful defence of his title; the other being Eric Bristow. Martin Adams and Glen Durrant would later also achieve this feat. In November 1999, Van Barneveld, the then 2-time reigning Lakeside World Champion, took on Phil Taylor, the then 7-time World Champion and reigning PDC world champion, at the Wembley Conference Centre. It was a legs match with a 60-minute clock ticking down to zero, with a short break at around the halfway stage. Van Barneveld lost the match 21–10.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld exited in the first round of the World Championships in 2000, crashing out to Chris Mason, who averaged 100 and ended Van Barneveld's hopes of a hat-trick of titles, as well as avenging a semi final loss from the previous year.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld lost in the quarter-finals in 2001 (5–4 to Ted Hankey) and 2002 (5–3 to Mervyn King) before returning to the final in 2003. He clinched his third world title by beating Ritchie Davies of Wales 6–3.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld's 2004 campaign ended in the semi-finals, when Andy Fordham recovered from being 3–0 and 4–2 behind, to beat Van Barneveld 5–4.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: A fourth title followed in 2005. He never dropped a set in the first three rounds as he beat Gary Anderson, Mike Veitch and Vincent van der Voort. A 5–3 semi-final win over Darryl Fitton and 6–2 triumph over Martin Adams of England in the final brought him that fourth title.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld reached his sixth final in 2006, and was aiming to equal Bristow's record of five BDO world titles. However, his opponent, 21-year-old fellow countryman Jelle Klaasen, prevailed 7–5.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He has also won the prestigious Winmau World Masters title twice: once in 2001 when he recorded a win in the final over Jarkko Komula of Finland and again in 2005 when he beat Göran Klemme in the final. Other major darts tournaments that he has won at least twice include The World Darts Trophy and The International Darts League.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: After playing in the BDO for twenty years, winning four World Championships, Van Barneveld announced his move from the BDO to the PDC on 15 February 2006. He cited his reasons as wanting a greater challenge, and regularly playing against players like Phil Taylor. Having started from scratch in the rankings, within twelve months he had reached world number two and became World Champion.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: His PDC debut came in the 2006 Premier League competition. He won his first match 8–1 against Baxter. On 23 March, he hit his first televised nine dart finish and faced Taylor later in the same night, fighting back for a 7–7 draw. The rematch came on Van Barneveld's 39th birthday, but this time Taylor won the deciding leg for an 8–6 victory. Van Barneveld lost in a surprise 11–3 semi-final defeat in the Premier League to fellow Dutchman Roland Scholten.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld then started a successful run with a 13–5 final victory over Colin Lloyd in the final of the International Darts League for his 11th BDO Grand Slam tournament. He won his first major PDC title in June by beating Barrie Bates in the final of the UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Earlier in the day, he beat Taylor in the quarter-finals, accomplishing one of his dreams which he announced after switching to the PDC. Van Barneveld beat Taylor again just weeks later in the semi-finals of the 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic. He lost 6–3 to Canadian John Part in the final the following day.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In September 2006, soon after losing to 17-year-old Michael van Gerwen in the first round of the 2006 World Darts Trophy, Van Barneveld acknowledged that he needed to work on his finishing throws, and he made alterations to his game. He changed his darts and began using the "stacking" technique used by Taylor. The darts used were a gram lighter than his old ones and cost the equivalent of £1 from a local store in the Netherlands. Although he played well in the 2006 World Grand Prix, he lost to Phil Taylor in the second round.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Taylor and Van Barneveld met again in the 2007 PDC World Championship final, in a match which Taylor later described as the best final he had been involved in. From three sets down, Van Barneveld came back to beat Taylor 7–6 in the sudden death leg in one of the greatest darts matches of all time to match Bristow's record of five world titles. In February 2007, Van Barneveld won the 2007 Masters of Darts tournament by beating Peter Manley 7–0 in sets in the final with a 107 three dart average.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In the 2007 Premier League Darts, he never fared as well as he did in 2006, losing to Taylor twice, Dennis Priestley and Lloyd in the group section. He finished second but lost an error-filled encounter 11–10 to Terry Jenkins in the semi-final.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld made amends for his Premier League campaign by inflicting one of Taylor's heaviest defeats (11–4) in the quarter-final of the 2007 UK Open and went on to successfully defend his title beating Lloyd 11–4 in the semi-final and Van der Voort in the final 16–8. In doing this, Van Barneveld became the first person to successfully defend the UK Open crown. A month later, he continued his surge of major titles by beating Terry Jenkins 13 legs to 6 in the final of the 2007 Las Vegas Desert Classic. Van Barneveld's dream of winning the five major ranking PDC tournament titles in 2007 – the World Championship, UK Open, Las Vegas Desert Classic, World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix ended when he was defeated by Adrian Lewis 16 legs to 14 in the quarter finals of the World Matchplay in Blackpool.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: His haul of titles in the PDC continued to grow since his switch. In addition to his four major titles (the World Championship, two UK Open Championships and the Vegas Desert Classic) – he has added eleven non-televised PDC Pro Tour titles (five UK Open Regionals and six Players Championships).


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: 2008 proved to be Van Barneveld's most barren year thus far in the PDC in terms of success, with him not winning a major tournament. His defence of the World Championship crown was seriously thwarted by a bout of flu. He managed to win his first two matches comfortably, although he nearly had to retire during his second-round match due to breathing problems. He was defeated by Kevin Painter in the 3rd round by 4 sets to 2. Following this, he reached the semi-finals of the 2008 Premier League Darts, but was defeated for the third consecutive year at this stage of the tournament, defeated by James Wade. He was also knocked out of the early stages of the US Open, the Las Vegas Desert Classic by Alan Tabern and in the semi-finals of the UK Open by Gary Mawson, after having defeated rival Taylor by 10 legs to 9 a round earlier. He was also defeated in the quarter finals of the World Matchplay by Wayne Mardle, despite leading 12 legs to 7 at one stage. However, Van Barneveld did regain some form in the World Grand Prix reaching the final of the tournament, before being defeated by Taylor by 6 sets to 2. He then lost to Lewis in the quarter-finals of the inaugural European Darts Championship in November losing by 9 legs to 2.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld threw another televised nine dart finish in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship in his quarter-final match against fellow Dutchman Klaasen on 2 January 2009. Van Barneveld hit two maximum 180s before nailing treble 20, treble 19 and double 12 to complete his nine-darter in the second leg of the sixth set.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: The feat earned Van Barneveld £20,000 – the bonus had not been won since Taylor's nine-darter at the UK Open against Jamie Harvey – as he became the first player to throw a perfect leg in the PDC World Championship. Van Barneveld went on to win the match 5–1, with a three-dart 161 finish, and then won his semi-final against Wade. However, he lost 7-1 to Taylor in the final. As a result of his failure to defend the £100,000 he won at the 2007 World Championship (his runner-up position earned him £60,000) he dropped from 2nd to 3rd in the PDC Order of Merit.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld threw his fourth nine dart finish in the Blue Square UK Open West Midlands Regional on 29 March 2009 in the third round against Kirk Shepherd. Barney only earned £400 for this as Mervyn King snapped up the £4,000 bonus on 28 March 2009 at the Coventry Players Championship with a nine dart finish.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In the 2009 Las Vegas Desert Classic, Barney returned to form, losing narrowly to Phil Taylor 13–11 in the final. After the game, Barney took the microphone from Sky Sports presenter Dave Clark and gave a speech about Phil Taylor.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: After his quarter final World Matchplay defeat by Terry Jenkins, Van Barneveld took another sabbatical from darts. He declined entries for the Championship of Darts and the South African Masters. There was speculation Van Barneveld was considering retiring from the sport, but he stated after his first-round win in the 2009 World Grand Prix over Alan Tabern that he was suffering from diabetes and his absence was in order to get fit and healthy and going to the gym. He also attributed the diabetes towards his form in major tournaments. Van Barneveld reached the World Grand Prix final for the second successive year, but again lost to Taylor, this time by 6 sets to 3.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: On 28 December 2009, he hit another nine-darter in the second round of the PDC World Championship against Brendan Dolan, becoming the first player to hit two nine-dart finishes in the PDC World Championship. He went on to reach the semi finals before losing 6–5 to Simon Whitlock. He also lost the third-place play-off 10–8 in legs to Mark Webster.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship, Simon Whitlock defeated Van Barneveld 6–5 in a close semi final encounter.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: On 29 April 2010, Van Barneveld hit another nine-darter against Terry Jenkins at the 2010 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts in Aberdeen. This came during a poor Premier League campaign in which he only finished in sixth place. During the Premier League, Barney said that he was suffering from personal problems back home and claimed that he and his family were being blackmailed. He failed to qualify for the 2010 UK Open, having only entered one of the eight qualifying events (only players who entered three or more events were eligible to qualify).


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld returned to top form at the 2010 World Matchplay. In the first round against Denis Ovens on 17 July 2010, Van Barneveld hit another nine-darter. After then defeating Alan Tabern and Co Stompé, Van Barneveld defeated former World Matchplay champion, James Wade, by 17–8 in the semi final. In the final, Phil Taylor defeated Van Barneveld 18–12.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: The 2011 Premier League saw a slight return of form after he hit 4 100+ finishes and defeated Simon Whitlock 8–3 with a 100.15 average. He went on to win his next match against Adrian Lewis 8–6, before losing to Phil Taylor in their match, 8–3. In week 6, he defeated Mark Webster 8–4 with a high average of 100.98 and also hit a 161 checkout. He went on to defeat Gary Anderson 8–5 in week 7 with an average of 101.44. Van Barneveld finished the league phase in second place behind Taylor, but then lost in the semi final to Anderson, which was the fifth time in six years that Van Barneveld had reached the Premier League semi finals without getting into the final.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: The 2011 UK Open saw Barneveld progress to the fifth round of the competition where he was defeated 9–1 by an on form Wes Newton who was eventual runner-up.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: On the day of his first-round match in the 2011 World Matchplay Barney lost his darts. He contacted his sponsors with a S.O.S which meant they had to contact the closest supplier to deliver a new set for him. He received the set with no problems and used them to defeat Steve Brown 10–3 averaging 95.56.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld was the victim of one of the biggest upsets in PDC World Championship history in 2012. He lost 0–3 in the first round to world number 85, James Richardson, winning just four legs during the match. He teamed up with Vincent van der Voort for the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts to try to defend the title Van Barneveld won with Co Stompé in 2010. Together they enjoyed comfortable victories over Austria and Northern Ireland to set up a semi-final clash with the Australian pair of Paul Nicholson and Simon Whitlock. Van Barneveld beat Nicholson 4–0 in their singles match, but this was the only point the Dutch won as they relinquished their crown in a 5–1 defeat.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld was a Sky Sports pick for the Premier League. During the tournament he produced his then highest ever televised average of 112.28 whilst defeating Kevin Painter 8–6. He went into the final round of matches knowing a win over James Wade would secure him a place in the play-offs, but could only manage to draw the match 7–7 to finish 5th in the table, out of the play-off places on leg difference.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld won the UK Open Qualifier 5 by beating Andy Smith 6–3 in the final, after earlier overcoming Simon Whitlock and Terry Jenkins. He also hit a nine-dart finish in his third round match against Michael Barnard. He completed a weekend double by winning Event 6 a day later after defeating Ian White 6–2 in the final. In the UK Open itself, he beat Jelle Klaasen and Andy Hamilton to reach the last 16. In this match he played Peter Wright and looked to be exiting the tournament as Van Barneveld trailed 8–6, with his opponent on a 138 finish to win the match. Wright hit treble 20, single 18 and required a single 20 to leave double tops when he returned. However, he hit another treble 20 to bust his score, and Van Barneveld went on to take a 9–8 victory. He played Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals and never recovered from a poor start in which he lost the opening five legs and succumbed 10–5. However, Van Barneveld gained revenge over Chisnall in the final of the European Tour Event 3 in Düsseldorf, by defeating him 6–4 and claimed his first European Tour title.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: At the World Matchplay Van Barneveld lost to Terry Jenkins 13–10 in the last 16. In September, he broke his highest televised average for the second time this year by averaging 113.04 in a 6–1 win against Jenkins at the European Championship. He went on to the quarter-finals, where he lost 10–8 to Kim Huybrechts.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In November 2012, Van Barneveld won his first major tournament in over five years at the non-ranking Grand Slam of Darts. He beat Mark Walsh 5–0 in his first group match, before losing 5–4 to BDO World Champion Christian Kist in his second. However, a 5–2 win over Wayne Jones from 2–0 down was enough to see him qualify for the knockout stage, where he defeated fellow Dutchman Wesley Harms 10–4 in the last 16, avenged his earlier loss to Kist in the quarter-finals by winning 16–10, and beat Andy Hamilton 16–10 in the semi-finals to set up an all-Dutch clash with Grand Prix champion Michael van Gerwen. Van Barneveld was never behind in the final and although he missed three chances to win 16–13, he sealed the title in the following leg with an 11-darter against the throw. His win was later named the best PDC Televised Performance of the Year.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Van Barneveld finished fourth on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Players Championship Finals where he lost 6–5 to Steve Beaton in the first round.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld began the 2013 World Championship by throwing the sixth highest average in the history of the tournament in his first round 3–0 defeat of Michael Smith. In a match that lasted only 18 minutes he averaged 108.31 as he never looked in danger of exiting the tournament at the first hurdle for the second successive year. He beat Brendan Dolan 4–1, Gary Anderson 4–0 and Simon Whitlock 5–1 to reach the semi-finals where he faced Phil Taylor. Before the match Van Barneveld commented that he wasn't scared of Taylor and wanted to face him rather than Taylor's quarter-final opponent Andy Hamilton. Van Barneveld was 5–1 down in the match and almost staged a fightback as he won three successive sets to trail only 5–4. However, Taylor won the next set by three legs to one to take the match. The pair were involved in an angry confrontation after the match. Taylor reacted angrily when Van Barneveld pulled him back after their handshake, with both men being escorted away separately by security staff. Van Barneveld stated later that he was only trying to congratulate Taylor in a sportsmanlike way and give him a hug. Taylor apologised for his behaviour a day later.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In his third World Cup of Darts and first with Michael van Gerwen, the Dutch pair suffered a shock in the last 16 when they were beaten 5–3 by the Finnish duo of Jani Haavisto and Jarkko Komula. Van Barneveld was never out of the top four in the Premier League during all 14 weeks of the league phase. He won 10 out of his 16 games to finish second in the table which set up a semi-final meeting with Taylor against whom he had lost 7–3 and drawn with 6–6 in their two league clashes. From level at 3–3 in the semi-final, Taylor stormed away to win 8–4 to deny Van Barneveld his first Premier League final. Van Barneveld reached the final of the non-ranking Dubai Masters thanks to 10–6 and 11–5 wins over Adrian Lewis and James Wade. He faced Van Gerwen and was beaten 7–11. Van Barneveld defeated defending champion Robert Thornton in the last 16 of the 2013 UK Open and survived one match dart from Ronnie Baxter in the quarter-finals to win 10–9. His semi-final against Andy Hamilton went into a last leg decider, with Van Barneveld missing a total of six darts for the match to lose 10–9. He lost in the second round of the European Championship and World Matchplay to Thornton and Justin Pipe respectively. Van Barneveld put his bad form behind him in October by securing his first ranking title of 2013 at the tenth Players Championship of the year with a 6–3 defeat of Peter Wright in the final. However, less than a week later in the second round of the World Grand Prix he was beaten 3–0 by Michael van Gerwen in 21 minutes. In the defence of his Grand Slam of Darts title he beat Ricky Evans and Tony O'Shea, but lost his final group game against Mervyn King to be knocked out of the competition on leg difference.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld took a 3–2 lead in sets over Mark Webster in the third round of the 2014 World Championship, but afterward exited the tournament losing 4–3. He had a poor run of form in the UK Open Qualifiers to be placed 66th on the Order of Merit meaning he entered the tournament in the first-round stage. Van Barneveld had four comfortable victories to reach the fifth round where he was beaten 9–2 by Adrian Lewis. He produced some of his most consistent darts in years during the Premier League as he remained unbeaten for 12 matches during the season to finish second in the table. In the semi-finals he secured his first win over Phil Taylor in the tournament after 21 attempts, having fought back from 4–1 down to triumph 8–5. It was the first time he had advanced beyond the semi-finals of the event, after losing at this stage in six previous years. Van Barneveld then won four successive legs from 5–5 in the final against Michael van Gerwen and went on to win the title 10–6. His finishing proved to be the difference between him and the rest of the nine players as throughout the 18 matches his checkout percentage was 50.22, seven percent higher than Simon Whitlock in second place. Afterwards, Van Barneveld revealed he had received therapy for depression in January due to the monotony of travelling and playing in events every week.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: At the World Cup of Darts, Van Barneveld and Van Gerwen produced a 117.88 average in their doubles decider against Northern Ireland to whitewash them 4–0 and meet England's Taylor and Lewis in the final. Van Gerwen defeated Taylor 4–0 and Van Barneveld recorded the same scoreline against Lewis. Van Gerwen went into his singles match versus Lewis knowing a win would earn the Dutch pair the title and he did so with a 4–2 success. Early on in his second round match against Mervyn King at the World Grand Prix, Van Barneveld was visibly struggling with a back problem but battled to trail 2–1 in sets. However, in the fourth set he missed 30 starting doubles and began throwing at the bullseye. King duly won the match, with Van Barneveld issuing an apology to the PDC and the television viewers for giving up. At the next major event, the European Championship, Van Barneveld wore glasses during a match for the first time in his career and explained after his 6–4 first round win over Simon Whitlock that his diabetes can occasionally blur his vision. He won through to the semi-finals, but was beaten 11–6 by Van Gerwen who threw a nine darter during the game. The pair also met in the next televised event the Masters, in a first round match which went to a deciding leg with Van Gerwen leaving 32 after nine darts and edging Van Barneveld 10–9. He lost to newcomer Keegan Brown 10–7 in the last 16 of the Grand Slam and was drawn to face Van Gerwen in the first round again this time at the Players Championship Finals where he was defeated 6–2.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld decided not to wear his glasses in the first round of the 2015 World Championship and took out finishes of 167 and 170 in beating Rowby-John Rodriguez 3–0. He was then involved in three successive matches in which there was never a set between Van Barneveld and his opponent as he edged past Jamie Caven 4–3, Adrian Lewis 4–3 (Lewis missed one match dart) and Stephen Bunting 5–4. In the Bunting match he returned from a break after the fourth set with his glasses on explaining afterwards that the board was looking blurry. Van Barneveld looked to have got himself back into his semi-final meeting with Phil Taylor when he recovered from 2–0 down to draw level, but his lengthy previous matches seemed to take effect as he could not win another set to be defeated 6–2. At the Masters he knocked out newly crowned world champion Gary Anderson 11–6 in the semi-finals, but was beaten by a reversal of this scoreline against Michael van Gerwen in the final.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He eliminated reigning champion Adrian Lewis 9–3 at the UK Open, but then lost a televised match against Peter Wright for the first time as he was comprehensively beaten 9–1. In week seven of the Premier League, Van Barneveld defeated Taylor 7–4, despite Taylor averaging 115.80, the highest losing average in the history of televised darts. Van Barneveld survived relegation by leg difference, but then won six of his last seven matches to qualify for the play-offs. It included 7–2, 7–3 and 7–2 victories over Taylor, Van Gerwen and Lewis respectively. From 4–4 in the semi-finals against Van Gerwen, Van Barneveld won three successive legs which included missing double 12 for a nine-darter. However, Van Gerwen then took five legs on the trot and went on to win 10–8. The pair were knocked out in the semi-finals of the World Cup in a doubles match against Scotland's Anderson and Wright. He was eliminated in the first round of the World Matchplay for the first time in his career when Andy Hamilton beat him 10–7. Van Barneveld missed five championship darts in the final of the last leg of the Auckland Darts Masters to lose 11–10 against Lewis. He reached his first Pro Tour final in nearly two years at the 16th Players Championship, but lost 6–4 to Jelle Klaasen.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld beat Larry Butler to qualify from his group at the Grand Slam and then came past James Wade 10–7 and Mark Webster 16–12 to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 16–12 to Taylor.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld edged past Stephen Bunting in a final set decider at the World Championship for a second year in a row and then played Michael van Gerwen, who he had lost to 10 times out of 13 throughout 2015. Van Barneveld won 4–3, despite Van Gerwen averaging 105.78 which was at the time the highest to ever lose a match in the event. A third successive match went the distance in the quarter-finals after Van Barneveld recovered from a 3–0 deficit against Michael Smith. In the final set he survived one match dart from Smith and Van Barneveld won four legs in a row to move into the semi-finals where he played Adrian Lewis. This time he was 5–0 down and then won a trio of sets, but his poor start cost him as he lost 6–3. Van Barneveld finished the year seventh in the Premier League table to fail to qualify for the Play-offs for the first time since 2012. It was also his lowest position out of all of his 11 appearances at the event. The Netherlands team reached the final of the World Cup and it went to a deciding singles match in which Adrian Lewis beat Van Gerwen 4–1.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld was knocked out in the first round of the World Matchplay for the second successive year as Brendan Dolan won 10–7. He did not drop a set in reaching the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix as he overcame Mervyn King, Lewis and Benito van de Pas, but was defeated 4–1 by Gary Anderson. At the Grand Slam, Van Barneveld averaged over 100 in each of his three group games to top the table and then saw off the BDO's number one Glen Durrant 10–7 to play Anderson in the quarter-finals. The lead changed hands six times and Anderson closed the match with 13, 12, 11 and 11 dart legs to progress 16–13. Van Barneveld reached another quarter-final at the Players Championship Finals and he averaged 103, but Van Gerwen's 108.03 proved too strong as he won 10–5.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld edged past Adrian Lewis 4–3 in the third round of the 2017 World Championship and his 5–3 victory over Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals meant that Van Barneveld had reached the semi-finals for the last three years in the event. He took the first set without reply in his quest to reach his first final since 2009. However, Michael van Gerwen then produced the best performance ever seen in a World Championship game as he hit a tournament record average of 114.05 to win 6–2. Van Barneveld averaged 109.34 himself, the highest to ever lose a World Championship match. He also had a high losing average in the quarter-finals of the UK Open as Peter Wright came from 8–7 down to win 10–8 with Van Barneveld averaging 108.10. The Netherlands won their first World Cup since 2014 by seeing off the Welsh team of Gerwyn Price and Mark Webster 3–1 in the final.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld reached the quarter final of the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, losing to Michael van Gerwen 5–4. He reached his first premier event final for three years at the 2018 Masters, being defeated by Van Gerwen. Partnering Van Gerwen at the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, the Dutch duo retained their title, beating the Scotland pair of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld announced on 19 November that he would retire after the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld was eliminated in the second round of the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship by Darius Labanauskas. He was invited to the 2019 Premier League Darts, being eliminated after the first phase, having been bottom of the table after nine matches. Following the elimination, Van Barneveld announced his immediate retirement on 28 March, before reversing the decision a day later.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He retired following a 3-1 defeat to American Darin Young in the first round of the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship, a result he claimed he could "never forgive" himself for.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: On 23 September 2020, Van Barneveld announced his intention to compete in the PDC Q-School for 2021, reversing his decision to retire.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: He qualified for the second phase of Q-school after winning through on points before securing his two year tour card on the last day finishing 3rd on the Order of Merit.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: On 27 February, Van Barneveld won his first tournament after his comeback at just the third time of asking, at the Players Championship 3 in Bolton. His 8-6 victory over marked his first individual PDC title since the 2014 Premier League, and first ranking title since 2013.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In 2012, Van Barneveld, together with the seven other players who competed in the 2012 Premier League Darts recorded a charity single with Chas Hodges and his band called 'Got My Tickets for the Darts' which was written by Chas. It was released exclusively on iTunes on 18 May, the night after the play-offs at the O2 in London, where it was premiered. Proceeds from the single were donated to the Haven House Children's Hospice.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In 2017, Van Barneveld featured in the song '180 linkerbaan' (180 left lane) by Dutch rapper Donnie (Donald Scloszkie).


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: Van Barneveld lives in The Hague with his fiancée Julia. Raymond has three children: a son, Mike (born 1989) and daughters Daisy (born 1992) and Patty (born 1994). In October 2009, during the World Grand Prix tournament in Ireland, Van Barneveld revealed that he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes that summer, and that it can affect his vision if his blood sugar level is too high. He is a supporter of ADO Den Haag.


title: Raymond van Barneveld

text: In January 2009, in the quarter-finals of the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship, Van Barneveld became the first player in professional darts to hit a nine darter at the PDC World Darts Championship.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The organ of Corti, or spiral organ, is the receptor organ for hearing and is located in the mammalian cochlea. This highly varied strip of epithelial cells allows for transduction of auditory signals into nerve impulses' action potential. Transduction occurs through vibrations of structures in the inner ear causing displacement of cochlear fluid and movement of hair cells at the organ of Corti to produce electrochemical signals.


title: Organ of Corti

text: Italian anatomist Alfonso Giacomo Gaspare Corti (1822–1876) discovered the organ of Corti in 1851. The structure evolved from the basilar papilla and is crucial for mechanotransduction in mammals.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The organ of Corti is located in the scala media of the cochlea of the inner ear between the vestibular duct and the tympanic duct and is composed of mechanosensory cells, known as hair cells. Strategically positioned on the basilar membrane of the organ of Corti are three rows of outer hair cells (OHCs) and one row of inner hair cells (IHCs). Surrounding these hair cells are supporting cells: Deiters cells, also called phalangeal cells, which have a close relation with the OHCs, and pillar cells, which separate and support both the OHCs and the IHCs.


title: Organ of Corti

text: Projecting from the tops of the hair cells are tiny finger-like projections called stereocilia, which are arranged in a graduated fashion with the shortest stereocilia on the outer rows and the longest in the center. This gradation is thought to be the most important anatomic feature of the organ of Corti because this allows the sensory cells superior tuning capability.


title: Organ of Corti

text: If the cochlea were uncoiled, it would roll out to be about 33 mm long in women and 34 mm in men, with about 2.28 mm of standard deviation for the population. The cochlea is also tonotopically organized, meaning that different frequencies of sound waves interact with different locations on the structure. The base of the cochlea, closest to the outer ear, is the most stiff and narrow and is where the high-frequency sounds are transduced. The apex, or top, of the cochlea is wider and much more flexible and loose and functions as the transduction site for low-frequency sounds.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The function of the organ of Corti is to convert (transduce) sounds into electrical signals that can be transmitted to the brainstem through the auditory nerve. It is the auricle and middle ear that act as mechanical transformers and amplifiers so that the sound waves end up with amplitudes 22 times greater than when they entered the ear.


title: Organ of Corti

text: In normal hearing, the majority of the auditory signals that reach the organ of Corti in the first place come from the outer ear. Sound waves enter through the auditory canal and vibrate the tympanic membrane, also known as the eardrum, which vibrates three small bones called the ossicles. As a result, the attached oval window moves and causes movement of the round window, which leads to displacement of the cochlear fluid.


title: Organ of Corti

text: However, the stimulation can happen also via direct vibration of the cochlea from the skull. The latter is referred to as Bone Conduction (or BC) hearing, as complementary to the first one described, which is instead called Air Conduction (or AC) hearing. Both AC and BC stimulate the basilar membrane in the same way (Békésy, G.v., Experiments in Hearing. 1960).


title: Organ of Corti

text: The basilar membrane on the tympanic duct presses against the hair cells of the organ as perilymphatic pressure waves pass. The stereocilia atop the IHCs move with this fluid displacement and in response their cation, or positive ion selective, channels are pulled open by cadherin structures called tip links that connect adjacent stereocilia. The organ of Corti, surrounded in potassium-rich fluid endolymph, lies on the basilar membrane at the base of the scala media. Under the organ of Corti is the scala tympani and above it, the scala vestibuli. Both structures exist in a low potassium fluid called perilymph. Because those stereocilia are in the midst of a high concentration of potassium, once their cation channels are pulled open, potassium ions as well as calcium ions flow into the top of the hair cell. With this influx of positive ions the IHC becomes depolarized, opening voltage-gated calcium channels at the basolateral region of the hair cells and triggering the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate. An electrical signal is then sent through the auditory nerve and into the auditory cortex of the brain as a neural message.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The organ of Corti is also capable of modulating the auditory signal. The outer hair cells (OHCs) can amplify the signal through a process called electromotility where they increase movement of the basilar and tectorial membranes and therefore increase deflection of stereocilia in the IHCs.


title: Organ of Corti

text: A crucial piece to this cochlear amplification is the motor protein prestin, which changes shape based on the voltage potential inside of the hair cell. When the cell is depolarized, prestin shortens, and because it is located on the membrane of OHCs it then pulls on the basilar membrane and increasing how much the membrane is deflected, creating a more intense effect on the inner hair cells (IHCs). When the cell hyperpolarizes prestin lengthens and eases tension on the IHCs, which decreases the neural impulses to the brain. In this way, the hair cell itself is able to modify the auditory signal before it even reaches the brain.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The organ of Corti, in between the scala tympani and the scala media, develops after the formation and growth of the cochlear duct. The inner and outer hair cells then differentiate into their appropriate positions and are followed by the organization of the supporting cells. The topology of the supporting cells lends itself to the actual mechanical properties that are needed for the highly specialized sound-induced movements within the organ of Corti.


title: Organ of Corti

text: Development and growth of the organ of Corti relies on specific genes, many of which have been identified in previous research (SOX2, GATA3, EYA1, FOXG1, BMP4, RAC1, and more), to undergo such differentiation. Specifically, the cochlear duct growth and the formation of hair cells within the organ of Corti.


title: Organ of Corti

text: Mutations in the genes expressed in or near the organ of Corti before the differentiation of hair cells will result in a disruption in the differentiation, and potential malfunction of, the organ of Corti.


title: Organ of Corti

text: The most common kind of hearing impairment, sensorineural hearing loss, includes as one major cause the reduction of function in the organ of Corti. Specifically, the active amplification function of the outer hair cells is very sensitive to damage from exposure to trauma from overly-loud sounds or to certain ototoxic drugs. Once outer hair cells are damaged, they do not regenerate, and the result is a loss of sensitivity and an abnormally large growth of loudness (known as "recruitment") in the part of the spectrum that the damaged cells serve.


title: Organ of Corti

text: While hearing loss has always been considered irreversible in mammals, fish and birds routinely repair such damage. A 2013 study has shown that the use of particular drugs may reactivate genes normally expressed only during hair cell development. The research was carried out at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan.


title: Nibelung

text: The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root "nebel", meaning mist. The term in its various meanings gives its name to the Middle High German heroic epic the "Nibelungenlied".


title: Nibelung

text: The most widespread use of Nibelung is used to denote the Burgundian royal house, also known as the Gibichungs (German) or Gjúkingar (Old Norse). A group of royal brothers led by king Gunther or Gunnar, the Gibichungs are responsible for the death of the hero Siegfried or Sigurd and are later destroyed at the court of Attila the Hun (called Etzel in German and Atli in Old Norse). This is the only use of the term attested in the Old Norse legends.


title: Nibelung

text: In medieval German, several other uses of the term Nibelung are documented besides the reference to the Gibichungs: it refers to the king and inhabitants of a mythical land inhabited by dwarfs and giants in the first half of the "Nibelungenlied", as well as to the father and one of two brothers fighting over a divided inheritance. This land and its inhabitants give their name to the "hoard of the Nibelungs" (Middle High German "der Nibelunge hort"). In the late medieval "Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid", the name, in the form Nybling or Nibling, is given to a dwarf who again gives his name to the treasure.


title: Nibelung

text: In Richard Wagner's opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (1848–1874), "Nibelung" denotes a dwarf, or perhaps a specific race of dwarfs.


title: Nibelung

text: The earliest probable surviving mention of the name is in the Latin poem "Waltharius", believed to have been composed around the year 920. In lines 555–6 of that poem Walter, seeing Guntharius (Gunther) and his men approaching says (in the "Chronicon Novaliciense" text, usually taken to be the oldest):


title: Nibelung

text: The translation is: "These are not Avars, but Frankish Nivilons, inhabitants of the region." The other texts have "nebulones" 'worthless fellows' instead of "nivilones", a reasonable replacement for an obscure proper name. In medieval Latin names, "b" and "v" often interchange, so "Nivilones" is a reasonable Latinization of Germanic "Nibilungos". This is the only text to connect the Nibelungs with Franks. Since Burgundy was conquered by the Franks in 534, Burgundians could loosely be considered Franks of a kind and confused with them. The name "Nibelunc" became a Frankish personal name in the 8th and 9th centuries, at least among the descendants of Childebrand I (who died in 752). Yet, in this poem, the center of Gunther's supposedly Frankish kingdom is the city of Worms on the Rhine.


title: Nibelung

text: In the eddic poem "(see Poetic Edda)" "Atlakviða", the word "Niflungar" is applied three times to the treasure ("arfr") or hoard ("hodd") of Gunnar (the Norse counterpart of German Gunther). It is also applied once to Gunnar's warriors and once to Gunnar himself. It elsewhere appears unambiguously as the name of the lineage to which the brothers Gunnar and Högni ("Hǫgni") belong and seems mostly interchangeable with Gjúkingar or Gjúkungar, meaning descendants of Gjúki, Gjúki being Gunnar's father.


title: Nibelung

text: The variant form "Hniflungr" also occurs as the name of Högni's son in the eddic poem "Atlamál", and as a term for the children born by Gunnar's sister Gudrún ("Guðrún") to Atli (Attila the Hun). It appears to be a general term for "warrior" in "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I". "Hniflungar" might be of separate origin, meaning descendants of Hnef, referring to the Hnæf son of Hoc who is prominent in the Old English "Finnesburg Fragment". However "h" was early dropped initially before other consonants in Norwegian dialects which might have led to the adding of "h" to names in other dialects where it did not originally belong.


title: Nibelung

text: In the "Lex Burgundionum", issued by the Burgundian king Gundobad (c. 480–516), it is decreed that those who were free under the kings Gibica, Gundomar, Gislaharius, and Gundaharius will remain free. But as will be seen below, legendary tradition often makes Gibiche or Gjúki (that is Gibica) the father of Gunther/Gunnar and names Giselher (the same name as Gislaharius) as one of Gunther/Gunnar's brothers. In Norse tradition another brother is named Gutthorm ("Gutþormr") which looks like a slight garbling of Gundomar. German tradition provides instead a third brother named Gernot, which may be a substitution of a more familiar name for an unfamiliar one. In the "Nibelungenlied", all three brothers are called kings. If these legends preserve authentic tradition, then historically Gibica of the "Burgundian Laws" might have been the father of the three kings Gundomar, Gislaharius, and Gundaharius who shared the kingdom among them, presumably with Gundaharius as the high king (the sharing of the throne between brothers was a common tradition among the Germanic tribes, see Germanic king). But if so, the order of the names here is puzzling. One would expect Gundaharius to be named immediately after Gibica.


title: Nibelung

text: In the Waltharius King Gibicho of the Franks is father of Guntharius, that is Gunther, and both father and son are called kings of the Franks, not kings of the Burgundians, though their city is Worms on the Rhine. Another king called Heriricus rules the Burgundians and is father of Hiltgunt, the heroine of the tale. The only other kinsman of Gunther who appears here is Hagano (Hagen). But Hagano's exact familial relation to Guntharius is not given.


title: Nibelung

text: The Old Norse "Þiðrekssaga" is a medieval translation of German legendary material into Norwegian. Here Gunther (given the Old Norse form "Gunnar") and his brothers are sons and heirs of Irung (in one place) or Aldrian (elsewhere) by Aldrian's wife Ode. The sons are named Gunnar, Gernoz, and Gisler. Ode also bears a daughter named Grímhild. One later passage adds Guthorm. But Guthorm is never mentioned again and is possibly an addition from Norse tradition by the translator or by an early copyist. Hǫgni (German Hagen) appears as their maternal half-brother, fathered on Ode by an elf when Ode once fell asleep in the garden while her husband was drunk. Yet one passage names Hǫgni's father as Aldrian. There are confusions and doublings in the "Þiðrekssaga" and it may be that Aldrian was properly the name of Hǫgni's elf father. Gunnar and his legitimate brothers are often called Niflungar and their country is named Niflungaland. Their sister Grímhild bore to Atli (Attila) a son named Aldrian who is slain by Hǫgni. At the end of the resultant battle, Hǫgni, though mortally wounded, fathered a son on Herad, one of Þiðrek's relations. This son, named Aldrian, accomplished Atli's death and became Jarl of Niflungaland under Brynhild ("Brynhildr"). In the Faroese "Hǫgnatáttur" a similar tale is told. Here Gunnar and Hǫgni have two younger brothers named Gislar and Hjarnar, both slain along with their elder brothers. Hǫgni lies with a Jarl's daughter named Helvik on his deathbed and prophecies to Helvik that a son born to her will avenge him. The son in this account is named Högni. On the birth of the child, Helvik, following Hǫgni's advice, secretly exchanged it with a newborn child of "Gudrún" and "Artala". As a result, Gudrún slew the supposed child of Hǫgni, thinking to have put an end to Hǫgni's lineage, but in fact killed her own child and then brought up Hǫgni's child as her own. This second Hǫgni learned of his true parentage and took vengeance on Artala as in the "Þiðrekssaga".


title: Nibelung

text: In the Nibelungenlied and its dependent poems the "Klage" and "Biterolf", the father of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhild is named Dankrat and their mother is named Uote. Hagen is their kinsman (exact relationship not given), and has a brother named Dancwart whose personality is bright and cheerful in contrast to Hagen's. Hagen also has a sister's son named Ortwin of Metz. These family relationships might seem to prohibit any elvish siring, but in the cognate story of Brân the Blessed in "Branwen ferch Llŷr", Hagen's counterpart Efnisien had a brother named Nisien who was similarly his opposite and Efnisien and Nisien are maternal half-brothers to Brân and Manawyddan just as in the "Þiðrekssaga", Hǫgni was maternal brother to Gunnar and Gernoz. In the second half of the "Nibelungenlied" both Hagen and Dankwart are called sons of Aldrian. Nothing further is told of Aldrian here. Also in the "Nibelungenlied", Gunther and Brunhild had a son named Siegfried and Siegfried and Kriemhild had a son named Gunther. Kriemhild's later son born to Etzel (= Attila) who is slain by Hagen is here named Ortlieb. The "Klage" relates that Gunther's son Siegfried inherited the kingdom.


title: Nibelung

text: The "Skáldskaparmál" names the founder of the Niflung lineage as "Nefi", one of the second set of nine sons of Halfdan the Old who founded many famous legendary lineages. The "Ættartolur" (genealogies attached to the "Hversu Noregr byggdist") call this son of Halfdan by the name Næfil ("Næfill") and relate that King Næfil was father of Heimar, father of Eynef ("Eynefr"), father of Rakni, father of Gjúki.


title: Nibelung

text: The form "Gjúki" is etymologically equatable to Gebicca of the "Lex Burgundionum". According to the "Skáldskaparmál" and the "Ættartolur", Gjúki was father of two sons named Gunnar ("Gunnarr") and Högni ("Hǫgni") and of two daughters named Gudrún ("Guðrún") and Gullrönd. Their mother was named Grímhild ("Grímhildr"). Gudný is mentioned in no other extant texts. A younger brother named Gutthorm ("Gutþormr") take on the role of Sigurd's slayer, after being egged on by Gunnar and Högni in the eddic poems "Brot af Sigurðarkviðu" (stanza 4), in "Sigurðarkviða hin skamma" (stanzas 20–23), and in the "Völsunga saga" (as well as being mentioned in the eddic poems "Grípisspá" and "Guðrúnarkviða II"). According to the eddic poem "Hyndluljóð", stanza 27:


title: Nibelung

text: If Gotthorm or Gutthorm, the slayer of Sigurd in northern tradition, is brother of Gunnar and Högni, but is not a son of Gjúki, he must be a maternal half-brother, just as Hagen, the slayer of Siegfried in the German tradition, is a maternal half-brother in the "Thidreks saga".


title: Nibelung

text: Gudrún bore to Sigurd a son named Sigmund according to the "Völsunga saga", presumably the same as the unnamed son mentioned in stanza 5 of "Sigurdarkvida hin skamma". But nothing more is said of him. More often mentioned is Gudrún's daughter named Svanhild ("Svanhildr") who became the wife of Jörmunrek ("Jǫrmunrekr"). By her third husband Jónakr, Gudrún is mother of Hamdir ("Hamðir") and Sörli ("Sǫrli"). In the eddic poems "Guðrúnarhvöt" and "Hamðismál", Erp ("Erpr"), a third son of Jónakr, was born by a different mother. But in the "Skáldskaparmál" and the "Völsunga saga" Erp is also a son of Gudrún.


title: Nibelung

text: In the "Atlakviða" (stanza 12), a son of Högni says farewell to his father as Gunnar and Högni depart to visit Atli. The "Atlamál" (stanza 28) brings in two sons of Högni by his wife Kostbera, named Snævar ("Snævarr") and Sólar ("Sólarr"). They accompany their father and uncle on their fateful journey to Atli's court where they also meet their deaths. These sons are also mentioned in the prose introduction to the eddic poem "Dráp Niflunga" along with a third son Gjúki. The "Atlamál" later introduces another son of Högni (or possibly Gjúki son of Högni under another name) who, along with Gudrún, kills Atli. In the "Völsunga saga" this son is named Niflung ("Niflungr"). He may be a reflex of the posthumous son of Högni who is called Aldrian in the "Thidreks saga". The Danish "Hven Chronicle" also tells the story of Högni's posthumous son begotten as Högni is dying, of the switching of children so that Högni is brought up as son of Atli and "Gremhild", and of how this son lures Gremhild to the cave of treasure and seals her in.


title: Nibelung

text: Although "Nibelungs" refers to the royal family of the Burgundians in the second half of the "Nibelunglenlied" (as well as in many other texts), in the first half Nibelungenlant it is instead a kingdom on the borders of Norway of which Siegfried becomes the ruler.


title: Nibelung

text: In Adventure 3 Hagen tells how Siegfried came by chance upon the two sons of the king of the Nibelungs who had just died. Their names were Schilbung and Nibelung and they were attempting to divide their father's hoard, the hoard of the Nibelungs. They asked Siegfried to make the division for them. For a reason not explained, Siegfried was unable to make the division, despite much effort. Fighting broke out and Siegfried slew Schilbung, Nibelung, twelve giants, and seven hundred warriors, at which point those still alive, not unreasonably, surrendered and took Siegfried as their king. In this way, Siegfried gained the Nibelung treasure, though he still had to fight the dwarf Alberich, whom he defeated and made guardian of the hoard. We are to presume that when the treasure passed to the Burgundian kings after Siegfried's death, the name "Nibelung" went with it.


title: Nibelung

text: It is a common folklore motif that the protagonist comes upon two or three persons or creatures quarreling about a division of treasure or magical objects among themselves, that they ask the protagonist to make the division for them, and that in the end it is the protagonist who ends up as owner of the treasure. Schilbung and Niblung are otherwise unknown. It may be coincidence that in the "Ættartolur", Skelfir ancestor of the Skilfings and Næfil ancestor of the Niflungs (Nibelungs) are brothers, though there they are two of nine brothers.


title: Nibelung

text: In a later poem "Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid" ('The Song of Horny-skinned Siegfried'), known only from 16th century printed versions, the original owner of the hoard is a dwarf named Nibeling (or Nyblung). Siegfried happened to find it one day and bore it away. At Worms Siegfried met King Gybich, his three sons Gunther, Hagen, and Gyrnot, and his daughter Kriemhild. When Kriemhild was abducted by a dragon, Siegfried rescued her and was given her hand in marriage.


title: Nibelung

text: This variant usage of Niblung may arise from the identification of the hoard of the Burgundians, or at least most of it, with the hoard of treasure won by Siegfried. The German versions of the tale make much of Kriemhild's right to the "Nibelungen" treasure through her previous marriage to Siegfried. Some seemingly took "Nibelung" to apply primarily to Siegfried's treasure, in which case it must mean something else than the Burgundian royal family, and so another explanation was contrived.


title: Nibelung

text: The alternate theory is that the connection with the treasure was indeed primary, and that "nibel-", "nifl-", meaning 'mist, cloud', referred originally to a dwarfish origin for the hoard, though this was later forgotten and the application of the name to the Burgundian royal family arose from misunderstanding. In the first half of the "Nibelungenlied", Siegfried's last fight to win the treasure is against the dwarf Alberich. In "Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfried" the treasure belonged to the dwarf Nybling. Though the kings of the Nibelungs named Schilbung and Nibelung in the first half of the "Nibelungenlied" are humans as far as is told, it would not be impossible that in earlier tradition they were explicitly dwarfs like Alberich. The people of the Nibelungs also have giants in their service, perhaps an indication of their earlier supernatural stature. In the Norse tales the hoard originates from a dwarf named Andvari, thence passes to Odin, and then to Hreidmar ("Hreiðmarr"), and then to Hreidmar's son Fáfnir who changes into dragon form, and from him to Sigurd (Siegfried).


title: Nibelung

text: Niflheim ("Mist-home") is a mythical region of cold and mist and darkness in the north. "Niflhel" is a term for part or all of Hel, the land of the dead. As dwarfs are subterranean creatures in these tales, who live in darkness, "Niflung" would seem a reasonable name for these beings, an old name forgotten in the north and only preserved in the garblings of some German accounts of the origin of the Niblung hoard. In "Silver Fir Cones", one of the tales found in Otmar's "Volkssagen (Traditions of the Harz)" (Bremen, 1800), the king of the dwarfs is named Gübich.


title: Nibelung

text: It cannot be proved which meaning was primary, that of dwarf or Burgundian prince. Scholars today mostly believe that the Burgundian connection is the more original one. In the 19th century, the dwarf theory was popular and was adopted by Richard Wagner for his operatic "Ring cycle" which was very freely adapted from the tales surrounding Siegfried and the Burgundians. In Wagner's operas "Nibelungs" refers to the race of dwarfs.


title: Nibelung

text: Several different etymologies of the term "Nibelung" have been proposed; they are usually connected to a specific theory of the original nature of the name: referring originally to mythical beings, to the Franks, or to the Burgundians.


title: Nibelung

text: Andreas Heusler and many other scholars have derived the name "Nibelung" from the root "*nebula-", meaning cloud, mist, or fog, or "*nibila-", meaning low, deep, or dark (cf. Niflheim). This derivation frequently assumes that the name originally referred to mythological beings and means something to the effect of "beings of mist". Heusler reasoned that the name became attached to the various possessors of the Nibelungs' treasure and thereby passed from the mythical beings, to Siegfried, and then to the Burgundians in the "Nibelungenlied.


title: Nibelung

text: Stefan Schaffner proposes another theory: again assuming that "Nibelung" originally referred to mythical beings, instead derives the name from a root "*nibla-" or "*nibula-" meaning "being below", which Schaffner connects to Niflheim.


title: Nibelung

text: Whatever the actual derivation of the name "Nibelung", it is clear that it was interpreted as being connected to the word "nebel" (mist, fog), and that the form of the word was likely altered via this association. A clear example can be seen in the name of the dwarf Nybling from "Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid", which was translated into Czech as "Mhaček", from Czech "mha" (mist). In the "Nibelungenlied", the name of Nibelung's brother, "Schilbung", has similarly been suggested to have a meaning "rock- or cave-man" or "frost-man", meaning that Nibelung's name may similarly have been interpreted as "mist-man".


title: Nibelung

text: George Gillespie presents the theory that the name "Nibelung" originally applied to the Nibelungid cadet branch of the Pippinid dynasty of Frankish mayors of the palace, the later Carolingian emperors. The name is first recorded in 752 in Latin as "Nibelungus" or "Nivelongus", referring to a nephew of Charles Martel. The name is also recorded as belonging to several other members of a cadet branch of the dynasty descending from Charles's brother Childebrand I; this cadet branch is known as the Nibelungids or Nibelungs. A reference to "nebulones Franci" (translated as "Nibelungian Franks") in the "Waltharius" is used as further evidence, though this translation of the epithet "nebulones" is disputed.


title: Nibelung

text: Gillespie and C. W. von Sydow argue the name may derive from Nivelles in Walloon Brabant, where the Pippinids founded a monastery and maintained strong connections. The name "Nivelles" either derives from the Germanic "*Niuwa-alha", meaning new sanctuary, or from a Celtic toponym.


title: Nibelung

text: According to this theory, the name "Nibelung" came to be attached to the Burgundian royal house after the Kingdom of Burgundy in southern France was absorbed into the Frankish kingdom in 613 and came under the rule of the Frankish Nibelungids. Rejecting a Burgundian origin for the name, Gillespie further notes that Gunther is recorded in Old English as "Gūðhere", but is referred to as a Burgundian rather than a "Nibelung", a name which is unattested in Old English.


title: Nibelung

text: Ursula Dronke and Helmmut Rosenfeld argue that the name "Nibelung" originally referred to a Burgundian clan. They note the existence of several place names in Savoy, the location of the French kingdom of Burgundy, which can be derived from a reconstructed "Nibilungos", including "Neblens", "Noblens", and "Neublans".


title: Nibelung

text: Dronke argues that after the resettlement of the Burgundians from the Rhine to the Kingdom of Burgundy in 411, the clan name "Nibelung" was transferred to the Burgundian royal dynasty of the Gibichings (Old Norse "Gjúkingar"). It was then afterwards adopted by the Franks, who came to identify the Gibichungs as Franks as well, as in the "Waltharius". Rosenfeld, on the other hand, argues that the Burgundian clan name "Nibelung" was adopted by the Nibelungid cadet branch of the Frankish Pippinid dynasty once Charles Martell's brother Childebrand I and his descendants came to rule the former Burgundian kingdom as counts. The royal name "Gibichung" was then replaced in the heroic tradition with "Nibelung" in order to connect this Frankish cadet branch to the Burgundian royal dynasty.


title: Nibelung

text: Dronke subscribes to the traditional scholarly derivation of the name "Nibelung" from "nibel" or "nebel", meaning cloud or darkness. She notes that other Burgundian clan names are recorded with similar associations: "Wulkingos", from "wolkan", cloud; "Dagilingos", deriving from day; "Leuhtingos", deriving from light; and "Sauilingos", deriving from "sol", meaning sun.


title: Nibelung

text: Rosenfeld derives the name instead from a name "*Niwilo", which is a nickname for the name "*Niuw-man" (literally new-man). "Nibelung" would be the patronymic of this name, with the change from "w" to "b" showing Romance influence.


title: Whānau

text: Whānau () is Māori for extended family. It is also used in everyday New Zealand English, as well as in official publications.


title: Whānau

text: In Māori society, the whānau is also a political unit, below the levels of hapū (subtribe) and iwi (tribe or nation), and the word itself has other meanings, i.e. as a verb: "to be born or give birth".


title: Whānau

text: Whakapapa is Māori genealogy. First on the whakapapa comes the waka, the canoe on which the people first arrived in New Zealand. Second is the iwi (tribe), then the hapū (subtribe) and then whānau.


title: Whānau

text: In the Māori tribal organisation the whānau comprises a family spanning three to four generations. It forms the smallest partition of the Māori society.


title: Whānau

text: In the ancient Māori society, before the arrival of the Pākehā, a whānau consisted of the kaumātua (tribal elders), senior adults such as parents, uncles and aunts, and the sons and daughters together with their partners and children. Large whānau lived in their own compound in the pā. Whānau also had their own gardening plots and their own fishing and hunting spots. The whānau was economically self-sufficient. In warfare, it supported the iwi (tribe) or a hapū (sub-tribe).


title: Whānau

text: As a descent construct, ‘whānau’ has been variably described as “the extended family”, “the extended family or community”, or simply "family".


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk (née Lady Maud Duff; 3 April 1893 – 14 December 1945), titled Princess Maud from 1905 to 1923, was a granddaughter of Edward VII. Maud and her elder sister, Alexandra, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of "Princess" and the style of "Highness".


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: Although Princess Maud did not otherwise carry out royal engagements, because of her position in the Commonwealth's order of succession she served as a Counsellor of State between 1942 and 1945.


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: Maud was born at East Sheen Lodge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey, on 3 April 1893. Her father was Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife. He was raised from Earl to Duke of Fife following marriage to Maud's mother, Princess Louise of Wales, the third child and eldest daughter of the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: Maud and her sister were unique in sharing descent from both William IV (through his mistress, Dorothea Jordan), and William IV's niece, Queen Victoria, who succeeded him because he left no legitimate issue.


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: In 1900, Queen Victoria granted Maud's father a second dukedom of Fife in the peerage of the United Kingdom with a special remainder providing for the succession of the duke's daughters and their male-line descendants to the title, in default of a male heir. Maud became second in line to the dukedom, after her elder sister Alexandra, and her descendants would eventually succeed to the peerage.


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: As a cognatic great-granddaughter of a British monarch (Queen Victoria), Maud was not entitled to the title of a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland nor to the attribute "Royal Highness". Instead she was styled "Lady Maud Duff", as the daughter of a duke. She was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne at the time of her birth.


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: On 9 November 1905, King Edward VII gave (on the occasion of his birthday) Maud's mother the title of Princess Royal. He further ordered Garter King of Arms to gazette Maud and her sister with the style and attribute of "Highness" and the style of Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names, with precedence immediately after all members of the British royal family bearing the style of "Royal Highness".


title: Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk

text: She took part in the carriage procession for members of the royal family when she attended the state funeral of Edward VII in 1910 (she was styled in the London Gazette as "Her Highness Princess Maud" and her sister "Her Highness Princess Alexandra", both without the territorial designation "of Fife"). She attended the coronation of her uncle, George V, on 22 June 1911 with the royal family, styled as "Her Highness Princess Maud" (without territorial designation).